Culture
The number of children infected with the coronavirus is far more extensive than what is currently reported -- a hidden detail that could vastly underestimate the demand on health care systems and pediatric intensive care units (PICUs).
Diseases with a genetic cause could, in theory, be treated by supplying a correct version of the faulty gene. However, in practice, delivering new genetic material to human cells is difficult. A promising method for the delivery of such genes involves the use of DNA/lipid complexes (lipoplexes). Scientists at the University of Groningen have now used advanced simulations to investigate how these lipoplexes deliver DNA fragments into cells. The results, which were published in the journal eLife on 16 April, can be used to improve their efficiency.
LAWRENCE, KANSAS -- David Slusky keeps hearing the same comments from other parents who are isolating with young children.
"They're telling their kids, 'Please don't do gymnastics on the stairs because this is not the week I want to take you to the hospital!' Many of us are trying to both avoid getting COVID-19 and anything that might send us to the hospital," said Slusky, associate professor of economics at the University of Kansas.
He believes Americans have now been reminded how dangerous this situation is ... even without a pandemic exacerbating matters.
Scientists have understood quite well why so many poisonous or distasteful animals have brightly colored bodies - the colors send a message to the predators: "don't eat me, or you'll get sick and die." These permanent warning signals became textbook examples of "aposematism": use of conspicuous signals to warn predators. But not all animals show their warning colors all the time. Some toxic animals actually hide the warning colors, showing them only at the very last moment when they are about to be attacked (thus called "switchable aposematism").
For years, speculation about the poor quality of vital agricultural supplies in the African nation of Uganda has focused on questions of deliberate tampering with products - adding rocks to bags of seed in order to charge more money for the heavier product, for instance. But in a recent publication, two UConn researchers found no evidence of deliberate adulteration - but plenty of proof that mismanagement and inadequate infrastructure pose a significant problem for Ugandan farmers.
Washington, DC - April 17, 2020 - Genetic variability in the human immune system may affect susceptibility to, and severity of infection by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus responsible for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The research is published today, April 17 in the Journal of Virology, a publication of the American Society for Microbiology.
The genetic material--DNA-- of plants and animals (within the latter humans) is stored inside the cell, and DNA packing is guaranteed by proteins called histones. Furthermore, histones play a key role in regulating the activation of gene expression and its timing: a given stimulus modifies a histone, making it allow or repress the expression of a gene.
Two new species of viruses have been identified in blood samples taken from patients in Brazil's northern region who had similar symptoms to those of dengue or Zika, such as high fever, severe headache, rash and red skin spots. One belongs to the genus Ambidensovirus and was found in a sample collected in the state of Amapá. The other belongs to the genus Chapparvovirus and was found in blood from the state of Tocantins.
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have used molecular dynamics simulations to understand how sodium dodecyl sulfate causes protein unfolding. SDS is commonly used in labs to separate proteins and determine their molecular weights. However, it is still unclear how SDS influences protein structure.
The paper "Protein unfolding by SDS: the microscopic mechanisms and the properties of the SDS protein assembly" was published in Nanoscale.
For millennia, metallurgists have been meticulously tweaking the ingredients of steel to enhance its properties. As a result, several variants of steel exist today; but one type, called martensitic steel, stands out from its steel cousins as stronger and more cost-effective to produce. Hence, martensitic steels naturally lend themselves to applications in the aerospace, automotive and defense industries, among others, where high-strength, lightweight parts need to be manufactured without boosting the cost.
AUSTIN, Texas -- After a wild couple of months of equity market volatility, many mutual fund investors are now cautiously exploring how best to rebalance their portfolios. As they do so, new research from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin says they should keep an important factor in mind: taxable capital gains.
In a paper published in Science Advances, an international team of researchers have examined traits of marine megafauna species to better understand the potential ecological consequences of their extinction under different future scenarios.
Defined as the largest animals in the oceans, with a body mass that exceeds 45kg, examples include sharks, whales, seals and sea turtles.
Ionic channels -integral proteins in the cell membrane- are essential in several processes such as cardiac activity, nervous transmission, cell proliferation and the regulation of blood pressure. A study which has now been published in Science Advances describes for the first time the membrane traffic and association mechanisms of the Iks cardiac currents, a flow of potassium ions through ionic channels in the cell membrane which is decisive for the right cardiovascular function.
Abnormal levels of stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol are linked to a variety of mental health disorders, including depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). MIT researchers have now devised a way to remotely control the release of these hormones from the adrenal gland, using magnetic nanoparticles.
This approach could help scientists to learn more about how hormone release influences mental health, and could eventually offer a new way to treat hormone-linked disorders, the researchers say.
Annals of Internal Medicine News
@Annalsofim
Below please find a summary and link(s) of new coronavirus-related content published today in Annals of Internal Medicine. The summary below is not intended to substitute for the full article as a source of information. A collection of coronavirus-related content is free to the public at http://go.annals.org/coronavirus.
------------------------------------------