PHILADELPHIA – The transfer of a neurotransmitter from one type of skin cell to another (melanocytes to keratinocytes) altered electrical activity and promoted melanoma initiation in preclinical models, according to results published in Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. Melanoma is a deadly form of skin cancer that develops in melanin-containing skin cells known as melanocytes. An intrinsic feature of melanocytes is their ability to secrete melanin-containing vesicles to surrounding skin ...

Coinciding with the International Day of Indigenous Peoples, an ICTA-UAB study calls for indigenous peoples' in-depth knowledge of climate change to be considered. Indigenous Peoples and local communities around the world have a rich and extensive general knowledge of climate change impacts and possible ways to adapt. This knowledge should be recognised by both science and climate policy. This is the main conclusion of an international study led by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) which has spent five years analysing and providing detailed data on how Indigenous Peoples and local communities ...

Philadelphia, August 9, 2023 – The first gene mapping study on human scalp hair whorls not only shows that hair whorl direction has a genetic basis, but also that it is affected by multiple genes. Four associated genetic variants that are likely to influence hair whorl direction are identified, as reported in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, published by Elsevier. A hair whorl is a patch of hair growing in a circular pattern around a point specified by hair follicle orientations. As an easily observed human trait, scalp hair whorl pattern is typically defined by the whorl number (single ...

CLEVELAND, Ohio (August 9, 2023)—Despite the fact that nearly 90 million women in the United States are projected to be postmenopausal by 2060, menopause remains low on the priority list of many residency programs. A new survey reveals the lack of a standardized menopause curriculum and limited access to menopause educational resources for residents. Results of the survey are published online today in Menopause, the journal of The Menopause Society.   Because women today are living longer, it is not surprising that there are a record number of postmenopausal women. And, that number is only expected ...

A booster vaccine using implant technology for koalas is being developed by QUT researchers in the fight against the deadly Chlamydia disease. The new technology is designed to avoid problems for wild koalas and wildlife handlers having to recapture or hold the animals for 30 days, to receive a second immunisation. Koala chlamydia is a bacterial infection and is one of the leading causes of death for Australian koalas. QUT researchers have been successfully testing a two-shot vaccine on an isolated wild koala colony ...

The universe is humming with gravitational radiation — a very low-frequency rumble that rhythmically stretches and compresses spacetime and the matter embedded in it. That is the conclusion of several groups of researchers from around the world who simultaneously published a slew of journal articles in June describing more than 15 years of observations of millisecond pulsars within our corner of the Milky Way galaxy. At least one group — the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) collaboration — has found compelling ...

University of Arizona Cancer Center researchers were awarded a $1.5 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to deliver an intensive, multidisciplinary cancer prevention and control research training program for undergraduate and graduate students. According to multiple principal investigators Jennifer Bea, PhD, and Cynthia Thomson, PhD, RD, the goal of the 10-week, full-time summer program is to motivate students to pursue a career in cancer prevention science. “I am very concerned about the number of skilled scientists and clinicians retiring,” said Dr. Bea, co-leader of the UArizona Cancer ...

The number of steps you should walk every day to start seeing benefits to your health is lower than previously thought, according to the largest analysis to investigate this.   The study, published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology [1] today (Wednesday), found that walking at least 3967 steps a day started to reduce the risk of dying from any cause, and 2337 steps a day reduced the risk of dying from diseases of the heart and blood vessels (cardiovascular disease).   However, the new analysis of 226,889 people from 17 different studies around the world has shown that the more you walk, the greater the health benefits. ...

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) — Scientific findings don’t always translate neatly into actions, especially in conservation and resource management. The disconnect can leave academics and practitioners disheartened and a bit frustrated. “We want conservation science to be informing real-world needs,” said Darcy Bradley, a senior ocean scientist at The Nature Conservancy and a former director of UC Santa Barbara’s Environmental Markets Lab. “Most managers and practitioners also want to incorporate science into their work,” ...

A $4 million award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, a division of the National Institutes of Health, will allow researchers in the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health to identify key factors for the successful implementation of workplace sleep coaching to improve sleep health in Arizona firefighters. Almost half of career firefighters report short sleep and poor sleep quality, and about 37% of firefighters screen positive for sleep disorders like sleep apnea, insomnia or ...

Concentrations of potentially harmful chemical compounds in dust collected from air filtration systems on the International Space Station (ISS) exceed those found in floor dust from many American homes, a new study reveals. In the first study of its kind, scientists analysed a sample of dust from air filters within the ISS and found levels of organic contaminants which were higher than the median values found in US and Western European homes. Publishing their results today in Environmental Science and Technology Letters, researchers from the University of Birmingham, UK, as ...

DALLAS, August 8, 2023 — As part of a focused effort to assess current cardiovascular treatment algorithms for racial bias, the American Heart Association,­ the single largest non-government supporter of heart and brain health research in the U.S., is funding three new scientific research projects at $50,000 each. Clinical algorithms are formulas, flow charts and computerized “calculators” that work behind the scenes to analyze health data and help determine a person’s risk for heart disease or guide their ...

