If you happen to come across plants of the Balanophoraceae family in a corner of a forest, you might easily mistake them for fungi growing around tree roots. Their mushroom-like structures are actually inflorescences, composed of minute flowers. But unlike some other parasitic plants that extend an haustorium into host tissue to steal nutrients, Balanophora induces the vascular system of their host plant to grow into a tuber, forming a unique underground organ with mixed host-parasite tissue. This ...

An international research team led by scientists in the Center for Genetic Epidemiology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center has singled out mutations in 11 genes that are associated with aggressive forms of prostate cancer. These findings come from the largest-scale prostate cancer study ever exploring the exome — that is, the key sections of the genetic code that contain the instructions to make proteins. The scientists analyzed samples from about 17,500 prostate cancer ...

Palaeontologists at University College Cork (UCC) in Ireland have discovered X-ray evidence of proteins in fossil feathers that sheds new light on feather evolution.     Previous studies suggested that ancient feathers had a different composition to the feathers of birds today. The new research, however, reveals that the protein composition of modern-day feathers was also present in the feathers of dinosaurs and early birds, confirming that the chemistry of feathers originated much earlier than previously thought.  The research, published today in Nature Ecology and Evolution, was led by palaeontologists ...

MicroRNAs are small molecules that regulate gene activity by binding to and destroying RNAs produced by the genes. More than 60% of all human genes are estimated to be regulated by microRNAs, therefore it is not surprising that these small molecules are involved in many biological processes including diseases such as cancer. To discover the function of a microRNA, it is necessary to find out exactly which RNAs are targeted by it. While such methods exist, they require a lot of material typically in order of millions of cells, to ...

A new form of agricultural pest control could one day take root—one that treats crop infestations deep under the ground in a targeted manner with less pesticide. Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed nanoparticles, fashioned from plant viruses, that can deliver pesticide molecules to soil depths that were previously unreachable. This advance could potentially help farmers effectively combat parasitic nematodes that plague the root zones of crops, all while minimizing costs, pesticide use and environmental toxicity. Controlling infestations caused by root-damaging nematodes has long been a challenge in agriculture. One reason is that the types of pesticides ...

A research team led by Prof. LIN Nan from the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences found that during sentence processing, the neural activity of two canonical language areas, i.e., the left ventral temporoparietal junction (vTPJ) and the lateral anterior temporal lobe (lATL), is associated with social-semantic working memory rather than language processing per se. The study was published in Nature Human Behaviour on Sept. 21. Language and social cognition are two deeply interrelated abilities of the human species, but have traditionally been studied ...

On September 17th, 2023, Carbon Future, an international interdisciplinary journal sponsored by Tsinghua University, has been officially inaugurated.   Carbon Future is an open access, peer-reviewed and international interdisciplinary journal that reports carbon-related materials and processes, including carbon materials, catalysis, energy conversion and storage, as well as low carbon emission process and engineering. The journal is published quarterly by Tsinghua University Press, and publicly released on SciOpen, an internationally digital ...

In a groundbreaking study published in Engineering, researchers have developed a revolutionary method for data storage using DNA. The paper titled “Engineering DNA Materials for Sustainable Data Storage Using a DNA Movable-Type System” introduces a novel approach that utilizes DNA fragments, referred to as “DNA movable types,” for data writing, thereby eliminating the need for costly and environmentally hazardous DNA synthesis. DNA molecules have long been recognized as green materials ...

Weill Cornell Medicine has received a three-year, nearly $6 million grant to lead one of three national contraceptive research centers. The grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, part of the National Institutes of Health, will fund the Weill Cornell Medicine Contraception Development Research Center. Led by Drs. Jochen Buck and Lonny Levin, both professors of pharmacology at Weill Cornell Medicine, the center will focus on developing an on-demand male contraceptive. “It’s an honor to be selected for a second time for this award,” Dr. Levin ...

INDIANAPOLIS -- Frailty is a serious concern in later-life adults due to its association with additional health risks including disability, falls, hospitalization and mortality. The prevalence of frailty has risen over time; about 15 percent of those aged 65 years and older are considered frail. In one of the first studies to analyze the mediating effects of social relationships in the relationship between childhood experiences and frailty, Regenstrief Research Scientist Monica M. Williams-Farrelly, PhD, has found ...

The onset of embryo-specific gene transcription, also known as embryonic genome activation (EGA), is a crucial step in the developmental journey of an organism. Although EGA has been studied to some extent in mice, human EGA remains largely unexplored, mainly due to the lack of novel in vitro cell models and ethical restrictions on the usage of human embryos. Thus, cell models resembling the human blastomere stage—when the embryo undergoes a cell duplication process—are necessary to study the earliest stages of human EGA and understand the events that occur during early embryonic development.   To ...

Water is one of the most abundant substances on Earth and partakes in countless biological, chemical, and ecological processes. Thus, understanding its behavior and properties is essential in a wide variety of scientific and applied fields. To do so, researchers have developed various water models to reproduce the behavior of bulk water in molecular simulations. While these simulations can provide valuable insights into the specific properties of water, selecting an appropriate model for the system under study is crucial. ...

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a major infectious disease worldwide and contributes to high mortality and massive economic burden. Hospital mortality among the severe CAP (SCAP) remains high, ranging from 25% to more than 50%. Early identification of patients at high risk of death is essential for improving patient outcomes. However, predicting outcomes in patients with SCAP is challenging, as the disease is complex and influenced by various factors, including the types of pathogen causing the infection, the host immune response, and underlying medical conditions. In this study published in eBioMedicine (a Lancet publication), a team led by Dr. Jinmin Ma, BGI Genomics Infection ...

