WHAT: A mobile app was successful at distinguishing toddlers diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) from typically developing toddlers based on their eye movements while watching videos, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The findings suggest that the app could one day screen infants and toddlers for ASD and refer them for early intervention, when chances for treatment success are greatest. The study appears in JAMA Pediatrics and was conducted by Geraldine Dawson, Ph.D., director of the NIH Autism Center of Excellence at Duke University, and colleagues. Funding was provided by NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and National Institute of ...

Scientists have made a promising step towards developing a new drug for treating acute myeloid leukaemia, a rare blood disorder. In a study published today in Nature, Cambridge researchers report a new approach to cancer treatment that targets enzymes which play a key role in translating DNA into proteins and which could lead to a new class of cancer drugs. Our genetic code is written in DNA, but in order to generate proteins - molecules that are vital to the function of living organisms - DNA first needs to be converted into RNA. The production of proteins is controlled by enzymes, which make chemical changes to RNA. Occasionally these enzymes become mis-regulated, being produced in over-abundance. In a study published in 2017, a team led by Professor Tony Kouzarides from the Milner ...

DURHAM, N.C. - Engineers at Duke University have developed the world's first fully recyclable printed electronics. By demonstrating a crucial and relatively complex computer component -- the transistor -- created with three carbon-based inks, the researchers hope to inspire a new generation of recyclable electronics to help fight the growing global epidemic of electronic waste. The work appears online April 26 in the journal Nature Electronics. "Silicon-based computer components are probably never going away, and we don't expect easily recyclable electronics like ours to replace the technology and devices that are already widely used," ...

A new way to identify tumours that could be sensitive to particular immunotherapies has been developed using data from thousands of NHS cancer patient samples sequenced through the 100,000 Genomes Project. The MMRDetect clinical algorithm makes it possible to identify tumours that have 'mismatch repair deficiencies' and then improve the personalisation of cancer therapies to exploit those weaknesses. The study, led by researchers from the University of Cambridge's Department of Medical Genetics and MRC Cancer Unit, identified nine DNA repair genes that are critical guardians of the human genome from damage caused by oxygen and water, as well as errors during cell division. The team used ...

Australian scientists have unlocked another mystery of the class of microorganisms believed to be among Earth's oldest of life forms, throwing new light on the study of cell division and the evolution of life. In a newly published paper in Nature Microbiology a research team from the iThree Institute at the University of Technology Sydney describes the cell division process used by the microorganism Haloferax volcanii from the archaea realm of single-celled life, which is distinct from bacteria. Archaea make up the third major grouping, or domain, of life on the planet, alongside eukaryotes (including all plants and animals) and bacteria, but were only recognised ...

Earthquakes and volcanoes in subduction zones may cause great human catastrophe. Previous studies on subduction zone structure and causal mechanisms of giant megathrust earthquakes (M ≥ 9.0) have mainly focused on aspects like subducting plates and plate interfaces. In contrast, the oceanic asthenosphere structure beneath the subducting slab (at depths of 100-250 km) and its influence on the nucleation of giant megathrust earthquakes have not been well studied. Recently, Dr. FAN Jianke from the Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS) and Prof. ZHAO Dapeng from Tohoku University ...

Weight loss surgery is more effective than dieting to reduce brain pressure that can cause blindness in patients with a neurological condition, finds a study led by the University of Birmingham and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB). Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH) is a debilitating condition that raises pressure in the brain and can lead to chronic headaches and even permanent sight loss. The illness, which often leaves patients with a reduced quality of life, predominately affects women aged 25 to 36 and weight gain is a major risk factor of developing IIH and relapses of the disease. Weight ...

Sponges: They are considered to be one of the most primitive forms of animal life, because they have neither locomotion organs nor a nervous system. A team around deep-sea scientist Antje Boetius has now discovered that sponges leave trails on the sea floor in the Arctic deep sea. They conclude that the animals might move actively - even if only a few centimetres per year. They are now publishing these unique findings in the journal Current Biology. The surprise was great when researchers looked at high-resolution images of the sea floor of the Arctic deep sea in detail: Path-like tracks across the sediments ended where sponges were located. These trails were observed to run in all directions, ...

Monday, 26 April 2021: A national study of 20,000 patients conducted by RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences and the HSE Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) has identified the underlying conditions that are associated with more severe outcomes from COVID-19 in an Irish setting. The research, which has been published in The Lancet Regional Health - Europe, will help inform national public health policies and assist in future treatment and prevention strategies for people at most risk from the virus. The study, which took place during the first wave of the pandemic between March and July 2020, is the first national surveillance study in Ireland that captures data from both hospital ...

MINNEAPOLIS/ST.PAUL (04/26/2021) -- A new study by five doctoral students in neuroscience at the University of Minnesota Medical School calls attention to a lack of regulation and unknown long-term health effects of tear gas. Based on their research, the group recommends changing the protocols around the use of tear gas as a crowd control measure at both the local and national level. "Following the murder of George Floyd and the protests in our city, we felt compelled to dig into the police force used during those protests. We are trained to look at data and ...

A NUST MISIS professor was part of an international research team that has found evidence for the existence of the Zeeman spin-orbit coupling in antiferromagnetic conductors. This work may pave the way for the next generation of electronics. The study was published in npj Quantum Materials. The electron possesses two fundamental properties: charge and spin. Conventional electronic devices use only the charge of electron for information processing. In recent years, an enormous research effort has been focused on building fundamentally new electronic devices (often called "spintronic devices") that would specifically exploit spin properties in addition to charge degrees of freedom. Transfer from conventional electronics to spintronics technology opens the possibilities to construct devices ...

BROOKLYN, New York, Thursday, April 22, 2021 - Rising sea levels and more powerful cyclonic storms, phenomena driven by the warming of oceans due to climate change, puts at immediate or potential risk an estimated 680 million people living in low-lying coastal zones (a number projected to reach more than one billion by 2050). In nations like Bangladesh these populations are already moving to escape sea-level rise. In a new study, "Modeling human migration under environmental change: a case study of the effect of sea level rise in Bangladesh," researchers led by Maurizio Porfiri, an engineer at ...

Blood transfusions are a common procedure in medical practice in which donated blood is used to replace blood lost to injury or surgery or to treat serious medical conditions. The procedure is not performed as routinely in the treatment of pet cats - but, as in people, can be lifesaving. The availability of donors has been a limitation in primary care veterinary practice, but with the growth of blood banks providing greater access to feline blood, the procedure is likely to become more commonplace. To address the need for authoritative guidance, not only on best practice but also some important considerations beyond the clinical procedure itself, the International Society of Feline Medicine (ISFM) has today published consensus guidelines in the Journal ...

From Cat's-Whisker detectors in the early 1900s to electronic circuit chips in modern-day mobile phones, electronic devices have been modified in myriad creative ways to adapt to the needs of humankind. Apart from increasing the efficiency of conventionally used semiconductors such as silicon, recent research has focused on exploring more cost effective semiconductor materials. In tune with these requirements, a new publication in Nature Materials has successfully tweaked low cost semiconducting materials, quite similar to the composition of plastic, into conducting electricity more efficiently than before. Solar cells have the property to convert ...

A study by a University of Illinois Chicago pediatric dentist has shown a novel way to track potential COVID-19 cases -- testing children who visit the dentist. The study also showed an over 2% positivity rate for the asymptomatic children tested. Dr. Flavia Lamberghini, UIC clinical assistant professor in the department of pediatric dentistry, has co-authored the article, "Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection in asymptomatic pediatric dental patients," in the April 2021 issue of the Journal of the American Dental Association. Co-authors are Dr. Fernando Testai, UIC professor ...

Brain changes in people with Alzheimer's disease and in those with mild traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) have significant similarities, a new USC study shows, suggesting new ways to identify patients at high risk for Alzheimer's. The findings appear this week in GeroScience. TBIs, which affect over 1.7 million Americans every year, are often followed by changes in brain structure and function and by cognitive problems such as memory deficits, impaired social function and difficulty with decision-making. Although mild TBI -- also known as concussion -- is a known risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, ...

Amsterdam, April 26, 2021 - Individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) face a wide range of symptoms and challenges. A team from Parkinson's UK, including several Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) contributors, surveyed patients to find out which PD symptoms troubled them most and how priorities may change with condition duration. Their goal was to identify where improved treatments and strategies are most needed to help maintain independence and quality of life. They report their findings in the Journal of Parkinson's Disease. "While PD has some common features such as tremor, rigidity, and bradykinesia, the disease is highly varied, with each individual experiencing their own unique blend of symptoms ...

