SAN ANTONIO, April 29, 2024 – In a recent round of grant awards, the STRONG STAR Consortium based at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) was selected by the U.S. Department of Defense for a total of $17 million in funding to launch eight new research projects focused on traumatic brain injury and psychological health. The combined projects will enable the consortium to take a big step forward in its mission to advance the care of military personnel and veterans recovering from war-related trauma ...

Researchers have developed a technique to move objects around with a jet of wind. The new approach makes it possible to manipulate objects at a distance and could be integrated into robots to give machines ethereal fingers. ‘Airflow or wind is everywhere in our living environment, moving around objects like pollen, pathogens, droplets, seeds and leaves. Wind has also been actively used in industry and in our everyday lives – for example, in leaf blowers to clean leaves. But so far, we can’t control the direction the leaves move – we can only blow them together into a pile,’ says Professor Quan Zhou from Aalto University, who led the study. The first ...

ITHACA, N.Y. – When hunting for mice in winter, red and arctic fox are known to plunge headfirst at speeds of 2-4 meters per second, but their sharp noses reduce the impact force in snow and protect them from injury, according to a new Cornell University study. The fundamental research sheds light on the biomechanics of the unique hunting behavior (known as mousing), advances our understanding of animal adaptations and offers insights into snow injuries people experience during snowboarding or skiing. The study published April 29 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. While ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- Look closely at Impressionist paintings in museums compared with photos of them taken 50 years ago, and you might notice something odd:  some are losing their bright yellow hues. Take the dramatic sunset in Edward Munch’s famous painting “The Scream.” Portions of the sky that were once a vivid orangish yellow have faded to off-white. Likewise, some of the sunny yellow that Henri Matisse brushed between the reclining nudes in his painting “The Joy of Life” is now more of a drab beige. Several other paintings from this period are facing ...

Citizen scientists are uncovering rare animal, plant, and fungi species in areas where they have never been seen before, increasing our knowledge of urban biodiversity and proving the existence of local species long thought extinct. The approach used is called a BioBlitz, a biological census in which citizen scientists contribute photographs or audio of living organisms they can see or hear in a designated area over a particular period, creating a snapshot of an area’s biodiversity. In a recently published article in the journal BioScience, Dr. Esti Palma (University of Melbourne) ...

Early-onset heart failure is alarmingly common in urban Haiti—over 15-fold higher than previously estimated—according to a study conducted by Weill Cornell Medicine researchers in partnership with the Haitian medical organization GHESKIO. Heart failure occurs when the heart muscle can no longer pump an adequate amount of blood throughout the body. The study indicates that the nature of cardiovascular disease in Haiti, and perhaps other low- and middle-income nations, differs from wealthier countries where ischemic heart disease, also called coronary heart disease, is prevalent. This condition, ...

As the impacts of climate change increasingly affect the daily lives of residents in several countries, including Brazil, the resilience of forests, especially tropical ones such as the Amazon, has become a frequent topic of research. In addition to studying various factors that influence the way vegetation reacts to global warming, scientists are seeking to improve vegetation models – tools that play a crucial role in understanding and managing ecosystems, contributing to biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. And it is exactly this combination that is described in research published in the journal Earth System Science Data by a group associated ...

April 29, 2024-- Has the New York City subway become less safe? This is the question Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health researchers sought to answer in their newest paper investigating rates of complaints to and arrests by the New York City Police Department Transit Bureau. The findings showed that anxieties related to crime on New York City transit rose following NYC’s COVID-19 pandemic state of emergency declaration in 2020, leading to declines in subway ridership.  The results are published in the journal Injury Epidemiology. The ...

(MEMPHIS, Tenn., April 29, 2024)- Hongbo Chi, PhD, a faculty member and the Robert G. Webster Endowed Chair in Immunology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, has been recognized as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science Family of Journals. Chi will be formally inducted Sept. 21, during the organization’s annual Fellows Forum in Washington D.C. Chi is the most recent St. Jude faculty member selected as an AAAS Fellow. Other St. Jude honorees include: Thirumala-Devi Kanneganti, PhD, Victor Torres, PhD, Douglas Green, PhD, Charles Rock, ...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – April 29, 2024 – A new study from researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine shows that school entry requirements are linked to an increase in human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations. The findings appear online in Pediatrics. HPV is a common sexually transmitted infection, which can cause health problems such as genital warts and certain cancers. To prevent infection, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend that 11- to 12-year-olds receive two doses of the HPV vaccine, given 6 to 12 months apart. However, CDC data from 2022 ...

A study published Monday in the Journal of Urban Health by a team of CUNY researchers finds that food delivery gig workers in New York City face a high risk of injury and assault, particularly those dependent on gig work as their main job. The study analyzes data from a survey of 1,650 delivery workers, collected between October and December 2021 by the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. Alarmingly, about 22% reported experiencing injuries, and 21% reported assaults while on the job, with those using e-bikes or mopeds more than twice as likely to be injured or assaulted compared to those who deliver by car. Of particular importance was the relationship ...

Researchers at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, after decades of research efforts, have developed a mouse model of Kaposi sarcoma that could be key to the development of new drugs to treat the disease. Kaposi sarcoma is a cancer that is the most common cancer in people living with HIV. The findings appeared in Cell Host & Microbe. “This is an important development as we have created the first animal model ever of Kaposi sarcoma. Animal models are essential to move new drugs from the laboratory bench into clinical trials,” said UNC Lineberger’s Dirk Dittmer, PhD, senior corresponding author, co-leader of the UNC Lineberger Virology ...

