Proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC), which are being developed for use in electric vehicles, rely on nanoparticles called catalysts to trigger electricity-producing reactions between hydrogen and oxygen. Most PEMFC catalysts contain platinum – a scarce and precious metal. There is therefore a pressing global need to develop catalysts that can generate the most power while minimizing platinum content. Manufacturers integrate these catalysts in complex assemblies called catalyst layers. Until now, they had to do so without a detailed picture of the resulting structure, as traditional imaging processes almost always cause some degree of damage. Vasiliki Tileli, head ...

New research finds there is significant variation in the anatomy of the human digestive system, with pronounced differences possible between healthy individuals. The finding has implications for understanding the role that the digestive tract’s anatomy can play in affecting human health, as well as providing potential insights into medical diagnoses and the microbial ecosystem of the gut. “There was research more than a century ago that found variability in the relative lengths of human intestines, but this area has largely been ignored since then,” says Amanda Hale, co-first author of the study and a Ph.D. ...

As the movement toward “deprescribing” medications among older adults grows, a new poll shows strong interest in this idea. A full 80% of adults aged 50 to 80 would be open to stopping one or more of the prescription medicines they’ve been taking for more than a year, if a health care provider said it was possible. Already, 26% said they have done so in the past two years. Of those willing to stop a medicine, 67% said they would likely ask for advice about doing so at their next visit with a provider, according to the new ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- Throw a tantrum. Threaten, shove aside or steal from your colleagues. Science confirms, yet again, that brutish behavior can be an effective path to power. And not just in humans, but in chimpanzees, too.  A new study appearing April 24 in the journal PeerJ Life and Environment found that male chimps with more bullying, greedy and irritable personalities reached higher rungs of the social ladder and were more successful at siring offspring than their more deferential and conscientious counterparts. But if that’s the case, researchers ask, why isn’t every chimp a bully?  A team led by researchers at the ...

The first prospective study comparing outcomes in patients with pituitary apoplexy—sudden bleeding or death of a pituitary tumor—found that patients managed medically fared as well as those treated surgically in the majority of cases. The multicenter international study, led by Cedars-Sinai investigators, was presented today at the American Association of Neurological Surgeons Scientific Meeting in Los Angeles. “This is the best data to date on the question of surgery versus medical management in patients with this rare but serious condition,” said Adam Mamelak, MD, co-director ...

The American Association for the Advancement of Science’s (AAAS) inaugural Mani L. Bhaumik Breakthrough of the Year Award — focused on standout contributors to NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) — honors three individuals who supported vast swaths of the JWST community over decades and whose persistence amid multiple setbacks ensured the mission’s completion.   The award recognizes Major General Charles Frank Bolden Jr., USMC (Ret), a former administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); John Mather, senior project scientist of the JWST since 1995; and Bill Ochs, JWST project manager from 2011 through the telescope’s ...

Study’s findings suggest that maintaining normal vitamin D levels may benefit patients. New research indicates that for patients with advanced skin cancer, it may be important to maintain normal vitamin D levels when receiving immunotherapy medications called immune checkpoint inhibitors. The findings are published by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. Vitamin D has many effects on the body, including regulation of the immune system. To see whether levels of vitamin D might impact the effectiveness of immune checkpoint inhibitors, investigators analyzed the blood of 200 patients with advanced melanoma both before and every 12 weeks ...

Despite the promise of new medications that promote cancer cell death in people with acute myeloid leukemia, leukemic cells often adopt features that let them evade the drugs’ effects within a year. Now, new research using human tissue samples and mouse models has found that resistance of leukemia cells to a widely prescribed drug called venetoclax occurs because of a rapid increase in the breakdown and turnover of mitochondria, structures inside the cell that help power its functions. In addition to their role in producing energy, mitochondria also tell cells to die under certain adverse conditions. This process of “programmed cell ...

A new study by researchers at Uppsala University and Uppsala University Hospital shows that men who have a neurodevelopmental disorder, such as autism and ADHD, also have a slightly increased risk of testicular cancer, or seminoma. This is the first study to show such a link, with the results to be published in the British Journal of Cancer. Testicular cancer is the most common form of cancer in young men, and its underlying causes are still largely unknown. “As testicular cancer can be surgically removed, thus curing the disease, it is important to seek care in time if you feel a lump in your testicle,” notes Ingrid ...

For children under age 18 years, a single computed tomography (CT) scan is not associated with an increased risk of brain tumours, leukemia or lymphoma, but exposure to 4 or more scans before adulthood more than doubles the risk, according to new research  https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.221303 in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Computed tomography in children has increased worldwide in recent decades, but there is conflicting evidence about the risks of cancer from these ...

A new smart material developed by researchers at the University of Waterloo is activated by both heat and electricity, making it the first ever to respond to two different stimuli. The unique design paves the way for a wide variety of potential applications, including clothing that warms up while you walk from the car to the office in winter and vehicle bumpers that return to their original shape after a collision. Inexpensively made with polymer nano-composite fibres from recycled plastic, the programmable fabric can change its colour and shape when stimuli are applied. “As a wearable material alone, it has almost infinite potential ...

A major international trial has concluded that, where possible, surgeons should replace the removed section of the skull following surgery to treat a form of brain haemorrhage. This approach will save patients from having to undergo skull reconstruction further down the line. The RESCUE-ASDH trial, funded by the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), involved 40 centres in 11 countries and involved 450 patients. The results of the trial are published today in the New England Journal of Medicine and are announced at the annual meeting of the American Association of Neurological ...

