Feature Channels: All Journal News

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Researchers from the Universities of Bristol and Hamburg have engineered bacteria with internal nutrient reserves that can be accessed when needed to survive extreme environmental conditions. The findings, published in ACS Synthetic Biology, pave the way for more robust biotechnologies based on engineered microbes.

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The international KArlsruhe TRItium Neutrino Experiment (KATRIN) located at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) has now been the first to constrain the mass of neutrinos to less 1 electron volt (eV) and, hence, has broken an important “barrier“ in neutrino physics. From the data published in Nature Physics, a new upper limit of 0.8 eV has been derived for the mass of the neutrino. These results obtained by means of a model-independent laboratory method allows KATRIN to constrain the mass of these "lightweights of the universe" with unprecedented precision. (DOI: 10.1038/s41567-021-01463-1)

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People with alcohol use disorder (AUD) have a distorted perception of the richness of imagined future scenarios, according to a study in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. The findings could have important implications for AUD treatment and rehabilitation. The ability to imagine specific future events is a type of mental time travel known as episodic future thinking (EFT). EFT contributes to a range of skills needed to safely navigate daily life, including planning, goal-directed behavior, and emotional regulation. Previous research has indicated that people with short-sighted maladaptive behaviors, such as drug misuse and excessive gambling, tend to imagine future events that lack vividness and specificity. Impaired EFT was also suspected to be of clinical importance in AUD, but little was known about the mechanisms underlying the impairment.

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Researchers have examined the antimatter makeup of the proton sea for a wide range of quark momenta with higher precision than ever before. This research found that there are, on average, 1.4 down antiquarks for every up antiquark. This finding will help scientists better understand the fundamental forces that keep the proton together.

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Researchers at Henry Ford Health System, as part of a national hepatitis C collaborative, report that patients with chronic hepatitis C who are treated with direct-acting antiviral medicines are less likely to be hospitalized or seek emergency care for liver and non-liver related health issues. The study, published online in Clinical Infectious Diseases, underscores the extraordinary effect of these newer antivirals, which have been shown to cure hepatitis C in 98 percent of patients who take them. Patients are said to be cured when the virus is no longer detectable in their blood.

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Mirror Self-Recognition (MSR) is seen as evidence for self-awareness and passing the mark test, in which animals touch or scrape a mark placed on their body in a location that can only be indirectly viewed in a mirror, is used to determine the capacity of an animal for MSR.

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For the first time, scientists used entire human GI tracts from three organ donors to show how cell types differ across all regions of the intestines, to shed light on cellular functions, and to show gene expression differences between these cells and between individuals.

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For most of the nation's history, white men have held the vast majority of U.S. government bureaucracy jobs. One recent way to address that has been representative bureaucracy, or ensuring governing bodies are made up of people who reflect their communities.

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In men undergoing active surveillance as an alternative to immediate treatment for prostate cancer, a supervised exercise program can reduce anxiety and fear of cancer progression, reports a study in The Journal of Urology®, an Official Journal of the American Urological Association (AUA). The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.

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The experiences children have at a young age help form their identity and relationships with the natural world—and where they grow up impacts that environmental identity and sense of place.

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MIT chemists have discovered the structure of a protein that can pump toxic molecules out of bacterial cells. Proteins similar to this one, which is found in E. coli, are believed to help bacteria become resistant to multiple antibiotics.

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Medicine has a broad repertoire of anaesthetics at its medication allows patients to better endure painful treatments or even sleep through them.

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Modern rates of sea level rise began emerging in 1863 as the Industrial Age intensified, according to a new study by an international team including Rutgers researchers that has pinpointed the onset of a significant period of climate change. The study is out now out in Nature Communications.

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A new Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute study found that as of September/October 2021, only 50% of hospitals that offered lumbar spine MRI were compliant with the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) mandate to publish their prices online.

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Approximately 80 miles from the westernmost reach of China’s Great Wall, paleontologists found relics of an even more ancient world. Over the last two decades, teams of researchers unearthed more than 100 specimens of fossil birds that lived approximately 120 million years ago, during the time of the dinosaurs.

