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Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Study Finds Climate Change May Dramatically Reduce Wheat Production

Recent research at Kansas State University finds that in the coming decades at least 25% of the world's wheat production will be lost to extreme weather from climate change, if no adaptive measures are taken. Based on the 2012-2013 global wheat harvest of 701 million tons, the resulting temperature increase could result in 42 million tons less produced wheat. Crop ecophysiologists currently project a 6% decline in wheat production for each degree Celsius the temperature rises.

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) Update

So what’s the status of MERS virus and MERS virus in the US? First reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012, the corona virus MERS spreads from infected people through close contact, such as caring for or living with an infected person. There is no evidence of sustained spreading in community settings. It causes a severe, acute respiratory illness with fever, cough, shortness of breath. The majority of disease is seen in the Arabian peninsula, with >900 people sickened and >300 killed.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Watch Eosinophils Attack a Parasite

This video from 3 Minutes of Fun shows eosinophil granulocytes chemotaxing to an IgE-opsonized multicellular parasite. During a normal immune response to helminths, eosinophils degranulate and release cationic granule proteins (major basic protein [MBP], eosinophil cationic protein [ECP], eosinophil peroxidase [EPO], and eosinophil-derived neurotoxin [EDN]) to destroy pathogens too large to be endocytosed by phagocytes. They also induce mast cells and basophil granulocytes to degranulate, thus releasing histamine and proteolytic enzymes. 

Beautiful Mold Growing in Time-Lapse

Russian photographer Nick Lariontsev filmed this time-lapse showing how mold grows. This is a mixed group of Aspergillus fumigatus, Botrytis spp., Mucor spp., Trichoderma spp., and Cladosporium spp.