A research team led by Prof. HU Li at the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has revealed that parvalbumin (PV) interneurons in the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) preferentially encode pain intensity and drive nociceptive-evoked gamma oscillations (GBOs). Published online in Neuron on January 13, the study fills a longstanding gap in understanding the origins of nociceptive-evoked GBOs and their selective relationship with pain processing across different species. The findings suggest the potential for using these oscillations as a promising target for therapeutic interventions. Pain is a ...

INDIANAPOLIS – Due to the physical contact nature of their occupation, the elite athletes of the National Football League (NFL) often experience pain. However, an analysis of 2021 and 2022 data from the National Football League Prescription Drug Monitoring Program shows that team members in those two years were even less likely than both the general U.S. population and males of similar age living in the U.S., to have a prescription for an opioid pain medication. The study found that less than 3 percent of pain medications prescribed to the athletes who played in one or both of the two seasons were for opioids. Slightly more than 86 percent of the ...

The mosquito-borne Zika virus is known for causing microcephaly, a birth defect in which abnormal brain development results in a smaller-than-expected head. A new study published Jan. 13 in mBio shows that the Zika virus hijacks a host protein called ANKLE2, which happens to be important for brain development, to assist its own reproduction. Because Zika, unlike most related viruses, can cross the placenta, this can have disastrous consequences in pregnancy.  “It’s a case of Zika being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Priya Shah, associate professor in the departments of Microbiology and Molecular ...

The concentration of the population in cities is accelerating, and difficulties in maintaining various infrastructures are arising due to extreme weather. Extensive infrastructures like waste landfill facilities face significant challenges due to the difficulty for managers to stay on-site or access them. These maintenance issues are resulting in various problems, including environmental pollution. To solve these issues, Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT, President Sun Kyu, Park) has developed a cost-effective and high-efficiency maintenance technology using satellite ...

This work reveals a new mechanism by which brown fat is converted into heat, and which protects from pathologies associated with obesity. The MCJ protein is key to the fat burning mechanism now identified, making it a promising target for treating obesity, according to the authors in Nature Communications. The research is led by Guadalupe Sabio, from Spain’s National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), and Cintia Folgueira, from both CNIO and the National Centre for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC). Obesity, which affects 650 ...

‘True Food’ Research Database Offers Rankings for 50,000 Processed Foods   The database, developed by researchers at Mass General Brigham and made available to the public, sheds light on the availability of processed foods at different grocery stores, highlighting the need for more understanding and regulation of the foods offered     A new study by investigators from Mass General Brigham provides information to empower consumers and policymakers about the degree of processing of the foods available at three large grocery retailers. Using an algorithm, the researchers analyzed ...

Scientists at Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI) have solved a big mystery in cancer research – why cells die in different ways following radiotherapy. This surprising finding opens up new opportunities to improve treatment and increase cure rates. The findings were published in Nature Cell Biology by first author Dr Radoslaw Szmyd of CMRI’s Genome Integrity Unit, which is led by Professor Tony Cesare. Radiation therapy (also called radiotherapy) is a critically important type of cancer treatment. Scientists have struggled for decades to understand why radiation therapy kills cells from the ...

The most detailed study to date on the mechanisms by which a common type of bacterium, Staphylococcus aureus, adapts to living on the human body could help improve the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of certain infections. The study, from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the University of Cambridge, the Institute of Biomedicine of Valencia (IBV) at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and their collaborators, involved using the genomes of thousands of S. aureus isolates cultured from the human nose and on the skin to investigate which genes are important for the bacteria to adapt and persist. Published today (13 January) in Nature Communications, ...

Legions of battery engineers and their supporters have sought for years to build batteries cheaper than the dominant lithium-ion technology, hoping to capture some of lithium-ion’s $50 billion-a-year and growing market. The latest darling contender among researchers, startups, and venture capitalists – sodium-ion batteries – has received much attention after COVID-induced mineral supply chain challenges sent lithium prices on a wild ride. Still, achieving a low-cost contender may be several years away for sodium-ion batteries and will require a set of technology advances and favorable ...

Scientists from the Francis Crick Institute, UCL, UCLH and Personalis have found that a test to detect circulating tumour DNA can predict lung cancer outcome in a Cancer Research UK-funded study. Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) is fragments of DNA released into the blood by tumours. It’s known to be important for disease prognosis but can be difficult to measure precisely. In research published today in Nature Medicine, Crick and UCL scientists worked with Personalis to test a platform called NeXT Personal, which can detect very small amounts – 1 part per million – ...

Scientists have come a step closer to understanding how collisionless shock waves – found throughout the universe – are able to accelerate particles to extreme speeds. These shock waves are one of nature's most powerful particle accelerators and have long intrigued scientists for the role they play in producing cosmic rays – high-energy particles that travel across vast distances in space. The research, published today in Nature Communications, combines satellite observations from NASA’s MMS (Magnetospheric Multiscale) and THEMIS/ARTEMIS missions with recent theoretical advancements, offering a comprehensive new model ...

Living in a family where there is genetic risk for dementia significantly affects choices about having children and how to parent, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The research, published in the Journal of Genetic Counselling, interviewed 13 people – both parents and non-parents – who are at risk of developing familial frontotemporal dementia (fFTD). This form of dementia often begins in mid-life and is characterised by behavioural and personality changes. Children of an affected parent are at 50% risk of inheriting the gene that causes the disease. People in affected families fall into three groups: people who don’t choose to find out whether ...

