Finding could dampen contagiousness of individuals most likely to spread germs when sick
Some individuals exhale many more pathogen-laden droplets than others in the course of ordinary breathing, scientists have found, but oral administration of a safe saline spray every six hours might slash exhalation of germs in this group by an average 72 percent.
The researchers, at Harvard University and biotechnology firms Pulmatrix and Inamed, report results from their clinical study
Proceedings of The Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Geographic potential of Argentine ants (Linepithema humile Mayr) in the face of global climate change by Dr N Roura-Pascual, Dr AV Suarez, Dr C Gómez, Dr P Pons, Dr Y Touyama, Dr AL Wild and Dr AT Peterson
We examined the potential worldwide distribution of the Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) based on current climate models and also in the face of projected future climate change. Native to South Americ
ALS is an incurable, paralyzing neurodegenerative disorder that strikes 5 persons in every 100,000. The disease commonly affects healthy people in the most active period of their lives – without warning or previous family history. Researchers from VIB (the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology), under the direction of Prof. Peter Carmeliet (Catholic University of Leuven), have previously shown the importance of the VEGF protein in this disease. Now, new research from this group shows
When and where a bacterium uses its DNA can be as important as what’s in the DNA, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Scientists found significant differences in two bacterial organisms’ use of a gene linked to processes that govern a form of antibiotic resistance. The distinction alters the bacteria’s “lifestyles,” or their ability to survive in different environments. Researchers say the finding shows that understan
Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have become the first to successfully grow a norovirus in the lab. In humans, noroviruses are a highly contagious source of diarrhea, vomiting and other stomach upset that made headlines two years ago after a series of repeated outbreaks on cruise ships. These viruses are a major cause of human disease worldwide.
Researchers showed that the mouse norovirus MNV-1 could be grown inside cells from mice with defecti
’Device’ made of fused protein partners is shown to be reversible and highly sensitive
Improving significantly on an early prototype, Johns Hopkins University researchers have found a new way to join two unrelated proteins to create a molecular switch, a nanoscale “device” in which one biochemical partner controls the activity of the other. Lab experiments have demonstrated that the new switch performs 10 times more effectively than the early model and that its “on-off
Scientists at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, have conducted novel experiments that might one day lead to gene therapy treatment options for patients with Parkinson’s disease.
In research published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the research team, led by EPFL President Patrick Aebischer, found that viral delivery of a gene associated with Parkinson’s disease protected neurons from degeneration.
Four years ago in Science, Stuart Kim, a Stanford University developmental biologist, made the case for describing the broad strokes of a complex physiological process before defining its mechanisms. “A powerful, top-down, holistic approach,” he wrote, “is to identify all of the components of a particular cellular process, so that one can define the global picture first and then use it as a framework to understand how the individual components of the process fit together.” To get a broad view of
Findings further link inflammation, obesity, and type-2 diabetes
Chronic inflammation is being implicated in diseases as widespread as cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and most recently, diabetes and obesity. The role of the hormone resistin in people with these diseases has been questioned because it is primarily secreted by immune cells called macrophages in humans rather than fat cells, as in mice. Nevertheless, resistin is elevated in some people with diabe
A protein found on the surface of nerve cells makes fruit flies tolerant to a drug after just a single, brief exposure, which may reveal ways to address this early step toward addiction in humans.
Neuroscientist Nigel Atkinson at The University of Texas at Austin and his laboratory determined this by studying the response of fruit flies (Drosophila) to a 15-minute exposure to benzyl alcohol coated on the inner walls of test tubes. Flies that had had one previous exposure to the or
Researchers at the University of Warwick’s Warwick Manufacturing Group, in conjunction with PVAXX Research & Development Ltd, have devised a novel way to recycle discarded mobile telephones – bury them and watch them transform into the flower of your choice.
Mobile telephones are one of the most quickly discarded items of consumer electronics. Rapid changes in technology and taste means customers constantly upgrade their phones leaving behind more and more discarded phones. How
A recent discovery unveils the chemical secret that gives old bees the authority to keep young bees home babysitting instead of going out on the town.
A hard-to-detect pheromone explains a phenomenon Michigan State University entomologist Zachary Huang published 12 years ago – that somehow older forager bees exert influence over the younger nurse bees in a hive, keeping them grounded until they are more mature, and thus more ready to handle the demands of buzzing about.
Austrian researchers are successfully treating incontinent women with the patient’s own muscle-derived stem cells. The findings of the first clinical study of its kind were presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
“Urinary incontinence is a major problem for women, and for an increasing number of men,” said Ferdinand Frauscher, M.D., associate professor of radiology at the Medical University of Innsbruck and the head of urorad
For the first time, researchers can predict the lung cancer risk for social smokers as well as habitual smokers.
Data presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) showed that a social smoker age 50 or older has a risk for developing lung cancer similar to that of a smoker under age 50 who smoked three packs a day for 20 years.
Claudia I. Henschke, Ph.D., M.D., is the principal investigator of the International Early Lung Cance
When people lie, they use different parts of their brains than when they tell the truth, and these brain changes can be measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America. The results suggest that fMRI may one day prove a more accurate lie detector than the polygraph.
“There may be unique areas in the brain involved in deception that can be measured with fMRI,” said
A drug withdrawn from pharmacy shelves over 20 years ago may point the way to a new treatment for spinal muscular atrophy, or SMA, a muscle-wasting and often life-threatening childhood disease.
A new study suggests that the drug, called indoprofen, increases the production of a protein that is key to the survival of the nerve cells affected by the disease. Indoprofen was taken off the market in the early 1980s due to reports of serious gastrointestinal reactions as well as report
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