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These findings should have a significant impact on future vaccination strategies and pave the way for new treatments of an underperforming or over-reacting immune system. The results of this research are published in Cell Stem Cell on March 12, 2020.
A protein that normally deposits mineralized calcium in tooth enamel may also be responsible for calcium deposits in the back of the eye in people with dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), according to a study from researchers at the National Eye Institute (NEI). This protein, amelotin, may turn out to be a therapeutic target for the blinding disease. The findings were published in the journal Translational Research. NEI is part of the National Institutes of Health.
Morris Animal Foundation-funded researchers at Texas A&M University and the University of Georgia may have discovered a way to treat deadly foal pneumonia without promoting multi-drug resistant bacteria.
NASA's Terra satellite passed over the Southern Indian Ocean and provided forecasters with a visible image of newly formed Tropical Storm 22S, located near northeastern Madagascar.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument aboard Terra provided a visible image of Tropical Cyclone 22S that revealed strong thunderstorms had circled the center of circulation and western quadrant. A banding of thunderstorms on the western side were bringing rainfall and gusty winds to northeastern Madagascar. Satellite imagery also shows the storm consolidating.
Skin is our body's most ardent defender against pathogens and other external threats. Its outermost layer is maintained through a remarkable transformation in which skin cells swiftly convert into squames--flat, dead cells that provide a tight seal between the living portion of the skin and the world outside.
Research conducted in recent decades has shown how the destruction of forests brings about a decline in species diversity. A research group in Brazil led by scientists at São Paulo State University (UNESP) has now reported the findings of an investigation into how landscape changes caused by deforestation, habitat loss and fragmentation lead directly to the loss not only of species but also of their ecological interactions.
New University of Melbourne research has revealed that ice ages over the last million years ended when the tilt angle of the Earth's axis was approaching high values.
During these times, longer and stronger summers melted the large Northern Hemisphere ice sheets, propelling the Earth's climate into a warm 'interglacial' state, like the one we've experienced over the last 11,000 years.
RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- How does the brain form "fear memory" that links a traumatic event to a particular situation? A pair of researchers at the University of California, Riverside, may have found an answer.
Using a mouse model, the researchers demonstrated the formation of fear memory involves the strengthening of neural pathways between two brain areas: the hippocampus, which responds to a particular context and encodes it, and the amygdala, which triggers defensive behavior, including fear responses.
Study results appear today in Nature Communications.
HKU scientists find high concentrations of toxic phenyltin compounds in local Chinese white dolphins
For years Professor Kenneth Leung Mei Yee from the HKU School of Biological Sciences and the Swire Institute of Marine Science and his research team, have been dedicated to the monitoring of toxic substances tribuyltin (TBT) and triphenyltin (TPT) compounds in our marine environment.
KAIST researchers developed a three-dimensional (3D) hierarchically porous nanostructured catalyst with carbon dioxide (CO2) to carbon monoxide (CO) conversion rate up to 3.96 times higher than that of conventional nanoporous gold catalysts. This new catalyst helps overcome the existing limitations of the mass transport that has been a major cause of decreases in the CO2 conversion rate, holding a strong promise for the large-scale and cost-effective electrochemical conversion of CO2 into useful chemicals.
A study led by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine reports that a hyperactive variant of enzyme ACOX1 produces elevated levels of toxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) and causes a previously unidentified late-onset neurodegenerative disorder. The team named this new syndrome "Mitchell disease" in reference to the first patient to be diagnosed with this disorder.
A major international study has shed new light on the mechanisms through which earthquakes are triggered up to 40km beneath the earth's surface.
While such earthquakes are unusual, because rocks at those depth are expected to creep slowly and aseismically, they account for around 30 per cent of intracontinental seismic activity. Recent examples include a significant proportion of seismicity in the Himalaya as well as aftershocks associated with the 2001 Bhuj earthquake in India.
University of Iowa neuroscientists have identified a specific area of the brain involved in the loss of breathing that occurs during a seizure. The findings, published in JCI Insight on March 12, could have important implications for predicting, or even treating and preventing sudden unexpected death due to epilepsy (SUDEP).
More than 35 million Americans take statin drugs daily to lower their blood cholesterol levels. Now, in experiments with human cells in the laboratory, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine have added to growing evidence that the ubiquitous drug may kill cancer cells and have uncovered clues to how they do it.
How does the immune system act to limit tumor development? Using in vivo imaging tools, scientists from the Institut Pasteur and Inserm described the spatiotemporal activity of tumor-infiltrating T lymphocytes, both locally and remotely. Their research was published in the journal Nature Cancer on March 9, 2020.
Some cells in the immune system, like T lymphocytes, are capable of attacking cancer cells. Promising new therapies known as immunotherapies, recognized by the 2018 Nobel Prize in Medicine, attempt to boost the immune system's response to cancer.