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A new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that the age of certain immune cells used in immunotherapy plays a role in how effective it is. These cells — natural killer (NK) cells — appear to be more effective the earlier they are in development, opening the door to the possibility of an immunotherapy that would not utilize cells from the patient or a matched donor. Instead, they could be developed from existing supplies of what are called human pluripotent stem cells.

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People around the world are isolating themselves to help slow the spread of COVID-19. But there is another way those confined to their homes — but connected online — can join the fight against the novel coronavirus. Led by computational biophysicist Greg Bowman, PhD, of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the project is called Folding@home. It relies on the collective power of volunteers’ home computers to perform the complex calculations required to simulate protein dynamics.

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A noblewoman from Imperial China enjoyed playing polo on donkeys so much she had her steeds buried with her so she could keep doing it in the afterlife, archaeologists found. This discovery by a team that includes Fiona Marshall, the James W. and Jean L. Davis Professor in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, is published March 17 in the journal Antiquity. The research provides the first physical evidence of donkey polo in Imperial China, which previously was only known from historical texts. It also sheds light on the role for donkeys in the lives of high status women in that period.

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Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., have found — in newborn mice — that a component of breast milk may help protect premature babies from developing life-threatening sepsis.

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Genetically modified Bt cotton is the most widely planted cotton crop in India by acreage, and it is hugely controversial. Supporters long touted increased yields and reduced pesticides to justify its pickup. But that argument does not hold up under the first long-term study of Bt cotton impacts in India. The analysis is co-authored by a Washington University in St. Louis anthropologist in the journal Nature Plants.

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Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed a new imaging agent that could let doctors identify not only multiple types of tumors but the surrounding normal cells that the cancer takes over and uses as a shield to protect itself from attempts to destroy it.

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Faced with a gritty landscape of metal fences, concrete walls and asphalt pavement, city lizards in Puerto Rico rapidly and repeatedly evolved better tolerance for heat than their forest counterparts, according to new research from Washington University in St. Louis and the University of California, Los Angeles.Studies that delve into how animals adapt in urban environments are still relatively rare.

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Many farmers struggle with an enemy that looks like a friend. Agricultural weeds that are close relatives of crops present a particular challenge to farmers because their physical similarities to the desirable species make them difficult to detect and eradicate. Along the way, the imitators compete with crops for water, nutrients and space — often depressing crop yields.

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Parents’ social isolation was linked to self-reported poorer health not only for themselves but also for their adolescent children, finds a study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.“The purpose of this study was to investigate the interrelationship between parent and adolescent social isolation and health,” said Tess Thompson, research assistant professor.

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A new study of North American birds from Washington University in St. Louis finds that the regional stability of ecosystems over time depends on both the total number of species present in a locality and on the variation in species identities among localities.

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Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a way to make radiation therapy for colorectal cancer more effective by inhibiting a protein found in cancer cells in the gut.

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Using ultrasound waves propagating through a solid surface, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis were able to read text messages and make fraudulent calls on a cellphone sitting on a desk up to 30 feet away.

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Racial and ethnic minority children and adolescents with cancer have a higher risk of death than non-Hispanic white children and adolescents, with evidence for larger disparities in survival for more treatable cancers, finds a new study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.“The results suggest that there are modifiable racial and ethnic disparities in childhood cancer survival,” said Kim Johnson, associate professor and senior author of “Associations Between Race/Ethnicity and US Childhood and Adolescent Cancer Survival by Treatment Amenability,” published Feb.

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Studying eczema, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that boosting the number of natural killer cells in the blood is a possible treatment strategy for the skin condition and also may help with related health problems, such as asthma.

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A new study published in the African Journal of Ecology considers the role of the moon in driving a particularly rare occurrence: the solo journey of a naked mole rat from one underground colony to start a new one.

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As of Feb. 25, 2020, the World Health Organization reported 79,339 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19. Thirty-four countries have reported cases, including 2,619 deaths.The WHO has not declared COVID-19 as a pandemic — a situation defined somewhat vaguely by the WHO as “the worldwide spread of a new disease.

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A new study by Washington University in St. Louis political scientists finds that how close people live to a major metropolitan area and their town’s population density play a significant role in shaping their political beliefs and partisan affiliation.

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Similar to treatment resistant depression, there is a subpopulation of those addicted to opioids who do not respond to standard opioid use disorder (OUD) treatments. In a new paper, an addiction expert at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis suggests a new category for these types of patients: treatment resistant opioid use disorder (TROUD).

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Nanoscale photocatalysts are small, man-made particles that harvest energy from sunlight to produce liquid fuels and other useful chemicals. But even within the same batch, the particles tend to vary widely in size, shape and surface composition. That makes it hard for researchers to tell what’s really doing the work.

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Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that the strain of Zika that circulated in Brazil during the microcephaly epidemic that began in 2015 was particularly damaging to the developing brain.

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Using aerosols as ground truth, researchers at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a deep learning method that accurately simulates chaotic trajectories — from the spread of poisonous gas to the path of foraging animals.

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Top-line data reported from international trial

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Clumps of proteins inside cells are a common thread in many neurodegenerative diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig’s disease. These clumps, or solid aggregates of proteins, appear to be the result of an abnormality in the process known as liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS), in which individual proteins come together to form a liquid-like droplet.

