Researchers have identified predictors of both severe disease and recovery in hospitalized influenza patients, finding that the immune system works in concert to fight influenza. The four-year project took samples from patients hospitalised with influenza at up to five time points during their hospital stay, and 30 days after discharge. They analysed the breadth of…

Researchers say their studies on air pollution and cognitive decline — one involving humans and one with mice — provide evidence that cleaner air may reduce risk for Alzheimer’s and other dementias. Cars and factories produce a fine particulate known as PM2.5 that USC-led studies have linked to memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease. Smaller than…

Scientists report successfully freeze-drying specialized liposomes that could be developed for use in future vaccines. Freeze-drying is a method for removing water from a product. First, you freeze the item you’re trying to dehydrate, causing any water in it to become ice. Then, you remove the ice through a process called sublimation, in which ice…

Using experiments and a deep machine learning data analysis approach, scientists uncovered the fundamental workings of the hippocampus region of the brain as it organizes memories into time sequences. The work could help future research into cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and other causes of dementia. Combining electrophysiological recording techniques in rodents with a…

Researchers have shown, in mice, that a new class of compounds they developed can improve several aspects of metabolic syndrome. Such conditions often lead to cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death worldwide. The study is published in the journal Nature Communications. Testing one of the compounds referred to as SN-401, the researchers found it…

Physicians and scientists have found that injecting tumors with influenza vaccines, including some FDA-approved seasonal flu shots, turns cold tumors to hot, a discovery that could lead to an immunotherapy to treat cancer. Increasing immune cells within a tumor can change it from «cold» to «hot» — more recognizable to the immune system. Hot tumors…

A review of published data and analysis on the Spanish flu, found that cities that adopted early and broad isolation and prevention measures had disease and mortality rates that were 30% to 50% lower than other cities. Stefan E. Pambuccian, MD, a Loyola Medicine cytologist, surgical pathologist and professor and vice chair of the Department…

Scientists at Berkeley Lab’s Molecular Foundry have joined forces with a research team at Stanford to aim a gene-targeting, antiviral agent called PAC-MAN against COVID-19. Last year, Stanley Qi, an assistant professor in the departments of bioengineering, and chemical and systems biology at Stanford University and his team had begun working on a technique called…

Researchers reveal new details about a key enzyme that makes DNA sequencing possible. The finding is a leap forward into the era of personalized medicine when doctors will be able to design treatments based on the genomes of individual patients. «Enzymes make life possible by catalyzing chemical transformations that otherwise would just take too long…

Scientists have used gene-editing advances to achieve a tenfold increase in the production of super-bug targeting formicamycin antibiotics. The John Innes Centre researchers used the technology to create a new strain of Streptomyces formicae bacteria which over-produces the medically promising molecules. Discovered within the last ten years, formicamycins have great potential because, under laboratory conditions,…