Toxins News and Research

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Utilizing Floating Sponge to Remove Hazardous Algal Blooms

Beachgoers do not want harmful algal blooms (HABs) to interfere with their plans during the hottest days of the summer. However, existing techniques to eliminate or eradicate cyanobacteria and algae that produce toxins are ineffective or impractical for use in waterways.

2 Aug 2023

New Tool Maps Cellular Stress Memory

When does that seasonal tan turn into a melanoma risk? When might those extra pounds cause diabetes? Could severe head injuries cause Alzheimer’s to develop? In the grand scheme of things, genetics, lifestyle, and age are risk factors, with the solutions frequently appearing only after the unfortunate diagnoses.

20 Jul 2023

New Toxin Found to Enhance Pathogen Infection and Disease Spread in Wheat

Although wheat was among the first domesticated food crops, it remains a global dietary staple several millennia later.

14 Jul 2023

Extraoral Bitter Taste Receptors Serve as Endogenous Sensors for Bile Acids

Taste receptors for bitter substances are not only observed on the tongue but also on cells outside of the oral cavity.

5 Jul 2023

Unraveling the Link Between Environmental Toxins and Lymphoma in Dogs

Lymphoma is a common cancer in dogs, but unlike human studies, which have associated the disease with environmental toxins, little is known about how it originates in dogs.

2 Jun 2023

How the Disturbed Recycling Chain of Endoplasmic Reticulum Causes Neurodegenerative Diseases

Our cells are crisscrossed by a system of membrane tubes and pockets called the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). It is crucial for the production of biomolecules and is continuously built up and degraded.

29 May 2023

Manipulating Brain Cells via Light Irradiation

An international research team, comprising scientists from DZNE, University Hospital Bonn, the Netherlands, and the US has been awarded a US$ 1.3 million grant by the "Human Frontier Science Program" to investigate brain immune cells and manipulate them via light irradiation.

8 May 2023

Genes Responsible for Aging Identified in Nematodes

The USask research team uncovered a pair of genes involved in removing cells of toxins that build in the body and cause aging while working with small nematode worms called C. elegans. The researchers discovered that inactivating genes named CCF-1 and PAL-1 caused nematodes to die 50% faster than usual.

3 May 2023

Antibacterial Biologic Agent Effective Against Staphylococcus Aureus Infections in Early Tests

Researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and Janssen Biotech, Inc. have shown in early tests that a bioengineered drug candidate can counter infection with Staphylococcus aureus – a bacterial species widely resistant to antibiotics and a major cause of death in hospitalized patients.

25 Apr 2023

Food-Poisoning Bacteria Create Syringe-Like Structures to Inject Toxins Into Intestinal Cells

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered how a bacterium that infects people after they eat raw or undercooked shellfish creates syringe-like structures to inject its toxins into intestinal cells.

21 Apr 2023

New Type of Drug Could Offer a Solution to Tackle Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria

A new type of drug could provide a way to treat multidrug-resistant bacteria, according to a study published in Nature Communications.

19 Apr 2023

Researchers Generate Largest Atlas of Post-Zygotic Genome Mutations in Human Tissue Researchers Have ...

Researchers have created the largest atlas of post-zygotic genome mutations in healthy human tissue ever assembled -; a scientific advancement that could unlock new avenues for diagnosing and treating genetic disease.

17 Apr 2023

The “Hangry” Stage of Bacteria Cells

The word “hangry” describes individuals who become angry due to hunger. According to a recent study by Adam Rosenthal, PhD, an assistant professor in the department of microbiology and immunology, some bacteria cells experience hangry and release toxic substances into the body when they are denied certain nutrients.

5 Apr 2023

Role of Engineered E. coli in Sending Therapeutic Nanobodies to the Gut

Numerous bacterium types have taken up residence in humans. Currently, research is concentrated on genetically modifying these bacteria to increase their inherent therapeutic qualities.

5 Apr 2023

High correlation between the product of a gene in the majority of cancers

The product of a gene expressed in most cancers, including the most prevalent type of head and neck cancer, has been linked to elevated levels of white blood cells that produce antibodies inside tumors, according to researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center.

14 Mar 2023

Experts receive funding to analyze individualized hemodialysis as a dynamic treatment

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) recently awarded researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine $10.2 million to study the effectiveness of an individualized model of hemodialysis, a procedure in which the blood is cleaned by a dialysis machine. The project is a collaboration between the School of Medicine, the Renal Research Institute and other health care systems across the country.

10 Mar 2023

New model, C. elegans, helps pursue research on Parkinson's disease

A tiny worm called the C. elegans is enabling scientists to explore the emerging theory that Parkinson's disease starts in the gut.

1 Mar 2023

Study reveals why the FMO5 gene produces an enzyme with a different activity

Our body produces lots of enzymes that break down toxic substances. One class of such enzymes are the flavin-containing monooxygenases (FMOs), which are present in all tetrapods. Humans have five different FMO genes, of which the first four display the same activity. However, the fifth FMO gene triggers a different breakdown reaction. University of Groningen biochemists have succeeded in resurrecting the ancestral genes of all tetrapod FMOs to show how this divergence has occurred. Their results appear on 24 February in Nature Communications.

28 Feb 2023

Prototype treatment shows great potential in neutralizing snake toxins from multiple species

Prototype treatment for snake bite envenoming proves effective against the venom of African and Asian elapid snakes, such as some cobra, mamba, and krait species, new research shows.

24 Feb 2023

Modifying patients' intestinal flora could be a new therapeutic approach for colon cancer

Studies show that certain bacteria may contribute to the development of colorectal cancer by producing toxins that may damage colon cells or cause an accumulation of DNA mutations and/or intestinal inflammation.

23 Feb 2023