Wild boars and red junglefowl gave rise to common pigs and chickens. These animals’ genes evolved to express themselves differently, leading to signatures of domestication — such as weaker bones and better viral resistance — in pigs and chickens, according to a research team based in Japan. The findings, published on July 6 in Animals, could provide insight into the genetic changes of the domestication process and highlight target genes for healthier and more productive livestock breeding, the researchers ...

A recent study published in Cell Host & Microbe identifies a potential obesity-linked bacterium, Megamonas, from a large-scale cohort of obese individuals in China. This research suggests potential strategies for future obesity management by illustrating how the bacterium degrades intestinal myo-inositol, enhances lipid absorption, and contributes to obesity. The study is jointly conducted by Ruijin Hospital affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, BGI Research, and BGI Genomics Institute of Intelligent Medical Research (IIMR). "Through a large-scale study of intestinal ...

Ozone can be an agent of good or harm, depending on where you find it in the atmosphere. Way up in the stratosphere, the colorless gas shields the Earth from the sun’s harsh ultraviolet rays. But closer to the ground, ozone is a harmful air pollutant that can trigger chronic health problems including chest pain, difficulty breathing, and impaired lung function.  And somewhere in between, in the upper troposphere — the layer of the atmosphere just below the stratosphere, where most aircraft cruise — ozone contributes to warming the planet as a potent greenhouse gas. There are signs that ozone is continuing to rise in the upper troposphere despite efforts to reduce its ...

A new pathway that is used by cancer cells to infiltrate the brain has been discovered by a team of Canadian and American research groups led by the Singh Lab at McMaster University. The research also reveals a new therapy that shows promise in blocking and killing these tumors. The research, published in Nature Medicine on Aug. 2, 2024, offers new hope and potential treatments for glioblastoma, the most aggressive form of brain cancer. With existing treatments like surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy, the tumors often return, and patient survival is limited to only a few months. With this new treatment, ...

Scientists have developed a new, safe and effective way to infect volunteers with the parasite that causes leishmaniasis and measure the body’s immune response, bringing a vaccine for the neglected tropical disease a step closer.   The breakthrough, by a team from the University of York and Hull York Medical School, is described in the journal Nature Medicine and lays the foundations for vaccine development and for testing new preventative measures. Controlled human infection studies, where volunteers are exposed to small amounts of ...

Two of the planet’s more pressing environmental stressors have the potential to alter the growth and reproductive output of plants found right along the world’s coastlines, a new study suggests. The research, published in the journal Environmental Pollution, is one of the first to examine the combined effects of seawater flooding and microplastic pollution on coastal plants. It showed that both stressors had some effects on the species tested, with microplastics impacting the plants’ reproduction while flooding caused greater tissue death. However, being exposed to both microplastics ...

A newly developed timeline of early animal fossils reveals a link between sea levels, changes in marine oxygen, and the appearance of the earliest ancestors of present-day animals. The study reveals clues into the forces that drove the evolution of the earliest organisms, from which all major animal groups descended. A team from the University of Edinburgh studied a compilation of rocks and fossils from the so-called Ediacaran-Cambrian interval – a slice of time 580–510 million years ago. This period witnessed an explosion of biodiversity according to fossil records, the causes of which have ...

In 1935, the Metropolitan Museum of New York led an archaeological expedition to Egypt. In Deir Elbahari near Luxor, the site of ancient Thebes, they excavated the tomb of Senmut, the architect and overseer of royal works – and reputedly, lover – of the famed queen Hatschepsut (1479-1458 BCE). Beneath Senmut's tomb, they found a separate burial chamber for his mother Hat-Nufer and other, unidentified relatives. Here, they made an uncanny discovery: a wooden coffin holding the mummy of an elderly woman, wearing a black wig and two scarab rings in silver and gold. But what struck the archaeologists was the ...

Similar to other sectors around the world, the light speed development of artificial intelligence (AI) has made its way into healthcare, particularly the radiology field. As such, AI-based diagnostic systems are flourishing, with hospitals quickly adopting the technology to assist radiologists. In contrast, there are concerns about the environmental impact of increasingly complex AI models and the need for more sustainable AI solutions. Therefore, Associate Professor Daiju Ueda of Osaka Metropolitan University’s ...

Auroras are natural luminous phenomena caused by the interaction of electrons falling from the sky and the upper atmosphere. Most of the observed light consists of emission lines of neutral or ionized nitrogen and oxygen atoms and molecular emission bands, and the color is determined by the transition energy levels, molecular vibrations and rotations. There is a variety of characteristic colors of auroras, such as green and red, but there are multiple theories about the emission process by which they appear in different types of auroras, and to understand the colors of auroras, the light must be broken down. ...

Mountain hikes are invigorating. Crisp air and clear views can refresh the soul, but thin air presents an additional challenge for high-altitude birds. ‘All else being equal, bird wings produce less lift in low density air’, says Jonathan Rader from the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, USA, making it more difficult to remain aloft. Yet this doesn’t seem to put them off. Bar-headed geese, cranes and bar-tailed godwits have recorded altitude records of 6000 m and more. So how do they manage to take to the air when thin air offers ...

Dr. Alva O. Ferdinand, head of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health, has been named to the Health Resources and Services Administration’s National Advisory Committee on Rural Health by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra. She will serve a four-year term on the committee, which is comprised of nationally recognized rural health experts tasked with providing recommendations on rural health issues. Since 2019, Ferdinand has served as director of the Southwest Rural Health Research Center, whose research has impacted federal policies nationwide for more than two decades. ...

