HOUSTON – (June 21, 2023) – Rice University bioengineers have demonstrated a low-cost, point-of-care DNA test for HPV infections that could make cervical cancer screening more accessible in low- and middle-income countries where the disease kills more than 300,000 women each year. HPV, a family of viruses, infects nearly everyone at some point in their lives, often without symptoms. But more than a dozen types of HPV can cause persistent infections that result in cervical cancer, which is preventable and curable ...

With malaria becoming increasingly drug-resistant, a team of UCF researchers is looking to use cancer drugs to accelerate the discovery of new life-saving therapies for the disease. In a study funded by a 5-year $3.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, UCF molecular parasitologist Debopam Chakrabarti and cancer molecular biologist Ratna Chakrabarti are partnering with Nathanael Gray, co-leader of the cancer therapeutics research program at Stanford University and Elizabeth Winzeler, a malaria drug development expert from the University of California San Diego, to test cancer drugs for malaria-fighting ...

(Vienna, 21.06.2023) In the quest to find the origin of the puzzling symptoms in four children, researchers from St. Anna Children's Cancer Research Institute, the CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), and the Medical University of Vienna have discovered a completely new disease, linking disruptions of blood formation, the immune system, and inflammation. This groundbreaking discovery provides the basis for a better understanding of similar diseases. It is a milestone that the researchers have now published ...

Does a football player’s number of concussions drive the risk of developing chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)? In a new study of 631 deceased football players, the largest CTE study to date, scientists found that the number of diagnosed concussions alone was not associated with CTE risk. Instead, football players’ odds of developing CTE were related to both how many head impacts they received and how hard the head impacts were. The study, conducted by researchers at Mass General Brigham, Harvard Medical School, and Boston University (BU), was published today in Nature Communications. It ...

ROCKVILLE, MD - Authors whose work has been published in Plant Physiology or The Plant Cell, leading international society journals published by the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB), have a new option to support their travel to share their research with the scientific community. Funded by Plant Physiology and The Plant Cell, US$1,000 travel awards will be awarded to authors who have received invitations to give an oral presentation at any conference or scientific meeting around the world. Five US$1,000 awards are available in 2023 with more awards anticipated for 2024 ...

Infants born with Down syndrome, the genetic condition caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21, or trisomy 21, are highly predisposed to congenital heart defects. It is estimated that nearly half of newborns with Down syndrome have a congenital heart malformation, and Down syndrome is recognized as the most common cause of congenital heart abnormalities. Despite many research efforts over several decades, the mechanisms by which trisomy 21 prevents proper formation of the heart during embryonic development have remained unknown. A recent study by scientists ...

Twistronics isn’t a new dance move, exercise equipment, or new music fad. No, it’s much cooler than any of that. It is an exciting new development in quantum physics and material science where van der Waals materials are stacked on top of each other in layers, like sheets of paper in a ream that can easily twist and rotate while remaining flat, and quantum physicists have used these stacks to discover intriguing quantum phenomena. Adding the concept of quantum spin with twisted double bilayers of an antiferromagnet, it is possible to have tunable moiré magnetism. This suggests a new class of material platform for the next step in twistronics: ...

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 2023 MINNEAPOLIS - People with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) who eat more foods high in certain omega-3 fatty acids like flaxseed oil, walnuts, canola oil and pumpkin seeds may have a slower physical decline from the disease and may have a slightly extended survival. The study, which looked at the survival of people with ALS over the course of 18 months, was published in the June 21, 2023, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Researchers also found an omega-6 ...

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 2023 MINNEAPOLIS – People with TBI may continue to improve or decline years after their injury, making it a more chronic illness, according to a study published in the June 21, 2023, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. “Our results dispute the notion that TBI is a one-time event with a stagnant outcome after a short period of recovery,” said study author Benjamin L. Brett, PhD, of the Medical College ...

Key points: In an 18-month study, people living with ALS who had higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids in their blood were found to have slower decline in physical functionality and lower risk of premature death compared to those with lower levels of omega-3 fatty acids. Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA)—an omega-3 fatty acid found in many nuts, seeds, and oils—showed the strongest link to slower disease progression. Those with higher levels of ALA had a 50% lower risk of dying during the study period compared to those with lower levels of ALA. Embargoed for release: Wednesday, June 21, 2023, 4:00 PM ET Boston, MA—Consuming omega-3 fatty acids—particularly ...

Irvine, CA – June 21, 2023 – A University of California, Irvine-led team of researchers have discovered that extracts from plants used by the Kwakwaka’wakw First Nations peoples in their traditional botanical medicine practices are able to rescue the function of ion channel proteins carrying mutations that cause human Episodic Ataxia. The study, “Native American ataxia medicines rescue ataxia-linked mutant potassium channel activity via binding to the voltage sensing domain” was published in June in Nature Communications. “Episodic Ataxia 1 (EA1) is a movement disorder caused by inherited mutations ...

If you’ve ever thought you may be running a temperature yet couldn’t find a thermometer, you aren’t alone. A fever is the most commonly cited symptom of COVID-19 and an early sign of many other viral infections. For quick diagnoses and to prevent viral spread, a temperature check can be crucial. Yet accurate at-home thermometers aren’t commonplace, despite the rise of telehealth consultations.  There are a few potential reasons for that. The devices can range from ...

