Culture
LAWRENCE -- Politicians discuss the ins and outs of health care while trying to win votes, but for some Americans, policymakers do not seem to be listening. University of Kansas researchers have published a study about perspectives of individuals with disabilities on health care policy, and respondents overwhelmingly stated access to health care is vital and they would like policymakers to pay more attention to their needs.
Low muscle quality and quantity are both predictive of poor outcomes in colon resection surgery, according to a new study published in JAMA Surgery.
Boston - Results from a new study led by Boston Medical Center (BMC) demonstrate the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Hispanic groups within the US, with the most severe outcomes, including death and intensive care, among Hispanic Black individuals. Analyzing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, researchers found differences between Hispanic groups, with higher rates of hospitalization and increased risk of death for Hispanic Black compared to Hispanic multiracial individuals.
Acute liver failure is a devastating, rapidly progressing disease that results in death in 80% of cases, unless an emergency liver transplant is performed. In the developed world, its leading cause is a substantial overdose of acetaminophen, also known as paracetamol.
Living organisms aren't the only things that evolve over time. Cultural practices change, too, and in recent years social scientists have taken a keen interest in understanding this cultural evolution. Much research has focused on psychological factors among individuals, like how our visual system constrains the shape of written characters.
Fossils recovered from Antarctica in the 1980s represent the oldest giant members of an extinct group of birds that patrolled the southern oceans with wingspans of up to 21 feet that would dwarf the 11½-foot wingspan of today's largest bird, the wandering albatross.
COMMON MUTATION IN PARKINSON'S DISEASE INCREASES CELL CALCIUM, MAY CAUSE BRAIN CELL DEATH
Media Contact: Rachel Butchrbutch1@jhmi.edu
Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers have mapped out the cellular pathway that connects the most common genetic mutation associated with Parkinson's disease to brain cell death. In a new study, they show that the mutation initiates a biological pathway that could target brain cells most susceptible to the patterns of cell death leading to Parkinson's disease symptoms.
Scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle have shown that a potent antibody from a COVID-19 survivor interferes with a key feature on the surface of the coronavirus's distinctive spikes and induces critical pieces of those spikes to break off in the process.
The antibody -- a tiny, Y-shaped protein that is one of the body's premier weapons against pathogens including viruses -- was isolated by the Fred Hutch team from a blood sample received from a Washington state patient in the early days of the pandemic.
In the world of rare genetic diseases, exome and genome sequencing are two powerful tools used to make a diagnosis. A recent addition to the toolkit, RNA sequencing, has been demonstrated to help researchers narrow down disease candidate variants identified first on exome and genome sequencing. A new study from Baylor College of Medicine finds that starting genetic analysis with RNA sequencing can increase diagnostic yield even further. The results are published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Genetic factors that reduce the placenta's capacity to protect the fetus from the zika virus are described by Brazilian researchers in an article published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. According to the authors, the findings help explain why only some babies whose mothers are infected by zika virus during pregnancy are born with some kind of anomaly.
Throughout the pandemic, healthcare workers have seen more than just the lungs affected by COVID-19. Doctors have reported neurological complications including stroke, headache and seizures, but the information is limited to a number of individual reports that are not reflective of a larger population.
Researchers from Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Pittsburgh have gathered more than 80 studies, reviewed the data, and identified commonalities that are helping to paint a broader picture of how COVID-19 affects the brain.
Researchers at UPF, the National Centre for Cardiovascular Research, ICREA and Ciberned have identified a physiological mechanism that maintains the regenerative capacity of muscle stem cells, and surprisingly resists the passage of time far more than expected, until geriatric age. This study presents the results of more than seven years of research and collaborations with several laboratories in Europe and the US.
The body's immune system defeats diseases by sensing foreign invaders, like bacteria or viruses, and then mounting a response against them.
But just how immune cell receptors work together to sense multiple molecules and make these decisions remained a mystery. Now, researchers at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME) at the University of Chicago have discovered a general property for understanding how these cells sense and respond to microbial signals.
To better understand how the novel coronavirus behaves and how it can be stopped, scientists have completed a three-dimensional map that reveals the location of every atom in an enzyme molecule critical to SARS-CoV-2 reproduction.
Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory used neutron scattering to identify key information to improve the effectiveness of drug inhibitors designed to block the virus's replication mechanism. The research is published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Cucurbit downy mildew is a devastating disease for the United States cucurbit industry, which includes cucumbers, watermelon, squash, and pumpkin. The disease has caused major losses in North Carolina, which has significant cucumber and watermelon acreage. To help growers better manage this disease, a group of plant pathologists at North Carolina State University sought to better understand the biology of the pathogen that causes downy mildew.