Gut microbiota may be the key factor explaining why certain individuals do not respond well to the pneumococcal vaccine-a bacterium that can cause various diseases, such as pneumonia. This conclusion is drawn from a recent study led by the B Cell Biology Research Group at the Hospital del Mar Research Institute, published in Science Advances. Researchers analyzed vaccine responses using genetically modified mouse models to study two types of pneumococcal vaccines-one commonly used in children and another in adults. Although these vaccines function through different mechanisms, both provide broad coverage. However, in individuals with a specific type of immunodeficiency, immunoglobulin ...

Press release Information embargoed until March 13, 2025, at 09:00 am (time in Barcelona, Spain)   Sorghum is an increasingly important crop for animal and human nutrition, especially in arid and semi-arid regions, due to its natural resistance to drought and high temperatures. CRAG researchers have identified the molecular mechanisms responsible for drought resistance in sorghum and developed tools that could be used in biotechnological applications. These advances could combat the effects of climate change, reduce dependence on imports and improve food security for human consumption.   Bellaterra (Barcelona), 13 March ...

It is well known that culture influences consumer behavior, but the impact of culture on pricing is less studied. One way culture might reflect in price tags is through price endings, which can be round (eg $10.00), just below (eg £9.99), or precise (eg €9.87). While all these price endings are common, little is known about why sellers in certain markets prefer one over the others. Now, researchers in Germany have examined whether cultural dimensions – individualism, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation – impact how often consumers see certain types of price endings. “Given that culture significantly influences behavior, cognition, ...

Spinal cord injury (SCI)—a condition that leads to partial or complete paralysis—has a profound impact on millions of individuals globally. Despite recent advances in SCI treatment, restoring lost motor functions, such as hand movement, remains a significant challenge. Now, in a new study published online in Brain Communications on March 13, 2025, a team led by Professor Takuya Takahashi from the Department of Physiology, Graduate School of Medicine at Yokohama City University, Japan, along with Dr. Yukio Nishimura, ...

Recovered grasslands need more than 75 years of continuous management to regain their biodiversity because specialized pollinators are slow to return. Kobe University's finding underscores the importance of preserving old grasslands as reservoirs of biodiversity, even if it is just as ski slopes. Grasslands worldwide are rapidly disappearing due to land-use conversion and abandonment, leading to a well-documented loss of grassland biodiversity. Restoring abandoned grasslands by removing woody vegetation and resuming traditional land management practices has positive effects ...

For residents of Kibera, one of Nairobi’s largest informal settlements, access to nutritious food is often scarce. School meals are a lifeline for many families. But the case study of one small school is proving that- with the right ingredients- school meal programs can become even more beneficial. Research just published in Sustainability found that incorporating locally available, nutrient-rich crops into school meal programs can significantly improve nutrition for children while cutting costs. Changing the Menu In this ...

Do you have lots of close friends – and work hard to keep it that way? If you’ve answered “yes”, you are probably nostalgic. People who are prone to nostalgia have more close friends and put more effort into maintaining their friendships and other relationships than less sentimental sorts. That’s the finding of a new study of almost 1,500 individuals in the U.S. and Europe, published in the peer-reviewed journal Cognition and Emotion. The finding is important because maintaining close relationships with others is essential ...

Antibody treatment which activates the patient’s own immune system against cancer, known as immunotherapy, is increasingly being investigated as an alternative for chemotherapy and radiotherapy. This is because it specifically targets the cancer cells, which reduces the side effects seen with more conventional therapies. Tumours, such as some breast and ovarian cancers, can express the marker HER2. HER2 is responsible for cancer growth and is the target of existing therapies, such as the most commonly used type of antibodies, IgG. However, this treatment ...

Royal Astronomical Society press release RAS PR 25/10 Embargoed until 00:01 on Thursday 13 March 2025 At least two mass extinction events in Earth's history were likely caused by the "devastating" effects of nearby supernova explosions, a new study suggests. Researchers at Keele University say these super-powerful blasts – caused by the death of a massive star – may have previously stripped our planet's atmosphere of its ozone, sparked acid rain and exposed life to harmful ultraviolet radiation from the Sun. They believe a supernova explosion close to Earth could be to blame for both the late Devonian and Ordovician ...

Over 1.2 million medical device adverse event reports were not submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) within the deadline set by federal regulations, finds an analysis of recent data published by The BMJ today. Of these late reports, more than 400,000 were submitted more than six months after the manufacturer was notified of an adverse event. The researchers warn that late adverse event reporting may prevent early detection of patient safety concerns. Most medical devices in the US are approved on the condition that manufacturers report to the FDA when they learn that any of their devices have malfunctioned or may ...

Surgical adhesions — common, sometimes life-threatening complications that arise after open or laparoscopic abdominal surgery — can be prevented in mice and pigs by a gel impregnated with a molecule that blocks a key signaling pathway in the formation of scar tissue. The gel can be applied as a spray or a wash to the inside of the abdominal cavity immediately after surgery. Over a period of two weeks, the gel releases a small molecule, T-5224, that blocks the activation of adhesion-forming ...

Nickel’s role in the future of electric vehicle batteries is clear: It’s more abundant and easier to obtain than widely used cobalt, and its higher energy density means longer driving distances between charges. However, nickel is less stable than other materials with respect to cycle life, thermal stability, and safety. Researchers from The University of Texas at Austin and Argonne National Laboratory aim to change that with a new study that dives deep into nickel-based cathodes, one of the two electrodes that facilitate energy storage in batteries. "High-nickel cathodes ...

openRxiv has officially launched as an independent nonprofit to oversee bioRxiv and medRxiv, the world's leading preprint servers for life and health sciences. openRxiv ensures that researchers worldwide can continue to share discoveries rapidly and openly. With a researcher-led governance model, openRxiv strengthens the foundation of preprint sharing, empowering scientists to communicate findings at the speed of discovery. "We want openRxiv to be a home for all scientists—whether they're early-career researchers, established scholars, or from institutions large and small ...

