PHILADELPHIA— The blood-brain barrier (BBB) has been found to play a significant role in controlling behavior critical to how ant colonies function, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The implications of this research on the intricate mechanisms behind ant behavior go beyond the world of ants. The findings, published this week in Cell, hint at similar mechanisms at play in other species, including mammals. In ants, along with other animals, the BBB consists of tightly locked cells that protect the brain from germs and other harmful substances. The protective barrier plays a key role in how the brain and ...

Metastasis is the leading cause of death in cancer, occurring when a cell leaves the primary tumour, passes into the bloodstream and lymphatic system and reaches distant organs. Non-invasive collection of these circulating tumour cells is essential for the study of cell biology, the diagnosis and prognosis in cancer research, and drug development. As a general rule, the concentration of cancer cells found in blood is very small with respect to other cell types, and traditional methods of collecting them in a viable way are laborious.  “We wanted to come up with a device capable ...

September 8, 2023 — As part of its active efforts to dismantle systemic racism and promote principles of equity and inclusion within its editorial processes and content, Obstetrics & Gynecology, the official journal of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, has devoted its entire October 2023 issue to addressing racism in reproductive health. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.  A journal with such a rich history must root out inequity  "Let ...

UPTON, NY—Researchers at the Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN), a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility at DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, and Northrop Grumman, a multinational aerospace and defense technology company, have found a way to maintain valley polarization at room temperature using novel materials and techniques. This discovery could lead to devices that store and process information in novel ways using this technology without the need to keep them at ultra-low temperatures. Their ...

In a groundbreaking study published on July 26, 2023, in the journal Environmental Science and Ecotechnology, researchers from Huazhong University of Science and Technology have introduced "Meta-Sorter," an AI-based method that leverages neural networks and transfer learning to significantly improve biome labeling for thousands of microbiome samples in the MGnify database, especially those with incomplete information. The Meta-Sorter approach comprises two crucial steps. Firstly, a neural network model is meticulously constructed using 118,592 microbial samples from 134 biomes and their respective biome ontology, boasting an impressive average ...

BOSTON – Researchers who previously developed the first 3D human cell culture models of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) that displays two major hallmarks of the condition—the generation of amyloid beta deposits followed by tau tangles—have now used their model to investigate whether the exercise-induced muscle hormone irisin affects amyloid beta pathology. As reported in the journal Neuron, the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)–led team has uncovered promising results suggesting that irisin-based ...

About The Study: In this study of health care workers who received a COVID-19 vaccine, an influenza vaccine, or both, co-administration was not associated with substantially inferior immune response or to more frequent adverse events compared with COVID-19 vaccine administration alone, supporting the co-administration of these vaccines.  Authors: Gili Regev-Yochay, M.D., of the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel, is the corresponding author.  To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.32813) Editor’s ...

About The Study: The findings of this study suggest that childhood survivors of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) are at high risk of readmission in the first two months after discharge. Future studies should evaluate whether post-discharge interventions (e.g., telephonic contact, follow-up clinics, and home health care) may help reduce the readmission burden.  Authors: Garrett Keim, M.D., of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, is the corresponding author.  To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.30774) Editor’s ...

The zebrafish brain, though simpler than its human counterpart, is a complex network of neurons that engage in a ceaseless dance of electrical activity. What if this neural ballet could reveal the secrets of how brains, including our own, control movement? A zebrafish study led by researchers at the Champalimaud Foundation offers a new lens through which to view the activity of neural populations, and to understand how the brain orchestrates motion. Why we have a brain “The brain’s primary function is movement”, explains Claudia Feierstein, lead author of the study ...

“We engineered E. coli bacteria, the most widely studied microbe, to generate electricity,” says Professor Ardemis Boghossian at EPFL. “Though there are exotic microbes that naturally produce electricity, they can only do so in the presence of specific chemicals. E. coli can grow on a wide range of sources, which allowed us to produce electricity in a wide range of environments, including from waste water.” In a paper published in the journal Joule, Boghossian’s team report a groundbreaking achievement in bioelectronics, advancing the capabilities of common E. coli bacteria to generate ...

The ability to visualize faces, objects, landscapes, or even scenes from the past exists on a spectrum. While some can picture the layout of a city in minute detail and mentally walk through it, street by street, others have a perfectly blank internal cinema. In this case, we speak of aphantasia—the inability to voluntarily produce the visual mental image corresponding to an idea. People whose aphantasia is congenital—i.e., not due to a stroke, brain injury, or psychiatric illness—become aware of their peculiarity reasonably ...

As of today, climate models face the challenge of providing the high-resolution predictions -  with quantified uncertainties - needed by a growing number of adaptation planners, from local decision-makers to the private sector, who require detailed assessments of the climate risks they may face locally.   This calls for a step change in the accuracy and usability of climate predictions that, according to the authors of the paper “Harnessing AI and computing to advance climate modelling and prediction”, can ...

A paper published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society hints at the existence of several black holes in the Hyades cluster — the closest open cluster to our solar system — which would make them the closest black holes to Earth ever detected.  The study results from a collaboration between a group of scientists led by Stefano Torniamenti, from the University of Padua (Italy), with the significant participation of with Mark Gieles, ICREA professor at the Faculty of Physics, the ...

This September 24–29, at the 10th Heidelberg Laureate Forum (HLF), 200 young researchers in mathematics and computer science will spend a week of scientific exchange with the recipients of the disciplines’ most prestigious prizes: the Abel Prize, ACM A.M. Turing Award, ACM Prize in Computing, Fields Medal, the Nevanlinna Prize as well as its continuation, the IMU Abacus Medal. Below are a few highlights of the upcoming program of the HLF as well as a breakdown of how to cover this unique event.   More ...

