UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Stress is a universal human experience that almost everyone deals with from time to time. But a new study found that not only do some people report feeling no stress at all, but that there may be downsides to not experiencing stress. The researchers found that people who reported experiencing no stressors were more likely to experience better daily well-being and fewer chronic health conditions. However, they were also more likely to have lower cognitive function, as well. David M. Almeida, professor of human development and family studies at Penn State, said the study suggests that small, daily stressors could potentially benefit the brain, despite being an inconvenience. "It's possible that experiencing stressors creates opportunities for you ...

Three University of Colorado Cancer Center researchers are part of a team that recently published a paper offering new insight into how the immune system relates to cancer. Quentin Vicens, PhD, Jeffrey Kieft, PhD, and Beat Vögeli, PhD, are authors on the paper, which looks at how an enzyme called ADAR1 operates in pathways associated with cancer. "In a cell, ADAR1 edits native RNA -- or self-RNA -- so that the cell recognizes it as its own. It's a key protection against autoimmune disorders," Kieft says. "But if a virus infects, viral RNA isn't edited by ADAR1, so the cell can recognize that and react. The cell knows it has foreign RNA, and it activates immune responses to fight off that infection." For their paper published last month in the ...

Nearly two-thirds of middle-aged and older adults in Canada report adverse childhood experiences Hamilton, ON (Mar. 19, 20121) - New research from McMaster University has found that roughly three in every five Canadian adults aged 45 to 85 have been exposed to childhood abuse, neglect, intimate partner violence or other household adversity. The research, which estimates the prevalence of a broad range of adverse childhood experiences, was published in CMAJ Open. "Our research showed that adverse childhood experiences are highly prevalent in the Canadian population, with 62% of Canadian adults aged 45 to 85 reporting at least one exposure," said Divya Joshi, the study's lead author and a postdoctoral fellow in the Department ...

In 1961, physicist Ugo Fano provided the first theoretical explanation to an anomalous asymmetry observed in the spectral profiles of noble gases. He put forth an impactful interpretation of this phenomenon, now called "Fano resonance," stating that if a discrete excited state of a system falls within the energy range of a continuum of other possible states, these two can interfere with each other and give rise to abnormal peaks and dips in the system's frequency response. Though Fano resonance can occur in various physical systems, recent progress in metasurfaces and nanotechnology has drawn attention to this phenomenon as a potentially powerful tool in optics. ...

The Research Group on Synthetic Biology for Biomedical Applications at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain, has designed a cellular device capable of computing by printing cells on paper. For the first time, they have developed a living device that could be used outside the laboratory without a specialist, and it could be produced on an industrial scale at low cost. The study is published in Nature Communications and was carried out by Sira Mogas-Díez, Eva Gonzalez-Flo and Javier Macía. We currently have many electronic devices available to us such as computers and tablets whose computing power is highly efficient. But, despite their ...

DALLAS, March 19, 2021 -- Mechanical removal of blood clots causing a stroke is increasing, yet racial differences in treatment persist, according to late-breaking science presented today at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2021. The virtual meeting is March 17-19, 2021 and is a world premier meeting for researchers and clinicians dedicated to the science of stroke and brain health. Mechanical clot-removal or endovascular therapy is a non-surgical treatment that uses tiny tubes, or catheters, to remove a blood clot. In 2015, several major clinical trials confirmed that endovascular therapy ...

In Brazil, researchers affiliated with the Center for Nuclear Energy in Agriculture (CENA) and the Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture (ESALQ), both part of the University of São Paulo (USP), have developed a methodology based on artificial intelligence to automate and streamline seed quality analysis, a process required by law and currently done manually by analysts accredited with the Ministry of Agriculture. The group used light-based technology like that deployed in plant and cosmetics analysis to acquire images of the seeds. They then turned to machine learning to automate the image interpretation ...

DALLAS, March 19, 2021 -- New research found patients hospitalized with COVID-19 had a higher risk of stroke, compared with patients who had similar infectious conditions such as influenza and sepsis in prior studies. Those who had an ischemic stroke were more likely to be older, male, Black race, or have high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes or an irregular heartbeat (atrial fibrillation) compared with other COVID-19 patients, according to late-breaking science presented today at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2021. The meeting is being held virtually, March 17-19, 2021 and is a world premier meeting for researchers and clinicians dedicated ...

