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 ...

The virulence of a rice-wrecking fungus — and deployment of ninja-like proteins that help it escape detection by muffling an immune system’s alarm bells — relies on genetic decoding quirks that could prove central to stopping it, says research from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. A Nebraska team helmed by Richard Wilson hopes that identifying an essential but formerly unknown stage in the fungal takeover of rice cells can accelerate the treatment or prevention of rice blast disease, which ruins up to 30% of global yields each year. “The response I’ve gotten from people in my field is that they’re very excited, ...

Researchers at the University of Florida College of Medicine have discovered how common age-related changes in the blood system can make certain colon cancers grow faster. The study, to be published August 24 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM), also suggests how these effects might be therapeutically targeted to reduce tumor growth and improve patient survival. As we age, the hematopoietic stem cells that reside in the bone marrow and give rise to all of the body’s different blood cells gradually acquire mutations in their ...

Researchers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) have discovered how proteins work in tandem to regulate ‘treadmilling’, a mechanism used by the network of microtubules inside cells to ensure proper cell division. The findings are published today in the Journal of Cell Biology.  Microtubules are long tubes made of proteins that serve as infrastructure to connect different regions inside of a cell. Microtubules are also critical for cell division, where they are key components of the spindle, the structure which attaches itself to chromosomes and pulls them apart into each new cell.  For the spindle to function properly, cells rely on microtubules to ‘treadmill’. ...

Early detection allows for timely intervention in many diseases before they progress to a severe stage, often at a lower treatment cost. This is particularly crucial in the case of cancer, as the stage of cancer development at the time of initial diagnosis significantly influences the patient's prognosis and survival rate. Therefore, regular medical check-ups can ensure better survival and quality of life. However, the multitude of medical examination items makes the experience both loved and loathed. With various ...

Fungi-eating orchids were found for the first time to offer their flowers to fungi-eating fruit flies in exchange for pollination, which is the first evidence for nursery pollination in orchids. This unique new plant-animal relationship hints at an evolutionary transition towards mutualistic symbiosis. Orchids are well known to trick their pollinators into visiting the flowers by imitating food sources, breeding grounds or even mates without actually offering anything in return. The fungi-eating, non-photosynthetic orchid genus Gastrodia is no different: To attract fruit flies (Drosophila spp.), the plants usually emits a smell like their common diet of fermented fruits ...

Preterm babies given a supplement with a combination of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids have better visual function by the age of two and a half. This has been shown by a study at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.   The study, published in The Lancet Regional Health Europe, covers 178 extremely preterm babies at the neonatal units of the university hospitals in Gothenburg, Lund, and Stockholm between 2016 and 2019. Extremely preterm babies are those born before the 28th week of pregnancy. Around half of the children were given preventive oral nutritional supplements containing the omega-6 fatty acid AA (arachidonic acid) and the omega-3 fatty acid DHA (docosahexaenoic ...

New research by The University of Manchester will enhance the power of bioprinting technology, opening doors to transform advances in medicine and addressing critical health challenges faced by astronauts during space missions. Bioprinting involves using specialised 3D printers to print living cells creating new skin, bone, tissue or organs for transplantation. The technique has the potential to revolutionise medicine, and specifically in the realm of space travel, bioprinting could have a significant impact. Astronauts on extended space missions have ...

“The prevalence of anxiety and depression has increased. As has the use of social media. Many people therefore believe that there has to be a correlation,” says Silje Steinsbekk, a professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology's (NTNU) Department of Psychology. But that is not the case if we are to believe the results of the study “Social media behaviours and symptoms of anxiety and depression. A four-wave cohort study from age 10-16 years”. Trondheim Early Secure Study In the Trondheim Early Secure Study research project, researchers followed 800 children in Trondheim ...

Chestnut Hill, Mass (8/24/2023) – Electronic nematic order in kagome materials has thus far been entangled with charge density waves. Now it is finally observed as a stand-alone phase in a titanium-based Kagome metal, a team of researchers led by Boston College physicists reported recently in Nature Physics. Quantum materials composed of atoms arranged on a kagome net of corner-sharing triangles present an exciting platform to realize novel electronic behavior, paper co-author and Boston College Professor of Physics Ilija Zeljkovic explained. There ...

New York, NY (August 24, 2023) — Asian Americans have significantly higher exposure than other ethnic or racial groups to PFAS, a family of thousands of synthetic chemicals also known as “toxic forever” chemicals, Mount Sinai-led researchers report. People frequently encounter PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) in everyday life, and these exposures carry potentially adverse health impacts, according to the study published in Environmental Science and Technology, in the special issue “Data Science for Advancing Environmental Science, Engineering, and Technology.” The ...

