(1908,'Solar cell keeps working long after sun sets','solar-cell-keeps-working-long-after-sun-sets','2022-04-05 19:27:22.127495',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">About 750 million people in the world do not have access to electricity at night. Solar cells provide power during the day, but saving energy for later use requires substantial battery storage.</p><p>In<em> Applied Physics Letters</em>, by AIP Publishing, researchers from Stanford University constructed a photovoltaic cell that harvests energy from the environment during the day and night, avoiding the need for batteries altogether. The device makes use of the heat leaking from Earth back into space -- energy that is on the same order of magnitude as incoming solar radiation.</p><p>At night, solar cells radiate and lose heat to the sky, reaching temperatures a few degrees below the ambient air. The device under development uses a thermoelectric module to generate voltage and current from the temperature gradient between the cell and the air. This process depends on the thermal design of the system, which includes a hot side and a cold side.</p><p>\"You want the thermoelectric to have very good contact with both the cold side, which is the solar cell, and the hot side, which is the ambient environment,\" said author Sid Assawaworrarit. \"If you don\'t have that, you\'re not going to get much power out of it.\"</p><p>The team demonstrated power generation in their device during the day, when it runs in reverse and contributes additional power to the conventional solar cell, and at night.</p><p>The setup is inexpensive and, in principle, could be incorporated within existing solar cells. It is also simple, so construction in remote locations with limited resources is feasible.</p><p>\"What we managed to do here is build the whole thing from off-the-shelf components, have a very good thermal contact, and the most expensive thing in the whole setup was the thermoelectric itself,\" said author Zunaid Omair.</p><p>Using electricity at night for lighting requires a few watts of power. The current device generates 50 milliwatts per square meter, which means lighting would require about 20 square meters of photovoltaic area.</p><p>\"None of these components were specifically engineered for this purpose,\" said author Shanhui Fan. \"So, I think there\'s room for improvement, in the sense that, if one really engineered each of these components for our purpose, I think the performance could be better.\"</p><p>The team aims to optimize the thermal insulation and thermoelectric components of the device. They are exploring engineering improvements to the solar cell itself to enhance the radiative cooling performance without influencing its solar energy harvesting capability.</p>','2022-04-05 19:27:22.127495','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'American Institute of Physics','Researchers have constructed a photovoltaic cell that harvests energy from the environment during the day and night, making use of the heat leaking from Earth back into space. At night, solar cells radiate and lose heat to the sky, reaching temperatures a few degrees below the ambient air. The device under development uses a thermoelectric module to generate voltage and current from the temperature gradient between the cell and the air. The setup is inexpensive and, in principle, could be incorporated within existing solar cells.\n',1,138,'<li>Sid Assawaworrarit, Zunaid Omair, Shanhui Fan. <strong>Nighttime electric power generation at a density of 50 mW/m2 via radiative cooling of a photovoltaic cell</strong>. <em>Applied Physics Letters</em>, 2022; 120 (14): 143901 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/5.0085205\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1063/5.0085205</a>\n</li>'),(1909,'Astrophysical plasma study benefits from new soft X-ray transition energies benchmark','astrophysical-plasma-study-benefits-from-new-soft-x-ray-transition-energies-benchmark','2022-04-05 19:27:28.976760',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">The analysis of astrophysical plasmas is vital in the quest to learn about some of the Universe\'s most powerful and mysterious objects and events such as stellar coronae and winds, cataclysmic variables, X-ray binaries containing neutron stars and black holes, supernova remnants, or outflows in active galactic nuclei. The success of such research will lead to future astrophysical X-ray observatories enabling scientists to access techniques that are currently not available to X-ray astronomy. A key requirement for the accurate interpretation of high-resolution X-ray spectra is accurate knowledge of transition energies.</p><p>A new paper published in <em>EPJ D </em>authored by J. Stierhof, of the Dr. Karl Remeis-Observatory and Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics of Friedrich-Alexander-Universt Erlangen-Nürnberg, Bamberg, Germany, and coauthors utilizes a newly introduced experimental setup at the BESSY II synchrotron facility to provide precise calibration references in the soft X-ray regime of neon, carbon dioxide, and sulfur hexafluoride gases.</p><p>\"In many research fields involving X-rays or any wavelength of light, insights are obtained by comparing measurements of emission or absorption line wavelengths with known values of transitions in various elements. A shift of the observed wavelength with respect to the known one can occur because of the velocity of the emitter or absorber,\" says Stierhof. \"Our work demonstrates a setup to measure transition energies of gases simultaneous with known transitions in highly charged ions having only two remaining electrons that are precisely known from theoretical calculations.\"</p><p>Monochromatic X-rays from a synchrotron beamline pass through an electron beam ion trap (EBIT), where they interact with the low-density plasma produced and trapped inside the EBIT and then enter a gas photoionization cell containing the atoms or molecules under investigation. Fluorescence emission from the ions in the EBIT provides the basis for the absolute calibration of the monochromator energy scale in the experiment.</p><p>In the paper, the authors found results for the energy transition in the k-shell of carbon dioxide that agree well with previous findings. The results in the transitions demonstrated by sulfur hexafluoride showed that previous experiments have a shift of around 0.5 eV, more than twice their claimed uncertainty.</p><p>The team concludes that the statistical uncertainty in principle allows calibrations in the desired range of 1 to 10 meV, with systematic contributions currently limiting the uncertainty to around 40 to100 meV.</p><p>\"Our proposed setup provides an absolute calibration for the X-ray beam, but we found that the total uncertainty is dominated by relative changes of the beam,\" Stierhof concluded. \"Providing an additional setup to measure these relative changes will bring us closer to the resolution limit of 10 meV.\"</p>','2022-04-05 19:27:28.976760','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Springer','The analysis of astrophysical plasmas is vital in the quest to learn about some of the Universe\'s most powerful and mysterious objects and events such as stellar coronae and winds, cataclysmic variables, X-ray binaries containing neutron stars and black holes, supernova remnants, or outflows in active galactic nuclei. The success of such research will lead to future astrophysical X-ray observatories enabling scientists to access techniques that are currently not available to X-ray astronomy. A key requirement for the accurate interpretation of high-resolution X-ray spectra is accurate knowledge of transition energies.\n',1,56,'<li>J. Stierhof, S. Kühn, M. Winter, P. Micke, R. Steinbrügge, C. Shah, N. Hell, M. Bissinger, M. Hirsch, R. Ballhausen, M. Lang, C. Gräfe, S. Wipf, R. Cumbee, G. L. Betancourt-Martinez, S. Park, J. Niskanen, M. Chung, F. S. Porter, T. Stöhlker, T. Pfeifer, G. V. Brown, S. Bernitt, P. Hansmann, J. Wilms, J. R. Crespo López-Urrutia, M. A. Leutenegger. <strong>A new benchmark of soft X-ray transition energies of $$\\mathrm {Ne}$$, $$\\mathrm {CO}_2$$, and $$\\mathrm {SF}_6$$: paving a pathway towards ppm accuracy</strong>. <em>The European Physical Journal D</em>, 2022; 76 (3) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1140/epjd/s10053-022-00355-0\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1140/epjd/s10053-022-00355-0</a>\n</li>'),(1910,'Sport improves concentration and quality of life','sport-improves-concentration-and-quality-of-life','2022-04-05 19:27:35.054765',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Physically fit primary school pupils feel better and can concentrate better. They are more likely to make it to higher-level secondary grammar schools than children with less sporting abilities. This has been confirmed for the first time in a study by the Department of Sport and Health Sciences at the Technical University of Munich (TUM).</p><p>Movement on a regular basis keeps kids healthy and fit for school. The benefits of sports have been demonstrated in numerous studies. Now a research team at the TU Munich has found proof of the correlation between physical fitness, concentration and health-related quality of life for primary school pupils.</p><p>The study involved 3285 girls and 3248 boys from Bavaria\'s Berchtesgadener Land district. The key criteria were physical strength and endurance, the ability to concentrate and health-related quality of life, as determined by the scientists according to internationally standardized test procedures.</p><p><strong>Promoting children\'s motor skills at an early stage is important</strong></p><p>The results of the study show: The higher the level of children\'s physical fitness, the better they can concentrate and the higher their health-related quality of life. While the boys did better on the fitness tests, the girls performed better in terms of concentration and quality of life values.</p><p>At the same time, in all tests for physical fitness overweight and obese children had significantly poorer results than underweight children and children with normal body weight. Obese children also had significantly poorer values for health-related quality of life on the whole, physical well-being, self-esteem as well as well-being in friendships and at school.</p><p><strong>Sport helps on the way to higher-level secondary grammar schools</strong></p><p>Another important result of the study: \"Primary school pupils with good physical fitness and a good ability to concentrate are more likely to make it to secondary grammar schools,\" says Prof. Renate Oberhoffer-Fritz, holder of the TUM Chair of Preventive Pediatrics and Dean of the TUM Department of Sport and Health Sciences.</p><p>\"This means it\'s all the more important to encourage motor development in children at an early stage, since this can also have a positive impact on the development of mental fitness,\" adds Prof. Oberhoffer-Fritz. \"Collaboration among parents, schools, communities and athletic clubs is very important when it comes to creating a comprehensive and appropriate range of possibilities.\"</p><p>Dr. Thorsten Schulz, head of the study team at TUM: \"Based on the results of the study, since 2019 the Berchtesgadener Land District Administration Office has been giving all first grade pupils in the region a voucher for a one year membership in a sports club. This is a great example for how different stakeholders can work together and help motivate children to be more athletically active.\"</p><p>The data were collected based on internationally recognized and standardized, age-appropriate tests. Thus physical strength and endurance were measured according to the criteria of the FitnessGram guidelines, ability to concentrate was determined using the d2-R test and the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) was measured using the KINDL questionnaire.</p><p>The study was conducted in compliance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the local ethics commission.