URBANA, Ill. — Meat processing plants in the U.S. have garnered considerable public attention in recent years, often focusing on production and labor issues. The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the vulnerability of large, concentrated plants, as major shutdowns led to reduced output and higher meat prices for consumers. Policy makers have launched initiatives at the state and federal levels to increase meat processing capacity and industry resilience, often favoring small and medium-sized plants. But little research exists to determine what factors make plants more likely to succeed. A new study from the University of ...

Philadelphia, June 13, 2023— Class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC-I) proteins play an essential role in the immune system of all jawed vertebrates. The MHC-I displays peptide fragments of proteins from within the cell on the cell surface, “presenting” them to the immune system, which is constantly scanning the body for foreign or toxic antigens. When foreign peptides are identified, they trigger a cascade that allows cytotoxic T cells to eliminate intruders. This process has been exploited in the development of both vaccines ...

A molecule found in the venomous toadfish Thalassophryne nattereri has proved capable of controlling lung inflammation and could be the basis for a more effective asthma drug. The research was supported by FAPESP and conducted by scientists at Butantan Institute in São Paulo, Brazil. An article describing the results is published in the journal Cells. A welter of fish species live in freshwater, seawater and a mixture of the two, and some of them are venomous. They have spines or stingers connected to venom glands, which ...

Residents in rural counties with limited access to high-speed internet cannot take advantage of increasingly popular online health services. A new study by the University of Cincinnati highlighted disparities in access to digital technology that could widen the gap in access to health care. The study found that socially vulnerable communities in the United States face more barriers to adequate health care, live in areas with fewer health care resources and have less access to high-speed internet. The study was published in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Digital Health. The Biden Administration announced this year it will invest $73 million in outreach ...

We have a good understanding of how a woman’s external features can change during pregnancy, but scientists know surprisingly little about what biological changes occur internally. A new Northwestern Medicine study, published June 5 in the journal Frontiers in Immunology, provides data about immune cells and biological changes (gene expression) in pregnant people at multiple timepoints before and during pregnancy. Using RNA sequencing and computational methods to estimate proportions of different activated types of immune cells in blood the team of scientists showed how pregnancy induces progressive changes in the maternal ...

To help patients in need of transplants, artificial kidneys would have to function like their natural counterparts, but they wouldn’t necessarily have to look like them. With a new $1 million prize from the Kidney Innovation Accelerator, or KidneyX, a team of USC Stem Cell scientists led by Nils Lindström in collaboration with Leonardo Morsut are on a quest to build a kidney that resembles the real thing in function, but not in form. “Nature has taught us that kidneys can come in an ...

Synthetic biologists have become increasingly creative in engineering yeast or bacteria to churn out useful chemicals — from fuels to fabrics and drugs — beyond the normal repertoire of microbes. But a multi-university group of chemists has a more ambitious goal: to retool the cell's polypeptide manufacturing plants — the ribosomes that spin amino acids into protein — to generate polymer chains that are more elaborate than what can now be made in a cell or a test tube. The $20 million research enterprise centered at the University of California, Berkeley, is ...

A new analysis provides a more complete picture of sickle cell disease mortality burden by combining disease prevalence data in different age groups and trends in overall survival when factoring in resulting secondary conditions. When looking across all deaths, sickle cell disease is a leading cause of mortality in children under 5 years as well as in youth 5–14 years and adults 15–49 years. Half a million babies were born with sickle cell disease in 2021, and 79% of these infants were in sub-Saharan Africa. The largest increases ...

Billions of people around the world face water insecurity. Although there are numerous projects from governments, NGOs, and private corporations who are committed to providing safely managed water and sanitation by 2030, a new study advocates for more holistic evaluation of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions.    According to the study by Justin Stoler, associate professor in the University of Miami College of Arts and Sciences Department of Geography and Sustainable Development, issues ...

NEW YORK, June 13, 2023 – With the potential for artificial intelligence (AI) to create both massive disruption and great opportunity within the music industry, ASCAP — the only US PRO that operates on a not-for-profit basis — is introducing a slate of AI initiatives to help music creators navigate the future while protecting their work. These newly announced initiatives include: adoption by the ASCAP Board of Directors of a set of key ASCAP AI principles, creator education, startup incubation and policy development. Building upon ASCAP’s strong ...

Researchers have newly discovered a surprising and potentially significant reason why eating foods frequently cooked at high temperatures, such as red meat and deep-fried fare, elevates cancer risk. The alleged culprit: DNA within the food that’s been damaged by the cooking process. As shown for the first time known to the authors, this study by Stanford scientists and their collaborators at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the University of Maryland, and Colorado State University reveals that components of heat-marred DNA can be absorbed during digestion and incorporated into the DNA of the consumer. That uptake directly ...

Irvine, Calif., June 13, 2023 – University of California, Irvine neuroscientists probing the gene changes behind Alzheimer’s disease have developed a process of making a “meta-cell” that overcomes the challenges of studying a single cell. Their technique has already revealed important new information and can be used to study other diseases throughout the body. Details about the meta-cell – created by researchers with the UCI Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders, known as UCI MIND – were published in the online journal Cell Press. Technologies called transcriptomics that study sets of RNA within organisms ...

Think fast: if you’re running a race and overtake the person in second place, what position are you in? Many people instinctively respond that you’re in first place. However, upon reflection, some people realize the correct answer is that you’re now in second place: the former number-two runner slipped into third as you overtook them. Trick questions of this kind are invaluable to cognitive scientists because they shed light on the cognitive quirks that shape our decision-making. “These aren’t just trick questions,” explained Nick Byrd, a philosopher-scientist and Intelligence Community Fellow who led the research at Stevens ...

