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The primary goal of this study by Amanda H. Anderson et al was to identify independent risk factors of CKD progression among participants with and without diabetes in a prospective CKD cohort study (N=3,379). Among those with diabetes, CKD progression rates approximately doubled with higher levels of the inflammatory chemokine CXCL12, the cardiac marker NTproBNP and the kidney injury marker urine NGAL. Among those without diabetes, rates increased over 1.5-fold with higher levels of high-sensitivity troponin T, NTproBNP, and urine NGAL.
New findings from a large European study of patients in 18 countries, including the UK, show that while many patients are able to reduce their risk through taking statins, those at the highest risk of cardiovascular events may benefit from combinations of lipid-lowering therapies.
A new study led by University of Hawai'i at Mānoa researchers, published in the journal Nature Communications this week, revealed that correctly simulating ocean current variations hundreds of feet below the ocean surface - the so-called Pacific Equatorial Undercurrent - during El Niño events is key in reducing the uncertainty of predictions of future warming in the eastern tropical Pacific.
Sophia Antipolis, France - 28 Aug 2020: Men with untreated high blood pressure have poorer penile blood flow than those with normal blood pressure, according to research presented today at ESC Congress 2020.1 The differences disappeared with blood pressure medication. The results provide reassurance to men concerned about the effects of blood pressure-lowering medications.
A protein that's common throughout the body plays a key role in regulating glucose levels, says new research conducted in the Cell Signal Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) and Riken Center of Integrative Medical Sciences. Called CNOT3, this protein was found to silence a set of genes that would otherwise cause insulin-producing cells to malfunction, which is related to the development of diabetes.
Cells that are infected by a virus or carry a carcinogenic mutation, for example, produce proteins foreign to the body. Antigenic peptides resulting from the degradation of these exogenous proteins inside the cell are loaded by the peptide-loading complex onto so-called major histocompatibility complex molecules (MHC for short) and presented on the cell surface. There, they are specifically identified by T-killer cells, which ultimately leads to the elimination of the infected cells. This is how our immune system defends us against pathogens.
The COVID-19 crisis has increasingly highlighted shortcomings in Australia's National Broadband Network, Flinders University experts say.
With access to high-speed broadband (HSB) and the internet via the NBN now central to people's livelihoods, education, healthcare delivery and even social connections, the Flinders University researchers say the "short-term politics of the 2013 federal election" led to decisions which caused an expensive rollout and current problems with the network.
Portland State University researchers used advanced electron microscopy to create a 3-D reconstruction of a membrane protein at an unprecedented level of resolution, setting the stage for the development of drugs that could target the protein more effectively to treat a variety of diseases.
The Reichow Lab, led by chemistry professor Steve Reichow and made up of undergraduate and graduate students, uses cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and computer modeling to visualize how individual proteins in cells interact and function at the molecular level.
Personality traits help to understand why some people are physically active and others are not. A new study from the Gerontology Research Center and the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, shows that the role of personality may vary depending on how physical activity is measured.
The pathogenic fungus Candida auris, which first surfaced in 2009, is proving challenging to control. It is resistant to many fungicides and not easy to diagnose. Researchers from Radboud university medical center, Canisius-Wilhelmina Hospital (CWZ) and international colleagues have discovered that the human immune system recognizes the fungus well. The study has been able to pin-point the fungus' Achilles heel for new, effective drugs. Meanwhile, the threat posed by this emerging public health pathogen should not be underestimated.
The human genome contains over 4.5 million sequences of DNA called "transposable elements", these virus-like entities that "jump" around and help regulate gene expression. They do this by binding transcription factors, which are proteins that regulate the rate of transcription of DNA to RNA, influencing gene expression in a broad range of biological events.
Researchers have revealed a new molecular mechanism by which bacteria adhere to cellulose fibers in the human gut. Thanks to two different binding modes, they can withstand the shear forces in the body. Scientists of the University of Basel and ETH Zurich published their results in the journal "Nature Communications".
Cellulose is a major building block of plant cell walls, consisting of molecules linked together into solid fibers. For humans, cellulose is indigestible, and the majority of gut bacteria lack the enzymes required to break down cellulose.
Generally speaking, "ridge subduction" involves subduction of spreading oceanic ridges, aseismic ridges or oceanic plateaus and inactive arc ridges, and this common and important geological process has become one of the hot topics in current geological research globally. However, many issues concerning ridge subductions need to be further studied.
New Orleans, LA - A study of a gateway receptor for SARS-CoV-2 led by Walter J. Lukiw, PhD, Professor of Neuroscience, Neurology and Ophthalmology at LSU Health New Orleans' Neuroscience Center of Excellence and School of Medicine, may help explain the wide variety of symptoms and organs involved with SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19. The results suggest that a multi-organ infection with SARS-CoV-2 may be via the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor, which is found almost everywhere throughout the body.
The COVID-19 pandemic has deeply affected our daily lives and put individuals, institutions, and societies to the test in several regards. The new policies adopted by governments to contain the pandemic, and the economic and psychological impact it has had on people, have caused significant changes in higher education systems.