Nearly a quarter of pregnant women say they've been around secondhand smoke - in their homes, at work, around a friend or relative - which, according to new research, is linked to epigenetic changes - meaning changes to how genes are regulated rather than changes to the genetic code itself - in babies that could raise the risk of developmental disorders and cancer. The study, published today in Environmental Health Perspectives by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center, is the first to connect secondhand smoke during pregnancy with epigenetic modifications to disease-related genes, measured at birth, which supports the idea that many adult ...

While a pint-sized snorer may seem adorable tucked up in bed, studies shows that children with sleep disordered breathing are likely to show aggressive and hyperactive behaviours during the day. The recommended treatment is an adenotonsillectomy - the removal of adenoid and tonsils - not only to fix the snore, but also the behaviour. Yet according to new research from the University of South Australia, while the surgery can cure a child's snoring it doesn't change their behaviour, despite common misconceptions by parents and doctors alike. Conducted in partnership with the University ...

The nerve cells, also called neurons, in our brain control all the basic processes of our body. For this reason, there are different types of neurons distributed over specific regions of the brain. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Metabolic Research and the CECAD Cluster of Excellence in Aging Research of the University of Cologne have developed an approach that allows them to show that neurons that are supposedly the same are actually very different: they not only sense different hormones for the body's energy state, but also have a different influence on food intake. This can have a direct effect on our metabolism, for example by differentially restraining our appetite. The brain processes our sensory perceptions, controls our behaviour and stores ...

Traditionally, an infection is thought to happen when microbes - bacteria, fungi, or viruses - enter and multiply in the body, and its severity is associated with how prevalent the microbes are in the body. Now, an international research team led by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has proposed a new way of understanding infections. Their study of close to 400 respiratory samples from patients with bronchiectasis, a chronic lung condition, has shown that microbes in the body exist as a network, and that an infection's severity could be a result of interactions between these microbes. Through statistical modelling ...

Among the large cast of microbiome players, bacteria have long been hogging the spotlight. But the single-celled organisms known as protists are finally getting the starring role they deserve. A group of scientists who study the interactions between plants and microbes have released a new study detailing the dynamic relationships between soil-dwelling protists and developing plants, demonstrating that soil protists respond to plant signals much like bacteria do. An enormous variety and diversity of microbes live in soil, and studying how these organisms interact with each ...

For young plants, timing is just about everything. Now, scientists have found that herbivores, animals that consume plants, have a lot to say about evolution at this vulnerable life stage. Once a plant seedling breaches the soil surface and begins to grow, a broad range of factors will determine whether it thrives or perishes. Scientists have long perceived that natural selection favors early rising seeds. Seedlings that emerge early in the growing season should have a competitive advantage in monopolizing precious soil resources. Early growth also should mean more access to light, since early growers can block sunlight for seedlings that emerge later in the season. Despite plenty of proof that germinating early is highly advantageous, many plants germinate ...

LA JOLLA, CALIF. - May 19, 2021 - A study led by scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute has identified a tumor marker that may be used to predict which breast cancer patients will experience resistance to endocrine therapy. The research offers a new approach to selecting patients for therapy that targets HER2, a protein that promotes the growth of cancer cells, to help avoid disease relapse or progression of endocrine-sensitive disease. The study was published in the journal Nature Communications. Nearly 80% of breast tumors are estrogen receptor (ER)-positive. For decades, ...

Turns out the old adage, "monkey see, monkey do," does ring true -- even when it comes to cannabis use. However, when cannabis use involves youth it's see, think, then do, says a team of UBC Okanagan researchers. The team found that kids who grow up in homes where parents consume cannabis will more than likely use it themselves. Parental influence on the use of cannabis is important to study as it can help with the development of effective prevention programs, explains Maya Pilin, a doctoral psychology student in the Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. "Adolescence is a critical period in which drug and alcohol experimentation takes place and when cannabis use is often initiated," says Pilin. "Parents are perhaps the most influential socializing agent for ...

People with bipolar disorder may not take their medication because of side effects, fear of addiction and a preference for alternative treatment - according to research from Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) and the University of East Anglia (UEA). Nearly half of people with bipolar disorder do not take their medication as prescribed leading to relapse, hospitalisation, and increased risk of suicide. A new study, published today, reveals six key factors that stop people taking their medication as prescribed. These include whether they are experiencing side effects, difficulties in remembering to take medication and a lack of support from family, friends and healthcare ...

