The electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction (e-NRR) under ambient conditions is an emerging strategy to tackle the hydrogen- and energy-intensive processes entailed in industrial ammonia (NH3) synthesis via the traditional Haber-Bosch process. However, the e-NRR performance is currently impeded by the inherent inertness of N2 molecules, extremely slow kinetics, and overwhelming competition from the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), all of which result in an unsatisfactory yield and ammonia selectivity (Faradaic efficiency, FE). To achieve a high-selectivity and high-performance NRR under ambient conditions, the rational design of efficient electrocatalysts is urgently required. Defect and interface engineering ...

A team of computer scientists at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering set out to develop new tools automate and organize social science data. What did they use as their data sets? Twitter posts from coastal capitals, New York City and Los Angeles. The researchers found that they could identify similar tweets that do not have hashtags by using natural language processing and neural networks to create clusters of alike tweets. "It's using AI to create a map of similar tweets," says Mayank Kejriwal, a Research Assistant Professor in the USC Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and a Research Lead at the USC Information ...

Scientists at The University of Toledo discovered new movement in sperm that provides innovative avenues for diagnostics and therapeutic strategies for male infertility. The research published in Nature Communications finds that the atypical centriole in the sperm neck acts as a transmission system that controls twitching in the head of the sperm, mechanically synchronizing the sperm tail movement to the new head movement. The centriole has historically been considered a rigid structure that acts like a shock absorber. "We think the atypical centriole in the sperm's neck is an evolutionary innovation whose function is to make your sperm move better," said Dr. Tomer Avidor-Reiss, professor of biological sciences in the UToledo College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. "Reproductive ...

DALLAS, June 28, 2021 -- People who must spend $1,000 or more annually in out-of-pocket medical deductibles under their health care insurance plan were less likely to seek care in the ER for chest pain and less likely to be admitted to the hospital during these visits, compared to people who have health insurance plans with an annual deductible of $500 or less, according to new research published today in the American Heart Association's flagship journal Circulation. Chest pain can occur when the heart muscle doesn't get enough oxygen-rich blood. It may feel like pressure or squeezing in the chest. The discomfort also can occur in the shoulders, arms, neck, jaw or back and may also feel like indigestion. Chest pain may be a symptom of an underlying heart problem, usually coronary heart disease ...

28 June 2021: The risk of cancer in children born as a result of fertility treatment has been found to be no greater than in the general population. Results presented today at the 37th Annual Meeting of ESHRE from an 18-year median follow up study demonstrate that the overall chance of developing malignant disease did not increase in ART-conceived offspring. Details of the analysis are presented today online by Dr Mandy Spaan from the Amsterdam University Medical Center (UMC) and Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, at the virtual Annual Meeting of ESHRE. The ...

28 June 2021: Despite continuing controversies over its value in improving birth rates in IVF, testing embryos for their chromosomal content has become routine in many fertility clinics. Embryos with a normal complement of chromosomes (known as "euploid") are known to have a good chance of implanting in the uterus to become a pregnancy, while abnormal embryos (aneuploid) have no chance. Testing embryos for aneuploidy (known as PGT-A*) has so far required a sample single cell or several cells taken from the embryo by biopsy, and this too has raised fears over safety such that a search for non-invasive methods has arisen in recent years. Now, a new study suggests that euploid embryos can be visually distinguished from ...

28 June 2021: Only now, more than a year after Covid-19 infection rates first hit peak levels and in the knowledge that receptors for SARS-CoV-2 are present in the ovary, are we able to assess the effect of the virus on reproductive function. Now, a new study has shown that the ovarian reserve of women previously infected with the virus was not adversely affected, and that their chance of success from fertility treatment remained as it was before infection.* The study, which monitored hormone levels in women having IVF at one of 11 clinics in the IVI group in Spain between May and June 2020, is ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- As their infants and toddlers grow, many parents may wonder if their children are walking, talking and socializing when they're supposed to be. In fact, nearly a quarter of parents have suspected their child might be delayed in their development, a new national poll finds - but they may not always share these concerns with a doctor. Among parents who worried that their child was behind in hitting milestones, nearly one in five did not seek advice from a healthcare or childcare provider, according to the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health. "Parents may be unsure whether their child is progressing appropriately for their age and are on track with ...

Arlington, Va., June 28, 2021 - Designed initially for entertainment purposes, escape rooms are proving their value as medical training tools as demonstrated by the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System. Staff there have used the concept for a flu pandemic escape room and is reporting increased staff handwashing and acceptance of flu vaccines as a result. The escape room is the brainchild of Gracia Boseman, RN, MPH, and Kristy Causey, MSN, RN, who are END ...

Sophia Antipolis - 28 June 2021: A study in more than 200,000 individuals has found that patients with heart failure are more likely to develop cancer compared to their peers without heart failure. The research is presented today at Heart Failure 2021, an online scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC),1 and published in ESC Heart Failure, a journal of the ESC.2 "This was an observational study and the results do not prove that heart failure causes cancer," said author Dr. Mark Luedde of the Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel and Cardiology Joint Practice Bremerhaven, Germany. "However, the findings do suggest that heart failure patients may benefit from cancer prevention measures." Heart failure affects around 65 million people ...

Oncotarget published "The presence of polymorphisms in genes controlling neurotransmitter metabolism and disease prognosis in patients with prostate cancer: a possible link with schizophrenia" reported that polymorphisms of neurotransmitter metabolism genes were studied in patients with prostate cancer (PC) characterized by either reduced or extended serum prostate-specific antigen doubling time corresponding to unfavorable and favorable disease prognosis respectively. The following gene polymorphisms known to be associated with neuropsychiatric disorders were investigated: A. ...

Oncotarget published "Predicting clinical outcomes using cancer progression associated signatures" which reported somatic mutation signatures are an informative facet of cancer aetiology, however they are rarely useful for predicting patient outcome. The aim of this study is to evaluate the utility of a panel of 142 mutation-signature–associated metrics for predicting cancer progression in patients from a ‘TCGA PanCancer Atlas’ cohort. Cancer specific machine learning models were built using the output from the P142 panel to predict patient ...

Oncotarget published "Insulin-like growth factor 1/Child-Turcotte-Pugh composite score as a predictor of treatment outcomes in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma treated with sorafenib" which reported that this study investigated the association of the IGF/CTP score with overall survival and progression-free survival of HCC patients treated with sorafenib. The authors calculated the IGF/CTP score and used the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test to estimate and compare the time-to-event outcomes between patient subgroups. 171 patients were included, 116 of whom were CTP class A. Median ...

Unlike conventional cancer drugs that attack and kill cancer cells directly, anti-cancer immunotherapy, which kills cancer cells by strengthening the body's immunity, is a novel type of cancer treatment currently attracting increased attention. Unfortunately, a minority of cancer patients who have some degree of pre-existing immunity only benefit from anti-cancer immunotherapy. Recently, 'doxorubicin', a cancer treatment drug, has been shown to boost patients' immune response by releasing various components when cancer cells are killed. However, as the toxicity and inflammatory responses induced by doxorubicin can affect normal cells in addition to cancer cells, it can lower ...

Oncotarget published "Glucocorticoid receptor antagonism promotes apoptosis in solid tumor cells" which reported that to guide studies in cancer patients, relacorilant, an investigational selective GR modulator that antagonizes cortisol activity, was assessed in various tumor types, with multiple cytotoxic combination partners, and in the presence of physiological cortisol concentrations. In the MIA PaCa-2 cell line, paclitaxel-driven apoptosis was blunted by cortisol and restored by relacorilant. A screen to identify optimal combination partners for relacorilant showed that microtubule-targeted agents consistently ...

PHILADELPHIA-- In addition to sickening and taking the lives of millions across the globe, COVID-19 complicated patient care in a range of less-direct ways, from increased incidence of END ...

HAMILTON, ON June 28, 2021 -- Researchers at McMaster University have developed a promising new cancer immunotherapy that uses cancer-killing cells genetically engineered outside the body to find and destroy malignant tumors. The modified "natural killer" cells can differentiate between cancer cells and healthy cells that are often intermingled in and around tumors, destroying only the targeted cells. The natural killer cells' ability to distinguish the target cells, even from healthy cells that bear similar markers, brings new promise to this branch of immunotherapy, say ...

A few males are enough to fertilise all the females. The number of males therefore has little bearing on a population's growth. However, they are important for purging bad mutations from the population. This is shown by a new Uppsala University study providing in-depth knowledge of the possible long-term genetic consequences of sexual selection. The results are published in the scientific journal Evolution Letters. The study supports the theory that in many animal species selection acting on males can impose the fortuitous benefit to the population of causing offspring to inherit healthy genes. Stiff competition among males results ...

Tokyo, Japan - Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have discovered that a specific chemical feature of a key protein known as tau may cause it to accumulate in the brain and trigger illnesses like Alzheimer's. They found that disulfide bonds on certain amino acids act to stabilize tau and cause it to accumulate, an effect that got worse with increased oxidative stress. The identification of chemical targets triggering tau accumulation may lead to breakthrough treatments. The tau protein is key to the healthy function of biological cells. It helps form and stabilize microtubules, the thin filaments that crisscross cell interiors to help keep them structurally rigid and provide 'highways' to shuttle molecules between organelles. However, when they ...

A new vaccine to protect against deadly cholera has been made by grinding up genetically modified grains of rice. The first human trial has shown no obvious side effects and a good immune response. Researchers based at the University of Tokyo and Chiba University have published the peer-reviewed results of the Phase 1 clinical trial of the vaccine, named MucoRice-CTB, in The Lancet Microbe. Vaccine manufacturing has made enormous strides in 2020, spurred on by COVID-19. However, the complexity of mRNA-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines has highlighted the value of inoculations that can be made, transported and stored cheaply and without refrigeration. The MucoRice-CTB vaccine is stable at room temperature from start to finish. "I'm very optimistic for the future of our MucoRice-CTB vaccine, ...

Just as humans have their own individual personalities, new research in the Journal of Comparative Psychology shows that elephants have personalities, too. Moreover, an elephant's personality may play an important role in how well that elephant can solve novel problems. The article was written by Lisa Barrett and Sarah Benson-Amram in the University of Wyoming's Animal Behavior and Cognition Lab, led by Benson-Amram. It may be viewed here. The authors of the paper tested 15 Asian elephants and three African savanna elephants in three zoos across the country -- the San Diego Zoo, the Smithsonian's National Zoological Park and the Oklahoma City Zoo -- with the help of elephant caretakers. Previous work from Barrett and Benson-Amram demonstrated ...

FINDINGS A UCLA-led study comparing brain cells known as astrocytes in humans and mice found that mouse astrocytes are more resilient to oxidative stress, a damaging imbalance that is a mechanism behind many neurological disorders. A lack of oxygen triggers molecular repair mechanisms in these mouse astrocytes but not in human astrocytes. In contrast, inflammation activates immune-response genes in human astrocytes but not mouse astrocytes. BACKGROUND Although the mouse is a ubiquitous laboratory model used in research for neurological diseases, results from studies in mice are not always applicable to humans. In fact, more than 90% of drug candidates that show preclinical promise for neurological disorders ultimately fail when tested in humans, in part ...

Crude oil production and natural gas withdrawals in the United States have lessened the country's dependence on foreign oil and provided financial relief to U.S. consumers, but have also raised longstanding concerns about environmental damage, such as groundwater contamination. A researcher in Syracuse University's College of Arts and Sciences, and a team of scientists from Penn State, have developed a new machine learning technique to holistically assess water quality data in order to detect groundwater samples likely impacted by recent methane leakage during oil and gas production. Using that model, the team concluded that unconventional drilling ...

Irvine, CA - June 25, 2021 - New research from the University of California, Irvine reveals how the circadian regulation of glucose production in the liver is lost during lung cancer progression, and how the resulting increase in glucose production may fuel cancer cell growth. The new study titled, "Glucagon regulates the stability of REV-ERBα to modulate hepatic glucose production in a model of lung cancer-associated cachexia," published today in Science Advances, illustrates how the circadian clock is regulated under conditions of stress such as during lung cancer progression and cancer-associated tissue wasting ...

After suffering a stroke, patients often are unable to use the arm on their affected side. Sometimes, they end up holding it close to their body, with the elbow flexed. In a new study, Northwestern University and Shirley Ryan AbilityLab researchers have discovered that, in an attempt to adapt to this impairment, muscles actually lose sarcomeres -- their smallest, most basic building blocks. Stacked end to end (in series) and side to side (in parallel), sarcomeres make up the length and width of muscle fibers. By imaging biceps muscles with three noninvasive methods, the researchers found that stroke patients had fewer sarcomeres along the length ...