COLUMBUS, Ohio – Scientists who have described in a new study the step-by-step details of a bacterial defense strategy see the mechanism as a promising platform for development of a new genome-editing method. The system involves two proteins that team up to disable plasmids, small DNA molecules that exchange genetic information among different bacterial strains. While plasmids provide evolutionary benefits, they can also be seen by host bacteria as threats. The research team determined that one protein uses a short piece of DNA – known as a DNA guide – to ...

Crowds flocking to rivers and streams over Labor Day weekend are doing more than cooling off and having fun. They’re temporarily introducing chemicals and microscopic organisms into their local waterways, according to new research from Johns Hopkins University. The research, published today in ACS ES&T Water, is the first holistic assessment of how recreation impacts streams. Findings also provide insight into the compounds and chemicals people are splashing around in when their favorite swimming spots are packed.  “Residue from ...

Ischemic heart disease is the most common cause of death in the world. It begins with a “heart attack”, also known as a myocardial infarction (MI), which causes part of the heart to die due to inadequate coronary blood flow. This leads to vigorous inflammation, heart wall remodeling, and heart failure.  Anti-inflammatory drugs have been surprisingly ineffective at preventing heart failure. As a consequence, they are not a routine part of post-MI care. However, it is possible that the most potent molecular and cellular inflammation targets have yet to be discovered. In the Aug. 28, ...

Delirium is a sudden onset and temporary state of disturbed consciousness or cognition, occurring due to underlying medical issues like fever or alcohol withdrawal. It is most common among older hospitalized adults aged 75 years or above, leading to increased risk of falls, dementia, low life expectancy, and high healthcare expenses.   Non-pharmacological approaches to prevent or reduce delirium are time-consuming, hard to implement, and partially effective. So, pharmacological interventions offer hope. Insomnia, a significant risk factor for delirium, could be alleviated with sleep-promoting medications. However, not all ...

For decades, scientists have dreamt of a future where genetic diseases, such as the blood clotting disorder hemophilia, could be a thing of the past. Gene therapy, the idea of fixing faulty genes with healthy ones, has held immense promise. But a major hurdle has been finding a safe and efficient way to deliver those genes. Now, researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi’s John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) have made a significant breakthrough in gene editing technology that could revolutionize how we treat genetic diseases. Their new method offers a faster, safer, and more efficient way to deliver healthy ...

Climate change will move and reduce the land suitable for growing food and timber, putting the production of these two vital resources into direct competition, a new study has found. The sight of vineyards in Britain is becoming more common as hotter summers create increasingly suitable conditions for growing grapes. But behind this success story is a sobering one: climate change is shifting the regions of the world suitable for growing crops. Researchers at the University of Cambridge have uncovered a looming issue: as the ...

University of Iowa researchers have defined how people recognize words. In a new study with people who use cochlear implants to hear, the researchers identified three main approaches that people with or without hearing impairment use to recognize words, an essential building block for understanding spoken language. Which approach depends on the person, regardless of hearing aptitude or ability: Some wait a bit before identifying a word, while others may tussle between two or more words before deciding which word has been heard. When a person hears a word, the brain briefly considers hundreds, if not thousands, ...

London, UK: Heart experts say that everyone should have their levels of lipoprotein (a) (Lp(a) measured routinely at least once in life, following research from one of the most populous EU countries, Poland, that shows how common high levels of Lp(a) are in the general population.   The findings come from several studies presented at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress taking place in London, UK, this week [1] and published in two journals: Progress in Cardiovascular Disease and Archives of Medical Sciences [2].   LP(a) is a parcel of fats (also known ...

Scientists have revealed how a “tag-team” between the oceans and continents millions of years ago devastated marine life – and altered the course of evolution on Earth. Their study has unearthed a new explanation for a string of severe environmental crises, called oceanic anoxic events, which happened between 185 and 85 million years ago. These occurred when the seas became critically depleted of dissolved oxygen. Experts from the University of Southampton, which led the study, said these events triggered significant biological upheavals, including ...

Researchers map 50,000 of DNA’s mysterious ‘knots’ in the human genome Innovative study of DNA’s hidden structures may open up new approaches for treatment and diagnosis of diseases, including cancer. DNA is well-known for its double helix shape. But the human genome also contains more than 50,000 unusual ‘knot’-like DNA structures called i-motifs, researchers at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research have discovered. Published today in The EMBO Journal is the first comprehensive map of these unique DNA structures, shedding light on their potential roles in gene regulation involved in disease. In a landmark 2018 study, Garvan scientists ...

Chef-turned-chemist Vayu Hill-Maini has a passion: to turn food waste into culinary treats using fungi. One of his collaborators is Rasmus Munk, head chef and co-owner of the Michelin two-star restaurant Alchemist in Copenhagen, who serves a dessert — orange-colored Neurospora mold grown on rice — inspired by Hill-Maini. For the past two years, Hill-Maini has worked with a team of chefs at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, a Michelin two-star restaurant in Pocantico Hills, New York, to generate tasty morsels from Neurospora mold grown on grains and pulses, including the pulp left over from making oat ...

London, United Kingdom – 29 Aug 2024: According to research presented at ESC Congress 2024,1 women with endometriosis have a 20% greater risk of significant cardiac outcomes compared with women without endometriosis.   “For decades, cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been thought of as a man’s disease and risk factors have been considered from the male perspective, for example, including erectile dysfunction in guidelines on CVD risk assessment.2 Yet, 1 in 3 women die from CVD and 1 in 10 women suffer from ...

