245 articles from WEDNESDAY 8.7.2020

Hepatitis C management at federally qualified health centers proves cost-effective

BOSTON- New research from Boston Medical Center shows that routine Hepatitis C (HCV) testing at federally qualified health centers (FQHC) improves diagnosis rates and health outcomes for people with HCV infections in the United States, and is cost-effective. The formerly recommended targeted testing approach was shown to provide worse outcomes at a higher cost when compared to routine testing.

HKU study reveals the hidden fight within corals

Researchers from the School of Biological Sciences and Swire Institute of Marine Science at the University of Hong Kong are working to understand how the coral symbiosis may respond to global warming through changes in their microbiome, specifically their symbiotic algae. Using a newly developed method they revealed , which may be a determining factor in the sucthe metabolic function of algae...

HKUST researchers discover a novel mechanism regulating planar cell polarity

Researchers of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) recently uncovered novel molecular mechanisms that regulate delivery of a planar cell polarity protein, Frizzled-6, to the cell surface. This finding provides important information to guide the rational design of inhibitors to downregulate planar cell polarity pathway for cancer treatment.

Hyperactive immune cells accelerate heart valve disease: Study

Aortic valve stenosis is the most common type of heart valve disease in the elderly and affects more than one in eight people aged over 75. Researchers used organ-on-a-chip technology to discover the disease is made worse by the damaging hyperactivity of immune cells, which are activated by the constant stress of squeezing through the narrow aortic valve.

Lefties and righties: Asymmetry in fish genitalia

Evolutionary biologists from the University of Konstanz resolve a century-old question regarding the asymmetric genitals of internally fertilizing fishes of the family Anablepidae. Surprisingly, the direction of genital asymmetry in these fishes is random rather than hereditary.

Like humans, rats are less likely to help victims in the presence of unhelpful bystanders

A study in rats demonstrates that the bystander effect - a phenomenon in which individuals are less likely to help someone in need with other bystanders around - exists in a non-human species. Furthermore, while rats were less likely to rescue a rodent in need when surrounded by unhelpful bystanders, John Havlik and colleagues also observed that they were more likely to take action when their...

Mirror image tumor treatment

Our immune system ought to be able to recognize and kill tumor cells. However, many tumors deceive the immune system. For example, they induce the so-called immune checkpoints of T-cells to shut down immune responses. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, scientists have now introduced a new approach for immunological tumor treatment. Their method is based on the specific blockade of an immune...

Neutralizing antibodies in the battle against COVID-19

An important line of defense against SARS-CoV-2 is the formation of neutralizing antibodies. These can eliminate the intruders and have great potential to be used for prevention and treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection. A team of researchers at the Cologne University Hospital and the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) has elucidated how these antibodies develop and has isolated potent...

New clues to lung-scarring disease may aid treatment

Scientists at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) in Phoenix, Arizona, have discovered previously unreported genetic and cellular changes that occur in the lungs of people with pulmonary fibrosis (PF).

New molecular tool precisely edits mitochondrial DNA

The precision editing technologies that have revolutionized DNA editing in the cell nucleus have been unable to reach the mitochondrial genome. Now, researchers have broken this barrier with a new type of molecular editor that can make precise C* G-to-T* A nucleotide changes in mitochondrial DNA. The editor, engineered from a bacterial toxin, enables modeling of disease-associated mtDNA mutations,...