The relationship between living in a polluted city like São Paulo (Brazil) and lung disease or cancer is well known. But the problems go further. Unprecedented research shows that long-term exposure to air pollution is directly linked to increased heart risks in residents of the capital of the state of the same name. People with high blood pressure are at even greater risk.  The study, published in the journal Environmental Research, was conducted by researchers from the University of São Paulo (USP) with support from FAPESP (projects 13/21728-2, 16/23129-7 and 19/06435-5). The research shows ...

Rice University bioscientist Yousif Shamoo has been elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science. The lifetime honor, one of the highest in the scientific community, is accorded to fewer than 1% of AAAS members each year. Shamoo, the Ralph and Dorothy Looney Professor in the Department of Biosciences, was recognized “for distinguished contributions to research on multidrug resistance, protein structure ...

Igor Mazin, Professor of Practice for Advanced Studies in Theoretical Physics, Quantum Materials Center, Physics and Astronomy, is set to receive funding for the project: “Electronic, transport and topological properties of frustrated magnets.” In this project, Mazin and his collaborators will examine frustrated magnetic systems.  Magnetic frustration lies at the core of the notion of skyrmions and quantum spin liquid. Mazin will receive $258,480 from the National Science Foundation for this project. Funding will begin in May 2024 and will end in late April 2027. ### ABOUT GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY George Mason University is Virginia’s largest ...

NEW YORK – April 25, 2024 – The TCT® 2024 Career Achievement Award will be presented to Robert A. Harrington, MD, during Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics® (TCT®), the annual scientific symposium of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation® (CRF®). TCT® will take place October 27-30 2024, in Washington, DC at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. The award is given each year to an outstanding individual who has made extraordinary contributions to the field of interventional cardiology and has transformed ...

The Tibetan plateau—the world’s highest and largest plateau—poses a challenge to the people who live there because of its extreme climate. In a new study, researchers have discovered stone artifacts that suggest that there were more cultural exchanges between those who lived on the plateau and those living on its perimeter. “The Tibetan plateau has an average elevation of more than 4500 meters, which makes Colorado seem like it is at sea level. It’s amazing that people have been able to occupy this area on and off for at least the last 40,000 years,” said Stanley Ambrose (MME), a professor of anthropology. “Unfortunately, very little ...

Oncotarget is a contributing sponsor at the 19th International p53 Workshop in Trieste, Italy, on May 13–16, 2024. BUFFALO, NY- April 29, 2024 – Oncotarget is a contributing sponsor at the 19th International p53 Workshop, organized by the International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), which takes place from May 13–16, 2024, in Trieste, Italy. “Groundbreaking research and cutting-edge advancements in the field of the most studied human gene and most frequently mutated gene in cancer, will take center stage at the 19th ...

ITHACA, N.Y. -- New York state solar construction workers – whose numbers are expected to grow rapidly to meet climate goals – are transient, may not receive benefits and are subject to racial disparities in pay, finds a new report from the Climate Jobs Institute (CJI) at Cornell University. “Exploring the Conditions of the New York Solar Workforce” was funded by the New York State Department of Labor and surveyed more than 260 solar installation and maintenance workers. The exploratory study is the first to focus on workers’ experiences, seeking to bridge gaps in government and industry ...

The fragile qubits that make up quantum computers offer a powerful computational tool, yet also present a conundrum: How can engineers create practical, workable quantum systems out of bits that are so easily disturbed — and wiped of data — by tiny changes in their environment?  Engineers have long struggled with how to make quantum computers less error-prone, often by developing ways to detect and correct errors rather than prevent them in the first place. However, many such error-correction schemes involve duplicating information across hundreds or thousands of physical qubits at once, which quickly becomes hard to scale up in an efficient way.  Now, ...

New research using live SARS-CoV-2 virus reveals an updated vaccine provides a strong immune response against previous strains and emerging variants. The findings by researchers at Oregon Health & Science University, published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, suggest a clear benefit in receiving updated vaccinations on a regular basis, especially among older people or those with underlying medical conditions. “The virus is still circulating, it’s continuing to evolve, and it remains dangerous,” said co-senior author Fikadu Tafesse, Ph.D., associate professor of molecular ...

Dr Carl Senior identified two types of smile – affiliative and reward – given by political leaders during the last UK general election in 2019 The eventual winner, Boris Johnson, was found to display the affiliative smile, which acts to align voter behaviour The study is the first to look at how supporters of election losers react to the eventual winner. New research led by Aston University’s Dr Carl Senior has found that the type of smile used by a political leader can influence voters to support them and their political agenda. There are many different types of smile, and the ...

Many bacteria produce substances to gain an advantage over competitors in their highly competitive natural environment. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB), the University of Bonn and the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) have discovered a new so-called lantibiotic, namely epilancin A37. It is produced by staphylococci that colonize the skin and acts specifically against their main competitors there, the corynebacteria. This specificity is presumably mediated by a very special mechanism of action, which the researchers were able to decipher in detail. ...

Quantitative study assesses how gender and race impact young athletes’ perceptions of their coaches   Across the U.S., there are over 8 million student-athletes in high school and college. Engaging in sports can contribute to physical, mental, and social benefits, and coaches can play a key role in student-athletes’ continued participation in sports.   A recent study led by UNC Greensboro’s Dr. Tsz Lun (Alan) Chu, published in Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology, examines how multiple aspects of a young athlete’s ...

The quest to develop universal donor blood has taken a decisive step forward. Researchers at DTU and Lund University have discovered enzymes that, when mixed with red blood cells, are able to remove specific sugars that make up the A and B antigens in the human ABO blood groups. The results have been published in the scientific journal Nature Microbiology. "For the first time, the new enzyme cocktails not only remove the well-described A and B antigens, but also extended variants previously not recognized as problematic for transfusion safety. We are close to being able to produce universal blood from group B donors, while there is still work to be done to convert ...