MISSOULA - Only an anthropologist would treasure millennia-old human feces found in dry caves. Just ask Dr. Meradeth Snow, a University of Montana researcher and co-chair of UM's Department of Anthropology. She is part of an international team, led by the Harvard Medical School-affiliated Joslin Diabetes Center, that used human "paleofeces" to discover that ancient people had far different microorganisms living in their guts than we do in modern times. Snow said studying the gut microbes found in the ancient fecal material may offer clues to combat diseases like diabetes that afflict people living in today's industrialized societies. "We ...

Researchers used genetic engineering tools to create a virus that can enter specific neurons and insert into the prefrontal cortex a new genetic code that induces the production of modified proteins. In tests with mice, the alteration of these proteins was sufficient to modify brain activity, indicating a potential biomarker for the diagnosis of psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and autism. Sometimes referred to as the "executive brain", the prefrontal cortex is the region that governs higher-level cognitive functions and decision making. Studies of tissue from this brain region in patients with schizophrenia have detected alterations in two proteins: BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) and trkB (tyrosine receptor kinase B). The relationship ...

A new study by the University of Georgia revealed that more college students change majors within the STEM pipeline than leave the career path of science, technology, engineering and mathematics altogether. Funded by a National Institutes of Health grant and a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship and done in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin, the study examined interviews, surveys and institutional data from 1,193 students at a U.S. midwestern university for more than six years to observe a single area of the STEM pipeline: biomedical fields of study. Out of 921 students ...

UCLA life scientists have identified six "words" that specific immune cells use to call up immune defense genes -- an important step toward understanding the language the body uses to marshal responses to threats. In addition, they discovered that the incorrect use of two of these words can activate the wrong genes, resulting in the autoimmune disease known as Sjögren's syndrome. The research, conducted in mice, END ...

A new study from North Carolina State University finds that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from standing dead trees in coastal wetland forests - colloquially called "tree farts" - need to be accounted for when assessing the environmental impact of so-called "ghost forests." In the study, researchers compared the quantity and type of GHG emissions from dead tree snags to emissions from the soil. While snags did not release as much as the soils, they did increase GHG emissions of the overall ecosystem by about 25 percent. Researchers say the findings show snags are important for understanding the total environmental impact of the spread of dead trees in coastal wetlands, known as ghost forests, ...

The immune system's main job is identifying things that can make us sick. In the language of immunology, this means distinguishing "self" from "non-self": The cells of our organs are self, while disease-causing bacteria and viruses are non-self. But what about the billions of bacteria that live in our guts and provide us with benefits like digesting food and making vitamins? Are they friend or foe? This isn't only a philosophical question. An immune system that mistakes our good gut bacteria for an enemy can cause a dangerous type of inflammation in the intestines called colitis. An immune system that looks the other way while gut microbes spill past their assigned borders is equally dangerous. Understanding ...

Our body's relationship with bacteria is complex. While infectious bacteria can cause illness, our gut is also teaming with "good" bacteria that aids nutrition and helps keep us healthy. But even the "good" can have bad effects if these bacteria end up in tissues and organs where they're not supposed to be. Now, research published in END ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Neighborhoods without opioid treatment providers likely serve as a widespread barrier to care for those who are ready to seek help, a new study has found. The study, led by researchers at The Ohio State University, appears today (May 12, 2021) in the journal PLOS ONE. "The study identified clear opioid treatment deserts that undoubtedly stand in the way of access to needed care and that likely exist throughout the state and the nation. These are areas where treatment providers should be setting up shop - we need a surge of resources into these areas," said Ayaz Hyder, an assistant professor in Ohio State's College of Public Health ...

Elephant Seals' Extreme Diving Allows Them to Exploit Deep Ocean Niche Using data captured by video cameras and smart accelerometers attached to female elephant seals, Taiki Adachi and colleagues show that the animals spend at least 80% of their day foraging for fish, feeding between 1,000 and 2,000 times per day. The unique glimpse at elephant seal foraging strategy shows how these large marine mammals exploit a unique ocean niche filled with small fish. The findings also may offer a way to monitor the health of the mesopelagic zone, the dark and cold ocean "twilight zone" ecosystem at 200 to 1,000 meters deep. Small mesopelagic fish dominate the world's ocean ...

