A team of soil scientists developed a new approach to the automatic generation and updating of soil maps. Having applied machine learning technologies to a set of rules traditionally used by experts in manual mapping, the team obtained a highly accurate model that provides easy-to-interpret results. The study was published in ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information. Many software solutions for digital soil mapping are based on statistical models. The accuracy of such programs is limited because statistical models depend on the quality and quantity of field data and can ignore local irregularities in soil properties. It is difficult to obtain accurate and useful information from ...

TAMPA, Fla. - One of the most challenging issues in cancer therapy is the development of drug resistance and subsequent disease progression. In a new article featured on this month's cover of Cancer Research, Moffitt Cancer Center researchers, in collaboration with Oxford University, report results from their study using mathematical modeling to show that cell turnover impacts drug resistance and is an important factor that governs the success of adaptive therapy. Cancer treatment options have increased substantially over the past few decades; however, many patients eventually develop drug resistance. Physicians strive to overcome resistance by either trying to target cancer cells through an alternative approach or targeting the resistance mechanism itself, but success with ...

Oncotarget recently published "Targeting an engineered cytokine with interleukin-2 and interleukin-15 activity to the neovasculature of solid tumors" by Mortensen, et al. which reported that there is a growing interest in the antibody-based delivery of cytokines to the tumor environment as a means to boost the anti-cancer activity of tumor-resident T cells and NK cells. Here, the authors described the expression and characterization of fusion proteins, featuring the L19 antibody and an engineered cytokine with interleukin-2 and interleukin-15 ...

Oncotarget recently published "AKT isoforms have discrete expression in triple negative breast cancers and roles in cisplatin sensitivity" which reported that the authors investigated the expression and net effect of the individual isoforms in triple negative breast cancers and response to cisplatin treatment using cellular, mice models and clinical samples. Interestingly, analysis of the expressions of AKT isoforms in clinical samples showed relatively higher expression of AKT1 in primary tissues; whereas lung and liver metastatic samples showed elevated ...

Coffee, cola or an energy drink: caffeine is the world's most widely consumed psychoactive substance. Researchers from the University of Basel have now shown in a study that regular caffeine intake can change the gray matter of the brain. However, the effect appears to be temporary. No question - caffeine helps most of us to feel more alert. However, it can disrupt our sleep if consumed in the evening. Sleep deprivation can in turn affect the gray matter of the brain, as previous studies have shown. So can regular caffeine consumption affect brain structure due to poor sleep? A research team led by Dr. Carolin Reichert and Professor Christian Cajochen of the University of Basel ...

Here is a link to watch a video interview with Dr. Beatrice Aramini about this topic on the Oncotarget YouTube Channel Oncotarget published "Cancer stem cells and macrophages: molecular connections and future perspectives against cancer" which reported that Cancer stem cells have been considered the key drivers of cancer initiation and progression due to their unlimited self-renewal capacity and their ability to induce tumor formation. Macrophages, particularly tumor-associated macrophages, establish a tumor microenvironment to protect and induce CSCs development and dissemination. Many studies in the past decade have been performed to understand the molecular ...

For the first time, physicists from the University of Basel have produced a graphene compound consisting of carbon atoms and a small number of nitrogen atoms in a regular grid of hexagons and triangles. This honeycomb-structured "kagome lattice" behaves as a semiconductor and may also have unusual electrical properties. In the future, it could potentially be used in electronic sensors or quantum computers. Researchers around the world are searching for new synthetic materials with special properties such as superconductivity -- that is, the conduction of electric current without resistance. These new substances are an important step in the development ...

Climate change is rapid in the Arctic. As the climate warms, shrubs expand towards higher latitudes and altitudes. Researcher Julia Kemppinen together with her colleagues investigated the impacts of dwarf shrubs on tundra soils in the sub-Arctic Fennoscandia. The study revealed that the dominance of dwarf shrubs impacts soil microclimate and carbon stocks. Microclimate describes the moisture and temperature conditions close to ground surface. Shrubs are the largest plant life form in the Arctic, and in comparison, to other arctic plants, shrubs use more water and cast more shade. "The results indicate ...

WASHINGTON -- When people pause before replying to a question, even for just a few seconds, their answers are perceived to be less sincere and credible than if they had replied immediately, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. And the longer the hesitation, the less sincere the response appears. "Evaluating other people's sincerity is a ubiquitous and important part of social interactions," said lead author Ignazio Ziano, PhD, of Grenoble Ecole de Management. "Our research shows that response speed is an important cue on which people base their sincerity inferences." The research was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Researchers ...

Cancer is one of the most thought-provoking healthcare problems throughout the world. The development of therapeutic agents with highly selective anti-cancer activities is increasingly attractive due to the lack of tumor selectivity of conventional treatments. Scientists at Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST) have created a photosynthetic bacteria-based cancer optotheranostics (Figure 1). Discovered by Associate Professor Eijiro Miyako and his team from JAIST, natural purple photosynthetic bacteria (PPSB) can play a key role as a highly active cancer immunotheranostics agent that uses the bio-optical-window I and II near-infrared (NIR) light thanks to the light harvesting nanocomplexes in microbial ...

There is no coat colour that distinguishes dingoes from dingo-dog hybrids, a study involving UNSW Sydney has found. The Centre for Ecosystem Science research suggests that animals assumed to be dingo-dog hybrids based on their coat colour and culled may have been pure dingoes. "We actually found pure dingoes that had a brindle, black and tan, patchy or sable coat colour," Dr Kylie Cairns, a conservation biologist from UNSW Sydney and co-author of the study said. "So that's showing that really dingoes are much more variable than we think and seeing an animal with an odd coat colour doesn't immediately mean that it's a hybrid. "Using coat colour to decide what animals should be culled is not a very good idea." The study follows 2019 research by UNSW and collaborators which found ...

San Antonio, Texas (February 15, 2020) - Researchers at the Southwest National Primate Research Center (SNPRC) at Texas Biomedical Research Institute (Texas Biomed) may have found a new pathway to treat and control tuberculosis (TB), the disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq), a next-generation sequencing technology, scientists were able to further define the mechanisms that lead to TB infection and latency. Co-led by Deepak Kaushal, Ph.D., Director of the SNPRC, this is the first study that used scRNAseq to study TB in macaques in depth. Results from the study were published ...

Scientists of Kemerovo State University, within the framework of the Russian Scientific Foundation grant "Cultivation of isolated cells and organs of rare and endemic medicinal plants of Siberia and the Far East in vitro as a biotechnological method for obtaining biologically active substances", are investigating the fundamental principles of in vitro cultivation of isolated cells and organs of rare medicinal plants - producers of biologically active substances with cytotoxic, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. One of the urgent problems of medicine and biology is the search and use of plant objects as medicines. The unfavorable environmental situation and the increasing need for medicinal raw materials create its shortage. A new solution ...

In our ongoing struggle to reduce the usage of fossil fuel, technology to directly convert the world's waste heat into electricity stands out as very promising. Thermoelectric materials, which carry out this energy conversion process, have, thus, recently become the focus of intense research worldwide. Of the various potential candidates applicable at a broad range of temperatures, between 30 and 630 °C, lead telluride (PbTe) offers the best thermoelectric performance. Unfortunately, the outstanding qualities of PbTe are eclipsed by the toxic nature of lead, driving researchers to look into safer thermoelectric semiconductors. Tin telluride (SnTe) could be an ...

Ben-Gurion University Researchers Uncover a Catch-22 When It Comes to Social Media Online Support Groups and Privacy Concerns BEER-SHEVA, Israel...February 16, 2021- People who seek support online social media groups may end up not getting the help they need due to privacy concerns, according to a new study by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and Gutenberg University in Sweden. The new research, published in END ...

Could long-distance interactions between individual molecules forge a new way to compute? Interactions between individual molecules on a metal surface extend for surprisingly large distances - up to several nanometers. A new study, just published, of the changing shape of electronic states induced by these interactions, has potential future application in the use of molecules as individually addressable units. For example, in a future computer based on this technology, the state of each individual molecule could be controlled, mirroring binary operation of transistors in current computing. MEASURING SOCIALLY-DISTANT MOLECULAR INTERACTIONS ON A METAL SURFACE The Monash-University of Melbourne collaboration studied the electronic properties of ...

The placement of a wet cotton pellet against Mineral Trioxide Aggregate (MTA) is often recommended to ensure the completion of its setting reaction. This study aimed to evaluate the setting behaviour of MTA Angelus and NeoMTA by comparing their hardness after placing them in dry and moist conditions. A simulated open apex was created on 40 polyvinyl tubes. The apical 4 mm of the tubes was filled with the two materials, NeoMTA Plus (Avalon Biomed Inc. Bradenton, FL, USA) and MTA Angelus (Angelus, Londrina, PR, Brazil) (n=20 per group). Both groups were subdivided into two subgroups based on the dry and wet conditions (n=10 per group). A wet cotton pellet was placed above the ...

