“Prairie View A&M investigating student’s death - Palestine Herald-Press” plus 3 more

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• Prairie View A&M investigating student’s death - Palestine Herald-Press
• Moore, Voss receive alumni awards from FMU Biology Program - WMBF
• NHLBI director Nabel named new president of Brigham and Women's ... - TheHeart.Org
• Trembling hands and molecular handshakes - EurekAlert

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Prairie View A&M investigating student’s death - Palestine Herald-Press Posted: 22 Oct 2009 09:45 AM PDT	Published: October 22, 2009 11:57 am       Prairie View A&M investigating student's death Associated Press PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (AP) — Officials at Prairie View A&M University say they are investigating the death of a 20-year-old student who went for an early morning run off campus. University spokeswoman Sheleah Hughes said Donnie Wade, a junior from Dallas, was with other students at the Hempstead High School track about 9 miles from campus in the predawn hours Tuesday. Hughes said Wade was taken to a hospital in the Houston suburb of Cypress, but it wasn't clear when he died. She said investigators were questioning the students who were with him. The spokeswoman told the Houston Chronicle that officials believe Wade's death will be "cardiovascular related." The Harris County medical examiner is handling the autopsy.
Moore, Voss receive alumni awards from FMU Biology Program - WMBF Posted: 23 Oct 2009 05:40 AM PDT From Francis Marion University: FLORENCE, SC - Robert W. Moore, orthopedic surgeon and owner of Hand Surgery Associates, and Stephen Randal Voss, associate professor in the Department of Biology in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, have been honored by the Francis Marion University Department of Biology with outstanding alumni awards. Moore received the John S. Boyce Award, while Voss was presented the Lawrence Swails Award. These distinguished alumni awards, named after the Biology Department's first two chairpersons, were presented during a reception Oct. 22 on the FMU campus. This is the fourth year the Biology Department has held this recognition of outstanding graduates of the biology program. A Cheraw native, Moore began his studies at Baptist College in Charleston, now Charleston Southern, and transferred to FMU after one year to study biology and play basketball. He graduated magna cum laude from Francis Marion in 1980 with a B.S. degree in biology and later earned his M.D. degree from the Medical University of South Carolina. After graduating from medical school, Moore completed his residency in Memphis, Tenn., and soon after landed a fellowship in hand surgery with the University of Virginia. Pee Dee Orthopaedic in Florence was where Moore received his first job, and he remained there for 14 years. He has since opened his own practice, Hand Surgery Associates on Freedom Blvd. In addition to practicing in Florence, Moore has taken his orthopedic surgery skills to several underdeveloped countries where medical treatment is scarce. He hasn't limited exposure to this experience to himself either. He and his wife, Betsey, who is also a graduate of FMU, lived in South Korea for two years and served as missionaries. They have two children, Meg and Hunter. Moore was also an accomplished athlete at FMU. He lettered in basketball for three years (1977-1980) at Francis Marion. In only those three seasons, the 6'5" forward scored 1,330 points and grabbed 613 rebounds. He was twice named the NAIA District Six "Player of the Year" (1979 and 1980) and was selected to the NAIA second-team All-America squad following his senior campaign. Moore still owns the Patriot single-season records for most points, rebounds, free throws, and games scoring in double figures. He was selected to the District Six All-Academic Team all three years, was named to the 1980 first-team All-State squad, and helped lead the Patriots to a 62-27 overall record and three straight district playoff appearances. Following his career, Moore was named to the FMC All-Decade Team for the 1970s and the District Six 15th Anniversary Team, which was announced in 1983. Voss is an associate professor in the Department of Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky. He earned his doctorate from Clemson University in 1994. Voss is also the director of the Ambystoma Genetic Stock Center and Research Resources, as well as a faculty associate of the Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology at FMU in 1986. In 1988, Voss earned a Master of Science degree in biology from Western Carolina University in North Carolina. It was at Clemson University that he received the Ph.D. in zoology. To fund his research, Voss has secured in excess of $10 million in grants over the years. He and a research group comprised of professors from Tulane, the University of Kentucky and the University of California at Irvine were recently awarded $6.25 million in new research support from the U.S. Department of Defense, to determine if human limb regeneration might be possible. The North Carolina native and his wife, Maynie, have three children: Stephen, Brinna and Emma. Voss and his three sisters, Robin Voss, Kelly Voss, and Susan Spearman, are all graduates of FMU. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.
NHLBI director Nabel named new president of Brigham and Women's ... - TheHeart.Org Posted: 23 Oct 2009 06:09 AM PDT With full membership, you can check out our educational and editorial content, search the site, receive our newsletters, join discussions, download slides and much more. Membership is free! Get 30 days of free access to heartwire news This content has passed through fivefilters.org.
