http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Somites, precursors for the segmental structures such as the vertebral column, ribs and skeletal muscles, form periodically by segmentation of the rostral parts of the presomitic mesoderm (PSM). This periodic event is regulated by the somite segmentation clock, which is composed of Notch signaling molecules. In the PSM, the Notch components such as the basic helix-loop-helix gene Hes7 are cyclically expressed, and this cyclical expression leads to segmentation of a bilateral pair of somites (Figure 1). While Hes7 plays an important role in the segmentation clock, it was not known whether Hes7 is the fundamental pacemaker or whether it acts downstream of another oscillator. http://phys.org/news276945092.html Biology Wed, 09 Jan 2013 09:11:43 EST news276945092 Muscle contraction and many other movement processes are controlled by the interplay between myosin and actin filaments. Two further proteins, tropomyosin and troponin, regulate how myosin binds to actin. While theoretical models have in fact described exactly how these muscle proteins interact, this interaction has never previously been observed in detail. Stefan Raunser and Elmar Behrmann from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology in Dortmund have now managed to image the actin-myosin-tropomyosin complex with an unprecedented accuracy of 0.8 nanometres, which amounts to a resolution of less than one-millionth of a millimetre. This has, for the first time, made it possible to correctly identify the location of proteins within the complex and to analyse the processes involved in muscle contraction. These findings could help determine the impact of genetically determined modifications to the actin-myosin-tropomyosin complex in certain types of hereditary heart disease. http://phys.org/news261915906.html Biology Thu, 19 Jul 2012 12:00:09 EST news261915906 The proteins actin, myosin and titin are big players in the business of muscle contraction. Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Hamburg, Germany, have now examined another muscle protein – myomesin – which they discovered can stretch up to two-and-a-half times its length, unfolding in a way that was previously unknown. The study is published 14 February in the open-access, online journal PLoS Biology. http://phys.org/news248460095.html Biology Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:00:14 EST news248460095 Supplied with sufficient energy, a freight train would ride the rails as far as they go. But nature also knows systems whose dynamics suddenly turn into a kind of endless loop. Like in a hamster wheel, a train caught up in such a system would continue running, but without moving forward. Scientists from the Cluster of Excellence Nanosystems Initiative Munich have now succeeded in building a simple model system consisting of only three components to study the laws of such so-called absorbing states. http://phys.org/news240575318.html Biology Tue, 15 Nov 2011 11:00:01 EST news240575318 It is well known that hard training can lead to degradation of muscle protein. A number of nutritional strategies have been developed to counter this but surprisingly there has to date been very little attention paid to the situation in sport horses. Preliminary data showing that nutritional supplements given after exercise may also help prevent muscle breakdown in horses are now provided by René van den Hoven and colleagues in the Institute of Animal Nutrition at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna. http://phys.org/news238235734.html Biology Wed, 19 Oct 2011 09:35:39 EST news238235734 A new study in fruit flies offers a broad view of the potent and sometimes devastating molecular events that occur throughout the body as a result of methamphetamine exposure. http://phys.org/news222539270.html Medicine & Health Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:28:06 EST news222539270 A clinical trial designed to replace the genetic defect causing the most common form of muscular dystrophy has uncovered an unexpected aspect of the disease. The trial, based on therapy designed by scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, showed that some patients mount an immune response to the dystrophin protein even before they have received the gene therapy. http://phys.org/news205604815.html Medicine & Health Wed, 06 Oct 2010 17:40:01 EST news205604815 One of the best post-exercise recovery drinks could already be in your refrigerator, according to new research presented at the American College of Sports Medicine conference this week. In a series of four studies, researchers found that chocolate milk offered a recovery advantage to help repair and rebuild muscles, compared to specially designed carbohydrate sports drinks. http://phys.org/news194702809.html Medicine & Health Wed, 02 Jun 2010 13:20:01 EST news194702809 Why do people become physically weaker as they age? And is there any way to slow, stop, or even reverse this process, breaking the link between increasing age and frailty? http://phys.org/news193504699.html Medicine & Health Wed, 19 May 2010 16:40:03 EST news193504699 For years, researchers have known that resistance exercise training -such as