A Johns Hopkins University-led team has created an inexpensive portable device and cellphone app to diagnose gonorrhea in less than 15 minutes and determine if a particular strain will respond to frontline antibiotics. The invention improves on traditional testing in hospital laboratories and clinics, which typically takes up to a week to deliver results--time during which patients can unknowingly spread their infections. The team's results appear today in Science Translational Medicine. "Our portable, inexpensive testing platform has the potential to change the game when it comes to diagnosing and enabling rapid treatment of sexually transmitted infections," said team leader Tza-Huei Wang, a professor of mechanical engineering ...

People who are genetically more likely to suffer from cardiovascular diseases may benefit from boosting a biomarker found in fish oils, a new study suggests. In a genetic study in 1,886 Asian Indians published in PLOS ONE today (Wednesday 12 May), scientists have identified the first evidence for the role of adiponectin, an obesity-related biomarker, in the association between a genetic variation called omentin and cardiometabolic health. The team, led by Professor Vimal Karani from the University of Reading, observed that the role of adiponectin was linked to cardiovascular disease markers that were independent of common and central obesity among the Asian Indian population. ...

Misleading claims about COVID-19 vaccines can negatively impact public confidence in immunisation uptake, a new UNSW Sydney study reveals. A new study published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE revealed over 103 million people globally liked, shared, retweeted or reacted with an emoji to misinformation and conspiracy theories about COVID-19 vaccines. In 2020, a social media post claiming, "a new vaccine for COVID-19 will alter a person's DNA and result in them becoming genetically modified" was circulated on Facebook accounts in Australia. Up until August 21, 2020, this false claim had attracted 360 shares and was viewed 32,000 times. The study, led by UNSW researchers, ...

Quick: Pick your three favorite fast-food restaurants. If you're like many people, McDonald's, Wendy's, and Burger King may come to mind--even if you much prefer In-N-Out or Chick-fil-A. A new study from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business and UC San Francisco's Department of Neurology found that when it comes to making choices, we surprisingly often forget about the things we like best and are swayed by what we remember. The paper, publishing this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, combines insights from economics and psychology with decision-making experiments and fMRI brain scans to examine how our imperfect memories affect our decision making. "Life is not a multiple-choice test," says Berkeley ...

Autoimmune diseases have something in common with horses, bachelor's degrees and daily flossing habits: women are more likely to have them. One reason for autoimmune diseases' prevalence in women may be sex-based differences in inflammation. In a new study, West Virginia University researcher Jonathan Busada investigated how sex hormones affect stomach inflammation in males and females. He found that androgens--or male sex hormones--may help to keep stomach inflammation in check. "Stomach cancer is primarily caused by rampant inflammation," said Busada, an assistant professor in the School of ...

Brown bears that are more inclined to grate and rub against trees have more offspring and more mates, according to a University of Alberta study. The results suggest there might be a fitness component to the poorly understood behaviour. "As far as we know, all bears do this dance, rubbing their back up against the trees, stomping the feet and leaving behind odours of who they are, what they are, what position they're in, and possibly whether they are related," said Mark Boyce, an ecologist in the Department of Biological Sciences. "What we were able to show is that both males and females have more offspring if they rub, more surviving offspring if they rub and they have more mates if they rub." The research team led by Boyce ...

Citrus greening disease was first discovered in Florida in 2005. Since then, production of oranges in the United States for processing has declined by 72 percent between the 2007-2008 growing season and the 2017-2018 growing season, primarily in Florida. The disease was discovered in California in 2012, and now the state is beginning to see a rapid increase of citrus greening disease. As there is currently no cure for citrus greening disease, many growers are concerned about its rapid spread and many plant pathologists are focused on learning more about the complicated nature of this disease. To add to this growing body of knowledge about citrus greening disease, a group of scientists working in California, ...

Annually, more than 350,000 children in the world are affected by pediatric cancer. Radiation has improved outcomes dramatically, but the damage caused to healthy tissue can affect the long-term health of a child. While clinicians and radiation specialists design treatments using the most up-to-date information available, there hasn't been a single guiding source of data to make evidence-based decisions that are specific for children. Now, a volunteer international research collaboration is working toward providing evidence-based guidelines for radiation therapy dosing for children. Results from this effort will help in minimizing side effects while continuing to provide ...

