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press releases.

Science24 Sep 2024

Mechanism behind autophagy trigger unveiled

Osaka, Japan – An international research team led by Osaka University has identified a new mechanism crucial for the initiation of autophagy, a self-degradation process cells use to eliminate unneeded or damaged components. In recent years, autophagy has also been recognized for its roles in aging and lifespan regulation. During autophagy, intracellular molecules and structures are sequestered within a membrane-bound structure known as an autophagosome, which is subsequently degraded in lysosomes. It is well-established that the formation of autophagosomes ...

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Science23 Sep 2024

Studying sex-specific pain levels in wheelchair users

Josh Leonardis received funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health to study why female manual wheelchair users experience shoulder pain and pathology at greater rates than males. Leonardis is a researcher at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, an assistant professor of health and kinesiology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the director of the Musculoskeletal Morphology and Biomechanics Laboratory. “It’s well-documented in literature that ...

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Science23 Sep 2024

Previously unknown Neolithic society in Morocco discovered: shining light on North Africa’s role in Mediterranean prehistory

Multi-disciplinary archaeological survey at the site of Oued Beht, Morocco, reveals a previously unknown 3400–2900 BC farming society. This is the earliest and largest agricultural complex yet found in Africa beyond the Nile. It shares similar features with contemporaneous sites in Iberia. This suggests the Maghreb was instrumental to the shaping of the western Mediterranean during the fourth and third millennia BC. Archaeological fieldwork in Morocco has discovered the earliest, previously unknown farming society from a poorly understood period of north-west African prehistory. This study, published today in Antiquity, reveals for the first ...

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Science23 Sep 2024

Study finds PrEP use among gay and bisexual men in Ontario linked to higher STI rates

Background and Goal: Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a preventive medicine that reduces the risk of contracting HIV. There is concern that PrEP use may be associated with an increase in bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs) like gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis among men who are gay or bisexual. This study explored the relationship between PrEP use and the rates of bacterial STIs over time. Study Approach: Researchers used data from the iCruise Study, an online longitudinal study of men who are gay or bisexual or have sex with men, in Ontario from July 2017 to April 2018. The study examined how PrEP use related to the number of self-reported ...

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Science23 Sep 2024

Dream discovery: Melatonin's key role in REM sleep revealed

A significant breakthrough in the understanding of sleep mechanism opens new promise for treating sleep disorders and associated neuropsychiatric conditions: Scientists have pinpointed the melatonin receptor MT1 as a crucial regulator of REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. REM sleep is crucial for dreaming, memory consolidation, and emotional regulation. In the brain, the melatonin MT1 receptor affects a type of neuron that synthesizes the neurotransmitter and hormone noradrenaline, found in an ...

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Science23 Sep 2024

Research quantifying “nociception” could help improve management of surgical pain

The degree to which a surgical patient’s subconscious processing of pain, or “nociception,” is properly managed by their anesthesiologist will directly affect the degree of post-operative drug side effects they’ll experience and the need for further pain management they’ll require. But pain is a subjective feeling to measure, even when patients are awake, much less when they are unconscious. In a new study, MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers describe a set of statistical models that objectively quantified nociception during surgery. Ultimately, they hope to help anesthesiologists optimize drug dose and minimize post-operative ...

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Science23 Sep 2024

How cranes navigate their complex world

The researchers used tiny GPS tracking devices to follow the movements of 104 cranes in Africa, Asia, and Europe. These devices included unique solar-powered GPS leg bands developed by scientists from MPI-AB. The tracking data revealed the impressive migrations that cranes undertook. Some of the migratory routes exceeded 6,400 km of travel round trip and required crossing barriers such as the Alps or Himalaya mountain ranges, the deserts of the Arabian peninsula, or the Mediterranean Sea. In addition to the tracking study, the researchers also developed a statistical framework that revealed how the cranes’ movements relate to aspects of the ...

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Science23 Sep 2024

New approach to defibrillation may improve cardiac arrest outcomes

Joshua Lupton, M.D., has no memory of his own cardiac arrest in 2016. He only knows that first responders resuscitated his heart with a shock from a defibrillator, ultimately leading to his complete recovery and putting him among fewer than one in 10 people nationwide who survive cardiac arrest outside of a hospital. He attributes his survival to the rapid defibrillation he received from first responders — but not everybody is so fortunate. Now, as lead author on a new observational study published in the journal JAMA Network Open, he and co-authors from Oregon Health & Science University ...

