Background and objectives Albumin is a major prognostic factor for patients with advanced liver disease, dependent on its concentration and biological activity. This study aimed to improve the method of active albumin detection and elucidate its predictive validity of albumin activity across hepatic disease progression and etiology. Methods This study synthesized a novel ratiometric fluorescent probe with an improved structure of 2′-FBPBN. The technique was used to detect native human albumin (HA) activity in 244 patients with hepatitis B cirrhosis (LC) and 66 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Clinical and laboratory data were also collected. Results Patients ...

A groundbreaking study led by Prof. Dr. Hitoshi Yamamoto (Rissho University) and his collaborators from, Soka University, Koriyama Women’s College, and the RINRI Institute has made significant strides in the field of indirect reciprocity: a key mechanism for sustaining cooperation in human societies. Their research unveils new insights into the social norms that protect cooperative behaviour from defector invasion and reputation costs, thereby deepening our understanding of how large-scale societies maintain stability. The results of the study were published in Scientific Reports.   Indirect reciprocity is characterised by cooperative ...

An international coalition of researchers from the United States and Italy has discovered a novel strain of cyanobacteria, or algae, isolated from volcanic ocean vents that is especially adept at growing rapidly in the presence of CO2  and readily sinks in water, making it a prime candidate for biologically-based carbon sequestration projects and bioproduction of valuable commodities. This strain, nicknamed “Chonkus,” was found off the coast of the island of Vulcano in Sicily, Italy — an environment in which marine CO2 is abundant due to shallow volcanic vents. The discovery is described in a paper published ...

Today, people increasingly seek non-alcoholic versions of beer or wine. Despite boasting different flavors, these two drinks share many aromas, which makes it difficult to produce alcohol-free versions that mimic the real thing. Researchers in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry report on a literature analysis and experiment to characterize the chemical compounds that give beer and wine their unique fragrances. They say their findings could aid the development of flavorful, non-alcoholic substitutes. Food and beverage researchers are working to recreate the enjoyable aromas and flavors of beer and wine in alcohol-free substitutes. However, because both beer and ...

Imagine harnessing the power of ocean currents to generate clean, renewable energy right off the coast of Southeast Florida. Florida Atlantic University’s Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center (SNMREC) has been awarded an $800,000 grant from the United States Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office to enable the commercial readiness of ocean energy technologies. SNMREC, in collaboration with a team of experts including The City of Lake Worth Beach Electric Utility, 3U Technologies, 48 North Solutions, IDOM Incorporated, Braid Theory, and the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), ...

About this study: Plastics contain a vast number of chemicals, some of which greatly impact the environment and human health. However, information on the presence of individual substances in plastic products is oftentimes not publicly available. In a peer-reviewed study, set to be published on 29 October 2024, in Environmental Science and Technology Letters, a new publicly accessible database on chemicals measured in plastics is presented - LitChemPlast. The database contains over 3’500 substances measured in over 47'000 samples of plastic products across 372 studies.   Key findings: • Contamination of recycled plastics:  The database shows that, due to ...

Complaining about your allergies online might provide valuable data to researchers. Over 25% of Americans experience seasonal allergies, but how the prevalence of seasonal allergies varies across space and time remains obscure, in part because allergies seldom warrant visits to healthcare providers. Elias Stallard-Olivera and Noah Fierer mined Twitter (now X) posts and Google searches from 2016–2020 to extrapolate spatial and temporal allergy patterns. A natural language processing model sorted posts that indicated symptoms (e.g., “My allergies are really bad today!!”) from posts that include key words but did not indicate the presence of symptoms (e.g., “Gluten ...

[11:00 GMT - 29 Oct 2024]  A groundbreaking, nine-year study has revealed that elephants approaching small-scale farms in Kenya avoid beehive fences housing live honey bees up to 86% of the time during peak crop seasons, helping to reduce human-elephant conflict for local farmers and boost income. Link to images and video of the project available  Key findings include: Beehive fences are a proven success in reducing human-elephant conflict in Africa. Savannah elephants avoid beehive fences housing live honey bees up to 86% of the time during peak crop seasons. Across all seasons and the entire study period, the fences deterred an annual average of 76% of 3,999 ...

