mRNA vaccines developed against the spike glycoprotein of severe acute respiratory syndrome type 2 coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), displayed remarkable efficiency in combating coronavirus 19 (COVID-19). These vaccines work by triggering both cellular and humoral immune responses against the spike protein of the virus. Cellular immunity may play a more protective role than humoral immunity to variants of concerns (VOC) against SARS-CoV-2, as it targets the conserved regions of spike protein and possibly cross-reacts with other variants.   Since a single spike epitope is recognized by multiple T-cell clones, the ...

Climate change is driving both the loss of biodiversity and the need for clean, renewable energy. It is also shifting where species are expected to live in the future. Yet these realities are rarely considered together. Where can clean energy projects be built without impacting the future habitat ranges of threatened and endangered species? A study from the University of California, Davis, examines this question by overlaying renewable energy siting maps with the ranges of two species in the southwestern United States: the iconic and climate-vulnerable ...

In the space of just a few seconds, a person walking down a city block might check their phone, yawn, worry about making rent, and adjust their path to avoid a puddle. The smell from a food cart could suddenly conjure a memory from childhood, or they could notice a rat eating a slice of pizza and store the image as a new memory.    For most people, shifting through behaviors quickly and seamlessly is a mundane part of everyday life.    For neuroscientists, it’s one of the brain’s most remarkable capabilities. That’s because different activities require the brain to use different combinations of its many regions and billions of neurons. How ...

By Gretchen Schrafft, Science Communications Specialist, Robert J. & Nancy D. Carney Institute for Brain Science PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Imagine a busy restaurant: dishes clattering, music playing, people talking loudly over one another. It’s a wonder that anyone in that kind of environment can focus enough to have a conversation. A new study by researchers at Brown University’s Carney Institute for Brain Science provides some of the most detailed insights yet into the brain mechanisms that help people pay attention amid such distraction, as well as what’s ...

The body's inability to produce enough insulin or use it effectively often results in type 2 diabetes (T2D), a chronic disease affecting hundreds of millions of people around the globe. Disease management is crucial to avoid negative long-term outcomes, such as limb amputation or heart disease. To counteract adverse consequences, it is crucial that patients have good knowledge about the day-to-day management of the disease.  A team of researchers in Portugal has now assessed how many patients – both insulin-treated and not insulin-treated – have this crucial knowledge about T2D. They published their findings in Frontiers in Public Health. “Our main motivation ...

Smaller class sizes in schools are failing to increase the resilience of children from low-income families, according to a study published in the peer-reviewed International Journal of Science Education. Data on more than 2,700 disadvantaged secondary (high) school students shows that minimizing pupil numbers in classrooms does not lead to better grades. Reducing class sizes could even decrease the odds of children achieving the best results, say the study authors. The quantity of teachers also does not increase the odds of pupils from the poorest backgrounds achieving academically, despite concerns over staff shortages in schools. Instead, the researchers ...

Transition metal selenides have been considered to be a good choice for electrocatalytic water splitting. In addition, Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been used to make catalysts with good electrocatalytic capabilities. Traditionally, the MOF-derived selenides are produced via the self-sacrificing MOF template methods. However, this strategy is high-energy consuming, and it is difficult to precisely control the structure and component homogeneity of the product during pyrolysis. A research group of Wang-ting Lu, Fan Yu, and Yun Zheng ...

How extreme weather and climate events change is an intriguing issue in the context of global warming. As IPCC AR6 points out, cold extremes have become less frequent and less severe since the 1950s, mainly driven by human-induced climate change. However, cold extremes could also exhibit robust interdecadal changes at regional scale.   A recent study by researchers from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, presents robust interdecadal changes in the number of extreme cold days in winter over North China during 1989–2021, and the findings have been published in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters. ...

This paper's objective is to show that the network of frequent relationships that is established between agents in coworking environments, through weak ties, increases the generation of ideas. Thus, the present work argues that collaborative spaces can expand individuals' creativity, as they constitute a social hub for exchanging experiences and visions between individuals from different social and professional backgrounds [Blagoev et al. (2019)]. Through frequent relationships and weak ties, these social connections allow individuals to access different levels of insights and inspirations that make it possible to ...

The chance sighting of a dead snake beside a sandy track in remote Western Australia, and the investigation of its stomach contents, has led Curtin University researchers to record the first known instance of a spotted mulga snake consuming a pygmy spiny-tailed skink, raising concerns for a similar-looking, endangered lizard species. Lead researcher Dr Holly Bradley from Curtin’s School of Molecular and Life Sciences said the discovery of the partially digested pygmy spiny-tailed skink within the snake had implications for the vulnerable western spiny-tailed skink species. “Found about 300km east ...

Movies such as ‘X-Men,’ ‘Fantastic Four,’ and ‘The Guardians,’ which showcase vibrant mutant heroes, have captivated global audiences. Recently, a high-throughput genetic screening of meiotic crossover rate mutants in Arabidopsis thaliana garnered the interest of the academic community by unraveling a century-old mystery in the life sciences.   A research team, consisting of Professor Kyuha Choi, Dr. Jaeil Kim, and PhD candidate Heejin Kim from the Department ...

A University of Colorado Department of Medicine faculty member says she and her colleagues have identified the means in which bacteria in the digestive system can break down tryptophan in the diet into an inflammatory chemical that primes the immune system towards arthritis. The research was co-authored by Kristine Kuhn, MD, PhD, Scoville Endowed Chair and head of the CU Division of Rheumatology. Several of her division colleagues collaborated on the paper, which was published in February in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Tryptophan is an essential amino acid found in many protein-rich foods, including meats, fish, dairy products, and certain seeds and nuts. It has many uses in the ...

