An international team of scientists has identified nearly a dozen genes that contribute to calcium buildup in our coronary arteries that can lead to life-threatening coronary artery disease, a condition responsible for up to one in four deaths in the United States. Doctors may be able to target these genes with existing medications – or possibly even nutritional supplements – to slow or halt the disease’s progression. “By sharing valuable genotype and phenotype datasets collected over many years, our team was able to uncover new genes that may foreshadow clinical coronary artery disease,” said researcher Clint L. Miller, PhD, of ...

While scientific advances are made daily, foundational breakthroughs are rare and require exceptional researchers with unique points of view and questions, plus the necessary means to explore those ideas. One such researcher, Harold H. Flor, became a seminal figure in the study of plant pathology after developing the gene-for-gene concept in the mid-1900s. The gene-for-gene concept (namely, for each gene governing the host response, there is a corresponding gene in the pathogen) still stands as one of the most significant contributions to plant pathology—forever changing how scientists approach plant-microbe interactions and, more specifically, the molecular mechanisms ...

SAN ANTONIO — October 11, 2023 —Southwest Research Institute has been selected to receive a $1.5 million contract from the U.S Department of Energy to evaluate the safety and efficiency of a full-scale compressor system for hydrogen-natural gas blends containing up to 20 percent hydrogen by volume. SwRI will collaborate with the Gas Machinery Research Council (GMRC) on this project. “Hydrogen has been recognized as a viable alternative to natural gas fuel,” said SwRI Senior Research Analyst Sarah Simons. “However, a pure hydrogen stream is not compatible with existing energy transport infrastructure because hydrogen and natural gas have ...

Recent developments in neuroscience and brain-inspired artificial intelligence have opened up new possibilities in understanding intelligence. Now, a research team led by Tianzi Jiang at the Institute of Automation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has outlined the key components and properties of an innovative platform called the Digital Twin Brain, which could bridge the gap between biological and artificial intelligence and provide new insights into both. This research was published Sept. 22 in Intelligent Computing, a Science Partner Journal. Network structure is something that biological and artificial intelligence have in common. Since the brain consists ...

A groundbreaking study, led by Professor Kyemyung Park and his research team in the Graduate School of Health Science and Technology and the Department of Biomedical Engineering at UNIST has shed light on the intricate mechanism behind the immune system’s ability to differentiate between self and non-self antigens. Their research, published in the esteemed journal Trends in Immunology, presents a novel quantitative framework that could pave the way for predictive models in immune-related disease treatment response. The immune system is a complex network of cells and molecules that defends ...

Researchers from Texas Christian University, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and University of Georgia published a new Journal of Marketing article that examines the consumer trend towards minimalist packaging in consumable products. The study, forthcoming in the Journal of Marketing, is titled “Symbolically Simple: How Simple Packaging Design Influences Willingness to Pay for Consumable Products” and is authored by Lan Anh N. Ton, Rosanna K. Smith, and Julio Sevilla. Designing products is both an ...

Both elegant and fierce, killer whales are some of the oceans’ top predators, but even they can be exposed to environmental pollution. Now, in the largest study to date on North Atlantic killer whales, researchers in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology report the levels of legacy and emerging pollutants in 162 individuals’ blubber. The animals’ diet, rather than location, greatly impacted contaminant levels and potential health risks — information that’s helpful to conservation efforts. As the largest member of the dolphin family, killer whales, also known as orcas, are ...

Because metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) — highly porous metal complexes — are so structurally and chemically diverse, they could be used for many applications, such as drug delivery and environmental clean-up. But researchers still need to get a better understanding of how they function, especially when embedded in polymers. Reporting in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, researchers have now developed and characterized nitric oxide (NO)-storing MOFs embedded in a thin film with novel antibacterial potential. Studying ...

