In the latest National Autism Indicators Report, researchers from Drexel University’s A.J. Drexel Autism Institute examined surveys of family members of autistic adults who use Developmental Disability services, and found needs for additional supports like respite care and assistance to plan for crisis and emergencies, especially among families whose adult lived with them. Data from the surveys showed over one quarter of families with autistic adults who use Developmental Disability services and live with family do not have enough services or supports for themselves, according to the report. And over half of these families ...

Staying up all night, working nonstop, eating on the run and skipping meals are often telltale signs of starting a new business. But research shows this constant hustle - which is often glorified as the key to success - can have a negative impact not only on an entrepreneur's health and well-being but also his or her business. New research led by UCF assistant professor of management Jeff Gish suggests that engaging in recovery may help entrepreneurs reduce the negative impact of stress. "Entrepreneurs who work really hard and grind on their business and who most ...

Cells sense and respond to the mechanical properties of the cellular microenvironment in the body. Changes in these properties, which occur in a number of human pathologies, including cancer, can elicit abnormal responses from cells. How the cells adapt to such changes in the mechanical microenvironment is not well understood. A team of researchers at Texas A&M University are working to understand cellular mechanosensing -- the ability to sense and respond to the mechanical properties of the microenvironment -- in a unique way. Dr. Tanmay Lele, Unocal Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering and the Department of Translational Medical Sciences, partnered with Dr. Charles Baer, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Florida. ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. - To improve the development of new saliva-based diagnostic tests and personalized medicine, the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) has supported the development of the Human Salivary Proteome Wiki, the first public platform that catalogs and curates data on each of the thousands of proteins within our saliva. Detailed in an article published on Tuesday, May 25 in the Journal of Dental Research, the wiki provides researchers and clinicians with rich, unbiased evidence from multiple independent studies to help explore the dynamic and complex nature of saliva, as well as analytical tools to search for data by tissue type, disease and more. "This ...

New effective compounds, which can be endogenous donors of a signaling molecule - hydrogen sulfide in the body, were synthesized by SUSU scientists. Due to this property, the obtained compounds are potential drugs with a cancer-preventing effect. The research work was published in the Russian Chemical Bulletin (Q3). Organosulfur compounds with anticancer, antibacterial, and antirheumatic properties have been studied for some years by scientists from South Ural State University and N.D. Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences. In the latest study, they attempted to search for new derivatives of 1,2-dithiol-3-thiones - compounds with various ...

Scientists from the UK's University of Bath explore racemases - an important type of enzyme that is linked to certain cancers and other life-threatening diseases while also being critical to cell function - in a paper published in the prestigious journal Chemical Society Reviews. The scientists also propose new strategies for finding drugs that neutralise these enzymes. Many racemases and epimerases perform vital roles in human and animal cells, and in disease-causing organisms. They facilitate proper nerve function, the degradation of toxic substances, the formation of bacterial cell walls and the conversion of certain drugs into their active ...

Alzheimer's disease is the main cause of dementia and current therapeutic strategies cannot prevent, slow down or cure the pathology. The disease is characterized by memory loss, caused by the degeneration and death of neuronal cells in several regions of the brain, including the hippocampus, which is where memories are initially formed. Researchers from the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience (NIN) have identified a small molecule that can be used to rejuvenate the brain and counteract the memory loss. New cells in old brains The presence of adult-born cells in the hippocampus ...

A research group from Osaka University led by Professor Hisashi Arase and consisting of researchers from the Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, the Institute for Protein Research, the Immunology Frontier Research Center, the Center for Infectious Diseases, and the Graduate School of Medicine has discovered for the first time that both neutralizing antibodies that protect against infection as well as infection-enhancing antibodies that increase infectivity are produced after infection with SARS-CoV-2 by analyzing antibodies derived from COVID-19 patients. Antibodies against the receptor binding site (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein play an important function as ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- A new map of dark matter in the local universe reveals several previously undiscovered filamentary structures connecting galaxies. The map, developed using machine learning by an international team including a Penn State astrophysicist, could enable studies about the nature of dark matter as well as about the history and future of our local universe. Dark matter is an elusive substance that makes up 80% of the universe. It also provides the skeleton for what cosmologists call the cosmic web, the large-scale structure of the universe ...