The schools in Vietnam observe a phenomenon that almost all parents send their children to school using private vehicles, mostly motorcycles. The parents usually park their vehicle on streets outside the school gates which can cause serious congestion and chances of of traffic accidents. This study aims to identify the factors affecting the picking up of pupils at primary school by analysing typical primary schools in Hanoi city. The researchers used the binary logistic regression model to determine the factors that influence the decision of picking up pupils and the waiting duration of parents. The behaviour of motorcyclists during the process ...

If B is better than A, and C is better than B, it follows by the transitive property that C is better than A. And, yet, this is not always the case. Every kid is familiar with the Rock-Paper-Scissors game--the epitome of nontransitivity in which there is no clear hierarchy among the three choices, despite each two-way interaction having a clear winner: Paper beats Rock, Scissors beats Paper, and Rock beats Scissors. Evolution may be teeming with nontransitive interactions as well. While natural selection - the process by which organisms better adapted to their environments are more likely ...

A new USC study puts ocean microbes in a new light with important implications for global warming. The study, published Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provides a universal accounting method to measure how carbon-based matter accumulates and cycles in the ocean. While competing theories have often been debated, the new computational framework reconciles the differences and explains how oceans regulate organic carbon across time. Surprisingly, most of the action involving carbon occurs not in the sky but underfoot and undersea. The Earth's plants, ...

The mitochondrial ribosome is an intricate machine that translates the organellar genome into functional proteins. The formation of the mitochondrial ribosome is a hierarchical process involving dozens of different components. The newly published cryo-EM study by Tobiasson et al in the EMBO Journal characterized a key step in this process. A complex of 2.2 MegaDalton representing a rare state of assembly of the large subunit was isolated from a model organism Trypanosoma brucei. Since the state was identified in only 3.5 % of the complexes, five cryo-EM datasets had to be collected at the SciLifeLab facility and ESRF in Grenoble and combined together. The resulting structure revealed ...

A new study published in Nature Communications suggests that the extinction of North America's largest mammals was not driven by overhunting by rapidly expanding human populations following their entrance into the Americas. Instead, the findings, based on a new statistical modelling approach, suggest that populations of large mammals fluctuated in response to climate change, with drastic decreases of temperatures around 13,000 years ago initiating the decline and extinction of these massive creatures. Still, humans may have been involved in more complex and indirect ways than simple models of overhunting suggest. Before around 10,000 years ago, North America was ...

Effective governance and investment decisions need to be informed by reliable data, not only about where groundwater exists, but also the rate at which groundwater is replenished. For the first time using ground measurements, a recent study has quantified groundwater recharge rates across the whole of Africa - averaged over a fifty-year period - which will help to identify the sustainability of water resources for African nations. The study, led by the British Geological Survey and involving an international team from the UK, South Africa, France, Nigeria, and America, developed a dataset of 134 existing recharge studies ...

Gender equity and racial diversity in medicine can promote creative solutions to complex health problems and improve the delivery of high-quality care, argue authors in an analysis in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). "[T]here is no excuse for not working to change the climate and environment of the medical profession so that it is welcoming of diversity," writes lead author Dr. Andrea Tricco, Knowledge Translation Program, Unity Health, and the University of Toronto, with coauthors. "The medical profession should be professional, be collegial, show mutual respect, and facilitate the full potential and contribution of all genders, races, ethnicities, religions and nationalities for the benefit of patient ...

NASA, in collaboration with other leading space agencies, aims to send its first human missions to Mars in the early 2030s, while companies like SpaceX may do so even earlier. Astronauts on Mars will need oxygen, water, food, and other consumables. These will need to be sourced from Mars, because importing them from Earth would be impractical in the long term. In Frontiers in Microbiology, scientists show for the first time that Anabaena cyanobacteria can be grown with only local gases, water, and other nutrients and at low pressure. This makes it much easier to develop sustainable biological life support systems. "Here we show that cyanobacteria can use gases available in the Martian atmosphere, at a low total pressure, as their source of carbon and nitrogen. Under these conditions, ...