NIH researchers develop guidelines for reporting polygenic risk scores

When we think about the causes of neurological disorders and how to treat them, we think about targeting the brain. But is this the best or only way? Maybe not. New research by scientists at Baylor College of Medicine suggests that microbes in the gut may contribute to certain symptoms associated with complex neurological disorders. The findings, published in the journal Cell, also suggest that microbe-inspired therapies may one day help to treat them. Dr. Mauro Costa-Mattioli, professor and Cullen Foundation Endowed Chair in neuroscience and director of the Memory and Brain Research Center at Baylor, discovered ...

Ottawa, March 10, 2021 - A new study of fossilized lampreys dating from more than 300 million years ago is challenging a long-held theory about the evolutionary origin of vertebrates (all animals with a backbone). The findings are published March 10 in the science journal Nature. Lampreys are ancient, jawless, eel-like fishes that arose around half a billion years ago and they have long provided insights into vertebrate evolution. Now, scientists with the Canadian Museum of Nature, the University of Chicago and the Albany Museum in South Africa are reporting their analysis of dozens of tiny fossils that track the life stages and growth of ancient lampreys, from hatchlings to juveniles to adults. Their results counter the established view that the blind, filter-feeding ...

A new study out of the University of Chicago, the Canadian Museum of Nature and the Albany Museum challenges a long-held hypothesis that the blind, filter-feeding larvae of modern lampreys are a holdover from the distant past, resembling the ancestors of all living vertebrates, including ourselves. The new fossil discoveries indicate that ancient lamprey hatchlings more closely resembled modern adult lampreys, and were completely unlike their modern larvae counterparts. The results were published on March 10 in Nature. Lampreys -- unusual jawless, eel-like, creatures -- have long provided insights ...

Despite years of hype, virtual reality headsets have yet to topple TV or computer screens as the go-to devices for video viewing. One reason: VR can make users feel sick. Nausea and eye strain can result because VR creates an illusion of 3D viewing although the user is in fact staring at a fixed-distance 2D display. The solution for better 3D visualization could lie in a 60-year-old technology remade for the digital world: holograms. Holograms deliver an exceptional representation of 3D world around us. Plus, they're beautiful. (Go ahead -- check out the holographic dove on your Visa card.) Holograms offer a shifting perspective based on the viewer's position, and they allow the eye to adjust focal depth to alternately focus on foreground and background. Researchers have long sought ...

On December 6, 2016, a high-energy particle called an electron antineutrino hurtled to Earth from outer space at close to the speed of light carrying 6.3 petaelectronvolts (PeV) of energy. Deep inside the ice sheet at the South Pole, it smashed into an electron and produced a particle that quickly decayed into a shower of secondary particles. The interaction was captured by a massive telescope buried in the Antarctic glacier, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. IceCube had seen a Glashow resonance event, a phenomenon predicted by Nobel laureate physicist ...

Researchers have struck quantum gold--and created a new word--by enlisting machine learning to efficiently navigate a 20-dimensional quantum treasure map. Physicist Dr Markus Rambach from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems (EQUS) at The University of Queensland said the team was able to find unknown quantum states more quickly and accurately, using a technique called self-guided tomography. The team also introduced the 'quvigint', which is like a qubit (the quantum version of a classical bit that takes on the values '0' or '1') except that it takes on not two, but 20 possible values. Dr ...

What The Study Did: In this study, most risk factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection among health care workers were outside the workplace. Authors: Jesse T. Jacob, M.D., of Emory University in Atlanta, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.1283) Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support. INFORMATION: Media ...

MADISON - On December 6, 2016, a high-energy particle hurtled to Earth from outer space at close to the speed of light. The particle, an electron antineutrino, smashed into an electron deep inside the ice sheet at the South Pole. This collision produced a particle that quickly decayed into a shower of secondary particles, triggering the sensors of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a massive telescope buried in the Antarctic glacier. IceCube had seen a Glashow resonance event, a phenomenon predicted by Nobel laureate physicist Sheldon Glashow in 1960. With this detection, scientists provided another confirmation of the Standard Model of particle physics. It ...

What The Study Did: This study of orthodox Jewisha dults across the United States found that socioculturally bound communities experienced early parallel outbreaks in discrete locations, notably prior to substantive medical and governmental directives. Authors: Jonathan I. Silverberg, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., of  George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and Avi Z. Rosenberg, M.D., Ph.D., of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, are the corresponding authors. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.2816) Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest and funding/support disclosures. ...

What The Study Did: In a study of Italian close contacts of patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, most infected contacts (1,948 of 2,824 individuals or 69%) didn't develop respiratory symptoms or fever 37.5 degrees Celsius (99.5 degrees Fahrenheit) or higher; 26.1% of infected individuals younger than 60 developed respiratory symptoms or fever 37.5 degrees Celsius (99.5 degrees Fahrenheit); and 6.6% of infected participants age 60 or older developed critical disease. Authors: Piero Poletti, Ph.D., of Fondazione Bruno Kessler in Trento, ...