Living beings can evolve to lose biological structures due to potential survival benefits from such losses. For example, certain groups of ray-finned fishes show such regressive evolution—medakas, minnows, puffera, and wrasses do not have a stomach in the gastrointestinal tract, making them agastric or stomachless fishes. However, the specific evolutionary mechanisms underlying the evolution of agastric fishes remains unclear. Studies about Slc26a9—a molecular transporter highly expressed in the stomach of many species—in fishes provided the initial clue. Researchers ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Even subtle differences in the wording of social media messages may be enough to sway young people’s beliefs about depression and anxiety and their treatment.   In a new study, researchers found that college students were more optimistic about the possibility of successfully treating mental health problems after they read social media messages conveying what is called a “growth mindset.”   But social media posts written with a “fixed mindset” led young people to feel that depression and anxiety were more stable and innate, and not so easy to treat.   Growth mindset is the belief that a feature, such ...

Electronic devices are getting more and more complex as they are built to carry out an ever-increasing number of functions. This can be seen in the increased functionality in our personal devices such as our phones, tablets and watches, let alone in industrial devices. However, their growing complexity can lead to performance and safety issues. These issues include device overheating or emitting microwaves that can result in health issues and that can reduce a device’s performance and interfere with other devices.   Chinese scientists from Beijing Normal University have been ...

(Boston)—Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes tuberculosis (TB), is distinct from most germs in its capacity to silently infect individuals for months and even years before waking up and causing active disease that can lead to severe illness and death. The immune system plays an important role in controlling the germ and keeping it dormant.   Decades of epidemiological data have linked undernutrition to TB. While undernourished individuals have blunted immune systems, a phenomenon which has been dubbed nutritionally acquired ...

In the field of aerospace, a high-temperature piezoelectric vibration sensor is one of the few key devices that can be monitored in a high-temperature and harsh environment, so it is particularly urgent to develop high performance high-temperature piezoelectric ceramics as the core component of this kind of sensor. Bi4Ti3O12 (BIT), as one vital type of bismuth layered structure ferroelectrics (BLSFs), has great application prospects in high-temperature environments due to its excellent TC of 675 ℃. However, the volatilization of Bi during the sintering process in BIT-based ceramics leads to the generation of oxygen vacancy ...

Background and Aims Hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury (HIRI) is a prevalent complication of liver transplantation, partial hepatectomy, and severe infection, necessitating the development of more effective clinical strategies. Receptor activity–modifying protein 1 (RAMP1), a member of the G protein–coupled receptor adapter family, has been implicated in numerous physiological and pathological processes. The study aimed to investigate the pathogenesis of RAMP1 in HIRI.   Methods We established a 70% liver ischemia-reperfusion model in RAMP1 knockout (KO) and wild-type mice. Liver and ...

Thermophilic fungi are chief components of mycoflora in a variety of natural and manmade composting systems, including rotting hay, stored grains, wood mulch, nesting material of birds and animals, municipal refuse, and self-heating accumulated organic matter. Thermophilic fungi are also a potential source of natural products, which complement the metabolite libraries of mesophilic fungi and bacteria.   The research team led by Prof. Dr. Xuemei Niu (State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resources in Yunnan, Yunnan University) has been working on the discovery of secondary metabolites in thermophilic fungi and their biological ...

DALLAS, April 23, 2024 — Atrial fibrillation, or AFib, is the most common type of irregular heartbeat, estimated to affect about 12.1 million U.S. adults by 2030.[1] The abnormal firing of electrical impulses causes part of the heart to quiver, or fibrillate, often leading to complications and up to a fivefold increased risk of stroke. ​To help ensure all patients with AFib receive the most appropriate care, the American Heart Association is launching a new effort to educate and engage pharmacists, an important but underrepresented voice in AFib care. This ...

