An engineered peptide given to ferrets two days before they were co-housed with SARS-CoV-2-infected animals prevented virus transmission to the treated ferrets, a new study shows. The peptides used are highly stable and thus have the potential to translate into effective intranasal prophylaxis to reduce infection and severe SARS-CoV-2 disease in humans, the study's authors say. The SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein binds to host cells to initiate infection. This stage in the virus life history is a target for drug inhibition. Here, researchers with past success designing lipopeptide fusion inhibitors that block this critical first step of infection for SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses sought to design ...

Tsukuba, Japan -- As March comes around, many people experience hay fever. As excessive immune responses go, most would admit that hay fever really isn't that bad. At the other end of the spectrum are severely debilitating autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis. A common thread in all these conditions are cytokines, molecules that cause inflammation. Recent research by the University of Tsukuba sheds light on the effect of excessive cytokines on neuronal and glial cells in the brain. Researchers led by Professor Yosuke Takei and Assistant Professor Tetsuya Sasaki at the University of Tsukuba in ...

Meteorologists frequently study precipitation events using radar imagery generated at both ground level and from satellite data. Radar sends out electromagnetic waves that "bounce" off ice or water droplets suspended in the air. These waves quickly return to the radar site in a process named "backscattering." Scientists have observed that backscattering reaches its peak during the melting process as water falls through the atmosphere. High backscattering typically results in warm color returns on a radar displays, indicating heavy precipitation. However, recent case studies noted that partially frozen droplets seem ...

Cryptomeria japonica, or the Japanese cedar, is highly revered as the national tree of Japan. Locally known as "sugi," it covers over 4.5 million hectares of land, accounting for nearly half of Japan's artificial forests. However, it is also notorious for causing hay fever, with a good 26.5% of Japan's population reporting cedar pollen allergies in 2008. Over the past years, pollen allergy caused by this conifer has become a widespread social issue among Japanese residents, with many having to avoid going outdoors during pollen season. As sterile trees cannot produce and release functional pollen, it is believed that breeding of male-sterile cedar trees could be crucial in reducing the pollen released ...

A team of MedUni Vienna researchers led by Johannes A. Schmid at the Center for Physiology and Pharmacology, Institute of Vascular Biology and Thrombosis Research, has managed to identify a previously unknown molecular connection between an inflammatory signalling molecule and one of the main oncogenes. The study has been published in the leading journal "Molecular Cancer". Johannes A. Schmid's working group at the Center for Physiology and Pharmacology, Institute of Vascular Biology and Thrombosis Research, already has many years' experience in the molecular ...

The Silk Road was the most elaborate network of trade routes in the ancient world, linking ancient populations in East Asia to those in southwest Asia, via Central Asia. These trade routes fostered the spread of ideas, religions, and technologies over the past 2,000 years. Before the establishment of organized exchange, starting around the time of the Chinese Han Dynasty (2,223 years ago), a process of trans-Eurasian exchange was already underway through the river valleys and oases of Central Asia. The establishment of populations in the oases of the Taklimakan Desert ...

Cardiovascular system can be regarded as a mechanical system centered on the heart. Blood flow in the vascular system, hemodynamics factors within the vasculature contain wall shear stress, circumferential wall tensile stress and hydrostatic pressure. Mechanical forces play an important role in vasculature and circulation, such as rapid regulation of vascular wall elasticity, administration of vascular remodeling, and the formation of arteriosclerotic lesions. Stress stimulation within the physiological range enables cells in dynamic balance to maintain homeostasis of vascular morphology, structure and function. Inversely, abnormal stresses stimulation, such as low shear stress, disturbed shear stress and high tensile strain, can break this balance ...

More people than expected ended their own lives in 2020 in Japan, overturning a decadelong slow decline in the nation's annual number of suicides, according to a new analysis by public health experts at the University of Tokyo. The increase in suicides was especially pronounced among women younger than 30, potentially due to the COVID-19 pandemic's disproportionate effect on part-time and travel industry employees. "This trend of increased suicides among young women and university and high school students is very different from before COVID-19. Before COVID-19, if suicides increased, we would expect more deaths of middle-aged men," said Dr. Haruka Sakamoto, an expert in public health at the University of Tokyo and first author of the research publication in the Journal of the ...

