Decline in the hypothalamic Menin may play a key role in aging, according to a new study publishing March 16th in the open access journal PLOS Biology by Lige Leng of Xiamen University, Xiamen, China, and colleagues. The findings reveal a previously unknown driver of physiological aging, and suggest that supplementation with a simple amino acid may mitigate some age-related changes. The hypothalamus has been recognized as a key mediator of physiological aging, through an increase in the process ...

Colorectal cancer among young people is increasing globally and rapidly. Experts expect it to become the leading cause of cancer death in individuals aged 20-49 in the U.S. by the year 2030. Yet no one is certain why this disease is suddenly affecting so many young people. In a new paper published in Science, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers outline the complexities of the disease and the research needed to map out a path toward understanding it. “The rising incidence of young-onset colorectal cancer is extremely concerning, and it is urgent that the scientific community comes together to better understand the underlying ...

New findings help answer a particularly vexing evolutionary question: how do species that use bright coloration to keep predators away survive long enough for this warning signal coloration to evolve, before predators who can better spot them through their colors learn to avoid them? A study comparing a series of models points to warning color signaling, or aposematism, likely appearing through intermediate steps where coloration is only visible when an organism is fleeing or intentionally displaying a hidden feature. Evolutionary selection to avoid being eaten by predators has driven considerable variation in the diversity of animal ...

The common commensal gut bacterium Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron uses phase separation of the transcription termination factor Rho to colonize and thrive in the mammalian gut, according to a new study in mice. The findings suggest that phase separation may also be vital for other important gut microbes and relevant for novel microbiome-based clinical applications. The gut microbiota plays a critical role in human health. Manipulating gut commensal communities could provide promising therapeutic pathways for treating a host of diseases. However, this goal requires understanding mechanisms that enable ...

In 2021, China unilaterally announced that it would stop building new coal-fueled power plants overseas, which was lauded as an important climate milestone. However, this decision stands in contrast to the nation’s continued support for the domestic use of coal plants. In a Policy Forum, Christoph Nedopil discusses this dichotomy and provides new insights into how these decisions were made. According to Nedopil, the findings could inform efforts to improve environmental cooperation with China. China has become the world’s greatest source of greenhouse gas emissions, and its international influence through trade, ...

A new process that lets scientists chemically cut apart and stitch together nanoscopic layers of two-dimensional materials — like a tailor altering a suit — could be just the tool for designing the technology of a sustainable energy future. Researchers from Drexel University, China and Sweden, have developed a method for structurally splitting, editing and reconstituting layered materials, called MAX phases and MXenes, with the potential of producing new materials with very unusual compositions and exceptional properties. A “chemical scissor” is a chemical designed to react with a specific compound to break ...

Pneumococcal disease leads to over three million hospitalizations and hundreds of thousands of deaths annually. A study publishing March 16th in the open access journal PLOS Biology by Carlos J. Orihuela at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Alabama, United States, and colleagues suggests that the FDA-approved drug Fomepizole may reduce disease severity in the lungs of mice with some forms of bacterial pneumonia and enhance the efficacy of the antibiotic erythromycin as well. Streptococcus pneumoniae is the leading cause of community-acquired ...

Losing Key Type of Pancreatic Cell May Contribute to Diabetes Multiple types of beta cells produce insulin in the pancreas, helping to balance blood sugar levels. Losing a particularly productive type of beta cell may contribute to the development of diabetes, according to a new study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. In the study, published March 16 in Nature Cell Biology, Dr. James Lo, associate professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, and colleagues measured gene expression in individual beta cells collected from mice to determine how many different types of beta cells exist in the pancreas. The team discovered four distinct beta cell types, including one that stood out. ...

