A study sampled more than 1.5 million people in 269 U.S. counties and 37 European nations. Researchers found that those who grew up in areas with higher levels of atmospheric lead had less adaptive personalities in adulthood — lower levels of conscientiousness and agreeableness and higher levels of neuroticism. The study, published in the Proceedings…

A future vaccine providing protection against a wide range of coronaviruses that jump from their original animal hosts to humans — including SARS-CoV-2, the cause of COVID-19 — may be possible, say researchers. In a paper posted online Jan. 21, 2022, in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the research team focused on a peptide, or…

DNA analysis has revealed the presence of ‘Yersinia Pestis’ — the pathogen that causes plague — in skeletal remains from individual burials in medieval Cambridgeshire, confirming for the first time that not all plague victims were buried in mass graves. Compassion and care were shown to victims even during traumatic times during past pandemics. Plague…

B cells are the immune cells responsible for creating antibodies, and most produce antibodies in response to a pathogen or a vaccine. A small subset of B cells instead spontaneously make antibodies that perform vital housekeeping functions. Understanding how epigenetics spur these differences in such similar cells is an important fundamental question in immunology. Like…

Bioengineers have shown they can eradicate advanced-stage ovarian and colorectal cancer in mice in as little as six days with a treatment that could be ready for human clinical trials later this year. The researchers used implantable «drug factories» the size of a pinhead to deliver continuous, high doses of interleukin-2, a natural compound that…

A new study found in a living embryo that the back ends of moving cell groups push the group forward, with implications for how organs form and cancer spreads. Published online in Nature Cell Biology on February 14, a new study found in a living embryo that the back ends of moving cell groups push…

When you have become immune to malaria after having contracted the disease, it seems that the body uses a more efficient protection than if you have been vaccinated against the deadly disease. The researchers believe the new findings may be used to improve existing malaria vaccines. Now, researchers from the University of Copenhagen have come…

Researchers have developed a passive air sampler clip that can help assess personal exposure to SARS-CoV-2, which could be especially helpful for workers in high-risk settings, such as restaurants or health care facilities. COVID-19 is primarily transmitted through the inhalation of virus-laden aerosols and respiratory droplets that infected individuals expel by coughing, sneezing, speaking or…

Researchers have developed the first truly accurate mouse model of celiac disease. The animals have the same genetic and immune system characteristics as humans who develop celiac after eating gluten. This provides a vital research tool for developing and testing new treatments for the disease. «Based on our understanding of the human disease, we were…

Neuroscientists describe how the common Toxoplasma gondii parasite prompts the loss of inhibitory signaling in the brain by altering the behavior of nearby cells called microglia. Among your brain’s 86 billion neurons are the brain’s own version of stop signals: inhibitory neurons that emit chemicals to help regulate the flow of ions traveling down one…