The living cell harbors physiologically relevant components such as the genetic material (DNA) and proteins in a ‘self-organized’ setting. Understanding this process of self-assembly can reveal the underlying mechanism of self-organization of living matter. Water/oil (w/o) or water/water (w/w) droplets may be used as prototypes or “models” that mimic cells and can be used to study cellular self-assembly. These models also have major implications in the field of biomedical research. Although cell mimetics can be generated using complicated and high-cost equipment, the associated methods are costly, ...

A study of more than 8 million adults in Ontario, Canada suggests that even a modest loss of kidney function is associated with increased health risks. The study, published in The BMJ, could lead to better approaches to prevent chronic kidney disease and related conditions, particularly in younger adults. “The dogma is that healthy, young adults don’t need to worry about kidney function unless it drops to around 50% of the normal level, but our research suggests that even a more modest 20-30% drop may have consequences and we may want to have earlier conversations ...

The commonly-used evidence in trials, bitemark analysis, is not backed up by scientific research – an analysis of current literature, and 12 new studies, shows. Published in the peer-reviewed Journal of the California Dental Association, the research suggests 26 people have been wrongfully convicted, and some even sentenced to death, from the use of this forensic science. “The scientific community does not uphold the underlying premises that human teeth are unique and their unique features transfer to human skin,” states lead author Mary Bush, Associate Professor at the State University of New York in Buffalo, NY. “We find bitemark transfer ...

Key Findings This study is the first worldwide to investigate time trend in socioeconomic inequality in various health behaviors among adolescents before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study found widening socioeconomic inequality among Japanese adolescents in achieving recommended physical activity levels before and during the pandemic, alongside narrowing inequality in breakfast intake. Specifically, despite no observed differences in physical activity by income in 2019, by 2021, adolescents from families with lower equivalent household incomes were less likely to engage in physical activity. Research is needed to continue monitoring the impact these phenomena will have ...

Complications after cosmetic breast augmentation are more common than other cosmetic plastic surgery yet many women who undergo such procedures are often in the dark about the associated risks say QUT researchers. The authors of a new paper argue the need for more disclosure early (and in much simpler terms) of those risks and the high likelihood of revision surgery being required so when women give their consent, they have a greater understanding of what may happen. “The Australian cosmetic surgery industry is worth billions but there are concerns inside the industry on potential issues surrounding whether patients ...

A combination of radiotherapy followed by immunotherapy is a promising strategy for the treatment of oral malignant melanomas in dogs. Melanomas are the most common oral cancers in dogs. It is highly metastatic and conventional chemotherapy does not increase survival time. Canine oral melanomas are similar to human melanomas; thus, research is being conducted into adapting treatments developed for human melanomas for dogs. A particularly effective therapy for treating human melanomas is a combination of immune checkpoint inhibitors and radiotherapy. A team of researchers led by Professor Satoru Konnai at Hokkaido University has investigated ...

The University of Utah is one of thirteen founding partner members of the Northwest University Semiconductor Network, a partnership with and created by Micron Technology, Inc. whose goal is to help develop the next generation of the United States’ semiconductor industry’s workforce. Micron, one of the world’s largest semiconductor companies, made the announcement on Monday. In a press release the company stated the Northwest University Semiconductor Network will “drive foundational and emerging research to increase students’ ...

Findings In a new paper published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, a team of scientists led by Professor Aydogan Ozcan from the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at UCLA and an associate director of the California NanoSystems Institute, developed a rapid, stain-free, and automated viral plaque detection system enabled by holography and deep learning. This system incorporates a cost-effective and high-throughput holographic imaging device that continuously monitors the unstained virus-infected cells during their incubation process. At each imaging cycle, these ...

The newly revised ruling on advance medical directives and withholding/withdrawing medical support for the dying in India will inevitably force some terminally ill patients to “live a life of machine-related suffering” and deprive them of their autonomy and dignity in death, suggest specialist doctors in a letter published online in the journal BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care. While a progressive step, the 2023 ruling still has important shortcomings, they add. In the absence of any specific legislation ...

***Embargo: 23.30 UK time / 18:30 ET / 15:30 PT Thursday, 22 June 2023*** SEATTLE, Wash. June 22, 2023 – More than half a billion people are living with diabetes worldwide, affecting men, women, and children of all ages in every country, and that number is projected to more than double to 1.3 billion people in the next 30 years, with every country seeing an increase, as published today in The Lancet. The latest and most comprehensive calculations show the current global prevalence rate is 6.1%, making diabetes one of the top 10 leading causes of death and disability. At the super-region level, the ...

The Women’s Engineering Society has named the University of Surrey’s Dr Kelly Kousi as one of the finalists in its Top 50 Women in Engineering Awards (WE50) 2023: Safety and Security. The announcement coincides with International Women in Engineering Day 2023, a celebration of women in engineering.   Dr Kousi, a lecturer in the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, leads a research group of scientists and engineers who work on emission control, synthetic fuel production ...

When combined with iridescent colouration, a matt target surface appearance confers greater survival benefits in beetles than a glossy surface, scientists at the University of Bristol have found.   The findings, published in Behavioural Ecology, suggest that iridescence provides camouflage independent of glossiness, which means that it is the colour of iridescent surfaces and its changeability, that is the most important aspect of iridescence in enabling camouflage. Iridescence is a type of structural colouration that produces bright, vibrant hues. These are often angle-dependent, meaning the observed colour appears to ...

