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Herpes simplex virus 1 has an internal pressure eight times higher than a car tire, and uses it to literally blast its DNA into human cells, according to a new study published online in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.Dr Alex Evilevitch and his colleagues provide the first experimental evidence of a high internal pressure of tens of atmospheres within Herpes simplex virus 1, resulting from the confined genome. NPC – nuclear pore complex (Bauer DW et al) The study provides the first experimental evidence of high internal pressure within a virus that infects humans – a phenomenon previously...

New compounds to fight the herpes simplex virus (HSV-1), which causes cold sores, have been made by researchers from Italy. The compounds' antiviral activity could be enhanced further by encapsulating them in a cyclodextrin nanocarrier that acts as a delivery system. Giovanni Grassi and colleagues from the University of Messina made indole-3,4-diones that share structural features with inhibitors of kinase - an enzyme linked to many diseases. The inhibitors were recently reported to prevent viral replication in vitro. 'The diones showed remarkable anti HSV-1 activity in vitro,' says Grassi. They then encapsulated the most effective dione in an amphiphilic - both hydrophilic and lipophilic - cyclodextrin....

Alzheimer's caused by cold sore virus? In a connection that sounds borderline preposterous, links have been accumulating between Alzheimer's disease and cold sores....Cold sores are caused by the herpes simplex virus type 1, a type that should not be confused with herpes symplex virus type 2 which is the cause of genital herpes. A growing body of research, suggests that the HSV-1 may also be responsible for the majority of Alzheimer's cases.... "There's clearly a very strong connection," says British researcher, Ruth Itzhaki, Ph.D., speaking one afternoon in her office at the University of Manchester, in northwestern England. A neurobiologist,...