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...

wastewater planning management is a complex problem involving agricultural, rural and industrial interests. in countries facing rapid population growth, identifying methods that can allow them to take good decisions among several competitive alternatives is of utmost importance. the purpose of this paper is to present a methodology for a wastewater planning management system using a multi-c...

Symbiotic, parasitic, and commensal relationships have precise definitions in biology, but often the nature of the relationship between two organisms is not clear-cut and fluctuates over time. This Microbiology Select highlights recent studies that demonstrate how communication between the host and its microbial inhabitants largely determines whether their interaction is beneficial, hurtful, or...

The ability to distinguish self from nonself is crucial for proper immune system function, and disruption of self-tolerance can lead to the development of autoimmune disease. This Immunology Select highlights recent studies that uncover new mechanisms for inducing self-tolerance and provides insights into how self-tolerance breaks down in disease. To circumvent the inevitable problem that some ...

Sleep is one of the most fundamental, yet least understood, facets of animal physiology—its universality reflected in the saying, ''life is one long process of getting tired.'' This issue's Neurobiology Select describes the latest progress toward understanding sleep, including its role in maintaining synaptic homeostasis, its role in long-term memory formation, and the causes and consequences o...

The fundamental function of the nervous system is to accurately process and respond to external stimuli. This issue's Neurobiology Select highlights recent findings exploring how neurons and their networks within the nervous system may be modulated to ensure accurate signal detection, transmission, and response. In larvae of the frog Xenopus laevis, light regulates a neural circuit in the ventr...

Neurodegenerative diseases cause profound suffering, and patients are often faced with few therapeutic options. Elucidating new therapeutic avenues requires a better understanding of the aberrant molecular mechanisms that result in death of select neuronal populations. Recent studies use classic cell and molecular biology assays and the latest sequencing technologies to investigate the molecula...

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...

The Irish potato famine, as well as countless other potato crop failures, was caused by the fungus-like oomycete pathogen Phyophthora infestans. This species has proven to be resilient because of its ability to rapidly evolve genetic weaponry to overcome host resistance. Haas et al. (2009) now report the complete genome sequence of P. infestans. The genome reveals an extensive and complex expan...

Bacteria are one of the most diverse groups of organisms on our planet and are exquisitely adapted for survival in diverse environments ranging from the human digestive tract to deep-sea hydrothermal vents. As bacteria have evolved to optimally inhabit and exploit their host environments, so too have their hosts changed in response to the presence of these prokaryote interlopers. This issue’s M...