News tagged with muscle function

Mechanical engineer creates robot Venus Flytrap

(PhysOrg.com) -- Mohsen Shahinpoor, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Maine has created a robot version of the infamous bug eating Venus Flytrap, using a material he invented himself ...

Electronics / Robotics

created Oct 27, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (14) | comments 1 | with audio podcast report

Scientists use silk from the tasar silkworm as a scaffold for heart tissue

(PhysOrg.com) -- Damaged human heart muscle cannot be regenerated. Scar tissue grows in place of the damaged muscle cells. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad Nauheim ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Jan 30, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Small change makes a big difference for ion channels

Using a high-resolution single-molecule study technique, University of Illinois researchers have seen the very subtle differences between two branches of an important family of neurotransmitter-gated ion channels.

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Jun 02, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Positioning enzymes with ease

Virtually all processes in the human body rely on a unique class of proteins known as enzymes. To study them, scientists want to attach these molecules to surfaces and hold them fast, but this can often be ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Apr 11, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New genetic link between cardiac arrhythmias and thyroid dysfunction identified

Genes previously known to be essential to the coordinated, rhythmic electrical activity of cardiac muscle -- a healthy heartbeat -- have now also been found to play a key role in thyroid hormone (TH) biosynthesis, according ...

Medicine & Health / Genetics

created Sep 20, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Structural defects precede functional decline in heart muscle

The disruption of a structural component in heart muscle cells, which is associated with heart failure, appears to occur even before heart function starts to decline, according to a new study by researchers ...

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Aug 30, 2010 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

The couch potato effect: Deletion of key muscle protein inhibits exercise

Daniel Kelly, M.D., and his colleagues at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) at Lake Nona have unveiled a surprising new model for studying muscle function: the couch potato mouse. While these mice ...

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Nov 30, 2010 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (6) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Gene therapy boosts recovery from heart attack

(PhysOrg.com) -- Gene therapy could be an effective way to improve survival rates among heart attack patients, new research by academics at the University of Bristol suggests.

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Apr 01, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

How muscle cells seal their membranes

Every cell is enclosed by a thin double layer of lipids that separates the distinct internal environment of the cell from the extracellular space. Damage to this lipid bilayer, also referred to as plasma membrane, ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Mar 14, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

A 'stitch in time' could help damaged hearts

A research team at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has demonstrated the feasibility of a novel technology that a surgeon could use to deliver stem cells to targeted areas of the body to repair diseased ...

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Dec 09, 2010 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Exercise has benefits, even when it's done in space

Astronauts have been taking part in short spaceflight missions since 1961. They have only recently begun to spend significantly longer times in space, with missions extending for months, since the days of the Russian Mir ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Mar 22, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Unusual protein modification involved in muscular dystrophy, cancer

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 ...

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Dec 31, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Benefit of grapes may be more than skin deep

Can a grape-enriched diet prevent the downhill sequence of heart failure after years of high blood pressure?

Medicine & Health / Health

created Apr 22, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Possible drug target for obesity treatment a no-brainer: study

Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have discovered a gene that when mutated causes obesity by dampening the body's ability to burn energy while leaving appetite unaffected.

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Feb 04, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (3) | comments 1

Peripheral artery disease harder on women

Small calf muscles may be a feminine trait, but for women with peripheral artery disease (PAD) they're a major disadvantage. Researchers at Northwestern Medicine point to the smaller calf muscles of women as a gender difference ...

Medicine & Health / Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

created Feb 04, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0