Researchers at Rutgers and Emory University are gaining insights into how schizophrenia develops by studying the strongest-known genetic risk factor.   When a small portion of Chromosome 3 is missing – known as 3q29 deletion syndrome – it increases the risk for schizophrenia by about 40 fold. Researchers have now analyzed overlapping patterns of altered gene activity in two models of 3q29 deletion syndrome, including mice where the deletion has been engineered in using CRIPSR, and human brain organoids, or three-dimensional tissue cultures used to study disease. These two systems both exhibit impaired mitochondrial ...

Over recent decades, there was a large variation in cyclone-related excess deaths by hurricane, state, county, year, and social vulnerability for counties in the United States, with 83 percent of hurricane-related deaths occurring more recently and 94 percent in more socially vulnerable counties. Results of a study by researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Colorado State University, Imperial College London, University of California Irvine, and Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health are published in the journal Science ...

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has updated its recommendation for malaria-preventing mosquito nets based on new research from the University of Adelaide. Dr Timothy Barker, of the JBI Adelaide GRADE Centre, located at the University of Adelaide, led a team which proved the effectiveness of a combination of insecticides when used to treat malaria-preventing mosquito nets. Mosquito nets treated with pyrethroid insecticides have been distributed into malaria-prone regions globally since 2005, but some mosquito populations have developed a resistance to the substance. “The number of malaria cases actually ...

Giant dust storms in the Gulf of Alaska can last for many days and send tonnes of fine sediment or silt into the atmosphere, and it is having an impact on the global climate system, say scientists.  The storms are so extensive they can be seen by satellites orbiting the Earth. An image captured by the Landsat satellite in 2020 shows dust blowing out of the valley and over Alaska’s south coast. Exactly how the dust may be influencing the global climate system is not yet clear, although new research from the University of Leeds and the National Centre for Atmospheric ...

Children and adolescents of the 1959-61 Chinese famine: Survivors face increased risk of non-communicable diseases 50 years later, with those exposed in utero or under age 2 at double the risk. #### Article URL: https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0002161 Article Title: Exposure to the 1959–1961 Chinese famine and risk of non-communicable diseases in later life: A life course perspective Author Countries: Switzerland, UK Funding: Mengling Cheng acknowledges funding from the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research “LIVES - Overcoming vulnerability: ...

Languages around the world differ greatly in how many grammatical distinctions they make. This variation is observable even between closely related languages. The speakers of Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian, for example, use the same word hunden, meaning "the dog", to communicate that the dog is in the house or that someone found the dog or gave food to the dog. In Icelandic, on the other hand, three different word forms would be used in these situations, corresponding to the nominative, accusative, and dative case respectively: hundurinn, hundinn, and hundinum. This grammatical distinction in the case system, along with many others, sets Icelandic apart ...

Washington, D.C. - The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science is pleased to announce that the Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program is now accepting applications for the 2023 Solicitation 2 cycle.  Applications are due on November 8, 2023, at 5:00 pm ET. SCGSR application assistance workshops will be held on Thursday, September 14, 2023, 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM ET and Tuesday, October 10, 2023, 2:00 PM – 4:30 PM ET. The first workshop will provide a general overview of the program and the application requirements and will include a time for discussing potential research topics ...

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a division of the National Institutes of Health, awarded a $750,000 training program grant to researchers at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health to support master’s students in the Industrial Hygiene Program. Industrial hygiene is the art and science devoted to the anticipation, recognition, evaluation and control of workplace hazards. It focuses on worker protection from hazards that could include chemical, physical, biological, radiological and ergonomic agents. “Occupational injury and illness affect millions of workers and their families every year and are tremendous ...

Online Journal of Public Health Informatics (OJPHI) Editor-in-Chief: Edward K Mensah PhD, MPhil and theme editor Nsikak Akpakpan MD, PhD welcome submissions to a special theme issue examining "Precision Public Health." The inaugural issue of the Online Journal of Public Health Informatics under the JMIR Publications platform will feature articles on precision public health, a technology-enhanced, data-driven targeted approach to public health practice and research.  The current special issue invites articles in the following as well ...

Irvine, Calif., Aug. 16, 2023 — Human-caused climate change is shortening the snow cover period in the Arctic. But according to new research led by Earth system scientists at the University of California, Irvine, some parts of the Arctic are getting deeper snowpack than normal, and that deep snow is driving the thawing of long-frozen permafrost carbon reserves and leading to increased emissions of greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide and methane.   “It is the first long-term experiment where we directly measure the mobilization of ancient carbon year-round to show that deeper snow has the possibility to rather ...

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation has named 13 new Damon Runyon Fellows, exceptional postdoctoral scientists conducting basic and translational cancer research in the laboratories of leading senior investigators. This prestigious Fellowship encourages the nation’s most promising young scientists to pursue careers in cancer research by providing them with independent funding to investigate cancer causes, mechanisms, therapies, and prevention. In July 2023, the Board of Directors announced a 15% ...

Phytoplankton determine how much life the ocean is able to support and play a role in controlling atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, thereby regulating our climate. These tiny marine plants depend on sunlight as well as nutrients to thrive – including elements such as iron or nitrogen that can be brought to the ocean surface by currents and upwelling. To understand phytoplankton nutrient limitations in the ocean, scientists typically conduct experiments during research expeditions at sea. However, this approach documents only a tiny fraction of the ocean at a certain point in time. Therefore, an international team of researchers tested if a signal detected by satellites in ...

