Cell Biologist

  A recent study published in the journal Science has found that global fish populations are facing more serious problems than we previously thought, with more fish stocks being overfished or in danger of collapse. Key Findings The study shows that current fishing practices are taking more fish than can naturally be replenished, mainly due to both local and large-scale industrial fishing. Researchers looked at data from 230 different fish stocks and discovered that past reports had overestimated how many fish were available and how quickly they could recover. Issues with Catch Limits Policymakers set limits on how many fish can be caught based on scientific advice to prevent overfishing. However, these limits have often been set too high, which has resulted in nearly one-third of fish stocks labeled as “sustainably fished” by the FAO actually being overfished. What is “Phantom Recoveries”? The study also found cases of “phantom recoveries,” where fish populations appeared to be doi...

  Health officials in New England stepped up their monitoring after the first case of eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) in Massachusetts in 2020. A resident from Hampstead, New Hampshire died from the virus, showing how serious the disease can be despite being rare. What is EEE? Eastern equine encephalitis is a serious viral infection spread by mosquitoes. It’s rare but can be very severe. The CDC reports only a few cases each year, and about 30% of those infected die from the illness. Symptoms Symptoms appear 4 to 10 days after a mosquito bite. They are divided into two types: Febrile Illness : Includes fever, chills, body aches, and joint pain, usually getting better in two weeks. Neurological Disease : This can lead to meningitis or encephalitis, with symptoms like fever, headache, vomiting, seizures, and changes in behavior. Death can occur within ten days, and survivors may have long-term health issues. Transmission and Prevention The virus can’t spread between people. It most...

  When blood moves through your body, it exerts a frictional force on the walls of blood vessels. This force, known as fluid shear stress, has important effects on vascular development, function, and disease. A team at Yale, led by  Martin Schwartz, PhD , Robert W. Berliner Professor of Medicine (cardiology), has identified a protein that helps your body sense and respond to changes in this shear stress. This protein, latrophilin-2, is found on the surface of the cells lining the blood vessel wall. Schwartz’s team demonstrated that latrophilin-2 is activated by changes in blood flow and is required for flow-dependent blood vessel development and preclinical remodeling. Additionally, the authors found that specific variants of the gene encoding latrophilin-2 are highly associated with the development of cardiovascular disease in humans. These findings help define a novel pathway by which our blood vessels respond to changes in flow and shed new light on cell biology and geneti...