Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is a rare cancer involving dendritic cells, a type of white blood cell that usually helps defend against infections. The current standard of care for LCH, chemotherapy, cures fewer than half of patients. "Our research team focuses on identifying the causes of LCH so that we can develop better therapies for patients," said Dr. Rikhia Chakraborty, assistant professor of pediatrics - hematology and oncology at Baylor College of Medicine. Most cells in LCH lesions are not abnormal dendritic cells but other invading immune cells, such as T cells, that are recruited to sites of disease. The contribution of T cells and other immune cells to LCH disease is not known. Chakraborty and her team at the Texas Children's Cancer Center Histiocytosis Program characterized ...

Mate choice is important for females, who often invest much more energy in offspring than males. However, being too selective is a bad idea, as they might end up not mating at all. Biologists have wondered for a long time how females optimize their chances. Scientists at the University of Groningen have performed experiments with fruit flies that reveal the explanation: mating induces a behavioural change in female flies that makes them more choosy than when they are virgins. The results were published on 21 June in Nature Ecology and Evolution. The fourteenth-century French philosopher Jean Buridan described a donkey who starved to death because he couldn't choose between two bales of hay. Evolutionary biologists have their own version of this decision-making ...

University of Colorado Boulder researchers have discovered that minuscule, self-propelled particles called "nanoswimmers" can escape from mazes as much as 20 times faster than other, passive particles, paving the way for their use in everything from industrial clean-ups to medication delivery. The findings, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, describe how these tiny synthetic nanorobots are incredibly effective at escaping cavities within maze-like environments. These nanoswimmers could one day be used to remediate contaminated ...

Research from the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis has found a missing piece in the puzzle of optical quantum computing. Jung-Tsung Shen, associate professor in the Preston M. Green Department of Electrical & Systems Engineering, has developed a deterministic, high-fidelity two-bit quantum logic gate that takes advantage of a new form of light. This new logic gate is orders of magnitude more efficient than the current technology. "In the ideal case, the fidelity can be as high as 97%," Shen said. His research was published in May 2021 in the journal Physical Review A. The potential of quantum computers is bound to the unusual properties of superposition -- the ability of a quantum system to contain many distinct properties, or states, ...

Irvine, Calif., June 29, 2021 - Fireworks are synonymous in the United States with the celebration of Independence Day and other special events, but the colorful displays have caused a growing risk to public safety in recent years, according to a study by environmental health researchers at the University of California, Irvine. Relying on real-time air quality measurements crowdsourced from a network of more than 750 automated sensors distributed throughout California, scientists from UCI's Program in Public Health found that short-term, extremely high-particulate-matter air pollution from the widespread ...

This lobster tale begins a few years ago when the proprietor of a northeastern seafood restaurant publicly asserted that exposing lobsters to a little cannabis prior to cooking produced notable changes in their behavior and a less dramatic scene in the kitchen for all concerned, which was the Maine thing. In a paper published online June 29, 2021 in the journal Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, a team led by researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, report on efforts to answer that burning, boiling and baked question. They obtained live lobsters (Homarus americanus) from a supermarket and exposed the crustaceans to up to 60 minutes of vaporized Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) -- the principle psychoactive component of cannabis -- then ...

June 29, 2021 - Nutley, NJ - Scientists from the Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation, working with collaborators from across the globe, uncovered the mechanism of action of a novel anti-tuberculosis drug that they have helped develop. The new findings show how the enzyme inhibitor triaza-coumarin, or TA-C, is metabolized by the TB germs, which makes it effective in inhibiting the disease from within, like in a "Trojan horse" attack, according to the new paper in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "This is a promising new direction of research," said Thomas Dick, member of the CDI faculty. "We are hoping this work can make a difference in the ongoing fight against TB." "The scientists at the CDI who specialize in ...

For many years, researchers have been focused on developing technologies that can help us fight the imminent climate change crisis. They have one goal in common: finding sustainable energy sources that can replace the environmentally toxic fossil fuels. "Photocatalysts" that drive an artificial process that replicates photosynthesis (in which solar energy is converted to useful materials) are promising in this regard, given that we are able to develop the technology needed for them. Crystalline materials, such as strontium titanate (SrTiO3), which can serve as "photocatalysts" in solar devices, can lead us in the direction. SrTiO3 is attractive owing to various other reasons ...

