Diabetes accelerates the development of atherosclerosis, increasing the incidence of cardiovascular events. In atherosclerosis, immune cells called macrophages release molecules such as chemokines and cytokines, causing inflammation and leading to arterial plaque formation. However, significant gaps persist in understanding the exact molecular mechanisms controlling this increased inflammatory response in individuals with diabetes. In a new, preclinical study, researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, identified a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) sequence that could help them unravel the ...

LA JOLLA, CA—Roughly 4 billion years ago, Earth was developing conditions suitable for life. Origin-of-life scientists often wonder if the type of chemistry found on the early Earth was similar to what life requires today. They know that spherical collections of fats, called protocells, were the precursor to cells during this emergence of life. But how did simple protocells first arise and diversify to eventually lead to life on Earth? Now, Scripps Research scientists have discovered one plausible pathway for how protocells may have first formed and chemically ...

– By Will Ferguson A greater understanding of how plants and microbes work together to store vast amounts of atmospheric carbon in the soil will help in the design of better bioenergy crops for the fight against climate change.  Deciphering the mechanics of this mutually beneficial relationship is challenging, however, as conditions in nature are extremely difficult for scientists to replicate in the laboratory. To address this challenge, researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) created fabricated ecosystems or EcoFABs.  In a new paper in Science Advances, they ...

Digital Science has awarded two new Catalyst Grants of £25,000 each to innovative AI-based technology ideas aimed at advancing global research. The winners will use the funding to develop their ideas, which include using AI to alleviate the burden on researchers of applying for research funding, and to predict research impact. The winning applications from Digital Science’s 2023 Catalyst Grant round announced today are: Atom – Tomer du Sautoy (co-founder and CEO) and Hamilton Evans (co-founder and ...

Fonio (Digitaria exilis), a type of millet, is the oldest indigenous crop in West Africa and one of the fastest maturing cereals. Despite its low yield, the combination of quick maturation and drought tolerance and its ability to thrive in poor soils make it a useful model for understanding how cereals can adapt to future climate change conditions. Nutritionally, fonio is comparable to other millets, says KAUST researcher Naheed Tabassum, but yields are much lower than the major cereal crops rice, maize and wheat. Tabassum believes fonio could complement staple crops amid climate change and desertification ...

An international team of astronomers — including Clemson University astrophysicist Dieter Hartmann — obtained observational evidence for the creation of rare heavy elements in the aftermath of a cataclysmic explosion triggered by the merger of two neutron stars. The massive explosion unleashed a gamma-ray burst, GRB230307A, the second brightest in 50 years of observations and about 1,000 times brighter than a typical gamma-ray burst. GRB230307A was first detected by NASA’s Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope on March 7, 2023. Using multiple space- and ground-based ...

The metabolic process of bilirubin has been a focus in medical research since the abnormal accumulation of bilirubin has been found to be associated with a variety of diseases. Bilirubin is a substance produced by the breakdown of aging or damaged red blood cells, and its effective removal is essential for human health.  A research team led by Prof. CHEN Yuxing and Prof. ZHOU Congzhao from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has revealed the three-dimensional structure and working mechanism of the human bilirubin transporter ABCC2. The study was published ...

The metabolic process of bilirubin has been a focus in medical research since the abnormal accumulation of bilirubin has been found to be associated with a variety of diseases. Bilirubin is a substance produced by the breakdown of aging or damaged red blood cells, and its effective removal is essential for human health.  A research team led by Prof. CHEN Yuxing and Prof. ZHOU Congzhao from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has revealed ...

A new species and genus of fairy lantern, tiny glass-like white plants that feed on fungi, has been discovered in Japan. In the country renowned for its extensive flora research, the discovery of a new plant genus is extremely rare and has not occurred in almost 100 years. Fairy lanterns, or Thismiaceae as they are known to botany, are very unusual plants found mainly in tropical but also in subtropical and temperate regions. First of all, they are not green and do not engage in photosynthesis, but rather feed on fungal mycelia in the ground. As a consequence, they are often hidden under fallen leaves and only for a brief period produce above-ground flowers that look like glasswork. The ...

