New UC Davis research shows that men with an FMR1 premutation who experienced reduced executive function were at higher likelihood of developing fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS). FXTAS is a progressive genetic condition that causes movement issues and cognitive decline. These findings, published in the journal Movement Disorders, could help clinicians determine which premutation carriers will eventually develop FXTAS. “There's converging evidence that the premutation is affecting certain circuits in the brain ...

Human activity, from burning fossil fuels and fireplaces to the contaminated dust produced by mining, alters Earth’s atmosphere in countless ways. Records of these impacts over time are preserved in everlasting polar ice that serves as a sort of time capsule, allowing scientists and historians to link Earth’s history with that of human societies. In a new study, ice cores from Antartica show that lead and other toxic heavy metals linked to mining activities polluted the Southern Hemisphere as early as the 13th century.  “Seeing evidence that early Andean ...

    Images     An insight into preventing perovskite semiconductors from degrading quickly, discovered at the University of Michigan, could help enable solar cells estimated to be two to four times cheaper than today's thin-film solar panels.    Perovskites may also be combined with the silicon-based semiconductors that are prevalent in today's solar panels to create "tandem" solar cells that could surpass the maximum theoretical efficiency of silicon solar cells.   "Silicon solar cells are great because they are very efficient and can last for a very long time, but the high efficiency comes with a high cost," ...

Sharks have persisted as powerful ocean predators for more than 400 million years. They survived five mass extinctions, diversifying into an amazing variety of forms and lifestyles. But this ancient lineage is now among the world's most threatened species groups due to overexploitation in poorly regulated fisheries and the proliferation of wasteful finning practices. Governments around the world have introduced a host of regulations aimed at reducing shark catch and finning, the latter of which typically sees valuable shark fins retained for sale while carcasses are discarded at sea. But until ...

A dense system of pre-Hispanic urban centers, characterized by constructed platforms and plazas and connected by large, straight roads, has been discovered in the upper Amazon, according to a new study. The research, based on more than 20 years of interdisciplinary research, suggests that this original 2500-year-old society constitutes the earliest and largest low-density agrarian urbanism documented in the Amazon thus far. Such extensive early development in the Upper Amazon resembles similar Maya urban systems in Central America. ...

Clinical prediction models for schizophrenia treatment outcomes that work well within the trials from which they were developed fail to generalize to future trials, according to a new study. “The findings not only highlight the necessity for more stringent methodological standards for machine learning approaches but also require reexamination of the practical challenges that precision medicine is facing,” writes Frederike Petzschner in a related Perspective. Despite receiving the same treatments for the same afflictions, some patients get better while others show no improvement. Precision medicine approaches seek to address this problem by providing tailored treatments for individual ...

Despite widespread legislation and fishing regulations aimed at reducing wasteful shark finning practices, global shark fishing mortality is still on the rise, researchers report. The findings suggest that improved regulations are needed to reverse the continued overexploitation of these species. Over the last several decades, sharks have been increasingly recognized as some of the planet’s most threatened wildlife. Increasing shark mortality has been driven in part by overfishing – large numbers of sharks are often captured as bycatch in tuna ...

A comprehensive analysis of tree species’ conservation statuses across Atlantic Forest trees reveals high extinction risks. According to the report, roughly two-thirds of the 4950 tree species living in this biodiversity hotspot are threatened with extinction. This includes 82% of endemic species, which have quite limited geographic ranges. Based on these findings, the authors suggest that the conservation status of tropical forests worldwide may be worse than previously believed. Conservation efforts and decisions often ...

With human retinas grown in a petri dish, researchers discovered how an offshoot of vitamin A generates the specialized cells that enable people to see millions of colors, an ability that dogs, cats, and other mammals do not possess. “These retinal organoids allowed us for the first time to study this very human-specific trait,” said author Robert Johnston, an associate professor of biology. “It’s a huge question about what makes us human, what makes us different.” The findings, published in PLOS Biology, increase understanding of color ...

Thuwal, Saudi Arabia, Month Day, Year – Scientists at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) have unveiled a roadmap for bringing perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells to market, paving the way for a future powered by abundant, inexpensive clean energy in Saudi Arabia and the world.   The authors of the article, published in esteemed journal Science, include Prof. Stefaan De Wolf and his research team at the KAUST Solar Center.  The team is working on improving solar efficiency to meet Saudi Arabia’ solar targets.  Perovskite/silicon tandem technology combines the strengths of two materials – perovskite's efficient ...

New Haven, Conn. — The quest for personalized medicine, a medical approach in which practitioners use a patient’s unique genetic profile to tailor individual treatment, has emerged as a critical goal in the health care sector. But a new Yale-led study shows that the mathematical models currently available to predict treatments have limited effectiveness. In an analysis of clinical trials for multiple schizophrenia treatments, the researchers found that the mathematical algorithms were able to predict patient outcomes within the specific ...

When light goes through a material, it often behaves in unpredictable ways. This phenomenon is the subject of an entire field of study called “nonlinear optics”, which is now integral to technological and scientific advances from laser development and optical frequency metrology, to gravitational wave astronomy and quantum information science. In addition, recent years have seen nonlinear optics applied in optical signal processing, telecommunications, sensing, spectroscopy, light detection and ranging. All these applications involve the miniaturization of devices ...

Australia is known for its wonderous and unique wildlife. But, just like the rest of the world, Australia is expected to get even hotter because of climate change. This could spell disaster for many of the marsupials that call the drier regions of the country home as it may get too hot for them to handle. To make things even more difficult, many of these marsupials are endangered thanks to habitat loss and introduced species such as domestic cats and red foxes. Therefore, finding a way to study these animals without disturbing them is critical to ensure their survival. This realisation led Christine Cooper (Curtin University, ...

