For centuries, pelagic Sargassum, floating brown seaweed, have grown in low nutrient waters of the North Atlantic Ocean, supported by natural nutrient sources like excretions from fishes and invertebrates, upwelling and nitrogen fixation. Using a unique historical baseline from the 1980s and comparing it to samples collected since 2010, researchers from Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and collaborators have discovered dramatic changes in the chemistry and composition of Sargassum, transforming this vibrant living organism into a toxic "dead zone." Their findings, published in Nature Communications, suggest that increased nitrogen availability from natural and anthropogenic sources, including sewage, is supporting blooms of ...

Despite a daunting more than 130 million cases of SARS-CoV-2 infections to date worldwide, another global pathogen - the Aedes mosquito-borne dengue virus - saw a record number of over 400 million cases in 2019. But vaccine development has been challenging due to the need to protect equally against all four dengue strains. The discovery of new possible biomarkers to predict clinical and immune responses to dengue virus infection, published today in Nature Communication, could be critical to informing future vaccines. As with SARS-CoV-2 infection, the effects of dengue virus infection can range from asymptomatic ...

LEBANON, NH - By 2030, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), the most lethal form of pancreatic cancer, is projected to become the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. Not only are therapeutic options limited, but nearly half of all PDAC patients who have their tumors removed surgically experience disease recurrence within a year, despite receiving additional chemotherapy. For more advanced stages, only about one-third of patients have a limited response to approved chemotherapy. A team of researchers led by Dartmouth and Dartmouth-Hitchcock's Norris ...

Within the European Union alone, about three million people are affected by an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Some are only mildly affected and can live independent lives. Others have severe disabilities. What the different forms have in common is difficulty with social interaction and communication, as well as repetitive-stereotypic behaviors. Mutations in a few hundred genes are associated with ASD. One of them is called Cullin 3, and it is a high-risk gene: A mutation of this gene almost certainly leads to a disorder. But how exactly does this gene affect the brain? To learn more about it, Jasmin Morandell and Lena Schwarz, PhD students at Professor Gaia Novarino's research group, ...

SILVER SPRING, Md.--People who are successful at weight-loss maintenance spend less time sitting during the week and weekends compared to weight-stable individuals with obesity, according to a paper published online in Obesity, The Obesity Society's flagship journal. This is the first study to examine time spent in various sitting activities among weight-loss maintainers. Prior findings from 2006 in the National Weight Control Registry indicated that weight-loss maintainers watched significantly less television than controls, but other sitting activities were not examined. In the current study, weight-loss maintainers did not significantly differ from controls in reported weekly sitting time ...

SILVER SPRING, Md.-- Multi-factorial metabolic and inflammatory abnormalities in obesity, independently or in combination, seems to be the critical biological link of obesity, cancer and racial/gender health disparities. However, the specific cross-talk between these factors remain elusive. Because of the extraordinary relevance in understanding the relationship between obesity-associated inflammation and comorbidities with cancer development, progression and intervention, three new papers emphasizing different aspects of the obesity and cancer connection can be found in the latest online issue of Obesity, ...

A study of 1,095 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 discovered that two easily measurable signs of health - respiration rate and blood-oxygen saturation - are distinctly predictive of higher mortality. Notably, the authors said, anyone who receives a positive COVID-19 screening test can easily monitor for these two signs at home. This context is lacking in current guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which tells people with COVID-19 to seek medical attention when they experience overt symptoms such as "trouble breathing" and "persistent pain or pressure in the chest" - indications that may be absent even when respiration and blood oxygen have reached dangerous levels, the authors ...

New research indicates that certain anti-cancer therapies may hasten cellular aging, where changes in the DNA of patients may contribute to greater inflammation and fatigue. The findings are published by Wiley early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. Gene activity is often adjusted during life through epigenetic changes, or physical modifications to DNA that do not involve altering the underlying DNA sequence. Some individuals may experience epigenetic age acceleration (EAA) that puts them at a higher risk of age-related ...

