In a new study co-led by investigators at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, a global team of scientists conducted one of the largest genetic association studies on heart failure to date. Using genomic data from over 90,000 heart failure patients and more than a million controls, the team identified 39 genetic mutations associated with heart failure, 18 of which had not been reported previously. The researchers also pinpointed seven druggable proteins that, when targeted with specially ...

Inflammation is a standard part of our bodies’ immune system response. But sometimes this response becomes hyperactivated in our lungs, causing inflammation to continue unchecked, which can be fatal. Many deaths from COVID-19 have been due to excessive inflammation, which results in acute lung injury. A group of researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have investigated how lungs counterbalance inflammation. Their work points to cells in the lung that reduce inflammation by removing ...

A study led by Dr. Hyun Kyoung Lee, associate professor at Baylor College of Medicine and investigator at the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital, has discovered a new biological mechanism to regenerate and repair myelin, a protective sheath that insulates neuronal fibers and plays a vital role in ensuring rapid and accurate neurotransmission. The Duncan NRI team found novel roles for the Dishevelled associated activator of morphogenesis 2 (Daam2) protein and CK2α kinase in regulating myelin repair and regeneration. The study was published in the Proceedings of the National ...

PHILADELPHIA (August 24, 2023) – A bitter taste in the mouth is often a symptom or side effect of illness, which may be the result of how the body reacts to pathogens. A new study published in iScience, by Hong Wang, PhD, an Associate Member at the Monell Chemical Sense Center, and colleagues sheds light on the mechanisms involved in the complex interplay between taste perception and immune function. Their work also highlights the potential of a sequencing tool for investigating epigenetic mechanisms that affect taste-cell gene expression. Epigenetics is the study of how and when genes are expressed rather than alteration of the genetic ...

Researchers have developed an engineered adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector that yields high transduction of brain vascular pericytes and smooth muscle cells. The study describing the characterization of this novel AAV capsid is published in the peer-reviewed journal Human Gene Therapy. Click here to read the article now. In the current study, Servio Ramirez, from Temple University School of Medicine, Patricia Musolino, from Massachusetts General Hospital, and Casey Maguire, from Harvard Medical School, and coauthors, characterize AAV-PR, the capsid that demonstrated high transduction of the brain vasculature. AAV-PR offers the ...

INDIANAPOLIS—Researchers from Indiana University School of Medicine have discovered a neglected brain region that could play a critical role in how likely a person with drug use disorders is to relapse, even after a long withdrawal period. Their findings were published recently in Biological Psychiatry. “Past studies in the field of addiction research have focused on the medial prefrontal cortex, which is the part of the brain that controls decision making, but no effective prevention or treatment for drug relapse is available,” said Yao-Ying Ma, MD, PhD, associate professor of pharmacology ...

SAN ANTONIO (Aug. 24, 2023) — Urine levels of adenine, a metabolite produced in the kidney, are predictive and a causative biomarker of looming progressive kidney failure in patients with diabetes, a finding that could lead to earlier diagnosis and intervention, researchers from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (also called UT Health San Antonio) reported Aug. 24 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Elevated adenine was also associated with all-cause mortality. The study results are significant because until now, the most important ...

LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Aug. 23, 2023 — Mathematical modeling can show how to safely blend hydrogen with natural gas for transport in existing pipeline systems. A secure and reliable transition to hydrogen is one of the proposed solutions for the shift to a net-zero-carbon economy.  “Mixing hydrogen into a natural gas pipeline changes how the gases flow, which will create new conditions for operators,” said Anatoly Zlotnik, a co-author of a new paper on the modeling in the journal PRX Energy. ...

ChatGPT may match or even exceed the average grade of university students when answering assessment questions across a range of subjects including computer science, political studies, engineering, and psychology, reports a paper published in Scientific Reports. The research also found that almost three-quarters of students surveyed would use ChatGPT to help with their assignments, despite many educators considering its use to be plagiarism. To investigate how ChatGPT performed when writing university assessments compared to students, Talal Rahwan and Yasir Zaki invited faculty members who taught32 different courses at ...

Four out of five emperor penguin colonies in the Bellingshausen Sea, Antarctica, saw no chicks survive to fledge successfully in the spring of 2022, reports a study published in Communications Earth & Environment. The study suggests that this complete breeding failure is a direct consequence of the unprecedented loss of sea ice recorded in the region in recent years due to climate change. Emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) colonies generally need stable ice attached to the land between April and January to ensure successful breeding and moulting. Any change in the extent of the Antarctic sea ice can affect their ...

Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have observed a large dark spot in Neptune’s atmosphere, with an unexpected smaller bright spot adjacent to it. This is the first time a dark spot on the planet has ever been observed with a telescope on Earth. These occasional features in the blue background of Neptune’s atmosphere are a mystery to astronomers, and the new results provide further clues as to their nature and origin. Large spots are common features in the atmospheres of giant planets, the most famous being Jupiter’s Great Red Spot. On Neptune, a dark spot was first discovered by NASA’s Voyager 2 in ...

Emperor penguin colonies experienced unprecedented breeding failure in a region of Antarctica where there was total sea ice loss in 2022. The discovery supports predictions that over 90% of emperor penguin colonies will be quasi-extinct by the end of the century, based on current global warming trends. In a new study published today in Communications Earth & Environment, researchers from British Antarctic Survey discussed the high probability that no chicks had survived from four of the five known emperor penguin colonies in the central and eastern Bellingshausen Sea. The scientists examined ...

About The Study: Overestimation of oxygen saturation by pulse oximetry led to delayed delivery of COVID-19 therapy and higher probability of readmission regardless of race in this study of 24,000 patients. Black patients were more likely to have unrecognized need for therapy with potential implications for population-level health disparities.  Authors: Tianshi David Wu, M.D., M.H.S., of the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, is the corresponding author.  To access the embargoed ...

