UC Santa Cruz researchers have discovered a peptide in human RNA that regulates inflammation and may provide a new path for treating diseases such as arthritis and lupus. The team used a screening process based on the powerful gene-editing tool CRISPR to shed light on one of the biggest mysteries about our RNA–the molecule responsible for carrying out genetic information contained in our DNA. This peptide originates from within a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) called LOUP. According to the researchers, ...

Imagine if your dead laptop or phone could charge in a minute or if an electric car could be fully powered in 10 minutes. While not possible yet, new research by a team of CU Boulder scientists could potentially lead to such advances.  Published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers in Ankur Gupta’s lab discovered how tiny charged particles, called ions, move within a complex network of minuscule pores. The breakthrough could lead to the development of more efficient energy storage devices, such as supercapacitors, said Gupta, an assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering.  “Given the critical role ...

ORLANDO, May 24, 2024 – For the first time, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide ices have been observed in the far reaches of our solar system on trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). A research team, led by planetary scientists Mário Nascimento De Prá and Noemí Pinilla-Alonso from the University of Central Florida’s Florida Space Institute (FSI), made the findings by using the infrared spectral capabilities of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to analyze the chemical composition of 59 trans-Neptunian objects and Centaurs. The pioneering study, published ...

NEWPORT NEWS, VA – Nuclear physicists have long been working to reveal how the proton gets its spin. Now, a new method that combines experimental data with state-of-the-art calculations has revealed a more detailed picture of spin contributions from the very glue that holds protons together. It also paves the way toward imaging the proton’s 3D structure. The work was led by Joseph Karpie, a postdoctoral associate in the Center for Theoretical and Computational Physics (Theory Center) at the U.S. Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. He said that this decades-old mystery began with measurements of the sources of the proton’s spin in ...

Up to 80% of breast cancer deaths occur in patients with tumors that express estrogen receptor-alpha. Although these estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancers often initially respond to standard treatment that combines endocrine therapies with CDK4/6 inhibitors, drug resistance often develops leading to lethal metastatic disease that spreads from the breast and does not respond to available treatments. Looking to identify new vulnerabilities in this type of cancer that could lead to improved therapies, ...

“We have identified binding motifs within the C-tails of PAR1,2&4, indispensable for cancer growth and development.” BUFFALO, NY- May 24, 2024 – A new editorial paper was published in Oncoscience (Volume 11) on April 25, 2024, entitled, “PH-binding motifs as a platform for drug design: Lessons from protease-activated receptors; PARs.” While targeted cancer therapy is greatly dependent on specific oncogenic pathways or conferred by genetic alterations, it remains yet challenging and somewhat disappointing. The high level of failure relies ...

Undergoing surgery is seldom a pleasant experience, and it can sometimes be highly invasive. Surgical procedures have evolved steadily over the centuries, growing with the knowledge of anatomy and biology. Innovative methods have also been bolstered with new tools, and a growth in the use of robotics since the 1980s has moved health care forward significantly. Assistant Professor Zhenhua Tian has pressed forward another step in the march of progress using robotics and noninvasive acoustics, and his team’s work has been published in Science Advances. Robot-assisted surgery  Surgery using robots has been invasive since its invention because ...

LOGAN, UTAH, USA – A long-standing debate among evolutionary scientists goes something like this: Does evolution happen in a predictable pattern or does it depend on chance events and contingency? That is, if you could turn back the clock, as celebrated scientist Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002) described in his famous metaphor, “Replaying the Tape of Life,” would life on Earth evolve, once again, as something similar to what we know now, or would it look very, very different? “If you frame it as an either/or question, it’s too simplistic,” says Utah State University evolutionary biologist Zachariah Gompert. “The answer isn’t ‘completely ...

The stress of heart failure is remembered by the body and appears to lead to recurrent failure, along with other related health issues, according to new research. Researchers have found that heart failure leaves a “stress memory” in the form of changes to the DNA modification of hematopoietic stem cells, which are involved in the production of blood and immune cells called macrophages. These immune cells play an important role in protecting heart health. However, a key signaling pathway (a chain of molecules which ...

Scientists have pinpointed genetic changes that can leave children born with little to no immune defence against infection. In a new study of 11 affected individuals, researchers from Newcastle University, the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the Great North Children’s Hospital, and their collaborators were able to link mutations in the NUDCD3 gene to Severe Combined Immunodeficiency and Omenn syndrome1 – rare and life-threatening immunodeficiency disorders. These mutations prevented the normal development of diverse immune cells needed to combat different pathogens2. The findings, published today (24 May) in Science Immunology, ...

LAWRENCE — Using data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite and W.M. Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea in Hawaii, an astronomer at the University of Kansas led a study appearing today revealing 15 new exoplanets — planets beyond our solar system — along with the mass of 126 other exoplanets. The findings give astronomers new understanding of the makeup of exoplanets and their star systems generally.  The study cataloging the exoplanets — comprising severe and exceptional environments, some of which hold promise to support life — was conducted under auspices of the TESS-Keck Survey and appears ...

WHAT: Mice administered raw milk samples from dairy cows infected with H5N1 influenza experienced high virus levels in their respiratory organs and lower virus levels in other vital organs, according to findings published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The results suggest that consumption of raw milk by animals poses a risk for H5N1 infection and raises questions about its potential risk in humans.  Since 2003, H5N1 influenza viruses have circulated in 23 countries, primarily affecting wild birds and poultry with about 900 human cases, primarily among people who have had close contact with infected birds. In ...

