Zebrafish in the pet trade are asymptomatic carriers of previously undescribed microbes, including a novel virus that causes hemorrhaging in infected laboratory fish, Marlen Rice from the University of Utah, US, and colleagues report in the open-access journal PLOS Biology, publishing May 23rd. Zebrafish (Danio rerio) are a common laboratory research animal, and they are also widely available as pets. In research laboratories, they are kept in specialized aquaculture facilities to prevent infectious disease, but zebrafish are occasionally ...

The theory of coevolution says that when closely interacting species drive evolutionary changes in each other this can lead to speciation - the evolution of new species. But until now, real-world evidence for this has been scarce. Now a team of researchers has found evidence that coevolution is linked to speciation by studying the evolutionary arms race between cuckoos and the host birds they exploit. Bronze-cuckoos lay their eggs in the nests of small songbirds. Soon after the cuckoo chick hatches, it pushes the host’s eggs out of the nest. The host not only loses all its own eggs, but spends several ...

A new study from the UC Davis School of Medicine found striking differences at the cellular level between male and female mice with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). The findings could determine how HFpEF is treated in women compared to men. With HFpEF, the heart muscle contracts normally but the heart is unable to fully relax and refill properly between beats. This condition is known as diastolic dysfunction. It can occur if the heart is too stiff or if the contraction process doesn’t shut off quickly enough between ...

Amphetamine is a psychostimulant that has been used to treat a variety of brain dysfunctions. However, it is a highly abused drug. In fact, amphetamine and amphetamine-derived compounds such as methamphetamine (Meth) are among the most abused psychostimulants in the world. The neurological effects caused by acute or chronic use of amphetamine have been broadly investigated and several studies have shown that proteins involved in the synthesis, storage, release and reuptake of dopamine (DA), a neurotransmitter that plays a role as in ...

ITHACA, N.Y. – Cornell University researchers have found in a public health emergency, most people pick out and click on accurate information during internet searches. Though higher-ranked results are clicked more often, they are not more trusted. And the presence of misinformation does not damage trust in accurate results that appear on the same page. However, banners at the top of the search results page warning about misinformation decrease trust in accurate information, according to the research published in Scientific Reports. The relationship between ...

The Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) has become a shareholder of five new companies recently set up and promoted by different researchers: Applied Innovative Methods, Hiili, Persei Space, Seevia Technologies and 60Nd. UC3M participates in the share capital of its spin-offs in order to contribute to their business development. This minority and temporary shareholding is articulated in accordance with the regulations for the creation of knowledge-based university companies. AI Methods, S.L., led by Manuel Soler ...

University of Illinois Chicago engineers have helped design a new method to make hydrogen gas from water using only solar power and agricultural waste, such as manure or husks. The method reduces the energy needed to extract hydrogen from water by 600%, creating new opportunities for sustainable, climate-friendly chemical production. Hydrogen-based fuels are one of the most promising sources of clean energy. But producing pure hydrogen gas is an energy-intensive process that often requires coal or natural gas and large amounts of electricity.   In a paper for Cell Reports Physical Science, a multi-institutional ...

 “The price on emitting carbon that is harmful to the climate has risen sharply in the past; basically, it roughly increased tenfold over the last five years and two policy reforms. Our analysis implies that besides directly changing the ETS rules, the reforms also increased the long-term credibility of the EU ETS and thereby made firms more farsighted, aligning their market behaviour with long-term climate targets,” explains Joanna Sitarz, PIK scientist and first author of the study published in Nature Energy. “In ...

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Borrowing a page from the dairy industry, researchers with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station found that a slow-growth diet meant more piglets and healthier and longer-lived momma pigs. Slowing weight gain for female pigs before breeding showed improvements in performance throughout four breeding cycles, according to Charles Maxwell, professor of animal science for the experiment station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. “Scientists have done a wonderful job of increasing litter size and milk production so that our sow lines are essentially ...

Philadelphia, May 30, 2024 – Researchers from The Possibilities Project and Clinical Futures at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) developed, implemented and successfully tested a nutrition screener to improve access to healthy resources for families eligible for federally funded food benefits. The findings were published this week in the journal Annals of Family Medicine. Many low-income families rely on the federally funded Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children ...

SAN ANTONIO — May 30, 2024 —When NASA’s Lucy spacecraft flew past the tiny main belt asteroid Dinkinesh last November, the Southwest Research Institute-led mission discovered a trough and ridge structure on the main asteroid as well as the first-ever-encountered contact binary satellite. The flyby data of this half-mile-wide object revealed a dramatic history of sudden breakups and transformation. Scientists think a big chunk of Dinkinesh suddenly shifted, excavating the trough and flinging debris into its vicinity. Some materials fell back to the asteroid body, forming the ridge, ...

Osaka, Japan - Natural killer (NK) cells play a crucial role in the first line of host defense by eliminating bacteria, viruses, and mutated cells that might become cancer cells. While the interferon-gamma (IFN-γ ) typically plays a pivotal role in the function of NK cells, the detailed mechanisms of its regulation have not been fully elucidated. In clinical cancer treatment, particularly in anti-tumor immunotherapy, the challenge lies in regulating the effective infiltration of NK cells and T cells into tumor tissues, activating them, and retaining them within the tumor for more effective cancer therapy. Performing single-cell ...

About The Study: In this study, 10 years after diagnosis, 49% of men remained free of progression or treatment, less than 2% developed metastatic disease, and less than 1% died of their disease. Later progression and treatment during surveillance were not associated with worse outcomes. These results demonstrate active surveillance as an effective management strategy for patients diagnosed with favorable-risk prostate cancer.  Quote from corresponding author Lisa F. Newcomb, Ph.D.: “Our ...

