News tagged with zinc
Pills found in ancient Tuscan wreck resemble modern medicine
(Medical Xpress)—A team of Italian researchers studying the contents of a small tin found aboard the wreck of a second century B.C. cargo ship claim its contents are pills meant to cure eye or skin ailments. ...
Medications
Jan 08, 2013 |
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Scientists develop alternative to gene therapy: The technique points to safer, simpler potential HIV treatment
Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have discovered a surprisingly simple and safe method to disrupt specific genes within cells. The scientists highlighted the medical potential of the new technique by demonstrating ...
Medical research
Jul 01, 2012 |
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Zinc regulates communication between brain cells
Zinc has been found to play a critical role in regulating communication between cells in the brain, possibly governing the formation of memories and controlling the occurrence of epileptic seizures.
Neuroscience
Sep 21, 2011 |
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Prion protein hints at role in aiding learning and memory
Scientists from the University of Leeds have found that the protein called prion helps our brains to absorb zinc, which is believed to be crucial to our ability to learn and the wellbeing of our memory.
Medical research
Oct 16, 2012 |
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Lethal stings from the Australian box jellyfish could be treated with zinc
Box jellyfish of the Chironex species are among the most venomous animals in the world, capable of killing humans with their sting. Their venom, though, which kills by rapidly punching holes in human red bl ...
Medical research
Dec 12, 2012 |
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Cellular bells: Key step in manufacture of red blood cells decoded
A healthy adult must generate as many as one hundred billion new red blood cells each day, to maintain the numbers circulating in his blood. A team of EPFL researchers has identified a key step in the process by which red ...
Medical research
Mar 14, 2013 |
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Antioxidant may disrupt Alzheimer's disease process
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is now the sixth leading cause of death among Americans, affecting nearly 1 in 8 people over the age of 65. There is currently no treatment that alters the course of this disease. However, an increasing ...
Alzheimer's disease & dementia
Apr 10, 2012 |
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Anti-HIV vaginal ring can prevent virus transmission: animal study
Population Council scientists have found that a vaginal ring releasing an anti-HIV drug can prevent the transmission of SHIV in macaques. This study provides the first efficacy data on the delivery of a microbicide from a ...
HIV & AIDS
Sep 05, 2012 |
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Zinc helps against infection by tapping brakes in immune response
New research suggests that zinc helps control infections by gently tapping the brakes on the immune response in a way that prevents out-of-control inflammation that can be damaging and even deadly.
Immunology
Feb 07, 2013 |
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Researchers develop first method to accurately measure zinc in humans
(Medical Xpress) -- Zinc is an essential nutrient, but until now, there has not been an effective way to measure it in our bodies, say University of Florida researchers.
Medical research
Dec 16, 2011 |
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Pneumonia wonder drug: Zinc saves lives
Respiratory tract infections, including pneumonia, are the most common cause of death in children under the age of five. In a study looking at children given standard antibiotic therapy, new research published in BioMed Central's ...
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
Feb 08, 2012 |
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Secret Cold War tests in US city raise concerns
(AP)—Doris Spates was a baby when her father died inexplicably in 1955. She has watched four siblings die of cancer, and she survived cervical cancer.
Health
Oct 04, 2012 |
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Zinc's role in the brain: Research gives insight into 50-year-old mystery
Zinc plays a critical role in regulating how neurons communicate with one another, and could affect how memories form and how we learn. The new research, in the current issue of Neuron, was authored by Xiao-an Zhang, now a ...
Neuroscience
Oct 05, 2011 |
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Preventing diabetes damage: Zinc's effects on a kinky, two-faced cohort
In type 2 diabetes, a protein called amylin forms dense clumps that shut down insulin-producing cells, wreaking havoc on the control of blood sugar. But zinc has a knack for preventing amylin from misbehaving.
Medical research
Jun 30, 2011 |
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Zinc control could be path to breast cancer treatment
The body's control mechanisms for delivering zinc to cells could be key to improving treatment for some types of aggressive breast cancer.
Cancer
Feb 06, 2012 |
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Zinc
Zinc (pronounced /ˈzɪŋk/, from German: Zink and also known as spelter) is a metallic chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a first-row transition metal in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is chemically similar to magnesium because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2. Zinc is the 24th most abundant element in the Earth's crust and has five stable isotopes. The most exploited zinc ore is sphalerite, or zinc sulfide; the largest exploitable deposits are found in Australia, Canada and the United States. Zinc production includes froth flotation of the ore, roasting and final extraction using electricity.
Brass, which is an alloy of copper and zinc, has been used since at least the 10th century BC. Impure zinc metal was not produced in large scale until the 13th century in India, while the metal was unknown to Europe until the end of the 16th century. Alchemists burned zinc in air to form what they called "philosopher's wool" or "white snow." The element was probably named by the alchemist Paracelsus after the German word Zinke. German chemist Andreas Sigismund Marggraf is normally given credit for discovering pure metallic zinc in a 1746 experiment. Work by Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta uncovered the electrochemical properties of zinc by 1800. Corrosion-resistant zinc plating of steel is the major application for zinc. Other applications are in batteries and alloys, such as brass. A variety of zinc compounds are commonly used, such as zinc chloride (in deodorants), zinc pyrithione (anti-dandruff shampoos), zinc sulfide (in luminescent paints), and zinc methyl or zinc diethyl in the organic laboratory.
Zinc is an essential mineral of "exceptional biologic and public health importance". Zinc deficiency affects about 2 billion people in the developing world and is associated with many diseases. In children it causes growth retardation, delayed sexual maturation, infection susceptibility, and diarrhea, contributing to the death of about 800,000 children worldwide per year. Enzymes with a zinc atom in the reactive center are widespread in biochemistry, such as alcohol dehydrogenase in humans. Consumption of excess zinc can cause ataxia, lethargy and copper deficiency.
For more information about Zinc, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
