Category Health/Medical

Like Father, Like Daughter

Changcheng Zhou (right) is seen here with Rebecca Hernandez, the first author of the research paper. (Carrie Rosema)

Mouse study finds fathers on unhealthy diets can cause cardiovascular disease in their daughters. When they become fathers, men who have an unhealthy, high-cholesterol diet can cause increased risk of cardiovascular disease, or CVD, in their daughters, a University of California, Riverside-led mouse study has found.

The research, published in the journal JCI Insight, is the first to demonstrate this result seen only in female offspring.

CVD, the leading cause of death globally, is a group of disorders that affects the heart and blood vessels. Hypertension (high blood pressure) is a leading risk factor for CVD...

Read More

Scientists Discover Dual Roles of Antibodies in COVID-19 Infections

Midwest AViDD
Structure of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron spike complexed with Nanosota-5

Scientists at the University of Minnesota and the Midwest Antiviral Drug Discovery (AViDD) Center have made a surprising discovery: antibodies can have opposite effects on viral infections in human cells.

The spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, enables the virus to enter human cells and is the primary target for the body’s antibodies. Previous research has shown that antibodies can either block the virus, have no effect, or, in rare cases, assist the virus in infecting cells. While antibody drugs work to block infections, this new study challenges current understanding of their mechanisms.

Published in the journal PLOS Pathogens, this study is the first to identify an antibody that can both a...

Read More

Scientists Learn how to Drug Wily Class of Disease-Causing Enzymes

An illustration of a GTPase thethered to a cell.
A GTPase (center) tethered to the outside of a cell (bottom), with several drugs in the distance. Credit: Inmywork Studio

Drugs for the K-Ras oncogene inspire an approach for targeting the GTPases, a family of enzymes whose dysfunction can lead to Parkinson’s and many other diseases.

UCSF scientists have discovered how to target a class of molecular switches called GTPases that are involved in a myriad of diseases from Parkinson’s to cancer and have long been thought to be “undruggable.”

Because of their slippery exteriors, the GTPases have remained largely out of reach of modern drug discovery, with the exception of the notorious cancer-causing GTPase called K-Ras.

On a hunch, the team tested a dozen drugs that target K-Ras against a handful of GTPases they had mutated to mak...

Read More

New 2D Metamaterial enhances Satellite Communication for 6G Networks

Free-space real-time measurements.
From: Multi-band ultrathin reflective metasurface for linear and circular polarization conversion in Ku, K, and Ka bands

A new, cheap, easily manufactured device could lead to improved satellite communication, high speed data transmission, and remote sensing, scientists say.

A team of engineers led by researchers from the University of Glasgow have developed an ultrathin 2D surface that harnesses the unique properties of metamaterials to manipulate and convert radio waves across the frequencies most commonly used by satellites.

Metamaterials are structures that have been carefully engineered to imbue them with properties that don’t exist in naturally occurring materials.

The team’s metamaterial, unveiled today in a new paper published in the ...

Read More