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Viable SARS-CoV-2 aerosols detected in a hospital room with COVID-19 patients

Now, a new study by researchers at the University of Florida highlights the role played by SARS-CoV-2 aerosols in disease transmission.

5 Aug 2020

Novel nanospectroscopy measures biomolecular changes induced by drugs in human cells

Synchrotron InfraRed Nanospectroscopy has been used for the first time to measure biomolecular changes induced by a drug (amiodarone) within human cells (macrophages) and localized at 100 nanometre scale, i.e. two orders of magnitude smaller than the IR wavelength used as probe.

17 Jul 2020

Catastrophic macropinocytosis may aid in cancer treatment

In laboratory experiments, a metabolic inhibitor was able to kill a variety of human cancer cells of the skin, breast, lung, cervix and soft tissues through a non-apoptotic route -- catastrophic macropinocytosis.

18 Dec 2019

New strategy could help cells get rid of disease-related debris

Tohoku University researchers have developed a strategy that could help cells get rid of disease-related debris. Further research could lead to treatments for neurodegenerative and metabolic diseases, Down syndrome, and maybe even aging-related diseases.

27 Nov 2019

Blue light and fruit flies: a warning for humans

A new study involving the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, published in the journal npj Aging and Mechanisms of Disease, shows that when flies are kept in darkness, or in white light from which the blue spectrum has been excluded, they live longer, compared to flies kept in alternating 12-hour shifts of blue LED light and darkness. The reason appears to be a speeded-up version of aging; the brain cells, retinal cells and climbing ability, all suffer a breakdown.

18 Oct 2019

Protozoans protect pathogenic bacteria and enhance their infectious potential

Single celled organisms in the environment are protecting pathogenic bacteria and priming them for human infection, an international team of researchers has discovered.

1 Oct 2019

Vaping destroys lining and immune cells in the lung, says study

Now, a new study shows that the vapor emitted by the electronic cigarettes is vaping is linked to much higher rates of cell death among airway epithelial cells – more than double, from about 9% in controls to 17-20% in the exposed cells.

24 Sep 2019

Fat-filled immune cells found in victims of vaping illness

The frightening outbreak of mysterious respiratory illness linked to the use of e-cigarettes, or vaping, have shaken the medical community.

9 Sep 2019

Newborn mouse model yields clues to cause of devastating gut disease in anemic preemies

Physicians have long suspected that red blood cell transfusions given to premature infants with anemia may put them in danger of developing necrotizing enterocolitis, or NEC, a potentially lethal inflammatory disease of the intestines.

From Johns Hopkins Medicine 13 Aug 2019

Study: Atg2 tethers pre-autophagosomal membrane to endoplasmic reticulum during autophagosome formation

Postdoctoral Researcher Tetsuya Kotani, Associate Professor Hitoshi Nakatogawa, Honorary Professor Yoshinori Ohsumi and colleagues at Tokyo Institute of Technology have analyzed the Atg protein Atg2, whose function had been completely unknown, and have discovered that Atg2 tethers the pre-autophagosomal membrane to the endoplasmic reticulum during autophagosome formation.

23 Oct 2018

Aberrant protein prevents self-cleaning of nerve cells in ALS

Scientists have discovered that TDP-43 interferes with lysosomal pathways responsible for its clearance and induces autophagy in ALS.

12 Apr 2018

Scientists study behavior of Listeria monocytogenes during asymptomatic infection

Listeriosis is a disease caused by eating foods that have been contaminated by the Listeria monocytogenes bacterium.

1 Dec 2017

Loss of smell linked to weight loss in mice despite same food intake, study reveals

Experiments conducted at the University of California, Berkeley, suggest that the odor of food has a direct link with how the body processes the calories. The new study conducted on mice published in the first week of July in the journal Cell Metabolism implicates that the ability to detect the smell of food is related to whether the calories are burnt rather than stored.

6 Jul 2017

TSRI scientists solve cellular mystery that may have implications for fundamental biology

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have solved a cellular mystery that may have important implications for fundamental biology and diseases like ALS.

13 Jun 2017

Researchers explore how sea urchins take up calcium to build hard spines

Some sea creatures cover themselves with hard shells and spines, while vertebrates build skeletons out of the same minerals. How do these animals get the calcium they need to build these strong mineral structures? Professors Lia Addadi and Steve Weiner of the Weizmann Institute of Science's Structural Biology Department asked this question about sea urchins, which need to extract quite a few calcium ions from sea water to build their spines.

6 Apr 2017

Researchers identify new mechanism that protects from bacterial infections

An international team led by the University if Barcelona has identified a new antibacterial mechanism that protects macrophages - defense cells in the immune system- from the infection of the bacteria Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, a pathogen associated with several gastrointestinal diseases.

2 Feb 2017

Researchers uncover novel virulence strategies employed by Leishmania parasite

Professor Albert Descoteaux of INRS-Institut Armand-Frappier Research Centre and his team have discovered novel virulence strategies employed by the Leishmania parasite.

29 Jul 2016

Study shows syringe-like device acts as traffic cop directing bacteria to carry out infection

A study has found that a syringe-like device used to invade intestinal cells also acts as a traffic cop -- directing bacteria where to go and thereby enabling them to efficiently carry out infection.

4 May 2016

Magnesium could be safe, cost-effective therapeutic intervention for genetic coagulation disorder

An international team of scientists was able to demonstrate in mouse and patient studies, how magnesium affects the production of blood platelets and that the TRPM7 channel function plays a key role in this process. Scientists of the Rudolf Virchow Center and the Hospital of the University of Würzburg were primarily involved in this study. Their results were published in the current journal "Nature Communications".

4 Apr 2016

UIC researchers discover molecular switch that allows salmonella bacteria to fight immune system

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have discovered a molecular regulator that allows salmonella bacteria to switch from actively causing disease to lurking in a chronic but asymptomatic state called a biofilm.

7 Feb 2016