The TU Dresden Spin-off Seamless Therapeutics Launches with $12.5M Seed Financing to Advance Transformative Gene Editing Platform Based on Programmable Precision Designer Recombinases in Dresden Seed round co-led by Wellington Partners and Forbion, with additional non-dilutive financial support from the BMBF (GO-Bio funding) enables maturation of the proprietary platform and pipeline towards first clinical evaluation Seamless Therapeutics, a Dresden based start-up of the Technische Universität Dresden, today announced a $12.5 million (€11.8M) seed financing round which will accelerate further development ...

PASADENA, Calif. — A Kaiser Permanente study confirms the benefit of nirmatrelvir-ritonavir, also known as Paxlovid, as an early-stage treatment to prevent hospitalization for people with mild to moderate COVID-19, regardless of prior immunity or age. The study was published March 15, 2023, in Lancet ID. “Among Kaiser Permanente members in Southern California who tested positive for coronavirus infection, receiving Paxlovid within 5 days of the start of COVID-19 symptoms was associated with substantial reductions in the risk of hospital admission or death,” said Sara Tartof, PhD, the senior author of the study and an epidemiologist with the Kaiser ...

Criteria used by neurologists to assess for multiple sclerosis (MS) in adults may fail to identify the illness in children with imaging suspicious for the disease, an oversight that could delay treatment of the disease at its earliest stages, according to a Rutgers study.   Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the primary tool used for diagnosis of MS, and doctors have applied various standards over the years to classify those most likely to develop the disease. The most recent standard, known as the McDonald criteria, was last updated in 2017.   In some cases, imaging suspicious for MS is found incidentally ...

Researchers have shown how energy disappears in quantum turbulence, paving the way for a better understanding of turbulence in scales ranging from the microscopic to the planetary. Dr Samuli Autti from Lancaster University is one of the authors of a new study of quantum wave turbulence together with researchers at Aalto University. The team’s findings, published in Nature Physics, demonstrate a new understanding of how wave-like motion transfers energy from macroscopic to microscopic length scales, and their results confirm ...

Renowned University of Chicago Medicine trauma surgeon Selwyn O. Rogers Jr., MD, MPH, has been named an associate editor of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), effective March 16. The founding director of the UChicago Medicine Trauma Center, Rogers is a Professor of Surgery at UChicago and Chief of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery at its 1,296-bed academic health system based on Chicago’s South Side. A leading public health expert whose research focuses on the healthcare needs of underserved populations — particularly those impacted by intentional violence — he is the first surgeon in more than a decade to serve as an associate editor at NEJM, ...

Metal halide perovskites are considered to be a particularly low-cost and promising class of materials for next-generation solar modules. Perovskite solar cells can be produced with coating processes using liquid inks made from precursor materials and various solvents. After coating, the solvents evaporate and the perovskites crystallise to form a more or less homogeneous layer. Options for upscaling Prof. Dr. Eva Unger's team at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin has extensive expertise in solution-based processing methods and is investigating options for upscaling. "Perovskite photovoltaics is the best solution-processable PV technology available," says Eva Unger, ...

Cancer, which affects millions every year, requires proteins to spread through the body. In a new strategy to beat the wide-ranging disease, scientists are sabotaging its protein factories.  In a new forum paper published in Trends in Biology, researchers from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte encapsulated the young field of nucleolar DNA damage response (DDR) pathways. The review highlights six mechanisms by which cells repair DNA damage, including one which was published five months ago in Nucleic Acids Research by the same authors. By attacking these mechanisms, future applied researchers will be able to ...

A new tool that can be used to forecast the prevalence of individuals within a country that may have insufficient access to food — known as food insecurity — up to 30 days into the future is presented in a study published in Scientific Reports. The authors suggest that the tool could aid decision makers in countries at risk of food insecurity and help facilitate more timely responses. Elisa Omodei and colleagues developed the tool using food consumption data from Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mali, Nigeria, Syria and Yemen — all countries that have recently ...

