This study delves into the behavioral complexities of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) by introducing the rigid-autonomous phase sequence (RAPS) formation concept. RAPS are may be responsible for the cognitive, sensory-motor, and memory-related challenges faced by individuals with ASD. By uniting these insights under a single theoretical framework, this research paves the way for innovative treatments, promising a brighter future for those with ASD. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neuropsychiatric condition, marked ...

Success in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) demands keeping up with the latest tools and techniques. The AI boom, for example, has made coding and data management skills integral. But going back to school isn’t an option for most scientists. Short training programs like webinars and boot camps have become a popular alternative among busy STEM professionals. However, these formats can have significant shortcomings. There’s often no guarantee attendees will leave with the skills needed to advance their careers. And they can be exclusionary, preventing learners of all abilities and circumstances from benefiting equally. “We’ve ...

EL PASO, Texas (Nov. 21, 2023) – Neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s, affect millions of people in the United States, and the cost of caring for people who live with these conditions adds up to hundreds of billions of dollars each year. Now, researchers from The University of Texas at El Paso may potentially have found a solution in used coffee grounds — a material that is discarded from homes and businesses around the world every day. A team led by Jyotish Kumar, a doctoral student in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and overseen by Mahesh ...

Gender stereotypes harm people of both genders—and society more broadly—by steering and sometimes limiting people to behaviors, roles, and activities linked with their gender. Widely shared stereotypes include the assumption that men are more central to professional life while women are more central to domestic life. Other stereotypes link men with math and science and women with arts and liberal arts. Perhaps surprisingly, research has shown that countries with higher economic development, individualism, and gender-equality tend to also have more pronounced gender differences in several domains, ...

Supramolecular polymers (SPs) are molecular assemblies composed of non-covalently bonded small molecules. They show high recyclability originating from their dynamic nature of monomer binding, which is different from covalent polymers with non-biodegradable nature. The small repeating units that form SPs, called monomers, are specifically designed to construct multiple non-covalent bonds to enhance the stability of the resulting SPs. Such monomers can be organized into structurally distinct assemblies by forming various ...

Osaka, Japan – To age or not to age! How does aging affect organisms on a cellular level? What mechanisms help cells survive self-inflicted or external harm? It is known that lysosomes—critically important cellular structures—are crucial for digesting damaged cellular components and pathogens, and maintain stability within cells and tissues. But can they also be repaired, and if so, how? In a study published this month in EMBO Reports, researchers from Osaka University and Nara Medical University have shown that damaged lysosomes are repaired by a mechanism called “microautophagy” and have identified two key regulators of this ...

Mount Sinai Health System announced that Brendan Carr, MD, MA, MS, a nationally recognized leader in academic medicine and health policy, will be its next Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Carr joined Mount Sinai as its head of emergency medicine in February 2020, just before New York City became the initial epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. He played a critical role during the pandemic and led local, regional, and national initiatives focused on improving the Health System’s emergency and critical care capacity. He was ...

SEATTLE, WASH.—November 21, 2023—Uncovering biological properties of extracellular vesicles, which play a vital role in how cells communicate, and understanding how sex hormones drive behavior and development are two areas that the new cohorts of Allen Distinguished Investigators will research, thanks to over $10 million in funding from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. The 18 researchers will develop technologies, design approaches, and uncover insights into fundamental areas of human biology. 2023 Allen Distinguished Investigators Kenneth Witwer, ...

CHICAGO – A newly developed artificial intelligence (AI) system that analyzes specialized MRIs of the brain accurately diagnosed children between the ages of 24 and 48 months with autism at a 98.5% accuracy rate, according to research being presented next week at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Mohamed Khudri, B.Sc., a visiting research scholar at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, was part of a multi-disciplinary team that developed the three-stage system to analyze and classify diffusion tensor MRI (DT-MRI) of the brain. DT-MRI is a special technique that detects how water travels along white matter tracts in the brain. “Our ...

CHICAGO – Soccer fans exhibit different patterns of brain activation while watching a match that may trigger positive and negative emotions and behaviors, according to research being presented next week at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). The researchers say the implication of these findings could extend beyond sports to fanaticism in other areas, such as politics. “This study aims to shed light on the behaviors and dynamics associated with extreme rivalry, aggression and social affiliation within and between groups of fanatics,” said the study’s lead author, Francisco Zamorano ...

Using artificial intelligence technology and mathematical modeling, a research group led by Nagoya University has revealed that human behavior, such as lockdowns and isolation measures, affect the evolution of new strains of COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, developed to become more transmissible earlier in its lifecycle. The researcher’s findings, published in Nature Communications, provide new insights into the relationship between how people behave and disease-causing agents.    As with any other living organism, viruses evolve over time. Those with survival advantages become dominant in the gene pool. Many environmental factors ...

Babies as young as four months old can make sense of how their bodies interact with the space around them, according to new research from the University of Birmingham. The findings, published today (21 November 2023) in Scientific Reports, shed new light on how self-awareness develops. Experts from the Birmingham BabyLab showed babies a ball on a screen moving towards or away from them. When the ball was closest to them on the screen, the babies were presented with a ‘touch’ (a small vibration) on their hands, whilst their brain activity was being measured. The data collection for the study was conducted at Goldsmiths (University of London). The researchers ...

Ten newly discovered species of trilobites, hidden for 490 million years in a little-studied part of Thailand, could be the missing pieces in an intricate puzzle of ancient world geography. Trilobites are extinct sea creatures with half-moon-shaped heads that breathed through their legs. A 100-page monograph in the British journal offers great detail about the new species, including one named in honor of Thai Royal Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. The trilobite fossils were trapped between layers of petrified ash in sandstone, ...

