Virtue is a normative concept comprising a set of moral and social codes acceptable to society. Historically, in the West, especially in ancient Greek and Christian belief systems, virtue was viewed as "excellence" aspirational to all human beings. In contrast, the East, especially in a Confucian belief system, viewed it similarly but being aspirational to only select individuals, such as rulers. However, the rise of modern values and sociopolitical overhauls almost pushed the concept of ...

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) encompasses neurodevelopmental conditions where patients display repetitive behavior and impaired sociality. Genetic factors have been shown to influence the development of ASD. Additionally, recent studies have shown that the genes involved in chromatin modification and gene transcription are involved in the pathogenesis of ASD. Among the many genes implicated in this process, the gene KMT2C (lysine methyltransferase 2c), which codes for a catalytic unit of H3K4 (histone H3 lysine 4) methyltransferase complex, has been identified to be associated with the development ...

Relapses in a common form of leukemia may be preventable following new research which has identified how the cancer develops resistance to first line treatments.   New research published in iScience by researchers from the University of Birmingham, the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), Newcastle University, the Princess Maxima Centre of Pediatric oncology and the University of Virginia identified changes in a mutated form of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) samples from patients who relapsed after receiving FLT3 inhibitor treatment.   The team found that the resistant cancer had up-regulated multiple other signalling pathways to overcome the drug’s action, and ...

Swimming in schools makes fish surprisingly stealthy underwater, with a group able to sound like a single fish. The new findings by Johns Hopkins University engineers working with a high-tech simulation of schooling mackerel, offers new insight into why fish swim in schools and promise for the design and operation of much quieter submarines and autonomous undersea vehicles. “It’s widely known that swimming in groups provides fish with added protection from predators, but we questioned whether it also contributes to reducing their noise,” said senior author Rajat Mittal. “Our results suggest that the substantial decrease in ...

PULLMAN, Wash. – Just two emails, at the right time with the right message, can make a big difference for students who are the first in their families to go to college.      A recent Washington State University study highlighted the power of an instructors’ growth mindset -- the belief that abilities are not innate but can be improved. Researchers found that when first-generation students in an introductory science course received growth mindset emails after their initial exams, they did better in the whole course than a control group. On average the students raised their final grade by about a third of a letter grade, such as moving ...

A research group in Japan has discovered that writing down one's reaction to a negative incident on a piece of paper and then shredding it or throwing it away reduces feelings of anger.    “We expected that our method would suppress anger to some extent,” lead researcher Nobuyuki Kawai said. “However, we were amazed that anger was eliminated almost entirely.”    This research is important because controlling anger at home and in the workplace can reduce negative consequences in our jobs and personal lives. Unfortunately, ...

Common “hard” coastal defenses, like concrete sea walls, might struggle to keep up with increasing climate risks. A new study shows that combining them with nature-based solutions could, in some contexts, create defenses which are better able to adapt. Researchers reviewed 304 academic articles on the performance of coastal defenses around the world, including: natural environments; soft measures (which support or enrich nature); hard measures (such as concrete sea walls); and hybrids of ...

Remote work could cut hundreds of millions of tons of carbon emissions from car travel – but at the cost of billions lost in public transit revenues, according to a new study. Using the latest data on remote work and transportation behavior since the pandemic upended work arrangements, researchers at the University of Florida, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Peking University revealed how cities could meet their sustainability goals by promoting remote work. The researchers found that a 10% increase in remote workers could lead ...

Images  //  Video  New chemistries for batteries, semiconductors and more could be easier to manufacture, thanks to a new approach to making chemically complex materials that researchers at the University of Michigan and Samsung's Advanced Materials Lab have demonstrated.    Their new recipes use unconventional ingredients to make battery materials with fewer impurities, requiring fewer costly refinement steps and increasing their economic viability.   "Over the past two decades, many battery materials with enhanced capacity, charging speed and stability ...

Researchers have found that Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT), where an electric current is passed through the brain, can reduce the severity of mental illnesses. ECT is a safe and effective treatment for some mental illnesses including severe/psychotic depression, postnatal psychosis and mania.[1],[2] Patients are placed under general anaesthetic and the brain is stimulated with short electric pulses.[3] This causes a brief seizure which lasts for less than two minutes.[3] The use of ECT across Scotland was assessed over an 11-year period from 2009 to 2019 using data from the Scottish Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) Audit Network (SEAN). The Scotland-wide ...

A new study suggests that children who felt lonely for more than 6 months before the age of 12 are more likely to experience an episode of psychosis than children who did not, with women more affected than men. Psychosis refers to a collection of symptoms that affect a person’s mind, where there has been some loss of contact with reality.[1] During an episode of psychosis, a person may have difficulty recognising what is real and what is not.[1] Symptoms of psychosis include hallucinations, delusions and confused thoughts.[2] In some instances, psychosis may be a symptom of other mental health conditions, such as schizophrenia, ...

A collaborated research team led by The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and Tsinghua University has theoretically proposed a new mechanism of electrical 180° switching of Néel vector and experimentally realized it in antiferromagnetic materials with spin-splitting band structure featuring the C-paired spin-valley locking, also named as altermagnet. The team also demonstrated the material's capability to manipulate Néel vector, paving the way for the manufacturing ...

Interviews with military veterans who expressed support for extremist groups or related beliefs on a prior survey show that many experienced a significant negative event during their military service, according to a new RAND report.   Researchers found that these veterans also often faced difficulties transitioning to civilian life and sometimes shared their beliefs with a wider social network.   RAND researchers conducted 21 interviews with veterans who had indicated support for one or more extremist groups or related beliefs to understand possible drivers and patterns of extremism among veterans. That support ...

