With the aid of some sea slugs, University of Nebraska–Lincoln chemists have discovered that one of the smallest conceivable tweaks to a biomolecule can elicit one of the grandest conceivable consequences: directing the activation of neurons. Their discovery came from investigating peptides, the short chains of amino acids that can transmit signals among cells, including neurons, while populating the central nervous systems and bloodstreams of most animals. Like many other molecules, an amino acid in a peptide can adopt one of two forms that feature the same atoms, with the same connectivity, but in mirror-image orientations: L and ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – In a study of over a million women, digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) showed improved breast cancer screening outcomes over screening with standard digital mammography alone. The results of the study were published in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the United States. While breast cancer mortality has been on the decline since the late 1980s due to improvements in early detection and treatment, it still remains the leading cause of cancer death among women. The five-year relative survival rate of breast cancer when it is detected early in its localized ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – Regions of the U.S. with an extreme level of socioeconomic disadvantage were less likely to have access to accredited medical imaging facilities and centers of excellence, according to a research letter published in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Higher proportions of the disadvantaged zip codes were located in the rural southern portion of the U.S. A lack of access to high-quality imaging facilities has the potential to lead to delayed or missed diagnoses, further exacerbating the health disparities experienced by people who live in disadvantaged communities. “Patients ...

A recent study in the Journal of Biological Chemistry has revealed the secret behind an evolutionary marvel: a bacteriophage with an extremely long tail. This extraordinary tail is part of a bacteriophage that lives in inhospitable hot springs and preys on some of the toughest bacteria on the planet. Bacteriophages are a group of viruses that infect and replicate in bacteria and are the most common and diverse things on Earth. “Bacteriophages, or phages for short, are everywhere that bacteria are, including the dirt and water around you and in your own body’s microbial ecosystem as well,” said Emily Agnello, a graduate student at the University of ...

A clinical study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden shows that the hunger hormone ghrelin can increase the heart’s pump capacity in patients with heart failure. The results have been published in the European Heart Journal. Millions of people worldwide live with heart failure, a condition in which the pump function of the heart is reduced, such as after a myocardial infarction or angina. In heart failure, the heart muscle is weakened, leaving the heart unable to pump the amount of blood needed to provide the body with sufficient oxygen ...

Peru’s first great empire, the Wari, stretched for more than a thousand miles over the Andes Mountains and along the coast from 600-1000 CE. The pottery they left behind gives archaeologists clues as to how the empire functioned. In a new study in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, researchers showed that rather than using “official” Wari pottery imported from the capital, potters across the empire were creating their own ceramics, decorated to emulate the traditional Wari style. To figure it out, the scientists analyzed the pottery’s chemical make-up, with help from laser beams. “In this study, ...

Most animals can quickly transition from walking to jumping to crawling to swimming if needed without reconfiguring or making major adjustments.  Most robots cannot. But researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have created soft robots that can seamlessly shift from walking to swimming, for example, or crawling to rolling. "We were inspired by nature to develop a robot that can perform different tasks and adapt to its environment without adding actuators or complexity," said Dinesh K. Patel, a post-doctoral fellow in the Morphing Matter Lab in the School of Computer Science's Human-Computer Interaction Institute. "Our bistable actuator ...

Scientists to retrofit large shipping vessels with ultramodern sails in efforts to cut carbon emissions University of Southampton initiative will investigate how modern vessels perform on the ocean when fitted with the wing-sails Funding from Innovate UK to investigate the potential of the technology and decarbonise the UK’s maritime sector   SHIPS of the future could once again be powered by wind if a pioneering project which retrofits large vessels with ultramodern wing-sails proves successful in cutting carbon emissions. Scientists ...

Shixin Liu receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for developing cutting-edge biophysical tools to directly visualize and understand the physiological function of nanometer-scale biomolecular machines such as those that carry out genome replication and gene transcription. The Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise is a $50,000 prize awarded annually by the Vilcek Foundation as part of its prizes program. Awarded annually since 2006, the Vilcek Foundation prizes recognize and celebrate immigrant contributions to scientific research and discovery, and to artistic and cultural advancement in the United States. In addition ...

National Institutes of Health researchers compared a new genetic animal model of Down syndrome to the standard model and found the updated version to be enhanced. The new mouse model shows milder cognitive traits compared to a previously studied Down syndrome mouse model. The results of this study, published in Biological Psychiatry, may help researchers develop more precise treatments to improve cognition in people with Down syndrome.  Scientists found that the new mouse model, known as Ts66Yah, had memory difficulties and behavior traits, but the symptoms were not as severe as seen with the ...

Ithaca, NY— Bald Eagles and dairy farmers exist in a mutually beneficial relationship in parts of northwestern Washington State. According to a new study, this "win-win" relationship has been a more recent development, driven by the impact of climate change on eagles' traditional winter diet of salmon carcasses, as well as by increased eagle abundance following decades of conservation efforts. The research is published in the journal Ecosphere.   "The narrative ...

Spanning long distances across variable terrains, electric power systems can spark wildfires in the event of dry weather and high winds. This may occur when conductor cables oscillate in such a way to become close to the surrounding vegetation. Data from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection shows that between 2016-2020, at least five of the top 20 most destructive California wildfires started from power systems. Paired with the extreme weather conditions and nearby vegetation, ...

