COLUMBUS, Ohio – Most of what scientists know about viruses in animals is the list of nucleotides that compose their genomic sequence – which, while valuable, offers very few hints about a virus’s ability to infect humans. Rather than let the next outbreak take the world by surprise, two virologists say in a Science Perspective article published today (March 10, 2023) that the scientific community should invest in a four-part research framework to proactively identify animal viruses that might infect humans. “A lot of financial investment has gone into sequencing viruses in nature and thinking that from sequence alone we’ll be ...

EAST LANSING, MI – The International Research Network for Nuclear Astrophysics (IReNA), supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and headquartered at Michigan State University (MSU), brings together nuclear physicists, astronomers, and computational scientists to try to answer a long-standing question in science: Where do the elements that make up our world come from? Founded in 2019, IReNA continues to expand its global reach for cooperation to advance knowledge in nuclear astrophysics, and now welcomes a new network partner: the Ibero-American Network of Nuclear ...

“[...] there is a need to explore brain mechanisms through which psychological processes may exert their protective or deleterious effects.” BUFFALO, NY- March 10, 2023 – Aging (listed by MEDLINE/PubMed as "Aging (Albany NY)" and "Aging-US" by Web of Science) published a new editorial paper in Volume 15, Issue 4, entitled, “Cognitive aging and dementia prevention: the time for psychology?” Modifiable risk and protective factors (e.g. engaging in active lifestyles ...

Inflammatory neurological diseases, such as multiple sclerosis (MS), can arise when cell-to-cell communication between cells in the central nervous system (CNS) goes awry. But exactly how this cellular crosstalk leads to the molecular changes that drive disease remain unknown. To address this, researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham health care system, developed a platform that allows them to perform genetic screens of cell-cell interactions to identify genes that control biologic processes. ...

A new paper in Nature Communications illuminates how a previously poorly understood enzyme works in the cell. Many diseases are tied to chronic cellular stress, and UMBC’s Aaron T. Smith and colleagues discovered that this enzyme plays an important role in the cellular stress response. Better understanding how this enzyme functions and is controlled could lead to the discovery of new therapeutic targets for these diseases. The enzyme is named ATE1, and it belongs to a family of enzymes called arginyl-tRNA transferases. These enzymes add arginine (an amino acid) to proteins, which often flags the proteins for destruction in the cell. Destroying ...

Physicists are learning more about the bizarre behavior of “strange metals,” which operate outside the normal rules of electricity. Theoretical physicist Yashar Komijani, an assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati, contributed to an international experiment using a strange metal made from an alloy of ytterbium, a rare earth metal. Physicists in a lab in Hyogo, Japan, fired radioactive gamma rays at the strange metal to observe its unusual electrical behavior. Led by Hisao Kobayashi with the University of Hyogo and RIKEN, the study was published in the journal Science. The experiment revealed unusual fluctuations in the strange metal’s electrical charge. “The ...

PLYMOUTH MEETING, PA [March 10, 2023] — New research in the March 2023 issue of JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network highlights how the lack of genomic research for people with African ancestry, particularly those from the Sub-Saharan region, is hampering efforts to reduce disparities for people with cancer. In a first-of-its-kind study, the researchers evaluated molecular genetic results for 113 Black South African men diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer to find evidence for ...

Individuals with Type 1 diabetes have a smaller pancreas than people without diabetes. This is surprising because insulin-producing beta cells account for just a small fraction of the pancreas, so the loss of beta cells in Type 1 diabetes would not be expected to reduce pancreas size. Now, a study of one family from Alabama has led Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers to discover that insulin deficiency, independent of the autoimmunity associated with Type 1 diabetes, is the principal factor leading to a markedly smaller pancreas. Four ...

Urology involves some of the most intimate medical conditions, yet patients don’t necessarily always prefer to be treated by a urologist of their own gender, new research has found. In some situations, male and female patients would prefer a male urologist but in others – if they have a painful condition, for example – both men and women would choose to be treated by a female doctor. The study, by researchers from University Hospital Munich, is being presented today at the European Association of Urology (EAU) Congress ...

Testing for genetic mutations in urine can detect bladder cancer years before the disease shows clinical symptoms, new research has shown. The study, by researchers from France, Iran and the United States, identified mutations across ten genes that were able to predict the most common type of bladder cancer up to 12 years in advance of diagnosis. The findings are presented today at the European Association of Urology (EAU) annual Congress in Milan. Bladder cancer is not a rare disease – it is one of the top ten most common cancers in ...

Existing thought in the orthopedic world is that treating a bunion with the minimally invasive procedure MISB may make a person’s flatfoot worse. A new study by researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York City shows that this procedure does not make flatfoot worse in people with asymptomatic flatfoot and may even improve the condition. The findings were presented today at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS). “Because of the way the bunion correction is performed with MISB, there is a thought that it may not help stabilize the ...

Tokyo, Japan – Scientists from Tokyo Metropolitan University have used machine learning to automate the identification of defects in sister chromatid cohesion. They trained a convolutional neural network (CNN) with microscopy images of individual stained chromosomes, identified by researchers as having or not having cohesion defects. After training, it was able to successfully classify 73.1% of new images. Automation promises better statistics, and more insight into the wide range of disorders which cause cohesion defects.   Chromosomes consist of long DNA molecules that contain a portion of our genes. When cells divide, ...

Cambridge researchers have observed a highly unusual behaviour in the endangered freshwater mussel, Unio crassus. In spring, female mussels were seen moving to the water’s edge and anchoring into the riverbed, with their back ends raised above the waterline. Then they squirted out regular water jets, which landed in the water up to a metre away. Squirting cycles lasted 3-6 hours. This behaviour has never been seen in any other mussel species. The jets disturb the river surface and attract ...

The first images from the largest program in the James Webb Space Telescope’s first year show many types of galaxies, including dazzling examples of spiral galaxies, gravitational lensing, and evidence of galaxy mergers. Scientists from the COSMOS-Web program released mosaic images taken in early January by JWST’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). COSMOS-Web aims to map the earliest structures of the universe and will create a wide and deep survey of up to 1 million galaxies. Over the course of 255 hours of observing time, COSMOS-Web ...

Pulmonary fibrosis is a devastating disease characterized by progressive scarring in the lungs, killing up to half of patients within five years of a diagnosis. Little is known about whether there are differences in how the condition affects individuals of different ethnicities. New research at the University of Chicago Medicine has found that Black patients with pulmonary fibrosis are significantly younger than their Hispanic and white counterparts across a wide variety of disease metrics, including diagnosis, first hospitalization, lung transplant and death. “Pulmonary fibrosis is a deadly disease, and people are often diagnosed right around the time they retire,” ...

ITHACA, N.Y. – Domestic production of solar panels – most of which are now made in Asia – can speed up decarbonization in the U.S., according to new Cornell University research published in Nature Communications. The scientists found that if solar panel manufacturing can return to the U.S. by 2035, the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from panel creation would be reduced by 30% and energy consumption would be cut by 13%, compared to 2020, when the U.S. relied almost entirely on international trading partners. Manufacturing crystalline silicon photovoltaic panels in the U.S. solves logistical challenges and eases greenhouse gas problems, according ...

The research is based on new analyses of stone tools used by long-tailed macaques in the Phang Nga National Park in Thailand. These monkeys use stone tools to crack open hard-shelled nuts. In that process, the monkeys often break their hammerstones and anvils. The resulting assemblage of broken stones is substantial and widespread across the landscape. Moreover, many of these artefacts bear all of the same characteristics that are commonly used to identify intentionally made stone tools in some of the earliest archaeological sites in East Africa. “The ability to intentionally make ...

Advice on improving indoor air quality when cooking is today published by the University of Surrey's Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE), with roles of occupants, builders, landlords and local councils across the globe. This global initiative by 34 co-authors from 19 countries included 10 generic and 10 evidence-based targeted measures.   Cooking is the leading contributor to poor indoor air quality, contributing to four million premature deaths each year and is linked to illnesses including ...

As an indispensable tool for observing the microcosmos, optical microscopy has boosted the development of various fields, including biology, medicine, physics, and materials. However, optical diffraction imposes a spatial resolution restriction on optical microscopy, which hampers exploration of finer structures. To overcome the resolution limitation, various super-resolution microscopy techniques based on diverse principles have been proposed. Yet these techniques commonly acquire super-resolution at the expense of reduced imaging speed, so achieving high-speed super-resolution ...

Jewel beetles are striking insects, easily recognized by their vivid colors and metallic sheen. Possessing large, well-developed eyes, jewel beetles use vision and color for a range of different behaviors, including finding mates and host plants. Color vision in insects differs from our own. Special genes allow many insects to see ultraviolet (UV) light as well as blue and green. New research led by Camilla Sharkey, a postdoctoral associate at the Wardill Lab in the College of Biological Sciences, investigated the complex evolutionary history of jewel beetles’ vision.  The research team included Jorge Blanco, formerly with the Wardill Lab ...

East Hanover, NJ – March, 10 2023 – The labor force participation rate reached an all-time high for people with disabilities in February, according to today’s National Trends in Disability Employment – semi-monthly update (nTIDE), issued by Kessler Foundation and the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability (UNH-IOD). Comparing the year-to-year job indicators, nTIDE experts reported narrowing of the employment gap between people with and without disabilities, consistent ...

Prenatal exposure to an anti-nausea drug commonly used in the 1960s and 1970s has been shown to increase risk of colorectal cancer in adult offspring, according to a study by researchers at UTHealth Houston. The study, led by Caitlin Murphy, PhD, MPH, associate professor at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health, was published today in JNCI Cancer Spectrum. Incidence rates of colorectal cancer are increasing among adults born in and after the 1960s, which Murphy said implicates pregnancy-related exposures introduced at that time as risk factors. Dicyclomine – used to treat spasms caused by irritable bowel syndrome – was initially ...

Diagnostic imaging offers physicians and scientists critical visual representations of internal body structures, greatly enhancing clinical analysis and medical intervention. Researchers continue to break new ground on how various imaging technologies can provide a better understanding of human health. Jitao Zhang, assistant professor of biomedical engineering (BME) at Wayne State University and a scientific member of the Karmanos Cancer Institute’s Molecular Imaging Program, is an award-winning researcher who holds three patents on a novel imaging technique called Brillouin microscopy ...

A University of Texas at Arlington civil engineering researcher is filling in an information gap for the state by determining how much sediment is lost by Texas rivers to the ocean. Yu Zhang, associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, received a $150,000 Texas Water Development Board grant to assess the amount of sediment transported from Texas rivers to the Gulf of Mexico. The project is titled “Best Practices in Modeling Sediment Transport and Budget Along Texas Coast.” He and his team will also work with the General Land Office to develop a Sediment Management Plan for the state. Zhang said the Brazos River is ...

A study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 2009 to 2017 determined that approximately 1 in 44 children ages 3-17 are diagnosed with some form of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Research also has established that children with ASD have an increased risk of obesity, and obesity has been linked to increased risks for cardiometabolic disorders such as diabetes and dyslipidemia (high level of cholesterol or fat in the blood). However, the question of whether or not there is an association between autism, cardiometabolic disorders and obesity remains largely unanswered. To help provide an insight ...