Parasite evades death by promoting host cell survival
Researchers have discovered how the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which causes Chagas' disease, prolongs its survival in infected cells. A protein on the parasite activates the enzyme Akt, which blocks...
View ArticleA molecular brake for the bacterial flagellar nano-motor
Researchers at the University of Basel, Switzerland, have discovered that Escherichia coli bacteria harness a sophisticated chemosensory and signal transduction machinery that allows them to accurately...
View ArticleNew discovery is a significant boost to cancer research
A team of scientists led by the University of East Anglia (UEA) has discovered a brand new group of molecules which could help fight the spread of cancer and other diseases.
View ArticleTargeting toxin trafficking
Toxins produced by plants and bacteria pose a significant threat to humans, as emphasized by the recent effects of cucumber-borne Shiga toxin in Germany. Now, new research published on July 21st by the...
View ArticleFlight patterns reveal how mosquitoes find hosts to transmit deadly diseases
The carbon dioxide we exhale and the odors our skins emanate serve as crucial cues to female mosquitoes on the hunt for human hosts to bite and spread diseases such as malaria, dengue and yellow fever.
View ArticleFish may provide key to stopping disease spread, researcher says
A small fish may prove useful to understanding a worldwide health problem, if a Wayne State University researcher is correct.
View ArticleFrontal attack or stealth? How subverting the immune system shapes the arms...
Why is it that Mycobacterium tuberculosis can cause tuberculosis with as little as 10 cells, whereas Vibrio cholerae requires the host to ingest up to tens of millions of cells to cause cholera? This...
View ArticleHead and body lice appear to be the same species, genetic study finds
A new study offers compelling genetic evidence that head and body lice are the same species. The finding is of special interest because body lice can transmit deadly bacterial diseases, while head lice...
View ArticleA new optical microscopy approach opens the door to better observations in...
Researchers from the Institut Pasteur and CNRS have set up a new optical microscopy approach that combines two recent imaging techniques in order to visualize molecular assemblies without affecting...
View ArticleWhen 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.
View ArticleDisease 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...
View ArticleToo 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...
View ArticleBiodiversity 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.
View ArticleBacterium 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...
View ArticleScientists 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...
View ArticleCounting 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...
View ArticleLearning 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...
View ArticleMosquitoes 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...
View ArticleHIV 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...
View ArticleDrug 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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