What type of brain tumor does this patient have? AI technology helps to determine this as early as during surgery, within 1.5 hours. This process normally takes a week. The new technology allows neurosurgeons to adjust their surgical strategies on the spot. Today, researchers from UMC Utrecht and researchers, pathologists and neurosurgeons from the Princess Máxima Center for pediatric oncology and Amsterdam UMC have published about this study in Nature.  Every year, 1,400 adults and 150 children are diagnosed with a tumor in the brain or spinal cord in the Netherlands. Surgery is often the ...

Quantum computers of the future hold promise in solving all sorts of problems. For example, they could lead to more sustainable materials, new medicines, and even crack the hardest problems in fundamental physics. But compared to classical computers in use today, rudimentary quantum computers are more prone to errors. Wouldn't it be nice if researchers could just take out a special quantum eraser and get rid of the mistakes?   Reporting in the journal Nature, a group of researchers led by Caltech is among the first to demonstrate a type of quantum eraser. The physicists show that they can pinpoint and correct for mistakes in quantum computing ...

Researchers from Cima and the Clínica Universidad de Navarra, together with the international cooperative group Diffuse Midline Glioma (DMG-ACT), have confirmed that blocking an immune checkpoint molecule reduces the tumor and prolongs survival in animal models of the most aggressive childhood cancer. This research, carried out at the Cancer Center Clínica Universidad de Navarra, shows that inhibition of TIM-3 promotes the immune memory of diffuse intrinsic stem glioma (DIPG) and improves the prognosis of the disease. DIPG is an aggressive brain stem tumor and the leading cause of death related to pediatric cancer. Due to its location therapeutic ...

DNA analysis of mummified poop reveals two pre-Columbian Caribbean cultures ate a wide variety of plants, like maize, sweet potato, and peanuts—and tobacco and cotton traces were detected too, according to a study published October 11, 2023 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Jelissa Reynoso-García from the University of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico, and colleagues. Mummified poop, or coprolites, can reveal clues to diet and lifestyle. In this study, Reynoso-García and colleagues analyzed plant DNA isolated from coprolites sampled from archeological sites of two pre-Columbian cultures (Huecoid and Saladoid) to see what these peoples ate ...

Modifiable risk factors—including hypertension, obesity, diabetes, low HDL cholesterol and sleep disorders—confer a higher risk of dementia for people in some minority ethnic groups compared to White people, according to a new study published this week in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Naaheed Mukadam of University College London, UK, and colleagues. The number of people with dementia is on the rise around the world. There has been increasing interest in potentially modifiable risk factors, ...

In a new study, participants tended to rate women’s bodies as slimmer when viewed in selfie photographs than in photographs taken from other angles. Ruth Knight of York St John University, UK, and Catherine Preston of the University of York, UK, present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on October 11. Popular on social media, selfies are portraits taken by the photo’s subject, who positions the camera away from their body but pointed back at themself. Prior research has suggested that viewing selfies might affect viewers’ judgments of the photo subjects’ attractiveness and could, in some cases, lead to ...

Karin's life took a dramatic turn when a farming accident claimed her right arm over 20 years ago. Since then, she endured excruciating phantom limb pain. “It felt like I constantly had my hand in a meat grinder, which created a high level of stress and I had to take high doses of various painkillers.” In addition to her intractable pain, she found that conventional prostheses were uncomfortable and unreliable, and thus of little help in daily life. All this changed when she received groundbreaking bionic technology that allowed her to wear a much more functional ...

UCLA researchers have developed a new treatment method using a tiny nanocapsule to help boost the immune response, making it easier for the immune system to fight and kill solid tumors. The investigators found the approach, described in the journal Science Translational Medicine, increased the number and activity of immune cells that attack the cancer, making cancer immunotherapies work better. “Cancer immunotherapy has reshaped the landscape of cancer treatment,” said senior author of the ...

Giving living donor liver transplant recipients an infusion of immune cells derived from their donor a week before transplantation is feasible, safe – and may lead to recipients being successfully weaned off immunosuppressant medications without rejecting the transplanted organ. The early-stage clinical trial results by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine scientists, reported today in Science Translational Medicine, point to a path that may spare organ transplant recipients from the serious side effects of long-term immunosuppressant use, which can include cancer, diabetes, kidney failure and susceptibility to infections. “These trial results are very encouraging,” ...

Evolutionary biologists have for the first time decoded the genetic lineage of a famous killer whale and a pod that once worked alongside whale hunters off the coast of New South Wales. In the Australian tradition of claiming New Zealand’s celebrities as its own, Old Tom, the leader of a pod of killer whales that famously helped whalers hunt baleen whales in the 20th century, has ancestral links to modern-day killer whales in New Zealand, according to new DNA research. Old Tom also shared a common ancestor with killer whales from Australasia, the North Pacific, and North Atlantic Oceans, but is most similar to modern New Zealand killer whales. However, most of Tom’s ...

Love songs are at least as popular in the animal kingdom as on the radio. The importance of musically serenading your true love has driven plotlines from Twelfth Night to The Trumpet of the Swan to Happy Feet.  The latest exploration of music in the natural world is taking place in Mala Murthy’s lab at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute, where Murthy and her research group have used neural imaging, optogenetics, motion capture, modeling and artificial intelligence to pinpoint precisely where and how a fruit fly’s brain toggles between its standard solo and its mating serenade. Their research ...

PHILADELPHIA -- New research published by a team at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania finds that experiencing days in which the temperature exceeds previous highs for that time of year affects people’s perception of weather trends. Published in Scientific Reports, the study “Record-breaking Heat Days Disproportionately Influence Heat Perceptions” finds that living in an area with record-breaking heat effectively increases perceptions that the weather is getting hotter. The research was co-authored by economist Timothy Hyde, a postdoctoral fellow in APPC’s Science of Science Communication Division, and psychologist and communication ...