Smartphone spyware apps that allow people to spy on each other are not only hard to notice and detect, they also  will easily leak the sensitive personal information they collect,  says a team of computer scientists from New York and San Diego.  While publicly marketed as tools to monitor underage children and employees using their employer’s equipment, spyware apps are also frequently used  by abusers to covertly spy on a spouse or a partner. These apps  require little to no technical expertise from the abusers; offer detailed installation ...

Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have developed a new imaging tool, called electromyometrial imaging (EMMI), to create real-time, three-dimensional images and maps of contractions during labor. The non-invasive imaging technique generates new types of images and metrics that can help quantify contraction patterns, providing foundational knowledge to improve labor management, particularly for preterm birth. The small study is supported in part by NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) through its Human ...

A new study from Karolinska Institutet suggests that electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), lithium, and clozapine may reduce suicide rates in adolescent men with severe mental illness, consistent with previous findings in adults. The study, published in Nature Communications, compared treatment and suicide rates across different regions in Sweden. Annually, there are 800,000 suicide deaths worldwide. Suicide is the leading cause of death among teenagers and young adults, with up to 90 percent of those affected having a serious psychiatric illness ...

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed new imaging technology that can produce 3D maps showing the magnitude and distribution of uterine contractions in real time and across the entire surface of the uterus during labor. Building on imaging methods long used on the heart, this technology can image uterine contractions noninvasively and in much greater detail than currently available tools, which only indicate the presence or absence of a contraction. The ...

Technology exists that the BC government could leverage to help small farmers connect directly with consumers and also mitigate climate change impacts, say new findings from UBC Okanagan. Dr. John Janmaat and Dr. Joanne Taylor co-authored new research that examines how farmers in the Okanagan and Cariboo regions of BC are adapting compared to farmers in China’s Shaanxi province. One of the key differences was how Chinese farmers used technology and social media, an option that’s not as widely used in ...

PULLMAN, Wash. – Farmers who keep their chickens outdoors may want to watch the weather. A study of chicken farms in the West found that high winds increased the prevalence of Campylobacter in outdoor flocks, a bacterial pathogen in poultry that is the largest single cause of foodborne illness in the U.S. Researchers found that about 26% of individual chickens had the pathogen at the “open environment” farms in the study, which included organic and free-range chicken farms. High winds the week prior to sampling and the farms’ location in more intensive agricultural settings were linked to a greater prevalence of ...

Joan Martinez-Alier is Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB). He will receive the award of NOK 6,000,000 (approx. EUR 550,000) during an 8 June ceremony at the University of Bergen, Norway. Martinez-Alier receives the Holberg Prize for his ground-breaking research in ecological economics, political ecology and environmental justice. He is known for criticizing established economic theory and traditional approaches to economic growth. Martinez-Alier is also a major figure and leading public intellectual in the burgeoning movement for ’degrowth’. Degrowth ...

The hormone glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) is considered obesogenic. In contrast, GIP receptor agonists (GIPRAs) have shown reduced feeding and body weight in an obese mouse model. Therefore, the precise effects exerted by GIP and GIPRAs remain elusive. Recently, researchers demonstrated acute feeding inhibition and lowered body weight in mice with diet-induced obesity treated with GIPFA-085, a long-acting GIPRA. Their findings provide a scientific basis for GIP therapy for diabetes and obesity. Obesity, ...

The existing wildlife of a region is heavily shaped over generations by environmental factors and human activity. Activities like urbanization and hunting are known to reduce wildlife populations. However, some cultural or religious practices have, on occasion, preserved local animal populations. For instance, the forests around religious shrines in Japan have historically forbidden hunting and, as a consequence, provide refuge for certain animal species. A well-known example of this is the Japanese sika deer (Cervus nippon), which has historically been considered a holy creature.   A revered ...

Shoppers join food industry and health experts in backing UK plans to ban high fat, salt and sugar products from checkouts, store entrances and aisle ends Consumers and retailers were asked about the impact of new government legislation aiming to restrict how unhealthy food is sold Scientists behind investigation say ban can curb impulse buys that cause obesity – but warn of loopholes and limited resources that could undermine health benefits   A ban on selling junk foods from store entrances, aisle ends and checkouts should continue after a new study found the plans were largely backed by the British public and food industry. Legislation ...

On 14 March, the European Platform for Neurodegenerative Diseases (EPND) launched its Cohort Catalogue. Featuring an extensive list of international cohorts across the neurodegenerative disease spectrum, the Cohort Catalogue is a central, open, accessible repository for researchers to discover ongoing studies and search metadata by disease area, biosample availability, imaging and cognitive data, and more.  The EPND consortium brings together experts in neurodegeneration research, data science, diagnosis and treatment from 29 public and private organisations. Funded by ...

Birmingham based charity, Help Harry Help Others and Aston University researchers, are working together to develop a pioneering pre-surgical diagnostic tool, which could see the eventual outcome of children with brain tumours drastically improve. Help Harry Help Others, which became a registered charity in September 2012 and marked its 10th anniversary last year, was founded by Georgie Moseley, following the passing of her son Harry. Despite fighting an inoperable brain tumour, Harry raised over £750,000 for cancer research in the last two years of his life, before he passed away ...

Disposable plastics are everywhere: Food containers, coffee cups, plastic bags. Some of these plastics, called compostable plastics, can be engineered to biodegrade under controlled conditions. However, they often look identical to conventional plastics, get recycled incorrectly and, as a result, contaminate plastic waste streams and reduce recycling efficiency. Similarly, recyclable plastics are often mistaken for compostable ones, resulting in polluted compost. Researchers at University College London (UCL) have published a paper in Frontiers ...