From domoic acid poisoning in seabirds to canine distemper in raccoons, wildlife face a variety of threats and illnesses. Some of those same diseases make their way to humans and domestic animals in our increasingly shared environment. A new early detection surveillance system for wildlife helps identify unusual patterns of illness and death in near real-time by tapping into data from wildlife rehabilitation organizations across California. This system has the potential to expand nationally and globally. It was created by scientists at the University of California Davis' School of Veterinary Medicine with partners at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife ...

ITHACA - Ligands are much like nanosized barnacles, binding to many kinds of surfaces. This form of adsorption is crucial for a range of chemical processes, from purification and catalysis to the design of nanomaterials. However, understanding how ligands interact with the surface of nanoparticles has been a challenge to study. Adsorbed ligands are difficult to identify because there are other molecules in the mix, and nanoparticle surfaces are uneven and multifaceted, which means they require incredibly high spatial resolution to be scrutinized. Cornell researchers led by Peng Chen, the Peter J.W. Debye Professor of Chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences, have used a breakthrough imaging technique they ...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- For decades, scientists have tried to make reliable lithium-metal batteries. These high-performance storage cells hold 50% more energy than their prolific, lithium-ion cousins, but higher failure rates and safety problems like fires and explosions have crippled commercialization efforts. Researchers have hypothesized why the devices fail, but direct evidence has been sparse. Now, the first nanoscale images ever taken inside intact, lithium-metal coin batteries (also called button cells or watch batteries) challenge prevailing theories and could help make future high-performance batteries, such as for electric vehicles, safer, more powerful and longer lasting. "We're learning that we should be using separator materials tuned for ...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Uveal melanoma, or UM, is a rare and deadly cancer of the eye, and the mortality rate has remained unimproved for 40 years. Half of the melanomas spread to other organs of the body, causing death in less than a year, so new treatments to preserve vision and prevent death are an urgent need. Now a preclinical study by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Emory University, Atlanta, offers hope -- a small molecule inhibitor has been identified that dampens the potent drivers of this tumor. In mouse models, the inhibitor, KCN1, strongly limited primary disease in the eye and metastatic tumor dissemination ...

Male seed beetles with genital structures that injure females may have greater reproductive success. As new research from Uppsala University shows, females that mate with such males benefit, in the sense that their offspring are healthier. This new piece of the puzzle will help scientists to understand how complex mating interactions between males and females have developedevolved. The study is published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. "This helps us understand is connected with the evolutionary dance between males and females of all animal species, ...

A team of University of Houston pharmaceutical researchers is reporting a newly recognized process of drug metabolism in the intestines - followed by recycling through the liver - that could have important implications for developing treatments for intestinal diseases and for taking multiple medications at the same time. "The intestines play a crucial role in metabolizing and recycling certain plant compounds and drugs," reports Ming Hu, Diana S-L. Chow Endowed Professor of Drug Discovery and Development and the senior author of the paper in eLife. "The discovery has important implications for scientists trying to understand how ...

A new study led by the U.S. Geological Survey outlines a means to better estimate COVID-19 occurrence and trends in populations. Currently, COVID-19 testing is primarily limited to self-selected individuals, many of whom are symptomatic or have had contact with someone who is symptomatic. While these tests are useful for individual medical treatment and contact tracing, they do not provide health officials with a complete picture of the disease across the population. "Coordinated sampling of COVID-19 is key to informing health officials as they continue their efforts to control the pandemic, permitting better predictions of disease dynamics and ...

Antibiotic exposure early in life could alter human brain development in areas responsible for cognitive and emotional functions, according to a Rutgers researcher. The laboratory study, published in the journal iScience, suggests that penicillin changes the microbiome - the trillions of beneficial microorganisms that live in and on our bodies - as well as gene expression, which allows cells to respond to its changing environment, in key areas of the developing brain. The findings suggest reducing widespread antibiotic use or using alternatives when possible to prevent neurodevelopment problems. Penicillin and related medicines (like ampicillin and amoxicillin) are the most widely used antibiotics in ...

Scientists at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois have developed a hydrogel integrated with zirconium-based robust metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) that rapidly degrades organophosphate-based nerve agents used in chemical warfare. Unlike existing powdered MOF adsorbents, this hydrogel composite does not require added water and may be easily scaled up for use in protective masks or clothing. The work appears July 14 in the journal Chem Catalysis. "Organophosphate-based nerve agents are among the most toxic chemicals known to humanity," says senior author Omar Farha, a professor of chemistry at Northwestern University. "Their use in recent global conflicts reflects the urgent need for personal protective gear, as well as the bulk destruction of ...

(Salt Lake City) - Bacteria's role in gut health has received a lot of attention in recent years. But new research led by scientists at END ...

BOSTON - New research in humans and mice identifies a particular signaling molecule that can help modify inflammation and the immune system to protect against Alzheimer's disease. The work, which was led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), is published in Nature. Cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer's disease develops when neurons begin to die. "Neuron death can be caused by improper immune responses and excessive neuroinflammation--or inflammation in the brain--triggered by high levels of amyloid beta deposits and tau tangles, two hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease," explains the paper's co-senior author Filip Swirski, PhD, who conducted the work while a principal investigator in the Center for Systems Biology at MGH. ...

BOSTON - Over the last decade, investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have been at the forefront of the effort to END ...

New York, NY--July 14, 2021-- A previously unknown kind of human brain cell appears to help people center themselves in their personal maps of the world, according to a new study from neuroscientists at Columbia Engineering. This discovery sheds light on the cellular mechanisms underlying navigation and memory in humans, as well as what parts of the brain might get disrupted during the kinds of memory impairments common in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. There are two strategies with which humans and animals navigate and orient themselves. One involves locating places, distances and directions in "allocentric" or other-centered ...