</p><p>In a further study, the research team also investigated older children and young adults at secondary schools. An additional scientific publication based on these data is planned.</p>','2022-04-05 19:27:35.054765','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Technical University of Munich (TUM)','Physically fit primary school pupils feel better and can concentrate better. They are more likely to make it to higher-level secondary grammar schools than children with less sporting ability.\n',1,105,'<li>Katharina Köble, Tanja Postler, Renate Oberhoffer-Fritz, Thorsten Schulz. <strong>A Better Cardiopulmonary Fitness Is Associated with Improved Concentration Level and Health-Related Quality of Life in Primary School Children</strong>. <em>Journal of Clinical Medicine</em>, 2022; 11 (5): 1326 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jcm11051326\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.3390/jcm11051326</a>\n</li>'),(1911,'Investigating newly synthesized thallium compounds for optoelectronic devices','investigating-newly-synthesized-thallium-compounds-for-optoelectronic-devices','2022-04-05 19:27:36.976573',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">The burgeoning field of optoelectronic devices is driving the development of new alkali metal-based chalcogenides with qualities that have to be robustly investigated.</p><p>The need for efficient optoelectronic devices is growing and hand-in-hand so too is the challenge of discovering new semiconductors with valuable properties. This has spurred significant research in the synthesis and characterization of new alkali metal-based (AM) chalcogenides involving copper, silver and alkali metal with valuable properties like flexibility, high thermal stability, semiconductivity, photovoltaic effects.</p><p>Inspired by the growing demand for new optimum semiconducting materials, a new paper published in <em>EPJ B </em>authored by Abdelmadjid Bouhemadou, Laboratory for Developing New Materials and their Characterizations, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Ferhat Abbas Setif, Algeria and his co-authors, investigated in detail the structural, elastic, electronic and optical properties of two newly synthesized compounds, namely Tl2CdGeSe4 and Tl2CdSnSe4.</p><p>In the paper, the authors describe concerns with AM-based chalcogenides which hinder technological applications, adding that these disadvantages could be overcome by compounds that integrate thallium (Tl) including Tl2CdGeSe4 and Tl2CdSnSe4.</p><p>The researchers explain that Tl is much less electropositive than alkali metals; the electronegativity of Tl is much higher than that of any alkali metal. This leads to a less ionic character in Tl-based compounds, which may lead to low electrical resistivities and therefore to higher carrier mobilities.</p><p>Tl is also heavier than any stable alkali metal, which means it has low lattice thermal conductivity improving physical properties requiring low lattice thermal conductivity such as thermoelectric efficiency. Tl-containing materials also tend to be less sensitive to air and moisture than AM-based compounds. These and other advantages mean that significant research has been devoted to the exploration of Tl-based chalcogenides</p><p>The authors of the paper say that their research revealed that the studied materials exhibit a high absorption in an energy window involving the visible spectrum. In addition to this, the optimized structural parameters of Tl2CdGeSe4 and Tl2CdSnSe4 are in excellent agreement with the experimental counterparts, confirming the reliability of the theoretical method used to predict the physical properties of the title compounds.</p><p>This revealed that the studied compounds are soft, ductile, mechanically stable and substantially structurally and elastically anisotropic materials.</p>','2022-04-05 19:27:36.976573','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Springer','The burgeoning field of optoelectronic devices is driving the development of new alkali metal-based chalcogenides with qualities that have to be robustly investigated.\n',1,30,'<li>S. Karkour, A. Bouhemadou, D. Allali, K. Haddadi, S. Bin-Omran, R. Khenata, Y. Al-Douri, A. Ferhat Hamida, A. Hadi, A. F. Abd El-Rehim. <strong>Structural, elastic, electronic and optical properties of the newly synthesized selenides Tl2CdXSe4 (X = Ge, Sn)</strong>. <em>The European Physical Journal B</em>, 2022; 95 (3) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1140/epjb/s10051-022-00288-y\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1140/epjb/s10051-022-00288-y</a>\n</li>'),(1912,'The relationship between active areas and boundaries with energy input in snapping shells','the-relationship-between-active-areas-and-boundaries-with-energy-input-in-snapping-shells','2022-04-05 19:27:40.492113',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">New research looks at how the geometry of shells relates to the energy input required to actuate snap-through instability.</p><p>In nature, diverse organisms such as the hummingbird and Venus flytrap use rapid snapping motions to capture prey, inspiring engineers to create designs that function using snap-through instability of shell structures. Snapping rapidly releases stored elastic energy and does not require a continuously applied stimulus to maintain an inverted shape in bistable structures.</p><p>A new paper published in <em>EPJ E </em>authored by Lucia Stein-Montalvo, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University, and Douglas P. Holmes, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Boston University, along with co-authors Jeong-Ho Lee, Yi Yang, Melanie Landesberg, and Harold S. Park, examines how restricting the active area of the shell boundary allows for a large reduction in its size, and decreases the energy input required to actuate snap-through behaviour in the shell to guide the design of efficient snapping structures.</p><p>In the paper, the authors point out snap-through instability is a particularly attractive mechanism for devices like robotic actuators or mechanical muscles, optical devices, and even dynamic building façades. All of these rely on a combination of geometric bi-stability and snap-inducing stimulus to function that ranges from the mechanical, like the torque in a child\'s popping jumping cap toy, or non-mechanical like temperature, voltage, a magnetic field, differential growth or swelling.</p><p>The researchers conducted two sets of experiments, one using the residual swelling of bilayer silicone elastomers -- a process that mimics differential growth, the other using a magneto-elastomer to induce curvatures that cause snap-through.</p><p>This mechanics-informed approach uncovered an analogy to the bending-dominated boundary layer in inverted spherical caps. They found that just as with inverted, passive spherical caps, the size of the boundary layer is closely tied to stability. Additionally, the team discovered that the location and size of the imposed bending region determine whether it competes against or cooperates with the geometric boundary layer, where the shell \"wants\" to bend.</p><p>Thus, the team\'s results reveal the underlying mechanics of snap-through in spherical shells, offering an intuitive route to optimal design for efficient snap-through.</p>','2022-04-05 19:27:40.492113','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Springer','New research looks at how the geometry of shells relates to the energy input required to actuate snap-through instability.\n',1,82,'<li>Lucia Stein-Montalvo, Jeong-Ho Lee, Yi Yang, Melanie Landesberg, Harold S. Park, Douglas P. Holmes. <strong>Efficient snap-through of spherical caps by applying a localized curvature stimulus</strong>. <em>The European Physical Journal E</em>, 2022; 45 (1) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1140/epje/s10189-021-00156-0\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1140/epje/s10189-021-00156-0</a>\n</li>'),(1913,'How to track a shark','how-to-track-a-shark','2022-04-05 20:14:07.953079',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">An international team of researchers, led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has compiled a massive dataset that overlays years\' worth of information on the position, migration and interaction of sharks and game fish. This research has immediate relevance for anglers, who have been reporting increased contact with sharks over the years. The research, recently published in Ecological Applications and which relies on an innovative use of acoustic telemetry and machine learning, gives us the clearest window yet into complex ecological relationships and promises to be a useful tool in ongoing conservation efforts.</p><p>\"It\'s so rare to observe multi-species interaction in the ocean,\" says Lucas Griffin, the paper\'s co-lead author and a postdoctoral researcher in environmental conservation at UMass Amherst. That\'s because species such as the ones the researchers focused on -- great hammerhead and bull sharks, permit and Atlantic tarpon -- can range over hundreds of square miles of open ocean. There has long been anecdotal evidence from the game-fishing community that instances of depredation -- when a shark eats a fish that has been hooked -- are on the rise, but to date there\'s been no hard data to support whether or not such encounters are indeed increasing and, if so, why.</p><p>For this study, the researchers focused on the coastal regions of the Florida Keys. Over a three-year period, the collaborative team deployed nearly 300 acoustic receivers and tagged 257 fish (including 73 sharks) with transmitters. Every time one of the tagged sharks or fish swam within range of the receiver, its presence was recorded and tagged with the date and time. This approach, called acoustic telemetry, gave the team unprecedented access to the migratory, reproductive and feeding patterns of sharks and gamefish. The team then ran their raw data through a cutting-edge machine-learning algorithm to model the incredibly complex interplay of environmental factors, such as time of year, lunar cycle and water depth and temperature.</p><p>\"Combining acoustic telemetry and machine learning helped us to answer a host of questions about predators and prey,\" says Grace Casselberry, the paper\'s other co-lead author and a graduate student in the program in marine sciences and technology in UMass Amherst\'s Department of Environmental Conservation. It turns out that tarpon and permit are returning to the same spawning grounds, at the same times of year, every year. Sharks know this: \"they seem to remember where and when the tarpon and permit aggregate,\" says Casselberry. So do anglers who, through years of word-of-mouth reporting on when the fish are biting where, wind up trying to hook the same fish that sharks feed on. Knowing this, fisheries managers can tailor their management strategies to best protect the interests of sharks, game fish and anglers.</p><p>Finally, the team\'s research is innovative not just for its methods, but for its cooperation. A wide range of institutions shared data from tagged fish, including research institutions, like the University of Miami and the Bimini Biological Field Station in The Bahamas, to state agencies, like the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and the nonprofit environmental groups, Bonefish &amp; Tarpon Trust. \"We also worked extensively with the local fishing-guide community to help tag game fish and sharks, and figure out where to place the receivers,\" says Griffin. \"Our lab very much embraces a collaborative and cooperative spirit,\" says Andy Danylchuk, professor of fish conservation at UMass Amherst and one of the paper\'s senior authors. \"We are grateful for our research partners and hope our science will help to hone conservation and management strategies for both game fish and sharks.