Synopsis: Chemistry & chemical compounds:


ScienceDaily_2013 10155.txt

or attributable to human-made greenhouse gases. Reconstructions of ENSO behavior are usually missing adequate records for the tropics where ENSO develops.

Like greenhouse gases volcanic aerosols perturb the Earth's radiation balance. This supports the idea that the unusually high ENSO activity in the late 20th century is a footprint of global warming explains lead author Jinbao Li.

and Roger Revelle Professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography University of California at San diego. This suggests that many models underestimate the sensitivity to radiative perturbations in greenhouse gases.


ScienceDaily_2013 10182.txt

#Scientists view protein origami to help understand, prevent certain diseasesscientists using sophisticated imaging techniques have observed a molecular protein folding process that may help medical researchers understand

and treat diseases such as Alzheimer's Lou Gehrig's and cancer. The study reported this month in the journal Cell verifies a process that scientists knew existed

Rye explained that individual amino acids get linked together like beads on a string as a protein is made in the cell.

but in a living cell the process is complicated by the presence of many proteins in a concentrated environment.

The constraints on getting that protein to fold up into a good'origami'structure are a lot more demanding he said.

So there are special protein machines known as molecular chaperones in the cell that help proteins fold.

But how the molecular chaperones help protein fold when it isn't folding well by itself has been the nagging question for researchers.

and just sort of buzz along inside a cell driving a protein folding reaction every few seconds Rye said.

The many chemical reactions that are essential to life rely on the exact three-dimensional shape of folded proteins he said.

In the cell enzymes for example are specialized proteins that help speed biological processes along by binding molecules and bringing them together in just the right way.

And the proteins--those little beads on the string that are designed to fold up like origami--are folded to position all these beads in three-dimensional space to perfectly wrap around those molecules

and do those chemical reactions. If that doesn't happen --if the protein doesn't get folded up right--the chemical reaction can't be done.

And if it's essential the cell dies because it can't convert food into power needed to build the other structures in the cell that are needed.

Chemical reactions are the structural underpinning of how cells are put together and all of that depends on the proteins being folded in the right way.

When a protein doesn't fold or folds incorrectly it turns into an aggregate which Rye described as white goo that looks kind of like a mayonnaise like crud in the test tube.

You're dead; the cell dies he said. Over the past 20 years he said researchers have linked that aggregation process pretty convincingly to the development of diseases--Alzheimer's disease Lou gehrig's disease Huntington's disease to name a few.

and cancer also are linked to protein folding disorders. One of the main roles for the molecular chaperones is preventing those protein misfolding events that lead to aggregation

and not letting a cell get poisoned by badly folded or aggregated proteins he said.

Rye's team focused on a key molecular chaperone--the HSP60. They're called HSP for'heat shock protein

'because when the cell is stressed with heat the proteins get unstable and start to fall apart

This particular chaperone takes unfolded protein and goes through a chemical reaction to bind the unfolded protein

and literally puts it inside a little'box'Rye said. He added that the mystery had long been how the folding worked

The HSP60 chaperone is designed to recognize proteins that are folded not from the ones that are.

and parts of the molecule moved to peel the chaperone box away from the bound protein--or gift in the box.

But the bound protein was kept inside the package where it could then initiate a folding reaction.

and grabbing hold of the substrate protein and helping hold it inside the cavity. The first thing we saw was a large amount of an unfolded protein inside of this cavity he said.

Even though we knew from lots and lots of other studies that it had to go in there nobody had seen ever it like this before.

We can also see the nonnative protein interacting with parts of the box that no one had seen ever before.

I think we got a glimpse of a protein in the process of folding which we actually can compare to other structures.

when we need to like for a patient who has one of the protein folding diseases he said.


ScienceDaily_2013 10184.txt

#Scientists view protein origami to help understand, prevent certain diseasesscientists using sophisticated imaging techniques have observed a molecular protein folding process that may help medical researchers understand

and treat diseases such as Alzheimer's Lou Gehrig's and cancer. The study reported this month in the journal Cell verifies a process that scientists knew existed

Rye explained that individual amino acids get linked together like beads on a string as a protein is made in the cell.

but in a living cell the process is complicated by the presence of many proteins in a concentrated environment.

