A new study on herpes infections of the eye from University of Illinois Chicago researchers helps shed light on the question of viral reinfections by identifying a key protein involved in viral reinfections that could be targeted by antiviral drugs. The UIC team examined how the heparanase protein, which is present in all our cells, affects reinfection from the herpes simplex virus type 1 in mice. They found that inhibiting heparanase activity can protect the eyes from being reinfected. Mice that had their heparanase protein blocked ...

Drilling will start on the West Virginia University geothermal and carbon capture data-collection well during the second week of May, marking a significant step forward in clean energy research in West Virginia. This will be the first-of-its-kind geothermal study in West Virginia and will collect core samples and temperature data down to a depth of 15,000 feet, critical to testing the potential of geothermal energy in the region. Data also will be gathered on the potential for underground carbon storage in the Appalachian basin — another scientific first in the state. The project is ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- While the coronavirus continues to infect people around the world, researchers at the University of Missouri have identified a specific protein inside the human body that plays a critical role in how the virus spreads from cell to cell after infection — a discovery that will help better understand the COVID-19 disease and could lead to the development of new antiviral drugs in the future. The finding provides new insight into how the protein, known as the occludin protein, serves as a mediator for cell-to-cell transmission ...

ATLANTA – ACR Convergence 2023, the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) and the world’s premier rheumatology experience, will be held Nov. 10 – 15 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, CA. This year’s meeting includes the return of an in-person poster hall, five in-person networking lounges, CME for select plenary sessions, and an extra half day of scientific sessions. “We are looking forward to a great meeting this fall in beautiful San Diego! This year, we will showcase a greater number and diversity of sessions with our return to the original meeting length,” ...

Photos The first statistically realistic roadway simulation has been developed by researchers at the University of Michigan. While it currently represents a particularly perilous roundabout, future work will expand it to include other driving situations for testing autonomous vehicle software.   The simulation is a machine-learning model that trained on data collected at a roundabout on the south side of Ann Arbor, recognized as one of the most crash-prone intersections in the state of Michigan and conveniently just a few miles from the offices of the research team.    Known as the Neural Naturalistic Driving Environment or NeuralNDE, it turned that data into a simulation ...

About The Study: This systematic review and meta-analysis of 53 longitudinal studies including more than 40,000 children and adolescents across 12 countries found an increase in depression symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly among female individuals and those from relatively higher-income backgrounds. Anxiety symptoms increased slightly during the pandemic. These findings can inform policy and public health responses to address mental health concerns.  Authors: Sheri Madigan, Ph.D., of the University of Calgary in Calgary, Canada, is the ...

About The Study: The results of this study of 1,300 participants suggest that increased physical activity was associated with functional recovery 6 months after stroke. Interventions targeting individuals with decreasing physical activity in the subacute phase of stroke may play a role in improved functional outcomes. Authors: Dongni Buvarp, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Gothenburg in Gothenburg, Sweden, is the corresponding author.  To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/  (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.10919) Editor’s ...

A new artificial intelligence system called a semantic decoder can translate a person’s brain activity — while listening to a story or silently imagining telling a story — into a continuous stream of text. The system developed by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin might help people who are mentally conscious yet unable to physically speak, such as those debilitated by strokes, to communicate intelligibly again. The study, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, was led by Jerry Tang, a doctoral student in computer science, and Alex Huth, an assistant professor of neuroscience and computer science at UT Austin. The work relies in part on a transformer ...

In 2010 Prof. Shlomo Havlin and collaborators published an article in the journal Nature proposing that the abrupt electricity failure causing the famous 2003 Italy blackout was a consequence of the inter-dependency of two networks. According to Havlin's theory the dependency between the power network and its communication system led to cascading failures and abrupt collapse. Havlin's seminal work ignited a new field in statistical physics known as “network of networks” or "interdependent networks" and paved the way for understanding and predicting the effects of the ...

An unusually well-preserved "Marine Dwarf World" from 462 million years ago was found at Castle Bank, Wales by a team led by the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS). The site comprises over 150 species, with many of miniaturized body size. It is one of the world's most unexpected fossil sites. The study was published in Nature Ecology & Evolution on May 1. Castle Bank, in Powys, is one of the very rare sites where soft tissue and complete organisms are preserved, providing ...

TAMPA, Fla. (May 1, 2023) – Ten Florida inventors inducted into the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame demonstrate that a personal drive to improve the human condition is a powerful force for transformation. Among them are Jonathan Rothberg, who pioneered the next-generation of human DNA sequencing, enabling low-cost decoding of human and other living organisms’ genomes; and Daniel Joseph, whose advances in special effects and illusion at Disney Imagineering have revolutionized the theme park experience ...

Efforts to combat climate change have contributed to the rise of renewable energy production through solar panels, windmills, and other technologies. Because of this, consumers have now become “prosumers,” capable of producing their own electricity. While the prosumers’ use of distributed renewable energy increases the energy sector’s resilience, their decreased reliance on the bulk electricity market has led to new and unintended consequences. It is anticipated that these avenues will push traditional consumers to become prosumers, making it difficult to recover lumpsum infrastructure investments ...

Magnesium diboride (MgB2), a binary compound, behaves as a superconductor – a substance that offers no resistance to electric current flowing through it – at a moderate temperature of around 39 K (-234°C). This temperature can be achieved using relatively inexpensive liquid hydrogen or neon coolants. In addition, MgB2 is inexpensive, lightweight, and non-toxic, and its precursors – magnesium (Mg) and boron (B) – are abundantly available. As a result, it can replace conventional low-temperature ...

