Native plants and non-native crops do not fare well in proximity to one another, attracting pests that spread diseases in both directions, according to two new UC Riverside studies.  “We have changed the landscape, and it’s created opportunities for pathogens to thrive,” said UCR entomologist Kerry Mauck, who co-authored the studies. “We have introduced pathogens that damage native plants, and on the other side of the coin we have endemic pathogens that mutate to infect ...

PULLMAN, Wash. – A small 3-ounce sensor capable of recording 2,400 data points of movement in just one second being tested and refined by researchers at Washington State University could be key in reducing the number of injuries to racehorses. Led by Dr. Warwick Bayly in WSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine, researchers used the biometric sensors, developed by the company StrideSAFE, to track thoroughbreds as they raced and trained at some of the top racetracks in the country. Using collected data, the team was able to identify miniscule stride changes associated with increased risk ...

International joint research led by Akihisa Osakabe and Yoshimasa Takizawa of the University of Tokyo has clarified the molecular mechanisms in thale cresses (Arabidopsis thaliana) by which the DDM1 (Decreased in DNA Methylation 1) protein prevents the transcription of “jumping genes.” DDM1 makes “jumping genes” more accessible for transcription-suppressing chemical marks to be deposited. Because a variant of this protein exists in humans, the discovery provides insight into genetic conditions caused by such “jumping gene” mutations. The findings ...

Switching from a diet high in saturated animal fats to one rich in plant-based unsaturated fats affects the fat composition in the blood, which in turn influences long-term disease risk. A recent study published in Nature Medicine, conducted by a team of researchers from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, the German Institute of Human Nutrition, Germany and several other universities, shows that it is possible to accurately measure diet-related fat changes in the blood and directly link them to the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. “Our study confirms with even more certainty the health benefits of ...

Bees and other beneficial bugs are disproportionately harmed by air pollution compared to crop-destroying pests, a new study published in Nature Communications has found. Researchers from the University of Reading analysed data from 120 scientific papers to understand how 40 types of insects in 19 countries respond to air pollutants like ozone, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and particulate matter. Pollinators - including bees and some moths and butterflies - experienced a 39% decline in foraging ...

For a long time, scientists associated crystal structures with an ordered arrangement of atoms in a repeating lattice-like pattern, believing it to be the most stable configuration. However, by the 1960s, advancements in crystallography revealed materials that did not fit the traditional model. These structures exhibit a non-periodic or non-repeating pattern and are called aperiodic crystals. There are two types of aperiodic crystals: quasicrystals (QCs), which exhibit ordered but aperiodic arrangements, and incommensurately (IC) modulated structures, where a three-dimensional periodic lattice structure ...

The possibility of hydrogen-powered flight means greater opportunities for fossil-free travel, and the technological advances to make this happen are moving fast. New studies from Chalmers University of Technology, in Sweden, show that almost all air travel within a 750-mile radius (1200 km) could be made with hydrogen-powered aircraft by 2045, and with a novel heat exchanger currently in development, this range could be even further.    “If everything falls into place, the commercialisation of hydrogen flight can go really fast now. As early as 2028, the first commercial hydrogen flights in Sweden could be in the air," says Tomas Grönstedt, Professor at Chalmers ...

Some people lose weight slower than others after workouts, and a Kobe University research team found a reason. They studied what happens to mice that cannot produce signal molecules that respond specifically to short-term exercise and regulate the body’s energy metabolism. These mice consume less oxygen during workouts, burn less fat and are thus also more susceptible to gaining weight. Since the team found this connection also in humans, the newly gained knowledge of this mechanism might provide a pathway for treating obesity. It is well known that exercise leads to the ...

In Rhode Island, USA, over one in four emergency department (ED) patients at high risk of overdose has a non-fatal opioid overdose in the 18 months post-discharge.  A parallel, two-arm, randomized controlled trial conducted in Rhode Island of over 600 ED patients at high risk of opioid overdose found that support from a peer recovery support specialist (a trained support worker with lived experience of addiction) was as effective in reducing opioid overdose as support from a licensed clinical social worker.  In other words, interviewing and intervention techniques informed by lived ...

Washington, July 11, 2024—Predictive algorithms commonly used by colleges and universities to determine whether students will be successful may be racially biased against Black and Hispanic students, according to new research published today in AERA Open, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Educational Research Association. The study—conducted by Denisa Gándara (University of Texas at Austin), Hadis Anahideh (University of Illinois Chicago), Matthew Ison (Northern Illinois University), and Lorenzo Picchiarini (University of Illinois Chicago)—found ...

Understanding complex biological pathways, such as gene-gene interactions and gene regulatory networks, is crucial for exploring disease mechanisms and advancing drug development. However, manual literature curation of these pathways cannot keep pace with the exponential growth of discoveries. Large-scale language models (LLMs) trained on extensive text corpora contain rich biological information and can be leveraged as a biological knowledge graph for pathway curation. Recently, Quantitative Biology published a study titled "A Comprehensive ...

