A new coating solution discovered by researchers at Simon Fraser University can transform regular materials into waterproof surfaces. The product will be cheaper to produce, free of harmful fluorinated compounds, and effective on a variety of materials. Their research findings have been published in Nature Communications. SFU chemistry professor and project lead Hogan Yu estimates that their patented waterproofing solution will be up to 90 percent cheaper to produce. Yu and his team are currently floating the idea by investors and companies with the goal of commercializing the product. The new formula was invented at Yu's lab when SFU graduate student Lishen Zhang and another student were working on an experiment in 2016. ...

In the Council of the European Union, member states mostly cooperate with other countries in their geographical proximity. However, once it became clear that the United Kingdom was going to leave the EU, the member states also started cooperating to a greater extent with ideologically like-minded members. Research from the University of Gothenburg shows that Brexit may, in part, have changed the logic behind how cooperation in the Council of the European Union is structured. The Council of the European Union is one of the most important EU decision-makers. Government ministers from the 27 EU member states participate in the ...

Scientific classifications of forest vegetation on the territory of the former USSR, including the Republic of Tatarstan, previously used the dominant approach, traditional for northern countries, taking into account the dominance degree of one or another species in the main tree layer, or similarity in the composition of subordinate layers with the identification of cycles and series of associations. Currently, the classification of plant communities of the Republic of Tatarstan is made on a dominant-determinant basis and is reflected, for example, in the vegetation map of the Atlas of the Republic of Tatarstan and other publications. The classification ...

The LUX team at DESY is celebrating not just one but two milestones in the development of innovative plasma accelerators. The scientists from the University of Hamburg and DESY used their accelerator to test a technique that allows the energy distribution of the electron beams produced to be kept particularly narrow. They also used artificial intelligence to allow the accelerator to optimise its own operation. The scientists are reporting their experiments in two papers published shortly after one another in the journal Physical Review Letters. "It's ...

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), a gram-negative pathogen that has infected half of the world's population is a Group I carcinogen according to the WHO. H. pylori resides in the gastric mucosa causing gastritis, ulcers, gastric cancers and malignant lymphoma of the stomach. It can be eradicated in most infected people using a combination of three drugs; antibiotics clarithromycin, amoxicillin, and gastric acid suppressants. Amoxicillin exerts antibacterial activity by inhibiting the biosynthesis of peptidoglycan present in the cell wall of bacteria, and clarithromycin exerts antibacterial activity by inhibiting protein synthesis. The current success rate of H. pylori eradication is about 90%. ...

Anyone who lives in Okinawa, a subtropical island in Japan, has an appreciation of the intensity of its pig farming industry. The farms have a large effect on the island's economy and culture. According to Japan's Cabinet Office, as of 2018, there were over 225,000 pigs in Okinawa. Pork is a staple in the local diet and is found in many dishes in traditional restaurants. But the presence of the pig farms has another, less welcome, impact - the odor-y kind. Drive through some particularly farm-filled areas with the car's windows wound down and you're sure to be filled with regret. This smell is, at least in part, caused by a byproduct of the pig farming. ...

University of South Australia researchers have drawn inspiration from a 300-million-year-old superior flying machine - the dragonfly - to show why future flapping wing drones will probably resemble the insect in shape, wings and gearing. A team of PhD students led by UniSA Professor of Sensor Systems, Javaan Chahl, spent part of the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown designing and testing key parts of a dragonfly-inspired drone that might match the insect's extraordinary skills in hovering, cruising and aerobatics. The UniSA students worked remotely on the project, solving mathematical formulas at home on whiteboards, digitising stereo photographs of insect wings into 3D models, and using spare rooms as rapid prototyping workshops to test parts of the flapping wing drone. Their findings have ...

The current loss of biological diversity is unprecedented and species extinctions exceed the estimated background rate many times over. Coinciding with increasing human domination and alteration of the natural world, this loss in abundance and diversity is especially pronounced with - but not limited to - fauna in the tropics. A new publication from scientists at the Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS) in Sweden and the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) in Germany now explores the links between defaunation of tropical forests and the United ...

Several organisms possess "ion channels" (gateways that selectively allow charged particles called ions to enter the cells and are integral for cell function) called "channelrhodopsins," that can be switched on and off with the help of light. Different channelrhodopsins respond to different wavelengths in the light spectrum. These channels can be expressed in foreign organisms (animals even in human) by means of genetic engineering, which in turn finds applications in optogenetics, or the application of light to modulate cellular and gene functions. So far, the shortest wavelength that a channelrhodopsin ...