About The Study: In this secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial, patients who received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose after acute coronary syndromes had similar rates of the primary composite end point and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) compared with unvaccinated patients. However, retrospective studies have demonstrated a short-term reduction in MACE risk after COVID-19 vaccination.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Henrique Andrade R. Fonseca, Ph.D., email henrique.fonseca@einstein.br. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.13946) Editor’s ...

About The Study: In this serial cross-sectional study including a national sample of U.S. college students, researchers found a notable increase in the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and acute stress disorder, rising by 4.1 percentage points and 0.5 percentage points from 2017 to 2022, respectively. These trends highlight the escalating mental health challenges among college students, which is consistent with recent research reporting a surge in psychiatric diagnoses. Factors contributing to this rise may include pandemic-related stressors (e.g., loss of loved ones) and the effect of traumatic events (e.g., campus shootings, racial trauma).  Corresponding ...

The decision to undergo surgery can be complicated for people living with dementia, not only due to limited decision-making capabilities, but also because participation in rehabilitation afterward is imperative to surgery success. A new study by investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, looked at hip fracture treatment outcomes in patients with dementia to see how they did when treated surgically versus non-surgically to help inform healthcare decision making. The team found that those treated surgically experienced lower odds of death than those treated non-surgically and that this ...

An 80% reduction in sulphur dioxide shipping emissions observed in early 2020 could be associated with substantial atmospheric warming over some ocean regions, according to a modelling study published in Communications Earth & Environment. The sudden decline in emissions was a result of the introduction of the International Maritime Organization’s 2020 regulation (IMO 2020), which reduced the maximum sulphur content allowed in shipping fuel from 3.5% to 0.5% to help reduce air pollution. Fuel oil used for large ships has a significantly higher percentage content ...

How would you summarize your study for a lay audience? Previous research indicates that mast cells, a type of immune cell found in the tissues throughout the body, cause inflammation during an asthma attack, inducing symptoms such as trouble breathing and narrowing of the airways. Our study demonstrates that prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), a naturally occurring chemical in the human body previously thought to inhibit mast cell activation, elicits mast cells to prevent inflammation by creating a molecule called soluble ST2 (sST2), which can mitigate signs and symptoms of asthma by blocking the actions of interleukin 33, a powerful proinflammatory ...

Ishikawa, Japan -- Proteins are vital biomolecules responsible for performing various functions in the human body and are thus regarded as the workhorses of a cell. The primary structure of a protein is composed of different amino acids coming together. The structure so formed then undergoes protein folding, a process by which a protein acquires its characteristic and functional three-dimensional configuration. This state, referred to as the ‘native state’, is crucial for proper protein function. Unfavorable conditions, ...

TAMPA, Fla (May 30, 2024) – The Florida Inventors Hall of Fame has announced its 2024 inductees: nine visionaries whose groundbreaking inventions have propelled technological advancement and reshaped the landscape of American innovation. These inventors exemplify Florida’s rich tradition of ingenuity. Paul R. Sanberg, chair of the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame Advisory Board and president of the National Academy of Inventors, said of the new inductees: "The Class of 2024 represents the best of innovation in Florida, and their achievements underscore the critical role that innovation plays in driving progress and improving the quality of ...

A team of material scientists led by Prof. Qi Li from Southwest Jiaotong University in Chengdu, China recently outlined the state of inducing piezoelectricity in distorted rutile TiO2 for enhanced tetracycline hydrochloride degradation through photopiezocatalysis. Various material design strategies have been developed to enhance photocatalytic performance of TiO2. However, no report is available on applications of the photopiezocatalysis strategy on TiO2 due to its lack of piezoelectricity. Here we developed a low-temperature molten salt etching process to create rutile TiO2 nanoparticles by etching [MgO6] ...

In certain towns in Northern Jordan, ranchers bubble some portion of their olive natural product gathered before oil extraction to expand the amount of oil, . They perceive it as a way to get a beneficial mixed bag, as they guarantee, and to get extra medical advantages. Local peoples call this oil Bubbled oil (BO), and its cost is around 20% higher than virgin olive oil (VOO) created by a similar rancher. The speculation was thatpractice revolves around the belief that bubbling olive natural products might influence the nature of the created oil. Hence, ourResearchers from the Department of Nutrition and Food Technology, ...

WHAT: A drug approved to treat certain autoimmune diseases and cancers successfully alleviated symptoms of a rare genetic syndrome called autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type 1 (APS-1). Researchers identified the treatment based on their discovery that the syndrome is linked to elevated levels of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), a protein involved in immune system responses, providing new insights into the role of IFN-gamma in autoimmunity. The study, led by researchers at the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute ...

INDIANAPOLIS -- Many adults with diabetes and the associated complication of peripheral neuropathy, which can be painful as well as harmful, are often prescribed drugs at doses and for durations that could impose an increased risk of cognitive impairment. A new study, led by Regenstrief Institute and Purdue University College of Pharmacy Research Scientist Noll Campbell, PharmD, M.S., is one of the first explorations of prescribing patterns of tricyclic antidepressants for treatment of diabetic peripheral neuropathy at healthcare facilities predominantly serving diverse populations of low socioeconomic status. With a study population of adults 18 years and older that ...

New materials for producing oxygen may challenge traditional production methods. This is exciting news, because pure oxygen is in demand from many areas in industry and medicine. “We have identified materials that can store and release pure oxygen much faster and at much lower temperatures than known materials currently used for this purpose,” says Professor Sverre Magnus Selbach at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU’s) Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Oxygen is an element, so it ...