Most immunotherapies, which aim to boost T cell activity, work poorly in treating estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer. Targeting a different type of immune cell called macrophages could be a more effective approach, suggests a comprehensive new analysis of invasive ER+ breast cancers led by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine scientists. Published today in Nature Cancer, the study found that macrophages were the dominant immune cell infiltrating ER+ invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) and invasive ductal carcinoma ...

New York, NY (March 16, 2023) – Using a new computational approach they developed to analyze large genetic datasets from rare disease cohorts, researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and colleagues have discovered previously unknown genetic causes of three rare conditions: primary lymphedema (characterized by tissue swelling), thoracic aortic aneurysm disease, and congenital deafness. The work was done in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Bristol, UK; KU Leuven, Belgium; the University of Tokyo; the University of Maryland; Imperial College London, and others from around the world. An enhanced understanding of the functions ...

Fast facts: The global shortage of fresh water currently affects hundreds of millions of people around the world, and it is estimated that by 2025, 1.8 billion people will experience severe water scarcity and hunger due to loss of fertile farming lands caused by droughts. The discovery of alternative water-harvesting technologies holds the potential to alleviate the foreseeable socioeconomic impacts of severe water scarcity. Abu Dhabi, UAE, March 16 2023: Researchers of the Smart Materials Lab (SML) and the Center for Smart Engineering Materials (CSEM) at NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) have reported a novel method of harvesting water from ...

HOUSTON ― In a Phase II trial led by researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, adding ipilimumab to a neoadjuvant, or pre-surgical, combination of nivolumab plus platinum-based chemotherapy, resulted in a major pathologic response (MPR) in half of all treated patients with early-stage, resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). New findings from the NEOSTAR trial, published today in Nature Medicine, provide further support for neoadjuvant immunotherapy-based treatment as an approach to reduce viable tumor at surgery and to improve outcomes in NSCLC. The combination also was associated with an increase in immune cell infiltration and a favorable gut microbiome ...

Leipzig. Intense fishing and overexploitation have led to evolutionary changes in fish stocks like cod, reducing both their productivity and value on the market. These changes can be reversed by more sustainable and far-sighted fisheries management. The new study by researchers from the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Leipzig University and the Institute of Marine Research in Tromsø, which was published in Nature Sustainability, shows that reversal of evolutionary change would only slightly reduce the profit of fishing, but would help regain and conserve natural genetic diversity. The impact of global fisheries on marine ecosystems ...

A research team from the University of Cologne (Germany) and the University of St Andrews (Scotland) has shown in a new study how a fundamental physical concept can be used to boost the colour brilliance of smartphone, computer or TV screens without cutbacks in energy efficiency. The results have been published in Nature Photonics. Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have conquered the market for displays in recent years – from high-resolution smartphone to wall-sized television screens. However, industry and science face several challenges in creating the next generation of devices ...

Hot topic – how heat flow affects the Earth’s magnetic field  Compass readings that do not show the direction of true north and interference with the operations of satellites are a few of the problems caused by peculiarities of the Earth’s magnetic field.  The magnetic field radiates around the world and far into space, but it is set by processes that happen deep within the Earth’s core, where temperatures exceed 5,000-degress C.  New research from geophysicists at the University of Leeds suggests that ...

A new method to cure HIV—by transplanting HIV-resistant stem cells from umbilical cord blood—has yielded long-term successful results, say scientists. The approach was successfully used to treat the “New York patient,” a middle-aged woman with leukemia and HIV who self-identifies as mixed race, who has been without HIV since 2017. Using stem cells from cord blood rather than from compatible adult donors, as has been done previously, increases the potential to cure HIV via stem cell transplantation ...

The Ashaninka are the most numerous Indigenous people living in the rainforests of Peru and Brazil where they inhabit a crucial area between the Andes and sources of the Amazon River. And yet, despite the size of the population and their importance in the past and present, their genetic history has remained understudied. Now a team of researchers reporting in the journal Current Biology on March 16 has analyzed the genomes of more than 50 individuals to clarify the group’s interactions with nearby South American regions, including Central America and the Caribbean. ...