Antibiotics are the linchpin of modern medicine: without them, anyone with open wounds or needing to undergo surgery would be at constant risk of dangerous infections. Yet we continue to face a global antibiotics crisis, as more and more resistant strains of bacteria are evolving, while the rate of discovery of fundamentally new antibiotics has been much slower. But there is reason for hope: 70% of all currently licensed antibiotics have been derived from actinobacteria in the soil, and most environments on Earth have not yet ...

The study uncovers a unique reparative function of regulatory T cells (Tregs) in the process of fracture healing, a discovery that adds a new dimension to our understanding of the immune response in tissue regeneration. Tregs, a subset of T cells known for their role in maintaining immune tolerance and preventing autoimmunity, are now shown to play a critical part in the intricate interplay between the immune system and bone repair. Fracture healing is a complex process that involves a sequence of events, including inflammation, repair, and remodeling. While the initial ...

Astronomers have spotted a pair of galaxies in the act of merging 12.8 billion years ago. The characteristics of these galaxies indicate that the merger will form a monster galaxy, one of the brightest types of objects in the Universe. These results are important for understanding the early evolution of galaxies and black holes in the early Universe. Quasars are bright objects powered by matter falling into a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy in the early Universe. The most accepted theory is that when two gas-rich galaxies merge to form a single larger galaxy, the gravitational interaction of the two galaxies causes gas to fall towards the supermassive ...

Natural disasters have threatened to human beings and the ecosystem. Among the various natural disasters, drought is one of the most insidious and costliest, adversely affecting the global economy and livelihoods. Unlike sudden disasters such as earthquakes or hurricanes, drought is a slow-onset phenomenon that gradually intensifies. This prolonged nature of drought often results in the shortage of drinking water and the disruption of local economies. The Slow Onset and Impact of Drought Drought creeps in gradually, often going unnoticed until it reaches a critical stage. This slow progression makes drought particularly challenging to manage and mitigate. Initially, ...

The public could have days or months of warning about a major earthquake through identification of prior low-level tectonic unrest over large areas, according to research by a University of Alaska Fairbanks scientist who analyzed two major quakes in Alaska and California. The work was led by research assistant professor Társilo Girona of the UAF Geophysical Institute.  Girona, a geophysicist and data scientist, studies precursory activity of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. Geologist Kyriaki Drymoni of the  Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, Germany, is a co-author. The ...

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine, Gene Therapy Program, and Moderna, have shown that repeated administration of lipid nanoparticle-encapsulated mRNA therapy significantly extended survival and reduced serum leucine levels in a mouse model of maple syrup urine disease (MSUD). Click here to read the article now. The researchers, led by James Wilson, MD, PhD, from the University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine, evaluated a lipid nanoparticle-based treatment approach to address all possible genetic mutations that can cause MSUD. “Repeated intravenous delivery ...

Emerging byte-addressable storage technologies, such as NVM, provide a more cost-effective and larger-capacity alternative to DRAM, presenting new opportunities to address the high cost, limited capacity, and volatility of in-memory key-value (KV) stores. Numerous efforts have been dedicated to redesigning conventional structures on NVM. However, they were challenged by the substantial engineering cost and increased complexity to be integrated into existing systems. Thus, a general framework to apply existing indexes to KV stores on NVM becomes more attractive. To solve the problems, a research team led by Xuan Zhou published their new research on ...

Being at home is as safe as at the hospital when a medical abortion after twelve weeks of pregnancy is initiated. These are the findings of a study conducted at the University of Gothenburg. When starting at home, day patient care is usually sufficient, and women are satisfied with the treatment. In the case of medical abortion up to and including the tenth week of pregnancy, the procedure used is a so-called home abortion. At ten to twelve weeks, day patient care is most commonly used, while s medical abortion after twelve ...

Funding will enable discoveries for diverse populations to go from lab to clinical care settings Will translate scientific research to treatments, therapies that can improve patients’ quality of life Institute will infuse implementation-science methods into research to make public health improvements more scalable ‘Clinical and translational research does not happen in a bubble’ CHICAGO --- The Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences (NUCATS) Institute has received $55 million in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding to accelerate the development, evaluation and implementation of improved health care interventions. The seven-year ...

The Lancet: Managing early stages of abortion care at home after 12 weeks of pregnancy is safe and reduces time spent in hospital, study finds  A randomised controlled trial of 435 women having a medical abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy found 71% of patients who took the first dose of misoprostol at home spent fewer than 9 hours in hospital, compared to 46% of patients who took the first dose of misoprostol at hospital.   There was no difference in safety outcomes observed between the two groups, however, of the women who took the first ...

Embargoed for release: Thursday, August 29, 6:30 PM ET Key points: More than half of the global population consumes inadequate levels of several micronutrients essential to health, including calcium, iron, and vitamins C and E, according to new estimations. Micronutrient inadequacies may be more severe than previously thought and may differ between males and females. The results provide a roadmap for taking action by showing which population groups are at risk of deficiency for specific nutrients. Boston, MA—More than half of the global population consumes inadequate levels of several micronutrients essential to health, including calcium, iron, and vitamins C and ...

Households in low-income areas face significantly higher increases in petrol prices when rival fuel stations close compared to high-income areas, according to new research led by the University of East Anglia (UEA).   At the same time, low-income areas do not benefit from a higher drop in prices when new stations open.   The study is published today in the Journal of Industrial Economics. It shows that it matters who operates the petrol stations: large chains respond with higher price increases following the exit of one of their rivals.   Other factors, such as reliance on cars, commuting distance, age, or education also drive some of this ...