A study of over 32,000 people living in Tamil Nadu, India suggests scrub typhus infection may affect up to 10% of rural populations annually and is a leading yet under-recognised cause of hospitalisations for fever across India. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, was conducted as part of a collaboration between the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and the Christian Medical College Vellore, India. Scrub typhus is a potentially life-threatening infection caused by the bacterium Orientia tsutsugamushi, which belongs to the rickettsia family. It is spread to humans through the bite of infected larval mites or chiggers. Chiggers are found ...

University of Arizona neuroscientists studying the brains of songbirds have found that aging alters the gene expressions that control the birds' song. The finding could lead to earlier diagnoses and better treatments for human neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease, which are known to hinder vocal production in their early stages. The study, published in the journal Neurobiology of Aging, found that networks of interacting genes, in a region of the bird's ...

Spatial transcriptomics is a cutting-edge technique that characterizes gene expression within sections of tissue, such as heart, skin or liver tissue. These snapshots provide insights into how spatial organization affects cellular functions across the spectrum of biology and disease. Up to now, researchers conducting spatial transcriptomics have had to choose between two options based on their needs: genome-wide coverage or single-cell resolution. To solve this tradeoff, scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the University of ...

ITHACA, N.Y. -- In a scene toward the end of the 2006 film, “X-Men: The Last Stand,” a character claps and sends a shock wave that knocks out an opposing army. Sunny Jung, professor of biological and environmental engineering in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, was intrigued. “It made me curious about how the wave propagates when we clap our hands,” Jung said. Jung is senior author of a study, published March 11 in Physical Review Research, that elucidates the complex physical mechanisms and fluid dynamics involved in a handclap, with potential applications in bioacoustics ...

MINNEAPOLIS — The American Academy of Neurology (AAN), the American Epilepsy Society (AES) and the Epilepsy Foundation of America (EFA) have issued a consensus position statement on seizures, driver licensure and medical reporting. The position statement is published on March 12, 2025, online in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN). It was developed with the Ethics, Law, and Humanities Committee, a joint committee of the AAN, the American Neurological ...

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4:00 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2025 MINNEAPOLIS — For college athletes with concussion, brain changes may remain visible in brain scans up to a year after they are cleared to return to play, according to a study published on March 12, 2025, online in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN). “Concussion can have long-term effects on brain health, and there is growing evidence that brain recovery may persist months to years, even after symptoms like headache, fatigue and balance problems resolve,” said author Nathan Churchill, PhD, of ...

For those looking to climb the corporate ladder in the U.S., here’s an idea you might not have considered: debate training. According to a new research paper, people who learn the basics of debate are more likely to advance to leadership roles in U.S. organizations, compared to those who do not receive this training. One key reason is that being equipped with debate skills makes people more assertive in the workplace.  “Debate training can promote leadership emergence and advancement by fostering individuals’ assertiveness, which is a key, valued leadership characteristic in U.S. organizations,” says MIT Associate Professor Jackson Lu, one of the scholars ...

A new analysis reveals complex linkages among the United Nations’ (UN’s) 17 Sustainable Development Goals—which include such objectives as gender equality and quality education—and finds that no country is on track to meet all 17 goals by the target year of 2030. Alberto García-Rodríguez of Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One on March 12, 2025. In 2015, UN member countries adopted the Sustainable Development ...

Spinal cord injuries are life-altering, often leaving individuals with severe mobility impairments. While rehabilitation robotics—devices that guide movement during therapy—have improved training for those with spinal cord injuries, their effectiveness remains limited. Without active muscle engagement, robotic-assisted movement alone does not sufficiently retrain the nervous system. A team at .NeuroRestore, led by Grégoire Courtine and Jocelyne Bloch, has now developed a system that seemlessly integrates an implanted spinal cord neuroprosthesis with rehabilitation robotics. The researchers’ device delivers well-timed electrical pulses to stimulate ...

A new study reveals that a region in China's Turpan-Hami Basin served as a refugium, or "Life oasis" for terrestrial plants during the end-Permian mass extinction, the most severe biological crisis since the Cambrian period. The research, published in Science Advances, challenges the widely held view that terrestrial ecosystems suffered the same catastrophic losses as marine environments during this period. The discovery, led by Prof. LIU Feng from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology (NIGPAS) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, provides the first conclusive fossil evidence ...

A new study from the University of Nottingham has revealed that poor sleep quality may increase susceptibility to conspiracy beliefs, with depression likely playing a key role in this relationship. Experts from the University’s School of Psychology examined the link between sleep quality and conspiracy beliefs in two studies involving over 1,000 participants. Their findings, published in the Journal of Health Psychology, indicate that individuals with poorer sleep quality over the past month were more likely to endorse conspiracy theories, particularly after exposure to conspiratorial content. Conspiracy theories claim that powerful, secretive ...

Adolescent boys who experience violence have up to 8 times the odds of perpetrating physical and sexual intimate partner violence that same day, per South African study collecting real-time data over mobile phones     Article URL: https://plos.io/4brsDzz Article title: Measuring real-time violence exposure and its impact on intimate partner violence perpetration among adolescents Author countries: US, South Africa Funding: Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health under Award R01MH119878. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors ...