The press release
archive.

Medicine18 Oct 2023

Researchers design gene therapy that can effectively target glioblastoma

In a first-in-human phase 1 trial in 41 patients with recurrent glioblastoma, an oncolytic virus treatment designed by Brigham researchers extended survival, especially among those with pre-existing viral antibodies Therapy turns ‘immune desert’ into inflammatory cancer-fighting zone Study demonstrated the safety and preliminary efficacy of a novel gene therapy for glioblastoma Glioblastoma (GBM), an aggressive brain cancer, is notoriously resistant to treatment, with recurrent GBM associated with survival of less than 10 months. Immunotherapies, ...

Read the release

Physics18 Oct 2023

From a five-layer graphene sandwich, a rare electronic state emerges

Ordinary pencil lead holds extraordinary properties when shaved down to layers as thin as an atom. A single, atom-thin sheet of graphite, known as graphene, is just a tiny fraction of the width of a human hair. Under a microscope, the material resembles a chicken-wire of carbon atoms linked in a hexagonal lattice. Despite its waif-like proportions, scientists have found over the years that graphene is exceptionally strong. And when the material is stacked and twisted in specific contortions, it can take on surprising electronic behavior. Now, MIT physicists have discovered another surprising property ...

Read the release

Medicine18 Oct 2023

Treatment rates for mental disorders among children and adolescents

About The Study: The results of this meta-analysis of 40 studies including 310,000 children and adolescents suggest that, in general, the treatment rates for mental disorders among children and adolescents were low, especially for depression and anxiety. Targeted intervention policies and effective measures should be designed and implemented to improve treatment rates of psychiatric disorders among youths. Authors: Yuanyuan Xiao, Ph.D., of Kunming Medical University in Kunming, Yunnan, China, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.38174) Editor’s ...

Read the release

Technology18 Oct 2023

Association of antepartum and postpartum air pollution exposure with postpartum depression in southern California

About The Study: The findings of this study including 340,000 pregnant women suggest that long-term exposure to antepartum and postpartum air pollution was associated with higher postpartum depression risks. Identifying the modifiable environmental risk factors and developing interventions are important public health issues to improve maternal mental health and alleviate the disease burden of postpartum depression. Authors: Jun Wu, Ph.D., of the University of California, Irvine, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link ...

Read the release

Medicine18 Oct 2023

Scientists uncover new way viruses fight back against bacteria

A microscopic discovery will not only enable scientists to understand the microbial world around us but could also provide a new way to control CRISPR-Cas biotechnologies. An international team of researchers led by Professor Peter Fineran from the University of Otago and Dr Rafael Pinilla-Redondo from the University of Copenhagen has published a study in the prestigious journal Nature revealing new way viruses suppress the CRISPR-Cas immune systems of bacteria. Co-first author Dr David Mayo-Muñoz, of the Phage-host interactions (Phi) laboratory in ...

Read the release

Medicine18 Oct 2023

Single vaccine protects against three deadly strains of coronavirus

DURHAM, N.C. – A vaccine designed to protect against three different deadly coronaviruses shows success in mouse studies, demonstrating the viability of a pan-coronavirus vaccine developed by researchers at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute. Publishing in the journal Cell Reports, the single nanoparticle vaccine included components of a previous vaccine that was shown to protect mice and primates against multiple variants of SARS-CoV-2, which is the virus that causes COVID-19. In this study, the vaccine protected mice from SARS-CoV-1, another form of SARS coronavirus that can infect humans, and a MERS coronavirus that has led to periodic, deadly outbreaks ...

Read the release

Physics18 Oct 2023

Milestone: Miniature particle accelerator works

Particle accelerators are crucial tools in a wide variety of areas in industry, research and the medical sector. The space these machines require ranges from a few square meters to large research centers. Using lasers to accelerate electrons within a photonic nanostructure constitutes a microscopic alternative with the potential of generating significantly lower costs and making devices considerably less bulky. Until now, no substantial energy gains were demonstrated. In other words, it has not been shown that electrons really have increased in speed significantly. A team of laser physicists at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg ...

Read the release

Medicine18 Oct 2023

Simple MRI scan could predict radiation side effects for prostate cancer

A new Corewell Health study suggests that men who have longer prostatic urethras, the part of the urethra that travels through the prostate, may be at a higher risk of experiencing moderate, often chronic urinary side effects after receiving radiation for prostate cancer. To date, researchers have struggled to determine any risk factors that could shed light on who might experience these types of side effects ahead of time. But now, a simple MRI scan and a new metric to determine urethra length could change that. Results, now published in the journal Academic Radiology, indicate that for every 1-centimeter increase in length of the prostatic ...

