Philadelphia, August 9, 2023 – Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, researchers have been trying to determine why this virus creates such negative long-term effects compared with most coronaviruses. Now, a multi-institutional consortium of researchers led by a team at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the COVID-19 International Research Team (COV-IRT) has found that the genes of the mitochondria, the energy producers of our cells, can be negatively impacted by the virus, leading to dysfunction ...

The surface of Mars, unlike the Earth's, is not constantly renewed by plate tectonics. This has resulted in the preservation of huge areas of terrain remarkable for their abundance in fossil rivers and lakes dating back billions of years. Since 2012, NASA's Curiosity, the first rover to ever explore such ancient remains, had already detected the presence of simple organic molecules which can be formed by geological as well as biological processes. However, the emergence of primitive life forms, as hypothesised by scientists, initially requires environmental conditions favourable to the spontaneous organisation ...

– By Christina Nunez In rooms where smoking has taken place regularly, tobacco's imprint lingers on indoor surfaces, even long after regular smoking has stopped. The leftover residues, known as thirdhand smoke, can be a long-term source of indoor pollutants. New research from a team led by the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) zeroes in on carpets as an especially potent – and difficult to clean – reservoir of tobacco contaminants. When thirdhand smoke settles into surfaces, it doesn't ...

A telecommunications fiber optic cable deployed offshore of Oliktok Point, Alaska recorded ambient seismic noise that can be used to finely track the formation and retreat of sea ice in the area, researchers report in The Seismic Record. Andres Felipe Peña Castro of the University of New Mexico and colleagues used distributed acoustic sensing, or DAS, to identify seismic signals related to the motion of waves on open water and the sea ice that suppresses that wave action. The technique offers a way to track sea ice with increasing spatial and temporal resolution—on the scale of hours and kilometers--compared to satellite images that are updated ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Whether it’s work or play that prevents us from getting enough shut-eye during the week, assuming we can make up for it by sleeping in over the weekend is a mistake. New research led by Penn State reveals that cardiovascular health measures, including heart rate and blood pressure, worsen over the course of the week when sleep is restricted to five hours per night, and attempting to catch up on sleep over the weekend is insufficient to return these measures to normal. “Only 65% of adults in the U.S. regularly sleep the recommended seven hours per night, ...

LA JOLLA, CA—New research in the journal Nature Communications gives scientists an important window into how Ebola virus replicates inside host cells. The study, led by scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI), reveals the inner workings of "viral factories," clusters of viral proteins and genomes that form in host cells. The research team, which included experts from Scripps Research and UC San Diego School of Medicine, found that Ebola virus's replication machinery forms fascinating microscopic ...

Simple home workouts using exercise apps can effectively reduce depressive symptoms in healthcare workers and could be a major tool to combat the global mental health crisis in the sector, says new University of British Columbia research. The study, published today in JAMA Psychiatry, divided participants into either a waitlisted control group or an exercise group who were given free access to a suite of home exercise apps called DownDog, that included yoga, cardio and strength training. They were asked to aim for at least 80 minutes of moderate-intensity ...

New research suggests that the Horn of Africa is likely to become even drier, not wetter in the future as predicted by most climate models. ‘Wet gets wetter, dry gets drier’. That mantra has been used for decennia to predict how global warming will affect the hydrological cycle in different world regions. But if climate models predict that much of tropical Africa will enjoy a future with wetter weather, then why does it keep getting drier in certain parts of the African tropics, like the Horn of Africa? An international team of researchers ...

First study to measure resilience in biomedical scientists during the pandemic Sixty-one percent of study participants said they experienced a setback during pandemic ‘You can be as resilient as you want, but certain structural factors can hinder your professional advancement’ CHICAGO --- When COVID-19 presented the world with the greatest health challenge in modern history, it was biomedical scientists who stepped up to develop diagnostic testing and vaccines to slow the spread of the disease.  But how did these in-demand scientists fare psychologically and in their careers amid pandemic pressures such as juggling ...

Brigham researchers are working on a new approach to target autoimmunity in the brain leverages designer bacteria to make treatment safer and more effective Researchers  from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, have designed a probiotic to suppress autoimmunity in the brain, which occurs when the immune system attacks the cells of the central nervous system. Autoimmunity in the brain is at the core of several diseases, including multiple sclerosis. In a new study, researchers demonstrated the treatment’s potential using preclinical models of these diseases, finding that the technique offered a more precise ...

To function properly, organs require a precise number of cells and a functional architecture, which are established during embryogenesis. Embryos are proficient multitaskers; they grow, and acquire shape and functional architecture all at once. Despite a lot of research on embryo development, scientists do not yetfully grasp how embryos orchestrate all these different tasks in space and time to ensure the formation of healthy organs. This was ...

The rare moss Takakia has adapted over millions of years to a life at high altitudes. An international research team led by Prof. Dr. Ralf Reski from the University of Freiburg and Prof. Dr. Yikun He from the Capital Normal University / China has now discovered exactly how it has developed the ability to survive frost and life-threatening high UV radiation. In the renowned journal Cell, they describe the genetic traits that protect the moss from extreme environmental conditions. At the same time, they document how climate change greatly altered the natural habitat of this highly specialized species within just a few years. The ...

