HOUSTON – (Jan. 14, 2025) – To describe how matter works at infinitesimal scales, researchers designate collective behaviors with single concepts ⎯ like calling a group of birds flying in sync a “flock” or “murmuration.” Known as quasiparticles, the phenomena these concepts refer to could be the key to next-generation technologies. In a recent study published in Science Advances, a team of researchers led by Shengxi Huang, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and materials science and nanoengineering at Rice, describe how one such type of quasiparticle ⎯ polarons ⎯ behaves in tellurene, a nanomaterial first synthesized ...

Two new compounds may be able to treat retinitis pigmentosa, a group of inherited eye diseases that cause blindness. The compounds, described in a study published January 14th in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Beata Jastrzebska from Case Western Reserve University, US, and colleagues, were identified using a virtual screening approach. In retinitis pigmentosa, the retina protein rhodopsin is often misfolded due to genetic mutations, causing retinal cells to die off and leading to progressive blindness. Small molecules to correct rhodopsin folding are urgently needed to treat the estimated 100,000 ...

Following a 2005 policy, episiotomy rates have reduced in France without an overall increase in anal sphincter injuries during labor, with more research needed to confirm the safest rate of episiotomies and the risks to specific subgroups   In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available paper in PLOS Medicine: http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1004501 Article title: Episiotomies and obstetric anal sphincter injuries following a restrictive episiotomy policy in France: An analysis of the 2010, 2016, and 2021 National Perinatal Surveys Author countries: France, Switzerland Funding: ...

Researchers find that rats create neurological maps of places to avoid after experiencing a threat and think about these locations when exhibiting worry-related behaviors. These findings—which A. David Redish of the University of Minnesota, US, and colleagues presented in the open-access journal PLOS Biology on January 14th—may provide insight into the neuroscience of common psychological conditions like anxiety. There are many theories as to why people experience anxiety. One is that anxiety is associated with a psychological phenomenon called “approach-avoidance conflict,” where ...

ROCKVILLE, MD—January 14, 2025—The American Association for Anatomy (AAA) is thrilled to announce the recipients of their 2025 Spring Awards. Each awardee will be formally recognized at the Anatomy Connected 2025 Closing Awards Ceremony on March 31, in Portland, Oregon. The Spring Awards include the three highest distinctions awarded by AAA: the Henry Gray Scientific Award, the A.J. Ladman Exemplary Service Award, and the Henry Gray Distinguished Educator Award. The winners of these awards, along with the others on this list, are gathered through a nomination process conducted by their peers ...

Positive feedback is helpful for learning, but usually, our greatest lessons actually come from failure— and a new project at the University of Pittsburgh aims to uncover the neural mechanisms behind this phenomenon. Helen Schwerdt, assistant professor of bioengineering at Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering, received a five-year, $2.5 million R01 award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study dopamine’s role in learning. Schwerdt’s team develops novel multimodal neural interfaces ...

Automatic speech recognition (ASR) has made incredible advances in the past few years, especially for widely spoken languages such as English. Prior to 2020, it was typically assumed that human abilities for speech recognition far exceeded automatic systems, yet some current systems have started to match human performance. The goal in developing ASR systems has always been to lower the error rate, regardless of how people perform in the same environment. After all, not even people will recognize speech with 100% accuracy in a noisy environment. In a new study, UZH computational linguistics specialist Eleanor Chodroff and a fellow researcher from Cambridge ...

Water droplets under freezing conditions do not spontaneously detach from surfaces as they do at room temperature due to stronger droplet-surface interaction and lack of an energy transformation pathway. Since accumulated droplets or ice have to be removed manually or with mechanical equipment, which is costly and inefficient, preventing droplet accretion on surfaces is both scientifically intriguing and practically important. Researchers at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) have invented a ground-breaking self-powered mechanism of freezing droplet ejection that allows droplets to ...

More than three-quarters of older adults with dementia may be unaware of their diagnosis, a University of Michigan study finds. That number is even higher — up to 85% — among Mexican Americans, who make up the largest share of the U.S. Hispanic and Latino population. Fewer than 7% of all study participants, who live in Nueces County, Texas and were classified as having probable dementia based on a cognitive assessment, did not have a primary care provider. The results are published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. “Dementia diagnosis unawareness is a public health issue that must be addressed,” ...

A new study has lifted the lid on five species of root-lesion nematodes living in maize crops across New Zealand - and suggested the existence of a hitherto-unsuspected cryptic species. The article, ‘Molecular characterization of root-lesion nematode, (Pratylenchus spp.) and their prevalence in New Zealand maize fields’, is published in Letters in Applied Microbiology, an Applied Microbiology International publication. Identifying these nematodes and understanding their distribution will enable targeted pest management strategies, helping to protect crop yields and maintain agricultural ...

Pine cones as a model: Researchers at the universities of Stuttgart and Freiburg have developed a new, energy-autonomous facade system that adapts passively to the weather. The journal Nature Communications has published the research results. "Most attempts at weather responsiveness in architectural facades rely heavily on elaborate technical devices. Our research explores how we can harness the responsiveness of the material itself through advanced computational design and additive manufacturing," says Professor Achim Menges, head of the Institute for Computational Design and Construction ...

Researchers uncover what drives aggressive bone cancer Large-scale analysis of patient cohorts reveals a novel mechanism driving osteosarcoma, an aggressive paediatric bone cancer. The researchers show that this mechanism occurs in approximately 50% of high-grade osteosarcoma cases. This research also provides insights to help predict osteosarcoma patient outcomes which can help improve the management of this disease. Osteosarcoma is a type of aggressive bone cancer that most commonly affects children and young adults between the ages of 10 and 20, during times ...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 14, 2025 – Plant-based dairy products are a great alternative for people who avoid animal products, but manufacturers have a hard time replicating the creamy, cheesy qualities that make dairy so indulgent. Scientists from the University of Guelph in Ontario and Canadian Light Source Inc. in Saskatchewan are working to produce plant-based cheese with all the characteristics of real cheese, but with better health benefits. In Physics of Fluids, by AIP Publishing, researchers studied multiple types of plant-based proteins and how they interact with ...

