20170809

Sea bug attack: Why was a wading teenager left covered in blood? 
What could leave a person's ankles and feet covered in blood as they stood, unaware of what was happening, in shallow water on a popular beach?
Images of 16-year-old Sam Kanizay's injuries in Melbourne, Australia, have seized attention around the world.
His father, Jarrod Kanizay, said his son had arrived home with what "looked like a war injury" after soaking his legs in Melbourne's Brighton Beach following a football game.
Experts believe the multiple pin-prick injuries were most likely tiny bite marks.
What was the likely culprit?
Mr Kanizay said doctors could not say for certain, so he returned to the bayside beach and used pieces of steak to capture "thousands of these little mite-type bugs".
"I collected these strange creatures from the same spot last night by trapping them in a net and standing in the water myself," he told the BBC.  
Museums Victoria identified the sample as a lysianassid amphipod
Lysianassidaeフトヒゲソコエビ
amphipod 【名】《動物》端脚類  江戸時代の文献には「水蚤」「トビムシ」
Mr Kanizay sent samples to marine biologists at Museums Victoria, who identified them as a species of crustacean called the amphipod, or sea flea, mostly likely from the lysianassidae family.
However another expert, Dr Murray Thomson from the University of Sydney, said he believed the creature was another type of crustacean, an isopod called cirolana harfordi.
crustacean 【名】 《動物》甲殻類
isopod【名】《動物》等脚［ワラジムシ］目の種［生物］
What do these animals usually eat?
Amphipods feed largely on dead marine animals such as fish and crabs, and are themselves prey for larger marine animals.
"If we did not have them, we would have a sea full of dead fish and dead birds," Dr Genefor Walker-Smith, the marine biologist who viewed Mr Kanizay's sample, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Dr Thomson said isopods also eat mainly dead fish and marine worms, as well as living fish.
Both amphipods and isopods are mainly active at night.
So why did this happen?
It was most likely a combination of factors, including time of day and cold water numbing Sam's skin, according to experts.
The teenager has described standing for about 30 minutes before feeling pins and needles around his ankles, then shaking off what he initially took to be sand.
Associate Prof Richard Reina, from Monash University, described the case as very unusual.
"It's only when you get the potential for hundreds or thousands of them to start biting you, for a long period, that you get the type of injury that Sam had," he told the BBC.
"Unless you're effectively numb, [usually] you're going to notice and get out of the water before that happens."
Dr Walker-Smith said it is possible that Sam may have interrupted the animals feeding on something else.
Why did the bleeding continue?
The teenager and his family have said it took time for the blood to clot, and that on Monday it was "still seeping".
Assoc Prof Reina said this was probably due to tissue damage caused by having so many small bites.
He likened Sam's ordeal to being bitten by mosquitoes or leeches.
leech【名】《動物》ヒル
"If you imagine that you had your arms exposed somewhere and you had hundreds of mosquitoes biting your arm, without you realising it for some reason, then they could probably cause some fairly significant wounds as well," he said.
Is is cause for alarm?
Not according to experts, who say small crustaceans are found in abundance - making this incident an "unfortunate coincidence".
Dr Walker-Smith said it was much more likely for someone to suffer bites on a smaller scale and have only minor irritation.
cause for alarm 警戒の原因
irritation 【名】刺激、炎症

20170808

Australian teenager in hospital after sea bug attack
An Australian teenager is recovering in hospital after being bitten by multiple "mite-sized sea critters".
Sam Kanizay, 16, found his feet and ankles covered in blood after soaking his legs in Melbourne's Brighton Beach on Saturday evening.
Jarrod Kanizay said his son arrived home with what "looked like a war injury" and that his legs would not stop bleeding.
The family are seeking expert opinion to identify the flesh-eating bugs.
Marine biologists have said they were likely to have been sea fleas, tiny scavenging marine animals.
After a tiring football game on Saturday evening, the 16-year-old decided to soak his legs in the cold bay near his home.
Speaking to the BBC's World Update radio show, Sam described feeling pins and needles in his legs after standing waist-deep in dark cold water for about half an hour.
After shaking off what he thought was sand coated around his ankles, he walked across the beach before looking down and realising that his feet were "covered in blood".
"It bled for ages, and it's still seeping blood now," he said.
for ages長期間、ずいぶん長いこと
seep 【自動】しみ出る
"It looked like a war injury... like a grenade attack. It was really bloody," his father told BBC News.
"We got him in the shower but as soon as we did that the blood kept re-appearing," said Mr Kanizay.
"It wasn't clotting at all. It just kept bleeding and bleeding."
After two local hospitals could not identify the cause of the multiple pin-prick injuries, the Melbourne father decided to investigate and went back to the beach.
pin-pricking painチクチクする［刺すような］痛み
"Sam is very positive," said his father.
"I collected these strange creatures from the same spot last night by trapping them in a net and standing in the water myself," he said.
"We got thousands of these little mite-type bugs and they've been sent on to experts."
Mr Kanizay said he hoped the sandy-coloured mites would not scar his son, and he is expected to make a full recovery.
"We are just waiting on the experts to tell us what they are and how they behave and why this happened."
Marine biologist Dr Genefor Walker-Smith, who saw some of the samples, told Australia's Herald Sun newspaper that the bugs were probably lysianassid amphipods, or sea fleas.
Lysianassidaeフトヒゲソコエビ科 
"It's possible he disturbed a feeding group but they are generally not out there waiting to attack like piranhas," she said.
Experts have said such cases are very rare and that there is no reason for alarm.
 

