Culture
Scientists from the University of Surrey and University of Geneva have discovered that the bacterium which causes bovine TB can survive and grow in small, single-celled organisms found in soil and dung. It is believed that originally the bacterium evolved to survive in these single-celled organisms known as amoebae and in time progressed to infect and cause TB in larger animals such as cattle.
The international team works on a computational model able to predict the properties of new molecules based on the analysis of fundamental chemical laws. The project was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (title "Using AI methods for the planning of chemical synthesis").
A new study by the University of Barcelona (UB) concluded that irregularity in eating schedules during the weekend, named by the authors as eating jet lag, could be related to the increase of body mass index (BMI), a formula that measures weight and height to determine whether someone's weight is healthy.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- During the past 20 years, insecticides applied to U.S. agricultural landscapes have become significantly more toxic -- over 120-fold in some midwestern states -- to honey bees when ingested, according to a team of researchers, who identified rising neonicotinoid seed treatments in corn and soy as the primary driver of this change. The study is the first to characterize the geographic patterns of insecticide toxicity to bees and reveal specific areas of the country where mitigation and conservation efforts could be focused.
Biophysicists from the MIPT Center for Molecular Mechanisms of Aging and Age-Related Diseases have teamed up with colleagues from Canada, the U.S., Japan, France, and Germany to shed light on the structure and functioning mechanism of the CysLT receptors, which regulate inflammatory responses associated with allergic disorders. Their findings are reported in Nature Communications.
Hershey, Pa. -- Patient enrollment in clinical trials as the first course of treatment after cancer diagnosis is low, despite the fact that enrollment may increase life expectancy, according to researchers at Penn State. They also found that white males with private health insurance and metastatic cancers treated at academic medical centers are more likely than other groups to enroll in clinical trials.
Allegedly, they should not exist in the brain, the so-called precapillary sphincters - a kind of squeezing 'muscle clamp' between the larger and smaller vessels of the bloodstream.
Nevertheless, Assistant Professor Søren Grubb from the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Copenhagen has indeed shown the sphincters in mice.
'In the early '10s, a Japanese review study concluded that there was no evidence that pre-capillary sphincters should exist in the heart, brain and muscular connective tissue,' he says and continues:
Scientists at UCL have discovered how immune cells, essential for tackling life-threatening infections and cancers, are able to 'recycle' material within themselves in order to stay healthy and function, a breakthrough finding which could lead to more effective immunotherapies.
In the study, published in Cell Reports, researchers investigated how 'autophagy' - the natural physiological process of 'self-eating' which allows intracellular components, such as mitochondria, to be degraded and replaced - takes place in liver-based T cells.
Quebec City, January 20, 2020--To better treat people with depression, not only must we treat the neurons affected by the disease, but we must also restore the integrity of the barrier that regulates exchanges between blood circulation and the brain. This is the conclusion of a study published today in PNAS by Université Laval researchers and their international collaborators.
Disparities in drug prescribing suggest that black and Asian people with dementia are not receiving the same quality of care as their white peers, according to a new UCL-led study in the UK.
Asian people with dementia are less likely to receive anti-dementia drugs, and take them for shorter periods, according to the findings published in Clinical Epidemiology.
Squirrels that strongly favour their left or right side are less good at learning, new research suggests.
Just as humans are usually left- or right-handed, many animals favour one side of their body for certain tasks.
The strength of this preference varies, with some individuals happy to use either side, while others strongly favour one side (known as being strongly "lateralised").
Leaving school and getting a job both lead to a drop in the amount of physical activity, while becoming a mother is linked to increased weight gain, conclude two reviews published today and led by researchers at the University of Cambridge.
Adults with food insecurity (i.e., inadequate access to food because of financial constraints) are 10% to 37% more likely to die prematurely from any cause other than cancer compared to food-secure people, found new research in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).
A technique that enables patients suffering from heart conditions to hold their breath safely for over 5 minutes could have potential as part of a new treatment for cardiac arrhythmias, say researchers at the University of Birmingham.
In a new study, published in Frontiers in Physiology, researchers initially proposed the technique as a new means for earlier diagnosis of ischaemic heart disease. The technique involves hyperventilating conscious, unmedicated patients using a mechanical ventilator which delivers air to the patient via a face mask.
What the global climate emergency has in store may vary from one back yard to the next, particularly in the tropics where microclimates, geography and land-use practices shift dramatically over small areas. This has major implications for adaptation strategies at local levels and requires trustworthy, high-resolution data on plausible future climate scenarios.