A recent population-based study indicates that among children with cancer, those with obesity at the time of diagnosis may face an elevated risk of dying. The findings are published by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. The retrospective study was based on information from the Cancer in Young People in Canada (CYP-C) database, including all children with newly diagnosed cancer aged 2 to 18 years across Canada from 2001 to 2020. Obesity was defined as age and sex-adjusted body mass index at or above the 95th percentile. Among ...

The language ‘engines’ that power generative artificial intelligence (AI) are plagued by a wide range of issues that can hurt society, most notably through the spread of misinformation and discriminatory content, including racist and sexist stereotypes.   In large part these failings of popular AI systems, such as ChatGPT, are due to shortcomings with the language databases upon which they are trained.  To address these issues, researchers from the University of Birmingham have developed a novel framework for better understanding large language ...

Technological advances have led to the widespread use of electric devices and vehicles. These innovations are not only convenient but also environmentally friendly, offering an alternative to polluting fuel-driven machines. Lithium ion batteries (LIBs) are widely used in electrical appliances and vehicles. Commercial LIBs comprise an organic electrolyte solution, which is considered indispensable to make them energy efficient. However, ensuring safety becomes a concern and may be difficult to achieve with the rising market demand. While solid-state batteries can help mitigate safety issues, the interface between solid electrodes and the ...

Rewards and financial incentives are successful methods to help people quit smoking, according to a new Cochrane review co-led by a University of Massachusetts Amherst public health and health policy researcher. For the first time, the researchers also found “high-certainty evidence” that this intervention works for pregnant people as well.   A previous review of studies, also published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, found moderate certainty that financial ...

Offering rewards helps people to stop smoking, with success rates continuing long after incentives have stopped.  The new research, led by the University of East Anglia, also explored whether incentives were effective in helping pregnant women to give up smoking.  While previous research found rewards played a moderate role in encouraging pregnant women to quit smoking, this up-to-date study found there is now “high certainty evidence” that such schemes are successful in this ...

Ecologists at the School of Biological Sciences of The University of Hong Kong (HKU) have made valuable discoveries that could transform the conservation of two iconic cockatoo species: the Sulphur-crested cockatoos and the critically endangered Yellow-crested cockatoos – with only 2,000 individuals remaining in the wild for the latter. Until now, no whole-genome research had been conducted on either species, which were identified solely by subtle morphological differences. Through two innovative studies, the team ...

Key Takeaways: A new Perspective piece in The New England Journal of Medicine led by the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute examined the increasing frequency of physician strikes around the globe. The piece is one of the first to provide international lessons on balancing physician collective bargaining rights with patient protections in the U.S. The findings underscore the urgent need for regulatory reforms to address the increasing frequency of physician strikes and ensure the sustainability of the healthcare system. Boston, MA – A ...

From the persistent droughts of southern Africa and Central America in the early part of the year to the more recent devastating extreme rainfall in Spain and the deadly Hurricane Helene along America’s east coast, 2024 has been a year of climate events that affected the lives of billions of people.   In a recent paper published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, an international team of scientists led by Dr Wenxia Zhang at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, provide an overview of the characteristics and impacts of the most notable extreme events of the year, including rainfall and flooding, ...

Tokyo, Japan – Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have created nanostructured alumina surfaces which are strongly antibacterial but can be used to culture cells. They found that anodic porous alumina (APA) surfaces prepared using electrochemistry in concentrated sulfuric acid had unprecedented resistance to bacterial growth, but did not hamper cell cultures. The team’s technology promises to have a big impact on regenerative medicine, where high quality cell cultures without bacterial contamination may be produced without ...

A new tablet combining albendazole and ivermectin is safe and more effective than albendazole alone in treating Trichuris trichiura and other soil-transmitted helminths (STH), according to a clinical trial conducted by the STOP consortium and led by the Barcelona Institute of Global Health (ISGlobal), a centre supported by “la Caixa” Foundation. The findings, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, open opportunities to improve the control of these neglected tropical infections, which affect around ...

In an effort to close the gap in neurological outcomes for underserved populations, a UTHealth Houston project funded with $2.9 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will engage community partners to improve the design of clinical trials. Neurologic conditions including stroke, Parkinson’s disease, and vascular cognitive impairment and dementia contribute to the leading causes of death and disability in the U.S. The goal of the project is to build an infrastructure for community-engaged research interventions for those three neurologic conditions affecting brain health. “Historically, clinical trials for neurological conditions haven’t ...

Depression can affect anyone. It is common, and in many cases severe. These days, there are good treatments available, typically involving a combination of psychotherapy and medication. However, finding the right treatment can take some time. Not everyone responds equally well to every medication. Researchers at six European university medical centers, led by Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, teamed up to accelerate the process of arriving at solid findings relating to both new and known treatments. The key will be a joint study design, supported over the ...

Researchers from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, alongside mainland collaborators, have uncovered an unexpected phenomenon: severe wintertime ozone (O₃) pollution in Lanzhou, China, driven primarily by alkene emissions from local petrochemical industries. Traditionally associated with warm weather and strong solar radiation, hourly O₃ levels exceeding 100 ppbv were recorded during cold January days in 2018, peaking at an alarming 121 ppbv.   Using an advanced photochemical box model, the study identified alkene ozonolysis as ...