Monash University researchers have uncovered for the first time the reason mutations in a particular gene lead to mitochondrial disease. The finding, published in PNAS journal and led by Professor Mike Ryan from Monash University's Biomedicine Discovery Institute, shows that a gene responsible for causing loss of vision and hearing, TMEM126A, makes a protein that helps build an important energy generator in mitochondria. So, if this gene is defective, it reduces mitochondrial function and impares energy production, uncovering why mutations lead to the disease. Mitochondria are critical structures within ...

Portopulmonary hypertension (PoPH) is a form of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). PoPH occurs in approximately 15% of patients with PAH, and is reportedly found in 2-6% of patients with portal hypertension and 1-2% of patients with liver cirrhosis according to studies from Europe and America. However, the real-world data on PoPH in Japan are largely unknown, with many questions on the condition's etiology and prevalence. Led by doctorate student Shun-ichi Wakabayashi of Shinshu University, the goal of this investigation is to clarify the actual state of PoPH among patients with chronic liver disease by screening all such patients treated at Shinshu University Hospital. Although there is considerable uncertainty on the impact of PoPH, it is known that ...

Examples of complex systems exist everywhere. Neuron connections and protein-protein interactions are two systems of this type found in organisms, but complex systems also exist in cities, economic models, and even in social networks. The common denominator is that they are made up of many interrelated elements which can be represented and studied as a network. For more than a decade, scientists have been studying the possibility of finding more than one type of structural organization within a single network, and this is the subject of the doctoral thesis defended by María José Palazzi, as part of the UOC's doctoral programme in Network and Information Technologies. ...

An international team with researchers from the University of Bayreuth has succeeded for the first time in discovering a previously unknown two-dimensional material by using modern high-pressure technology. The new material, beryllonitrene, consists of regularly arranged nitrogen and beryllium atoms. It has an unusual electronic lattice structure that shows great potential for applications in quantum technology. Its synthesis required a compression pressure that is about one million times higher than the pressure of the Earth's atmosphere. The scientists have presented their discovery in the journal Physical Review Letters. Since the discovery of graphene, which is made of carbon atoms, interest in two-dimensional ...

Researchers from Belgium, the Netherlands, Russia, and Italy have developed a breakthrough method for quickly, accurately, and reliably diagnosing cardiac arrhythmias. They called it Directed graph mapping (DGM). The technology principles are published in JACC: Clinical Electrophysiology. One of the members of the research team is Alexander Panfilov, leading specialist of the laboratory of computational biology and medicine at Ural Federal University (Russia), head of the biophysics group at the University of Ghent (Belgium), professor at the Department of Cardiology at Leiden University (Netherlands). The research was led ...

Tightening the EU emissions trading system (EU ETS) in line with the EU Green Deal would dramatically speed up the decarbonization of Europe's power sector - and likely cause a demise of the coal industry. In a new study a team of researchers from Potsdam, Germany has quantified the substantial shifts Europe's electricity system is about to undergo when the newly decided EU climate target gets implemented. Higher carbon prices, the authors show, are not only an inevitable step to cut emissions - they will also lead much faster to an inexpensive electricity system powered by renewable energies. "Once the EU translates their recently adjusted target of cutting emissions by at least 55% in 2030 in comparison to 1990 into tighter EU ETS caps, the electricity sector will see fundamental changes ...

The neutron reflexometry method has given scientists an atomic-level insight into the behaviour of Bcl-2, a protein that promotes cancerous cell growth. The new study was carried out by Umeå chemists in collaboration with the research facilities ESS and ISIS and is published in Nature Communications Biology. Elevated function of the cell-protecting membrane protein Bcl-2 can promote cancer and cause resistance to cancer treatment. Developing an understanding of the way it does this could inform the development of anti-cancer drugs. It may seem counter-intuitive, ...

Western Australia's wheatbelt is a biodiversity desert, but the remaining wildlife - surviving in 'wheatbelt oases' - may offer insights for better conservation everywhere, according to researchers. University of Queensland researcher Dr Graham Fulton and local John Lawson have been reviewing the biodiversity in the woodland oasis of Dryandra, in WA's south west. "It's hard to witness the devastating loss of wilderness in Western Australia's wheatbelt," Dr Fulton said. "Ninety-seven per cent of the best native vegetation has been taken - around 14 million hectares - it's an area greater in size ...

