A material that can be used in technologies such as solar power has been found to self-heal, a new study shows. The findings - from the University of York - raise the prospect that it may be possible to engineer high-performance self-healing materials which could reduce costs and improve scalability, researchers say. The substance, called antimony selenide (Sb2Se3), is a solar absorber material that can be used for turning light energy into electricity. Professor Keith McKenna from the Department of Physics said: "The process by which this semi-conducting material self-heals is rather like how a salamander is able to re-grow limbs when one is severed. Antimony selenide repairs broken bonds created when it is cleaved by ...

The disproportionately high Covid-19 infection rates observed in Black Americans could be linked to their daily commuting patterns, according to a new study published today in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface. The research found that increased exposure to other ethnic groups, for example as a result of an individual's job or use of public transport, can result in the emergence of an "infection gap" in the population, such as the abnormally high incidence of Covid-19 recorded in Black Americans. In some areas of the US Covid-19 incidence in Black Americans can be up to three to five times higher than would be expected based on population data. Previous studies have highlighted socio-economic factors including lower income and poorer access to healthcare facilities ...

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) results from a degeneration of the hematopoietic stem cells (leukemia stem cells), thereby leading to the uncontrolled formation of specific white blood cells, the so-called granulocytes. Research work at the Department of Medical Oncology at the Inselspital, Bern University Hospital and the University of Bern focused therefore on identifying the signaling pathways and control mechanisms of the leukemia stem cell. A promising approach is provided by working with MPR, an anti-emetic medication commonly used to treat nausea and vomiting. Specific blocking of leukemia stem cell proliferation with metoclopramide The exact role of the surface molecule CD93 (cluster of differentiation 93) in controlling the ...

A multidisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst's Institute for Applied Life Sciences (IALS) have developed a technique to replicate bone tissue complexity and bone remodeling processes. This breakthrough could help researchers further their study of bone biology and assist in improving development of drugs for osteoporosis. Published in Science Advances, the researchers developed a new biomaterial they call demineralized bone paper. The team includes Jungwoo Lee, Yongkuk Park, Ryan Carpenter, chemical engineering; Eugene Cheong, ...

Our cells are filled with 'bones,' in a sense. Thin, flexible protein strands called actin filaments help support and move around the bulk of the cells of eukaryotes, which includes all plants and animals. Always on the go, actin filaments constantly grow, shrink, bind with other things, and branch off when cells move. Supercomputer simulations have helped solve the mystery of how actin filaments polymerize, or chain together. This fundamental research could be applied to treatments to stop cancer spread, develop self-healing materials, and more. "The major findings ...

A compound that extends lifespan in a tiny nematode worm slows bone loss in aging mice. That surprising result comes from a longitudinal and functional study of 700 aging mice at the Buck Institute, a project that provides a treasure trove of data for researchers aiming to develop therapeutics to slow aging and age-related diseases. The study is currently online in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research Plus. The project, which involved five Buck labs and took several years to complete, involved serially profiling the individual mice as they aged while testing several therapeutics that extended lifespan in simple model organisms ...

Black children have significantly higher rates of shellfish and fish allergies than white children, confirming that race plays an important role in how children are affected by food allergies, researchers at Rush University Medical Center have found. Results of the study were published in the February issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice. "Food allergy is a common condition in the U.S., and we know from our previous research that there are important differences between African-American and white children with food allergy, but there is so much we need to know to be able to help our patients from minority groups," said Dr. Mahboobeh Mahdavinia, who is lead author of the ...

A research team from the CHUM Research Centre (CRCHUM) has shown that women who have had serious complications during pregnancy are twice as likely to die up to three decades later. Serious conditions such as stroke, cardiac complications, acute kidney failure and pre-eclampsia affect just under 5 % of women during pregnancy and childbirth. In a study published in Obstetrics & Gynecology, CRCHUM researcher Dr. Nathalie Auger and postdoctoral fellow Ugochinyere Vivian Ukah examined the long-term mortality risks of women with these types of pregnancy complications by analyzing more than 1.2 million records of women who gave birth in Quebec between 1989 and 2016. Their findings? Compared to women who had no serious pregnancy complications, women ...

