DALLAS - April 21, 2021 - Food banks should be used more consistently rather than only during emergencies to better address food insecurity and related health issues, a joint study by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center and economists at the University of Dallas shows. "The main discovery in our research is that encouraging clients and making it easier for clients to receive food frequently improves their food security, health, and well-being," says Sandi Pruitt, Ph.D., associate professor of population and data sciences at UT Southwestern, and senior author of the ...

Perhaps no other ocean creature lives in the human imagination like the great white shark. But while great white sharks might be plentiful in the minds of beachgoers across the country, there are only a handful of places in the world where white sharks can be consistently found. In those areas -- such as Central California, Guadalupe Island Mexico, South Australia and South Africa -- they tend to be found aggregated in small hotspots, often located around seal colonies. Researchers have estimated that white shark populations are incredibly small, with only hundreds of large adults and a few thousand white sharks total in any of their global ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- A new approach to gene editing using the CRISPR/Cas9 system bypasses disease-causing mutations in a gene, enabling treatment of genetic diseases linked to a single gene, such as cystic fibrosis, certain types of sickle cell anemia, and other rare diseases. The method, developed and tested in mice and human tissue cultures by researchers at Penn State, involves inserting a new, fully functional copy of the gene that displaces the mutated gene. A proof-of-concept for the approach is described in a paper appearing online April 20 in the journal Molecular Therapy. The CRISPR/Cas9 system has allowed promising new gene therapies ...

The number of solar panels within shortest distance from a house is the most important factor in determining the likelihood of that house having a solar panel, when compared with a host of socio-economic and demographic variables. This is shown in a new study by scientists using satellite and census data of the city of Fresno in the US, and employing machine learning. Although it is known that peer effects are relevant for sustainable energy choices, very high-resolution data combined with artificial intelligence techniques were necessary to single out the paramount importance of proximity. The finding is relevant for policies that aim at a broad deployment of solar panels in order to replace unsustainable ...

The lifestyle and eating habits of human groups that have lived for thousands of years can be examined by tooth. An international research group analyzed the prehistoric findings of the Neolithic Age. In addition to providing knowledge about the lifestyles of people who lived in prehistoric times, a novel study of tooth remains paved the way for other methods previously not used. This study applies the complementary approaches of stable isotope and dental microwear analyses to study the diets of past people living in today's Hungary. Their joint results were published in the scientific journal Scientific Reports. The Great Hungarian Plain is considered one of the most interesting areas for archeology because ...

Coronavirus researchers led by Professor Rolf Hilgenfeld of the University of Luebeck and PD Dr. Albrecht von Brunn of the Ludwig-Maximilian Universitaet (LMU) in Munich have discovered how SARS viruses enhance the production of viral proteins in infected cells, so that many new copies of the virus can be generated. Notably, coronaviruses other than SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 do not use this mechanism, which may therefore provide a possible explanation for the much higher pathogenicity of the SARS viruses. The findings appear in the EMBO Journal. Coronaviruses that cause harmless colds in humans were discovered more than 50 years ago. When it emerged in 2002/2003, the SARS coronavirus was the first coronavirus found to cause severe pneumonia ...

For more sustainability on a global level, EU legislation should be changed to allow the use of gene editing in organic farming. This is what an international research team involving the Universities of Bayreuth and Göttingen demands in a paper published in the journal "Trends in Plant Science". In May 2020, the EU Commission presented its "Farm-to-Fork" strategy, which is part of the "European Green Deal". The aim is to make European agriculture and its food system more sustainable. In particular, the proportion of organic farming in the EU's total agricultural land is to be increased to 25 percent by 2030. However, if current EU legislation remains in place, this increase will by no means guarantee more sustainability, as the current study by scientists from Bayreuth, Göttingen, ...

Meaningful legislation addressing health care inequities in the U.S. will require studies examining potential health disparities due to geographic location or economic status. An interdisciplinary team at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and the University of South Carolina (UofSC) report in the Journal of Public Health Dentistry that rural children are less likely to receive preventive dental care than urban children. Using samples from 20,842 respondents from a 2017 National Survey of Children's Health, the team determined the existence of an urban-rural disparity in U.S. children's oral health. ...