Adults who had amblyopia (‘lazy eye’) in childhood are more likely to experience hypertension, obesity, and metabolic syndrome in adulthood, as well as an increased risk of heart attack, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. In publishing the study in eClinicalMedicine, the authors stress that while they have identified a correlation, their research does not show a causal relationship between amblyopia and ill health in adulthood. The researchers analysed data from more than 126,000 participants aged 40 to 69 years old from the UK Biobank cohort, who had undergone ocular examination. Participants ...

A new psychological treatment for children with epilepsy, developed by a UCL-led team of scientists, has been shown to reduce mental health difficulties compared to standard care, a new study finds. Mental health problems such as worries, low mood and behaviour problems are more common in children and young people with brain conditions such as epilepsy, than in the general population – with up to 60% of those with epilepsy having associated mental health disorders and many having more than one mental ...

Is obesity passed down the generations?  Individuals are much more likely to be living with obesity in middle age if their parents were living with obesity, Norwegian research finds Embargo: 2301H UK time Thursday 7 March *This is an early press release from the European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2024) Venice 12-15 May. Please credit the Congress if using this material* Individuals have six times the odds of living with obesity in middle age if both their parents lived with obesity at that age, ...

Waltham — February 21, 2024 — African American patients with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) are less likely to receive surgical treatment, reports the March issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.  "Our study shows significant race- and gender-related differences in treatment choices among Medicaid beneficiaries with CTS," comments ASPS Member Surgeon Rachel C. Hooper, MD, of University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. ...

Waltham — February 21, 2024 — For women undergoing autologous breast reconstruction – reconstruction using the patient's own tissues, rather than implants – the risks of overall and specific complications are increased at higher body mass index (BMI) levels, reports the March issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.  "Our study clarifies the impact of high BMI as a risk factor for adverse outcomes of autologous breast reconstruction," comments senior author Merisa Piper, MD, of ...

Waltham — March 7, 2024 — In caring for transgender and gender diverse (TGD) people, psychiatrists should focus on alleviating the sequelae of gender minority stress, with the goal of promoting resilience, according to a review published in Harvard Review of Psychiatry, part of the Lippincott portfolio from Wolters Kluwer.  "We envision a role for psychiatry that goes beyond gatekeeping gender-affirming hormone therapy and surgeries," says Alex Keuroghlian, MD, MPH, Michele and Howard J. Kessler Chair and Director of the Division of Public and Community Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and ...

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation awarded researchers at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson a $2.7 million grant for clinical testing of a novel, oxygen-enabled, implantable pouch containing pancreatic cell clusters that produce insulin. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the body makes insufficient insulin, a hormone produced in the pancreas that regulates blood glucose levels. The disease is currently treated with supplemental insulin delivered by manual injection ...

FRANKFURT. Bettina Stark-Watzinger, Germany’s Federal Minister of Education and Research, emphasizes: "The rapid and successful development of active substances against the SARS-CoV-2 virus illustrated the importance of good and trusting international cooperation among scientists, especially in the field of integrated structural biology. Exchanging information at an international level is crucial, especially when it comes to using specialist infrastructures. There are many advantages to us joining Instruct-ERIC, which ...

The nationwide baby formula shortage two years ago forced many parents to involuntarily switch brands or types. A recent survey from researchers at the University of California, Davis, highlights how these substitutions led to undesirable effects for babies, including vomiting. The study was published in the journal Nutrients. In an online survey of 178 parents whose infants were under six months of age during the May 2022 shortage, 81% of respondents switched formulas, with 87% of those switching because they could not find the formula ...

NJIT Distinguished Professor of Chemistry Wunmi Sadik has recently been honored with the prestigious Wallace H. Coulter Lectureship during a guest appearance at one of the largest scientific conferences on laboratory science in the world, Pittcon. The Wallace H. Coulter Lectureship is presented each year at Pittcon to an “outstanding individual who has demonstrated a lifetime commitment to, and made important contributions that have had a significant impact on education, practice and/or research in laboratory science.” Sadik, chair of NJIT's ...

NEW ORLEANS, La – Ochsner Health cardiologist Salima Qamruddin, MD, MPH, FASE, FACC has been named a 2024 “Women in STEM” honoree by the American Heart Association and Entergy. This annual award gives recognition to six local female leaders who have demonstrated an exceptional commitment and made an impact in the field of science, technology, engineering and math across New Orleans. As an honoree, Dr. Qamruddin was formally recognized at the 2024 “Go Red for Women” luncheon on Friday, March 1. The event, held at the Hilton Riverside, celebrated the accomplishments of all six “Women in ...

A U.S.-Canadian research collaboration led by Vanderbilt University Medical Center has identified common, age-associated changes in the blood as a risk factor for acute kidney injury (AKI), which occurs in more than 1 in 5 hospitalized adults worldwide. This discovery, reported in the journal Nature Medicine, could open the door to new, more effective treatments for AKI and a way to prevent its progression to end-stage renal disease requiring kidney dialysis. The focus of this investigation was clonal hematopoiesis ...

The Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience will establish its first International Partner Group in India. Dr. Anant Jain, a former MPFI scientist in the lab of Dr. Ryohei Yasuda, will begin his own research group at CHINTA (Centres for High Impact Neuroscience and Translational Applications), TCG Centres for Research Education Science and Technology (CREST). “I am thrilled to head the Max Planck Partner Group, which will create a formal channel of collaboration between my new group and the experts at MPFI. This partnership will help launch my research program in India,” says Dr. Jain. The Max Planck Partner Group program aims to ...