Mutations in the KRAS gene are the major driver of pancreatic cancer. The resulting protein controls multiple signaling pathways involved in cell growth and survival. In cancer, the gene is mutated to be permanently “on,” driving cells to excessively multiply and form tumors.  New drugs have recently been developed to inhibit KRAS and appear to be therapeutically promising. However, pancreatic cancer is especially prone to drug resistance. Most drugs only work for a short period of time before the cancer finds its way around them. Previous experiments revealed a potential reason why: a group ...

A review paper by scientists at the Beijing Institute of Technology summarized the recent research on field-controlled microrobots fabricated by photopolymerization. The new review paper, published on Jun. 6 in the journal Cyborg and Bionic Systems, provided an overview the photopolymerization technologies utilized in the fabrication of field-controlled microrobots and introduced the photopolymerized microrobots actuated by different field forces and their functions. “Field-controlled microrobots have attracted extensive research in the ...

Main Points The research group proposed and tested a nano-antenna that uses the specific optical resonance of dielectric nanoparticles to form a near field of circularly polarized light. This technique bolsters the circularly polarized light-selective response of chiral molecules. The results of this study should provide applications in chirality analysis and asymmetric photochemical reactions for biomolecules, chemical substances, and pharmaceuticals. Research Background “Chirality” refers to the property of a substance that cannot be superimposed on its mirror image. Since the mirror image isomers of chiral molecules ...

CINCINNATI -- Imagine a day when a urine test could inform a doctor precisely why a kidney transplant patient was experiencing organ rejection and suggest the best medication for specifically addressing the problem.   That day took a leap closer to reality thanks to a remarkable set of single-cell analyses that have identified the most specific cellular signatures to date for kidney transplant rejection. The findings were detailed May 25, 2023, in JCI The Journal of Clinical Investigation. The study results reflect eight years of teamwork led by experts at Cincinnati Children’s and the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine with contributions ...

(LOS ANGELES) – June 28, 2023 - A multi-faceted device for effectively treating deep, non-compressible, and irregularly-shaped wounds has been engineered by the scientists at the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation (TIBI). As outlined in their recent paper in Advanced Science, the device provides rapid hemorrhage management, has minimal inflammatory effects, and provides infection control. It also has tunable biodegradation rates, making it usable for both internal and external use, and features sensing capabilities for long-term hemorrhage monitoring. This versatile device is highly beneficial ...

From growls to pulses to booms, whales, fish and crustaceans all produce sounds. In fact, more than 800 species of fish are capable of making noises for a variety of functions such as courtship and mating, defending their turf or responding to threats. Each of these species has a characteristic waveform that is unique to their “calls.” As such, detecting structures in these signals can be used to identify the sounds of different species. Classifying sounds produced by fish will help to understand how they respond to environmental changes ...

With a flick of a switch, current technologies allow you to quickly change materials from being dark to light, or cold to hot, just by blocking or transmitting specific wavelengths. But now, inspired by squid skin, researchers in ACS Nano report a soft film that can regulate its transparency across a large range of wavelengths — visible, infrared and microwave — simultaneously. They demonstrated the material in smart windows and in health monitoring and temperature management applications. Unique to the skin of squid and other cephalopods, iridocytes and chromatophores reversibly ...

Korea has recently seen a surge in localized torrential rain and floods due to global warming. Frequent flash floods are hard to forecast and, when forecast, the accuracy is low. This often leads to major disasters that take hundreds of lives, as seen in Germany and China (Henan) in July 2021. Floods are one of the deadliest types of natural disasters, but climate change has made the forecasting of them even more challenging. Researchers at the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT, President Kim Byung-Suk) have developed a system that can forecast ...

Reston, VA (July 28, 2023)—The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) hosted nearly 8,000 physicians, technologists, pharmacists, laboratory professionals, scientists and others at its 2023 Annual Meeting, themed “Eye on the Patient,” held in Chicago, Illinois. “This year’s meeting offered attendees world-class scientific research, education, and exhibits as well as one-of-a-kind networking opportunities that will ultimately help us serve our patients better,” said Helen ...

