In this Spotlight, we introduce the glymphatic system: the brain’s dedicated waste clearance system. Now implicated in various conditions, it is high time that we became acquainted. Astroglia (illustrated above) play a pivotal role in the brain’s trash collection service. Many of us are relatively familiar with the lymphatic system; it performs a number of…
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Non-classical monocytes were long thought to play a purely surveillance role in the immune system. With the aid of a novel marker (PD-L1), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich researchers have now shown that they are directly involved in the regulation of immune response. Monocytes comprise a functionally specific group of white blood cells and are known…
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IMAGE: MIT chemical engineers have devised a way to convert liquid nanoemulsions into solid gels. These gels (red) form almost instantaneously when drops of the liquid emulsion enter warm water. view more CAMBRIDGE, MA — MIT chemical engineers have devised a new way to create very tiny droplets of one liquid suspended within another liquid, known…
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IMAGE: The PolyU awardees at TechConnect 2019 are: Dr Cong MA, Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology (3rd from right) and Dr Nuruzzaman NOOR, Research Assistant Professor, Institute… view more It is the third year in a row that PolyU research teams snatched the awards in the world’s largest multi-sector event for fostering…
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IMAGE: When Ncad expression and adhesiveness were reduced in R7, which is usually situated at the central core region of the column, R7 terminals were redirected to the peripheral region of… view more Credit: Kanazawa University The human brain consists of neurons arranged into microscopic columns. The cortex, which is the seat of most cerebral functions…
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Mycophenolic acid (MPA), discovered in 1893, was the first natural antibiotic to be isolated and crystallized in human history. Today, this fungal metabolite has been developed into multiple first-line immunosuppressive drugs to control immunologic rejection during organ transplantation and treat various autoimmune diseases. However, the biogenesis of such an old and important molecule was an…
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IMAGE: The image shows sampling of HIV (red) by the newly described dendritic cells (green). view more Credit: The Westmead Institute for Medical Research Researchers at The Westmead Institute for Medical Research have discovered brand new immune cells that are at the frontline of HIV infection. Known as CD11c+ dendritic cells, these new cells are more…
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IMAGE: In the process of fetal brain development, neural stem cells generate both neurons and astrocytes. Neurons are formed first (left) and astrocytes later (right). The present study has revealed the… view more Background Neurons1 and astrocytes2 are prominent cell types in the cerebral cortex. Neurons are the primary information processing cells in the brain, whereas…
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IMAGE: Graphs of the vorticity during the cardiac cycle in a dog under various conditions. view more Credit: FIGURE ADAPTED FROM Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 316: H882-H888, 2019. Copyright © 2019 the American Physiological Society Japanese scientists at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT), Teikyo University of Science, and Juntendo University have found…
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New research by neuroscientists from the University of Sussex shows that drinking only one pint of beer or large glass of wine is enough to significantly compromise a person’s sense of agency. Sense of agency is the feeling of being in control of our actions. It is an important aspect of human social behaviour, as…
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