Culture
Sometimes, the best defense against hostile invaders is a good, long nap. Or at least, that strategy seems to work for bacteria.
In a new study, described in Nature, Rockefeller scientists showed that microbes under viral attack turn their defenses not only on their enemies, but also on themselves. This drastic measure, the researchers found, doesn't kill the bacteria, but rather sends them into a dormant state that prevents the infection from spreading.
Vicious viruses
MIAMI--A team of researchers including scientists at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, published new findings that reveal significant damage to Miami's coral reefs from the 16-month dredging operation at the Port of Miami that began in 2013. The study found that sediment buried between half to 90 percent of nearby reefs, resulting in widespread coral death.
Irvine, Calif., May 30, 2019 - Can your liver sense when you're staring at a television screen or cellphone late at night? Apparently so, and when such activity is detected, the organ can throw your circadian rhythms out of whack, leaving you more susceptible to health problems.
That's one of the takeaways from two new studies by University of California, Irvine scientists working in collaboration with the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Barcelona, Spain.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - May 30, 2019 - A potential therapeutic strategy to treat viral infection and boost immunity against cancer is reported in the May 30 online issue of the journal Cell.
The work, conducted by scientists at Wake Forest School of Medicine, found that boosting the body's production of type 1 interferon helped clear viral infection and increased immunity against cancer by identifying a sensor involved in suppressing interferon production in an animal model.
Biophysicists from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology have joined forces with colleagues from France and Germany to create a new fluorescent protein. Besides glowing when irradiated with ultraviolet and blue light, it is exceedingly small and stable under high temperatures. The authors of the paper, published in the journal Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences, believe the protein holds prospects for fluorescence microscopy. This technique is used in research on cancer, infectious diseases, and organ development, among other things.
New Orleans, LA - Research led by Ashok Aiyar, PhD, Associate Professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine, has identified a target that may lead to the development of new treatments for the most common sexually transmitted infection in the US. The results are published this month online in PNAS, available here.
Bottom Line: This study of nearly 7,700 men and women 50 or older in England looked at how common perceived discrimination was among those with visual impairment and how that was associated with emotional well-being. Of the individuals, 913 reported poor overall eyesight and 658 reported poor eyesight up close. Discrimination was more commonly reported by those adults with poor eyesight than those with good eyesight, with the most common form of discrimination reported being treated with less respect or courtesy.
A study from researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center has demonstrated how the response to pancreatic cancer cells of normal tissue - called the stroma - within tumors can influence the ability of individual cancer cells to proliferate and metastasize.
BOSTON - (May 30, 2019) --Research from Joslin Diabetes Center has shown in mice that insulin resistance increases the proportion of aged beta-cells which are dysfunction. Such an increase in aged beta-cells could lead to type 2 diabetes. These researchers confirmed similarly increased proportion of aged beta-cells in islets recovered from humans with type 2 diabetes. The study also showed that beta cell function can be recovered by removing these aged populations either via genetic modification or oral medication.
JUPITER, Fla.--May 30--Our cells' process for transforming genes into useful proteins works much like an automobile factory's assembly line; there are schematics, parts, workers, motors, quality control systems and even recycling crews. If the cell's recycling process falters, abnormal protein fragments accumulate, potentially causing the cell's death. In nerve cells, the process is linked to a variety of neurodegenerative diseases, including ALS and dementia.
A team of researchers led by Kazuhiro Suzuki from the Immunology Frontier Research Center at Osaka University discovered the COMMD3/8 complex as a molecule involved in immune cell migration, clarifying that the complex plays a critical role in the establishment of immune responses. Their research results were published in The Journal of Experimental Medicine.
In July last year, South Africa became the first country to roll out a new anti-tuberculosis drug in its national programme.
This new drug, called bedaquiline, is the first new anti-tuberculosis drug to be developed in four decades. It improves the survival of patients with multidrug resistant TB, potentially offering a shorter treatment time with fewer side effects.
An international study involving researchers from UBC Okanagan has shown that MDMA, also known as ecstasy, may be a valuable tool for treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Published recently in Psychopharmacology, the study demonstrated substantial improvements in individuals who had not responded to prior treatments, explains UBCO Associate Professor of psychology Zach Walsh. This is also, he adds, the most comprehensive evaluation of the safety and effectiveness of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD.
Children who spend half an hour a day outside in the sun reduce their risk of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), according to new research from The Australian National University (ANU).
More than 800,000 people live with the two life-long disorders which make up IBD - Crohn's Disease and ulcerative colitis.
The paediatric study was based in Melbourne and led by Professor Robyn Lucas, from the ANU College of Health and Medicine.
"Taking children to play outside in the sun could be life-changing," Professor Lucas said.
As early responders in the surveillance of malignant cells, natural killer (NK) cells play a significant role in the control of transformed cells at the tumor initiation stage through direct cytolysis. For this reason, NK cell-based immunotherapy is a potential therapeutic strategy for tumor sufferers.