HOUSTON ― The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Research Highlights showcases the latest breakthroughs in cancer care, research and prevention. These advances are made possible through seamless collaboration between MD Anderson’s world-leading clinicians and scientists, bringing discoveries from the lab to the clinic and back. Novel therapeutic target overcomes treatment resistance in triple-negative breast cancer Many patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) do not respond to combination ...

SAN ANTONIO — October 16, 2024 —The Supercritical Transformational Electric Power (STEP) Demo pilot plant, a $169 million, 10-megawatt supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) test facility at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in San Antonio, has completed its first phase of testing, having achieved its full operational speed of 27,000 rpm and operating at a target turbine inlet temperature of 500 degrees Celsius. As STEP achieved this milestone, it was synchronized with the electrical grid, generating approximately four megawatts of net power. “Achieving full operating conditions while connected to the grid is a major advancement ...

Despite having no greater chance of developing problems after high risk cardiovascular surgery, women are more likely than men to die from postoperative complications, a University of Michigan-led study suggests. A patient dying of complications after surgery is often referred to as a “failure to rescue”. Investigators assessed more than 850,000 cases of Medicare beneficiaries who had high risk heart surgery — including heart bypass, aortic aneurysm repair, and mitral and aortic valve repair — ...

Columbia researchers have engineered probiotic bacteria that educate the immune system to destroy cancer cells, opening the door for a new class of cancer vaccines that take advantage of bacteria’s natural tumor-targeting properties. These microbial cancer vaccines can be personalized to attack each individual’s primary tumor and metastases, and may even prevent future recurrences. In studies using mouse models of advanced colorectal cancer and melanoma, the bacterial vaccine supercharged the immune system to suppress the growth of – or in many cases eliminate – primary ...

AURORA, Colo. (October 16, 2024) – A new study, out today in the Journal of Urban Health, finds that involuntary sweeps of homeless encampments in Denver, Colorado were not effective in reducing crime. Researchers, led by first author Pranav Padmanabhan, research assistant and MPH student at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, analyzed the effect of involuntary displacement on crime in one-quarter to three-quarters of a mile radius around sweep sites, among all sweeps between November ...

About The Study: In this cohort study of pregnant individuals and offspring, exposure to maternal COVID-19 was not associated with abnormal neurodevelopmental screening results through 24 months’ postpartum. Continued study of diverse groups of children is needed because, among other factors, evidence suggests sensitivity of the developing fetal brain to maternal immune activation.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Eleni G. Jaswa, MD, MSc, MAS, email elenijaswa@gmail.com. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website ...

Tokyo, Japan – Unwanted heating of electronic components hinders the performance of many devices. For example, the processing speed and memory available to silicon-based computer chips depend strongly on the ability to dissipate heat effectively. Unfortunately, despite high demand, thermal management remains challenging. Now, in a study published in Nature, a team of researchers led by the Institute of Industrial Science, the University of Tokyo, has demonstrated the ability to control heat transfer in graphite crystals. Their novel approach applies concepts from fluid ...

An international team led by three researchers from the CNRS1, the European Southern Observatory (ESO, Europe), and Charles University (Czech Republic) has successfully demonstrated that 70% of all known meteorite falls originate from just three young asteroid families. These families were produced by three recent collisions that occurred in the main asteroid belt 5.8, 7.5, and about 40 million years ago. The team also revealed the sources of other types of meteorites; with this research, the origin of more than 90% of meteorites ...

The researchers used spatial proteomics to analyze skin samples from patients with toxic epidermal necrolysis. This cutting-edge approach, known as Deep Visual Proteomics, merges powerful microscopy with AI-driven analysis, laser-guided microdissection and ultimately ultra-high sensitivity mass spectrometry. They zoomed in on individual cells and studied them like never before, creating a map of the thousands of proteins driving this deadly reaction. Thierry Nordmann, first author, clinician-scientist at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry and senior dermatologist at the Ludwig Maximilians Universität München explains: ...

A new study has revealed that islands are home to around one in three of the world’s plant species, despite covering just over five per cent of the Earth’s land surface. Dr Julian Schrader, from Macquarie University’s School of Natural Sciences, led a team of a dozen researchers from Australia, Germany, Spain, USA, Greece and Japan in analysing data on more than 304,103 plants – essentially all species known to science worldwide – uncovering a treasure trove of island biodiversity. The team found 94,052 species are native to islands. Of these, 63,280 are endemic –found nowhere else in the world – representing 21 per cent of global plant diversity. The ...

The chemical messenger dopamine is an essential catalyst that fuels activities and behaviors ranging from movement to cognition and learning. However, neuroscientists have long debated whether these functions rely on rapid bursts of dopamine or on the neurochemical’s slower action. A new study led by researchers at Harvard Medical School provides an answer.  The work, conducted in mice and published Oct. 16 in Nature, shows that initiating movement doesn’t require a rapid burst of dopamine but instead relies on slow activity of the chemical over time. By contrast, reward-oriented behaviors, related to ...

While marine heatwaves (MHWs) have been studied at the sea surface for more than a decade, new research published today in Nature has found 80 per cent of MHWs below 100 metres are independent of surface events, highlighting a previously overlooked aspect of ocean warming.  The study was conducted by Australia’s national science agency CSIRO and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.  MHWs are prolonged temperature events that can cause severe damage to marine habitats, such as impacts to coral reefs and species displacement. These events are becoming more frequent due to global warming, with notable occurrences off Australia’s East ...