London, United Kingdom – 29 August 2024: The demands of the working week, often influenced by school or work schedules, can lead to sleep disruption and deprivation. However, new research presented at ESC Congress 2024 shows that people that ‘catch up’ on their sleep by sleeping in at weekends may see their risk of heart disease fall by one-fifth.   “Sufficient compensatory sleep is linked to a lower risk of heart disease,” said study co-author Mr Yanjun Song of the State Key Laboratory ...

London, United Kingdom – 29 August 2024: According to research presented today at ESC Congress 2024,1 patients with stable coronary artery disease who quit smoking at any timepoint after their diagnosis reduced their risk of a major event by almost 50%. In contrast, there was minimal impact on cardiovascular risk in patients who reduced their smoking habits.   The international CLARIFY registry (prospeCtive observational LongitudinAl RegIstry oF patients with stable coronary arterY ...

Children can work together to reach a target that benefits a whole group even if it is at a personal cost to themselves, a new study has shown. Researchers invited groups of six to 10-year-olds to take part in a game where they were each given containers of water and could decide how much of it to offer into a common pool. If the group contributed a certain amount of water it resulted in benefits for the whole group, but children also obtained benefits for any water they kept.  At the same time, the ...

When people eat, they ingest the nucleic acids that reside in all living things. The compounds in these acids could inhibit the growth of cancer cells, according to findings published in PLOS ONE by Osaka Metropolitan University Associate Professor Akiko Kojima-Yuasa of the Graduate School of Human Life and Ecology and colleagues. Consuming nucleic acids found in food has been shown to boost the immune system and prevent some diseases. The nucleotides and nucleosides that result from digesting the acids are largely responsible for these beneficial effects. Professor ...

AUGUSTA, Ga. (Aug. 29, 2024) – Researchers at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University are searching for a better way to understand why many men with prostate cancer end up with Alzheimer’s disease, and whether it’s the standard hormone therapy treatment or an overactive immune response that actually contributes to the problem. The hormone therapy, androgen deprivation therapy, known as ADT, treats the cancer by reducing testosterone, which the cancer needs to grow. But androgen is a key regulator of amyloid metabolism and when it’s removed from the equation, more amyloid is left to form the plaques that are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s. “We ...

A new study describing how a prehistoric sea cow was preyed upon by not one, but two different carnivores – a crocodilian and a shark – is revealing clues into both the predation patterns of ancient creatures and the wider food chain millions of years ago. Published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, the findings mark one of the few examples of a creature being preyed upon by different animals during the Early to Middle Miocene epoch (23 million to 11.6 million years ago). Predation marks in the skull indicate that the dugongine sea cow, ...

By Jerry Grillo The soundtrack of this story begins with a vaguely recognizable and pleasant groove. But if I stop writing and just listen for a second, the music reveals itself completely. In Freddie Hubbard’s comfortable, lilting trumpet solo over Herbie Hancock’s melodic, repetitive piano vamping, I recognize “Cantaloupe Island.” Then, with my fingers again poised at the keyboard, Freddie and Herbie fade into the background, followed by other instrumental music: captivating — but not distracting — sonic nutrition, feeding my concentration and productivity.  Somewhere, I think, Yiren Ren is studying, focused on her ...

There’s an urgent need for more careful antibiotic management to protect older people living in residential aged care from the dangerous spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria or ‘superbugs’, researchers from Flinders University and SAHMRI warn. A new study published in the well-respected Journal of Infection, explores the link between the widespread use of antibiotics in residential aged care and the resulting antibiotic resistant bacteria in the gut that can be passed on to other residents. “Commonly ...

A recent study has uncovered alarming insights into the dangers posed by fentanyl-contaminated drug supplies in Australia, including a heightened risk of lethal overdose. The study, titled ‘The gear could be cut with fentanyl which is starting to happen more in Australia’: Exploring Overdose Survivors’ Perspectives on Toxic Supply and Safe Consumption, aimed to explore the role of synthetic opioids in overdoses among Queenslanders. Led by Griffith University’s Dr Timothy Piatkowski, Emma Kill and Steph Reeve in partnership with the Queensland ...

Researchers at the Center for Algorithmic and Robotized Synthesis within the Institute for Basic Science have taken a significant step forward in understanding the stability of proteins by leveraging the power of AI. The research team used AlphaFold2 to explore how mutations affect protein stability—a crucial factor in ensuring proteins function correctly and do not cause diseases like Alzheimer's. DeepMind’s AlphaFold algorithm, which can accurately predict a protein’s structure from ...

DNA damage is a cellular phenomenon that introduces structural abnormalities in double-stranded DNA. External factors, such as radiation or chemical agents, as well as internal factors, such as blocked DNA replication, can generate double-strand breaks (DSBs) in DNA. To counteract DNA damage, cells engage in DNA repair to preserve genetic integrity and ensure cell survival as failure to repair DSBs has serious health complications like increased risk of cancer. DSBs are repaired by two mechanisms called non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) and homologous recombination (HR). NHEJ is the predominant DNA repair mechanism in human somatic cells and is ...

Fuel cells offer a promising solution for clean energy with advantages over traditional electric power systems, including extended driving range and higher energy density. Despite these benefits, the high costs and durability concerns associated with fuel cell stacks have limited their commercialization. The durability of membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs), a key component of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), is particularly affected by the frame sealing structure, which is often overlooked in research. The study, conducted by Tiankuo Chu ...

An international group of researchers has developed a novel approach that enhances the efficiency of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), a key process in renewable energy technologies. By introducing rare earth single atoms into manganese oxide (MnO2), the group successfully modulated oxygen electronic states, leading to unprecedented improvements in OER performance. Their findings were published in the journal Nano Energy on June 10, 2024. Transition-metal-based oxides have been widely explored for their potential as active OER catalysts. However, the capacity of these catalysts is hindered by the adsorbate evolution mechanism, which ...