Scientists at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC have identified a protein that is critical to the development of inflammation during lung infection in patients with cystic fibrosis. The identification of this protein, called interleukin-23, is an important finding that gives researchers a specific target for developing new therapies.
A toxin that can make bacterial infections turn deadly is also found in higher plants, researchers at UC Davis, the Marine Biology Laboratory at Woods Hole, Mass. and the University of Nebraska have found. Lipid A, the core of endotoxin, is located in the chloroplasts, structures that carry out photosynthesis within plant cells.
Two new studies, funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Football League Charities, examined the effects of smoking on fractures and ligament healing in mice and found that healing of both types of injury was delayed.
Why do we ignore public warnings and advertisements about the dangers of smoking, drinking alcohol, overeating, stressing out and otherwise persist in habits and behaviours that we know aren’t good for us?
An international group of ecologists and economists has shown that the loss of biodiversity is profoundly reducing the ocean’s ability to produce seafood, resist diseases, filter pollutants and rebound from stresses such as overfishing and climate change. Their results are published in this week’s issue of the journal Science.
Biologists have invented a chemical-free, hairdryer-like device — the LouseBuster — and conducted a study showing it eradicates head lice infestations on children by exterminating the eggs, or “nits,” and killing enough lice to prevent them from reproducing.
Some patients who experience recurrent depression may benefit from long-term maintenance treatment with anti-depressant medication, according to a new study led by a Virginia Commonwealth University researcher.
Rhinoceros horns have long been objects of mythological beliefs. Some cultures prize them for their supposed magical or medicinal qualities. Others have used them as dagger handles or good luck charms. But new research at Ohio University removes some of the mystique by explaining how the horn gets its distinctive curve and sharply pointed tip.
Following a series of well documented natural disasters with grave human and economic consequences, the ability to predict these devastating events has once more come to the fore as a research priority for the European scientific community.This, amongst other things, is what leading scientists in ocean margin research came together to discuss at the recent EUROMARGINS conference in Bologna, Italy.
A postmenopausal hormone therapy trial conducted in Estonia indicates that hormone therapy does not improve women’s quality of life. The group receiving hormones and the comparison group showed no differences in general quality of life. Only those women that experienced hot flashes and night-time sweating reported beneficial effects.