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Categories: Biology: Microbiology, Geoscience: Geology

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Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Developmental Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Microbiology Biology: Molecular
Published

Tracking down the genetic causes of lupus to personalize treatment      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Treatment of autoimmune diseases like lupus has long relied on steroids to knock down the immune system, but more targeted therapies are currently undergoing clinical trials. To make sure these therapies get to the patients who will benefit, work is needed to identify the specific mutations behind each patient's disease. Researchers now report several dozen mutations associated with oversensitive toll-like receptors -- a major cause of autoimmune disease -- and linked two mutations to patients.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Developmental Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Microbiology Biology: Molecular Biology: Zoology
Published

Exploring diversity in cell division      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Animals and fungi predominantly use two different modes of cell division -- called open and closed mitosis, respectively. A new study has shown that different species of Ichthyosporea -- marine protists that are close relatives of both animals and fungi -- use either open and closed mitosis, closely correlated to whether the species has multinucleate life cycle stages. The study demonstrates the way animals do cell division might have evolved long before animals themselves did and how this is linked to an organism's life cycle.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Developmental Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Microbiology Biology: Molecular
Published

Sweet move: a modified sugar enhances antisense oligonucleotide safety and efficacy      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers found that adding a newly developed modified sugar, BNAP-AEO, to gapmer antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) increased their affinity for target RNAs, thus significantly enhancing their gene-silencing effects in vitro and in vivo. The BNAP-AEO modification also decreased gapmer ASO toxicity to the central nervous system (CNS), suggesting that it could improve the clinical application of ASO treatment of CNS disease.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Biology: Microbiology Environmental: General Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

How the 'home' environment influences microbial interactions      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study shows that real-world ocean conditions make a huge difference in how viral infection affects host bacteria. The findings indicate it is very important to study cells and virocells under nutrient conditions that more closely resemble what they encounter in nature.

Biology: Microbiology
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Milk samples from the 1940s shed new light on antibiotic resistance      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers started with 50 samples collected from 1941 to 1947, and they found that the samples contained seven different Streptococcus species, including two subspecies of S. dysgalactiae. Interestingly, the researchers found some of the samples were resistant to the antibiotic tetracycline and did not carry antibiotic resistance genes typically seen in today's antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains. Since these samples were collected prior to the antibiotic era, the results add to a growing body of literature showing that antibiotic resistance occurred naturally before humans discovered and began to use antibiotics.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Marine Biology: Microbiology Ecology: Nature Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Geology Geoscience: Oceanography
Published

New insights into the degradation dynamics of organic material in the seafloor      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Many processes in the deep sea are not yet well understood, and the role of microbial communities in particular is often a big unknown. This includes, for example, how organic material that sinks from the water surface to the ocean floor is metabolised -- an important building block for a better understanding of the global carbon cycle.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Developmental Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Microbiology Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Study finds widespread 'cell cannibalism,' related phenomena across tree of life      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers describe cell-in-cell phenomena in which one cell engulfs and sometimes consumes another. The study shows that cases of this behavior, including cell cannibalism, are widespread across the tree of life. The findings challenge the common perception that cell-in-cell events are largely restricted to cancer cells. Rather, these events appear to be common across diverse organisms, from single-celled amoebas to complex multicellular animals.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Microbiology
Published

Body lice may be bigger plague spreaders than previously thought      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new laboratory study suggests that human body lice are more efficient at transmitting Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague, than previously thought, supporting the possibility that they may have contributed to past pandemics.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Biology: Microbiology
Published

Drug-like inhibitor shows promise in preventing flu      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Currently available flu medications only target the virus after it has already established an infection, but what if a drug could prevent infection in the first place? Now, scientists have designed drug-like molecules to do just that, by thwarting the first stage of influenza infection.

Biology: Botany Biology: General Biology: Microbiology Ecology: Endangered Species
Published

How plants 'mate' for life and repel other suitors      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have used a unique microscopic technique to examine the dynamics of pollen tubes in the Arabidopsis plant. They were able to observe the mechanism of one-to-one pollen tube guidance, a process that ensures successful pollination of plants. This process is influenced by multi-step repelling and attracting signals. The results are important for the cultivation of crops, especially under unfavorable environmental conditions.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Biology: Microbiology
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Hope for a cure for visceral leishmaniasis, an often fatal infectious disease      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Leishmaniasis is a tropical disease affecting a growing number of people worldwide. Each year, between 700,000 and 1 million new cases are reported. Caused by a protozoan parasite of the genus Leishmania, which is transmitted to humans by the simple bite of a sand fly, leishmaniasis comprises three clinical forms, of which the visceral form is the most serious. If left untreated, visceral leishmaniasis, also known as black fever, is almost always fatal.

Biology: General Biology: Microbiology
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Matcha mouthwash inhibits bacteria that causes periodontitis      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Matcha, a finely ground green tea powder, may help keep bacteria that causes periodontitis at bay.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Biology: Microbiology Ecology: Invasive Species Geoscience: Geochemistry
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Researchers find unique adaptations of fungus associated with bee bread      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The past attempts of honey bee researchers to inventory the fungal diversity in honey bee colonies revealed that Aspergillus flavus is frequently found in hives. In a new study, researchers have discovered that this fungus is uniquely adapted to survive in bee colonies.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Developmental Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Microbiology Biology: Molecular
Published

Studies reveal cell-by-cell changes caused when pig hearts and kidneys are transplanted into humans      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Two new studies detail the changes seen at the single-cell level in pig organs and recipient human bodies before, during, and just after the xenotransplantation surgeries in the decedents.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Microbiology Biology: Molecular
Published

Clarifying the cellular mechanisms underlying periodontitis with an improved animal model      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Although periodontitis is an extremely prevalent disorder, it is challenging to conduct detailed and comprehensive analyses of its progression at the cellular level. Recently, researchers developed an improved periodontitis mouse model that simplifies the collection and analysis of multiple periodontal tissue types. Using this model, they clarified the role of an important signaling pathway in the inflammatory response of periodontal tissue, paving the way for better diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for periodontitis.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Energy: Fossil Fuels Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geology
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Can coal mines be tapped for rare earth elements?      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A team of geologists analyzed 3,500 samples taken in and around coal mines in Utah and Colorado. Their findings open the possibility that these mines could see a secondary resource stream in the form of rare earth metals used in renewable energy and numerous other high-tech applications.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Biology: Microbiology Ecology: General Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues
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Digging up good news for microbial studies      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Findings indicate that soil stored under refrigerated or air-dried conditions can still retain the needed information for understanding microbial community composition and structure for many years.

Anthropology: Cultures Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Microbiology Biology: Zoology Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Invasive Species Geoscience: Geography Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Evolutionary history of extinct duck revealed      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The study's findings show mergansers arrived in the New Zealand region at least seven million years ago from the Northern Hemisphere, in a separate colonisation event to that which led to the Brazilian merganser.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Developmental Biology: Genetics Biology: Microbiology
Published

New mechanisms behind antibiotic resistance      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Two newly discovered mechanisms in bacteria have been identified that can contribute to the development of antibiotic resistance. Changing the number of copies of resistance genes in bacteria increases antibiotic resistance, and can do so very quickly. These two mechanisms, along with a third known mechanism, can occur independently of each other, even within the same bacterial cell.