Author: EUSci
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Can the body remove HIV by itself?
Two patients have astonishingly cured themselves of HIV without any therapy. Kevin Boyle discusses these novel findings and their potential implications in the development of a vaccine against the HIV virus. A recent report in the Annals of Internal Medicine has shown that a female patient previously infected with HIV was able to remove the…
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HIV Retrovirus: Current advances and mysteries
Claudia Singh Gill discusses the mechanism of HIV infection and the potential advances to treat the deadly retrovirus. 37.7 million people are living with HIV in 2020. Almost one million people die each year from the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The HIV virus targets the cells in the immune system,…
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Nanoparticle based vaccines: a potentially new addition to the “vaccine menu”?
A versatile and highly effective flu vaccine required in tiny amounts might be just around the corner: too good to be true? Kevin Boyle looks at recent advances. For around 70 years, flu vaccines have mostly been made the same way – using chicken eggs. The virus is injected into the eggs and incubated for…
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Good news coffee drinkers: caffeine reduces the effect of drowsiness on cognitive performance
Alexandra Lesayova writes about new findings by the University of Western Australia and the University of Sydney on the effect of caffeine on cognition.
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The Climate Crisis: Which animals will survive?
Alexandra Lesayova writes about the threespine stickleback fish; a promising model organism with respect to gaining a better understanding of the effects of climate change on living organisms, and how understanding the basis of natural selection in response to environmental stresses could be the key to accurate predictions of the effects of climate change. Climate…
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Newly identified proteins are predictors for dementia
Milena Flankova writes about new insights in dementia research: changes in the proteome as a potential indicator for an increased risk of disease, up to 10 years prior Dementia is a syndrome whereby brain function continuously reduces. Alzheimer’s is the most common type of dementia. The most significantly affected age group affected by Alzheimer’s is…
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Coal, meat, and energy; John Kerry’s interview with Andrew Marr and what it means for the United States’ decarbonisation strategy.
Long read: Sami Cheqrouni-Espinar writes about John Kerry’s proposals on new climate change legislation and how these have raised eyebrows and attracted criticism. What are the technical hurdles of implementing Kerry’s proposed policy and how have scientific experts responded? In an interview with BBC journalist Andrew Marr on the Andrew Marr Show, John Kerry, first…
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Drug found to have opposing effects on the minds of male & female mice
Tommy O’Regan tells the story of how, for the first time in medical history, a drug has been found to have completely opposing effects on the memories of mice depending on their sex. A team of researchers investigating the molecular mechanisms underlying fear memories at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (INc-UAB) has discovered something striking…
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HLA Genotype and its effect on the severity of COVID-19 Infections
Isabelle Ferenczi introduces the importance of Human Leukocyte Antigens and their potential role in determining a given patient’s response to COVID-19 infection. A brief introduction to HLA Human Leukocyte (white blood cell) Antigens (HLA), are proteins that have a vital role in presenting foreign peptide (short amino acid chain) antigens in the bloodstream. Antigens are…
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A jar of spices has a lot to hide and a lot to tell
Marie Poirot writes about the research at Australian National University studying the use of spices in cuisines all over the world to show the complexity of evolutionary science. You might not have heard of it, but “Darwinian gastronomy”, or the study of the evolution of cuisines, can tell us a lot about the evolution of…