In the early 1990s, scientists who were studying the development of a roundworm identified a small RNA molecule that regulated the expression of specific genes. This marked the discovery of microRNAs (miRNAs), which are now known to be present across all forms of life. As it turns out, these molecules play essential roles in many biological processes. A few years later, researchers realized that diseases could dysregulate the expression of miRNAs, highlighting their potential as biomarkers. In fact, abnormal miRNA expression is a hallmark of all tumor-related diseases. Thus, miRNA detection techniques ...

Brain tumors located in regions that control speech, vision and motor function present additional challenges to neurosurgeons, as damaging the surrounding tissue can cause severe loss of those abilities.. Because of this, these regions are known as “eloquent brain areas” and require special attention and approaches to limit damage and deficits. The University of Cincinnati’s Paolo Palmisciano, MD, was part of a research team that examined how well a minimally invasive approach worked to limit vision and hearing loss in patients following brain tumor surgery. The research was published in the journal Brain Sciences, and the ...

The report, “Wrestling with Social and Behavioral Genomics: Risks, Potential Benefits, and Ethical Responsibility,” produced by The Hastings Center, a bioethics institute, provides direction for research and communications in this area of study with both significant social risks and potential benefits. It is  accompanied by an article that describes a fledgling effort to integrate community perspectives on the ethics of this research. A webinar to launch the consensus report will take place today at 3 PM EST. Register here. Research on genetic variants and human social and behavioral characteristics, or phenotypes, including anxiety, subjective well-being, ...

The objective of this study is to identify these loci and decipher the polygenic architecture of malic acid content in tomato fruit. The authors carried out a GWAS using six milestone models with two-environment repeats. A series of associated SNP variations were identified from GWAS, and 15 high-confidence annotated genes were obtained based on the lead SNPs and the malic acid accumulation. The optimal allelic combination of the 15 loci was presented for tastier tomato. ...

A severe windstorm that battered the UK more than a century ago produced some of the strongest winds[OS1]  that Britain has ever seen, a team of scientists have found after recovering old weather records.  Old weather measurements, first recorded on paper after Storm Ulysses hit the UK in February 1903, have shed new light on what was one of the most severe storms to have hit the British Isles. By turning hand-written weather data into digital records, the research team has laid the way to better understand other historical storms, ...

The steady decline in cultivable land owing to the rapidly increasing global population has necessitated the use of efficient plant breeding methods that could be used to improve agricultural yields. However, in addition to genetic methods, we need approaches to control and improve complex crop traits. To this end, plant scientists make use of various cutting-edge imaging techniques that quantify crop traits (height, leaf shape, leaf color, etc.). Traditional imaging methods, however, are tedious, destructive, and non-sustainable. ...

Lehigh University materials science and engineering (MSE) professor Masashi Watanabe is the 2023 recipient of the Microanalysis Society Presidential Science Award, which recognizes a senior scientist for “outstanding technical contributions to the field of microanalysis over a sustained period of time.” Watanabe is a Fellow of the Microanalysis Society and a former MAS president. The career achievement honor highlights his work in advancing quantitative analysis in scanning transmission ...

WASHINGTON, April 24, 2023 – Superconductors can conduct electricity without any resistance or power loss, and they can effortlessly cause magnets to levitate above them. These properties would make superconductors useful for high-speed trains or long-distance power transmission, except for one glaring problem: superconductors only work at low temperatures, more than a hundred degrees below zero. This one requirement makes building a hyperefficient electrical grid or high-speed rail network very expensive. Unless, that is, a superconductor network could accomplish ...

HIGHLIGHTS SARS-CoV-2 may spread through contaminated shipping containers How long Omicron variants persist on shipping materials may be influenced by temperature, humidity and material Researchers measured the viability of BA.1 and BA.5 Omicron variants on 4 shipping materials The virus was most stable, and most likely to spread, at the lowest temperature. Washington, DC – The virus that causes COVID-19 spreads through droplets and small particles, but contaminated surfaces of shipping materials ...

In a first-of-its-kind effort, social media researchers from Drexel University, Vanderbilt University, Georgia Institute of Technology and Boston University are turning to young social media users to help build a machine learning program that can spot unwanted sexual advances on Instagram. Trained on data from more than 5 million direct messages — annotated and contributed by 150 adolescents who had experienced conversations that made them feel sexually uncomfortable or unsafe — the technology can quickly and accurately flag risky DMs.  The project, which was recently published by the Association for Computing Machinery in its Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, ...

SPOKANE, Wash.—Safety concerns related to the widely used painkiller diclofenac may be tied to a little-studied drug-metabolizing enzyme whose expression can vary as much as 3,000 times from one individual to the next, according to new research. Published in the journal Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics, findings from the study could be used to develop ways to identify individuals at risk of serious side effects from diclofenac and to determine safer dosing standards for specific populations, including women, young children and people of certain ethnicities. Used to combat pain and inflammation ...

Proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC), which are being developed for use in electric vehicles, rely on nanoparticles called catalysts to trigger electricity-producing reactions between hydrogen and oxygen. Most PEMFC catalysts contain platinum – a scarce and precious metal. There is therefore a pressing global need to develop catalysts that can generate the most power while minimizing platinum content. Manufacturers integrate these catalysts in complex assemblies called catalyst layers. Until now, they had to do so without a detailed picture of the resulting structure, as traditional imaging processes almost always cause some degree of damage. Vasiliki Tileli, head ...

New research finds there is significant variation in the anatomy of the human digestive system, with pronounced differences possible between healthy individuals. The finding has implications for understanding the role that the digestive tract’s anatomy can play in affecting human health, as well as providing potential insights into medical diagnoses and the microbial ecosystem of the gut. “There was research more than a century ago that found variability in the relative lengths of human intestines, but this area has largely been ignored since then,” says Amanda Hale, co-first author of the study and a Ph.D. ...

