Science
press releases.

Science3 Jul 2024

Can inflammation in early adulthood affect memory, thinking in middle age?

MINNEAPOLIS – Having higher levels of inflammation in your 20s and 30s may be linked to having memory and thinking problems at middle age, according to a study published in the July 3, 2024, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study looked at levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) in the blood. CRP is produced by the liver and increases when there is inflammation in the body. The study does not prove that having higher levels of this protein causes dementia. It only shows an association. There are two kinds of inflammation. Acute inflammation happens when the body’s immune response jumps into action to fight off infection or ...

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Science3 Jul 2024

Cracking the code for cerebellar movement disorders

The cerebellum is a region of the brain that helps us refine our movements and learn new motor skills. Patients and mouse models experience many kinds of abnormal movements when their cerebellum is damaged. They can have uncoordinated and unbalanced movements, called ataxia. They can have atypical positioning of body parts or uncontrolled movements because their muscles are working against each other, called dystonia. Or they can have disruptive shaky movements, called tremors. Understanding how changes in a single brain region ...

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Science3 Jul 2024

Stability indicating RP-HPLC method for the estimation of impurities in esomeprazole gastro-resistant tablets by AQbD approach

https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.15212/bioi-2024-0018 Announcing a new article publication for BIO Integration journal. Esomeprazole (ESO) gastro-resistant tablets (40 mg) are sold under the brand name, Zosa, which effectively manages conditions associated with the overproduction of gastric acid, including peptic ulcer disease and Zollinger-Ellison syndrome. This article quantifies impurities in esomeprazole using advanced analytical techniques known as analytical quality by design with high-performance liquid chromatography. Buffer selection ...

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Science3 Jul 2024

Dengue linked to heightened short- and long-term risk of depression in Taiwan

Analysis of the medical records of nearly 50,000 people who experienced dengue fever in Taiwan suggests that this disease is associated with elevated short- and long-term risk of depression. Hsin-I Shih and colleagues of National Cheng Kung University and National Health Research Institutes, Taiwan present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. People may develop dengue fever after being bitten by a mosquito carrying the dengue virus. Dengue fever can be mild, but it can also progress ...

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Science3 Jul 2024

Why do you keep your house so cold? Science says: Ask your parents

Childhood home temperature and community connectedness can help predict how U.S. residents set their thermostats, offering new ways to encourage energy conservation and combat climate change, according to a study published July 3 in the open-access journal PLOS Climate by Dritjon Gruda from the National University of Ireland Maynooth and Paul Hanges from the University of Maryland. Half of U.S. households’ annual electricity use goes to heating and cooling, but less than half of homeowners tweak their thermostats to save energy ...

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Science3 Jul 2024

Mobile phone data helps track pathogen spread and evolution of superbugs

A new way to map the spread and evolution of pathogens, and their responses to vaccines and antibiotics, will provide key insights to help predict and prevent future outbreaks. The approach combines a pathogen’s genomic data with human travel patterns, taken from anonymised mobile phone data. Researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, University of the Witwatersrand and National Institute for Communicable Diseases in South Africa, the University of Cambridge, and partners across the Global Pneumococcal Sequencing project1, integrated genomic data from nearly 7,000 Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) samples collected in South Africa with detailed ...

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Science3 Jul 2024

Extinct humans survived on the Tibetan plateau for 160,000 years

Bone remains found in a Tibetan cave 3,280 m above sea level indicate an ancient group of humans survived here for many millennia, according to a new study published in Nature. The Denisovans are an extinct species of ancient human that lived at the same time and in the same places as Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. Only a handful Denisovan remains have ever been discovered by archaeologists. Little is known about the group, including when they became extinct, but evidence exists to ...

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Science3 Jul 2024

Early-onset El Niño means warmer winters in East Asia, and vice versa

Fukuoka, Japan—The phenomenon known as El Niño can cause abnormal and extreme climate around the world due to it dramatically altering the normal flow of the atmosphere. In Japan, historical data has shown that El Niño years tend to lead to warmer winters. This case was exemplified recently with Japan’s warm 2023-2024 winter season. However, there have also been cases of cold winters in Japan during El Niño years, such as the one recorded in 2014-2015. Yet, it was unclear as to why this was occurring. Publishing in the Journal of Climate, ...