Embargoed for release until 1:00 p.m. ET on Thursday 11 January 2024  Annals of Internal Medicine Tip Sheet  @Annalsofim  Below please find a summary for new article that will be published in of Annals of Internal Medicine. The summary is not intended to substitute for the full articles as a source of information. This information is under strict embargo and by taking it into possession, media representatives are committing to the terms of the embargo not only on their own behalf, but also on behalf of the organization they represent.      -------------------------------------------------   ACIP ...

Curtin University research using thermal imaging of numbats in Western Australia has found that during hot weather the endangered animals are limited to as little as ten minutes of activity in the sun before they overheat to a body temperature of greater than 40°C. Lead author Dr Christine Cooper, from Curtin’s School of Molecular and Life Sciences, said despite using techniques such as raising or flattening their fur to regulate body temperature, numbats were prone to overheating, which was an important consideration for future conservation efforts, particularly given our warming climate. “Active only during ...

In an editorial in the Annals of Internal Medicine, CUNY SPH Distinguished Lecturer Scott Ratzan, Senior Scholar Ken Rabin, and colleagues call for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to “raise its persuasive communications game” on adult immunization to clinicians and the public. They argue that disseminating scientific information alone will not suffice in the present environment of disinformation and low trust in public health. The editorial is in response to the CDC’s ...

JMIR Publications is pleased to announce that JMIR Biomedical Engineering has passed the Scientific Quality Review by the US National Library of Medicine (NLM) for PubMed Central (PMC). This decision reflects the scientific and editorial quality of the journal. All articles published from 2021 onward will be found on PMC and PubMed after their technical evaluation.  Launched in 2016, JMIR Biomedical Engineering is a sister journal of Journal of Medical Internet Research (the leading open-access journal in health informatics), focused on the application of engineering principles, ...

At the center of most large galaxies lives a supermassive black hole (SMBH). The Milky Way has Sagittarius A*, a mostly dormant SMBH whose mass is around 4.3 million times that of the sun. But if you look deeper into the universe, there are vastly larger SMBHs with masses that can reach up to tens of billions of times the mass of our sun. Black holes grow in mass by gravitationally consuming objects in their near vicinity, including stars. It’s a catastrophic and destructive end for stars unlucky enough to be swallowed by SMBHs, but fortunate for scientists who now have an opportunity to probe otherwise-dormant centers of galaxies. TDEs Light the Way As the name ...

A new study sheds light on how autophagy, the body’s process for removing damaged cell parts, when impaired, can play a role in causing heart failure. The research team led by Dr. E. Dale Abel, chair of the Department of Medicine at UCLA and Dr. Quanjiang Zhang, adjunct assistant professor of medicine at UCLA, identified a signaling pathway that links autophagy to the control of cellular levels of a key coenzyme known as NAD+, which is found in all living cells and is central to how our metabolism works. Researchers say these findings may have implications ...

Phytoplankton or microalgae found in the ocean are often known to produce a sulfur-containing chemical called dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP). This organic molecule breaks down to release a strong but sweet-smelling gas called dimethyl sulfide (DMS), which plays a major role in the formation of cloud condensation nuclei and is also associated with the smell of the sea. More importantly, DMSP acts as an osmolyte and thus protects the phytoplankton against the osmotic pressure created by saline water.   Scientists have, however, ...

A team of astronomers including those from the University of Tokyo created the first-ever map of magnetic field structures within a spiral arm of our Milky Way galaxy. Previous studies on galactic magnetic fields only gave a very general picture, but the new study reveals that magnetic fields in the spiral arms of our galaxy break away from this general picture significantly and are tilted away from the galactic average by a high degree. The findings suggest magnetic fields strongly impact star-forming regions which means they played a part in the creation of our own solar system. It might come as a surprise to ...

Researchers have identified a 3D fragment of fossilized skin that is at least 21 million years than previously described skin fossils. The skin, which belonged to an early species of Paleozoic reptile, has a pebbled surface and most closely resembles crocodile skin. It’s the oldest example of preserved epidermis, the outermost layer of skin in terrestrial reptiles, birds, and mammals, which was an important evolutionary adaptation in the transition to life on land. The fossil is described on January 11 in the journal Current Biology along with several other specimens that were collected from the Richards Spur ...

The Organoid group at the Hubrecht Institute produced the first organoid model of the human conjunctiva. These organoids mimic the function of the actual human conjunctiva, a tissue involved in tear production. Using their new model, the researchers discovered a new cell type in this tissue: tuft cells. The tuft cells become more abundant under allergy-like conditions and are therefore likely to play a role in allergies. The organoid model can now be used to test drugs for several diseases affecting the conjunctiva. The study will be published in Cell Stem Cell on 11 January 2024. Our eyes produce tears to protect themselves from injuries and ...

A new species of tyrannosaur from southern North America that may the closest known relative of Tyrannosaurus rex is described in a study published in Scientific Reports. Sebastian Dalman and colleagues identified the new species — which they have named Tyrannosaurus mcraeensis — by examining a fossilised partial skull, which was previously discovered in the Hall Lake Formation, New Mexico, USA. Although these remains were initially assigned to T. rex and are comparable in size to those of T. rex (which was up to 12 metres long), the authors propose that they belong to a new species due ...

MIAMI, FLORIDA (EMBARGOED UNTIL JAN. 11, 2024, at 11 AM EST) – Certain cancers are more difficult to treat because they contain cells that are highly skilled at evading drugs or our immune systems by disguising themselves as healthy cells. Glioblastoma, for example, an incurable brain cancer, is characterized by cells that can mimic human neurons, even growing axons and making active connections with healthy brain neurons. This cancer is usually deadly – average survival time is just over one year from diagnosis ...