Schizophrenia and personality disorders are the most disabling mental health conditions to live with, according to scientists from The University of Queensland. A Danish-Australian research team studied a cohort of 6.9 million Danish residents in the Danish Psychiatric Central Research Register to understand the burden of disability associated with 18 mental and substance use disorders. Professor John McGrath from UQ Queensland Brain Institute's and the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research said the data was used to develop a new method for measuring disability that took comorbidities into account. "Traditionally the impact of mental disorders has been presented for an entire nation, ...

Key takeaways Nearly half of gastrointestinal cancer operations in this study were performed at 42 U.S. News & World Report "Best Hospitals." These top-ranked hospitals performed more than four times the annual case volume of unranked hospitals. Higher hospital case volume was associated with better outcomes, even after accounting for patient characteristics and complicating factors. Patients with complex gastrointestinal (GI) cancers may fare better by seeking surgical care at high-volume, top-ranked hospitals. CHICAGO (March 19, 2021, 9 a.m. CDT): A new study reinforces the principle that "practice makes perfect" ...

The combination of cancer therapy lenalidomide plus the steroid dexamethasone (together called Rd) is considered standard treatment for elderly patients with multiple myeloma. However, prolonged steroid use can be harmful for some older adults. A new study published in Blood found that switching select older patients to a lower dose of lenalidomide and discontinuing dexamethasone after nine months was not only safe, but it also yielded similar outcomes as compared with patients who received continuous Rd. Multiple myeloma, a cancer affecting the blood plasma cells (a type of white blood cell in the bone marrow), most commonly ...

3,938 moths are part of a major insect study based on artificial intelligence, and researchers from Aarhus University have just published their results in the scientific journal Sensors. They have developed a counting machine that uses ultraviolet light to attract insects and register them with image recognition. The invention may have a decisive impact on research into climate change and biodiversity. "If we can monitor the development of moth populations, we can gain new knowledge about how climate change affects our nature. Our technology takes an important step towards automating the very extensive work entailed in counting insects," ...

We all feel physical pain in different ways, but people with nerve injuries often have a dysfunctional pain suppression system, making them particularly prone to discomfort. Now researchers have uncovered that virtual reality (VR) can reduce types of pain typically seen in patients with nerve injuries - and that VR can boost the dysfunctional pain suppression system, giving people with chronic pain a possible game-changing hope. Dr Sam Hughes, Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Plymouth, led the study focusing on conditioned pain modulation ...

In 1991, scientists Brian O'Regan and Michael Grätzel at EPFL published a seminal paper describing a new type of solar cell: the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC), also known as "Grätzel cell". Simple and cheap to build while being flexible and versatile, DSSCs are already manufactured on a multi-megawatt scale, cutting a significant slice of the photovoltaic market, which currently supplies almost 3% of all the world's electricity, well in the race to reduce carbon emissions. Now, Dan Zhang and Marko Stojanovic, two PhD students in Grätzel's lab at EPFL's School of Basic Sciences, have led the development of a simple dye for DSSCs, called MS5. In devices, this new sensitizer can either be used as single dye, ...

Researchers from Tomsk Polytechnic University jointly with their colleagues from the Czech Republic have found a method to synthesize cyclic carbonates from atmospheric CO2. Cyclic carbonates are organic compounds, used as electrolytes for lithium-ion batteries, green solvents as well as in pharmaceutical drugs manufacturing. The scientists managed to synthetize carbonates under sunlight and at room temperature, while conventional methods require synthesis under high pressure and temperatures. The research findings are published in Journal of Materials Chemistry A (IF:11,301; Q1). "The increase in CO2 levels in the atmosphere is a global environmental problem. The solutions of the problem are usually focused on measures to reduce CO2 emissions. An alternative method is to use the CO2 already ...

Flashlight fish have the ability to generate situation-specific blink patterns resembling a visual Morse code. Researchers at Ruhr-Universität Bochum have shown in laboratory and field experiments that the animals use these light signals to coordinate their behaviour in the school when visibility is limited. Both the light intensity and the blinking frequency affected the animals' behaviour. The team headed by Peter Jägers and Professor Stefan Herlitze from the Department of General Zoology and Neurobiology has shared their findings in the journal Scientific Reports, published online on 19 ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Recent generations show a worrying decline in health compared to their parents and grandparents when they were the same age, a new national study reveals. Researchers found that, compared to previous generations, members of Generation X and Generation Y showed poorer physical health, higher levels of unhealthy behaviors such as alcohol use and smoking, and more depression and anxiety. The results suggest the likelihood of higher levels of diseases and more deaths in younger generations than we have seen in the past, said Hui Zheng, ...