20170806

North Carolina man cheats death after 40 minutes with no pulse
cheat 【自他動】だます、うまく逃れる
A North Carolina man whose heart stopped for about 40 minutes has paid tribute to the emergency workers who brought him back from the dead.
pay tribute敬意を表する
John Ogburn, 36, suffered a cardiac arrest while working on his laptop near his Charlotte home on 26 June.
Two police officers who happened to be nearby began CPR on the father-of-three within a minute of the 911 call.
They took turns resuscitating Mr Ogburn for around 42 minutes until his pulse returned.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers Lawrence Guiler and Nikolina Bajic's lifesaving efforts are all the more praiseworthy given that emergency workers are not required to perform CPR after 20 minutes without any vital signs.
all the more いっそう、なおさら、だからこそ
given that もし〔that以下〕ならば、〔that以下〕を考えれば
After Mr Ogburn was brought to hospital, doctors placed him in a medically induced coma to help him recover for the rest of the week.
He has been advised not to drive for six months and is easing back into work.
ease【他動】〔狭い場所で〕～をそっと［ゆっくりと］進ませる［動かす］
But for the most part, he says he feels completely fine, apart from a sore chest.
"My energy level hasn't been what it was before, but that might be because my routine changed a bit," he told the BBC.
"The combination of [the chest compressions and an internal defibrillator] is a little sore, but if that's all I got to complain about, then I'm doing really well."
sore 【形】痛い
Mr Ogburn said he is still figuring out how to make the most of his second chance at life.
Above all he feels indebted to the first responders who went above and beyond the call of duty to make each new day possible for him.
go beyond the call of duty  義務で要求されている以上の働きをする、責任以上のことをやり遂げる
feel indebted to ～に負い目がある、～に恩義を感じる
"In certain time frames they're supposed to call it, and they didn't, they continued to try to save me," he said. "And I am just so grateful for that and for them."
call it a day終わりにする、切りあげる
Dr Michael Kurz, associate professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine, and American Heart Association volunteer, says: "The evidence does tell us that for every minute the heart is stopped and that high-quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is not conducted, there is a 10% reduction in survival.
This case in North Carolina highlights the value of CPR in extending that window of survivability. Immediate CPR can double or treble chances of survival from cardiac arrest. Most US employees are not prepared to handle cardiac emergencies, and that needs to change."
More than 350,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in the US each year, with 90% of those victims dying as a result. Just 46% of people who experience cardiac arrests outside of hospital receive any form of help before professional paramedics arrive.

20170804

First hints Parkinson's can be stopped
It may be possible to stop the progression of Parkinson's disease with a drug normally used in type 2 diabetes, a clinical trial suggests.
Type 2 diabetes  2型糖尿病インスリンをつくることができるが、ブドウ糖が効率よく細胞に取り入れられないタイプの糖尿病。
Current drugs help manage the symptoms, but do not prevent brain cells dying.
The trial on 62 patients, published in the Lancet, hints the medicine halted the progression of the disease.
The University College London (UCL) team is "excited", but it urges caution as any long-term benefit is uncertain and the drug needs more testing.
"There's absolutely no doubt the most important unmet need in Parkinson's is a drug to slow down disease progression, it's unarguable," Prof Tom Foltynie, one of the researchers, told the BBC.
unmet need 満たされていない要求
In Parkinson's, the brain is progressively damaged and the cells that produce the hormone dopamine are lost.
It leads to a tremor, difficulty moving and eventually memory problems.
Therapies help manage symptoms by boosting dopamine levels, but the death of the brain continues and the disease gets worse.
No drug stops that happening.
In the trial, half of patients were given the diabetes drug exenatide and the rest were given a placebo (dummy treatment). All the patients stayed on their usual medication.
エキセナチド（Exenatide）はアメリカドクトカゲの下顎から分泌される毒液（Exendin-4）であり、ヒトグルカゴン様ペプチド-1（GLP-1）と同様の作用を持つ。 すなわち、膵臓のランゲルハンス島β細胞からの血糖依存的インスリン分泌促進、同α細胞からのグルカゴン分泌抑制、胃からの内容物排出速度の低下である。アメリカドクトカゲは一般的なトカゲと違って動きが遅くエサを捕まえるのを苦手としています。しかも砂漠という過酷な環境の中で生きていかなければなりませんから、自然と食べられるときにできるだけ多く食べるというスタイルになりました。そのことからすると、一度に多くのものを食べると血糖値が急上昇してトカゲの身体には負担が大きくかかると考えられますが、アメリカドクトカゲの身体はそうはならないようになっています。アメリカドクトカゲの場合は口の中から分泌されるのに対して、人間は小腸から分泌されます。つまり人間はその働きかけるホルモンの分泌が遅い分、血糖値が食後に大きく上昇することになるのです。
As expected, those on just their usual medication declined over 48 weeks of treatment. But those given exenatide were stable.
And three months after the experimental treatment stopped, those who had been taking exenatide were still better off.
Prof Foltynie told the BBC News website: "This is the first clinical trial in actual patients with Parkinson's where there has been anything like this size of effect.
"It gives us confidence exenatide is not just masking symptoms, it's doing something to the underlying disease.
"We have to be excited and encouraged, but also cautious as we need to replicate these findings."
underlying disease 《an ～》基礎疾患、元の［本来の］病気［疾患］
They also need to trial the drug for much longer periods of time.
An effective drug would need to hold back the disease for years in order to make a significant difference to patients.
Parkinson's progresses slowly and the difference in this 60-week trial was definitely there, but was "trivial" in terms of the impact on day-to-day life, say the researchers.
The drug helps control blood sugar levels in diabetes by acting on a hormone sensor called GLP-1.
食事をとると小腸から分泌され、インスリンの分泌を促進する働きをもつホルモンをイ ンクレチンといい、GIP（グルコース依存性インスリン分泌刺激 ポリペプチド）とGLP-1（グルカゴン様ペプチド-1）があります。2型糖尿病に対する新たな治療薬として注目されるのがGLP-1です。　GLP-1は、食事をとって血糖値が上がると、小腸にあるL細胞から分泌され、すい臓のβ細胞表面にあるGLP-1の鍵穴（受容体）にくっつき、β細胞内からインスリンを分泌させます。GLP-1は、血糖値が高い場合にのみインスリンを分泌させる特徴があります。
Those sensors are found in brain cells too. It is thought the drug makes those cells work more efficiently or helps them to survive.
It is why the drug is being tested in other neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's.
David Dexter, the deputy director of research at Parkinson's UK, said: "The findings offer hope that drugs like exenatide can slow the course of Parkinson's - something no current treatment can do.
"Because Parkinson's can progress quite gradually, this study was probably too small and short to tell us whether exenatide can halt the progression of the condition, but it's certainly encouraging and warrants further investigation."
warrant 【他動】  ～の正当な理由となる、～を正当化する 保証する
Dr Brian Fiske, from the The Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, said: "The results from the exenatide studies justify continued testing, but clinicians and patients are urged not to add exenatide to their regimens until more is known about their safety and impact on Parkinson's."
regimen   【名】投薬計画