What The Study Did: The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a decline in addiction treatment initiations but more research is needed to understand the cause of the decline in initiations and the extent to which it was due to reduced demand for services or reduced ability to supply treatment. Authors: Tami L. Mark, Ph.D., M.B.A., of RTI International in Rockville, Maryland, 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.2021.17029) Editor's Note: The article ...

What The Study Did: In this randomized clinical trial, a physician messaging campaign was effective in increasing COVID-19 knowledge, information-seeking and self-reported protective behaviors among diverse groups. Authors: Esther Duflo, Ph.D., of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, 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.2021.17115) Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support. #  #  ...

What The Study Did: About half the women experiencing homelessness and unstable housing who were surveyed experienced symptoms of depression or anxiety or both during the pandemic and, in addition to unmet subsistence needs and social isolation, these symptoms were associated with increased challenges accessing non-COVID-19 care and managing symptoms for chronic medical conditions. Authors: Elise D. Riley, Ph.D., M.P.H., of the University of California, San Francisco, 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.2021.17035) Editor's ...

What The Study Did: This study found an unequal pattern of COVID-19 outcomes that was associated with the socioeconomic circumstances in regions of Japan, suggesting that these disparities in COVID-19 outcomes aren't unique to the United States and Europe. Authors: Yuki Yoshikawa, M.D., M.P.H., of the Harvard T.H.Chan School of Public Health in Boston, 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.2021.17060) Editor's Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support. #  ...

The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified calls to end the detention of migrant children, as cases surge among children held in crowded conditions; yet immigration detention's threats to children's fundamental rights did not begin with the current public health crisis. Unlike nearly three-quarters of high-income countries, however, the U.S. has no laws specifically limiting the detention of accompanied migrant and asylum-seeking children, according to a new study by the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health's END ...

A football is not a quantum particle. There are crucial differences between the things we know from everyday life and tiny quantum objects. Quantum phenomena are usually very fragile. To study them, one normally uses only a small number of particles, well shielded from the environment, at the lowest possible temperatures. Through a collaboration between the University of Vienna, the Austrian Academy of Sciences and TU Wien, however, it has now been possible to measure a hot glass sphere consisting of about one billion atoms with unprecedented precision and to control it at the quantum level. Its movement was deliberately slowed down until it assumed the ground state of lowest possible ...

Mitotic Catastrophe Database (MCDB) is a proprietary, standard, and comprehensive database for Mitotic catastrophe (MC) related data facilitating the exploration of MC for all researchers in the fields of medicinal chemistry, molecular biology, bioinformatics and oncology. MC is a form of programmed cell death induced by mitotic process disorders, which is important in tumor prevention, development, and drug resistance. As availability of MC data underpins tumor-related biomedical and clinical studies, the development of a professional and comprehensive database to curate MC-related data is a matter of increasing priority. MCDB consists of 1214 genes/proteins and 5014 compounds ...

Jacksonville, Fla. - A recent qualitative research study conducted by the University of North Florida, in partnership with Indianan University-Purdue Indianapolis and UF Health Jacksonville, shows that black teenage girls want inclusive body types to be featured in advertising to combat teen obesity rates. Insights provided in the study are ideal for pediatricians and healthcare educators developing advertising and patient care plans to combat obesity among African American teens. The study investigated social and cultural consequences of food consumption among African American teenage girls between the ages of 14-18 in Jacksonville, Fla., and explored best practices ...

A team of scientists has uncovered how heavy, motorized objects climb steep slopes--a newly discovered mechanism that also mimics how rock climbers navigate inclines. The findings, which appear in the journal Soft Matter, stem from a series of experiments in which motorized objects were placed in liquid and then moved up tilted surfaces. "These 'micro-swimmers' are about 20 times heavier than the fluid they swim in, but they were able to climb steep slopes that are almost vertical," explains Jun Zhang, one of the paper's authors and a professor of physics and mathematics at New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and NYU Shanghai. The work enhances our understanding of "gravitaxis"--directional ...

The physical interactions between coral and algal cells as they combine to form a symbiotic relationship have been observed for the first time. Within minutes of being introduced, coral cells had started to engulf the algae, where they were either digested or moved to a protective 'bubble' within the cell. This new study, published in Frontiers in Marine Science, will form the basis of further research to understand what drives their symbiosis at a cellular and molecular level, including the eviction of algae, which is the cause of coral bleaching. "We watched coral cells develop pseudopodia ...

Depression is the most frequently diagnosed psychiatric disorder among older adults, with 8% to 16% of older patients presenting with clinically significant depressive symptoms. Researchers in Spain conducted a randomized clinical trial of 347 older adults with mild to moderate depression, comparing the effectiveness of physical exercise and antidepressants as treatment methods. Study participants were assigned to either a group engaged in supervised physical exercise or a group that received antidepressant treatment by their general practitioners. Depressive symptoms were not significantly different after one month between the two groups. However, after three and six months, the number of people who showed improvement was significantly higher in the ...

WASHINGTON--People with diabetes and depression who take antidepressants may have a lower risk of death and of serious diabetes complications, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. People with diabetes face a higher risk of depression, which makes them more likely to die or develop diabetes complications including heart and kidney disease, stroke, eye, and foot problems. Depression makes diabetes complications worse due to stress, body weight changes, and lack of exercise. "People with depression and diabetes have poorer health outcomes than those with diabetes alone, and regular antidepressant treatment could lower their risk of complications," said study author Shi-Heng Wang, Ph.D., of the China Medical ...