weightlifting, in which muscles work against gravity or another force — can be one of the most effective ways to fight the debilitating muscle loss caused by aging. But many older people are unable to get the full benefits of such training because they suffer from conditions such as arthritis that prevent them from lifting enough weight to stimulate muscle growth. And, while younger men and women continue to produce significant amounts of muscle protein for hours after a resistance exercise workout, seniors receive a much smaller post-workout benefit. http://phys.org/news193072912.html Medicine & Health Fri, 14 May 2010 16:22:22 EST news193072912 Engineered artificial proteins that mimic the elastic properties of muscles in living organisms are the subject of an article in Nature magazine to be released May 6. http://phys.org/news192282925.html Medicine & Health Wed, 05 May 2010 13:00:04 EST news192282925 With the discovery of a new type of chemical modification on an important muscle protein, a University of Iowa study improves understanding of certain muscular dystrophies and could potentially lead to new treatments for the conditions. http://phys.org/news181466407.html Medicine & Health Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:48:00 EST news181466407 For thousands of years, people have believed that eating large amounts of protein made it easier to build bigger, stronger muscles. Take Milo of Croton, the winner of five consecutive Olympic wrestling championships in the sixth century BC: If ancient writers are to be believed, he built his crushing strength in part by consuming 20 pounds of meat every day. http://phys.org/news175785901.html Medicine & Health Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:40:04 EST news175785901 When most people think of insulin, they think of diabetes — a disease that arises when, for one reason or another, insulin can't do the critical job of helping the body process sugar. But the hormone has another, less well-known function. It's also necessary for muscle growth, increasing blood flow through muscle tissue, encouraging nutrients to disperse from blood vessels and itself serving as a biochemical signal to boost muscle protein synthesis and cell proliferation. http://phys.org/news173098645.html Medicine & Health Fri, 25 Sep 2009 11:58:49 EST news173098645 Recent studies conducted by Dr. Eric Blough and his colleagues at Marshall University have shown that use of the common pain reliever acetaminophen may help prevent age-associated muscle loss and other conditions. http://phys.org/news172944205.html Medicine & Health Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:06:19 EST news172944205 When the Apollo 11 crew got back from the moon, 40 years ago this week, they showed no ill effects from seven days spent in weightlessness. But as American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts began conducting longer-duration space flights, scientists noticed a disturbing trend: the longer humans stay in zero gravity, the more muscle they lose. Space travelers exposed to weightlessness for a year or more — such as those on a mission to Mars, for example — could wind up crippled on their return to Earth, unable to walk or even sit up. http://phys.org/news167498723.html Medicine & Health Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:27:02 EST news167498723 A research collaboration between Munich-based biophysicists and a structural biologist in Hamburg (Germany) is helping to explain why our muscles, and those of other animals, don't simply fall apart under stress. Their findings may have implications for fields as diverse as medical research and nanotechnology. http://phys.org/news167329628.html Biology Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:40:01 EST news167329628 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School are a step closer to treating, and perhaps preventing, muscle damage caused by disease and aging. In their study, published in the June issue of Journal of Biological Chemistry, the scientists have linked the newly discovered protein MG53 to a pathway that repairs human muscle tissue along with the proteins caveolin-3 (Cav3) and dysferlin. http://phys.org/news163911854.html Chemistry Thu, 11 Jun 2009 04:05:27 EST news163911854 Using a novel genetic technology that covers up genetic errors, researchers funded in part by the National Institutes of Health have developed a successful treatment for dogs with the canine version of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a paralyzing, and ultimately fatal, muscle disease. http://phys.org/news156451433.html Medicine & Health Mon, 16 Mar 2009 19:45:36 EST news156451433 When young, apparently healthy athletes suddenly collapse, it can be due to hereditary cardiac disease. Researchers at the Heidelberg University Hospital have now discovered a genetic modification that leads to cardiac weakness in an animal model. Just one "false" amino acid can give zebrafish a heart condition. Since the fish have a genetic makeup similar to that of humans, these defects could be critical for humans as well. http://phys.org/news155471734.html Medicine & Health Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:35:58 EST news155471734