Medications to treat various chronic diseases may hinder the body’s ability to lose heat and regulate its core temperature to optimal levels. The loss of effective thermoregulation has implications for elderly people receiving treatment for illnesses like cancer, cardiovascular, Parkinson’s disease/dementia and diabetes, particularly during hot weather, according to a review by a team of scientists from various institutions in Singapore. The group, led by Associate Professor Jason Lee from the Human Potential Translational Research Programme at the Yong Loo Lin School of ...

Leaf-tailed geckos are masters of camouflage. Some species have skin flaps around the whole body and head, as well as flattened tails. During the day, they rest head-down on tree trunks with these skin flaps spread out, and blend seamlessly into their surroundings, making them nearly impossible to spot. At night, they awaken to prowl the fine branches of the understory looking for invertebrate prey. “When we first discovered this species in 2000, we already suspected it might be new to science,” says Dr Frank Glaw, curator of herpetology at the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology, lead author on the study. “But ...

HOUSTON ― The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Research Highlights showcases the latest breakthroughs in cancer care, research and prevention. These advances are made possible through seamless collaboration between MD Anderson’s world-leading clinicians and scientists, bringing discoveries from the lab to the clinic and back. Recent developments include a novel single-cell sequencing technology that allows for rapid analyses of archived and frozen cells, greater understanding of the ...

Researchers have found a way to control the interaction of light and quantum ‘spin’ in organic semiconductors, that works even at room temperature. Spin is the term for the intrinsic angular momentum of electrons, which is referred to as up or down. Using the up/down spin states of electrons instead of the 0 and 1 in conventional computer logic could transform the way in which computers process information. And sensors based on quantum principles could vastly improve our abilities to measure and study the world around us. An international team of researchers, led by the University of ...

Francis Crick Institute press release Under strict embargo: 16:00hrs BST 16 August 2023 Peer reviewed Experimental study Animals Research finds that molecules in vegetables can help to ease lung infection Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute have found that molecules in vegetables like broccoli or cauliflower help to maintain a healthy barrier in the lung and ease infection. The AHR – aryl hydrocarbon receptor – is a protein found at barrier sites like the gut and the lung. Natural molecules in cruciferous vegetables – for example, kale, cauliflower, broccoli, or cabbage – are dietary ...

In countries such as Peru, Bolivia and Chile, it’s not uncommon for people who live in foggy areas to hang up nets to catch droplets of water. The same is true of Morocco and Oman. These droplets then trickle down the mesh and are collected to provide water for drinking, cooking and washing. As much as several hundred litres of water can be harvested daily using a fog net only a few square metres in area. For regions with little rain or spring water, but where fog is a common occurrence, this can be a blessing. One crucial drawback with this method, however, ...

About The Study: Children who experienced assault had, on average, a 2 times higher risk of receiving a mental illness diagnosis and were more likely than children who had not experienced assault to present to acute care for mental illness. Early intervention to support mental health of assaulted children is warranted, particularly in the first year following assault.  Authors: Natasha Ruth Saunders, M.D., M.Sc., of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, is the corresponding author.   To ...

About The Study: In this study of 28,000 middle and high school students, the prevalence of vaping cannabidiol (CBD) was high, particularly among e-cigarette users and Hispanic and sexual minority populations. The findings suggest that evidence-based educational campaigns, interventions, and public policy changes are needed to reduce the harmful health outcomes possible with vaping CBD among developing youths.  Authors: Hongying Daisy Dai, Ph.D., of the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, 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.2023.29167) Editor’s ...

About The Study: The incidence rates in the U.S. of early-onset cancer (younger than age 50) increased from 2010 to 2019 in this study of 562,000 patients. Although breast cancer had the highest number of incident cases, gastrointestinal cancers had the fastest-growing incidence rates among all early-onset cancers. These data may be useful for the development of surveillance strategies and funding priorities.  Authors: Daniel Q. Huang, M.B.B.S., M.M.E.D., and Cheng Han Ng, M.B.B.S., of the National University of Singapore, are the corresponding authors.   To access the embargoed study: ...

In a groundbreaking study published today  in Nature, Australian scientists have resolved a long-standing problem in regenerative medicine. Led by Professor Ryan Lister from the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research and The University of Western Australia and Professor Jose M Polo from Monash University and the University of Adelaide, the team developed a new method to reprogram human cells to better mimic embryonic stem cells, with significant implications for biomedical and therapeutic uses. In a revolutionary advance in the mid-2000s, it was ...

About The Study: Paternal depression was associated with subsequent offspring depression in this systematic review and meta-analysis including 7.1 million father-child dyads from 16 observational studies. This finding shows the intergenerational transmission of mental health problems and suggests that mental health interventions benefit not only the patient but also the family as a whole, including both parents.  Authors: Berihun Dachew, Ph.D., of Curtin University in Perth, Australia, is the corresponding author.   To ...

About The Study: The findings from this case series show that pig-to-human xenotransplant provided life-sustaining kidney function in a deceased human with chronic kidney disease. Future research in living human recipients is necessary to determine long-term xenograft kidney function and whether xenografts could serve as a bridge or destination therapy for end-stage kidney disease. Authors: Jayme E. Locke, M.D., M.P.H., of the University of Alabama at Birmingham Heersink School of Medicine, 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/jamasurg.2023.2774) Editor’s ...

Blood Factor Can Turn Back Time in the Aging Brain  Platelets are behind the cognitive benefits of young blood, exercise and the longevity hormone klotho  In a remarkable convergence, scientists have discovered that the same blood factor is responsible for the cognitive enhancement that results from young blood transfusion, the longevity hormone klotho, and exercise.     In a trio of papers appearing in Nature, Nature Aging and Nature Communications on August 16, 2023, two UCSF teams and a team from the University of Queensland (Australia), identify platelet ...