Category Health/Medical

The gene, dubbed Iditarod, seems responsible for exercise’s ability to clean up damaged cells. As the days get shorter and chillier in the northern hemisphere, those who choose to work out in the mornings might find it harder to get up and running. A new study in PNAS identifies a protein that, when missing, makes exercising in the cold that much harder – that is, at least in fruit flies.

A team from University of Michigan Medical School and Wayne State University School of Medicine discovered the protein in flies, which they named Iditarod after the famous long distance dog sled across Alaska, while studying metabolism and the effect of stress on the body.

They were particularly interested in a physiological process called autophagy wherein damaged...

It’s a skin disorder that makes life miserable for around 800 million teenagers and adults worldwide, but Australian scientists may have found an effective treatment for acne, delivered via tiny nanoparticles.

In a study led by the University of South Australia (UniSA), a new antibacterial compound known as Narasin was encased in tiny, soft nanoparticles 1000 times smaller than a single strand of human hair and applied in a gel form to targeted acne sites.

The drug — more commonly used in the livestock industry — proved successful against drug-resistant acne bacteria and delivered via nanocarriers achieved a 100-fold increase in absorption than simply taken with water.

The findings have been published in the journal Nanoscale...

Pneumonia is an infection of the lung alveoli caused by bacteria, viruses or fungi. It is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide, representing a clinical and economic burden and a global public health problem. The microbial ecosystem (or microbiome) of the human respiratory tract colonizes different niches. The respiratory tract microbiome is of interest to scientists as it contributes to human health by stimulating the immune system and protecting against infection by pathogens. Scientists from the Institut Pasteur and the CNRS have demonstrated that the microbiome composition, pathogen load and clinical interventions influence the severity of bacterial pneumonia caused by Legionella pneumophila...