Cuckoo wasps - also called emerald wasps - are some of the most beautiful insects we have, with colourful exteriors that shine like jewels. However, these beauties have also created a lot of headaches. "Normally we distinguish insects from each other by their appearance, but cuckoo wasps are so similar to each other that it makes it difficult," says Frode Ødegaard. Ødegaard is an insect researcher at the NTNU (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) University Museum and belongs to the European research group that has now ...

New research suggests Ireland's increasing populations of Sika deer may be linked to local outbreaks of TB infection in cattle. Although TB infection rates have decreased in general in recent decades, county-level data shows a correlation between higher Sika numbers and higher local TB infections - with County Wicklow a particular hotspot. The research, conducted by researchers from Trinity College Dublin and the National Parks and Wildlife Service and supported by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, has major implications for controlling TB. It has ...

Is there a way to chemically manipulate small, confined areas on cellular surfaces? Scientists have developed a microfluidic probe to send a flow of free radicals on live cells and track the outcome using fluorescence imaging. As outlined in the journal Angewandte Chemie, this approach makes it possible for the first time to generate a reaction zone of free radicals with controlled size and concentration for subcellular research. Free radicals are important stimulants for cells. When live cells are exposed to radicals, they develop intense reactions that can lead to cell ...

Researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) have experimentally demonstrated a novel cancer diagnosis technique based on the scattering of circularly polarized light. Computational studies revealed that this technique can detect the progression of precancerous lesions and early cancer. This method can be implemented using an endoscope equipped with spin-LEDs--devices that emit circularly polarized light. Most cancers of the digestive system emerge in the surface layer first and then progress into deeper layers. While surface layer carcinomas can be readily treated using an endoscope, carcinomas that have advanced onto deeper layers need surgical intervention to prevent them from metastasizing to lymph nodes or other organs. Thus, accurate measurements of the depth of cancer ...

Amsterdam, April 6, 2021 - The rarity of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) means that promising new treatments may be tested in only a limited spectrum of patients before approval. Investigators evaluated a newly approved drug, onasemnogene abeparvovec, in a broader spectrum of patients in order to obtain expanded data on its side effects profile. They report in the Journal of Neuromuscular Diseases that the drug is associated with an immune response against the adeno-associated viral vector and needs careful monitoring, but showed no long-term adverse effects. In recent years, the availability of a growing number of drug treatments has significantly ...

New Orleans, LA - A study led by Edward Wojcik, PhD, Associate Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine, identified how microcephaly (abnormally small heads) and blindness may develop in Zika-infected fetuses, as well as a new way to potentially prevent these neurodevelopmental defects. The results are published online in iScience, available here. The mechanism by which Zika virus disrupts neuronal development and results in congenital Zika syndrome was unknown. Because of similarities between Zika syndrome and a recognized congenital genetic disease (Kinesin-5) known to cause microcephaly and retinopathies in developing infants, the research team studied both, looking for similarities. They discovered a direct link, the first ...

Comparison of coda waves, the scattered waves that arrive after the direct waves of a seismic event, can be used to determine the relative locations of two underground explosions, according to a new study published in the open-access journal The Seismic Record. The technique, called coda wave interferometry, was tested on explosions conducted as part of the Source Physics Experiment (SPE). Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers Sean Ford and Bill Walter report that coda wave interferometry can also put a limit on the extent of damage caused by an explosion. The findings suggest the technique could be used to improve the estimates of the relative locations ...

Using samples of small cell lung tumours, a research team led by biologist Dr Silvia von Karstedt has discovered two new ways to induce tumour cell death. One of two subsets of tumour cells can be targeted by activating ferroptosis: iron-dependent cell death caused by oxidative stress. In the second subtype, oxidative stress - and hence cell death - can also be induced in a different way. Both types of cell death must be triggered simultaneously by drugs to kill the majority of the tumour mass. The results of the study have been published in Nature Communications. Despite many advances in treatment, a diagnosis of small cell lung cancer means a particularly poor prognosis. In Germany, up to 8000 new cases ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- Some guys have it all: the muscle, the power, the high social status, the accelerated aging. But wait. Faster aging? Who wants that? For male baboons, it's the price they pay to be at the top. New research appearing April 6 in eLife by Jenny Tung, associate professor of evolutionary anthropology and biology at Duke University, and her colleagues shows that male baboons that climb the social ladder age faster than males with lower social standing. If a male drops in social status, his estimated rate of aging drops as well. Using blood samples from 245 wild baboons in the ...

