Using electrochemistry to separate different particles within a solution (also known as electrochemical separation) is an energy-efficient strategy for environmental and water remediation: the process of purifying contaminated water. But while electrochemistry uses less energy than other, similar methods, the electric energy is largely derived from nonrenewable sources like fossil fuels. Chemists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have demonstrated that water remediation can be powered in part — and ...

Millions of deaths and ongoing illnesses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have prompted scientists to seek new ways of understanding how viruses so skillfully enter and reprogram human cells. Urgent innovations leading to the development of new therapies are needed since virologists predict that future deadly viruses and pandemics may again emerge from the coronavirus family. One approach to developing new treatments for such coronaviruses, including the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19, is to block the mechanisms by which the virus reprograms our cells and forces them to produce more viral particles. But studies have identified nearly 1,000 human proteins ...

The worms that cause schistosomiasis (Schistosoma mansoni) are unusual in several ways, especially the fact that male and female adults must stay paired together throughout their lives for reproduction to be successful. Females may produce as many as 3,000 eggs per day. Approximately half reach the host’s gut or bladder. The rest are swept away via the blood to the liver and spleen, where they cause severe inflammation and liver cirrhosis, the main cause of mortality. Researchers at Butantan Institute ...

Researchers have identified a number of chokepoints in U.S. agricultural and food supply chains through a study that improves our understanding of agri-food supply chain security and may aid policies aimed at enhancing its resilience. The work is presented in a paper published in the July 20, 2023, issue of the journal Nature Food, “Structural chokepoints determine the resilience of agri-food supply chains in the United States,” by authors including CEE Associate Professor Megan Konar and CEE Ph.D. student Deniz Berfin Karakoc.    The agricultural and food ...

The Spallation Neutron Source at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory set a world record when its particle accelerator beam operating power reached 1.7 megawatts, substantially improving on the facility’s original design capability. The accelerator’s higher power provides more neutrons for researchers who use the facility to study and improve a wide range of materials for more efficient solar panels, longer–lasting batteries and stronger, lighter materials for transportation. The achievement marks a new operational milestone for ...

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded five projects for research to better understand Post-treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS), which is a collection of symptoms, such as pain, fatigue, and difficulty thinking or “brain fog,” which linger following standard treatment for Lyme disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 476,000 people in the United States are infected with Lyme disease each year. Between 10 and 20% of ...

WASHINGTON—The Endocrine Society opposes severe funding cuts proposed in the House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) funding bill that would put life-saving endocrine research, disease prevention, and treatment at risk. The House Appropriations Committee is planning to mark up the Labor-HHS funding bill before Congress leaves for its August recess. The proposed funding levels in the Labor-HHS bill would harm America’s public health infrastructure and restrict research investments needed to develop next-generation cures. Cutting funding will reduce or eliminate services ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. — In a pilot study of 165 people, Mayo Clinic researchers looked at the effectiveness of two different approaches to weight loss: a standard lifestyle intervention and individualized therapy. The standard lifestyle intervention included a reduced diet, exercise and behavior therapy. The individualized approach was based on phenotypes and included different interventions depending on the person's predominant underlying cause of obesity. A diet based on phenotypes considers a person's ...

In just three years, millions of people across Michigan’s two huge peninsulas have taken advantage of their newfound ability to connect with their doctors, nurses and therapists through a computer or phone, a new report shows. Between 11% and 17% of all appointments to evaluate symptoms or discuss treatment now take place virtually, depending on the type of insurance, the analysis shows. That’s up from less than 1% of such visits before the COVID-19 pandemic suddenly spurred temporary flexibility in health insurance rules for telehealth, according to the report by a team from the University of Michigan Institute for Healthcare ...

The secret to protecting your memory may be a staple of a bodybuilder’s diet. RUSH researchers recently discovered that a muscle-building supplement called beta-hydroxy beta-methylbutyrate, also called HMB, may help protect memory, reduce plaques and ultimately help prevent the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. HMB is not a prescription drug or a steroid, but an over-the-counter supplement that is available in sports and fitness stores. Bodybuilders regularly use HMB to increase exercise-induced gains in muscle size and strength while improving exercise performance. HMB is considered safe even after long-term ...

Katy Börner’s team from the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering’s Cyberinfrastructure for Network Science Center has made significant contributions to constructing a Human Reference Atlas and has led or co-authored six research articles in a just-released HuBMAP package in Nature. Börner, Victor H. Yngve distinguished professor of engineering and information science, and CNS director, leads one of the two mapping components within the NIH-funded Human BioMolecular Atlas Program. Her team includes ...

NORMAN, OKLA. – An article describing research conducted by John Peters, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oklahoma, and fellow researchers, has been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.  The article “Structural insights into redox signal transduction mechanisms in the control of nitrogen fixation by the NifLA system” explores the way bacteria regulate the expression of genes related to nitrogen fixation ­– the conversion of nitrogen in the air into ammonia that can help plants grow. “Using small angle X-ray scattering ...

Researchers at a field site in Victoria, Australia are among the first to use fiber optic distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) for high-precision tracking of induced seismicity from a small carbon dioxide (CO2) injection, according to a new study published in Seismological Research Letters. The CO2CRC Otway Project in Victoria is a research test site for the subsurface storage of carbon dioxide, as one possible way to reduce the impacts of climate-warming carbon emissions. However, there is a risk of induced earthquakes after gigatons of carbon dioxide will be injected within the same geologic ...

