
New insights into immune responses to malaria
Research News Release
EurekAlert! provides eligible reporters with free access to embargoed and breaking news releases.
Eligibility GuidelinesEurekAlert! offers eligible public information officers paid access to a reliable news release distribution service.
Eligibility GuidelinesEurekAlert! is a service of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Advanced technologies have been used to solve a long-standing mystery about why some people develop serious illness when they are infected with the malaria parasite, while others carry the infection asymptomatically.
Scientists have developed a 'nanobody' - a small fragment of a llama antibody - that is capable of chasing out human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) as it hides away from the immune system. This then enables immune cells to seek out and destroy this potentially deadly virus.
Pregnant women in South East Asia are more likely to use smokeless tobacco than non-pregnant women, despite the added risk of foetal harm during pregnancy.
Researchers compared data for pregnant women in two cities who were infected by zika virus in 2015-16. Factors that influenced the risk of fetal malformation were the high zika attack rate in the area and being infected in the first trimester of pregnancy.
Decreasing bacterial acidity could help reduce antimicrobial resistance by eliminating bacteria that can survive being treated with antibiotics.
In an article published in AJKD, researchers found that among 176 studies on acute kidney injury, the KDIGO definitions of kidney injury were inconsistently applied and 80% of studies did not define recovery of kidney function.
High school students who participated in summer programs about public health increased their interest in pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), according to a Rutgers study.
Even though KRAS4B is the dominant form in cancer, the KRAS4A mutant is also oncogenic, and it is even more active. In the words of the authors, "KRAS4AG12V alone, in the absence of KRAS4B, can induce lung cancer and metastasis in 20 percent of individuals. Our results suggest that for therapies to be effective, the two KRAS isoforms should be targeted."
Researchers are using computer models to simulate COVID-19 infections on a cellular level which allows for virtual trials of drugs and vaccines, opening the possibility of pre-assessment for drug and vaccine efficacy against the virus.
What The Study Did: This study included a meta-analysis that combined the results of 74 studies with 2.7 million participants to estimate how common globally dementia is in people younger than age 65.