After seven years of intense research, a research group from Aarhus University has succeeded - through an interdisciplinary collaboration - in understanding why a very extended structure is important for an essential protein from the human immune system. The new results offer new opportunities for adjusting the activity of the immune system both up and down. Stimulation is interesting in relation to cancer treatment, while inhibition of the immune system is used in treatment of autoimmune diseases. In our bloodstream and tissues, the complement system acts as one of the very first defense mechanisms against pathogenic organisms. When these are ...

People with asthma in the most deprived areas are 50% more likely to be admitted to hospital and to die from asthma compared with those in the least deprived areas, a new five-year study of over 100,000 people in Wales has revealed. Those from more deprived backgrounds were also found to have a poor balance of essential asthma medications that help prevent asthma attacks. The new research, published in the journal PLOS Medicine, was conducted by Swansea University's Wales Asthma Observatory in collaboration with Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research and Liverpool University, and found ...

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--February 16, 2021--In people with central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma, cancerous B cells--a type of white blood cell--accumulate to form tumors in the brain or spinal cord, often in close proximity to blood vessels. This disease is quite rare, but individuals who are affected have limited treatment options and often experience recurrence. Previous research has linked the severity of CNS lymphoma to abnormal leaks in the blood-brain barrier, a protective system that allows some substances to pass from the bloodstream to the brain, while blocking others. However, the specific molecular details of this link have been murky. Now, Gladstone researchers have ...

Tsukuba, Japan - It's tough out there in the sea, as the widespread loss of complex marine communities is testament to. Researchers from Japan have discovered that ocean acidification favors degraded turf algal systems over corals and other algae, thanks to the help of feedback loops. In a study published this month in Communications Biology, researchers from the University of Tsukuba have revealed that ocean acidification and feedback loops stabilize degraded turf algal systems, limiting the recruitment of coral and other algae. Oceans are undergoing widespread changes as a result of human activities. These changes take the form of regime shifts - major, sudden and persistent changes in ecosystem structure and function. An example is the replacement of coral reefs and kelp ...

An estimated 1.1 billion people were living with untreated vision impairment in 2020, but researchers say more than 90 per cent of vision loss could be prevented or treated with existing, highly cost-effective interventions. Published today in The Lancet Global Health, a new commission report on global eye health calls for eye care to be included in mainstream health services and development policies. It argues that this is essential to achieve the WHO goal of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Written by 73 leading experts from 25 countries, including University of ...

FEBRUARY 15, 2021, NEW YORK - A Ludwig Cancer Research study has identified a novel mechanism by which a type of cancer immunotherapy known as CTLA-4 blockade can disable suppressive immune cells to aid the destruction of certain tumors. The tumors in question are relatively less reliant on burning sugar through a biochemical process known as glycolysis. Researchers led by Taha Merghoub and Jedd Wolchok of the Ludwig Center at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) and former postdoc Roberta Zappasodi--now at Weill Cornell Medicine--have discovered that in a mouse model of glycolysis-deficient tumors, CTLA-4 blockade does ...

Durham, NC- Can stem cells alleviate lymphedema, a chronic debilitating condition affecting up to one in three women treated for breast cancer? Results of a phase I clinical trial released today in STEM CELLS Translational Medicine (SCTM) show there is a strong possibility that the answer is yes. Lymphedema is swelling due to a build-up of fluid in lymph nodes - vessels that help rid the body of toxins, waste, and other unwanted materials- usually occurring in an arm or leg. While it can be the result of an inherited condition, its most common cause in the Western world is the removal of or damage to the lymph nodes during the course of cancer ...

CHICAGO --- Muscle soreness and achy joints are common symptoms among COVID-19 patients. But for some people, symptoms are more severe, long lasting and even bizarre, including rheumatoid arthritis flares, autoimmune myositis or "COVID toes." A new Northwestern Medicine study has, for the first time, confirmed and illustrated the causes of these symptoms through radiological imaging. "We've realized that the COVID virus can trigger the body to attack itself in different ways, which may lead to rheumatological issues that require lifelong management," said corresponding author Dr. Swati Deshmukh. The paper will be published Feb. 17 in the journal Skeletal Radiology. The study is a retrospective review of data from patients who presented to Northwestern Memorial Hospital between ...

