Culture
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Foxglove plants, found in many gardens, are known for the showers of bell-shaped flowers they produce.
But plants belonging to this genus, Digitalis, also harbor a less visible asset: Chemicals called cardiac glycosides, which have been recorded to treat heart failure since the 1780s, says University at Buffalo biologist Zhen Wang.
Wang's research investigates how foxgloves create these medicinal compounds, with an eye toward improving the process. Farming foxgloves is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and Wang hopes to change that.
Unprecedented observations of a nova outburst in 2018 by a trio of satellites, including two NASA missions, have captured the first direct evidence that most of the explosion's visible light arose from shock waves -- abrupt changes of pressure and temperature formed in the explosion debris.
Loss of smell and taste has been anecdotally linked to COVID-19 infections. In a study published April 12, 2020 in the journal International Forum of Allergy & Rhinology, researchers at UC San Diego Health report the first empirical findings that strongly associate sensory loss with COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
LOS ANGELES (April 11, 2020) -- In a small group of patients hospitalized with severe complications of COVID-19 and treated with the experimental antiviral drug remdesivir, clinical improvement was observed in 68% of patients treated, according to an analysis co-authored by Jonathan Grein, MD, director of Hospital Epidemiology at Cedars-Sinai.
DALLAS, April 13, 2020 -- Type 2 diabetes (T2D) affects treatment options for patients who have both coronary artery disease (CAD) and T2D, according to a new American Heart Association Scientific Statement, published today in the Association's flagship journal Circulation. The scientific statement provides an overview of the latest advances for treating people who have both CAD and T2D and details the complexities of care for these conditions together.
Mathematical modeling can take what information is reported about the coronavirus, including the clearly underreported numbers of cases, factor in knowns like the density and age distribution of the population in an area, and compute a more realistic picture of the virus' infection rate, numbers that will enable better prevention and preparation, modelers say.
WATERLOO, Ontario, April 13, 2020--A new peer-reviewed paper from five prominent ocular scientists will help eye care practitioners (ECPs) instruct and reassure contact lens wearers during the global COVID-19 / coronavirus pandemic.
Unraveling interactions between metal ions and peptides in the body may eventually lead to improved treatments for diabetes, Alzheimer's and other diseases. Understanding these interactions is the focus of research, co-led by KAUST, that is revealing how metals, such as copper, can affect the formation of harmful clumps of misfolded peptide clusters called fibrils, which underpin many diseases.
In a new study, published in the journal Nature, Michigan State University scientists show how plant genes select which microbes get to live inside their leaves in order to stay healthy.
This is the first study to show a causal relationship between plant health and assembly of the microbial community in the phyllosphere -- the total above-ground portions of plants. The work suggests that organisms, from plants to animals, may share a similar strategy to control their microbiomes.
Bethesda, Maryland (April 10, 2020) -- Today, the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) published new COVID-19 guidance for gastroenterologists treating patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD): AGA Clinical Practice Update on Management of Inflammatory Bowel Disease During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Expert Commentary.
A new X-ray detector prototype is on the brink of revolutionizing medical imaging, with dramatic reduction in radiation exposure and the associated health risks, while also boosting resolution in security scanners and research applications, thanks to a collaboration between Los Alamos National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory researchers.
Researchers are interested in genetically modifying trees for a variety of applications, from biofuels to paper production. They also want to steer clear of modifications with unintended consequences. These consequences can arise when intended modifications to one gene results in unexpected changes to other genes. A new model aims to predict these changes, helping to avoid unintended consequences, and hopefully paving the way for more efficient research in the fields of genetic modification and forestry.
VRAC/LRRC8 chloride channels do not only play a decisive role in the transport of cytostatics, amino acids and neurotransmitters. They can also transport the important messenger substance cGAMP from cell to cell and thus strengthen the immune response to infections with DNA viruses. This has now been demonstrated by Prof. Thomas Jentsch, who originally discovered LRRC8/VRAC channels and works at the Leibniz Research Institute for Molecular Pharmacology (FMP) and the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) in Berlin, together with colleagues from Shanghai led by Prof. Hui Xiao.
Harvesting sunlight to make energy is a complex reaction that plants do naturally, but isn't well understood.
A research team led by a Washington State University professor has developed a new tool to study how lipids interact with proteins in plants to help understand how photosynthesis happens.
In the paper, published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry earlier this year, the scientists used this new tool to find the lipid that controls when a photosynthetic protein switches from a light harvester to an energy dissipater in plants.
In a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), University of California San Diego researchers moved one step closer to the ability to make heparin in cultured cells. Heparin is a potent anti-coagulant and the most prescribed drug in hospitals, yet cell-culture-based production of heparin is currently not possible.