20170802

Secrets of the world's toughest creatures revealed
Genetic analyses of tardigrades has revealed some of the secrets of their incredible survival abilities.
These tiny creatures, sometimes called water bears, can survive radiation, freezing, extreme dehydration and even the vacuum of space.
tardigrade  【名】 緩歩動物、クマムシ
Researchers have now decoded the DNA of two species of tardigrade and uncovered the genes that allow them to be revived after desiccation.
The study has been published in the journal, PLOS Biology.
Just a millimetre or less in size, tardigrades are believed to be the toughest creatures on Earth. A recent study found that they could survive almost any cosmic disaster that could hit the planet.
Tardigrades are often found in locations that dry out such as in moss and in ponds. Over time they have acquired the ability to survive extreme dehydration and spring back to life years later in the presence of water.
In this new paper, scientists found that the key to their survival is genetic. Dry conditions trigger some of the creature's genes to produce proteins which replace missing water in their cells. Once water is available again it refills the cells dissolving the proteins.
The researchers say understanding this innate survival ability of tardigrades could have benefits for humans, such as allowing live vaccines to be posted around the world and stored without refrigeration.
innate  【形】 生まれながらの
Co-author Professor Mark Blaxter from the University of Edinburgh said: "Tardigrades, with their amazing abilities, can offer us some new ways of dealing with real world problems like transporting vaccines."
Decoding the DNA blueprint of these hardy creatures has also allowed the team to make progress on a long-standing controversy. Are tardigrades more closely allied to insects, spiders and their kin or to roundworms?
Their curious appearance, with eight stubby legs and claws, seems to be more insect-like than worm-like but analyses of their genetics says otherwise.
allied to   《be ～》～と同類である
say otherwise 思ってもいないことを言う
HOX genes control head and tail development in the embryo, and the positioning of the limbs.
Most animals have ten HOX genes but tardigrades have only five, and most roundworms are lacking the same five.
It's unlikely that this is a coincidence and suggests that tardigrades are more closely related to worms.
hox gene
《生化学》ホメオボックス遺伝子、体作り遺伝子◆生物の体節形成を担い、ヒトをヒトに、ミミズをミミズにする遺伝子とされる。homeobox gene＝hox gene 動物の胚発生の初期において組織の前後軸および体節制を決定する遺伝子である。この遺伝子は、胚段階で体節にかかわる構造（たとえば脚、触角、目など）の適切な数量と配置について決定的な役割を持つ。
Also known as the water bear, the creature can survive extremely dry conditions and be successfully revived years later
"This was a real surprise which we weren't expecting," said Professor Blaxter.
"I have been fascinated by these tiny, endearing animals for two decades. It is wonderful to finally have their true genomes, and to begin to understand them."
endearing  【形】 愛情［親しみ・親愛の情］のこもった、人の心を引き付ける、親しみやすい
The scientists also discovered a different set of proteins which can protect tardigrade DNA, perhaps explaining how the creatures can survive radiation.

20170730

Slimy slugs inspire 'potentially lifesaving' medical glue
slimy【形】粘液性の
slug【名】 ナメクジ 
A defensive mucus secreted by slugs has inspired a new kind of adhesive that could transform medicine, say scientists.
inspire【他動】（人）に霊感［着想・ひらめき］を与える
The "bio-glue" is incredibly strong, moves with the body and crucially, sticks to wet surfaces.
The team at Harvard University have even used it to seal a hole in a pig's heart.
Experts have described the glue as "really cool" and said there would be "absolutely huge demand" for it.
Getting something to stick to a damp surface has been a huge challenge - think what happens when you get a plaster on your finger wet.
The university's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering turned to the "Dusky Arion" slug, which creates sticky mucus as a defence against predators.
"We engineered our material to take on the key features of slug mucus and the result is really positive," researcher Dr Jianyu Li said.
The bio-glue they produced has two components - the actual adhesive and a biochemical "shock absorber".
The incredible stickiness comes from the trinity of the attraction between the positively charged glue and negatively charged cells in the body; covalent bonds between atoms in the cell surface and the glue, and the way the glue physically penetrates tissue surfaces.
trinity 【名】三位一体
covalent【形】 《化学》共有原子価の［に関する］、共有結合性の
But it is the shock-absorbing component that is crucial - it takes the physical stress and strain, so the adhesive component stays stuck.
stay stuck in ～に行き詰まっている
Experiments, published in the journal Science, show the glue is not toxic to living tissue and is three times stronger than any other medical adhesive.
Dr Li told the BBC News website: "I'm really amazed by this system. We have solved a big challenge and opened up big opportunities in the medical setting.
"The applications are pretty broad - the material is very tough, stretchy and compliant, which is very useful when you want to interface with a dynamic tissue like the heart or lungs."
compliant 【形】 従順な、素直な、言いなりの、迎合的な
It could be used as a patch on the skin or as a liquid injected into wounds deeper in the body.
There are also ideas about using it as a way of releasing drugs to specific parts of the body or to stick medical devices to organs like those to help the heart beat.
The glue adheres to a surface within three minutes, but then gets stronger. Within half an hour it is as strong as the body's own cartilage.
cartilage  【名】《医》軟骨
Dr Chris Holland, from the department of materials science and engineering at the University of Sheffield, said: "It's really cool, I must admit.
"It is clear it outperforms the alternatives on the market and oh my goodness, there is potentially absolutely huge demand.
"They are still at an early stage, but this kind of thing could be part of a surgeon's standard kit."
But there is not yet a technology ready for medical use.
So far it has proven its capabilities mechanically in the laboratory, in tests on rats and by sealing a hole in a pig's heart through tens of thousands of simulated heartbeats.
The Wyss Institute, which has applied for a patent, says the glue is cheap to make.
It is also working on biodegradable versions that would naturally disappear as the body heals.
Prof John Hunt, the research theme lead for medical technologies and advanced materials at Nottingham Trent University, told the BBC: "The need for new adhesives as glues or tapes is clear to all healthcare providers.
"This one has the potential to improve healthcare and save lives.
"This research is really exciting [but] the detail of the biocompatibility will need to go beyond what is presented in the paper to guide the long-term clinical efficacy, safety, and therefore the real medical applications."
biodegradable  【形】生（物）分解性の、生（物）分解可能な
efficacy 【名】有効性
biological compatibility生体［生物学的］適合性
 

