LA JOLLA, CA—What happens when measles virus meets a human cell? The viral machinery unfolds in just the right way to reveal key pieces that let it fuse itself into the host cell membrane. Once the fusion process is complete, the host cell is a goner. It belongs to the virus now. Scientists in the La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) Center for Vaccine Innovation are working to develop new measles vaccines and therapeutics that stop this fusion process. The researchers recently harnessed an imaging technique called cryo-electron microscopy to show—in ...

The most obese children with dengue are more than twice as likely as others to be hospitalized with dengue, according to study of 4,782 10- to 18-year-olds in Sri Lanka. #### Article URL: http://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0012248 Article Title: Is the rise in childhood obesity rates leading to an increase in hospitalizations due to dengue? Author Countries: Sri Lanka, United Kingdom Funding: This study has been supported by the World Health Organization Unity Studies (GNM and CJ), a global sero-epidemiological standardization initiative, with funding to the World Health Organization and the UK Medical Research Council (GSO). The World Health Organization ...

Researchers have described some of the best-preserved three-dimensional trilobite fossils ever discovered. The fossils, which are more than 500 million years old, were collected in the High Atlas of Morocco and are being referred to by scientists as “Pompeii” trilobites due to their remarkable preservation in ash. The trilobites, from the Cambrian period, have been the subject of research by an international team of scientists, led by Prof Abderrazak El Albani, a geologist based at University of Poitiers and originally from Morocco. The team included Dr Greg Edgecombe, a palaeontologist ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA — Researchers from MIT and the University of Michigan have discovered a new way to drive chemical reactions that could generate a wide variety of compounds with desirable pharmaceutical properties. These compounds, known as azetidines, are characterized by four-membered rings that include nitrogen. Azetidines have traditionally been much more difficult to synthesize than five-membered nitrogen-containing rings, which are found in many FDA-approved drugs. The reaction that the researchers used to create azetidines is driven by a photocatalyst that excites the molecules from their ground energy state. Using computational models that they developed, the researchers ...

Plants are powerhouses of molecular manufacturing. Over the eons, they have evolved to produce a plethora of small molecules — some are beneficial and valuable to humans, others can be deadly. For years, a good way for scientists looking for new medicines to distinguish beneficial plant-derived molecules from harmful ones has been through a scientific sniff test — dab a bit of the molecule at one end of a petri dish and drop tiny nematode worms (C. elegans) at the other, then wait to see if the chemically sensitive worms move toward or away from the compound in question, a process known as chemotaxis. This “artisanal” ...

The bottom of the ocean is not hospitable: there is no light; the temperature is freezing cold; and the pressure of all the water above will literally crush you. The animals that live at this depth have developed biophysical adaptations that allow them to survive in these harsh conditions. What are these adaptations and how did they develop? University of California San Diego Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Itay Budin teamed up with researchers from around the country to study the cell membranes of ctenophores (“comb jellies”) and found they had unique lipid structures that allow them to live under intense pressure. Their work appears in Science. Adapting ...

EMBARGOED UNTIL 27-Jun-2024 14:00 ET Drug development is typically slow: the pipeline from basic research discoveries that provide the basis for a new drug to clinical trials to production of a widely available medicine can take decades. But decades can feel impossibly far off to someone who currently has a fatal disease. Broad Institute Senior Group Leader Sonia Vallabh is acutely aware of that race against time, because the topic of her research is a neurodegenerative and ultimately fatal disease–fatal familial insomnia, a type of prion disease–that she will almost certainly develop as she ages. Vallabh and her husband, Eric Minikel, switched careers ...

For a broad range of industries, separating gases is an important part of both process and product—from separating nitrogen and oxygen from air for medical purposes to separating carbon dioxide from other gases in the process of carbon capture or removing impurities from natural gas. Separating gases, however, can be both energy-intensive and expensive. “For example, when separating oxygen and nitrogen, you need to cool the air to very low temperatures until they liquefy. Then, by slowly increasing the temperature, the gases will evaporate at different points, allowing one to become a gas again and separate out,” explains Wei Zhang, a University of Colorado Boulder professor ...

During recent periods of unusually warm water in the Gulf of Alaska, young Pacific cod in near shore safe havens where they typically spend their adolescence did not experience the protective effects those areas typically provide, a new Oregon State University study found. Instead, during marine heat waves in 2014-16 and 2019, young cod in these near shore “nurseries” around Kodiak Island in Alaska experienced significant changes in their abundance, growth rates and diet, with researchers estimating that only the largest 15-25% of the island’s cod population survived the summer. Even after the high temperatures subsided, the ...

Bird flu, or H5N1 virus, in unpasteurized milk is stable on metal and rubber components of commercial milking equipment for at least one hour, increasing its potential to infect people and other animals, report researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Emory University in Emerging Infectious Diseases.  The study underscores the heightened risk of bird flu exposure for dairy farm workers and signals the need for wider adoption of personal protective equipment, including face shields, masks and eye protection. “Dairy cows have to be milked even if they are sick, and it has not been clear for how long the virus contained in residual milk from the ...

MADISON — University of Wisconsin–Madison engineers have developed low-cost sensors that allow for real-time, continuous monitoring of nitrate in soil types that are common in Wisconsin. These printed electrochemical sensors could enable farmers to make better informed nutrient management decisions and reap economic benefits.   “Our sensors could give farmers a greater understanding of the nutrient profile of their soil and how much nitrate is available for the plants, helping them to make more precise decisions on how much fertilizer they really need,” says Joseph Andrews, an assistant professor of mechanical ...