An international team led by the University of Minnesota Twin Cities has, for the first time, accurately determined the age and formation process of the East Anatolian fault, which runs from eastern to south-central Turkey and was involved in the creation of the Anatolian tectonic plate. The fault zone was the site of two devastating earthquakes that occurred in Turkey and Syria in February 2023. While the researchers’ findings won’t help predict timing or size of earthquakes, it allows geologists to learn more about how long the area has been seismically active and how major earthquakes have shaped the landscape over time, which can help drive ...

Artificial lipid bilayer vesicle liposomes, also called proteoliposomes, are specialized systems capable of incorporating various molecules, such as chemicals and drugs. Their unique properties make them ideal carriers for delivering substances inside cells. However, they must possess the dual characteristics of high stability in extracellular environments and low stability in intracellular environments. Several techniques have been developed to regulate the stability of liposomes in a condition-dependent manner, with pH-sensitive liposomes being widely employed. A standard measure of acidity or basicity, the ...

Copenhagen, Denmark: Women with adenomyosis – a chronic condition that can cause pelvic pain and heavy menstrual bleeding –  are at increased risk of infertility as well as problems in pregnancy and during birth, according to research presented at the 39th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) [1]. Data from the first study of its kind based on more than nine million women show that mothers-to-be with adenomyosis experienced higher rates of complications. The greatest risk was for caesarean section delivery – ...

Prisoners in Bolivia are trading in jaguar skins and other wild animal body parts to produce wallets, hats, and belts for sale in local markets. The fangs and bones of jaguars are being illegally exported for use as traditional Asian medicine.  The trade, which further threatens the future of this species, has been uncovered by researchers investigating reports of illegal trading at Mocoví prison, in Trinidad, Bolivia. As the largest big cat in the Americas the jaguar (Panthera Onca) has ecological and cultural significance in the landlocked country of Bolivia, but numbers are declining fast due to reasons including habitat loss – as ...

Performing arts performed in groups appears to lower anxiety and depression, according to a review of available evidence. Researchers at the University of Exeter looked at the effect of group-based performing arts-based therapies on symptom severity, wellbeing, quality of life, functional communication or social participation. In a study published in BMJ Open, the researchers reviewed 171 studies, and took 12 forward to inclusion, which met the screening criteria. Published from 2004 to 2021, the studies involved a total of 669 participants with anxiety and/or depression, from nine countries and covered ...

For many people, the day doesn’t start until their coffee mug is empty. Coffee is often thought to make you feel more alert, so people drink it to wake themselves up and improve their efficiency. Portuguese scientists studied coffee-drinkers to understand whether that wakefulness effect is dependent on the properties of caffeine, or whether it’s about the experience of drinking coffee. “There is a common expectation that coffee increases alertness and psychomotor functioning,” said Prof Nuno Sousa of the University of Minho, corresponding author of the study ...

Orlando, Fla., June 28, 2023 – A Virginia pediatric hospital eliminated central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) among its most vulnerable patients for 300 days during 2021 and 2022. Their results are being presented at the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology’s (APIC’s) Annual Conference in Orlando Florida, June 26-28. When the infection prevention and quality departments at Inova L.J. Murphy Children’s Hospital, part of the Inova Health System and located in Falls Church, Virginia, benchmarked their CLABSI rates against other pediatric hospitals, ...

New research shows that U.S. public pension funds would be $21 billion richer had they divested from fossil fuels a decade ago.   The study, out of the University of Waterloo in partnership with Stand.earth, analyzed the public equity portfolios of six major U.S. public pension funds, which collectively represent approximately 3.4 million people, to determine the effect divesting from their energy holdings would have had. In total, researchers estimate that the pension funds would have seen a return on their investments that was 13 per cent higher on average.  Another analysis of the same eight U.S. public pension funds included in the report found that ...

