Gastroenterology

Gut contractions influence the composition of the microbiome

Spontaneous rhythmic contractions of the intestinal tract, also known as peristalsis, play an important role in enabling healthy gut function in the vast majority of living organisms. This intrinsic activity appears to be ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Diagnosing neurocysticercosis

The pork tapeworm (Taenia solium) can grow to be more than 20 feet long inside the human intestine, where it attaches to the intestinal wall using the 4 suckers on its scolex, which is only 1 millimeter in diameter. The scolex ...

Immunology

New intracellular 'smoke detector' discovered

Researchers at the Universities of Bonn and Singapore have discovered a new intracellular "smoke detector." The sensor warns of damage to the mitochondria—the microscopic power plants that supply the cell with energy. If ...

Medical research

Innate immunity: The final touch for antimicrobial defense

If bacteria enter the body, it often takes just a few minutes for the innate immune system to recognize them as foreign and set the immune defense in motion. Receptors of the immune system that recognize bacterial cell wall ...

Immunology

Immune cells in the intestine have a sweet tooth

A new study led by Marc Veldhoen, group leader at the Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes (iMM; Portugal) and Associate Professor at Faculdade de Medicina de Lisboa (FMUL) and published today in the scientific ...

Gastroenterology

Intestinal cells change functions during their lives

Intestinal cells can change specializations during their lives. The BMP signaling pathway—an important communication mechanism between cells—appears to be the driver of these changes. That is what scientists from the ...

page 1 from 4