If more people have access to health insurance, we have to be sure the death rates of those with certain chronic conditions are decreasing.   This is one of the statements Gregory Peck, an acute care surgeon and associate professor at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, will be researching on behalf of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) at the National Institutes of Health.   Funded by NIH grants totaling more than $1 million through a recent two-year award from the New Jersey Alliance for Clinical and Translational Science (NJ ACTS), a Rutgers hub of the National Center for Advancing ...

A discovery about gene variants of an inflammation ‘brake’ brings scientists a step closer to personalised treatment for patients at risk of kidney disease and kidney failure. Researchers at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, University of New South Wales, Sydney and Westmead Hospital, found that common genetic variants of TNFAIP3, which increase inflammation in the body, can paradoxically protect the kidneys from damage in the short term. “We wanted to investigate whether inherited differences in how people regulate inflammation could lead to better or worse kidney health outcomes,” says Professor Shane ...

Just over a century has passed since the discovery of insulin, a time period during which the therapeutic powers of the hormone have broadened and refined. Insulin is an essential treatment for type 1 diabetes and often for type 2 diabetes, as well. Roughly 8.4 million Americans use insulin, according to the American Diabetes Association.  One hundred years of research have greatly advanced medical and biochemical understanding of how insulin works and what happens when it is lacking, but the reverse, how potentially fatal insulin hyper-responsiveness is prevented, has remained a persistent mystery. In a new study, published in the April 20, 2023  online edition ...

Tokyo, Japan – Scientists from Tokyo Metropolitan University have successfully engineered multi-layered nanostructures of transition metal dichalcogenides which meet in-plane to form junctions. They grew out layers of multi-layered structures of molybdenum disulfide from the edge of niobium doped molybdenum disulfide shards, creating a thick, bonded, planar heterostructure. They demonstrated that these may be used to make new tunnel field-effect transistors (TFET), components in integrated circuits with ultra-low power consumption. Field-effect transistors ...

LA JOLLA, CA—Chronic alcohol consumption may make people more sensitive to pain through two different molecular mechanisms—one driven by alcohol intake and one by alcohol withdrawal. That is one new conclusion by scientists at Scripps Research on the complex links between alcohol and pain. The research, published in the British Journal of Pharmacology on April 12, 2023, also suggests potential new drug targets for treating alcohol-associated chronic pain and hypersensitivity. “There is an urgent need to better ...

The orientations of these infinitesimally small separations between individual “grains” of a polycrystalline material have big effects. In a material such as aluminum, these collections of grains (called microstructures) determine properties such as hardness.  New research is helping scientists better understand how microstructures change, or undergo “grain growth,” at high temperatures. A team of materials scientists and applied mathematicians developed a mathematical model that more accurately describes such microstructures by integrating data that can be identified from highly magnified ...

WINSTON-SALEM, NC, April 21, 2023 – Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) scientists have created a promising injectable cell therapy to treat osteoarthritis that both reduces inflammation and also regenerates articular cartilage. Recently identified by the Food and Drug Administration as a public health crisis, osteoarthritis affects more than 520 million people worldwide who deal with pain and inflammation. Osteoarthritis is typically induced by mechanical or traumatic stress in the joint, leading to damaged cartilage that cannot be repaired naturally. “Without better understanding of what drives the initiation and progression of osteoarthritis, effective treatment ...

Modern-day technologies like optical computing, integrated photonics, and digital holography require light signals to be manipulated in three dimensions. To achieve this, it is necessary to be able to shape and guide the flow of light according to its desired application. Given that light flow within a medium is governed by the refractive index, specific tailoring of the refractive index is needed to realize control of the light path within the medium. To this end, scientists have developed what are called “aperiodic photonic ...

New McCombs Award Honors Herb Miller Professional Faculty Impact Award recognizes exceptional contributions of teaching, service, and mentorship. Associate Professor of Instruction Herb Miller is the namesake and the first recipient of the new McCombs School of Business Marketing Department Herbert A. Miller Jr. Professional Faculty Impact Award. The award was made possible by William Cunningham, who served as McCombs dean, UT Austin president, and University of Texas System chancellor, as a way to recognize and honor the professional faculty in the department of marketing. “In ...

Hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe, is found everywhere from the dust filling most of outer space to the cores of stars to many substances here on Earth. This would be reason enough to study hydrogen, but its individual atoms are also the simplest of any element with just one proton and one electron. For David Ceperley, a professor of physics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, this makes hydrogen the natural starting point for formulating and testing theories of matter. Ceperley, also a member of the Illinois Quantum ...

University of Houston computer scientists have developed a new system to keep construction workers safe at job sites. Their findings and process are laid out in a study published in the research journal Applied Sciences. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 4,764 workers died on the job in 2020. Employees in construction and extraction occupations accounted for 20% of those deaths. Many were struck by a vehicle or mobile machinery on construction sites. Although the construction industry has enlisted the help of safety experts, a great number of fatalities and injuries still occur. “The point of our research project was to enhance safety of workers ...

BOSTON – Alcohol consumption increased substantially across the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the impact was greatest among American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) populations, where deaths from alcohol-associated liver disease were six times those of white people, according to a study by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), a founding member of Mass General Brigham (MGB). The disproportionately high mortality rate reflects not just the pandemic, but a systemic failure of supportive health care and lack of critical resources for AIAN populations ...

There’s a crisis unfolding in the field of linguistics: Global language experts estimate that, without intervention, about one language will be lost every month for the next 40 years. A study published in Science Advances debuts a grammatical database that documents the enormous diversity of current languages on the planet, highlighting just how much humanity stands to lose and why it's worth saving.  Known as Grambank, it is now the world’s largest publicly available comparative grammatical database. Initiated by scholars in the Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution at the ...