Category Biology/Biotechnology

Newly identified brain circuits may point to more effective pain therapies. An international team of scientists has identified the neural mechanisms through which sound blunts pain in mice. The findings, which could inform development of safer methods to treat pain, were published in Science. The study was led by researchers at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR); the University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei; and Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China. NIDCR is part of the National Institutes of Health.

“We need more effective methods of managing acute and chronic pain, and that starts...

Biologists have used population genomics to shed light on the evolution and consequences of a selfish genetic element known as Segregation Distorter (SD). The researchers report that SD has caused dramatic changes in chromosome organization and genetic diversity.

The human genome is littered with “selfish genetic elements,” which do not seem to benefit their hosts, but instead seek only to propagate themselves...

Researchers found that in mice how much they ate and when altered the nature of their gut microbiome: too much food too frequently resulted in poorer microbial and metabolic health.

An estimated 500 to 1,000 bacterial species reside in each person’s gut, perhaps numbering 100,000 trillion microorganisms...

The viral replication cycle is crucial for a virus to spread inside the body and cause disease. Focusing on that cycle in the hepatitis A virus (HAV), UNC School of Medicine scientists discovered that replication requires specific interactions between the human protein ZCCHC14 and a group of enzymes called TENT4 poly(A) polymerases. They also found that the oral compound RG7834 stopped replication at a key step, making it impossible for the virus to infect liver cells.

These findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, are the first to demonstrate an effective drug treatment...