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1 month ago | 
thetransmitter.org | RJ Mackenzie |Angie Voyles Askham |Jill Adams |Claudia Lopez Lloreda
New footage documents microglia pruning synapses at high resolution and in real time. The recordings, published in January, add a new twist to a convoluted debate about the range of these cells’ responsibilities. Microglia are the brain’s resident immune cells. For about a decade, some have also credited them with pruning excess synaptic connections during early brain development.
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Nov 24, 2024 | 
popsci.com | RJ Mackenzie
Understanding how your body can be used for research is important when making a decision.
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Nov 7, 2024 | 
drugdiscoverynews.com | Maggie Chen |RJ Mackenzie |Stephanie DeMarco |Allison Whitten
Fatty acids restore normalcy to the vaginal microbiomeDoctors have been treating bacterial vaginosis with the same antibiotic for decades. This fatty acid could change that. Accelerating drug discovery with a nickel-based catalystThe new complex is inexpensive to produce, and its unique architecture makes chemical reactions integral to drug discovery more stable and efficient.
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Nov 6, 2024 | 
drugdiscoverynews.com | RJ Mackenzie
A new chemical complex that helps glue molecules together more efficiently could simplify the search for new drug molecules, suggests a new study (1). Researchers, led by Christo Sevov, a chemist at Ohio State University, detailed a chemical complex that could make unpredictable and hard-to-control chemical reactions more stable.
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Nov 1, 2024 | 
snexplores.org | RJ Mackenzie
cell: (in biology) The smallest structural and functional unit of an organism. Typically too small to see with the unaided eye, it consists of a watery fluid surrounded by a membrane or wall. Depending on their size, animals are made of anywhere from thousands to trillions of cells. Most organisms, such as yeasts, molds, bacteria and some algae, are composed of only one cell. corpus callosum: A bundle of nerve fibers that connects the right and left sides of the brain.
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Oct 29, 2024 | 
drugdiscoverynews.com | RJ Mackenzie
Synthetic peptides could one day thwart deadly infections wrought by opportunistic fungi. The molecules, which resemble innate immune molecules but consist of synthetic polymers, damaged key structures in the pathogenic fungi Candida albicans in a new study (1). Combined with another antifungal, the synthetic peptides protected human cells from infection, increased survival rates of a model species, and appeared to avoid evolving resistant fungal strains. Many C.
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Oct 24, 2024 | 
thetransmitter.org | RJ Mackenzie |Angie Voyles Askham |Jill Adams |Rachel Buckley
Contributing writerThe Transmitter Share this article: Tags: Microglia, neurodegeneration, Synapses, synaptic pruning Microglia were once thought to have one job—as the brain’s resident garbage collectors. If neurons became damaged or diseased, microglia would spring into action, engulfing dead or infected cells and pumping up the local immune response. Between clean-up operations, scientists believed, they rested in a deep sleep.
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Oct 24, 2024 | 
thetransmitter.org | RJ Mackenzie |Jill Adams |Charles Choi |Angie Voyles Askham
Contributing writerThe Transmitter Share this article: Tags: Spectrum, Microglia, neurodegeneration, Synapses, synaptic pruning Microglia were once thought to have one job—as the brain’s resident garbage collectors. If neurons became damaged or diseased, microglia would spring into action, engulfing dead or infected cells and pumping up the local immune response. Between clean-up operations, scientists believed, they rested in a deep sleep.
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Oct 23, 2024 | 
thetransmitter.org | RJ Mackenzie |Angie Voyles Askham |Jill Adams |Rachel Buckley
Contributing writer The Transmitter RJ Mackenzie is a freelance science reporter based in Glasgow, Scotland. He covers biological and biomedical science, with a focus on the complexities and curiosities of the brain. Mackenzie has degrees in neuroscience from the University of Edinburgh and the University of Cambridge. He has written for National Geographic, Popular Science and The Scientist, among other publications.
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Oct 16, 2024 | 
drugdiscoverynews.com | RJ Mackenzie
In the late 1980s, science entered an antibiotic drought. No new classes of these valuable drugs were discovered for over 20 years, only ending with the approval of diarylquinolines in 2011 (1). There’s now cause for slight optimism with the announcement of a new drug class earlier this year — the first antibiotic in 50 years to act against Acinetobacter baumannii, a major source of hospital-acquired infections (2).