Oncotarget published "Urine protein biomarkers of bladder cancer arising from 16-plex antibody-based screens" which reported that the current study examines urine samples from 66 subjects, comprising of 31 Urology clinic controls and 35 bladder cancer patients, using a Luminex based screening platform. ELISA validation was carried out for the top 4 prospective urine biomarkers using an independent cohort of 20 Urology clinic controls and 60 bladder cancer subjects. Eight of these urine proteins were able to differentiate BC from control urine with ROC AUC values exceeding 0.70 at p < 0.0001, with specificity values exceeding 0.9. Upon ELISA validation, urine IL-1α, IL-1ra, and IL-8 were able to distinguish ...

Oncotarget published "The acylfulvene alkylating agent, LP-184, retains nanomolar potency in non-small cell lung cancer carrying otherwise therapy-refractory mutations" which reported that KEAP1 mutant NSCLCs further activate NRF2 and upregulate its client PTGR1. LP-184, a novel alkylating agent belonging to the acylfulvene class is a prodrug dependent upon PTGR1. The authors hypothesized that NSCLC with KEAP1 mutations would continue to remain sensitive to LP-184. LP-184 demonstrated highly potent anticancer activity both in primary NSCLC cell lines and in those originating from brain metastases of primary lung cancers. LP-184 activity correlated with PTGR1 transcript levels but was independent of mutations in key oncogenes and tumor ...

Oncotarget published "Prognostic and therapeutic value of the Hippo pathway, RABL6A, and p53-MDM2 axes in sarcomas" which reported that herein the authors evaluate expression of TAZ and YAP, the p53-MDM2 axis, and RABL6A, a novel oncoprotein with potential ties to both pathways, in sarcomas of different histological types. Immunohistochemical staining of a tissue microarray including 163 sarcomas and correlation with clinical data showed that elevated YAP and TAZ independently predict worse overall and progression-free survival, respectively. In the absence of p53 expression, combined TAZ and YAP expression adversely affect overall, progression free, and metastasis free survival ...

Regular consumption of milk is not associated with increased levels of cholesterol, according to new research. A study published in the International Journal of Obesity looked at three large population studies and found that people who regularly drank high amounts of milk had lower levels of both good and bad cholesterol, although their BMI levels were higher than non-milk drinkers. Further analysis of other large studies also suggests that those who regularly consumed milk had a 14% lower risk of coronary heart disease. The team of researchers took a genetic approach to milk consumption by looking at a variation in the lactase gene associated with digestion of milk sugars known as lactose. The study identified that having the genetic variation where people can digest ...

Press release - Abstract 1394: Alterations in clock genes expression in Eutopic and Ectopic Endometrial Tissue New research suggests that night shift work is linked to menstrual irregularity and increased chance of developing endometriosis According to a study being presented at the 23rd European Congress of Endocrinology (e-ECE 2021), on Sunday 23 May at 19:00 CET (http://www.ece2021.org), women working night shifts may be at a greater risk of menstrual irregularity and developing endometriosis. The research found a reduction in the expression of PER-2, CRY-1 and CLOCK genes along with an increase in REV-ERBb in ectopic compared to ...

Bethesda, MD (May 23, 2021) -- Patients' irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) symptoms unexpectedly improved when they were under COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, reaffirming the gut-brain connection in functional gastrointestinal disorders, according to research that was selected for presentation at Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) 2021. "One of our main hypotheses was that these patients were going to be worse because of pressure and stress due to COVID-19," said Juan Pablo Stefanolo, MD, a lead author on the study and a physician with the Neurogastroenterology and Motility section, Hospital de Clínicas José de San Martín, ...

Bethesda, MD (May 22, 2021) -- An artificial intelligence tool under development at Duke University can be added to the standard toilet to help analyze patients' stool and give gastroenterologists the information they need to provide appropriate treatment, according to research that was selected for presentation at Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) 2021. The new technology could assist in managing chronic gastrointestinal issues such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). "Typically, gastroenterologists have to rely on patient self-reported information about their stool to help determine the cause of their ...

Tokyo, Japan - Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have been quantifying how different batches of mesenchymal stem cells respond to the mechanical stiffness of their environments. They focused on how certain proteins were "localized" in cell nuclei and found key trends in how this changed with stiffness. Their findings explain inconsistencies between previous findings and may guide how scientists control the state of stem cells for research and medical treatments. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are important "progenitor" cells that can transform into muscle, cartilage, bone or fat cells. In 2006, pioneering work by Engler and coworkers showed that they could control what cell type mesenchymal stem cells ...