Trembling hands and molecular handshakes - EurekAlert Posted: 23 Oct 2009 06:37 AM PDT Public release date: 23-Oct-2009 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Dr. Dierk Niessing niessing@lmb.uni-muenchen.de 49-892-180-76962 Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitt Mnchen A novel protein structure involved in hereditary neurodegeneration Fragile X tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS) is a recently recognized condition, which is actually one of the most prevalent heritable neurodegenerative diseases. It is assumed that the condition is caused by deficiency for the protein Pur-alpha, which is essential for normal neural function. Structural studies undertaken by a team under the leadership of Dr. Dierk Niessing of the Helmholtz Zentrum Mnchen and the Gene Center at Ludwigs-Maximilians-University (LMU) have now determined the three-dimensional structure of Pur-alpha, and gained insights into the molecular function of the protein. The findings provide a possible basis for the development of an effective therapy for the disease.(PNAS Early Edition, 21. Oktober 2009) Most FXTAS patients are males, and symptoms of the condition become manifest around the age of 55. As the disease progresses, patients develop tremor in their hands and also show ataxia, i.e. they have difficulty maintaining their balance when they move, and therefore have a tendency to fall. Quite often these deficits are accompanied by cognitive defects and dementia. The underlying cause of FXTAS is a mutation in the gene for FMRP (Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein). This mutation is found on the X chromosome in one out of 800 men, and involves abnormal expansions of a DNA sequence composed of repeats of the base triplet CGG. Healthy people have between 5 and 54 copies of this sequence, while those who will develop FXTAS are born with between 55 and 200 repeats. Expansion of the triplet sequence beyond 200 copies leads to Fragile X Syndrome (FXS), which is the second most common cause of hereditary mental retardation after Down's syndrome. FXTAS itself is apparently triggered by a lack of the protein Pur-alpha. This protein binds to the CGG sequences in FMR messenger RNAs (mRNA). The excessive numbers of CGG triplets found in the mutant FMRP mRNA essentially bind so much Pur-alpha that insufficient amounts are available for its normal cellular function. Dr. Niessing's team reports in the online Early Edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA (PNAS) that the Pur-alpha protein itself consists of three copies of a structural unit called the PUR repeat. "The crystal structure of Pur-alpha will make it possible to understand the protein's function in detail, and this could contribute to the development of a therapy for FXTAS", says Dierk Niessing, who leads a junior research group that is jointly funded by the Helmholtz Zentrum Mnchen, the Helmholtz Association and LMU's Gene Center. "With the treatment options we have at the moment, we can only alleviate the symptoms but cannot attack the real cause of the disease." "A PUR repeat looks like a hand: four so-called beta-strands, corresponding to four fingers, form a beta-sheet, and an adjacent alpha-helix resembles a thumb", explains Almut Graebsch, the first author from Niessing's group. Pairs of PUR repeats bind to each other in a particular configuration that is reminiscent of a handshake, forming a functional unit. In addition to X-ray diffraction, the researchers have used a technique called small angle X-ray scattering, which revealed that the Pur-alpha protein forms dimers two molecules of the protein bind stably to one another. This probably occurs when PUR repeats in separate molecules interact, in a similar way to the repeats within a molecule, to form the handshake structure. Experiments in animals have shown that the symptoms of FXTAS disappear if extra Pur-alpha is supplied. "Perhaps the condition can be cured if one can find a way of stopping Pur-alpha from binding to long stretches of CGG in mRNA", says Niessing. By mutating the protein, his group has already obtained clues to how Pur-alpha binds to the CGG repeats. The next step is to find out precisely how Pur-alpha binds to RNA. This in turn could suggest ways of preventing the interactions that cause the disease. (HHZM) The Helmholtz Zentrum Mnchen The Helmholtz Zentrum Mnchen is the main institution charged with research on health and the environment in Germany. As the leading center for Environmental Health Sciences, it conducts research on chronic and complex diseases, which result from a combination of environmental factors and individual genetic predisposition. The Center employs some 1680 people. The major facility is located on a 50-hectare research campus in Neuherberg, to the North of Munich. The Helmholtz Zentrum Mnchen is part of the largest research organization in Germany, the Helmholtz Association, a consortium of 16 technological and biomedical research centres with a combined staff of 26,500. Scientists at the Institute for Structural Biology use NMR spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction to determine the three-dimensional structures of biologically relevant proteins and nucleic acids, and to probe their behaviour in aqueous solution. By combining insights from structural analyses with biochemical experiments, it is possible to understand the molecular bases of biological function. Efforts are now underway to optimize NMR so that the technique can be applied to larger proteins and protein complexes (consisting of several subunits). The Gene Center at LMU Munich The Gene Center at LMU Munich pursues a combination of interdisciplinary research and teaching in key areas of modern bioscience. Its major goal is to elucidate the mechanisms responsible for cell and organismal function under normal and pathological conditions. The basic approach focuses on gene regulation, but methods from structural biology, molecular cell biology, genetics, developmental biology and virology are all exploited in order to decipher the molecular mechanisms that underpin basic biological processes. Publication: "X-ray structure of Pur-alpha reveals a Whirly-like fold and an unusual nucleic-acid binding surface" Almut Graebsch, Stephane Roche, and Dierk Niessing. PNAS online, 21 October 2009 Contact: Dr. Dierk Niessing Institute for Struktural Biology of the Helmholtz Zentrum Mnchen and Gene Center of the LMU Phone: +49 089 / 2180 - 76962 Fax: +49 89 / 2180 - 99-76962 E-Mail: niessing@lmb.uni-muenchen.de [ | E-mail | Share ]   This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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