A Cranfield University, UK, academic has used drone mapping to investigate a 3000-year-old ‘mega fortress’ in the Caucasus mountains. Dr Nathaniel Erb-Satullo, Senior Lecturer in Architectural Science at Cranfield Forensic Institute, has been researching the site since 2018 with Dimitri Jachvliani, his co-director from the Georgian National Museum, revealing details that re-shape our understanding of the site and contribute to a global reassessment of ancient settlement growth and urbanism. Fortress settlements in the South Caucasus appeared between 1500-500 BCE, and represent an ...

During IVF treatment, doctors use ultrasound scans to monitor the size of follicles - small sacs in the ovaries containing eggs - to decide when to give a hormone injection known as the ‘trigger’ to prepare the eggs for collection and ensure that they are ready to be fertilised with sperm to create embryos. The timing of the trigger is a key decision, as it works less effectively if the follicles are too small or too large at the time of administration. After the eggs are collected and fertilised by sperm, an embryo is then selected and implanted into the womb to hopefully lead to pregnancy. Researchers used ‘Explainable ...

Tokyo, Japan – Glass might seem to be an ordinary material we encounter every day, but the physics at play inside are actually quite complex and still not completely understood by scientists. Some panes of glass, such as the stained-glass windows in many Medieval buildings, have remained rigid for centuries, as their constituent molecules are perpetually frozen in a state of disorder. Similarly, supercooled liquids are not quite solid, in the sense that their fundamental particles do not stick to a lattice ...

Toronto, ON – New challenges in HIV prevention and care are emerging due to climate change, according to a review published earlier this month in Current Opinions in Infectious Disease. Researchers from the University of Toronto analyzed 22 recent studies exploring HIV-related outcomes in the context of climate change and identified several links between extreme weather events and HIV prevention and care. Climate change-related extreme weather events, such as drought and flooding, were associated with poorer HIV prevention outcomes, including ...

A University of Exeter funding scheme designed to combat the global challenge of fungal antimicrobial resistance (fAMR) has announced a new call for applications. The FAILSAFE project (Fungal AMR Innovations for LMICS: Solutions and Access For Everyone) is a groundbreaking initiative tackling antifungal drug resistance. The project aims to promote worldwide innovations to tackle the global health threat of fungal infections in humans, plants and animals increasingly growing resistant to available treatment. Already, the FAILSAFE project has awarded more than £1.7 million in grants ...

AMR is when microorganisms that cause infections, such as bacteria and viruses, change over time and no longer respond to antibiotic medicines.  It makes serious conditions such as HIV, tuberculosis and malaria more difficult to treat and increases the risk of severe illness, disease spread and death.  AMR particularly impacts low-to-middle-income countries where water quality is often poor and the spread environmental spread of AMR via wastes can be high.  In 2015 the World Health Organization (WHO) formulated a Global Action Plan to co-ordinate efforts to tackle AMR.  As a result, 194 WHO member states committed to developing country-specific ...

Grapefruit and pummelo contain compounds called furanocoumarins that may affect the blood levels of more than 100 prescription drugs, so that people taking these medications are advised to remove these fruits from their diets. Research published in New Phytologist reveals genetic information about the synthesis of furanocoumarins in different citrus plant tissues and species and provides new insights that could be used to develop grapefruit and pummelo that lack furanocoumarins. The research indicates that the production of furanocoumarins in citrus ...

In research published in Advanced Intelligence Systems, scientists have developed an innovative, soft, wearable robot to help workers avoid job-related injuries while lifting, lowering, and carrying objects. While many available wearable robots are limited to supporting a single degree of freedom of the body (meaning the body can only move in one direction at a given joint), the new robot, called WeaRo, operates through multiple degrees of freedom, allowing for complex movements. In tests, WeaRo effectively reduced the muscle activation levels of lumbar, biceps, and triceps muscles by a maximum of 18.2%, 29.1%, and ...

In a recent study published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, middle aged workers in the U.S. who reported high job strain at the start of the study experienced significantly more sleep disturbances over an average follow-up of nine years. The study analyzed data from 1,721 workers, with an average age of 51 years, who participated in the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study. Sleep disturbances were assessed with an established scale, based on four sleep-related symptoms: trouble falling asleep, waking up during ...

Researchers have developed a novel method to assess depression in CEOs by using machine learning models (a type of artificial intelligence) to analyze vocal acoustic features from conference call recordings. This innovative approach, detailed in an article published in the Journal of Accounting Research, provides insights into a mental health issue that often remains hidden in high-pressure executive roles. The researchers examined how CEO depression is related to career outcomes, compensation, and incentives. Their findings suggest ...

The practice of growing different but complementary plants within a given area, also known as intercropping, has numerous positive effects such as reduced soil erosion, weed suppression, nitrogen fixation (the conversion of atmospheric nitrogen to nitrogen compounds that can be used by plants and other organisms), and pollinator benefits. New research published in Agrosystems, Geosciences & Environment reveals the increased land use efficiency and environmental benefits in an alfalfa–almond intercropped ecosystem ...

Overfishing, illegal fishing and increasing marketing of shark meat pose significant threats to the more than 80 species of sharks and rays that inhabit the Mediterranean Sea, according to a new study. The research examined current levels of legislation in place to protect elasmobranch populations (which include sharks, rays and skates) within each of the 22 coastal states of the Mediterranean region. Across those countries – stretching from Spain and Morocco in the west to Israel, Lebanon and Syria in the east – the researchers identified more than 200 measures that concern elasmobranchs in some ...

