Signals between our gut and brain control how and when we eat food. But how the molecular mechanisms involved in this signaling are affected when we eat a high-energy diet and how they contribute to obesity are not well understood. Using a mouse model, a research team led by a biomedical scientist at the University…
Study Links Individual HPV Types to HIV Infection
An international research team led by a scientist at the University of California, Riverside, has for the first time identified individual types of the human papillomavirus, or HPV, that are specifically linked to HIV infection. The study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, concludes that a person with any HPV type, more than one HPV type, or high-risk…
Researchers Crack Structure of Key Protein in Zika Virus
Zika virus (ZIKV), which causes Zika virus disease, is spread to people primarily through the bite of an infected Aedes aegypti or Aedes albopictusmosquito. An infected pregnant woman can pass ZIKV to her fetus during pregnancy or around the time of birth. Sex is yet another way for infected persons to transmit ZIKV to others. The genomic replication…
Developing More Effective Drugs to Combat IBD
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the intestine that includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. It is commonly treated with one of several available biological drugs that block an inflammatory molecule called Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha (TNF-alpha), but not everybody is helped by this treatment. New research by a team of…