The constraints on getting that protein to fold up into a good'origami'structure are a lot more demanding he said.

So there are special protein machines known as molecular chaperones in the cell that help proteins fold.

But how the molecular chaperones help protein fold when it isn't folding well by itself has been the nagging question for researchers.

and just sort of buzz along inside a cell driving a protein folding reaction every few seconds Rye said.

The many chemical reactions that are essential to life rely on the exact three-dimensional shape of folded proteins he said.

In the cell enzymes for example are specialized proteins that help speed biological processes along by binding molecules and bringing them together in just the right way.

And the proteins--those little beads on the string that are designed to fold up like origami--are folded to position all these beads in three-dimensional space to perfectly wrap around those molecules

and do those chemical reactions. If that doesn't happen --if the protein doesn't get folded up right--the chemical reaction can't be done.

And if it's essential the cell dies because it can't convert food into power needed to build the other structures in the cell that are needed.

Chemical reactions are the structural underpinning of how cells are put together and all of that depends on the proteins being folded in the right way.

When a protein doesn't fold or folds incorrectly it turns into an aggregate which Rye described as white goo that looks kind of like a mayonnaise like crud in the test tube.

You're dead; the cell dies he said. Over the past 20 years he said researchers have linked that aggregation process pretty convincingly to the development of diseases--Alzheimer's disease Lou gehrig's disease Huntington's disease to name a few.

and cancer also are linked to protein folding disorders. One of the main roles for the molecular chaperones is preventing those protein misfolding events that lead to aggregation

and not letting a cell get poisoned by badly folded or aggregated proteins he said.

Rye's team focused on a key molecular chaperone--the HSP60. They're called HSP for'heat shock protein

'because when the cell is stressed with heat the proteins get unstable and start to fall apart

This particular chaperone takes unfolded protein and goes through a chemical reaction to bind the unfolded protein

and literally puts it inside a little'box'Rye said. He added that the mystery had long been how the folding worked

The HSP60 chaperone is designed to recognize proteins that are folded not from the ones that are.

and parts of the molecule moved to peel the chaperone box away from the bound protein--or gift in the box.

But the bound protein was kept inside the package where it could then initiate a folding reaction.

and grabbing hold of the substrate protein and helping hold it inside the cavity. The first thing we saw was a large amount of an unfolded protein inside of this cavity he said.

Even though we knew from lots and lots of other studies that it had to go in there nobody had seen ever it like this before.

We can also see the nonnative protein interacting with parts of the box that no one had seen ever before.

I think we got a glimpse of a protein in the process of folding which we actually can compare to other structures.

when we need to like for a patient who has one of the protein folding diseases he said.


ScienceDaily_2013 10190.txt

If trees do fail to regenerate it could further reduce ecosystem carbon storage and amplify the greenhouse effect the study said.


ScienceDaily_2013 10223.txt

the chemical is derived from an African chrysanthemumand acts by blocking chemical signals at nerve junctions in insects.

Coverage required only about three-quarters of an ounce or less of the chemical per acre.


ScienceDaily_2013 10237.txt

what proteins are transferred by the fungus into the wheat plants and recognized by the protein encoded by the Sr35 gene.

This will help researchers to better understand the molecular mechanisms behind infection and develop new approaches for controlling this devastating pathogen.

Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Kansas State university. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.


ScienceDaily_2013 10282.txt

and multiple compounds are used to target any and all threats to the crop including compounds illegal in the U s. she says.

While some fishers have died from either directly consuming flavored rodenticides or by consuming prey that had ingested recently the poisons exposure may also predispose animals to dying from other causes.


ScienceDaily_2013 10283.txt

and multiple compounds are used to target any and all threats to the crop including compounds illegal in the U s. she says.

While some fishers have died from either directly consuming flavored rodenticides or by consuming prey that had ingested recently the poisons exposure may also predispose animals to dying from other causes.


ScienceDaily_2013 10341.txt

21 percent of homes account for 50 percent of greenhouse gas emissionsenergy conservation in a small number of households could go a long way to reducing greenhouse gas emissions scientists are reporting.

and to satisfy their mobility needs accounts for more than 70 percent of emissions of carbon dioxide the main greenhouse gas involved in global climate change.

and land-based mobility at the household level impacts greenhouse gas emissions. Their study of more than 3000 households in a Swiss town found that only 21 percent of the households accounted for almost 50 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.

The biggest factors contributing to a few families having a disproportionately large environmental footprint were large living spaces

The above story is provided based on materials by American Chemical Society. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.


ScienceDaily_2013 10353.txt

A new study in ACS'Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry has found that the much-despised weed actually produces its own herbicides that kill nearby plants.

Kong's team isolated three chemicals from crabgrass that affect the microbial communities in nearby soil

The chemical-specific changes in the soil microbial community generated a negative feedback on crop growth the scientists said noting that the chemicals also would have a direct toxic effect on other plants.

The above story is provided based on materials by American Chemical Society. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.


ScienceDaily_2013 10440.txt

In a 2012 study Seufferheld Spencer and their colleagues reported that rotation-resistant rootworm beetles were better able than their nonresistant counterparts to tolerate the defensive chemicals produced in soybeans leaves.


ScienceDaily_2013 10468.txt

or given fat balls enriched with Vitamin e--a vitamin commonly present in bird food such as nuts and seeds.


ScienceDaily_2013 10528.txt

We also know that warmer grasslands have grasses with less protein and we now know that warmer grasslands have smaller grazers.

It all lines up to suggest that climate change will cause grasses to have less protein

grasses in the southern Great plains have less protein than grasses in the northern Great plains because of the warmer climate.

and weight gain for both is limited typically by protein intake. If the same reduction in weight gain applies to cattle as bison every temperature increase of one

The reduction would come from either the cost of protein supplements needed to maintain similar weight gains before climate change or from a loss of income because of reduced weights.


ScienceDaily_2013 10532.txt

Other potential risk factors tested in the study included numbers of workers farm size organic vs. conventional production the use of chemical fertilizers compost


ScienceDaily_2013 10549.txt

That study found that Arabidopsis thaliana--a widely used model organism for plant studies--begins ramping up production of insect-fighting chemicals a few hours before sunrise the time that hungry insects begin to feed.

when they would be accumulating the anti-insect chemicals but I knew that some of those chemicals were known to be valuable metabolites for human health so

I decided to try and find out whether vegetables cycle those compounds based on circadian rhythms. Arabidopsis and cabbage are related

so Braam's team began their research by attempting to entrain the clocks of cabbage in the same way they had Arabidopsis.

One of these an antioxidant called glucoraphanin or 4-MSO is known a anticancer compound that has been studied previously in broccoli and other vegetables.


ScienceDaily_2013 10551.txt

He tagged these with fluorescing proteins and found under the microscope that these transcription factors accumulated in the nuclei of the pollen tubes as they grew in the pistil.

because it is responsible for the secretion of a protein called a thionin For the thionin

Understanding this molecular back-and-forth at all the different levels and stages will be useful to either engineer the process


ScienceDaily_2013 10556.txt

#Farming carbon: Study reveals potent carbon-storage potential of human-made wetlandsafter being drained by the millions of acres to make way for agriculture wetlands are staging a small comeback these days on farms.

Some farmers restore or construct wetlands alongside their fields to trap nitrogen and phosphorus runoff and research shows these systems can also retain pesticides antibiotics and other agricultural pollutants.

and co-author Blanca Bernal report that two 15-year-old constructed marshes in Ohio accumulated soil carbon at an average annual rate of 2150 pounds per acre--or just over one ton of carbon per acre

and 26%faster than the two were adding soil carbon five years ago. And by year 15 each wetland had a soil carbon pool of more than 30000 pounds per acre an amount equaling

or exceeding the carbon stored by forests and farmlands. What this suggests Mitsch says is that researchers

and land managers shouldn't ignore restored and human-made wetlands as they look for places to store

or sequester carbon long-term. For more than a decade for example scientists have been studying the potential of no-tillage planting of pastures and other farm practices to store carbon in agricultural lands

which cover roughly one-third of Earth's land area. Yet when created wetlands are discussed in agricultural circles it's almost always in the context of water quality.

let's add carbon to the list Mitsch says. If you happen to build a wetland to remove nitrogen for example then once you have it it's probably accumulating carbon too.

In fact wetlands in agricultural landscapes may sequester carbon very quickly because high-nutrient conditions promote the growth of cattail reeds

and other wetland big boys that produce a lot of plant biomass and carbon Mitsch says. Once carbon ends up in wetland soil it can also remain there for hundreds to thousands of years because of waterlogged conditions that inhibit microbial decomposition.

And carbon is a big deal--any carbon sinks that we find we should be protecting Mitsch says.

Then we're going even further by saying: We've lost half of our wetlands in the United states

so let's not only protect the wetlands we have remaining but also build some more. At the same time he acknowledges that wetlands emit the powerful greenhouse gas (GHG) methane leading some to argue that wetlands shouldn't be created as a means to sequester carbon

and mitigate climate change. But in a new analysis that modeled carbon fluxes over 100 years from the two constructed Ohio marshes

and 19 other wetlands worldwide Mitsch Bernal and others demonstrated that most wetlands are net carbon sinks even

when methane emissions are factored in. And among the best sinks were the wetlands in Ohio possibly due to flow-through conditions that promoted rapid carbon storage

while minimizing methane losses the authors hypothesize. The concerns about methane emissions and even his own promising findings point to something else Mitsch cautions:

And now we're seeing that they're very important for retaining carbon. So they're multidimensional systems


ScienceDaily_2013 10570.txt

which have the extraordinary ability to feed on some poisonous plants the chemicals contained in which would definitely kill other insects.


ScienceDaily_2013 10572.txt

which concludes that more than half of expectant mothers routinely use these chemical compounds. Spanish researchers have described the use of domestic pesticides during pregnancy and the first year of life in nearly 2500 women and children in Sabadell Guipã zcoa and various areas of Asturias and the Valencian Community.

These other measures included cockroach traps powder insecticide and chemical methods such as wave devices. Only 1%of women used insect repellents during pregnancy. 10%of pregnant women used outdoor insecticides such as in gardens or vegetable plots and yards with plants:


ScienceDaily_2013 10613.txt

Was it because the animals got fat from eating too much or was it something else?

and protein but the sources were said different Kavanagh. The high-fructose group's diet was made from flour butter pork fat eggs and fructose (the main ingredient in corn syrup) similar to

while the control group's diet was made from healthy complex carbohydrates and soy protein. Every week the research team weighed both groups

because most doctors and scientists have thought that it was the fat in and around tissues in the body that caused the health problems.


ScienceDaily_2013 10629.txt

have confirmed in a study published in ACS'Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Joyce Irene Boye and colleagues point out that at least 3 million people in the United states alone have CD.

and other grains that contain gluten-related proteins. Boye's team sought to expand dietary options for CD

Boye also noted that canary seeds have more protein than other common cereals are rich in other nutrients

The above story is provided based on materials by American Chemical Society. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.


ScienceDaily_2013 10664.txt

Previous approaches assumed chemical reactions for wax degradation whereas the present study reveals physical reasons. The deposition of hygroscopic salts is capable of decreasing the drought tolerance of trees co-author Shyam Pariyar says.

Conceivable aggravation of forest decline by climate changea new type of electron microscope enabled the observation of particle deliquescence and dynamics under changing air humidity.

Particularly because air concentrations of hygroscopic particles have increased largely within the last decades says Dr. Burkhardt.


