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 ...

Press release - Abstract 481: Effects of testosterone therapy on morphology and grade of NAFLD in obese men with functional hypogonadism and type 2 diabetes According to a new study, testosterone therapy may reduce non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in obese men with functional hypogonadism and type-2 diabetes. Testosterone therapy may help obese men with functional hypogonadism and type-2 diabetes reduce the prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), according to a study being presented at the 23rd?European Congress of Endocrinology ...

Newly published papers further elucidate the mechanisms underlying pridopidine's neuroprotective properties through activation of the Sigma-1 Receptor (S1R). Pridopidine enhances mitochondrial function and reduces mHTT-induced ER stress, which are impaired in HD, mediated by the S1R. Three new peer-reviewed publications highlight pridopidine's therapeutic potential and provide data supporting the role of the S1R in neurodegenerative diseases Prilenia Therapeutics B.V., a clinical stage biotech company focused on developing novel treatments for neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders, ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A comprehensive analysis of 437 studies from around the world provides the best evidence to date that narcissism is an important risk factor for both aggression and violence, researchers said. The link between narcissism and aggression was found for all dimensions of narcissism and for a variety of types of aggression. Results were similar regardless of gender, age, whether they were college students, or country of residence. And, to have an impact, narcissism doesn't have to be at levels so high as to be pathological. Findings showed ...

Two articles published online today by Alzheimer's & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions, a journal of the Alzheimer's Association, show substantial changes in the focus and funding of clinical trials for Alzheimer's disease therapies. The newly published articles throw a greater spotlight on a decision -- now before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) -- that would potentially bring a new drug therapy to Alzheimer's patients for the first time in nearly 20 years. Researchers analyzed clinicaltrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's database, and five years of annual Alzheimer's pipeline reviews published by UNLV School of Integrated Health Sciences research professor Jeffrey L. Cummings ...

Researchers at the Vienna BioCenter designed a testing protocol for SARS-CoV-2 that can process tens of thousands of samples in less than 48 hours. The method, called SARSeq, is published in the journal Nature Communications and could be adapted to many more pathogens. The COVID-19 pandemic has lasted more than a year and continues to impact our lives tremendously. Although some countries have launched speedy vaccination campaigns, many still await large-scale immunization schemes and effective antiviral therapies - before that happens, the world urgently needs to regain a semblance ...

While we sleep, the brain produces particular activation patterns. When two of these patterns - slow oscillations and sleep spindles - gear into each other, previous experiences are reactivated. The stronger the reactivation, the clearer will be our recall of past events, a new study reveals. Scientists have long known that slow oscillations (SOs) and sleep spindles - sudden half-second to two-second bursts of oscillatory brain activity - play an important role in the formation and retention of new memories. But experts in the UK and Germany have discovered that the precise combination of SOs and sleep spindles is vital for opening windows during which ...

As devices continue to be built on an increasingly small scale, scientists are looking toward developing ways to engineer materials at the atomic level. In a breakthrough that will contribute to this, published in Nature Communications, researchers from the RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research and RIKEN Center for Advanced Photonics, along with collaborators, have developed a way to use a "dry transfer technique"--a technique that uses no solvent--to position optical quality carbon nanotubes in a precise way. Carbon nanotubes are a promising type of materials with potential uses in applications such as light-emitting diodes, ...

HOUSTON - (May 25, 2021) - Sometimes things are a little out of whack, and it turns out to be exactly what you need. That was the case when orthoferrite crystals turned up at a Rice University laboratory slightly misaligned. Those crystals inadvertently became the basis of a discovery that should resonate with researchers studying spintronics-based quantum technology. Rice physicist Junichiro Kono, alumnus Takuma Makihara and their collaborators found an orthoferrite material, in this case yttrium iron oxide, placed in a high magnetic field showed uniquely tunable, ultrastrong interactions between magnons in the crystal. Orthoferrites ...

PULLMAN, Wash. - Before the huge potential of tiny nanocarriers for highly targeted drug delivery and environmental clean-up can be realized, scientists first need to be able to see them. Currently researchers have to rely on attaching fluorescent dyes or heavy metals to label parts of organic nanocarrier structures for investigation, often changing them in the process. A new technique using chemically-sensitive "soft" X-rays offers a simpler, non-disruptive way of gaining insight into this nano-world. In a study published by Nature Communications, a research team demonstrates the capability of the X-ray method on a smart drug delivery nanoparticle and a polysoap nanostructure intended to capture crude oil spilled in the ocean. "We have developed a ...

Ancient Judeans commonly ate non-kosher fish surrounding the time that such food was prohibited in the Bible, suggests a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Tel Aviv. This finding sheds new light on the origin of Old Testament dietary laws that are still observed by many Jews today. Among these rules is a ban on eating any species of fish which lacks scales or fins. The study reports an analysis of ancient fish bones from 30 archaeological sites in Israel and Sinai which date to the more than 2,000-year span from the Late Bronze Age (1550-1130 ...

Emergency department visits for common conditions such as appendicitis, miscarriage, gallbladder attacks and ectopic pregnancy decreased markedly at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but patient outcomes were not worse, found research published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.202821. "These findings are reassuring, as patients who required emergency care in the first wave of the pandemic continued to present to the emergency department, received similar care and had similar outcomes to patients presenting in the prepandemic period," writes Dr. David Gomez, a trauma surgeon at St. Michael's Hospital, Unity ...