New guidance published in Anaesthesia (the journal of the Association of Anaesthetists) provides clear advice to reduce avoidable errors on all steps of the pathway involving injectable medications used routinely in anaesthesia care. The guidance has been written by a working party of UK anaesthesia experts that include Dr Mike Kinsella, Honorary Consultant, Department of Anaesthesia, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston, Bristol, UK and Chair of the Working Party. The authors explain: “Peri-operative medication safety is complex. Avoidance of medication ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, August 8, 2023                            Contact: Michael Saunders, msaunder@bu.edu Jillian McKoy, jpmckoy@bu.edu ## As worsening climate change and increased global travel create ideal conditions for a resurgence of malaria in areas where it has long been eradicated, clinicians must be vigilant of the disease’s symptoms and act swiftly once cases are detected, health experts warn in a new commentary published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. In the last few months, Florida and Texas have reported ...

Research led by the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity (Doherty Institute) and the Kirby Institute found that inflammation in the body can slow down the development of malaria parasites in the bloodstream – a discovery that may constitute a potential new strategy for preventing or limiting severe disease. A mosquito-borne disease, malaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites, which invade and multiply within red blood cells. Previous research has shown that the parasites can rapidly sense and respond to conditions within the host by intimately syncing with their internal body clocks. While it is known that the body’s nutrient levels and daily circadian rhythms affect ...

The proverb “It takes a village to raise a child” takes on new significance when a mother of a child is experiencing depression. “Being a mother with depression carries increased risks for a child’s physical and psychological health,” says Dr. Sarah Dow-Fleisner, Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work and Director of the Centre for the Study of Services to Children and Families at UBC Okanagan. “But it’s not fated to be, especially if mothers have external supports.” Dr. Dow-Fleisner’s findings, recently published in the ...

EL PASO, Texas (Aug. 8, 2023) – Two University of Texas at El Paso researchers have earned one of the nation’s highest awards for early-career faculty in 2023. Laura Alvarez, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Resource Sciences, received a $550,000 grant from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program. The funds will support her research in understanding how river landscapes and their ecological and economic values such as hydroelectric ...

The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) has been awarded a workshop grant (Award No. 2303588) from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support the development of a series of discussions on enabling interdisciplinary and collaborative science through the integration of biological and environmental data. AIBS, in collaboration with the Biodiversity Collections Network (BCoN), will organize a set of domain-focused virtual listening sessions and a subsequent interdisciplinary workshop to engage an expansive set of stakeholders toward Building an Integrated, Open, Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (BIOFAIR) Data Network.   During the last two decades, a wealth ...

A five-year, $3.1 million grant to study preventive strategies for sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) has been awarded to UTHealth Houston by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Nuria Lacuey Lecumberri, MD, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Neurology with McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, is principal investigator of the study, which builds upon her years of research analyzing breathing during epileptic seizures and the localization of brain areas involved in breathing regulation. SUDEP is a devastating ...

Bogotá, 04 August 2023. The Sustainable Cocoa Innovation Challenge for Colombia has been launched as the result of the joint effort between CGIAR research initiatives AgriLAC Resiliente and Mitigate+ and the project “Implementing Sustainable Agricultural and Livestock Systems for Simultaneous Targeting of Forest Conservation for Climate Change Mitigation (REDD+) and Peacebuilding in Colombia,” otherwise known as the IKI-SLUS Project. The CGIAR Accelerate for Impact ...

“Together, these results suggest a critical role for the NLRP3 inflammasome in podocyte and liver aging.” BUFFALO, NY- August 8, 2023 – A new research paper was published in Aging (listed by MEDLINE/PubMed as "Aging (Albany NY)" and "Aging-US" by Web of Science) Volume 15, Issue 14, entitled, “Inhibiting NLRP3 signaling in aging podocytes improves their life- and health-span.” The decrease in the podocyte’s lifespan and health-span that typify healthy kidney aging cause a decrease in their normal structure, physiology and function. The ability to halt and even reverse these changes becomes clinically relevant ...

Structured light waves with spiral phase fronts carry orbital angular momentum (OAM), attributed to the rotational motion of photons. Recently, scientists have been using light waves with OAM, and these special "helical" light beams have become very important in various advanced technologies like communication, imaging, and quantum information processing. In these technologies, it's crucial to know the exact structure of these special light beams. However, this has proven to be quite tricky. Interferometry ...

Scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the Ministry of Environment, and the Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries of the Royal Government of Cambodia have documented the first case of lumpy skin disease (LSD) in wildlife in Cambodia. The case involved a banteng (Bos javanicus), an endangered wild cattle species, that was discovered by community patrol members from Our Future Organization while on patrol in Phnom Tnout – Phnom Pork Wildlife Sanctuary in September 2021.  It is suspected that the banteng contracted ...

Primary care provides critical support for the global health care system. But in many communities across the country and around the world, primary care physicians are in short supply. To help bridge that gap and inspire more students to choose careers in primary care, the Keck School of Medicine of USC launched its Primary Care Initiative in 2011. A key part of the initiative, the Primary Care Program (PCP), is an educational track that provides medical students with a range of patient-centered, hands-on experiences in the local community to prepare them for a career ...

Everyone has scents that naturally appeal to them, such as vanilla or coffee, and scents that don’t appeal. What makes some smells appealing and others not? Barani Raman, a professor of biomedical engineering at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, and Rishabh Chandak, who earned bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in biomedical engineering in 2016, 2021 and 2022, respectively, studied the behavior of the locusts and how the neurons in their brains responded to appealing and unappealing odors to learn more about how the brain encodes ...