Nanoparticles are tiny structures up to 100 nanometers in size. They are characterized by different physical and chemical properties and biological activity than their larger material counterparts. - When the starting material on a micro-scale with a specific surface area is broken down to nano size, i.e. into smaller particles, its surface area will increase many times. And it is the ratio of surface to volume that results in the unique properties of nanoparticles, explains Prof. Mahendra Rai from Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University in India. Nanoparticles can be mainly ...

Close relatives of people with metabolic-associated fatty liver disease have a higher risk of developing liver cancer and dying from liver-related diseases, according to a national study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in The Journal of Hepatology. This means that family members could also benefit from the lifestyle advice that is currently only given to patients, the researchers conclude. People with metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MASLD, formerly known as NAFLD – see fact box) have an elevated risk of developing and dying from liver cancer. MASLD is now the main reason why the number of people developing liver cancer ...

A new study has found that air pollution is preventing pollinators finding flowers because it degrades the scent. A research team comprising the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) and the Universities of Birmingham, Reading, Surrey and Southern Queensland, found that ozone substantially changes the size and scent of floral odour plumes given off by flowers, and that it reduced honeybees' ability to recognise odours by up to 90% from just a few metres away. Ground-level ozone typically forms when nitrogen oxide emissions from vehicles and industrial processes react with volatile organic compounds emitted from vegetation ...

LAWRENCE — Many of us know all too well the addictive nature of many foods marketed in the United States — most call it “junk food.” In fact, this kind of salty, sweet and high-fat fare makes up the lion’s share of what’s marketed to Americans. Researchers employ a more scholarly term for food items featuring purposely tempting combinations of salts, fats and sugars: They’re “hyperpalatable.” Now, an investigator at the University of Kansas has conducted research showing food brands owned by tobacco ...

Computer scientists and mathematicians working in complex systems at the University of Sydney and the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences in Germany have developed new methods to describe what many of us take for granted – how easy, or hard, it can be to fall in and out of sync. Synchronised phenomena are all around us, whether it is human clapping and dancing, or the way fireflies flash, or how our neurons and heart cells interact. However, it is something not fully understood in engineering and science. Associate Professor Joseph Lizier, expert in complex systems at the University of Sydney, said: “We know ...

Developing new drugs is paramount in discovering innovative treatments and preventing diseases. This is vital not only for advancing medicine but also for the overall health and well-being of humanity. Yet, even when drugs demonstrate safety and efficacy in cell and animal models, they frequently encounter hurdles in clinical trials on human.   A single setback for a drug during clinical trials, which involves diverse population groups, can result in significant economic losses. To address this, it is imperative to understand why certain drugs, despite passing the preclinical stages, falter during clinical ...

In the summer of 1931, an unprecedented calamity unfolded along the Yangtze River basin in eastern China - the 1931 Yangtze River flood, known as one of history's deadliest natural disasters. This cataclysmic event submerged a staggering 180,000 km2, affected 25 million lives, and tragically claimed over 2 million lives. Despite its immense societal impact, the origins of this monumental flood have remained largely unexplored, a challenge compounded by the scarcity of historical records and pre-1950s meteorological data in China. Recent access to crucial historical datasets has, however, unlocked the ability to investigate the 1931 Yangtze River flood. A recent study published ...

DALLAS, September 8, 2023 — This back to school season the American Heart Association and the National Football League (NFL), in collaboration with its 32 NFL clubs, are offering students exciting ways to move more with NFL PLAY 60™. Physical activity is important as students return to the classroom. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, active kids learn better, focus more, think more clearly, react to stress more calmly, and perform and behave better in the classroom[1]. The ...

Ammonia is emerging as a promising energy source to achieve carbon neutrality due to its inherent carbon-free nature. A recent study, led by Professor Hankwon Lim in the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering and the Graduate School of Carbon Neutrality at UNIST, has evaluated the feasibility of ammonia-based power generation through techno-economic and carbon footprint analyses. The research focuses on an integrated system combining ammonia decomposition and phosphoric acid fuel cells. The study, conducted using a commercial process simulator, unveils significant findings regarding the efficiency and economic viability of utilizing ammonia ...

Vibrant green leaves sprout from tall fragrant plants sitting neatly in two rows of terracotta pots in Valerie Sponsel’s UTSA biology laboratory. One floor just above her is the chemistry lab of Francis Yoshimoto, who is extracting the plant’s leaves for medicinal compounds. Soon, the researchers will meet with UTSA researcher Annie Lin, who will test the extracted compounds on cancer cells. The plant is Artemisia annua, or Sweet Annie, and it contains medicinal compounds. UTSA researchers are studying the plant to understand the bioactive properties of one of these compounds, Arteannuin B, in cancer cells and COVID, the ...

Benchtop NMR spectroscopy can accurately analyse pyrolysis oils Pyrolysis bio-oils have the potential to be widely used as alternative fuels but are very complex to analyse Cheaper, simpler, low-field, or ‘benchtop’, NMR spectrometers were able to accurately quantify key oxygen-containing components of pyrolysis bio-oils for the first time More accessible analysis could help develop the potential of bio-oils as an alternative to fossil fuels   EMBARGOED UNTIL FRIDAY 8TH SEPTEMBER at 9am UK time 2023 | Birmingham, UK   A team of researchers at Aston University ...