Photos A new analysis of thousands of native and nonnative Michigan bees shows that the most diverse bee communities have the lowest levels of three common viral pathogens. University of Michigan researchers netted and trapped more than 4,000 bees from 60 species. The bees were collected at winter squash farms across Michigan, where both managed honeybee colonies and wild native bees pollinate the squash flowers. All but one species--Apis mellifera, the common European honeybee--are native bees. The number of bee species found at each farm ranged from seven to 49. Consistently, lower virus levels were strongly linked to greater species richness among the local bee communities. ...

In Huntington's disease, a faulty protein aggregates in brain cells and eventually kills them. Such protein aggregates could, in principle, be prevented with a heat shock protein. However, it is not well known how these proteins interact with the Huntington's disease protein. New research by Patrick van der Wel (University of Groningen, the Netherlands) and colleagues at the University of Texas has partially resolved the structure of heat shock proteins that bind to such aggregating proteins, helping us to understand how they work. The results were published on 11 February in the journal Nature Communications. Heat shock proteins (Hsp) are produced by cells that are exposed to stressful conditions. The Hsp family is diverse, and quite a few of the ...

A new study has identified early risk factors that predicted heightened anxiety in young adults during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The findings from the study, supported by the National Institutes of Health and published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, could help predict who is at greatest risk of developing anxiety during stressful life events in early adulthood and inform prevention and intervention efforts. The investigators examined data from 291 participants who had been followed from toddlerhood to young adulthood as part of a larger study on temperament and socioemotional development. The researchers ...

Osteoporosis is a leading global health challenge. Besides its own adverse effects, it also impairs the function of bone implants - normally made of a metal called titanium (Ti). Because there is less bone than normal in the implantation site, the implants could easily loosen, and persistent inflammation often accompanies. Recently, Chinese scientists from the University of Macau and Nanjing University, in collaboration with National Dental Centre Singapore, invent a bioactive coating that can be chemically linked onto normal Ti surface. This coating, ...

WHAT: The rise of several significant variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has attracted the attention of health and science experts worldwide. In an editorial published in JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, experts from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, outline how these variants have arisen, concerns about whether vaccines currently authorized for use will continue to protect against new variants, and the need for a global approach to fighting SARS-CoV-2 as it spreads and acquires additional mutations. The article was written by NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.; John R. Mascola, ...

How much does a power system's reliability depend on the temperature? Electric power system generator resource adequacy modeling is designed to help determine capacity requirements for electric power system operators across the United States. While calculating resource adequacy requirements has been done for a century, it requires ongoing attention as the generation mix is constantly expanding and changing. A new paper contributes to these ongoing reliability considerations by using a unique data set to determine how both low and high temperatures reduce the reliability of coal, gas, diesel, hydroelectric, and nuclear power generators and thus affect the amount of generation markets should contract for. The paper, "Resource Adequacy Implications ...

In a courtesy call to HE the President of Malta at San Anton Palace on Thursday, February 11, 2021, Dr Noel Aquilina from the Department of Chemistry, accompanied by Professor Emmanuel Sinagra, Head of the Department of Chemistry and Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Malta, presented the findings of a landmark study. This study shows and confirms that airborne particulate matter (PM), apart from several toxic components, is also contaminated with tobacco smoke-driven particulates. After 30 years, Dr Noel Aquilina, alongside world renowned tobacco smoke-related researchers, ...

The Internet has revolutionized our lives - whether in terms of working, finding information or entertainment, connecting with others, or shopping. The online world has made many things easier and opened up previously unimaginable opportunities. At the same time, it presents both individuals and societies with major challenges: The underlying technologies do not necessarily serve users' best interests. "We're interested in questions such as: How can we create online environments that respect human autonomy and promote truth? And what can people themselves do to avoid being ...

An international team of scientists has determined how harmless E. coli gut bacteria in chickens can easily pick up the genes required to evolve to cause a life-threatening infection. Their study, published in Nature Communications, warns that such infections not only affect the poultry industry but could also potentially cross over to infect humans. E. coli is a common bacterium that lives in the intestines of most animals, including humans. It is usually harmless when it stays in the gut, however it can become very dangerous if it invades the bloodstream, causing ...