We experience the world and connect with others through social interactions. Engaging in activities, such as conversations, cooperative tasks, and intimate relationships, deeply affect brain activity leading to coordinated neural activity within an individual's brain (intra-brain synchronization) and between the brains of multiple individuals (inter-brain synchronization). Researchers study brain synchronizations to understand the neural processes behind social behaviors. This knowledge can help diagnose and treat conditions like social anxiety and communication-related disorders. However, investigations on brain synchronization ...

Lipids are biomolecules essential for the proper functioning of the living cell, ranging from comprising cell membranes to forming integral components of cell signaling pathways. Plant cells possess cell subcellular structures or organelles called lipid droplets (LDs) in the leaves and seeds, which store excess lipids (fats).  Recent studies have shown that LDs also localize unique plant proteins that perform essential molecular functions. For example, seed LDs localize plant proteins called oleosins, which help seeds weather freezing temperatures and germinate properly. With an expanding body of proof ...

NEW YORK, April 23, 2024 — Single-photon emitters (SPEs) are akin to microscopic lightbulbs that emit only one photon (a quantum of light) at a time. These tiny structures hold immense importance for the development of quantum technology, particularly in applications such as secure communications and high-resolution imaging. However, many materials that contain SPEs are impractical for use in mass manufacturing due to their high cost and the difficulty of integrating them into complex devices. In 2015, scientists discovered SPEs within a material called hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). Since then, hBN has gained widespread attention and ...

Palaeontologists at University College Cork (UCC), Ireland, have solved a hundred-year-old mystery of how some fossil frogs preserve their fleshy parts – it’s all down to their skin.  Palaeontologists Daniel Falk and Prof. Maria McNamara, together with scientists from Ireland, Germany and the UK, studied 45-million-year-old fossil frogs from the Geiseltal site in central Germany. Remarkably, the fossils show full body outlines of the soft tissues. The team discovered that the excellent condition of the fossil frogs is due to preservation of ancient skin remnants.  The team studied the fossils with high-precision ...

Existing drugs studied in patients with rare immune diseases This month the first study within the DRIMID consortium (DRIMID stands for Drug Rediscovery for Rare Immune Mediated Inflammatory Diseases) has started. This study will investigate the efficacy and safety of the drug filgotinib (approved for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and ulcerative colitis) in three rare immune diseases (Behçet's disease, idiopathic inflammatory myositis, IgG4-related disease). DRIMID aims to investigate whether this drug - despite the absence of formal ...

A new study conducted by researchers at Loma Linda University Children’s Health has shed light on the alarming rates of pediatric injuries resulting from mechanical bull riding. The study, titled "Mechanical Bull Injuries in Pediatric Patients: A Call for Safety Regulations," highlights the urgent need for enhanced safety measures and regulations. The findings were published in the journal Children's Health Care and revealed that mechanical bull riding poses a significant risk to children, with traumatic brain injuries being the most common outcome.  “Mechanical bulls, even when ...

ROCKVILLE, Md.— Compared to their civilian counterparts, excessive pregnancy weight gain is more frequent among military health care beneficiaries, in particular active duty personnel, and is associated with costly maternal/neonatal complications. Women in this sample with excessive pregnancy weight gain were also three times more likely to have substantial postpartum weight retention, according to a new study published in the journal Obesity, The Obesity Society’s (TOS) flagship journal. Substantial weight retention ...

Body odor from the armpits comes from bacteria metabolizing sweat produced by the apocrine glands. These bacteria are native to our skin, but the odors produced differ among people. Generally, people use deodorants on their armpits, but perhaps there is a way to get rid of the bacteria. To find out, a research team led by Osaka Metropolitan University Professor Satoshi Uematsu and Associate Professor Kosuke Fujimoto at the Graduate School of Medicine collected body fluid samples from the armpits of 20 men that were deemed healthy. In advance, a subjective olfactory panel classified ...

