Children who live in areas with natural spaces (e.g., forests, parks, backyards) from birth may experience fewer emotional issues between the ages of 2 and 5, according to a study funded by the NIH Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program. While research has suggested that time in nature is important for mental health, studies examining the effects on young children are limited. ECHO investigators addressed this research gap by analyzing information from parents about the behavior of their children from ages 2 to 11. They combined this data with the family’s ...

Sex differences are widespread across human development, physiological processes, and diseases, making it important to characterize the impact of sex differences in these areas. Understanding the regulatory mechanisms associated with these differences, including the role of androgens, is also vital for clinical translation—especially for diseases more prevalent in one sex.   To answer these questions, a team led by Prof. GAO Dong and Prof. CHEN Luonan from the Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Shanghai Institute ...

Electrons—these infinitesimally small particles that are known to zip around atoms—continue to amaze scientists despite the more than a century that scientists have studied them. Now, physicists at Princeton University have pushed the boundaries of our understanding of these minute particles by visualizing, for the first time, direct evidence for what is known as the Wigner crystal—a strange kind of matter that is made entirely of electrons. The finding, published in the April 11th issue of the journal Nature, confirms a 90-year-old ...

Researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) have developed a novel method for chemically modifying engineered messenger RNA molecules, allowing greater control of their biological functions and advancing mRNA therapeutic technologies Tokyo, Japan – Medicine can help to treat certain illnesses, e.g., antibiotics can help overcome infections, but a new, promising field of medicine involves providing our body with the “blueprint” for how to defeat illnesses on its own. mRNA therapeutics ...

The lung-cell type that’s most susceptible to infection by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is not the one previously assumed to be most vulnerable. What’s more, the virus enters this susceptible cell via an unexpected route. The medical consequences may be significant. Stanford Medicine investigators have implicated a type of immune cell known as an interstitial macrophage in the critical transition from a merely bothersome COVID-19 case to a potentially deadly one. Interstitial macrophages are situated deep in the lungs, ...

Cats communicate with others through their scents. One of their scent marking behaviors is spraying urine on vertical surfaces such as walls and furniture. Although spraying plays an essential role in the feline world, it often poses challenges for pet owners because of its strong and pungent odor. Consequently, the website is overflowing with posts discussing the issue of cat spraying. Notably, sprayed urine has a more pungent odor on the human nose than normal urine in their litter boxes. While it is believed that sprayed urine contains additional chemicals possibly ...

UC San Francisco researchers examined COVID-19 patients across the United States who survived some of the longest and most harrowing battles with the virus and found that about two-thirds still had physical, psychiatric, and cognitive problems for up to a year later.  The study, which appears April 10, 2024, in the journal Critical Care Medicine, reveals the life-altering impact of SARS-CoV-2 on these individuals, the majority of whom had to be placed on mechanical ventilators for an average of one month.  Too sick to be discharged to a skilled nursing ...

Link to release: https://www.washington.edu/news/2024/04/10/forest-report/   Link to related coverage: https://today.oregonstate.edu/news/indigenous-knowledge-western-science-braided-recommendations-land-managers   FROM: James Urton University of Washington 206-543-2580 jurton@uw.edu  (Note: researcher contact information at end)   For Immediate Release April 10, 2024 There are 154 national forests in the United States, covering nearly 300,000 square miles of forests, woodlands, shrublands, wetlands, meadows ...

INDIANAPOLIS – No one associated with nursing homes – as residents or their families, friends, staff or administrators – is unaware of the massive impact of the pandemic on these facilities which provide essential services to a growing number of older adults, many living with cognitive impairment. In “Learning from the experience of dementia care for nursing home residents during the pandemic,” an editorial published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University School of ...

The inflammation process plays a crucial role in allergic respiratory diseases, such as asthma and allergic rhinitis. Although the pulmonary epithelium, the carpet of cells that forms the inner surface of the lungs, is recognised as a major player in the respiratory inflammation that causes these diseases, the underlying mechanisms are still poorly understood. A research team has identified one of the molecules responsible for triggering these allergic reactions, in a study co-led by two CNRS and Inserm scientists working at l’Institut de pharmacologie et de biologie structural (CNRS/Université Toulouse ...

Leiden - also known as the ‘City of Keys’ and the 'City of Discoveries' - was aptly chosen to host the third Empowering Biodiversity Research (EBR III) conference. The two-day conference - this time focusing on the utilisation of biodiversity data as a vehicle for biodiversity research to reach to Policy - was held in a no less fitting locality: the Naturalis Biodiversity Center.  On 25th and 26th March 2024, the delegates got the chance to learn more about the latest discoveries, trends and innovations from scientists, as well as various stakeholders, including representatives of policy-making bodies, research institutions and infrastructures. ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Some Black youth feel less safe when they visit predominantly white areas of their city, a new study in Columbus has found.   And it was those Black kids who spent the most time in white-dominated areas who felt less safe, said Christopher Browning, lead author of the study and professor of sociology at The Ohio State University.   “Familiarity with white neighborhoods doesn’t make Black kids feel more comfortable and safer. In fact, familiarity seems to reveal ...

LAWRENCE — A survey of orchid bees in the Brazilian Amazon state of Rondônia, carried out in the 1990s, is shedding new light the impact of deforestation on the scent-collecting pollinators, which some view as bellwethers of biodiversity in the neotropics. The findings, from a researcher at the University of Kansas, are published today in the peer-reviewed journal Biological Conservation. “This study on orchid bees was an add-on to previous research on stingless bees. Orchid bees are so easy to collect, so we added them to ...

