New research conducted in a rural community in Pakistan highlights the crucial role that essential fatty acids play in human brain growth and function. A team co-led by the University of Exeter, working with experts in Singapore, has published findings in Nature Genetics which show that mutations in the protein Mfsd2a cause impaired brain development in humans. Mfsd2a is the transporter in the brain for a special type of fat called lysophosphatidylcholines (LPCs) -- which are composed of essential fatty acids like omega-3. This shows the crucial role of these fats in ...

Having a healthy gut may well depend on maintaining a complex signaling dance between immune cells and the stem cells that line the intestine. Scientists at the Buck Institute are now reporting significant new insight into how these complex interactions control intestinal regeneration after a bacterial infection. It's a dance that ensures repair after a challenge, but that also goes awry in aging fruit flies -- the work thus offers important new clues into the potential causes of age-related human maladies, such as irritable bowel syndrome, leaky gut and colorectal cancer. "We've ...

May 26, 2015, Shenzhen, China - Researchers from BGI reported the most complete haploid-resolved diploid genome (HDG) sequence based on de novo assembly with NGS technology and the pipeline developed lays the foundation for de novo assembly of genomes with high levels of heterozygosity. The latest study was published online today in Nature Biotechnology. The human genome is diploid, and knowledge of the variants on each chromosome is important for the interpretation of genomic information. In this study, researchers presented the assembly of a haplotype-resolved diploid ...

A gene essential to the production of pain-sensing neurons in humans has been identified by an international team of researchers co-led by the University of Cambridge. The discovery, reported today in the journal Nature Genetics, could have implications for the development of new methods of pain relief. Pain perception is an evolutionarily-conserved warning mechanism that alerts us to dangers in the environment and to potential tissue damage. However, rare individuals - around one in a million people in the UK - are born unable to feel pain. These people accumulate numerous ...

Scientists at the University of York's Centre for Quantum Technology have made an important step in establishing scalable and secure high rate quantum networks. Working with colleagues at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the University of Toronto, they have developed a protocol to achieve key-rates at metropolitan distances at three orders-of-magnitude higher than previously. Standard protocols of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) exploit random sequences of quantum bits (qubits) to distribute secret keys in a completely ...

TORONTO, May 25, 2015 - A new, Ontario-wide study shows that rates of hospital readmission following a traumatic brain injury (TBI) are greater than other chronic diseases and injuries and are higher than previously reported. The study, led by Dr. Angela Colantonio, senior scientist, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, UHN, examined nearly 30,000 TBI patients discharged from Ontario hospitals over the span of eight years. Published in the May edition of Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, the study found that about 36 per cent of patients with TBI had been ...

Madagascar is home to extraordinary biodiversity, but in the past few decades, the island's forests and associated biodiversity have been under greater attack than ever. Rapid deforestation is affecting the biotopes of hundreds of species, including the panther chameleon, a species with spectacular intra-specific colour variation. A new study by Michel Milinkovitch, professor of genetics, evolution, and biophysics at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), led in close collaboration with colleagues in Madagascar, reveals that this charismatic reptilian species, which is only ...

This news release is available in French. Certain blind individuals have the ability to use echoes from tongue or finger clicks to recognize objects in the distance, and some use echolocation as a replacement for vision. Research done by Dr. Mel Goodale, from the University of Western Ontario, in Canada, and colleagues around the world, is showing that echolocation in blind individuals is a full form of sensory substitution, and that blind echolocation experts recruit regions of the brain normally associated with visual perception when making echo-based assessments ...

Seville, Spain - 24 May 2015: Cognitive impairment predicts worse outcome in elderly heart failure patients, reveals research presented today at Heart Failure 2015 by Hiroshi Saito, a physiotherapist at Kameda Medical Centre in Kamogawa, Japan. Patients with cognitive impairment had a 7.5 times greater risk of call cause death and heart failure readmission. Heart failure patients with cognitive impairment may get progressively worse at adhering to medications, leading to poorer prognosis. Heart Failure 2015 is the main annual meeting of the Heart Failure Association ...

SAN DIEGO - Results from a new nationwide survey announced today indicate a steady increase in the number of pediatric patients who are being treated with proton radiation therapy for cancerous and non-cancerous tumors. The research, led by Andrew L. Chang, M.D., medical director of pediatrics with the Scripps Proton Therapy Center, was presented during the 54th annual Particle Therapy Co-Operative Group (PTCOG) Conference in San Diego, which runs through May 23. Based on a survey of all proton therapy centers in the United States, the number of pediatric patients treated ...

Seville, Spain - 23 May 2015: Moderate to severe depression is associated with a 5-fold increased risk of all cause mortality in patients with heart failure, according to research presented today at Heart Failure 2015. The results from OPERA-HF show that risk was independent of comorbidities and severity of heart failure. Patients who were not depressed had an 80% lower mortality risk. Heart Failure 2015 is the main annual meeting of the Heart Failure Association (HFA) of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and takes place 23 to 26 May in Seville, Spain. The scientific ...

Many animals feed on seeds, acorns or nuts. The common feature of these are that they have shells and there is no direct way to know what's inside. How do the animals know how much and what quality of food is hidden inside? A simple solution would be to break the shells, which often takes time and effort -- it would be a big disappointment to know that it's rotten or bad after the hard effort of opening the nuts! Can animals evaluate the food hidden inside the nuts? This is especially important for some animals who cache the food items for later use without opening and ...

