Researchers at the University of Arizona’s Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health received a $1.75 million Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grant to conduct a community-based, participatory research study designed to improve vaccine uptake in Arizona’s rural and border communities.  Vaccination is a highly effective public health intervention that saves millions of lives per year, yet vaccination rates have declined in recent years for a variety of reasons, ranging from safety concerns to religious and philosophical objections. “Vaccination is a cornerstone of public health,” said co-principal investigator Tomas ...

Macrophage cells are the immune system’s frontline soldiers, early on the scene to protect the body from foreign invaders. These cells answer the immune system's critical question for the rest of its troops: friend or foe?  As critical responders, macrophages can perceive helpful biotechnology as threats. If not created with the right materials or mechanical forces, these devices can trigger an immune response that can cause inflammation, scar tissue or device failure. But what is the right material or the right mechanical force? In a meta-analysis co-led ...

Beyond colorful coral reefs and diverse nearshore ecosystems, Pacific Ocean waters surrounding the Hawaiian Islands have comparatively little marine life and low biological productivity. New research published by University of Hawai‘i (UH) at Mānoa oceanographers showed that eddies on the leeward side of the Hawaiian Islands can supply nutrients, not only locally, but also to the opposite side of the island chain and stimulate blooms of phytoplankton, microscopic plant life that lives in the surface ocean.  The study, published in JGR Oceans, was selected by the American Geophysical Union’s editorial board as a featured article. “While ...

Rice University together with Baylor College of Medicine and the Houston Methodist Academic Institute has awarded seed grants in support of research on health equity and digital health. Spearheaded by Rice’s Educational and Research Initiatives for Collaborative Health (ENRICH) office in collaboration with the two partnering institutions in the Texas Medical Center (TMC), the seed grant opportunity followed the Health Equity Workshop hosted earlier this year by Rice’s Digital Health Initiative. “To achieve equitable health outcomes, a comprehensive approach is essential — one ...

While many people believe that poor sleep during pregnancy is inevitable, new research has determined that cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBTi) while pregnant can not only improve sleep patterns but also address postpartum depression. Researchers from UBC’s Okanagan and Vancouver campuses, as well as the University of Calgary, discovered that delivering CBTi during pregnancy significantly reduces postpartum depressive symptoms after a baby arrives. “Early intervention is crucial for infant and parental mental health,” says Dr. Elizabeth Keys, an Assistant Professor in UBCO’s School of Nursing and a study co-author. “Our research explores how addressing ...

When light conditions rapidly change, our eyes have to respond to this change in fractions of a second to maintain stable visual processing. This is necessary when, for example, we drive through a forest and thus move through alternating stretches of shadows and clear sunlight. "In situations like these, it is not enough for the photoreceptors to adapt, but an additional corrective mechanism is required," said Professor Marion Silies of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU). "Earlier work undertaken by her research group had already demonstrated that such a corrective 'gain control' mechanism exists ...

Researchers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona have created the first blueprint of the human spliceosome, the most complex and intricate molecular machine inside every cell. The scientific feat, which took more than a decade to complete, is published today in the journal Science. The spliceosome edits genetic messages transcribed from DNA, allowing cells to create different versions of a protein from a single gene. The vast majority of human genes – more than nine in ten – are edited by the spliceosome. Errors in the process are linked to a wide spectrum of diseases including most types of cancer, neurodegenerative conditions and genetic ...

An analysis of social media posts that mention food and beverage products finds that fast food restaurants and sugar sweetened beverages are the most common, with millions of posts reaching billions of users over the course of a year. The study, published in the open access journal PLOS Digital Health, highlights the sheer volume of content normalising unhealthy eating, and argues that policies are needed to protect young people in the digital food environment. Obesity is a health challenge around the world and food environments, including in the digital space, can influence ...

People with stronger autistic trails showed distinct exploration patterns and higher levels of persistence in a computer game, ultimately resulting in better performance than people with lower scores of autistic traits, according to a new study published this week in PLOS Computational Biology by Francesco Poli of Radboud Universiteit, the Netherlands, and colleagues. Scientists know that individuals display curiosity and explore their environments to learn. How a person selects what they want to explore plays a pivotal role in how they learn and research has shown that exploration levels are highly variable across ...

Key takeaways According to Bredt's rule, double bonds cannot exist at certain positions on organic molecules if the molecule's geometry deviates too far from what we learn in textbooks. This rule has constrained chemists for a century. A new paper in Science shows how to make molecules that violate Bredt’s rule, allowing chemists to find practical ways to make and use them in reactions. UCLA chemists have found a big problem with a fundamental rule of organic chemistry that has been around for 100 years — it’s ...

A single enzyme fine-tunes red and yellow pigments in parrots’ polychromatic plumage, according to a new study. The findings reveal new insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the evolution and display of color variation in one of nature’s most colorful birds. Colors play a central role in ecological adaptation and communication in the natural world. This is particularly true for birds, which are especially notable among animals for their wide range of vibrant plumage colors and patterns. Among birds, ...

By blindfolding Kuhl's pipistrelle bats and tracking their movements with novel GPS technology, researchers show that the tiny creatures can navigate over several kilometers using only echolocation. The findings highlight the animal’s ability to create and use detailed mental acoustic maps of their surroundings. Echolocating bats are known for their ability to nimbly avoid obstacles and catch tiny prey using only sound. However, echolocation is short-ranged and highly directional, allowing for the detection of large objects within only a few dozen meters, limiting its effectiveness for navigation compared to other senses, like vision. ...