Violent continental collisions and volcanic eruptions are not things normally associated with comfortable conditions for life. However, a new study, involving University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Associate Professor of Microbiology Karen Lloyd, unveils a large microbial ecosystem living deep within the earth that is fueled by chemicals produced during these tectonic cataclysms. When oceanic and continental plates collide, one plate is pushed down, or subducted, into the mantle and the other plate is pushed up and studded with volcanoes. This is the main process by which chemical elements are moved between Earth's surface and interior and eventually recycled back to ...

A Lancaster University professor has introduced a new concept for rapidly analysing for the presence of a virus from colds to coronaviruses. Based on analysing chemical elements the methodology, which has been adapted from an analytical technique used to identify metallic nanoparticles, is able to detect the presence of viruses within just 20 seconds. Although the tests would need to be performed in a lab, it could be used to quickly identify whether people admitted to hospitals have been infected by a virus - enabling clinicians to decide treatments and also whether to admit patients into isolation wards. The ...

DETROIT (April 26, 2021) - A new study by Henry Ford Health System published in Arthroscopy: The Journal of Arthroscopic and Related Surgery may signal a first step toward eliminating the use of opioids to relieve pain after knee surgery. A novel multimodal pain management protocol developed at Henry Ford can bring about immediate pain relief for knee injury patients without using powerful opioids like morphine, codeine, and oxycodone. "Orthopedic surgeons can now perform meniscal knee surgery without the need for prescribing opioids whatsoever," said Toufic Jildeh, M.D., chief resident at Henry Ford's Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and the study's lead researcher. "We believe this non-opioid approach can be replicated for other types of orthopedic ...

Philadelphia, April 26, 2021 - Fast turnaround of COVID-19 test results for healthcare workers is critical. Investigators have now developed a COVID-19 testing strategy that maximizes the proportion of negative results after a single round of testing, allowing prompt notification of results. The method also reduces the need for increasingly limited test reagents, as fewer additional tests are required. Their strategy is described in the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, published by Elsevier. There is an urgent need to reduce the spread of COVID-19 transmission in hospitals and care facilities and to maintain adequate levels of staffing. Group testing strategies with pooled samples have been proposed to increase capacity; however, the currently used strategies ...

Buyer beware: single-family homes in floodplains - almost 4 million U.S. homes - are overvalued by nearly $44 billion collectively or $11,526 per house on average, according to a new Stanford University-led study. The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, suggests that unaware buyers and inadequate disclosure laws drive up financial risks that could destabilize the real estate market. The threat is likely to grow as climate change drives more frequent extreme weather. (WATCH VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n18s5kcE0So) "The overvaluation we find is really concerning, ...

Results of a study co-authored by MGH Institute of Health Professions researcher Teresa Kimberley, PhD, PT, have the potential to be one of the most impressive advances in decades to help improve the lives of patients who have had a stroke with resulting arm weakness. In an article published April 22 in The Lancet, "Vagus Nerve Stimulation Paired with Rehabilitation for Upper Limb Motor Function After Ischaemic Stroke (VNS-REHAB): A Randomised, Blinded, Pivotal, Device Trial," the study reports that patients who incorporated vagus nerve stimulation during physical or occupational therapy showed 2 to 3 times the improvement in arm and hand function compared to those who received intense rehabilitation with sham stimulation. "How ...

With climate change looming, what must people hear to convince them to change their ways to stop harming the environment? A new Johns Hopkins University study finds stories to be significantly more motivating than scientific facts-- at least for some people. After hearing a compelling pollution-related story in which a man died, the average person paid more for green products than after having heard scientific facts about water pollution. But the average person in the study was a Democrat. Republicans paid less after hearing the story rather than the simple facts. The findings, published this week in the journal ...

Humans have been breeding plants for their economic value for thousands of years. Traditionally, plant breeding techniques included cumbersome and time-consuming techniques like grafting and hybridization to enhance traits of economic value like disease resistance and high nutrition content. Now, with the ability to edit plant DNA using revolutionary gene-editing tools, particularly the CRISPR-Cas9 system, it is possible to enhance traits of economic value in plants easily and more efficiently than by using traditional techniques. But for that, it is necessary to sequence whole ...