Exposure to mycotoxins – a broad group of harmful substances produced by mold – during pregnancy may impact placental function, which could result in lower birthweight in humans, according to Rutgers Health researchers.

In a new study, researchers from Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School, identified several uncharacterized chromatin factors (proteins that regulate gene expression) that are recruited to sites of DNA damage, including the gene ZNF280A. Importantly, this gene is hemizygously deleted – meaning one of the two copies of alleles is missing—in a subset of patients with a human developmental syndrome called 22q11.2 distal deletion syndrome.

Devices made with cheap strips of paper have outperformed two other testing methods in detecting malaria infection in asymptomatic people in Ghana – a diagnostic advance that could accelerate efforts to eliminate the disease, researchers say.