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Grandparental child care is linked to nearly a 30% increase in childhood overweight and obesity risk, finds a new analysis from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.In a study, published online Jan. 22 in Childhood Obesity, researchers discovered that grandparents could impact their grandchildren’s waistline in various ways, such as influencing their daily diet and physical activity, as well shaping their grandchildren’s perceptions on what represents a healthy lifestyle.

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Research from Washington University in St. Louis shows a nontrivial rate of children as young as 9- and 10- years old are thinking about suicide. How their families interact - or don't - may play a role.

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Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered that the genetic variant APOE4 – long linked to dementia – spurs the spread of harmful clumps of Parkinson’s proteins through the brain. The findings suggest that therapies that target APOE might reduce the risk of dementia for people with Parkinson’s disease.

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Physicists at Washington University in St. Louis have proposed a way to use data from ultra-high energy neutrinos to study interactions beyond the standard model of particle physics. The 'Zee burst' model leverages new data from large neutrino telescopes such as the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica and its future extensions.

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A new study led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis offers a genetic road map detailing the similarities and differences in immune responses to TB across three species — mice, macaques and humans. According to the researchers, the insight into the immune pathways that are activated in diverse models of TB infection will serve as a valuable tool for scientists studying and working to eradicate the disease.

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New research led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis indicates that 1 in 4 of the children given antibiotics in U.S. children's hospitals are prescribed the drugs inappropriately. The overuse of antibiotics poses an increasing threat to children who develop — or already have — drug-resistant infections.

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An unusual chunk in a meteorite may contain a surprising bit of space history, based on new research from Washington University in St. Louis. Presolar grains — tiny bits of solid interstellar material formed before the sun was born — are sometimes found in primitive meteorites. But a new analysis reveals evidence of presolar grains in part of a meteorite where they are not expected to be found.

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The DNA molecule inside the nucleus of any human cell is more than six feet long. To fit into such a small space, it must fold into precise loops that also govern how genes are turned on or off. New research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis indicates that "jumping genes" play a surprising role in stabilizing the 3D folding patterns of the DNA molecule inside the cell’s nucleus.

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A new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis reveals how high-protein diets increase atherosclerosis, especially unstable plaque that increases the risk of a heart attack.

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Hard plant foods may have made up a larger part of early human ancestors’ diet than currently presumed, according to a new experimental study of modern tooth enamel from Washington University in St. Louis. The results have implications for reconstructing diet, and potentially for our interpretation of the fossil record of human evolution, researchers said.

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A new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that extremely rare, harmful genetic mutations present in healthy donors’ stem cells — though not causing health problems in the donors — may be passed on to cancer patients receiving stem cell transplants, potentially creating health problems for the recipients. Among the concerns are heart damage, graft-versus-host disease and possible new leukemias.

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“Research shows that black individuals encounter an enormous amount of racial discrimination in the workplace, including exclusion from critical social networks, wage disparities and hiring disadvantages,” said Adia Harvey Wingfield, co-author of the study “Getting In, Getting Hired, Getting Sideways Looks: Organizational Hierarchy and Perceptions of Racial Discrimination."

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Studying mice, researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found a driver of bone loss related to cancer treatment — cellular senescence. This process is independent of hormones related to bone health, such as estrogen. Such bone loss can be stopped by treating the mice with either of two investigational drugs already being evaluated in clinical trials.

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A balloon-borne scientific instrument designed to study the origin of cosmic rays is taking its second turn high above the continent of Antarctica three and a half weeks after its launch. SuperTIGER (Super Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder) is designed to measure the rare, heavy elements in cosmic rays that hold clues about their origins outside of the solar system.

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Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis have solved a mystery: How did arsenic show up in aquifer water that had been triple purified? Dissolved organic compounds.

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Thousands of mourners have taken to the streets in Iran following the Jan. 3 death of Qasem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Quds Force. Many questions remain following the U.S. drone strike in Iraq and Iran’s posturing about potential retaliation. Chief among them: Was the strike legal?“Unless there is much more to the story than meets the eye, the answer seems to be no,” said Leila Sadat, the James Carr Professor of International Criminal Law at Washington University in St.

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Think of a train coming down the tracks to a switch point where it could go either to the right or the left — and it always goes to the right. Photosynthetic organisms have a similar switch point. New research from Washington University in St. Louis and Argonne National Laboratory coaxes electrons down the track that they typically don’t travel

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Cancer patients who receive high-tech proton therapy experience similar cure rates and fewer serious side effects compared with those who undergo traditional X-ray radiation therapy, according to a study led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

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Tim Bono offers sound advice about where people go wrong when setting New Year’s resolutions.Wait a few months, said Bono, assistant dean for assessment in Student Affairs and lecturer in Psychological & Brain Sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.People tend to see resolutions a black or white, he said, forgetting that change is incremental; being “happier” is a better resolution than being “happy,” for instance.

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Teach a chimpanzee to fish for insects to eat, and you feed her for a lifetime. Teach her a better way to use tools in gathering prey, and you may change the course of evolution.For most wild chimpanzees, tool use is an important part of life — but learning these skills is no simple feat. Wild chimpanzees transfer tools to each other, and this behavior has previously been shown to serve as a form of teaching.