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Emotionally detaching from a traumatic experience, a psychological defense known as dissociation, may play a key role in nudging some people with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) toward alcohol-related problems, a new study suggests. A large minority of people with PTSD also have a substance use disorder (SUD), implying that using alcohol or drugs is a form of self-medication among traumatized people. Dissociation, a common symptom of PTSD, is a psychological escape from threatening situations that substitutes for physical escape; it can reflect particularly harmful early-life trauma and more severe PTSD. Previous research has linked dissociation with alcohol and substance use. Understanding the relevant pathway, or mechanism, could potentially inform and expand treatment options and effectiveness — a critical advance, since co-occurring PTSD and SUD come with a magnified risk of suicidality, functional impairment, and death. For the study in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Res

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A new study suggests that a single bout of exercise does not change the immune response to a coronavirus booster shot in people with rheumatic autoimmune diseases. The article is published ahead of print in the Journal of Applied Physiology.

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A new study shows that historical trauma – and the transgressions people engaged in to overcome barriers to outdoor recreation – shape many Black and Indigenous Americans’ views about using public lands for leisure.

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An international team of researchers from Australia, New Zealand and India has taken facial recognition technology to the next level, using a person’s expression to manipulate objects in a virtual reality setting without the use of a handheld controller or touchpad.

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A drop in the total number of rainy days each year is contributing to an earlier arrival of spring for plants in northern climates, a new study finds.

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A recent study by an interdisciplinary team of MSU researchers shows that watching a little TV or streaming something on your iPad or smartphone can actually be beneficial to night-time slumber. Allison Eden of the MSU College of Communication Arts and Sciences said she was surprised by the research results, but intrigued by support for a more nuanced view on the effects of media on sleep.

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Artificial intelligence has aided one Michigan State University researcher and his team in finding answers about the new omicron variant. The MSU researchers report omicron and other variants are evolving increased infectivity and antibody resistance according to an artificial intelligence model. Therefore, new vaccines and antibody therapies are needed, the researchers say.

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From tiny fruit flies to human beings, all animals on Earth maintain their daily rhythms based on their internal circadian clock.

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Agility dogs lacking core strength from routine physical exercise and those participating in activities like flyball may be more susceptible to one of the most common canine knee injuries.

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For patients with rheumatic arthritis and other chronic inflammatory diseases, discontinuing biologic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) prior to orthopaedic surgery does not appear to increase the risk of surgical site infections or delayed wound healing, concludes a review and meta-analysis in The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio in partnership with Wolters Kluwer.

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An international team of researchers has for the first time demonstrated how artificial intelligence can be harnessed for sustainable hydropower development across the entire Amazon basin – stretching across South America.

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A precise approach to selecting and planting cover crops that considers variability within a field will produce better results for farmers.

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Astrophysicists for the first time have calculated the original mass and size of a dwarf galaxy that was shredded in a collision with the Milky Way billions of years ago.

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The SARS-CoV-2 virus is continuously evolving and structural changes to the virus may impact the efficacy of antibody therapies and vaccines. A study publishing February 17th in PLOS Pathogens by Anshumali Mittal at the University of Pittsburgh, USA and colleagues describes the structural and functional landscape of neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and discuss the effects of mutations on the virus spike protein that may allow it to evade antibody responses.

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Scientists have uncovered a set of neurons in fruit flies that shut down in cold temperatures and slow reproduction, a system conserved in many insects, including mosquitoes, which could provide a target for pest control.

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A new study that monitors patients who received “on-pump” or “off-pump” coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) over a 10-year period reveals that outcomes between the two forms of heart bypass surgery are not much different. The findings are published in JAMA Surgery.

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Sickle cell anemia is an inherited blood disorder where red blood cells become sickle/crescent shaped. It causes frequent infections, swelling in the hands and legs, pain, severe tiredness and delayed growth or puberty.

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Scientists at Case Western Reserve University have developed an inexpensive way to transform an ordinary shirt into an electronic smart shirt—one able to monitor and adjust body temperature or even allow the wearer to apply heat to a sore shoulder or back. All from a design printed on the fabric of the shirt or any other piece of clothing.