Read the release

Science18 Oct 2023

A newly hierarchically porous pyrolysis-free bifunctional catalyst to boost ultralong lifespan zinc-air batteries

They published their work on Oct. 12 in Energy Material Advances. "The development of cost-effective and high-performance zinc-air battery cathode catalyst is imperative," said paper author Zhonghua Xiang, professor with the Beijing University of Chemical Technology. "Currently, zinc-air batteries still not occupy the market, because they are limited in both stability and in their energy density." Xiang explained that zinc-air batteries can only work for very limited time at high current density, because there are lots of problems of its cathode, anode and electrolyte. "The air ...

Read the release

Science18 Oct 2023

Do adult periodical cicadas actually feed on anything?

Annapolis, MD; October 18, 2023—Every so often, cicadas emerge above ground and blanket the earth with their exoskeletons while emitting a high-pitched chirp from sunrise to sunset. The periodical cicadas in the genus Magicicada come every 13 or 17 years, though other types of cicadas emerge much more frequently in our neighborhoods. A long-standing agricultural query related to the periodical cicadas was recently answered by an Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) research team at West Virginia's Appalachian Fruit Research Station. Simply: Once periodical ...

Read the release

Science18 Oct 2023

SwRI to host Life-Cycle Analysis for Transportation Symposium Nov. 16-17

SAN ANTONIO — October 18, 2023 —Southwest Research Institute will host the Life-Cycle Analysis for Transportation Symposium on Nov. 16-17 in San Antonio. This year’s symposium will be in person for the first time. The two-day event will highlight academic, industry and institutional research efforts to characterize the total greenhouse gas emissions produced during the entire life cycle of a vehicle, including its manufacture, service life and recycling or disposal. “We often talk about getting to ‘zero-emissions,’ but this definition often ...

Read the release

Science18 Oct 2023

ASHG 2023 Annual Meeting to welcome thousands of researchers in Washington, DC to advance human genetics and genomics discoveries and applications

Media Contact: Kara Flynn, 202.257.8424, press@ashg.org For Immediate Release: Wednesday, October 18, 2023, 10:00am U.S. Eastern Time ROCKVILLE, MD — More than ever before, human genetics and genomics is an essential part of making progress in research, biotechnology, and health. As a key leader supporting research innovation, the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) will convene more than 8,000 researchers and clinicians at the ASHG 2023 Annual Meeting in Washington DC, Nov. 1-5 to share emerging discoveries and celebrate the Society’s 75th anniversary. “Human genetics is transforming science and health at a rapid ...

Read the release

Environment18 Oct 2023

Map: Wildlife polluted by flame retardants on massive scale

More than 150 species of wild animals across every continent are contaminated with flame retardant chemicals, according to a new map tracking peer-reviewed research worldwide. Polluted wildlife include killer whales, red pandas, chimpanzees and other endangered species. Added to furniture, electronics, vehicles, and other everyday products to meet flammability standards, the chemicals often do not work as intended. They also migrate out of products and into wildlife—and people. “Flame retardants don’t actually make TV enclosures and car interiors more fire-safe, but they can harm people and animals,” ...

Read the release

Medicine18 Oct 2023

New insights into the genetics of the common octopus: genome at the chromosome level decoded

Octopuses are fascinating animals – and serve as important model organisms in neuroscience, cognition research and developmental biology. To gain a deeper understanding of their biology and evolutionary history, validated data on the composition of their genome is needed, which has been lacking until now. Scientists from the University of Vienna together with an international research team have now been able to close this gap and, in a study, determined impressive figures: 2.8 billion base pairs - organized in ...

Read the release

Energy18 Oct 2023

Researchers unveil fire-inhibiting nonflammable gel polymer electrolyte for lithium-ion batteries

A collaborative research team, led by Professor Hyun-Kon Song in the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering at UNIST, Dr. Seo-Hyun Jung from Research Center for Advanced Specialty Chemicals at Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), and Dr. Tae-Hee Kim from the Ulsan Advanced Energy Technology R&D Center at Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER), has achieved a groundbreaking milestone in battery technology. Their remarkable achievement in developing a non-flammable gel polymer electrolyte (GPE) is set to revolutionize the safety of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) by ...

Read the release

Science18 Oct 2023

Test of police implicit bias training shows modest improvements

SPOKANE, Wash. – A two-part training designed to help police officers recognize their implicit bias, revealed some behavior improvement and lowered citizen discrimination complaints in a controlled study. While a small study involving one police department, it is the first-known research to provide evidence that this type of training can produce positive behavioral effects. Led by Washington State University researcher Lois James, the study found some improvement in the anti-bias trained officers’ behavior toward homeless people in particular, ...

