Researchers have revealed a new mechanism underlying how spatial distance between specific regions of DNA is linked to bursts of gene activity. Using advanced cell imaging techniques and computer modeling, the researchers showed that the folding and movement of DNA, as well as the accumulation of certain proteins, changes depending on whether a gene is active or inactive.
Read more …Close encounters between distant DNA regions cause bursts of gene activity
Many recent studies assume that elderly people are at particular risk of dying from extreme heat as the planet warms. A new study of mortality in Mexico turns this assumption on its head: it shows that 75% of heat-related deaths are occurring among people under 35 -- a large percentage of them ages 18 to 35, or the very group that one might expect to be most resistant to heat.
Read more …High heat is preferentially killing the young, not the old, new research finds
Researchers have unraveled how immune cells called microglia can transform and drive harmful processes like neuroinflammation in Alzheimer's disease. The study also integrates drug databases with real-world patient data to identify FDA-approved drugs that may be repurposed to target disease-associated microglia in Alzheimer's disease without affecting the healthy type.
Read more …Network-based analyses uncover how neuroinflammation-causing microglia in Alzheimer's disease form