Basic needs of disaster- and conflict-impacted refugees are often met by humanitarian relief goods and services, and until now little was known about how refugees create economic livelihood beyond immediate relief. A new exploratory case study from Portland State University Associate Professor of Management Theodore Khoury reveals how Syrian refugees in the Za'atari camp reached beyond basic disaster relief support and leveraged social capital to create informal economic systems that helped improve their quality of life. The study, "Towards a theory of informal supply networks: An?exploratory case study of the Za'atari refugee camp," is published in the Journal of Operations Management and co-authored by ...

PHILADELPHIA - The use of e-cigarettes, or vaping, causes serious damage to the lungs. After the novel coronavirus responsible for the respiratory disease COVID-19 emerged last year, there have been ongoing concerns about how vaping might impact risk of infection and severity of symptoms. Some evidence shows an increased risk of COVID-19 among those who vape. Research also shows a higher COVID-19 mortality rate in men compared to women, and men are more likely to vape than women. However, there is no evidence to link these two observations. New research from Jefferson sheds light on this by showing that exposure to e-cigarette vapor increases levels of the coronavirus receptor in the lungs ...

A 50% rise in the level of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere could reduce rainfall in the Amazon as much as or even more than substitution of the entire forest by pasture. The rise in CO2 would reduce the amount of water vapor emitted by the forest, leading to a 12% annual drop in the volume of rainfall, while total deforestation would reduce rainfall by 9%. These estimates are presented in a study published in Biogeosciences by scientists affiliated with the National Space Research Institute (INPE), the University of São Paulo (USP) and the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in Brazil, and with Munich Technical University (TUM) in Germany. “CO2 is a basic input for photosynthesis, so when it increases in the atmosphere, plant physiology ...

Some regions of the human genome where the DNA can fold into unusual three-dimensional structures called G-quadruplexes (G4s) show signs that they are preserved by natural selection. When G4s are located in the regulatory sequences that control how genes are expressed or in other functional, but non-protein coding, regions of the genome, they are maintained by selection, are more common, and their unusual structures are more stable, according to a new study. Conversely, the structures are less common, less stable, and evolve neutrally outside of these regions, including within the protein-coding regions of genes themselves. Together, these ...

A two-dimensional alloy material -- made from five metals as opposed to the traditional two -- has been developed by a collaboration between researchers at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis and researchers at the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago. And, in a first for such a material, it has been shown to act as an excellent catalyst for reducing CO2, into CO, with potential applications in environmental remediation. The research, from the lab of Rohan Mishra, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science at ...

A team of neuroscientists at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology led by Baher Ibrahim and Dr. Daniel Llano published a study in eLife that furthers our understanding of how the brain perceives everyday sensory inputs. "There is a traditional idea that the way that we experience the world is sort of like a movie being played on a projector. All the sensory information that is coming in is being played on our cerebral cortex and that's how we see things and hear things," said Llano, a Beckman researcher and associate professor in the Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology at the University of Illinois ...

Many drivers use tollways to get from point A to point B because they are a faster and more convenient option. The fees associated with these roadways are higher during peak traffic hours of the day, such as during the commute to and from work. With this structure, drivers who are not adding to the heavy flow of traffic do not have to pay higher toll prices. However, those who utilize the toll road during more congested hours pay a premium to use the faster, more convenient highways. Similarly, not everyone uses the same amount of electricity throughout the day. There are peak load hours that put more strain on the grid, and there are users within those times who use more electricity ...

HOUSTON - (June 29, 2021) - The story of halichondrin B, an inspirational molecule obtained from a marine creature, goes back to the molecule's discovery in an ocean sponge in 1986. Though it has been replicated in the laboratory several times before, new work by Rice University chemists could make halichondrin B and its naturally occurring or designed variations easier to synthesize. Synthetic chemist K.C. Nicolaou and his lab reported in the Journal of the American Chemical Society their success in simplifying several processes used to make halichondrin B and its variations. Halichondrin's molecular structure and potent antitumor ...

