Culture
More than 30 million Americans are infected with a brain parasite spread by cats and contaminated meat, but most will never show symptoms. A new discovery from the University of Virginia School of Medicine explains why, and that finding could have important implications for brain infections, neurodegenerative diseases and autoimmune disorders.
July 30, 2020--(BRONX, NY)--A new study shows how chronic psychological stress leads to painful vessel-clogging episodes--the most common complication of sickle-cell disease (SCD) and a frequent cause of hospitalizations. The findings, made in mice, show that the gut microbiome plays a key role in triggering those episodes and reveals possible ways to prevent them.
When a natural disaster strikes, it often takes years for vulnerable communities to recover, long after the news coverage fades and the rest of the world seems to move on. A new Portland State University study that followed 400 households after the 2015 Nepal earthquakes provides insight into better understanding the factors that contribute to resilience and change in short-term rural natural disaster recovery.
The thymus is one of the organs of the immune system where T lymphocytes develop, a type of cells that is essential to fight infections and prevent cancer. Without them, it's impossible to live. The thymus is located just above the heart, being large in children and gradually reduces size as age progresses. In this organ, T lymphocytes develop from progenitor cells, which are born in the bone marrow and travel to the thymus through the blood stream. This is a continuous process, where cells enter the thymus, proliferate and develop into T lymphocytes.
HOUSTON -- According to researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, the implementation of social distancing policies corresponded with significant reductions in transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and reduced community mobility, both in the U.S. and globally, providing evidence that social distancing is a useful tool in preventing further spread of COVID-19.
Philadelphia, July 30, 2020--In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the SARS-CoV-2 virus seemed only rarely to have serious complications in children. However, by April 2020, pediatricians had begun recognizing a syndrome in children who tested positive for COVID-19 involving hyperinflammation and some other attributes found in Kawasaki disease (KD). By May, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had named the new condition Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C).
Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) have for the first time identified stem cells in the region of the optic nerve, which transmits signals from the eye to the brain. The finding, published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), presents a new theory on why the most common form of glaucoma may develop and provides potential new ways to treat a leading cause of blindness in American adults.
Australian researchers have shown how viruses can be used to save lives, developing the potential use of bacteriophages in bandages to treat life-threatening golden staph infections which may not respond to traditional antibiotics.
Targeting multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ('golden staph') in diabetic foot ulcers, Flinders University microbiology researchers have joined infectious diseases and pharmaceutical partners to show the usefulness of a possible 'phage cocktail' therapy on wound infections.
Whale-watching season is delighting the viewing public along the east Australian coast but while it’s a boon for the tourism industry, for the majestic humpback whale it’s potentially a time of less optimal health.
UNSW Sydney researchers collected and analysed samples of whale blow – similar to mucus from a human nose – and found “significantly less” microbial diversity and richness on the return leg of the whales’ migration, indicating the whales were likely in poorer health than when their journey began.
A review paper by Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI), published in the high-impact journal Nature Reviews Microbiology, casts light on organelles, the internal compartments in bacterial cells that house and support functions essential for their survival and growth.
The BDI's Professor Trevor Lithgow and Associate Professor Chris Greening, experts in bacterial cell biology and physiology, were invited to review the available scientific literature worldwide to consolidate the latest knowledge of organelles.
Robots working in abattoirs, sky-high vertical farms, more gene-edited foods in our supermarkets and automated farming systems could all help guarantee food supply in the next pandemic.
University of Queensland Professor Robert Henry said the technologies had all been in various stages of planning prior to COVID-19, but food producers would now be moving much faster to prepare for the next pandemic.
WOODS HOLE, Mass. --A team at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) has achieved the first gene knockout in a cephalopod using the squid Doryteuthis pealeii, an exceptionally important research organism in biology for nearly a century.
Coastal flooding events could threaten assets worth up to 20% of the global GDP by 2100, a study in Scientific Reports suggests. The areas predicted to be most impacted by flooding are north-west Europe, south-east and east Asia, north-east USA and northern Australia, according to the authors.
Experts add excessive alcohol intake and head injury in mid-life, and exposure to air pollution in later life to list of key modifiable risk factors for dementia - expanding number of preventable causes from 9 to 12 factors that span from childhood to later life
Report also highlights 9 recommendations for policymakers and individuals to help reduce risk, including providing primary and secondary education for all children, decreasing harmful alcohol drinking, preventing head injury, using hearing aids, protecting ears from high noise levels, and urgently improving air quality
Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital are studying how hearing loss can affect the neurocognitive abilities of childhood cancer survivors. Findings show that survivors with severe hearing loss are at a significant increased risk for neurocognitive deficits, independent of what type of therapy they receive. The work appears as an advance online publication today in JAMA Oncology.