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COVID-19 vaccine candidate shows potent immune response

A COVID-19 vaccine candidate that underwent extensive preclinical testing at the University of Alabama at Birmingham this spring and summer shows potent preclinical immune responses - including several that distinguish it from other COVID-19 vaccine approaches - according to a preprint deposited in the BioRxiv repository this week.

13 Oct 2020

Female mosquitoes can detect a combination of four different substances in blood

Mosquitoes spread diseases like malaria, dengue, and yellow fever that kill at least a half a million people each year. Now researchers are learning what humans taste like to mosquitoes, down to the individual neurons that sense blood's distinctive, delectable flavor.

13 Oct 2020

Neoadjuvant trial of combination immunotherapy has favorable outcomes in bladder cancer patients

Neoadjuvant, or pre-surgical, combination treatment with the immune checkpoint inhibitors tremelimumab (anti-CTLA-4) and durvalumab (anti-PD-1) was well-tolerated and showed early signs of activity in certain patients with localized bladder cancer who do not have standard treatment options available, according to a Phase I clinical trial conducted by The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

13 Oct 2020

Study reveals why immobilization after injury helps in healing

By far, the most common injuries seen in emergency rooms in the United States are those affecting extremities. Immobilization is the most common treatment, and yet, until recently, it was unknown exactly why this technique worked to advance healing.

12 Oct 2020

Enzyme SSH1 impairs the disposal of damaged tau and neurotoxic mitochondria

In a healthy brain, the multistep waste clearance process known as autophagy routinely removes and degrades damaged cell components - including malformed proteins like tau and toxic mitochondria.

12 Oct 2020

Two well-known neurochemicals found to be involved in sub-second perception, cognition

In first-of-their-kind observations in the human brain, an international team of researchers has revealed two well-known neurochemicals - dopamine and serotonin - are at work at sub-second speeds to shape how people perceive the world and take action based on their perception.

12 Oct 2020

Stem cells that repair broken bones can also generate arthritic bone spurs

The same stem cells that heal broken bones can also generate arthritic bone spurs called osteophytes, according to a new study in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

12 Oct 2020

Understanding the production of memory B cells and immune responses

The current COVID-19 climate has made vaccines, antibodies, and immune responses topics of everyday conversation.

12 Oct 2020

Study provides a new depth of resolution to understand single gene disorders

Traditionally, geneticists divide disorders into "simple," where a single gene mutation causes disease, or complex, where mutations in many genes contribute modest amounts. A new study suggests that the truth is somewhere in between.

12 Oct 2020

Dynamic map reveals how cells fight microbes and preserve memory for future infections

Researchers have charted the activity of tens of thousands of genes in mouse immune cells over the course of an infection.

12 Oct 2020

COVID-19-positive mothers rarely transmit the virus to their newborns

Mothers with SARS-CoV-2 infection rarely transmit the virus to their newborns when basic infection-control practices are followed, according to a new study by researchers at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital.

12 Oct 2020

Optimizing allocation of future COVID-19 vaccine can double effectiveness

In anticipation of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine deployment, the Australian and US researchers utilized an age-structured mathematical model to appraise the potential benefits of optimizing age-specific dose allocation for suppressing SARS-CoV-2 transmission – and reaffirmed the notion that vaccination alone may be inadequate to achieve herd immunity in some settings. The study is currently available on the medRxiv* preprint server.

12 Oct 2020

Powerful antimicrobial molecules engineered from toxic proteins in wasp venom

A team led by scientists in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has engineered powerful new antimicrobial molecules from toxic proteins found in wasp venom.

12 Oct 2020

Computational biology algorithm could help optimize culture conditions required for cell therapy

Cellular therapy is a powerful strategy to produce patient-specific, personalised cells to treat many diseases, including heart disease and neurological disorders.

12 Oct 2020

Dopamine and serotonin play role in perception and decision-making

Scientists at Wake Forest School of Medicine have recorded real time changes in dopamine and serotonin levels in the human brain that are involved with perception and decision-making.

12 Oct 2020

COVID stalks Montana town already saddled with asbestos disease

Like thousands of people from Libby and Lincoln County in the far northwestern corner of Montana, the 61-year-old Fahland has scarred lungs after years of breathing in asbestos fibers from dust and soil contaminated by the town's now-defunct plant that produced vermiculite, a mineral used in insulation and gardening.

12 Oct 2020

Gene variations that regulate dopamine levels in the brain may influence mobility of elderly, frail adults

Variations in a gene that regulates dopamine levels in the brain may influence the mobility of elderly and frail adults, according to new research from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.

12 Oct 2020

Support and intervention needed to protect wellbeing of health care workers after Ebola outbreak

As we approach a second wave of COVID-19 researchers are looking at what can be learnt from countries affected by the Ebola outbreak in order to better safeguard the mental health of health care workers in the UK and across the globe.

12 Oct 2020

Study highlights ongoing disparity in inflammatory breast cancer

Women with inflammatory breast cancer - a rare, highly aggressive form of the disease - are living about twice as long after diagnosis than their counterparts in the mid-to-late 1970s, according to a new University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center study.

12 Oct 2020

Study shows evidence-based patient education is important in tinnitus

About 50 million people in the United States suffer with tinnitus, a condition in which people perceive sounds such as ringing or buzzing in their ears or head. It is the number one service-related disability among U.S. veterans.

12 Oct 2020