20170727

Antibody helps keep man's HIV at bay for 10 months
keep deflation at bay デフレを食い止める
An experimental therapy has held back one man's HIV infection for 10 months, doctors have reported.
He was one of 18 people in a small trial testing injections of "broadly neutralising antibodies" - the natural weapons of the immune system.
neutralizing antibody中和抗体 多くの細菌は、宿主細胞を損傷したりその機能を傷害する毒素を分泌する事によって病気を引き起こす。毒素は宿主の標的細胞の表面にある受容体に結合することによって初めて効果を発揮する。毒素が受容体に結合できないように代わりに毒素に結合してくれる抗体のことを中和抗体という。文字通り毒素を中和してくれるのである。
broadly neutralizing antibody 《a ～》広域中和抗体
They delayed the resurgence of the virus in other participants by around two weeks.
The findings are being presented at the ninth International Aids Society Conference on HIV Science in Paris.
The human body is inefficient at making antibodies that neutralise HIV.
Only one in five people infected with the virus develops them - and even then it takes many years and high levels of uncontrolled virus.
But more than 200 broadly neutralising antibodies have been documented, which doctors hope could be useful for both preventing and treating HIV.
The trial in Thailand, led by the US Military HIV Research Program (MHRP), took people who were controlling their infection with their standard HIV medication.
Some were given no treatment and others had an infusion of the antibody - codenamed VRC01 - into their bloodstream.
Inevitably the virus came back in those getting no treatment. It took an average (median) of 14 days, at which point they were put back on antiretroviral therapy.
In those receiving the antibody it took 26 days.
Dr Jintanat Ananworanich, one of the MHRP scientists, said there was also the exceptional case.
She told the BBC News website: "[The patient] has been off treatment for around 10 months and has so far controlled the virus to very low levels."
He had the antibody infusion every three weeks for six months.
The field is still at an incredibly early stage, but the results point to the potential of antibody-based therapies.
point to  【句動】〔ある方向を〕指し示す
Dr Ananworanich added: "It suggests there's some impact from the antibody, but how the antibody actually impacts the virus and the immune system - that's an on-going investigation.
"I do think antibody therapy has potential because the antibody, in the future, could perhaps be given just two or three times a year."
Animal research has suggested antibodies could have a greater impact than conventional therapies because as well as attacking the virus they also train the immune system.
When the antibody binds to HIV in monkey studies, they form an "immune complex" which other parts of the immune system might be able to recognise.
Dr Ananworanich told the BBC: "That perhaps stimulates the other arms of the immune system, like the T-cells, to better react to HIV - and in that monkey study the monkeys went into remission."
The next stage of the research is to go through all the blood samples collected during the trial to identify how the therapy affected both the immune system and the virus.
HIV is such a difficult virus to treat - it mutates constantly - that any future therapy would probably require multiple broadly neutralising antibodies.
However, antibodies are not a simple chemical. They are an intricate piece of immune biology, and that makes them expensive to manufacture.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said: "Antibodies are generally more expensive because they're biologics and they're more complicated to make than small molecules.
"But if we get an antibody that works I can guarantee you we can probably rev it up from a production standpoint to bring the costs down dramatically [so] that it would be available."
rev 【自動】〔エンジンなどが〕回転速度を急に上げる、調子を上げる
 

20170726

New diesel and petrol vehicles to be banned from 2040 in UK
New diesel and petrol cars and vans will be banned in the UK from 2040 in a bid to tackle air pollution, the government is set to announce.in a bid to することを目指して
set to    【句動】《be ～》～することになって［決まって］いる
Ministers are to unveil a ￡255m fund to help councils introduce steps to deal with pollution from diesel vehicles as part of ￡3bn spending on air quality.
The government will publish a court-mandated clean air strategy later, days before a High Court deadline.
Campaigners said the measures were promising, but more detail was needed.
court-mandated【形】裁判所の指示による
The government was ordered by the courts to produce new plans to tackle illegal levels of harmful pollutant nitrogen dioxide.
It came after the courts agreed with environmental campaigners that previous plans were insufficient to meet EU pollution limits.
Ministers had to set out their draft clean air strategy plans in May with the final measures due by 31 July.
due【形】 ～する予定である、～することになっている
Local measures could include retrofitting buses and other transport to make them cleaner, changing road layouts, altering features such as speed humps and re-programming traffic lights to make vehicle-flow smoother.
retrofit 【他動】 〔新しい部品や装置を組み込んで〕～を改良［変更］する
speed hump〈英〉スピード防止帯◆自動車を減速させるために路面に作られた隆起
Earlier this month, President Emmanuel Macron announced similar plans to phase out diesel and petrol cars in France, also from 2040.
BMW announced on Tuesday that a fully electric version of the Mini will be built at the Cowley plant in Oxford from 2019.
And Volvo has said all new models will have an electric motor from the same year.
Air pollution is thought to be linked to about 40,000 premature deaths a year in the UK, and transport also contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.
premature death   早死に、時期尚早の死
A government spokesman said poor air quality was "the biggest environmental risk" to public health in the UK.
"This government is determined to take strong action in the shortest time possible," he said.
"Our plan to deal with dirty diesels will help councils clean up emissions hotspots - often a single road - through common sense measures which do not unfairly penalise ordinary working people.
Environmental law firm ClientEarth, which took the government to court over its clean air strategy, welcomed the measures, but said it wanted to see more detail.
take someone to court over  ～に関して（人）を告訴する［裁判にかける・裁判所に訴える］
Its chief executive James Thornton said: "A clear policy to move people towards cleaner vehicles by banning the sale of petrol and diesel cars and vans after 2040 is welcome, as is more funding for local authorities.
"However, the law says ministers must bring down illegal levels of air pollution as soon as possible, so any measures announced in this plan must be focused on doing that."

