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Uprooting cancer: Hydrogel rapidly reverts cancer cells back to cancer stem cells

2021-03-29
A hydrogel, a type of soft matter, developed at Hokkaido University successfully reverted cancer cells back to cancer stem cells within 24 hours, in six different human cancer types. This could lead to the development of anti-cancer stem cell drugs and personalized medicines. An innovative hydrogel - called a double network (DN) gel - can rapidly reprogram differentiated cancer cells into cancer stem cells, researchers at Hokkaido University and the National Cancer Center Research Institute have reported in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering. The hydrogel can be used to help develop ...

Black hole seeds key to galaxies behemoths

Black hole seeds key to galaxies behemoths
2021-03-29
A new black hole breaks the record -- not for being the smallest or the biggest -- but for being right in the middle. The recently discovered 'Goldilocks' black hole is part of a missing link between two populations of black holes: small black holes made from stars and supermassive giants in the nucleus of most galaxies. In a joint effort, researchers from the University of Melbourne and Monash University have uncovered a black hole approximately 55,000 times the mass of the sun, a fabled "intermediate-mass" black hole. The discovery was published today in the paper Evidence for an intermediate mass black hole from a gravitationally lensed gamma-ray burst in the journal Nature Astronomy. Lead author and University of Melbourne PhD student, ...

Paying to clear-cut the rain forests

Paying to clear-cut the rain forests
2021-03-29
In the last few years, as climate changes continues to become more severe, there has been a growing push for rich countries to pay poorer ones to preserve and protect rain forests and other tropical forests. However, according to a new study in Nature Ecology & Evolution, RIHN Associate Professor Keiichiro Kanemoto and Senior Researcher Nguyen Tien Hoang show that other financial motives, namely international trade, with these same rich countries have actually encouraged poorer countries to increase their annual deforestation levels from 2001 to 2015. Every year ...

Method offers inexpensive imaging at the scale of virus particles

Method offers inexpensive imaging at the scale of virus particles
2021-03-29
CAMBRIDGE, MA - Using an ordinary light microscope, MIT engineers have devised a technique for imaging biological samples with accuracy at the scale of 10 nanometers -- which should enable them to image viruses and potentially even single biomolecules, the researchers say. The new technique builds on expansion microscopy, an approach that involves embedding biological samples in a hydrogel and then expanding them before imaging them with a microscope. For the latest version of the technique, the researchers developed a new type of hydrogel that maintains a more uniform configuration, allowing for greater accuracy in imaging tiny structures. This degree of accuracy ...

Another Martini for better simulations

2021-03-29
Simulating the interactions between atoms and molecules is important for many scientific studies. However, accurate simulations can take a long time, which limits their use. To speed up simulations without sacrificing too much detail, Siewert-Jan Marrink, Professor of Molecular Dynamics at the University of Groningen, designed a set of parameters that allow fast but accurate coarse-grained simulations. In a paper that was published on 29 March in Nature Methods, Marrink and his co-workers present a third release of what is known as the Martini forcefield. 'Our Martini forcefield typically combines four heavy atoms and any attached protons into ...

Study shows survival mechanism for cells under stress

Study shows survival mechanism for cells under stress
2021-03-29
New research reveals how cancer cells endure stress and survive. Publishing in Molecular Cell, an international research team identified mechanisms that human and mouse cells use to survive heat shock and resume their original function - and even pass the memory of the experience of stress down to their daughter cells. Lead author Anniina Vihervaara, Assistant Professor in Gene Technology at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, says the results provide insight into the mechanisms that coordinate transcription in cells, which potentially could make a vital contribution in disease research. The researchers examined how embryonic fibroblast ...

Extra 100 million years before Earth saw permanent oxygen rise

2021-03-29
The permanent rise of oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere, which fundamentally changed the subsequent nature of Earth's habitability, occurred much later than thought, according to new research. And the study, from an international team led by the University of Leeds and including researchers from the University of California-Riverside, Harvard University, the University of Southern Denmark and the University of St Andrews, also provides an explanation for some of the most extreme climate episodes to have affected the Earth, when the planet was repeatedly covered with ice. The first time oxygen was significantly present in the atmosphere was about ...

New research: Photovoltaics can make the world fossil-free faster than expected

2021-03-29
A team of researchers led by Aarhus University and including experts from universities and knowledge institutions in the US, Europe, Japan and Australia has published an article in the prestigious scientific journal Joule confirming that the role of solar photovoltaic installations in future green energy systems ought to be significantly upgraded. Solar photovoltaic technology has undergone dramatic development over the past 14 years causing the technology to be cheaper already today than has otherwise been assumed in the models that the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) uses for its 2050 scenarios. "And ...

