Culture
HOUSTON - (Oct. 21, 2020) - How life works may come down to dumbbell-like bits of DNA.
Rice University scientists on a long quest to study the structure and function of chromosomes have found that amid the apparent chaotic state of DNA during interphase, when cells are between divisions, there are pockets of order in the configuration of certain gene-containing regions.
These structures, reported in an open-access eLife study, offer a window into how chromosomes function and promise new avenues of research for those digging into their secrets.
Some dreams are so vivid that they can be recalled as if they were movies, full of connections and with a beginning, middle and end. Others in contrast resemble WhatsApp GIFs, or at best a script for a video clip à la TikTok, often with powerful or meaningful images, but lacking that complex storylike structure.
UCLA researchers have identified a compound that can reproduce the effect of exercise in muscle cells in mice. The findings are published in the journal Cell Reports Medicine.
Normally, muscles get stronger as they are used, thanks to a series of chemical signals inside muscle cells. The newly identified compound activates those signals, which suggests that compounds like it could eventually be used to treat people with limb girdle muscular dystrophy, a form of adolescent-onset muscular dystrophy.
Are obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular illnesses and more the result of a "mismatch" between the meals we eat and the foods our bodies are prepared for?
The "mismatch hypothesis" argues that each of our bodies has evolved and adapted to digest the foods that our ancestors ate, and that human bodies will struggle and largely fail to metabolize a radically new set of foods.
Two studies examining the impact of COVID-19 on neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) found the prevalence of COVID-19 in NICU infants is low, yet many hospitals at the start of the pandemic put in place strict parental visitation policies and scaled back NICU services such as lactation support and therapy.
CHAPEL HILL, NC - A study published in Cell Reports shows how next generation genetic sequencing can track mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which can in effect help with transmission tracing, diagnostic testing accuracy and vaccine effectiveness.
New radio images from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) show for the first time the direct effect of volcanic activity on the atmosphere of Jupiter's moon Io.
Io is the most volcanically active moon in our solar system. It hosts more than 400 active volcanoes, spewing out sulfur gases that give Io its yellow-white-orange-red colors when they freeze out on its surface.
Welcome to shopping during the coronavirus pandemic: customers clad in masks, slathered with sanitizer and surrounded by signage urging them to avoid close contact. Despite guidelines plastered on the walls and floors of grocery and retail stores encouraging customers to maintain six-feet of physical distance, many do not. A new study by researchers at the University of Houston Conrad N.
Cucurbit downy mildew is a devastating disease affecting economically important crops such as cucumber, cantaloupe, squash, pumpkins, and watermelon. Previously effective fungicide have been failing in the United States and Europe, making accurate and early diagnosis critical for timely disease management.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Mayo Clinic researchers, along with national and global collaborators, have developed a potential test for Machado-Joseph disease, or spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3) ? a disease that has no cure. They also have clarified the role of a gene target associated with the disease.
Approximately 30% of breast cancer patients who receive chemotherapy treatment gain weight, though it is unclear why this phenomenon occurs in some women but not in others. Beyond weight gain, chemotherapy is also known to increase the risk of high blood pressure and glucose intolerance, a prediabetes condition. Although this is a familiar phenomenon, the mechanisms underlying these processes have not yet been identified.
Non-pharmaceutical interventions such as voluntary shelter-in-place, quarantines, and other steps taken to control the SARS-CoV-2 virus can reduce the peak number of infections, daily infection rates, cumulative infections, and overall deaths, a new study published in the journal PLOS ONE has found.
University of Minnesota Medical School physician researchers studied hydroxychloroquine as a treatment to prevent COVID-19 for those with high-risk for exposure to the virus - health care workers.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Scientists estimate that nearly 60% of all cancer patients do not respond effectively to chemotherapy treatments. Even worse - many of those same patients experience toxic and sometimes deadly side effects.
Now, a Purdue University scientist and entrepreneur is working to use simple LED light to help determine if certain chemotherapy options will work for specific patients. The work is published in Scientific Reports.
Could a stack of 2D materials allow for supercurrents at ground-breakingly warm temperatures, easily achievable in the household kitchen?
An international study published in August opens a new route to high-temperature supercurrents at temperatures as 'warm' as inside a kitchen fridge.
The ultimate aim is to achieve superconductivity (ie, electrical current without any energy loss to resistance) at a reasonable temperature.
TOWARDS ROOM-TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTIVITY