Influenza viruses instigate annual global epidemics. The first influenza pandemic in 40 years occurred during the 2009-2010 season, when a novel H1N1 strain emerged and spread worldwide. The United St...
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The hormonally active form of vitamin D, known as calcitriol or 1,25 dihydroxyvitamin D3, has shown promise for treating diseases ranging from osteoporosis to cancer to psoriasis. However, the hormone...
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The hormonally active form of vitamin D, known as calcitriol or 1,25 dihydroxyvitamin D3, has shown promise for treating diseases ranging from osteoporosis to cancer to psoriasis. However, the hormone...
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Neuropathic pain encompasses a wide range of painful conditions of diverse origins, including diabetic neuropathy, post herpatic neuralgia, post-surgical nerve injuries and many others. Currently ther...
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Oligomycin is a highly stable macrolide antibiotic isolated from the fungus Streptomyces diastochromogenes. It is a potent inhibitor of mitochondrial ATPase and phosphoryl group transfer.
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Ebola, a negative strand RNA virus in the family Filoviridae, is among the most lethal human pathogens, causing death in 50 to 90 percent of cases. This virus is highly contagious in aerosol form and ...
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Wound healing is a complex and dynamic process of rebuilding skin and tissue. Chronic or impaired wounds result when tissues fail to progress through the necessary stages of healing. This is a signifi...
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Almost 200,000 men in the United States develop prostate cancer each year. More than 60,000 people develop melanoma. Early diagnosis is key to survival because the best treatment and prognosis for the...
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Staphylococcus aureus is a Gram-positive bacterium responsible for many infectious diseases, including toxic shock syndrome, food poisoning and topical skin infections. Although S. aureus is usually a...
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Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs), the most potent toxins known, are among the most dangerous potential bioterrorism threats.  They cause botulism, a severe disease that can cause paralysis in humans and...
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Quorum sensing is a process used by some bacteria to coordinate behavior based on local population density. To communicate, bacteria release signaling molecules into the environment. When a certain nu...
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Pathogenic bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract can induce inflammatory responses that negatively affect the ability of animals to efficiently digest food and absorb nutrients. Endotoxin, a characte...
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Avian influenza causes significant economic losses for poultry producers worldwide and can be transmitted to humans and other mammals. The surface glycoproteins hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (N...
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Influenza is caused by the eight-segmented influenza virus. Vaccines can be used to prevent influenza, but traditional methods for producing influenza vaccine are slow and cumbersome. To generate reco...
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The H1N1 influenza virus, known as the “swine flu,” has been declared a pandemic.  While this virus is less virulent than many circulating strains of flu virus, it has become the subject of signi...
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Influenza is a major disease in humans that can be prevented by vaccination. Because new epidemic strains arise every year or two, influenza vaccines must be adapted almost every year.  Live attenuat...
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Quorum sensing is a process used by some bacteria to coordinate behavior based on local population density. To communicate, bacteria release signaling molecules, including low molecular weight ligands...
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Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a genetic disorder in which an individual lacks the enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) that converts the amino acid phenylalanine into tyrosine.  If left untreated, the b...
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Ribonucleases are enzymes that catalyze the degradation of RNA. Levels of RNase activity are controlled in vivo by a ribonuclease inhibitor (RI), which binds strongly to an RNase to completely inhibit...
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Ribonucleases are enzymes that catalyze the degradation of RNA. Levels of RNase activity are controlled in vivo by a ribonuclease inhibitor (RI), which binds strongly to an RNase to completely inhibit...
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The extensive use of neuraminidase (NA) inhibitors to treat influenza virus infections by reducing viral sialidase activity requires close monitoring for resistant variants. However, cultured cells do...
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Under physiological conditions, bone tissue regeneration involves a complex interplay of multiple biologically active molecules and stem cells. The molecules are often presented sequentially in cascad...
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The normal growth and development of tissue requires a complex interplay of multiple signals from multiple genes in well-defined locations, leading to the controlled differentiation of precursor cells...
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Dendritic cells play an important role in the process of initiating immune response. They are present in small quantities in tissues, such as skin and lung, that are in contact with the external envir...
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Collagen, the most abundant protein in vertebrates, provides structure for tissues and plays a key role in wound healing. In connective tissue, individual collagen molecules are wound together in tigh...
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