The yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti) is a main vector of deadly diseases like dengue fever, chikungunya, and the Zika virus, which result in hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide each year. Because Ae. aegypti prefers to bite humans and there are no vaccines for many of these diseases they carry, developing methods to control these insects is imperative in the fight to control illness. In a study recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a Yale-led research team developed a new method to track how Ae. aegypti move through the environment. ...

Live tracking and analyzing of the dynamics of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells targeting cancer cells can open new avenues for the development of cancer immunotherapy. However, imaging via conventional microscopy approaches can result in cellular damage, and assessments of cell-to-cell interactions are extremely difficult and labor-intensive. When researchers applied deep learning and 3D holographic microscopy to the task, however, they not only avoided these difficultues but found that AI was better at it than humans were. Artificial intelligence (AI) is helping researchers decipher images from a new holographic microscopy technique needed to investigate ...

The finding, recently published in the prestigious scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), has provided the scientific community a novel understanding to the molecular regulatory mechanisms behind the function of the blood-CSF barrier and lays the groundwork for developing novel therapeutic strategies for preventing and treating neurodevelopmental disorders. Dysfunction of blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier is common in various neurological diseases CSF is a clear, colourless body fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord, providing them a cushion against injuries. It also ...

In Japan, the suppression of Christianity increased from the end of the 16th century to the beginning of the 17th century, and many missionaries and Japanese believers were martyred during this period. New research has uncovered a letter indicating that Hosokawa Tadaoki, lord of the Kokura domain from 1600 to 1620, ordered the execution of Diego Hayato Kagayama, a chief vassal of the Hosokawa family, and the banishment of Genya Ogasawara, both Christians. The punishment and martyrdom of both men was previously known only from reports by Jesuit missionaries to Rome. The discovery of primary historical documents created within the Hosokawa ...

Integrated photonics was rejuvenated as Si starting challenging the dominant position of conventional III-V compound semiconductors at onset of the new millennium. Heterogeneous Si photonics utilizes wafer bonding to transfer functioning non-Si thin film onto Si substrate to make up missing or weak optoelectronic functionalities of Si material. In the past 15 years, it has evolved into a broad technology with many branches as shown in Fig. 1. As the most mature one among them, heterogeneous III-V-on-silicon integration provides an ideal platform to marry their respective material and production advantages. Two veteran researchers in this field, Dr. Di Liang from Hewlett Packard Labs and Prof. ...

A joint research project between organizations in Japan and the US has demonstrated that zooplankton, a major food source for marine predators, can be located by following the concentration gradient of the chemical dimethyl sulfide (DMS) in ocean water and air. Currently, little is known about how marine predators search for and find enough food to maintain their body size. This study is expected to expand research into the chemical triggers of marine organisms while foraging. Zooplankton, such as krill and copepods are the main energy source for many large marine animals. The big predators must consume a large amount of these tiny creatures to provide ...

LOS ANGELES (Feb. 11, 2021) -- A new strain of the coronavirus in Southern California, first reported last month by Cedars-Sinai, is rapidly spreading across the country and around the world as travelers apparently carry the virus with them to a growing list of global destinations, according to new research published today in the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The strain, known as CAL.20C, was first observed in July 2020 in a single Los Angeles County case, as Cedars-Sinai earlier reported. It reemerged in October in Southern California and then quickly END ...

Many materials in the modern world--from the plastics that dominate it to the electronic chips that drive it--are constructed of polymers. Given their ubiquity and the evolving requirements of our world, finding better and more efficient methods of making them is an ongoing research concern. In addition, current environmental issues necessitate the use of methods and input materials that are environment friendly. Recent research by scientists from Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan, has been in this vein, adding a new twist to a polymerization technique that has been around and successful since the 1980s: living cationic polymerization, where the polymer chain growth does not have the ability to terminate until the monomer is consumed. The scientists have, for the first ...

New York, February 24, 2021 - Graduate Center, CUNY/Brooklyn College professor was part of a discovery of the first fossil evidence of any primate, illustrating the earliest steps of primates 66 million years ago following the mass extinction that wiped out all dinosaurs and led to the rise of mammals. Stephen Chester, an assistant professor of anthropology and paleontologist at the Graduate Center, CUNY and Brooklyn College, was part of a team of 10 researchers from across the United States who analyzed several fossils of Purgatorius, the oldest genus in a group of the earliest-known primates called plesiadapiforms. ...

According to a new study published in The American Journal of Human Genetics, more than one third of genetic variants that increase the risk of coronary artery disease regulate the expression of genes in the liver. These variants have an impact on the expression of genes regulating cholesterol metabolism, among other things. The findings provide valuable new insight into the genetics of coronary artery disease. The study was conducted in collaboration between the University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio University Hospital, the University of California Los Angeles, and the University of Arizona. Coronary artery disease (CAD) and its most important complication ...

Australian researchers have called for additional services for survivors of intimate partner violence - warning those who have these experiences are more vulnerable to elder abuse. Women who survive domestic violence continue to experience negative effects well into their older years but they are also more vulnerable to elder abuse, says Flinders University researcher Dr Monica Cations, lead author of the study published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. "This is the first time this relationship has been demonstrated and tells us that older survivors need close monitoring and prevention efforts to keep them safe from further abuse." The study looked at the psychological and physical impacts and risk for elder abuse associated ...

Before the corona pandemic, tens of millions international travellers annually headed to the tropics, getting exposed to local intestinal bacteria. A total of 20-70% of those returning from the tropics carry - for the most unknowingly - ESBL-producing bacteria resistant to multiple antibiotics. The likelihood of acquiring such superbacteria depends on destination and health behaviour abroad. The risk is greatest in South and Southeast Asia, and a substantial increase is associated with contracting travellers' diarrhoea and taking antibiotics while abroad. An investigation led by professor ...

Tohoku University scientists have shown that neuronal and glial circuits form a loosely coupled super-network within the brain. Activation of the metabotropic glutamate receptors in neurons was shown to be largely influenced by the state of the glial cells. Therefore, artificial control of the glial state could potentially be used to enhance the memory function of the brain. The findings were detailed in the Journal of Physiology. Although the glial cells occupy more than half of the brain, they were thought to act as glue--merely filling the gap between neurons. However, recent findings show that the concentration of intracellular ions in glia, ...

A new theoretical study has proposed a novel mechanism for the creation of supermassive black holes from dark matter. The international team find that rather than the conventional formation scenarios involving 'normal' matter, supermassive black holes could instead form directly from dark matter in high density regions in the centres of galaxies. The result has key implications for cosmology in the early Universe, and is published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Exactly how supermassive black holes initially formed is one of the biggest problems in the study of galaxy evolution ...

A German-Polish research team has succeeded in creating a micrometer-sized space-time crystal consisting of magnons at room temperature. With the help of the scanning transmission X-ray microscope Maxymus at Bessy II at Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin, they were able to film the recurring periodic magnetization structure in a crystal. Published in the Physical Review Letters, the research project was a collaboration between scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, Germany, the Adam Mickiewicz University and the Polish Academy of Sciences in Pozna? in Poland. Order in space and a periodicity in time A crystal is a solid whose atoms or molecules are regularly arranged in a particular structure. If one looks at the arrangement with a microscope, one discovers ...

Today's quantum computers contain up to several dozen memory and processing units, the so-called qubits. Severin Daiss, Stefan Langenfeld, and colleagues from the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching have successfully interconnected two such qubits located in different labs to a distributed quantum computer by linking the qubits with a 60-meter-long optical fiber. Over such a distance they realized a quantum-logic gate - the basic building block of a quantum computer. It makes the system the worldwide first prototype of a distributed quantum computer. The limitations of previous qubit architectures Quantum ...

A new study, published today in Nature Digital Medicine, found that 'natural language processing' (NLP) of information routinely recorded by doctors - as part of patients' electronic health records - reveal vital trends that could help clinical teams forecast and plan for surges in patients. The researchers from King's College London, King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (KCH), and Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (GSTT), used NLP algorithms to translate the electronic notes made by doctors into a standardised, structured set of medical terms that could be analysed by a computer. Tracking trends in patients In the ...

Social distancing - from mobility restrictions to complete lockdowns -- can take many weeks, possibly even months, a potentially devastating outcome for social and economic stability. One of the challenges is that the sick cannot be selectively isolated, since many of the spreaders remain pre-symptomatic for a period ranging from several days to as much as two weeks - invisible spreaders who continue to be socially active. Hence, it seems that without a population-wide lockdown isolating the carriers cannot be achieved effectively. To bypass this challenge, researchers from Israel's Bar-Ilan University, led by Prof. Baruch Barzel, devised a strategy based on alternating lockdowns: first splitting the population into two groups, then ...

LOGAN, UTAH -- One solution to agriculture's many challenges -- climate change-induced drought, less arable land, and decreased water quality, to name a few -- is to develop smarter fertilizers. Such fertilizers would aim not only to nourish the plant but also to maximize soil bacteria's positive effects on the plant. Tapping into a plant's microbiome may be the extra layer of defense crops need to thrive. In their study published on Dec. 4 in Nature: Scientific Reports, researchers at Utah State University analyzed the effects of two abiotic stressors on Pseudomonas chlororaphis O6 (PcO6), a health-promoting bacterium native ...

URBANA, Ill. ¬- In today's global economy, production of goods depends on inputs from many trade partners around the world. Companies and governments need a deeper understanding of the global value chain to reduce costs, maintain a profitable production system, and anticipate ripple effects of disruptions in the supply chain. Applied economists from the University of Illinois have developed a new model for in-depth analysis of global supply chain linkages across countries and industries, providing a rich tool that delivers valuable insights for businesses and policy makers around the world. "We live in a time when production processes are very much fragmented. In order to end up with one type of ...

Researchers have developed a method to estimate the value of oyster and clam aquaculture to nitrogen reduction in a coastal community. Nitrogen is a nutrient that comes from many different sources, including agriculture, fertilizers, septic systems, and treated wastewater. In excess it fuels algal growth, which can affect water quality and human health. As a result, a growing number of communities are required to follow regulations to reduce the amount of nitrogen they release. Shellfish are an option that can be a valuable part of a community's nutrient management plan. In a study in Environmental Science ...

A UNSW Sydney-led medical research team has called for a new vaccine, improved strategies and enhanced monitoring to combat serious complications from childhood pneumonia. The researchers examined the impact of the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (13vPCV) on childhood pneumonia and empyema - complicated pneumonia - after its introduction to the Australian National Immunisation Program about a decade ago. The new study, published in Thorax recently, found that while 13vPCV resulted in a 21 per cent decrease in childhood pneumonia hospitalisations, there was a contemporaneous 25 per cent increase in admissions for empyema. This incidence data for childhood empyema hospitalisations is similar to that reported ...

For many, 2020 was notorious for the COVID-19 pandemic, but for climate scientists, the year is also infamous for tying with 2016 as the hottest since records began. 'Nine of the warmest years on record have occurred since 2010', says JEB Editor-in-Chief, Craig Franklin. With the ice caps and glaciers melting, devastating bushfires scorching arid regions, and hurricanes and typhoons battering coastal communities, the impact on local ecosystems has been catastrophic. 'Physiologists can play a critical role in the conversation around climate change', says ...

As part of the Journal of Experimental Biology's Special Issue dedicated to climate change, Anthony Pagano (San Diego Zoo Global, USA) and Terrie Williams (University of California, Santa Cruz, USA), discuss the impact of environmental change on two iconic polar species; the polar bear and narwhal. Their review article is published in Journal of Experimental Biology at https://jeb.biologists.org/content/224/Suppl_1. Mammals in the Polar Regions face an uncertain future as unprecedented warming drives catastrophic sea ice loss, driving polar bears onto land, after losing access to sea ice and ...

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory disorder marked by joint pain, swelling and damage. Although medications, such as steroids, anti-inflammatory drugs and immunosuppressants, can help slow joint destruction and relieve pain, they have side effects and aren't completely successful. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Nano Letters have developed magnesium-based micromotors propelled by hydrogen bubbles, which improved rheumatoid arthritis symptoms when injected into the joints of rats. Scientists have linked rheumatoid arthritis development to the excess production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS can oxidize and degrade cartilage and bone, as well as activate the expression of inflammatory cytokines. A new type of therapy, hydrogen gas, can neutralize ROS ...