The current standard in diagnosing Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection requires two sequential steps that make it suboptimal, costly, inconvenient, time consuming, and globally not widely available or affordable. Now researchers have developed a novel enzyme immunoassay that accomplishes screening and diagnosis in one simple and affordable step.
In a Hepatology study that included 365 blood specimens, the assay was highly sensitive and specific for HCV infection.
Researchers at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke have discovered that boosting the transport of mitochondria along neuronal axons enhances the ability of mouse nerve cells to repair themselves after injury. The study, "Facilitation of axon regeneration by enhancing mitochondrial transport and rescuing energy deficits," which has been published in The Journal of Cell Biology, suggests potential new strategies to stimulate the regrowth of human neurons damaged by injury or disease.
Nature provides mankind with a wide variety of valuable bioactive agents ranging from vitamins over vital fatty acids to cancer inhibiting substances. Many of these substances are difficult to obtain directly from the environment or can not be produced effectively by chemical total synthesis.
Reston, Va. - A recent pilot study reported in the June issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine found that sodium fluoride (Na-F-18) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (NaF-PET/CT) accurately detects bone metastases in patients with advanced prostate cancer, and follow-up scans over time correlate clearly with clinical outcomes and patient survival.
Athens, Ga. - Sexual transmission of the Ebola virus could have a major impact on the dynamics of the disease, potentially reigniting an outbreak that has been contained by public health interventions, according to research by University of Georgia ecologists just published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.
The potential for sexual transmission is high for three to four months after the virus has been cleared from the bloodstream, and possible for an average of seven months.
Pregnant women with higher levels of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, proteins that control communication between cells of the immune system, may be at significantly greater risk of having a child with autism combined with intellectual disability, researchers with the UC Davis MIND Institute have found.
The research also suggests a potential immune profile for the differentiation of autism combined with intellectual disability, as distinct from either autism or developmental disability alone.
HOUSTON -- (June 7, 2016) -- One of the longest and largest studies of coral reef health ever undertaken finds that corals are declining worldwide because a variety of threats -- overfishing, nutrient pollution and pathogenic disease -- that ultimately become deadly in the face of higher ocean temperatures.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (June 7, 2016) - Stress during pregnancy has been linked to several conditions, including some instances of autism spectrum disorder. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri School of Medicine have observed a variant of a stress-sensitive gene and exposure to stress during pregnancy among two groups of mothers of children with autism. The researchers believe the finding could be a step toward helping identify women who have greater risks for having children with autism when exposed to stressors during a specific time window during pregnancy.
Carbon (C) is essential in biology as it forms up to four bonds per atom in an endless variety of complex organic molecules, which are the basis of living cells and viruses (DNA, RNA, proteins, etc.). In biology the carbon cycle is mainly regulated by the hydration of CO2.
BUFFALO, N.Y. - A new vaccine allows pneumonia-causing bacteria to colonize inside the body, springing into action only if the bacteria pose a threat.
The breakthrough approach, coupled with the protein-based vaccine's potential to counteract more than 90 strains of the bacteria, has the makings to override how vaccines have worked (destroying bacteria before colonization) since the days of Louis Pasteur.
Fat tissue shows a robust circadian rhythm in a dish.
In humans, glucose tolerance varies with time of day, but the mechanism responsible for the variation in insulin sensitivity throughout the day is unclear. In a recent study in The Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital and the University of Murcia investigated whether human adipose (fat) tissue possesses its own circadian rhythm in insulin sensitivity that could contribute to this phenomenon.
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology looked at nearly 29 million tweets surrounding four recent Black Lives Matter (BLM) events to identify the social media patterns of its activists. They found that the community is unlike many other social movements because of its ability to bond over the course of many months. More than a third of those who participated via social media for the first time continued their participation during the next BLM event.
Drought periods followed by rainfall caused nitrate levels to increase to the highest ever measured in some Midwest streams during a 2013 study, according to a U.S. Geological Survey report published today in the Journal of Environmental Quality.
Sometimes good fish go bad. But it's not their fault.
In a three-year effort to understand the effects of known stressors such as overfishing and nutrient pollution on coral reefs, scientists made a totally unexpected finding: A normally healthy interaction between fish and coral had turned deadly.
A changing climate means that by 2070 koalas may no longer call large parts of inland Australia home, researchers have found.
Using a detailed ecological model, the University of Melbourne study shows hotter temperatures and altered rainfall patterns will make it much more difficult for koalas to get the water they need -- making inland populations vulnerable to heat-stress.