  Aston University professor named in international Top 100 of Photonics Professor Igor Meglinski’s research overlaps engineering and health sciences He applies his photonics knowledge to develop methods to detect diseases such as dementia and cancer.   An Aston University professor has been named in an international Top 100 of Photonics key players.   Igor Meglinski, professor in quantum bio-photonics and biomedical engineering was elected by fellow experts as one of the Top 100 in the field of photonics – the science and technology of light.   Although he is based in the College ...

A novel biomaterial developed at the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP) in Brazil can help solve two problems at once. As a bioparticle, it can act as a drug carrier, delivering medication directly to the gastrointestinal tract of fish in order to circumvent resistance to conventional antibiotics, for example. In addition, it is administered orally in powder form and is highly palatable to fish, increasing the probability of effective treatment while at the same time reducing the waste ...

INDIANAPOLIS—A new $15.4 million grant will help Indiana University School of Medicine recruit and educate medical students to better care for underserved populations, in hopes of improving health care across Indiana. The Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) grant will provide about $4 million over four years to the Indiana Primary Care Advancement in Clinical Training (INPACT) program. The goal of the program is to recruit more students from medically underserved areas of the state and provide doctors with the tools ...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Aerovy, a Purdue University-connected startup, has completed a round of funding and is expanding industry partnerships around the world. Aerovy develops cloud-based software solutions for the advanced air mobility, or AAM, sector, which includes electric-powered urban and regional aircraft. CEO Nick Gunady said Aerovy has closed its round of pre-seed funding, raising $800,000 from Purdue Innovates, M25 and the Flywheel Fund. “The closing of the pre-seed round represents a critical milestone in our missions to unlock the energy ...

Absorption spectroscopy is an analytical chemistry tool that can determine if a particular substance is present in a sample by measuring the intensity of the light absorbed as a function of wavelength. Measuring the absorbance of an atom or molecule can provide important information about electronic structure, quantum state, sample concentration, phase changes or composition changes, among other variables, including interaction with other molecules and possible technological applications. Molecules with a high probability of simultaneously absorbing ...

SAN ANTONIO — October 11, 2023 —Southwest Research Institute’s Dr. Nicholas Mueschke has been named an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). AIAA Associate Fellows are recognized for overseeing important engineering or scientific work and outstanding contributions to their field. Associate Fellows must be recommended by at least three other associate fellows, be a senior member in good standing of the AIAA and have at least 12 years of professional experience. AIAA selects only one Associate Fellow for each 150 members each year. The AIAA selected Mueschke for ...

WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 11, 2023 — The rapid transition to virtual care that occurred with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in better continuity of psychotherapy visits compared to prior to the pandemic when almost all visits were in-person, according to new research published in Psychiatric Services, a journal of the American Psychiatric Association.  In addition, the time between appointments grew shorter after the transition to virtual care. The study results highlight the benefits of continued availability of virtual psychotherapy.   This ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Yes, Scientists Have Sequenced the Entire Human Genome, But They’re Not Done Yet The human genome, from end to end, has been sequenced, meaning scientists worldwide have identified most of the nearly 20,000 protein-coding genes. However, an international group of scientists notes there’s more work to be done. The scientists point out that even though we have nearly converged on the identities of the 20,000 genes, the genes can be cut and spliced to create approximately 100,000 proteins, and gene experts are far from agreement on what those 100,000 proteins are. The group, which convened last fall at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, has now ...

New York, NY [October 11, 2023]—Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the University of California San Diego have been awarded an $8.5 million grant to create a data integration hub aimed at accelerating novel therapeutics and cures for diseases within initiatives supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Common Fund. NIH Common Fund programs are large-scale projects designed to collect cutting-edge biomedical research data from human cells, tissues, and patients to rapidly ...

Wine quality is notorious for varying from year to year, but what makes for a “good year”? In a paper publishing October 11 in the journal iScience, researchers show that weather plays an important role in determining wine quality. By analyzing 50 years’ worth of wine critic scores from the Bordeaux wine region in relation to that year’s weather, the researchers showed that higher quality wine is made in years with warmer temperatures, higher winter rainfall, and earlier, shorter ...

High Mountain Asia (HMA), encompassing the Tibetan Plateau and the surrounding Hindu Kush, Karakoram, and Himalayan ranges, harbors the world's third-largest amount of glacial ice. It is the source of more than 10 major Asian rivers and vital water resources for nearly 2 billion people. Recent decades have witnessed a dipolar trend in HMA precipitation, characterized by an increase in the north but a decrease in the southeast. These changes have significant implications for water resource security and ecological equilibrium in both local ...

The study, published today in Nature, reports the sighting of two ice giant exoplanets colliding around a sun-like star, creating a blaze of light and plumes of dust. Its findings show the bright heat afterglow and resulting dust cloud, which moved in front of the parent star dimming it over time. The international team of astronomers was formed after an enthusiast viewed the light curve of the star and noticed something strange. It showed the system doubled in brightness at infrared wavelengths some three years before the star started to fade in visible light. Co-lead author Dr Matthew Kenworthy, from Leiden University, ...

People with early Alzheimer’s disease have difficulty turning when walking, according to a new study using virtual reality led by UCL researchers. The study, published in Current Biology, used a computational model to further explore the intricacies of navigational errors previously observed in Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers, led by Professor Neil Burgess and colleagues in the Space and Memory group* at the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, grouped participants into three categories: healthy younger participants (31 total), healthy elderly participants (36 total) and patients with mild cognitive impairment (43 total). They then asked ...