Influenza A is one of two influenza viruses that fuel costly annual flu seasons and is a near constant threat to humans and many other animals. It's also responsible for occasional pandemics that, like the one in 1918, leave millions dead and wreak havoc on health systems and wider society. Influenza A was first identified as a health threat nearly a century ago, but only in the last decade have scientists identified one of the virus’s key proteins for infiltrating host cells and short-circuiting their defenses. Now, a team of researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have taken a major step toward ...

            AURORA, Colo. (June 22, 2023) – An article published today in the journal Lancet Neurology evaluates the risk of recurrence of active disease in older patients with multiple sclerosis after discontinuing disease-modifying therapies. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic illness, often presenting in young adulthood. Most commonly, at onset, individuals have acute attacks, or relapses, of intermittent new neurological symptoms such as vision changes, numbness, and weakness that may come and go, seemingly randomly, and then remit completely or incompletely. ...

They might not be able to leap tall buildings with a single bound, but leaf-cutting ants are insect superheroes, capable of carrying leaf pieces up to six times their body mass to cultivate fungus in their borrows. But how do the charismatic creatures determine the size of the fragments they carve with their mandibles? Do they use their bodies as a simple ruler, or do they use information about the position of their bodies to adjust how far they cut, adapting to the thickness of a leaf while dismembering it?  Knowing that the insects alter the trajectory of a cut when sculpting ®Parafilm of different thicknesses, Flavio ...

Out to Innovate is proud to announce the winners of its 2023 recognition awards for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) professionals in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Out to Innovate has recognized exemplary individuals with LGBTQ+ Educator, Engineer, and Scientist of the Year for over 15 years.  2023 LGBTQ+ Educator of the Year: Ramón S. Barthelemy, Ph.D The LGBTQ+ Educator of the Year award recognizes an educator who has significantly impacted STEM students through teaching, ...

Leesburg, VA, June 22, 2023—According to an accepted manuscript published in ARRS’ own American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR), preferential use of pulmonary MR angiography (MRA) for diagnosing pulmonary embolus (PE) in the general population helped conserve iodinated contrast media during the 2022 shortage.   “This single-center experience demonstrates use of pulmonary MRA as a practical substitute for pulmonary CTA in emergency settings,” concluded lead investigator Jitka Starekova, MD, from the radiology ...

Influenza A is one of two influenza viruses that fuel costly annual flu seasons and is a near constant threat to humans and many other animals. It's also responsible for occasional pandemics that, like the one in 1918, leave millions dead and wreak havoc on health systems and wider society. Influenza A was first identified as a health threat nearly a century ago, but only in the last decade have scientists identified one of the virus’s key proteins for infiltrating host cells and short-circuiting their defenses. Now, a team of researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have taken a major step toward understanding how that protein works, ...

If we’ve learned anything from HBO’s smash hit Succession over the last four years, it’s that, as the authors of a new Strategic Management Journal article state, “Even the most powerful individuals do not work alone.” Given that, whether (SPOILER ALERT!) Tom succeeds in his new role depends less on his business acumen than on who the new CEO has as his allies. In the upcoming article “Can powerful allies protect the CEO against performance declines? The role of the CEO’s subgroup power in CEO dismissal,” authors Jihae You, Taekjin Shin, and Yunhyung Chung, explore ...

Historian Tamika Nunley can see the U.S. Supreme Court through the window of her office in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., where she is serving as the library’s Cary and Ann Maguire Chair in Ethics and American History this summer. It’s a great vantage point, she said, not only for looking out at landmarks of American government, but also for reflecting on the ways laws and judgements have negatively influenced Black maternal health throughout American history. “I think the Library of Congress is one of the most democratic institutions we have, one of the best examples of what is possible in our democracy,” said Nunley, ...

Just as space holds infinite mysteries, when we zoom in at the level of biomolecules (one trillion times smaller than a meter), there is still so much to learn. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Catherine Royer, Constellation Chair Professor of Bioinformatics and Biocomputation at the Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D. Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS) and professor of biological sciences, is dedicated to understanding the conformational landscapes of biomolecules and how they modulate cell function. When biomolecules ...

CLEVELAND - A Cleveland Clinic research team recently published an “atlas” of metabolites associated with cardiovascular disease in the European Heart Journal. The novel findings provide key details about the routes and potential branching paths taken by bacteria and metabolic by-products, metabolites. The study mapped out the multiple by-products of bacteria processing amino acids associated with cardiovascular disease and then compared that to patient data to assess disease risk in two large cohorts – one in the US and another in Europe. Bacteria in and on our bodies produce metabolites through processing certain molecules, referred to as precursors. ...

A multi-nation cohort analysis found that inflammation and cesarean section delivery in mothers with higher body mass index are connected to shorter duration of breastfeeding, providing potential targets for intervention. Breastfeeding has significant benefits for both maternal and child health. Research has indicated that women with higher body mass index (BMI) have shorter durations of breastfeeding, but few underlying mechanisms have been identified. To address this gap, a new study led by investigators from Brigham and Women’s ...

For creating technologies that have the potential to change the world and providing opportunities for future inventors, Muhammad Rabnawaz, an associate professor and Faculty Laureate in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Michigan State University, will be inducted into the National Academy of Inventors as a senior member on June 26.  The NAI senior member program was established to highlight academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that hold the promise of making a tangible impact on the public’s quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society. Election ...

The human nose, which has around 6 million olfactory receptors, can distinguish between at least 1 trillion different odors. Dogs have about 300 million of these receptors, with some scientists estimating their sense of smell is up to 100,000 times more powerful than humans’. This allows dogs to detect the scent of dangerous materials like bombs and illicit substances, as well as medical conditions such as COVID-19 and Parkinson’s disease. University of Arizona assistant professor Judith Su is developing an optical nose “as sensitive as ...