WASHINGTON (May 25, 2021)--A new report summarizes the findings from a national survey of frontline health care workers during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, finding that many reported unsafe working conditions and retaliation for voicing their concerns to employers. The survey, launched in May 2020 by staff and student researchers at the George Washington University, provides a snapshot of the experiences of frontline health care workers providing care for millions of Americans during the pandemic. "This survey gives a voice to US health care workers who have been on the frontlines ...

Photos and Map The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, or PETM, was a short interval of highly elevated global temperatures 56 million years ago that is frequently described as the best ancient analog for present-day climate warming. Fish are among the organisms thought to be most sensitive to warming climates, and tropical sea-surface temperatures during the PETM likely approached temperatures that are lethal to some modern marine fish species, according to some estimates. But newly discovered fish fossils from an eastern Egyptian desert site show that marine fishes thrived in at least ...

A study by Monash University and Alfred Health found a 70 per cent reduction in one type of human papillomavirus (HPV) in gay and bisexual men after the implementation of the school-based HPV vaccination program. The HYPER2 study, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, and led by Associate Professor Eric Chow, found there was a significant reduction in all four vaccine-preventable genotypes in gay/bisexual men aged 16-20 years following the introduction of the vaccine for boys in 2013. Australia is one of the first and few countries that have both boys and girls vaccination programs for ...

It is said that 10 to 15% of the world's agricultural production loss is caused by diseases, which is equivalent of the food for about 500 million people. And since 70-80% of this plant disease is caused by filamentous fungi, protecting crops from filamentous fungi is an important issue in effectively feeding the world population. In order for pathogenic fungi to infect plants, they must break through the epidermal cells of the plant and invade the interior. In other words, plant epidermal cells act as the first barrier to stop the attack of pathogenic fungi in the environment. So what kind of defense functions do ...

In the last year, one thing has become clear: we cannot live life without risk. In fact, every part of our daily routines became subject to analysis: How risky is the action and is its value worth the potential cost? Risk analysis, though seemingly more ever-present in our thoughts today, has always been a part of how we operate and how the systems around us work. As new pressures, such as climate change, deepen, the accuracy and reliability of risk analysis models regarding issues as basic as the cleanliness of our drinking water have become more important than ever. USC ...

A study published today in Scientific Reports suggests that new health challenges may be emerging as a result of conservationists' success in pulling mountain gorillas back from the brink of extinction. The study, the first species-wide survey of parasite infections across the entire range of the mountain gorilla, was conducted by an international science team led by the Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Czech Academy of Sciences; University of Veterinary Sciences Brno, Czech Republic; Gorilla Doctors; and the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. The work was conducted in collaboration with the protected area authorities of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (the Rwanda Development Board, the Uganda Wildlife Authority and l'Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature, respectively). All ...

Slow slip earthquakes, a type of slow motion tremor, have been detected at many of the world's earthquake hotspots, including those found around the Pacific Ring of Fire, but it is unclear how they are connected to the damaging quakes that occur there. Scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have now revealed the earthquakes' inner workings using seismic CT scans and supercomputers to examine a region off the coast of New Zealand known to produce them. The insights will help scientists pinpoint why tectonic energy at subduction zones such as New Zealand's Hikurangi subduction ...

Patients who suffer from REM sleep behaviour disorder have altered blood flow in the brain, which can lead to a lack of oxygen in the brain tissue. In the long term, this may cause symptoms of Parkinson's disease. This is shown by research from Aarhus University and Aarhus University Hospital. Do you sleep restlessly and flail your arms and kick out in your sleep? This could be a sign of a disorder associated with diseases of the brain. Researchers from AU and AUH have examined whether the sleep disorder RBD - which is also known as Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behaviour Disorder - may ...

