'Smart shirt' takes a trip to space for science

New research offers an up-close view of how SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can spread to the brain. The study helps explain the alarming array of neurological symptoms reported in some patients with COVID-19, as well as why some patients suffer severe neurological effects while others experience none at all. The researchers report evidence that SARS-CoV-2 can infect both the nerve cells that power our brains (neurons), and the cells in the brain and spinal cord that support and protect neurons (astrocytes). "Our findings suggest that astrocytes are a pathway through which COVID-19 causes neurological damage," said Ricardo Costa, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at the ...

New insights into how fetal and adult liver cells differ could be used to help make liver cell transplants successful long term. Transplanting functioning liver cells into a patient's liver can help replace liver function that is impaired due to disease. Today there are many more patients waiting for liver transplants than there are donor organs available. Because liver cell transplantation only requires a portion of cells isolated from a liver, it could allow multiple patients to be treated from one donated organ. Although liver cell transplants offer a promising life-saving alternative to transplanting the whole organ, the effects aren't long-lasting when adult liver ...

Taking a break from extreme heat, by visiting a cooling center for example, could help our cells protect themselves from damage, according to preliminary findings from a new study. The research, which focused on older people, suggests temporarily cooling down on a hot day helps cells maintain autophagy, a process cells use to rid themselves of dangerous protein buildups caused by stressors like extreme heat. "By lessening the time spent in a state of elevated internal body temperature, cooling centers may help to preserve autophagy in older adults, which may translate to greater cellular protection and improved health outcomes during an extreme heat event," said James J. McCormick, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow ...

How do different parts of the brain communicate with each other during learning and memory formation? A new study by researchers at the University of California San Diego takes a first step at answering this fundamental neuroscience question. The study was made possible by developing a neural implant that monitors the activity of different parts of the brain at the same time, from the surface to deep structures--a first in the field. Using this new technology, the researchers show that diverse patterns of two-way communication occur between two brain regions known to play a role in learning and ...

A new coating solution discovered by researchers at Simon Fraser University can transform regular materials into waterproof surfaces. The product will be cheaper to produce, free of harmful fluorinated compounds, and effective on a variety of materials. Their research findings have been published in Nature Communications. SFU chemistry professor and project lead Hogan Yu estimates that their patented waterproofing solution will be up to 90 percent cheaper to produce. Yu and his team are currently floating the idea by investors and companies with the goal of commercializing the product. The new formula was invented at Yu's lab when SFU graduate student Lishen Zhang and another student were working on an experiment in 2016. ...

In the Council of the European Union, member states mostly cooperate with other countries in their geographical proximity. However, once it became clear that the United Kingdom was going to leave the EU, the member states also started cooperating to a greater extent with ideologically like-minded members. Research from the University of Gothenburg shows that Brexit may, in part, have changed the logic behind how cooperation in the Council of the European Union is structured. The Council of the European Union is one of the most important EU decision-makers. Government ministers from the 27 EU member states participate in the ...

Scientific classifications of forest vegetation on the territory of the former USSR, including the Republic of Tatarstan, previously used the dominant approach, traditional for northern countries, taking into account the dominance degree of one or another species in the main tree layer, or similarity in the composition of subordinate layers with the identification of cycles and series of associations. Currently, the classification of plant communities of the Republic of Tatarstan is made on a dominant-determinant basis and is reflected, for example, in the vegetation map of the Atlas of the Republic of Tatarstan and other publications. The classification ...

The LUX team at DESY is celebrating not just one but two milestones in the development of innovative plasma accelerators. The scientists from the University of Hamburg and DESY used their accelerator to test a technique that allows the energy distribution of the electron beams produced to be kept particularly narrow. They also used artificial intelligence to allow the accelerator to optimise its own operation. The scientists are reporting their experiments in two papers published shortly after one another in the journal Physical Review Letters. "It's ...

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), a gram-negative pathogen that has infected half of the world's population is a Group I carcinogen according to the WHO. H. pylori resides in the gastric mucosa causing gastritis, ulcers, gastric cancers and malignant lymphoma of the stomach. It can be eradicated in most infected people using a combination of three drugs; antibiotics clarithromycin, amoxicillin, and gastric acid suppressants. Amoxicillin exerts antibacterial activity by inhibiting the biosynthesis of peptidoglycan present in the cell wall of bacteria, and clarithromycin exerts antibacterial activity by inhibiting protein synthesis. The current success rate of H. pylori eradication is about 90%. ...

Anyone who lives in Okinawa, a subtropical island in Japan, has an appreciation of the intensity of its pig farming industry. The farms have a large effect on the island's economy and culture. According to Japan's Cabinet Office, as of 2018, there were over 225,000 pigs in Okinawa. Pork is a staple in the local diet and is found in many dishes in traditional restaurants. But the presence of the pig farms has another, less welcome, impact - the odor-y kind. Drive through some particularly farm-filled areas with the car's windows wound down and you're sure to be filled with regret. This smell is, at least in part, caused by a byproduct of the pig farming. ...