Trametinib, a mitogen-activated protein kinase (MEK) inhibitor, reduces mortality and morbidity in children with severe hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) caused by pathogenic variants in the RAS/MAPK pathway, according to a study published today in JACC: Basic to Translational Science. The study provides strong evidence for personalized treatment targeting the underlying genetic causes of RASopathies, a group of rare disorders that often lead to life-threatening cardiac complications.  “Our findings represent a breakthrough in the treatment of HCM in children, particularly those suffering from severe forms of the disease due to genetic variants in the RAS/MAPK ...

Genome editing with CRISPR-Cas is often associated with the induction of mutations. However, a team of researchers from the Swiss University of Lausanne now shows that it can also be used to repair natural mutations. All living organisms mutate, which is a major driver of biodiversity and evolution. Humans have been domesticating plants for thousands of years, by selecting mutations that lead to favorable characteristics such as larger or more numerous fruits. However, this process often caused the ...

For a long time, an ultrafast laser has been applied as a point-typed energy source to trigger various material modifications, and the profile of light intensity is mainly considered a Gaussian type. Therefore, the actual morphology and evolution of the light field in the focal volume have been overlooked. In International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing, researchers indicates that the 3D spatial distribution of the light field at the focus can possess finer structures and is tunable, which offers a novel strategy for highly controllable micro-nano fabrication with more degrees of freedom beyond conventional point-by-point optical modification. It is proposed and experimentally demonstrated ...

A research team led by Prof. WAN Yinhua at the Institute of Process Engineering (IPE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has recently developed an innovative mix-charged nanofiltration (NF) membrane featuring horizontal charge distribution, designed specifically for wastewater treatment. This novel membrane exhibits remarkable salt permeation and organic matter retention capabilities as well as antifouling properties, making it particularly effective for treating high-salinity organic wastewater. The findings ...

Working out the kinks of mating in the animal kingdom helps to gain insights into the survival of species. Among animals that have multiple partners who deposit eggs outside their body, such as most fish, the males release sperm several times a day, but producing these gametes requires energy and time. Osaka Metropolitan University experts on fish behavior have recently uncovered a daily mating capacity for medaka. In findings published in Royal Society Open Science, Graduate School of Science Specially Appointed Dr. Yuki Kondo, Specially Appointed Professor Masanori Kohda, and Professor Satoshi Awata detailed the effects of continuous mating by medaka ...

People who drink coffee in the morning have a lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and a lower overall mortality risk compared to all-day coffee drinkers, according to research published in the European Heart Journal [1] today (Wednesday).   The research was led by Dr Lu Qi, HCA Regents Distinguished Chair and Professor at the Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University, New Orleans, USA. He said: “Research so far suggests that drinking coffee doesn’t raise the risk of cardiovascular disease, and it ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The majority of low-income single mothers in Oregon who rely on federal cash assistance around the time of childbirth are in the program for less than a year, suggesting they’re using it as a form of paid family leave, Oregon State University research shows. The first-of-its-kind study has important implications in the state, which in 2023 established a taxpayer-funded paid family leave program, and throughout the United States as poverty has a particularly high incidence among young children. “Understanding how mothers ...

A study co-led by UCLA scientists has found targeting a protein called endocan and its related signaling pathway could be a promising new approach for treating glioblastoma, an aggressive and lethal type of brain cancer. The team of researchers discovered that endocan, which is produced by endothelial cells lining blood vessels in the tumor, activates PDGFRA, a receptor on glioblastoma cells that drives tumor growth and makes the cancer resistant to standard therapies such as radiation. The discovery, published in Nature Communications, suggests a path toward the development of therapies that specifically inhibit ...

A new study, co-led by a University of Massachusetts Amherst researcher, set out to identify the most effective strategies for helping people quit vaping. The findings, published today in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, suggest that varenicline, a prescription medication often used to help people stop smoking, and text message-based interventions can help people quit.   “This is an area of research that is in its infancy, but is growing rapidly and organically from people who vape asking about help to quit vaping,” says senior author Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, assistant professor of health policy and management in the School ...

Regular physical activity before a cancer diagnosis may lower the risks of both disease progression and death, suggests research published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. And even relatively low levels of physical activity may be advantageous, the findings indicate. There is compelling evidence that physical activity has a key part to play in lowering the risk of death from cancer, but the evidence isn’t as conclusive for its role in disease progression, explain the researchers. To explore this further, they analysed anonymised data from the Discovery Health Medical Scheme (DHMS), linked to the Vitality health promotion programme. The DHMS is the ...

Basking too long in a sauna may put bathers at risk of heat stroke, particularly if they haven’t drunk enough water beforehand, warn doctors in the journal BMJ Case Reports, after treating a woman whose condition required admission to hospital. Although relatively rare, heat stroke can be life threatening, even in the absence of various underlying risk factors, such as heart, lung, or neurological disease, and heavy drinking or taking a cocktail of prescription meds, they point out. Heat stroke is defined as a sharp increase in core body temperature above ...

A new study from the University of Adelaide and The Australian National University (ANU) has outlined the first genomic evidence of early migration from New Guinea into the Wallacea, an archipelago containing Timor-Leste and hundreds of inhabited eastern Indonesian islands. The study, published in PNAS, addresses major gaps in the human genetic history of the Wallacean Archipelago and West Papuan regions of Indonesia – a region with abundant genetic and linguistic diversity that is comparable to the Eurasian ...

Children and young people with high levels of mental health needs are struggling to receive the help they need, or to have their difficulties recognised, according to a new study. The STADIA trial, which is published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, was led by experts from the School of Medicine at the University of Nottingham, and was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The large study, which spans different parts of England, involved 1,225 children and young people with emotional difficulties who had been referred to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) for help, and followed them up over 18 months to see ...