\"</p>','2022-04-05 20:14:07.953079','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Massachusetts Amherst','An international team of researchers has compiled a massive dataset that overlays years\' worth of information on the position, migration and interaction of sharks and game fish. This research has immediate relevance for anglers, who have been reporting increased contact with sharks over the years. The research gives us the clearest window yet into complex ecological relationships and promises to be a useful tool in ongoing conservation efforts.\n',1,116,'<li>Lucas P. Griffin, Grace A. Casselberry, Susan K. Lowerre‐Barbieri, Alejandro Acosta, Aaron J. Adams, Steven J. Cooke, Alex Filous, Claudia Friess, Tristan L. Guttridge, Neil Hammerschlag, Vital Heim, Danielle Morley, Mitchell J. Rider, Gregory B. Skomal, Matthew J. Smukall, Andy J. Danylchuk, Jacob W. Brownscombe. <strong>Predator–prey landscapes of large sharks and game fishes in the Florida Keys</strong>. <em>Ecological Applications</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/eap.2584\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1002/eap.2584</a>\n</li>'),(1914,'\'Ears\' for rover Perseverance\'s exploration of Mars','\'ears\'-for-rover-perseverance\'s-exploration-of-mars','2022-04-05 20:14:35.721892',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">For two decades, Roger Wiens has built instruments to give humans eyes and a nose on Mars -- and now he\'s helping add ears as well.</p><p>Wiens, a professor of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences in the College of Science at Purdue University, and an expert in Mars robotics technology, led the team that built SuperCam, a device on the Perseverance Mars rover that includes a laser for zapping rocks as well as the microphone that brought the first recordings of Mars to Earth.</p><p>\"When I was at Los Alamos National Laboratory, I started looking around to see if there were any Department of Energy technologies that we might be able to harness and use for planetary science, and that\'s where Curiosity\'s ChemCam, which later evolved into Perseverance\'s SuperCam, came from,\" Wiens said.</p><p>SuperCam incorporates a technology that uses a pulsed laser beam to pulverize tiny bits of rock samples up to 30 feet away. The instrument collects the light from the brief flash emitted in the process, allowing scientists to analyze rocks that its arm can\'t reach and to \"see\" and analyze samples even through Mars dust that coats the rocks.</p><p>In incorporating the microphone into SuperCam, Wiens and his collaborators have opened up opportunities for a range of science and research on the Martian surface that was never possible before, including helping analyze rock and recording sounds.</p><p>\"When we zap these rocks, we can find out more about their hardness and composition by listening to the change in sound as a number of laser shots get fired into the rock in the same spots,\" Wiens said. \"We can hear the helicopter Ingenuity, which is something we didn\'t expect to be able to hear. We can hear the wind and measure the speed and direction, as well as measure the size and speed of dust devils. We can listen to the rover\'s own sounds and monitor health and safety the same way you gauge your car\'s well-being by listening to the motor. Things sound different on Earth because the rover\'s ears are shaped different from ours and the atmosphere is so different, but we\'re making recordings and learning things every other day.\"</p>','2022-04-05 20:14:35.721892','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Purdue University','Scientists have built instruments to give humans eyes and a nose on Mars -- and now they are helping add ears as well.\n',1,27,'<li>S. Maurice, B. Chide, N. Murdoch, R. D. Lorenz, D. Mimoun, R. C. Wiens, A. Stott, X. Jacob, T. Bertrand, F. Montmessin, N. L. Lanza, C. Alvarez-Llamas, S. M. Angel, M. Aung, J. Balaram, O. Beyssac, A. Cousin, G. Delory, O. Forni, T. Fouchet, O. Gasnault, H. Grip, M. Hecht, J. Hoffman, J. Laserna, J. Lasue, J. Maki, J. McClean, P.-Y. Meslin, S. Le Mouélic, A. Munguira, C. E. Newman, J. A. Rodríguez Manfredi, J. Moros, A. Ollila, P. Pilleri, S. Schröder, M. de la Torre Juárez, T. Tzanetos, K. M. Stack, K. Farley, K. Williford, R. C. Wiens, T. Acosta-Maeda, R. B. Anderson, D. M. Applin, G. Arana, M. Bassas-Portus, R. Beal, P. Beck, K. Benzerara, S. Bernard, P. Bernardi, T. Bosak, B. Bousquet, A. Brown, A. Cadu, P. Caïs, K. Castro, E. Clavé, S. M. Clegg, E. Cloutis, S. Connell, A. Debus, E. Dehouck, D. Delapp, C. Donny, A. Dorresoundiram, G. Dromart, B. Dubois, C. Fabre, A. Fau, W. Fischer, R. Francis, J. Frydenvang, T. Gabriel, E. Gibbons, I. Gontijo, J. R. Johnson, H. Kalucha, E. Kelly, E. W. Knutsen, G. Lacombe, S. Le Mouélic, C. Legett, R. Leveille, E. Lewin, G. Lopez-Reyes, E. Lorigny, J. M. Madariaga, M. Madsen, S. Madsen, L. Mandon, N. Mangold, M. Mann, J.-A. Manrique, J. Martinez-Frias, L. E. Mayhew, T. McConnochie, S. M. McLennan, N. Melikechi, F. Meunier, G. Montagnac, V. Mousset, T. Nelson, R. T. Newell, Y. Parot, C. Pilorget, P. Pinet, G. Pont, F. Poulet, C. Quantin-Nataf, B. Quertier, W. Rapin, A. Reyes-Newell, S. Robinson, L. Rochas, C. Royer, F. Rull, V. Sautter, S. Sharma, V. Shridar, A. Sournac, M. Toplis, I. Torre-Fdez, N. Turenne, A. Udry, M. Veneranda, D. Venhaus, D. Vogt, P. Willis. <strong>In situ recording of Mars soundscape</strong>. <em>Nature</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04679-0\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41586-022-04679-0</a>\n</li>'),(1915,'Women seen as happy and men as angry despite real emotions','women-seen-as-happy-and-men-as-angry-despite-real-emotions','2022-04-05 20:14:38.612443',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Faces and voices are more likely to be judged as male when they are angry, and as female when they are happy, new University of Essex research has revealed.</p><p>The study led by Dr Sebastian Korb found that how we understand the emotional expression of a face or voice is heavily influenced by perceived sex, and vice versa.</p><p>The paper published in the journal<em> Emotion </em>reveals that both men and women subconsciously make the same mistakes.</p><p>Dr Korb, from the Department of Psychology, hopes the research will be expanded and could help make us more aware of our built-in biases.</p><p>He said: \"This study shows how important it is not to rely too much on your first impressions, as they can easily be wrong.</p><p>\"Next time you find yourself attributing happiness or sadness to a woman be aware of your bias and possible misinterpretation.</p><p>\"Interestingly there wasn\'t a gender divide in the way the perceived sex of a face affected emotional judgements -- but women were slightly more sensitive to subtle changes in emotion overall.\"</p><p>The research used 121 avatar faces and 121 human voices created by modifying the emotional expression in degrees from happy to angry, and the sex on a sliding scale from male to female.</p><p>A total of 256 participants in three studies were shown the mock-ups or played the voices and asked to judge emotions and whether someone was male or female.</p><p>When comparing the size of the effects, it was found for both faces and voices that emotion influenced the perception of sex more than the other way around.</p><p>It is thought this may be due to an unconscious activation of the amygdala -- an important emotion centre in the brain.</p><p>This almond-shaped cluster of neurons located deep in the brain allows us to rapidly detect and react to threats, such as an angry attacker but is not involved in determining a person\'s sex.</p><p>It is also speculated that being biased to perceive males as angry is an evolutionary advantage as it prepares for a fight or flight response.</p>','2022-04-05 20:14:38.612443','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Essex','Faces and voices are more likely to be judged as male when they are angry, and as female when they are happy, new research has revealed. The study found that how we understand the emotional expression of a face or voice is heavily influenced by perceived sex, and vice versa. He said: \"This study shows how important it is not to rely too much on your first impressions, as they can easily be wrong. \"Next time you find yourself attributing happiness or sadness to a woman be aware of your bias and possible misinterpretation.\"\n',1,177,'<li>Sebastian Korb, Nace Mikus, Claudia Massaccesi, Jack Grey, Suvarnalata Xanthate Duggirala, Sonja A. Kotz, Marc Mehu. <strong>EmoSex: Emotion prevails over sex in implicit judgments of faces and voices.</strong>. <em>Emotion</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/emo0001089\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1037/emo0001089</a>\n</li>'),(1916,'The pleasant smell of wet soil indicates danger to bacteria-eating worms, researchers find','the-pleasant-smell-of-wet-soil-indicates-danger-to-bacteria-eating-worms,-researchers-find','2022-04-05 22:10:30.780673',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">The smell of geosmin is unmistakable: it\'s the odour that permeates the air after a summer rain squall or fills your nose while gardening. It\'s the smell of wet soil -- an earthy, almost comforting scent.</p><p>But as a new study just published in the journal <em>Applied and Environmental Microbiology</em> points out, that smell also has a particular purpose. It is made by certain kinds of bacteria that are known toxin producers. This acts as a warning to <em>C. elegans</em>, a common type of worm, that the bacteria they are about to graze on is poisonous. The chemical is an aposematic signal that triggers the blind worm\'s sense of taste just like a caterpillar\'s bright colours or a pufferfish\'s spines tell a sighted predator to stay away.</p><p>Just a few millimetres long, nematodes like <em>C. elegans</em> are tiny but found all over the Earth, including Antarctica. Nematodes are also the most abundant animal on Earth, accounting for about four-fifths of the global animal population. Researchers often use <em>C. elegans</em> as a model organism in their studies because their biological systems are less complex but similar to those of humans.</p><p>\"Through our study, we found that geosmin in <em>Streptomyces coelicolor</em>, a bacteria that is toxic to <em>C. elegans</em>, does not appear to have any role other than as a signal,\" says Brandon Findlay, associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the paper\'s supervising author. \"It doesn\'t help the cells grow, eat or divide. It doesn\'t ward off predators directly. It just seems to be there as a warning.\" He says he is unaware of any other bacteria-produced chemicals that act in that fashion.</p><p>The study was led by Liana Zaroubi (MSc 21), one of Findlay\'s students who is now pursuing her PhD at Simon Fraser University.</p><p><strong>A scent of danger</strong></p><p>Zaroubi acknowledges that it took her some time to arrive at the idea that geosmin was aposematic.</p><p>\"It was definitely not obvious,\" she says. \"I eliminated many hypotheses before finding that geosmin acted as a warning signal. However, each ruled-out experiment revealed important clues that helped elucidate the mystery that is geosmin. We followed the science and I believe that was key to this discovery.\"</p><p>The researchers used several strains of <em>C. elegans </em>to test their hypothesis. First, they observed the movement and behaviour of worms on agar plates where geosmin was present but bacteria was absent. In this instance, the worms reacted adversely to the presence of the compound, moving rapidly with frequent changes in direction. However, mutant nematodes without the chemosensory ASE neuron, which is dedicated to taste, were observed to behave normally. Geosmin itself appeared to be non-toxic to <em>C. elegans</em>.</p><p>A separate experiment was designed that included <em>Streptomyces coelicolor </em>bacteria. The researchers observed the worms avoiding their prey when they could taste the presence of geosmin. But those without the ASE neurons devoured the toxic bacteria, with predictably fatal consequences for both predator and prey.