In the fight against antibiotic resistance, a new technology developed at Chalmers University of Technology, in Sweden, can be of great importance when, for example, hip and knee implants are surgically inserted. By heating up small nanorods of gold with near-infrared light (NIR), the bacteria are killed, and the surface of the implant becomes sterile. The researchers are now presenting a new study that increases the understanding of how the gold rods are affected by light and how the temperature in them can be measured. Infections can occur during surgical procedures, with the risk increasing significantly when foreign materials, ...

29 October 2024. Doha, Qatar – The World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), an initiative of Qatar Foundation, has shortlisted 12 innovators for two awards within the 2024 WISH Global Healthcare Innovation Competition. Selected from more than 150 applications, the 12 will showcase their groundbreaking innovations to global policymakers and healthcare leaders at this year’s summit in Doha, 13-14 November.  In addition to the chance to receive one of two investment awards of US$10,000, shortlisted innovators will have access to mentoring sessions with industry experts to learn ...

Discovery of cancer risk associations for six novel genes Scientists at deCODE genetics/Amgen, and their collaborators have discovered six novel genes with rare germline variants that associate with cancer risk. The findings are published today in Nature Genetics under the title “Gene-based burden tests of rare germline variants identify six cancer susceptibility genes”. A subset of cancers arises in individuals who are born with rare sequence variants that significantly alter their cancer risk. The discovery of such variants, like those in the BRCA1- and BRCA2 genes, has led to improved early cancer detection ...

The unprecedented temperatures in the summer of 2022 caused more than 68,000 deaths on the continent, according to a study by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a centre supported by the 'la Caixa' Foundation. A new study has now found that more than half - 56% - of the heat-related deaths in the summer of 2022 were related to human-induced climate change. According to the research, 38,154 of the 68,593 heat-related deaths in the summer of 2022 would not have occurred without anthropogenic warming. The ...

WASHINGTON (October 29, 2024) – A new study published today details the ways in which the 2020 U.S. election not only incited new hate content in online communities but also how it brought those communities closer together around online hate speech. The research has wider implications for better understanding how the online hate universe multiplies and hardens around local and national events such as elections, and how smaller, less regulated platforms like Telegram play a key role in that universe by creating and sustaining hate content. The study – published in the journal npj Complexity, part of the Nature portfolio of journals – ...

A research team led by Professor Takahiro Nemoto at Toho University, in collaboration with Associate Professor Naoki Hashimoto and Assistant Professor Ryo Okubo at Hokkaido University, and Dr. Satoru Ikezawa at the National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry explored the agreement or discrepancy between subjective social cognitive difficulties and actual cognitive impairment. The study aimed to identify clinical subtypes in patients with schizophrenia, the results of which were published in Springer-Nature’s journal Schizophrenia on October 29, 2024. Key Points In patients with schizophrenia, a decline in social cognition—a fundamental skill for interpersonal ...

A pitiful sound from tinny speakers, sad virtual eyes, trembling robot arms: it doesn’t take much to feel sorry for a robot. This is the conclusion of a study by Marieke Wieringa, who will be defending her PhD thesis at Radboud University on 5 November. But she warns that our human compassion could also be exploited: just wait until companies find a revenue model for emotional manipulation by robots. Objectively, we know that a robot cannot experience pain. Still, under certain circumstances, ...

There is power in numbers, or so the saying goes. But in the ocean, scientists are finding that fish that group together don’t necessarily survive together. In some cases, the more fish there are, the larger a target they make for predators.  This is what MIT and Norwegian oceanographers observed recently when they explored a wide swath of ocean off the coast of Norway during the height of spawning season for capelin — a small Arctic fish about the size of an anchovy. Billions of capelin migrate each February from the edge of the Arctic ...

A living cell is a bustling metropolis, with countless molecules and proteins navigating crowded spaces in every direction. Cell division is a grand event which completely transforms the landscape. The cell starts behaving like the host of an international competition, reconfiguring entire streets, relocating buildings and rerouting its transportation systems.  For decades, researchers have been captivated by the cell's ability to organise such a dramatic transformation. Central to the process is the microtubule cytoskeleton, a network of fibres which provides structural support and facilitates movement within the cell, ensuring that chromosomes ...

Using laser-guided imaging to peer through dense jungle forests, Tulane University researchers have uncovered vast unexplored Maya settlements in Mexico and a better understanding of the ancient civilization's extent and complexity. The new research, published in the journal Antiquity, was led by Tulane University anthropology doctoral student Luke Auld-Thomas and his advisor, Professor Marcello A. Canuto. The team used lidar, a laser-based detection system, to survey 50 square miles of land in Campeche, Mexico, an area largely overlooked by archaeologists. Their findings included evidence of more than 6,500 pre-Hispanic structures, including a previously unknown ...

AN EXPERT on missing persons and unidentified human remains is hoping her research can help bring about a change in the law. Work carried out by Emma Tilley, who is completing her PhD in Criminology and Policing at University of Staffordshire, is included in a Law Commission public consultation on burial and cremation. Emma, who has starred in Locate International’s Channel 4 documentary series The Body Detectives, has been critically reviewing the cross-matching of unidentified human remains ...

Our ability to see starts with the light-sensitive photoreceptor cells in our eyes. A specific region of the retina, termed fovea, is responsible for sharp vision. Here, the color-sensitive cone photoreceptors allow us to detect even the smallest details. The density of these cells varies from person to person. Additionally, when we fixate on an object, our eyes make subtle, continuous movements, which also differ between individuals. Researchers from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn have now investigated how sharp vision is linked to these tiny eye movements and ...

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia (October 29, 2024) - In a revealing Genomic Press Interview published in Brain Medicine on October 29, 2024, Professor Vicki Clifton shares transformative discoveries about the placenta's unexpected influence on maternal mental health, potentially revolutionizing our understanding of pregnancy-related anxiety and depression. Professor Clifton's team at the Mater Research Institute-University of Queensland has identified 13 distinct glucocorticoid receptor isoforms in the placenta, with one particular variant ...

Barcelona, Spain (October 29, 2024) - In a compelling new Genomic Press Interview published in Brain Medicine, Dr. Raül Andero Galí reveals how his early passion for classical piano shaped his unique approach to neuroscience research. As an ICREA Research Professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Dr. Andero Galí leads groundbreaking studies that connect mouse and human fear responses, potentially revolutionizing treatments for PTSD and anxiety disorders. The intersection of stress and memory has captured Dr. Andero Galí's attention throughout his career. "All ...

Pioneering research to protect and conserve Arctic whale populations is to begin under a new five-year collaboration between Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland and HX Expeditions (Hurtigruten Expeditions), a world leader in travel exploration. The partners have signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), beginning in 2024, to research challenges facing marine life in the high Arctic – the most northern part of the Arctic region and one of the world’s most fragile ecosystems. The agreement will see Heriot-Watt University and HX work together on the Whales & Arctic Vessels Project (WAVE), ...

A genetic signature in newborns can predict neonatal sepsis before symptoms even start to show, according to a new study.   The study, led by UBC and SFU researchers in collaboration with the Medical Research Council (MRC) Unit The Gambia, has the potential to help healthcare workers diagnose babies earlier, including in lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where neonatal sepsis is of particular concern. The research, published today in eBiomedicine, is funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.   “Neonatal sepsis is caused by the body’s irregular response ...

Researchers have developed a machine learning algorithm to accurately detect heart murmurs in dogs, one of the main indicators of cardiac disease, which affects a large proportion of some smaller breeds such as King Charles Spaniels. The research team, led by the University of Cambridge, adapted an algorithm originally designed for humans and found it could automatically detect and grade heart murmurs in dogs, based on audio recordings from digital stethoscopes. In tests, the algorithm detected heart murmurs with a sensitivity ...