The degree of acidity or alkalinity of a substance is crucial for its chemical behavior. The decisive factor is the so-called proton affinity, which indicates how easily an entity accepts or releases a single proton. While it is easy to measure this for molecules, it has not been possible for surfaces. This is important because atoms on surfaces have very different proton affinities, depending on where they sit. Researchers at TU Wien have now succeeded in making this important physical quantity experimentally accessible for the first time: Using a specially modified atomic force microscope, it is possible to study the proton affinity of individual atoms. This should help to analyze catalysts on an atomic scale. The results have been published in the scientific journal Nature. Precision ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Tiny molecules called nanobodies, which can be designed to mimic antibody structures and functions, may be the key to blocking a tick-borne bacterial infection that remains out of reach of almost all antibiotics, new research suggests. The infection is called human monocytic ehrlichiosis, and is one of the most prevalent and potentially life-threatening tick-borne diseases in the United States. The disease initially causes flu-like symptoms common to many illnesses, and in rare cases can be fatal if left untreated. Most antibiotics can't build up ...

ATLANTA--Processed diets, which are low in fiber, may initially reduce the incidence of foodborne infectious diseases such as E. coli infections, but might also increase the incidence of diseases characterized by low-grade chronic infection and inflammation such as diabetes, according to researchers in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State University. This study used mice to investigate how changing from a grain-based diet to a highly processed, high-fat Western style diet impacts infection with the pathogen Citrobacter rodentium, which resembles Escherichia coli (E. coli) infections in humans. The findings are published in the journal PLOS Pathogens. Gut microbiota, the microorganisms living in the intestine, provide a number of benefits, ...

The scientific community is focusing its research into the multiple applications of Hydrogels, polymeric materials which contains a large amount of water, that have the potential to reproduce the features of biological tissues. This aspect is particularly significant in the field of regenerative medicine, which since a long time has already recognised and been using the characteristics of these materials. In order to be used effectively to replace organic tissues, hydrogels must meet two essential requirements: possessing great geometric complexity and, after suffering of a damage, being ...

Researchers at the University of Bath investigating how virtual reality (VR) can help improve balance believe this technology could be a valuable tool in the prevention of falls. As people grow older, losing balance and falling becomes more common, which increases the risk of injury and affects the person's independence. Falls are the leading cause of non-fatal injuries in over 65-yearolds and account for over 4 million bed days per year in England alone, at an estimated cost of £2 billion. Humans use three ways of keeping their balance: vision, proprioceptive (physical feedback from muscles and joints) and vestibular system (feedback from semi-circular canals in the ear). Of these, vision is the most important. Traditional ways of assessing balance ...

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. -- New Army-funded synthetic biology research manipulated micro-compartments in cells, potentially enabling bio-manufacturing advances for medicine, protective equipment and engineering applications. Bad bacteria can survive in extremely hostile environments -- including inside the highly acidic human stomach--thanks to their ability to sequester toxins into tiny compartments. In a new study, published in ACS Central Science, Northwestern University researchers controlled protein assembly and built these micro-compartments into different shapes ...

Boston - This year, more than 60,000 adults in the United States will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and, statistically, as few as 10 percent will survive five years after diagnosis, according to the American Cancer Society. Because pancreatic cancer is hidden deep within the body and often symptomless, it's frequently diagnosed after the disease has progressed too far for surgical intervention and/or has spread throughout the body. Research indicates that earlier detection of pancreatic tumors could quadruple survival rates; however, no validated and reliable tests for early detection of pancreatic cancer currently exist. Now, researchers at the Cancer Research Institute at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have successfully created ...

Every day, the sun ejects large amounts of a hot particle soup known as plasma toward Earth where it can disrupt telecommunications satellites and damage electrical grids. Now, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and Princeton University's Department of Astrophysical Sciences have made a discovery that could lead to better predictions of this space weather and help safeguard sensitive infrastructure. The discovery comes from a new computer model that predicts the behavior of the plasma in the region above the surface of the sun known as the solar corona. The model was originally inspired by a similar model that describes the behavior of the plasma that fuels fusion reactions in doughnut-shaped fusion facilities known ...

