Culture
The discovery of an unusual hepatitis B virus from shrews offers new opportunities of better understanding the chronic progression of the disease. International research teams were able to demonstrate that an important protein which is essential for the development of a chronic course of infection is not present in this virus. DZIF scientists at the Charite - Universitaetsmedizin Berlin and the University of Giessen are leading the research.
A new strategy for designing light-sensitive proteins has been developed by researchers at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB). Such proteins, also known as optogenetic tools, can be switched on and off through light impulses, thus triggering specific cellular processes. They can, for example, be used to analyse and control how signals are transmitted by nerve cells. So far, researchers developing optogenetic tools have been pretty much forced to resort to trial-and-error. A combination of computer-aided and experimental methods has now paved the way for a more targeted approach.
The genes that first enabled plants to grow shoots and conquer the land have been identified by University of Bristol researchers. The findings, published in Current Biology [1 August], explain how a 450-million years ago a switch enabled plants to delay reproduction and grow shoots, leaves and buds.
Higher doses of spironolactone, a diuretic (water pill), can prevent the need for dialysis in selected heart failure patients, a UT Health San Antonio study found. The aggressive approach relieved fluid overload safely and effectively in patients who were not responding to conventional diuretics.
There are numerous different scenarios in which microorganisms are exposed to highly reactive molecules known as free radicals. These molecules are capable of damaging important cell components and may be generated during normal cell metabolism or in response to environmental factors. Free radicals play a significant role in antibiotic effectiveness, the development of diseases and the normal functioning of the human immune system.
Several countries have combated low organ donor counts by implementing a priority rule that pushes registered donors to the front of the line if they ever need a transplant. However, according to a study from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin just published in Management Science, this model has drawbacks.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN- August 2, 2019 - For decades, immunologists have been trying to train the transplant recipient's immune system to accept transplanted cells and organs without the long-term use of anti-rejection drugs. New University of Minnesota preclinical research shows that this is now possible.
In a world first, researchers at ZSL and UCL compared changes in bird and mammal populations with socio-economic trends in low- and lower-middle income countries over the past 20 years. Their results suggest that national-level economic growth and more gender-balanced governments enhance wildlife populations and provide support for linking the UN's human development and conservation targets.
The discovery of fossilized plants in Labrador, Canada, by a team of McGill directed paleontologists provides the first quantitative estimate of the area's climate during the Cretaceous period, a time when the earth was dominated by dinosaurs.
The specimens were found in the Redmond no.1 mine, in a remote area of Labrador near Schefferville, in August 2018. Together with specimens collected in previous expeditions, they are now at the core of a recent study published in Palaeontology.
Eleven new to science species of rain frogs are described by two scientists from the Museum of Zoology of the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador in the open-access journal ZooKeys.
Previous infection with either Zika virus or dengue virus has no apparent effect on the clinical course of subsequent infection with the other virus, according to a study published August 1 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by David O'Connor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and colleagues. This work is timely, given recent efforts to develop an effective vaccine for Zika virus, as well as the introduction of dengue virus vaccines in areas where both viruses are now co-endemic.
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health developed a new mouse model that could improve the translation of research in mice into advances in human health. The mouse model, which the scientists called "wildling," acquired the microbes and pathogens of wild mice, while maintaining the laboratory mice's genetics that make them more useful for research. In two preclinical studies, wildlings mirrored human immune responses, where lab mice failed to do so.
By measuring the distance from our sun to thousands of individual pulsating stars scattered across the Milky Way, researchers have charted our Galaxy on a larger scale than ever before. Their new three-dimensional map, which provides a broad view of our place among the stars, reveals the S-like structure of the Milky Way's warped stellar disc. "Our map shows the Milky Way disk is not flat. It is warped and twisted," says co-author Przemek Mroz in a related video.
Using decades-old frozen fish, researchers have discovered roots of rapid evolutionary adaptation to human activity in the Anthropocene. Similar traits - at least in the fish they studied - can arise through highly divergent genetic pathways, the researchers say.
A contagious canine cancer that conquered the world by spreading between dogs during mating likely arose around 6,000 years ago in Asia and spread around the globe through maritime activities, scientists say.
A detailed genetic study, published today in Science, reveals some surprising - and even mysterious - findings about how this cancer, that has survived for thousands of years, has mutated and evolved over time.