Mitosis is the process by which the genetic information encoded on chromosomes is equally distributed to two daughter cells, a fundamental feature of all life on earth. Scientists led by Alexander Dammermann at the Max Perutz Labs, a joint venture of the University of Vienna and the Medical University of Vienna, now examine how centrioles contribute to this process. The findings, published in "Developmental Cell", help to elucidate the function of these tiny cellular structures in mitosis.
Scientists at DESY have achieved a new world record for an experimental type of miniature particle accelerator: For the first time, a terahertz powered accelerator more than doubled the energy of the injected electrons. At the same time, the setup significantly improved the electron beam quality compared to earlier experiments with the technique, as Dongfang Zhang and his colleagues from the Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL) at DESY report in the journal Optica. "We have achieved the best beam parameters yet for terahertz accelerators," said Zhang.
The Asian tropopause aerosol layer (ATAL) is located at twelve to 18 kilometers height above the Middle East and Asia. This accumulation of aerosols in the Asian monsoon was discovered first in 2011. Its composition and effect, however, have been unknown so far. A European consortium of scientists has now found at this layer consists of crystalline ammonium nitrate. In the AIDA cloud chamber, climate researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) demonstrated how this substance is formed in the upper troposphere. The results are reported in Nature Geoscience.
International team including University of Warwick scientists identifies proteins that drive activation of our immune response
Adaptor proteins act as a 'clutch' to move clusters of proteins within cells
Could open opportunities to design immune cells to combat specific problems
Protein condensates are involved; have been found to play roles in many biological processes and diseases, including Huntington's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and types of cancer
The researchers studied a group of 720 boys and 794 girls who studied in 13 schools in Reus. They were monitored during three developmental periods: 10 years old, 11 years old and 13 years old. At the beginning of the study, the students answered a series of psychological tests that were used to detect which of them presented emotional symptoms related to depression, anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). From their responses, two groups were created: one group at risk of emotional problems and a control group.
Damaged peripheral nerves can regenerate after an injury, for example, following a forearm fracture. Axons, the long projections of neurons that transmit stimuli or signals to other cells, are affected in the case of injury and need to regrow to recover their function. The research team led by Prof. Claire Jacob at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and at the Swiss University of Fribourg investigated the details of this repair process and have demonstrated that the same mechanism could be activated in cells of the central nervous system - after a spinal cord injury, for instance.
Rising temperatures could mean no male loggerhead turtles hatch at a key breeding ground by the end of this century, new research suggests.
The University of Exeter study also warns that - by 2100 - more than 90% of loggerhead nests on the Cape Verde islands could incubate at "lethally high temperatures", killing turtles before they hatch.
The sex of turtle hatchlings is determined by incubation temperature, and this study combined current temperature and hatchling data with projections from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The idea of genetically modifying a patient's own immune cells and deploying them against infections and tumors has been around since the 1980s. But to this day modified T cells are still not as effective as natural T cells and have been only been of limited clinical value. Using the new CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing tool, a team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has now engineered T cells that are very similar to physiological immune cells.
The acidification of the oceans is recorded in the crystals of the coral skeleton. This is a new tool for studying past environmental changes and combating climate change. Such is the main conclusion of a study led by the Spanish scientist Ismael Coronado Vila, from the Institute of Paleobiology in Warsaw (Poland).
Botanist Dr. Clement Coiffard of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin discovered the oldest, completely preserved lily in the research collection: Cratolirion bognerianum was found in calcareous sediments of a former freshwater lake in Crato in northeastern Brazil. With an age of about 115 million years, Cratolirion is one of the oldest known monocotyledonous plants. These include orchids, sweet grasses, lilies and lilies of the valley.