TAMPA, Fla. -- Tumors are genetically diverse with different mutations arising at different times throughout growth and development. Many models have tried to explain how genetic heterogeneity arises and what impact these alterations have on tumor growth. In a new article published in Nature Communications, Moffitt Cancer Center researchers show how the location of the tumor and spatial constraints put on it by the surrounding tissue architecture impact genetic heterogeneity of tumors. Genetic differences are apparent among tumors from different patients, as well as within different regions of the same tumor of an individual patient. Some of these mutations may benefit the tumor and become selected for, such as mutations that allow the tumor to grow faster and spread to other ...

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is "seeing double." Peering back 10 billion years into the universe's past, Hubble astronomers found a pair of quasars that are so close to each other they look like a single object in ground-based telescopic photos, but not in Hubble's crisp view. The researchers believe the quasars are very close to each other because they reside in the cores of two merging galaxies. The team went on to win the "daily double" by finding yet another quasar pair in another colliding galaxy duo. A quasar is a brilliant beacon of intense light from the center of a distant galaxy that can outshine the ...

Breast cancer survivors with a higher risk of cancer recurrence based on genomic testing may experience greater fear of their cancer returning, according to a new study led by researchers at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing. However, psychological factors such as anxiety are the best predictors of survivors' fear of their cancer recurring. "Although genomic test results were associated with fear of cancer recurrence, our findings highlight that distressing, but treatable, psychological factors fuel cancer survivors' fear of recurrence," said Maurade Gormley, PhD, RN, an assistant professor and faculty fellow at NYU Meyers and the lead author of the study, which was published in the journal Psycho-Oncology. For breast cancer survivors, fear and worry that ...

Battling other male baboons to achieve high social status comes with physiological costs that accelerate aging, according to study published today in eLife. The findings suggest that current life circumstances may be more important contributors to premature aging than early life hardship, at least in baboons. Chemical changes to DNA, also called epigenetic changes, can be used as a kind of 'clock' to measure aging. While these epigenetic changes usually correspond with age, they can also be used to detect signs of premature aging. "Environmental stressors can make the clock tick faster, so that some individuals appear biologically older than their actual age and ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. - Screening with digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) reduces the rate of interval breast cancers compared to screening with digital mammography, according to a study published in Radiology. The study adds to a growing body of evidence supporting DBT as a breast cancer screening tool with important advantages over mammography. DBT works by capturing a series of X-ray images of the breast from different angles. Previous research has shown that it has a higher sensitivity for breast cancer detection than digital mammography. The impact of these additional DBT-detected cancers is not fully understood. ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. - Body composition information derived from routine chest CTs can provide important information on the overall health of people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), including their risk of all-cause mortality, according to a study published in Radiology. COPD is a group of chronic, progressive lung diseases like emphysema and chronic bronchitis that affect about 30 million people in the United States alone. It is frequently associated with obesity and sarcopenia, a loss of muscle mass and strength. Obesity is associated with lower mortality in patients with COPD. The longer survival rates of obese patients compared to leaner counterparts, a phenomenon ...

A statistically rigorous survey of Japanese consumers has found that they have more negative opinions about the use of new gene-editing techniques on livestock than they do about use of the same technologies on vegetables. The survey findings were reported in the journal BMC CABI Agriculture and Bioscience on March 31st, 2021. Because humans tend to feel closer to animals than plants, and commonly express feelings regarding animal welfare but not plant welfare, the researchers, led by Naoko Kato-Nitta, a research scientist at Tokyo's Joint Support Center for Data Science Research and Institute of Statistical ...