Researchers at the University of Eastern Finland have found a potential neuroprotective effect of a protein modification that could be a therapeutic target in early Alzheimer's disease. The new study investigated the role of MECP2, a regulator of gene expression, in Alzheimer's disease related processes in brain cells. The study found that phosphorylation of MECP2 protein at a specific amino acid decreases in the brain as Alzheimer's disease is progressing. Abolishing this phosphorylation of MECP2 in cultured mouse neurons upon inflammatory stimulation enhanced their viability and ...

A study led by MedUni Vienna (Institute of Cancer Research and Comprehensive Cancer Center Vienna) sheds light on the mechanisms that lead to extremely aggressive metastasis in a particular type of pancreatic cancer, the basal subtype of ductal adenocarcinoma. The results contribute to a better understanding of the disease. The study has recently been published in the leading journal "Gut". The most prevalent form of pancreatic cancer, Pancreatic Ductal AdenoCarcinoma (PDAC) is usually divided into two subtypes, a classical subtype and a basal subtype. The latter is highly aggressive and tends towards early metastasis. One of the distinguishing features between the two subtypes is that the classical subtype exhibits the protein GATA6. This is no longer present ...

Water in the high-mountain regions has many faces. Frozen in the ground, it is like a cement foundation that keeps slopes stable. Glacial ice and snow supply the rivers and thus the foothills with water for drinking and agriculture during the melt season. Intense downpours with flash floods and landslides, on the other hand, pose a life-threatening risk to people in the valleys. The subsoil with its ability to store water therefore plays an existential role in mountainous regions. But how can we determine how empty or full the soil reservoir is in areas that are difficult to access? Researchers at the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), together with colleagues from Nepal, have now demonstrated an elegant method to track groundwater dynamics in high ...

The latest findings show that with clever science, a single fingerprint left at a crime scene could be used to determine whether someone has touched or ingested class A drugs. In a paper published in Royal Society of Chemistry's Analyst journal, a team of researchers at the University of Surrey, in collaboration with the National Centre of Excellence in Mass Spectrometry Imaging at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and Ionoptika Ltd reveal how they have been able to identify the differences between the fingerprints of people who touched cocaine compared with those who have ingested the drug - even if the hands are not washed. The smart science behind the advance is the mass spectrometry imaging tools applied to the detection of cocaine ...

Problems for eigenmodes of a two-layered dielectric microcavity have become widespread thanks to the research of A.I. Nosich, E.I. Smotrova, S.V. Boriskina and others since the beginning of the 21st century. The KFU team first tackled this topic in 2014; undergraduates started working under the guidance of Evgeny Karchevsky, Professor of the Department of Applied Mathematics of the Institute of Computational Mathematics and Information Technology. In this paper, the researchers discuss a model of a 2D active microcavity with a piercing hole and the possibility of a compromise between high directionality of radiation ...

The last ice age ended almost 12 000 years ago in Norway. The land rebounded slowly as the weight of the ice disappeared and the land uplift caused many bays to become narrower and form lakes. Fish became trapped in these lakes. Sticklebacks managed to adapt when saltwater became freshwater, and they can still be found in today's coastal lakes along the Norwegian coast. Saltwater gradually changed to brackish water and later to freshwater. This environmental change naturally led to a total replacement of the animal and plant life. The exception is the tiny stickleback, which successfully adapted as saltwater became freshwater and ...

A reason for these findings could be due to the fact that Parkinson's patients often also have many risk factors for a severe course of Covid-19. For the first time, the cross-sectional study provides detailed nationwide data. The research team led by Professor Lars Tönges reports in the journal Movement Disorders of 4 May 2021. Nationwide analysis of hospital data The team headed by Lars Tönges has analysed data on Parkinson's treatment in 1,468 hospitals. The data were taken from nationwide databases in which information on the treated diseases and of treatments carried out in hospitals is publicly collected, for example by the Institute for the Hospital Remuneration System or the Federal Statistical Office. A comparison between the period of the first ...

Blocked blood vessels in the brains of stroke patients prevent oxygen-rich blood from getting to cells, causing severe damage. Plants and some microbes produce oxygen through photosynthesis. What if there was a way to make photosynthesis happen in the brains of patients? Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Nano Letters have done just that in cells and in mice, using blue-green algae and special nanoparticles, in a proof-of-concept demonstration. Strokes result in the deaths of 5 million people worldwide every year, according to the World Health Organization. Millions more survive, but they often experience disabilities, such as difficulties with speech, swallowing or memory. The most common cause is a blood vessel blockage in the brain, and the best way to ...