After pouring beer into a glass, streams of little bubbles appear and start to rise, forming a foamy head. As the bubbles burst, the released carbon dioxide gas imparts the beverage's desirable tang. But just how many bubbles are in that drink? By examining various factors, researchers reporting in ACS Omega estimate between 200,000 and nearly 2 million of these tiny spheres can form in a gently poured lager. Worldwide, beer is one of the most popular alcoholic beverages. Lightly flavored lagers, which are especially well-liked, are produced through a cool fermentation process, converting the sugars in malted grains to alcohol and carbon dioxide. During commercial packaging, more carbonation can be added to get a desired level of fizziness. That's ...

(Boston)--A major obstacle in understanding and treating posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is its clinical and neurobiological heterogeneity. In order to better treat the condition and address this barrier, the field has become increasingly interested in identifying subtypes of PTSD based on dysfunction in neural networks alongside cognitive impairments that may underlie the development and maintenance of symptoms. VA and BU researchers have now found a marker of PTSD in brain regions associated with emotional regulation. "This marker was strongest in those with clinically impaired executive function or the ability to engage in complex ...

Careful criminals usually clean a scene, wiping away visible blood and fingerprints. However, prints made with trace amounts of blood, invisible to the naked eye, could remain. Dyes can detect these hidden prints, but the dyes don't work well on certain surfaces. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces have developed a fluorescent polymer that binds to blood in a fingerprint -- without damaging any DNA also on the surface -- to create high-contrast images. Fingerprints are critical pieces of forensic evidence because their whorls, loops and arches are unique to each person, and these patterns don't change as people age. When violent crimes are committed, a culprit's fingerprints inked in ...

Water touches virtually every aspect of human society, and all life on earth requires it. Yet, fresh, clean water is becoming increasingly scarce -- one in eight people on the planet lack access to clean water. Drivers of freshwater salt pollution such as de-icers on roads and parking lots, water softeners, and wastewater and industrial discharges further threaten freshwater ecosystem health and human water security. "Inland freshwater salt pollution is rising nationwide and worldwide, and we investigated the potential conflict between managing freshwater salt ...

Screening for a sometimes fatal condition among patients with a rare autoimmune disease could soon - thanks to a computer algorithm - become even more accurate. Researchers at Michigan Medicine found that an internet application improved their ability to spot pulmonary arterial hypertension in patients with systemic sclerosis, or scleroderma. The unpredictable condition is marked by tightening of the skin that can damage internal organs. The algorithm, aptly named DETECT, outperformed standard methods used to identify the form of high blood pressure in the lungs that causes the heart to weaken and fail. "We've been advocating for a long time that every scleroderma patient should be screened on an annual basis using DETECT, and ...

BETHESDA, Md. -- The COVID-19 pandemic heavily influenced spending on prescription drugs in the U.S. in 2020, according to the ASHP's (American Society of Health-System Pharmacists) National Trends in Prescription Drug Expenditures and Projections for 2021. Shifts in care related to the pandemic will continue to be a significant driver of drug expenditures in 2021, along with uptake in the use of biosimilars, a large pipeline of new cancer drugs, and increased approvals of specialty medications. Prescription drug spending in 2020 grew at a moderate rate of 4.9% to $535.3 billion. Increased utilization drove the ...

Published in the Advanced Functional Materials, University of Minnesota researcher Hongbo Pang led a cross-institutional study on improving the efficacy of nucleotide-based drugs against prostate cancer and bone metastasis. In this study, Pang and his research team looked at whether liposomes, when integrated with the iRGD peptide, will help concentrate antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) into primary prostate tumors and its bone metastases. Liposomes are used as a drug carrier system, and ASOs are a type of nucleotide drug. More importantly, they investigated whether this system ...

DUARTE, Calif. -- Scientists at City of Hope, a world-renowned independent research and treatment center for cancer and diabetes, have developed a novel, noninvasive liquid biopsy test for detecting lymph node metastasis in individuals with high-risk T1 colorectal carcinoma. Research on the development of the blood test was reported in a END ...

