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How Legionella makes itself at home
Scientists at UT Southwestern have discovered a key protein that helps the bacteria that causes Legionnaires' disease to set up house in the cells of humans and other hosts. The findings, published in Science, could offer insights into how other bacteria are able to survive inside cells, knowledge that could lead to new treatments for a wide variety of infections.
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Esophageal cancers resurrect ancient retroviruses hidden in our genome
Scientists have found that many esophageal cancers turn on ancient viral DNA embedded in our genome, a finding that could lead to improvements in immunotherapy.
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New vaccine blocks COVID-19 and variants, plus other coronaviruses
A potential new vaccine developed by members of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute has proven effective in protecting monkeys and mice from a variety of coronavirus infections -- including SARS-CoV-2 as well as the original SARS-CoV-1 and related bat coronaviruses that could potentially cause the next pandemic.
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Even small bills for health insurance may cause healthy low-income people to drop coverage
Twenty dollars a month might not seem like a lot to pay for health insurance. But for people getting by on $15,000 a year, it's enough to make some drop their coverage - especially if they're healthy, a new study of Medicaid expansion participants in Michigan finds. That could keep them from getting preventive or timely care, and could leave their insurance company with a sicker pool of patients than before.
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Fifty shades of reading: Who reads contemporary erotic novels and why?
New study is the first to explore empirically the readership and the reading rewards underlying the current large-scale cultural phenomenon of erotic novels
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Research shows opportunities to improve the accuracy of dispatching pre-hospital critical care
Research from life-saving charity Air Ambulance Kent Surrey Sussex (KSS) and the University of Surrey indicates that the criteria for immediate Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) dispatch to older trauma patients should be reviewed.
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Synergistic effects of acoustics-based therapy and immunotherapy in cancer treatment
Announcing a new article publication for BIO Integration journal. In this review the authors Yuheng Bao, Jifan Chen, Pintong Huang and Weijun Tong from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China discuss the synergistic effects of acoustics-based therapy and immunotherapy in cancer treatment.
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Dartmouth-led study finds overemphasis on toy giveaways in TV ads unfairly promotes fast-food to children
A new Dartmouth-led study, published this week in the journal Pediatrics, has found that the disproportionate use of premiums within child-targeted TV advertising for children's fast-food meals is deceptive, violating the industry's own self-regulatory guidelines.
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SARS-CoV-2 research: Second possible effective mechanism of remdesivir discovered
After infection, SARS-CoV-2 causes the host cell to produce new virus particles and suppresses host cell defence mechanisms. Virus protein nsP3 plays a central role in the latter process. Using structural analyses, researchers at Goethe University in cooperation with the Swiss Paul Scherrer Institute have now discovered that a decomposition product of the remdesivir binds to nsP3. This previously unknown effective mechanism may be important for the development of new drugs to combat RNA viruses.
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Friendly pelicans breed better
Captive pelicans that are free to choose their own friendships are more likely to breed successfully on repeated occasions, new research suggests.
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Agents that target viral RNA could be the basis for next generation anti-viral drugs
A new approach to tackling viruses by targeting the 'control centre' in viral RNA could lead to broad spectrum anti-viral drugs and provide a first line of defence against future pandemics, according to new research at the University of Birmingham.
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Microneedle patch delivers antibiotics locally in the skin
MRSA skin infections are often treated with intravenous injection of antibiotics, which can cause significant side effects and promote the development of resistant bacterial strains. To solve these problems, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden are developing a microneedle patch that delivers antibiotics directly into the affected skin area. New results published in Advanced Materials Technologies show that the microneedle patch effectively reduces MRSA bacteria in the skin.
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Light meets superconducting circuits
EPFL researchers have developed a light-based approach to read out superconducting circuits, overcoming the scaling-up limitations of quantum computing systems.
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Cancer cells hijack the 3D structure of DNA
Scientists at EPFL and UNIL have used a novel algorithmic approach on cancer cells to understand how changes in histone marks (H3K27ac) induce repositioning of chromatin regions in the cell nucleus, and described how modifications of local contacts between regulatory elements (enhancers and promoters) influence oncogene expression.
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Study finds pretty plants hog research and conservation limelight
New Curtin University research has found a bias among scientists toward colourful and visually striking plants, means they are more likely to be chosen for scientific study and benefit from subsequent conservation efforts, regardless of their ecological importance.
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Do purines influence cancer development?
Numerous disease development processes are linked to epigenetic modulation. One protein involved in the process of modulation and identified as an important cancer marker is BRD4. A recent study by researchers at the CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, now shows that the supply of purines as well as the purine synthesis of a cell can influence BRD4 activity and thus play a role in the carcinogenesis process. The findings were published in Nature Metabolism.
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Tweet and re-tweet: songbird stuttering allows researchers to pinpoint causes in the brain
Biologists have identified specific neural firing patterns that can induce stuttering and stammering in songbirds. The discovery offers a model system that could enable researchers to uncover the origins of speech dysfunction in humans, and possible treatment to restore normal speech.
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In the emptiness of space, Voyager I detects plasma 'hum'
NASA's Voyager I spacecraft has long since zipped past the edge of the solar system through the heliopause - the solar system's border with interstellar space - into the interstellar medium. Now, its instruments have detected the constant drone of interstellar gas (plasma waves), according to Cornell University-led research published in Nature Astronomy.
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How planets form controls elements essential for life
How a planet comes together has implications for whether it captures and retains the volatile elements, including nitrogen, carbon and water, that eventually give rise to life, according to scientists at Rice University.
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Study led by Penn Medicine reveals new mechanism of lung tissue regeneration
New research performed in mice models at Penn Medicine shows, mechanistically, how the infant lung regenerates cells after injury differently than the adult lung, with alveolar type 1 (AT1) cells reprograming into alveolar type 2 (AT2) cells (two very different lung alveolar epithelial cells), promoting cell regeneration, rather than AT2 cells differentiating into AT1 cells, which is the most widely accepted mechanism in the adult lung.
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