Cellular System For Detecting And Responding To Poisons And Pathogens Discovered By Researchers
Two Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)-based research teams, along with a group from the University of California at San Diego, have discovered that animals have a previously unknown system for detecting and responding to pathogens and toxins. In three papers published in the journals Cell and Cell Host & Microbe, the investigators describe finding evidence that disruptions to the core functions of animal cells trigger immune and detoxification responses, along with behavioral changes. "Viewing many diseases through the prism of this newly discovered system will eventually allow a reinterpretation of disorders from several branches of medicine as aberrant responses to toxins and bacteria, " says Gary Ruvkun, PhD, of the MGH Department of Molecular Biology, senior author of a paper in the April 13 issue of Cell.
Promising, Achievable Solutions To Nigeria's Childhood Mortality Crisis Identified By New Study
A study released by the International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has identified the most feasible and impactful solutions for Nigeria's immunization program that could offer the best hope yet for scaling up vaccine access to the nation's most rural areas and taking aim at the country's precipitous number of child deaths. While the nation has made progress on child survival in recent years, Nigeria is still responsible for one out of every eight child deaths worldwide.
In Vivo Inflammation And Metastasis Visualized In Genetically Modified Mice
One of the major routes of tumor cell dissemination to form metastasis at distant organs in the body is the lymphatic system. To study this process, still poorly understood, and to gain information on which tumors prefer this route for dissemination and how to block it, researchers of the Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO), led by researcher Sagrario Ortega, have created transgenic mice in which, for the first time, the growth of the lymphatic vessels can be visualized in the whole animal, by a light-emitting reaction, as tumor progresses and forms metastasis.