Harvard Medical School researchers have uncovered crucial insights into how an emerging class of antiviral drugs works.
The discovery sheds light on an important tool for fighting drug-resistant strains of herpes simplex virus, or HSV, and points to new pathways for treating herpesviruses and other kinds of DNA viruses (those that have DNA as their genetic material and can replicate inside host cells).
The study is published in Cell.
The platform can also hint at the type of respiratory issue involved, classifying cases as normal, obstructive, restrictive, or mixed. Obstructive patterns commonly appear in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), while restrictive patterns are often linked to conditions such as pulmonary fibrosis.
The technology draws on the idea that cough sounds carry meaningful diagnostic clues. The researchers used a platform to classify the cases as ‘risk yes’ or ‘risk no’. When compared with physicians’ assessments, the model achieved a sensitivity of 97.27%. There was also strong agreement between the patterns identified by pulmonologists and the findings generated by the new tool.
Advances in AI have renewed interest in cough sound analysis as an accessible pre-screening method. Machine-learning models trained on large datasets can detect patterns associated with tuberculosis, Covid-19, asthma, and COPD, and can be built into portable devices or mobile apps for use in community settings.
Scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine say results of a new study are advancing efforts to exploit a new target for Alzheimer’s disease: a protein that manufactures an important gas in the brain.
Experiments conducted in genetically engineered mice reinforce that the protein, Cystathionine γ-lyase, or CSE—ordinarily known for producing hydrogen sulfide gas responsible for the foul smell of rotten eggs—is critical for memory formation, says Bindu Paul, M.S., Ph.D., associate professor of pharmacology, psychiatry and neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who led the study.
The new research, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was designed to better understand the basic biology of the protein, and its value as a novel target for drugs that boost the expression of CSE in people to help keep brain cells healthy and slow neurodegenerative disease.
Wagner et al. demonstrate that RNase H1 only removes a subset of R-loops in vivo. In yeast, overexpressed RNH1 acts more frequently at dysregulated R-loops and infrequently, if at all, at other RNA-DNA hybrids. Endogenous Rnh1 is induced in a Rad53-dependent manner at transcription-replication conflicts to promote replication completion.
Why does cancer sometimes recur even after successful treatment, or why do some bacteria survive despite the use of powerful antibiotics? One of the key culprits identified is “biological noise”—random fluctuations occurring inside cells.
Even when cells share the same genes, the amount of protein varies in each, creating “outliers” that evade drug treatments and survive. Until now, scientists could only control the average values of cell populations; controlling the irregular variability of individual cells remained a long-standing challenge.
A joint research team—led by Professor Jae Kyoung Kim (Department of Mathematical Sciences, KAIST), Professor Jinsu Kim (Department of Mathematics, POSTECH), and Professor Byung-Kwan Cho (Graduate School of Engineering Biology, KAIST)—has theoretically established a “noise control principle.” Through mathematical modeling, they have found a way to eliminate biological noise and precisely govern cellular destiny.
Best advice is simply disinfect with vinegar because it kills it on contact.
The fungal species Candida auris is spreading across the globe, and gaining in virulence, according to a new review by a Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI) scientist and colleagues.
But there are strategies available and underway to combat the invasive and drug-resistant germ, says the work in Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews.
The paper summarizes and analyzes the latest developments—and needs—in mycology in 2025. Neeraj Chauhan, Ph.D., of the CDI, is co-author with Anuradha Chowdhary, Ph.D., of the Medical Mycology Unit at the Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute at the University of Delhi, who is a global leader in identifying and combating fungal threats, and was one of the first scientists to identify C. auris as a major public health threat in India in 2014. Chowdhary is also a visiting researcher at the CDI.
Basically every year 1 billion people get infected by influenza causing extreme resource shortages still it is getting better to keep the death count down with vaccines but still its potential is still very dangerous and is not quite contained. Along with the super k version of influenza causing a spike in cases globally now. I still think that we need better protection against certain diseases so the resources are not drained globally. Perhaps we can use tricorder like devices on our phones that essentially heal us from diseases which I believe radio nanotransfection could lead to breakthroughs in the future.
Credit: WHO / Lindsay Mackenzie.
Influenza, or the flu, is both a seasonal and a pandemic virus. Every year, mainly during the winter season, seasonal influenza infects as many as 1 billion people. This makes it one of the most common infectious respiratory viruses, after the common cold. Thankfully, the WHO Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System, or GISRS, monitors what viruses are circulating and twice a year recommends which viruses to target in the flu vaccine for the upcoming season. The flu vaccine is the best way to prevent infection and may reduce symptoms if you do get the flu. For those who are more vulnerable to flu, what we call ‘high risk groups’, the vaccine can save your life. Good hygiene practices can also reduce the risk of infection (for more information, see the factsheet here ). Thankfully, although there are hundreds of millions of cases every year, the vast majority of these are not serious. Nevertheless, WHO estimates that there are 3 to 5 million cases of severe illness and between 290 000 to 650 000 respiratory deaths annually.
By Simarro Blasco, J. L., et al. (2025). Biomedicines, 13(12), 3049. 📖Read the full text: https://brnw.ch/21wYJvv.
Large clinical study of 1,800+ women with lipedema identifies key clinical signs and frequent comorbidities, supporting a systemic, connective-tissue–based understanding of the disease.
Background/Objectives: Lipedema is a chronic disorder that affects almost exclusively women and is characterized by bilateral, symmetrical accumulation of subcutaneous fat, typically in the buttocks, hips, and lower limbs, and in some cases the arms.
Harnessing antibodies found in patients with lupus, researchers test a new cancer therapy that turns autoimmune responses against tumor cells in mice, suggesting similar approaches could be integrated into immunotherapy regimens.
Learn more in Science Signaling.
Delivery of autoimmune disease–associated antibodies activates the immune system to fight glioblastomas.