As is the case with most fatal diseases, coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is already taking a disproportionate toll on black Americans and other disadvantaged minorities. As of April 14 in the United States, 32 percent of deaths from COVID-19 occurred among black Americans who comprise of only 13 percent of the population. These numbers indicate that they have a 2.3-fold excess risk of dying from COVID-19 compared to white Americans.
Reston, VA--Prostate cancer patients who do not respond well to PSMA-targeted therapy often have potentially treatable mutations in their DNA damage-repair genes, according to research published in the May issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine.
Why do carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere wax and wane in conjunction with the warm and cold periods of Earth's past? Scientists have been trying to answer this question for many years, and thanks to chemical clues left in sediment cores extracted from deep in the ocean floor, they are starting to put together the pieces of that puzzle.
Using human population genetics, ancient pathogen genomics and isotope analysis, a team of researchers assessed the population history of the Lake Baikal region, finding the deepest con-nection to date between the peoples of Siberia and the Americas. The current study, published in the journal Cell, also demonstrates human mobility, and hence connectivity, across Eurasia during the Early Bronze Age.
Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have boosted their control of the fundamental properties of molecules at the quantum level by linking or "entangling" an electrically charged atom and an electrically charged molecule, showcasing a way to build hybrid quantum information systems that could manipulate, store and transmit different forms of data.
Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have succeeded for the first time in recording, in action, a light-driven sodium pump from bacterial cells. The findings promise progress in the development of new methods in neurobiology. The researchers used the new X-ray free-electron laser SwissFEL for their investigations. They have published their findings today in the journal Nature.
May 20, 2020 -- When things get rough, many Americans turn to prescription pills. About one in eight over the age of 12 take antidepressants for mental disorders such as depression and anxiety, and a quarter of those have done so for 10 years or more, according to a 2017 study by the National Center for Health Statistics. And the use of antidepressants increased 65% from 1999 to 2014.
Most biological processes are carried out by complexes of multiple proteins that work together to carry out some function. How these complicated structures could have evolved is one of modern biology's great puzzles, because they generally stick together using elaborate molecular interfaces, and the intermediate forms through which they came into being have been lost without a trace.
Research into how the SARS-CoV-2 virus induces death is suggesting potential treatments for its most destructive complications.
Leading immunologists in Japan are proposing a possible molecular mechanism that causes massive release of proinflammatory cytokines, or a cytokine storm, leading to the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in COVID-19 patients. Their suggestions, published in the journal Immunity, are based on recent findings that explain how SARS-CoV-2 enters human cells.
Viruses have an exceptional ability to circumvent the body's immune system and cause diseases. The majority of people recover from a viral infection such as influenza, although the current COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates how dangerous viruses are when there is no effective vaccine or treatment.