LA JOLLA, CA--Scientists at Scripps Research have unveiled a new Ebola virus vaccine design, which they say has several advantages over standard vaccine approaches for Ebola and related viruses that continue to threaten global health. In the new design, described in a paper in Nature Communications, copies of the Ebola virus outer spike protein, known as the glycoprotein, are tethered to the surface of a spherical carrier particle. The resulting structure resembles the spherical appearance of common RNA viruses that infect humans--and is starkly different from the snake-like shape of the Ebola virus. The scientists say the design is intended to stimulate a better protective immune response than standard vaccine approaches, ...

New Brunswick, N.J. (May 12, 2021) - A Rutgers study finds that symbiotic bacteria that colonize root cells may be managed to produce hardier crops that need less fertilizer. The study appears in the journal Microorganisms. Bacteria stimulate root hair growth in all plants that form root hairs, so the researchers examined the chemical interactions between bacteria inside root cells and the root cell. They found that bacteria are carried in seeds and absorbed from soils, then taken into root cells where the bacteria produce ethylene, a plant growth hormone that ...

Environmental enrichment -- with infrastructure, unfamiliar odors and tastes, and toys and puzzles -- is often used in zoos, laboratories, and farms to stimulate animals and increase their wellbeing. Stimulating environments are better for mental health and cognition because they boost the growth and function of neurons and their connections, the glia cells that support and feed neurons, and blood vessels within the brain. But what are the deeper molecular mechanisms that first set in motion these large changes in neurophysiology? That's the subject of a recent study in END ...

East Hanover, NJ. May 12, 2021. A team of specialists in regenerative rehabilitation conducted a successful pilot study investigating micro-fragmented adipose tissue (MFAT) injection for rotator cuff disease in wheelchair users with spinal cord injury. They demonstrated that MFAT injection has lasting pain-relief effects. The article, "A pilot study to evaluate micro-fragmented adipose tissue injection under ultrasound guidance for the treatment of refractory rotator cuff disease in wheelchair users with spinal cord injury," (doi: 10.1080/10790268.2021.1903140) was published ahead of print on April 8, 2021, by the Journal ...

Severe symptoms of COVID-19, leading often to death, are thought to result from the patient's own acute immune response rather than from damage inflicted directly by the virus. Immense research efforts are therefore invested in figuring out how the virus manages to mount an effective invasion while throwing the immune system off course. A new study, published today in Nature, reveals a multipronged strategy that the virus employs to ensure its quick and efficient replication, while avoiding detection by the immune system. The joint labor of the research groups of Dr. Noam Stern-Ginossar at the Weizmann Institute of Science and Dr. Nir Paran and Dr. Tomer ...

New science about the fate of freshwater ecosystems released today by the journal Sustainability finds that only 17 percent of rivers globally are both free-flowing and within protected areas, leaving many of these highly-threatened systems¬--and the species that rely on them --at risk. "Populations of freshwater species have already declined by 84 percent on average since 1970, with degradation of rivers a leading cause of this decline. As a critical food source for hundreds of millions of people, we need to reverse this trend," said Ian Harrison, freshwater specialist at Conservation International, adjunct professor ...

By Karina Ninni | Agência FAPESP – A study of 92 adolescents conducted in Brazil suggests girls are more likely than boys to develop metabolic alterations associated with obesity, such as high blood pressure and excessive blood levels of cholesterol and triglycerides (dyslipidemia). The study was conducted with FAPESP’s support by scientists affiliated with the University of São Paulo’s Biomedical Sciences Institute (ICB-USP) and the Medical School of Santa Casa de Misericórdia de São Paulo (FCM-SCMSP). The findings are reported in an article in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition. According to the authors, the obese girls displayed a pattern of lipid profile alterations not seen in girls without obesity and a higher propensity to ...

Asian students and faculty have long been a cornerstone of science in the U.S., drawn by the promise of collaboration and cutting-edge research. However, the Asian community is facing increased racist attacks and scrutiny from the government. A cover story in Chemical & Engineering News, the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, explores how Asian scientists are reassessing their futures in the U.S. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, racist attacks against the Asian community in the U.S. have increased notably, with nearly 4,000 incidents reported between March 2020 and February 2021. Some attribute this to former President Donald Trump's rhetoric about the pandemic originating in China, writes Senior Editor Andrea Widener. ...