In a study published in Nature, Prof. Daniel Falush of the Shanghai Institute of Immunity and Infection (SIII) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Prof. Yoshio Yamaoka of Oita University, Japan, and Prof. Kaisa Thorell of Gothenberg University, Sweden uncovered fascinating new details about the long association of humans and our stomach bacteria. Since its discovery in 1983, Helicobacter pylori has become notorious as the cause of around a million cases of stomach cancer a year as well as other life-threatening gastric diseases. The bacterium is ...

Inside cells, it's like in a packed dance club: hundreds are partying. Some keep to themselves, others make their way through the crowd, chatting to everyone they meet. Some just say a quick hello, others stay with their best friends. In this club, there are all kinds of different interactions between party-goers. The same is the case in cells with proteins. Cells are filled with many different types of proteins that interact with each other and often work together in groups. These groups are called complexes ...

In recent years, the excessive use of acetaminophen (APAP) has become a significant human hazard and social burden. Rapid and automated electrochemical detection has emerged as a crucial method for measuring APAP concentration in human urine. This study explores a novel porous cobalt-derived biomass electrocatalyst material prepared from Elaeagnus angustifolia gum and investigates its electrochemical properties as well as its specific detection capability for APAP. Their work is published in the journal Industrial Chemistry & Materials on 18 July 2024. Acetaminophen (APAP) is a commonly used analgesic and antipyretic ...

The 2024 Richard N. Merkin Prize in Biomedical Technology was awarded to F. William Studier of Brookhaven National Laboratory in a ceremony and symposium at the Broad Institute on September 17, 2024. The prize, created by the Merkin Family Foundation and administered by the Broad, recognizes novel technologies that have significantly improved human health and carries a $400,000 award. [Event Video]  Studier was announced as the winner in May for his development, in 1986, of an efficient, scalable method of producing ...

The “São Paulo School of Advanced Science on Structural Safety and its role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions by the built environment” will be held May 3-16, 2025, in Brazil, at the São Carlos School of Engineering of the University of São Paulo in its São Carlos campus. Reporters are invited to register for the scientific sessions and short courses, which will present state-of-art science and results of new research. This advanced science school will address the main challenges related to Structural Safety ...

October 16, 2024, Mountain View, CA - Scientists at the SETI Institute and partners from Penn State University used the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) to search for signs of alien technology in the TRAPPIST-1 star system. The team spent 28 hours scanning the system, looking for radio signals that could indicate extraterrestrial technology. This project marks the longest single-target search for radio signals from TRAPPIST-1. Although they didn’t find any evidence of extraterrestrial technology, their work provided valuable data ...

Fukuoka, Japan—Nager syndrome, or NS, is a rare genetic disease that affects the development of the face and limbs, usually causing anomalies in the bone structures of the jaws, cheeks, and hands. With a prevalence of less than 100 cases ever reported, not much is known about the disease except the fact that mutations in the SF3B4 gene are its primary cause. Now, in a recent study made available online on September 15, 2024 and upcoming in the November issue of International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, researchers from Kyushu University have developed a convenient approach to explore the underlying mechanisms ...

Liquid crystals exist in a phase of their own. They can flow like liquids, but because their molecules are arranged in a somewhat orderly way, they can be easily manipulated to reflect light. This flexibility has made liquid crystals the go-to material for energy-efficient phone, TV, and computer display screens. In a new study in Nature Chemistry, researchers at Dartmouth and Southern Methodist University hint at other applications for liquid crystals that might one day be possible, all powered by natural light. They include liquid crystal ...

NEWPORT NEWS, VA – This year, the U.S. Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility celebrates the 40th anniversary of its founding to probe the secrets of the subatomic universe. And for 39 of those years, esteemed physicist Volker D. Burkert has been an important part of its mission. Now, Burkert is being honored for his contributions to advancements in experimental physics with the prestigious Tom W. Bonner Prize in Nuclear Physics. The citation reads: “For exemplary leadership in the development of high-performance instrumentation for large acceptance spectrometers that have enabled breakthroughs in fundamental nuclear ...

A new tactic for overcoming breast cancer drug resistance The most common type of breast cancer, estrogen receptor positive, has been effectively treated with hormone therapy combined with drugs that block cell division called CDK4/6 inhibitors. However, it has been impossible to predict how long people will respond to this drug combination. In some patients, the disease is controlled for years, but in others, the cancer starts progressing again after just a few months. This presents ...

DALLAS, Oct. 16, 2024 — The risk of heart disease increases with age for most people, however, for women that may be even more true. The menopause transition, those years leading up to and through menopause, is a time of increasing heart disease risk, according to an American Heart Association scientific statement published in the flagship journal Circulation in 2020. “While many people think that breast cancer is the leading killer of women in the U.S., in ...

EMBARGO: SYDNEY: 17 October 2024, 00.01 | NEW YORK: 16 October 2024, 09:00 Standing more may not reduce cardiovascular disease risk, could increase circulatory disease Standing has gained popularity among people looking to offset the harms of a sedentary lifestyle often caused by spending long days sitting in front of the computer, television or driving wheel. Standing desks have become a popular option among office workers, and in other industries like retail, workers may opt to stand instead of sit.   However, their efforts may not produce the intended result. New University of Sydney research has shown that over ...

Improving indoor air quality is the goal of a new video series developed by experts at the University of California, Davis in collaboration with the California Department of Public Health. Aimed at building and facility managers, the videos distill the science of air quality into steps building and facility managers can take to remove pollutants, including viruses, from the place we spend most of our time -- indoors.  “The goal is to help people understand the issues around indoor air quality, how it is related to disease, and what managers can do to make it better,” said Professor Chris Cappa, chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental ...