Researchers who made a knock-in mouse-model of the genetic disorder retinitis pigmentosa 59, or RP59, expected to see retinal degeneration and retinal thinning. They surprisingly found none, calling into question the commonly accepted — though never proved — mechanism for RP59.
Using a new technique originally designed to explore the cosmos, scientists have unveiled structures deep inside the Earth, paving the way towards a new map revealing what Earth’s interior looks like.
Neuroscientists have discovered neurons that control hibernation-like behavior in mice, revealing for the first time the neural circuits that regulate this state. By better understanding these processes, the authors envision the possibility of one day working toward inducing torpor in humans.
In a new Science Immunology study, published on June 12, 2020, scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) offer a clue to why non-allergic people don’t have a strong reaction to house dust mites. They’ve uncovered a previously unknown subset of T cells that may control allergic immune reactions and asthma from ever developing in response to house dust mites—and other possible allergens.
Understanding the source and network of signals as the brain functions is a central goal of brain research. Now, Carnegie Mellon engineers have created a system for high-density EEG imaging of the origin and path of normal and abnormal brain signals.
The COVID-19 pandemic is having a significant impact on people with obesity as they struggle to manage their weight and mental health during shelter-in-place orders, according to research led by The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) and UT Southwestern.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed a mouse model of COVID-19 that is expected to speed up the search for drugs and vaccines for the potentially deadly disease.
In a new study, Johns Hopkins researchers found that testing people for SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes COVID-19 — too early in the course of infection is likely to result in a false negative test, even though they may eventually test positive for the virus.
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis are the first to study presolar materials that landed on a planet-like body. Their findings may help solve the mystery: where did all the water on Earth come from?
DALLAS – June 9, 2020 – Serotonin, a chemical known for its role in producing feelings of well-being and happiness in the brain, can reduce the ability of some intestinal pathogens to cause deadly infections, new research by UT Southwestern scientists suggests. The findings, publishing online today in Cell Host & Microbe, could offer a new way to fight infections for which few truly effective treatments currently exist.
The national law requiring calorie labeling on menus at large chain restaurants is estimated to prevent tens of thousands of new heart disease and type 2 diabetes cases—and save thousands of lives—in just five years, according to a new study that estimates the law’s impact.
An unexpected property of nanometer-scale antimony crystals — the spontaneous formation of hollow structures — could help give the next generation of lithium ion batteries higher energy density without reducing battery lifetime. The reversibly hollowing structures could allow lithium ion batteries to hold more energy and therefore provide more power between charges.
Chemotherapy has been the lone suspect in a neurological ailment, but cancer also appears to be to blame. The havoc they wreak together is much more than additive.
Screening all pregnant women who delivered at UW Medicine facilities during the height of the covid pandemic in Washington state showed that remarkably few tested positive for the virus without symptoms, a new report shows.
Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute have shown that pancreatic cancer metastasis—when tumor cells gain the deadly ability to migrate to new parts of the body—can be suppressed by inhibiting a protein called Slug that regulates cell movement. The study, published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, also revealed two druggable targets that interact with Slug and hold promise as treatments that may stop the spread of pancreatic cancer.
The first convalescent plasma transfusion trial results from Houston Methodist have been published. Of the study’s 25 patients, 19 have improved and 11 discharged. With no adverse side effects caused by the therapy, the study concluded convalescent plasma is a safe treatment option for patients with severe COVID-19. This is the first peer-reviewed publication in the U.S. of convalescent plasma therapy results for COVID-19.
When it fires, a neuron consumes significantly more energy than an equivalent computer operation. And yet, a network of coupled neurons can continuously learn, sense and perform complex tasks at energy levels that are currently unattainable for even state-of-the-art processors.What does a neuron do to save energy that a contemporary computer processing unit doesn’t?Computer modelling by researchers at Washington University in St.