</p><p><strong>A taste of evolution</strong></p><p>Geosmin is a very pungent compound, detectable by humans at five parts per trillion. While many find its odour pleasant, it is also a common bacteria-created contaminant in human drinking water that can cause water to taste like dirt.</p><p>The extent of geosmin\'s biological uses is still not completely understood. However, the researchers believe the compound offers insight into how bacteria and their predators interact and how complex behaviours like toxin avoidance evolve.</p><p>Along with Zaroubi and Findlay, PhD student Imge Ozugergin, Karina Mastronardi (PhD 21), PhD candidate Anic Imfeld, Chris Law at the Centre for Microscopy and Cellular Imaging, professor Yves Gélinas from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and associate professor Alisa Piekny from the Department of Biology contributed to the study.</p>','2022-04-05 22:10:30.780673','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Concordia University','Researchers have found that geosmin is made by certain kinds of bacteria that are known toxin producers. This acts as a warning to C. elegans, a common type of worm, that the bacteria they are about to graze on is poisonous. The chemical is an aposematic signal that triggers the blind worm\'s sense of taste just like a caterpillar\'s bright colors or a pufferfish\'s spines tell a sighted predator to stay away.\n',1,130,'<li>Liana Zaroubi, Imge Ozugergin, Karina Mastronardi, Anic Imfeld, Chris Law, Yves Gélinas, Alisa Piekny, Brandon L. Findlay. <strong>The Ubiquitous Soil Terpene Geosmin Acts as a Warning Chemical</strong>. <em>Applied and Environmental Microbiology</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/aem.00093-22\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1128/aem.00093-22</a>\n</li>'),(1917,'Sugar-coated nanoparticles target macrophages, reverse pulmonary fibrosis','sugar-coated-nanoparticles-target-macrophages,-reverse-pulmonary-fibrosis','2022-04-05 22:10:34.858703',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Scientists at the University of Illinois Chicago have developed a treatment for pulmonary fibrosis by using nanoparticles coated in mannose -- a type of sugar -- to stop a population of lung cells called macrophages that contribute to lung tissue scarring. The cell-targeting method holds promise for preventing this severe lung scarring disease, which can result in life-threatening complications like shortness of breath. </p><p>The researchers say that the treatment is not yet ready to be tested in clinical trials, but its success in relevant animal models is a promising sign that it may be possible to treat the disease -- for which there are very limited and imprecise treatments available. </p><p>A major cause of lung fibrosis is the activation of harmful immune cells that cause excessive inflammation.</p><p>\"The body\'s inflammatory processes are very complex and finding treatments for diseases that result from lingering or excessive inflammation are very difficult because the treatments that prevent harmful inflammation also, unfortunately, prevent helpful inflammation which fights infections and heals injuries,\" said Abhalaxmi Singh, visiting research assistant professor in the department of pharmacology and regenerative medicine at the UIC College of Medicine. \"To have a targeted treatment that addressed a root cause of harmful inflammation work in an animal model is exciting.\" </p><p>The coated nanoparticle treatment stops fibrosis by binding to a subset of macrophages, a type of white blood cell found in all organs, that have a receptor for mannose, a sugar molecule. This receptor, called CD206, is hyper-expressed in patients with pulmonary fibrosis.</p><p>The scientists found that the macrophages that cause lung fibrosis have very high levels of mannose. In pulmonary fibrosis, macrophages go through a transition that releases cytokines and promotes scarring. Singh and her colleagues characterized the surfaces of these scar-promoting macrophages and the CD206 mannose receptor and designed a nano-vehicle to target these receptors. </p><p>When the sugar-coated nanoparticle binds to the cell\'s receptor, it delivers the nucleotide -- a fragment of silencing RNA (siRNA) targeting transforming growth factor beta (TGFB) -- which the researchers loaded into the nanoparticle. SiRNA targeting TGFB is a cell signaling pathway known to be involved with pulmonary fibrosis. Once in the cell, the nucleotide blocks the macrophage\'s ability to make excessive amounts of proteins, such as collagen, involved with scar formation. </p><p>\"Macrophages are exciting, complex cells and the approach Dr. Singh and our team took in coating the nanoparticle with sugar to bind to the mannose receptor is an intriguing and precise way to ensure targeted delivery of a silencing RNA treatment to this subset of cells that contribute to fibrosis,\" said Asrar Malik, Schweppe Family Distinguished Professor and head of the department of pharmacology and regenerative medicine. </p><p>The team has already started testing the treatment in human lung tissue samples with colleagues at the University of California at San Francisco. </p><p>The nanoparticle used in the experiments is formulated from a protein called albumin, and it is a platform the scientists are studying as a tool to deliver therapeutics for a variety of conditions. </p><p>Malik\'s team first discovered that albumin nanoparticles can be used to suppress inflammation in a precision medicine manner. Their original discovery was reported in a 2014 Nature Nanotechnology research article. The inventors subsequently established Nano Biotherapeutics, an independent startup company supported by a National Institutes of Health phase II Small Business Technology Transfer grant to attract the partners and investors needed to bring the innovation to market.</p>','2022-04-05 22:10:34.858703','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Illinois Chicago','Scientists have developed a treatment for pulmonary fibrosis by using nanoparticles coated in mannose -- a type of sugar -- to stop a population of lung cells called macrophages that contribute to lung tissue scarring. The cell-targeting method holds promise for preventing this severe lung scarring disease, which can result in life-threatening complications like shortness of breath.\n',1,120,'<li>Abhalaxmi Singh, Sreeparna Chakraborty, Sing Wan Wong, Nicole A. Hefner, Andrew Stuart, Abdul S. Qadir, Amitabha Mukhopadhyay, Kurt Bachmaier, Jae-Won Shin, Jalees Rehman, Asrar B. Malik. <strong>Nanoparticle targeting of de novo profibrotic macrophages mitigates lung fibrosis</strong>. <em>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</em>, 2022; 119 (15) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2121098119\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1073/pnas.2121098119</a>\n</li>'),(1918,'Treated plastic waste good at grabbing carbon dioxide','treated-plastic-waste-good-at-grabbing-carbon-dioxide','2022-04-05 22:10:37.280535',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Here\'s another thing to do with that mountain of used plastic: make it soak up excess carbon dioxide.</p><p>What seems like a win-win for a pair of pressing environmental problems describes a Rice University lab\'s newly discovered chemical technique to turn waste plastic into an effective carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) sorbent for industry.</p><p>Rice chemist James Tour and co-lead authors Rice alumnus Wala Algozeeb, graduate student Paul Savas and postdoctoral researcher Zhe Yuan reported in the American Chemical Society journal <em>ACS Nano </em>that heating plastic waste in the presence of potassium acetate produced particles with nanometer-scale pores that trap carbon dioxide molecules.</p><p>These particles can be used to remove CO<sub>2</sub> from flue gas streams, they reported.</p><p>\"Point sources of CO<sub>2</sub> emissions like power plant exhaust stacks can be fitted with this waste-plastic-derived material to remove enormous amounts of CO<sub>2</sub> that would normally fill the atmosphere,\" Tour said. \"It is a great way to have one problem, plastic waste, address another problem, CO<sub>2</sub> emissions.\"</p><p>A current process to pyrolyze plastic known as chemical recycling produces oils, gases and waxes, but the carbon byproduct is nearly useless, he said. However, pyrolyzing plastic in the presence of potassium acetate produces porous particles able to hold up to 18% of their own weight in CO<sub>2</sub> at room temperature.</p><p>In addition, while typical chemical recycling doesn\'t work for polymer wastes with low fixed carbon content in order to generate CO<sub>2</sub> sorbent, including polypropylene and high- and low-density polyethylene, the main constituents in municipal waste, those plastics work especially well for capturing CO<sub>2</sub> when treated with potassium acetate.</p><p>The lab estimates the cost of carbon dioxide capture from a point source like post-combustion flue gas would be $21 a ton, far less expensive than the energy-intensive, amine-based process in common use to pull carbon dioxide from natural gas feeds, which costs $80-$160 a ton.</p><p>Like amine-based materials, the sorbent can be reused. Heating it to about 75 degrees Celsius (167 degrees Fahrenheit) releases trapped carbon dioxide from the pores, regenerating about 90% of the material\'s binding sites.</p><p>Because it cycles at 75 degrees Celsius, polyvinyl chloride vessels are sufficient to replace the expensive metal vessels that are normally required. The researchers noted the sorbent is expected to have a longer lifetime than liquid amines, cutting downtime due to corrosion and sludge formation.</p><p>To make the material, waste plastic is turned into powder, mixed with potassium acetate and heated at 600 C (1,112 F) for 45 minutes to optimize the pores, most of which are about 0.7 nanometers wide. Higher temperatures led to wider pores. The process also produces a wax byproduct that can be recycled into detergents or lubricants, the researchers said.</p><p>Co-authors of the paper are Rice alumnus Zhe Wang and research scientist Carter Kittrell, and graduate student Jacklyn Hall and Praveen Bollini, an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, both of the University of Houston. Tour is the T.T. and W.F. Chao Chair in Chemistry as well as a professor of materials science and nanoengineering.</p><p>The Department of Energy (DE-F0031794) and Saudi Aramco supported the research.</p>','2022-04-05 22:10:37.280535','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Rice University','Rice University chemists treat waste plastic to absorb carbon dioxide from flue gas streams more efficiently than current processes.\n',1,25,'<li>Wala A. Algozeeb, Paul E. Savas, Zhe Yuan, Zhe Wang, Carter Kittrell, Jacklyn N. Hall, Weiyin Chen, Praveen Bollini, James M. Tour. <strong>Plastic Waste Product Captures Carbon Dioxide in Nanometer Pores</strong>. <em>ACS Nano</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.2c00955\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1021/acsnano.2c00955</a>\n</li>'),(1919,'The dark matter of the brain','the-dark-matter-of-the-brain','2022-04-05 22:10:40.249222',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">They are part of the brain of almost every animal species, yet they remain usually invisible even under the electron microscope. \"Electrical synapses are like the dark matter of the brain,\" says Alexander Borst, director at the MPI for Biological Intelligence, in foundation (i.f). Now a team from his department has taken a closer look at this rarely explored brain component: In the brain of the fruit fly <em>Drosophila</em>, they were able to show that electrical synapses occur in almost all brain areas and can influence the function and stability of individual nerve cells.