Advanced Chemistry: FINAL BONUS

These seven passages have reported on Biochemistry issues and health. Pick one of them and describe the biochemistry and then what you think about this. Be sure to include all structures that you feel are pertinent to your explanation. I would expect at no less than two pages and no more than four.

Fatty Fish Cuts Risk Of Death From Heart Attack In Elderly

Fish is thought to protect against death from heart attack because it contains good fats called omega-3 (or n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). “Fatty fish are more abundant in omega-3 fatty acids, while fried fish are typically lean fish without significant omega-3 fatty acids. Because these omega-3 fatty acids may protect against dying from a heart attack, eating fatty fish may be of greater benefit than eating fried fish,” says Mozaffarian.

The researchers found that individuals with a higher intake of fatty fish had higher plasma levels of omega-3 PUFAs. There was no correlation between intake of fried fish and plasma levels of omega-3 PUFAs. Many deaths from heart disease are due to cardiac arrhythmias, or heart rhythm disturbances, and omega-3 fatty acids may reduce the risk of arrhythmias, he says.

Please Pass The Disease Prevention

These days we expect food to protect us from disease as well as chase away hunger, says Bruce Watkins, a Purdue University professor of food science.

"In the future, foods may be matched to an individual's risk for chronic disease. This is how food and agriculture are going to develop as we move into the next century," he says. "We'll be creating foods that are better for people. We'll be going back and looking at more food components that are not classical nutrients, but that seem to be health protectants."

Watkins is the director of Enhancing Foods to Protect Health, a new center at Purdue where scientists find and create new and healthier foods for us and for domestic animals. They're working to bring "nutraceuticals," "phytochemicals," "functional foods" and "designer foods" to your table.

"Strikingly Similar" Protein May Be In Alzheimer's And Mad Cow Disease

A "striking similarity" between proteins involved in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease and mad cow disease was described here today at the 220th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society. The theory, if verified by other researchers, could help focus efforts to develop preventive drugs, according to the study's lead researcher, Chi Ming Yang, Ph.D., a professor of chemistry at Nankai University in Tianjin, China.

Prion diseases — which include, among others, neurodegenerative diseases such as mad cow disease and its human counterpart, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease — are caused by a malfunctioning prion protein. In Alzheimer's disease, another neurodegenerative disease, the amyloid precursor protein has been implicated.

Using computer modeling, Yang discovered a similar pattern of amino acids in the prion protein and the amyloid precursor protein: a reductive amino acid followed by three non-reductive amino acids.

All Fats Are Not Created Equal: Some Fats May Protect The Heart

Limiting the amount of saturated fat, such as butter or animal fat, in your diet is a good idea. Now the American Heart Association is recommending that you replace some of that saturated fat with monounsaturated or polyunsatured fat. Monounsaturated fat is abundant in olive and canola oil. Polyunsaturated fats are found in corn or soybean oil.

Reporting in today's issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association Penny M. Kris-Etherton, Ph.D., R.D., the author of the statement and a member of the American Heart Association Nutrition Committee, says, "Previous studies have associated a Mediterranean-style diet with a lower risk of heart disease. These diets are rich in monounsaturated fats, primarily olive oil," says Kris-Etherton.

University Of Iowa Researchers Find That A Simple Sugar May Prevent Lung Infections In CF Patients

The lungs contain substances that kill inhaled and aspirated bacteria, thereby preventing lung infections. This system may be disrupted in people with cystic fibrosis (CF). University of Iowa researchers have discovered that a simple sugar may enhance the natural defense system and potentially help delay or prevent the onset of deadly bacterial infections in CF lungs. CF is the most common fatal inherited disease in Caucasians of Northern European descent and has no cure.

The UI team, led by Joseph Zabner, M.D., associate professor of internal medicine, report in the October 10 issue of the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that a sugar, xylitol, lowers the salt concentration of the liquid that covers cells lining the inside of the lungs, thereby enhancing the bacteria-killing activity of the body's natural antibiotics.

Novel Neurotransmitter Overturns Laws Of Biology, Offers Potential For Stroke Treatment

" this...could put researchers on the royal road to stroke treatment."

Johns Hopkins scientists have identified a new and unusual nerve transmitter in the brain, one that overturns certain long-cherished laws about how nerve cells behave.

Reporting in the current Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team led by neuroscientist Solomon H. Snyder, M.D., has also pinpointed the neurotransmitter's source -- itself a biologically unusual enzyme -- whose novelty as a drug target "could put researchers on a royal road to stroke treatment."

The neurotransmitter is an amino acid called D-serine. It's odd, Snyder says, because it differs in structure from any known molecule in its class found in mammals and other higher animals. D-serine is what chemists call a right handed amino acid. Normally, amino acids have atoms that extend from the left side of the molecule. These L-amino acids, as they're called, are the rule in vertebrates, whose biochemistry is set up to deal with these forms.

Some primitive organisms, however, notably bacteria, have a mixture of both L-amino acids and their mirror images called D-amino acids. But to find a D-amino acid in humans, Snyder says, "is unprecedented;" it's the equivalent of finding a Pterodactyl in your local pet shop.

Moreover, unlike dopamine, serotonin or other traditional nerve transmitters, D-serine isn't secreted at nerve cell endings in the brain. Instead, it comes from adjacent cells called astrocytes, which enclose nerve cells in the brain's gray matter like a glove.

The current study adds conclusive evidence to the idea that D-serine -- released from astrocytes -- activates receptors on key nerve cells in the brain. Activating these receptors, called NMDA receptors, has long been linked with learning, memory and higher thought. NMDA receptors are also known culprits in stroke damage in the brain, and have become a focus for anti-stroke research.

Testosterone Is Mixed Blessing To Men's Health

Higher levels of testosterone can have significant health benefits for some middle-aged men, according to a Penn State study.

"Men with higher testosterone are less vulnerable to high blood pressure, heart attacks, frequent colds and obesity," says Dr. Alan Booth, professor of sociology and human development. "In addition, they are more likely to rate their health as excellent or good rather than fair or poor. Studies show self ratings of health correlate highly with physicians' assessments.

"The benefits of higher testosterone levels have a down side, however," Booth notes. "Some, but not all, men with higher levels of testosterone are more likely to engage in behavior that cancels out the beneficial effects of testosterone."

Those with higher levels of testosterone are more inclined to smoke, drink alcohol excessively and indulge in risky behavior that leads to injury. The biggest detriment to health by far is the tendency for high testosterone men to smoke.

Molecular Basis of Receptor/G-Protein-Coupling Selectivity

Molecular cloning studies have shown that G-protein-coupled receptors form one of the largest protein families found in nature, and it is estimated that approximately 1000 different such receptors exist in mammals. Characteristically, when activated by the appropriate ligand, an individual receptor can recognize and activate only a limited set of the many structurally closely related heterotrimeric G-proteins expressed within a cell. To understand how this selectivity is achieved at a molecular level has become the focus of an ever increasing number of laboratories. This review provides an overview of recent structural, molecular genetic, biochemical, and biophysical studies that have led to novel insights into the molecular mechanisms governing receptor-mediated G-protein activation and receptor/G-protein coupling selectivity.