Culture
The most common organism in the oceans, and possibly on the entire planet, is a family of single-celled marine bacteria called SAR11. These drifting organisms look like tiny jelly beans and have evolved to outcompete other bacteria for scarce resources in the oceans.
We now know that this group of organisms thrives despite -- or perhaps because of -- the ability to host viruses in their DNA. A study published in May in Nature Microbiology could lead to new understanding of viral survival strategies.
A team of researchers has generated a developmental map of a key sound-sensing structure in the mouse inner ear. Scientists at the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), part of the National Institutes of Health, and their collaborators analyzed data from 30,000 cells from mouse cochlea, the snail-shaped structure of the inner ear. The results provide insights into the genetic programs that drive the formation of cells important for detecting sounds.
From bacteria-made insulin that obviates the use of animal pancreases to a better understanding of infectious diseases and improved treatments, genetic engineering of bacteria has redefined modern medicine. Yet, serious limitations remain that hamper| progress in numerous other areas.
In New York City, the first confirmed COVID-19 cases arose mostly through untracked transmission of the virus from Europe and other parts of the United States, a new molecular epidemiology study of 84 patients reports. The results provide limited evidence to support any direct introductions of the virus from China, where SARS-CoV-2 originated. The first SARS-CoV-2 case in New York State was identified in New York City by 29 February. Knowing the route it took to arrive is essential for evaluating and designing effective containment strategies. Ana S.
The world has been experiencing an unprecedented economic downturn due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A significant number of economic activities have shut down, causing contractions in global output, as well as the loss of businesses and family income. Recent evidence shows that millions of people globally lost their jobs and projecting the extent of the impending global economic loss remains a difficult endeavor. In response, almost all countries have been declaring various economic stimulus packages to overcome this situation.
In 2014, EU leaders agreed that all sectors should contribute to the European 2030 emission reduction target, including the land use sector, which did not count towards the achievement of the previous climate change mitigation goals. In 2018, this agreement was implemented by the Regulation on the inclusion of greenhouse gas emissions and removals from land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) in the 2030 EU climate and energy framework.
What is and is not possible for natural evolution may be explained using models and calculations from theoretical physics, say researchers in Japan.
Theoretically, every component of every chemical in every cell of all living organisms could vary independently of all the others, a situation researchers refer to as high dimensionality. In reality, evolution does not produce every possible outcome.
The planetary system around star HR8799 is remarkably similar to our Solar System. A research team led by astronomers from the University of Groningen and SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research has used this similarity to model the delivery of materials by asteroids, comets and other minor bodies within the system. Their simulation shows that the four gas planets receive material delivered by minor bodies, just like in our Solar System. The results were published by the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics on 29 May.
The identified genomic region includes several candidate genes associated with brain development and function as well as anxiety, whose further analysis may reveal new neural mechanisms related to fear.
For the purposes of the study, carried out by Professor Hannes Lohi's research group and published in the Translational Psychiatry journal, data from a total of 120 Great Danes was collected. The Great Dane breed is among the largest dog breeds in the world.
The article gives an overview of the spread of Covid-19 and outlines six causes of the crisis: the exponential infection rate, international integration, the insufficient capacity of health care systems in many countries, conflicts of competence and a lack of foresight on the part of many government agencies, the need to grapple with the economic impacts of the shutdown parallel to the health crisis, as well as weaknesses in capital markets resulting from the financial crisis of 2008.
A Bristol academic has achieved a milestone in statistical/mathematical physics by solving a 100-year-old physics problem - the discrete diffusion equation in finite space.
The long-sought-after solution could be used to accurately predict encounter and transmission probability between individuals in a closed environment, without the need for time-consuming computer simulations.
LA JOLLA, Calif. and JUPITER, Fla.- MAY 29, 2020 - Surgery would be inconceivable without general anesthesia, so it may come as a surprise that despite its 175-year history of medical use, doctors and scientists have been unable to explain how anesthetics temporarily render patients unconscious.
HOUSTON -- Patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and the MET exon 14 (METex14) skipping mutation had a 46.5% objective response rate to the targeted therapy drug tepotinib, as shown in a study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the 2020 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting ASCO20 Virtual Meeting (Abstract 9556 - Poster 322) by researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
High-throughput analysis of blood plasma could aid in identification of diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), according to research from North Carolina State University. The work sheds further light on a pathway involved in disease progression and appears to rule out an environmental neurotoxin as playing a role in ALS.
The addition of the monoclonal antibody therapy Trastuzumab to radiotherapy did not reach the protocol objective of a 36% reduction in the ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence rate for women with HER2-positive ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) on the NRG Oncology clinical trial NSABP B-43. The trial did find a statistically non-significant, modest (19%) reduction in the rate of recurrence among women that received trastuzumab, but this difference was not statistically significant.