Growing up in neighborhoods with more educational and socioeconomic opportunities has a positive impact on infants’ brain activity, according to new research from Boston Medical Center (BMC). The study, published in The Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, suggests that enhancing neighborhood opportunities, particularly in education, can be a promising approach to promoting early childhood development.  A team of early childhood researchers examined how neighborhood opportunity – the socioeconomic, educational, health, and ...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Across the Midwest during the warmer months, studying the sky for signs of storms and tornadoes becomes one of the most popular pastimes. Dan Chavas, an associate professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at Purdue University’s College of Science, takes it further: All day every day, he studies what makes tornadoes tick. Working at the intersection of climate science and meteorology, he looks at the big picture of what causes severe storms and tornadoes — and what dictates where ...

Philadelphia, June 27, 2024 – Researchers from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) found that young children between the ages of 5 and 12 were more likely to experience a concussion from recreation and other non-sport activities, yet those injuries were not seen by specialists until days later compared with sports-related concussions in the same age group. This study suggests concussion research is needed for children outside of sports and that providing more resources and education ...

A common algorithm to check for endometrial cancer is not reliable for Black women, according to a new study published today in JAMA Oncology. In Black patients with concerning symptoms, a tissue biopsy is strongly recommended to rule out endometrial cancer instead of using transvaginal ultrasound, the report concluded. Endometrial cancer is the most common type of gynecological cancer in the United States. It is one of the few types of cancer now on the rise, especially among Black women, who are more likely to be diagnosed at later stages of the disease. This cancer can cause symptoms such as abnormal vaginal ...

·  Black participants with greater access to green spaces had up to 35% lower odds of calcification ·  Black participants living near a river had 32% lower odds of calcification ·  Coronary artery calcification is an early sign of cardiovascular disease CHICAGO --- Being near and having more exposure to urban green space and blue (water) space is linked to lower odds of having coronary artery calcification in middle age, which is an early marker of cardiovascular disease. The associations were more pronounced among Black individuals and those living in neighborhoods ...

Compared to straight and cisgender individuals, sexual and gender minority adults in the US are more likely to face barriers paying for or accessing adequate health insurance and healthcare, but few states collect sexual and gender identity (SOGI) information to better understand the health challenges and needs of this population. To close this knowledge gap, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) added three optional SOGI questions to its model application, with guidance for states that choose to incorporate the questions into their Medicaid and Child Health Insurance ...

MADISON–In a rare opportunity to study carnivores before and after wolves were reintroduced to their ranges, researchers from the University of Wisconsin–Madison found that the effects of wolves on Isle Royale have been only temporary. And even in the least-visited national park, humans had a more significant impact on carnivores’ lives. The paper, published recently in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, uses DNA from foxes and martens’ scat and hair to understand where these animals were and what they ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. ― Researchers from the University of Missouri School of Medicine found that a targeted gene therapy may make acute myeloid leukemia (AML) more sensitive to chemotherapy, while also protecting the heart against toxicity often caused by cancer treatments.  Acute myeloid leukemia is the most common type of leukemia in adults and the resulting chemotherapy treatment can put patients at an increased risk for cardiac damage. Associate Professor of Medicine Dr. Xunlei Kang and PhD students Yi Pan and Chen Wang led a study looking at similarities between leukemia and cardiovascular disease. They found a shared target -- AGTR1, ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The availability and adoption of high-speed broadband appears to boost the number of farms offering agritourism activities, according to a new study led by Penn State researchers. Their findings, the researchers said, bolster the argument for expanding broadband availability in support of farm operators who want to benefit from the growing consumer interest in on-farm experiences. “Agritourism operations are consumer-facing businesses that offer activities to farm or ranch visitors, such as farm stands, pumpkin patches, corn mazes, hayrides and ...

URBANA, Ill. -- LGBTQ+ people involved in farm work are over three times more likely to experience depression and suicidal intent and about two and a half times more likely to experience anxiety than the general population. That’s according to a new study led by farmer mental health experts at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.   “For several years, I've done work around farm stress and mental health among farmers in general. We’ve found people who work in agriculture have adverse mental health compared to those who work in other areas. Similarly, there are findings that queer folks have worse mental health than their ...

Since the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, 10 to 30 per cent of the general population has experienced some form of virus-induced cognitive impairment, including trouble concentrating, brain fog or memory loss. This led a team of researchers to explore the mechanism behind this phenomenon and pinpoint a specific protein that appears to be driving these cognitive changes.    A new study published in Nature Immunology, led by researchers at Western and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, also looked at how vaccination may help reduce the impacts of memory loss following COVID-19 infections.     The ...

A study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a centre supported by the "la Caixa" Foundation, provides new evidence on the adverse effects of prenatal exposure to ethylene oxide (EO) on foetal development. The results, published in Epidemiology, show that increased EO exposure in utero is associated with a reduction in birth weight and head circumference in newborns. Ethylene oxide is a chemical used in various industrial processes and in hospitals, is known for its ...

Repetitive tasks carried out by ancient Egyptian scribes — high status men with the ability to write who performed administrative tasks — and the positions they sat in while working may have led to degenerative skeletal changes, according to a study published in Scientific Reports. Petra Brukner Havelková and colleagues examined the skeletal remains of 69 adult males — 30 of whom were scribes — who were buried in the necropolis at Abusir, Egypt between 2700 and 2180 BCE. They identified degenerative joint changes that were more common among scribes compared to men with other occupations. These were in the joints connecting the lower jaw to the skull, ...

Most coral reef restoration efforts involve restocking reefs with nursery-grown corals. However, if these corals are of the same stock as their wild counterparts, they will be equally vulnerable to the heat stress that caused the bleaching event in the first place. In a review publishing June 27 in the journal Trends in Microbiology, researchers discuss the potential of improving corals’ chances by inducing the evolution of heat tolerance in their symbionts—the mutualistic microbes that provide corals with nutrients in ...