An investigation carried out by the astrophysicists of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) ?ofia Chrobáková, a doctoral student at the IAC and the University of La Laguna (ULL), and Martín López Corredoira, questions one of the most interesting findings about the dynamics of the Milky Way in recent years: the precession, or the wobble in the axis of rotation of the disc warp is incorrect. The results have just been published in The Astrophysical Journal. The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy, which means that it is composed, among other components, of a disc of stars, gas and dust, in which the spiral arms are contained. At first, it was thought that the disc was ...

The bacterium Staphylococcus epidermidisis primarily a harmless microbe found on the skin and in the noses of humans. Yet some strains of this species can cause infections - in catheters, artificial joints, heart valves, and in the bloodstream - which are difficult to treat. These bacteria are often resistant to a particularly effective antibiotic, methicillin, and are among the most feared germs in hospitals. How these usually harmless skin microbes become deadly pathogens has been unclear up to now. An international research team has now discovered what distinguishes peaceful S. epidermidis microorganisms from the many dangerous invaders. The scientists have identified a new gene cluster that enables the more aggressive bacteria to produce additional structures in their cell ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- Smartwatches and other wearable devices may be used to sense illness, dehydration and even changes to the red blood cell count, according to biomedical engineers and genomics researchers at Duke University and the Stanford University School of Medicine. The researchers say that, with the help of machine learning, wearable device data on heart rate, body temperature and daily activities may be used to predict health measurements that are typically observed during a clinical blood test. The study appears in Nature Medicine on May 24, 2021. During a doctor's office visit, a medical worker usually measures a patient's vital signs, including their height, weight, ...

On 17 May 2021, the UK moved to step three of the Government's Roadmap out of Lockdown - which allowed for the lifting of a ban on foreign travel. Yet, travelling to amber and red list countries still carries strict regulations. UK residents can use proof of vaccination or Covid status (via the NHS app) to comply with travel restrictions in different countries - a scheme known as vaccine passports. However, issues remain to be resolved on how they will be implemented and used, and public opinion appear polarised. Researchers from the University of Surrey's School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, ...

Road verges cover 1.2% of land in Great Britain - an area the size of Dorset - and could be managed to help wildlife, new research shows. University of Exeter researchers used Google Earth and Google Street View to estimate that verges account for 2,579 km2 (almost 1,000 square miles) of land. About 27% of these verges are frequently mown, 41% is wilder grassland, 19% is woodland and the rest is scrub. There are "significant opportunities" to improve verges by reducing mowing and planting trees, the researchers say. "Our key message is that there's ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- Biomedical engineers at Duke University have developed an automatic process that uses streamlined artificial intelligence (AI) to identify active neurons in videos faster and more accurately than current techniques. The technology should allow researchers to watch an animal's brain activity in real time, as they are behaving. The work appears May 20 in Nature Machine Intelligence. One of the ways researchers study the activity of neurons in living animals is through a process known as two-photon calcium imaging, which makes active neurons appear as flashes of light. Analyzing these videos, however, typically requires a human circling every burst of intensity they see in a process called segmentation. While this may seem straightforward, ...

Schizophrenia is a heterogeneous psychiatric disorder characterized by positive symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions, negative symptoms such as apathy and lack of emotion, and cognitive impairment. We have reported that VB6 (pyridoxal) levels in peripheral blood of a subpopulation of patients with schizophrenia is significantly lower than that of healthy controls. More than 35% of patients with schizophrenia have low levels of VB6 (clinically defined as male: < 6 ng/ml, female: < 4 ng/ml). VB6 level is inversely proportional to severity score on the positive and negative symptom scale (PANSS), suggesting that VB6 deficiency might contribute to the development ...

A security issue in the certification signatures of PDF documents has been discovered by researchers at Ruhr-Universit&#228;t Bochum. This special form of signed PDF files can be used, for instance, to conclude contracts. Unlike a normal PDF signature, the certification signature permits certain changes to be made in the document after it has actually been signed. This is necessary to allow the second contractual party to also sign the document. The team from the Horst G&#246;rtz Institute for IT Security in Bochum showed that the second contractual ...