LA JOLLA, CA—Do you grab a fork and take a first bite of cake, or say no and walk away? Our motivation to eat is driven by a complex web of cells in the brain that use signals from within the body, as well as sensory information about the food in front of us, to determine our behaviors. Now, Scripps Research scientists have identified a group of neurons in a small and understudied region of the brain—the parasubthalamic nucleus (PSTN)—that controls when an animal decides to take a first bite of food. In the study, published in Molecular Psychiatry on July 4, 2024, the team of scientists set out to selectively manipulate a group of PSTN cells that dial up their ...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- Quantum computing, which uses the laws of quantum mechanics, can solve pressing problems in a broad range of fields, from medicine to machine learning, that are too complex for classical computers. Quantum simulators are devices made of interacting quantum units that can be programmed to simulate complex models of the physical world. Scientists can then obtain information about these models, and, by extension, about the real world, by varying the interactions in a controlled way and measuring the resulting behavior of the quantum simulators.   In a paper published in Physical Review B, a UC Riverside-led research team ...

U.S. Forest Service ecologists and partners published new findings on how planted mangroves can store up to 70% of carbon stock to that found in intact stands after only 20 years. Researchers have long known that mangroves are superstars of carbon absorption and storage. But until now, limited information existed on how long it took for carbon stored in planted mangroves to reach levels found in intact mangroves. “About ten years ago, Sahadev Sharma, then with the Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, and I discovered that 20-year-old mangrove plantations in Cambodia had carbon stocks comparable to those of intact forests,” ...

Immune system dysregulation and elevated inflammation contribute to the development of the fatal neurodegenerative condition amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.  In new research published in The FASEB Journal, repeated infusions of certain immune cells delayed ALS onset and extended survival in mice, and also reduced markers of inflammation in an individual with the disease. The work was conducted by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General ...

CAR-T cell therapy, which targets a specific protein on the surface of cancer cells, causes tumors to shrink or disappear in about half of patients with large B-cell lymphoma who haven’t experienced improvement with chemotherapy treatments. But if this CAR-T treatment fails, or the cancer returns yet again — as happens in approximately half of people — the prognosis is dire. The median survival time after relapse is about six months. Now, a phase 1 clinical trial at Stanford Medicine ...

A major clinical trial, led by experts at the University of Nottingham, has shown the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT LOUD®) is more effective than the current speech and language therapy provided by the NHS, when treating patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The results of the NIHR HTA funded trial, which are published today in the BMJ, showed that LSVT LOUD® was more effective at reducing the participant’s reported impact of voice problems than no speech and language therapy, as well as the NHS delivered speech and language therapy. The trial was led by experts from the Universities of Nottingham and Birmingham, ...

An intensive voice treatment developed in the USA and known as the Lee Silverman voice treatment (LSVT LOUD) is more effective than conventional NHS speech and language therapy or no therapy for people with Parkinson’s disease, finds a trial published in The BMJ today. The researchers say the results emphasise the need to optimise the use of speech and language therapy resources for people with Parkinson’s disease. Slurred or slow speech (known as dysarthria) is a common feature of Parkinson’s disease and can have a significant effect ...

“The NHS’s relentless focus on finance and productivity is failing patient safety,” argues patient safety commissioner Henrietta Hughes in an interview for The BMJ today. “The patient’s anecdote is the canary in the coal mine,” she says. It’s the thing that tells us there’s something going wrong. But too often we hear about patients who have raised concerns being gaslighted, dismissed, and fobbed off.” Hughes, a GP and former medical director at NHS England, became England’s first independent patient safety commissioner in September 2022. The job was created ...

For the first time in the World Health Organization’s 76 year history, world leaders have unanimously committed to put social participation - people, communities and civil society - at the heart of health decision making processes. This landmark pledge marks an important step forward in creating a healthy world, say experts in The BMJ today, and they urge everyone to seize their right to influence the decisions that affect their health and well-being. Global challenges such as access to care, climate change, widening ...

Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots have frequently shown signs of an “empathy gap” that puts young users at risk of distress or harm, raising the urgent need for “child-safe AI”, according to a study. The research, by a University of Cambridge academic, Dr Nomisha Kurian, urges developers and policy actors to prioritise approaches to AI design that take greater account of children’s needs. It provides evidence that children are particularly susceptible to treating chatbots as lifelike, quasi-human confidantes, ...

International refugees and academic experts have contributed to a new book examining the resonance of Dante’s Divine Comedy with today’s migrants fleeing the troubles in their home countries. Dante on the Move is launched in Rome today (Thursday 11th July) and has been produced as part of a research project Reading Dante with Refugees led by the University of Birmingham and Trinity College Rome. It features work by people from Afghanistan, China, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Kurdistan, Ukraine, the USA and Venezuela. Mohammed, a Kurdish refugee from Iraqi and contributor to the book survived a shipwreck in the Mediterranean in which many people drowned. He said: “Reading ...

About a third of Canadians feel lonely, and a study from the University of Waterloo shows it has a greater negative impact on memory than even social isolation, though both present a significant risk to the aging population. Loneliness is a subjective emotion that people might feel even while engaging in social activities. It is often associated with depression and an increase in stress hormones that may contribute to impaired memory. Waterloo researchers examined four combinations of social isolation ...

ATLANTA — To offer cross-protection against diverse influenza virus variants, nanoparticle vaccines can produce pivotal cellular and mucosal immune responses that enhance vaccine efficacy and broaden protection, according to a study by researchers in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State University. The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, offers valuable insights into tailoring immunization strategies to optimize influenza vaccine effectiveness. To alleviate the significant ...

URBANA, Ill. – Colleges and universities often highlight leadership development as a critical component of their curriculum — but there is no clear consensus on what constitutes effective leadership education. In a new paper, two educators from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and John Carroll University provide a roadmap for training competent leaders, suggesting a comprehensive, practical approach for postsecondary institutions to follow. “Our purpose was to discuss what it means to develop leaders and what a model for leadership education could ...