Researchers developed biomaterial-based inks that respond to and quantify chemicals released from the body or in the environment by changing color. Multiple inks can be screen printed onto clothes or even face masks at high resolution, providing a detailed map of human response or exposure.
The University of Illinois at Chicago received $8.2 million from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to continue the Center for Alcohol Research in Epigenetics and its research on how alcohol affects genes through epigenetics -- chemical changes to DNA, RNA or proteins that alter the expression of genes without directly modifying them.
A study led by ecohydrologists at IUPUI is the first to show it's possible to use satellite data to understand how fog reduction from climate change is harming vegetation in ecologically rare regions.
Harvard scientists have developed DNA-barcoded microbial spores that can be safely introduced onto objects and surfaces at a point of origin, such as a field or manufacturing plant, and be identified months later, to help trace problems like the source of foodborne illness.
A new mobile app can help clinicians determine which patients with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) are likely to have severe cases. Created by researchers at NYU College of Dentistry, the app uses artificial intelligence (AI) to assess risk factors and key biomarkers from blood tests, producing a COVID-19 “severity score.”
The National Eye Institute (NEI) has funded development of a handheld pediatric vision scanner that easily and accurately screens for amblyopia, or “lazy eye.” The device could facilitate earlier identification of children who need vision-saving treatment when therapy is likely to be more effective. It also could reduce unnecessary referrals to ophthalmologists.
June 3, 2020 –Today, the American Thoracic Society (ATS) announced a $500,000 donation from AstraZeneca to the ATS COVID-19 Crisis Fund, launched to support the Society’s all-encompassing efforts to fight COVID-19.
Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute and the Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa in Spain have created a test that determines which children with CAD deficiency—a rare metabolic disease—are likely to benefit from receiving uridine, a nutritional supplement that has dramatically improved the lives of other children with the condition. The study was published in Genetics in Medicine.
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have found that genes that confer the power to destroy tetracycline antibiotics are widespread in bacteria. But the researchers have also created a chemical compound that shields tetracyclines from destruction, restoring the antibiotics lethality. The findings indicate an emerging threat to one of the most widely used classes of antibiotics — but also a promising way to protect against that threat.
Using skin cells from human volunteers, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have created fully functional mini livers, which they then transplanted into rats. In this proof-of-concept experiment, the lab-made organs survived for four days inside their animal hosts.
The Center for International Health, Education and Biosecurity (Ciheb) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Institute of Human Virology was awarded $4 million from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to support coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) response activities in Botswana, Nigeria, Malawi, and Mozambique.
Middle-aged and older adults who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual have higher rates of using certain substances in the past year than those who identify as heterosexual, according to a new study led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and the Center for Drug Use and HIV/HCV Research (CDUHR) at NYU School of Global Public Health.
A $1M gift from the John and Mary Tu Foundation is accelerating the efforts of UC San Diego translational research virologist Davey Smith to increase the number of people tested for COVID-19, as well as develop new ways to track and treat the virus. Smith and his team are studying how the disease spreads to better inform contact tracing, as well as leading clinical trials to test new drugs for treatment of COVID-19.
Researchers at Wake Forest School of Medicine have discovered that nicotine promotes the spread of lung cancer cells into the brain, where they can form deadly metastatic tumors. The study, which will be published June 4 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM), suggests that nicotine replacement therapies may not be suitable strategies for lung cancer patients attempting to quit smoking. In addition, the researchers show that the naturally occurring drug parthenolide blocks nicotine-induced brain metastasis in mice, suggesting a potential therapeutic option in humans.
The malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, which has been promoted as a potential treatment for Covid-19, is known to have potentially serious effects on heart rhythms. Now, a team of researchers has used an optical mapping system to observe exactly how the drug creates serious disturbances in the electrical signals that govern heartbeat.
By analyzing tumors from patients treated with immunotherapy for advanced kidney cancer in three clinical trials, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists have identified several features of the tumors that influence their response to immune checkpoint inhibitor drugs.