Dark Energy is widely believed to be the driving force behind the universe's accelerating expansion, and several theories have now been proposed to explain its elusive nature. However, these theories predict that its influence on quantum scales must be vanishingly small, and experiments so far have not been accurate enough to either verify or discredit them. In new research published in EPJ ST, a team led by Hartmut Abele at TU Wien in Austria demonstrate a robust experimental technique for studying one such theory, using ultra-cold neutrons. Named 'Gravity Resonance Spectroscopy' (GRS), their approach could bring researchers ...

Scientists have discovered how plants manage to live alongside each other in places that are dark and shady. Moderate shade or even the threat of shade - detected by phytochrome photoreceptors - causes plants to elongate to try to outgrow the competition. But in the deep gloom of a dense forest or a cramped crop canopy where resources and photosynthesis are limited, this strategy doesn't work. In these conditions it would be a waste of energy and detrimental to survival to elongate stems because seedlings would never be able to over-grow larger neighbours. So how do plants prevent elongated growth under deep shade conditions? The secret lies in their internal clocks, says the research collaboration from the John Innes Centre ...

NEW YORK (June 29, 2021)--In a new paper published in the journal Vaccine: X, public health experts from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, the University of Oslo, and Spark Street Advisors highlight actions to accelerate access to vaccines globally. The paper reviews the vaccine research and development process and proposes areas where reforms could increase access, speed time to market and decrease costs--from R&D to manufacturing and regulation to the management of incentives like patents and public funding. The COVID-19 ...

A process that uses heat to change the arrangement of molecular rings on a chemical chain creates 3D-printable gels with a variety of functional properties, according to a Dartmouth study. The researchers describe the new process as "kinetic trapping." Molecular stoppers--or speed bumps--regulate the number of rings going onto a polymer chain and also control ring distributions. When the rings are bunched up, they store kinetic energy that can be released, much like when a compressed spring is released. Researchers in the Ke Functional Materials Group use heat to change the distribution of rings and then use moisture ...

DURHAM, N.C. - Combining structural biology and computation, a Duke-led team of researchers has identified how multiple mutations on the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein independently create variants that are more transmissible and potentially resistant to antibodies. By acquiring mutations on the spike protein, one such variant gained the ability to leap from humans to minks and back to humans. Other variants -- including Alpha, which first appeared in the United Kingdom, Beta, which appeared in South Africa, and Gamma, first identified in Brazil - independently developed spike mutations that enhanced their ability to spread rapidly in human ...

Aerospace engineering faculty member Melkior Ornik is also a mathematician, a history buff, and a strong believer in integrity when it comes to using hard science in public discussions. So, when a story popped up in his news feed about a pair of researchers who developed a statistical method to analyze datasets and used it to purportedly refute the number of Holocaust victims from a concentration camp in Croatia, it naturally caught his attention. Ornik is a professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He proceeded to study the research in depth and used the method to re-analyze the same data from the United ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Mayo Clinic researchers are taking a close look at rare cases of inflammation of the heart muscle, or myocarditis, in young men who developed symptoms shortly after receiving the second dose of the Moderna or Pfizer messenger RNA (mRNA) COVID-19 vaccines. Several recent studies suggest that health care professionals should watch for hypersensitivity myocarditis as a rare adverse reaction to being vaccinated for COVID-19. However, researchers stress that this awareness should not diminish overall confidence in vaccination during the current pandemic. While reports of post-vaccine myocarditis ...

Using real-time deformability cytometry, researchers at the Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin in Erlangen were able to show for the first time: Covid-19 significantly changes the size and stiffness of red and white blood cells - sometimes over months. These results may help to explain why some affected people continue to complain of symptoms long after an infection (long Covid). Shortness of breath, fatigue and headaches: some patients still struggle with the long-term effects of a severe infection by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus after six months or more. This post Covid-19 syndrome, also called long covid, is still not properly understood. What is clear is that -- during the ...

In two journal articles, a University of Houston biomedical researcher reports a step forward in diagnosing intestinal diseases, including colorectal cancer, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease using stool proteins. The current gold standard for colon cancer testing measures blood (hemoglobin) present in stool, and tests for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) measure levels of calprotectin, a protein that detects inflammation in the intestines. "The unique aspect of both research reports is that we are looking at stool samples comprehensively, ...