The Tibetan Plateau is a prevalent region for deep convection owing to its unique thermodynamic forcing. Deep convection can exist as isolated deep convection (IDC), which is small in size, or mesoscale convective systems (MCSs), which are convective storms organized into larger and longer-lived systems. Most previous research has focused on MCSs over the Tibetan Plateau, but less so on IDC systems (hereafter, IDCs). Dr. Ying Na from Wuxi University, and Dr. Chaofan Li from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, examined the climatological features of IDCs by using high-resolution satellite observations in June to September ...

Understanding the mutation and evolution of viruses (such as SARS-CoV-2) is crucial for effective public health management and response. Traditional epidemiological models often assume that viral transmissibility and pathogenicity remain constant during disease transmission, ignoring the fact that viruses continuously evolve through natural selection and random mutations. This simplification limits the accuracy of these models in predicting epidemic trends, especially when facing rapidly mutating viruses. To overcome these limitations, ...

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS — The Valdez Institute for Economic Development (VIED) at UTSA generated an overall direct economic impact of $2.6 billion for the Texas economy in 2023, according to the organization’s 2023 annual report, which was released Tuesday.  The latest figure represents the work of the institute’s portfolio of time-tested economic development strategies and new innovations that enabled business owners and entrepreneurs to start and grow their small businesses. During the 2023 fiscal year, the institute: Served 41,231 business ...

When scuba divers need to say “I’m okay” or “Shark!” to their dive partners, they use hand signals to communicate visually. But sometimes these movements are difficult to see. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Nano have constructed a waterproof “e-glove” that wirelessly transmits hand gestures made underwater to a computer that translates them into messages. The new technology could someday help divers communicate better with each other and with boat crews on the surface. E-gloves — gloves fitted ...

BioOne proudly announces the 2024 recipients of the BioOne Ambassador Award. Now in its seventh year, this prestigious award recognizes early-career researchers in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences who demonstrate creative approaches to science communication thereby fostering greater science literacy and aiding in the understanding of the natural world. BioOne Ambassadors are nominated by BioOne publishing partners, and each winning author will receive a $1,000 award and have their work promoted through BioOne’s multiple channels. This year’s honorees are: Dr. Elis Fisk – Draw and Learn: A Bighorn Sheep Mystery; nominated by The Wildlife ...

When today’s older adults were growing up, urgent care centers and clinics inside retail stores didn’t exist. But most of them have now embraced these non-traditional sites for getting medical care, a new national poll finds.   In the past two years, 60% of people age 50 to 80 have visited an urgent care clinic, or a clinic based in a retail store, workplace or vehicle, according to new findings from the University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging.   Urgent care clinics were the most ...

A team at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC) has made a breakthrough discovery in the understanding of cardiac arrhythmias by unraveling the complexities of Andersen-Tawil syndrome (ATS), an extremely rare inherited cardiac disorder. Led by Dr. José Jalife, head of the CNIC Cardiac Arrhythmia Group, the study demonstrates that a specific genetic mutation (C122Y) in the Kir2.1 potassium channel alters the function not only of Kir2.1 but also of the main cardiac sodium channel NaV1.5, thus establishing a direct link with the life-threatening arrhythmias associated with ATS1. The study, published in the journal Circulation Research, reveals that ...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – April 10, 2024 – Racial discrimination experienced during midlife is associated with Alzheimer’s disease pathology, according to a new study from researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the University of Georgia. The findings appear online today in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association. “We know that Black Americans are at an elevated risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias compared to non-Hispanic ...

Embargoed until 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, 10 April, 2024 Central European Summer Time (GMT +2) 10 April, 2024, Prague, Czech Republic—Speaking today at the Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) in Prague, Muhammad Mohiuddin, MBBS, said xenotransplantation, hailed as the future of organ transplantation, is poised to become a clinical reality within the next several years.   In January 2022, the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) became the first institution in the world to implant a genetically modified pig heart ...

Research Highlights: Treating gum disease within three months after a heart procedure to correct an irregular heart rhythm, known as atrial fibrillation (AFib), may lower the chances of it reoccurring. Inflamed gums may predict AFib recurrence after heart ablation, a procedure to fix the irregular heartbeat. AFib patients should be examined for gum disease and encouraged to seek dental treatment, researchers said. Embargoed until 4 a.m. CT/5 a.m. ET Wednesday, April 10, 2024 DALLAS, April 10, 2024 — Treating gum disease in the 3-months after a procedure to correct an irregular heartbeat known as atrial fibrillation ...

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health applied artificial intelligence (AI) to a technique that produces high-resolution images of cells in the eye. They report that with AI, imaging is 100 times faster and improves image contrast 3.5-fold. The advance, they say, will provide researchers with a better tool to evaluate age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and other retinal diseases. “Artificial intelligence helps overcome a key limitation of imaging cells in the retina, which is time,” said Johnny Tam, Ph.D., who leads the Clinical and Translational Imaging Section at NIH's National Eye Institute. Tam ...

A team of researchers at Nagoya University in Japan has discovered that aldehydes are metabolic byproducts associated with premature aging. Published in Nature Cell Biology, their findings reveal insights into premature aging diseases and potential strategies to combat aging in healthy individuals such as controlling exposure to aldehyde-inducing substances including alcohol, pollution, and smoke.  A person's health can be harmed by aldehydes. However, the group’s findings suggest these detrimental effects also include aging. The team who made this discovery included Yasuyoshi Oka, Yuka Nakazawa, Mayuko Shimada, and Tomoo Ogi of Nagoya University.  “DNA ...