As a result of research performed by scientists at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UM SOM), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of a drug to treat the deleterious effects of radiation exposure following a nuclear incident. The drug, Neupogen®, is the first ever approved for the treatment of acute radiation injury. The research was done by Thomas J. MacVittie, PhD, professor, and Ann M. Farese, MA, MS, assistant professor, both in the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UM SOM) Department of Radiation Oncology's Division ...

MANHATTAN , Kansas -- A recent study with Kansas State University researchers details vaccine development for two new strains of avian influenza that can be transmitted from poultry to humans. The strains have led to the culling of millions of commercial chickens and turkeys as well as the death of hundreds of people. The new vaccine development method is expected to help researchers make vaccines for emerging strains of avian influenza more quickly. This could reduce the number and intensity of large-scale outbreaks at poultry farms as well as curb human transmission. It ...

New research by scientists at the University of Maryland School of Medicine has found that esophageal cancer patients treated with proton therapy experienced significantly less toxic side effects than patients treated with older radiation therapies. Working with colleagues at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Dallas, Texas, Michael Chuong, MD, an assistant professor of radiation oncology at the school, compared two kinds of X-ray radiation with proton therapy, an innovative, precise approach that targets tumors while minimizing ...

May 22, 2015 - Boston, MA - Few professions in the world benefit from the sharing of information as much as meteorology. Nearly all countries around the world realize the value of sharing meteorological data across their borders. This information collaboration is vital to scientific understanding of the atmosphere and the oceans, as well as essential for accurate forecasts and timely warnings of hurricanes, typhoons, and other severe weather. But what about when one country maintains an active embargo with another country? That question was answered last year, when ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- It looks like a Slinky suspended in motion. Yet this photonics advancement -- called a metamaterial hyperlens -- doesn't climb down stairs. Instead, it improves our ability to see tiny objects. Described in a research paper published today by the journal Nature Communications, the hyperlens may someday help detect some of the most lethal forms of cancer. It could also lead to advancements in nanoelectronic manufacturing and boost scientists' ability to examine single molecules -- a development with implications in physics, chemistry, biology and other ...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Disaster investigators and emergency personnel may find themselves better able to assess and respond to terrorist attacks and industrial accidents with the aid of a new computational tool that determines the energy from explosions near the Earth's surface. As a first test of the new approach, its developers have analyzed a deadly explosion which reportedly killed dozens of regime soldiers in the Syrian civil war. Computing the energy yield of an explosion just below, at, or above the ground poses difficult challenges, while deep-underground blasts ...

New York, NY -- May 22, 2015 -- Working with researchers at Zhejiang University in China, Changxi Zheng, assistant professor of computer science at Columbia Engineering, has developed a technique that enables hydrographic printing, a widely used industrial method for transferring color inks on a thin film to the surface of manufactured 3D objects, to color these surfaces with the most precise alignment ever attained. Using a new computational method they developed to simulate the printing process, Zheng and his team have designed a model that predicts color film distortion ...

(NEW YORK - May 22) - By comparing flu viruses to the virus that causes measles, researchers fine-tuned a tool that may enable faster vaccine design, according to a study led by Mount Sinai researchers and published online this week in the journal Cell Reports. The study results revolve around viruses, which are designed perfectly by evolution to invade human cells, inject viral genes and use human genetic machinery to make copies of them. In an endless back and forth, human immune cells have evolved to recognize and attack viral surface proteins, and viruses to constantly ...

(PARIS, FRANCE) Technique, talk, and talent were three buzzwords at the 2015 EuroPCR congress. As in years past, the conference featured a mix of breaking news, live case demonstrations, oral and poster sessions, debates, and tips-and-tricks tutorials. New study data have been increasingly showcased at EuroPCR and this year's meeting featured over 70 new abstract sessions throughout the four-day meeting, across five interventional tracks. One of the focus topics at this year's meeting was a spate of recent trials showing a benefit for mechanical thrombectomy in acute ...

URBANA, Ill. - The widespread evolution of herbicide-resistant weeds is costing farmers, especially through decreases in productivity and profitability. Although researchers and industry personnel have made recommendations to slow this evolution, an understanding of the patterns and causes of the resistance has been limited. Diversifying the herbicide mechanisms of action (MOAs) has been recommended to stop the spread of herbicide-resistant weeds. MOAs refer to the biochemical interaction that affects or disrupts the target site in the weed. Two common methods of diversifying ...

The first definitive summary of the best and safest blood pressure lowering treatments for kidney disease and diabetes patients has been compiled by New Zealand doctor and researcher Associate Professor Suetonia Palmer. The international relevance of her work for doctors, patients and those who decide which drugs to fund has been demonstrated by the prestigious Lancet medical journal publishing an article on her study in its latest edition. The University of Otago, Christchurch, researcher together with a global team used innovative statistical analysis to compare hundreds ...

Berkeley -- Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed algorithms that enable robots to learn motor tasks through trial and error using a process that more closely approximates the way humans learn, marking a major milestone in the field of artificial intelligence. They demonstrated their technique, a type of reinforcement learning, by having a robot complete various tasks -- putting a clothes hanger on a rack, assembling a toy plane, screwing a cap on a water bottle, and more -- without pre-programmed details about its surroundings. "What ...

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 22, 2015 -- Play a flute in Carnegie Hall, and the tone will resonate and fill the space. Play that same flute in the Grand Canyon, and the sound waves will crash against the rock walls, folding back in on each other in sonic chaos. The disparity in acoustics is clear - to the modern listener, the instrument belongs in an auditorium. "Distinct echoes would be totally unforgivable in today's performance spaces," says Steven J. Waller, an archaeo-acoustician who has studied prehistoric rock art and the acoustics of ancient performance spaces. "But, ...