A woman's body shape--not only the amount of fat--is what drives stigma associated with overweight and obesity. Fat stigma is a socially acceptable form of prejudice that contributes to poor medical outcomes and negatively affects educational and economic opportunities. But a new study has found that not all overweight and obese body shapes are equally stigmatized. Scientists from Arizona State University and Oklahoma State University have shown that women with abdominal fat around their midsection are more stigmatized than those with gluteofemoral fat on the hips, buttocks and thighs. The work will be published on February 17 in Social Psychology and Personality Science. "Fat stigma is pervasive, painful and results ...

To provoke more interest and excitement for students and lecturers alike, a professor from Florida Atlantic University's College of Engineering and Computer Science is spicing up the study of complex differential mathematical equations using relevant history of algebra. In a paper published in the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, Isaac Elishakoff, Ph.D., provides a refreshing perspective and a special "shout out" to Stephen Colbert, comedian and host of CBS's The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. His motivation? Colbert previously referred to mathematical equations as ...

Children are protected from severe COVID-19 because their innate immune system is quick to attack the virus, a new study has found. The research led by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) and published in Nature Communications, found that specialised cells in a child's immune system rapidly target the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). MCRI's Dr Melanie Neeland said the reasons why children have mild COVID-19 disease compared to adults, and the immune mechanisms underpinning this protection, were unknown until this study. "Children are less likely to become infected with the virus and up to a third are asymptomatic, which is strikingly different to ...

A new study, published in Bioscience, considers the future of ecology, where technological advancement towards a multidimensional science will continue to fundamentally shift the way we view, explore, and conceptualize the natural world. The study, co-led by Greg Asner, Director of the Arizona State University Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science, in collaboration with Auburn University, the Oxford Seascape Ecology Lab, and other partners, demonstrates how the integration of remotely sensed 3D information holds great potential to provide new ecological insights on land and in the oceans. Scientific research into 3D digital applications in ecology has grown in the last decade. Landscape ...

With every passing day, human technology becomes more refined and we become slightly better equipped to look deeper into biological processes and molecular and cellular structures, thereby gaining greater understanding of mechanisms underlying diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer's, and others. Today, nanoimaging, one such cutting-edge technology, is widely used to structurally characterize subcellular components and cellular molecules such as cholesterol and fatty acids. But it is not without its limitations, as Professor Dae Won Moon of Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Technology (DGIST), Korea, lead scientist in a recent groundbreaking study advancing the field, explains: "Most advanced nanoimaging techniques use accelerated electron or ion beams ...

Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines to prevent COVID-19 have made headlines around the world recently, but scientists have also been working on mRNA vaccines to treat or prevent other diseases, including some forms of cancer. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Nano Letters have developed a hydrogel that, when injected into mice with melanoma, slowly released RNA nanovaccines that shrank tumors and kept them from metastasizing. Cancer immunotherapy vaccines work similarly to mRNA vaccines for COVID-19, except they activate the immune system to attack tumors instead of a virus. These vaccines contain mRNA that encodes proteins made specifically by tumor cells. When the mRNA enters antigen-presenting cells, they begin making the tumor protein and displaying it on their surfaces, ...

Swimming in indoor or outdoor pools is a healthy form of exercise and recreation for many people. However, studies have linked compounds that arise from chlorine disinfection of the pools to respiratory problems, including asthma, in avid swimmers. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology have found that using a complementary form of disinfection, known as copper-silver ionization (CSI), can decrease disinfection byproducts and cell toxicity of chlorinated swimming pool water. Disinfecting swimming pool water is necessary to inactivate harmful pathogens. Although an effective ...

Washington, February 17, 2021--As higher education institutions worldwide transition to new methods of instruction, including the use of more pre-recorded videos, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many observers are concerned that student learning is suffering as a result. However, a new comprehensive review of research offers some positive news for college students. The authors found that, in many cases, replacing teaching methods with pre-recorded videos leads to small improvements in learning and that supplementing existing content with videos results in strong learning benefits. The study ...

Geologists have developed a new theory about the state of Earth billions of years ago after examining the very old rocks formed in the Earth's mantle below the continents. Assistant Professor Emma Tomlinson from Trinity College Dublin and Queensland University of Technology's Professor Balz Kamber have just published their research in leading international journal, Nature Communications. The seven continents on Earth today are each built around a stable interior called a craton, and geologists believe that craton stabilisation some 2.5 - 3 billion years ago was critical to the emergence of land masses on Earth. Little is known about how cratons and their supporting ...