ScienceDaily_2013 10742.txt

study showsa new study shows that the predator-prey relationship can affect the flow of carbon through an ecosystem.

This previously unmeasured influence on the environment may offer a new way of looking at biodiversity management and carbon storage for climate change.

and spiders--herbivores and predators in the study's food chain--and how it affects the movement of carbon through a grassland ecosystem.

Carbon the basic building block of all organic tissue moves through the food chain at varying speeds depending on

The researchers manipulated the food chains of grassland ecosystem to see how the levels of carbon would change over time.

which allowed the team to track the carbon levels by periodically taking leaf root and dead animal samples.

The study found that the presence of spiders drove up the rate of carbon uptake by the plants by about 1. 4 times more than

It was revealed also that the pattern of carbon storage in the plants changed when both herbivores and carnivores were present.

At the same time the grasses stored more carbon in their roots in a response to being disturbed at low levels

In cases where only herbivores were present the plants stored less carbon overall likely due to the more intense eating habits of the herbivores that put pressure on plants to reduce their storage

and breathe out carbon more. These stress impacts then caused both the plants and the herbivores to change their behaviors and change the composition of their local environment.

-and-prey dynamics that drive the carbon cycle and so protecting lands and storing carbon could be linked at the same time.

It's going to force some thinking about the vital roles of animals in regulating carbon concludes Dr. Schmitz pointing to the fact that the UN's body of scientific experts who study climate change don't consider these multiplier effects in their models.


ScienceDaily_2013 10749.txt

To be able to assess the ecological impact of such chemical substances properly existing concepts need to be validated by investigations in real environments as soon as possible.


ScienceDaily_2013 10778.txt

#Prenatal exposure to BPA affects fat tissues in sheepnew research suggests that fetal exposure to the common environmental chemical bisphenol A

or BPA causes increased inflammation in fat tissues after birth which can lead to obesity and metabolic syndrome.

These biomarkers were CD68 a marker for inflammatory cells and adiponectin a molecule with a known role in the development of metabolic syndrome.

and CD68 expression was raised in the visceral fat of both obese groups and CD68 expression also was raised in the subcutaneous fat in normal weight BPA-exposed female offspring Veiga-Lopez reported.

She said these results suggest that prenatal BPA exposure and postnatal diet may interact to modulate inflammatory mechanisms in fat deposits.


ScienceDaily_2013 10845.txt

In a symbiotic relationship L. gongylophorous provides food for the leaf-cutter ant Atta cephalotes by developing fruiting bodies rich in fats amino acids and other nutrients.

which comes in the form of long cellulose molecules packed inside the leaf clippings the ants deliver.

In addition to providing nitrogen and key vitamins the bacteria appear to help the fungus access energy-rich cellulose by breaking apart other plant polymers that encase it such as hemicellulose.


ScienceDaily_2013 10885.txt

#Unzipped nanotubes unlock potential for batteriesresearchers at Rice university have come up with a new way to boost the efficiency of the ubiquitous lithium ion (LI) battery by employing ribbons of graphene that start as carbon nanotubes.

Proof-of-concept anodes--the part of the battery that stores lithium ions--built with graphene nanoribbons (GNRS)

The research appeared this week in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Nano. Better batteries are desired greatly by everyone who carries a cellphone or computer or drives an electric car.

In the new experiments the Rice lab mixed graphene nanoribbons and tin oxide particles about 10 nanometers wide in a slurry with a cellulose gum binder and a bit of water spread it on a current collector

GNRS are a single atom thick and thousands of times longer than they are wide.

but also help deliver lithium ions to the nanoparticles. Lab tests showed initial charge capacities of more than 1520 milliamp hours per gram (mah/g). Over repeated charge-discharge cycles the material settled into a solid 825 mah/g. It took about two months to go through 50

Lithium ions tend to expand the material they inhabit and the material contracts when they're pulled away.

and lose their ability to store ions. Other labs at Rice have made breakthroughs that help solve the expansion problem by breaking treated silicon into a powder achieving great capacity and many cycles.