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Science3 Jul 2024

Meet the team 3D modelling France’s natural history collections

France’s natural history collections contain nearly 6% of the world’s total natural specimens across multiple institutions, and the e-COL+ project aims to capture and reconstruct these specimens in 3D for easy access and 3D printing around the world. “I’m a researcher of vertebrate locomotion and vocalisation, so I produce a lot of CT scans and 3D models – and now I’m in charge of developing the museum’s own 3D digital collection,” ...

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Science3 Jul 2024

Exploring bird breeding behaviour and microbiomes in the radioactive Chornobyl Exclusion Zone

New research finds surprising differences in the diets and gut microbiomes of songbirds living in the radiation contaminated areas of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, Ukraine. This study is also the first to examine the breeding behaviour and early life of birds growing up in radiologically contaminated habitats. The Chornobyl Exclusion Zone (Ukrainian), also known as the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (Russian), is an area of approximately 2,600 km2 of radiologically contaminated land that surrounds the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The levels of contamination are uneven throughout the zone. “The ...

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Science3 Jul 2024

Discovering new anti-aging secrets from the world’s longest-living vertebrate

New experimental research shows that muscle metabolic activity may be an important factor in the incredible longevity of the world’s oldest living vertebrate species – the Greenland shark. These findings may have applications for conservation of this vulnerable species against climate change or even for human cardiovascular health. Greenland sharks (Somniosus microcephalus) are the longest living vertebrate with an expected lifespan of at least 270 years and possible lifespan beyond 500 years. “We want to understand what adaptations ...

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Science3 Jul 2024

Scientists discover way to “grow” sub-nanometer sized transistors

A research team led by Director JO Moon-Ho of the Center for Van der Waals Quantum Solids within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) has implemented a novel method to achieve epitaxial growth of 1D metallic materials with a width of less than 1 nm. The group applied this process to develop a new structure for 2D semiconductor logic circuits. Notably, they used the 1D metals as a gate electrode of the ultra-miniaturized transistor. Integrated devices based on two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors, which exhibit excellent properties even at the ultimate limit of material thickness down to the atomic ...

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Science3 Jul 2024

Scientists pinpoint strategies that could stop cats from scratching your furniture

Many cat owners are familiar with torn cushions, carpets, and couches. The feline instinct to scratch is innate but is often perceived as a behavioral problem by cat owners and sometimes leads to interventions that are not cat friendly. Now, an international team of researchers has investigated which factors influence undesired scratching behavior in domestic cats. They published their findings in Frontiers in Veterinary Science. “Here we show that certain factors – such as the presence of children at home, personality traits of cats, and their activity levels – significantly impact the ...

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Science3 Jul 2024

Offline/online attribute-based searchable encryption scheme from ideal lattices

The security of traditional attribute-based searchable encryption schemes relies on traditional number-theoretic assumptions, and thus they are not able to resist the threat of quantum algorithms. Meanwhile, existing lattice-based searchable encryption schemes have two main problems: one is the low efficiency of the execution of encryption, key generation and search algorithms. The second is the large space required for storing search trapdoors. To solve the problems, a research team led by Yang YANG published their new ...

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Science3 Jul 2024

Zayed to lead new Division of Surgical Sciences

Mohamed A. Zayed, MD, PhD, a vascular surgeon known for his pioneering research in vascular diseases, has been appointed director of the newly established Division of Surgical Sciences in the Department of Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He will assume his new role July 1. Zayed, a professor of surgery, of radiology, of molecular cell biology, and of biomedical engineering, has more than 25 years of experience leading multifaceted research programs in biotech, medical startups ...

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Science3 Jul 2024

Clever clothes! Seams in clothing capture body movement

Everyday clothing may soon be able to capture and record body movements according to new research published by the Universities of Bristol and Bath. Harmless low voltages are passed through conductive threads which are stitched into garment seams to create electrical circuits. Their resistance changes with the movement of the wearer's body. The work opens up new possibilities to make digital clothing which senses and captures movements much more accurately than is possible using current phones and smart watches. The paper, presented at the Designing Interactive Systems (DIS) conference in Copenhagen ...

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Science2 Jul 2024

AGS member, George Kuchel, appointed to serve on ACIP

The American Geriatrics Society extends its warmest congratulations to ADGAP President George Kuchel, MD, CM, FRCP on his appointment as a member expert of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). ACIP develops recommendations on the safe use of vaccines in the United States. Dr. Kuchel, who became President of the Association of Directors of Geriatrics Academic Programs in spring 2024, is Director of both the UConn Center on Aging and the Claude D Pepper Older Americans Independence Center at the University of Connecticut. He has significant expertise and knowledge in vaccines and immunology, particularly in older adults, including performing ...