20170725

Hunt for HIV cure turns to cancer drugs
The outstanding progress in boosting the immune system to treat cancer may help unlock a cure for HIV, according to scientists meeting in Paris.
The body's normal defences struggle to clear the body of HIV and cancer.
But the rapidly emerging field of immunotherapy has seen some patients with terminal cancer go into complete remission.
clear A of B AからBを片付ける［取り除く・追い払う］
remission【名】回復
The hope is that a similar approach could clear someone of HIV, although some experts have urged caution.
HIV treatment requires daily antiretroviral drugs to kill any active virus. Left unchecked, HIV can destroy the immune system, causing Aids.
A cure is currently impossible because drugs and the immune system fail to detect the sleeping or "latent" HIV hiding in the body's cells.
Nobel Prize winner and co-discoverer of HIV, Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, told the BBC: "One of the mechanisms why [latently infected cells] persist is the fact they are proliferating very similar to tumour cells.
"Those cells are expressing molecules that are the same molecules that are expressed on tumour cells.
"So that raises the question whether we could develop a strategy for HIV-cure similar to the novel treatment in the field of cancer."
She is one of the scientists attending the HIV and Cancer Cure Forum in Paris.
Prof Sharon Lewin, the director of the Doherty Institute in Australia, agrees there is much to learn from cancer.
She said: "There are a lot of parallels… I think it's huge."
Cancers evolve tricks to survive an assault by the immune system.
They can produce proteins on their surface, such as PD-L1, which disable immune cells attacking the tumour.
A new class of immunotherapy drugs called "checkpoint inhibitors" allow the immune system to keep on fighting and the results have been remarkable.
免疫チェックポイント阻害薬 
免疫反応時に、免疫システムは潜在的に有害な物質の攻撃をオンにします。免疫システムはさらに攻撃をオフにする手段も持っています。これら機能により免疫反応を制御して健康な組織が損傷を受けることを防止します。T細胞は免疫システムの細胞であり、癌細胞を死滅させます。T細胞は表面に受容体と呼ばれる特別な場所があります。他の細胞や分子がこれらの受容体に付着してT細胞の動作のオン・オフさせます。ある種の癌細胞は活性化しているT細胞の受容体に付着して活性化を停止させます。免疫チェックポイント阻害薬は癌細胞がT細胞の活性化を停止させることを阻害する薬品です。この機能により、T細胞は腫瘍に浸透して、増殖を停止させます。通常の化学療法薬は数週間で腫瘍を小さくしますが、効果が出るまでに数ヶ月かかります。免疫チェックポイント阻害薬は一時的に腫瘍を膨らませるため、腫瘍が増殖しているように見えます。この現象は多数の活性化しているT細胞や他の免疫細胞が腫瘍の内部に入るために発生します。腫瘍が一時的に大きくなった後、腫瘍は小さくなるか、死滅します。
In one trial, a fifth of patients with terminal melanoma had no sign of the disease after immunotherapy.
However, only about 50 people with HIV have been given immunotherapy to treat their cancer.
So there is little evidence of immunotherapy drugs and their effect on HIV.
Prof Lewin has started doing the research in the laboratory and thinks immunotherapy drugs could reinvigorate an immune system that has become tired of fighting HIV.
reinvigorate 【他動】生き返らせる、再活性化する
She said: "The parts of the immune system that recognise HIV are often exhausted T-cells, they express immune checkpoint markers.
"In the laboratory, if you then put those cells in with an immune checkpoint blocker, the T-cells do regain function."
She said there was emerging evidence that the drugs also activated HIV lying dormant inside immune cells.
Prof Lewin said: "We want the virus to wake up, any virus that wakes up gets killed [by antiretroviral drugs]."
However this is a new concept in HIV that has so far delivered nothing for patients.
And there are important differences between the challenges of cancer and HIV immunology.
In cancer, the immune system can recognise the threat but is not powerful enough to do anything about it, but the immune system does not recognise latently infected HIV cells at all.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the head of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the area is "very hot" right now in cancer.
But he cautioned: "We have to be careful we don't assume that things that work in cancer are going to work in HIV.
"HIV is so different, that even though it's worth exploring, I wouldn't want people to think this is going to be equally successful in HIV."

20170724

Life expectancy rises 'grinding to halt' in England
come to a grinding halt ギーというきしみ音をあげて止まる、急停止する
Rising rates of life expectancy are grinding to a halt in England after more than 100 years of continuous progress, says a leading health expert.
University College London expert Sir Michael Marmot said he was "deeply concerned" by the situation, calling it "historically highly unusual".
He said it was "entirely possible" austerity was to blame and said the issue needed looking at urgently.
But the government said its policies were not responsible.
The Department of Health said ministers were providing the necessary support and funding to ensure life expectancy "continues to increase".
Using Office for National Statistics projections for babies born since 2000, Sir Michael, who has advised both the government and World Health Organization, showed the rate of increase in life expectancy had nearly halved since 2010 in England. He did not look at other parts of the UK.
Between 2000 and 2015, life expectancy at birth increased by one year every five years for women and by one year every 3.5 years for men.
But this compares to one year every 10 years for women and one for every six for men post-2010.
Sir Michael, who is director of the Institute of Health Equity at UCL, said this showed the growth in life expectancy was "pretty close to having ground to a halt".
He said that was "historically highly unusual" given the rising life expectancy seen over the past 100 years.
"I am deeply concerned with the levelling off, I expected it to keep getting better."
Is austerity to blame?
He said it was hard to draw firm conclusions about the cause.
But he said it was "entirely possible" austerity had played a role.
He explained social factors such as education, employment and working conditions and poverty all affected life expectancy by influencing lifestyles.
And as austerity was placing pressures on these, they may in turn be influencing life expectancy.
He also highlighted what he said was "miserly" funding settlements for the NHS and social care, which meant the quality of life for older people would have deteriorated and could well affect their life expectancy.
This was a particularly pressing issue given the numbers of people with dementia, although that increase in itself may also be playing a role in the levelling off.
Have we simply reached the outer limits of human life?
Sir Michael dismissed the idea that the slowing of life expectancy could be related to humans reaching the outer limit of how long they could live.
He said other countries, such as Hong Kong, had longer life expectancy than England and had continued to see consistent rises.
And he added it should be a "matter of urgency" to work out exactly what was behind the trend.
Other research has suggested there is much more scope for life expectancy to rise.
Last year scientists in the US concluded the absolute limit for human life was about 115.
Alzheimer's Society chief executive Jeremy Hughes said Sir Michael was right to point the finger of blame at austerity.
"Too often we hear the consequences of inadequate, underfunded care - our investigation last year revealed people with dementia left in soiled sheets, becoming ill after eating out of date food, and ending up in costly hospital or care home admissions unnecessarily.
soiled 【形】 〔表面が〕汚れた
"The government has to act before the care system collapses entirely."
But a Department of Health spokesman said: "Just last week, the NHS was rated the number one health service in the world.
"Life expectancy continues to increase, with cancer survival rates at a record high whilst smoking rates are at an all-time low."
And he said investment was being made to ensure the ageing population was "well cared for" with the NHS budget having been increased since 2010 and extra money now being invested in social care.
Average life expectancy in England is currently 83 for women and 79.4 for men.
How do you improve your life expectancy?
The simple answer is to live healthily. That means eating well and exercising regularly.
Not smoking and drinking within safe limits is also important.
Inactivity increases the risk of an early death, but social factors are important too, says Sir Michael
Prevention - in terms of immunisation and screening - plays a key role as does access to good health care when you are sick.
immunization 【名】免疫性を与えること、免疫付与、予防接種
People throughout England, and the rest of the UK for that matter, have good access to these through the NHS.
And yet there are wide differences in life expectancy.
One of the places with the biggest gap in life expectancy - as has been widely reported following the Grenfell Tower fire - is Kensington and Chelsea in London.
This is because of so-called social determinants. These cover factors such as housing, education, working conditions and poverty.
Experts such as Sir Michael believe these are just as important, if not more, as anything else.
And what determines these? Wealth. The richest people in Kensington and Chelsea live 16 years longer than the poorest.