Since the tin oxide particles are only a few nanometers in size and permitted to remain that way by being dispersed on GNR surfaces the volume changes in the nanoparticles are not dramatic.

Tour is the T. T. and W. F. Chao Chair in Chemistry as well as a professor of mechanical engineering and materials science and of computer science at Rice.


ScienceDaily_2013 11046.txt

what we're doing here in the Arctic into perspective said Miller principal investigator of the Carbon in Arctic Reservoirs Vulnerability Experiment (CARVE) a five-year NASA-led field campaign studying how climate change is affecting the Arctic's carbon cycle.

The team is measuring emissions of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane from thawing permafrost--signals that may hold a key to Earth's climate future.

and animals from decomposing so each year another layer gets added to the reservoirs of organic carbon sequestered just beneath the topsoil.

Over hundreds of millennia Arctic permafrost soils have accumulated vast stores of organic carbon--an estimated 1400 to 1850 petagrams of it (a petagram is 2. 2 trillion pounds or 1 billion metric tons.

That's about half of all the estimated organic carbon stored in Earth's soils. In comparison about 350 petagrams of carbon have been emitted from all fossil-fuel combustion and human activities since 1850.

Most of this carbon is located in thaw-vulnerable topsoils within 10 feet (3 meters) of the surface.

But as scientists are learning permafrost --and its stored carbon--may not be as permanent as its name implies.

And that has concerned them. Permafrost soils are warming even faster than Arctic air temperatures--as much as 2. 7 to 4. 5 degrees Fahrenheit (1. 5 to 2. 5 degrees Celsius) in just the past 30 years

As heat from Earth's surface penetrates into permafrost it threatens to mobilize these organic carbon reservoirs

and release them into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide and methane upsetting the Arctic's carbon balance and greatly exacerbating global warming.

Scientists want to know how much permafrost carbon may be vulnerable to release as Earth's climate warms

and thawing permafrost are having on Arctic carbon emissions. CARVE is testing hypotheses that Arctic carbon reservoirs are vulnerable to climate warming

while delivering the first direct measurements and detailed regional maps of Arctic carbon dioxide and methane sources and demonstrating new remote sensing and modeling capabilities.

and accurate climate models to know with confidence how the balance of carbon among living things will respond to climate change

CARVE shows you need to fly very close to the surface in the Arctic to capture the interesting exchanges of carbon taking place between Earth's surface

Onboard the plane sophisticated instruments sniff the atmosphere for greenhouse gases. They include a very sensitive spectrometer that analyzes sunlight reflected from Earth's surface to measure atmospheric carbon dioxide methane and carbon monoxide.

This instrument is an airborne simulator for NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) mission to be launched in 2014.

Other instruments analyze air samples from outside the plane for the same chemicals. Aircraft navigation data and basic weather data are collected also.

and Alpine Research Stable Isotope Laboratory and Radiocarbon Laboratory in Boulder for analyses to determine the carbon's sources

Historically the cold wet soils of Arctic ecosystems have stored more carbon than they have released. If climate change causes the Arctic to get warmer and drier scientists expect most of the carbon to be released as carbon dioxide.

If it gets warmer and wetter most will be in the form of methane. The distinction is critical.

Molecule per molecule methane is 22 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide on a 100-year timescale and 105 times more potent on a 20-year timescale.

If just one percent of the permafrost carbon released over a short time period is methane it will have the same greenhouse impact as the 99 percent that is released as carbon dioxide.

and whether high northern latitude regions generate or store carbon. CARVE is also studying wildfire impacts on the Arctic's carbon cycle.

Fires in boreal forests or tundra accelerate the thawing of permafrost and carbon release. Detailed fire observation records since 1942 show the average annual number of Alaska wildfires has increased

CARVE's simultaneous measurements of greenhouse gases will help quantify how much carbon is released to the atmosphere from fires in Alaska--a crucial and uncertain element of its carbon budget.


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