Researchers at the University of Konstanz and Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior in Germany have found that birds are able to change their culture to become more efficient. Populations of great tits were able to switch from one behavior to a better alternative when their group members were slowly replaced with new birds. Published today as open access in the journal Current Biology, this research reveals immigration as a powerful driver of cultural change in animal groups that could help them to adapt to rapidly changing environments. In animals, "culture" is considered to be any behavior that is learned from others, shared by members of the ...

Ann Arbor, April 6, 2021 - New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that one in four adults with HIV in the United States has experienced intimate partner violence (IPV), which disproportionately affects women and LGBT populations. Further, people with HIV who experienced IPV in the past 12 months were more likely to engage in behaviors associated with elevated HIV transmission risk, were less likely to be engaged in routine HIV care and more likely to seek emergency care services and have poor HIV clinical outcomes. The findings are reported in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, published by Elsevier. Lead Investigator Ansley B. Lemons-Lyn, MPH, and colleagues from the CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, ...

At a cost of $38 billion a year, an estimated 5.3 million people are living with a permanent disability related to traumatic brain injury in the United States today, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The physical, mental and financial toll of a TBI can be enormous, but new research from the University of Georgia provides promise. In a new study, researchers at UGA's Regenerative Biosciences Center have demonstrated the long-term benefits of a hydrogel, which they call "brain glue," for the treatment of traumatic brain injury. The new study provides evidence that not only does the gel protect against loss of brain tissue after ...

Bethesda, MD (April 6, 2021) -- Obesity is a global pandemic, affecting about 40% of adults in the United States. There is an enormous unmet need for an effective weight-loss solution. After a detailed review of available literature, the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) has released new clinical guidelines recommending the use of intragastric balloons (IGB) for patients with obesity who have not been able to lose weight with traditional weight-loss strategies. This treatment is most successful with accompanying therapy, such as lifestyle modifications and pharmacological agents, ...

Researchers have uncovered pathways involved in the body's response to glucocorticoid treatments and identified a novel biomarker that could be used to monitor how these drugs work in patients, according to a clinical study published today in eLife. A more reliable indicator of an individual's response to glucocorticoid drugs could be used to develop a clinically applicable test that could help tailor treatments and potentially minimise side-effects. Glucocorticoids, such as cortisol, are a type of hormone with key roles in the body's response to stress. Glucocorticoid ...

Researchers from Skoltech and their collaborators have designed, synthesized and evaluated new compounds that can serve as catholytes and anolytes for organic redox flow batteries, bringing this promising technology closer to large-scale implementation. The two papers were published in the END ...

A new U.S. Geological Survey study provides an updated, statewide estimate of high levels of naturally occurring arsenic and uranium in private well water across Connecticut. This research builds on a USGS report published in 2017, with the new study including additional groundwater samples and focusing on previously underrepresented areas. The research, undertaken in cooperation with the Connecticut Department of Public Health, projects that approximately 3.9% of private wells across Connecticut contain water with arsenic at concentrations higher than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's maximum contaminant level for ...

Sea urchins receive a lot of attention in California. Red urchins support a thriving fishery, while their purple cousins are often blamed for mowing down kelp forests to create urchin barrens. Yet for all the notice we pay them, we know surprisingly little about the microbiomes that support these spiny species. Researchers at UC Santa Barbara led by geneticist Paige Miller sought to uncover the diversity within the guts of these important kelp forest inhabitants. Their results reveal significant differences between the microbiota of the two species, as well as between individuals living ...

Philadelphia, April 6, 2021 - Since the discovery of leptin in the 1990s, researchers have wondered, how does leptin, a hormone made by body fat, suppress appetite? Despite tremendous gains in the intervening three decades, many questions still remain. Now, a new study in mice describes novel neurocircuitry between midbrain structures that control feeding behaviors that are under modulatory control by leptin. The study appears in Biological Psychiatry, published by Elsevier. John Krystal, MD, Editor of Biological Psychiatry, said of the findings, "Omrani and colleagues shed light on how, in non-obese animals, leptin puts the brakes on overeating." Leptin acts as a critical link between the body and the brain, providing information about metabolic ...

In addition to smoothing out wrinkles, researchers have found that the drug Botox can reveal the inner workings of the brain. A new study used it to show that feedback from individual nerve cells controls the release of dopamine, a chemical messenger involved in motivation, memory, and movement. Such "self-regulation," the researchers say, stands in contrast to the widely held view that the release of dopamine -- known as the "feel good" hormone -- by any cell relied on messages from nearby cells to recognize that it is releasing too much of the hormone. Led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, ...

WASHINGTON, April 6, 2021 -- Scientists from MIT and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras have grown small amounts of self-organizing brain tissue, known as organoids, in a tiny 3D-printed system that allows observation while they grow and develop. The work is reported in Biomicrofluidics, by AIP Publishing. Current technology for real-time observation of growing organoids involves the use of commercial culture dishes with many wells in a glass-bottomed plate placed under a microscope. The plates are costly and only compatible with specific microscopes. They do not allow for the flow or replenishment of a nutrient medium to the growing tissue. Recent advances have used a technique known as microfluidics, where a nutrient ...

WASHINGTON, April 6, 2021 -- Cryocoolers are ultracold refrigeration units used in surgery and drug development, semiconductor fabrication, and spacecraft. They can be tubes, pumps, tabletop sizes, or larger refrigerator systems. The regenerative heat exchanger, or regenerator, is a core component of cryocoolers. At temperatures below 10 kelvins (-441.67 degrees Fahrenheit), performance drops precipitously, with maximum regenerator loss of more than 50%. In their paper, published in Applied Physics Letters, by AIP Publishing, researchers at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences used ...