"We are surrounded by a huge number of systems - biological, technical, economic, which we can influence, which we can control. The task is to do it optimally, for example, reaching the desired point with a minimum of effort, resources, and time, - explains Prof. Yurii Averboukh. - From a mathematical point of view, the task is narrowed down to the theory of optimal control. A classic example of this theory is moon landing: fuel consumption optimization enables to increase cargo volumes transported to the moon". A special section of optimal control theory is the theory of differential games. It studies the control ...

Sophia Antipolis, 12 February 2021: An active lifestyle is linked with a lower chance of dying immediately from a heart attack, according to a study published today in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).1 Heart disease is the leading cause of death globally and prevention is a major public health priority. The beneficial impact of physical activity in stopping heart disease and sudden death on a population level is well documented. This study focused on the effect of an active versus sedentary lifestyle on the immediate course of a heart attack - an area with ...

A study has now been presented that boosts the evidence for using AI solutions in skin cancer diagnostics. With an algorithm they devised themselves, scientists at the University of Gothenburg show the capacity of technology to perform at the same level as dermatologists in assessing the severity of skin melanoma. The study, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, and its results are the work of a research group at the Department of Dermatology and Venereology at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg. The study was conducted at Sahlgrenska University ...

Novel genetic associations could pave the way for early interventions and personalized treatment of an incurable condition. Scientists from the University of Bergen (Norway) and Karolinska Institutet (Sweden) have discovered the genes involved in autoimmune Addison's disease, a condition where the body's immune systems destroys the adrenal cortex leading to a life-threatening hormonal deficiency of cortisol and aldosterone. Groundbreaking study The rarity of Addison's disease has until now made scanning of the whole genome for clues to the disease's genetic origins difficult, as this method normally requires many thousands of study participants. However, by combining the world's two largest ...

Tumor cells are able to avoid the attack of the immune system through several mechanisms. For instance, these can secrete factors that turn macrophages -cells in the immune system- into dual action agents that contribute to the tumor progress and will protect it from immune body defences: these become, thus, the tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). An article published in the journal Cancer Research describes a new molecular mechanism that counteracts the immunosupressive action of these macrophaes to boost tumor growth, and brings knowledge of potential interest for the design of future therapeutical options against cancer. The preclinical study is led by the tenure-track 2 lecturer Annabel Valledor, from the Faculty ...

Most tumors consist of a heterogenous mix of cells. Genetic mutations found only in some of these cells are known to aid with the spread and progression of cancer. However, oncologists often find that when tumors metastasize to distant organs, they retain this heterogenous nature--a phenomenon termed "polyclonal metastasis". The mechanism by which non-metastatic cells accompany the metastatic cells is ambiguous. Now, Masanobu Oshima and his research team have used mouse models to explain how non-metastatic cells begin their long commute. The team has previously developed various cancerous mutants of mice and analyzed ...

New research shows that hurricane maximum wind speeds in the subtropical Atlantic around Bermuda have more than doubled on average over the last 60 years due to rising ocean temperatures in the region. Hurricanes intensify by extracting energy from the warm ocean surface via air-sea heat fluxes, so a warmer ocean can lead to more intense hurricanes. Improving predictions of wind speeds from hurricanes will help determine the right level of response in advance of the storm and potentially limit the resulting damage in Bermuda. Between 1955 and ...

Hydrogen for energy use can be extracted in an environmentally friendly way from water and sunlight, using photocatalytic composite polymer nanoparticles developed by researchers at Uppsala University. In laboratory tests, these "polymer dots" showed promising performance and stability alike. The study has been published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. How we are to meet future demand for sustainable energy is a much-debated question. One feasible way to go is hydrogen, which can be produced from renewable resources: water and solar energy. But the process ...