In 2012, four-year-old Bertrand Might became the first-ever patient diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder called N-glycanase (NGLY1) deficiency. The discovery of this condition and Bertrand's diagnosis allowed doctors to look for other children with the same genetic defect. Since then, more than 60 additional patients have been found. The disease affects every system of the body and is characterized by low muscle tone, seizures, developmental delays, and an inability to produce tears. Sadly, Bertrand passed away in October at the age of 12. Although his life was cut short, his legacy will benefit children around the world. Through ...

A recent study of drugged driving, by a team of University of Cincinnati researchers, shows that a sizable percentage of individuals reported the use of marijuana and other illicit drugs while operating behind the wheel. "We need to focus our efforts on drugged driving, in addition to drunk driving, because drugged driving causes such a high level of fatalities, says Andrew Yockey, a doctoral student in UC's College of Education, Criminal Justice and Human Services and researcher at the UC Center for Prevention Science. Yockey is lead author on the study ...

New Rochelle, NY, January 26, 2021--Hybrid closed-loop insulin therapy improved glycemic control in adolescents and young adults with type 1 diabetes. These outcomes, derived from the International Diabetes Closed-Loop (iDCL) Trial, are reported in the peer-reviewed journal Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics (DTT). Click here to read the article now. Adolescents and young adults with a mean age of 17 years were randomly assigned to a closed-loop control (CLC) insulin delivery system or a sensor augmented pump (SAP) with a continuous glucose monitoring system over a 6-month period. The Time in Range increased by 13% for the CLC group, compared to a decrease of 1% with SAP, for a group ...

Burning fossil fuels has long powered world economies while contributing to air pollution and the buildup of greenhouse gases. A new analysis of nearly two decades of satellite data shows that economic development, fossil-fuel combustion and air quality are closely linked on the continental and national scales, but can be decoupled at the national level, according to Penn State scientists. "We know air pollution and economic development are linked, but we want to know how tightly and whether our actions can change this," said Ruixue Lei, a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science. "We found they are not inherently bonded and can be decoupled under favorable policies." While previous research has explored the connections between air ...

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell University's Ithaca campus have developed a new computational method for studying genetic and environmental interactions and how they influence disease risk. The research, published Jan. 7 in The American Journal of Human Genetics, makes the process of finding these interactions much less difficult and demonstrates their importance in determining body mass index and diabetes risk. "Our study demonstrates that your genes matter and the environment matters and that the interaction of the two can increase risk for disease," said co-senior author, Dr. Olivier ...

Heart disease is a killer threat for southern sea otters feasting on domoic acid in their food web, according to a study led by the University of California, Davis. The study, published in the journal Harmful Algae, examined the relationship between long-term exposure to domoic acid and fatal heart disease in southern sea otters, a threatened marine mammal. "Sea otters are an amazing indicator of what's happening in the coastal environment, not just to other marine animals, but to us, too, especially on the issue of domoic acid," said Christine K. Johnson, director of the EpiCenter ...

To enter the world of the fantastically small, the main currency is either a ray of light or electrons. Strong beams, which yield clearer images, are damaging to specimens. On the other hand, weak beams can give noisy, low-resolution images. In a new study published in END ...

MAPUTO, Mozambique (January 26, 2021) - A team of marine scientists led by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has confirmed that southern Africa's most threatened endemic shark - the Critically Endangered shorttail nurse shark (Pseudoginglymostoma brevicaudatum) - has been found to occur in Mozambique; a finding that represents a range extension of more than 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles). Publishing their findings in the journal Marine Biodiversity, the team said that the discovery was based on several records of the shark including underwater video surveys collected in 2019, recent photos of shore-based sport anglers' catches, and the identification of a specimen collected in 1967. The ...

A hormone commonly associated with sleep-wake regulation has been found to reduce cysts in fruit flies, according to Concordia researchers. It's a finding that may affect the way we treat some kidney diseases and reduce the need for kidney transplants. In a new paper published in the journal END ...

STUDY PROFILES IMMUNE CELLS FIGHTING COVID-19, MAY HELP GUIDE NEXT-GEN VACCINE DEVELOPMENT Media Contact: Michael E. Newman, mnewma25@jhmi.edu Even as the first vaccines for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, are being distributed, scientists and clinicians around the world have remained steadfast in their efforts to better understand how the human immune system responds to the virus and protects people against it. Now, a research team -- led by Johns Hopkins Medicine and in collaboration with ImmunoScape, a U.S.-Singapore biotechnology company -- has published one of the most comprehensive characterizations to date of a critical contributor to that protection: ...

Biologists often study animal sociality by collecting observations about several types of behavioral interactions. These interactions can be things like severe fights, minor fights, cooperative food sharing, or grooming each other. But to analyze animal behavior, researchers need to make decisions about how to categorize these interactions and how to code these behaviors during data collection. Turns out, this question can be complicated. Researchers at the University of Cincinnati dug into this tricky question while studying monk parakeets. In new research, published in the journal Current Zoology, the team asked: How do you properly categorize two seemingly similar behaviors? The study was led by UC ...

University of Alberta researchers have taken another step forward in developing an artificial intelligence tool to predict schizophrenia by analyzing brain scans. In recently published research, the tool was used to analyze functional magnetic resonance images of 57 healthy first-degree relatives (siblings or children) of schizophrenia patients. It accurately identified the 14 individuals who scored highest on a self-reported schizotypal personality trait scale. Schizophrenia, which affects 300,000 Canadians, can cause delusions, hallucinations, disorganized ...

SAN ANTONIO and BOSTON - Study findings released Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) hold both good news and bad news about transient ischemic attacks (TIAs), which are harbingers of subsequent strokes. Sudha Seshadri, MD, professor of neurology at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and director of the university's Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer's and Neurodegenerative Diseases, is senior author of the study and senior investigator of the Framingham Heart Study, from which the findings are derived. She said the extensive follow-up of Framingham participants over more than six decades enabled the study to present a more-complete picture of the risk of stroke to patients after a TIA. The study points to the need for ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Research led by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine identified a new compound that might serve as a basis for developing a new class of drugs for diabetes. Study findings are published online in the journal Nature Chemical Biology. The adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (Ampk) is a crucial enzyme involved in sensing the body's energy stores in cells. Impaired energy metabolism is seen in obesity, which is a risk factor for diabetes. Some medications used to treat diabetes, such as metformin, work by increasing the activity of Ampk. "In ...

African trypanosomiasis (also known as sleeping sickness) is a disease transmitted by tsetse flies and is fatal to humans and other animals; however, there is currently no vaccine, this disease is mainly controlled by reducing insect populations and patient treatment. A study published in the open access journal PLOS Biology by Alvaro Acosta-Serrano at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and an international team of researchers suggests that the approved drug nitisinone could be repurposed to kill tsetse flies without harming important pollinator insects. Currently, the most effective method of controlling the transmission of African trypanosomiasis is by employing insecticide-based vector control campaigns (traps, targets, ...

The COHERENT particle physics experiment at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory has firmly established the existence of a new kind of neutrino interaction. Because neutrinos are electrically neutral and interact only weakly with matter, the quest to observe this interaction drove advances in detector technology and has added new information to theories aiming to explain mysteries of the cosmos. "The neutrino is thought to be at the heart of many open questions about the nature of the universe," said Indiana University physics professor Rex Tayloe. He led the installation, operation and data analysis of a cryogenic liquid argon ...

A Brazilian study published in the journal Molecular Human Reproduction helps understand why obese mothers tend to have children with a propensity to develop metabolic disease during their lifetime, as suggested by previous research. According to the authors, "transgenerational transmission of metabolic diseases" may be associated with Mfn2 deficiency in the mother's oocytes (immature eggs). Mfn2 refers to mitofusin-2, a protein involved in the regulation of vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation. It is normally found in the outer membrane of mitochondria, ...