Helicases are enzymes that unwind DNA and RNA. They’re central to cellular life, implicated in a number of cancers and infections—and, alas, extraordinarily difficult to target with drugs.   Now, new research provides a powerful platform for designing covalent inhibitors tailored to target helicases. The paper, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, describes how researchers used this innovative new platform to design molecules that take aim at helicases involved in COVID and certain cancers. “High-resolution structural and biochemical data alone are not sufficient ...

New research from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden shows how oestrogen protects against MASLD, a fatty liver disease that has increased dramatically during the current obesity epidemic. The study, published in Molecular Systems Biology, shows how a new drug under development could become a future treatment for fatty liver disease and liver cancer. The global obesity epidemic has resulted in a dramatic increase in fatty liver, a disease in which fat that does not fit into fat cells is stored in liver cells instead. Since last year, fatty liver due to obesity (and not excessive alcohol consumption) is known as MASLD (metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease). ...

DENVER/March 8, 2024 – As awareness of the health risks associated with radon and fracking exposure in connection to cancer continues to rise in human medicine, a recent study explored these ties with multicentric lymphoma, a prevalent canine cancer. Surprisingly, the study did not identify significant correlations between living near sources of environmental toxins, such as fracking by-products and radon, and dogs diagnosed with lymphoma.    The results of this study were published on Monday using data from Morris Animal Foundation’s Golden Retriever Lifetime Study, which enrolled dogs with multicentric lymphoma and matched unaffected ...

We all know that bald eagles like fish. Few of us, however, picture them soaring over grasslands seeking out prairie dog snacks. In a new paper from the Journal of Raptor Research, lead author Courtney Duchardt and coauthors make the case that prairie dogs are an important resource for at least four species of raptors overwintering in the Southern Great Plains, bald eagles included. Their paper, titled “Overwintering Raptor Abundance and Community Composition in Relation to Prairie Dog Colonies in the Southern Great Plains,” explains the first broad scale look into the relationship between prairie dogs and their aerial predators, and illuminates ...

New paper now published in Science proposes three measures the European Union should implement to improve open information, legality and sustainability of wildlife trade in the region. Wildlife trade affects all kinds of species, from insects and fungi to large plants and mammals. The global trade of numerous species poses a significant threat to their survival, increasing their risk of extinction. The European Union is a major global hub for the illegal and unsustainable trade of those species whose international trade is not regulated by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered ...

A team of scientists from the University of Exeter, Met Office and Imperial College have found a new way to calculate the total carbon emissions consistent with the Paris climate targets of 1.5oC and 2oC of global warming. Although the exceptionally warm climate in 2023 was close to exceeding the 1.5oC level, the Paris targets relate to the average warming over ten or more years. The new study answers the question: how much carbon have we got left before we pass the Paris limits?  About 15 years ago, climate scientists discovered a remarkably useful fact about climate change. Despite the vast complexity ...

Research Highlights: A study of more than 1,400 people in U.S. tribal communities found that high cholesterol was twice as prevalent among American Indian adolescents and young adults compared to the overall U.S. population. The study also noted that few study participants with high cholesterol sought or received treatment during the study period. DALLAS, March 8, 2024 — Young American Indians, ages 15-39, had cholesterol levels more than two times higher than the general U.S. population, according to new research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open access, peer-reviewed journal of the American ...

While the majority of the world’s reefs are now under threat or even damaged potentially beyond repair, a new study reported in the journal Current Biology on March 8 offers some encouraging news: efforts to restore coral reefs not only increase coral cover, but they can also bring back important ecosystem functions, and surprisingly fast. “We found that restored coral reefs can grow at the same speed as healthy coral reefs just four years after coral transplantation,” says Ines Lange (@InesLange9) of University of Exeter, UK. “This means that they provide lots of habitat for ...

When you teach a child how to solve puzzles, you can either let them figure it out through trial and error, or you can guide them with some basic rules and tips. Similarly, incorporating rules and tips into AI training—such as the laws of physics—could make them more efficient and more reflective of the real world. However, helping the AI assess the value of different rules can be a tricky task. Researchers report March 8 in the journal Nexus that they have developed a framework for assessing the ...

Planting new coral in degraded reefs can lead to rapid recovery – with restored reefs growing as fast as healthy reefs after just four years, new research shows. Reefs worldwide are severely threatened by local and global pressures. In Indonesia, where the study was carried out, destructive blast fishing destroyed large reef areas 30-40 years ago – with no signs of recovery until now.  The Mars Coral Reef Restoration Programme attempts to restore degraded reefs by transplanting coral fragments onto a network of interconnected ...

About The Study: In this study including 47,000 participants, continuous Medicaid eligibility during the COVID-19 pandemic significantly reduced loss of Medicaid after birth, suggesting similar uninsurance reductions may be expected from post-pandemic postpartum Medicaid extensions, which most states plan to implement.  Authors: Jamie R. Daw, Ph.D., of the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York, 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/jamahealthforum.2024.0004) Editor’s ...

About The Study: This qualitative study including 25 interviews with Black patients discharged from the emergency department described these patients’ perspectives about racism in health care, recent clinical experiences, and thoughts on system improvements. Black patients described a notable amount of medical mistrust, anticipation of racism in emergency care, and personal experiences with clinical instances of racism in emergency treatment. Authors: Anish K. Agarwal, M.D., M.P.H., M.S., of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, is the corresponding ...

Background and Aims The impact of the characteristics of extrahepatic organ failure (EHOF) including the onset time, number, type, and sequence on the prognosis of acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) patients remains unknown. This study aimed to identify the association between the characteristics of EHOF and the prognosis of ACLF patients.   Methods ACLF subjects enrolled at six hospitals in China were included in the analysis. The risk of mortality based on the characteristics of EHOF was evaluated. Survival of study groups was ...

UVA Health researchers have received $2.8 million to advance their development of a high-tech way to save heart and dialysis patients from the need for multiple surgeries. Researchers Lian-Wang Guo, PhD, and K. Craig Kent, MD, are pioneering a quick and gentle technique to “paint” tiny nanoparticles on transplanted veins to prevent the veins from becoming clogged in the future. This type of blockage often causes cardiovascular and dialysis patients to require repeated surgeries; approximately half of all heart ...

The human vascular system, a complex network of blood vessels, plays an essential role in maintaining health. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying vascular development is important for tackling age-related disorders. The Forkhead box O (FOXO1) transcription factor is crucial in processes related to aging, cellular metabolism, and apoptosis. Despite its significance, the comprehensive regulation of FOXO1 across the genome in endothelial cells (EC) has not been investigated.   In a new paper published in iScience in February 2024, a research team from Kumamoto University ...

Scope For decades, robotic systems have played a pivotal role in nurturing the growth of tissue-engineered constructs in controlled environments through the provision of mechanical stimulation. The importance of physical stresses in tissue maturation is not only intuitive from our own bodily experiences but is also supported by a growing body of mechanotransduction research. However, experimental studies have predominantly remained confined to basic in vitro setups, hampering our ability to produce functional grafts that can translate into clinical practice. Emerging evidence suggests that replicating physiological stresses more faithfully could further enhance the functionality of tissue ...

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 ...