20170723

Aids deaths halve as more get drugs
Deaths linked to Aids have halved in a decade, official figures shows.
The condition, which is caused by HIV, used to be one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide.
A report by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids (UNAids) showed deaths had fallen from a peak of 1.9 million in 2005 to 1 million last year.
It said the "scales have tipped", with more than half of people getting drug treatment for the first time.
scale規模、スケール
An HIV infection cannot be cured - it can only be contained with daily doses of antiretroviral therapy.
Unchecked, it destroys the immune system, causing Aids. At this point people tend to die from other "opportunistic infections" such as tuberculosis.
opportunistic infection 《病理》日和見感染
Worldwide, 36.7 million are living with HIV and 53% of them are getting the therapy that gives a near-normal life expectancy.
Michel Sidibe, the executive director of UNAids, said: "We met the 2015 target of 15 million people on treatment and we are on track to double that number to 30 million and meet the 2020 target.
"We will continue to scale up to reach everyone in need and honour our commitment of leaving no-one behind."
honor all commitments with （人）との約束を全て守る  ～への公約を守る
reach out to everyone 誰にでも［全ての人に］手を差し伸べる
UNAids said eastern and southern Africa were "leading the way" and had cut new HIV infections by nearly a third since 2010.
Life expectancy has increased by 10 years over the past decade too.
The agency has set a series of goals known as the 90-90-90 targets.
The aim is for 90% of people with HIV to be diagnosed, 90% of those to get therapy and 90% of those to have their infection suppressed, by 2020.
In 2016 the figures were 70%, 77% and 82% respectively.
Mr Sidibe added: "Communities and families are thriving as Aids is being pushed back."
However, the agency warned that inadequate treatment in north Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Eastern Europe had seen death rates increase sharply.

​20170719

Stressful experiences 'can age the brain by four years'
Stressful events in life, such as the death of a child, divorce or being fired, can age the brain by at least four years, US researchers suggests.
They looked at performance in memory and thinking tests of 1,300 people in their 50s to gauge brain health.
The study did not look at the risk of dementia and experts said there could be many different factors at play.
at play登場する、効果を現す、遊んで
The findings were presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in London.
Although the research could not establish any direct link between stress and an increased risk of dementia, stressful experiences are known to have an impact on brain function, which could then lead to dementia in the longer term.
The theory is that stress increases inflammation, which could increase the chances of developing dementia - and this is currently being tested by University of Southampton researchers.
This study, from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine, found that African Americans were more at risk of stress in life than other ethnic groups. This is because they scored poorer results in the memory tests than other groups and also tended to live in poorer neighbourhoods.
Stressful experiences across all groups included educational difficulties, financial insecurity, serious health problems and psychological trauma.
financial insecurity 金融不安
Other studies presented at the conference point to growing evidence that stress in early life and where people live can be factors in an individual's risk of developing dementia.
Dr Doug Brown, director of research and development for Alzheimer's Society, said studying the role of stress was complex.
"It is hard to separate from other conditions such as anxiety and depression, which are also thought to contribute towards dementia risk.
"However, the findings do indicate that more should be done to support people from disadvantaged communities who are more likely to experience stressful life events."
There are currently around 850,000 people in the UK with dementia.
It mainly affects people over the age of 65 and, while the likelihood of developing dementia rises sharply with age, about 42,000 of those suffering from the condition are younger than that.
Dr Carol Routledge, director of research at Alzheimer's Research UK, said there could be a number of different factors involved in the link between stress and memory decline.
But she said the brain was an "incredibly intricate organ" to research.
"There is a growing realisation that events and experiences throughout life can impact the brain decades later and researchers must take a whole lifespan approach to understanding brain health in later life."
Tips for reducing the risk of dementia
Keep physically active for at least 30 minutes, five times a week.
Don't smoke, or give up if you do.
Eat a healthy balanced diet including oily fish, fruit, vegetables and low levels of red meat and sugar.
Keep your alcohol intake to a maximum of 14 units per week for men and women.
Manage other health conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes.
Keep to a healthy weight to reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes, stroke and heart disease.
Give your brain a daily workout by doing puzzles, word searches or crosswords or learning something new.
Keeping socially engaged and have a good social network.