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Science23 Sep 2024

UTA undergraduate researcher wins state honor

A student studying biological chemistry at The University of Texas at Arlington earned a state-wide award for her research on diazo compounds, the building blocks of some medications. Jenny Hoang, a senior, received the third-place award at the 2024 University of Texas System Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) conference held in El Paso in August. “Honestly, I was so shocked that I won third place because I almost didn’t even apply for this program,” said Hoang, a Carrollton ...

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Science23 Sep 2024

Advances in theranostics take center stage at SNMMI 2024 Therapeutics Conference

Reston, VA (September 23, 2024)—More than 300 nuclear medicine clinicians, researchers, technologists, regulators and suppliers gathered in Bethesda, Maryland, on September 19-21, for the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) 2024 Therapeutics Conference. As the largest SNMMI Therapeutics Conference to date, the meeting offered attendees the chance to explore the latest innovations and advancements in theranostics and other nuclear medicine therapies as well as gain valuable insights into enhancing their practice. This year’s Therapeutics Conference included eight distinct sessions covering advances in radiopharmaceutical ...

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Science23 Sep 2024

Firms that withdrew from Russia following Ukraine invasion earn higher consumer sentiment

Following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, many companies with operations in Russia withdrew from or severely curtailed their Russian operations. For example, Dell and McDonald’s ceased all operations in Russia after the invasion. Many experts have argued that the corporate response to the Ukraine war is a striking example of stakeholder capitalism, a model where corporations are responsible for considering the interests of various stakeholders — including employees, customers, communities, governments and the environment — and not just ...

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Science23 Sep 2024

Perceived CTE and suicidality in former professional football players

About The Study: This study found that approximately one-third of living former professional football players reported perceived chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Men with perceived CTE had an increased prevalence of suicidality and were more likely to have health problems associated with cognitive impairment compared with men without perceived CTE. Perceived CTE represents a novel risk factor for suicidality and, if present, should motivate the diagnostic assessment and treatment of medical and ...

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Science23 Sep 2024

Study of former NFL players finds 1 in 3 believe they have CTE

KEY TAKEAWAYS Though it is not possible to confirm yet whether a living person has CTE, a team that included Mass General Brigham researchers found that 35% of former NFL players thought they had the diagnosis. Those who thought they had CTE commonly reported cognitive symptoms, as well as low testosterone, depression, pain and other treatable conditions that can cause cognitive problems. Out of a cohort of nearly 2,000 former NFL players, 25% who believed they had CTE reported having frequent suicidal thoughts compared to 5% of players who did not have those beliefs. A new study of nearly 2,000 former ...

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Science23 Sep 2024

City of Hope research spotlight, September 2024

City of Hope® Research Spotlight features the latest research defining the future of medical treatment. This first roundup highlights a T cell engager that shows promise as a novel treatment for acute myeloid leukemia, findings linking immune aging to thymic involution and a potential way of eliminating myeloma with weak antigen expression. To learn more about research at City of Hope, visit the Research & Innovation page. IL1RAP-Specific T Cell Engager Depletes Acute Myeloid Leukemia Stem Cells The novel anti-IL1RAP/CD3 T cell engager (TCE) BIF002 effectively targets and eliminates leukemic stem cells ...

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Science23 Sep 2024

People prefer to work with higher-paid colleagues

When given the choice, people prefer to collaborate on work projects with higher-paid colleagues, but they want to hire subordinates with a lower pay history than theirs, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. The research, published in the journal American Psychologist, aimed to explore how a trend toward increasing pay transparency in the business world may affect workers’ behavior. “I've long been interested in the ways in which slight -- and not-so-slight -- differences in salaries can generate strong ...

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Science23 Sep 2024

Deeper corals may help shallow reefs recover in the Florida keys

Since the 1970s, coral reefs in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) have experienced catastrophic declines in coral cover, with as much as a 50% reduction between 1998 and 2011 alone. Although coral reefs within the FKNMS have been heavily studied, research in the mesophotic zone, which extends from about 100 to 500 feet deep, has historically been more limited in this region. Mesophotic coral ecosystems have the potential to be buffered from anthropogenic stressors due to their depth and/or relative isolation from ...

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Science23 Sep 2024

Why saying you’ll ‘never retire’ may be a warning sign

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Americans who say they expect to “never retire” are more likely than others to score low on a measure of financial knowledge, a new study shows. In a national survey, 20% of those who missed all three financial knowledge questions said they expected they would never retire, compared to 12% who answered all questions correctly, who said they’d likely work well past retirement age. The study also found that those who were overconfident in their financial knowledge (and those whose low levels of confidence ...

