Barcelona, 19 May 2020.- Knowledge of how a molecule interacts with the organism is crucial in order to consider its therapeutic potential. Headed by ICREA researcher Patrick Aloy, the Structural Bioinformatics and Network Biology (SBNS) lab at IRB Barcelona has presented the Chemical Checker, an on-line open-access tool that provides information on the effects exerted by more than 1M compounds in a wide range of biological settings.
An international multicentre study describes a rare disease characterized by a series of recognizable facial features, cardiac defects and intellectual disability, which they propose to name as TRAF7 syndrome -according to the name of the gen that causes this pathology.
Researchers from the University of Freiburg, Stuttgart and the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München conducted an online survey of more than 7,800 people in Germany from May 7-17, 2020 about their experiences and attitudes in the corona pandemic. The results are now being presented by Prof. Dr. Uwe Wagschal, Dr. Sebastian Jäckle, Dr. Eva-Maria Trüdinger and Dr. Achim Hildebrandt. Almost every German is affected by the pandemic in some way. Only five percent of those surveyed do not feel affected by the restrictions and measures.
"Nature unveiling herself before science" is a sculpture by Louis-Ernest Barrias on display at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. A research collaboration of the University of Vienna and the Sorbonne in Paris now took this credo to heart. "In order to create efficient functional materials, nature offers the best recipes by providing evolutionarily successful concepts," says Dennis Kurzbach from the Institute of Biological Chemistry. Kurzbach and his colleagues applied a jointly developed technology, based on NMR spectroscopy, to reveal the secrets of biomineralisation.
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Characterized by a buildup of amyloid plaques in the brain, Alzheimer's is an irreversible disease that leads to memory loss and a decrease in cognitive function. More than 5 million Americans suffer with the brain condition, which is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. While the causes of Alzheimer's are not fully understood, scientists believe genetic, lifestyle and environmental factors are involved in the disease's development.
Scientists engineering valuable microbes for renewable fuels and bioproducts have developed a fast, efficient way to identify the most promising varieties.
Leipzig/Berlin. Residents of large German cities have it above all in their own hands how high the concentrations of ultrafine dust are in their homes. The level of pollution in the home depends only partially on the air quality outside. However, it also depends very much on activities inside the home, such as cooking activities or heating of solid fuel. This study was led by the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) commissioned by the Federal Environment Agency (UBA).
Millions of acres of natural habitat in the U.S. and the wildlife that inhabit these large swaths of private and public lands depend on people who support a myriad of conservation activities. Recreational hunters are an important group of people whose licenses, taxes and fees directly pay for conservation efforts. However, the number of people who hunt as a sport has steadily declined since the 1980s.
Researchers from Prokhorov General Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology have developed a novel method for diagnosing and monitoring autoimmune disorders. Within a mere 25 minutes, their new biosensor not only measures the concentration of autoantibodies in human blood serum with extremely high sensitivity, but also -- for the first time -- quantifies their activity. The combination of these parameters permits the elaboration of new diagnostic criteria for autoimmune diseases, as well as new approaches to their treatment.
Virtually all of the grasslands in Europe are managed by farmers and whilst traditional management involved periodic cutting and grazing, modern intensive management involves applications of large amounts of nitrogen fertiliser to increase grass production. Traditionally managed grasslands contained many plant species, but intensively managed ones contain only a few fast-growing ones that profit from the high nutrient levels. The number of disease-causing plant pathogens also increases with fertilisation.