Fibromyalgia is one of many chronic pain conditions that remains stubbornly difficult to treat. As the ravages of the opioid epidemic lead many to avoid these powerful painkillers, a significant number of people with fibromyalgia are finding an effective replacement in CBD-containing products, finds a new Michigan Medicine study. CBD, short for cannabidiol, is the second most common cannabinoid in the cannabis plant, and has been marketed for everything from mood stabilization to pain relief, without the intoxicating effects produced by the most common cannabinoid, THC. THC, which stands for ...

The cells of simple organisms, such as bacteria, as well as human cells are surrounded by a membrane, which fulfills various tasks including protecting the cell from stress. In a joint project, teams from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and Forschungszentrum Jülich, with participation of Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU), have now discovered that a membrane protein found in bacteria has a similar structure and function as a group of proteins that are responsible for remodeling and rebuilding the cell membrane in humans. No connection between the two protein groups was known before. The team's research work has been published recently in the renowned journal Cell. PspA plays a key role in bacterial stress response The phage shock protein ...

Boston - In recent years, cancer immunotherapy has been effective in treating patients with immunogenic, or so-called "hot" tumors with increased levels of inflammation and the presence of immune cells in and around the tumors. Prostate cancer, however, is considered a "cold" tumor, with few immune cells recognizing and infiltrating prostate malignancies. Accordingly, prostate cancer has been found to respond poorly to the class of immunotherapies known as immune checkpoint inhibitors. In previous work, a team led by medical oncologists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) identified a subset of prostate cancers that exhibited ...

Cosmic dawn, when stars formed for the first time, occurred 250 million to 350 million years after the beginning of the universe, according to a new study led by researchers at University College London (UCL) and the University of Cambridge. The study, published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, suggests that the NASA James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), scheduled to launch in November, will be sensitive enough to observe the birth of galaxies directly. The UK-led research team examined six of the most distant galaxies currently known, whose light has taken most of the universe's ...

Researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, together with epidemiologist Lone Simonsen from Roskilde University form part of the panel advising the Danish government on how to tackle the different infection-spreading situations we have all seen unfold over the past year. Researchers have modelled the spread of infections under a variety of scenarios, and the Coronavirus has proven to not follow the older models of disease spreading. An increasingly varied picture of its behaviour and thus its impact on society has emerged. In several scientific articles, researchers ...

During the continued progression of the Corona pandemic, rapid, inexpensive, and reliable tests will become increasingly important to determine whether people have the associated antibodies - either through infection or vaccination. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have now developed such a rapid antibody test. It provides the result in only eight minutes; the aim is to further reduce the process time to four minutes. There are currently more than 20 different test procedures available for determining whether a person has antibodies against the new Corona virus. The waiting times for the results range between ten minutes and two and a half hours. Matrix effects reduce the sensitivity of many of the methods. The more sensitive assays require numerous steps, ...

While invasive zebra mussels consume small plant-like organisms called phytoplankton, Michigan State University researchers discovered during a long-term study that zebra mussels can actually increase Microcystis, a type of phytoplankton known as "blue-green algae" or cyanobacteria, that forms harmful floating blooms. "Microcystis literally means small cell, but numerous cells cluster together in colonies that can float to the surface to form scums," said Orlando Sarnelle, a professor emeritus with the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife within the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. "It is one of the most common causes of nuisance algal blooms in nutrient-enriched waters, including Lake ...

When it comes to career aspirations for teenagers, a University of Houston psychology researcher believes it's best to shoot for the moon, so you can at least land in the stars. The truth is the moon may sometimes be unreachable. In the Journal of Career Assessment, Kevin Hoff, assistant professor of psychology, reports the existence of important discrepancies between young people's dream jobs and employment realities. "Almost 50% of adolescents aspired to investigative or artistic careers, which together account for only 8% of the U.S. labor market," reports Hoff, whose research examined the career aspirations of 3,367 adolescents (age 13-18 years) from 42 U.S. states. Investigative jobs include those in the field of science and research. Hoff's team ...

FORT LAUDERDALE/DAVIE, Fla. - We know that the domestic cat has distant relatives that roam the earth - lions, tigers, cheetahs and mountain lions. Less familiar are the 38 distinct species in the Family Felidae, many with strange names like pampas cat, kodkod and rusty spotted cat. The new field of genomics - the unravelling of DNA genomes of separate species - is resolving old conundrums and revealing new secrets across the history of evolutionarily related species among cats, dogs, bears and ourselves. In the largest-ever study undertaken of Chinese cats, genetic detectives highlight the evolutionary uniqueness and premier conservation importance of the elusive Chinese mountain cat (Felis silvestris bieti), found only in the Tibetan ...

