PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Scientists identify new protein in the neurological disorder dystonia

Potential for treatments anticipated

2014-05-06
(Press-News.org) MANHATTAN, Kan. — A collaborative discovery involving Kansas State University researchers may lead to the first universal treatment for dystonia, a neurological disorder that affects nearly half a million Americans.

Michal Zolkiewski, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics at Kansas State University, and Jeffrey Brodsky at the University at Pittsburgh co-led a study that focused on a mutated protein associated with early onset torsion dystonia, or EOTD, the most severe type of dystonia that typically affects adolescents before the age of 20. Dystonia causes involuntary and sustained muscle contractions that can lead to paralysis and abnormal postures.

"It's a painful and debilitating disease for which there is no cure or treatment that would be effective for all patients," Zolkiewski said. "There are some treatments that are being tested, but nothing is really available to those patients that would cure the symptoms completely."

In addition to Zolkiewski and Brodsky, researchers involved in the study included Hui-Chuan Wu, Kansas State University doctoral student in biochemistry and molecular biophysics, Taiwan, and colleagues at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and the University of Adelaide in Australia.

The Journal of Biological Chemistry recently published the team's study, "The BiP molecular chaperone plays multiple roles during the biogenesis of TorsinA, a AAA+ ATPase associated with the neurological disease Early-Onset Torsion Dystonia." The study was funded by the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation.

Researchers built the study on a decade-old discovery that patients with early onset torsion dystonia typically have a mutated gene that encodes the protein TorsionA.

"TorsinA is a protein that all people have in their bodies," Zolkiewski said. "It appears to perform an important role in the nervous system, but currently nobody knows what that role is. There also is no understanding of the link between the mutation and dystonia."

In order to study protein expression in a living organism, researchers used yeast — one of the simplest living systems. The yeast was engineered to produce the human protein TorsionA.

Observations revealed that a second protein named BiP — pronounced "dip" — helps process the TorsinA protein and maintain its active form. Additionally, researchers found that BiP also guides TorsinA to being destroyed by cells if the protein is defective. Humans carry the BiP protein as well as the TorsinA protein.

"BiP is a molecular chaperone that assists other proteins in maintaining their function," Zolkiewski said. "In this study we found that BiP really has a dual role. On one hand it's helping TorsinA and on the other it's leading to its degradation."

Future studies may focus on BiP as a target for treating dystonia, as modulating BiP in human cells would affect TorsinA, Zolkiewski said.

"Because we don't know what exactly the function of TorsinA is, we may not be able to design a treatment based on that protein," Zolkiewski said. "We know what BiP does, however. It is a pretty well-studied chaperone, which makes it much easier to work with."

INFORMATION: END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

International team maps nearly 200,000 global glaciers in quest for sea rise answers

International team maps nearly 200,000 global glaciers in quest for sea rise answers
2014-05-06
An international team led by glaciologists from the University of Colorado Boulder and Trent University in Ontario, Canada has completed the first mapping of virtually all of the world's glaciers -- including their locations and sizes -- allowing for calculations of their volumes and ongoing contributions to global sea rise as the world warms. The team mapped and catalogued some 198,000 glaciers around the world as part of the massive Randolph Glacier Inventory, or RGI, to better understand rising seas over the coming decades as anthropogenic greenhouse gases heat the ...

GW researcher looks 'inside the box' for a sustainable solution for intestinal parasites

2014-05-06
WASHINGTON (May 6, 2014) — According to the World Health Organization, more than 450 million people worldwide, primarily children and pregnant women, suffer illness from soil-transmitted helminths (STH), intestinal parasites that live in humans and other animals. Considerable effort and resources have been, and continue to be, spent on top-down, medical-based programs focused on administering drugs to control STH infections, with little success. John Hawdon, Ph.D., associate professor of microbiology, immunology, and tropical medicine at the George Washington University ...

Substantial improvements made in EPA's IRIS Program, report says

2014-05-06
WASHINGTON – A new congressionally mandated report from the National Research Council says that changes EPA has proposed and implemented into its Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) process are "substantial improvements." While acknowledging the progress made to date, the report offers further guidance and recommendations to improve the overall scientific and technical performance of the program, which is used to assess the hazards posed by environmental contaminants. In 2011, a Research Council committee reviewed EPA's IRIS assessment for formaldehyde and found ...

More support needed for teaching swimming in schools

2014-05-06
Britain could become a nation of non-swimmers if drastic changes aren't made to ensure all young people have access to adequate lessons and facilities, according to academics at the University of East Anglia (UEA). Dr Craig Avieson and Dr Penny Lamb, of UEA's School of Education and Lifelong Learning, warn swimming provisions are falling to secondary physical education (PE) teachers, with 51 per cent of British children aged 7-11 unable to swim 25 metres. Children should be able to swim at least that length by the time they leave primary school, under curriculum requirements ...

Are we ready for contact with extraterrestrial intelligence?

