Frontpage » Tag » toxin

News tagged with toxin

Engineered spider toxin could be the future of anti-venom vaccines

New engineered spider protein could be the start of a new generation of anti-venom vaccines, potentially saving thousands of lives worldwide. The new protein, created from parts of a toxin from the reaper ...

Medications created May 09, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Nanoparticles loaded with bee venom kill HIV

(Medical Xpress)—Nanoparticles carrying a toxin found in bee venom can destroy human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) while leaving surrounding cells unharmed, researchers at Washington University School of ...

HIV & AIDS created Mar 08, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (29) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

A handful of pathogens are causing most diarrhoeal deaths and illness in children worldwide and should be targeted

New research in The Lancet reports that just four pathogens—rotavirus, Cryptosporidium, enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli producing heat-stable toxin, and Shigella—are causing most cases of moderate-to-severe diarrhoea among ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created May 13, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Agent Orange exposure linked to life-threatening prostate cancer

A new analysis has found a link between exposure to Agent Orange and lethal forms of prostate cancer among US Veterans. Published early online in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the findin ...

Cancer created May 13, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Study uses Botox to find new wrinkle in brain communication

National Institutes of Health researchers used the popular anti-wrinkle agent Botox to discover a new and important role for a group of molecules that nerve cells use to quickly send messages. This novel ...

Medical research created May 02, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Allergy misconceptions: Why hay fever may be a good sign

(Medical Xpress) -- If you're one of the millions of people coughing, sneezing, sputtering, and cursing your body's hypersensitivity to ragweed, trees, and grass this spring, researchers at Yale have what ...

Immunology created Apr 25, 2012 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (10) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

New e-cigarettes affect users' airways

(Medical Xpress) -- E-cigarettes, or electronic cigarettes, are promoted as a safer alternative to smoking. However, a new study published in the journal Chest, shows that these e-cigarettes cause immediate change ...

Health created Jan 06, 2012 | popularity 3.2 / 5 (10) | comments 18 | with audio podcast report

Scientists discover promising target to block Staphylococcus infection

National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists have identified a promising lead for developing a new type of drug to treat infection caused by Staphylococcus aureus, a bacterium that frequently resists traditional antibi ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created Feb 10, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

A new wrinkle for botox: Research reveals how botulinum toxins affect neuron survival

(Medical Xpress)—Botulinum toxins are feared as a food poison and bioterror threat, and for good reason. It takes only minute amounts of these bacterial toxins to block signals from nerve cells that control ...

Medical research created Mar 27, 2013 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (2) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Haiti cholera mutations could lead to more severe disease: Strain is evolving to be more like virulent 1800s cholera

The cholera strain that transferred to Haiti in 2010 has multiple toxin gene mutations that may account for the severity of disease and is evolving to be more like an 1800s version of cholera, reports a new Northwestern Medicine ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created Apr 16, 2013 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Genes carried by E. coli bacteria linked to colon cancer

What if a key factor ultimately behind a cancer was not a genetic defect but ecological?

Cancer created Aug 16, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Mouse models fail to reproduce inflammatory genomic response to serious injuries

Existing mouse models do not appear to accurately reproduce the human genomic response to serious traumatic injury, including major burns, according to an article appearing in PNAS Early Edition.

Inflammatory disorders created Feb 11, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New study finds individual differences in anthrax susceptibility

Susceptibility to anthrax toxin is a heritable genetic trait that may vary tremendously among individuals, according to a new study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Genetics created Feb 06, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Neurons that control overeating also drive appetite for cocaine

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have zeroed in on a set of neurons in the part of the brain that controls hunger, and found that these neurons are not only associated with overeating, but also linked to non-food associated ...

Neuroscience created Jun 24, 2012 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Scissor-like enzyme points toward treatment of infectious disease

UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report that a pathogen annually blamed for an estimated 90 million cases of food-borne illness defeats a host's immune response by using a fat-snipping enzyme to ...

Medical research created Apr 04, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Toxin

A toxin (Greek: τοξικόν, toxikon) is a poisonous substance produced by living cells or organisms. (Although technically man is a living organism, man-made substances created by artificial processes usually aren't considered toxins by this definition.)

For a toxic substance not produced by living organisms, "toxicant" is the more appropriate term, and "toxics" is an acceptable plural.

Toxins can be small molecules, peptides, or proteins that are capable of causing disease on contact with or absorption by body tissues interacting with biological macromolecules such as enzymes or cellular receptors. Toxins vary greatly in their severity, ranging from usually minor and acute (as in a bee sting) to almost immediately deadly (as in botulinum toxin).

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