They say you only find what you’re looking for, and that applies in population genetics as well as in life. Population genetic studies rely on scoring known, characterized variation in DNA in order to decipher the history of different populations. However, this known variation may not be sufficient to give a properly resolved picture in…
With a few genetic tweaks, a type of soil bacteria with an appetite for hydrocarbons shows promise as a biological factory for converting a renewable — but frustratingly untapped — bounty into a replacement for ubiquitous plastics. Researchers, like those at the University of Wisconsin-Madison-based, Department of Energy-funded Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, hoping to…
When medical residents were permitted to work shifts longer than 16 hours, patient mortality was not affected and the doctors themselves did not experience chronic sleep loss, according to a pair of papers published today in the New England Journal of Medicine by a team of researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the…
Scientists have developed a method to boost the efficiency of CRISPR gene editing in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), according to a study that could have implications for optimizing gene therapies for other diseases. The finding stemmed from research at UT Southwestern in which a single-cut gene-editing technique was used on mice and human cells to…
USC researchers provided evidence that a low-calorie “fasting-mimicking” diet has the potential to do just that. Published in the March 5 edition of Cell Reports, the study reports on the health benefits of periodic cycles of the diet for people with inflammation and indicated that the diet reversed inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) pathology in mice.…
Survivors of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Liberia had a higher prevalence of certain health issues — including uveitis (eye redness and pain), abdominal, chest, neurologic, and musculoskeletal abnormalities upon physical exam — when compared to a control group of household and community members who did not have a history of EVD, according to findings…
North Carolina State University researchers have uncovered how a complex network of transcription factors switch wood formation genes on and off. Understanding this transcriptional regulatory network has applications for modifying wood properties for timber, paper and biofuels, as well as making forest trees more disease- and pest-resistant. “We’re building a complete story, so to speak,…
Consumer preference or aversion to wines made from native grapes — such as Concord, Niagara and Catawba, which are grown in North America — may depend on early exposure to the fruits’ sweet, ultra “grapey” taste and aroma, according to researchers who conducted sensory tests with wine drinkers in Pennsylvania and California. That strong grapey…
Human disturbance reduces forest density, biomass, and richness of species in sacred church forests of northern Ethiopia, according to new research by Catherine L. Cardelús of Colgate University in Hamilton, NY, and colleagues. These findings appear in PLOS ONE. Due to land-use changes, such as roads and agriculture, forested area that once covered much of…
People with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) live with frequent, miserable episodes of abdominal pain, diarrhea and in severe cases, rectal bleeding. Standard treatments are aimed at directly suppressing inflammation, but many patients find little relief from such an approach. Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found a compound that…