National Academy of Sciences | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Journal Club

Highlighting recently published papers selected by Academy members

Journal Club: Sticky proteins play crucial role in tailoring synapses

Posted on August 13, 2018 by Charlotte Schubert

The proteins that join neurons together at the synapse do more than just act like glue. Synaptic adhesion proteins are known to affect the activity of neurotransmitters, weaken or strengthen synaptic connections, or direct where synapses form. Faulty adhesion proteins … Continue reading →

Journal Club: Bioengineers build a tiny heart ventricle to better understand heart disease and treatment

Posted on August 3, 2018 by Amber Dance

Bioengineer Kit Parker wants to build replacement hearts for children born with heart defects. Although that goal remains a long way off, Parker recently took a step in that direction by assembling a 1:250 scale model of the human left … Continue reading →

Categories: Cell Biology | Journal Club | Medical Sciences | Tagged arrhythmia, heart attack, heart defect, isoproterenol, stem cells, tissue engineering, ventricle | Leave a comment

Journal Club: Giving the brain something to do highlights the circuitry of smarts

Posted on July 27, 2018 by Amber Dance

Scientists conducting neuroimaging studies hope that their MRI scans will offer up patterns that predict traits related to intelligence, personality, disease, or even offer insights into a patient’s clinical symptoms or their chances of responding to a drug. But according … Continue reading →

Categories: Applied Physical Sciences | Journal Club | Neuroscience | Tagged Human Connectome Project, intelligence, MRI, neuroimaging, Raven's matrices, rest-state | Leave a comment

Journal Club: Protein vs protein, study comprehensively compares the environmental impacts of livestock and seafood

Posted on July 20, 2018 by Marcus Woo

The most environmentally friendly protein sources include clams, sardines, and cod. Not surprisingly, beef has the worst environmental impact. Somewhat surprisingly, farmed salmon is relatively innocuous; but catfish is not. These are the conclusions of a recent study that compares … Continue reading →

Journal Club: Dogs can harbor evolving flu viruses, signaling potential future threat to humans

Posted on July 19, 2018 by Carolyn Beans

When scientists search for the origins of a novel influenza A outbreak, they often trace the virus back to birds or pigs. These animals act as reservoirs, hosts that allow diverse flu viruses to swap genome segments, evolving into new … Continue reading →

Journal Club: Microglial protein trafficking could play a role in neurodegenerative disorders

Posted on July 16, 2018 by Jyoti Madhusoodanan

Neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) or Parkinson’s are associated with a build-up of insoluble, toxic forms of proteins such as amyloid or tau in the brain. Normally, intracellular protein complexes known as retromers help with recycling and trafficking … Continue reading →

Journal Club: Researchers may’ve finally solved mystery of crater ray formation

Posted on July 13, 2018 by Adam Mann

Look carefully at the full moon and you’ll see bright skinny streaks extending from large lunar craters. These are ejecta rays, spoke-like lines that seem to shoot from the circular impact site, a vivid testament to ancient explosions. But scientists … Continue reading →

Journal Club: Mouse microbiome findings offer insights into why a high-fat, low-carb diet helps epileptic children

Posted on June 28, 2018 by Carolyn Beans

For nearly a century, doctors have found that a strict high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet can limit seizures in children with epilepsy when medications fail. But exactly how this ketogenic diet works has remained largely a mystery. Now, researchers at the University … Continue reading →

Journal Club: Proprioceptive neurons offer new insights into a “sixth sense”

Posted on June 25, 2018 by Jessica P. Johnson

Proprioception allows people to know the position of parts of the body without seeing them, enabling us to touch type, walk in the dark without falling over, or drive a car while looking at the road. Defects in this sensory … Continue reading →

Journal Club: Timed treatment fends off hardening of arteries in mice

Posted on June 15, 2018 by Charlotte Schubert

Timing is everything—including, possibly, when treating cardiovascular disease. By administering a drug-like compound in mice at a certain point during the circadian cycle, researchers were able to slow atherosclerosis while minimizing side effects, according to a recent study in Cell … Continue reading →