Science
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Ebola virus (EboV) causes rapidly fatal hemorrhagic fever in humans and there is currently no effective treatment. We found that the infection of African green monkey kidney (Vero) cells by vesicular stomatitis viruses bearing the EboV glycoprotein (GP) requires the activity of endosomal cysteine proteases. ⋯ Biochemical studies demonstrate that CatB and CatL mediate entry by carrying out proteolysis of the EboV GP subunit GP1 and support a multistep mechanism that explains the relative contributions of these enzymes to infection. CatB and CatB/CatL inhibitors diminish the multiplication of infectious EboV-Zaire in cultured cells and may merit investigation as anti-EboV drugs.
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Mammals normally maintain their core body temperature (CBT) despite changes in environmental temperature. Exceptions to this norm include suspended animation-like states such as hibernation, torpor, and estivation. ⋯ This state is readily reversible and does not appear to harm the animal. This suggests the possibility of inducing suspended animation-like states for medical applications.
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Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a common, late-onset, and complex trait with multiple risk factors. Concentrating on a region harboring a locus for AMD on 1q25-31, the ARMD1 locus, we tested single-nucleotide polymorphisms for association with AMD in two independent case-control populations. Significant association (P = 4.95 x 10(-10)) was identified within the regulation of complement activation locus and was centered over a tyrosine-402 --> histidine-402 protein polymorphism in the gene encoding complement factor H. Possession of at least one histidine at amino acid position 402 increased the risk of AMD 2.7-fold and may account for 50% of the attributable risk of AMD.