</p><p>Neurons communicate via synapses, small contact points at which chemical messengers transmit a stimulus from one cell to the next. We may remember this from biology class. However, that is not the whole story. In addition to the commonly known chemical synapses, there is a second, little-known type of synapse: the electrical synapse. \"Electrical synapses are much rarer and are hard to detect with current methods. That\'s why they have hardly been researched so far,\" explains Georg Ammer, who has long been fascinated by these hidden cell connections. \"In most animal brains, we therefore don\'t know even basic things, such as where exactly electrical synapses occur or how they influence brain activity.\"</p><p>An electrical synapse connects two neurons directly, allowing the electrical current that neurons use to communicate, to flow from one cell to the next without a detour. Except in echinoderms, this particular type of synapse occurs in the brain of every animal species studied so far. \"Electrical synapses must therefore have important functions: we just do not know which ones!\" says Georg Ammer.</p><p><strong>Distribution in the brain</strong></p><p>To track down these functions, Ammer and his two colleagues, Renée Vieira and Sandra Fendl, labelled an important protein building block of electrical synapses. In the brain of fruit flies, they were thus able to show that electrical synapses do not occur in all nerve cells, but in almost all areas of the brain. By selectively switching off the electrical synapses in the area of visual processing, the researchers could show that the affected neurons\' reaction to certain stimuli is much weaker. Furthermore, without electrical synapses, some nerve cell types became unstable and began to oscillate spontaneously.</p><p>\"The results suggest that electrical synapses are important for diverse brain functions and can play very different functional roles, depending on the type of neuron,\" Ammer summarizes. \"These synapses should therefore also be integrated in connectome studies.\" The connectome is a map of all neurons and their connections in a brain or brain area. Often, this information is reconstructed from electron microscope images -- where electrical synapses are largely invisible. How these can be integrated into connectome investigations and what other secrets electrical synapses hold, is subject for further studies.</p>','2022-04-05 22:10:40.249222','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Max-Planck-Gesellschaft','They are part of the brain of almost every animal species, yet they remain usually invisible even under the electron microscope.\n',1,182,'<li>Georg Ammer, Renée M. Vieira, Sandra Fendl, Alexander Borst. <strong>Anatomical distribution and functional roles of electrical synapses in Drosophila</strong>. <em>Current Biology</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.03.040\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/j.cub.2022.03.040</a>\n</li>'),(1920,'Engineers point the way to more affordable, sustainable urban neighborhoods','engineers-point-the-way-to-more-affordable,-sustainable-urban-neighborhoods','2022-04-05 22:10:44.483502',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">A Stanford University analysis could help policymakers across the U.S. spend billions of dollars in new federal infrastructure funding more wisely. The study, published March 31 in <em>Frontiers in Sustainable Cities</em>, presents a first-of-its-kind framework to design the most efficient building mix for an urban district along with systems that supply wastewater treatment, cooling, heating and electricity. The approach optimizes hourly demand and supply of power and water with integrated neighborhood-based power and water plants, significantly reducing costs and pollution compared to traditional systems that serve larger areas. This, in turn, could lead to more walkable, livable and affordable cities.</p><p>\"Instead of building blindly, we can use this framework to look at the longer-term, forecast development effects and put numbers behind plans,\" said study lead author Pouya Rezazadeh Kalehbasti, a graduate student in civil and environmental engineering at Stanford\'s School of Engineering at the time of the research.</p><p><strong>Cities as problem and solution</strong></p><p>Urban areas account for more than two-thirds of global energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions, according to UN estimates. Their water sources are increasingly stressed by global warming and burgeoning populations. A solution lies in coordinating the design of systems that supply power, water and wastewater treatment. Unlike traditionally large, centralized plants with segregated functions, this local, integrated arrangement can make it possible to achieve a variety of efficiencies, such as directing unused electricity or heat from a power system to running a wastewater system or using wastewater to cool a power generating system.</p><p>Using advanced technologies, integrated power and water plants can be relatively compact -- about the size of two or three low-rise buildings -- highly efficient and capable of recycling wastewater into potable water. They emit no odors, can run on renewable power sources, such as solar energy, and emit low or no emissions. Each plant can serve between 100 and 1,000 buildings, depending on the buildings\' sizes and resident populations. More than 4,000 integrated power and water systems already exist in the U.S., China and other countries, especially Europe and Canada. Private corporations and universities, such as Stanford, have seen significant energy efficiency gains after adopting some form of the approach.</p><p><strong>Optimizing systems</strong></p><p>With an eye toward optimizing the approach, the researchers modeled two scenarios over 20 years of simulated operation. The first scenario was a building mix and energy system designed together along a conventional central wastewater treatment plant powered by the grid. The second scenario integrated advanced wastewater treatment systems -- forward osmosis-reverse osmosis and forward osmosis-membrane distillation -- into the building and energy design.</p><p>The analysis found that fully integrating power and water systems with building mixes resulted in a 75% reduction in social, environmental and economic damage from carbon emissions, and a 20% reduction in lifecycle equipment costs compared to traditional segregated systems. The reductions were due primarily to the reuse of wasted heat and electricity in treating wastewater, and powering the wastewater treatment system with a low- to zero-emission local energy system, rather than the regional electric grid.</p><p>The approach proposed in this study is expected to inform urban planners and infrastructure designers of a range of optimal configurations for designing a neighborhood. This way, they could coordinate design of integrated power and water plants with zoning rules, such as imposing limits on industrial buildings, to lead to more environmentally and economically sustainable urban neighborhoods.</p><p>\"It is exciting to see that by integrating existing infrastructure with new urban technologies, and optimizing their performance in unison, we can discover new, substantial pathways toward global carbon reduction,\" said study co-author Michael Lepech, a professor of civil &amp; environmental engineering.</p><p>The researchers hope that urban planners will someday use an expanded version of the framework to design a range of other systems, including garbage removal and traffic control. As technologies advance, the framework could also incorporate new efficiencies, such as using power plant heat to dry wastewater biosolids, thereby reducing disposal needs and creating a source of renewable biofuels.</p>','2022-04-05 22:10:44.483502','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Stanford University','Analysis presents a first-of-its-kind framework to design the most efficient mix of urban buildings along with integrated systems to supply power and water services. The approach could significantly reduce costs and pollution compared to traditional systems.\n',1,27,'<li>Pouya Rezazadeh Kalehbasti, Michael D. Lepech, Craig S. Criddle. <strong>Integrated Design and Optimization of Water-Energy Nexus: Combining Wastewater Treatment and Energy System</strong>. <em>Frontiers in Sustainable Cities</em>, 2022; 4 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/frsc.2022.856996\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.3389/frsc.2022.856996</a>\n</li>'),(1921,'Molecules produced by cells in response to stress may be indicators of various diseases','molecules-produced-by-cells-in-response-to-stress-may-be-indicators-of-various-diseases','2022-04-05 22:54:31.297809',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Certain small RNAs called tDRs can be found inside and outside cells during stress responses to different diseases. Researchers have created an atlas of the stress signatures for tDRs that might be used as markers of disease and identify new disease-causing pathways.</p><p>The body\'s ability to respond to various types of stress is essential for maintaining health, and failure of such adaptive stress responses can trigger or worsen numerous diseases. New research led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and published in <em>Advanced Science</em> reveals that cells often release certain RNA molecules called tDRs in response to stressors, and that different tDRs may serve as markers of cellular stress in different diseases.</p><p>\"RNA molecules have long been known to be the messenger between DNA (the genetic code) and proteins (the functional molecules of the cell); however, the past decade has seen investigators discover new functions of RNAs that do not translate into proteins -- the so-called non-coding RNAs,\" says senior author Saumya Das, MD, PhD, co-director of the Resynchronization and Advanced Cardiac Therapeutics Program at MGH.</p><p>Das notes that there\'s a growing list of non-coding RNAs with diverse functions, and among these, a new class of RNAs has been found to arise from so-called transfer RNAs that normally function to help make proteins from classic messenger RNAs. These RNAs, called tRNA-derived small RNAs (tDRs), appear to be generated when larger \"parent\" tRNAs are cut into smaller versions by stress-activated enzymes.</p><p>By studying a variety of human and rat cells under three stressors -- nutritional deprivation, low oxygen and oxidative stress -- that are often present in many disease states, Das and his colleagues generated a comprehensive landscape of tDRs that can be found inside cells (cellular) and outside cells (extracellular) during different stress responses. They also found that key proteins called RNAses are important for the generation and stability of extracellular tDRs.</p><p>\"While tDRs play important roles in cellular functions, we have also found that tDRs are released by cells where they may serve as markers of cellular stress in different diseases,\" says lead author Guoping Li, PhD, an instructor in medicine at MGH and Harvard Medical School. \"We saw that different types of stress signals can affect the cellular and extracellular tDRs in different types of cells, and that there are \'signatures\' of these stress signals.\"</p><p>The team created an atlas of the stress signatures for both cellular and extracellular tDRs that can be used not only as indicators of disease but also as a starting point for scientists who are interested in studying the roles of distinct tDRs in cancer, fibrosis, and other conditions. Das and colleagues are focusing on one such tDR and its role in kidney disease.</p><p>The study\'s co-authors include Guoping Li, Aidan C. Manning, Alex Bagi, Xinyu Yang, Priyanka Gokulnath, Michail Spanos, Jonathan Howard, Patricia P. Chan, Thadryan Sweeney, Robert Kitchen, Haobo Li, Brice D. Laurent, Sary F. Aranki, Maria I. Kontaridis, Louise C. Laurent, Kendall Van Keuren-Jensen, Jochen Muehlschlegel, and Todd. M. Lowe.</p><p>This work was supported by the American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health.