A joint research team led by Prof. FU Qiaomei from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences sequenced the ancient genomes of 31 individuals from southern East Asia, thus unveiling a missing piece of human prehistory. The study was published in Cell on June 24. Prof. FU's team used DNA capture techniques to retrieve ancient DNA from Guangxi and Fujian, two provincial-level regions in southern China. They sequenced genome-wide DNA from 31 individuals dating back 11,747 to 194 years ago. Of these, two date back to more than 10,000 years ago, making them the oldest ...

This worm that lives in the White Sea is able to restore lost body segments. However, it turned out that suppression of FGF protein activity disturbs this ability. Similar proteins are found in humans. This discovery may lead to developing methods of fast wound healing. The research findings are published in the journal Genes as part of the project supported by the Russian Science Foundation. Fibroblast growth factors (FGF) are proteins that play an important role in wound healing and tissue growth. When the need for regeneration of damaged body parts occur, FGFs are produced by epidermis, nervous tissue, macrophages and fibroblasts, which are the main cells of connective tissue. As a result, ...

Adolescent marijuana use and binge drinking did not significantly change during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite record decreases in the substances' perceived availability, according to a survey of 12th graders in the United States. The study's findings, which appeared online on June 24, 2021, in Drug and Alcohol Dependence, challenge the idea that reducing adolescent use of drugs can be achieved solely by limiting their supply. The work was led by researchers at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health. In contrast to consistent rates of marijuana and alcohol use, nicotine vaping in high school seniors ...

Philadelphia, June 24, 2021 - After beginning treatment with remdesivir for COVID-19, a patient experienced significant bradycardia, or low heart rate. Her physicians used a dopamine infusion to stabilize her through the five-day course of remdesivir treatment, and her cardiac condition resolved itself at the end of the treatment. The case is discussed in Heart Rhythm Case Reports, an official journal of the Heart Rhythm Society, published by Elsevier. "Remdesivir has become the standard of care for COVID-19 pneumonia and there is a paucity of data on its cardiac effects," explained lead author Jomel Patrick Jacinto, DO, HCA Healthcare/USF ...

Motions of a remarkable cosmic structure have been measured for the first time, using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. The blast wave and debris from an exploded star are seen moving away from the explosion site and colliding with a wall of surrounding gas. Astronomers estimate that light from the supernova explosion reached Earth about 1,700 years ago, or when the Mayan empire was flourishing and the Jin dynasty ruled China. However, by cosmic standards the supernova remnant formed by the explosion, called MSH 15-52, is one of the youngest in the Milky Way galaxy. The explosion also created ...

INDIANAPOLIS -- A new study demonstrates that many younger adult dental patients are taking medications and highlights the importance of dental providers reviewing medication histories regardless of age. The study from Regenstrief Institute and the Indiana University School of Dentistry looked at dental records from 11,220 dental patients over the age of 18. The results showed: 53 percent of all patients reported taking at least one medication 12 percent of those age 18-24 were taking at least one medication 20 percent of those age 25-34 were taking at least one ...

In a study in Nature Plants, Yiping Qi, associate professor of Plant Science at the University of Maryland (UMD), introduces a new and improved CRISPR 3.0 system in plants, focusing on gene activation instead of traditional gene editing. This third generation CRISPR system focuses on multiplexed gene activation, meaning that it can boost the function of multiple genes simultaneously. According to the researchers, this system boasts four to six times the activation capacity of current state-of-the-art CRISPR technology, demonstrating high accuracy and efficiency in up to seven genes at once. While CRISPR is more often known for its gene editing capabilities that can knock out genes that are undesirable, activating genes to gain functionality is essential to creating better plants ...

LA JOLLA--(June 24, 2021) When looking at a complex landscape, the eye needs to focus in on important details without losing the big picture--a charging lion in a jungle, for example. Now, a new study by Salk scientists shows how inhibitory neurons play a critical role in this process. The study, published May 25, 2021, in the journal Cell Reports, shows that inhibitory neurons do more than just inhibit neuron activity like an off-switch; paradoxically, they actually increase the amount of information transmitted through the nervous system when it needs to be flexible. To make this possible, inhibitory neurons need to be integrated into the circuit in a specific way. These observations could help scientists better understand and treat disorders involving our ability to focus and modulate ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- It can be difficult to get young kids to eat enough vegetables, but a new Penn State study found that simply adding more veggies to their plates resulted in children consuming more vegetables at the meal. The researchers found that when they doubled the amount of corn and broccoli served at a meal -- from 60 to 120 grams -- the children ate 68% more of the veggies, or an additional 21 grams. Seasoning the vegetables with butter and salt, however, did not affect consumption. The daily recommended amount of vegetables for kids is ...

