Sandra Irish, mechanical systems lead structures engineer for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, has been selected to receive the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Resnik Challenger Medal Award for her visionary contributions to the development, testing, transport, and launch of NASA’s premier space telescope since 2006. The medal was awarded during the World’s Largest Conference for Women in Engineering and Technology or WE23, which took place Oct. 26-28 in Los Angeles. As an engineer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for over 40 years, Irish’s mechanical systems expertise has helped ...

Currently, the United States lacks FDA-approved treatments for liver fibrosis, highlighting the critical need to understand the cellular biology and pathways associated with this condition.  In a recent study led by Don Rockey, M.D., the director of the Digestive Disease Research Core Center, and Nour Hijazi, an M.D.-Ph.D. student at the Medical University of South Carolina, significant progress has been made in understanding a pathway contributing to liver fibrosis. Their findings, highlighting a potential novel therapeutic ...

In a world filled with endless connections and constant communication, the relationship between loneliness and aloneness is not always clear. Now, University of Arizona researchers have analyzed that relationship – and found that they are two different things that are not closely correlated. People don't feel lonely until they spend three-quarters of their time alone, the study found. However, when their alone time goes beyond 75%, it becomes difficult for them to avoid feelings of loneliness. Published in the Journal of Research in Personality in September, the study also ...

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2023 MINNEAPOLIS – People who live in neighborhoods with lower socioeconomic status are less likely to receive clot-busting medications or undergo clot-removing procedures after they have a stroke than people who live in neighborhoods with higher socioeconomic status, according to a study published in the November 1, 2023, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. “These treatments can greatly reduce death and ...

“Our principal component analyses showed a significant relationship between centro-cingulate cholinergic afferent changes and age in our Parkinson disease subjects.” BUFFALO, NY- November 1, 2023 – A new research perspective was published in Aging (listed by MEDLINE/PubMed as "Aging (Albany NY)" and "Aging-US" by Web of Science) Volume 15, Issue 20, entitled, “Cholinergic centro-cingulate network in Parkinson disease and normal aging.” In their new perspective, researchers Nicolaas I. Bohnen, Sygrid van der ...

The marvels of modern technology – computers that fit in your hand, internet-connected refrigerators, and self-driving cars – are only possible thanks to the magic of materials like silicon. Likewise, the sci-fi gadgets of tomorrow will spring from the exotic new materials scientists are discovering today. Harold Hwang, a physicist at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University, has brought this future closer by sandwiching carefully crafted materials together and seeing what happens where they touch. His experimentation has uncovered a host of compounds with surprising ...

New research from the University of Cincinnati found that daily strawberry consumption could help reduce the risk of dementia for certain middle-aged populations. The research was recently published in the journal Nutrients. Research background In 2022, UC’s Robert Krikorian, PhD, and his team published research that found adding blueberries to the daily diets of certain middle-aged populations may lower the chances of developing late-life dementia. He said the current research into strawberries is an extension to the blueberry research. “Both strawberries and blueberries contain antioxidants called anthocyanins, ...

WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov. 1, 2023 — The latest issues of three American Psychiatric Association journals, The American Journal of Psychiatry, Psychiatric Services and Focus, are now available online. The November issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry provides insights into psychotic disorders, such as the altered neurodevelopment and early symptom presentation associated with the risk of developing schizophrenia; racial and ethnic disparities in diagnosis of psychotic episodes; and predictors of first psychotic episodes and its treatment. Highlights include: A Functional Connectome-Based Neural Signature ...

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 31, 2023) — As people age, the DNA in their cells begins to accumulate genetic mutations. Mosaic chromosomal alterations (mCAs), a category of mutations acquired in blood cells, are linked with a 10-fold increased risk of developing blood cancer.   mCAs hold promise as a tool to identify people at high risk of developing certain cancers and diseases, but they have not yet been studied among a large, diverse cohort of people – a critical step required before such testing can be developed.   University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center researcher Yasminka A. Jakubek, ...

Collaborative ECHO Cohort research led by Phillip Sherlock, PhD; Maxwell Mansolf, PhD; and Courtney Blackwell, PhD of Northwestern University investigates the COVID-19 pandemic’s impacts on adolescents’ mental health. The findings suggest that some teens with a history of depression, anxiety, autism, and ADHD experienced more severe impacts than those without. This research, titled “Life Satisfaction for Adolescents with Developmental and Behavioral Disabilities during the COVID-19 Pandemic,” is published in Pediatric Research. Although researchers ...

Carnivorous dinosaurs might have evolved to take advantage of giant carcasses, according to a study published November 1, 2023 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Cameron Pahl and Luis Ruedas of Portland State University, Oregon and colleagues. Carnivorous dinosaurs lived in ecosystems rich with both living and dead prey. The authors hypothesize that giant carcasses, like those of sauropod dinosaurs, might have provided a major source of food for large carnivores. To test this hypothesis, the researchers created an agent-based model, a simplified virtual simulation of a dinosaur ecosystem. This model was based on the ancient fauna of the Jurassic-aged ...

During the 2020-2021 season of the National Basketball Association (NBA), which took place during Donald Trump’s failed bid at re-election, immigrant players for teams in regions with stronger far-right political sentiments were more likely to make game errors—highlighting the possible detrimental effects of such views on immigrant workplace performance. Benjamin Korman and Florian Kunze of the University of Konstanz, Germany, present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on November 1. Prior research ...

