The sense of smell is highly influenced by the cues from other senses, while the sense of sight and hearing are affected to a much lesser extent, shows a new study in Journal of Neuroscience. A popular theory of the brain holds that its main function is to predict what will happen next, so it reacts mostly to unexpected events. Most research on this topic, called predictive coding, has only focused on what we see, but no one knows if the different senses, such as smell, work in the same way. To figure out more about how smell relates to how we ...

Certain RNA molecules in the nerve cells in the brain last a life time without being renewed. Neuroscientists from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) have now demonstrated that this is the case together with researchers from Germany, Austria and the USA. RNAs are generally short-lived molecules that are constantly reconstructed to adjust to environmental conditions. With their findings that have now been published in the journal Science, the research group hopes to decipher the complex aging process of the brain and gain a better understanding of related degenerative diseases. Most cells in the human ...

Despite vaccine shortages, many younger people  in New York City accessed vaccines ahead of schedule, particularly in high-income areas, according to new research at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Low-income areas with high proportions of older people demonstrated lower coverage rates than wealthier areas in the first three months of vaccine rollout, and higher mortality over the year. The findings are published in the Journal of Urban Health. “A vaccine program that prioritized those at greatest risk of COVID-19-associated morbidity and mortality would have prevented more deaths than the strategy that was implemented,” said Nina Schwalbe, adjunct ...

Hear the words E. coli or salmonella and food poisoning comes to mind. Rapid detection of such bacteria is crucial in preventing outbreaks of foodborne illness. While the usual practice is to take food samples to a laboratory to see the type and quantity of bacteria that forms in a petri dish over a span of days, an Osaka Metropolitan University research team has created a handheld device for quick on-site detection. Led by Professor Hiroshi Shiigi of the Graduate School of Engineering, the team experimented with a biosensor that can simultaneously detect multiple disease-causing bacterial species within an hour. “The palm-sized device for detection ...

The number of suicides among US college student athletes has doubled over the past 20 years, finds an analysis of data from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Suicide is now the second most common cause of death after accidents in this group of young people, with rates highest among cross-country competitors, the findings show. US suicide rates rose by around 36% across all age groups between 2001 and 2021, note the researchers. But the evidence ...

The Lancet: Prostate cancer cases expected to double worldwide between 2020 and 2040, new analysis suggests Annual prostate cancer cases are projected to rise from 1.4 million in 2020 to 2.9 million in 2040, and annual deaths to increase by 85% to almost 700,000 over the same timeframe, mainly among men in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). The Lancet Commission on prostate cancer argues that the ‘informed choice’ programme for prostate cancer screening with PSA testing, which is common in high-income countries ...

Britain was already well on its way to an industrialised economy under the reign of the Stuarts in the 17th century – over 100 years before textbooks mark the start of the Industrial Revolution – according to the most detailed occupational history of a nation ever constructed. Built from more than 160 million records and spanning over three centuries, the University of Cambridge’s Economies Past website uses census data, parish registers, probate records and more to track changes to the British labour force from the Elizabethan era to the eve of World War One. The research shows that 17th century Britain saw a steep decline ...

Testing for tumour DNA in the blood can successfully identify advanced bladder cancer patients who will not relapse following surgery, new research shows. This could allow doctors to target treatments more effectively to those who need it, and spare those patients for whom further treatment is unnecessary, researchers say. The findings from the screening phase of the IMvigor011 Phase III trial are presented today [Friday 5 April] at the European Association of Urology Congress in Paris. They show that just over 90% of muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) patients with a ...

New research from CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, and the University of Toronto in Canada, estimates up to 11 million tonnes of plastic pollution is sitting on the ocean floor.    Every minute, a garbage truck’s worth of plastic enters the ocean. With plastic use expected to double by 2040, understanding how and where it travels is crucial to protecting marine ecosystems and wildlife.    Dr Denise Hardesty, Senior Research Scientist with CSIRO, said this is the first estimate of how much plastic waste ends up on the ocean floor, where it accumulates before being ...

Researchers have shown that dangerous cysts, which form over time in polycystic kidney disease (PKD), can be prevented by a single normal copy of a defective gene. This means the potential exists that scientists could one day tailor a gene therapy to treat the disease. They also discovered that a type of drug, known as a glycoside, can sidestep the effects of the defective gene in PKD. The discoveries could set the stage for new therapeutic approaches to treating PKD, which affects millions worldwide. The study, partially funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is published in Cell Stem Cell.   Scientists ...

EL PASO, Texas (April 4, 2024) – Psychology researchers at The University of Texas at El Paso are making progress towards understanding the biological underpinnings of depression, a leading cause of disability that affects approximately 280 million people around the world. In a study published this April in the Journal of Affective Disorders, UTEP psychologist Sergio Iñiguez, Ph.D., and his co-authors make the case that prairie voles, small rodents that are found throughout the central United States and Canada, can be effectively used as animal models to further the study of ...

Human activity is changing the way water flows between the Earth and atmosphere in complex ways and with likely long-lasting consequences that are hard to picture. Land use change is altering where clouds form and how precipitation is distributed. Meanwhile, weather modification activities like cloud seeding are shifting how nations plan for water use in the face of climate change. These and other changes to the planet’s atmospheric water cycle were once hard to imagine but are increasingly part of modern water management on the planet. Colorado State University Assistant Professor Patrick Keys is an expert ...

Reston, VA—A new radiotheranostic system has the ability to detect and treat ovarian cancer noninvasively, according to new research published in the April issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. Combining the highly specific huAR9.6 antibody with PET and therapeutic radionuclides, this theranostic platform may provide more personalized treatment to improve health outcomes for ovarian cancer patients. Ovarian cancer causes more deaths than any other gynecologic malignancy, with a five-year survival rate below 30 percent for patients diagnosed at advanced stages. The current standard of care for ovarian cancer consists of surgery followed by platinum-based chemotherapy; however, ...