A UC Davis MIND Institute study found that around 30% of young children with autism have less severe autism symptoms at age 6 than they did at age 3, with some losing their autism diagnoses entirely. It also found that girls tend to show greater reduction and less rise in their autism symptom severity than boys with autism. Children with higher IQs were more likely to show a reduction in their symptoms.
With the support of a new grant from the Office of Naval Research, aerospace engineers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are using their extensive knowledge of flow physics to determine how air flow will affect new jet fighters and how that flow can be manipulated or changed for optimal operation.
Now and in the months to come, hospitals and commercial buildings will be tasked with sanitizing large indoor environments to prevent the transmission of viruses like SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19. A new seed grant-funded study could provide the knowledge base needed to develop optical radiation products used in such large-scale sanitation processes.
In the face of dwindling supplies of virus transport media, cheap and readily available phosphate buffered saline can be used to safely store and transport coronavirus samples for up to 18 hours, reports The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics
The idea of UV sterilization is not a new one, but little or no scientific data about its potency against COVID-19 have been collected, until now. Thanks to a one-year, $182,728 grant from the National Science Foundation, researchers at Binghamton University, State University of New York are beginning to test UV’s effectiveness.
Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute have mapped for the first time the vast network of proteins that interact with proinsulin, the protein the body normally processes into insulin. The study, published in Diabetes, also revealed one protein—called PRDX4—that may be essential for proinsulin folding and insulin production. The research suggests that boosting PRDX4 levels may be a novel therapeutic approach to improving the health of people with diabetes.
Nurse-scientists from the Phyllis F. Cantor Center for Research in Nursing and Patient Care Services at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute received more than $1.3 million dollars in funding for two separate research projects.
Upon exposure to human skin, ultraviolet light from the sun almost instantly generates two types of "lesions" that damage DNA. Scientists at UW Medicine in Seattle determined which of these lesions is responsible for activating a process that may increase cancerous mutations in cells.
A $1 million gift from the Shurl and Kay Curci Foundation will support the UCLA COVID-19 Rapid Response Initiative, a partnership of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
New research is shedding light on the biological architecture that lets us hear – and on a genetic disorder that causes both deafness and blindness.
Through a $4.3 million grant, the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing (JHSON) will become a national center dedicated to improving health and function of people with disabilities and their caregivers.
Researchers have received funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, to screen and evaluate certain molecules known as adjuvants that may improve the ability of coronavirus vaccines to stimulate the immune system and generate appropriate responses necessary to protect the general population against the virus.
Developing frog embryo brains damaged by nicotine exposure can be repaired by treatment with ionoceutical drugs that restore bioelectric patterns in the embryo, followed by repair of normal anatomy and brain function. The research suggests therapeutic drugs may be used to help repair birth defects.
A research team led by the University of Adelaide has found that revegetation of green spaces within cities can improve soil microbiota diversity towards a more natural, biodiverse state, which has been linked to human health benefits. In the study, published in the journal Restoration Ecology, researchers compared the composition of a variety of urban green space vegetation types of varying levels of vegetation diversity, including lawns, vacant lots, parklands, revegetated woodlands and remnant woodlands within the City of Playford Council area in South Australia.
Seventeen years ago, another viral outbreak was in the news. People wore masks, many were nervous to fly. This outbreak, known as SARS, was caused by a type of coronavirus we now call SARS-CoV-1. The difference was that SARS-CoV-1 was controlled and the virus is all but extinct. The newspaper headlines became a distant memory.
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock has received the largest single gift in the institution's 93-year history, announced during the May 21 meeting of the Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas. The $25 million gift from an anonymous donor will support the university’s strategic enrollment management plan and help UA Little Rock students achieve a world-class education.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have received two grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) totaling more than $5 million to study two types of parasitic worm infection that cause devastating illness in millions of people worldwide. One project will focus on onchocerciasis, commonly known as river blindness. The second project will target fascioliasis, commonly found in cattle-farming operations.
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