Potential Mechanism for BCG Vaccine Reversal of Type 1 Diabetes

Immunologic history of type 1 diabetes.

Immunologic history of type 1 diabetes.

Data presented at American Diabetes Association meeting describes a potential new mechanism by which the BCG vaccine may restore the proper immune response to the insulin-secreting islet cells of the pancreas. Presented by Denise Faustman, MD, PhD, director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Immunobiology Laboratory and principal investigator of the trial, the findings suggest that BCG may induce a permanent increase in expression of genes that restore the beneficial regulatory T cells (Tregs) that prevent the immune system from attacking the body’s own tissue.

“Many groups are looking at the ability of BCG vaccination to reverse autoimmunity,” says Faustman, who is an associate professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School...

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Transformer-like Carbon Nanostructure engineered

1. Hybrid carbon nanosheets (CNSs) in different solvents of varying polarity. 2. Synthesis and optical properties of hybrid carbon nanosheets (CNSs).

1. Hybrid carbon nanosheets (CNSs) in different solvents of varying polarity.
2. Synthesis and optical properties of hybrid carbon nanosheets (CNSs).

A recent study, affiliated with UNIST has engineered a new type of carbon nanomaterials, capable of changing shapes and colors depending on the type of solvents used. Such materials have attracted much attention owing to their unique optical properties and structures. In the study, the joint research team, led by Professor Byung Soo kim and Professor Oh Hoon Kwon has presented a unique design and synthesis of hybrid carbon nanosheets (CNSs), which show a strong solvatochromic behavior with wide color tunability ranging from blue to orange and even to white in various solvents.

This unique hybrid CNS hosts clusters of carbon nanorings on the su...

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Very Rare Discovery: Failed Star Orbits a Dead Star every 71 minutes

K2 lightcurve (black jagged curve) folded about a period of 71.23 minutes. The red curve represents a simple geometrical model with a 5-minute long total eclipse and a 9% contribution to emulate an illumination effect on the companion star. The blue curve is the fit to the model based on the length of the K2 observations. Credit: Bishop's University

1. K2 lightcurve (black jagged curve) folded about a period of 71.23 minutes. The red curve represents a simple geometrical model with a 5-minute long total eclipse and a 9% contribution to emulate an illumination effect on the companion star. The blue curve is the fit to the model based on the length of the K2 observations. 2. The final fate of WD1202 as a cataclysmic variable. The brown dwarf overflows its tear-drop-shaped Roche lobe and loses mass to the compact white dwarf accretor An accretion disk of hot hydrogen gas surrounds the white dwarf. Credit: Bishop’s University

An international team using data from the rejuvenated Kepler space telescope have discovered a rare gem: A binary system consisting of a failed star, also known as a brown dwarf, and the remnant of a dead star known ...

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Hubble Applauds Waltzing Dwarfs

The image is a stack of 12 images made over the course of three years with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Using high-precision astrometry, an Italian-led team of astronomers tracked the two components of the system as they moved both across the sky and around each other. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. Bedin et al.

The image is a stack of 12 images made over the course of three years with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Using high-precision astrometry, an Italian-led team of astronomers tracked the two components of the system as they moved both across the sky and around each other. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. Bedin et al.

This seemingly unspectacular series of dots with varying distances between them actually shows the slow waltz of two brown dwarfs. The image is a stack of 12 images made over the course of 3 years with the Hubble Space Telescope. Using high-precision astrometry, an Italian-led team of astronomers tracked the two components of the system as they moved both across the sky and around each other.

The observed system, Luhman 16AB, is only about 6 light-years away and is the third...

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