Few readers of Naturally Selected or F1000 users can be unaware of the huge health burden caused by malaria–an estimated 800,000 deaths and 225 million cases worldwide in 2010. Possibly less well appreciated is the parlous state of effective treatment strategies: the current first-line treatment for Plasmodium falciparum currently relies on a single drug class…
The link between gum disease and rheumatoid arthritis is revisited in a recently evaluated paper.
This little guy, sometimes known as the ‘kissing bug’ (because it likes to eat your face), feeds off fresh blood and is responsible for spreading Trypanosoma cruzii–which causes Chagas disease. To this charming CV, Claudio Lazzari and colleagues at the Institut de Recherche sur la Biologie de l’Insecte in Tours have just added learning ability.…
Incorporating artificial bases into DNA: letting evolution take the strain creates a genetic firewall.
