High demand for eel combined with decline in stock have resulted in soaring prices for this food item, which in many cultures, is considered a delicacy. This has fuelled a concern globally as the prized food item is now being illegally traded from Europe to Asia. Current research has focused on the critically endangered Anguilla anguilla, commonly known as the European eel. While its export outside the European Union is tightly regulated, large quantities of A. anguilla juveniles continue to be smuggled ...

Next-generation imaging technology is rapidly expanding beyond smartphones into intelligent devices, robotics, extended reality (XR) devices, healthcare, CCTV, and various other industries. At the core of these technological advances are highly efficient, ultra-compact image sensors that convert light signals into electrical signals. Image sensors capture and process visual information from objects and environments, enabling precise reconstruction of their shape, size, and spatial position. Currently, commercial image sensors are primarily based on silicon semiconductors. ...

A new study examining the effects of sleep patterns and shift work on the immune system has found that sleep debt and night shifts increase the risk of several common infections in nurses.  Modern society relies on shift work, which requires employees to work outside of traditional hours. While essential in sectors such as healthcare, growing evidence suggests that these work patterns may negatively impact worker’s health.  This study, which analysed self-reported data from 1,335 Norwegian nurses, found that shift work – particularly night shifts – was associated with a higher risk of several infections, including the ...

CHICAGO — A new scientific study provides many new insights into the biology of the prehistoric gigantic shark, Megalodon or megatooth shark, which lived nearly worldwide 15-3.6 million years ago. Paleobiology professor Kenshu Shimada of DePaul University led the study along with 28 other shark, fossil, and vertebrate anatomy experts around the globe. Findings from the study will be published in the journal “Palaeontologia Electronica.” Formally called Otodus megalodon, it is primarily known only from its serrated teeth, vertebrae, ...

The megalodon has long been imagined as an enormous great white shark, but new research suggests that perception is all wrong. The study finds the prehistoric hunter had a much longer body—closer in shape to a lemon shark or even a large whale. The study team, which included researchers from University of California, Riverside and across the globe, used a novel approach to estimate the shark’s total body length, moving beyond traditional methods that rely primarily on tooth size. By examining megalodon’s vertebral column and comparing ...

Research Highlights: Increased physical activity including taking more daily steps was linked to a lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease among postmenopausal women with a history of cancer. The study found that engaging in one hour per day of moderate to vigorous physical activity reduced participants’ risk of death from any cause by 40% and risk of death from cardiovascular disease by 60%. Each additional 2,500 steps per day for a participant was associated with a 34% reduction in risk of death from cardiovascular disease. Note: The study featured in this news release is a research abstract. Abstracts presented ...

A recent study published in Engineering delves into the latest progress in intracortical neural interface technologies for freely moving animals. These interfaces, which establish a connection between the nervous system and external devices, have the potential to revolutionize neuroscience research and clinical medicine. The researchers, led by Xinxia Cai, Zhaojie Xu and Yirong Wu, analyzed four key technological directions for ideal implantable neural interface devices: higher spatial density, improved biocompatibility, enhanced multimodal detection of electrical/neurotransmitter signals, and more effective neural modulation. In terms of high spatial density, microelectrode ...

A recent paper published in the journal Engineering delves into the future of artificial intelligence (AI) beyond large language models (LLMs). LLMs have made remarkable progress in multimodal tasks, yet they face limitations such as outdated information, hallucinations, inefficiency, and a lack of interpretability. To address these issues, researchers explore three key directions: knowledge empowerment, model collaboration, and model co-evolution. Knowledge empowerment aims to integrate external knowledge into LLMs. This can be achieved through various methods, including integrating knowledge ...

Tokyo, Japan – The XRISM collaboration have discovered flows of hot gas in the core of the Centaurus Cluster. By comparing state-of-the-art X-ray measurements from the XRISM satellite with numerical simulations, they showed this is evidence for collisions between galaxy clusters, causing gas inside to “slosh”. This solves the longstanding mystery of how cluster cores stay hot, and sheds light on how our universe continues to evolve.   Astronomers have long envisioned how vast gravitational forces ...

Incidents of children in the U.S. being poisoned by the synthetic opioid fentanyl “increased and became more severe”, a new study reveals. Launched today as Congress continues to review the HALT Fentanyl Act, the research follows an analysis of nonfatal fentanyl pediatric (aged 0-19) exposures reported to poison centers in 49 U.S. states from 2015 through to 2023. In total, some 3,009 cases were detailed across the eight-year period. In 2023 alone, 44.6% were life-threatening incidents in which there was extreme harm ...

Humans may not be the only ones who aid their friends when they’re hurt. Mice may do it, too, as shown by a new research study led by scientists at the Keck School of Medicine of USC published recently in Science. Scientists have been trying to understand why social mammals appear to help injured members of their species. There are numerous factors that determine empathetic behavior and social bonding in mammals, said Li Zhang, the principal investigator of the study and professor of physiology and neuroscience ...

An ambitious project led by Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators aims to use artificial intelligence technologies to generate antibody therapies against any antigen target of interest. VUMC has been awarded up to $30 million from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to build a massive antibody-antigen atlas, develop AI-based algorithms to engineer antigen-specific antibodies, and apply the AI technology to identify and develop potential therapeutic antibodies. ARPA-H is an ...

A new review article highlights the transformative role of circular RNA (circRNA) in cancer, revealing its potential as both a key player in tumor biology and a promising avenue for future therapies. Once thought to be noncoding RNA, circRNA has now been shown to encode functional proteins, challenging conventional RNA biology and opening up novel therapeutic possibilities. Unlike traditional messenger RNA, circRNAs form a continuous loop, lacking the typical 5' cap and 3' tail. This unique structure was originally believed to preclude them from protein translation. However, recent discoveries demonstrate that specific internal ribosome entry sites (IRES) and N6-methyladenosine ...

