When a University of Michigan-led research team reported last year that North American migratory birds have been getting smaller over the past four decades and that their wings have gotten a bit longer, the scientists wondered if they were seeing the fingerprint of earlier spring migrations. Multiple studies have demonstrated that birds are migrating earlier in the spring as the world warms. Perhaps the evolutionary pressure to migrate faster and arrive at breeding grounds earlier led to the physical changes the U-M-led team observed. "We know that bird morphology has a major effect on the efficiency and speed of flight, so we became curious whether the environmental ...

University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) researchers identified a new gene that may be linked to certain neurodevelopmental disorders and intellectual disabilities. The researchers believe that finding genes involved in certain types of developmental disorders, provide an important first step in determining the cause of these disorders and ultimately in developing potential therapies for treating them. The paper was recently published in the American Journal of Human Genetics. About 3 percent of the world's population has intellectual disability. Up to half the cases are due to genetics, however, because many thousands of genes contribute to brain development, it has been difficult to identify the specific cause for each patient. Once the researchers ...

People who struggle with social anxiety might experience increased distress related to mask-wearing during and even after the COVID-19 pandemic. A paper authored by researchers from the University of Waterloo's Department of Psychology and Centre for Mental Health Research and Treatment also has implications for those who haven't necessarily suffered from social anxiety in the past. "The adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health outcomes, including anxiety and depression, have been well-documented," said David Moscovitch, professor of clinical psychology and co-author of the paper. "However, little is known about effects of increased mask-wearing on social interactions, social anxiety, or overall mental health. "It is also possible ...

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogenic bacterium present in many ecological niches, such as plant roots, stagnant water or even the pipes of our homes. Naturally very versatile, it can cause acute and chronic infections that are potentially fatal for people with weakened immune systems. The presence of P. aeruginosa in clinical settings, where it can colonise respirators and catheters, is a serious threat. In addition, its adaptability and resistance to many antibiotics make infections by P. aeruginosa increasingly difficult to treat. There is therefore an urgent need to develop new antibacterials. Scientists from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, ...

(Vienna, Monday, 21 June, 2021) COVID-19 patients suffer from cognitive and behavioural problems two months after being discharged from hospital, a new study presented at the 7th Congress of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) has found. Issues with memory, spatial awareness and information processing problems were identified as possible overhangs from the virus in post-COVID-19 patients who were followed up within eight weeks. The research also found that one in 5 patients reported post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with 16% presenting depressive symptoms. ...

The first global standards to embed health and wellbeing into the education system have been created amid a rise in mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers at the Centre for Adolescent Health at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) led the two-year project at the invitation of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The two reports, to be launched this week in Geneva, provide a benchmarking framework to support the implementation of 'health promoting schools,' which aim to equally foster health ...

Washington, DC - June 20, 2021 - Researchers from Yonsei University in South Korea have found that certain commensal bacteria that reside in the human intestine produce compounds that inhibit SARS-CoV-2. The research will be presented on June 20 at World Microbe Forum, an online meeting of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), the Federation of European Microbiological Societies (FEMS), and several other societies that will take place online June 20-24. Previous clinical findings have shown that some patients with moderate to severe COVID-19 have gastro-intestinal symptoms, while others showed signs of infection solely in the lungs. "We wondered whether gut ...

Washington, D.C. - June 20, 2021 - Increased screen time among young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic correlated with a rise in pandemic-related distress, according to research led by investigators at the Saint James School of Medicine on the Caribbean island nation, Saint Vincent. The increase in time spent viewing entertainment on a screen both prior to and during the pandemic was associated with a boost in anxiety scores. Students scored higher than non-students in pandemic-related distress. Surprisingly, the results showed no association of depression with screen ...

Washington, DC - June 20, 2021 - Researchers from the Miami University in Ohio have optimized a new technique that will allow scientists to evaluate how potential inhibitors work on antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This technique, called native state mass spectrometry, provides a quick way for scientists to identify the best candidates for effective clinical drugs, particularly in cases where bacteria can no longer be treated with antibiotics alone. This research will be presented at the American Society for Microbiology World Microbe Forum online conference on June 21, 2021. Overuse of antibiotics in the last century has led to a rise in bacterial resistance, leading to many bacterial infections that are no longer treatable with current antibiotics. In the United States each year, 2.8 million ...

Washington, D.C. - June 20, 2021 - Although two SARS-CoV-2 variants are associated with higher transmission, patients with these variants show no evidence of higher viral loads in their upper respiratory tracts compared to the control group, a Johns Hopkins School of Medicine study found. The emergence and higher transmission of the evolving variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has been concerning. The researchers investigated B.1.1.7, the variant first identified in the UK, and B.1.351, the variant first identified in South Africa, to evaluate if patients showed higher ...

(Vienna, Sunday, 20 June, 2021) Women who suffer from migraines are more likely to endure obstetric and postnatal complications, a study presented today at the 7th Congress of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) has found. Pregnant women with migraines had a higher risk of developing obstetric and post partum complications. Migraine pregnant women had increased risk of been admitted to high-risk departments- 6% in non-migraine pregnant women, 6.9% in migraine without aura and 8.7% in pregnant women who suffer from migraine with aura. Pregnant migraine patients had significantly increased risk of gestational diagnosis ...

Historically, shared resources such as forests, fishery stocks, and pasture lands have often been managed with an aim toward averting "tragedies of the commons," which are thought to result from selfish overuse. Writing in BioScience (https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/biosci/biab052), Drs. Senay Yitbarek (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Karen Bailey (University of Colorado Boulder), Nyeema Harris (University of Michigan), and colleagues critique this model, arguing that, all too often, such conservation has failed to acknowledge ...

Cardiac surgeons may be able to better plan operations and improve their surgical field view with the help of a robot. Controlled through a virtual reality parallel system as a digital twin, the robot can accurately image a patient through ultrasound without the hand cramping or radiation exposure that hinder human operators. The international research team published their method in IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica. "Intra-operative ultrasound is especially useful, as it can guide the surgery by providing real-time images of otherwise hidden devices and anatomy," said paper author Fei-Yue Wang, Director of the State Key Laboratory of Management and Control of ...

Patients with brain injury (caused by stroke or trauma) primarily rely on rehabilitation therapy for recovery, as there are no other known effective treatment methods. The rate of recovery from brain injury observed in adults is significantly slower (or the recovery is impossible) than that observed in young children. The consensus among researchers is that the number of excess neural stem cells capable of restoring brain functions is lower in a mature brain than that in the brain of young children. A Korean research team reported a novel mechanism to describe the brain injury recovery process. The researchers reported that when the animal model experiment was conducted, the time taken to recover from a brain injury could be controlled by ...

Globally, an estimated 10 million people develop tuberculosis (TB) each year and the disease remains a leading cause of death from a single infectious agent. Standard short-course anti-TB treatment still requires a regimen of at least six months of antimicrobial drugs, and drug-resistant TB is an increasing public health threat. Even after the traces of TB disease are quashed, patients often suffer from significant sequelae, such as lung scarring. TB survivors have approximately three to four times greater mortality than their local population. In pulmonary TB, the most common form of active TB disease, the ...

(Vienna, Saturday, 19 June 2021) Music by Mozart has been shown to have an anti-epileptic effect on the brain and may be a possible treatment to prevent epileptic seizures, according to new research presented today at the 7th Congress of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN). Researchers believe that the acoustic (physical) properties within the music are responsible for this effect. Listening to the famous 18th century composer's Sonata for Two Pianos K448 led to a 32% reduction in epileptiform discharges (EDs). These are electrical brain waves associated with epilepsy and can cause seizures or bursts of electrical activity that temporarily affect how the brain works. A team led by Professor Ivan Rektor, from the Epilepsy Centre ...

Highlights Primary nephrotic syndrome is characterized by high urinary excretion of protein, low protein in the blood, high cholesterol, and swelling in the arms and legs. A new analysis highlights the high risk of kidney failure and different cardiovascular complications in patients with primary nephrotic syndrome. Washington, DC (June 18, 2021) -- A form of kidney disease called primary nephrotic syndrome is characterized by high urinary excretion of protein, low protein in the blood, high cholesterol, and swelling in the arms and legs. Patients may face a range of negative health outcomes, but the extent of these effects are unknown. In a study appearing in an upcoming ...

