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 ...

High levels of ammonia kill liver cells by damaging the mitochondria that power the cells. But this can be prevented using an existing drug due to start clinical trials, finds a new study in mice led by researchers from UCL. The study, published in Science Advances, is the first to observe that build-up of ammonia (hyperammonaemia) can harm liver cells and describe how this damage occurs in mouse models that are clinically relevant for humans. Hyperammonaemia is known to cause brain dysfunction in those with liver disease, ...

Philadelphia, March 7, 2025 – After many decades of research, the dairy sector has a significant body of peer-reviewed research showing that feed additives can effectively reduce methane, the greenhouse gas that makes up most of dairy’s environmental footprint. Yet the practical use of this knowledge on farms—as well as general awareness around additive effectiveness and safety—is still gaining momentum. At this critical point in the dairy sector’s pathway to a net-zero future, the Journal of Dairy Science, the leading general dairy research journal from ...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Eradivir, a clinical-stage small molecule immunotherapy biotech company, announced it has begun a Phase 2 challenge study with its antiviral therapeutic, EV25. The study will provide safety and efficacy data gathered from otherwise healthy participants infected with influenza then later treated with EV25. EV25 was built on a platform created in Philip Low’s lab. Low is the Presidential Scholar for Drug Discovery and the Ralph C. Corley Distinguished Professor of Chemistry in Purdue University’s College of Science. Low is Eradivir’s chief scientific officer and on its board of directors. The European Medicines ...

Puerto Madryn, Argentina – A new study published in PeerJ Life and Environment reveals that the teeth of South American sea lions (Otaria byronia) hold valuable clues about past population dynamics. Researchers from the Instituto de Biología de Organismos Marinos, the Centro para el Estudio de Sistemas Marinos, and the Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco analysed changes intooth size and growth layer groups (GLGs) over the ...

East Hanover, NJ – March 7, 2024 – The employment rate for people with disabilities saw a slight dip in February but continued to fluctuate around a steady plateau of approximately 37.5%. While these dips can trigger speculation about broader policy implications, nTIDE experts cautioned that it is premature to attribute changes to recent shifts in federal employment policies. The employment-to-population ratio for people with disabilities remained stable. nTIDE is issued by Kessler Foundation and the ...

Researchers in the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine, the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Brisbane, Australia, and collaborating institutions report a groundbreaking discovery in cardiac regeneration that offers new hope for the treatment of ischemic heart failure. Published in npj Regenerative Medicine, the study reveals a novel approach to promoting cardiomyocyte proliferation. “When the heart cannot replace injured cardiomyocytes with healthy ones, it becomes progressively ...

Elevated concentrations of fluoride can occur in well water, and in some countries, it is added to drinking water to counteract caries in the population. A study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden now supports a few previous studies indicating that exposure to fluoride during the fetal stage or early childhood may impair cognition in children. The study is published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. Fluoride occurs naturally as fluoride ions in drinking water, but the concentrations are generally low in ...

A recent study published in Engineering presents a significant advancement in improving the toughness of polypropylene (PP), a widely used thermoplastic material. The research, led by Zhiyi Zhang and Qiang Zheng from Taiyuan University of Technology and Zhejiang University, focuses on developing a novel core–shell structured composite to enhance PP’s performance at low temperatures. PP has many advantages, such as high thermal and chemical resistance, but its low-temperature toughness is a limiting ...

A new report looking at adults’ views on education topics shows more partisan agreement about how to educate students for citizenship than many might think, yet sharp partisan divide around issues of diversity, equity and inclusion policies on college campuses and free speech.  The report, published by the USC Center for Applied Research in Education, a center housed within USC Dornsife’s Center for Economic and Social Research, in partnership with the USC EdPolicy Hub, is based on a nationally representative, probability-based ...

Researchers from the University of Electro-Communications (Akira Sumiyoshi and Jun Nakamura) and Tohoku University (Kohei Yamasue and Yasuo Cho) have made a significant advancement in visualizing the local dipole moments at the semiconductor surface. This study offers unprecedented insights into the atomic-scale charge distribution and dipole configuration using a combination of the scanning nonlinear dielectric microscope (SNDM) and advanced density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The ...

