(Santa Barbara, Calif.) — Droughts can be good for trees. Certain trees, that is. Contrary to expectation, sometimes a record-breaking drought can increase tree growth. Why and where this happens is the subject of a new paper in Global Change Biology. A team of scientists led by Joan Dudney at UC Santa Barbara examined the drought response of endangered whitebark pine over the past century. They found that in cold, harsh environments — often at high altitudes and latitudes — drought ...

Researchers from Rochester Institute of Technology and the University of Rochester Medical Center are taking a closer look at nutritional factors during pregnancy and in infancy associated with severe tooth decay in young children. Brenda Abu, assistant professor in RIT’s Wegmans School of Health and Nutrition and a researcher in maternal and child health, is collaborating on a study to investigate the Oral Microbiome in Early Infancy (OMEI) and Nutrition. Perinatal oral health expert Dr. Jin Xiao, associate professor at the Eastman Institute for Oral Health, is leading a large project funded by the National ...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories grew its Mentor-Protégé program from three companies to five with the addition of Dynamic Structures and Materials, LLC of Franklin, Tennessee, and Compunetics Inc., of Monroeville, Pennsylvania. The program not only helps small businesses develop and grow, but also helps foster long-term relationships that help Sandia achieve its mission. As one of 17 DOE national laboratories, Sandia’s mission includes: anticipating and resolving emerging national security challenges and innovating and ...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – May 22, 2023 – It’s well-known that people with Type 2 diabetes are at an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, but the reason why isn’t fully understood and is an area of current research. Now, scientists at Wake Forest University School of Medicine have uncovered a novel mechanism that shows increased sugar intake and elevations in blood glucose are sufficient to cause amyloid plaque buildup in the brain, which increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Amyloid plaque is made up of toxic proteins in the brain. The study findings appear online ...

With the world’s first exascale supercomputing system now open to full user operations, research teams are harnessing Frontier’s power and speed to tackle some of the most challenging problems in modern science. The HPE Cray EX system at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory debuted in May 2022 as the fastest computer on the planet and first machine to break the exascale barrier at 1.1 exaflops, or 1.1 quintillion calculations per second. That’s more calculations per second than every human on Earth could perform in four years. Frontier ...

Altering the chemical properties of an anti-nausea drug enables it to enter an interior compartment of the cell and provide long-lasting pain relief, according to a new study led by researchers at NYU College of Dentistry’s Pain Research Center.    The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), illustrates how pain signaling occurs inside cells rather than at the surface, highlighting the need for drugs that can reach receptors within cells.   G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are a large ...

A 1987 global deal to protect the ozone layer is delaying the first ice-free Arctic summer by up to 15 years, new research shows. The Montreal Protocol – the first treaty to be ratified by every United Nations country – regulates nearly 100 man-made chemicals called ozone-depleting substances (ODSs). While the main aim was to preserve the ozone layer, ODSs are also potent greenhouse gases, so the deal has slowed global warming. The new study shows the effects of this include delaying the first ice-free ...

New York, NY—May 22, 2023—When scientists discovered a hole over Antarctica in 1985, countries across the globe got together and wrote a treaty designed to protect the ozone layer, which shields the Earth--and us--from harmful levels of ultraviolet radiation. The resulting Montreal Protocol, the only United Nations treaty ratified by every country in the world, was signed in 1987 and entered into effect in 1989, when little was known about its impact on the global climate. Its purpose was to reduce atmospheric concentrations of ozone-depleting substances (ODSs), materials ...

The 6th World Congress on Targeting Phage Therapy 2023, being held on June 1-2 in Paris, will include more than 70 communications highlighting the most recent advances in phage and phage therapy.  150+ attendees will gather to discuss the future potential of phage therapy. The most strategic question to discuss is: “how to bring phage therapy up to a new level?”. Targeting Phages 2023 will address how phages play a strategic role to combat infection and antibiotic resistance. A special session ...

Immunotherapy is rapidly becoming a well-founded form of cancer treatment as it employs and strengthens a patient’s immune system to attack tumors.  Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells – genetically altered T cells used in immunotherapy that can locate and destroy cancer cells – show great promise. Yet they still struggle in broader applications, particularly in attacking non-tumor cells and persistence in killing tumor cells.  Natasa Miskov-Zivanov, principal investigator and assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, received a $299,986 EAGER ...

Writing in the May 22, 2023 issue of Cell Systems, a diverse team of scientists, led by researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, have produced a novel map that depicts the human body’s enormously complicated and highly evolved system for addressing and repairing DNA damage — a cause and consequence of many diseases. Damage to DNA and replication errors caused by stress and other factors play a major role in disease, and are a hallmark of cancer and other afflictions. To maintain the ...

Philosopher Thomas Kuhn’s influential theory of how scientific knowledge is built introduced the term “paradigm shift” to explain a transformation of a field’s ideas and methods. “A Paradigm Shift, or a Paradigm Adjustment? The Evolution of the Oleaceae Mating System as a Small-Scale Kuhnian Case Study,” a new paper published in The Quarterly Review of Biology, seeks to apply this analytical framework to a small controversy in population biology: the mating system of the shrub Phillyrea angustifolia. Traditional theory states that the sex ratio of a population should be 1:1 male to female (or ...

The ordinary person looks at Georgia’s Stone Mountain and sees a solid, unmovable monolith. Emory University paleontologist Anthony Martin, who thinks in geologic time, sees something more akin to a giant sugar cube. Ever since the crystalized mass of igneous-born minerals rose from deep underground, pushed by the upwelling of magma that formed the Blue Ridge Mountains around 350 million years ago, the giant rock’s flanks have faced continuous assault — and not just from weather and water. Stone Mountain “is fighting a battle against life, and life is winning,” Martin writes ...