Analysis of the sensitivity of the UK (B.1.1.7) and South African (B.1.351) variants to SARS-CoV-2

2021-03-29
The B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 variants of SARS-CoV-2 were first detected in the UK and South Africa respectively, and have since spread to many other countries. Scientists from the Institut Pasteur joined forces with Orléans Regional Hospital, Tours University Hospital, Créteil Intercommunal Hospital, Strasbourg University Hospital and Georges Pompidou European Hospital to study the sensitivity of these two variants to neutralizing antibodies present in the serum samples of people who have been vaccinated or previously infected with SARS-CoV-2. They compared this sensitivity with that of the reference virus (D614G), which was until recently the most widespread strain in France. The scientists demonstrated that the UK variant is neutralized to the ...

Increased precipitation and the watery miracles of Italian saints

Increased precipitation and the watery miracles of Italian saints
2021-03-29
Until now, historians have treated accounts of extreme weather events that might indicate climate change, or more specifically an increase in rainfall, with suspicion. Too many purely cultural factors, they argue, might have influenced one author or another to write about rains, droughts or floods. A new interdisciplinary study lead by researchers from the University of Pisa and the University of Warsaw, together with an international team of collaborators, links data indicating increased precipitation in northern and central Italy during the 6th century CE to historical accounts contained in contemporaneous texts about the lives and miracles of saints. The paper successfully integrates palaeoclimate proxies with historical ...

Skoltech scientists use machine learning to help doctors find veins for no-fuss blood draws

2021-03-29
Researchers from Skoltech have developed an early prototype of a medical imaging system that uses neural networks to analyze near-infrared images of veins and project a venous pattern onto a patient's body - this may make blood draws much easier and less of a nuisance for patients with difficult access to veins. The paper was published in the proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Control, Automation, Robotics and Vision (ICARCV). According to data cited in the paper, out of approximately 20 million blood tests performed globally every day, almost 45% are estimated to involve some degree of discomfort for the patient whose ...

For better or worse, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the health care delivery landscape

2021-03-29
(Boston)--Pregnancy complications affect up to one in three pregnancies and are increasingly linked to future chronic disease. For example, preeclampsia is associated with a doubled risk of cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in the U.S., and gestational diabetes is associated with a seven-fold increased risk of type 2 diabetes. While guidelines recommend preventive care starting within the first postpartum year to address such pregnancy-related health risks, the connections between pregnancy health and future health are often neglected. In ...

Scientists urge swift action to prepare for next pandemic

Scientists urge swift action to prepare for next pandemic
2021-03-29
An international team of researchers led by a University of Virginia School of Medicine professor is warning that scientists must better prepare for the next pandemic - and has developed a plan to do just that. Noting the "avalanche" of scientific data generated in response to COVID-19, UVA's Wladek Minor, PhD, and colleagues are calling for the creation of an "advanced information system" (AIS) to help scientists integrate, monitor and evaluate the vast amounts of data that will be produced as researchers reveal the molecular architecture of the next pathogen ...

Love bats? Think twice about that bat box, experts say

2021-03-29
URBANA, Ill. - Ever thought about buying or building a bat box to help bats? Think carefully about the design and where you put it, University of Illinois researchers say. Here's why: Bats and their pups can overheat and die in poorly designed or placed bat boxes, and in a warming climate, it could happen more often. Illinois bat ecologists Joy O'Keefe and Reed Crawford recently synthesized the available data on bat boxes, also known as bat houses or artificial roosts, to raise awareness of the issue and motivate change in bat box design, marketing, and consumer education. Their recommendations are published in Conservation Science and Practice. "Conservation ...

GlyNAC improves multiple defects in aging to boost strength and cognition in older humans

2021-03-29
A pilot human clinical trial conducted by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine reveals that supplementation with GlyNAC - a combination of glycine and N-acetylcysteine as precursors of the natural antioxidant glutathione - could improve many age-associated defects in older humans to improve muscle strength and cognition, and promote healthy aging. Published in the journal Clinical and Translational Medicine, the results of this study show that older humans taking GlyNAC for 24 weeks saw improvements in many characteristic defects of aging, including ...

Narwal tusks reveal mercury exposure related to climate change

Narwal tusks reveal mercury exposure related to climate change
2021-03-29
In the Arctic, climate change and pollution are the biggest threats to top predators like narwals. Studying the animals' tusks reveals that diet and exposure to pollution have shifted over the past half century in response to sea-ice decline. Human emissions have also led to a sharp rise in the presence of mercury in recent years, according to an international team of researchers. "Our research shows that climate change is having substantial impacts on Arctic ecosystems, with consequences for exposure to toxic pollutants like mercury," says co-author Jean-Pierre Desforges, a Postdoctoral Fellow at McGill University under the supervision ...

SARS-CoV-2 positivity in asymptomatic-screened dental patients

2021-03-29
Alexandria, Va., USA -- Asymptomatic carriage of SARS-CoV-2 is a potentially significant source of transmission, yet remains relatively poorly understood. The study "SARS-CoV-2 Positivity in Asymptomatic-screened Dental Patients" published in the Journal of Dental Research (JDR), investigated SARS-CoV-2 infection in asymptomatic dental patients to inform community surveillance and improve understanding of risks in the dental setting. Thirty-one dental care centers across Scotland invited asymptomatic screened patients over the age of five to participate. During the patient visit, trained ...