Although plants may look fairly inactive to casual observers, research into plant biology has shown that plants can send each other signals concerning threats in their local environments. These signals take the form of airborne chemicals, called volatile organic compounds (VOCs), released from one plant and detected by another, and plant biologists have found that a diverse class of chemicals called terpenoids play a major role as airborne danger signals. Past studies have shown that soybean and lima bean plants both release terpenoid signals that activate defense-related genes in neighboring plants of the same species, and this chemically induced gene activation can help the plants protect themselves from ...

It's well established that infectious disease is the greatest threat to the endangered chimpanzees made famous by the field studies of Jane Goodall at Gombe National Park in Tanzania. Now, new research led by scientists at Emory University shows that nearly half of the fecal samples from wild chimpanzees contain bacteria that is resistant to a major class of antibiotics commonly used by people in the vicinity of the park. The journal Pathogens published the findings. "Our results suggest that antibiotic-resistant bacteria is actually spreading from people to non-human primates by making its way into the local watershed," says Thomas Gillespie, senior author ...

Rhinelander, Wis., April 28, 2021-- A research team from the USDA Forest Service and the University of Missouri has developed a new contaminant prioritization tool that has the potential to increase the effectiveness of environmental approaches to landfill clean-up. Phytoremediation - an environmental approach in which trees and other plants are used to control leachate and treat polluted water and soil - hinges on matching the capability of different tree species with the types of contaminants present in soil and water. Identifying the worst contaminants ...

LAWRENCE -- College students across the country struggle with a vicious cycle: Test anxiety triggers poor sleep, which in turn reduces performance on the tests that caused the anxiety in the first place. New research from the University of Kansas just published in the International Journal of Behavioral Medicine is shedding light on this biopsychosocial process that can lead to poor grades, withdrawal from classes and even students who drop out. Indeed, about 40% of freshman don't return to their universities for a second year in the United States. "We were interested in finding out what predicted students' performance in statistics classes ...

MINNEAPOLIS/ST.PAUL (04/28/2021) -- In a recent discovery by University of Minnesota Medical School, researchers uncovered a new way to potentially target and treat late-stage colorectal cancer - a disease that kills more than 50,000 people each year in the United States. The team identified a novel mechanism by which colorectal cancer cells evade an anti-tumor immune response, which helped them develop an exosome-based therapeutic strategy to potentially treat the disease. "Late-stage colorectal cancer patients face enormous challenges with current treatment options. Most of the time, the patient's immune system cannot efficiently fight against tumors, even with the ...

Seasonally occurring fields of aufeis (icing) constitute an important resource for the water supply of the local population in the Upper Indus Basin. However, little research has been done on them so far. Geographers at the South Asia Institute of Heidelberg University have now examined the spreading of aufeis and, for the first time, created a full inventory of these aufeis fields. The more than 3,700 accumulations of laminated ice are important for these high mountain areas between South and Central Asia, particularly with respect to hydrology and climatology. In the semi-arid Himalaya regions of India and Pakistan, meltwater from snow and glaciers plays an essential role for irrigation in local agriculture and hydropower generation. In ...

LOS ALAMOS, N.M., April 28, 2021--Analysis of data from a lightning mapper and a small, hand-held radiation detector has unexpectedly shed light on what a gamma-ray burst from lightning might look like - by observing neutrons generated from soil by very large cosmic-ray showers. The work took place at the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Cosmic Ray Observatory in Mexico. "This was an accidental discovery," said Greg Bowers, a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory and lead author of the study published in Geophysical Research Letters. "We set up this system to study terrestrial gamma-ray flashes - or gamma-ray bursts from lightning - that are ...

New research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine has shed light on the No. 1 cause of epilepsy deaths, suggesting a long-sought answer for why some patients die unexpectedly following an epileptic seizure. The researchers found that a certain type of seizure is associated with sudden death in a mouse model of epilepsy and that death occurred only when the seizure induced failure of the respiratory system. The new understanding will help scientists in their efforts to develop ways to prevent sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP). Based on their research, the UVA team has already identified potential approaches to stimulate breathing in the ...

Children and young adults with compromised immune systems, such as those undergoing cancer treatment, may experience a prolonged period of infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and the extended duration of infection may increase the incidence of mutations. This case study was conducted by investigators at Children's Hospital Los Angeles and is published in the journal EBioMedicine. Most people are infectious for about 10 days after first showing COVID-19 symptoms. In this study, researchers describe two children and a young adult with acute lymphoblastic leukemia who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 for months. ...

UPTON, NY--Scientists characterized how the electronic states in a compound containing iron, tellurium, and selenium depend on local chemical concentrations. They discovered that superconductivity (conducting electricity without resistance), along with distinct magnetic correlations, appears when the local concentration of iron is sufficiently low; a coexisting electronic state existing only at the surface (topological surface state) arises when the concentration of tellurium is sufficiently high. Reported in Nature Materials, their findings point to the composition range necessary for topological superconductivity. Topological superconductivity could enable more ...

APRIL 28, 2021, NEW YORK - A Ludwig Cancer Research study has identified a previously unrecognized mechanism by which cancer cells of a relatively benign subtype of pancreatic tumors methodically revert--or "de-differentiate"--to a progenitor, or immature, state of cellular development to spawn highly aggressive tumors that are capable of metastasis to the liver and lymph nodes. The study, led by Ludwig Lausanne's Douglas Hanahan and published in Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, also shows that engagement of the mechanism is associated with poorer outcomes in patients diagnosed with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PanNETs). Further, its findings provide concrete evidence that such cellular de-differentiation, widely observed ...

April 28, 2021 - Injectable dermal fillers provide a minimally invasive approach to reduce facial lines and wrinkles while restoring volume and fullness in the face. More than 2.7 million dermal filler procedures were performed in 2019, according to the most recent statistics from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). Even as the popularity of dermal fillers continues to skyrocket, plastic surgeons are still working out how to maximize their benefits for patients seeking nonsurgical facial rejuvenation. Most studies have used subjective rating systems, with little objective evidence on the outcomes achieved. One recent study suggested that in addition to their "volumizing" effects, dermal fillers may also have variable "lifting" effects. Sebastian Cotofana, ...

Philadelphia, April 28, 2021 - Researchers from the Center for Autism Research (CAR) at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) found that difficulties in diagnosing toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) might be due to the dynamic nature of the disorder during child development. Children with clinical characteristics that put them on the diagnostic border of autism have an increased susceptibility to gaining or losing that diagnosis at later ages. The findings were published online by The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. While most children diagnosed with ASD at early ages retain their diagnosis, a significant number of children have more dynamic presentations of clinical ...

Testicular cancer is the most common type of cancer to affect men between the ages of 15 and 49, and around 95% of these cases are caused by testicular germ cell tumours. Although testicular germ cell tumours typically manifest after puberty, problems in the embryonic development of germ cells can transform them into cancer cells that form tumours later in life. In the embryo, germ cells initially have the potential to form many different cell types, a characteristic called pluripotency. Normally, germ cells lose this ability as embryonic development progresses and they become restricted to only form sex cells - sperm in males and eggs ...

LOS ANGELES - Patients with advanced colorectal cancer may be spared from a toxic side effect caused by a type of targeted therapy used to treat the cancer with the help of another drug normally used to treat melanoma, according to a study led by researchers at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. For the past decade, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors have helped prolong the lives of patients with many advanced cancers, including cancers in the lung, head and neck, colorectal, breast, bladder and pancreas. While these targeted therapy drugs are highly effective at keeping the cancer at bay, they can cause patients to develop ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. - An automated system that uses artificial intelligence (AI) is effective at detecting a common type of wrist fracture on X-rays, according to a study published in the journal Radiology: Artificial Intelligence. Researchers said the AI-derived algorithm could help speed diagnosis and allow earlier treatment. Scaphoid fractures are injuries to one of the small bones of the wrist that typically occur when people try to break a fall with their hands. They comprise up to 7% of all skeletal fractures. Prompt diagnosis is important, as the fracture may fail to heal properly if untreated, leading to a host of problems like arthritis and even loss of function. Conventional X-ray is the imaging technique of choice for diagnosing scaphoid ...

Studying the violent collisions of black holes and neutron stars may soon provide a new measurement of the Universe's expansion rate, helping to resolve a long-standing dispute, suggests a new simulation study led by researchers at UCL (University College London). Our two current best ways of estimating the Universe's rate of expansion - measuring the brightness and speed of pulsating and exploding stars, and looking at fluctuations in radiation from the early Universe - give very different answers, suggesting our theory of the Universe may be wrong. A third type of measurement, looking at the explosions of light and ripples in the fabric of space caused ...