Peregrine falcon populations across North America are heavily contaminated with harmful flame retardants–including those that have been phased out for years–according to a new study published in Environmental Science & Technology. Flame retardants are chemicals added to furniture, electronics, and other everyday products to meet flammability standards, though they often do not work as intended. They also migrate out of products they are added to and end up in wildlife and people and many are linked to serious health and environmental harms.  “Our ...

The increasing demand in the embedded field has led to the emergence of several impressive Instruction Set Architectures (ISAs). However, when processors migrate from one ISA to another, software compatibility issues are unavoidable. Despite the availability of software binary translation systems for ensuring software compatibility, these systems have limitations (e.g. performance and power) in low-cost embedded systems. To solve the problems, a research team led by Professor Libo HUANG published their new research on 18 Mar 2024 in ...

A research team consisting of Professor Kyoung-Duck Park and Hyeongwoo Lee, an integrated PhD student, from the Department of Physics at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) has pioneered an innovative technique in ultra-high-resolution spectroscopy. Their breakthrough marks the world's first instance of electrically controlling polaritons—hybridized light-matter particles—at room temperature.   Polaritons are "half-light half-matter" hybrid particles, having both the characteristics of photons—particles of light—and those of solid matter. Their unique characteristics exhibit properties distinct from both traditional ...

A mutation in a protein regulating natural killer (NK) cells’ function is at the root of immune deficiency in some people with a rare genetic condition characterized by cognitive and developmental delay, seizures, and other manifestations, new UCLA-led research suggests. The researchers found that loss or mutations in a gene called MEF2C disrupted the ability of NK cells to take up chemical compounds called lipids that are used to fuel crucial functions such as tumor cell killing and creating inflammatory molecules. They found that people with the rare neurological syndrome called (MCHS) who have the mutation in this gene are particularly ...

Chromatin accessibility, a fundamental property of DNA that plays a critical role in gene regulation and cell identity, refers to the degree that nuclear macromolecules can access and interact with DNA. With the rapid advances in single-cell chromatin accessibility sequencing (scCAS) technologies, the importance of cell type annotation in scCAS data is on the rise due to its potential to capture the chromatin regulatory landscape that controls gene transcription in each cell type. However, there are still significant limitations of existing automatic annotation methods, including low annotation accuracy, failure ...

Brain organoids, though often referred to as “mini brains,” are not truly human brains. But the concerns over these lab-grown brain tissues, especially when they are developed from human fetal tissues, can be very human indeed. Researchers from the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Hiroshima University offer valuable insights into the complexities inherent in brain organoid research, making significant contributions to the ongoing discourse surrounding this innovative biotechnology and paving the way for informed decision-making and legal and ethical stewardship in the pursuit of scientific advancement. Their paper was published on March ...

In findings published in Cell Reports, senior author Jerold Chun, M.D., Ph.D., and team also discovered that the biological instructions within these vesicles differed significantly in postmortem brain samples donated from patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers call the tiny brain bubbles under scrutiny in this study small extracellular vesicles (sEVs). These tiny biological water balloons are produced by most cells in the body to ferry a wide variety of proteins, lipids and byproducts of cellular metabolism, as well as RNA nucleic acid codes used by recipient cells to construct new proteins. Because this biologically active cargo can easily elicit changes in other ...

The American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2024 awards, which honor distinction in service, outreach, education, and research. ASPB-Carnegie Winslow Briggs Mentorship Award Judy Brusslan, California State University, Long Beach, CA Joanne Chory, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA Charles Albert Shull Award Robert Schmitz, University of Georgia, Athens, GA Charles Reid Barnes Life Membership Award Julia Bailey-Serres, University of California, Riverside, ...

University of Cambridge media release   Early medieval money mystery solved   UNDER STRICT EMBARGO UNTIL 00:01 AM (UK TIME) ON TUESDAY 9TH APRIL 2024   Byzantine bullion fuelled Europe’s revolutionary adoption of silver coins in the mid-7th century, only to be overtaken by silver from a mine in Charlemagne’s Francia a century later, new tests reveal. The findings could transform our understanding of Europe’s economic and political development.   Between 660 and 750 AD, Anglo-Saxon England witnessed a profound revival in trade involving a dramatic ...

Effective today, Himabindu Vidula, MD, MS, FACC, will serve as chair of the American College of Cardiology Board of Governors (BOG) and secretary of the Board of Trustees. Her term will run one year from 2024-2025. Vidula will lead governors from chapters representing all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico and representatives from the U.S. health services. The BOG serves as the grassroots governing body of the ACC, a leading cardiovascular organization representing over 56,000 cardiovascular care team members around the world. “As ...

      MEDIA INQUIRES   WRITTEN BY Laura Muntean   Gabe Saldana laura.muntean@ag.tamu.edu   gabe.saldana@ag.tamu.edu 601-248-1891     A ...

UC Davis Health cardiology team members are among the first in the country to treat patients with tricuspid regurgitation, or a leaky heart valve, by using a groundbreaking catheter. The minimally invasive procedure, a transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (TEER), is made possible with a new medical device called the Abbott TriClip™ system. UC Davis Medical Center is one of the first sites nationwide to have commercial access to TriClip and is the first hospital in Western United States to utilize the system since it was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week. UC Davis also hosted clinical trials for the procedure in 2023. “We are excited to offer our ...