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When parasites catch viruses

When humans have parasites, the organisms live in our bodies, co-opt our resources and cause disease. However, it turns out that parasites themselves can have their own co-habitants.

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Disease burden links ecology to economic growth

A new study, published December 27 in the open access journal PLOS Biology, finds that vector-borne and parasitic diseases have substantial effects on economic development across the globe, and are...

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Too small and numerous to count: Better ways to estimate the diversity of...

(Phys.org)—Ecologists often rely on the twin standards of the variety and numbers of species to describe a given region's diversity. But scaling down the size also scales up the numbers: On and in our...

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Biodiversity does not reduce transmission of disease from animals to humans

More than three quarters of new, emerging or re-emerging human diseases are caused by pathogens from animals, according to the World Health Organization.

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Bacterium uses natural 'thermometer' to trigger diarrheal disease, scientists...

How does the bacterium Shigella—the cause of a deadly diarrheal disease—detect that it's in a human host? Ohio University scientists have found that a biological "RNA thermometer" monitors whether the...

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Scientists find chemical that causes 'kidney' failure in mosquitoes

An Ohio State University researcher and his collaborators have discovered a chemical that causes "kidney" failure in mosquitoes, which may pave the way to the development of new insecticides to fight...

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Counting small RNA in disease-causing organisms

Small molecules of RNA (tens to hundreds of nucleotides in length) play a key regulatory role in bacteria. Due to their small size, directly measuring the number of small RNA (sRNA) present in a single...

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Learning from a virus: Keeping genes under wraps

(Phys.org) —By studying how a virus that infects most people at some point in their lives packages its genetic material during infection, an international collaboration of researchers has made...

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Mosquitoes smell you better at night, study finds

In work published this week in Nature's Scientific Reports, a team of researchers from the University of Notre Dame's Eck Institute for Global Health, led by Associate Professor Giles Duffield and...

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HIV virulence depends on where virus inserts itself in host DNA

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can insert itself at different locations in the DNA of its human host - and this specific integration site determines how quickly the disease progresses, report...

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Drug discovery researchers identify, refine compound to combat malaria parasite

Two Virginia Tech researchers found that when it comes to fighting malaria, teamwork pays off.

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Flu antibody's 'one-handed grab' may boost effort toward universal vaccine

Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute and Sea Lane Biotechnologies have solved the co-crystal structure of a human antibody that can neutralize influenza viruses in a unique way. The antibody...

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Insects shape the genetic landscape through plant defenses

As restaurant patrons' diverse food preferences give rise to varied menu offerings, so plant-eating insects' preferences play an important role in maintaining and shaping the genetic variation of their...

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Virus exploitscellular waste disposal system

ETH Zurich researchers demonstrate how vaccinia virus manipulates the cellular waste-disposal system and thereby cleverly tricks the cell into assisting the intruders replication. Now, the virologists...

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How bacteria talk to each other and our cells

Bacteria can talk to each other via molecules they themselves produce. The phenomenon is called quorum sensing, and is important when an infection propagates. Now, researchers at Linköping University...

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Researchers find algal ancestor is key to how deadly pathogens proliferate

Long ago, when life on our planet was in its infancy, a group of small single-celled algae floating in the vast prehistoric ocean swam freely by beating whip-like tails, called flagella. It's a...

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Gene invaders are stymied by a cell's genome defense

Gene wars rage inside our cells, with invading DNA regularly threatening to subvert our human blueprint. Now, building on Nobel-Prize-winning findings, UC San Francisco researchers have discovered a...

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Viruses: More survival tricks than previously thought

Among eukaryotes with modified nuclear genetic codes, viruses are unknown. Until now it had been believed that the modifications to the genetic code effectively prevented new viral infections. However,...

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New insights into Ebola infection pave the way for much-needed therapies

The Ebola virus is among the deadliest viruses on the planet, killing up to 90% of those infected, and there are no approved vaccines or effective therapies. A study published by Cell Press on May 7th...

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Chlamydia promotes gene mutations

Chlamydia trachomatis is a human pathogen that is the leading cause of bacterial sexually transmitted disease worldwide with more than 90 million new cases of genital infections occurring each year....

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Efficient model for generating human iPSCs developed

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report a simple, easily reproducible RNA-based method of generating human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) in the August...

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Researchers find agent against hospital germ pseudomonas aeruginosa

No admission for bacteria: Scientists from the University of Freiburg have succeeded in preventing Pseudomonas bacteria from entering host cells with the help of a sugar complex. Dr. Thorsten Eierhoff...

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Toxin targets discovered

Research that provides a new understanding of how bacterial toxins target human cells is set to have major implications for the development of novel drugs and treatment strategies.

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Technique for simultaneous study of small RNA of bacteria and host cells...

(Phys.org)—A team of researchers with members from Germany, Austria and the U.S. has found that using a technique that allows for studying small RNA of both bacteria and a host during an infection, can...

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Salmonella's strange recipe for defeating the immune system

In a surprising new discovery about potentially deadly salmonella, researchers have determined that the foodborne bacteria has a most unexpected way of telling where it is in the body: It uses its food...

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Mystery of tropical human parasite swimming solved

For several years Manu Prakash, an assistant professor of bioengineering, has gone to field sites to test new, low-cost microscopes as a tool for diagnosing the parasitic disease schistosomiasis. The...

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Genetic screening to fight the common childhood virus that causes hand, foot...

The unavailability of antiviral medicines and vaccines has made outbreaks of hand, food and mouth disease (HFMD) caused by enterovirus 71 (EV71), a serious threat that affects millions worldwide. Now,...

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Bacterial strain diversity in the gut

What drives bacterial strain diversity in the gut? Although there are a number of possible explanations, a recent opinion piece published in TRENDs in Microbiology by Dr Pauline Scanlan, a Royal...

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The bacteria responsible for legionellosis modulates the host cell metabolism...

Scientists have shown that the bacterial pathogen Legionella pneumophila has developed a specific strategy to target host cell mitochondria, the organelles in charge of cellular bioenergetics. Their...

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Drug blocks Zika and dengue viruses in study

A small-molecule inhibitor tested by researchers at Yale and Stanford may be the answer to blocking the spread of harmful mosquito-borne pathogens, including Zika and dengue viruses, according to a new...

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