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Diversity is good, especially when it comes to antibodies. It’s long been known that a gene assembly process called V(D)J recombination allows our immune system to mix and match bits of genetic code, generating new antibodies to conquer newly encountered threats. But how these gene segments come together to be spliced has been a mystery. […]
The emerging practice of precision medicine could one day personalize heart failure care by identifying groups of patients more likely to develop heart failure and tailoring which medications and other therapies could be most effective for them, according to a new scientific statement from the American Heart Association, published in the journal Circulation: Genomic and […]
In today’s health-conscious community, kombucha is all the rave. Its appeal comes from its accessibility and alleged health benefits, which range from introducing probiotics to killing deleterious bacteria in the human body. But as is the case for many things in science, there is more to kombucha than meets the eye — literally. The microscopic […]
A wireless sensor small enough to be implanted in the blood vessels of the human brain could help clinicians evaluate the healing of aneurysms — bulges that can cause death or serious injury if they burst. The stretchable sensor, which operates without batteries, would be wrapped around stents or diverters implanted to control blood flow […]
With summer in full swing, many people are cooling off in swimming pools. However, some of the substances that are made when chlorine in the water reacts with compounds in human sweat, urine or dirt aren’t so refreshing. Now, researchers have compared the effectiveness of different water treatment processes in mitigating these so-called disinfection byproducts […]
BRCA — the family of DNA-repair proteins associated with breast, ovarian prostate, and pancreatic cancers — interacts with a multipart, molecular complex that is also responsible for regulating the immune system. When certain players in this pathway go awry, autoimmune disorders, like lupus, can arise. Now, researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the […]
Scientists have identified a new internal regulator that helps control the body’s response to fight infection. The discovery could be a target for new drugs to tackle autoimmune diseases, such as lupus and scleroderma, where healthy tissues are attacked by the body’s own immune system. “We want to put a brake on the body’s own […]
A recent clinical trial fully embedded into the routine delivery of care at dialysis facilities sought to determine if hemodialysis sessions that are longer than many patients in the United States currently receive can improve patients’ health. Although the trial accomplished most of its objectives, uptake of the intervention was insufficient to determine whether longer […]
A team of biologists has uncovered new rules that cells use in making decisions about which genes they activate and under what conditions, findings that add to our understanding of how gene variants affect human traits. “Not only does the research characterize a newfound element of cellular activity, but it also uncovers the physical parameters […]
At some point every person is likely to experience an inflammatory condition somewhere in the body. The causes of inflammation are very different and the same applies to the treatment. Some types of inflammation disappear by themselves, while others require medical treatment. Medical treatment only works if the active substances in the medicine are transported […]