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Researchers comparing clonal strains of the mycobacteria that cause TB, before and after they developed resistance to a first-line drug, found that a single genetic change may not always have identical effects on bacterial fitness.
The 1987 Montreal Protocol and the 1997 Kyoto Protocol called for countries around the world to phase out substances that deplete the ozone layer, but many HVAC systems still use synthetic refrigerants that violate those international agreements and inflict environmental damage. Recently, Iranian researchers investigated how natural refrigerants could be used in geothermal heat pumps to reduce energy consumption and operating costs. They report their findings in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy.
In collaboration with colleagues from Opole University in Poland, researchers at Horst Görtz Institute for IT Security (HGI) at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) have demonstrated that the Internet protocol 'IPsec' is vulnerable to attacks. The Internet Key Exchange protocol 'IKEv1', which is part of the protocol family, has vulnerabilities that enable potential attackers to interfere with the communication process and intercept specific information. The research results are published on Aug. 16, 2018 at the Usenix Security Symposium.
A new study led by Tel Aviv University and MIT suggests that some properties of neutron stars may be influenced not only by their multitude of densely packed neutrons, but also by a substantially smaller fraction of protons. The finding may lead to a new understanding of how neutron stars behave.
Researchers from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital (TMUCIH) have discovered that gastric cancer tissue samples bearing mutation of a specific gene, MUC16, too are associated with higher tumor mutation loads. Also known as tumor mutation burdens, measurement of high genetic mutation rates among cancerous versus healthy tissue has increasingly been shown to correlate with effective response rates to immunotherapy. The knowledge could bode positively for patients with the biomarker present.
Rice University researchers have developed mathematical models to predict the performance of multi-input synthetic biological circuits that can be used to engineer bacteria and other organisms to regulate cellular systems or perform functions they wouldn't in nature. Applications include biological sensing, chemical production and therapeutics such as probiotics to alter gut bacteria.
A University of Oklahoma professor, Jizhong Zhou, and his team have completed a new study on the effects of climate warming on soil microbes in a long-term climate change experiment at a tallgrass prairie ecosystem. The new study shows that climate warming will affect microbial communities in the future, and future community states will be more predictable under warmed climate. Eventually, microbial communities will produce different functions and feedbacks to climate warming.
New research published in Cell Reports from scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) shows how MERS-CoV can adapt to infect cells of a new species, which suggests that other coronaviruses might be able to do the same.
Two receptors in the spinal cord and the right experimental drug: Researchers at the University of Zurich have discovered a new approach that suppresses itch. In a series of experiments in mice and dogs they successfully alleviated different forms of acute as well as chronic itch. For the latter, current treatment options are very limited.
A team led by researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital has developed a computational technique to reveal the unknown side effects -- both good and bad -- of hundreds of drugs. That knowledge could help pharmacologists discover new indications for drugs already on the market and repurpose them for other disorders. Using their unique method, the researchers discovered that two drugs commonly prescribed for non-coronary disorders may affect heart disease risk.
