With an estimated 500,000 human infections and 50,000 deaths annually, visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is the second most prevalent parasitic killer, behind malaria. Leishmania parasites are transmitted through the bite of phlebotomine sand flies. A study published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases makes the case that fighting the insects by treating cattle with the long-lasting insecticide, fipronil, could substantially reduce VL in areas where people and cattle live in close proximity.
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Immune memory ensures a quick and specific response to previously encountered pathogens. However, for rapidly evolving pathogens like influenza virus, there is concern that recalled ('old') antibodies dominate and compromise the response against a changed ('new') infectious strain. A study in mice published on August 18th in PLOS Pathogens reports that while influenza exposure history does influence the antibody response to a circulating flu virus, this does not appear to compromise the defense against the new strain.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- In amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, aggregates of the protein TDP-43 are almost always found in afflicted neurons and glial cells. Meanwhile, about 50 ALS-linked mutations are known to affect a particular region of TDP-43. Yet scientists have never understood how those two associations connect. A new study in the journal Structure shows how ALS mutations disrupt the protein at the atomic level, preventing it from executing its proper function and instead leading to those aggregates.
The term "healthy obesity" has gained traction over the past 15 years, but scientists have recently questioned its very existence. A study published August 18 in Cell Reports provides further evidence against the notion of a healthy obese state, revealing that white fat tissue samples from obese individuals classified as either metabolically healthy or unhealthy actually show nearly identical, abnormal changes in gene expression in response to insulin stimulation.
Heart muscle cells made from induced pluripotent stem cells faithfully mirror the expression patterns of key genes in the donor's native heart tissue, according to researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. As a result, the cells can be used as a proxy to predict whether a patient is likely to experience drug-related heart damage.
A research team from the Georgia Institute of Technology and ExxonMobil has demonstrated a new carbon-based molecular sieve membrane that could dramatically reduce the energy required to separate a class of hydrocarbon molecules known as alkyl aromatics.
By calling to their eggs, zebra finch parents may be helping their young prepare for a hotter world brought on by climate change. Uncovering such a mechanism represents a significant advance in the effort to understand how species are adapting to a warming climate. "Incubation calling," paired with the ability of embryos to hear external sounds, is just one of an array of prenatal guidance tools shared by many animal groups. However, these behaviors' relation to evolutionary and survival capacities, especially in a rapidly changing environment, are understudied - a gap that Mylene M.
Researchers including George Church have made further progress on the path to fully rewriting the genome of living bacteria. Such a recoded organism, once available, could feature functionality not seen in nature. It could also make the bacteria cultivated in pharmaceutical and other industries immune to viruses, saving billions of dollars of losses due to viral contamination.
Researchers have created a synthetic nacre remarkably similar to the natural material, which is also known as mother of pearl, though their synthetic version forms in weeks instead of months or years. Nacre is the shiny material found coating pearls and inside some mollusk shells. Its substantial strength and toughness make it an appealing material to synthesize, for various applications, yet its multifaceted and complex structure have made this process difficult.
Norovirus is the most common viral cause of diarrhea worldwide, but scientists still know little about how it infects people and causes disease. Research has been hindered by an inability to grow the virus in the lab.
Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified the protein that norovirus uses to invade cells. The discovery, in mice, provides new ways to study a virus notoriously hard to work with and may lead to treatments or a vaccine.
In middle-aged and older individuals with type 2 diabetes, intake of at least 500 mg/d of dietary long-chain ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, easily achievable with 2 weekly servings of oily fish, was associated with a decreased risk of sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy, according to a study published online by JAMA Ophthalmology.
Incidence rates of early prostate cancer have continued to drop since the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendation against routine prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing in all men, according to an article published online by JAMA Oncology.
The USPSTF recommendation was released in draft form in 2011 and in final form in 2012. A decline in early prostate cancer incidence rates from 2011 to 2012 has been previously reported.
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- MIT biological engineers have devised a way to record complex histories in the DNA of human cells, allowing them to retrieve "memories" of past events, such as inflammation, by sequencing the DNA.
This analog memory storage system -- the first that can record the duration and/or intensity of events in human cells -- could also help scientists study how cells differentiate into various tissues during embryonic development, how cells experience environmental conditions, and how they undergo genetic changes that lead to disease.
Zika virus infection in pregnant women has been linked to the development of microcephaly and other brain defects in infants. Although the virus is known to be transmitted from mother to fetus, it is not clear how it crosses the maternal-fetal barrier. In this issue of JCI Insight, Erol Fikrig and colleagues at Yale University examined Zika virus infection of different cell types of the placenta, including cytotrophoblasts, placental macrophages, and fibroblasts. Cells were isolated from placental tissue of term pregnancies and infected with Zika virus in culture.
Mammals contain two main varieties of fat: white adipose tissue (WAT), which is used to store energy, and brown adipose tissue (BAT), which is involved in the regulation of body temperature, particularly in infants. Dermal WAT (dWAT) is the layer of WAT is immediately adjacent to the dermis and is known to accumulate in response to ambient cold, hair growth, and exposure to bacteria in mice, but little is known about this tissue in humans.