Culture
Yehuda Shoenfeld is the world's leading expert in the research, treatment and prevention of autoimmune diseases. Professor Shoenfeld noted that the hyperferritinemic syndrome was thoroughly studied a while ago: 'We have already published the data on this clinical condition. In 50% of cases, patients with exceptionally high ferritin levels die. In fact, what we are witnessing at present with the new coronavirus infection is reminiscent of the situation with the hyperferritinemic syndrome.'
Researchers from Russia, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the U.S. have revealed the structure of the protein responsible for vitamin B12 import into the cells of the bacterium that causes tuberculosis. The research findings were published in Nature.
Vitamin B12, also known as cobalamin, is vital to the proliferation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which causes TB. But while that vitamin can be synthesized internally, it is much easier for the pathogen to import B12 from the environment, and cobalamin consumption by the bacterium is directly associated with TB progression.
Reef fish species uniquely respond to climate change, with some more vulnerable than others.
Five Great Barrier Reef fish species each activated different genetic responses to a marine heatwave in the Australian summer of 2015-16. This finding could help further understanding of climate change impacts on wild fish distributions.
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Researchers at MIT; the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard; and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; along with colleagues from around the world have identified specific types of cells that appear to be targets of the coronavirus that is causing the Covid-19 pandemic.
BROOKLYN, New York, Wednesday, April 22, 2020 – A newly discovered connection between control theory and network dynamical systems could help estimate the size of a network even when a small portion is accessible.
Understanding the spread of coronavirus may be the most alarming and recent example of a problem that could benefit from a fuller knowledge of network dynamical systems, but scientists and mathematicians have been grappling for years with ways to draw accurate inferences about these complex systems by working with partial data from available measurements.
New calculations by HSE University researchers show that technological growth passed its peak in the early 21st century and will soon obtain new acceleration, although it will be followed by a new slowdown in the second half of the century. The researchers believe these progress rate fluctuations are largely due to a global demographic transition--the ageing of the planet's population, which many developed countries have already faced.
The Gerontological Society of America's highly cited, peer-reviewed journals are now publishing scientific articles on COVID-19. The following were published between March 31 and April 20; all are free to access:
COVID-19 through the lens of gerontology: Editorial in The Journals of Gerontology, Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences by David G. Le Couteur, MBBS, PhD, Rozalyn M. Anderson, PhD, and Anne B. Newman, MD, MPH
If you live in a small community where fishing is your primary source of income and nutrition, it's tough to hear you might have to slow, stop or change your activities to more sustainably manage your fish stocks.
Sustainable fishing is even more difficult when the recovery takes a significant amount of time and this restraint puts you at a seeming economic disadvantage. Such limitations and uncertainty are enough that would-be sustainable fishers may slip back into unsustainable practices.
Despite longstanding popular belief, bicycle lanes can actually improve business. At worst, the negative impact on sales and employment is minimal, according to a new study from Portland State's Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC).
The report is part of a larger National Street Improvements Study, conducted by Portland State University, with support from consulting firm Bennett Midland and the cycling-advocacy nonprofit PeopleForBikes. The study was funded by The Summit Foundation and the National Institute for Transportation and Communities.
Grown around the world, sweet potatoes are an important source of nutrition particularly in sub-Saharan African and Asian diets. Sweet potatoes are especially significant to sub-Saharan Africa as a source of Vitamin A, a nutrient commonly deficient in the region. While China currently produces the most sweet potatoes by country, sub-Saharan Africa has more land devoted to sweetpotatoes and continues to expand production. Farmers elsewhere are also increasingly growing sweetpotatoes.
Announcing a new article publication for BIO Integration journal. In this commentary article the authors Phei Er Saw and Shanping Jiang from Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China consider the significance of interdisciplinary integration in academic research and application.
UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists have discovered a protein that works with others during development to put the brakes on cell division in the heart, they report today in Nature. The findings could eventually be used to reverse this developmental block and help heart cells regenerate, offering a whole new way to treat a variety of conditions in which heart muscle becomes damaged, including heart failure caused by viruses, toxins, high blood pressure, or heart attacks.
Over the course of their journey from the open fields to the produce displays at grocery stores, fresh vegetables and fruits can sometimes become contaminated by microorganisms. These items can then spoil other produce, spreading the contamination further and increasing the number of food items that can cause illnesses.
Most vehicles today come with their fair share of bells and whistles, ranging from adaptive cruise-control features to back-up cameras. These advanced driver-assistance systems, or ADAS, are in place to make driving easier and safer. However, increasing evidence shows that older seniors, who are also an age group at higher risk for motor vehicle crashes, do not use many of these driver-assistance technologies.
In a study published in Nature Sustainability, an ecosystem scientist and an agricultural economist outline how to develop a more sustainable land management system through data collection and stakeholder buy-in.
Bruno Basso, professor in the College of Natural Science at Michigan State University, and John Antle, professor of Applied Economics at Oregon State University, believe the path begins with digital agriculture -- or, the integration of big data into crop and farmland usage.