Research today doesn't only occur in a lab; indeed, many university researchers extend their work into the community with the goal of inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers. And some government agencies, like the National Science Foundation, provide the funding to do so. Most recently, Xiayun Zhao, assistant professor of mechanical engineering & materials science at the University of Pittsburgh, completed such outreach at the Carnegie Science Center (CSC). Zhao ...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- NeuroHIV refers to the effects of HIV infection on the brain or central nervous system and, to some extent, the spinal cord and peripheral nervous system. A collection of diseases, including neuropathy and dementia, neuroHIV can cause problems with memory and thinking and compromise our ability to live a normal life.  Using a mouse model of neuroHIV, a research team led by biomedical scientists at the University of California, Riverside, studied the effects of interferon-β (IFNβ), a small protein involved in cell signaling and integral to the body’s natural defense mechanism against viral infections. The researchers found that higher or lower than ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Public policies blocked many families of Mexican descent living in the U.S. from accessing vital services such as food and mental health care during the COVID-19 pandemic, even though these communities experienced some of the highest infection and mortality rates. Thirty-eight perinatal women and mothers of young children were interviewed about the challenges they faced during the pandemic and proposed solutions to better meet the needs of their communities during future large-scale crises in a study led by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign kinesiology and community health ...

The lab of Yongchao C. Ma, PhD, at Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago discovered a fundamental biological mechanism that could lead to new treatments for neurological diseases, such as spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and autism, as well as different cancers. The study was published in the journal Human Molecular Genetics. Dr. Ma’s team found that chemical modification of RNA (called RNA methylation) regulates mitochondrial ...

Despite their ancient ages, some stars orbiting the Milky Way’s central supermassive black hole appear deceptively youthful. But unlike humans, who might appear rejuvenated from a fresh round of collagen injections, these stars look young for a much darker reason. They ate their neighbors. This is just one of the more peculiar findings from new Northwestern University research. Using a new model, astrophysicists traced the violent journeys of 1,000 simulated stars orbiting our galaxy’s central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*).  So densely packed with stars, the region commonly experiences brutal stellar collisions. ...

A team of researchers has uncovered alarming trends in the first range-wide genetic study of an endangered bee species. The study, led by Colorado State University and published in the Journal of Insect Science, will inform conservation and recovery efforts for the rusty-patched bumblebee – a species that was once common in the United States but has declined from about 90% of its historic range.  The rusty-patched bumblebee was the first bee species to be federally listed as endangered in 2017 through the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Its numbers dropped rapidly starting in the late 1990s, likely due to a combination of pesticides, ...

ST. LOUIS, MO., April 4, 2024 — Acidic soil caused by changing climate patterns threatens agriculture sustainability across the globe. But the problem goes far beyond rising temperatures. One major cause for concern is more acidic soil, a product of increasing rainfall. Acidic soils with low pH are widespread globally and common in tropical and sub-tropical regions, where food security is a serious challenge. Climate change has exacerbated the problem. Acidic soil can result in aluminum toxicity, putting further stress on global agriculture. A new collaborative research team from the US and Brazil received a $2 ...

NEW YORK – April 4, 2024 – The Cardiovascular Research Foundation® (CRF®) is excited to introduce New York Valves: The Structural Heart Summit, the expanded next iteration of our renowned annual Transcatheter Valve Therapy (TVT®) conference. Taking place June 5-7, 2024, at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, North in New York City, the new summit will be a world-class educational experience in the field of structural heart interventions. “New York Valves 2024 signifies an important milestone for our organization,” said Juan F. Granada, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer of CRF® and New York ...

Mixing livestock and crops, integrating flower strips and trees, water and soil conservation and much more: Massive new global study led by the University of Copenhagen and University of Hohenheim, has examined the effects of diversified agriculture. The conclusion is abundantly clear – positive effects increase with every measure, while negative effects are hard to find. Laura Vang Rasmussen of the University of Copenhagen can finally wipe the sweat from her brow. For the last four years, she has served as the link between 58 researchers on five continents and as lead author of a major agricultural study which gathered ...

In 1928, Indian physicist Sir C. V. Raman and his colleague K. S. Krishnan discovered that when light interacts with matter, parts of the scattered light undergo changes in energy due to interaction with molecular vibrations, resulting in what is known as Raman scattering. The discovery laid the foundation for Raman spectroscopy, a technique that takes advantage of these energy changes to create a unique fingerprint of the molecular structure of the material. Currently, dispersive Raman spectroscopy ...

Argininosuccinate lyase deficiency (ASLD), also known as argininosuccinic aciduria, is a disease that has been enriched in the Finnish genetic heritage. In this severe metabolic disease, the body does not process proteins normally, instead resulting in a very dangerous accumulation of argininosuccinic acid and ammonia. Excess ammonia causes disturbances of consciousness, coma and even death. In Finland, infants are screened for ASLD to determine the disease risk before symptoms develop. The treatment is an extremely ...

New York (April 4, 2024) — Today, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) and the AGS Health in Aging Foundation (HiAF) announced that the 2024 Thomas and Catherine Yoshikawa Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement in Clinical Investigation will be awarded to C. Barrett Bowling, MD, MSPH, Associate Professor in the Division of Geriatrics at Duke University School of Medicine. The award will be presented at the AGS 2024 Virtual Annual Scientific Meeting (#AGS24), May 9-11 (pre-conference days May 7 & 8).  At the conference, Dr. Bowling will deliver a lecture on “Geriatricizing” Chronic Disease Research: A Geriatrician’s ...