Chinese people may be more susceptible to obesity-related health risks than other racial, ethnic groups

SINGAPORE, 10 February 2021 - Researchers studying an enzyme in fruit fly larvae have found that it plays an important role in waking up brain stem cells from their dormant 'quiescent' state, enabling them to proliferate and generate new neurons. Published in the journal EMBO Reports, the study by Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, could help clarify how some neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and microcephaly occur. Quiescent neural stem cells in the fruit fly larval brainPr-set7 is an enzyme involved in maintaining genome stability, DNA repair and cell cycle regulation, as well as ...

Modern telecommunication systems rely on satellites to relay signals across the globe quickly and reliably, enabling users to send messages across the world in an instant, watch live television, or - more recently - hold conference calls with global partners right from the kitchen table! Communications satellites use high-frequency radio waves to transmit data, with antennas acting as a two-way interface, converting electric current provided by the transmitter into radio waves, and vice versa when paired with a receiver. Antennas are therefore vital pieces of equipment, without which satellites and ground receivers would be practically useless. However, despite advances in modern satellite design and performance, antenna technology remains a limiting factor for ...

With the advent of 5G communication technology and its integration with AI, we are looking at the dawn of a new era in which people, machines, objects, and devices are connected like never before. This smart era will be characterized by smart facilities and services such as self-driving cars, smart UAVs, and intelligent healthcare. This will be the aftermath of a technological revolution. But the flip side of such technological revolution is that AI itself can be used to attack or threaten the security of 5G-enabled systems which, in turn, can greatly compromise their reliability. It is, therefore, imperative to investigate such potential security threats and explore countermeasures before a smart world is realized. In a recent study published ...

Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have shed light on what causes herpes simplex virus to flare up, explaining how stress, illness and even sunburn can trigger unwanted outbreaks. The discovery could lead to new ways to prevent cold sores and herpes-related eye disease from reoccurring, the researchers report. "Herpes simplex recurrence has long been associated with stress, fever and sunburn," said researcher Anna R. Cliffe, PhD, of UVA's Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology. "This study sheds light on how all these triggers can lead to herpes simplex-associated disease." About Herpes Simplex ...

Joe Biden is the new president of the United States, although half of the country's Republicans believe he stole the election. A lot of people believe conspiracy theories on the other side of the Atlantic. But they aren't only found there. Conspiracy theories are not exclusive to people who storm the U.S. Capitol. "Everyone believes at least one conspiracy theory," says Asbjørn Dyrendal, a professor in NTNU's Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies who specializes in conspiracy theories. The more conspiracy theories you bring up, the more people answer yes to one of them. That fact leads ...

Loading a cancer immunotherapy drug onto a metal organic framework improves both its delivery and its sustained release for treating leukemia. Furthermore, coating the drug-loaded framework with a cancer cell membrane improves targeted delivery to solid tumors. These findings could lead to safer and more reliable cancer immunotherapies. "We believe our findings are quite significant because they show that the undesirable side effects of immunotherapy can be modulated by choosing the right delivery vehicle," says KAUST chemist Niveen Khashab. "They also show that targeted delivery can be realistically established through proper surface functionalization." ...

The energy of the future lies in the area of the controlled thermonuclear fusion. The scientific group from Peter the Great St.Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU), headed by Professor Vladimir Rozhansky, is directly involved in the establishment of the world's largest experimental thermonuclear reactor ITER. Researchers discovered new effects, which affect the energy flow in the reactor. The theoretical predictions were confirmed by the experiments on two tokamaks. The research results were published in the scientific journal "Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion". The scientific group of Polytechnic University is engaged in modeling of the edge plasma. The researchers aim to identify how and ...

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was established that SARS-CoV-2 infects cells by binding to the human protein ACE2, which plays a role in regulating blood pressure. But ACE2 is almost absent in human lung cells, so how can the lungs be one of the most affected organs in COVID-19? This gave researchers a hint that ACE2 might be more than just a blood pressure regulator, and might not be the only player in the SARS-CoV-2 infection mechanism. EMBL's Gibson team, in collaboration with Lucía Chemes at Universidad Nacional de San Martín in Buenos Aires and ...

Research from the Business School (formerly Cass) suggests that observing others' decision-making can teach people to make better decisions themselves. The research, co-authored by Professor Irene Scopelliti, Professor of Marketing and Behavioural Science, tested the effectiveness of a new debiasing training strategy and reports first evidence that watching others make decisions can improve our own decision making. The authors carried out three experiments, which involved participants making a set of judgements before and after a training intervention designed to improve their decision-making. Experiment ...

A study led by researchers at Lund University in Sweden showed a connection between lifestyle intervention in pregnant women with obesity and epigenetic alterations in the baby. The study is published in the journal Diabetes. An international collaboration between researchers in Sweden, Denmark and Spain investigated whether children's genes were programmed differently if a pregnant woman with a BMI over 30 underwent lifestyle interventions. The study involved 425 pregnant women, all of whom have a BMI over 30, which is defined as obesity. They were divided at random into three different groups: Group 1 had a lifestyle intervention that included both physical activity (they were urged to walk 11 000 steps per day and use a step counter) and a ...