DURHAM, N.C.— A new Duke University-led study finds that Gulf War Illness (GWI), which affects approximately 250,000 U.S. veterans, significantly reduces their white blood cells’ ability to make energy and creates a measurable biochemical difference in veterans who have the disease. “Historically, GWI has been diagnosed based on a veteran’s self-reported symptoms, such as exercise-induced fatigue, indigestion, dizziness, insomnia, or memory problems. There’s been no objective biochemical or molecular measurements doctors could use to diagnose it,” said Joel Meyer, professor of environmental genomics ...

PHILADELPHIA—(Nov. 1, 2023)—The Wistar Institute’s David B. Weiner, Ph.D., executive vice president, director of the Vaccine & Immunotherapy Center (VIC) and W.W. Smith Charitable Trust Distinguished Professor in Cancer Research, and collaborators, have engineered novel monoclonal antibodies that engage Natural Killer cells through a unique surface receptor that activates the immune system to fight against cancer.  In their publication titled, “Siglec-7 glyco-immune binding MAbs or NK ...

SAN FRANCISCO —The Public Library of Science (PLOS) is pleased to announce that PLOS Complex Systems and PLOS Mental Health are now open for submissions. Both journals have a strong community of editors who will represent the full diversity of the research communities we aim to serve. PLOS Mental Health is an inclusive journal led by Editors-in-Chief Charlene Sunkel and Rochelle Burgess, working alongside staff Executive Editor Karli Montague-Cardoso and in collaboration with a diverse Editorial Board. The journal is seeking research that addresses challenges and gaps in the field of mental health research, ...

In the 1980s, geophysicists made a startling discovery: two continent-sized blobs of unusual material were found deep near the center of the Earth, one beneath the African continent and one beneath the Pacific Ocean. Each blob is twice the size of the Moon and likely composed of different proportions of elements than the mantle surrounding it. Where did these strange blobs—formally known as large low-velocity provinces (LLVPs)—come from? A new study led by Caltech researchers suggests that they are remnants of an ancient planet that violently collided with Earth billions of years ago in the same giant impact that created ...

Optical tweezers manipulate tiny things like cells and nanoparticles using lasers. While they might sound like tractor beams from science fiction, the fact is their development garnered scientists a Nobel Prize in 2018.  Scientists have now used supercomputers to make optical tweezers safer to use on living cells with applications to cancer therapy, environmental monitoring, and more. “We believe our research is one significant step closer towards the industrialization of optical tweezers in biological applications, specifically in both selective cellular surgery and targeted drug delivery,” ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The rate of opioid use among pregnant women in the United States quadrupled between 1999 and 2014 and continues to rise — an alarming trend that researchers from the University of Missouri and University of Iowa say has exposed the stigma felt by opioid-dependent mothers and how their shame has negatively impacted the health care received by their infants. Jamie Morton led a study, which was a metasynthesis of existing literature on the topic, as a doctoral student at the MU Sinclair School of Nursing. She said the findings can help ensure health care providers, family ...

Exploring Arctic nature can be difficult. Harsh conditions and great distances are significant challenges when researchers want to coax secrets out of nature.   However, a research project, led by Greenlandic and Danish researchers, has now succeeded in describing a new type of ringed seal that lives in the Icefjord near Ilulissat in West Greenland; a unique natural area on the UNESCO World Heritage List.   The results have just been published in the renowned scientific journal Molecular Ecology.   A small population Over ...

WASHINGTON  –  The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s Melanized Microbes for Multiple Uses in Space Project, or MELSP, will use the International Space Station (ISS) to search for production of melanin variants and other useful biomaterials that can have applications both on Earth and in space. The mission is scheduled to launch in early November 2023.   Melanin is described as a group of biopolymers responsible for various biological functions, including pigmentation of skin, hair, and iris of the eyes, which helps protect body ...

New research combining computer modeling and experiments with macaques shows the body’s immune system helps control human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections largely by suppressing viral production in already infected cells while also killing viral infected cells, but only within a narrow time window at the start of a cell’s infection. “To eliminate HIV, we have to understand how the immune system attempts to control the infection,” said Ruy M. Ribeiro, a theoretical biologist at Los Alamos National Laboratory who led the development of the model ...

Researchers have genetically engineered the first mice that get a human-like form of COVID-19, according to a study published online November 1 in Nature. Led by researchers from NYU Grossman School of Medicine, the new work created lab mice with human genetic material for ACE2 – a protein snagged by the pandemic virus so it can attach to human cells as part of the infection. The mice with this genetic change developed symptoms similar to young humans infected with the virus causing COVID-19, instead of dying ...

PHILADELPHIA (November 1, 2023) – Many people overlook the short- and long-term costs of financial caregiving, a growing problem that financial advisors and employers can help address, according to a new report by the TIAA Institute and the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing). One in five adults now provide uncompensated care to loved ones with health problems, and the report provides a comprehensive compilation of insights and research that underscores how the caregivers face a ...

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and collaborating institutions working with human intestinal organoids, also called mini guts, have shed new light on the potential causes of Cronkhite-Canada syndrome, a rare condition characterized by abundant non-cancerous growths or polyps in the intestine and other symptoms such as hair and nail loss and changes in skin pigmentation. Published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, the study is the first to show a connection between high polyp proliferation and increased levels of serotonin produced by the intestinal epithelium. The findings suggest a potential new approach to treat this disease with serotonin ...

For centuries, naturalists have puzzled over what might constitute the head of a sea star, commonly called a “starfish.” When looking at a worm, or a fish, it’s clear which end is the head and which is the tail. But with their five identical arms — any of which can take the lead in propelling sea stars across the seabed — it’s been anybody’s guess how to determine the front end of the organism from the back. This unusual body plan has led many to conclude that sea stars perhaps don’t have a head at all. But ...