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Science23 Sep 2024

New insights into intellectual disability genetics emerge at Mount Sinai

New York City (Sep 24, 2024) – Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have published a pivotal study in Nature Genetics (DOI: 10.1038/s41588-024-01917-1) that sheds light on a novel genetic variant associated with intellectual capacities and educational outcomes. This discovery offers new insights into intellectual disability diagnostics and potential therapeutic avenues. The study reveals the significant impact of tandem repeats—sequences of DNA where a pattern of nucleotides is repeated multiple times in a head-to-tail manner on a chromosome—on intellectual functioning. "The ...

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Science23 Sep 2024

Older people are more swayed by the impulsive actions of others when making financial decisions – new study reveals

Older people are more likely to be influenced by the impulsive financial preferences of others than their younger counterparts, according to a new study. Research lead by psychologists at the University of Birmingham and the University of Oxford published today in Communications Psychology, reveals that people aged 60 and over are more prone to being influenced by other people when it comes to making impulsive financial decisions compared to young adults aged between 18 -36. The study set out to explore delayed gratification and how our willingness to wait and social influence develop and differ across our lifespan. To test how age ...

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Science23 Sep 2024

Experts discover the deadly genetics of cholera, which could be key to its prevention

Experts have used a cutting-edge computational approach to discover the genetic factors that make the bacteria behind cholera so dangerous - which could be key to preventing this deadly disease. The breakthrough study, published in Nature Communications, is led by Professor Tania Dottorini from the University of Nottingham, in collaboration with Bangladesh’s Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, and North South University. The innovative research combines machine learning, genomics, genome-scale metabolic modelling (GSMM), and 3D ...

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Science23 Sep 2024

Mark your calendars: Insect science takes center stage in Phoenix, November 10–13

What: Entomology 2024, the annual meeting of the Entomological Society of America Where: Phoenix Convention Center, Phoenix, Arizona When: November 10–13, 2024 Who: 3,500+ insect scientists and entomology experts For four days in November, Phoenix, Arizona, will be the entomology capital of the world at Entomology 2024. As the planet’s largest yearly gathering of insect scientists, the annual meeting of the Entomological Society of America will convene more than 3,500 experts, students, and practitioners to share and ...

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Science20 Sep 2024

Texas A&M and partner USAging awarded 2024 Immunization Neighborhood Champion Award

The Texas A&M University School of Public Health and USAging have been awarded the 2024 Immunization Neighborhood Champion Award by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s National Adult and Influenza Immunization Summit. Matthew Lee Smith, PhD, professor at the School of Public Health, leads the school’s involvement as a founding member of USAging’s Aging and Disability Vaccination Collaborative (ADVC). Announced as respiratory illness season is ramping up in the United States, this honor recognizes Smith’s work in support of ADVC’s efforts ...

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Science20 Sep 2024

Study finds family members are most common perpetrators of infant and child homicides in the U.S.

Homicide is a leading cause of death among people 19 and younger in the United States, and firearms are used in a large proportion of these crimes. Although the homicide rate for this population declined in the 1990s and 2000s, it has increased every year since 2013, with a large spike during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, new research by Hannah Rochford, PhD, an assistant professor with the Texas A&M University School of Public Health, and two colleagues from the University of Iowa, provides insight into the characteristics of ...

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Science20 Sep 2024

UAB startup Endomimetics receives $2.8 million Small Business Innovation Research grant

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The University of Alabama at Birmingham startup company Endomimetics, LLC, has received a $2.8 million Small Business Innovation Research Phase II grant from National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Under the grant, Endomimetics co-founders Ho-Wook Jun, Ph.D., a professor in the UAB Department of Biomedical Engineering, and Brigitta Brott, M.D., a professor in the UAB Department of Medicine Division of Cardiovascular Disease, will collaborate with Ramanathan Kadirvel, Ph.D., a professor of neurosurgery and radiology at Mayo Clinic, and David Kallmes, M.D., a professor of radiology at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, to develop a BionanomatrixTM ...

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Science20 Sep 2024

Scientists turn to human skeletons to explore origins of horseback riding

As anyone who’s spent time in the saddle knows, riding a horse can be hard on your body. But can it change the way your skeleton looks? The answer, according to archaeologists from the University of Colorado Boulder: It’s complicated. In a new study, the team drew on a wide range of evidence—from medical studies of modern equestrians to records of human remains across thousands of years. The researchers concluded that horseback riding can, in fact, leave a mark on human skeletons, such as by subtly altering the shape of the hip joint. But those sorts of changes on their own can’t definitively reveal whether people have ridden ...

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