Rude behavior at work has come to be expected, like donuts in the breakroom. Two decades of research on employee relationships shows that 98 percent of employees experience rude behavior at work, but now a new study suggests a large majority of workplace relationships are not characterized by rudeness. Isolated incidents of rude behavior at work, although somewhat common, do not point to widespread incivility between employees and their colleagues, according to a new UCF study. "Because prior research suggests workplace mistreatment is harmful and widespread, it is often called an epidemic, but our findings show that rude behavior is less like the flu and more like cholera," says Shannon Taylor, an associate professor of management and co-author of the ...

Berlin and Bath, 24th June 2021 - Precision-fermentation company Formo and the University of Bath co-published the first large-scale study of consumer acceptance for animal-free dairy products. Researchers surveyed 5,054 individuals from Brazil, Germany, India, the UK, and the USA to understand what consumers think of animal-free dairy products. Precision fermentation is a process that allows specific proteins to be produced via microorganisms. By inserting a copied stretch of cow DNA, microorganisms produce milk proteins. The process is more efficient than using animals to make proteins and avoids the negative side effects of industrial animal agriculture, which is responsible for 18% of all greenhouse gas emissions. The findings of the study, published in ...

Leukemia is a group of blood cancers that affects thousands of people worldwide. However, with advances in medicine, several different types of leukemia can be effectively treated with donor stem cells through allogenic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT). One such type of leukemia is B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL), which is caused by uncontrolled proliferation and prolonged existence of cancerous B-cells. While allo-SCT can 'cure' B-ALL in several cases, there are also cases of failure, characterized by deterioration in health after a period ...

The brain is not a passive recipient of injury or disease. Research has shown that when neurons die and disrupt the natural flow of information they maintain with other neurons, the brain compensates by redirecting communications through other neuronal networks. This adjustment or rewiring continues until the damage goes beyond compensation. This process of adjustment, a result of the brain's plasticity, or its ability to change or reorganize neural networks, occurs in neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's disease (HD). As the conditions progress, many genes change the way they are normally expressed, turning some genes up and others down. The challenge for researchers like Dr. Juan Botas ...

The central goal of cloud computing is to provide fast, easy-to-use computing and data storage services at a low cost. However, the cloud environment comes with data confidentiality risks attached. Cryptography is the primary tool used to enhance the security of cloud computing. This mathematical technique protects the stored or transmitted data by encrypting it, so that it can only be understood by intended recipients. While there are many different encryption techniques, none are completely secure, and the search continues for new technologies that can counter the rising threats to data privacy and security. In a recent study published in KeAi's International Journal of Intelligent Networks, a team of researchers from India and Yemen describe a novel, two-step cryptography ...

A research team, led by Prof. Nathaniel S. Hwang and Prof. Byung-gee Kim, from Seoul National University (SNU) and Prof. Dong Yun Lee, from Hanyang University, has used enzymatic crosslinking to create nanofilms on cell surfaces. SNU has announced that it has developed a "cell caging" technology for the applications in cell-based therapies. The "cell caging" technique can prevent immune rejection during heterologous islet cell transplantation, facilitate smooth cell insulin secretion, and treat type 1 diabetic patients without immunosuppressants. The research team succeeded in producing a nanofilm by using the electrostatic force to stack chitosan, which is a biological polymer, and hyaluronic acid in that order. To overcome the shortcomings ...

Across the world, type 2 diabetes is on the rise. A research group has discovered a new gene that may hold the key to preventing and treating lifestyle related diseases such as type 2 diabetes. The results of their research were published in the journal Nucleic Acids Research on June 18, 2021. Selenoprotein P (SeP) is an essential plasma protein containing the micronutrient selenium. However, too much SeP spells trouble. Excess SeP increases insulin resistance, thus weakening the effect of insulin, and worsening the metabolism of glucose. "Excess SeP is the enemy when it comes to type 2 diabetes," stressed professor Yoshiro Saito from the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Tohoku University and co-author of the ...