What if that proverbial man in the mirror was a fish? Would it change its ways? According to an Osaka Metropolitan University-led research group, yes, it would. In what the researchers say in Scientific Reports is the first time for a non-human animal to be demonstrated to possess some mental states (e.g., mental body image, standards, intentions, goals), which are elements of private self-awareness, bluestreak cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus) checked their body size in a mirror before choosing whether to attack fish that were slightly larger or smaller than themselves. The ...

LA JOLLA, CA—It’s a dogma taught in every introductory biology class: Proteins are composed of combinations of 20 different amino acids, arranged into diverse sequences like words. But researchers trying to engineer biologic molecules with new functions have long felt limited by those 20 basic building blocks and strived to develop ways of putting new building blocks—called non-canonical amino acids—into their proteins. Now, scientists at Scripps Research have designed a new paradigm for easily adding non-canonical amino acids to proteins. Their approach, described in Nature Biotechnology on September 11, 2024, revolves around using ...

A groundbreaking study led by researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus reveals that stress-induced changes in sperm motility occur after a stressful event, rather than during it and improves sperm performance. The discovery is essential in understanding how stress impacts the reproductive process to improve fetal development outcomes. The study was published today in Nature Communications. Over the last five decades, there has been a notable decline in semen quality, which has coincided with environmental stressors. This new research identifies how stress affects the ability of ...

Throat problems could impair autonomic nervous system's ability to regulate blood pressure Research suggests problems at junction between air and food passages may ‘overwhelm’ the Vagus nerve Patients with throat problems were less able to regulate their blood pressure in a new study led by the University of Southampton. The study published in JAMA Otolaryngology is the first to observe reduced baroreflex sensitivity in patients with throat symptoms. The baroreflex is a crucial part of the autonomic nervous system which detects changes ...

The Centre for Research and Innovation for Black Survivors of Homicide Victims (The CRIB) is calling for decisive action to address the grief from homicide that is disproportionately affecting Black communities worldwide — and to tackle the root causes of homicide that impact this population. In a paper published in the journal Homicide Studies, University of Toronto social work professor Tanya Sharpe and colleagues argue that the prevalence and spread of homicide grief — the grief that follows the ...

During social interactions, the activity of the brain’s neurons becomes synchronized between the individuals involved. New research published in Advanced Science reveals that such synchronization occurs between humans and dogs, with mutual gazing causing synchronization in the brain’s frontal region and petting causing synchronization in the parietal region. Both regions are associated with attention. The strength of this synchronization increased with growing familiarity of human–dog pairs over 5 days, and tests indicated that the human is the leader while ...

New research published in Business Strategy and the Environment based on information from G7 countries demonstrates that green finance—loans, investments, and incentives that support environmentally-friendly projects and activities—can reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Also, data indicate that investments in green projects are profitable. The study found that G7 countries' environmental conditions have been negatively impacted by economic development; however, there are advantages of green finance solutions for economic growth. The study’s investigators ...

In an analysis of information on 164,170 older adult Medicare beneficiaries who were hospitalized for hip fractures, a similar proportion of Black and white beneficiaries used opioids after they were discharged and returned to the community, but Black beneficiaries consistently received lower doses of the pain medications. In the study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, investigators observed that on average Black beneficiaries received the equivalent of around 250 fewer milligrams ...

Flowers that are pollinated by bats tend to have long stems that make them stand out from the surrounding foliage. New research published in New Phytologist reveals the evolutionary advantage that this characteristic provides to plants to ensure that they are discovered by bats. In simple backgrounds lacking foliage, bats showed no significant difference in the time it took them to find flowers with long versus short stems, but in complex backgrounds (with arrays of leaves and flowers), bats took nearly twice as much time to locate short-stemmed flowers. Investigators hypothesize that flowers located away from the surrounding foliage likely help bats to distinguish ...

The neurons of the brain are protected by an insulating layer called myelin. In certain diseases like multiple sclerosis, this protective layer is damaged and lost, leading to death of neurons and disability. New research published in The FEBS Journal reveals the importance of a protein called C1QL1 for promoting the replacement of the specialized cells that produce myelin. The findings could have important implications for the ongoing effort to develop new and improved therapies for the treatment of demyelinating diseases. In experiments conducted in mice, deleting the gene that codes for C1QL1 caused a delay in the rate at which oligodendrocytes ...

Cells that die during inflammation send wound-healing messages  A study by the team of Prof. Kodi Ravichandran (VIB-UGent Center for Inflammation Research) and colleagues found that pyroptosis, a form of programmed cell death traditionally thought to be purely inflammatory, also plays a crucial role in promoting healing and tissue repair. This research, published in Nature, opens new avenues for understanding how our bodies respond to injury and could lead to innovative treatments for wounds and inflammatory diseases.  Dying cells  About a billion cells ...

Bottom Line: The frequency of second primary malignancies (SPMs) arising in cancer survivors following treatment with CAR T-cell therapy was statistically comparable to the frequency of SPMs following other standard-of-care therapies, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal in Which the Study was Published: Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Author: Kai Rejeski, MD, a visiting investigator and research fellow in the Adult Bone Marrow Transplant Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Background: In January 2024, the U.S. Food and ...

