A research paper by scientists at University of Coimbra proposed an integrated approach targeting the design and fabrication of pneumatic soft actuators in a single casting step. Molds and sacrificial water-soluble hollow cores are printed using fused filament fabrication. The new research paper, published on Jul. 17 in the journal Cyborg and Bionic Systems, presented an integrated process for the design and fabrication of soft robot actuators in a single casting. The author proved the availability, versatility, and effectiveness of the proposed methods, contributing to accelerating the design and fabrication of soft robots. Bio-inspired soft robots have already shown the ability to handle ...

Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract are a rare and heterogeneous group of malignancies arising from the neuroendocrine cell system. These tumors are more commonly encountered in the stomach, appendix, small bowel, rectum, and pancreas. Over the past few decades, the incidence of GI NETs has increased due to improved diagnostic capabilities and an aging population. The management of these tumors requires a careful assessment of various factors, including the site, size, grading, depth of invasion, and local lymphadenopathy, as they significantly impact prognosis and treatment ...

Microglia are the brain’s immune cells known to play a vital role in maintaining neural function and responding to potential threats. However, when the brain is subjected to hyperosmotic stress—a condition characterized by elevated extracellular sodium levels, the microglial response can become exaggerated, leading to potentially harmful effects. Understanding the mechanisms behind this heightened response is crucial for the treatment of hypernatremia-induced neurological dysfunctions. To ...

A cellular link between obesity and atrial fibrillation — a heart condition that afflicts over 33 million people worldwide — presents a promising target for new therapies, researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago report. Obesity is among the leading causes of atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rhythm that can lead to heart failure and stroke. But scientists still don’t know how high levels of body fat cause this heart condition.  In a new study published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, UIC researchers identified a cellular pathway essential to obesity-induced ...

A team of researchers has developed a radical new technique for analyzing evidence in sexual assault cases. The new approach could streamline the forensics pipeline and reduce delays in the processing of DNA evidence.   The research is described in a paper published today in the journal Advanced Science. There are almost half a million sexual assaults in Canada every year with many more going unreported. The new approach could mitigate one of the reasons victims are reluctant to report assaults: the perception that ...

Delinquent activities almost always occur outside of the home and away from adult supervision, so it is only natural for parents to blame peers for their child’s bad behavior. Not surprisingly, many parents also assume that they can prevent future problems by limiting contact with suspicious peers. However, a new study cautions parents – especially meddling moms – to resist the temptation to prohibit friendships because doing so only makes a bad situation worse. How can this be? Results from a new longitudinal study of middle school youth, published in The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, indicates that maternal disapproval of friends in ...

ROCKVILLE, MD (September 4, 2024) The AIM-HI Accelerator Fund is pleased to announce that the 2024 Women’s Venture Competition’s first prize winner with distinction goes to HDAX Therapeutics led by its CEO and Co-Founder, Nabanita Nawar, Ph.D, and the Second Prize Winner goes to ARMA BIO, led by Co-Founder & CSO, Paraskevi Giannakakou, Ph.D. The 2024 AIM-HI Women’s Venture Competition Committee reviewed more than 50 applications from 10 countries, including Canada, Ghana, India, Israel, Norway, Romania, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, ...

Every day, people die waiting for an organ transplant. Time is at a premium, not just for those awaiting organs, but also for the organs themselves, which can deteriorate rapidly during transportation. Looking to extend the viability of human tissues, researchers report in ACS’ Nano Letters their efforts to facilitate completely freezing, rather than cooling and then thawing, potentially life-saving organs. They demonstrate a magnetic nanoparticle’s successful rewarming of animal tissues. As of August 2024, more than 114,000 people are on the U.S. national transplant ...

Dinosaurs continue to fascinate people, but that’s not their only enduring quality: Collagen in their skeletons remains intact for millions of years, despite containing chemical bonds that should only persist for about 500 years. Now, scientists report in ACS Central Science that the unique tenacity of this protein may result from a molecular structure that shields these vulnerable bonds from attack by water that’s present in the environment. Collagen is the most abundant protein in animals. It’s found in skin and connective tissues, such as cartilage and bones. Fragments of collagen have been ...

Rain and water in ponds and lakes slowly seeps into the soil, moving through minute cracks to refill underground aquifers. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), often described as forever chemicals, can tag along into groundwater that’s later removed for drinking. Researchers in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology Letters analyzed water from over 100 wells in Denmark for one particularly persistent PFAS: trifluoroacetate. They report steadily increasing levels of the forever chemical in recent decades. Trifluoroacetate forms when fluorinated gases, such as refrigerants, and fluorinated pesticides partially degrade in the environment. Water passing ...

Collagen, a protein found in bones and connective tissue, has been found in dinosaur fossils as old as 195 million years. That far exceeds the normal half-life of the peptide bonds that hold proteins together, which is about 500 years. A new study from MIT offers an explanation for how collagen can survive for so much longer than expected. The research team found that a special atomic-level interaction defends collagen from attack by water molecules. This barricade prevents water from breaking the peptide bonds through a process called hydrolysis. “We ...

Feeld, the dating app for the curious, in collaboration with Dr. Justin Lehmiller of The Kinsey Institute, has released a groundbreaking report, "The State of Dating: How Gen Z is Redefining Sexuality and Relationships." Released on World Sexual Health Day under the theme #PositiveRelationships, this report takes a deep dive into how Gen Z—shaped by global instability, digital immersion, and evolving cultural scripts—are shaping their approach to dating and sexuality.  After analyzing ...

