Culture
Peculiar hybrid structures called retrons that are half RNA, half single-strand DNA are found in many species of bacteria. Since their discovery around 35 years ago, researchers have learned how to use retrons for producing single strands of DNA in the lab, but no one knew what their function was in the bacteria, despite much research into the matter. In a paper published today in Cell, a Weizmann Institute of Science team reports on solving the longstanding mystery: Retrons are immune system "guards" that ensure the survival of the bacterial colony when it is infected by viruses.
Since the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) Medicaid expansion program went into effect 10 years ago, the U.S. has seen a larger reduction in the number of uninsured low-income, rural residents, compared to their urban contemporaries.
But the likelihood of repeated visits to emergency rooms for non-urgent reasons has not decreased.
That's what Washington State University's Bidisha Mandal discovered in a new paper published in the journal Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy.
Scientists at the University of Cambridge, in collaboration with Justus-Liebig University, Germany, have uncovered how the genome of SARS-CoV-2 - the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 - uses genome origami to infect and replicate successfully inside host cells. This could inform the development of effective drugs that target specific parts of the virus genome, in the fight against COVID-19.
Quick flashes of light in the night sky have been linked to the growing mass of satellites and debris zipping around Earth's orbit.
The orbital flashes, often mistaken for stars, are extremely common, occurring 1,000 times an hour, according to new research led by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that may improve the accuracy of astronomical data.
Stargazers have long been tantalized by the inexplicable glimmers and the study published Nov. 5 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters provides a potential explanation for those mysterious flashes.
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Dealing with a global pandemic has taken a toll on the mental health of millions of people. A team of MIT and Harvard University researchers has shown that they can measure those effects by analyzing the language that people use to express their anxiety online.
PITTSBURGH, Nov. 5, 2020 - Today in Science, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine describe a new method to extract tiny but extremely powerful SARS-CoV-2 antibody fragments from llamas, which could be fashioned into inhalable therapeutics with the potential to prevent and treat COVID-19.
These special llama antibodies, called "nanobodies," are much smaller than human antibodies and many times more effective at neutralizing the SARS-CoV-2 virus. They're also much more stable.
LOS ANGELES (Nov. 5, 2020) -- An enzyme that helps COVID-19 (coronavirus) infect the body also plays a role in inflammation and patient outcomes in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), according to a new study led by Cedars-Sinai.
NEW YORK, NY (Nov. 5, 2020)--Children and adults produce different types and amounts of antibodies in response to infection with the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, a new study from researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons has found.
The differences in antibodies suggest the course of the infection and immune response is distinct in children and most children easily clear the virus from their bodies.
November 5, 2020 - Studies using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), a noninvasive technique, to help veterans and active-duty service members living with depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other lasting consequences of concussion have shown promise.
Scientists have found that insulin has met an evolutionary cul-de-sac, limiting its ability to adapt to obesity and thereby rendering most people vulnerable to Type 2 diabetes.
Argonne computational resources supported the largest comprehensive analysis of COVID-19 genome sequences in the U.S. and helped corroborate growing evidence of a protein mutation.
Before COVID-19 first entered the United States in March, Houston Methodist Hospital had already begun preparations to test for and sequence the virus on a large scale, given the news coming out of Wuhan, China.
Throughout the pandemic, infectious disease experts and frontline medical workers have asked for a faster, cheaper and more reliable COVID-19 test. Now, leveraging the so-called "lab on a chip" technology and the cutting-edge genetic editing technique known as CRISPR, researchers at Stanford have created a highly automated device that can identify the presence of the novel coronavirus in just a half-hour.
Archaeologists from The Australian National University (ANU) have discovered a rare child burial dating back 8,000 years on Alor Island, Indonesia.
The one-of-its-kind burial for the region is from the early mid-Holocene and gives important insights into burial practices of the time.
Lead researcher Dr Sofia Samper Carro said the child, aged between four and eight, was laid to rest with some kind of ceremony.
"Ochre pigment was applied to the cheeks and forehead and an ochre-coloured cobble stone was placed under the child's head when they were buried," she said.
Trial participants who received a multinutrient formulation over an extended period of time showed a significantly less rapid deterioration in cognitive performance than the patients in a control group, who received only a placebo. These findings are from an ongoing European study LipiDiDiet in which 311 patients in eleven hospitals have been monitored for three years. The research results have been published in the highly ranked international journal 'Alzheimer's & Dementia. The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association' .
CABI scientists have led new research which reveals strong evidence that a natural enemy of the prolific Asian fruit fly Drosphila suzukii - previously believed to be one species - is in fact two with only one of the parasitoid proving suitable as a biological control agent against the pest.
The scientists from CABI's Swiss Centre Delémont, as well as colleagues from INRAE in France, used a combination of molecular analysis and crossing experiments to gather evidence that Ganaspis brasiliensis is a complex of at least two cryptic species.