With the development of intelligent era, information captured in low-light environments has become increasingly vital. Low-light enhancement technology is now a significant research topic in the domain of machine vision. Designing a robust low-light enhancement algorithm can not only improve the contrast of images, but also restore color and texture details, so as to obtain more distinct and accurate low-light scene information. The team led by Prof. Danhua Cao from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), ...

The evolution of bones in primates’ knees could have implications for how humans evolved to walk upright, a new study has found. Researchers from King’s College London analysed the presence of the lateral fabella, a bone in the knee the size of a sesame seed, in 93 different species of primates. They found that while most primates have these bones, they are often absent in hominoids, the group of primates that humans belong to alongside chimpanzees, gorillas, gibbons, and others. Yet ...

Feeling safe and comfortable are key when discussing your health and wellbeing with your primary care provider. However, that feeling of comfort and safety can’t be taken for granted among many people who have turned to psychedelic substances—including psilocybin—to help control their symptoms of depression, anxiety or PTSD. Now, a team of UBC Okanagan researchers in the Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences has published a study looking into patient perspectives and potential issues when it comes to discussing psychedelics for therapeutic use with their physicians. Dr. Michelle St. Pierre conducts ...

People with type 2 diabetes, who display lower levels of diligence, may have a significantly higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease with which diabetes is strongly associated, finds research published in the open access journal BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care. While certain personality traits may influence cardiovascular disease risk, adopting a healthy lifestyle is still beneficial, irrespective of diligence level, the findings show. Effective management of type 2 diabetes ...

Statin treatment is cost effective and linked to better health outcomes in older people with or without previous cardiovascular disease, although the risk reductions were substantially smaller in the latter, reports a modelling on the lifetime benefits of these drugs among the over-70s, published online in the journal Heart. The findings back consideration of these drugs for most over-70s, say the researchers. Statins are used extensively to ward off heart attacks and strokes in middle-aged people, ...

Excess abdominal fat is associated with widespread chronic pain, particularly in women, finds the first study of its kind, published in the open access journal Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine.   Reducing excess fat deposits in the abdomen may help reduce chronic musculoskeletal pain, especially if it’s experienced at multiple body sites, suggest the researchers. Previously published research has shown that obesity is associated with musculoskeletal pain, but it’s not known if excess fat tissue is linked to chronic musculoskeletal pain and at multiple body sites, ...

A new technology which uses harmless light waves to measure activity in babies’ brains has provided the most complete picture to date of brain functions like hearing, vision and cognitive processing outside a conventional, restrictive brain scanner, in a new study led by researchers at UCL and Birkbeck. The wearable brain imaging headgear, which was developed in collaboration with UCL spin-out Gowerlabs, found unexpected activity in the prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain that processes emotions, in response to social stimuli, appearing to confirm ...

In the midst of America’s growing opioid crisis, a much healthier alternative to long-term pain management is emerging — one affectionately known as “the cuddle hormone,” or oxytocin. University of Florida researchers are currently investigating whether a synthetic version of this naturally-occurring human hormone can be used in conjunction with prescription drugs to help curb opioid addictions, especially in susceptible older adults. An interdisciplinary research team is conducting the two-year study, with $414,375 in funding from the National ...

A study led by Brazilian researchers has produced a detailed description of the morphology of the nerves in the liver and how they control production of glucose when the organism is under stress. This process is known as hepatic gluconeogenesis. It is a key metabolic function of the liver that helps maintain a normal blood sugar level, especially when fasting and at times of high energy needs.  An article on the study, which entailed experiments with mice, is published in the journal Metabolism. According to the authors, the sympathetic nerves that stimulate the release of noradrenaline in the liver helped ...

(San Diego, Calif.--September 9, 2024, 10:05 a.m.) -- The epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor aumolertinib demonstrated improved progression-free survival compared to placebo without any significant new adverse reactions, according to data from the POLESTAR study presented today at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer 2024 World Conference on Lung Cancer. Consolidation therapy with durvalumab is established as the standard of care for patients who do not experience disease progression following concurrent chemoradiotherapy. However, it is unknown what the specific benefit ...

Individuals who received a once-a-day oral weight loss drug lost up to 13% of their body weight over three months, the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Madrid, Spain (9-13 September) will hear. Amycretin, which is being developed by the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk A/S, mimics the action of two peptide hormones in one single molecule. Amycretin is both an amylin and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist. Both of these play a key role in appetite regulation ...

Restricting the eating window to 8 hours a day significantly improves blood glucose control in adults at risk of type 2 diabetes irrespective of whether it is earlier or later in the day, according to a randomised crossover trial to be presented at this year’s Annual Meeting of The European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), Madrid (9-13 Sept). “Our study found that restricting eating to a window of 8 hours per day significantly improved the daily time spent in the normal blood glucose range and reduced fluctuations in blood glucose levels. However, altering the 8-hour restricted eating period ...

Gum disease is more common in individuals with microvascular complications of diabetes, new research being presented at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Madrid, Spain (9-13 September) and published in The Journal of Dental Research has found. Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease that affects the gums and the bones supporting the teeth. It is caused by the accumulation of bacterial plaque, and if left untreated, it can lead to the destruction of the tissues that hold the teeth in place, ultimately resulting in tooth loss. “This tooth loss can affect essential functions like chewing and speaking, while ...