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News tagged with molecules

Insight into the dazzling impact of insulin in cells

Australian scientists have charted the path of insulin action in cells in precise detail like never before. This provides a comprehensive blueprint for understanding what goes wrong in diabetes.

Medical research created May 21, 2013 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (8) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists identify molecular trigger for Alzheimer's disease

Researchers have pinpointed a catalytic trigger for the onset of Alzheimer's disease – when the fundamental structure of a protein molecule changes to cause a chain reaction that leads to the death of neurons ...

Alzheimer's disease & dementia created May 20, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New tumour-killer shows great promise in suppressing cancers

Scientists from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Lund University, Sweden, have bioengineered a novel molecule which has been proven to successfully kill tumour cells.

Cancer created May 21, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

A cautionary tale on genome-sequencing diagnostics for rare diseases

Children born with rare, inherited conditions known as Congenital Disorders of Glycosylation, or CDG, have mutations in one of the many enzymes the body uses to decorate its proteins and cells with sugars. Properly diagnosing ...

Genetics created May 10, 2013 | popularity 3 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

A new 'on' signal for inflammation

(Medical Xpress)—Inflammation is an important response in the body - it helps you to kill off invaders such bacteria that could cause a harmful infection. But if it's chronic or uncontrolled, inflammation can also cause ...

Inflammatory disorders created May 14, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Cells must use their brakes moderately for effective speed control

How cells regulate their own function by "accelerating and braking" is important basic knowledge when new intelligent medicines are being developed, or when plant cells are tweaked to produce more bioenergy. In a study published ...

Medical research created May 15, 2013 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Making a window for drug delivery in the blood-brain barrier

(Medical Xpress)—The blood-brain barrier (BBB) prevents most large or hydrophilic (polar) molecules from getting into the brain. For many neurological diseases, like Parkinson's, the presence of the BBB ...

Medical research created Apr 30, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast report

Effective vaccination against borreliosis possible

"Borreliosis" or "Lyme disease" is caused by the bacterium "Borrelia burgdorferi". In Austria approximately 16,000 people fall ill with borreliosis annually following a tick bite. Roughly every fifth tick in Austria carries ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created May 14, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Heroin vaccine blocks relapse in preclinical study

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have reported successful preclinical tests of a new vaccine against heroin. The vaccine targets heroin and its psychoactive breakdown products in the bloodstream, preventing ...

Medical research created May 06, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers identify critical link in mammalian odor detection

Researchers at the Monell Center and collaborators have identified a protein that is critical to the ability of mammals to smell. Mice engineered to be lacking the Ggamma13 protein in their olfactory receptors were functionally ...

Neuroscience created May 06, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Cocaine vaccine passes key testing hurdle

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College have successfully tested their novel anti-cocaine vaccine in primates, bringing them closer to launching human clinical trials. Their study, published online by the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, used a ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 10, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Green tea extract interferes with the formation of amyloid plaques in Alzheimer's disease

(Medical Xpress)—Researchers at the University of Michigan have found a new potential benefit of a molecule in green tea: preventing the misfolding of specific proteins in the brain.

Alzheimer's disease & dementia created Mar 05, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (10) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Gene mutation as cause of breast and ovarian cancer

A change to the so-called TERT gene considerably increases the risk of breast and ovarian cancer. This is the result of a current, multicenter study in which the University Department of Gynaecology and the ...

Cancer created May 10, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Team finds dissimilar proteins evolved similar 7-part shape

Solving the structure of a critical human molecule involved in cancer, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found what they call a good example of structural conservation—dissimilar ...

Medical research created May 01, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Are human genes patentable?

(Medical Xpress)—On April 15, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, a case that could answer the question, "Under what conditions, if any, ...

Genetics created Apr 11, 2013 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (6) | comments 16 | with audio podcast

Molecule

A molecule is defined as a sufficiently stable, electrically neutral group of at least two atoms in a definite arrangement held together by very strong (covalent) chemical bonds. Molecules are distinguished from polyatomic ions in this strict sense. In organic chemistry and biochemistry, the term molecule is used less strictly and also is applied to charged organic molecules and biomolecules.

In the kinetic theory of gases the term molecule is often used for any gaseous particle regardless of its composition. According to this definition noble gas atoms are considered molecules despite the fact that they are composed of a single non-bonded atom.

A molecule may consist of atoms of a single chemical element, as with oxygen (O2), or of different elements, as with water (H2O). Atoms and complexes connected by non-covalent bonds such as hydrogen bonds or ionic bonds are generally not considered single molecules.

No typical molecule can be defined for ionic crystals (salts) and covalent crystals (network solids), although these are often composed of repeating unit cells that extend either in a plane (such as in graphene) or three-dimensionally (such as in diamond or sodium chloride). The theme of repeated unit-cellular-structure also holds for most condensed phases with metallic bonding. In glasses (solids that exist in a vitreous disordered state), atoms may also be held together by chemical bonds without any definable molecule, but also without any of the regularity of repeating units that characterises crystals.

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

Related topics: cells , protein , atoms , cancer cells , cancer