Key Takeaways In breast cancer, nearby lymph nodes, which are part of the immune system, are usually the first site of cancer spread New research led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) reveals how cancer cells suppress anti-cancer immune responses in the lymph nodes to survive and spread, or metastasize The findings could lead to new strategies to prevent this suppression and unleash the immune system to fight cancer BOSTON – In breast cancer, nearby lymph nodes, which are part of the immune system, are usually the first site of cancer spread, ...

“[...] the experience with GITR targeting in patients may inform the development of either novel or next-generation immunotherapy approaches.” BUFFALO, NY- June 21, 2023 – A new research perspective was published in Oncotarget's Volume 14 on June 19, 2023, entitled, “Targeting GITR in cancer immunotherapy – there is no perfect knowledge.” In this new perspective, researchers Diwakar Davar and Roberta Zappasodi from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), University of Pittsburgh, Weill Cornell Medical College, and Weill Cornell Graduate School ...

The cells in our body are continuously exposed to mechanical forces that are either externally applied or generated by the cells themselves. Being able to respond to such mechanical stimuli is an indispensable prerequisite for a large number of biological processes. However, how cells manage to process mechanical stimuli is poorly understood because techniques to study the very fine mechanical signals in cells are lacking. Researchers at the University of Münster (Germany) have now developed a method for altering the mechanics ...

Low-level laser therapy and associated photobiomodulation is the most effective of the known treatments for tinnitus, according to a study comparing the main therapies in current use, conducted by Brazilian scientists affiliated with the Optics and Photonics Research Center (CEPOF). The study is reported in an article published in the Journal of Personalized Medicine. CEPOF is a Research, Innovation and Dissemination Center (RIDC) funded by FAPESP and hosted at the University of São Paulo’s São Carlos Institute of Physics (IFSC-USP) in Brazil. Some 750 million people suffer from tinnitus worldwide, according to a European study that analyzed five ...

June 21, 2023 – A second-generation "all-inside" meniscal repair system provides a high success rate at long-term follow-up, reports a study in The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio in partnership with Wolters Kluwer. "Our 10-year results of second-generation, all-inside repair were better than those of first-generation implants and equivalent to those seen with the other common techniques," according to the new research, led by Rick W. Wright, MD, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville. Long-term ...

Toronto – Anita M. McGahan, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, is the 2023 recipient of the Sumantra Ghoshal Award for Rigour and Relevance in the Study of Management. The Ghoshal Award recognizes a scholar who has distinguished themself by demonstrating both rigorous and impactful scholarship, and by engaging with the world of practice. The award is presented annually in the memory of Ghoshal, who was a professor at London Business School and whose research focused on ...

June 21, 2023 – For patients undergoing surgery for elbow trauma, treatment with the hemostatic drug tranexamic acid (TXA) is associated with a decreased incidence of heterotopic ossification (HO) – a common complication of abnormal bone formation, reports a study in The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio in partnership with Wolters Kluwer. The findings "add new clinical evidence regarding the protective role of TXA with respect to the prevention of HO after elbow trauma," according to the report by Cunyi ...

Early warning signs of diseases caused by dysfunctional levels of stress hormones could be spotted more easily thanks to a new wearable device developed by endocrine researchers.    This is the first time it has been possible to measure changes to people’s stress hormones as they go about normal daily activities, across both day and night. The new collaborative research led by the University of Bristol, University of Birmingham and University of Bergen has the potential to revolutionise how diseases of the stress hormone system are diagnosed and treated.    The technology, ...

If you’ve ever wondered how the monarch butterfly got its spots, University of Georgia researchers may have just found the answer. The new study suggests that the butterflies with more white spots are more successful at reaching their long-distance wintering destination. Although it’s not yet clear how the spots aid the species’ migration, it’s possible that the spots change airflow patterns around their wings. “We undertook this project to learn how such a small animal can make such a successful ...

A new analysis suggests that wild, stray, and feral cats living in areas with higher human population density tend to release—or “shed”—a greater amount of the parasite that causes the disease toxoplasmosis. The study also draws links between environmental temperature variation and parasite shedding. Sophie Zhu of the University of California Davis, U.S., and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on June 21. Toxoplasmosis is a mild-to-severe disease caused by Toxoplasma gondii, which can infect warm-blooded vertebrates, including humans and many wild or domestic animals; for instance, cats, sheep, mice, birds, ...

The capability to reflect on their own mental state and that of others continues to develop throughout adolescence, with mentalizing scores varying by gender and personality traits, according to a new study published this week in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Alex Desatnik of University College London, UK, and colleagues. It has been established that the human brain undergoes a number of important changes during adolescence, especially in the “social brain” regions associated with social cognition. One of the key constructs capturing multiple facets of social cognition is ...

### Article URL:  https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0286921 Article Title: How the monarch got its spots: Long-distance migration selects for larger white spots on monarch butterfly wings Author Countries: USA Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work. END ...

Approximately one in ten NHS healthcare workers experienced suicidal thoughts during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, finds a new University of Bristol-led study published in PLOS ONE today [21 June]. Concerns were raised about the risk of suicide among healthcare workers during the pandemic after a number of high-profile cases were reported in the media. Researchers from the University of Bristol, King’s College London and UCL (University College London), sought to investigate the prevalence and incidence of suicidal thoughts and behaviour among NHS healthcare workers in England and their relationship with occupational ...