BOSTON - A new multi-center study led by doctors at Boston Medical Center and Columbia University found that having a genetic variant in the prealbumin gene alone is not sufficient for diagnosis of transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy in older Black patients. Published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, researchers discovered that a blood test that measures the transthyretin or prealbumin protein might also be helpful in diagnosing transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy and could be used to trigger more definitive imaging testing. Transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR‐CM) is an underdiagnosed cause of congestive heart failure among patients 60+ years of age. ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- When breast cancer is diagnosed in the earliest stages, the survival rate is nearly 100 percent. However, for tumors detected in later stages, that rate drops to around 25 percent. In hopes of improving the overall survival rate for breast cancer patients, MIT researchers have designed a wearable ultrasound device that could allow people to detect tumors when they are still in early stages. In particular, it could be valuable for patients at high risk of developing breast cancer in between ...

(Memphis, Tenn.—July 28, 2023) The influenza (flu) virus is constantly undergoing a process of evolution and adaptation through acquiring new mutations. Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have added a new layer of understanding to explain why and how flu viruses change. The “survival of the accessible” model provides a complementary view to the more widely recognized “survival of the fittest” way of evolving. The work was published today in Science Advances.     Viruses undergo a rapid evolutionary flux due to constant genetic mutations. This rapid flux is why people get a flu shot ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Four decades of conservation spending totaling more than $9 billion in inflation-adjusted tax dollars has failed to improve stocks of wild salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River Basin, according to Oregon State University research. The study led by William Jaeger of the OSU College of Agricultural Sciences is based on an analysis of 50 years of data suggesting that while hatchery-reared salmon numbers have increased, there is no evidence of a net increase in wild, naturally spawning salmon and steelhead.  Findings were published today in PLOS One. Jaeger, a professor of applied economics, notes that ...

ITHACA, N.Y. - When considering ways to sustainably generate environmentally friendly products, bacteria might not immediately spring to mind. However, in recent years scientists have created microbe-semiconductor biohybrids that merge the biosynthetic power of living systems with the ability of semiconductors to harvest light. These microorganisms use solar energy to convert carbon dioxide into value-added chemical products, such as bioplastics and biofuels. But how that energy transport occurs in such a tiny, complex ...

Raman spectroscopy — a chemical analysis method that shines monochromatic light onto a sample and records the scattered light that emerges — has caused frustration among biomedical researchers for more than half a century. Due to the heat generated by the light, live proteins are nearly destroyed during the optical measurements, leading to diminishing and non-reproducible results. As of recently, however, those frustrations may now be a thing of the past. A group of researchers with the Institute for Quantum Sciences and Engineering at Texas A&M ...

URBANA, Ill. – Common beans are important food sources with high nutritional content. Bean seeds also contain phenolic compounds, which have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that promote health. A study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and CIATEJ in Guadalajara, Mexico, explored the composition of seed coat extracts from black and pinto bean varieties unique to the Chiapas region of Southern Mexico. “These beans are preserved among Mayan communities and grown by indigenous farmers. They are heirlooms from past generations and are important because of their cultural significance and contribution to biodiversity,” explained ...

A gene that plays a key role in regulating how bodies change across the 24-hour day also influences memory formation, allowing mice to consolidate memories better during the day than at night. Researchers at Penn State tested the memory of mice during the day and at night, then identified genes whose activity fluctuated in a memory-related region of the brain in parallel with memory performance. Experiments showed that the gene, Period 1, which is known to be involved in the body’s circadian clock, is crucial for improved daytime memory performance. The research demonstrates a link between the circadian system and memory formation ...

Research from Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago found that direct injection of neonatal mesenchymal stem cells, derived from heart tissue discarded during surgery, reduces intestinal inflammation and promotes wound healing in a mouse model of Crohn’s disease-like ileitis, an illness marked by chronic intestinal inflammation and progressive tissue damage. The study, published in the journal Advanced Therapeutics, offers a promising new and alternative treatment approach that avoids the pitfalls of current Crohn’s disease medications, including diminishing effectiveness, ...

Cambridge, MA – China, India, Indonesia, Uganda, and Vietnam are projected to be among the fastest-growing economies for the coming decade, according to researchers at the Growth Lab at Harvard University. The new growth projections presented in The Atlas of Economic Complexity include the first detailed look at 2021 trade data, which reveal continued disruptions from the uneven economic recovery to the global pandemic. China is expected to be the fastest-growing economy per capita, although its growth rate is smaller than gains seen over the past decade. Growth over the coming decade is projected to take off in three growth poles, East Asia, Eastern ...

To study play behaviors in animals, scientists must be able to authentically simulate play-conducive environments in the laboratory. Animals like rats are less inclined to play if they are anxious or restrained, and there is minimal data on the brain activity of rats that are free to play. After getting rats comfortable with a human playmate, tickling them under controlled conditions, then measuring the rats’ squeaks and brain activity, a research team reports on July 27 in the journal Neuron that a structure in rat brains called the periaqueductal gray is essential for play and laughter. “We know that vocalizations such as laughter are very ...

Scientists have pinpointed a genetic cause for virgin birth for the first time, and once switched on the ability is passed down through generations of females. For the first time, scientists have managed to induce virgin birth in an animal that usually reproduces sexually: the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Once induced in this fruit fly, this ability is passed on through the generations: the offspring can reproduce either sexually if there are males around, or by virgin birth if there aren’t. For most animals, reproduction is sexual - it involves a female’s egg being fertilised by a male’s sperm. ...