PUYALLUP, Wash. – A relatively simple, inexpensive method of filtering urban stormwater runoff dramatically boosted survival of newly hatched coho salmon in an experimental study. That’s the good news for the threatened species from the Washington State University-led research. The bad news: unfiltered stormwater killed almost all of them. The findings, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, are consistent with previous research on adult and juvenile coho that found exposure to untreated roadway runoff that typically winds up ...

A new study led by Dr. Xuekun Lu from Queen Mary University of London in collaboration with an international team of researchers from the UK and USA has found a way to prevent lithium plating in electric vehicle batteries, which could lead to faster charging times. The paper was published in the journal Nature Communications.  Lithium plating is a phenomenon that can occur in lithium-ion batteries during fast charging. It occurs when lithium ions build up on the surface of the battery's negative ...

Amsterdam, Netherlands – 24 Aug 2023: Feeling safe from crime is associated with a 9% lower risk of premature death and 6% lower likelihood of a heart attack, according to a study in more than 35,000 adults presented at ESC Congress 2023.1 “There is increasing evidence that the neighbourhood we live in affects our health,” said study author Dr. Mengya Li of the National Center for Cardiovascular Diseases, Beijing, China. “This study highlights the importance of many aspects of our surroundings for heart health and longevity, including feeling safe, having shops, transport and parks close by, cleanliness, and feeling ...

Amsterdam, Netherlands – 24 Aug 2023: Using a defibrillator for a cardiac arrest victim improves 30-day survival even with ambulance response times as short as two minutes, according to research presented at ESC Congress 2023.1 The majority of sudden cardiac arrests occur in the community. A cardiac arrhythmia, called ventricular fibrillation, causes the heart to cease pumping and blood flow stops. If blood flow is not restored quickly, the individual passes out and dies within 10 to 20 minutes. Members of the public can help by calling an ambulance and performing chest compressions (called cardiopulmonary resuscitation; CPR) while asking someone else to find a defibrillator. ...

Women with ME/CFS tend to have more symptoms and co-occurring conditions than men, according to initial results from the world’s largest study of the disease. It has long been known that women are more likely to have ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome) but the DecodeME study has shown for the first time how their experience differs from men. The study reveals that women who have ME/CFS – a long-term neurological condition where an excessive increase in symptoms can be triggered by normal levels of exertion – for more than 10 years ...

Osaka, Japan – Even if you are a lone wolf, considering some group activities may not be a bad idea, especially when it comes to healthcare. Osaka Metropolitan University scientists have found that community-based adult day services help lower the risk of frailty in older adults. Frailty is a state of physical and mental decline that results from aging; it represents an intermediate status between being healthy and being severely disabled. In a rapidly aging society, preventing frailty and maintaining independence in older adults are crucial challenges. “In Japan, older individuals certified as being on a support ...

The early physical and mental development of a child sets the stage for lifelong progress and fulfillment. Spending quality time with their parents can bring out significant positive changes among children during their formative years. Across Japan, the extent of fathers' participation in childcare-related activities has historically been limited because of the entrenched gender-based division of labor. Fathers, especially those in their 20s–40s, are expected to show full commitment towards work and have been prioritizing their professional commitments over family. Consequently, a significant number ...

It’s notoriously difficult for doctors to identify a wound that is becoming infected. Clinical signs and symptoms are imprecise and methods of identifying bacteria can be time-consuming and inaccessible, so a diagnosis can be subjective and dependent on clinician experience. But infection can stall healing or spread into the body if it isn’t treated quickly, putting a patient’s health in grave danger. An international team of scientists and clinicians thinks they have the solution: a device run from a smartphone or tablet app which allows advanced ...

Urbana, Illinois — The Speech Accessibility Project is almost halfway through its first phase of gathering voice recordings from people with Parkinson’s. The project still needs more participants, especially those with related neurological conditions like MSA, PSP, CBD, and those who are post-DBS. They must be U.S. residents older than age 18. They can sign up via the Speech Accessibility App. Led by UIUC with support from Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, and Microsoft, the Speech Accessibility Project aims to make voice recognition technology ...

Many diseases affecting the brain and nervous system are linked to the formation of protein aggregates, or solid condensates, in cells from their liquid form condensate, but little is known about this process. This liquid-to-solid transition can trigger the formation of what are called amyloid fibrils. These can further form plaques in neurons causing neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. Biomedical engineers at the University of Sydney, in collaboration with scientists at the University of Cambridge ...