During the last 30 years, medical and dental research has attracted a large number of scientists and practitioners working on aspects of high medical relevance that involve a combination of genetic and tissue regeneration approaches. These developments in stem cell and tissue engineering have provided medical and dental researchers with new insights and given rise to new ideas as to how everyday clinical practice can be improved. Many research groups are dealing with questions like: How can we help injured tissues and organs heal? Can lost tissue be regenerated? How can we create solid protocols that apply across all stem cell therapies? Advanced single-cell sequencing technology used A team of researchers led by Thimios ...

In light of declining natural forests, tree plantations may seem like a good way to replace forest habitats. But what are the possible benefits of these plantations for biological diversity? A team of researchers led by led by the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Friedrich Schiller University Jena (FSU) and Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) investigated this question using the example of beetles. Beetles account for 27% of all insect species worldwide and are often used as indicators for the effects of climate change and habitat fragmentation on biodiversity. In forest, they serve important functions - for example, they contribute to the decomposition of plant and animal biomass, making the nutrients stored ...

A recent study by the University of Eastern Finland shows that loneliness among middle-aged men is associated with an increased risk of cancer. According to the researchers, taking account of loneliness and social relationships should thus be an important part of comprehensive health care and disease prevention. The findings were published in Psychiatry Research. "It has been estimated, on the basis of studies carried out in recent years, that loneliness could be as significant a health risk as smoking or overweight. Our findings support the idea that attention should be paid to this issue," Project Researcher Siiri-Liisi Kraav from the University of Eastern Finland says. The study was ...

For a long time, historical linguists have been using the comparative method to reconstruct earlier states of languages that are not attested in written sources. The method consists of the detailed comparison of words in the related descendant languages and allows linguists to infer the ancient pronunciation of words which were never recorded in any form in great detail. That the method can also be used to infer how an undocumented word in a certain language would sound, provided that at least some information on that language, as well as information on related languages is available, has been known for a long time, but so far never explicitly tested. Two researchers from SOAS University of London and the Max Planck Institute for the Science ...

Scientific studies rarely focus on long non-coding RNA molecules (lncRNAs), even though they potentially regulate several diseases. The role of several lncRNAs in anti-viral inflammatory response regulation has recently been reported. Considering their significant regulatory function in immune response, researchers from the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine of Bar-Ilan University sought to identify lncRNAs co-expressed with human genes involved in immune-related processes during severe SARS-CoV-2 infection in the lungs. Recent studies demonstrated that ...

Chemotherapy is a drug treatment that uses powerful chemicals to kill fast-growing cancer cells in the body. It is a systemic treatment where drugs travel throughout the body and destroy cancer cells that have spread (metastasized) to parts of the body far away from the original (primary) tumour. As such, chemotherapy remains the main treatment against various cancers. Thus, when cancer cells resist chemotherapeutic drugs, treatment failure results. The resistance of cancer cells to chemotherapy is marked by changes and increased output of certain proteins. These altered proteins can help doctors to identify patients who will not respond well to chemotherapy and paves the way for the development of therapeutic intervention to "re-sensitise" their cancer cells to treatment. In a Nature ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A new treatment is among the first known to reduce the severity of acute respiratory distress syndrome caused by the flu in animals, according to a new study. Tests in mice infected with high doses of influenza showed that the treatment could improve lung function in very sick mice and prevent progression of disease in mice that were pre-emptively treated after being exposed to the flu. The hope is that it may also help humans infected with the flu, and potentially other causes of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) such as SARS-CoV-2 infection. Specific cells in mice are less able to ...

An international collaboration of astronomers led by a researcher from the Astrobiology Center and Queen's University Belfast, and including researchers from Trinity College Dublin, has detected a new chemical signature in the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet (a planet that orbits a star other than our Sun). The hydroxyl radical (OH) was found on the dayside of the exoplanet WASP-33b. This planet is a so-called 'ultra-hot Jupiter', a gas-giant planet orbiting its host star much closer than Mercury orbits the Sun and therefore reaching atmospheric temperatures of more than 2,500° C (hot enough to melt most metals). The lead researcher based at the Astrobiology Center and Queen's University Belfast, ...