Researchers at Kobe University discovered an entirely new and unexpected mechanism by which the immune system can get rid of cells lacking molecules that identify them as part of the self in mice. The finding, published in PNAS, has possible implications for cancer treatment. The immune system comprises many types of cells that work together to fight off diseases. Two important types are dendritic cells and T cells. Dendritic cells are located in strategic positions throughout the body including the gut and skin, as well as in the lymph nodes, sample their environment and present small components derived from these samples on their ...

Social learning is typically thought to be most beneficial when the environments in which individuals live change quite slowly – they can safely learn tried and tested information from one another and it does not go out of date quickly. Innovating brand-new information, on the other hand, is thought to be useful in dynamic and rapidly changing environments. Researchers Madeleine Ammar, Laurel Fogarty and Anne Kandler at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology developed an agent-based simulation model of the evolution ...

Researchers at Uppsala university have developed a new method to find mutations in brain tumors in children. They could also show that the mutations identified by them changes how cancer cells respond to a cancer drug. These findings could lead to better diagnostics and more individualized treatment of children with brain tumors. The study is published in the journal PNAS.   Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor in children. It usually develops in the cerebellum and even if modern treatment has improved the prognosis so that over 70% live more than five years, not all patients ...

Outbreaks of polycystic echicnococcosis, a life-threatening zoonotic disease, are driven by regional climate changes, according to a study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), an institution supported by “la Caixa” Foundation. The findings, published in PNAS, provide evidence of the impact of climate on neglected tropical diseases in the Amazon region, with implications for other zoonoses. Polycystic echinococcosis (PE) is a neglected life-threatening zoonosis caused by an intestinal worm (Echinococcus vogeli) ...

Groundbreaking new research has uncovered a potential route to developing the first ever drug treatments for vascular dementia, that directly target a cause of the condition. The research, funded by the British Heart Foundation and published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, [1] has shed light on how high blood pressure causes changes to arteries in the brain, a process that leads to the devastating condition.   High blood pressure is a main cause of vascular dementia, a condition characterised by poor blood flow to the brain. The reduced blood supply starves brain cells of nutrients and over time they become damaged ...

Engineers have developed nanoscale tattoos—dots and wires that adhere to live cells—in a breakthrough that puts researchers one step closer to tracking the health of individual cells. The new technology allows for the first time the placement of optical elements or electronics on live cells with tattoo-like arrays that stick on cells while  flexing and conforming to the cells’wet and fluid outer structure. “If you imagine where this is all going in the future, we would like to have sensors to remotely monitor and ...

ATLANTA — Catherine Perkins, a clinical professor in the College of Education & Human Development at Georgia State University, has been awarded a five-year, $3.6 million grant by the U.S. Department of Education to expand quality school-based mental health (SBMH) services for underserved populations in high-need schools. The Expanding Quality SBMH Services for Underserved Populations with Inclusive Practices (GSU-EQUIP) grant will have a direct impact in metro Atlanta by increasing access to school-based programs and strengthening the candidate pool of mental ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – There is more to a harmful algal bloom than the green stuff in water that meets the eye – specifically, a changing hazard level of toxins produced by the microbes that make up the scummy mess. A new study analyzing toxins produced by Microcystis, the main type of cyanobacteria that compose the annual harmful algal bloom (HAB) in Lake Erie, suggests that the toxicity of the bloom may be overestimated in earlier warm months and underestimated later in the summer. The research is part of a large project, led by The Ohio State University, designed to develop a more accurate harmful algal bloom toxicity forecast ...

WASHINGTON (August 7, 2023) – The domestication of canines and their co-evolution with humans has fostered an incredibly unique relationship with these animals. Over time, our four-legged friends have adapted well to understanding human modes of communication, both verbal and nonverbal. However, researchers at the George Washington University say humans could do more to better understand our furry companions, and a dogs’ facial markings may be one key to meeting them halfway. In a new paper published in the journal Animals, ...

Chestnut Hill, Mass. (8/7/2023) - The Pacific Ocean’s western boundary current, which forms a critical regulator of sea surface temperature and weather patterns, has significantly strengthened as the planet warms, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Geoscience. The study provides the first evidence that the western boundary current in the South Pacific has significantly strengthened during the 20th century in response to global warming, contributing to an intensified equatorial undercurrent, according to Boston College Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences Xingchen (Tony) Wang, a co-author ...

Academic performance has long been linked to how supported students feel at school. Now, a Rutgers study suggests this sentiment is also essential to preventing suicides.   A Rutgers researcher found that having a strong sense of school belonging – the subjective feeling of being accepted, valued, included and encouraged in the school community – could mitigate suicidal tendencies among Black adolescents.   “Having a supportive teacher or other nonparent adult can change a child’s life because they will want to go to school,” said Adrian Gale, an assistant professor at the Rutgers School of Social Work and co-author of the study ...

LA JOLLA, CA—An antibody in single-chain fragment variable (scFv) format that binds to the powerful opioid carfentanil was shown to reverse signs of carfentanil overdose in preclinical tests conducted by scientists at Scripps Research. Carfentanil is a variant of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, and about 100 times as potent as its chemical cousin. Along with fentanyl and other fentanyl variants, it is commonly mixed with illegal drugs such as heroin and cocaine to enhance their euphoric effects, resulting in many fatal overdoses. In the study, published in ACS ...

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced the renewal of the Midwest Integrated Center for Computational Materials (MICCoM) for another three years at $3 million per year. Founded in 2015, the Center is headquartered at DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory. Partnering universities include the University of Chicago, University of Notre Dame and University of California, Davis. “The MICCoM team has been at the forefront of developing simulation methods and codes and solving cutting-edge materials science problems,” said Center director Giulia Galli. She is also a senior scientist in Argonne’s Materials Science division and professor in the ...