Seattle, WA and New York, NY—September 4, 2024—Today, the Allen Institute for Cell Science and New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) announced a pioneering collaboration to address this critical issue, combining two cutting-edge technologies to create more inclusive cellular models for studying disease. This partnership will introduce the Allen Institute for Cell Science’s structure tags into NYSCF’s collection of ethnically diverse stem cell lines. The result: an unprecedented resource that will enable researchers to examine disease mechanisms and potential treatments across a ...

Photosynthesis can take place in nature even at extremely low light levels. This is the result of an international study that investigated the development of Arctic microalgae at the end of the polar night. The measurements were carried out as part of the MOSAiC expedition at 88° northern latitude and revealed that even this far north, microalgae can build up biomass through photosynthesis as early as the end of March. At this time, the sun is barely above the horizon, so that it is still almost completely dark in the microalgae's habitat under the snow and ice cover of the Arctic Ocean. The results of the study now published in the journal Nature Communications show that photosynthesis ...

New research shows that parasitic nematodes, responsible for infecting more than a billion people globally, carry viruses that may solve the puzzle of why some cause serious diseases.  A study led by Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) used cutting-edge bioinformatic data mining techniques to identify 91 RNA viruses in 28 species of parasitic nematodes, representing 70% of those that infect people and animals. Often these are symptomless or not serious, but some can lead to severe, ...

A new study led by Portuguese paleontologist Pedro Mocho, from the Instituto Dom Luiz of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon (CIÊNCIAS), has just been published in the Communications Biology journal, which announces a new species of sauropod dinosaur that lived in Cuenca, Spain, 75 million years ago: Qunkasaura pintiquiniestra. The more than 12,000 fossils collected from 2007 onwards during works to install the Madrid-Levante high-speed train (AVE) tracks revealed this deposit, giving rise to one of the most relevant collections ...

Sports-related concussions (SRC) may not be associated with long-term cognitive risks for non-professional athletes, a study led by a UNSW medical researcher suggests. In fact, study participants who had experienced an SRC had better cognitive performance in some areas than those who had never suffered a concussion, pointing to potential protective effects of sports participation. Published in the  Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry  (JNNP), the research reveals that individuals who reported experiencing any SRC during their lifetime had a marginally better cognitive performance  than those who reported no concussions. The study, a collaboration ...

For the sake of the environment and our quality of life, effective treatment of wastewater plays a vital role. A biological method to treat sewage using moving, biofilm-covered plastic items known as carriers has been gaining prominence, and an Osaka Metropolitan University-led team has found ways to make the process more efficient. The moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) process purifies wastewater by putting these carriers in motion to get the biofilm’s microorganisms into greater contact with organic matter and other impurities. The more biofilm that can be attached ...

A common image of cats today comes in the form of cute cat memes online, but these furry felines commonly experience kidney disease. Amid advances in medicine to improve people’s quality of life, an Osaka Metropolitan University-led team has, for the first time in the world, generated high-quality feline induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which have the potential to help companion animals and humans alike. Human iPSCs have been generated using just four genes known as transcription factors, but feline iPSCs have been difficult to generate. Graduate School of Veterinary Science Professor Shingo Hatoya led the team in introducing six transcription factors via the Sendai virus ...

In the best-case scenario, called the "Giant Leap," Sub-Saharan Africa could see poverty drop from 500 million to 25 million people, hunger nearly eradicated, and universal access to education, clean water, and sustainable electricity. On the other hand, the "Too Little Too Late" scenario paints a grim picture where poverty rises to 900 million, hunger still affects 180 million, and over a billion people lack clean water. The Too Little Too Late scenario is based on existing policies in the region. These two scenarios highlight the critical importance of action this decade to drive five extraordinary turnarounds in the areas of poverty, inequality, ...

Philadelphia, September 4, 2024 – A new study has found that regular mobile phone use was positively associated with incident cardiovascular diseases risk, especially in current smokers and individuals with diabetes. In addition, this association was partly attributed to poor sleep, psychological distress, and neuroticism. The article in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, published by Elsevier, details the results of this large-scale prospective cohort study. Yanjun Zhang, MD, Division of Nephrology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China, explains, "Mobile phone use is a ubiquitous exposure in modern society, so exploring its impact on health has ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – About half of adults can identify cigarettes and e-cigarettes, but just one in four would recognize oral nicotine pouches, and these easily available products are growing increasingly popular among teens and young adults, according to a recent study commissioned by The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James). Oral nicotine pouches are small packets filled with a flavored powder containing nicotine and other chemicals that are tucked between the lip and gums. ...

Introduction As a new degree of freedom, the orbital angular momentum of electromagnetic waves exceeds the traditional frequency, phase, and amplitude, and is expected to promote the infinite expansion of channel capacity. Recently, a team of research professor Chao-Hai Du from Peking University and Professor Xiaofei Zang's research group from the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology have carried out in-depth cooperation. Based on the research foundation of both sides in the field of terahertz and metasurface, a new method of generating polarization-multiplexed terahertz vortex combs using all-silicon metasurface has been ...

Recently, model-based reinforcement learning has been considered a crucial approach to applying reinforcement learning in the physical world, primarily due to its efficient utilization of samples. However, the supervised learned model, which generates rollouts for policy optimization, leads to compounding errors and hinders policy performance. To address this problem, the research team led by Yang YU published their new research on 15 August 2024 in Frontiers of Computer Science co-published by Higher Education ...

Since the first industrial revolution, the rapid development of the human economy and society has directly exacerbated the process of CO2 emission from human activities such as fossil fuel combustion, industrial processes, agriculture, and land use activities. With the continuous increase of global greenhouse gas concentration dominated by CO2, the greenhouse effect is becoming more and more obvious, and the trend of global warming is becoming more and more serious. To cope with the continuous warming of the global climate and mitigate ...