About The Study: The findings of this study suggest that a brief, digital mindfulness-based program is an easily accessible and scalable method for reducing perceptions of stress. Future work should seek to clarify mechanisms by which such interventions contribute to improvements in work-specific well-being.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Aric A. Prather, PhD, email aric.prather@ucsf.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.54435) Editor’s Note: Please see ...

About The Study: In this randomized clinical trial, implementation of the electronic patient-reported outcome (ePRO) monitoring system significantly enhanced patient-physician communication and the clarity of physicians’ explanations about treatment. These findings suggest that the ePRO monitoring system is capable of supporting patient-centered cardiovascular care.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Yoshinori Katsumata, MD, PhD, email goodcentury21@keio.jp. To ...

About The Study: In this survey study of U.S. adults, a substantial proportion were aware of and had already experimented with synthetic cooling agent menthol-mimicking cigarettes. These products may serve as a substitute for menthol cigarettes and reduce the public health benefits of a menthol cigarette ban in promoting smoking cessation.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Kelvin Choi, PhD, email kelvin.choi@nih.gov. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.54608) Editor’s ...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 14, 2025 – Most microscopes can only illuminate objects down to a certain size before tiny features blur together. This blurring is known as the diffraction limit of light. Super-resolution imaging techniques, however, can distinguish between tiny biomolecular features, especially when thermal fluctuations are minimized. Using advanced imaging techniques and precise microfluidics control to stretch out curly DNA into a straight line, research published this week in AIP Advances, from AIP Publishing, demonstrates ...

As the privatized form of Medicare, Medicare Advantage plans advertise dental, vision, and hearing benefits not covered by traditional Medicare, but a recent analysis found that Medicare Advantage beneficiaries do not typically receive more of these supplemental services than traditional Medicare beneficiaries. Additionally, out-of-pocket spending was similar for most supplemental services. The research led by a team from Mass General Brigham is published in JAMA Network Open.   “Medicare Advantage plans receive more money per beneficiary than traditional Medicare plans, but our findings add to the evidence that this increased cost is not justified,” said first author Christopher ...

"Over the past three years, global project announcements for green hydrogen have almost tripled," says PIK researcher and lead author Adrian Odenweller. "However, only seven percent of the production capacity originally announced for 2023 has been completed on time during this period." According to the study, the recent problems with the market ramp-up of green hydrogen can be attributed to increased costs, a lack of willingness to pay on the demand side and uncertainties about future subsidies and regulation. "Enormous additional subsidies of around one trillion US dollars would be required to realise all announced hydrogen projects by 2030," explains Falko ...

New genetic risk factors for depression have been identified across all major global populations for the first time, allowing scientists to predict risk of depression regardless of ethnicity. The world’s largest and most diverse genetic study ever into major depression has revealed nearly 300 previously unknown genetic links to the condition, experts say. 100 of the newly discovered genetic variations – small differences in the DNA sequence that makes up a gene – were identified due to the inclusion of people of African, East Asian, Hispanic and South Asian descent, the study found. Previous research into the genetics ...

If the development of blood vessels in the placenta is impaired, fetal growth retardation may result. Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the Mannheim Medical Faculty of Heidelberg University discovered that the correct development of functioning blood vessels in the mouse placenta is controlled epigenetically: One of the enzymes that modify gene activity using methyl groups is responsible. The researchers also observed a connection with a deficiency of this “methyltransferase” in a well-known pregnancy complication. In all female mammals, including humans, the growing fetus in the uterus is supplied via the placenta. Through this temporary ...

With antibiotic resistance a growing problem, University of Virginia School of Medicine researchers have developed cutting-edge computer models that could give the disease-fighting drugs a laser-like precision to target only specific bacteria in specific parts of the body. As it stands, antibiotics kill bacteria indiscriminately. Because the drugs are used so widely, increasing numbers of dangerous bugs are growing resistant, threatening one of modern medicine’s most important weapons against disease.  UVA’s new approach, on the other hand, would dramatically limit how ...

Cigarette smoking is widespread and deadly, yet our understanding of how cigarette smoke actually causes serious respiratory illnesses is incomplete, which has severely hampered the development of effective treatments. Today (TBC) Australian researchers reveal how multiple chemicals found in cigarette smoke and e-cigarettes alter the function of a key type of immune cell found in the lungs.   The study, published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM), suggests that these alterations make cigarette smokers, ...

Miami (January 14, 2025) – People with COPD experience more falls and related injuries requiring medical care when using common fall-risk increasing drugs, according to a new study. The study is published in the November 2024 issue of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases: Journal of the COPD Foundation, a peer-reviewed, open-access journal.   Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an inflammatory lung disease, comprising several conditions, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Symptoms include breathlessness, fatigue and chronic cough. The disease affects more than 30 million Americans and is the fourth leading ...

UNSW engineers have demonstrated a well-known quantum thought experiment in the real world. Their findings deliver a new and more robust way to perform quantum computations – and they have important implications for error correction, one of the biggest obstacles standing between them and a working quantum computer. Quantum mechanics has puzzled scientists and philosophers for more than a century. One of the most famous quantum thought experiments is that of the “Schrödinger’s cat” – a cat whose life or death depends on the decay of a radioactive atom. According to quantum mechanics, unless the atom is directly observed, ...