A new study is the first-ever to identify the genes for creativity in Homo sapiens that distinguish modern humans from chimpanzees and Neanderthals. The research identified 267 genes that are found only in modern humans and likely play an important role in the evolution of the behavioral characteristics that set apart Homo sapiens, including creativity, self-awareness, cooperativeness, and healthy longevity. The study, led by an international and interdisciplinary team of researchers from the American Museum of Natural History and Washington University among other institutions, is published today in the journal Molecular Psychiatry. "One of the most fundamental questions about ...

It has been a long pursuit to develop super-resolution imaging techniques for Raman microscopy, which has intrinsic advantages of chemical specificity over the fluorescence counterpart. Despite the perceived importance and extensive research efforts, true super-resolution (defined as diffraction-unlimited) Raman imaging of biological systems in the optical far-field remains challenging due to the deficiency in sensitivity for conventional Raman scattering. Consequently, those reported super-resolution vibrational imaging methods have to base on excitation saturating, ...

The Endangered dryas monkey (Cercopithecus dryas), endemic to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is one of Africa's most mysterious primates. The discovery of the dryas monkey killed by a hunter in the buffer zone of Lomami National Park in 2014 has prompted field research of this small species (5-7 pounds). However, they are difficult to detect because they live in dense vegetation in secondary forest thickets. Using non-invasive research and no-flash camera traps from 2014 to 2019, scientists from Florida Atlantic University in collaboration with researchers from the FZS-Lomami Project, Democratic Republic of the Congo, now have picture-perfect details on this elusive species. They have confirmed ...

Astronomers have discovered a pulsar--a dense and rapidly spinning neutron star sending radio waves into the cosmos--using a low-frequency radio telescope in outback Australia. The pulsar was detected with the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) telescope, in Western Australia's remote Mid West region. It's the first time scientists have discovered a pulsar with the MWA but they believe it will be the first of many. The finding is a sign of things to come from the multi-billion-dollar Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope. The MWA is a precursor telescope for the SKA. Nick Swainston, a PhD student at the Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), made the discovery while processing data collected as part ...

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the most common form of heart disease and is present in about END ...

Protons are the next big thing when it comes to fuel cell technology. The subatomic exchange produces power on a scale that challenges contemporary solid-state fuel cell technology, used to help power space shuttles. To realize the proton-based technology sooner, an international team of researchers have developed a hybrid material that effectively transports protons at high temperatures and humidity -- two major challenges in past attempts. The results were published on April 19 in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, a journal of the American Chemical Society. The team, led by ...

A new Portland State study challenges the idea that youth with cognitive disabilities are unable or lack potential to pursue a career in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. In a study using national data on more than 15,000 adolescents, the researchers found that undergraduates with medicated ADHD or autism appear to be more likely to major in STEM than youth without cognitive disabilities, and youth with autism have the most positive STEM attitudes. Dara Shifrer, the lead author and an associate professor of sociology at PSU, says that increasing access to STEM fields for youth with disabilities depends not only on encouraging them to pursue STEM majors but also to enroll in college because STEM occupations often require bachelor's degrees at ...

Graphene is a two-dimensional material in which carbon atoms are arranged in hexagonal structures, and it has unique physical and chemical properties such as sub-nanometer thickness, chemical stability, mechanical flexibility, electrical and thermal conductivity, optical transparency, and selective permeability to water. Due to these properties, various applications of graphene in transparent electrodes, desalination, electrical energy storage, and catalysts have been vigorously studied. Because graphene is an extremely thin material, for practical uses, it has to be deposited on top of other materials that serve as substrate. One of the research subjects which is of great scientific ...

Osaka, Japan - Catalysts lie at the heart of a greener and more sustainable future for chemical production. However, many of the catalysts currently in widespread use have limitations that affect their efficiency. Researchers from Osaka University have reported a stable and reusable nickel phosphide nanoalloy catalyst for the hydrogenation of maltose to maltitol that outperforms conventional catalysts. Their findings are published in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. Maltitol is a sugar alcohol that is widely used as a sweetener and food additive. It can be produced by hydrogenating maltose; however, the reaction must be selective to avoid generating ...