Category Biology/Biotechnology

A team led by a biomedical scientist at the University of California, Riverside has found a new mechanism responsible for the abnormal development of neuronal connections in the mouse brain that leads to seizures and abnormal social behaviors.

The researchers focused on the hippocampus, which plays an important role in learning and social interactions; and synapses, specialized contacts between neurons.

Each neuron in the brain receives numerous excitatory and inhibitory synaptic inputs...

In 2018, one-half of the Nobel Prize was awarded to Arthur Ashkin, the physicist who developed optical tweezers, the use of a tightly focused laser beam to isolate and move micron-scale objects (the size of red blood cells). Now Justus Ndukaife, assistant professor of electrical engineering at Vanderbilt University, has developed the first-ever opto-thermo-electrohydrodynamic tweezers, optical nanotweezers that can trap and manipulate objects on an even smaller scale.

The article, “Stand-off trapping and manipulation of sub-10 nm objects and biomolecules using opto-thermo-electrohydrodynamic tweezers” was published online in the journal Nature Nanotechnology on August 31.

The article was authored by Ndukaife and graduate students Chuchuan Hong and Se...

However, the effect of the vaccine specifically against COVID-19 has not been demonstrated. The BCG vaccine, an old treatment originally developed for tuberculosis, has a broad, stimulating effect on the immune system. This gives it an effective preventive action against various infections — possibly also against COVID-19. It is frequently given to children, but in this double-blind randomized clinical study, a collaboration between Radboud University Medical Center and the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens it was shown that elderly people also benefit from it. The results of the study are in Cell.

At Radboudumc, Professor of Expe...

Subclass Profile of IgG Antibody Response to Gluten Differentiates Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity from Celiac Disease

A new study of the antibodies produced by people with gluten sensitivity may lead to a better way to detect the condition and treat it.
Until recently, many doctors often dismissed the complaints of people who claimed to be sensitive to foods containing gluten but did not have celiac disease, a well-documented autoimmune disease triggered by exposure to the dietary protein found in wheat, rye, and barley.

That view has changed in the past few years, based partly on studies by Armin Alaedini, PhD, assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, that have delved into the biological basis for non-celiac gluten sensitivity.

But ...