Texas A&M University physicist Dr. Tatiana Erukhimova has been selected as the 2023 recipient of the American Physical Society Dwight Nicholson Medal for Outreach. Established in 1994 by the Division of Plasma Physics and the Forum on Physics and Society, the Nicholson Medal is awarded annually in recognition of the humanitarian aspect of physics and physicists created through public lectures and public media, teaching, research or science-related activities. The medal is sponsored by the friends of the late plasma physicist and award namesake Dr. Dwight R. Nicholson (1947-1991), former chairman ...

DURHAM, N.C., Oct. 27, 2023 – Burt’s Bees, the #1 dermatologist recommended natural skin care brand* and a pioneer in skin care solutions, announced its latest research findings on the benefits of nature-based regimens to cleanse, nourish, and protect skin health. The studies will be presented at the hybrid Integrative Dermatology Symposium (IDS) from Oct. 27-29, 2023. The latest research findings from Burt’s Bees highlight: The ability of a topical treatment with a unique blend of botanicals to improve appearance of age spots in diverse skin. The impact of a lip care product with naturally derived plant oils, butters, beeswax, ...

Bonn, 27. October - Mature spermatozoa are characterized by an head, midpiece and a long tail for locomotion. Now, researchers from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the Transdisciplinary Research Unit "Life & Health" at the University of Bonn have found that a loss of the structural protein ACTL7B blocks spermatogenesis in male mice. The cells can no longer develop their characteristic shape and remain in a rather round form. The animals are infertile. The results of the study have now been published in the scientific journal "Development".   Male ...

Gaming is a $193 billion industry – nearly double the size of the film and music industries combined – and there are around three billion gamers worldwide. While online gaming can improve wellbeing and foster social relations, privacy and awareness issues could potentially offset these benefits and cause real harm to gamers. The new study, by scientists at Aalto University’s Department of Computer Science, reveals potentially questionable data collection practices in online games, along with misconceptions and concerns about privacy among players. The study also offers ...

Building efficient quantum neural networks is a promising direction for research at the intersection of quantum computing and machine learning. A team at Terra Quantum AG designed a parallel hybrid quantum neural network and demonstrated that their model is "a powerful tool for quantum machine learning." This research was published Oct. 9 in Intelligent Computing, a Science Partner Journal. Hybrid quantum neural networks typically consist of both a quantum layer — a variational quantum circuit — and a classical layer — a deep learning neural network called a multi-layered perceptron. This special architecture enables them to learn complicated patterns and relationships ...

WASHINGTON – Medical-legal partnerships (MLPs), which include a lawyer as part of a patient’s care team, can help health systems address health-harming legal needs and better support pregnant and postpartum patients, according to a new research commentary published today in Obstetrics & Gynecology. The article offers insights and expert advice from Georgetown University Health Justice Alliance’s Perinatal Legal Assistance and Wellbeing (LAW) Project at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, one of the first medical-legal partnerships ...

Researchers in São Paulo state, Brazil, have developed a low-cost anti-inflammatory hydrogel that in future could help treat chronic skin lesions such as those often seen in people with diabetes. They report the results of animal tests in an article published in the journal Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy. According to the International Diabetes Federation, Brazil ranks sixth among countries with the most cases of diabetes, which has reached epidemic proportions and become the fifth most frequent cause of death in the world. Some 17.7 million Brazilians suffer daily from the metabolic alterations caused ...

UPTON, NY—Plant biologists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have engineered enzymes to modify grass plants so their biomass can be more efficiently converted into biofuels and other bioproducts. As described in a paper just published in Plant Biotechnology Journal, these enzymes modify molecules that make up plant cell walls to provide access to fuel-generating sugars normally locked within complex structures.  “The concept of biomass to biofuel seems simple, but it is technically very difficult to release the sugars,” noted Chang-Jun Liu, a senior plant biologist at Brookhaven ...