PHOENIX, February 29, 2024 — Research on patient-centered treatment of head and neck cancers will be presented at the 2024 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancers Symposium, which takes place in Phoenix and online today through March 2. Media registration is available via our press kit, and general registration is available via the meeting website. Seven high-impact studies recommended by symposium leadership for media are noted below. All abstracts are available online. Experts are available to provide outside commentary and perspective on research at the meeting; ...

Over the past two decades, the immune system has attracted increasing attention for its role in fighting cancer. As researchers have learned more and more about the cancer-immune system interplay, several antitumor immunotherapies have become FDA-approved and are now regularly used to treat multiple cancer types. Yet despite these advances, much remains unknown about how the immune system fights cancer — and about immunity in general, said Martin LaFleur, a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Arlene ...

In a first-of-its-kind development, UBC Okanagan researchers, in collaboration with Drexel University, have created a new compound that can be used to 3D print telecommunication antennas and other connectivity devices. These 3D printed products, created by combining a two-dimensional compound called MXenes with a polymer, can be used as an alternative for metallic counterparts and can make a vast improvement in communication technology including elements such as antennas, waveguides and filters. Waveguides are everywhere, yet most people don’t know what they are, says Dr. Mohammad Zarifi, a researcher in UBC Okanagan’s Microelectronics and Gigahertz ...

An estimated 4 to 8 million older adults with mild cognitive impairment are currently driving in the United States, and one-third of them will develop dementia within five years. Individuals with progressive dementias are eventually unable to drive safely, yet many remain unaware of their cognitive decline. Currently, screening and evaluation services for driving can only test a small number of individuals with cognitive concerns, missing many who need to know if they require treatment. Nursing, engineering and neuropsychology researchers at Florida Atlantic University are testing and evaluating a readily and rapidly available, unobtrusive in-vehicle sensing ...

(LOS ANGELES) – February 29, 2024 - The Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation (TIBI) is pleased to announce their selection of Professor Nicholas A. Peppas of The University of Texas at Austin as the recipient of the 2024 Paul Terasaki Distinguished Scientist Innovation Award. The award will be presented at TIBI’s 2nd annual Terasaki Innovation Summit, to be held March 27-29, 2024, at the UCLA Meyer & Renee Luskin Conference Center. The award was created in memory of Dr. Paul I. Terasaki, a pioneer in organ transplant research and innovation. It recognizes outstanding achievement in the field of biomedical ...

(LOS ANGELES) – February 29, 2024 - The Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation (TIBI) is pleased to announce their selections of Assistant Professors Amir Manbachi of Johns Hopkins University and Ritu Raman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as the recipients of the 2024 Hisako Terasaki Young Innovator Awards. The awards will be presented at TIBI’s 2nd annual Terasaki Innovation Summit, to be held March 27-29, 2024, at the UCLA Meyer & Renee Luskin Conference Center. The award was created in memory of Hisako Terasaki, philanthropist, accomplished artist, and wife ...

The latest Canada’s Food Guide presents a paradigm shift in nutrition advice, nixing traditional food groups, including meat and dairy, and stressing the importance of plant-based proteins. Yet, the full implications of replacing animal with plant protein foods in Canadians’ diets are unknown. New research at McGill University in collaboration with the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine provides compelling evidence that partially substituting animal with plant protein foods can increase life expectancy and decrease greenhouse gas emissions. Importantly, ...

More than ever before, there is a growing interest in dedicating resources to stop the loss of biodiversity, as recently exemplified by the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) decided at COP15 in December 2022. The GBF focuses on understanding why biodiversity is declining and what actions are needed to reverse this trend. However, according to researchers at McGill University, implementing the plan is challenging because information about biodiversity changes is not evenly available everywhere, and is uncertain in many places. With the available data, can the ...

