New Orleans, LA – A retrospective study conducted by LSU Health New Orleans reports that contrary to previous research, most patients who drop out of peritoneal dialysis may do so for psychosocial reasons. The findings are published in The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, available here. The paper inspired a companion editorial, available here. …
Microorganisms possess natural product biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) that may harbor unique bioactivities for use in drug development and agricultural applications. However, many uncharacterized microbial BGCs remain inaccessible. Researchers at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign previously demonstrated a technique using transcription factor decoys to activate large, silent BGCs in bacteria to aid in natural product discovery.…
Cancer researcher Rita Fior uses zebrafish to study human cancer. Though this may seem like an unlikely match, her work shows great promise with forthcoming applications in personalised medicine. The basic principle of Fior’s approach relies on transplanting human cancer cells into dozens of zebrafish larvae. The fish then serve as “living test tubes” where…
Scientific strides in HIV treatment and prevention have reduced transmissions and HIV-related deaths significantly in the United States in the past two decades. However, despite coordinated national efforts to implement HIV services, the epidemic persists, especially in the South. It also disproportionately impacts marginalized groups, such as Black/African-American and Latinx communities, women, people who use…
People who are racial, sexual, and gender minorities continue to be affected by HIV at significantly higher rates than white people, a disparity also reflected in the COVID-19 pandemic. The US HIV epidemic has shifted from coastal, urban settings to the South and rural areas. Despite its role as the largest funder for HIV…
Genetic mutations which occur naturally during the earliest stages of an embryo’s development can cause the severe birth defect spina bifida, finds a new experimental study in mice led by UCL scientists. The research, published in Nature Communications, explains for the first time how a ‘mosaic mutation’ – a mutation which is not inherited from…
The Biden administration is revising the social cost of carbon (SCC), a decade-old cost-benefit metric used to inform climate policy by placing a monetary value on the impact of climate change. In a newly published analysis in the journal Nature, a team of researchers lists a series of measures the administration should consider in recalculating…
BROOKLYN, New York, Wednesday, February 17, 2021 – A team led by researchers at the New York University Tandon School of Engineering have found a new way of enhancing the performance of electrochemical micro-sensors. This discovery could lead to the detection of biomolecules, such as dopamine, at lower concentrations than is possible today. Their findings…
The Notting Hill Carnival was canceled last year. But it likely wouldn’t exist at all without the efforts of Claudia Jones. By Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff For the Caribbean diaspora living in London, there may never have been a quieter weekend than the one in August 2020 that normally would have seen the Notting Hill Carnival. England…
WASHINGTON — An international effort to expedite the manufacturing and distribution of coronavirus vaccines around the globe got a lift on Thursday on two fronts: White House officials said the Biden administration would make good on a U.S. promise to donate $4 billion to the campaign over two years, and the pharmaceutical company Novavax committed…