</p>','2022-04-05 22:54:31.297809','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Massachusetts General Hospital','Certain small RNAs called tDRs can be found inside and outside cells during stress responses to different diseases. Researchers have created an atlas of the stress signatures for tDRs that might be used as markers of disease and identify new disease-causing pathways.\n',1,148,'<li>Guoping Li, Aidan C. Manning, Alex Bagi, Xinyu Yang, Priyanka Gokulnath, Michail Spanos, Jonathan Howard, Patricia P. Chan, Thadryan Sweeney, Robert Kitchen, Haobo Li, Brice D. Laurent, Sary F. Aranki, Maria I. Kontaridis, Louise C. Laurent, Kendall Van Keuren‐Jensen, Jochen Muehlschlegel, Todd M. Lowe, Saumya Das. <strong>Distinct Stress‐Dependent Signatures of Cellular and Extracellular tRNA‐Derived Small RNAs</strong>. <em>Advanced Science</em>, 2022; 2200829 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/advs.202200829\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1002/advs.202200829</a>\n</li>'),(1922,'Rational neural network advances machine-human discovery','rational-neural-network-advances-machine-human-discovery','2022-04-06 00:52:49.257444',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Math is the language of the physical world, and Alex Townsend sees mathematical patterns everywhere: in weather, in the way soundwaves move, and even in the spots or stripes zebra fish develop in embryos.</p><p>\"Since Newton wrote down calculus, we have been deriving calculus equations called differential equations to model physical phenomena,\" said Townsend, associate professor of mathematics in the College of Arts and Sciences.</p><p>This way of deriving laws of calculus works, Townsend said, if you already know the physics of the system. But what about learning physical systems for which the physics remains unknown?</p><p>In the new and growing field of partial differential equation (PDE) learning, mathematicians collect data from natural systems and then use trained computer neural networks in order to try to derive underlying mathematical equations. In a new paper, Townsend, together with co-authors Nicolas Boullé of the University of Oxford and Christopher Earls, professor of civil and environmental engineering in the College of Engineering, advance PDE learning with a novel \"rational\" neural network, which reveals its findings in a manner that mathematicians can understand: through Green\'s functions -- a right inverse of a differential equation in calculus.</p><p>This machine-human partnership is a step toward the day when deep learning will enhance scientific exploration of natural phenomena such as weather systems, climate change, fluid dynamics, genetics and more. \"Data-Driven Discovery of Green\'s Functions With Human-Understandable Deep Learning\" was published in <em>Scientific Reports</em>, <em>Nature</em> on March 22.</p><p>A subset of machine learning, neural networks are inspired by the simple animal brain mechanism of neurons and synapses -- inputs and outputs, Townsend said. Neurons -- called \"activation functions\" in the context of computerized neural networks -- collect inputs from other neurons. Between the neurons are synapses, called weights, that send signals to the next neuron.</p><p>\"By connecting together these activation functions and weights in combination, you can come up with very complicated maps that take inputs to outputs, just like the brain might take a signal from the eye and turn it into an idea,\" Townsend said. \"Particularly here, we are watching a system, a PDE, and trying to get it to estimate the Green\'s function pattern that would predict what we are watching.\"</p><p>Mathematicians have been working with Green\'s functions for nearly 200 years, said Townsend, who is an expert on them. He usually uses a Green\'s function to rapidly solve a differential equation. Earls proposed using Green\'s functions to understand a differential equation rather than solve it, a reversal.</p><p>To do this, the researchers created a customized rational neural network, in which the activation functions are more complicated but can capture extreme physical behavior of Green\'s functions. Townsend and Boullé introduced rational neural networks in a separate study in 2021.</p><p>\"Like neurons in the brain, there are different types of neurons from different parts of the brain. They\'re not all the same,\" Townsend said. \"In a neural network, that corresponds to selecting the activation function -- the input.\"</p><p>Rational neural networks are potentially more flexible than standard neural networks because researchers can select various inputs.</p><p>\"One of the important mathematical ideas here is that we can change that activation function to something that can actually capture what we expect from a Green\'s function,\" Townsend said. \"The machine learns the Green\'s function for a natural system. It doesn\'t know what it means; it can\'t interpret it. But we as humans can now look at the Green\'s function because we\'ve learned something we can mathematically understand.\"</p><p>For each system, there is a different physics, Townsend said. He is excited about this research because it puts his expertise in Green\'s functions to work in a modern direction with new applications.</p><p>Research toward this paper was done at Cornell\'s Center for Applied Mathematics and was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) via Townsend\'s NSF Early Career Development award. Support also came from the Army Research Office Biomathematics Program and the United Kingdom\'s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Centre for Doctoral Training in Industrially Focused Mathematical Modelling in collaboration with Simula Research Laboratory.</p>','2022-04-06 00:52:49.257444','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Cornell University','Math is the language of the physical world, and some see mathematical patterns everywhere: in weather, in the way soundwaves move, and even in the spots or stripes zebra fish develop in embryos.\n',1,27,'<li>Nicolas Boullé, Christopher J. Earls, Alex Townsend. <strong>Data-driven discovery of Green’s functions with human-understandable deep learning</strong>. <em>Scientific Reports</em>, 2022; 12 (1) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-08745-5\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41598-022-08745-5</a>\n</li>'),(1923,'Loud and clear: High-energy ads keep viewers tuned in, study shows','loud-and-clear:-high-energy-ads-keep-viewers-tuned-in,-study-shows','2022-04-06 04:40:51.716114',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">TV advertising has become not only high-volume, but increasingly high-energy -- a trend noticed by academics and practitioners.</p><p>A new study from the University of Notre Dame confirms the shift and shows that advertisers should pay attention to components of ad content other than loudness, which has been regulated by law.</p><p>More energetic commercials are likely to be tuned in more or avoided less by viewers, according to \"High-Energy Ad Content: A Large-Scale Investigation of TV Commercials,\" forthcoming in the <em>Journal of Marketing Research</em> from Joonhyuk Yang, assistant professor of marketing at Notre Dame\'s Mendoza College of Business.</p><p>After examining more than 27,000 TV commercials on major U.S. networks from 2015 to 2018 and almost all Super Bowl ads from 1969 to 2020, the researchers noted that, overall, more energetic commercials hold viewers\' attention.</p><p>The study measures the energy levels in commercials based on Spotify\'s measure of energy in song tracks. Spotify defines energy as \"a perceptual measure of intensity and powerful activity released throughout the track. Typical energetic tracks feel fast, loud, and noisy.\" The paper\'s measure of energy levels in commercials is highly correlated with people\'s psychological state of \"arousal,\" or \"the subjective experience of energy mobilization, which can be conceptualized as an affective dimension ranging from sleepy to frantic excitement.\"</p><p>The top five keywords mentioned by the paper\'s survey participants regarding high-energy commercials were \"fast,\" \"music,\" \"movement,\" \"upbeat\" and \"exciting.\"</p><p>The team first presented a framework to algorithmically measure the energy level in ad content from the video of ads. They then compared this measure with human-perceived energy levels, showing they\'re related to the level of arousal stimulated by ad content.</p><p>\"The positive association between energy levels in ad content and ad-tuning is statistically significant after controlling for placement and other aspects of commercials,\" Yang said.</p><p>The study also finds the association varies across product categories and program genres.</p><p>\"High-energy food and beverage commercials are likely to be viewed longer when placed within entertainment and news programs, but not in sports programs,\" Yang said, \"while energetic health and beauty commercials are viewed for shorter periods of time when placed in sports programs.\"</p><p>Targeted advertising has typically focused on who audiences are, as well as their locations and behaviors. This study suggests adding another dimension -- the emotional or psychological state of the audience.</p><p>\"By matching the energy level of ad content with consumers\' state of mind, we believe advertisers can expect higher levels of acceptance and effectiveness of their messages,\" Yang said. \"For instance, advertisers might want to vary the energy level of their ad content between day and night.\"</p><p>Relatedly, advertisers and television networks boost the audio of ads, making the volume much louder than the programs in which they are aired, assuming this draws attention to the ads and makes people less likely to ignore or avoid them.</p><p>This practice became so prevalent that it raised concerns about the health effects of loudness on viewing audiences, leading to regulatory limitations on how much louder ads can be than the programs in which they are placed. The resulting CALM (Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation) Act passed in 2010 limits the average loudness of an ad to no more than the average loudness of the program in which it is aired.</p><p>Advertisers and networks, therefore, cannot continue to rely on loudness as a means of attracting attention to reduce ad avoidance. This forces advertisers to figure out ways to be creative in using audio to attract and retain audience attention.</p><p>Yang recommends advertisers conduct A/B tests with multiple designs of ad creatives. A/B testing splits an audience to test a number of variations to determine which performs better -- for example, showing version A to one half of an audience and version B to the other; or alternating A and B across time.</p><p>\"Recall that the effect varies across product markets and likely across media outlets, including digital advertising,\" Yang said. \"I hope this study motivates the initiation of such testing as well as for providing initial guidelines on designing such studies. Also, we want to showcase the importance of careful feature engineering of ad content when relating it to consumer behavior. I would be more than happy to help practitioners who are interested in moving forward.\"</p><p>Co-authors of the study include Yingkang Xie and Lakshman Krishnamurthi from Northwestern University and Purushottam Papatla from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.</p>','2022-04-06 04:40:51.716114','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Notre Dame','More energetic commercials are likely to be tuned in more or avoided less by viewers, according a new study.