Enzyme's Structure Reveals Basis For Head, Sex Organ Deformities
Scientists this month reported the molecular structural basis for severe head deformities and ambiguous sex organs in babies born with Antley-Bixler syndrome accompanied by an enzyme deficiency. The team, composed of researchers from The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, the Medical College of Wisconsin and Charles University in Prague, solved the atomic structure of this human enzyme with an impressive name - NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase, abbreviated CYPOR. The group is the first to visualize and depict the structure of the human version of CYPOR.
Wayne State Researcher Discovers Antibiotic Useful For Localized Treatment Of Bone Wear
Total joint replacement surgeries can help relieve joint pain common in people with conditions like osteoarthritis. But sometimes, the debris from prosthetic joints leads to aseptic loosening, or disintegration of surrounding bones. In 2009, a Wayne State University researcher determined that the anti-inflammatory antibiotic erythromycin can prevent and treat such disintegration. There was one caveat, however: there are side effects associated with long-term usage of erythromycin. But Weiping Ren, M.
New Gene Identified That Affects Levels Of Pain In Osteoarthritis
Researchers have revealed a new gene associated with osteoarthritis. This is only the third gene to be identified for this painful and debilitating disease that affects more than 40 per cent of people aged more than 70 years. The disease-associated variant, in the gene MCF2L, was discovered when Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute researchers used data from the 1000 Genomes Project to increase the power of their genome-wide association scan. The preliminary stage of the original arcOGEN study, funded by Arthritis Research UK, compared the genomes of 3, 177 people with osteoarthritis with 4, 894 people from the general population and looked at 600, 000 variants.