Culture
A new imaging technique is shining a light on immune responses and setting the scene for enhancing immune memory to optimise vaccine strategies.
By imaging intact lymphoid organs in three dimensions, researchers have been able to identify specialised niches, which can determine how immune T cells function.
The research, published in Nature Immunology, is a step forward in understanding the differentiation of T cells - critical cells for developing strong immune responses - and how we can use these crucial findings to inform and optimise vaccine strategies.
Professor Chunghun Lim and his research team in the Department of Biological Sciences unveiled a neuroprotective pathway that suppresses Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS).
For the first time researchers from Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Radboudumc, Maastricht UMC+ and international colleagues have gained insight into the "hidden genetic defects" of the general European population. This is important because these defects, if inherited from both father and mother, can lead to all kinds of illnesses in their children. Research in the Dutch and Estonian population shows that every person has two to four such hidden genetic defects. In 1 in 100 couples, this leads to a situation with an increased risk of a genetic disease for future children.
Aspergillus fumigatus kills as many people as malaria and tuberculosis, but is less known. It is found "everywhere", for example in the soil or in our compost, but is not normally dangerous to healthy people.
Those who die from it often have a poor immune system or are hospitalized for lung infections, such as covid-19.
March 19, 2021, Bristol, UK - A new peer-reviewed study published in the journal Toxicological Research & Application shows acute exposure of a 3D human bronchial tissue model to e-cigarette aerosol has minimal impact on gene expression compared to smoke from combustible cigarettes.
The research involved sub-cytotoxic exposure to cells in a 3D human bronchial model (MucilAirTM) to nicotine-containing vape aerosol, combustible cigarette smoke and fresh air control under strict laboratory conditions.
The risk of being bullied at work is twice as high if you were born abroad. And if you come from a culture that is culturally dissimilar to Sweden's, the risk is even higher. These are the results of a Swedish study from Linköping University that was recently published in The International Journal of Human Resource Management.
Employers in Sweden have a duty to ensure that the workplace is safe, with a healthy atmosphere. Despite this, some employees are treated poorly, excluded and ignored. When such treatment has continued for a longer period, it is defined as bullying.
The headquarter of a eukaryotic cell is the nucleus, and most of the cell's information and instructions are stored there in the form of DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid). The DNA, which is twisted, rolled and bundled two-meter-long chain, together with protein molecules, makes up the chromatin fiber that lays inside the nucleus. For years, scientists were curious how these components are organized. How is it possible that proteins necessary in biochemical reactions move efficiently within the nucleus full of DNA? Recent studies have finally solved the mystery.
In 1991, scientists Brian O'Regan and Michael Grätzel at EPFL published a seminal paper describing a new type of solar cell: the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC), also known as "Grätzel cell". Simple and cheap to build while being flexible and versatile, DSSCs are already manufactured on a multi-megawatt scale, cutting a significant slice of the photovoltaic market, which currently supplies almost 3% of all the world's electricity, well in the race to reduce carbon emissions.
Flashlight fish have the ability to generate situation-specific blink patterns resembling a visual Morse code. Researchers at Ruhr-Universität Bochum have shown in laboratory and field experiments that the animals use these light signals to coordinate their behaviour in the school when visibility is limited. Both the light intensity and the blinking frequency affected the animals' behaviour.
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Recent generations show a worrying decline in health compared to their parents and grandparents when they were the same age, a new national study reveals.
Researchers found that, compared to previous generations, members of Generation X and Generation Y showed poorer physical health, higher levels of unhealthy behaviors such as alcohol use and smoking, and more depression and anxiety.
Most drugs operate via the membranes that surround the body's cells. A study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden has now mapped the structure and mechanism of MGST2, a membrane enzyme that, amongst other things, plays a part in chronic inflammation and cancer. The study, which is published in the journal Nature Communications, can make a significant contribution to the development of future drugs.
Parkinson's disease is the second most common, age-related, neurodegenerative disease: In Germany alone, about 300,000 people are affected and experience sometimes major limitations to their quality of life. Although Parkinson's is so widespread, there is still no treatment that targets the cause of the disease and can stop it in its tracks.
A study by Monash University has uncovered that liver metabolism is disrupted in people with obesity-related type 2 diabetes, which contributes to high blood sugar and muscle loss - also known as skeletal muscle atrophy.
Mitochondria are important cellular power plants whose diminished activity has been previously demonstrated to be associated with obesity by a group of researchers at the University of Helsinki. Now, in a new international study coordinated by the University of Helsinki, the researchers have determined that the method of weight loss affects the metabolic pathways of mitochondria in fat tissue, also known as adipose tissue.
The study was recently published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
Atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor (ATRT) is a rare brain tumor that predominantly occurs in young children. Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital used data from two clinical trials to study the molecular groups of ATRT and correlate them with clinical outcomes. A paper detailing the findings was published today in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.