The protein (Exportin-1) is often found in high levels in patients with leukemia, other cancers Protein was previously known to move materials out of a cell’s nucleus New findings suggest protein may also stimulate transcription, which if hijacked, could contribute to abnormal cell division (cancer) Future anti-cancer therapies that target Exportin-1’s role in transcription may be less toxic or more effective than current therapies EVANSTON, Ill. --- Researchers from Northwestern University have stumbled upon a previously unobserved function of a protein found in the cell nuclei of all flora and fauna. In addition to exporting ...

Plasmonic modulators are tiny components that convert electrical signals into optical signals in order to transport them through optical fibres. A modulator of this kind had never managed to transmit data with a frequency of over a terahertz (over a trillion oscillations per second). Now, researchers from the group led by Jürg Leuthold, Professor of Photonics and Communications at ETH Zurich, have succeeded in doing just that. Previous modulators could only convert frequencies up to 100 or 200 gigahertz ...

Many U.S. police departments face a serious recruiting and staffing crisis, which has spurred a re-examination of recruitment methods. In a new study, researchers drew on the field of intergroup communication to analyze how police are portrayed in recruitment materials to determine whether humanizing efforts make a difference. The study found that presenting officers in human terms boosted participants’ interest in policing as a career. The study was conducted by researchers at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), Texas State University (TXST), ...

A new AI weather prediction system, Aardvark Weather, can deliver accurate forecasts tens of times faster and using thousands of times less computing power than current AI and physics-based forecasting systems, according to research published today (Thursday 20 March) in Nature.  Aardvark has been developed by researchers from the University of Cambridge supported by the Alan Turing Institute, Microsoft Research and the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting, providing a blueprint for a completely new approach to weather forecasting with the potential to transform current practices.  The ...

As young children have an increased risk of developing tuberculosis (TB) disease during the first year after infection, childhood TB serves as an indicator of ongoing transmission within a community.  In 2023, 1,689 children and young adolescents below the age of 15 years were diagnosed with tuberculosis in the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) countries. This particular age group usually represents a relatively small proportion among the overall reported TB cases in the region, with a range from 3.4% in 2021 for example to 6.4% in 2016. However, the data for children and young ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Americans have long believed that sports are one area in society that offers kids from all backgrounds the chance to succeed to the best of their abilities.   But new research suggests that this belief is largely a myth, and that success in high school and college athletics often is influenced by race and gender, as well as socioeconomic status, including family wealth and education.   “We often think about sports as level playing fields that reward people who earn their success, but that’s not the whole ...

According to a predictive model developed by a CNRS researcher1 and his European colleagues, the microalgae present in peat bogs could offset up to 14% of future CO2 emissions, thanks to their photosynthetic activity2. This conclusion was reached by basing the work on in situ experiments and the various predictive scenarios established by the IPCC. It is the first model to quantify the potential compensation of future CO2 emissions by peatlands on a global scale. This result lifts the veil on a currently ambiguous section of the terrestrial carbon cycle3 and its alterations by anthropogenic climate change. The associated study is published in Nature Climate Change. Representing ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA – The ability to generate high-quality images quickly is crucial for producing realistic simulated environments that can be used to train self-driving cars to avoid unpredictable hazards, making them safer on real streets. But the generative AI techniques increasingly being used to produce such images have drawbacks. One popular type of model, called a diffusion model, can create stunningly realistic images but is too slow and computationally intensive for many applications. On the other hand, the autoregressive models that power LLMs like ChatGPT are much faster, but they ...

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, in collaboration with the Prevencasa free clinic in Tijuana, Mexico, have confirmed the presence of xylazine in the illicit drug supply at the U.S.-Mexico border. While xylazine remains less common in the Western U.S., border cities serve as key trafficking hubs and may have higher rates of emerging substances. The findings, published on March 20, 2025 in the Journal of Addiction Medicine, highlight the urgent need for public health intervention. “Xylazine is a veterinary anesthetic that is not approved for human use and is increasingly detected alongside illicit fentanyl in parts of the United States ...

Lithium-6 is essential for producing nuclear fusion fuel, but isolating it from the much more common isotope, lithium-7, usually requires liquid mercury, which is extremely toxic. Now, researchers have developed a mercury-free method to isolate lithium-6 that is as effective as the conventional method. The new method is presented March 20 in the Cell Press journal Chem. “This is a step towards addressing a major roadblock to nuclear energy,” says chemist and senior author Sarbajit Banerjee of ETH Zürich and Texas A&M University. “Lithium-6 is a critical material for the renaissance of nuclear energy, ...

Adverse genetic mutations can cause harm and are due to various circumstances. “Jumping genes” are one cause of mutations, but cells try and combat them with a specialized RNA called piRNA. For the first time, researchers from the University of Tokyo and their collaborators have identified how the sites responsible for piRNA production evolve effective behaviors against jumping genes. This research could lead to downstream diagnostic or therapeutic applications. The word mutation can mean different things in different situations. ...

About The Study: In this cohort study of patients with ovarian cancer, American Indian and Black patients were 23% less likely to have an elevated cancer antigen (CA)-125 level at diagnosis. Current CA-125 thresholds may miss racially and ethnically diverse patients with ovarian cancer. International guidelines use CA-125 thresholds to recommend which patients with pelvic masses should undergo evaluation by gynecologic oncologists for ovarian cancer. However, CA-125 thresholds were developed from white populations. Work is needed to develop inclusive CA-125 thresholds and ...

About The Study: In this study, lifestyle changes after the pandemic were associated with an increase in the prevalence and severity of child astigmatisms, likely associated with changes in the developing cornea. The potential impact of higher degrees of astigmatism may warrant dedicated efforts to elucidate the relationship between environmental and/or lifestyle factors, as well as the pathophysiology of astigmatism. Corresponding Authors: To contact the corresponding authors, email Jason C. Yam, MD (yamcheuksing@cuhk.edu.hk) and Li ...

MIAMI, FLORIDA (STRICTLY EMBARGOED UNTIL MARCH 20, 2025, AT 11 A.M. EDT) – Since 2021, when lung cancer screening guidelines began to include younger people and those with a lower smoking history, the number of screenings climbed, but significant gaps remain, especially among people with limited access to healthcare, according to a new study led by researchers at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. "The updated guidelines substantially increased lung cancer screenings overall, even as ...

A team of researchers from Cleveland Clinic Genomic Medicine share insights from an early set of 19,000 patients to receive immune checkpoint inhibitor treatments for colorectal cancer in the U.S.   The report comes from the laboratory of Stephanie Schmit, PhD, MPH, and was published in JAMA Network Open. It serves as an opportunity to better understand how immune checkpoint inhibitor treatments, including PD-1 and PD-L1 inhibitors, work in a larger population that reflects real-world settings. Dr. Schmit collaborated with a team of ...

The earliest days after fertilization, once a sperm cell meets an egg, are shrouded in scientific mystery.  The process of how a humble single cell becomes an organism fascinates scientists across disciplines. For some animals, the entire process of cellular multiplication, generation of specialized cells, and their organization into an ordered multicellular embryo takes place in the protective environment of the uterus, making direct observation and studies challenging. This makes it difficult for scientists to understand what can go wrong during that process, and how specific risk factors and the surrounding environment may prevent ...

Boston – An international team of clinical collaborators, led by physician scientists from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, performed a first-ever clinical test of the targeted therapy avapritinib in pediatric and young patients with a form of high-grade glioma. They found that the drug, already FDA-approved for certain adult cancers, was generally safe and resulted in tumor reduction visible on brain scans, as well as clinical improvement, in 3 out of 7 patients. The study was published in Cancer Cell. Pediatric-type high-grade gliomas are currently incurable brain tumors with median survival times less than 18 months after initial diagnosis. Avapritinib ...

POMs are a class of inorganic metal-oxygen cluster compounds with broad-spectrum antitumor potential. However, their strong hydrophilicity and poor lipophilicity result in insufficient cell membrane permeability, and high doses are required to achieve therapeutic effects, which severely limits their clinical application. To address this challenge, the research team proposes a covalent modification strategy: the construction of an amphipathic drug molecule PPT-POM-PPT by linking the hydrophobic anti-tumor drug Podophyllotoxin (PPT) with hydrophilic POMs. This molecule ...

Circadian rhythms are endogenous time-keeping mechanisms that regulate physiological processes in response to external light-dark cycles. These rhythms are orchestrated by the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the hypothalamus and involve a network of genes, including CLOCK and BMAL1, that influence metabolism, immune responses, and cell proliferation. Recent research has highlighted the crucial role of circadian rhythms in tumor biology, demonstrating that their dysregulation contributes to tumorigenesis, progression, and metastasis. Additionally, circadian rhythms influence the tumor immune microenvironment and the ...

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a chronic metabolic disorder with a rapidly increasing global prevalence. It is primarily characterized by insulin resistance, β-cell dysfunction, and impaired glucose homeostasis. Emerging research suggests that flavonoids, a diverse group of plant-derived polyphenols, may offer therapeutic potential in managing T2DM. These compounds exert antidiabetic effects through multiple mechanisms, including improving insulin sensitivity, enhancing β-cell function, modulating ...

INDIANAPOLIS -- A large scale study by researchers from the Regenstrief Institute and the Indiana University School of Medicine has found that patient pain upon arrival to the Emergency Department (ED) as well as the use of hallway beds and radiology studies in the ED are associated with patient experience, although not in the same ways. The study’s tens of thousands of observations including clinical and operational data revealed that regardless of how promptly or successfully pain was treated in the ED, the amount of pain the patient was in when they arrived was associated with patient experience ...

Giving a second life to construction materials after demolition, engineers at the University of São Paulo and Princeton have developed an approach for recycling cement waste into a sustainable, low-carbon alternative that is comparable in performance to the industry standard. In addition to lowering the carbon intensity of the cement and concrete industry, the process could enable new uses for construction and demolition waste, of which concrete is a significant component. In 2018 in the United States, the total ...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection remains a major global health burden, affecting millions worldwide and contributing significantly to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development. The introduction of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) has revolutionized HCV treatment, achieving high rates of sustained virologic response (SVR) and reducing HCV-associated morbidity and mortality. Despite these advancements, the risk of HCC persists in certain populations, particularly those with pre-treatment cirrhosis or advanced fibrosis (F3). This review examines the ...

The Lupus Research Alliance (LRA) is proud to announce the inaugural recipients of the new Targeted Research Program on Engineered Cell Therapies for Lupus (TRP-ECT) to support the development and mechanistic understanding of safe and accessible next-generation engineered cell therapies for people with lupus. Engineered cell therapies, such as CD19-targeted chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells, involve reengineering a patient’s own T cells to recognize and attack cells that cause disease. The LRA established this program to build upon the promise already shown for engineered cell therapies in treating and potentially curing lupus, including ...

Washington, D.C.—Researchers have discovered that an enzyme can serve as an ideal target for developing new therapeutics against Lyme disease, and most likely other tick-borne diseases as well. The finding was reported in mBio, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology. Lyme disease is the most commonly reported tick-borne illness in the United States and Europe. Its causative pathogen, Borrelia burgdorferi, has evolved unique metabolic pathways to cope with its enzootic life cycle, ...