Genetic variants may contribute to increased levels of antibodies against proteins of the Epstein-Barr virus — a known environmental risk factor for multiple sclerosis (MS) — in MS patients and their siblings, a study suggests.
The study, “EBNA-1 titer gradient in families with multiple sclerosis indicates a genetic contribution,” was published in the journal Neurology, Neuroimmunology and Neuroinflammation.
Our muscles start to shrink and weaken when we reach our 50s and 60s in a process called sarcopenia, but new research in mice from the University of Michigan offers new insights into why this loss may occur, and how we might begin to prevent it.
Sarcopenia is the progressive loss of muscle mass in aging, and it’s linked to other age-related pathologies such as osteoarthritis, cardiovascular disease and cancer, as well as an overall reduction in function and independence.
The research, led by Carlos Aguilar, a U-M assistant professor of biomedical engineering, focused on muscle stem cells since they are dedicated solely to keeping muscles healthy. And to better understand stem cell function during aging, testing was conducted on two sets of mice, one “young” and one “old,” before and after muscle injury.
Researchers have designed a simple, low-cost device for subcutaneous injection of viscous formulations.
MIT researchers have developed a simple, low-cost technology to administer powerful drug formulations that are too viscous to be injected using conventional medical syringes.
The technology, which is described in a paper published today in the journal Advanced Healthcare Materials, makes it possible to inject high-concentration drugs and other therapies subcutaneously. It was developed as a solution for highly effective, and extremely concentrated, biopharmaceuticals, or biologics, which typically are diluted and injected intravenously.
“you can rest easy. The asteroid does not pose a threat to life on Earth. Most likely, it will sail harmlessly past our planet. At worst, it will burn up harmlessly in our atmosphere and create a firework show for some lucky Earthlings.” 🤔.
Social media around the world lit up over the weekend, discussing the possibility that an asteroid (known as 2018 VP₁) could crash into Earth on November 2.
It seemed only fitting. What better way to round off a year that has seen catastrophic floods, explosions, fires, and storms—and, of course, a global pandemic?
But you can rest easy. The asteroid does not pose a threat to life on Earth. Most likely, it will sail harmlessly past our planet. At worst, it will burn up harmlessly in our atmosphere and create a firework show for some lucky Earthlings.
Federal, state and local authorities continue to investigate a multistate outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis infections linked to peaches as new retailers are added to the related recall list.
All of the implicated peaches were packed or supplied by Prima Wawona or Wawona Packing Co., both of California.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that epidemiologic evidence indicates peaches are the likely source of this outbreak. As of Aug. 19, the CDC reported a total of 68 confirmed patients across nine states. The Food and Drug Administration’s investigation to identify a source of contamination is ongoing.
💥💥💥💥💥💥💥Humanitarian Day, the UK Space Agency announced £3.4 million of new funding for 10 leading-edge projects, backing UK academics using space to tackle global development problems – from the spread of malaria to human trafficking and forced labor. In 2018, there were an estimated 228 million cases and 405,000 deaths from malaria alone.
These projects will develop solutions to global challenges that will open up new opportunities for UK space expertise to help countries overseas to deal with myriad problems. Among the others being backed are space-based solutions that will help protect wildlife habitats in Kenya and another that will improve resilience to flooding in Bangladesh, which is suffering the most prolonged monsoon rains in decades.
On World Humanitarian Day, the UK Space Agency announced £3.4 million of new funding for 10 leading-edge projects, backing UK academics using space to tackle global development problems – from the spread of malaria to human trafficking and forced labor. In 2018, there were an estimated 228 million cases and 405,000 deaths from malaria alone.
Using satellite, air-borne and ground-based sensing technology, academics at The Open University will detect where mosquitoes are most likely to breed, and support efforts to tackle this deadly disease at its source. Once identified, ‘sprayer drones’ will release biocontrol agents that will kill mosquito larvae without affecting other species, as part of the DETECT project.
Uganda is a source and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation. A project backed by the cash injection announced today will see UK academics at the University of Nottingham apply Earth observation technology from satellites to Uganda’s anti-human trafficking and forced labor efforts.
To address this need, researchers have developed a strong, flexible filter out of a silica aerogel that efficiently kills bacteria, resists getting clogged, and needs just a quick dip in dilute bleach to renew its disinfecting properties.
Read about the loofah-inspired aerogel here: https://bit.ly/3lhulJo?fbclid=IwAR3mLvaN1ruT0KRaTWynbxoTe9O9…3d-jDXqNUU
Millions of people worldwide die every year from waterborne diseases because of a lack of affordable, practical disinfection technologies. To address this need, researchers have developed a strong, flexible filter out of a silica aerogel that efficiently kills bacteria, resists getting clogged, and needs just a quick dip in dilute bleach to renew its disinfecting properties.
Read about the loofah-inspired aerogel here: https://bit.ly/3lhulJo
Low-cost, functionalized silica material kills bacteria instantly and is easy to clean.
Humans are not the only species facing a potential threat from SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, according to a new study from the University of California, Davis.
An international team of scientists used genomic analysis to compare the main cellular receptor for the virus in humans—angiotensin converting enzyme-2, or ACE2—in 410 different species of vertebrates, including birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles and mammals.
ACE2 is normally found on many different types of cells and tissues, including epithelial cells in the nose, mouth and lungs. In humans, 25 amino acids of the ACE2 protein are important for the virus to bind and gain entry into cells.
Metabolic plasticity allows cancer cells to adjust their metabolic phenotypes to adapt in hostile environments. There is an urgent need to understand the cross-talk between gene regulation and metabolic pathways underlying cancer metabolic plasticity. We establish a theoretical framework to decode the coupling of gene regulation and metabolic pathways. Our work characterizes a hybrid metabolic state where cells can use both glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) and a possible metabolically inactive state where cells have low activity of both glycolysis and OXPHOS. We show that targeting both OXPHOS and glycolysis may be necessary to eliminate cancer aggressiveness. Our work serves as a platform to target abnormal metabolism in cancer by modulating both genes and metabolic pathways.
Metabolic plasticity enables cancer cells to switch their metabolism phenotypes between glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) during tumorigenesis and metastasis. However, it is still largely unknown how cancer cells orchestrate gene regulation to balance their glycolysis and OXPHOS activities. Previously, by modeling the gene regulation of cancer metabolism we have reported that cancer cells can acquire a stable hybrid metabolic state in which both glycolysis and OXPHOS can be used. Here, to comprehensively characterize cancer metabolic activity, we establish a theoretical framework by coupling gene regulation with metabolic pathways. Our modeling results demonstrate a direct association between the activities of AMPK and HIF-1, master regulators of OXPHOS and glycolysis, respectively, with the activities of three major metabolic pathways: glucose oxidation, glycolysis, and fatty acid oxidation.