By Jane E. Brody Aug. 2, 2021 No one with debilitating symptoms likes to be told “it’s all in your head.” Yet, this is often what distressed patients with irritable bowel syndrome hear, implicitly or explicitly, when a medical workup reveals no apparent explanation for their repeated bouts of abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea, or constipation....
Caltech researchers and collaborators have discovered how the bacteria Escherichia coli evolutionarily repurposed cellular machinery into a kind of navigation system to control movement through its environment. The study was led by researchers in the laboratory of Grant Jensen, professor of biophysics and biology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. A paper describing the research...
After eluding researchers for more than 30 years, the VP3 protein of rotavirus has finally revealed its unique structure and function to a team led by scientists at Baylor College of Medicine. The researchers discovered that VP3 consists of four molecular modules that uniquely integrate five enzymatic activities that are necessary for capping messenger-RNA (mRNA),...
Scientists at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute have solved a 125-year-old mystery of the brain, and, in the process, uncovered a potential treatment for acquired epilepsy. Since 1893, scientists have known about enigmatic structures called perineuronal nets wrapped around neurons, but the function of the nets remained elusive. IMAGE: A RESEARCH TEAM LED BY HARALD SONTHEIMER...
