A new study reveals that high-grade gliomas, or brain tumors, in dogs contained more immune cells associated with suppressing immune response than low-grade gliomas. Glial cells are support cells located throughout the brain and spinal cord. When those cells become cancerous, the resulting tumor is called a glioma. In dogs, gliomas are the second most…

Studying mice, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered that roseolovirus can trigger autoimmunity in a previously unknown way: by disrupting the process by which immune cells learn to avoid targeting their own body’s cells and tissues. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered that…

A study offers new insight on how the gut bacteria of dogs interact with a healthy vs. unhealthy GI tract, which could contribute to the development of new therapies for GI diseases in both dogs and humans. In a study published on Oct. 31 in PLOS ONE, Amanda Blake, a doctoral student with the CVM’s…

In a natural setting, cows and nursing calves together set the feeding schedule for the calf, and calves wean gradually, completing weaning at varying ages. By contrast, in artificial rearing systems with minimal cow-calf contact, the weaning schedule may be strictly determined, with reductions of milk intake based solely on the calf’s age. But how…

Antibiotics can leave the lung vulnerable to flu viruses, leading to significantly worse infections and symptoms, finds a new study. The research discovered that signals from gut bacteria help to maintain a first line of defense in the lining of the lung. When mice with healthy gut bacteria were infected with the flu, around 80%…

The flavors of fermented foods are heavily shaped by the fungi that grow on them, but the evolutionary origins of those fungi aren’t well understood. Experimental findings offer microbiologists a new view on how those molds evolve from wild strains into the domesticated ones used in food production. In the paper, microbiologists report that wild-type…

A research team has investigated in detail how messenger substances signal inflammation during the removal of damaged cells in the body. Using high-resolution microscopy methods, the researchers were able to show that two proteins interact dynamically with each other and thus determine whether a dying cell triggers an inflammatory reaction in the body. The study…

Researchers report the biological effects of influenza protein NS1 binding to RIG-I — the binding directly quiets the alarm that activates the cellular innate immunity defense against the infection. This is a newly described way for flu to antagonize the host cellular antiviral response. Chad Petit, Ph.D., and colleagues at the University of Alabama at…

Researchers noted a significant difference in mice from mothers that were fed a diet rich in canola oil, compared with mothers fed a diet rich in corn oil. A maternal Omega 3-rich diet affected genome-wide epigenetic landscape changes in offspring and potentially modulated gene expression patterns. Dr. Ata Abbas, a former postdoctoral research fellow in…

A study analyzing over 15,000 individual synapses in macaques and mice found that primate neurons have two to five times fewer synapses in the visual cortex compared to mice — and the difference may be due to the metabolic cost of maintaining synapses. In a study comparing the brains of macaques and mice at the…