Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have for the first time precisely characterised the enzyme styrene oxide isomerase, which can be used to produce valuable chemicals and drug precursors in an environmentally friendly manner. The study appears today in the journal Nature Chemistry.   Enzymes are powerful biomolecules that can be used to produce many substances at ambient conditions. They enable “green” chemistry, which reduces environmental pollution resulting from processes used in synthetic chemistry. One such tool from nature has now been characterised in detail by ...

The huge, long-lasting wildfires that have become increasingly common in recent years can cause changes in soil chemistry that affect water contamination, air quality, and plant growth. But these changes are poorly monitored and rarely factor into post-fire recovery efforts or risk assessments, according to a review study published May 14 in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment. The study, led by Stanford University and Colorado State University scientists, found that better techniques are needed to monitor changes in soil and surrounding ecosystems. This enhanced ...

Scientists have discovered 17 additional genes that drive the abnormal overgrowth of mutated blood cells as we age. The findings, published today (14 May) in Nature Genetics, provide a more complete view of the genetic factors behind clonal haematopoiesis – a process associated with ageing and linked to increased risks of blood cancers1. Researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Calico Life Sciences, California, and the University of Cambridge analysed sequencing data from over 200,000 individuals in the UK Biobank cohort. They searched for genes showing signals of "positive selection" – where mutations ...

An international team led by researchers from the EXOTIC Laboratory of the University of Liège, in collaboration with MIT and the Astrophysics Institute in Andalusia, has just discovered WASP-193b, an extraordinarily low-density giant planet orbiting a distant Sun-like star. This new planet, located 1,200 light-years from Earth, is 50% larger than Jupiter but seven times less massive, giving it an extremely low density comparable to that of cotton candy. "WASP-193b is the second least dense planet discovered to date, after Kepler-51d, which is much smaller," explains ...

A new global study from IOP Publishing (IOPP) has found that certain peer review communities continue to feel overburdened by reviewer requests, while others remain underrepresented.      The survey, which generated over 3,000 responses from peer reviewers from across the globe, revealed regional and career-stage disparities:   30% of reviewers from high-income countries indicated that they receive too many peer review requests, compared with just 10% from low and middle-income countries*   Just 6% of respondents from China and 7% from India indicated that they ...

A battery made from zinc and lignin that can be used over 8000 times. This has been developed by researchers at Linköping University, Sweden, with a vision to provide a cheap and sustainable battery solution for countries where access to electricity is limited. The study has been published in the journal Energy & Environmental Materials. “Solar panels have become relatively inexpensive, and many people in low-income countries have adopted them. However, near the equator, the sun sets at around 6 PM, leaving households and businesses without electricity. The hope is that ...

The declining population in Osaka is related to an aging society that is driving up health expenditures. Dr. Haruka Kato, a junior associate professor at Osaka Metropolitan University, teamed up with the Future Co-creation Laboratory at Japan System Techniques Co., Ltd. to conduct natural experiments on how a new train station might impact healthcare expenditures. JR-Sojiji Station opened in March 2018 in a suburban city on the West Japan Railway line connecting Osaka and Kyoto. The researchers used a causal impact algorithm to analyze the medical expenditure data gathered from the time series medical ...

Compared to Black and Asian people, white and Hispanic people with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias were most likely to be diagnosed with symptoms like depression and agitation, according to a new study from the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics. White and Hispanic people with these diagnoses were also most likely to be prescribed central nervous system (CNS) active drugs, including antidepressants, antipsychotics and anticonvulsants. Yet, these drugs have been associated with higher risk of falls, cardiovascular events, hospitalization and death, according to the study published today in the Journal of Alzheimer’s ...

Junsuk Rho from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the Department of Chemical Engineering, and the Department of Electrical Engineering, Dr. Dongwoo Lee from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Beomseok Oh, a PhD student, from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) have achieved a breakthrough in surpassing the limitations of traditional acoustic metalenses. They have successfully developed the first wide field-of-hearing metalens. This research has been recently published in the international journal, Nature Communications.   Sound ...

Since the inception of microcomb, whose generation relies on Kerr nonlinearity in microresonator, the coherent soliton state has attracted intense researches. Although the operation of sub-comb outputs is straightforward, as noncoherent comb state, it was often overlooked in previous techniques. With graphene sensitization, this sub-comb heterodyne sensing device exhibits an exceptional response to gas molecular adsorption, achieving detect limits of 1.2 ppb for H2S gas and 1.4 ppb for SO2 gas, respectively. In summary, our research synergizes flexible ...

There is growing evidence that it is essential to predict the interactions between circRNAs and RBP binding sites for diagnosing diseases and providing a potential target to treat diseases. Many studies have predicted the binding sites of circRNA-RBPs by using deep learning methods based on the sequence information of circRNAs for each RBP. However, the most of previous works only extract sequence feature, with a lack of exploiting the essential topological information from the secondary structure which contains rich spatial information. To ...

BOSTON (May 14, 2024) – A new editorial published this May in the British Journal of Sports Medicine by experts from Spaulding Rehabilitation, Boston University, Mayo Clinic, and the Concussion Legacy Foundation, argues that the term “subconcussion” is a dangerous misnomer that should be retired. The authors are appealing to the medical community and media to substitute the term with more specific terms so the public can better understand the risks of brain injuries and advance effective efforts to prevent chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). “The public has been led to believe through media coverage ...

Researchers say the discovery of very high genetic diversity in leopards found in the Highveld region of South Africa has increased the need for conservation efforts to protect leopards in the country. Declan Morris, a PhD candidate with the University of Adelaide’s School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, led the research project, which discovered that the two maternal lineages of leopards found in Africa overlap in the Highveld, leading to the high genetic diversity. One lineage can be found across most of the African continent, while the other is confined ...

