New research from University College London, Moorfields Eye Hospital and Duke University School of Medicine has identified a gene that drives scarring, together with a rapidly translatable therapy, for the UK's most common cause of blinding conjunctivitis. The results demonstrate that the drug disulfiram, licensed for the control of alcohol abuse, normalises human and mouse scar making cell (fibroblast) functions and inhibits mouse ocular mucosal (conjunctival) scarring.
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Most respondents across all ethnic and racial groups surveyed described loss of eyesight as the worst ailment that could happen to them when ranked against other conditions including loss of limb, memory, hearing, or speech, and indicated high support for ongoing research for vision and eye health, according to a study published online by JAMA Ophthalmology.
In a study published online by JAMA Ophthalmology, Paul D. Loprinzi, Ph.D., of the University of Mississippi, University, Miss., evaluated the association of sedentary behavior (SB) with diabetic retinopathy (DR) using data from the 2005 to 2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Recent legislation is encouraging clinical trials in children, including the Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act and the Pediatric Research Equity Act. Yet clinical trials in children commonly go either uncompleted or unpublished, finds a comprehensive study conducted by researchers at Boston Children's Hospital. Results were published online August 4 by the journal Pediatrics.
Raising maggots may not sound glamorous, but that doesn't mean it's not important. In the latest issue of the Journal of Insect Science, Paola Lahuatte, a junior researcher at the Charles Darwin Foundation, and her colleagues reveal how they used chicken blood to rear the larvae of the parasitic fly Philornis downsi in the lab. This protocol may be the first to effectively rear an avian blood-feeding fly from egg to adult in the absence of its host.
Tissue injury, such as occurs in response to a lack of oxygen, promotes an influx of immune cells to the site of damage. After an ischemic injury to the heart, such as occurs after a heart attack or heart transplant, these responses are often maladaptive, resulting in decreased contractility and possible failure. Innate immune cells called neutrophils infiltrate the heart and are linked to pathogenic responses following an ischemic event; however, it is not clear how these cells are recruited to the site of damage.
Oral and genital herpes are caused by the herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and the herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), which both cause lifelong infection. HSV-2 infection is associated with increased risk for HIV infection. HSV2-infected women pose a risk of transmitting this dangerous infection to newborn babies; therefore, avoiding herpes infection during pregnancy is very important. In this issue of JCI Insight, researchers from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine report a promising vaccine strategy for immunizing against both HSV-1 and HSV-2 infections.
Most cells can divide only a limited number of times and eventually undergo permanent cell cycle arrest, a state known as cellular senescence. Cellular senescence is mediated by activation of specific cellular signaling pathways involving the proteins p19ARF and p16INK4A. Precise control of cell cycle arrest and senescence are important for a number of biological processes, including embryonic development, wound healing, and tissue regeneration. Accumulating evidence also indicates that cellular senescence contributes to tissue aging.
A video on the research can be found here https://youtu.be/w1GgnBIqnYA
(TORONTO, Canada - Aug. 4, 2016) - A research team at the Krembil Research Institute has discovered a pair of tissue biomarkers that directly contribute to the harmful joint degeneration associated with spine osteoarthritis.
Spiders living together in colonies of tens of thousands can go extinct from sharing food equitably, finds new UBC research.
"It's an unfortunate byproduct of what they have to do survive," said lead author Ruth Sharpe, a PhD student in UBC's department of zoology. "It's a puzzle because in this case, evenly splitting resources may not be beneficial to the colony."
Montmorency tart cherry juice may be a promising new recovery aid for soccer players following a game or intense practice. A new study published in Nutrients found Montmorency tart cherry juice concentrate aided recovery among eight semi-professional male soccer players following a test that simulated the physical and metabolic demands of a soccer game. The U.K.
Advanced economy nations led by Ireland, Singapore, Australia, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States have the highest per capita number of clinics engaging in direct-to-consumer marketing of stem cell therapies, according to the world's largest-ever study of such clinics.
Published today in the journal, Cell Stem Cell, the new study reveals murky marketing practices and dubious claims from 417 unique websites advertising stem cell-based therapies in what experts call an "under-regulated industry".
UBC researchers are one step closer to identifying the biological personalities of the world's greatest wines.
In a recent study, UBC researchers Dan Durall and Mansak (Ben) Tantikachornkiat developed a technique that combines a process to identify the full spectrum of DNA in yeast and bacteria samples with a technique that distinguishes between live and dead micro-organisms.
A joint University of Adelaide-Shanghai Jiao Tong University study has provided the first broad picture of the evolution and possible functions in the plant of pollen allergens.
Published in the journal Plant Physiology, the researchers believe their work may help with medical research into the reduction or prevention of allergic diseases such as asthma and allergic rhinitis (hay fever).
Ribonucleic acid (RNA) binding fluorescent probes have been powerful and important analytical tools for the study of RNA structures and functions.
A research group led by Professor Seiichi Nishizawa at Tohoku University's Graduate School of Science has reported a new RNA probe that binds to double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) in a sequence-specific manner.
A fluorescent dye, thiazole orange (TO), is added to peptide nucleic acid (PNA). The probe exhibits a remarkable light-up response upon binding to the dsRNA by triplex formation (Figure 1).