Boston, MA - Hebrew SeniorLife, a Harvard Medical School-affiliated, integrated system of health care, senior living, research, and teaching that serves more than 3,000 Greater Boston seniors each day, announces the appointment of Steve Landers M.D., MPH as its new president & chief executive officer. Dr. Landers comes to Hebrew SeniorLife from Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) Health Group, Inc., one of the oldest, largest, and most respected home health, hospice, and community health organizations in the country, where he has served since 2012 as president and chief executive officer. He is a practicing physician, certified in family medicine, geriatric medicine, and ...

At the end of 2022, the federal government eliminated the “X waiver,” a major hurdle to providing addiction treatment, but progress needs to be continued, according to the authors of a new Perspective piece published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The X waiver required a special license and uncompensated training for physicians and other prescribers, creating a regulatory barrier to offering lifesaving buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder. Ending the X, the authors write, is necessary but not sufficient to achieve overdose-prevention goals. Sarah Wakeman, MD, Medical Director for Substance Use Disorder at Mass General Brigham, and her co-author ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The mechanics behind the collapse of soft materials structure have befuddled researchers for decades. In a new study, researchers uncover a metric that finally correlates microscopic-level processes with what is seen at the macroscopic level. The new metric is poised to help bring advances to various materials engineering challenges – ranging from the formulation of better 3D printing inks, the construction of wearable flexible electronics and sensors, the accurate printing of biomedical implants, to helping control landslides and avalanches, and ...

(Boston)–Five Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine faculty have been honored as 2023 Educators of the Year by the School’s Awards Committee. Nominated by students and faculty, the annual awards recognize School of Medicine educators who provide excellence in teaching and mentoring.   This year’s recipients are Ricardo Cruz, MD, MPH, Educator of the Year, Preclerkship; Julia Bartolomeo, MD, Educator of the Year, Clerkship; Lillian Sosa, MS, CGC, Educator of the Year in MA/MS Programs; Douglas Rosene, PhD, ...

(Boston)—Sean D. Tallman, PhD, RPA, assistant professor of anatomy & neurobiology at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar Award. This award allows U.S. academics to engage in multi-country, trans-regional projects.   Tallman will travel to South Africa for 10 months to conduct human skeletal biology research for his project, "Assessing the Effects of Disadvantage and Ancestry in Skeletal Health and Forensic Medicine" at the University of Cape Town and Stellenbosch University.   Tallman ...

Photonic chips have revolutionized data-heavy technologies. On their own or in concert with traditional electronic circuits, these laser-powered devices send and process information at the speed of light, making them a promising solution for artificial intelligence’s data-hungry applications. In addition to their incomparable speed, photonic circuits use significantly less energy than electronic ones. Electrons move relatively slowly through hardware, colliding with other particles and generating heat, while photons flow without losing energy, ...

INDIANAPOLIS – A new study conducted by researchers from Regenstrief Institute and the universities of South Carolina and Indiana has found that the most commonly prescribed blood pressure medications, taken for at least six months prior to an intensive care unit (ICU) admission, did not protect against developing delirium in the ICU, regardless of patient age, gender, race, co-morbidities or insurance status. Delirium, an acute brain failure, affects approximately seven million hospitalized patients in the U.S. annually and is associated with longer hospital and ICU length of stay, higher likelihood ...

[LOS ANGELES (May 1, 2023) — While Wilms tumor—also known as nephroblastoma-- is rare, it is the most prevalent childhood kidney cancer. Researchers at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles have now pinpointed a disruption in early kidney progenitor cell development that can be linked to the formation of Wilms tumor. In a study published in Advanced Science, researchers at the GOFARR Laboratory in Urology compared kidney progenitor cells from a tumor with precursor cells from a healthy kidney. Normally, these precursor cells mature into kidney cells, but when their early development is dysregulated, they behave like cancer stem cells. While most children ...

Researchers, including from NTNU, are breeding bacteria-free fish fry. This pursuit is more important than you might think. “We’re managing to keep the fry bacteria-free for up to 12 weeks after the eggs hatch,” says Ingrid Bakke. She is a professor at NTNU’s Department of Biotechnology and Food Science. This step has now helped researchers on the trail to figuring out how bacteria and fish affect each other. Understanding their interaction could one day also lead to a method ...

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a clinical syndrome characterized by a decrease in kidney function. AKI is very common in the United States' Medicare population, particularly among hospital intensive care unit (ICU) admissions. Furthermore, AKI is associated with the incidence of end-stage renal disease, which eventually increases the burden of long-term care, higher health-care costs, and increased mortality. In several instances, kidney diseases have been linked to air pollution exposure. Inhaling air pollutants, including gases like nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3), and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) that remains suspended in ...

SAN FRANCISCO —The Public Library of Science (PLOS) is pleased to announce an agreement with the University of Padua to facilitate unlimited publishing across all 12 PLOS titles with no fees for researchers. This agreement encompasses PLOS’ three innovative publishing models, ensuring researchers from the University of Padua to benefit from frictionless, fee-free publishing with PLOS. This agreement represents another in the Europe, following agreements in Germany, Sweden, Ireland and the UK (Jisc). “We are excited to expand our footprint ...

Statement Highlights: More than half of people who survive a stroke develop cognitive impairment within the first year after their stroke, and as many as 1 in 3 may develop dementia within 5 years. The high risk of cognitive impairment and dementia after a stroke suggests early screening is essential for determining initial treatment, such as multidisciplinary care, cognitive rehabilitation or increased physical activity. It’s also important to assess stroke survivors for cognitive changes over time to offer appropriate treatment modifications and support for longer-term care. Cognitive impairment after stroke may fluctuate, particularly ...