Neurons are the cells that constitute neural circuits and use chemicals and electricity to receive and send messages that allow the body to do everything, including thinking, sensing, moving, and more. Neurons have a long fiber called an axon that sends information to the subsequent neurons. Information from axons is received by branch-like structures that fan out from the cell body, called dendrites. Dendritic refinement is an important part of early postnatal brain development during which dendrites are tailored to make specific connections with appropriate axons. In a recently published paper, researchers present evidence showing how a mechanism within the neurons of a rodent involving ...

Kyoto, Japan -- Having control over how a dish is cooked is always a good idea. Taking a hint from the kitchen, scientists appear to have discovered a way to produce a true structure of the rare but naturally-occurring anti-HIV compound Lancilactone C from start to finish. Its non-cytotoxicity in mammals could make this triterpenoid an ideal candidate for treating AIDS if its biological activity were clear -- and if only it were abundant in nature. Now, a research group at Kyoto University has succeeded in ...

The research group of YANG Liangbao at the Institute of Health and Medical Technology, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS), Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) has recently developed a surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERMS) method to automatically capture target molecules in AgNP/MoS2 nano-pockets, which enables highly sensitive and long-duration dynamic detection of some chemical reaction processes. The results were published in Analytical Chemistry and selected as the front cover. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is a kind of molecular spectroscopy with fast, highly sensitive, ...

Now that the world has experienced its hottest day in history, it is more urgent than ever for natural and social scientists to work together to address the climate crisis and keep global temperature increases below 2°C. To this end, an international group of esteemed researchers recently published an innovative research paper that highlights the importance of integrating knowledge from natural and social sciences to inform about effective climate change policies and practice. They argue that the concept of tipping points can serve as a bridge ...

Recently, Prof. JIANG Changlong and his research team at the Institute of Solid State Physics, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS) of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), developed and synthesized two highly effective ratiometric fluorescence nanoprobes. These nanoprobes, when combined with the color recognition capabilities of smartphones, enabled the visual and quantitative detection of pesticides in food and environmental water. The research has been published in Chemical Engineering Journal and ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. Carbamate compounds ...

Scientists have found a way to use nanotechnology to create a 3D ‘scaffold’ to grow cells from the retina –paving the way for potential new ways of treating a common cause of blindness.    Researchers, led by Professor Barbara Pierscionek from Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), have been working on a way to successfully grow retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells  that stay healthy and viable for up to 150 days. RPE cells sit just outside the neural part of the retina and, when damaged, can cause vision to deteriorate.    It ...

This review is written by Dr. Weixing Song from the Department of Chemistry, Capital Normal University. The paper reviewed the toughness and conductive network of existing hydrogel sensors. It emphasized the development status of various hydrogel sensors and highlighted strategies to enhance their mechanical and electrical performance. The findings are valuable for designing components and structures of high-performance wearable hydrogel sensors. The increasing demand for healthcare IoT devices drives the development of wearable electronics. Electronic skins possess softness, stretchability, and self-healing ...

New Alzheimer’s research from UVA Health suggests that enhanced light sensitivity may contribute to “sundowning” – the worsening of symptoms late in the day – and spur sleep disruptions thought to contribute to the disease’s progression.  The new insights into the disruptions of the biological clock seen in Alzheimer’s could have important potential both for the development of treatments and for symptom management, the researchers say. For example, caregivers often struggle with the erratic sleep patterns caused by Alzheimer’s ...

Introduced in 2004, high-entropy alloys (HEAs) are alloys composed of multiple principal elements in nearly equiatomic proportions. Their unique chemical composition results in a high degree of chemical disorder, i.e. entropy, and produces remarkable properties such as high strength, ductility, and strong wear-and-tear resistance even at high temperatures. Scientists have dedicated a significant amount of attention to developing novel HEAs to help improve the performance of various electrocatalyst materials. Because they are made up of differing constituent elements, HEAs' atomic-level surface designs can be complex. But unravelling this complexity is crucial, since the surface ...

San Diego, CA - The NEC Society and Cincinnati Children’s have teamed up to present the NEC Symposium, the only conference in North America dedicated to understanding and preventing necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). NEC is a devastating intestinal disease that affects medically fragile infants in their first weeks and months of life. Every year in the United States, thousands of babies are diagnosed with NEC and at least one baby dies from NEC every day. The NEC Symposium will transform the NEC Research ...

North Carolina State University researchers recently found that a program designed to get Girl Scouts involved in citizen science – programs where members of the public can participate in real scientific research – not only taught girls about the process of science, but also motivated them to tackle scientific or environmental problems in their communities. The findings demonstrate the impacts citizen science projects can have on their participants and offer lessons for other organizations on how to structure STEM-focused learning opportunities using citizen science. “We’ve found that after participating ...

Six structures exhibited by the rotating sodium ion pump were reconstructed in 3D using cryo-electron microscopy. This analysis revealed that (1) the rotor exhibits non-uniform rotation behavior due to partial structural interference with the stator component, and (2) the rotor interacts with one edge of the large ion transport ring causing it to rotate. The study showed a unique molecular mechanism of the rotary sodium ion pump.   The results will be published on July 28 in Communications Biology.   “In previous single-molecule imaging ...

Resilient corals, often referred to as ‘super corals’, have recently been seen as potential saviours in the face of climate change and its detrimental effects on coral reefs. Now, a team of scientists from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and the University of Haifa, Israel is working to better understand these corals in order to develop strategies to protect fragile ecosystems such as the Great Barrier Reef. UTS scientist Dr Emma Camp, co-lead researcher on the study recently published in the journal Nature Communications, says the findings have significant implications ...