Read the release

Technology18 Oct 2023

Wearable device makes memories and powers up with the flex of a finger

Researchers have invented an experimental wearable device that generates power from a user’s bending finger and can create and store memories, in a promising step towards health monitoring and other technologies. The innovation features a single nanomaterial incorporated into a stretchable casing fitted to a person’s finger. The nanomaterial enabled the device to generate power with the user bending their finger. The super-thin material also allows the device to perform memory tasks, as outlined below. Multifunctional devices normally require several materials in layers, which involves the time-consuming challenge of stacking nanomaterials with high precision. The team, led ...

Read the release

Medicine18 Oct 2023

AI and 10 seconds of voice can screen for diabetes, new study reveals

Determining whether a person is diabetic could be as easy as having them speak a few sentences into their smartphone, according to a groundbreaking study from Klick Labs that combines voice technology with artificial intelligence in a major step forward in diabetes detection. The new study, published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Digital Health, outlines how scientists used six to 10 seconds of people’s voice, along with basic health data, including age, sex, height, and weight, to create an AI model ...

Read the release

Medicine18 Oct 2023

AI identifies antimalarial drug as possible osteoporosis treatment

Correction (Oct. 17, 2023): The paper’s title has been corrected to “Deep Learning-Predicted Dihydroartemisinin Rescues Osteoporosis by Maintaining Mesenchymal Stem Cell Stemness through Activating Histone 3 Lys 9 Acetylation Artificial intelligence has exploded in popularity and is being harnessed by some scientists to predict which molecules could treat illnesses, or to quickly screen existing medicines for new applications. Researchers reporting in ACS Central Science have used one such deep learning algorithm, and found that dihydroartemisinin ...

Read the release

Science18 Oct 2023

Simplifying the generation of three-dimensional holographic displays

Holograms that offer a three-dimensional (3D) view of objects provide a level of detail that is unattainable by regular two-dimensional (2D) images. Due to their ability to offer a realistic and immersive experience of 3D objects, holograms hold enormous potential for use in various fields, including medical imaging, manufacturing, and virtual reality. Holograms are traditionally constructed by recording the three-dimensional data of an object and the interactions of light with the object. However, this technique is computationally highly intensive as it requires ...

Read the release

Physics18 Oct 2023

Superlensing without a super lens: physicists boost microscopes beyond limits

Ever since Antonie van Leeuwenhoek discovered the world of bacteria through a microscope in the late seventeenth century, humans have tried to look deeper into the world of the infinitesimally small. There are, however, physical limits to how closely we can examine an object using traditional optical methods. This is known as the ‘diffraction limit’ and is determined by the fact that light manifests as a wave. It means a focused image can never be smaller than half the wavelength of light used to observe an object. Attempts to break this limit with “super lenses” have all hit the hurdle of extreme visual losses, making the lenses opaque. ...

Read the release

Medicine18 Oct 2023

Collaborative study focuses on using computer algorithms to find molecular adaptations to improve COVID-19 drugs

As the COVID-19 pandemic scattered and isolated people, researchers across Virginia Tech connected for a data-driven collaboration seeking improved drugs to fight the disease and potentially many other illnesses. A multidisciplinary collaboration spanning several colleges at Virginia Tech resulted in a newly published study, “Data Driven Computational Design and Experimental Validation of Drugs for Accelerated Mitigation of Pandemic-like Scenarios,” in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. The study focuses on using computer algorithms to generate adaptations to ...

Read the release

Energy18 Oct 2023

Study predicts potential for 110% electricity increases in U.S. urban buildings

A research study led by University of Oklahoma assistant professor Chenghao Wang and recently published in the journal Nature Communications tackled the critical issue of how city-scale building energy consumption in urban environments will evolve under the influence of climate change. Fossil fuels account for approximately 40% of all building energy use in urban city centers in the United States, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that residential and commercial buildings in U.S. cities are one of the major energy ...

Read the release

Science18 Oct 2023

Open access: Need to move away from transformative agreements

Sweden is far ahead when it comes to promoting open access to scholarly publications. But there is risk of getting stuck in a permanent transformation that favours large commercial publishers. A new report from the Association of Swedish Higher Education Institutions develops a strategy on how to work in negotiations with the publishers. In 2021, the Association of Swedish Higher Education Institutions (Sveriges universitets- och högskoleförbund, SUHF) convened a “Beyond transformative agreements” working group (the BTA group) to lay the foundation for further advancing the transition to open access. Now, the group ...

Read the release

Technology18 Oct 2023

Graz University of Technology study on e-scooter accidents: more helmets and less speed reduce the injury risk

The use of e-scooters has increased significantly in recent years, but so has the number of accidents involving this relatively new form of transport. At the same time, knowledge about injury mechanisms in this area was still very limited. In the project SURF, funded by Zukunftsfonds Steiermark, the Vehicle Safety Institute at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) investigated this topic using Human Body Models and derived recommendations to reduce the injury risk in e-scooter accidents. Put on a helmet, decrease speed and get off the pavement As ...

Read the release