Love it or hate it, Facebook Marketplace is the largest online resale site today with more than one billion monthly users. A new study conducted by UBC researchers sheds light on the intricate web of trust, privacy and safety factors shaping users’ experiences on this popular platform. Researchers interviewed 42 Facebook Marketplace buyers and sellers in the U.S. and Canada to uncover the factors associated with trading decisions. “Concerns for physical and financial safety, as well as well-being, were top ...

[New York, NY, May 13, 2024] — Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have made a significant discovery, identifying genetic connections between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD). Published in Genome Medicine (DOI 10.1186/s13073-024-01335-2) on May 13, their study highlights the potential for joint therapeutic strategies to target these two challenging disorders. The team, led by Meltem Ece Kars, MD, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher at The Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine; Yuval Itan, PhD, Associate Professor of Genetics and Genomic ...

Key takeaways A new study from UCLA and Duke University shows local journalism that produces detailed coverage about aging infrastructure increases voter support for additional infrastructure investment. Basic, undetailed reporting, like that from severely understaffed newsrooms or AI-generated stories, resulted in lower support for infrastructure spending. Voters demonstrated a willingness to hold local politicians accountable when provided with context in local reporting.  Reading strong local journalism is tied to greater support for funding dams, sewers ...

Diamond is the hardest material found in nature — diamond also has the highest thermal conductivity, allowing the most heat to flow through it rapidly. An international team of scientists discovered using supercomputer simulations that by flexing diamond, its thermal conductivity can be drastically tuned up or down. Scientists worldwide are interested in studying elastic strain engineering to discover the properties that materials exhibit when they are under large tensile or shear stresses. Findings like this could open ...

FRANKFURT. Hardly any other molecule has a more turbulent past than thalidomide. It was the central ingredient in a drug approved in many countries in the 1950s as a sedative and sleeping pill. However, it soon became apparent that pregnant women who had taken thalidomide often gave birth to children with severe deformities. For the past few decades, however, medicine has nevertheless pinned great hopes on it again. Studies have shown, among other things, that it inhibits the growth of blood vessels and is therefore potentially suitable for cutting off tumors from their nutrient supply. It then also proved very effective in the treatment of multiple myeloma, ...

UK survey examines consumer attitudes towards and willingness to consume insect-based foods. Only 13% of respondents said they would be willing to regularly consume insects, with younger respondents less willing to give insects a try, as were those with higher sensitivity to food disgust. *Please mention the European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2024, Venice,12-15 May) if using this material* New research being presented at this year’s European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Venice, Italy (12-15 May), finds that insect-based foods remain unappealing ...

New research being presented at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Venice, Italy (12-15 May) has found that many people who are living with obesity conceal their body in their WhatsApp profile pictures.  Profile pictures of pets, family members, landscapes, flowers and cartoon characters may indicate the individual has body dysmorphic disorder, says lead Dr Antonella Franceschelli, of Unicamillus International Medical University, Rome, Italy. Body dysmorphic disorder is a condition in which a person has a distorted image of their body. They feel dissatisfied with their physical appearance, may experience shame or anxiety about their body and, in the case ...

There is an urgent need to harness the potential of TikTok and other social media channels to provide scientific information about obesity to young people in engaging and accessible way, the European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Venice, Italy (12-15 May) will hear. The popularity and broad reach of such platforms provides the opportunity to reach diverse audiences, including teenagers and young adults, explains lead researcher Dr Antonella Franceschelli, of Unicamillus International Medical University, Rome, Italy. The percentage of obese children and adolescents worldwide more than quadrupled among girls (from 1.7% to 6.9%) ...

By Jake Siegel Seattle, WA—May 13, 2024—With pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) diagnoses on the rise globally, a clinical trial in Seattle aims to transform treatment approaches through deep molecular profiling.   Recruitment has begun for the Seattle STRIDE study, a joint effort by Seattle Children’s Research Institute and the Allen Institute for Immunology. The trial aims to enroll 200 volunteers and follow them over three years. It will employ a range of genomic tools to analyze intact tissue samples from routine tests. ...

Impact Journals is proud to participate at the Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) 46th Annual Meeting. BUFFALO, NY- May 13, 2024 – Impact Journals is proud to participate as an exhibitor at the Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) 46th Annual Meeting, which convenes in Boston, Massachusetts, at the Westin Boston Seaport District from May 29–31, 2024. This year, the SSP Annual Meeting theme is “Inflection Point: Setting the Course for the Future of Scholarly Communication.” Visit booth #212 at the SSP 46th Annual Meeting 2024 to connect with members of the Impact Journals team. About ...

UTA has recently received the Innovation and Economic Prosperity (IEP) designation from APLU, the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities.UTA has recently received the Innovation and Economic Prosperity (IEP) designation from APLU, the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities.UTA has recently received the Innovation and Economic Prosperity (IEP) designation from APLU, the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities.UTA has recently received the Innovation and Economic Prosperity (IEP) designation from APLU, the Association of Public and Land Grant ...

Texas Tech University’s Biological Threat Research Laboratory (BTRL) played a key role in detecting the first case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A (H5N1) transmitted from a mammal (dairy cow) to a human. The case was made public in an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Steve Presley, the director of The Institute of Environmental and Human Health (TIEHH) and the BTRL, and Cynthia Reinoso Webb, the biological threat coordinator at TIEHH, were co-authors on the journal publication. The journal article explains that in March a farm worker who reported no contact with ...