20170718

Terminally ill man Noel Conway in right-to-die fight
The High Court has begun hearing the legal challenge of a terminally ill UK man who wants the right to die.
Noel Conway, who is 67 and has motor neurone disease, wants a doctor to be allowed to prescribe a lethal dose when his health deteriorates further.
He said he wanted to say goodbye to loved ones "at the right time, not to be in a zombie-like condition suffering both physically and psychologically".
Any doctor who helped him to die would face up to 14 years in prison.
Mr Conway was too weak to attend the court in person.
His lawyer, Richard Gordon QC, told the High Court in London that Mr Conway faced a stark choice either to seek to bring about his own death now whilst still physically able to do so, or await death with no control over how and when it comes.
stark choice 厳しい選択
Mr Gordon said the change to the law that Mr Conway wanted would apply only to adults who are terminally ill with less than six months to live and who have a settled wish to die.
Mr Conway, of Shrewsbury, told the BBC: "I will be quadriplegic. I could be virtually catatonic and conceivably be in a locked-in syndrome - that to me would be a living hell. That prospect is one I cannot accept."
quadriplegic  【名・形】 四肢まひの（人）
cataleptic【名】 《医》強硬症患者
カタレプシーとは、受動的にとらされた姿勢を保ち続け、自分の意思で変えようとしない状態である。強硬症とも呼ばれる。緊張病症候群の一つで、意欲障害に基づくもの
統合失調症における緊張病症候群の典型的な症状の一種。肉体的に一定の姿勢をとらされると、その姿勢を自らの意志で変えようとせず、長い間そのままの状態を保ち続ける症状。蝋細工のように不自然な姿勢を強硬に続けるので、「強硬症」あるいは「蝋屈症」とも呼ばれる。脳炎、脳腫瘍などの脳器質性精神病や症候性精神病、あるいはヒステリーや催眠状態でも同じような症状がみられる場合がある。
Mr Conway, a retired college lecturer, was once fit and active but motor neurone disease is gradually destroying all strength in his muscles.
fit 〔体が〕健康な、元気な、壮健な
He cannot walk and increasingly relies on a ventilator to help him breathe. As his disease progresses, he fears becoming entombed in his body. 
Mr Conway is being supported by the campaign group Dignity in Dying, but the issue polarises opinion.
Baroness Jane Campbell - a disability rights campaigner - says changing the law would send all the wrong signals.
The last major challenge to the law was turned down by the Supreme Court three years ago.
polarize opinion  意見を分裂させる、賛否両論を引き起こす
Disability Rights 障害者権利保護
It ruled that while judges could interpret the law it was up to Parliament to decide whether to change it.
In 2015 MPs rejected proposals to allow assisted dying in England and Wales, in their first vote on the issue in almost 20 years.
Supporters of the current legislation say it exists to protect the weak and vulnerable from being exploited or coerced.
The case is expected to take up to four days.
Assisted suicide - helping or encouraging another person to kill themselves - is illegal under English law.
Under the terms of the Suicide Act (1961) for England and Wales, it is punishable by up to 14 year's imprisonment.In Scotland, helping someone take their own life could lead to prosecution.
There have been several unsuccessful attempts to change the law, as well as some high-profile cases that have challenged it.
high-profile【形】目立った、人目［人の注意］を引く（ような）、注目を浴びる
2001: Diane Pretty, who had motor neurone disease, fought a long, and unsuccessfully, legal battle to win the right for her to end her life. She took her case to the European Court of Human Rights, arguing that her husband should be given immunity from prosecution should he help her to die. She lost and died at a hospice near her home in 2002.
2009: Debbie Purdy, who had multiple sclerosis, won a landmark ruling in 2009 when the courts agreed that it was a breach of her human rights not to know whether her husband would be prosecuted if he accompanied her to a Swiss clinic where she could end her life. That prompted Keir Starmer - the then Director of Public Prosecutions for England and Wales - to publish guidelines setting out what was taken into consideration when weighing up a prosecution. Debbie died in a hospice in England in 2014.
2012: Two men suffering from locked-in syndrome lost their legal fight to be helped to die. Tony Nicklinson and a man known only as Martin - both left paralysed after a stroke - had argued that doctors should be allowed to end their lives without punishment. Martin argued that the DPP policy on encouraging or assisted suicide was not clear enough for people such as carers to know how they could provide assistance without the risk of being prosecuted. Tony Nicklinson died in August 2012 after refusing food.
Tony Nicklinson and his wife Jane pictured after learning that their case had been unsuccessful in the courts
2016: The family of deceased locked-in syndrome sufferer Tony Nicklinson and paralysed road accident victim Paul Lamb lose their right-to-die challenges at the European Court of Human rights. They campaigned that disabled people should have the right to be helped to die with dignity.

​20170717

World's large carnivores being pushed off the map
Six of the world's large carnivores have lost more than 90% of their historic range, according to a study.
The Ethiopian wolf, red wolf, tiger, lion, African wild dog and cheetah have all been squeezed out as land is lost to human settlements and farming.
range【名】生息［分布］域
Reintroduction of carnivores into areas where they once roamed is vital in conservation, say scientists.
This relies on human willingness to share the landscape with the likes of the wolf.
The research, published in Royal Society Open Science, was carried out by Christopher Wolf and William Ripple of Oregon State University.
willingness 【名】意欲、いとわずにすること、快く［進んで・積極的に］～すること［気持ち］、乗り気であること、やる気
the likes of  ～のような
They mapped the current range of 25 large carnivores using International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List data. This was compared with historic maps from 500 years ago.
The work shows that large carnivore range contractions are a global issue, said Christopher Wolf.
"Of the 25 large carnivores that we studied, 60% (15 species) have lost more than half of their historic ranges,'' he explained.
"This means that scientifically sound reintroductions of large carnivores into areas where they have been lost is vital both to conserve the large carnivores and to promote their important ecological effects.
"This is very dependent on increasing human tolerance of large carnivores - a key predictor of reintroduction success."
The researchers say re-wilding programmes will be most successful in regions with low human population density, little livestock, and limited agriculture.
Additionally, regions with large networks of protected areas and favourable human attitudes toward carnivores are better suited for such schemes.
"Increasing human tolerance of large carnivores may be the best way to save these species from extinction," said co-researcher William Ripple.
"Also, more large protected areas are urgently needed for large carnivore conservation."
When policy is favourable, carnivores may naturally return to parts of their historic ranges.
This has begun to happen in parts of Europe with brown bears, lynx, and grey wolves.
The Eurasian lynx and grey wolf are among the carnivores that have the smallest range contractions.
The dingo and several types of hyena are also doing relatively well, compared with the lion and tiger.

​20170716

Girl, 15, dies in Newton Abbot after 'legal high reaction'
Two other girls found in the park were also taken to hospital as a precaution
A 15-year-old girl has died after suffering an adverse reaction from a suspected "legal high," police said.
The girl was found unconscious at about 04:50 BST at Bakers Park in Newton Abbot, Devon, and died at Torbay Hospital. She was not from the area.
Two other girls were also taken to hospital as a precaution.
Police said they were "confident" local people would know who supplied the drugs to the girl and appealed for them to come forward.
confident 【形】《be ～》確信している
Investigations are continuing and a cordon is in place at the scene
Det Supt Ken Lamont said: "With NPS (New Psychoactive Substances) no-one knows what's in them and that's why they are so dangerous.
supt.＝superintendent 〈米〉警察本部長
"Time and time again we hear of people paying the ultimate price for this.
pay the ultimate price 究極の犠牲を払う、命を落とす
"It's not worth experimenting with your life."
The girl's next of kin have been informed but police have not yet named her.
next of kin  《法律》最近親者
Investigations are continuing and a cordon is in place at the scene.
Last year Totnes teenager Nathan Wood died after after taking the psychoactive drug N-Bomb.
Police called on parents to "speak to your children about the dangers of drugs and (formerly known as) legal highs".
"They can cause death even if taken just once."