AUSTRALIA, Sydney – October 11, 2023 – Western Sydney University’s NICM Health Research Institute has led a world-first clinical trial in Australia that offers new hope in the treatment of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) among older people. The trial’s results, published in Alzheimer's and Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment and Disease Monitoring, a journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, signal the efficacy and safety of Sailuotong (SLT), a novel herbal extract, as a potential treatment for MCI.  Trial ...

Lack of rainfall is not the only measure of drought. New UC Riverside research shows that despite a series of storms, the impact of drought can persist in streams and rivers for up to 3.5 years. There are two measures of drought in streams. One measure is the total water level, which is impacted by snowmelt and rainfall. Many researchers examine this measurement. Another measure is baseflow, which is the portion of streamflow fed by groundwater. Fewer researchers examine baseflow droughts, and there was not previously an accurate way to measure them. Because baseflow is strongly tied to groundwater, and because the ...

Research Highlights: Chronic kidney disease was strongly associated with an increased risk of sudden cardiac arrest among Hispanic/Latino adults, in a new study. Early identification and management of kidney disease may reduce risk of sudden cardiac arrest among Hispanic/Latino people, researchers suggest. Embargoed until 4 a.m. CT/5 a.m. ET Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023 DALLAS, October 11, 2023 — Chronic kidney disease may increase risk and predict sudden cardiac arrest among Hispanic/Latino adults, according to new research published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open access, peer-reviewed journal of the American ...

Hispanics and Latinos with chronic kidney disease are at significant risk for suffering from sudden cardiac arrest, according to a new study from the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai. During sudden cardiac arrest, the heart unexpectedly stops beating. “Because people who experience sudden cardiac arrest have a survival rate of less than 10%, prevention is extremely important,” said Kyndaron Reinier, Ph.D., associate director of Epidemiology in the Center for Cardiac Arrest Prevention at the Smidt Heart Institute and lead author of the study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. “This study highlights the importance for Hispanic ...

Tens of thousands of endangered sharks and rays are caught by small-scale fisheries off the Republic of the Congo each year, new research shows. Scientists surveyed fish brought ashore at Songolo, which is home to more than 60% of the country's “artisanal” fishers (small boats, small engines, hand-hauled lines and nets). In three years, the team – led by the University of Exeter in partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Congo Program and the Republic of the Congo’s fisheries department – recorded more than 73,000 sharks and rays landed. Most were juveniles, and 98% of individuals were of species listed as vulnerable, ...

Named after its habitat preference, Paroedura manongavato, from the Malagasy words “manonga” (to climb) and “vato” (rock), is a bouldering expert. Part of its “home range” is also very well-known to rock climbers for its massive granitic domes. “Its description represents another step into the crux (in climbing jargon, the most difficult section of a bouldering problem) of resolving the taxonomy of the recently revised P. bastardi group, where the new species belongs, and reaching a total of 25 described species in this genus, ...

Predators must eat to survive — and to survive, prey must avoid being eaten. One theory, the Wolf-Mangel model, suggests predators could use false attacks to tire prey out or force them to take bigger risks, but this has been hard to show in practice. Now, scientists observing peregrine falcons have found evidence that they deliberately exhaust their prey to improve later hunting success.  “Although predators are imagined as clever in novels and movies, like the velociraptors in Jurassic Park, empirical biologists are generally not inclined to give much credence to such ideas,” ...

In 2023, life expectancy in Korea will be 83.6 years, the third highest among OECD countries, and it is steadily increasing every year. As the proportion of the elderly population increases, the social cost of treating various geriatric diseases is also increasing rapidly, and there is a growing interest in early diagnosis of diseases. Among the various diagnostic methods, researchers are actively conducting research on measuring glutamine as an indicator of geriatric diseases by finding that the concentration of glutamine in the cells and blood of patients with serious diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and dementia is significantly changed compared to normal people. Dr. Seo, Moon-Hyeong ...

Herbicides are the most used class of pesticides worldwide, with uses in agriculture, homes and industry. Exposures to two of the most popular herbicides were associated with worse brain function among adolescents, according to a study led by researchers at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at University of California San Diego. In the Oct. 11, 2023 online issue of Environmental Health Perspectives, the researchers reported measuring metabolite concentrations of two commonly used herbicides — glyphosate and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) — and the insect repellent DEET in urine samples ...

A new antibiotic drug developed by a research team led by Professor Li Xuechen from the Department of Chemistry at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) has recently gained approval from the authorities to undergo clinical trials in the Mainland.   The new drug, which has taken the research team ten years to develop and is named Kynomycin, received the "Notice of Approval for Drug Clinical Trials" from the National Medical Products Administration of China to be tested in human subjects. The new antibiotic drug targets complex skin and soft tissue infections (cSSTI) caused by bacteria. It ...

Transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) semiconductors are special materials that have long fascinated researchers with their unique properties. For one, they are flat, one-atom-thick two-dimensional (2D) materials similar to that of graphene. They are compounds that contain different combinations of the transition metal group (e.g., molybdenum, tungsten) and chalcogen elements (e.g., sulfur, selenium, tellurium). What's even more fascinating is that assembling different TMD layers into vertical stacks creates a new artificial material called a van der Waals (vdW) heterostructure. By incorporating different materials, it becomes possible to ...

High-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC) is the most common type of ovarian cancer. It is also the most lethal form, in part because clinicians do not have effective ways to screen women for it during the cancer's early stages, when it's easiest to treat. For patients with a pelvic mass (an abnormal lump or growth in the lower abdomen), it is difficult to detect whether the growth is benign or cancerous ahead of surgery. Unlike many other cancers, biopsies are typically not an option. That makes it hard for doctors to choose the best course of treatment. Now, a new blood test ...

University of Queensland research has found despite considerable conservation efforts, the illegal killing of critically endangered orangutans on Borneo may be an ongoing threat to the species.   PhD candidate Emily Massingham from UQ’s Faculty of Science managed a team of researchers which visited 79 villages across the Bornean orangutan range in Kalimantan, conducting face to face interviews with 431 people. “Our study builds on previous research which indicated killing was one of the key reasons for orangutan population decline, alongside habitat loss,” Ms Massingham said. “The ...

Nursing homes that use a chlorhexidine bathing routine to clean the skin, and an over-the-counter antiseptic to clean the nose, prevent serious infections and reduce the amount of antibiotic-resistant organisms in the nursing home setting, according to the findings of researchers at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, the University of California, Irvine, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The findings were published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. “The ...

The biological impact of renting, as opposed to owner occupancy, is nearly double that of being out of work vs having paid employment, the findings suggest. Fortunately, these effects are reversible, emphasising the importance of housing policy in health improvement, say the researchers. Numerous aspects of housing are associated with physical and mental health, including cold, mould, crowding, injury hazards, stress, and stigma.  But exactly how they might exert their effects isn’t entirely clear, say the researchers.  To explore this further, they drew on epigenetic ...

But the condition is less common in men, even though they are more likely to have the 4 genetic variations implicated in heightened risk, suggesting that there may be sex specific causes, say the researchers.  Most cases of CRPS are usually triggered by an injury, with the skin of the affected body part hypersensitive to the slightest touch or temperature change. CRPS is difficult to treat, and while it often improves with time, some people experience intense pain for many years.  But why some people develop CRPS yet others don’t after the same injury, isn’t clear. ...

The extension was associated with a monthly fall in the rate of heart attacks, with older people and men benefitting the most from the move. Second-hand smoke exposure is responsible for 1.3 million annual deaths around the globe, many of which are caused by heart attacks, note the researchers.  But the existing evidence on the health benefits of comprehensive smoke-free laws, which many countries (67 since 2003) have implemented, is largely confined to indoor smoking bans rather than those for housing estates and outdoor spaces, they say.  In 2013 Singapore extended smoke-free legislation ...