WASHINGTON, April 6, 2021 -- Dragonfly wings, lotus leaves, cicada wings -- thanks to millennia of evolution, nature has optimized the ways these surfaces and others behave to offer antibacterial functionality. An international, interdisciplinary team of researchers is trying to find the best way to translate these features to create nature-inspired bactericidal surfaces for use in medical implants. They discuss the surface structures and chemical compositions for an ideal implant material in the journal Applied Physics Reviews, from AIP Publishing. "Objects in ...

What The Study Did: Researchers compared the effectiveness of case-based (including contact tracing and quarantine) and population-based (including social distancing and facial masking) interventions for COVID-19 containment in Taiwan, one of the few countries with initial success in COVID-19 control without strict lockdown or school closure. Authors: Hsien-Ho Lin, M.D., Sc.D., of National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan, 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/jamainternmed.2021.1644) Editor's Note: The article includes conflicts of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including ...

What The Study Did: This study investigated the role of droplet or contact transmission in the development of Kawasaki disease in Japan during the COVID-19 state of emergency. Kawasaki disease primarily affects children and is characterized by fever and swelling in the walls of some blood vessels. Authors: Toshiro Hara, M.D., Ph.D., of the Fukuoka Children's Hospital in Fukuoka, Japan, 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.2021.4475) Editor's Note: The article includes conflicts of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, ...

What The Study Did: A model to prioritize vaccination was developed that estimates the risk of SARS-CoV-2-related death among enrollees in the Veterans Affairs health care system. Authors: George N. Ioannou, B.M.B.Ch., M.S., of the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Healthcare System in Seattle, 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.2021.4347) Editor's Note: The article includes conflicts of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support. INFORMATION: Media ...

What The Study Did: The clinical and other characteristics of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children in the United States, a condition that occurs in association with the COVID-19 pandemic, are described in this study. Authors: Ermias D. Belay, M.D., of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, 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/jamapediatrics.2021.0630) Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest ...

WASHINGTON, April 6, 2021 -- With research increasingly showing the COVID-19 virus is transmissible via smaller droplets suspended in air, there is a growing concern current public health guidelines of mask wearing and social distancing are insufficient in combating its spread in indoor environments, like prisons, hospitals, and meatpacking plants, where people tend to be in close quarters. Most research has focused on coughing and sneezing. But studies on how simply breathing might contribute to airborne spread of the virus are rare. In AIP Advances, by AIP Publishing, researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar show social distancing is equally ...

Spain is among the five countries in the world with the highest levels of social acceptance of LGBTIQ+ people and rights, and was the third country in the world to legalize same-sex marriages, in 2005. In 2019, 3.1% of marriages were between same-sex couples (INE 2020). In this context, it would seem consistent that sexual orientation should not determine wage inequalities. But is this really so? What is the relationship between sexual orientation and wages? The study, recently published in Journal of Family Issues, found a significant correlation ...

The Tibetan Plateau, known as "the roof of the world", has warmed more rapidly than global average in the past decades. The observed warming of the Tibetan Plateau since 1960s can be attributed to human activities, particularly greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, the Plateau may warm faster in the future than climate models projected, according to a study recently published in Environmental Research Letters. The Tibetan Plateau contains the largest volumes of ice outside the Arctic and Antarctic, feeding water to dozens of major Asian rivers. However, the rapid warming of the "Water Tower of Asia" has significantly affected regional hydrological cycle and ecosystem services, leading to remarkable glacier retreat and geohazard ...

New research led by the universities of Kent and Warwick has found that, contrary to previous beliefs, adolescents born preterm have the same levels of self-esteem and overall wellbeing as those born full-term. Preterm birth, defined as birth before 37 weeks of gestation, has been previously found to be associated with an increased risk for lower academic achievement, higher mental health problems and increased difficulties in social relationships compared to those born full-term. This new study, co-led by Dr Ayten Bilgin (Kent) alongside colleagues from Warwick, demonstrates that in contrast, preterm birth ...

A total of 108 women participated in the research from the first weeks of pregnancy to delivery, having recorded their stress levels before, during, and after conception (via the concentration of cortisol in hair) and performed different psychological tests A study carried out by scientists from the University of Granada (UGR) has revealed that women who experience stress both before becoming pregnant and during conception are almost twice as likely to have a girl as a boy. Researchers from the Mind, Brain and Behaviour Research Centre (CIMCYC), the Department of Pharmacology (Faculty of Pharmacy), and the Faculty of Psychology have analysed the levels of cortisol (a steroid hormone that is released in response to stress) ...

Cuckoo wasps - also called emerald wasps - are some of the most beautiful insects we have, with colourful exteriors that shine like jewels. However, these beauties have also created a lot of headaches. "Normally we distinguish insects from each other by their appearance, but cuckoo wasps are so similar to each other that it makes it difficult," says Frode Ødegaard. Ødegaard is an insect researcher at the NTNU (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) University Museum and belongs to the European research group that has now ...

New research suggests Ireland's increasing populations of Sika deer may be linked to local outbreaks of TB infection in cattle. Although TB infection rates have decreased in general in recent decades, county-level data shows a correlation between higher Sika numbers and higher local TB infections - with County Wicklow a particular hotspot. The research, conducted by researchers from Trinity College Dublin and the National Parks and Wildlife Service and supported by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, has major implications for controlling TB. It has ...

Is there a way to chemically manipulate small, confined areas on cellular surfaces? Scientists have developed a microfluidic probe to send a flow of free radicals on live cells and track the outcome using fluorescence imaging. As outlined in the journal Angewandte Chemie, this approach makes it possible for the first time to generate a reaction zone of free radicals with controlled size and concentration for subcellular research. Free radicals are important stimulants for cells. When live cells are exposed to radicals, they develop intense reactions that can lead to cell ...