Ask a biologist why predators don't exterminate all their prey, part of the answer often is that there is an ongoing arms race between predators and prey, with both parties continuously evolving new ways to cheat each other. The hypothesis is particularly prevalent for bats and their prey; insects. 50 million years ago, the first bats evolved the ability to echolocate and thus hunt in the dark, and in response to this, some insects evolved ultrasound-sensitive ears so they could hear and evade the bats. But if there is an ongoing arms race, bats should have responded to this, says University of Southern Denmark biologist, associate professor and bat ...

Time-restricted eating, also known as intermittent fasting, can help people with Type 2 diabetes lose weight and control their blood sugar levels, according to a new study published in JAMA Network Open from researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago.   Participants who ate only during an eight-hour window between noon and 8 p.m. each day actually lost more weight over six months than participants who were instructed to reduce their calorie intake by 25%. Both groups had similar reductions in long-term blood sugar levels, as measured by a test of hemoglobin A1C, which shows blood sugar levels over the past three months.  The ...

About The Study: This 6-month randomized clinical trial involving 75 adults with type 2 diabetes found that a time-restricted eating diet strategy without calorie counting was effective for weight loss and lowering of hemoglobin A1c levels compared with daily calorie counting. These findings will need to be confirmed by larger RCTs with longer follow-up.  Authors: Krista A. Varady, Ph.D., of the University of Illinois Chicago, is the corresponding author.   To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.39337) Editor’s Note: Please see the article ...

About The Study: The findings in this study of 637 callers to safe abortion hotlines and accompaniment groups in Argentina, Nigeria, and Southeast Asia suggest that misoprostol alone is a highly effective method of pregnancy termination. Future research should explore strategies to maximize the effectiveness of misoprostol alone in clinical and nonclinical settings.  Authors: Ruvani Jayaweera, Ph.D., of Ibis Reproductive Health in Oakland, California, is the corresponding author.   To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.40042) Editor’s Note: Please ...

SAN ANTONIO — October 27,2023 —Southwest Research Institute (SwRI®), GTI Energy, GE Vernova (GE) and the U.S. Department of Energy celebrated the ribbon-cutting of the Supercritical Transformational Electric Power (STEP) Demo pilot plant today. The $155 million, 10-megawatt supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) test facility at SwRI’s headquarters in San Antonio will demonstrate an innovative new method of higher-efficiency, lower-cost electric power generation. “STEP will undoubtedly change the way we think about ...

Jun.-Prof. Dr. Priscilla Briquez, junior professor at the Department of General and Visceral Surgery at the Freiburg University Medical Center and member of the Medical Faculty at the University of Freiburg, has received a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant from the European Commission. Her DRESSCODE project will receive a total of 1.5 million euros funding for five years. The project focuses on modifying proteins and developing new disease therapies. “This support is a major opportunity for me to put together my own team and drive forward my research,” says Briquez. The focus ...

Despite rising global mobility, the state of migrant and refugee health data in European health systems is a concern, a new study shows. The analysis by an international coalition of universities, UN organizations, government representatives, and European institutions published in the journal The Lancet Regional Health Europe reveals that coverage of migrant and refugee data remains inconsistent and of suboptimal quality. According to the study this issue is not due to a lack of knowledge or technological resources ...

WASHINGTON (October 27, 2023) – Boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) have a clinically proven, new treatment option with the Food and Drug Administration’s approval Thursday of vamorolone, a steroidal-type, anti-inflammatory drug developed based on research performed at Children’s National Hospital.    Created by ReveraGen BioPharma Inc., vamorolone has a molecular structure similar to traditional corticosteroids, which are currently used to treat DMD. Yet its structure was found to be chemically different enough to reduce unwanted side effects, including brittle bones and reduced stature. Nearly two decades ago, ReveraGen leaders – President and ...

Researchers who are working to find alternatives to lithium-ion batteries have turned their attention to potassium-ion batteries. Potassium is an abundant resource and the technology functions in much the same way as lithium-ion batteries, but these batteries have not been developed at a large scale because the ionic radius causes problems in energy storage and substandard electrochemical performance.   To solve this problem, researchers are considering NiCo2Se4, a bimetallic selenide, to create sphere-shaped electrodes. The spheres are constructed with NiCo2Se4 nanotubes, which improve ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Childhood trauma is a key risk factor for future substance use disorder, overdose, and suicide. This is particularly problematic in rural areas where children experience higher rates of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). ACEs are commonly defined as physical and emotional abuse and neglect, sexual abuse, parental separation or divorce, intimate partner violence, and having household members with serious mental illness, substance use disorder, or a history of incarceration. Now, a three-year, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) grant awarded to the University of Missouri will help virtually train various members of the workforce — ...

Proteins are key to all processes in our cells and understanding their functions and regulation is of major importance. “For many years, we have known that nearly all human proteins are modified by a specific chemical group, but its functional impact has remained undefined”, says professor Thomas Arnesen at the Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen. He explains: “One of the most common protein modifications in human cells is N-terminal acetylation, which is an addition of a small chemical group (acetyl) at the starting tip (N-terminus) of a protein. The ...

Researchers have discovered a protein that seals plant roots to regulate the uptake of nutrients and water from the soil, the discovery could help develop climate proof crops that require less water and chemical fertilizers. Researchers from the University of Nottingham identified new components of the lignin barrier in plant roots and the specific function of dirigent proteins (DPs), located in the root endodermis that control water and nutrient uptake. Their findings have been published today in Science Direct. Plant roots function by absorbing ...

Research on the trillions of microorganisms that make up a person’s microbiome can lead to medical breakthroughs to treat diseases like inflammatory bowel syndrome and diabetes. According to Alyssa Bader, a Tsimshian Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at McGill University, microbiome samples from Indigenous communities have the potential to further Western medicine, but those same communities often have been excluded from the research process and may miss out on the benefits that result from their contributions to science. ...

LOS ANGELES — An international Phase 3 clinical trial found that metastatic colorectal cancer patients with a rare genetic tumor mutation called KRAS G12C experienced superior progression-free survival rates compared to standard of care when offered a combination treatment of KRAS inhibitor sotorasib and monoclonal antibody panitumumab. City of Hope, one of the largest cancer research and treatment organizations in the United States, was a participating site and a City of Hope researcher is the lead author of the The New England Journal of Medicine study published this week. Standard ...

A research team has synthesized a new polyoxometalate-based metal-organic complex that they then tested as a catalyst for the oxidation reactions of various sulfides. They found that the complex possesses excellent catalytic performance, good reusability, and structural stability.   The team’s work is published in the journal Polyoxometalates on October 19, 2023.   Scientists in many fields have explored the selective oxidation of sulfides to sulfoxides. Sulfoxides are organic compounds that contain sulfur and oxygen. These sulfoxides are high value-added chemicals in pharmaceuticals, agrochemistry, ...

Sunscreen usage is climbing, but so are melanoma and skin cancer rates: this, researchers say, is the sunscreen paradox. “The problem is that people use sunscreen as a ‘permission slip’ to tan,” said Dr. Ivan Litvinov, an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine and Chair of the Dermatology Division at McGill University and co-author with Dr. Sandra Peláez, Dr. Richie Jeremian and Dr. Pingxing Xie of two recent studies that explore the sunscreen paradox. “People think they are protected from skin cancer ...

Polyoxometalate (POM)-based nanohybrids potentially offer a step-change in sustainability across a wide variety of industries, but research into the substances is in its infancy. A group of researchers has produced a comprehensive review of the sector’s progress and challenges yet to be overcome.   A new class of nanoscale hybrid materials has the potential to improve sustainability across energy systems, transport, biosensors, water purification and even 3D printing, but the field is still very young. A group of researchers has produced a detailed overview ...