Hepatitis C results from a viral infection of your liver that, if untreated, can result in cirrhosis or liver cancer. While it's safe to take RNA supplements if you have hepatitis C, they won't do you any good; humans have minimal capacity for...
Present in the cells of all living things, ribonucleic acid or RNA is one of three types of biological molecules that perform critical functions within each cell. The others are deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, and protein. Although RNA and DNA are...
Nucleic acids are large biomolecules, and include both DNA and RNA. DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is genetic material. RNA, or ribonucleic acid, helps the cells make proteins from DNA. Both types of nucleic acids consist of building blocks called...
Most commonly found as deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA, and ribonucleic acid or RNA, nucleic acids are found in all foods derived from living things. RNA consumption has been found beneficial to human health by the Gordon Research Institute, as RNA...
Proteins are important structural and functional biomolecules that are a major part of every cell in your body. Your cells make proteins by following the instructions encoded in your DNA, which is genetic material and a type of nucleic acid. Other...
Nucleic acids are critical to life; they form your genetic material and the structural and functional elements of cells that produce proteins from genetic material. Many people feel that because they're essential to life, you need to obtain them...
Magnesium and ribonucleic acid are both important substances that your body uses on a cellular level. However, while magnesium is a mineral that must come from an external source like food, your cells can manufacture the ribonucleic acid that they...
Protein synthesis in humans is directed by deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA. Proteins are made of building blocks called amino acids. The sequence of your DNA determines what amino acids are produced and where in the protein they appear. Protein...
All of the protein in the human body are made up of 20 subunits called amino acids. The sequence of these amino acids determines the shape, structure an function of the protein molecule. In protein synthesis, amino acids are bound together by...
Each cell in your body contains a number of biomolecules -- organic compounds that make up the structure and carry out the function of your cells. Among these molecules are nucleotides, the components your body uses to make genetic material --...
The time between the date of infection and when a test will produce a positive result is called the "window period." The testing method is one of the factors in determining what an individuals window period may be. The Human Immunodeficiency Virus...
Nucleic acids are large biomolecules that encode genetic information and help to produce functional and structural proteins from that information. They include the familiar DNA and the less familiar but related molecule, RNA. Nucleic acids are...
Nucleotides are a class of chemicals in the body with several important functions. These chemicals help form the blueprints of the cell -- DNA. DNA is transcribed, or copied, into a similar code on RNA, which is also made of nucleotides. DNA and...
Purines and pyrimidines are substances that perform several important functions in the body. Serving as a form of energy for the cells, they are essential for the production of DNA and RNA, production of proteins and starch, regulation of enzymes,...
Nucleotides are the chemical building blocks of nucleic acids, which are large biomolecules that include DNA and the related compound RNA. Your body depends on nucleic acids to provide cells with genetic information that they use to produce...
Ribose is a monosaccharide aldopentose, which means it's a single-sugar unit that has five carbon atoms as part of its chemical structure. Ribose is necessary for formation of ribonucleic acid and production of adenosine triphosphate. It's not a...
Research scientists at Harvard have discovered a novel way to protect mice against herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2). Herpes simplex virus 2, also known as genital herpes, is a co-factor for the transmission of AIDS. Protection against HSV-2 could...
Despite the bad reputation sugar receives, this compound is actually fundamental to the function of the human body. The body naturally produces ribose sugar from glucose found in the foods you eat to facilitate the production of energy. Ribose...
Nucleic acids are large biomolecules that encode genetic information and turn that information into functional proteins. They include DNA and the related RNA. You may think that you need to eat foods to obtain nucleic acids or their building...
No cure exists for HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), the virus that causes AIDS. Treatment options focus on slowing the replication of the virus. As HIV enters the body, it attacks the CD4 cells, specific type of white blood cell necessary for...
The immune system begins to produce antibodies in an attempt to fight the HIV virus as soon as the virus enters the body. HIV/AIDS tests screens for and diagnoses an infection by either detecting the antibodies, or by testing virus levels in the...
The HIV virus that causes AIDS is a retrovirus, an RNA virus that uses the cell's machinery to transcribe itself into DNA and integrate itself into the genetic material of the cell before creating more RNA viral particles to send out and infect...
Nucleic acids are large, carbon-based molecules that living organisms use to encode genetic information and produce functional and structural proteins from that genetic information. There are two types of nucleic acid: DNA and RNA. DNA, which...
DNA is a very long molecule that codes for the construction of proteins in cells, according to "Molecular Biology of the Cell," by Bruce Alberts. Proteins have many functions, such as helping chemical reactions, communication and structural...
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates more than 1.1 million Americans were living with HIV/AIDS as of 2007. Two pathogens cause the illness known as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS): HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is...
Human cells require energy to perform work. The work may include synthesizing or degrading molecules, sending or receiving chemical messages, moving parts around within the cell, moving the entire cell, replicating, or any number of other...
Infection with human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, causes AIDS, a condition in which the immune system becomes weakened, leaving patients vulnerable to life-threatening opportunistic infections. HIV is a retrovirus composed of a genome made from...
The human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, causes AIDS, a disease for which there is no cure. The virus is sexually transmitted, but is also spread during pregnancy, breastfeeding or having contact with infected blood. HIV attacks the immune...
There are many different roles that nucleic acids, which include DNA and RNA, play in the human body and in other living organisms. Scientists continue to identify new and different functions of nucleic acids on a regular basis. The most common...
Hepatitis C is an infectious disease carried in the blood and caused by the hepatitis C virus infecting the liver after blood-to-blood contact. Learn more about hepatitis C, including symptoms and treatments, in this video.