A new study published in Engineering introduces LearningEMS, a unified framework and open-source benchmark designed to revolutionize the development and assessment of energy management strategies (EMS) for electric vehicles (EVs). The automotive industry has recently undergone a transformative shift fueled by the growing global emphasis on sustainability and environmental conservation. EVs have become a crucial part of the future of transportation. However, effectively managing the energy in EVs, especially those with complex power ...

A new analysis from researchers at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History reveals that nearly half of the genus Heliconia, a group of tropical plants popular for their bright, beak-shaped flowers, are threatened with extinction. The findings, published today, March 7, in the journal Plants, People, Planet, reveal that many of these imperiled plants are not found within protected areas or botanical gardens, making additional conservation action crucial to saving these charismatic, horticulturally important and ecologically significant floras. The new work places Heliconia among a select group of plants to undergo a detailed, comprehensive ...

New research from the University of Oxford has provided fresh insights into how bird songs evolve over time, revealing a significant role for population dynamics in shaping song diversity and change. The findings – based on an analysis of over 100,000 bird songs – have been published today (7 March) in the journal Current Biology.  The researchers spent three years collecting over twenty thousand hours of sound recordings from a wild population of great tits (Parus major) in Oxfordshire, which has been studied for the past 77 years as part of the Wytham Great Tit study. ...

About 7% of U.S. adults have been present at the scene of a mass shooting in their lifetime, and more than 2% have been injured during one, according to new University of Colorado Boulder research. The study, published March 7 in the journal JAMA Network Open, also found that younger generations were significantly more likely to have been exposed than their parents or grandparents were. Generation Z— adults born after 1996—were at greatest risk. “This study confirms that mass shootings are not isolated tragedies, but ...

About The Study: In this systematic review and meta-analysis of depression and anxiety among individuals with chronic pain, approximately 40% of adults had clinically significant depression and anxiety. Women, younger people, and people with nociplastic pain were most likely to have depression and anxiety. The co-occurrence of chronic pain with depression and anxiety is a significant public health concern necessitating routine screening in clinical settings, equitable access to specialty care, and innovative treatment development. Corresponding Author: To contact ...

About The Study: The findings from this survey study of U.S. adults underscore the extensive and often overlooked regular exposure to mass shootings in this country. The demographic disparities in exposure highlight the need for targeted interventions and support for the most affected groups, particularly younger generations and males. Understanding these patterns is essential for addressing the broader impacts of gun violence on public health and community well-being. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, David C. Pyrooz, PhD, email david.pyrooz@colorado.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website ...

HOUSTON – (March 7, 2025) – A new study published in Cell Reports reveals a breakthrough discovery linking genetic variants in the gene ITSN1 to a significantly elevated risk of Parkinson’s disease, a neurodegenerative condition that affects nearly 2% of adults older than 65 years. This work, led by an international team of researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, AstraZeneca and the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital, could pave the way for new treatments aimed at slowing or preventing Parkinson’s disease progression. “Parkinson’s disease, the ...

“Forests are among the most important ecosystems in nature, constantly evolving, yet their monitoring is often delayed,” says Rytis Maskeliūnas, a professor at Kaunas University of Technology (KTU). Climate change, pests, and human activity are transforming forests faster than we can track them – some changes become apparent only when the damage is already irreversible. KTU researchers are proposing innovative technological solutions: an innovative forest regeneration model and a sound analysis system that can predict forest conditions and detect environmental changes in real time. Forest ...

Background and objectives Recent studies have highlighted a link between amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and gut microbiota. This prospective study aimed to evaluate the effects of electroacupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine on gut microbiota and metabolomics in ALS patients. Methods Ten ALS patients were randomly assigned to either a treatment group (electroacupuncture with Chinese herbal medicine, n = 6) or a control group (waiting treatment, n = 4). Healthy controls (age- and sex-matched, n = 10) were also included. Data were collected after 12 sessions of electroacupuncture and follow-ups at three and six months. ALS ...

A new study has uncovered how the brain seamlessly transforms sounds, speech patterns, and words into the flow of everyday conversations. Using advanced technology to analyze over 100 hours of brain activity during real-life discussions, researchers revealed the intricate pathways that allow us to effortlessly speak and understand. These insights not only deepen our understanding of human connection but also pave the way for transformative advancements in speech technology and communication tools. [Hebrew University of Jerusalem]– A new study led by Dr. Ariel Goldstein, from the Department of Cognitive and Brain Sciences and the Business School at ...