Culture
A new study by Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers of adults hospitalized for the eating disorder anorexia nervosa has strengthened the case for promoting rapid weight gain as part of overall efforts for a comprehensive treatment plan. The study findings, after analyzing data regarding 149 adult inpatients with anorexia nervosa in the Johns Hopkins Eating Disorders Program, stand in contrast to long held beliefs that patients would not tolerate a faster weight gain plan because it would be too traumatic.
A team of Johns Hopkins University researchers has developed a new software that could revolutionize how DNA is sequenced, making it far faster and less expensive to map anything from yeast genomes to cancer genes.
As medical research progresses, traditional treatment protocols are being rapidly exhausted. New approaches to treat diseases that do not respond to conventional drugs are the need of the hour. In search for these approaches, science has turned to a wide range of potential answers, including artificial nucleic acids. Artificial or xeno nucleic acids are similar to naturally occurring nucleic acids (think DNA and RNA) -- but are produced entirely in the laboratory.
New Curtin University research has found southern Australian long-finned pilot whales are able to mimic the calls of its natural predator and food rival - the killer whale, as a possible ploy to outsmart it.
The study is the first published research analysing the calls of long-finned pilot whales in the Southern Hemisphere, which were recorded in the Great Australian Bight, off WA and SA, between 2013 and 2017.
A team of scientists from Hokkaido University has suggested that marimo maintain their characteristic spherical shape due to the rarity of the formation of reproductive cells.
The Bolson tortoise (Bolson Gopherus flavomarginatus) is the largest land reptile in North America. It lives mainly in dry areas, in particular, in the Chihuahua desert in northern Mexico. In recent decades, its numbers have fallen by 50%, driving the International Union for Conservation of Nature to include it on its red list and it has been classified as endangered. Land tortoises are prone to suffering from a wide range of diseases that can deplete their numbers even more, therefore understanding potential pathogenic organisms could help in advancing conservation strategies.
A study by University of Tartu researchers indicates that the sensitivity of tests used to detect viral antibodies in a blood sample may differ significantly. The combination of several tests may give the best result.
At the onset of COVID-19 symptoms, first, the nasopharyngeal swab is taken to verify the presence of the virus. But if the aim is to determine whether an asymptomatic person has been in contact with the virus or, vice versa, to know which acute disease the person recently suffered from, a test detecting antibodies in a blood sample comes helpful.
Although the DNA and its double-helix are one of the most familiar molecules of our time, our knowledge of how cells control what genes they want to express still is rather limited. In order to create, for example, an enzyme, the information that's inscribed in our DNA about this enzyme needs to be transcribed and translated. To start this highly complex process special regulatory proteins called transcription factors (TFs) bind to specific DNA regions. That way, they can turn the expression of a gene on and off.
Announcing a new publication for BIO Integration journal. In this article the authors Meng Zhang, Wu Zhang, Zihuang Wang and Weiqian Chen from Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA and Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China review viscoelastic flow mixing in microfluidics.
Company reporting frequency should be relaxed to allow for greater innovation and longer-term thinking, according to new research from the Business School (formerly Cass).
Astronomers have taken a step towards understanding how the Moon might have formed out of a giant collision between the early Earth and another massive object 4.5 billion years ago.
Scientists led by Durham University, UK, ran supercomputer simulations on the DiRAC High-Performance Computing facility to send a Mars-sized planet - called Theia - crashing into the early Earth.
Their simulations produced an orbiting body that could potentially evolve into a Moon-like object.
Everyday life for the more than 46 million people around the world who suffer from type 1 diabetes could become much easier and safer.
Researchers from the University of Copenhagen and biotech firm Gubra have developed a new insulin molecule that, in the future, will ensure that diabetics receive just the right amount of insulin.
The insulin on the market today is unable to identify whether a patient with type 1 diabetes needs a small or large effect from the insulin, which lowers blood sugar.
Researchers from the University of Helsinki have developed a novel bioinformatics pipeline called Lazypipe for identifying viruses in host-associated or environmental samples.
The pipeline was developed in close collaboration between virologists and bioinformaticians. The researchers believe they have succeeded to address many challenges typically encountered in viral metagenomics.
Psoriasis has always been a common disease. Historically, its causes were obscure and surrounded by stigma; it wasn't until recently that scientists categorized it as an autoimmune condition. Indeed, modern scientific research shows that the body's own T-cells, macrophages and dendritic cells are responsible for attacking healthy skin tissue, triggering inflammation and proliferation of skin cells, and resulting in the characteristic red, painful plaque-like lesions experienced by psoriasis patients.
A new study suggests that COVID-19 guidance in Sweden may have reduced people's risks of having a heart attack.
By using anonymous location data from mobile phones, researchers developed an aggregate picture of the activities of the Swedish population and mapped it against attendances at the country's 29 emergency cardiac angiography units.
Cardiac angiography is used to treat blockages to the heart's blood vessels.