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News tagged with liver

Scientists identify new class of antimalarial compounds

An international team led by scientists from the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) and The Scripps Research Institute has discovered a family of chemical compounds that could lead ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Nov 17, 2011 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Chinese scientists call for ban on bear farming

(Phys.org) -- Three Chinese scientists, Xia Sheng, Haolin Zhang and Qiang Weng, all from Beijing Forest University, have published a correspondence paper in the science journal Nature, calling for a ban on the practice of bea ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Apr 26, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 18 | with audio podcast report

Defending against chemical acts of terrorism

Researchers may have found a way to protect us against otherwise deadly chemical attacks, such as the subway sarin incident in Tokyo that left thirteen people dead and thousands more injured or with temporary vision problems. ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Apr 19, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

New stem cell line provides safe, prolific source for disease modeling and transplant studies

Researchers have generated a new type of human stem cell that can develop into numerous types of specialized cells, including functioning pancreatic beta cells that produce insulin. Called endodermal progenitor (EP) cells, ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Apr 05, 2012 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

A surprising molecular switch: Lipids help control the development of cell polarity

In a standard biology textbook, cells tend to look more or less the same from all sides. But in real life cells have fronts and backs, tops and bottoms, and they orient many of their structures according to ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Feb 19, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New method pinpoints important gene-regulation proteins

A novel technique has been developed and demonstrated at Penn State University to map the proteins that read and regulate chromosomes -- the string-like structures inside cells that carry genes. The specific ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Jan 18, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scalable amounts of liver and pancreas precursor cells created using new stem cell production method

Scientists in Canada have overcome a key research hurdle to developing regenerative treatments for diabetes and liver disease with a technique to produce medically useful amounts of endoderm cells from human pluripotent stem ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 02, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Study shows nanoparticles used as additives in diesel fuels can travel from lungs to liver

Recent studies conducted at Marshall University have demonstrated that nanoparticles of cerium oxide -- common diesel fuel additives used to increase the fuel efficiency of automobile engines -- can travel from the lungs ...

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Nov 17, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Growing without cell division

An international team of scientists, including biologists from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, may have pinpointed for the first time the mechanism responsible for cell polyploidy, a state ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 01, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Scientists make human blood protein from rice

Scientists at a Chinese university said Monday they can use rice to make albumin, a protein found in human blood that is often used for treating burns, traumatic shock and liver disease.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Oct 31, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (7) | comments 0

16th-century Korean mummy provides clue to hepatitis B virus genetic code

The discovery of a mummified Korean child with relatively preserved organs enabled an Israeli-South Korean scientific team to conduct a genetic analysis on a liver biopsy which revealed a unique hepatitis ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created May 29, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

Balding disease killing Australia's wombats

A mystery liver disease thought to be caused by introduced weeds is causing hairy-nosed wombats in southern Australia to go bald and die, researchers said Tuesday.

Biology / Ecology

created May 15, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Facebook moves to help organ donations

Facebook on Tuesday unveiled an initiative to use the vast social network to help connect organ donors with people who need life-saving transplants.

Technology / Internet

created May 01, 2012 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Study shows soy protein alleviates symptoms of fatty liver disease

University of Illinois researchers report this week that new research shows how soy protein could significantly reduce fat accumulation and triglycerides in the livers of obese patients by partially restoring the function ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Apr 23, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Auburn scientists find tar balls are better left alone

(PhysOrg.com) -- The April 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the waves of tar balls deposited on the beaches shortly thereafter prompted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to produce ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Mar 26, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

Liver

The liver is a vital organ present in vertebrates and some other animals; it has a wide range of functions, a few of which are detoxification, protein synthesis, and production of biochemicals necessary for digestion. The liver is necessary for survival; there is currently no way to compensate for the absence of liver function.

This organ plays a major role in metabolism and has a number of functions in the body, including glycogen storage, decomposition of red blood cells, plasma protein synthesis, hormone production, and detoxification. It lies below the diaphragm in the thoracic region of the abdomen. It produces bile, an alkaline compound which aids in digestion, via the emulsification of lipids. It also performs and regulates a wide variety of high-volume biochemical reactions requiring highly specialized tissues, including the synthesis and breakdown of small and complex molecules, many of which are necessary for normal vital functions.

Medical terms related to the liver often start in hepato- or hepatic from the Greek word for liver, hēpar (ήπαρ).

For more information about Liver, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.