\n',1,27,'<li>Joonhyuk Yang, Yingkang Xie, Lakshman Krishnamurthi, Purushottam Papatla. <strong>High-Energy Ad Content: A Large-Scale Investigation of TV Commercials</strong>. <em>Journal of Marketing Research</em>, 2022; 002224372110678 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/00222437211067802\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1177/00222437211067802</a>\n</li>'),(1924,'Innovation flows across regions and sectors in complex ways, study shows','innovation-flows-across-regions-and-sectors-in-complex-ways,-study-shows','2022-04-06 04:41:02.449909',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Knowledge creation -- the generation of new ideas and patents -- is an important driver of economic growth. Understanding how knowledge moves across industry sectors and regions can inform research and development (R&amp;D) efforts, promote university-industry partnerships for innovation, and impact private businesses\' location decisions. A new study from the University of Illinois in collaboration with Stockholm University and Korea Labor Institute provides a thorough look at the flow of knowledge in five industrial sectors across the United States.</p><p>\"Our work provides a sort of cooking recipe for patent creation, with a list of ingredients that vary by industrial sector,\" says Sandy Dall\'erba, professor in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics (ACE) and director of the Center for Climate, Regional, Environmental and Trade Economics (CREATE) at U of I. Dall\'erba is a co-author on the study.</p><p>\"Some sectors depend very much on local input factors, such as the presence of a university, versus elements located further away, such as spending in R&amp;D by another private company. In some cases, this type of collaboration takes place across companies located thousands of miles apart as virtual meetings increasingly have replaced face-to-face meetings,\" Dall\'erba states.</p><p>\"In addition, our research measures the extent to which innovation in one sector depends on R&amp;D in the same sector or other sectors. For instance, new patents in the drug and medical industry depend on local and distant R&amp;D in the chemical industry.\"</p><p>Traditionally, geographical proximity was considered essential for knowledge flows. Clusters such as Silicon Valley\'s high-tech industry or Detroit\'s automobile industry facilitate face-to-face interactions and informal networking. Economists now acknowledge innovations may be shared across greater distances, but most studies have looked at aggregate results rather than location- and industry-specific patterns.</p><p>\"We wanted to see the importance of geography for the patterns of knowledge creation in specific industries. We also wanted to examine how information flows across similar or different industries. Finally, we look at spillovers from private and university research and development activities,\" says lead author Orsa Kekezi, a scholar at the Swedish Institute for Social Research at Stockholm University. Kekezi began working on this research while she was a visiting scholar at Illinois.</p><p>The researchers analyzed knowledge transfers across 853 metropolitan U.S. counties in five manufacturing industries: chemical, drugs and medical, mechanical, computer and communication, and electrical and electronic.</p><p>The study uses patent applications as a proxy for knowledge creation, tracking the flow from where patents are created to where they are cited (based on data from the U.S. Patent and Trade Office). This measures the directionality of innovation and identifies the role of external factors in knowledge output.</p><p>The core elements in the analysis are intra- and inter-sectoral knowledge spillovers, as well as intra- and interregional flows, defined as local (within county), short distance (neighboring counties in 50-mile radius), and the rest of U.S. (beyond 50 miles). The researchers also looked at the presence of university and private research and development, as well as other factors, such as the number of graduate degree holders and the industrial diversity in a county.</p><p>\"Overall, the local environment matters greatly for all the sectors. The industry structure in the region, the size of firms, whether there is a university -- these elements all matter for innovation. All sectors benefit from the local environment,\" Kekezi states.</p><p>But the specifics vary by sector and provide a complex picture of interactions. There is no one-size-fits-all approach for the development of patents, and if you look at average results, you\'ll miss the intricate details and patterns across sectors and regions.</p><p>\"While university research matters for all the sectors, there is large heterogeneity here as well,\" says study co-author Dongwoo Kang, a research fellow at the Korea Labor Institute, South Korea. \"For example, it matters more for the chemical industry and the drugs and medical industry; those sectors really benefit from basic research.</p><p>\"Universities provide the core research that is needed for the chemical industry to work. Unlike perhaps the mechanical or electric industries, the chemical industry relies more on faculty scholars who are looking at basic processes,\" he adds.</p><p>Interregional spillovers matter less in the chemical industry, so face-to-face contact is important. On the other hand, for the drugs and medical industry, both inter-sectoral and long-distance regional spillovers matter, so geographic proximity is not as necessary. And for the electrical and electronic industry, inter-sectoral short-distance spillovers play a significant role.</p><p>The study findings can help companies decide where to locate their establishments.</p><p>\"The idea that a company values proximity to a university, or where research and development are already happening, still holds true. But we also show the network of innovation is not completely local,\" Dall\'erba states.</p><p>\"The main takeaway from the paper is that we should not only look at local spillovers. We should look at knowledge that comes from further away, and from other industries,\" Kekezi notes. \"New ideas don\'t come only by looking at what has been done in one\'s field, but also from looking at the broader picture and how we can combine different types of knowledge to create something new.\"</p><p>The development of COVID-19 vaccines serves as an example, Kang adds.</p><p>\"The U.S. invested a lot of money in research and development to stimulate innovation in creating the first COVID-19 vaccines. This is typically done through a central cluster that serves as a basis for innovation. But there are also other networks making new COVID-19 vaccines. Our findings imply that not only local activities, but also research and development in other places are important for making new COVID-19 vaccines,\" he explains.</p><p>The findings can also help improve the design of future local and national innovation policies.</p><p>\"We need to move away from an approach whereby everything is driven by similar mechanisms and instead understand much better what really works for one industry might be quite different from what works for another industry. It\'s not just about promoting industry clusters; it\'s more complicated than that. When governments try to promote innovation, they need to define a strategy that works for a specific industry and a specific location,\" Dall\'erba says.</p>','2022-04-06 04:41:02.449909','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences','Knowledge creation -- the generation of new ideas and patents -- is an important driver of economic growth. Understanding how knowledge moves across industry sectors and regions can inform research and development (R&D) efforts, promote university-industry partnerships for innovation, and impact private businesses\' location decisions. A new study provides a thorough look at the flow of knowledge in five industrial sectors across the United States.\n',1,27,'<li>Orsa Kekezi, Sandy Dall’erba, Dongwoo Kang. <strong>The role of interregional and inter-sectoral knowledge spillovers on regional knowledge creation across US metropolitan counties</strong>. <em>Spatial Economic Analysis</em>, 2022; 1 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17421772.2022.2045344\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1080/17421772.2022.2045344</a>\n</li>'),(1925,'Genetic \'hotspots\' that speed up and slow down brain aging could provide new targets for Alzheimer\'s drugs','genetic-hotspots-that-speed-up-and-slow-down-brain-aging-could-provide-new-targets-for-alzheimers-drugs','2022-04-06 11:47:44.779232','<p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Researchers from a USC-led consortium have discovered 15 \"hotspots\" in the genome that either speed up brain aging or slow it down -- a finding that could provide new drug targets to resist Alzheimer\'s disease and other degenerative brain disorders, as well as developmental delays.</p><p>The research appears online today in<em> Nature Neuroscience.</em></p><p>\"The big game-changer here is discovering locations on the chromosome that speed up or slow down brain aging in worldwide populations. These can quickly become new drug targets,\" said Paul Thompson of USC, a lead author on the study and the co-founder and director of the ENIGMA Consortium. \"Through our AI4AD (Artificial Intelligence for Alzheimer\'s Disease) initiative we even have a genome-guided drug repurposing program to target these and find new and existing drugs that help us age better.\"</p><p>ENIGMA is working group based at USC that is exploring a vast trove of brain data and has published some of the largest-ever neuroimaging studies of schizophrenia, major depression, bipolar disorder, epilepsy, Parkinson\'s disease, and even HIV infection.</p><p>To discover the hotspots, or genomic loci, more than 200 ENIGMA-member scientists from all over the world looked for people whose brains were scanned twice with MRI. The scans provided a measure of how fast their brains were gaining or losing tissue in regions that control memory, emotion and analytical thinking.</p><p><strong>A million markers screened</strong></p><p>After computing brain tissue change rates in 15,000 people of all ages, researchers screened a million markers in their genomes to detect 15 genomic loci -- specific, physical locations of genes or other DNA sequences on a chromosome -- that were speeding up brain tissue changes.</p><p>These loci included some well-known Alzheimer\'s risk genes, such as APOE, and some novel ones, Thompson said. The researchers also found overlap with genes involved with depression, schizophrenia and cognitive functioning.</p><p>\"Some of these genetic variants affect the growth rates of brain substructures in childhood, while others affect the speed of brain tissue loss in older adulthood,\" said co-author Neda Jahanshad, an associate professor of neurology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. \"The different parts of the brain have specific genes associated with their rates of change.\"</p><p>Thompson added, \"You can see that APOE -- the famous Alzheimer\'s gene -- hits a couple of brain structures adversely -- the hippocampus and amygdala -- which also makes sense as they are the brain regions most vulnerable to Alzheimer\'s and it seems to speed tissue loss there specifically.\"</p><p>ENIGMA also has international projects studying childhood brain disorders -- from Tourette syndrome and autism to epilepsy. The new list of genes that slow down or speed up brain growth in children provides new leads to pursue in these disorders as well, the researchers said.</p><p><strong>About this study</strong></p><p>In addition to Thompson and Jahanshad, other USC scientists involved in the study included Sophia Thomopoulos, Joanna Bright, Leila Nabulsi, Linda Ding and Alyssa Zhu, all from the USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute. For a full list of authors, see the published study.</p><p>The study was supported with funding from the National Institutes of Health, including the National Institute on Aging (U01AG068057, R01AG058854, R01AG059874), the National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH117601), the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (P41 EB015922), and a Zenith Grant (ZEN-20-644609) from the Alzheimer\'s Association.