About The Study: In this study across all regions in mainland China, an estimated 1.87 million excess deaths occurred among individuals 30 years and older during the first two months after the end of China’s zero COVID policy, a proactive strategy that deploys mass testing and strict quarantine measures to stamp out any outbreak before it can spread. Authors: Hong Xiao, Ph.D., and Joseph M. Unger, Ph.D., M.S., of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, are the corresponding authors.  To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/  (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.30877) Editor’s ...

About The Study: The findings of this study suggest that artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots generally produce accurate information for the top cancer-related search queries, but the responses are not readily actionable and are written at a college reading level. These limitations suggest that AI chatbots should be used supplementarily and not as a primary source for medical information.  Authors: Abdo E. Kabarriti, M.D., of the State University of New York Downstate Health Sciences University ...

HOUSTON ― Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have uncovered a functional role for KRAS mutations in pancreatic cancer and rapidly translated these findings into a novel therapeutic approach combining a KRAS G12D inhibitor with immune checkpoint inhibitors for early- and late-stage KRAS G12D-mutant pancreatic cancer. The combination therapy led to durable tumor elimination and significantly improved survival outcomes in preclinical models, leading to the launch of a Phase I clinical trial. Two studies, published today in Developmental Cell and Cancer Cell, describe why KRAS-targeted monotherapy likely is not enough ...

Led by Director CHANG Sukbok, scientists from the Center for Catalytic Hydrocarbon Functionalizations within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) have made a significant advancement in the synthesis of β-lactam scaffolds, which are structural components frequently found in essential antibiotics such as penicillins and carbapenems. This breakthrough overcomes challenges in β-lactam synthesis to promise streamlined pathways for drug development. The core chemical structure that makes up penicillins is a four-membered cyclic amide scaffold called chiral ...

Lignocellulosic biomass is a renewable feedstock for 2nd-generation biomanufacturing. In particular, efficient co-fermentation of mixed glucose and xylose in lignocellulosic hydrolysates is a key issue in reducing product costs. However, co-utilization of xylose and glucose in microbes is challenging due to limited xylose assimilation and the glucose repression effect. Recently, a research group led by Prof. ZHOU Yongjin from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy ...

Correct and incorrect recommendations inter-mingled in one-third of the chatbot’s responses, making errors more difficult to detect For many patients, the internet serves as a powerful tool for self-education on medical topics. With ChatGPT now at patients’ fingertips, researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, assessed how consistently the artificial intelligence chatbot provides recommendations for cancer treatment that align with National Comprehensive Cancer Network ...

Researchers at the University of California San Diego have uncovered a connection between the topography of the human genome and the presence of mutations in human cancer. They found that certain regions of the genome, which exhibit unique features, act as hotspots for the accumulation of mutations. The findings, published recently in Cell Reports, shed light on how the 3D architecture of the human genome may play a role in the development of various forms of cancer. The human genome is often visualized as the iconic DNA double helix, composed of long sequences of the letters A, C, G and T. “However, the genome ...

A pioneering drug for a rare kidney disease prevents organ failure and significantly improves the outcome for patients, new research has confirmed. Atypical Haemolytic Uraemic Syndrome (aHUS) is a genetic life-threatening condition caused by a defect in the immune system which leads to kidney failure. Newcastle University, UK, carried out clinical trials into the drug, eculizumab, which eventually led to the NHS approving the treatment for use in patients from 2015. Now, a study by Newcastle experts, published in Blood, ...

Fubi is produced by cells as a fusion protein with the ribosomal protein S30, and must be separated from S30 by proteases for functioning ribosomes. In immune cells, this by-product of ribosome production is utilized as a secreted signalling molecule, for example to locally reduce the activity of the maternal immune system in the uterus and to thus enable embryos to implant. How Fubi is specifically recognized by proteases and how they distinguish it from ubiquitin was previously unknown.   First author Rachel O’Dea and Malte Gersch explain their research in detail: What is the discovery that you made and why is it exciting? Our team revealed ...

Associate Professor Tim Thomas and Professor Anne Voss from WEHI (Melbourne, Australia) have been awarded the 2023 UNSW Eureka Prize for Scientific Research. The prize recognises their groundbreaking research in developing a new class of drugs that can put cancer cells ‘to sleep’ without triggering the harmful side effects caused by conventional cancer treatments, like chemotherapy and radiation. The Australian Museum Eureka Prizes are among Australia’s most distinguished science awards, honouring excellence across the areas of research and innovation, leadership, science engagement, and school science. At a glance Associate Professor Tim Thomas and Professor ...

More than 1 billion cows around the world will experience heat stress by the end of the century if carbon emissions are high and environmental protection is low, according to new research published today in IOP Publishing’s journal Environmental Research Letters.  This would mean cattle farming would face potentially lethal heat stress in much of the world, including Central America, tropical South America, Equatorial Africa, and South and Southeast Asia. The research also found that rapidly reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as well as keeping cattle production close to current levels, would reduce these impacts by at least 50% in Asia, 63% in South America, and ...

A new study reports the discovery of hundreds of mummified bees inside their cocoons. These cocoons, produced almost three thousand years ago, were discovered in a new paleontological site discovered on the coast of Odemira, in Portugal. About 2975 years ago, Pharaoh Siamun reigned in Lower Egypt; in China the Zhou Dynasty elapsed; Solomon was to succeed David on the throne of Israel; in the territory that is now Portugal, the tribes were heading towards the end of the Bronze Age. In particular, on the southwest coast of Portugal, where is now Odemira, something strange and rare ...