Key Takeaways A new method derived from standard blood pressure assessments can improve monitoring of critically ill patients with circulatory shock The method accurately predicts risk of death, length of hospital stay, and blood lactate levels (an indicator of tissue perfusion and oxygenation). BOSTON – Critically ill patients with circulatory shock—when the heart cannot pump enough blood and oxygen to the rest of the body, often as a result of heart failure, sepsis, or hemorrhage—require close monitoring and treatment, especially to maintain adequate blood pressure to prevent injury to important organs. ...

Researchers have successfully grown bacterial cells in potential sand-based construction materials, as detailed in a paper published by Research Directions: Biotechnology Design, a new journal from Cambridge University Press. This achievement marks a substantial contribution to the field of biodesign, which seeks to incorporate living organisms into building materials as a means of making architecture more sustainable. It is effectively a fusion of biological and architectural expertise, with the shared goal of building better. Cyanobacteria could enable the solidification of inorganic materials such as CO2, ...

WASHINGTON  –  The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) will launch ComPair aboard a high-altitude balloon from Fort. Sumner, New Mexico Aug. 10.   The ComPair mission instrument measures and detects gamma-ray emissions from astrophysical objects. The NRL instrument is one of the four subsystem instruments led by NASA GSFC. The mission name – ComPair – is inspired by the mechanisms by which gamma rays interact with matter.   “They do so via three dominant processes – photoelectric effect, ...

Losing long-lasting flockmates may drive a golden-crowned sparrow to stray from its favorite overwintering spot, a new study says, suggesting that friendly, familiar faces help anchor it to familiar spaces. Led by ecologists at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the study found that a golden-crowned sparrow returning to California after a winter migration — one that can stretch as many as 3,000 miles — resettled an average of just 90 feet away from the center of its previous year’s range. But golden-crowned sparrows appearing for at least their third consecutive winter began ...

Amarda Shehu, Associate Vice President of Research, Institute for Digital Innovation (IDIA); Associate Dean for AI Innovation (CEC); Professor, Computer Science, received funding for the project: "Collaborative Research: IIBR: Innovation: Bioinformatics: Linking Chemical and Biological Space: Deep Learning and Experimentation for Property-Controlled Molecule Generation."  This project advances property-controlled molecule generation. A key insight propelling property-controlled molecule generation is that machine learning models need to be situated in biological data and knowledge.   The research activities for this project ...

Mary L. Cummings, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical & Computer, Computer Science, received funding for the project: "Synthesizing temporal logic and human performance models for deception mitigation." Deception is a key element in attacks on military and civilian cyber-physical systems. With increasing use of automation and autonomy in such systems, such vulnerabilities to deception are growing, with catastrophic outcomes, as evidenced by recent major breaches in cybersecurity across the U.S. Department of Defense.  There is a pressing need to understand long-term adversarial strategies where one hostile action is largely harmless ...

Antonios Anastasopoulos, Assistant Professor, Computer Science, received funding from the National Science Foundation for: "CCRI: Planning-C: Facilitating Language Technologies for Crisis Response."    This CISE Computing Research Infrastructure (CCRI) planning grant will lay out a concrete path for using language technologies for crisis/disaster response that will be useful for everyone. This requires developing crucial infrastructure to support research toward technological solutions that enable and support communications ...

·  Cardiovascular health and social determinants of health explain racial differences  ·  Premature babies have more cardiovascular disease as adults ·  Being born early is linked to neurodevelopment deficits   CHICAGO --- Non-Hispanic Black individuals have a significantly higher rate of pre-term births than non-Hispanic white individuals, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study.  In 2019, nearly 12% of non-Hispanic Black individuals experienced preterm births compared with 7% of non-Hispanic white individuals. “This is important because this ...

About The Study: Despite guidelines recommending medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD), approximately 1 in 5 adults with past-year opioid use disorder received any MOUD, according to data from a 2021 nationally representative  survey. Furthermore, some groups were substantially less likely to receive MOUD, in particular Black adults, women, those unemployed, and those in nonmetropolitan areas. Addressing disparities in MOUD uptake should be prioritized in program, policy, and clinical initiatives.  Authors: Christopher ...

About The Study: The results of this study of 18.4 million patients in the U.S. with overweight and obesity indicate that the annual probability of 5% or greater weight loss was low (1 in 10) despite the known benefits of clinically meaningful weight loss, but 5% or greater weight loss was more likely than body mass index (BMI) reduction to the healthy weight category, especially for patients with the highest initial BMIs.   Authors: Lyudmyla Kompaniyets, Ph.D., of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, is the corresponding author.  To ...

About The Study: Using a regular blood pressure (BP) cuff size for all individuals regardless of arm size resulted in strikingly inaccurate BP readings with an automated device in this randomized crossover trial including 195 adults. This is particularly concerning for settings where one regular BP cuff size is routinely used in all individuals, regardless of arm size. A renewed emphasis on individualized BP cuff selection is warranted.  Authors: Tammy M. Brady, M.D., Ph.D., of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, 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/jamainternmed.2023.3264) Editor’s ...

About The Study: This study of 500,000 participants demonstrated that balanced levels of moderate aerobic physical activity, vigorous aerobic physical activity, and muscle strengthening activity combined may be associated with optimal reductions of mortality risk. Higher-than-recommended levels of moderate aerobic physical activity and vigorous aerobic physical activity may further lower the risk of cancer and all-cause mortality, respectively.  Authors: Rubén López-Bueno, Ph.D., of the University of Zaragoza in Zaragoza, Spain, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at ...