Dietary guidelines recommend avoiding foods high in saturated fat. Yet, emerging evidence suggests cardiometabolic benefits of dairy products and dairy fat. Evidence on the role of butter, with high saturated dairy fat content, for total mortality, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes remains unclear. We aimed to systematically review and meta-analyze the association of butter consumption with all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes in general populations.

It was the result that most scientists didn’t want. The United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union has plunged it into political and economic uncertainty — and left researchers worried over the future of their funding and collaborations, the UK’s participation in major European research programmes, and the freedom of movement and employment status of thousands of scientists.

Zika virus (ZIKV) was discovered in 1947 and was thought to lead to relatively mild disease. The recent explosive outbreak of ZIKV in South America has led to widespread concern, with reports of neurological sequelae ranging from Guillain Barré syndrome to microcephaly. ZIKV infection has occurred in areas previously exposed to dengue virus (DENV), a flavivirus closely related to ZIKV. Here we investigated the serological cross-reaction between the two viruses.

A detailed understanding of serological immune responses to Ebola and Marburg virus infections will facilitate the development of effective diagnostic methods, therapeutics and vaccines. We examined antibodies from Ebola or Marburg survivors 1-14 years after recovery from disease, by using a microarray that displayed recombinant nucleoprotein (NP), viral protein 40 (VP40), envelope glycoprotein (GP), and inactivated whole virions from six species of filoviruses.

Researchers have identified key genes behind the infectivity of a virus that causes hand, foot, and mouth disease. Humans are the only known mammalian host, but in 2014, strains were bred that were capable of infecting mice and primate cell lines. These strains had mutant versions of the virus coat proteins. In this study, the same research group, led by Kaw Bing Chua and Vincent Chow at the National University of Singapore, introduced the mutations into the non-infectious strain individually and in combinations.

The incidence of food allergies in western countries has increased dramatically in recent decades. Tolerance to food antigens relies on mucosal CD103+ dendritic cells (DCs), which promote differentiation of regulatory T (Treg) cells. We show that high-fiber feeding in mice improved oral tolerance and protected from food allergy. High-fiber feeding reshaped gut microbial ecology and increased the release of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), particularly acetate and butyrate.

Polyethylene (PE) is the largest-volume synthetic polymer, and its chemical inertness makes its degradation by lowenergy processes a challenging problem. We report a tandem catalytic cross alkane metathesis method for highly efficient degradation of polyethylenes under mild conditions. With the use of widely available, low-value, short alkanes (for example, petroleum ethers) as cross metathesis partners, different types of polyethylenes with various molecular weights undergo complete conversion into useful liquid fuels and waxes.

Starvation initiates a series of metabolic adaptations to enable continuous production and delivery of nutrients to critical organs, tissues, and cells. This response is coordinated in large part by the liver that responds by liberating glucose to the circulation initially from glycogen stores followed by de novo glucose production (i.e., gluconeogenesis). Additionally, ketones are produced and provide an alternative energy source to glucose for highly oxidative tissues such as the brain.

In May, 2016, a Working Group of 23 scientists from ten countries met at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France, to evaluate the carcinogenicity of drinking coffee, mate, and very hot beverages. These assessments will be published in volume 116 of the IARC Monographs.

Artemisinin-based therapies are the only effective treatment for malaria, the most devastating disease in human history. To meet the growing demand for artemisinin and make it accessible to the poorest, an inexpensive and rapidly scalable production platform is urgently needed. Here we have developed a new synthetic biology approach, combinatorial supertransformation of transplastomic recipient lines (COSTREL), and applied it to introduce the complete pathway for artemisinic acid, the precursor of artemisinin, into the high-biomass crop tobacco.