OCT News and Research

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Identification of genetic variant provides a big step for precision medicine in dialysis

Every day, the human kidneys clean about 1,500 liters of blood by producing approximately 1–2 liters of urine. Thereby, the body gets rid of excess water and toxic waste products of the metabolism or also drugs and maintains the balance of water and minerals in the tissues.

21 Oct 2021

New biomarker can help characterize specific types of asthma and COPD

Rutgers researchers have discovered that people with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease have a protein in their lungs that leaks a small molecule into their bloodstream that restricts their breathing instead of relaxing their airways.

From Rutgers University 21 Oct 2021

Our genes may be an unexpected contributor to pro-conservation sentiment

As global environmental crises mount, numerous policies have been proposed with an eye toward a more sustainable future. However, such recommendations have often gone unheeded, falling by the wayside for lack of public support.

21 Oct 2021

Study provides a global picture of crop diversity loss

Although scientists have been ringing bells for more than 100 years about the decline of crop diversity in agriculture, questions about the magnitude, causes, and significance of this loss remain unanswered.

21 Oct 2021

New study helps figure out how agricultural runoff contributes to global warming

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a potent greenhouse gas, with 300 times the warming ability of carbon dioxide. Due to fertilizer runoff from farm fields, an increasing load of nitrogen is washing into rivers and streams, where nitrogen-breathing microbes break some of the fertilizer down into N2O, which the river releases into the atmosphere as it tumbles toward the ocean.

20 Oct 2021

Researchers use light instead of DNA to define plant populations

In Star Trek, characters carry a little handheld device called a tricorder that they can point at objects to analyze and identify them. When the show's writers cooked up the idea in the 1960s, it was purely science fiction, but a new paper in New Phytologist takes the idea a step closer to reality.

20 Oct 2021

MIT researchers discover new way to awaken the immune system to attack tumors

Immunotherapy is a promising strategy to treat cancer by stimulating the body's own immune system to destroy tumor cells, but it only works for a handful of cancers. MIT researchers have now discovered a new way to jump-start the immune system to attack tumors, which they hope could allow immunotherapy to be used against more types of cancer.

From Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) 20 Oct 2021

Study uncovers new gene variants that may cause inherited retinal dystrophies

An international team of researchers, led by scientists at University of California San Diego and Shiley Eye Institute at UC San Diego Health, has broadened and deepened understanding of how inherited retinal dystrophies (IRDs) affect different populations of people and, in the process, have identified new gene variants that may cause the diseases.

20 Oct 2021

Bacterial-fungal interactions are far more common and diverse than previously known

In a novel, broad assessment of bacterial-fungal interactions, researchers using unique bioinformatics found that fungi host a remarkable diversity of bacteria, making bacterial-fungal interactions far more common and diverse than previously known.

20 Oct 2021

Junk DNA' plays a crucial role in early embryonic development in all mammals, study shows

Nearly half of our DNA has been written off as junk, the discards of evolution: sidelined or broken genes, viruses that got stuck in our genome and were dismembered or silenced, none of it relevant to the human organism or human evolution.

19 Oct 2021

Scientists reveal the importance of circadian rhythm on the immune system

Circadian clocks, which regulate most of the physiological processes of living beings over a rhythm of about 24 hours, are one of the most fundamental biological mechanisms.

19 Oct 2021

Metabolic restoration could provide natural protection against HIV

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) particularly attacks CD4 lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell considered to be the conductor of the immune system.

19 Oct 2021

Cellular environment impacts structure of the nuclear pore complex

Context matters. It's true for many facets of life, including the tiny molecular machines that perform vital functions inside our cells.

From Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) 18 Oct 2021

Researchers map proteo-genomic connections between different human diseases

Hundreds of connections between different human diseases have been uncovered through their shared origin in our genome by an international research team led by scientists from the Medical Research Council (MRC) Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge, challenging the categorisation of diseases by organ, symptoms, or clinical speciality.

18 Oct 2021

Novel method enables quick identification of small active substance molecules

Secondary natural substances that occur in numerous plants, bacteria and fungi can be anti-inflammatory, can ward off pathogens or even prevent the growth of cancer cells. However, making use of the riches provided by nature's medicine cabinet and identifying new natural substances is time-consuming, costly and labour-intensive. A team of bioinformaticians at Friedrich Schiller University Jena has now developed a method that enables much faster and easier identification of small active substance molecules.

18 Oct 2021

AI-powered tool rapidly identifies genetic causes of rare disorders with high accuracy

An artificial intelligence (AI)-based technology rapidly diagnoses rare disorders in critically ill children with high accuracy, according to a report by scientists from University of Utah Health and Fabric Genomics, collaborators on a study led by Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego. The benchmark finding, published in Genomic Medicine, foreshadows the next phase of medicine, where technology helps clinicians quickly determine the root cause of disease so they can give patients the right treatment sooner.

From The University of Utah 18 Oct 2021

Researchers develop chimeric exosomes that co-activate immune response and tumor microenvironment

Researchers from the Institute of Process Engineering (IPE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed macrophage–tumor chimeric exosomes that co-activate the immune response and tumor microenvironment to support cancer immunotherapy.

18 Oct 2021

Brain immune cells take up large amounts of sugar at the beginning of neurodegenerative disease

At the beginning of neurodegenerative disease, the immune cells of the brain – the "microglia" – take up glucose, a sugar molecule, to a much greater extent than hitherto assumed.

18 Oct 2021

Pioneering gene therapy has long-lasting effects on children with deadly immune disorder

Over a decade ago, UCLA physician-scientists began using a pioneering gene therapy they developed to treat children born with a rare and deadly immune system disorder. They now report that the effects of the therapy appear to be long-lasting, with 90% of patients who received the treatment eight to 11 years ago still disease-free.

18 Oct 2021

Researchers uncover how killer T cells repeatedly reload their toxic weapons to keep on killing

Cambridge researchers have discovered how T cells – an important component of our immune system – are able keep on killing as they hunt down and kill cancer cells, repeatedly reloading their toxic weapons.

15 Oct 2021

OCT News and Research

Identification of genetic variant provides a big step for precision medicine in dialysis

New biomarker can help characterize specific types of asthma and COPD

Our genes may be an unexpected contributor to pro-conservation sentiment

Study provides a global picture of crop diversity loss

New study helps figure out how agricultural runoff contributes to global warming

Researchers use light instead of DNA to define plant populations

MIT researchers discover new way to awaken the immune system to attack tumors

Study uncovers new gene variants that may cause inherited retinal dystrophies

Bacterial-fungal interactions are far more common and diverse than previously known

Junk DNA' plays a crucial role in early embryonic development in all mammals, study shows

Scientists reveal the importance of circadian rhythm on the immune system

Metabolic restoration could provide natural protection against HIV

Cellular environment impacts structure of the nuclear pore complex

Researchers map proteo-genomic connections between different human diseases

Novel method enables quick identification of small active substance molecules

AI-powered tool rapidly identifies genetic causes of rare disorders with high accuracy

Researchers develop chimeric exosomes that co-activate immune response and tumor microenvironment

Brain immune cells take up large amounts of sugar at the beginning of neurodegenerative disease

Pioneering gene therapy has long-lasting effects on children with deadly immune disorder

Researchers uncover how killer T cells repeatedly reload their toxic weapons to keep on killing

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