Nearly half a billion people on the planet have diabetes, but most of them aren't getting the kind of care that could make their lives healthier, longer and more productive, according to a new global study of data from people with the condition. Many don't even know they have the condition. Only 1 in 10 people with diabetes in the 55 low- and middle-income countries studied receive the type of comprehensive care that's been proven to reduce diabetes-related problems, according to the new findings published in Lancet Healthy Longevity. That comprehensive package of care ...

Business shutdowns reduce COVID-19 deaths, though with rapidly diminishing returns, with study of Italian lockdowns estimating they saved over 9,400 lives in under a month. INFORMATION: Article Title: Closed for business: The mortality impact of business closures during the Covid-19 pandemic Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Article URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0251373 ...

Plant diseases don't stop at national borders and miles of oceans don't prevent their spread, either. That's why plant disease surveillance, improved detection systems, and global predictive disease modeling are necessary to mitigate future disease outbreaks and protect the global food supply, according to a team of researchers in a new commentary published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The idea is to "detect these plant disease outbreak sources early and stop the spread before it becomes a pandemic," says lead-author Jean Ristaino, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Plant Pathology at North Carolina State University. Once an epidemic occurs it is difficult to control, Ristaino says, likening the effort to the one undertaken ...

Neurotic personalities found the pandemic most traumatic, while agreeable and conscientious personalities offered protection from the pandemic's negative impacts. INFORMATION: Article Title: Which personality traits can mitigate the impact of the pandemic? Assessment of the relationship between personality traits and traumatic events in the COVID-19 pandemic as mediated by defense mechanisms Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Article URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0251984 ...

Simon Fraser University researchers have validated a faster, cheaper COVID-19 test that could kickstart the expansion of more widespread rapid testing. Study results have been published in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics. "This research offers a cheaper, faster alternative to the most reliable and sensitive test currently used worldwide, without sacrificing sensitivity and reproducibility," says molecular biology and biochemistry professor Peter Unrau, who led the team evaluating the COVID-19 test kit. The researchers suggest the test could be deployed in remote locations, clinics and airports due to its ease of use and portability. The microchip real-time PCR test can provide ...

To meet soaring demand for lightning-quick mobile technology, each year tech giants create faster, more powerful devices with longer-lasting battery power than previous models. A major reason companies like Apple and Samsung can miraculously pull this off year after year is because engineers and researchers around the world are designing increasingly power-efficient microchips that still deliver high speeds. To that end, researchers led by a team at Brigham Young University have just built the world's most power-efficient high-speed analog-to-digital converter (ADC) microchip. An ADC is a tiny piece of technology present in almost every electronic piece of equipment that converts analog ...

For decades scientists have been puzzled by the formation of rare hyper-enriched gold deposits in places like Ballarat in Australia, Serra Palada in Brazil, and Red Lake in Ontario. While such deposits typically form over tens to hundreds of thousands of years, these "ultrahigh-grade" deposits can form in years, month, or even days. So how do they form so quickly? Studying examples of these deposits from the Brucejack Mine in northwestern British Columbia, McGill Professor Anthony Williams-Jones of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and PhD student Duncan McLeish have discovered that these gold deposits form much like soured milk. When milk goes sour, the butterfat particles clump together to form a jelly. Q&A with Anthony Williams-Jones and Duncan McLeish What did you ...

A team of researchers led by scientists at UC Santa Cruz analyzed data from 3,212 camera traps to show how human disturbance could be shifting the makeup of mammal communities across North America. The new study, published in the journal Global Change Biology, builds upon the team's prior work observing how wildlife in the Santa Cruz Mountains respond to human disturbance. Local observations, for example, have shown that species like pumas and bobcats are less likely to be active in areas where humans are present, while deer and wood rats become bolder and more active. But it's difficult to generalize findings like these across larger geographic areas because human-wildlife interactions are often regionally unique. So, to get a continent-wide ...

Free access to essential medicines increases patient adherence to taking medication by 35 per cent and reduces total health spending by an average of over $1,000 per patient per year, according to a two-year study that tested the effects of providing patients with free and convenient access to a carefully selected set of medications. The findings, published May 21 in PLOS Medicine, come as advocates urge Canada to carve a path toward single-payer, public pharmacare. Canada is the only country with universal healthcare that does not have a universal pharmacare program. A group of researchers led by St. Michael's Hospital of Unity Health ...