Can biosurfactants increase microbiological oil degradation in North Sea seawater?  An international research team from the universities of Stuttgart und Tübingen, together with the China West Normal University and the University of Georgia, have been exploring this question and the results have revealed the potential for a more effective and environmentally friendly oil spill response. Oil leaks into the oceans are estimated at approximately 1500 million liters annually worldwide. This leads to globally significant environmental pollution, as oil contains hazardous compounds ...

LA JOLLA (July 21, 2023)—Salk Institute researchers, in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health, have discovered the molecular mechanisms by which the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) becomes resistant to Dolutegravir, one of the most effective, clinically used antiviral drugs for treating HIV. The new study, published July 21, 2023 in Science Advances, reveals how changes to the 3D structures of integrase, an HIV protein, can lead to Dolutegravir resistance and how other compounds may be able to overcome this resistance.  “With HIV, one must think two steps ahead of the virus,” says ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Drawing inspiration from natural sensory systems, an MIT-led team has designed a novel sensor that could detect the same molecules that naturally occurring cell receptors can identify. In work that combines several new technologies, the researchers created a prototype sensor that can detect an immune molecule called CXCL12, down to tens or hundreds of parts per billion. This is an important first step to developing a system that could be used to perform routine screens for hard-to-diagnose cancers or metastatic tumors, or as a highly biomimetic electronic “nose,” ...

Analysing satellite data spanning the past 20 years, the research team based at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge examined how vegetation has been changing along the Pacific coast of Peru and northern Chile. This area is known for its unique and delicate arid and semi-arid environments. The analysis revealed that certain areas experienced positive vegetation growth, known as greening, while others displayed negative trends, referred to as browning. Unsurprisingly, the changes in vegetation are influenced by things like farming and urban development or change in ...

Scientists working on the Dark SRF experiment at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory have demonstrated unprecedented sensitivity in an experimental setup used to search for theorized particles called dark photons. Researchers trapped ordinary, massless photons in devices called superconducting radio frequency cavities to look for the transition of those photons into their hypothesized dark sector counterparts. The experiment has put the world’s best constraint on the dark photon existence in a specific mass range, as ...

Extracellular vesicles, responsible for cell-to-cell communication, might be a driver of fibrosis in systemic sclerosis, according to a recent paper in Arthritis and Rheumatology.  Characterized by stiff and hardening tissue known as fibrosis, systemic sclerosis – also known as scleroderma – can affect the skin as well as other organs. Most research has focused on the pathology and starting point of fibrosis, but researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina are focusing ...

Ricardo Valerdi was selected as head of the Department of Systems and Industrial Engineering after a national search that yielded a highly competitive pool of candidates after serving as interim head for the 2022-2023 academic year. “When I joined SIE 12 years ago, it looked very different,” said Valerdi. “Today we have a new generation of talented and ambitious faculty who are impacting our society’s Grand Challenges in manufacturing, transportation, aerospace ...

BioIVT, a global research partner and biospecimen solutions provider for drug and diagnostic development, today announced that it will highlight the integral role it is playing in liquid biopsy research at the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) Annual Scientific Meeting and Clinical Lab Expo. This conference will be held from July 23-27 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, CA.   “Liquid biopsy research can revolutionize the way we detect, diagnose, and treat diseases. However, several issues need to be resolved before it can reach its full potential. They include adopting ...

Babies are more likely to be born prematurely when either their father or mother has had a psychiatric diagnosis, according to a study conducted by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Karolinska Institutet and published July 20 in the open access journal PLOS Medicine. The research shows, for the first time, that the risk of preterm birth is higher in infants whose father or mother has a psychiatric diagnosis than in those whose parents do not, and higher still when both parents have such diagnoses. Preterm ...

ROCKVILLE, MD—JULY 19, 2023 – As organizations representing a wide range of scientific, engineering, and mathematical disciplines, we will not be deterred by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on race considerations in college and university admissions. America’s inherent strength and economic competitiveness among nations is its domestic and international talent across every race, ethnicity, gender, and geography. To meet current and emerging job demands and retain our research and development leadership globally, we must broaden who participates in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine. Doing so will improve lives, advance our nation’s living standards, ...

“[Machine learning] has the potential to transform early cancer detection in primary care [...]” BUFFALO, NY- July 21, 2023 – A new editorial paper was published in Oncoscience (Volume 10) on June 9, 2023, entitled, “Transforming early cancer detection in primary care: harnessing the power of machine learning.” Cancer remains a significant global health burden, and early detection plays a crucial role in improving patient outcomes. Primary care settings serve as frontline gatekeepers, providing an opportunity for early detection through symptom assessment and ...

Researchers from the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences have conducted a study to assess the impact of environmental factors and microbial communities on the mobilization of arsenic (As). The findings, published in Volume 15 of the journal Environmental Science and Ecotechnology, reveal important insights into the biogeochemical processes involved in As release. The study focused on processes such as desorption, reduction, complexation, and co-precipitation that affect the As behaviour in the environment. The interaction ...