It has long been known that viral infections can be more severe in males than females, but the question as to why has remained a mystery – until possibly now. The key may lie in an epigenetic regulator that boosts the activity of specialized anti-viral immune cells known as natural killer (NK) cells. In a study published March 16 in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Immunology, a collaborative team of UCLA researchers have found that female mouse and human NK cells have an extra copy of an X chromosome-linked gene called UTX. UTX acts as an epigenetic regulator to boost NK cell ...

There is a mountain of evidence to show that stress is a leading cause of common and lethal diseases, including heart attacks, diabetes, asthma, cancer, osteoporosis, anxiety, depression, insomnia, memory loss and premature aging.  But how much of a role does ‘toxic’ leadership play in workplace stress, and what are the signs of a toxic leader?  Recent data has shown that three-fifths of the world’s employees say their job impacts their mental health more than anything else.  Backed up by 40 years of research, wellbeing expert Professor Simon L. Dolan PhD says that leaders ...

New research led by the University of East Anglia (UEA) highlights some of the challenges that transgender and non-binary staff can face at work. The study also shows how their experiences can help us to see ways in which the working context might be changed to create a more inclusive environment that is receptive to more diverse gender identities. For example, through the provision of non-gendered changing and bathroom spaces, and processes that enable people to complete forms and choose pronouns in line with their identity. While there are various examples of good practice and initiatives to ...

The development of electronic skin with multiple senses is essential for various fields, including rehabilitation, healthcare, prosthetic limbs, and robotics. One of the key components of this technology is stretchable pressure sensors, which can detect various types of touch and pressure. Recently, a joint team of researchers from POSTECH and the University of Ulsan in Korea has recently made a significant breakthrough by successfully creating omnidirectionally stretchable pressure sensors inspired by crocodile skin.   The team behind the research was led by Professor Kilwon Cho, Dr. Giwon Lee, and Dr. Jonghyun Son from ...

AUGUSTA, Ga. (March 17, 2023) – About 17% of women with unexplained infertility also have gene variants known to cause disease, from common conditions like heart disease to rare problems like ALS, Medical College of Georgia researchers report. Theirs appears to be the first study to identify an increased prevalence of disease-causing genetic variants in females with unexplained infertility, the team, led by Lawrence C. Layman, MD, reports in the New England Journal of Medicine. They hypothesized that genetic disease creates a predisposition to infertility and subsequent medical ...

Young children who are taught by a teacher of the same ethnicity as themselves are developing better learning and problem-solving skills by the age of seven, new research suggests. The effect was most pronounced in Black and Latinx children, the findings – looking at more than 18,000 pupils across the US – showed. Published in the peer-reviewed journal Early Education and Development, the study revealed that if the ethnicity of children is shared with that of their teachers, the children are more likely to go on to develop better working memory. This is the ability to hold and process information in your ...

For every dollar spent, the state has seen a $231 return  In the late 1980s, when smoking was still allowed on some airline flights, California boosted its tax on cigarettes from 10 to 35 cents a pack, devoting 5 cents to programs to prevent smoking.   The newly created California Tobacco Control Program funded anti-tobacco media campaigns and community programs to try to improve public health, but some questioned whether the efforts were worth the cost.   Now comes an answer: For every dollar California spent on smoking control, health care costs fell by $231.   Over three decades ...

Hypertension remains poorly controlled worldwide and is becoming more common. Lifestyle changes and blood pressure-reducing drugs are the mainstays of therapy for hypertension, but despite widespread availability of these approaches, many patients with hypertension are not adequately treated. Those with uncontrolled hypertension are at increased risk of heart attack, heart failure, kidney disease and stroke. A recent study published in JAMA demonstrates the effectiveness of a procedure done under the skin, similar to placing a stent, ...

MIAMI, FLORIDA (March 16, 2023) – Aman Chauhan, M.D., and Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine have embarked on a mission to make Sylvester a top-level research center for neuroendocrine tumors and to make Miami a first-choice destination for patients seeking treatment for these complex cancers. Chauhan, an internationally recognized neuroendocrine expert and the newly named leader of Sylvester’s Neuroendocrine Tumor Program, has devoted his career to neuroendocrine ...

In an editorial in the journal Frontiers in Neurology, two leading multiple sclerosis (MS) experts are advocating for genetic testing to identify MS patients who are at higher risk of developing a devastating side effect from their medications.  People with MS are faced with the excruciating decision of whether they should take medications that are effective in slowing the progression of the disease, but may also trigger this potentially fatal complication, a rare brain infection called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). The ...

More than a third of FDA-approved drugs work by targeting a G protein-coupled receptor, or GPCR. The human body has more than 800 types of GPCRs that provide cells with information about the external environment to calibrate responses. Drugs that either block or activate GPCRs are used to treat a wide range of diseases including hypertension, pain and inflammation. Most drugs bind to the outside of the receptor, but this can result in adverse side effects since receptors often resemble one another.  In a new study published in Nature, Sivaraj Sivaramakrishnan, a professor in the College of Biological ...

ITHACA, N.Y. -- A novel cancer therapeutic, combining antibody fragments with molecularly engineered nanoparticles, permanently eradicated gastric cancer in treated mice, a multi-institutional team of researchers found. The results of the “hit and run” drug delivery system, published in the March issue of Advanced Therapeutics, were the culmination of more than five years of collaboration between Cornell, the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) and biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. “I’ve seen beautiful ...

Childhood volunteering encourages those from politically disengaged homes to go on and vote when they are older, a major new study shows. Community action leads to them becoming more interested in politics and to see voting as a duty, according to the research. However volunteering didn’t have the same impact for most children, so it shouldn’t be seen as the answer to falling voter numbers. The research was carried out by Dr Stuart Fox, now at the University of Exeter and conducted while he worked at Brunel University. He used the United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Survey and structural equation modelling to examine ...