Most drugs operate via the membranes that surround the body's cells. A study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden has now mapped the structure and mechanism of MGST2, a membrane enzyme that, amongst other things, plays a part in chronic inflammation and cancer. The study, which is published in the journal Nature Communications, can make a significant contribution to the development of future drugs. All our cells are enclosed in a fat-rich membrane. The cells' equivalent to organs, the organelles, are also enclosed by membranes. Embedded in the cell's internal and external membranes are proteins that regulate a large number of vital functions. ...

Parkinson's disease is the second most common, age-related, neurodegenerative disease: In Germany alone, about 300,000 people are affected and experience sometimes major limitations to their quality of life. Although Parkinson's is so widespread, there is still no treatment that targets the cause of the disease and can stop it in its tracks. However, current research provides new hope: A research team at the University of Konstanz led by Professor Marcus Groettrup describes a new approach for developing future treatments for Parkinson's. The biologists demonstrated that the ubiquitin-like ...

Boston, Mass. - In a paper published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, physician-researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) assessed the relative impact of COVID-19 on patients hospitalized with the viral infection in March and April 2020, versus patients hospitalized with influenza during the last five flu seasons at the medical center. Overall, the team demonstrated that COVID-19 cases resulted in significantly more weekly hospitalizations, more use of mechanical ventilation and higher mortality rates than influenza. COVID-19 and influenza are both contagious respiratory viral diseases that can lead to pneumonia and acute respiratory failure in severe cases. However, detailed comparison of the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 ...

Researchers at Aalto University and the Niilo Mäki Institute have used neuroimaging to pinpoint where the brain activates - or doesn't activate - among children identified as having a high risk of dyslexia. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) has rarely been used to study the reading disorder in children. The brain study was carried out at Aalto University by measuring brain activity with MEG, which measures the weak magnetic fields arising from electrical activity in the brain, over a period of two days. Earlier studies have shown that difficulties in processing sounds may be partly responsible for dyslexia, and that these challenges may relate to the left auditory cortex which processes language. During the study, the children listened to nonsensical ...

At the start of Neurodiversity Celebration Week, new research from Cranfield University demonstrates the importance of organisations becoming more inclusive employers when it comes to neurodiversity. It has been estimated that one in seven of the population of the UK is neurodiverse. However, according to research by the Institute of Leadership and Management, only half of managers would employ a neurodiverse person. Last week, in an interview with The Times, The Second Sea Lord Vice Admiral Nick Hine, revealed that ten years ago he was diagnosed with autism. Speaking to The Times, the Vice Admiral, said: ""The world is made for neuro-typical people by neuro-typical people, and therefore it's not surprising that people who are not neuro-typical have a ...

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. -- Army-funded researchers created nanosized robots that could enable locomotion, novel metamaterial design and high-fidelity sensors. Cornell University researchers created micron-sized shape memory actuators that fold themselves into 3D configurations and allow atomically thin 2D materials with just a quick jolt of voltage. Once the material is bent, it holds its shape, even after the voltage is removed. To demonstrate the technology, the team created what is potentially the world's smallest self-folding origami bird. "The research team is pushing the boundary of how quickly and precisely we can control motion at the micro- and even nano-scales," said Dr. Dean Culver, program manager for Complex Dynamics and Systems at Army Research Office, ...

Infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in pregnancy is associated with preeclampsia, stillbirth, preterm birth and other adverse outcomes, found new research published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) . "Our findings suggest that pregnant people with COVID-19 have an increased risk of high blood pressure, stillbirth and preterm birth. Their newborns are more likely to need intensive care. Pregnant people with severe COVID-19 symptoms have a particularly high risk of these complications," says Dr. Nathalie ...

An important function of the grant peer review process is to provide constructive feedback to applicants for their resubmissions. However, little is known about whether review feedback achieves this goal. The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS), in collaboration with Washington State University, has published findings on a multi-methods analysis of responses from grant applicants regarding their perceptions of the usefulness and appropriateness of peer review feedback they received from grant submissions. The analysis focused on responses ...