Lifeboat Foundation

Chronic hepatitis B affects more than 250 million individuals worldwide, putting them at risk of developing liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. While antiviral immune responses are key to eliminating hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections, insufficient antiviral immunity characterized by failure to eliminate HBV-infected hepatocytes is associated with chronic hepatitis B. Prophylactic vaccination against hepatitis B successfully established protective immunity against infection with the hepatitis B virus and has been instrumental in controlling hepatitis B. However, prophylactic vaccination schemes have not been successful in mounting protective immunity to eliminate HBV infections in patients with chronic hepatitis B.

Painless lesions investigated in mice

Now, for the first time, researchers have looked into the lesions on mouse skin to assess if there are any metabolic signalling pathways that are responsible for thwarting pain. The aim is to hopefully use this mechanism to help people suffering from debilitating pain through the development of non-narcotic pain medications.

“No one knows why these lesions are painless – but it has been thought that the parasite somehow manipulates the host physiological system,” said Abhay Satoskar, senior author of the study and professor of pathology in The Ohio State University College of Medicine.

Researchers have worked out how a protein called photolyase repairs DNA using light, and their discoveries could guide the development of light-based manufacturing technologies.

By Grace Wade

This can be helpful for first responders in treating victims and patients with traumatic brain injury.

Zorica Nastasic/iStock.

How EyeD works?

Continue reading “EyeD: This handheld device detects brain injury in minutes” »

Researchers have found that some pathogens can use physical force to enter and survive inside cells, bypassing the immune system. This could lead to new ways of fighting intracellular infections.

Dr_Microbe/iStock.

Toxoplasma as intracellular pathogen.

Continue reading “Pathogens use force to bypass the immune system, new research says” »

A small team of bio-scientists from the University of Rostock’s Institute for Biosciences and Nuremberg Zoo’s Behavioral Ecology and Conservation Lab, both in Germany, has found evidence that bottlenose dolphins can sense electric fields. In their study, reported in the Journal of Experimental Biology, the group tested the ability of two captive bottlenose dolphins to sense a small electric field.

Many creatures in the animal kingdom are able to sense an electric field—some sharks and the platypus, for example—but only one type of marine mammal has been found to have the ability: the Guiana dolphin. In this new effort, the research team wondered if other types of dolphins have the ability.

They chose to study bottlenose dolphins for two reasons: a pair of were available for testing at the nearby Nuremberg Zoo, and prior research suggested that neural cells in the vibrissal crypts situated along the dolphins’ snouts strongly resembled the electric-field detectors observed in sharks.

The world’s largest collection of full human genomes has just gone live.

The whole genomes of 500,000 people in the UK Biobank will help researchers to probe our genetic code for links to disease.

Researchers have found a bacteriocin that can help inhibit the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria are a growing global problem. Part of the solution may lie in copying the bacteria’s own weapons. The research environment in Tromsø has found a new bacteriocin, in a very common skin bacterium. Bacteriocin inhibits the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that are often the cause of disease and can be difficult to treat.

One million deaths each year.

The fact that we have medicines against bacterial infections is something many people take for granted.

Scientists believe a treatment derived from used coffee grounds could help prevent neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, or Huntington’s.