Sepsis is a global health priority affecting 55 million patients worldwide and causing 11 million deaths annually. Treatment for sepsis may include prompt recognition, source control, antibiotics, fluids, vasopressors, and adjunctive therapies. Corticosteroids have been evaluated as adjunctive therapy for septic shock for more than 50 years. Despite this substantive body of research, uncertainty persists about the effects of corticosteroids on mortality. In a study publishing May 22, 2023 in the New England Journal of Medicine: ...

Doctors are one step closer to having a risk biomarker to alert them to which of their pediatric stem cell transplant patients are likely to experience a potentially deadly side effect called sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS). A team led by MUSC Hollings Cancer Center researcher Sophie Paczesny, M.D., Ph.D., published the results of its biomarker study in JCI Insight this month. There is a drug, defibrotide, approved to treat SOS. Paczesny hopes the results of the biomarker study will encourage defibrotide’s manufacturer to conduct a multicenter clinical trial testing ...

First Contact: Global team simulates message from extraterrestrial intelligence to Earth A Sign in Space imagines how Earth might respond to a signal from aliens and invites the public to help decode an ET message. May 22, 2023, Mountain View, CA – What would happen if we received a message from an extraterrestrial civilization? Daniela de Paulis, an established interdisciplinary artist and licensed radio operator who currently serves as Artist in Residence at the SETI Institute and the Green Bank Observatory, has brought ...

“This research uncovers GPR141 as a stimulator of breast tumorigenesis and metastasis, making it a candidate target for breast cancer therapeutics.” BUFFALO, NY- May 22, 2023 – A new research paper was published in Oncotarget's Volume 14 on May 19, 2023, entitled, “G-protein-coupled receptor 141 mediates breast cancer proliferation and metastasis by regulating oncogenic mediators and the p-mTOR/p53 axis.” Breast cancer morbidity is surging towards the peak in females across the globe. An inherent property of cancer cells is enhanced cell proliferation rate and migration capability, leading to deregulated cell ...

SAN FRANCISCO, May 22, 2023 – New research, published online today in the American Journal of Psychiatry, provides the most robust and comprehensive evidence to date that children exposed to early psychosocial deprivation benefit substantially from family-based care. Senior author Kathryn L. Humphreys, Ph.D., discussed this work today at a special briefing during the 2023 Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association. Results of research from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project, the ...

Baltimore, MD—New research led by Carnegie’s Yixian Zhen and Minjie Hu reveals how coral cells tag friendly algae before ingesting them, initiating a mutually beneficial relationship. This information could guide next-level coral conservation efforts.   Their work is published in Nature Microbiology.  Corals are marine invertebrates that build large exoskeletons from which reefs are constructed. But this architecture is only possible because of a mutually beneficial relationship between the coral and various species of single-celled algae called dinoflagellates ...

Controlling traumatic situations is synonymous with the daily duties of first responders, yet many mental health programs to combat the increasing stress they encounter are lacking. That’s why West Virginia University researchers are identifying steps policymakers and community members can take to aid front-line workers. “With elevated risk for suicide and other mental health issues among first responders, we have a significant public health problem,” said Michael Fisher, assistant professor in the WVU School of Public Health ...

Excess sugar hampers cells that renew the colon’s lining in a mouse model of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), according to a new study by University of Pittsburgh scientists. The findings, published in Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology, could help get to the bottom of why limiting sugary foods can ease symptoms for patients with IBD. “The prevalence of IBD is rising around the world, and it’s rising the fastest in cultures with industrialized, urban lifestyles, which typically have diets high in sugar,” said senior author Timothy Hand, Ph.D., associate professor of pediatrics and immunology at Pitt’s ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study has identified the bee’s knees of bumble bee dietary options in Ohio and the Upper Midwest. By viewing almost 23,000 bumble bee-flower interactions over two years, researchers found that these bees don’t always settle for the most abundant flowers in their foraging area – suggesting they have more discerning dietary preferences than one might expect. Being large, strong and social bees that can fly for long distances, bumble bees are major contributors to pollination, particularly for agriculture – but like other pollinators threatened by habitat ...

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease characterized by joint deterioration. The clinical outcomes of patients with active RA can be improved using anti-rheumatic medications, such as methotrexate (MTX). Many patients rely on MTX to limit the destructive joint damage and functional disability typical of RA. Although the drug is a folic acid antagonist, its precise mechanisms in RA patients are largely unknown. Previous research suggests that MTX also affects a type of white blood cell called CD4+ T cells. These cells are believed to play a role in the development of RA—specifically, the balance between the activation of interleukin-17-producing helper T ...

Robert Weigel, Professor, Physics and Astronomy, received funding for: "Infrastructure Development, Maintenance, and Outreach for the Heliophysics Application Programmer's Interface (HAPI)." Weigel will facilitate HAPI adoption by upcoming missions by providing targeted instrument team support. He will create additional HAPI server reference implementations. He will create a meta-server to facilitate an integrated HAPI ecosystem. He will create higher-level services that build on the uniformity afforded by HAPI ...

Two hundred and fifty-two million years ago, Earth experienced a mass extinction so devastating that it’s become known as “the Great Dying.” Massive volcanic eruptions triggered catastrophic climate change, killing off nine out of every ten species and eventually setting the stage for the dinosaurs. But the Great Dying was a long goodbye-- the extinction event took place over the course of up to a million years at the end of the Permian period. During that time, the fossil record shows drama and upheaval as species fought to get a foothold in their changing environments. One animal that exemplifies ...