Early-life sugar restriction – beginning in utero – can protect against diabetes and hypertension later in life, according to a new study leveraging data from post-World War II sugar rationing in the United Kingdom. The findings highlight critical long-term health benefits from reduced sugar intake during the first 1000 days of life. The first 1000 days from conception – from gestation until age 2 – is a critical period for long-term health. Poor diet during this window has been linked to negative health outcomes in adulthood. Despite dietary guidelines recommending zero added sugar in early life, high sugar exposure is ...

Indigenous burning practices in Australia once halved shrub cover, reducing available fuels and limiting wildfire intensity for thousands of years, but the removal of these practices following European colonization has led to an increase in the tinder that has fueled today’s catastrophic megafires, researchers report. The findings suggest that reintroducing cultural burning practices could provide a strategy to curb future fires. “Through detailed histories of Indigenous burning regimes across the world and Indigenous-led collaborations in contemporary wildfire management ...

Echolocating bats have been found to possess an acoustic cognitive map of their home range, enabling them to navigate over kilometer-scale distances using echolocation alone. This finding, recently published in Science, was demonstrated by researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, the Cluster of Excellence Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour at the University of Konstanz Germany, Tel Aviv University, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. Would you be able to instantly recognize ...

Most people who visit a doctor when they feel unwell seek a diagnosis and a treatment plan. But for some 30 million Americans with rare diseases, their symptoms don’t match well-known disease patterns, sending families on diagnostic odysseys that can last years or even lifetimes. But a cross-disciplinary team of researchers and physicians from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and colleagues from around the world has solved the mystery of a child with a rare genetic illness that did not fit any known disease. The team found a link between the child’s neurological symptoms and a genetic change that affects how proteins ...

Research led by the University of Michigan has provided compelling  evidence that could solve a fundamental mystery in the makeup of fibrils that play a role in Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases. "We've seen that patients have these fibril structures in their brains for a long time now," said Ursula Jakob, senior author of the new study. "But the questions are what do these fibrils do? What is their role in disease? And, most importantly, can we do something to get rid of them if they are responsible for these devastating diseases?" Although the new finding does not explicitly answer those questions, it may provide a missing ...

Notes to editors For further information please contact:   Karen Nower Media Office, Royal Society of Medicine M: +44 (0)7587 084402 E: media@rsm.ac.uk The Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (JRSM) has been ranked as one of the world’s top ten general medicine journals for the first time. Being placed tenth out of 329 ‘general and internal medicine’ titles in Clarivate’s 2023 Journal Citation Reports (JCR), this is JRSM’s highest ever ranking to date, having risen yearly ...

An international research collaboration has completed the most detailed genome assembly to date of grass pea (Lathyrus sativus). This new chromosome-scale reference genome published in Scientific Data offers new potential to accelerate modern breeding of this underutilised legume for climate-smart agriculture. Nearly twice the size of the human genome, the sequence was assembled from scratch and improves on an earlier draft assembly of the vigorous grass pea line LS007. “We ...

CAMBRDIGE, MA – Wearable devices like smartwatches and fitness trackers interact with parts of our bodies to measure and learn from internal processes, such as our heart rate or sleep stages. Now, MIT researchers have developed wearable devices that may be able to perform similar functions for individual cells inside the body. These battery-free, subcellular-sized devices, made of a soft polymer, are designed to gently wrap around different parts of neurons, such as axons and dendrites, without damaging the cells, upon wireless actuation with light. By snugly wrapping neuronal processes, they could be used to measure ...

    Images   Stents to treat various blockages in the human body can themselves become blocked, but a new sensor developed at the University of Michigan for stents that are used in the bile duct may one day help doctors detect and treat stent blockages early, helping keep patients healthier.   Bile duct blockages can cause jaundice, liver damage and potentially life-threatening infections. Conditions that cause the bile ducts to narrow and close, including pancreatic and liver ...

Author Q&A: Debra Whitman, Global Aging Expert and Author of “The Second Fifty” Date: Thursday, November 14 Time: 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. PT Location: Seattle Convention Center Arch Building Room 305 Registration: GSA 2024 Annual Scientific Meeting media registration is required to attend this event. During this meet-the-author media roundtable, Debra Whitman, executive vice president and chief public policy officer at AARP, will discuss her new book, “The Second Fifty: Answers to the 7 Big ...

Groundbreaking research exploring the experiences of autistic psychiatrists has revealed that psychiatrists who are unaware that they themselves are autistic may fail to recognise the condition in their patients. The study, conducted by researchers from University College Dublin, London South Bank University, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, is the first of its kind to delve into the lives of neurodivergent psychiatrists. It was published today in BJPsych Open. "Knowing that you are autistic can be positively life-changing," said the study author Dr Mary Doherty, Clinical Associate ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Scientists investigating animal viruses with potential to infect humans have identified a critical protein that could enable spillover of a family of organisms called arteriviruses. In a new study, researchers identified a protein in mammals that welcomes arteriviruses into host cells to start an infection. The team also found that an existing monoclonal antibody that binds to this protein protects cells from viral infection. Arteriviruses circulate broadly in many types of mammals around the world that serve as natural hosts – such as ...

The visible universe — all the potatoes, gas giants, steamy romance novels, black holes, questionable tattoos, and overwritten sentences — accounts for only 5 percent of the cosmos. A Virginia Tech-led team is hunting for the rest of it, not with telescopes or particle colliders, but by scrutinizing billion-year-old rocks for traces of dark matter. In leading a transdisciplinary team from multiple universities on this unconventional search, physics’ Patrick Huber is also taking an unconventional step: from theoretical work into experimental work. With support from a $3.5 million Growing Convergence Research ...