Lung cancer remains one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality, with lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) representing the most prevalent subtypes of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Despite their classification under the same umbrella, these two forms of lung cancer exhibit distinct genetic landscapes, therapeutic targets, and treatment responses. Recent advancements in next-generation gene sequencing have identified key driver genes that differentiate LUAD and LUSC, influencing their respective clinical management approaches. LUAD is frequently associated ...

A study published March 6 in The Lancet Regional Health — Americas highlights a growing divide in cardiovascular health in the U.S., showing that wealth and education play a significant role in heart disease risk.  The research, led by Salma Abdalla, MBBS, DrPH, an assistant professor of public health at Washington University in St. Louis, reveals that the top 20% of high-income, college-educated Americans have far lower rates of cardiovascular disease than the rest of the population — disparities ...

This review highlights the critical role of ubiquitination in governing the functionality of cancer stem cells (CSCs), shedding light on potential therapeutic targets for combating tumor progression, recurrence, and drug resistance. Published in Genes & Diseases, this article explores the intricate mechanisms through which the ubiquitin (Ub) system regulates key pathways essential for CSC maintenance and survival. Ubiquitination, a fundamental post-translational modification, plays a pivotal role in protein stability, cellular signaling, and gene expression, particularly in the context of CSCs. Dysregulation ...

A new review highlights the pivotal role of LSD1 (lysine-specific demethylase 1) in regulating critical cellular processes and its implications for human diseases. This article sheds light on how post-translational modifications (PTMs) influence LSD1 activity, impacting its function in gene regulation and disease progression. LSD1 is a histone demethylase that plays a significant role in chromatin remodeling and gene expression by modifying histone H3 lysine residues. It interacts with various protein complexes, allowing it to serve as both a transcriptional activator and repressor. The intricate modifications ...

Surgeons and teams with Vanderbilt Lung Transplant performed 99 lung transplants in 2024, the most ever in one year. Two of the procedures involved combined organ transplants. For the second calendar year in a row, Vanderbilt Lung Transplant has the busiest program in the Southeast and leads the nation in innovation in organ preservation and regeneration. The Vanderbilt Transplant Center is now home to the nation’s eighth largest lung transplant program by volume, and is among the best in long-term outcomes, demonstrating the ...

The critical role of EZH2, an essential epigenetic regulator, in cancer progression and treatment is underscored in this new review article published in Genes & Diseases. The study highlights the transformative potential of EZH2 inhibition, paving the way for a new generation of targeted therapies aimed at disrupting tumor growth and overcoming treatment resistance. EZH2, a core component of the Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2), plays a fundamental role in silencing tumor suppressor genes through histone methylation. Its overexpression has been ...

Quantum information processing is a field that relies on the entanglement of multiple photons to process vast amounts of information. However, creating multiphoton entanglement is a challenging task. Traditional methods either use quantum nonlinear optical processes, which are inefficient for large numbers of photons, or linear beam-splitting and quantum interference, which require complex setups prone to issues like loss and crosstalk. A team of researchers from Peking University, Southern University of Science and Technology, and the University of Science and Technology of China recently made ...

Up to 10% of cancers are caused by genes that can be easily detected by commercially available tests. These include such common cancers as cancer of the breast, ovary, colon, stomach, uterus and pancreas.  “We don’t routinely screen for cancer susceptibility genes in primary-care settings because genetic testing is often considered too complicated and primary care doctors already have so many things they need to address,” noted lead author Dr. Elizabeth Swisher, a UW Medicine gynecological oncologist. "But it is an opportunity lost.”  In the JAMA Network Open study published ...

A recent study published in Engineering presents an innovative acoustofluidics-based approach for intracellular nanoparticle delivery. This method offers a new way to transport various functional nanomaterials into different cell types, potentially revolutionizing therapeutic applications and biophysical studies. The efficient delivery of biomolecular cargos into cells is crucial for biomedical research, including gene therapies and drug delivery. However, traditional delivery methods such as endocytosis of nano-vectors, microinjection, and electroporation have limitations. They may require time-consuming processes, complex operations, or expensive equipment. ...

Sulfate-reducing bacteria break down a large proportion of the organic carbon in oxygen-free zones of the Earth, and in the seabed in particular. Among these important microbes, the Desulfobacteraceae family of bacteria stands out because its members are able to break down a wide variety of compounds – including some that are poorly degradable – to their end product, carbon dioxide (CO2). A team of researchers led by Dr Lars Wöhlbrand and Prof. Dr Ralf Rabus from the University of Oldenburg, Germany, has investigated the role ...

When spiders spin their webs, they use their hind legs to pull silk threads from their spinnerets. This pulling action doesn’t just help the spider release the silk, it’s also a crucial step in strengthening the silk fibers for a more durable web. In a new study, Northwestern University researchers have discovered why the role of stretching is so important. By simulating spider silk in a computational model, the team discovered the stretching process aligns the protein chains within the fibers and increases the number of bonds between those ...

On ten thousand to million years time scales, climate dynamics on the Earth’s surface are driven by both external and internal processes. Earth`s interior provides heat from radioactive decay and chemical compounds by volcanic degassing, such as sulfur dioxide (SO2) and carbon dioxide (CO2). Quasiperiodic changes in Earth’s orbit around the sun regulate the amount of incoming solar radiation on the planet’s surface as well as its distribution across latitudes, affecting the length and intensity ...