A brain implant designed to help control seizures is hijacked. A pacemaker receives fake signals, disrupting its rhythm. A hacker infiltrates an insulin pump, delivering a fatal overdose. While these scenarios sound like scenes from a sci-fi thriller, such cyberhealth threats are of real concern…
Category: 5. Health
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Researchers discover Achilles heel of Lyme disease pathogen
Researchers have discovered that an enzyme can serve as an ideal target for developing new therapeutics against Lyme disease, and most likely other tick-borne diseases as well. The finding was reported in mBio, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
Lyme disease is the most commonly…
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Starting points for the control of protein synthesis
The research field of “cellular IRESes” lay dormant for decades, as there was no uniform standard of reliable methods for the clear characterization of these starting points for the ribosome-mediated control of gene expression. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University…
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How family background can help lead to athletic success
Americans have long believed that sports are one area in society that offers kids from all backgrounds the chance to succeed to the best of their abilities.
But new research suggests that this belief is largely a myth, and that success in high school and college athletics often is influenced by…
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Adaptive defenses against malicious jumping genes
Adverse genetic mutations can cause harm and are due to various circumstances. “Jumping genes” are one cause of mutations, but cells try and combat them with a specialized RNA called piRNA. For the first time, researchers from the University of Tokyo and their collaborators have identified how…
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Scientists use cellular programming to mimic first days of embryonic development
The earliest days after fertilization, once a sperm cell meets an egg, are shrouded in scientific mystery.
The process of how a humble single cell becomes an organism fascinates scientists across disciplines. For some animals, the entire process of cellular multiplication, generation of…
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Breakthrough molecular movie reveals DNA’s unzipping mechanism with implications for viral and cancer treatments
Scientists at the University of Leicester have captured the first detailed “molecular movie” showing DNA being unzipped at the atomic level — revealing how cells begin the crucial process of copying their genetic material.
The groundbreaking discovery, published in the journal Nature, could…
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New function discovered for protein important in leukemia
Researchers from Northwestern University have stumbled upon a previously unobserved function of a protein found in the cell nuclei of all flora and fauna. In addition to exporting materials out of the nucleus, the protein, called Exportin-1 (also called Xpo1 or Crm1), seems to play a role in…
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Beating the clock: Melanoma starts evading treatment within hours — here’s how to stop it
Researchers have uncovered a stealth survival strategy that melanoma cells use to evade targeted therapy, offering a promising new approach to improving treatment outcomes.
The study, published in Cell Systems and conducted by researchers at the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) and…
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The cell’s powerhouses: Molecular machines enable efficient energy production
Mitochondria are the powerhouses in our cells, producing the energy for all vital processes. Using cryo-electron tomography, researchers at the University of Basel, Switzerland, have now gained insight into the architecture of mitochondria at unprecedented resolution. They discovered that the…
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