Earth
What do chocolate, migratory birds, flood control and pandas have in common? Many countries benefit from ecosystem services provided outside their nations. This can happen through economic relationships, biological and geographical conditions, but we hardly know how and where these ecosystem service flows occur.
A new approach brings the hope of new therapeutic options for suppressing seasonal influenza and avian flu: On the basis of an empty - and therefore non-infectious - shell of a phage virus, researchers from Berlin have developed a chemically modified phage capsid that "stifles" influenza viruses. Perfectly fitting binding sites cause influenza viruses to be enveloped by the phage capsids in such a way that it is practically impossible for them to infect lung cells any longer. This phenomenon has been proven in pre-clinical trials, also involving human lung tissue.
HOUSTON -- New findings from researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center about how some cancer cells become "addicted" to glucose could open up fresh approaches to therapy strategies for cancers with high levels of an amino acid transporter called solute carrier family 7 member 11 (SLC7A11). This includes lung cancer and renal cell carcinoma, the most common type of kidney cancer.
Water ice is one of the most abundant solid substances in nature and hydrated protons on the ice surfaces critically influence physical and chemical properties of ices. Hydrated protons are easily doped into the hydrogen-bond (HB) networks when acidic impurities are present. In contrast, in pure water molecular systems, they are generated solely by the thermal ionization of water molecules (H2O⇆H+hyd + OH-hyd). Therefore, the proton activity inherent to water ice is determined by the amount and mobility of hydrated protons derived from the autoionization (Figure 1).
Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the Heidelberg Institute of Stem Cell Technology and Experimental Medicine (HI-STEM)* and the Max Planck Institute in Freiburg have identified a new control mechanism that enables stem cells to adapt their activity in emergency situations. For this purpose, the stem cells simultaneously modify the blueprints for hundreds of proteins encoded in the gene transcripts. In this way, they control the amount of protein produced and can also control the formation of certain proteinisoforms.
Researchers from North Carolina State University have found that a commonly used drug made from secondary bile acids can affect the life cycle of Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) in vitro and reduce the inflammatory response to C. diff in mice. The findings aid understanding of how this drug may be used in future treatment of C. diff infections in humans.
More than 1 out of 3 heart doctors in the U.S. report feeling burned out, according to results of a new survey presented at the American College of Cardiology's Annual Scientific Session Together with World Congress of Cardiology (ACC.20/WCC).
DALLAS, March 30, 2020 -- When temperatures reach extremes of an average daily temperature of 109 degrees Fahrenheit, the number of deaths from cardiovascular disease may double or triple. Researchers note that these findings raise concerns that traditionally hot regions may be especially vulnerable to heat-related cardiovascular deaths, according to new research published today in Circulation, the flagship journal of the American Heart Association.
Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and St Erik Eye Hospital in Sweden have discovered a way to refine the production of retinal cells from embryonic stem cells for treating blindness in the elderly. Using the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing, they have also managed to modify the cells so that they can hide from the immune system to prevent rejection. The studies are published in the scientific journals Nature Communications and Stem Cell Reports.
The scientists have discovered that magnetoreception in birds is unlikely to be associated with the light-sensitive protein cryptochrome in the retina of their eyes, though photochemical reactions in cryptochrome have been so far considered to be the primary biophysical mechanism behind the magnetic sense of birds.
A recent study has found that there is no evidence for or against the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen for patients with COVID-19.
The study, led by researchers at King's College London, also found other types of drugs, such as TNF blockers and JAK inhibitors safe to use.
Oncotarget Volume 11, Issue 12 reported outside its natural niche, the cultured prostate cancer stem cells lost their tumor-inducing capability and stem cell marker expression after approximately 8 transfers at a 1:3 split ratio.
Working in the Arctic Fram Strait, scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) have found microplastic throughout the water column with particularly high concentrations at the ocean floor. Using model-based simulations, they have also found an explanation for this high level of pollution. According to their findings, the two main ocean currents in Fram Strait transport the microscopically small plastic particles into the region between Greenland and Spitsbergen from both the Arctic and the North Atlantic.
Scientists have developed a way of extracting a richer palette of colours from the available spectrum by harnessing disordered patterns inspired by nature that would typically be seen as black.
Colours that we see in nature often come from nanoscale patterns that reflect light back in particular ways. A butterfly's wing, for example, might appear blue because tiny grooves in the surface of the wing cause only blue light to be reflected.