Berkeley — Global land-use changes — including forest fragmentation, agricultural expansion and concentrated livestock production — are creating “hot spots” favorable for bats that carry coronaviruses and where conditions are ripe for the diseases to jump from bats to humans, finds an analysis published this week by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, the…
A new study carried out in pig cells suggests previous infection with swine influenza virus (SIV) can protect against the development of porcine respiratory coronavirus (PRCoV) if there is a zero- or three-day interval between infections. The findings, published in the peer-reviewed journal Virulence, may also be relevant to influenza and coronavirus infection in humans.…
Key takeaways The surgical simulator can realistically simulate multiple trauma scenarios at once, compared with traditional simulators that can only simulate one or a limited number of conditions. Trauma team members who tested the simulator preferred it for its realism, physiologic responses, and feedback. The benefits of this innovative simulator may be able to extend…
Army scientists working as part of an international consortium have developed and tested an antibody-based therapy to treat Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV), which is carried by ticks and kills up to 60 percent of those infected. Their results are published online today in the journal Cell. Using blood samples donated by disease survivors, the…
Despite a name straight from a Tarantino movie, natural killer (NK) cells are your allies when it comes to fighting infections and cancer. If T cells are like a team of specialist doctors in an emergency room, NK cells are the paramedics: They arrive first on the scene and perform damage control until reinforcements arrive.…
Researchers world-wide are focused on clearing the toxic mutant Huntingtin protein that leads to neuronal cell death and systemic dysfunction in Huntington’s disease (HD), a devastating, incurable, progressive neurodegenerative genetic disorder. Scientists in the Buck Institute’s Ellerby lab have found that the targeting the protein called FK506-binding protein 51 or FKBP51 promotes the clearing of…
If you haven’t yet mastered the name of the latest coronavirus variant to set nations on edge — B.1.617.2, as evolutionary biologists call it — then fear not: The World Health Organization has proposed a solution. The group said on Monday that it had devised a less technical, and more easily pronounceable, system for naming…
For a few glorious weeks, Zou Xiaoqi, a single mother in Shanghai, felt accepted by her government. After giving birth in 2017, Ms. Zou, a financial worker, went to court to challenge Shanghai’s policy of giving maternity benefits to married women only. She had little success, losing a lawsuit and two appeals. Then, earlier this…
In other cases, detectives might surreptitiously collect the DNA of a suspect’s relative by testing an object that the relative discarded in the trash. Maryland’s new law states that when police officers test the DNA of “third parties” — people other than the suspect — they must get consent in writing first, unless a judge…
Among women in the study, nearly half reported using the licensed abortion drug misoprostol or another medication in their most recent attempt to self-terminate a pregnancy, while 38 percent used herbs they heard could induce abortion, and nearly 20 percent used a physical method, such as being hit in the abdomen. Nearly 28 percent said…