When it comes to matters of the heart, cardiovascular disease in women is underdiagnosed compared to men. A popular scoring system used to estimate how likely a person is to develop a cardiovascular disease within the next 10 years is the Framingham Risk Score. It is based on factors including age, sex, cholesterol levels, and blood pressure. Researchers in the US and the Netherlands have now used a large dataset to build more accurate cardiovascular risk models than the Framingham Risk Score. They also quantified the underdiagnosis of women compared to men. The results were published in Frontiers ...

Korea relies on imports for most of its metal resources, and in recent years, due to resource depletion and rising raw material prices, 'circular resources' that recycle waste metal resources have emerged. In response, SK hynix has established a mid- to long-term plan to increase the percentage of copper, gold, etc. recovered and reused from waste generated in the semiconductor manufacturing process to more than 30% by 2030, and Samsung Electronics is running a collection program for used mobile phones in cooperation with E-circulation Governance, a non-profit corporation. The global circular economy market is expected ...

A University of Adelaide study of shallow-water fish communities on rocky reefs in south-eastern Australia has found climate change is helping tropical fish species invade temperate Australian waters. “The fish are travelling into these Australian ecosystems as larvae caught in the Eastern Australian Current, which is strengthening due to the warming climate,” said the University of Adelaide’s Professor Ivan Nagelkerken, Chief Investigator of the study. “These larvae would not normally survive in the cooler Australian ...

A Curtin University study has revealed breeding less-flatulent cows and restoring agricultural land could significantly reduce rising methane emission levels, which play a considerable role in climate change.   The food system, including grazing animals such as cows, generates major sources of methane mainly due to cattle digestion, manure decomposition and land use for grazing.   To look for solutions, researchers from the Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute analysed 27 academic publications and identified dozens of potential strategies to reduce methane emissions from Australia’s beef and dairy sectors.   Study ...

Lateropulsion, a clinical condition which results in the body leaning to one side, affects about half of all stroke survivors.     Edith Cowan University (ECU) PhD graduate Dr Jessica Nolan said while the problem is common, lateropulsion is still severely under recognised and under assessed around the world.    “A person with lateropulsion uses the limbs on their stronger side, to push themselves over toward their weaker side. Often those with lateropulsion resist correction back towards their stronger ...

Reinforcement learning (RL) is a machine learning technique that trains software by mimicking the trial-and-error learning process of humans. It has demonstrated considerable success in many areas that involve sequential decision-making. However, training RL models with real-world online tests is often undesirable as it can be risky, time-consuming and, importantly, unethical. Thus, using offline datasets that are naturally collected through past operations is becoming increasingly popular for training and evaluating RL and bandit ...

Researchers at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson were awarded a $1.8 million grant by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, a division of the National Institutes of Health, to learn how human papillomavirus makes its way to a cell’s nucleus. Human papillomavirus, or HPV, which can cause warts and certain cancers, has been with us since the dawn of humanity and causes about 5% of cancers worldwide. It also is an important source of information about human biology, according to Samuel K. Campos, PhD, an associate professor of immunobiology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine ...

A new study has found there are no adverse long-term cardiovascular health consequences for the now-adult children of mothers who were given corticosteroids because they were at risk of early birth in a landmark trial conducted in Auckland, New Zealand, 50 years ago. The Auckland Steroid Study by obstetrician Professor Graham ‘Mont’ Liggins and paediatrician colleague Dr Ross Howie from 1969 to 1974 in Green Lane Hospital, Auckland, found that two corticosteroid injections given to pregnant women at risk of early (preterm) birth halved the incidence of respiratory distress in the babies and significantly reduced neonatal deaths. Co-author of the new study, Dr ...

Active military service may heighten a woman’s risk of having a low birthweight baby, suggests a review of the available scientific evidence published online in the journal BMJ Military Health.   The findings highlight the need for more research specifically focused on women in the armed forces, and their reproductive health in particular, conclude the study authors. Worldwide, increasing numbers of women are on active service in their country’s armed forces. The UK Armed Forces, for example, has set a target of 30% female representation by 2030. And more and more countries are deploying women in combat ...