Research is being conducted around the world to confine high-temperature plasma in a magnetic field to realize nuclear fusion power generation. The most important issue is maintaining stable high-temperature plasma for a long time, which involves many challenges. The plasma confined by a magnetic field has a temperature gradient from the low-temperature periphery to the high-temperature center, where the fusion reaction takes place, with the temperature at the center being over 100 million degrees Celsius and that at the periphery being several hundred ...

It is impossible to imagine modern agriculture without plastics. 12 million tonnes are used every year. But what about the consequences for the environment? An international team of authors led by Thilo Hofmann from the Division of Environmental Geosciences at the University of Vienna addresses this question in a recent study in Nature Communication Earth and Environment. The research shows the benefits and risks of using plastics in agriculture, and identifies solutions that ensure their sustainable use.  Once celebrated as a symbol of ...

Kyoto, Japan -- Not all yeasts are created equally. Unlike the yeast used by bakers and beer brewers for converting sugars to carbon dioxide and fermentation, oleaginous yeasts convert sugars from inedible biomass into fats and oils.  A research group jointly led by Kyoto University and Ryukoku University has discovered two new species of oil-forming yeast in the soil of Shiga Prefecture. Their study also examines the relationship between the prefecture's diverse climate and microbial ecology. "We are gauging the potential benefits of applying oleaginous yeast to sustainable oil and fat production through isolation technology, particularly in reducing ...

SAN ANTONIO — Sept. 25, 2023 —Southwest Research Institute and The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) are collaborating to study the “felt heat” of San Antonio’s historic West Side. The prevalence of paved surfaces creates an environment that feels considerably hotter than the rest of the city. The work, led by Principal Scientist Dr. Stuart Stothoff of SwRI’s Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Division and Dr. Esteban Lopez Ochoa of the Margie and Bill Klesse College of ...

Significant quantities of microplastic particles are being trapped in riverbed sediments or carried through the air along major river systems, a new study has shown. The research, conducted along the length of the Ganges River in South Asia, found on average about 41 microplastic particles per square metre per day settled from the atmosphere. . In addition, analysis by scientists found 57 particles per kilogram on average in sediment from the riverbed as well as one particle in every 20 litres of ...

Highlights: Ecological disturbances like wildfires disrupt microbial communities. Researchers studied microbial succession for a year in a field, following a fire. They found that dispersal played a pivotal role in re-establishing surface-level communities.  Dispersal from wind or rain explained the return of most fungal species. Bacterial communities were influenced by both air and deeper bulk soil.    Washington, D.C. — The disruption brought by wildfires reaches everything that lives in or near a burning field or forest—including microbes. A better understanding ...

WASHINGTON – Companies that reveal their struggles to increase racial diversity in their workforces are perceived as more trustworthy and committed to diversity than companies that remain silent, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.   “We suspect that many companies fear that revealing lagging diversity numbers will undermine their reputation and credibility, so they don’t disclose that information, but that strategy may be misplaced,” said lead researcher Evan ...

HOUSTON, September 25, 2023 – In Houston, people who live south of downtown in the Sunnyside neighborhood can expect to live an average of 21 years less than those who live just nine miles away in the more affluent Bellaire community[1]. This life expectancy gap is nearly equivalent to the difference in life expectancy between low-income and high-income countries. The science tells us that physical conditions in which people live explain in part why some are healthier than others[2]. To sustainably remove the social and economic barriers preventing access to equitable health for everyone ...

The effects of in-stream video advertising on ad information encoding have long remained a mystery. A recent study, led by Professor Sung-Phil Kim and his research team in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at UNIST sheds light on this subject. By integrating the negative emotion–memory model (NEMM) and the limited capacity model of motivated–mediated message processing (LC4MP), researchers investigated how advertising content is encoded within the context of in-stream video advertising. The ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – In this era of extreme partisanship, the people who express the most negativity in their political choices are those we may least expect: independents.   In a new paper, researchers conducted five studies in which they found that independents were more likely than partisans to frame their position in terms of opposition to one party, candidate, message or option rather than in support of the other choice.   And it’s not just in politics: One study found that “independents” ...

Loma Linda University (LLU) researchers found microbial contamination in common sources of drinking water in the Eastern Coachella Valley, including soda fountains at fast-food restaurants. Their findings revealed that 41% of the water samples researchers collected from these soda fountains contained total coliforms, an indicator of water contamination. Molecular analysis of the water samples revealed traces of genetic material found in bacteria, including Salmonella spp (Salmonella), Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Escherichia coli (E. coli). Given these findings, ...

Endocytosis is an important cellular process through which cells internalize substances such as water and nutrients. These substances are first transported as cargo to the initial sorting compartment (endosomes) before being degraded (endo-lysosomal pathway) or recycled (recycling pathway of the plasma membrane). The trans-Golgi network (TGN), which lies adjacent to the Golgi apparatus, is a key mediator of this intracellular transport. Endocytosis mediates the infection of harmful pathogens such as bacteria and virus, and its disruption may lead to several diseases. It is, ...

[Rome, 25 September] - The cacao sector has long grappled with challenges stemming from the absence of commonly agreed standardised protocols for evaluating cacao quality and flavour, as well as the lack of a common language to describe the sensory experience of cacao. These issues have impeded effective communication and understanding between producers and buyers, disproportionately affecting farmers in developing countries who strive to cultivate and sell superior quality cacao deserving of higher prices. Today, Cacao of Excellence is proud to unveil a groundbreaking initiative aimed at addressing these long-standing issues — the Guide for the Assessment of Cacao Quality and Flavour. ...