​20170715

Frog evolution linked to dinosaur asteroid strike
The huge diversity of frogs we see today is mainly a consequence of the asteroid strike that killed off the dinosaurs, a study suggests.
A new analysis shows that frog populations exploded after the extinction event 66 million years ago.
It would appear to contradict earlier evidence suggesting a much more ancient origin for many key frog groups.
The work by a US-Chinese team of researchers is outlined in the journal PNAS.
Frogs became one of the most diverse groups of vertebrates, with more than 6,700 described species. But a lack of genetic data has hampered efforts to trace their evolutionary history.
The new study shows that three major lineages of modern frogs - which together comprise about 88% of living frog species - appeared almost simultaneously.
major lineage  主要系列
simultaneously 【副】同時に、いっせいに
This impressive diversification of species appears to have occurred on the heels of the asteroid, which struck what is now the edge of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.
on the heels of～のすぐ後に続いて 
Releasing upwards of a billion times more energy than an atom bomb, the space impact wiped out three-quarters of all life on Earth. But it also appears to have set the stage for the rise of frogs.
set the stage for ～の準備［お膳立て］をする
The scientists sampled a core set of 95 genes from the DNA of 156 frog species.
They then combined this data with genetic information from an additional 145 species to produce a detailed "family tree" of frogs, based on their genetic relationships.
Using frog fossils to provide "ground truth" for the genetic data, the researchers were able to add a timeline to their family tree. The three biggest frog groups - the hyloidea, microhylidae and the natatanura - all trace their origins to an expansion that occurred after 66 million years ago.
ground truth 《測量》グラウンドトゥルース、地上検証データ◆遠隔測定した地上の対象物について、現地調査から得た真実のデータ
Chicxulub Crater 《地学》チクシュルーブ・クレーター◆約6千5百万年前の直径10～20kmの大隕石の衝突の跡。このいん石の衝突は、白亜紀末の恐竜絶滅の原因とされている。
"Nobody had seen this result before," said co-author Peng Zhang, from Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, China.
"We re-did the analysis using different parameter settings, but the result remained the same. I realised the signal was very strong in our data. What I saw could not be a false thing."
Another author, David Blackburn, from the Florida Museum of Natural History, explained: "Frogs have been around for well over 200 million years, but this study shows it wasn't until the extinction of the dinosaurs that we had this burst of frog diversity that resulted in the vast majority of frogs we see today."
for well over __ years  ＿年以上もの間
Dr Blackburn said the speed at which frogs diversified after the impact suggests that the survivors were probably filling up new ecological niches.
The Chicxulub event would have destroyed a large proportion of the vegetation on Earth. But as forests began to recover after the event, frogs seem to have been one of the groups that made the most of the new habitats.
The researchers point out that none of the frog lineages that originate before the extinction and survive through the asteroid impact happen to be adapted to living in trees.
"All origins of arboreality (e.g. within hyloids or natatanurans) follow the [Chicxulub extinction event]," the authors write in their PNAS paper.
This, they argue "supports the hypothesis that the [Chicxulub] mass extinction shaped the current diversity of frogs".
The study also indicates that global frog distribution tracks the break-up of the supercontinents, beginning with Pangaea about 200 million years ago and then Gondwana, which split into South America and Africa.
The data suggests frogs likely used Antarctica, not yet encased in ice sheets, as a stepping stone from South America to Australia.
"I think the most exciting thing about our study is that we show that frogs are such a strong animal group. They survived... the mass extinction that completely erased dinosaurs," said Peng Zhang.
However, frogs - like other amphibians - face many challenges today, including habitat loss due to logging and diseases such as the chytrid fungus and ranavirus.
chytrid fungusツボかび
Ranavirus 【名】《生物》ラナウイルス属

20170713

Gif and image written into the DNA of bacteria
An image and short film has been encoded in DNA, using the units of inheritance as a medium for storing information.
Using a genome editing tool known as Crispr, US scientists inserted a gif - five frames of a horse galloping - into the DNA of bacteria.
細菌のCRISPR（Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats）システムは侵入したウィルスのDNAをバラバラにし、その中で特定の塩基配列をもつ断片を細菌自身のゲノムに取り込む。こうすることで、それぞれの種類のウィルス特有DNA塩基配列、つまり、IDをコレクションし、記憶することができる。すでに侵入したことのあるウィルスが細菌内に再度侵入すると、細菌がもっているウィルス・コレクションDNAから写しとられたコピー（RNA）がその侵入ウィルスのDNAを照合して見つけ出す。RNAにガイドされて一緒にやってきた酵素Casタンパク質が、そのウィルスDNAをちょん切ってやっつける。こういう仕組みである。
Then the team sequenced the bacterial DNA to retrieve the gif and the image, verifying that the microbes had indeed incorporated the data as intended.
as intended 目的通りに
The results appear in Nature journal.
For their experiments, the team from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, used an image of a human hand and five frames of the horse Annie G captured in the late 19th Century by the British photography pioneer Eadweard Muybridge.
In order to insert this information into the genomes of bacteria, the researchers transferred the image and the movie onto nucleotides (building blocks of DNA), producing a code that related to the individual pixels of each image.
The researchers then employed the Crispr platform, in which two proteins are used to insert genetic code into the DNA of target cells - in this case, those of E.coli bacteria.
For the gif, sequences were delivered frame-by-frame over five days to the bacterial cells.
The data were spread across the genomes of multiple bacteria, rather than just one, explained co-author Seth Shipman, from Harvard University in Massachusetts.
"The information is not contained in a single cell, so each individual cell may only see certain bits or pieces of the movie. So what we had to do was reconstruct the whole movie from the different pieces," Dr Shipman told the BBC.
"Maybe a single cell saw a few pixels from frame one and a few pixels from frame four... so we had to look at the relation of all those pieces of information in the genomes of these living cells and say: can we reconstruct the entire movie over time?"
To "read" the information back, the researchers sequenced the bacterial DNA and used custom computer code to unscramble the genetic information, which spits out the images.
The team was able to achieve 90% accuracy: "We were really happy with how it came out," Seth Shipman told me.
Eventually, the team wants to use the technique to create "molecular recorders".
Dr Shipman says these are cells that can "encode information about what's going on in the cell and what's going on in the cell environment by writing that information into their own genome".
This is why the researchers used images and a movie: images because they represent the kind of complex information the team would like to use in future, and movies because they have a timing component.
The timing component is important because it would be useful to track changes in a cell and its environment over time.