The US desperately needs more family doctors to address healthcare access disparities and improve patients' outcomes. Incentives are needed to encourage medical students to specialize in general primary care, rather than lucrative but limited specialty options.
New research finds bacteria can directly cause human blood to clot by forming clusters, a process previously thought lost in vertebrate evolution. This discovery may lead to new clinical methods for treating sepsis and anthrax, improving understanding of coagulation during bacterial infections.
Scientists have found that nearly all human genes, about 94 percent, generate more than one form of their protein products through alternative splicing. The phenomenon varies significantly between tissues, with mRNA expression dependent on the tissue where the gene is expressed.
MIT researchers have created a novel scaffold that can aid in the repair of damaged heart tissue and potentially treat congenital heart defects. The biodegradable scaffold has directionally dependent structural and mechanical properties, allowing it to mimic native heart muscle structure and behavior.
Researchers at Boston University developed a nanoscale torsion resonator to measure miniscule amounts of twisting or torque in metallic nanowires. The device has applications in spintronics, fundamental physics, chemistry, and biology.
A new platform has been developed to study how specialized proteins regulate RNA in living, intact cells. By identifying every sequence within every strand of RNA to which proteins bind, researchers can now address questions about how differences in RNA explain the vast differences between humans and worms.
A study found that disease-causing bacteria exploit the killing machinery of immune cells by increasing the production of an enzyme called arginase. This allows them to survive within macrophages, a type of white blood cell. The researchers observed improved outcomes in mice lacking this enzyme when infected with certain pathogens.
Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have developed a new treatment approach for neuroblastoma using T-lymphocytes with an artificial receptor that targets cancer cells. The treatment showed promise in early clinical trials, with one patient achieving complete remission and others experiencing stable disease for over a year.
Researchers develop a novel designer molecule that targets malignant melanoma cells using two different routes: triggering the immune system to attack and switching off a specific gene, driving cancer cells to suicide. Initial experiments in mouse models show significant inhibition of metastasis growth and tumor shrinkage.