Sodium chloride, better known as table salt, isn't exactly the type of mineral that captures the imagination of scientists. However, a smattering of tiny salt crystals discovered in a sample from an asteroid has researchers at the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory excited, because these crystals can only have formed in the presence of liquid water. Even more intriguing, according to the research team, is the fact that the sample comes from an S-type asteroid, a category known to mostly lack hydrated, or water-bearing, minerals. The discovery strongly suggests ...

Tumors are not just isolated clumps of abnormal cells but are associated with more complex system known as the “tumor microenvironment” (TME). Over the past few years, research has revealed that the TME consists of a complex combination of blood vessels, connective tissue, and a matrix of extracellular proteins and molecules. Most importantly, the composition of the TME is different from that of nearby healthy tissues. In particular, the lipid and collagen contents of tumors differ from those of normal tissues, making them important potential biomarkers for diagnosing various types of ...

A special focus issue of the peer-reviewed Journal of Integrative and Complementary Medicine (JICM) on Global Public Health is a response to the Declaration of Astana, developed by the World Health Organization and UNICEF. With contributions from traditional, complementary, and integrative medicine (TCIM) scholars and thought leaders around the world, the issue showcases research and scholarship examining the opportunities and challenges that TCIM approaches offer global health to governments and health service providers seeking to fulfill ...

With a group of core partners, Arizona State University is creating a new $25 million collaboration to preserve and restore vitality to Hawaiʻi’s coral reefs and the health of its coastlines. The community-based effort looks to fuse state-of-the-art science programs with the leadership and cultural knowledge of Hawaiʻi’s community partners to enable coastal and reef sustainability for generations to come. Named ʻĀkoʻakoʻa (pronounced ah kō-a kō-a), the effort shares a dual meaning ʻto assemble’ and ‘coral.’ “For ...

Women and men who experience migraine headaches also carry an elevated risk of having an ischemic stroke, but women alone may carry an additional risk of heart attack and hemorrhagic stroke, according to a new study led by Cecilia Hvitfeldt Fuglsang of Aarhus University, Denmark publishing June 13th in the open access journal PLOS Medicine. People diagnosed with migraine are believed to have a higher risk of experiencing a heart attack or stroke before the age of 60. Previous studies have suggested ...

Researchers led by Christi Gendron at the University of Michigan, US, have found the link between death perception and reduced aging in flies. Their new study, published June 13th in the open access journal PLOS Biology shows that a specific group of brain cells in the fly, called R2 and R4 neurons, are activated when flies encounter other dead flies, and that this increased activity leads to more rapid aging. Aging is a complex process that can be affected by both genetics and the environment. While we know that perceptual experiences can affect ...

Study develops primer scheme for human monkeypox virus that can be plugged into currently existing amplicon-based sequencing and bioinformatics infrastructure; this approach has enabled public health laboratories to quickly adapt their genomic workflows in response to a newly emerging pathogen. ##### In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available paper in PLOS Biology: http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3002151 Article Title: Development of an amplicon-based sequencing approach in response ...

Entry of the SARS-CoV-2 virus into human tissues depends on the activity of a host gene that regulates production of a key viral receptor, according to a study publishing June 13th in the open access journal PLOS Biology by Madison Strine and Craig Wilen of Yale University, US, and colleagues. The finding provides important new information on how the virus responsible for COVID-19 causes infection and may lead to new antiviral treatments. In previous work, the authors identified the gene DYRK1A as critical for SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis. The gene encodes a kinase, a type of enzyme, and had been previously implicated in regulating cell proliferation ...

CHICAGO—June 13,  2023—Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech) has been named as a Dassault Systèmes Global 3DEXPERIENCE (3DX) Education Centers of Excellence, a prominent distinction achieved by only three universities in the United States. On May 11, Illinois Tech recognized this esteemed recognition with the unveiling of a plaque in the newly-launched 3DEXPERIENCE demonstration space. This prestigious honor places Illinois Tech at the forefront of educational institutions leveraging the most advanced digital technology tools and amplifies Illinois Tech's role in equipping ...

In today's dynamic environment where electricity demand is skyrocketing, power converters are the unsung heroes quietly transforming the way we harness and utilize electrical energy and seamlessly fueling our daily lives – from the ubiquitous wall chargers powering up everything from laptops to cell phones to integral parts of electrical systems that keep offshore wind turbines spinning. By 2030, over 80% of electricity is expected to flow through power converters, creating a pressing need to extend their operational lifetime. “Without power conversion, you cannot really get energy from or efficiently from solar panels and wind turbines, you cannot charge electric ...

You may have heard it said before that a picture is worth a thousand words, but what about an emoji? Since emoji were first created in the 1990s, their use has evolved and increased significantly in text messaging, social media, email and more. And now, even clinicians are using them when communicating with each other at work. “It's very interesting, the idea that a single emoji has some some kind of meaning, but could mean something different to different people,” said Colin Halverson, PhD, assistant professor of medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine. Halverson, along with Mike ...

ProtectedSeas Navigator—the first global map of the world’s marine life regulations and their boundaries is now available. Navigator is a free, interactive map of over 21,000 marine protected and managed areas across 220 countries and territories and in over 25 languages. Navigator offers a global view of marine life protections to help inform progress towards international conservation goals, including protecting 30 percent of the global ocean by 2030, which was adopted at the UN Biodiversity ...