People from diverse religious backgrounds in the United States view curiosity about religion as morally virtuous, according to new research published in Social Psychological and Personality Science. Atheists also view this curiosity as moral, although less moral than a lack of religious curiosity. Previous research has examined what makes people curious and how curiosity helps people learn new information, but psychologists know less about how displaying curiosity is viewed by other people. The current research finds that people ...

DALLAS, September 21, 2023 — Supporting the next generation of health advocates, the American Heart Association awards five high school seniors with $1,000 college scholarships to energize their commitment to community health through service-learning opportunities. The grants are a part of the American Heart Challenge™, a school-based program that helps middle and high school students feel good about their health, while doing good for the community. The American Heart Association, devoted ...

A groundbreaking anticancer treatment technology that selectively targets cancer cell lysosomes and overcomes drug resistance has been developed by Professor Ja-Hyoung Ryu and his research team in the Department of Chemistry at UNIST. This pioneering research promises a new paradigm for chemical anticancer drugs in the future. Lysosomes are crucial organelles responsible for breaking down and recycling cellular components. Targeting lysosomes with anticancer drugs has emerged as a promising approach to combat drug resistance in cancer cells. However, ...

(Toronto, September 21, 2023) The United Nations General Assembly held a high-level meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response on September 20, 2023, to continue discussions on finalizing a globally enforceable Pandemic Accord or Treaty that will be presented to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) World Health Assembly in May 2024. This treaty, if agreed to and eventually ratified, will be the second international treaty instrument under WHO auspices, and represents a critical juncture in global health needed to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response in the ...

According to a study recently published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, maternal morbidity and mortality rates in Texas during the last two decades have more than doubled from 1999 (10.3 deaths per 100,000 births) to 2019 (21.9 deaths per 100,000 births). This rate not only exceeds the national average (17.4 in 2018), but it also places Texas at or near the bottom of most metrics used to determine the safest states in which to have a baby. One of the primary factors related to the lack of maternity care in the Lone Star state is the existence of maternity care deserts, which are counties where no maternity care exists. And in the Texas Panhandle, ...

SHERBROOKE, Canada (September 21, 2023) – SBQuantum, the first company developing diamond quantum magnetometers capable of providing vector measurements of both the amplitude and the orientation of Earth's magnetic field, today announces it has been selected as a participant in the final phases of the MagQuest Challenge, along with its partner, Spire Global. Led by the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, MagQuest is a multi-million dollar competition to find more accurate and efficient ways to map the earth’s electromagnetic field, also known as the World Magnetic Model (WMM). Aircraft, ...

The most comprehensive study to date investigating whether e-cigarettes are a gateway into or out of smoking finds that, at the population level, there is no sign that e-cigarettes and other alternative nicotine delivery products promote smoking. The study, led by Queen Mary University of London and funded by the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR), also found some evidence that these products compete against cigarettes and so may be speeding up the demise of smoking, but this finding is only tentative and more data are needed to determine the size of this effect. The study compared the time course of use and sales of electronic cigarettes with that ...

In virtual meetings, it’s easy to keep people from talking over each other. Someone just hits mute. But for the most part, this ability doesn’t translate easily to recording in-person gatherings. In a bustling cafe, there are no buttons to silence the table beside you. The ability to locate and control sound — isolating one person talking from a specific location in a crowded room, for instance — has challenged researchers, especially without visual cues from cameras. A team led by ...

TORONTO, ON – Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaks may be one of the mechanisms that link traumatic brain injury (TBI) with dementia, according to a recently published hypothesis in Alzheimer's & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions, a journal of the Alzheimer’s Association. Traumatic brain injuries are strongly associated with an increased risk of dementia. Unfortunately, the exact pathways underlying this relationship are unclear. This gap in knowledge makes it difficult to create preventative strategies to support patients with TBI. CSF leaks are associated with decreased brain buoyancy and the appearance of brain sagging on MRI. Severe ...

While most individuals impacted by COVID-19 experience milder symptoms and recover within a few weeks, the global pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus continues to pose a significant health challenge. Some of those affected may progress to develop more severe illness and pneumonia, often resulting in a more unfavorable prognosis. Although protocols have been developed to assess patients' risk, diagnostic and prognostic tools primarily rely on expensive and less accessible imaging methods, ...

Sewage pollution, whether treated or untreated, was found to be the primary driver of increased nutrients, algae, and sewage fungus in rivers. Sewage discharge also radically altered plant, animal, and microbe communities, increasing the abundance of harmful species. Run-off from agriculture was also found to lower water quality and be particularly harmful for sensitive insect groups. Ahead of World Rivers Day (24 September), new research by the University of Oxford reveals that sewage discharge into rivers has a greater impact on water quality, and the animals ...

South Korean researchers have achieved a landmark feat by setting international standards for short-range wireless communication technology, commonly used within a 10 cm range, to enable internet communication. ETRI(Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute) announced on the 21st July that the international standard “IETF RFC 9428(Transmission of IPv6 Packets over Near Field Communication)” was formally adopted by the Internet Engineering Task Force(IETF), a semi-private international standardization organization under the Internet Architecture Board(IAB). Near ...