GENETIC CODE OF RARE KIDNEY CANCER CRACKED The genetic code of a rare form of kidney cancer, called reninoma, has been studied for the first time. In the new paper, published today (25th September) in Nature Communications, researchers at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Great Ormond Street Hospital and The Royal Free Hospital also revealed a new drug target that could serve as an alternative treatment if surgery is not recommended.  There are around 100 cases of reninoma reported to date worldwide (1), and it is amongst the rarest of tumours in humans. Although it can usually be cured with surgery, ...

Tiny waterfleas could play a pivotal role in removing persistent chemical pollutants from wastewater – making it safe to use in factories, farms and homes, a new study reveals. Rapid urbanisation, population growth, unsustainable food production and climate change have put unprecedented pressure on water resources, culminating in a global water crisis. The sustainable management and reuse of water resources is paramount for ensuring societal, economic, and environmental well-being. Persistent chemical pollutants, originating from domestic and industrial processes, ...

Antibiotic resistant bacteria are a threat to human lives, and yet the development of new drugs to treat bacterial infections is slow. A group of proven drugs used in cancer treatment for decades could possibly be the solution. A new class of antibiotics is now being developed by researchers at Linköping University, Sweden. Many drugs and drug candidates have proven highly effective in killing bacteria or tumour cells. The problem is that they also harm the patient, and they are therefore used very sparingly or not at all. When used to treat for instance cancer, they are delivered directly into the blood and spread throughout the body. ...

New research has uncovered elevated rates of high blood sugar, or hyperglycemia, among patients with breast cancer who are treated with the oral medication alpelisib. The results are published by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. Alpelisib targets the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) protein that is involved in cell growth and when mutated can contribute to cancer. In 2019, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the use of this drug in combination with fulvestrant, ...

It's hard to keep a language in the family. Many people who migrate to different countries find that their language of origin has become a heritage language, passed on to future generations with varying degrees of success. These languages come under pressure from the dominant language in a country as well as the lack of opportunities to practice and fluent speakers to practice with. So how do kids use or retain heritage languages? And can visits to their parents’ countries of origin help them increase their fluency? “The role of parental language use in the country of residence is well-established,” ...

For the upcoming hyper-realistic metaverse world in the era of digital transformation, domestic researchers are showcased their achievements in the development of display and stereoscopic imaging technologies. Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute(ETRI) participated in consecutive events, starting from the 16th August at COEX in Seoul for 'K-Display 2023,' followed by 'IMID 2023' at BEXCO in Busan from the 23rd, where they exhibited a variety of innovative technologies capable of realizing a truly realistic metaverse world. At this exhibition, ETRI unveiled a total of 11 technologies across four categories, including ▲hyper-realistic ...

A comprehensive new guideline with 16 preventive care recommendations aims to promote health equity for people disadvantaged because of racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination. The guideline, created by a diverse team of clinicians from across Canada with patient involvement, is published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal): https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.230237 Some key recommendations: Colorectal cancer — prioritize colorectal cancer screening for patients starting at age 45 years ...

Philadelphia, September 25, 2023 – Cardiovascular rehabilitation (CR) improves health outcomes and well-being and can reduce death and re-hospitalization rates by 20%. However, programs are underutilized and women are much less likely to participate than men, so they do not reap these benefits. This first global comparative study into barriers to using CR in men and women assesses the extent of these barriers and discusses ways in which patients can overcome them. It determined that women and men face some common, but also many different barriers, and barriers differ by global region. The study appears in the Canadian ...

Exposure to blue light, like that from smartphones or tablets, may lead to early puberty in male rats, according to research presented at the 61st Annual European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology Meeting in The Hague. This study is the first to investigate the association between blue light exposure and early puberty in male rats, and sheds light on how environmental factors, such as screen time, impact early puberty and testicular tissue, which could eventually lead to future prevention strategies for children. Early puberty for most children does not have an obvious cause. Sometimes it is due to genetics, or there is a problem in the brain, such as an injury or tumour, or in the thyroid, ...

Recently, a research paper titled "Chromosome-scale genome sequence of Suaeda glauca sheds light on salt stress tolerance in halophytes", completed by Professor Qin Yuan's team from the Center for Genomics, Haixia Institute of Science and Technology (Future Technology College) at Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, has been published in the top-ranked journal "Horticulture Research" in the field of horticultural science. Soil salinity is a growing concern for global crop production ...

*Note- this is an early release from the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) meeting in Hamburg, October 2-6. Please credit the meeting if you use this story* A new meta-analysis combining 22 studies, to be presented at this year’s Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Hamburg, Germany (2-6 October), shows that tirzepatide is superior to semaglutide for both control of blood sugar and in terms of amount of body weight lost by patients. The study is by Dr Thomas Karagiannis, Aristotle ...

A collaboration between researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Duke University has developed a robotic eye examination system, and the National Institutes of Health has awarded the researchers $1.2 million to expand and refine the system. The researchers have developed a robotic system that automatically positions examination sensors to scan human eyes. It currently uses an optical scan technique which can operate from a reasonably safe distance from the eye, and now the researchers are working to add more features that will help it perform most steps of a standard eye exam. These features will require ...