BIOMEDICINE: Helpful Bystanders

Voting with Bystanders

Voting protocols ensure the consistency of replicated data objects by disallowing all read and write requests that cannot collect the appropriate quorum of replicas. Voting protocols require a minimum number of three copies to be of any practical use and often disallow a relatively high number of read and write requests. We present here a voting protocol overcoming this limitation and providing...

Tropical Biomedicine

Biomedicine Select

Autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis, are complex disorders characterized by an inflammatory response against the body's own tissues. Recent findings reveal new insights into how these diseases are initiated and progress and the factors that contribute to their clinical symptoms. Such work also pinpoints potential new therapeutic targets including the integra...

Biomedicine Select

This issue’s Biomedicine Select highlights new insights into the role of mitochondria in disease. Several new studies implicate abnormal mitochondria in the destruction of neurons of the substantia nigra, the cause of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Meanwhile, an elegant computational approach has enabled identification of candidate genes for several mitochondrial diseases including the mitochondrial...

Platelets: No longer bystanders in liver disease

Growing lines of evidence recognize that platelets play a central role in liver homeostasis and pathobiology. Platelets have important roles at every stage during the continuum of liver injury and healing. These cells contribute to the initiation of liver inflammation by promoting leukocyte recruitment through sinusoidal endothelium. They can activate effector cells, thus amplifying liver damag...