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Science2 Jul 2024

Researchers awarded Department of Defense grant to study the role of gut microbiomes to improve outcomes in dystonia

Mohammad Moshahid Khan, PhD, principal investigator and associate professor in the Department of Neurology in the College of Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, was recently awarded a $308,000 grant from the Department of Defense for a study that will investigate the role of the gut microbiome in dystonia, a movement disorder of abnormal postures and involuntary twisting or repetitive movements, to improve neurobehavioral outcomes. Jianfeng Xiao, MD, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Neurology, is the co-investigator of the study. Although ...

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Science2 Jul 2024

A Global Heat Early Warning system is now essential, and requires planning in four key areas to overcome barriers and enable successful implementation, per new review

A Global Heat Early Warning system is now essential, and requires planning in four key areas to overcome barriers and enable successful implementation, per new review. #### Article URL: https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal.pclm.0000437 Article Title: Preventing heat-related deaths: The urgent need for a global early warning system for heat Author Countries: Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, US Funding: CB,IMO, CG and JT are funded by Horizon Europe through the HIGH horizon project funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe Programme (grant number 101057843). IMO and CG are also ...

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Science2 Jul 2024

Study finds that influential people can play a valuable role in getting people to act in the best interest of society

Getting individuals to act in the best interest of society can be a tricky balancing act, one that often walks a fine line between trying to convince people to act of their own volition, versus passing laws and regulations that make these actions compulsory. In a new paper, published in the journal PNAS Nexus, SFI External Professor Stefani Crabtree (Utah State University) and Science Board Fellow Simon Levin (Princeton University), together with Colin Wren (University of Colorado, Colorado Springs) and Avinash ...

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Science2 Jul 2024

Editorial: Genomics has more to reveal

“If there was any doubt, this discovery demonstrates that genomics, extensively deployed over the past two decades, still has much to reveal to us.” BUFFALO, NY- July 2, 2024 – A new editorial paper was published in Oncotarget's Volume 15 on June 20, 2024, entitled, “Genomics has more to reveal.” In this new editorial, researchers Laurène Fenwarth and Nicolas Duployez from the University of Lille and CHU Lille discuss molecular and cytogenetic analyses that are now used to identify mutations and structural variants defining distinct subtypes of acute myeloid leukemias (AML) ...

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Science2 Jul 2024

Women of color disproportionately targeted by book bans, study finds

In 2023, the American Library Association documented hundreds of attempts to remove more than 4,000 books from schools and libraries across nearly all states in the U.S. In one of the first comprehensive analyses of book bans in the U.S., a University of Colorado Boulder researcher and her collaborators revealed that these bans disproportionally target women authors of color, and a large portion of the banned books feature characters of color. The findings appeared June 11 in the journal ...

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Science2 Jul 2024

Subnormal serum liver enzyme levels

Liver diseases are commonly diagnosed using serum enzyme assays, particularly for aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT), and 5'-nucleotidase (5'-NT). While elevated levels of these enzymes are typically associated with liver and bile duct injuries, subnormal levels can also indicate various pathologies. This review consolidates current knowledge on diseases linked with subnormal liver enzyme levels, focusing on their pathogenesis, specificity, and treatment ...

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Science2 Jul 2024

Too much treadmill? This could help your shin splints

Good news for all the treadmill runners who suffer from stubborn and painful shin splints: A little outdoor gait training may help, new research suggests. A randomized controlled trial found that four weeks of gait training outdoors, in addition to home exercises often prescribed for shin splints, led to improved running biomechanics even when the runners were using a treadmill. These improvements included decreasing the time the runners’ feet were in contact with the ground or treadmill, a recently identified contributor to shin splints. Based on the trial results, ...

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Science2 Jul 2024

Australian bushfire ash is deadly for aquatic life

While the impact of wildfires on terrestrial life has been well studied, only recently has research started to examine the effects of wildfire ash on aquatic organisms. New research reveals that wildfire ash can have lethal consequences on Australian water ecosystems. Wildfires are becoming more prevalent due to the warming and drying effects of climate change, with Australia becoming especially vulnerable to dangerous bushfires. “Therefore, many Australian species may be threatened by fires,” says Miss Jenelle McCuaig, a Masters student at the University ...

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