Researchers at the U of A found self-identified small business owners on TikTok are circumventing a number of local, state and federal laws that restrict the individual sale of tobacco products. Specifically, the researchers found that 45% of the videos highlighted the fact that they did not require identification to verify the purchaser’s age. “Many states have laws that govern procedures necessary to sell e-cigarettes,” explained lead researcher Page Dobbs, an associate professor of public health in the Department of Health, Human Performance and Recreation ...

Leading African scientists have issued a compelling call for more equitable research partnerships in a new paper published in Nature Medicine. The paper underscores the critical need for fair and collaborative research efforts to explore the unique and diverse microbiomes found in African populations and environments. Historically, these microbiomes have been underrepresented in global studies. Over the past two decades, our understanding of the role played by the microbiome in different ecosystems has significantly expanded. For ...

LA JOLLA, CA—New research from scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) suggests people who received COVID-19 vaccines and then experienced "breakthrough" infections are especially well armed against future SARS-CoV-2 infections. By analyzing blood samples from study volunteers, the LJI researchers discovered that people who experienced symptomatic breakthrough infections develop T cells that are better at recognizing and targeting SARS-CoV-2, including the Omicron and Delta variants. The researchers describe this increased protection as an "immunity wall." "The virus evolves, but, importantly, so does the immune system. T cells ...

May 24, 2024 -- A team of international scientists, including Virginia Tech entomologist Warren Booth, have solved the 250-year-old origin puzzle of the most prevalent indoor urban pest insect on the planet: the German cockroach. The team's research findings, representing the genomic analyses of over 280 specimens from 17 countries and six continents, show that this species evolved some 2,100 years ago from an outside species in Asia and were released this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.  One ...

Get introduced to the latest advances in skin research at the 15th International Conference on Skin Ageing & Challenges 2024 on November 5-6 at Corinthia Palace in Malta. Skin Ageing & Challenges 2024 will cover the hottest topics shaping the future of skin aging and rejuvenation. How will Skin Ageing & Challenges 2024 Expand Your Knowledge? Senolytics: Exploring new ways to fight cell aging with innovative senolytic treatments. Extracellular Vesicles: Discovering the potential of EVs for skin regeneration and repair. Skin Microbiota / Mitochondria Transplantation: Introducing approaches to harness the power of microbiome and mitochondrial transplantation ...

Carbon dioxide is the greenhouse gas, singlehandedly responsible for 78% of the change in energy balance in Earth's atmosphere between 1990 and 2022. A byproduct of burning fossil fuels, carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere from car exhaust and coal-fired power plants. Even some renewable energy resources produce a small amount of carbon dioxide, although at a tiny fraction of the amount coal and natural gas create. At its core, this molecule is just an arrangement of one carbon and two oxygen atoms that can be reorganized through a ...

New research from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) investigates a promising approach against diabetic retinopathy and finds patients with early-onset colorectal cancer likely don’t need more frequent surveillance colonoscopies. Anti-ceramide immunotherapy promising against diabetic retinopathy, animal studies suggest Diabetic retinopathy is a condition that affects blood vessels in people with diabetes and can cause blindness. Now a new study from a team at MSK, Michigan State University, and the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center shows that diabetic retinopathy can be considered a “ceramidopathy” — which ...

FINDINGS A new study led by a UCLA-VA collaborative team looking at the landscape of genomic alterations in more than 5,000 veterans with metastatic prostate cancer uncovered differences in the genomic makeup of cancer cells that were associated with race and ethnicity.  Although the team found that a similar set of cancer-related genes were altered in both non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic white veterans, the frequencies that these alterations were observed at varied significantly ...

FINDINGS A study led by UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers found that using a combination of experimental immunotherapy drugs with chemotherapy significantly improves progression-free survival and overall survival for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer who have previously undergone standard chemotherapy treatment when compared to those who received the targeted therapy regorafenib alone. The median progression-free survival, which is the amount of time during and after treatment when the cancer does not worsen or progress, with the combination treatment was 6.2 months compared to 2.1 months for those ...

European space mission Euclid has released early scientific papers based on observations made by the space telescope, along with five new astronomical images of the Universe, as the project sets about unravelling the secrets of the cosmos. The new images are part of Euclid’s Early Release Observations (EROs) and accompany the mission’s first scientific data and 10 forthcoming science papers. Their publication comes less than a year after the space telescope’s launch and some six months after it returned its first full-colour ...

About The Study: Social isolation was associated with increased risks of all-cause, cardiovascular diseases, and malignant neoplasm mortality, with associations varying across populations. This study fills an important gap in research on social isolation, emphasizing its varied associations across demographic and socioeconomic groups.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Atsushi Nakagomi, M.D., Ph.D., email anakagomi0211@gmail.com. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.13132) Editor’s Note: Please ...

About The Study: In this cross-sectional study, COVID-19 surges were associated with declines in hospital quality, highlighting the importance of identifying and implementing strategies to maintain care quality during periods of high hospital use.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Giacomo Meille, Ph.D., email giacomo.meille@ahrq.hhs.gov. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.13127) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, ...

About The Study: Preterm and early-term birth rates increased after heat waves, particularly among socioeconomically disadvantaged subgroups in this cohort study. Extreme heat events have implications for perinatal health.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Lyndsey A. Darrow, Ph.D., email ldarrow@unr.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.12055) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and ...