A drug that was developed to treat pancreatic cancer has now been shown to increase symptom-free survival in preclinical medulloblastoma models – all without showing signs of toxicity. Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor in children. Survival rates vary according to which one of the four subtypes a patient has, but the worst survival rates, historically at about 40%, are for Group 3, which this research focused on. Jezabel Rodriguez Blanco, Ph.D., an assistant professor who holds dual appointments at MUSC Hollings Cancer Center and the Darby Children’s ...

MADISON — As they are in many places around the globe, glaciers perched high in the Andes Mountains are shrinking. Now, researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and their collaborators have uncovered evidence that the high-altitude tropical ice fields are likely smaller than they've been at any time since the last ice age ended 11,700 years ago. That would make the tropical Andes the first region in the world known to pass that threshold as a result of the steadily warming global climate. It also makes them possible harbingers of what's to come for glaciers globally. "We think these are the canary ...

Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have created a panel that is able to provide a diagnosis for >90% of pediatric cancer patients by sequencing 0.15% of the human genome. The panel is a cost-effective way to test and classify childhood malignancies and to help guide patient treatment. The panel’s performance and validation were published this week in Clinical Cancer Research. Finding the mutations in a child’s cancer with powerful sequencing technology can lead to better outcomes. Physicians use that knowledge to tailor targeted treatments to the specific cancer-causing mutations affecting each patient. However, current ...

Prior authorization—the process by which a health insurance company denies or approves coverage for a health care service before the service is performed—became standard practice beginning with Medicare and Medicaid legislation in the 1960s. Although research has uncovered disparities in prior coverage for cancer patients based on race, little has been known to date on the role of prior authorization in increasing or decreasing these disparities. To learn more about the issue, Benjamin Ukert, PhD, an assistant professor of health policy and management in the Texas A&M ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Snacks provide, on average, about one-fourth of most people’s daily calories. With nearly one in three adults in the United States overweight and more than two in five with obesity, according to the National Institutes of Health, researchers in the Penn State Sensory Evaluation Center are investigating how Americans can snack smarter. The latest study conducted in the center, housed in the College of Agricultural Sciences, investigated how eating behavior changes when consumers are served a dip with a salty snack. The findings, available online now and to be published in the November issue ...

Seven entrepreneurs comprise the next cohort of Innovation Crossroads, a Department of Energy Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program node based at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The program provides energy-related startup founders from across the nation with access to ORNL’s unique scientific resources and capabilities, as well as connect them with experts, mentors and networks to accelerate their efforts to take their world-changing ideas to the marketplace. “Supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs is part of ORNL’s ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                        Aug. 1, 2024     Media Contact:   Monica McDonald  (404) 365-2162   mmcdonald@rheumatology.org           American College of Rheumatology Opens Press Registration for ACR Convergence 2024     ATLANTA – Complimentary press registration is now open for journalists to cover research presented at ACR Convergence 2024, taking place Nov. 14-19 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. A listing of sessions for the meeting can be found in the online program.        Approved ...

UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 19:00 BST / 14:00 ET THURSDAY 1 AUGUST 2024   Images available via link in the notes section   Exceptional fossils with preserved soft parts reveal that the earliest molluscs were flat, armoured slugs without shells. The new species, Shishania aculeata was covered with hollow, organic, cone-shaped spines. The fossils preserve exceptionally rare detailed features which reveal that these spines were produced using a sophisticated secretion system that is shared with annelids (earthworms and relatives). A team of researchers including scientists from the University of Oxford have made an astonishing discovery of ...

When the question is “how are you feeling on the inside?,” it’s our vagus nerve that offers the answer.   But how does the body’s longest cranial nerve, running from brain to large intestine, encodes sensory information from the visceral organs? For his work investigating and mapping this internal information highway, Qiancheng Zhao is the 2024 grand prize winner of the Science & PINS Prize for Neuromodulation.   Interoception—the body’s ability to sense its internal state in a timely and precise manner—facilitated by the vagus plays a key role in respiratory, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, endocrine and immune ...

Andean tropical glaciers are experiencing unprecedented retreat, according to a new study that reveals their current sizes are the smallest in over 11,700 years. “Our finding … identifies this region as a hot spot in our understanding of the changing state of the cryosphere,” say the authors. Glaciers act as important indicators of climate change, with their global retreat accelerating over recent decades. Examining this retreat in the context of the previous 11,700 years of the Holocene interglacial highlights the impact of modern global warming. Although many glaciers worldwide are smaller today compared to ...

The early evolution of mollusks has been hard to pin down, but now a newly discovered fossil – of a shell-less, soft-bodied, spiny mollusk from the early Cambrian – provides crucial insights, researchers report. The findings suggest that this fossil, of a creature called Shishania aculeata, is a stem mollusk – representative of an intermediate between early members of the superphylum lophotrochozoans and more derived mollusks. Mollusks are one of the most diverse groups of animals, encompassing various well-known forms such as clams, ...

Researchers have developed a novel approach to three-dimensional (3D) printing they call “CLEAR,” which significantly improves the strength and durability of materials by using a combination of light and dark chemical reactions to create densely entangled polymer chains. The authors used their approach to print structures with special features, such as the ability to adhere to wet tissues. Incorporation of polymer chain entanglements as reinforcements within 3D printed materials can significantly enhance their mechanical properties. However, traditional vat photopolymerization-based 3D printing techniques, such as digital ...

The evolutionary gain and loss of plant prickles – sharp pointed epidermal outgrowths – are controlled by a shared genetic program involving cytokinin biosynthesis, researchers report. The study sheds light on the genetic basis of the emergence of similar traits in distantly related organisms and reveals genomic targets for prickle removal for crop improvement. The genetic basis of trait convergence is a central question in evolutionary biology, and the extent to which it is driven by ...