New model simulates the temperature rise of laser-heated skin

New model simulates the temperature rise of laser-heated skin
2021-03-29
Laser treatment is now commonplace across various fields of medicine including dermatology, where it is commonly used to remove scars, wrinkles, and freckles. The technology, however, has a major downside: despite continued improvements, medical accidents related to laser treatment has been on the rise, with studies revealing excessively high laser energy as the major cause of such accidents. Assistant Professor Takahiro Kono from Shibaura Institute of Technology (SIT), Japan, whose research is focused on the mechanism of heat transfer involved in the interaction of laser light with biological tissue explains, "The difficulty lies in adjusting the laser conditions for each patient ...

Metformin trial dramatically reduces seizures in tuberous sclerosis

2021-03-29
A team of researchers led by UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (ICH) and Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) has found that metformin - a drug commonly used to treat Type 2 diabetes - can successfully reduce symptoms associated with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), including reduction in the frequency of seizures and the size of brain tumours. The study, which also included teams from Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust (RUH) and University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust, recruited 51 patients with TSC who were randomly assigned a placebo or metformin for one year on a dose similar to that given for Type 2 diabetes. TSC is a genetic disorder characterised ...

First detailed look at crucial enzyme advances cancer research

First detailed look at crucial enzyme advances cancer research
2021-03-29
In order to develop more effective drugs against a range of cancers, researchers have been investigating the molecular structure of many diseased-linked enzymes in the body. An intriguing case in point is Taspase 1, a type of enzyme known as a protease. The primary duty of proteases is to break down proteins into smaller peptide snippets or single amino acids. Taspase 1 appears to play a vital role in a range of physiological processes, including cell metabolism, proliferation, migration and termination. The normal functioning of Taspase 1 can go awry however, leading to a range of diseases, including leukemia, colon and breast cancers, as well as glioblastoma, a particularly lethal and incurable malignancy in the brain. Because Taspase 1 dysregulation is increasingly ...

Drug coupons and vouchers cover only a sliver of prescription drugs

2021-03-29
Use of vouchers and coupons offered by pharmaceutical companies to defray patients' out-of-pocket drug costs is concentrated among a small number of drugs. While these offsets significantly reduce patient costs, they are not targeted to patients who most need the price reduction, according to a study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The researchers, in what is thought to be the largest study of its kind to date, analyzed tens of millions of pharmacy transactions by more than 600,000 people in the U.S. during 2017-19, in order to get a better sense of how vouchers and other point-of-sale copayment "offsets" are used. These coupons and vouchers come in many forms--some are offered online directly to customers, others by pharmacy ...

NIST develops privacy-preserving 'encounter metrics' that could slow down future pandemics

NIST develops privacy-preserving encounter metrics that could slow down future pandemics
2021-03-29
When you bump into someone in the workplace or at your local coffee shop, you might call that an "encounter." That's the scientific term for it, too. As part of urgent efforts to fight COVID-19, a science is rapidly developing for measuring the number of encounters and the different levels of interaction in a group. At the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), researchers are applying that science to a concept they have created called "encounter metrics." They have developed an encrypted method that can be applied to a device such as your phone to help with the ultimate goal of slowing down or preventing future pandemics. The method is also applicable to the COVID-19 pandemic. Their research ...

How cells transport molecules with 'active carpets'

How cells transport molecules with active carpets
2021-03-29
A drop of food coloring slowly spreading in a glass of water is driven by a process known as diffusion. While the mathematics of diffusion have been known for many years, how this process works in living organisms is not as well understood. Now, a study published in Nature Communications provides new insights on the process of diffusion in complex systems. The result of a collaboration between physicists at Penn, the University of Chile, and Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, this new theoretical framework has broad implications for active surfaces, such as ones found in biofilms, active coatings, and even mechanisms for pathogen clearance. Diffusion is described ...

Mental health support at schools helps male, but not female, students feel safe from bullying

2021-03-29
BUFFALO, N.Y. - Bullying at boarding schools has a negative impact on students' emotional health, but for male students, having a school staff member to rely on for support may mute the harmful effects of bullying, according to a new University at Buffalo study. Support networks did not have the same effect for female students, the researchers say. The study, recently published in School Psychology Review, is one of few to examine the impact of bullying at boarding schools, which provide a unique environment where most students live on school grounds, away from their families. It is also one of the first studies to observe the effects ...

Carbon labeling reduces our CO2 footprint -- even for those who try to remain uninformed

2021-03-29
Climate labels informing us of a meat product's carbon footprint cause many people to opt for climate-friendlier alternatives. This applies to people who are curious about a product's carbon footprint, as well as to those who actively avoid wanting to know more. The finding is published in a new study from, among others, the University of Copenhagen. As such, climate labeling food products can be a good way of reducing our climate footprint. But according to the researcher behind the study, labels must be obligatory for them to be effective. Certain situations exist where we humans strategically avoid greater knowledge and more information - a phenomenon known as "active information avoidance". ...
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