A new publication from Opto-Electronic Advances; DOI  10.29026/oea.2024.240040, discusses an externally perceivable smart leaky-wave antenna based on spoof surface plasmon polaritons.   Smart antennas have garnered significant attention for their ability to enable both communication and perception functions simultaneously, commonly with complicated control and high cost though. The growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) has led to new applications across disciplines, and a range of flexible and miniaturized perceptive devices. Therefore, smart antennas that can ...

MSU has a satellite uplink/LTN TV studio and Comrex line for radio interviews upon request. EAST LANSING, Mich. – Researchers in Michigan State University’s Department of Kinesiology found significant geographic variations in concussion diagnoses in United States emergency departments — with the highest rates in the South and lower rates in the Midwest and Northeast. The study, published by the Journal of Safety Research, analyzed a public database of emergency department visits from 2010 to 2018, focusing on sport-related concussions, or SRC, and nonsport-related concussions, or NSRC. The study authors, from MSU’s College of Education and ...

A new publication from Opto-Electronic Advances; DOI  10.29026/oea.2024.240061, discusses soliton microcomb generation by cavity polygon modes.   Optical frequency comb (OFC) is a coherent light source consisting of a series of discrete, equally spaced and phase-locked frequency lines, which is crucial for practical applications in building optical clocks, searching Earth-like exoplanets, exploring quantum optics, optical frequency synthesis, high-resolution optical spectroscopy, lidar, high-speed telecom communication, microwave photonics, and many others.   In recent years, on-chip soliton microcomb, which finely balances ...

A new publication from Opto-Electronic Advances; DOI  10.29026/oea.2024.240076 , discusses spin-controlled generation of a complete polarization set with randomly-interleaved plasmonic metasurfaces.   Optical metasurfaces are finely crafted two-dimensional artificial nanostructures composed of meticulously designed arrays of ultrathin artificial atoms. These surfaces possess capabilities beyond natural materials, enabling multifunctional control of electromagnetic waves. By designing the shape, ...

A new publication from Opto-Electronic Sciences; DOI 10.29026/oes.2024.240012, discusses a multi-functional and highly reconfigurable monolithic signal processing system.   Photonic signal processing offers a versatile and promising toolkit for contemporary scenarios ranging from digital optical communication to analog microwave operation. Compared to its electronic counterpart, it eliminates inherent bandwidth limitations and meanwhile exhibits the potential to provide unparalleled scalability and flexibility, particularly through ...

A new publication from Opto-Electronic Sciences; DOI 10.29026/oes.2024.240005, discusses advances in optical micronanofiber enabled tactile sensors and soft actuators.   As a perfect combination of fiber optics and micro/nanotechnology, optical micro/nanofiber (MNF) is a new type of micro/nano-waveguide structure developed in recent years. Compared with standard fiber, MNF has smaller diameter and larger core cladding refractive index contrast, so it offers unique optical properties, including low transmission loss, strong light-field constraint, large evanescent ...

Xiaopeng Zhao, a professor in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering and founding director of the Applied AI Program in the College of Emerging and Collaborative Studies at UT, is part of a collaborative team that has been awarded a $401,090 grant from the National Institutes of Health.  The team received the multi-year funded grant for the project “Robot-based Information and Support to Enhance Alzheimer’s Caregiver Health (RISE).” The research is supported ...

While doctors can track cancer progression at the cellular level or use a blood test to obtain precise blood cholesterol levels, talk therapy’s impact on mental health is still largely reliant on gut feelings more than hard data.  A national initiative led by the National Institute of Mental Health is now underway to find figurative “rulers” that can accurately measure and compare the quality of the various mental health treatments available. To lead off this effort, UCLA Health researchers were awarded a four-year, $2.1 million federal grant to study and test whether such a quality measure can be created and applied across all social groups in the United States.  “We ...

A Cleveland Clinic study recently published in Blood Cancer Journal evaluated factors associated with delayed time to treatment with oral antimyeloma medications in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma.  The research found a significant delay in the initiation of these more costly medications compared to the time to initiate any other treatment for multiple myeloma (including inpatient chemotherapy or more affordable corticosteroids), especially among Black and elderly patients. The retrospective study also identified independent predictors associated with delayed prescription fill. These findings highlight the urgent need to address barriers to ...

Texas A&M University is joining a new National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research Center (ERC), led by Northwestern University, seeking to develop robots capable of enhancing human labor. A central goal of the Human AugmentatioN via Dexterity (HAND) center is to make robotic assistance accessible and applicable to a wide range of physical actions through an engineered system of dexterous robotic hands, AI-powered fine motor skills, human interface, as well as developing the workforce and training for the future. The five-year, $26 million grant also includes Carnegie-Mellon University and Florida A&M University, ...

https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.15212/CVIA.2024.0034 Announcing a new article publication for Cardiovascular Innovations and Applications journal.  Aortic dissection (AD) is a fatal cardiovascular disease for which the key involved genes are largely unknown. The authors of this article aimed to identify promising AD biomarkers from high-throughput RNA expressing data. In the GSE98770 dataset, differentially expressed mRNAs (DE-mRNAs) and microRNAs (DE-microRNAs) were identified through differentially expressed gene analysis and gene set enrichment ...

In the latest of three online gambling surveys conducted by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, monthly gamblers in Massachusetts reported an increase in gambling intensity and gambling harms. In addition, their attitudes toward gambling have grown more negative. The online surveys – conducted in 2014, 2022 and 2023 – can’t be generalized to the overall population but give the Social and Economic Impacts of Gambling in Massachusetts (SEIGMA) research team a picture of changing behaviors and attitudes over time ...

The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) proudly announces the appointment of Tim Bertram, PhD, as its new Chief Ecosystem Officer. He will serve as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) multi-million-dollar long-term investment in commercializing advanced regenerative medical technologies from leading North Carolina academic institutions.  With an illustrious career marked by innovation and leadership, Bertram brings decades of transformative ...