Cisplatin is one of the most effective chemotherapy agents, used in just under half of pediatric cancer cases. Permanent hearing loss is a common side effect of this medication, but until now, studies have been too small and too varied to accurately characterize this risk. Today in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, investigators at Children's Hospital Los Angeles published results of the largest study of cisplatin-induced hearing loss to date. The study establishes the first benchmarks for the prevalence of hearing loss, and reveals that the risk of hearing loss is affected not only by how much drug is given, but by how that drug is delivered--dosing schedules, complementary treatments, and more. These findings will allow oncologists to deliver more information ...

If you're poor and terminally ill in southern Mexico, there's far less chance you'll get the painkillers you need for palliative care than your cousins in more prosperous regions, particularly those pharmacy-rich areas along Mexico-U.S. border, say UCLA researchers and colleagues who studied opioid dispensing levels across the country. What's more, the researchers' paper in the journal The Lancet Public Health suggests it's likely that some of the opioids intended for Mexican citizens are ending up in American pockets. Despite a Mexican government initiative launched in 2015 to improve access to prescription opioids among palliative care patients, the country has seen only a marginal increase in dispensing levels, and inequities in dispensing ...

A novel computer algorithm, or set of rules, that accurately predicts the orbits of planets in the solar system could be adapted to better predict and control the behavior of the plasma that fuels fusion facilities designed to harvest on Earth the fusion energy that powers the sun and stars. The algorithm, devised by a scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), applies machine learning, the form of artificial intelligence (AI) that learns from experience, to develop the predictions. "Usually in physics, you make observations, create a theory based on those observations, and then use that theory to predict new observations," said PPPL physicist Hong Qin, author of a paper detailing ...

Monash University researchers have uncovered the barrier to β-cell (beta cell) regeneration that could pave the way for improved treatments for diabetes and diseases that involve organ and tissue damage. The human body doesn't repair itself very well, with our liver the only organ that can regenerate efficiently. We have limited capacity to regenerate new cells or tissue after birth as the genes involved in development are switched off. This process happens through DNA methylation, a biological process where chemicals (methyl groups) are written on DNA and modify the way the gene functions. ...

A team of researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) used a quantum computer to successfully simulate an aspect of particle collisions that is typically neglected in high-energy physics experiments, such as those that occur at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. The quantum algorithm they developed accounts for the complexity of parton showers, which are complicated bursts of particles produced in the collisions that involve particle production and decay processes. Classical algorithms typically used to model parton showers, such ...

An international research team led by Professor Kari Rissanen of the University of Jyvaskyla (Finland) and Professor Antonio Frontera of the University of Balearic Islands (Spain) has demonstrated that positively charged iodine (termed iodonium) is able to favorably interact with a silver cation (Ag+), overcoming the strong electrostatic repulsion. The research was published online in Chem -journal 8th of February 2021. It is well known and intuitive that iodide (I-) has a strong affinity for Ag+. For instance, AgI is one of the most insoluble inorganic salts ...

When we listen to speech sounds, the information that enters our left and right ear is not exactly the same. This may be because acoustic information reaches one ear before the other, or because the sound is perceived as louder by one of the ears. Information about speech sounds also reaches different parts of our brain, and the two hemispheres are specialised in processing different types of acoustic information. But how does the brain integrate auditory information from different areas? To investigate this question, lead researcher Basil Preisig from the University of Zurich collaborated with an international team of scientists. In an earlier study, the team discovered that the brain integrates information about speech sounds by 'balancing' the rhythm of gamma waves across ...

Most countries introduced school closures during the spring of 2020 despite substantial uncertainty regarding the effectiveness in containing SARS-CoV-2. In Sweden, upper-secondary schools moved online while lower-secondary schools remained open. A comparison of parents with children in the final year of lower-secondary and first year of upper-secondary school shows that keeping the former open had limited consequences for the overall transmission of the virus. However, the infection rate doubled among lower-secondary teachers relative to upper-secondary ones. The infection rate among partners of lower-secondary teacher was 30 percent higher than among their upper-secondary counterparts. On March 18, 2020, Swedish ...