Word: viruses
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...foot-and-mouth may finally be checked. Last week Agriculture Secretary John Block announced that researchers from the California gene-splicing firm Genentech, Inc., in collaboration with his department's scientists, had produced a safe, effective vaccine against the disease. Like polio viruses, the tiny virus that causes foot-and-mouth has a coating of four proteins. A team of Agriculture Department scientists, led by Biochemist Howard Bachrach, had isolated one of them, calling it VP3 (for virus protein). Injecting the substance into test animals, they found it created immunity without causing infection. But using it was risky, because...
...stepped the gene splicers from Genentech, who managed to isolate the gene in the virus that orders up the production of VP3. A molecular fragment containing these instructions was then spliced into a plasmid, or small circular collection of DNA, taken from an E. coli bacterium. Then the plasmid and its "recombined" DNA were inserted back into E. coli. Not only did the recipient bacteria begin cranking out VP3, but all their offspring reproduced the protein as well...
...knows the cause of Crohn's disease, although researchers suspect that a virus or a flaw in the body's immune system may be involved. A cure is similarly elusive. In attempting to control the disease, doctors use drugs that suppress inflammation and the immune system. In severe cases, they must resort to surgery, cutting away diseased portions of bowel and then reconnecting the ends or creating a hole through the abdomen so wastes can be collected in a pouch. But even with such drastic measures, the disease may recur, necessitating more extensive operations...
...fatty deposits. Today many heart specialists theorize that atherosclerosis is a complex process that starts with a minor injury to the smooth single layer of cells that line the arteries in a cobblestone pattern. Researchers speculate that the damage may result from cigarette smoking, high blood pressure or virus infection...
...been left untouched. But one of the worst outbreaks is now occurring in the rural counties of southern Illinois. So far this year, officials of Jackson County alone have encountered a dozen rabid animals-dogs, cats, skunks and a bat. Skunks are particularly dangerous carriers of the rabies virus; while dogs usually die within three weeks after infection, skunks survive for up to four months. Ordinarily shy, skunks have attacked dogs and cows, wandered into houses and even chased children in broad daylight...