Dr. Jung Unho's research team at the Hydrogen Research Department of the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) has developed Korea's first clean hydrogen production technology. This technology is based on ammonia decomposition and does not use fossil fuels. The team's breakthrough could pave the way for a more sustainable and eco-friendly energy source. This allows for the production of high-purity hydrogen that meets international standards for hydrogen-powered vehicles, without the carbon dioxide emissions produced by using fossil fuels. Ammonia, a compound of hydrogen and nitrogen, has a hydrogen storage density 1.7 times ...

Today’s commercial solar panels can convert about 15% to 20% of the sunlight they absorb into electrical energy — but they could be much more efficient, according to researchers at Soochow University. The next generation of solar cells has already demonstrated 26.1% efficiency, they said, but more specific research directions are needed to make such efficiency the standard and expand beyond it.   They published their review of the current state of research on high-efficiency perovskite solar cells and their recommendations for future work in Energy Materials and Devices on February 4.   “Metal halide perovskite ...

Only half of 34 surveyed European countries have national guidelines on how to provide clinical care and treatment to children who have experienced sexual abuse. This finding was revealed in a study led by researchers at Barnafrid, a national knowledge centre in the field of violence and other abuse against children, at Linköping University in Sweden. The consequences for the affected children can be severe, according to the researchers. “Our findings suggest that children in Europe may not receive equal care. From a child rights perspective, this is unacceptable. ...

Using a novel methodology, researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) are the first in paediatric research to use data from an international real-world cohort to overcome the barriers associated with conducting randomized clinical trials in children with rare diseases.  The gold standard for evaluating new therapeutics is through randomized clinical trials, where one group of individuals receives treatment while another does not. Unfortunately, conducting this type of clinical trial proves challenging for many rare conditions due to the limited number of individuals with the condition, making meaningful comparisons difficult. Additionally, ...

Rice University researchers have developed a rapid, accurate test for diagnosing malaria that is significantly faster and easier to use than traditional tests. The advancement has the potential to improve patient outcomes, especially in rural regions with limited health care resources. Malaria remains a significant global health challenge with an estimated 247 million cases and more than 600,000 deaths annually, the majority of which occur in sub-Saharan Africa. The most severe form, cerebral malaria, has a high mortality ...

Metal nanomaterials have become an indispensable part of industrial and medical fields due to their unique and versatile properties. Their size, which imparts them with the desired physiochemical properties, is also the reason for environmental and health concerns. The nano-sized particles in nanomaterials have shown high reactivity towards biomolecules and often even toxicity towards biological cells.   Scientists have attributed this behavior of metal nanoparticles in interaction with biomolecules to phenomena like inflammation or oxidative stress. However, to ensure the safe usage of metal nanoparticles, ...

People at risk of Alzheimer’s disease have impaired spatial navigation prior to problems with other cognitive functions, including memory, finds a new study led by UCL researchers.  The research, published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, used virtual reality to test the spatial navigation of 100 asymptomatic midlife adults, aged 43-66, from the PREVENT-Dementia prospective cohort study. Participants had a hereditary or physiological risk of Alzheimer’s disease, due to either a gene (the APOE-ε4 allele) that puts them at risk of the condition, a family history of Alzheimer’s disease, ...

A team of researchers led by Alexander Pohle has unveiled a treasure trove of ancient fossils from Queensland's Black Mountain. The findings, published in PeerJ Life & Environment, shed new light on the complex three-dimensional siphuncle morphology of Plectronoceratids, a pivotal group of molluscs from the latest Cambrian period. The study surpasses the entirety of previously documented Plectronoceratid fossils, presenting over 200 well-preserved specimens. These fossils, meticulously collected by the late Mary Wade and her team during the 1970s and 1980s, offer unprecedented insights into the intricate structures of these ancient creatures. Pohle's team focused on specimens ...