Highlights In a study of patients waiting for a kidney transplant, those who experienced various symptoms had a higher risk of dying while on the waitlist. Symptoms tended to increase or remain unchanged between transplant evaluation and transplantation; however, at 3 months after transplantation, 9 of 11 symptoms lessened. Washington, DC (June 18, 2021) -- Investigators have examined how various symptoms experienced by individuals with kidney failure are impacted by kidney transplantation. The findings will appear in an upcoming issue of CJASN. People with kidney failure must often deal with numerous symptoms, such as fatigue, cramping, muscle soreness, numbness, dizziness, and loss of appetite. Although kidney transplantation ...

New findings published this week in Physical Review Letters suggest that carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen cosmic rays travel through the galaxy toward Earth in a similar way, but, surprisingly, that iron arrives at Earth differently. Learning more about how cosmic rays move through the galaxy helps address a fundamental, lingering question in astrophysics: How is matter generated and distributed across the universe? "So what does this finding mean?" asks John Krizmanic, a senior scientist with UMBC's Center for Space Science and Technology (CSST). "These are indicators of something interesting happening. And what that ...

Just as the skeleton and muscles move the human body and hold its shape, all the cells of the body are stabilised and moved by a cellular skeleton. Unlike our skeleton, this cellular skeleton is a very dynamic structure, constantly changing and renewing itself. It consists of different types of protein filaments, which include intermediate filaments and microtubules. Now, a research team from the University of Göttingen is the first to succeed in observing a direct interaction between microtubules and intermediate filaments outside the cell, and also in quantitatively measuring this interaction. The results of the study were published in Nature Communications. Microtubules are dynamic filaments ...

Study Highlights New research reveals how key proteins interact to regulate the body's response to stress Targeting these proteins may help treat or prevent stress-related psychiatric disorders The biological mechanisms behind stress-related psychiatric conditions, including major depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), are poorly understood. New research now details the interplay between proteins involved in controlling the body's stress response and points to potential therapeutic targets when this response goes awry. The study, which was conducted by an international team led by investigators at McLean Hospital, appears in ...

BOSTON - Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have discovered a biological mechanism that transforms cells exposed to carcinogens from environmental factors like smoking and ultraviolet light into immunogenic cells that can be harnessed therapeutically to fight treatment-resistant cancers. As reported in Science Advances, that mechanism involves spurring the release of small proteins known as chemokines which, in turn, recruit antitumor immune cells (CD8+ T cells) to the tumor site to block metastasis, potentially enhancing the effectiveness of a new generation of immunotherapies. "Immunotherapeutics ...

CHICAGO --- Scientists have long known the brain's hippocampus is crucial for long-term memory. Now a new Northwestern Medicine study has found the hippocampus also plays a role in short-term memory and helps guide decision-making. The findings shed light on how the hippocampus contributes to memory and exploration, potentially leading to therapies that restore hippocampal function, which is impacted in memory-related aging and neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia, the study authors said. In the study, scientists monitored participants' brain activity and tracked their eye movements while looking at different complex pictures. The scientists discovered ...

Birds build nests to keep eggs and baby nestlings warm during cool weather, but also make adjustments in nest insulation in such a way the little ones can keep cool in very hot conditions. Mammals, such as rabbits or groundhogs, sleep or hibernate in underground burrows that provide stable, moderate temperatures and avoid above-ground conditions that often are far more extreme outside the burrow. Michael Dillon, an associate professor in the University of Wyoming Department of Zoology and Physiology, was part of a research group that examined animals' ability to respond to climate change likely depends on how well they modify their habitats, ...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A comprehensive health-screening program in rural northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, has found a high burden of undiagnosed or poorly controlled non-communicable diseases, according to a study published in The Lancet Global Health. Researchers found that four out of five women over the age of 30 were living with a chronic health condition, and that the HIV-negative population and older people -- especially those over 50 -- bore the higher burden of undiagnosed or poorly controlled non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. The study was co-led by Emily Wong, M.D., a resident faculty member at the Africa Health ...