ROCKVILLE, Md.—Even though it’s known that people who have a higher genetic risk for obesity generally have a higher body mass index (BMI), researchers have unveiled a new methodological approach to find out why some individuals are more susceptible to weight gain than others for reasons not related to their genetic liability to obesity, according to a study published in Obesity, The Obesity Society’s (TOS) flagship journal. The study is the first of its kind to determine in a pair of twins with large intrapair BMI differences whom of the co-twins had acquired a BMI that deviated from their genetically-informed BMI. “This novel approach opens doors ...

Sophia Antipolis – 21 November 2023:  The first clinical trial to challenge the routine implantation of a defibrillator in myocardial infarction survivors with heart failure has enrolled its first patient. The PROFID EHRA trial is part of the EU-funded PROFID project, which aims to personalise the prevention of sudden cardiac death after myocardial infarction and involves a consortium of 21 multidisciplinary partners including the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). Sudden cardiac death is a major public health problem ...

The burden of heat-related mortality during the summer of 2022 in Europe may have exceeded 70,000 deaths according to a study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a research centre supported by the “la Caixa” Foundation. The authors of the study, published in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe, revised upwards initial estimates of the mortality associated with record temperatures in 2022 on the European continent. In an earlier study, published in Nature Medicine, the same team used epidemiological models applied to weekly temperature and mortality data in 823 regions in 35 European countries and estimated the number ...

Donor doping into a mother material with disordered intrinsic oxygen vacancies, instead of the widely used strategy of acceptor doping into a material without oxygen vacancies, can greatly enhance the conductivity and stability of perovskite-type proton conductors at intermediate and low temperatures of 250–400 °C, as demonstrated by Tokyo Tech scientists (e.g. 10 mS/cm at 320 °C). This innovative approach provides a new design direction for proton conductors for fuel cells and electrolysis cells. Many countries in the world are pushing for the development ...

Saying "I'm sorry," especially in the workplace, can be tricky terrain. Delivering an effective apology can help resolve conflicts, restore trust and promote collaboration among coworkers. But what works best? A research team including a University of Arizona faculty member says that to make your next apology more effective, use language that goes against gender stereotypes. Sarah Doyle, associate professor in the Department of Management and Organizations in the Eller College of Management, said the team wanted to ...

People with diabetes (Diabetes Mellitus) are two-to-three times more likely to have depression than people without, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Current treatment includes therapy, medicine, or both. However, the understanding of the multifaceted relationship between nutrition, mental health, and DM is relatively new in scientific discourse. Mason researchers sought to learn about the connection between nutrition, diabetes, and mental health.  Two literature reviews from assistant ...

A groundbreaking study recently published in JAMA indicates that aspirin may not be necessary as part of an antithrombotic regimen for patients with a fully magnetically levitated left ventricular assist device (LVAD). Ochsner Health surgical director for the Mechanical Assist Device Circulatory Support Program, Dr. Aditya Bansal, was a contributing author on the study known as the ARIES-HM3 trial. The ARIES-HM3 trial, a randomized trial involving 628 patients with advanced heart failure, compared the outcomes of patients who received aspirin (100 mg/d) with those who received a placebo in addition to a vitamin K antagonist ...

Development of potential or improved anti-cancer treatments are being blocked or slowed down by lack of transparency in data sharing between pharmaceutical companies and research groups, according to cancer clinicians, researchers and consumers.   The multidisciplinary team led by Flinders University researchers Mr Natansh Modi and Dr Ashley Hopkins evaluates the literature and policy developments since the 2013 data sharing commitments were struck by US and European regulators, including the commitment to publish clinical trial results.   The agreement forged by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers ...

Perimenopausal women need better education and support about how their periods might change towards the end of their reproductive life, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The research, published in Post Reproductive Health, highlighted how as women approach the menopause, their periods may become unpredictable, heavy and cause worse premenstrual symptoms – including mood swings, breast tenderness and headaches. The team of researchers from the UCL EGA Institute of Women’s Health and Centre for Reproductive Health, University of Edinburgh, ...

Key takeaways UCLA psychologists used music to manipulate emotions of volunteers and found the dynamics of their emotions molded otherwise neutral experiences into memorable events. The tug of war between integrating memories and separating them helps to form distinct memories, allowing people to understand and find meaning in their experiences, and retain information. These findings could hold therapeutic promise in helping people with PTSD and depression. Time flows in a continuous stream — yet our ...

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that autism is becoming more common in young children. In an effort to improve the challenges young autistic children face as part of their early development, researchers have focused on developing and evaluating nonpharmaceutical interventions that can be provided in early childhood. Micheal Sandbank, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Health Sciences at the UNC School of Medicine, is an expert on the research supporting these early interventions, which informs clinical practice across the United States. A new comprehensive meta-analysis, led by Sandbank, shows that many low-quality ...

A new study from UCLA Health researchers demonstrates that a novel treatment is effective in most patients with major depressive symptoms even after multiple failed courses of antidepressant medication. The treatment, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), may work even more rapidly than past findings have suggested, starting to alleviate symptoms as quickly as one week. Researchers from the Neuromodulation Division of UCLA’s Semel Institute analyzed the outcomes of hundreds of patients treated at UCLA Health from 2009 to 2022 with rTMS therapy, which uses magnetic fields to effectively “rewire” ...