Almost 1 in 4 COVID-19 patients have another bacterial, viral or fungal infection simultaneously or subsequently, with such patients experiencing worse disease outcomes. INFORMATION: Article Title: Prevalence and outcomes of co-infection and superinfection with SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens: A systematic review and meta-analysis Funding: NS received research support for this work from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number DP2AI144244. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily ...

Tsukuba, Japan - Autoimmune diseases occur when an individual's immune system fights their own body as if it was a foreign invader. However, in healthy people, these responses are prevented by a process known as immune tolerance. Many complex biological mechanisms maintain the necessary balance between immune activation and suppression to ensure immune tolerance does not prevent the body from effectively fighting pathogens. In a new study published in PNAS, a group of researchers from the University of Tsukuba uncovered how the relationship between two receptors called DNAM-1 and TIGIT helps preserve the balance for optimal immune function. Both of these molecules have previously been studied ...

Recently published in the scientific journal Brain Communications, a new study distinguished structural patterns between individuals with corpus callosum dysgenesis (CCD), a congenital condition that consists of the absence or incomplete development in the connecting structure between the two brain hemispheres. The research was carried out by the D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR), the University of Pittsburgh, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). Investigating CCD is an arduous task for doctors and neuroscientists. There aren't many patients available for research, and the anatomical variability of brains with CCD creates a broad ...

Philadelphia, May 18, 2021 - Many socioeconomically disadvantaged children face poor cognitive and mental health outcomes, and researchers are working to determine the specific factors that link childhood conditions to those poor outcomes, including how they might shape brain circuitry. In a new study, researchers have examined how "neighborhood disadvantage" can affect the developing brain, including the brain's connectivity between regions. The study appears in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, published by Elsevier. Sarah Whittle, PhD, and Divyangana Rakesh, lead authors of the study, studied existing brain scans from 7,618 children aged 9-10 collected as part of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development ...

EUGENE, Ore. -- May 19, 2021 -- High-resolution imaging of fruit flies at the University of Oregon has captured mechanical motions that stem cells use to make neurons, the cells that make up the brain. These motions coordinate cell division with differentiation, where newly born cells become neurons. Differentiation is essential for building the brain circuitry in complex organisms that underlies human cognition and emotions, said Ken Prehoda, a professor in the UO's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Prehoda was principal investigator of a project published online May 18 in the journal ...

Researchers at UVA Cancer Center have unveiled important new insights into how hormones known as androgens act on our cells - and the discovery could boost efforts to develop better treatments for prostate, ovarian and breast cancers. The findings shed light on how androgens interact with their receptors inside cells to affect gene activity. This process is important in both healthy cells and certain cancers. Hormone therapy for prostate cancer, for example, aims to reduce the amount of androgen in the body, or to stop it from fueling the cancer cells. However, ...

Researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Tohoku University have demonstrated that an array of electrically connected spintronic devices can harvest a 2.4 GHz wireless signal, which can be used to power and charge small electronic devices and sensors. The researchers from NUS and Tohoku University have successfully synchronized the four electrically connected magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ), for the signal transmission at 2.4 GHz. Furthermore, the eight MTJs array was integrated with the conventional battery-free electronics to harvest a wireless signal of 2.4 GHz to a DC signal, which is used to power light emitting ...

In a world hungry for cheaper, more efficient renewable energy, Australian researchers have served up a treat. Work led by the ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science has shown that the two-dimensional (2D) thin films used in some perovskite solar cells closely resemble a sandwich. Perovskite is an exciting material at the forefront of solar energy research and design. Previously, scientists thought these 2D perovskite films had a 'gradient' structure, in which certain components were found deep in the material, with other complementary elements only located nearer to the surface, like topping on a cracker. However, in a paper published ...

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 ...