A group from Nagoya University in Japan has discovered that when the diet of nematodes, tiny worms measuring about a millimeter or less in length, includes the bacteria Lactobacillus reuteri, the weakening of associative learning ability caused by aging does not occur. These results may suggest ways to use diet to reduce age-related cognitive decline in other animals, including humans. Their findings were published in the journal eLife.    “This research is significant in that it established a method for studying the effects ...

While vaping provides a pathway to help smokers wanting to quit, for non-smokers it may be the first step on a pathway to taking up smoking, a new study has shown. Led by University of Otago post graduate student Andre Mason and Associate Professor Damian Scarf, of the University of Otago’s Department of Psychology, the collaborative research, published today (Wednesday 28 June) in the Drug and Alcohol Review, analysed data related to smoking and vaping status of New Zealanders from the 2018-2020 New Zealand Attitudes and Values survey. Associate Professor Scarf says broadly, the prevalence of smoking was found ...

Dependant children of people impacted by human trafficking and modern slavery are being left unsupported and their needs overlooked, putting families at risk of intergenerational trauma. A report by UniSA researcher Dr Nerida Chazal highlights the lack of recognition of dependants as victims themselves and the limited support they receive, putting their psychological and developmental needs at risk. In Australia, only the police can formally refer victim-survivors to the official government funded Support for Trafficked People Program (STPP), run by the Australian Red Cross. Currently, victim-survivors with dependants receive minimal additional funding to meet their ...

Children are exposed to many types of online trauma including self-harm, a leading psychotherapist has warned, and they need the right support to make sense of what they are seeing. Catherine Knibbs is a researcher and trauma therapist, who helped counsel survivors of the Manchester Arena terror attack. In her new book, Online Harms and Cybertrauma, she argues that the amount of self-harm content available to children online is an urgent societal issue which needs to be addressed by parents, policymakers ...

New research by the University of Nottingham estimates that the care home sector in England was left with up to 19,000 fewer staff following mandatory Covid vaccines being brought in for workers in 2021. The research, published in the journal Management Science, is the first piece of empirical evidence about the effects of compulsory Covid vaccination for care workers on take-up, staffing and mortality. The experts found that the UK’s legal requirement for health and social care staff to be vaccinated against Covid-19 resulted in a three-to-four per cent reduction in staffing – equivalent to 14,000 to 19,000 employees in elderly ...

Children who begin reading for pleasure early in life tend to perform better at cognitive tests and have better mental health when they enter adolescence, a study of more than 10,000 young adolescents in the US has found. In a study published today in Psychological Medicine, researchers in the UK and China found that 12 hours a week was the optimal amount of reading, and that this was linked to improved brain structure, which may help explain the findings. Reading for pleasure can be an important and enjoyable childhood activity. Unlike listening and spoken language, which develop rapidly and easily in young children, reading is a taught skill and is acquired and developed through explicit ...

A new study of a brain region called the rostro-medial prefrontal could potentially advance diagnosis and therapies for Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Entitled “Rejection Distress Suppresses Medial Prefrontal Cortex in Borderline Personality Disorder,” the research appears in the journal Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging.   Researchers from The City College of New York, Columbia University, and New York State Psychiatric Institute led by CCNY psychologist Eric A. Fertuck discovered that the rostro-medial ...

A species of nemertean worm discovered by a Clemson University marine biologist five years ago affects the reproductive performance of Caribbean spiny lobsters, a critical species in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Antonio Baeza, an associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, discovered the new wormwhile researching parental behaviors of the spiny lobster Panulirus argus in the Florida Keys. Baeza good-naturedly named the worm Carcinonemertes conanobrieni after comedian Conan O’Brien because of its physical characteristics — long-bodied and pale with a slight tint of orange.  The worm has been found off the coast of ...