As the movement toward “deprescribing” medications among older adults grows, a new poll shows strong interest in this idea. A full 80% of adults aged 50 to 80 would be open to stopping one or more of the prescription medicines they’ve been taking for more than a year, if a health care provider said it was possible. Already, 26% said they have done so in the past two years. Of those willing to stop a medicine, 67% said they would likely ask for advice about doing so at their next visit with a provider, according to the new ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- Throw a tantrum. Threaten, shove aside or steal from your colleagues. Science confirms, yet again, that brutish behavior can be an effective path to power. And not just in humans, but in chimpanzees, too.  A new study appearing April 24 in the journal PeerJ Life and Environment found that male chimps with more bullying, greedy and irritable personalities reached higher rungs of the social ladder and were more successful at siring offspring than their more deferential and conscientious counterparts. But if that’s the case, researchers ask, why isn’t every chimp a bully?  A team led by researchers at the ...

The first prospective study comparing outcomes in patients with pituitary apoplexy—sudden bleeding or death of a pituitary tumor—found that patients managed medically fared as well as those treated surgically in the majority of cases. The multicenter international study, led by Cedars-Sinai investigators, was presented today at the American Association of Neurological Surgeons Scientific Meeting in Los Angeles. “This is the best data to date on the question of surgery versus medical management in patients with this rare but serious condition,” said Adam Mamelak, MD, co-director ...

The American Association for the Advancement of Science’s (AAAS) inaugural Mani L. Bhaumik Breakthrough of the Year Award — focused on standout contributors to NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) — honors three individuals who supported vast swaths of the JWST community over decades and whose persistence amid multiple setbacks ensured the mission’s completion.   The award recognizes Major General Charles Frank Bolden Jr., USMC (Ret), a former administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); John Mather, senior project scientist of the JWST since 1995; and Bill Ochs, JWST project manager from 2011 through the telescope’s ...

Study’s findings suggest that maintaining normal vitamin D levels may benefit patients. New research indicates that for patients with advanced skin cancer, it may be important to maintain normal vitamin D levels when receiving immunotherapy medications called immune checkpoint inhibitors. The findings are published by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. Vitamin D has many effects on the body, including regulation of the immune system. To see whether levels of vitamin D might impact the effectiveness of immune checkpoint inhibitors, investigators analyzed the blood of 200 patients with advanced melanoma both before and every 12 weeks ...

Despite the promise of new medications that promote cancer cell death in people with acute myeloid leukemia, leukemic cells often adopt features that let them evade the drugs’ effects within a year. Now, new research using human tissue samples and mouse models has found that resistance of leukemia cells to a widely prescribed drug called venetoclax occurs because of a rapid increase in the breakdown and turnover of mitochondria, structures inside the cell that help power its functions. In addition to their role in producing energy, mitochondria also tell cells to die under certain adverse conditions. This process of “programmed cell ...

A new study by researchers at Uppsala University and Uppsala University Hospital shows that men who have a neurodevelopmental disorder, such as autism and ADHD, also have a slightly increased risk of testicular cancer, or seminoma. This is the first study to show such a link, with the results to be published in the British Journal of Cancer. Testicular cancer is the most common form of cancer in young men, and its underlying causes are still largely unknown. “As testicular cancer can be surgically removed, thus curing the disease, it is important to seek care in time if you feel a lump in your testicle,” notes Ingrid ...

For children under age 18 years, a single computed tomography (CT) scan is not associated with an increased risk of brain tumours, leukemia or lymphoma, but exposure to 4 or more scans before adulthood more than doubles the risk, according to new research  https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.221303 in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Computed tomography in children has increased worldwide in recent decades, but there is conflicting evidence about the risks of cancer from these ...

A new smart material developed by researchers at the University of Waterloo is activated by both heat and electricity, making it the first ever to respond to two different stimuli. The unique design paves the way for a wide variety of potential applications, including clothing that warms up while you walk from the car to the office in winter and vehicle bumpers that return to their original shape after a collision. Inexpensively made with polymer nano-composite fibres from recycled plastic, the programmable fabric can change its colour and shape when stimuli are applied. “As a wearable material alone, it has almost infinite potential ...

A major international trial has concluded that, where possible, surgeons should replace the removed section of the skull following surgery to treat a form of brain haemorrhage. This approach will save patients from having to undergo skull reconstruction further down the line. The RESCUE-ASDH trial, funded by the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), involved 40 centres in 11 countries and involved 450 patients. The results of the trial are published today in the New England Journal of Medicine and are announced at the annual meeting of the American Association of Neurological ...

If more people have access to health insurance, we have to be sure the death rates of those with certain chronic conditions are decreasing.   This is one of the statements Gregory Peck, an acute care surgeon and associate professor at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, will be researching on behalf of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) at the National Institutes of Health.   Funded by NIH grants totaling more than $1 million through a recent two-year award from the New Jersey Alliance for Clinical and Translational Science (NJ ACTS), a Rutgers hub of the National Center for Advancing ...

A discovery about gene variants of an inflammation ‘brake’ brings scientists a step closer to personalised treatment for patients at risk of kidney disease and kidney failure. Researchers at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, University of New South Wales, Sydney and Westmead Hospital, found that common genetic variants of TNFAIP3, which increase inflammation in the body, can paradoxically protect the kidneys from damage in the short term. “We wanted to investigate whether inherited differences in how people regulate inflammation could lead to better or worse kidney health outcomes,” says Professor Shane ...