Are we ready for contact with extraterrestrial intelligence?
2014-05-06
The SETI project scientists are known for tracking possible extraterrestrial signals, but now they are also considering sending messages from Earth telling of our position. A researcher from the University of Cádiz (Spain) questions this idea in view of the results from a survey taken by students, revealing the general level of ignorance about the cosmos and the influence of religion when tackling these matters. The Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence (SETI) project is an initiative that began in the 70s with funding from NASA, but that has evolved towards the collaboration ...

Mother's Day science: Reactions highlights amazing facts about pregnancy -- video

Mothers Day science: Reactions highlights amazing facts about pregnancy -- video
2014-05-06
WASHINGTON, May 6, 2014 — Pregnant women go through a lot to bring a baby into this world: 2 a.m. food cravings, hypersensitivity to certain smells and morning sickness, not to mention labor and delivery. In honor of Mother's Day, the American Chemical Society's (ACS') newest Reactions video highlights the chemistry behind a pregnant woman's altered sense of taste and smell, how mom's diet influences baby's favorite foods and other pregnancy phenomena. The video is available at http://youtu.be/Gnqjh-L4e9g And because moms always deserve more, we've created a bonus video ...

State of the nation's egotism: On the rise for a century

2014-05-06
ANN ARBOR—Forget the "me" generation. A new analysis of long-term trends in egotism shows there's been a "me" century in America. The analysis, conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan, shows that characteristics related to self-interest, compared to interest in the lives and needs of other people, was low during the 19th century but rose steadily after the turn of the 20th century. "We found that self-interest tends to peak after economic booms," said William Chopik, a doctoral candidate in psychology at U-M and first author of the paper just published ...

Snacking contributes to fatty liver and abdominal obesity

2014-05-06
Researchers from The Netherlands found that snacking on high-fat and high-sugar foods was independently associated with abdominal fat and fatty liver (hepatic steatosis). According to the study published in Hepatology, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, hypercaloric diet with frequent meals increases intrahepatic triglyceride content (IHTG) and fat around the waist, but increasing meal size did not. Obesity is a global health concern with the World Health Organization reporting that more than 200 million men and close to 300 million ...

Scientists challenge FIFA: Save the 3-banded armadillo

2014-05-06
New research in Biotropica asks FIFA to follow through with its environmental claims. The 2014 FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) World Cup will be played in Brazil. Its "Football for the Planet" program aims to monitor greenhouse gasses, provide environmentally friendly stadiums, and better waste management. However, FIFA has not maximized this opportunity. In an article published in the upcoming issue, researchers challenge the role that FIFA and the Brazilian government play in protecting the environment, asking both to: protect 1,000 hectares ...

Mobile health apps lack behavior-change techniques

2014-05-06
Behavior-change techniques are not well represented in the marketing materials for top-rated physical-activity apps, according to a team of Penn State researchers. They also found that two types of physical-activity apps are available on the market -- those that focus on educating users on how to perform different exercises and those that focus on supporting users' motivation for physical activity. "The app marketplace is largely unregulated and users make decisions based on developers' descriptions of apps," said David Conroy, professor of kinesiology. "Our results ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

KERI, overcomes the biggest challenge of the lithium–sulfur battery, the core of UAM

In chimpanzees, peeing is contagious

Scientists uncover structure of critical component in deadly Nipah virus

Study identifies benefits, risks linked to popular weight-loss drugs

Ancient viral DNA shapes early embryo development

New study paves way for immunotherapies tailored for childhood cancers

Association of waist circumference with all-cause and cardiovascular mortalities in diabetes from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2003–2018

A new chapter in Roman administration: Insights from a late Roman inscription

Global trust in science remains strong

New global research reveals strong public trust in science

Inflammation may explain stomach problems in psoriasis sufferers

Guidance on animal-borne infections in the Canadian Arctic

Fatty muscles raise the risk of serious heart disease regardless of overall body weight

HKU ecologists uncover significant ecological impact of hybrid grouper release through religious practices

New register opens to crown Champion Trees across the U.S.

A unified approach to health data exchange

New superconductor with hallmark of unconventional superconductivity discovered

Global HIV study finds that cardiovascular risk models underestimate for key populations

New study offers insights into how populations conform or go against the crowd

Development of a high-performance AI device utilizing ion-controlled spin wave interference in magnetic materials

WashU researchers map individual brain dynamics

Technology for oxidizing atmospheric methane won’t help the climate

US Department of Energy announces Early Career Research Program for FY 2025

PECASE winners: 3 UVA engineering professors receive presidential early career awards

‘Turn on the lights’: DAVD display helps navy divers navigate undersea conditions

MSU researcher’s breakthrough model sheds light on solar storms and space weather

Nebraska psychology professor recognized with Presidential Early Career Award

New data shows how ‘rage giving’ boosted immigrant-serving nonprofits during the first Trump Administration

Unique characteristics of a rare liver cancer identified as clinical trial of new treatment begins

From lab to field: CABBI pipeline delivers oil-rich sorghum

[Press-News.org] Scientists identify new protein in the neurological disorder dystonia
Potential for treatments anticipated