Culture
The mammalian brain is the most complex organ in the body, capable of processing thousands of stimuli simultaneously to analyze patterns, predict changes and generate highly measured action. How the brain does all this - within fractions of a second - is still largely unknown.
Frailty is the medical term for becoming weaker or experiencing lower levels of activity/energy. Becoming frail as we age increases our risk for poor health, falls, disability, and other serious concerns. This can be especially true for older people facing surgery, up to half of whom are classified as frail.
BOSTON - As the coronavirus outbreak shows, viruses are a constant threat to humanity. Vaccines are regularly developed and deployed against specific viruses, but that process takes a lot of time, doesn't help everyone who needs protection, and still leaves people exposed to new outbreaks and new viruses.
3-D printing is often touted as the future of manufacturing. It allows us to directly build objects from computer-generated designs, meaning industry can manufacture customized products in-house, without outsourcing parts. But 3-D printing has a high degree of error, such as shape distortion. Each printer is different, and the printed material can shrink and expand in unexpected ways. Manufacturers often need to try many iterations of a print before they get it right.
Addressing the widespread concern over transparency and reproducibility in biomedical research, one of the largest institutions in German science has begun to provide a framework, interventions, and incentives for improving the quality and value of translational research. The program is described by its leader, Ulrich Dirnagl of Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), and colleagues in a new article publishing on February 11 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology.
Our microbiomes -- the complex communities of microbes that live in, on and around us -- are influenced by our diets, habits, environments and genes, and are known to change with age. In turn, the makeup of our microbiomes, particularly in the gut, is well-recognized for its influence on our health. For example, gut microbiome composition has been linked to inflammatory bowel disease, autoimmune disease, obesity, even neurological disorders, such as autism.
In 2016 and 2017, a surge of mumps cases at Boston-area universities prompted researchers to study mumps virus transmission using genomic data, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and local university health services. As the outbreaks unfolded, the teams analyzed mumps virus genomes collected from patients, revealing new links between cases that first appeared unrelated and other details about how the disease was spreading that weren't apparent from the epidemiological investigation.
Washington, DC - February 11, 2020 - Diets like the Keto, Paleo and Atkins focus on high-fat, high-protein meals that are often low in carbohydrates. This mix may appeal to Clostridioides difficile bacteria, too.
Laws affecting the labeling, marketing and taxation of sugary soft drinks impact the behavior of both consumers and manufacturers, according to two studies published this week in PLOS Medicine.
The U.S. East and Gulf Coasts differ in how ocean and atmospheric circulation and sea level interact to produce storm surges, and both regions will experience greater storm surges as global warming progresses, according to new research from a University of Arizona-led team.
The research is the first to compare how different parts of the Atlantic Coast might fare during storms. The scientists examined the impacts of both tropical cyclones, including hurricanes, and extra-tropical cyclones, such as nor'easters.
In an article published in the journal PLOS ONE, a group of researchers supported by FAPESP has updated the description of the Ghost knifefish Tembeassu marauna, a Neotropical electric fish species found only once in the wild.
Kidney transplantation is the gold standard treatment for end-stage kidney disease and is associated with an advantage over dialysis in both survival and quality of life.
Researchers at the University of Cincinnati are among the first to adopt genotyping that helps identify and predict the risk accompanying individuals wishing to donate a kidney. Those who are high-risk of developing disease can be removed from the pool of potential donors which will reduce their chances of developing kidney disease.
The fossilized tail of a young dinosaur that lived on a prairie in southern Alberta, Canada, is home to the remains of a 60-million-year-old tumor.
Researchers at Tel Aviv University, led by Dr. Hila May of the Department of Anatomy and Anthropology at TAU's Sackler Faculty of Medicine and Dan David Center for Human Evolution and Biohistory Research, have identified this benign tumor as part of the pathology of LCH (Langerhans cell histiocytosis), a rare and sometimes painful disease that still afflicts humans, particularly children under the age of 10.
Today (Feb. 11) is the fifth annual International Day of Women and Girls in Science, a commemoration to emphasize that females should have full, equal access to the
sciences and encouragement to participate in them. Although this effort may someday
lead to a bright future of gender equality in academia, the road to get there is long.
New research has shed fresh light on how the build-up of two proteins in the brain might affect the activity of genes involved in Alzheimer's disease.
Researchers at the University of Exeter worked in collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company to examine the brains of mice carrying mutations in the genes for the proteins amyloid and tau. The build-up of both proteins in specific regions of the brain is known to play a role in Alzheimer's disease.