Even a well-characterized genome, such as that of the Drosophila the so-called fruit fly, still holds surprises. A team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, in collaboration with Cornell University (USA) and the University of Groningen (Netherlands), has discovered an RNA coding for a micro-peptide - a very small protein - that plays a crucial role in the competition between spermatozoa from different males with which the female mates. In addition to shedding new light on this biological mechanism, this work, to be read in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), highlights the importance of small peptides, a class of proteins that ...

Scientists of Tomsk Polytechnic University have synthetized high-entropy carbide consisting of five various metals using a vacuum-free electric arc method. The research findings are published in the Journal of Engineering Physics and Thermophysics. High-entropy carbides are a new class of materials simultaneously consisting of four or more various metals and carbon. Their main feature lies in the capability to endure high temperatures and energy flux densities. Combining various elements in the composition, it is possible to obtain the required mix of features ...

A research group at KAIST has engineered a bacterium capable of producing a natural red colorant, carminic acid, which is widely used for food and cosmetics. The research team reported the complete biosynthesis of carminic acid from glucose in engineered Escherichia coli. The strategies will be useful for the design and construction of biosynthetic pathways involving unknown enzymes and consequently the production of diverse industrially important natural products for the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries. Carminic acid is a natural red colorant widely being used for products such as strawberry milk and lipstick. However, carminic acid has been produced ...

El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is one of the most prominent ocean-atmosphere interactions that varies year-to-year. This process exerts significant impacts on global weather and climate. El Niño is the warm phase of ENSO, which can be strong, moderate, or even weak. Within the past four decades, climatologists observed three super El Niño events (1982/83, 1997/98 and 2015/16). These extreme phases impacted global climate far more than moderate or weak events. El Niño has a profound effect on the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO), which ...

Metamaterials that can control the refractive direction of light or absorb it to enable invisible cloaks are gaining attention. Recently, a research team at POSTECH has designed a metasurface that can control the acoustic or elastic waves. It is gaining attention as it can be used to escape from threatening earthquakes or build submarines untraceable to SONAR. Professor Junsuk Rho of POSTECH's departments of mechanical engineering and chemical engineering and Ph.D. candidate Dongwoo Lee of the Department of Mechanical Engineering in collaboration with Professor Jensen Li of HKUST have designed an artificial structure that can control not only the domain of underwater sound but also of vibration. The research team has presented an ...

Scientists from the Genomic Integrity and Structural Biology Group led by Rafael Fernández-Leiro at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) have discovered how certain proteins ensure the repair of errors introduced into the DNA during its replication. Using cryo-electron microscopy, they made the MutS protein, also known as the guardian of our genome, visible. That enabled them to describe how this single protein is able to coordinate the essential DNA repair process from beginning to end. The study was carried out in collaboration with Meindert Lamers of the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC, The Netherlands) and Titia Sixma of the Netherlands Cancer Institute and the Oncode Institute. Their results are published ...

Eating together as a family, maintaining the Mediterranean diet's traditional customs of conviviality, influences the eating habits of adolescents and prevents eating behaviour disorders, according to a new study prepared by scientists from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and published in the open access International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. "At a time when lockdown due to the pandemic has revived family meals, this study indicates one of the possible positive aspects of the situation that we have had to confront", explains the study's researcher Anna Bach-Faig from the Foodlab group, and a member of the Faculty of Health Sciences. The research establishes ...

The period with the strictest lockdown conditions and quarantining posed additional problems for young people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their families, given that their routines were suddenly disrupted. Routines form an essential aspect of their everyday life and life structure. However, their response and adaptation to this new situation was better than expected in aspects like communication and interaction with their families. A study conducted by researchers from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, the University of Perugia and the ABAULA Occupational ...

Lakes act as an important part of the earth system. They have special functions in regulating regional climate and maintaining regional ecological balance. More than 39.2% of the lakes in China are distributed in the plateau. The topography around the plateau lake area is complex and diverse. It leads to a complex and unique local circulation characterized by the superposition of lake-land breeze circulation and mountain-valley breeze circulation, which has a significant impact on the local energy and material circulation, according to Prof. Huizhi Liu, researcher at the Institute of Atmospheric ...