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Parasitology is the scientific discipline concerned with the study of the biology of parasites and parasitic diseases, including the distribution, biochemistry, physiology, molecular biology, ecology, evolution and clinical aspects of parasites, including the host response to these agents.
Standard diagnostics are often not able to fully capture submicroscopic parasite dynamics after treatment with antimalarials. In this longitudinal analysis of molecular markers of malaria parasitemia in an Ugandan cohort, authors describe persistence of markers following antimalarial therapy with dynamic and complex multiclonal infections in the initial and post-treatment periods.
The authors uncovered an antiparasitic molecule that exhibits broad-spectrum activity against parasitic flukes through engagement of a recently discovered transient receptor potential ion channel.
A Toxoplasma gondii mucin-type O-glycosyltransferase uses a unique catalytic mechanism to modify bradyzoite cyst wall proteins. A second metal coupled to substrate binding is required for catalysis, while an active site glutamate suggests a double-displacement mechanism.
Min and colleagues study post-transcriptional regulation in the malaria parasite. They describe opposing actions of the DDX6-family RNA helicase complex on the decay and protection of specific mRNA targets during development and stress conditions.
As Earth warms, the creatures that spread neglected tropical diseases are gaining a foothold in Europe. Wealthy countries must prepare themselves for more cases.