Atlantic herring travel in massive schools that can contain hundreds of millions — and sometimes even billions — of fish. While this abundance is characteristic for one of the most successful vertebrates on Earth, it also creates ideal conditions for viruses, bacteria and parasites to spread.

Now, an international team of researchers led by the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) has discovered that Atlantic herring have an extraordinary level of diversity in a group of immune genes that help recognize invading pathogens. Published in Science Advances, the study found that the fish’s genetic diversity in these immune genes exceeds what has been reported in any other vertebrate studied so far, including humans.

A new collaborative study from the laboratories of Drs. Xaralabos Varelas and Giovanni Ligresti from Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine have identified a distinct population of cells located in lung veins that becomes active after injury and helps create an environment that promotes scar tissue formation, a process known as fibrosis. Identifying a previously unrecognized driver of lung fibrosis and a signaling pathway that can be targeted, offers new opportunities for developing therapies to prevent, or slow disease progression in pulmonary fibrosis and other fibrotic lung diseases.

A new study published in JAMA Health Forum found that nearly 20 percent of Medicaid-eligible adults living in states that expanded Medicaid are at risk of noncompliance because they are likely unable to fulfill the minimum required hours once the rules take effect. Women, unmarried people, White individuals, and those with limited education all had a higher risk of losing their health coverage due to noncompliance with these new requirements.