WASHINGTON, DC (May 19, 2021) - Human genetics and genomics contributed $265 billion to the U.S. economy in 2019 and has the potential to drive significant further growth given major new areas of application, according to a new report issued today by the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG). The findings indicate that this research and industry sector has seen its annual impact on the U.S. economy grow five-fold in the last decade and outlined at least eight areas of expanding impact for human health and society. ASHG commissioned and funded the report and is grateful for generous additional contributions from Invitae and Regeneron. ...

An international research team led by Professor Charles Gauthier from the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) has discovered a new molecule with potential to revolutionize the biosurfactant market. The team's findings have been published in Chemical Science, the Royal Society of Chemistry's flagship journal. Surfactants are synthesized from petroleum and are the main active ingredient in most soaps, detergents, and shampoos. Biosurfactants, produced by bacteria, are safer and can replace synthetic surfactants. Rhamnolipid molecules are some ...

Pregnant women made only modest dietary changes after being diagnosed with gestational diabetes, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health. Women with gestational diabetes are generally advised to reduce their carbohydrate intake, and the women in the study did cut their daily intake of juice and added sugars. They also increased their intake of cheese and artificially sweetened beverages. However, certain groups of women did not reduce their carbohydrate intake, including women with obesity, had more than one child, were Hispanic, had a high school degree or less, or were between the ages of 35-41 years. The study was led by Stefanie N. Hinkle, Ph.D., of the Epidemiology Branch at NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver ...

WASHINGTON (May 19, 2021)--Early online support for the Boogaloos, one of the groups implicated in the January 2021 attack on the United States Capitol, followed the same mathematical pattern as ISIS, despite the stark ideological, geographical and cultural differences between their forms of extremism. That's the conclusion of a new study published today by researchers at the George Washington University. "This study helps provide a better understanding of the emergence of extremist movements in the U.S. and worldwide," Neil Johnson, a professor of physics at GW, said. "By identifying hidden common patterns in what seem to be completely unrelated movements, topped with a rigorous mathematical description of how they develop, our ...

DALLAS, May 19, 2021 -- Steps to ensure safety and mitigate the spread of COVID-19 have had some unintended consequences on the management of chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, a leading cause of heart disease and health disparities in the United States. COVID-19 has disproportionately affected people from different racial and ethnic groups, those who are from under-resourced populations and communities that face historic or systemic disadvantages. Discussions and research are ongoing to address what many experts label as long-existing inequities in the U.S. health system, according to information published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open access journal of the American Heart Association. "Media coverage has examined how ...

Chronic exposure to second-hand smoke results in lower body weight and cognitive impairments that more profoundly affects males, according to new research in mice led by Oregon Health & Science University. The study published today in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. "The hope is that we can better understand these effects for policymakers and the next generation of smokers," said lead author Jacob Raber, Ph.D., professor of behavioral neuroscience in the OHSU School of Medicine. "Many people still smoke, and these findings suggest that that the long-term health effects can be quite serious for people who are chronically exposed to second-hand smoke." The research examined daily exposure of 62 mice over a period of 10 months. Researchers used a specially designed ...

A new article from Liverpool ocular researchers demonstrates that small uveal (intraocular) melanomas are not always harmless, as the current paradigm suggests. Instead, a reasonable proportion of them have molecular genetic alterations, which categorises them as highly metastatic tumours. The article recommends that they should not be observed but rather treated immediately, to improve patients' chances of survival. The paper shows that uveal melanoma patients with small tumours, when treated within a certain time frame in Liverpool, do indeed have improved outcomes. The study was undertaken by researchers ...

Invasions by alien insect and animal species have much in common with outbreaks of infectious diseases and could tell us a great deal about how pandemics spread, according to a research paper published today. Biological invasions, where animals, insects, plants and microorganisms are transported around the globe by humans, are becoming more common and have a global annual cost of at least £118billion. An investigation by an international team of scientists, including the University of Leeds' School of Biology, says the emergence of human diseases share many of the same challenges as species invasions and that studying them together could provide solutions. Co-author of the report, Dr Alison M. Dunn, a Professor of Ecology in the School of Biology, ...