Lush plants, large trees and many different, beautiful and colorful exotic animals. This is probably how most people imagine the small island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean.  But that may not be the case. As in several other places in the world, the island and its nature are at risk of mass extinction, and in just a decade or two the flourishing nature and the many diverse animals may have dwindled to very few. At least if the extinction of the many plants and animals on the island continues. They are part of a particularly sensitive ...

In virtually all persons with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and in up to half of all cases of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and frontotemporal dementia, a protein called TDP-43 is lost from its normal location in the nucleus of the cell. In turn, this triggers the loss of stathmin-2, a protein crucial to regeneration of neurons and the maintenance of their connections to muscle fibers, essential to contraction and movement. Writing in the March 16, 2023 issue of Science, a team of scientists, led by senior study author Don Cleveland, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Neurosciences and Cellular and Molecular Medicine at University ...

Decline in the hypothalamic Menin may play a key role in aging, according to a new study publishing March 16th in the open access journal PLOS Biology by Lige Leng of Xiamen University, Xiamen, China, and colleagues. The findings reveal a previously unknown driver of physiological aging, and suggest that supplementation with a simple amino acid may mitigate some age-related changes. The hypothalamus has been recognized as a key mediator of physiological aging, through an increase in the process ...

Colorectal cancer among young people is increasing globally and rapidly. Experts expect it to become the leading cause of cancer death in individuals aged 20-49 in the U.S. by the year 2030. Yet no one is certain why this disease is suddenly affecting so many young people. In a new paper published in Science, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers outline the complexities of the disease and the research needed to map out a path toward understanding it. “The rising incidence of young-onset colorectal cancer is extremely concerning, and it is urgent that the scientific community comes together to better understand the underlying ...

New findings help answer a particularly vexing evolutionary question: how do species that use bright coloration to keep predators away survive long enough for this warning signal coloration to evolve, before predators who can better spot them through their colors learn to avoid them? A study comparing a series of models points to warning color signaling, or aposematism, likely appearing through intermediate steps where coloration is only visible when an organism is fleeing or intentionally displaying a hidden feature. Evolutionary selection to avoid being eaten by predators has driven considerable variation in the diversity of animal ...

The common commensal gut bacterium Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron uses phase separation of the transcription termination factor Rho to colonize and thrive in the mammalian gut, according to a new study in mice. The findings suggest that phase separation may also be vital for other important gut microbes and relevant for novel microbiome-based clinical applications. The gut microbiota plays a critical role in human health. Manipulating gut commensal communities could provide promising therapeutic pathways for treating a host of diseases. However, this goal requires understanding mechanisms that enable ...

In 2021, China unilaterally announced that it would stop building new coal-fueled power plants overseas, which was lauded as an important climate milestone. However, this decision stands in contrast to the nation’s continued support for the domestic use of coal plants. In a Policy Forum, Christoph Nedopil discusses this dichotomy and provides new insights into how these decisions were made. According to Nedopil, the findings could inform efforts to improve environmental cooperation with China. China has become the world’s greatest source of greenhouse gas emissions, and its international influence through trade, ...

A new process that lets scientists chemically cut apart and stitch together nanoscopic layers of two-dimensional materials — like a tailor altering a suit — could be just the tool for designing the technology of a sustainable energy future. Researchers from Drexel University, China and Sweden, have developed a method for structurally splitting, editing and reconstituting layered materials, called MAX phases and MXenes, with the potential of producing new materials with very unusual compositions and exceptional properties. A “chemical scissor” is a chemical designed to react with a specific compound to break ...

Pneumococcal disease leads to over three million hospitalizations and hundreds of thousands of deaths annually. A study publishing March 16th in the open access journal PLOS Biology by Carlos J. Orihuela at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Alabama, United States, and colleagues suggests that the FDA-approved drug Fomepizole may reduce disease severity in the lungs of mice with some forms of bacterial pneumonia and enhance the efficacy of the antibiotic erythromycin as well. Streptococcus pneumoniae is the leading cause of community-acquired ...

Losing Key Type of Pancreatic Cell May Contribute to Diabetes Multiple types of beta cells produce insulin in the pancreas, helping to balance blood sugar levels. Losing a particularly productive type of beta cell may contribute to the development of diabetes, according to a new study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. In the study, published March 16 in Nature Cell Biology, Dr. James Lo, associate professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, and colleagues measured gene expression in individual beta cells collected from mice to determine how many different types of beta cells exist in the pancreas. The team discovered four distinct beta cell types, including one that stood out. ...

The TU Dresden Spin-off Seamless Therapeutics Launches with $12.5M Seed Financing to Advance Transformative Gene Editing Platform Based on Programmable Precision Designer Recombinases in Dresden Seed round co-led by Wellington Partners and Forbion, with additional non-dilutive financial support from the BMBF (GO-Bio funding) enables maturation of the proprietary platform and pipeline towards first clinical evaluation Seamless Therapeutics, a Dresden based start-up of the Technische Universität Dresden, today announced a $12.5 million (€11.8M) seed financing round which will accelerate further development ...

PASADENA, Calif. — A Kaiser Permanente study confirms the benefit of nirmatrelvir-ritonavir, also known as Paxlovid, as an early-stage treatment to prevent hospitalization for people with mild to moderate COVID-19, regardless of prior immunity or age. The study was published March 15, 2023, in Lancet ID. “Among Kaiser Permanente members in Southern California who tested positive for coronavirus infection, receiving Paxlovid within 5 days of the start of COVID-19 symptoms was associated with substantial reductions in the risk of hospital admission or death,” said Sara Tartof, PhD, the senior author of the study and an epidemiologist with the Kaiser ...