A Kaiser Permanente study provides new information that may help oncologists answer one of the most common questions they hear from breast cancer survivors: Is it safe to drink alcohol? The new study, published August 9 in Cancer, is the largest prospective study to look at short-term alcohol use after breast cancer. The findings suggest drinking alcohol is not associated with an increased risk of breast cancer recurrence or dying from the disease. “We know that women who drink alcohol are at increased ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Deep-learning technology developed by a team of Johns Hopkins engineers and cancer researchers can accurately predict cancer-related protein fragments that may trigger an immune system response. If validated in clinical trials, the technology could help scientists overcome a major hurdle to developing personalized immunotherapies and vaccines. In a study published July 20 in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence, investigators from Johns Hopkins Biomedical Engineering, the Johns Hopkins Institute for Computational Medicine, the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy show that ...

(Vienna, 9.8.2023) Scientists at St. Anna Children's Cancer Research Institute and the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen have shown that immunotherapy after stem cell transplantation effectively combats certain nerve tumors in children. Crucially, stem cells from a parent provide children with a new immune system that responds much better to immunotherapies. These results of an early clinical trial were published in the prestigious Journal of Clinical Oncology. Childhood tumors of the nervous system, known as neuroblastomas, are associated with an unfavorable prognosis ...

The Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) has published the new call for the 2024 HFSP Nakasone Award. Until September 30th, the global scientific community is invited to submit their nominations for this prestigious award. The HFSP Nakasone Award recognizes groundbreaking contributions and breakthrough discoveries in the life sciences. The award celebrates exceptional achievements in scientific excellence, particularly those that have propelled the boundaries of biological knowledge forward. In its 13th ...

For all the astonishing things artificial intelligence can do, it has a particular blind spot that one University of Virginia researcher seeks to remedy. It can’t recognize all shapes. “Current machine-learning models lack the capability to analyze and quantify the shape of objects presented in images with complex structures and large variations, especially in the context of medical imaging,” said Miaomiao Zhang, an assistant professor in the UVA School of Engineering and Applied Science. The models are biased toward “seeing” image textures and have limited ability ...

Osaka, Japan – You’re likely familiar with RNA, the molecule that plays an important role in protein production and gene expression control. Perhaps you’re less familiar, however, with PIWI-interacting RNA (piRNA), a special type of RNA that protects the genome from mutations. Now, researchers in Japan have shed light on how these critical molecules are formed by the dynamics of several associated proteins in the germline of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. In a new study published in the Journal of Cell Biology, researchers from Osaka University have clarified how the proteins Tejas (Tej), Vasa (Vas), and Spindle-E ...

In recent years, hydrogen gas has gained momentum as the fuel for a clean and green future. This carbon-neutral fuel source releases huge amounts of energy via combustion in the presence of oxygen with water vapor as the by-product. One of the most popular methods of hydrogen production is the splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity.  An electrochemical cell is used to split water, and the hydrogen gas gets released at the negatively charged electrode in hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Catalysts are used to lower the ...

Breastfeeding has long been used as a method to help keep newborns healthy and protected against a variety of diseases. But certain sugars naturally found in breastmilk could also help prevent infections before a baby arrives. Researchers reporting in ACS Central Science have found that these sugars can stop a common prenatal infection in human tissues and pregnant mice. This could someday help avoid preterm births or complications without the need for additional antibiotics. One of the most common bacteria that can affect pregnancies is Group B streptococcus (GBS). If left untreated, ...

By some estimates, the human nose can detect up to a trillion different smells with its hundreds of scent receptors. But even just catching a quick whiff of certain chemicals known as nerve agents can be lethal, even in tiny amounts. Researchers now reporting in ACS Sensors have developed a sensitive and selective nerve gas sensor using these human scent receptors. It reliably detected a substitute for deadly sarin gas in simulated tests. Nerve gases are often very potent, requiring highly sensitive sensors to detect them ...

Everywhere scientists look for microplastics, they’ve found them — food, water, air and some parts of the human body. But examinations of our innermost organs that aren’t directly exposed to the environment are still limited. Now, in a pilot study of people who underwent heart surgery, researchers in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology report that they have found microplastics in many heart tissues. They also report evidence suggesting that microplastics were unexpectedly introduced during the procedures. Microplastics ...

Conditions are ripe for an accelerated transition to electric vehicle (EV) use in the United States. The Biden-Harris administration has set a target that 50 percent of newly purchased cars in 2030 be electric. In addition, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 provides significant tax incentives for purchasing electric vehicles and for companies that produce them. And that is good news for environmental justice (EJ), says Lisa Benjamin, author of a paper called “EVs as EJ?” forthcoming in Harvard Environment Law Review. Benjamin, associate professor of law at Lewis & Clark Law School, details all of the positive impacts of EVs ...

Alzheimer’s disease, one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases, leads to progressive loss of memory and autonomy. It is characterised by the accumulation of neurotoxic proteins in the brain, namely amyloid plaques and tau tangles. Due to the silent development of pathology over decades, very early diagnosis is of utmost importance to be able to take action as early as possible in the disease process. A team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) has demonstrated ...

A new DNA study has nuanced the picture of how different groups intermingled during the European Stone Age, but also how certain groups of people were actually isolated. The study was carried out by researchers at Uppsala University working with an international team of researchers, who produced new genetic data from 56 Central and Eastern European individuals from the Stone Age. The results have been published in the journal Communications Biology. “Conducting studies like this one requires a broad interdisciplinary discussion. In this study, this discussion has been exceptionally fruitful,” says Tiina Mattila, population geneticist at Uppsala ...