</p>','2022-04-06 04:41:04.306003','uploads/news/download_1_o13aqaZ.jfif',1,'University of Southern California','Researchers have discovered 15 \'hotspots\' in the genome that either speed up brain aging or slow it down -- a finding that could provide new drug targets to resist Alzheimer\'s disease and other degenerative brain disorders, as well as developmental delays.',1,155,'<li>Rachel M. Brouwer, Marieke Klein, Katrina L. Grasby, Hugo G. Schnack, Neda Jahanshad, Jalmar Teeuw, Sophia I. Thomopoulos, Emma Sprooten, Carol E. Franz, Nitin Gogtay, William S. Kremen, Matthew S. Panizzon, Loes M. Olde Loohuis, Christopher D. Whelan, Moji Aghajani, Clara Alloza, Dag Alnæs, Eric Artiges, Rosa Ayesa-Arriola, Gareth J. Barker, Mark E. Bastin, Elisabet Blok, Erlend Bøen, Isabella A. Breukelaar, Joanna K. Bright, Elizabeth E. L. Buimer, Robin Bülow, Dara M. Cannon, Simone Ciufolini, Nicolas A. Crossley, Christienne G. Damatac, Paola Dazzan, Casper L. de Mol, Sonja M. C. de Zwarte, Sylvane Desrivières, Covadonga M. Díaz-Caneja, Nhat Trung Doan, Katharina Dohm, Juliane H. Fröhner, Janik Goltermann, Antoine Grigis, Dominik Grotegerd, Laura K. M. Han, Mathew A. Harris, Catharina A. Hartman, Sarah J. Heany, Walter Heindel, Dirk J. Heslenfeld, Sarah Hohmann, Bernd Ittermann, Philip R. Jansen, Joost Janssen, Tianye Jia, Jiyang Jiang, Christiane Jockwitz, Temmuz Karali, Daniel Keeser, Martijn G. J. C. Koevoets, Rhoshel K. Lenroot, Berend Malchow, René C. W. Mandl, Vicente Medel, Susanne Meinert, Catherine A. Morgan, Thomas W. Mühleisen, Leila Nabulsi, Nils Opel, Víctor Ortiz-García de la Foz, Bronwyn J. Overs, Marie-Laure Paillère Martinot, Ronny Redlich, Tiago Reis Marques, Jonathan Repple, Gloria Roberts, Gennady V. Roshchupkin, Nikita Setiaman, Elena Shumskaya, Frederike Stein, Gustavo Sudre, Shun Takahashi, Anbupalam Thalamuthu, Diana Tordesillas-Gutiérrez, Aad van der Lugt, Neeltje E. M. van Haren, Joanna M. Wardlaw, Wei Wen, Henk-Jan Westeneng, Katharina Wittfeld, Alyssa H. Zhu, Andre Zugman, Nicola J. Armstrong, Gaia Bonfiglio, Janita Bralten, Shareefa Dalvie, Gail Davies, Marta Di Forti, Linda Ding, Gary Donohoe, Andreas J. Forstner, Javier Gonzalez-Peñas, Joao P. O. F. T. Guimaraes, Georg Homuth, Jouke-Jan Hottenga, Maria J. Knol, John B. J. Kwok, Stephanie Le Hellard, Karen A. Mather, Yuri Milaneschi, Derek W. Morris, Markus M. Nöthen, Sergi Papiol, Marcella Rietschel, Marcos L. Santoro, Vidar M. Steen, Jason L. Stein, Fabian Streit, Rick M. Tankard, Alexander Teumer, Dennis van ‘t Ent, Dennis van der Meer, Kristel R. van Eijk, Evangelos Vassos, Javier Vázquez-Bourgon, Stephanie H. Witt, Rüdiger Brühl, Dimitri Papadopoulos Orfanos, Tomáš Paus, Sabina Millenet, Hieab H. H. Adams, Ingrid Agartz, David Ames, Katrin Amunts, Ole A. Andreassen, Celso Arango, Tobias Banaschewski, Bernhard T. Baune, Sintia I. Belangero, Arun L. W. Bokde, Dorret I. Boomsma, Rodrigo A. Bressan, Henry Brodaty, Jan K. Buitelaar, Wiepke Cahn, Svenja Caspers, Sven Cichon, Benedicto Crespo-Facorro, Simon R. Cox, Udo Dannlowski, Torbjørn Elvsåshagen, Thomas Espeseth, Peter G. Falkai, Simon E. Fisher, Herta Flor, Janice M. Fullerton, Hugh Garavan, Penny A. Gowland, Hans J. Grabe, Tim Hahn, Andreas Heinz, Manon Hillegers, Jacqueline Hoare, Pieter J. Hoekstra, Mohammad A. Ikram, Andrea P. Jackowski, Andreas Jansen, Erik G. Jönsson, Rene S. Kahn, Tilo Kircher, Mayuresh S. Korgaonkar, Axel Krug, Herve Lemaitre, Ulrik F. Malt, Jean-Luc Martinot, Colm McDonald, Philip B. Mitchell, Ryan L. Muetzel, Robin M. Murray, Frauke Nees, Igor Nenadić, Jaap Oosterlaan, Roel A. Ophoff, Pedro M. Pan, Brenda W. J. H. Penninx, Luise Poustka, Perminder S. Sachdev, Giovanni A. Salum, Peter R. Schofield, Gunter Schumann, Philip Shaw, Kang Sim, Michael N. Smolka, Dan J. Stein, Julian N. Trollor, Leonard H. van den Berg, Jan H. Veldink, Henrik Walter, Lars T. Westlye, Robert Whelan, Tonya White, Margaret J. Wright, Sarah E. Medland, Barbara Franke, Paul M. Thompson, Hilleke E. Hulshoff Pol. <strong>Genetic variants associated with longitudinal changes in brain structure across the lifespan</strong>. <em>Nature Neuroscience</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41593-022-01042-4\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41593-022-01042-4</a>\r\n</li>'),(1926,'How did visitors experience the domestic space in Pompeii?','how-did-visitors-experience-the-domestic-space-in-pompeii?','2022-04-06 17:28:28.418158',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have used virtual reality and 3D eye-tracking technology to examine what drew the attention of the visitors when entering the stunning environment of an ancient Roman house. The team recreated the House of Greek Epigrams in 3D and tracked the gaze of study participants as they viewed the home.</p><p>Unlike today, Roman houses were not a place of refuge from work. Work and daily activities were intermingled during the day. Houses were designed to communicate the personal power and status of the owner and his family. The visual impression was so important that architects moved architectural elements such as columns to frame views, added fountains as focal points, or simply decorated the space by imitating those elements when it was not possible to build them.</p><p>\"By tracking how people view the house, we can get closer to unlock what was in the mind of those that designed it. What messages are being conveyed, even in the smallest detail? We found many ways in which the owner was conveying a sense of power and wealth to visitors,\" says Giacomo Landeschi, researcher at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Lund University.</p><p>The House of Greek Epigrams was destroyed in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. It had a room completely covered with wall paintings accompanied by Greek inscriptions that gave the house its name.</p><p>The house was elaborately designed and featured wall paintings that were partially visible from the outside, but with details that only close visitors could see, for example. There was also erotic art where natural light illuminated the work primarily at appropriate times. Certain visual and architectural elements echoed a tension between Greek and Roman cultures at the time.</p><p>A follow-up study will analyse the results in more detail.</p><p>The researchers say that the unique nature of the research could be further enhanced by adding other sensory experiences, such as auditory involvement, in the future.</p><p>\"This study shows that we can now not only recreate the physical space but also understand the actual experience of the people at the time. This is an entirely new field of research for archaeology, that opens up new possibilities,\" concludes Danilo Marco Campanaro, PhD candidate at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Lund University.</p><p><strong>About the Study </strong></p><p>The study marks a significant advance in the use of Virtual Reality in archaeology, where its heuristic potential is employed to make more advanced spatial analysis. It set out to establish a methodology to accurately record information about participants\' gaze and attention and analyse it. To do this, the researchers used a 3D eye-tracker, a game engine, and Geographic Information Systems.</p><p><strong>Video</strong>: <a href=\"https://youtu.be/sNcAkkNR-qU\">https://youtu.be/sNcAkkNR-qU</a></p>','2022-04-06 17:28:28.418158','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Lund University','Researchers have used virtual reality and 3D eye-tracking technology to examine what drew the attention of the visitors when entering the stunning environment of an ancient Roman house. The team recreated the House of Greek Epigrams in 3D and tracked the gaze of study participants as they viewed the home.\n',1,27,'<li>Danilo M. Campanaro, Giacomo Landeschi. <strong>Re-viewing Pompeian domestic space through combined virtual reality-based eye tracking and 3D GIS</strong>. <em>Antiquity</em>, 2022; 1 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2022.12\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.15184/aqy.2022.12</a>\n</li>'),(1927,'Flood risk for Iowa farmland','flood-risk-for-iowa-farmland','2022-04-06 17:51:26.713801',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">As farmers ready for planting season, a new study examines the flood risk for all cropland in Iowa.</p><p>The study from IIHR-Hydroscience and Engineering at the University of Iowa is the first to detail the flood risk to farmland statewide. The researchers used flood maps developed at the Iowa Flood Center, and incorporated data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to create the crop flood-risk analysis.</p><p>Among the main findings:</p><p>The researchers also identified four watersheds as most vulnerable to flooding and crop losses: Middle Cedar in east-central Iowa, North Raccoon and South Skunk in central Iowa, and West Nishnabotna in southwest Iowa.</p><p>The new agricultural flood-risk maps developed by the IIHR researchers can be updated to reflect changes in climate; changes in land use, such as a shift in farming in a location; and changes to the landscape, such as the addition of a road or other infrastructure, to give a continuous picture of the flood potential for farmland across the state.</p><p>\"It\'s a comprehensive approach to help create solutions with information that helps farmers take a clear-eyed look at their land and for policymakers and others to use as a starting point to determine how Iowa\'s landscape can be best used to reduce flooding,\" says Enes Yildirim, graduate research assistant at IIHR and the study\'s corresponding author.</p><p>The researchers analyzed nearly 25 million acres of agricultural land in Iowa and farming operations from 2016 to 2020 to classify the flood risk according to eight scenarios: 2-year, 5-year, 10-year, 25-year, 50-year, 100-year, 200-year, and 500-year return periods. Cropland located in a 2-year return period has a 50% chance of flooding in a given year; farmland in a 5-year return period has a 20% of flooding in a given year; while farmland in a 100-year return period has a 1% chance of flooding in a given year.</p><p>The researchers then incorporated flood maps from FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers along with data from the USDA, including crop type, yields, costs and price, planting frequency, and a corn suitability rating, which indexes a farmland\'s productivity.</p><p>\"We have taken all this information from federal agencies and have tailored it to create a more dynamic picture about the current agricultural flood risk in Iowa,\" says Ibrahim Demir, associate professor in civil and environmental engineering at Iowa and a study co-author.</p><p>Iowa has seen its fair share of flooding. Since 1953, 29 flood-related disaster declarations have been issued for the state, according to FEMA. Major, if not historic, flooding has occurred four times over the past decade and a half alone -- in 2008, 2014, 2016, and 2019.</p><p>The new maps seek to address objectively the flood stress points, by showing farmland that is prone to chronic flooding and has low productivity yields compared to other areas.</p><p>\"We highlight the $230 million in average annualized losses to show that there is farmland that is frequently exposed to floods and has a low corn suitability rating -- why not consider changing its use?\" Yildirim says. \"That, of course, would require further conversations, but you have to look at the costs and benefits of continuing to farm that land.\"</p><p>Policymakers also can entertain what to do with farmland that is prone to regular flooding but is highly productive. That is especially true for cropland in the West Nishnabotna region in southwest Iowa, the researchers found.</p><p>\"The West Nishnabotna is a region that has a high corn suitability rating but also is exposed to regular flooding,\" Yildirim says. \"So, it might need extra protection from flooding to maintain food production, such as building a levee, for example.\"</p><p>The researchers found rotating crops had a negligible impact on flood losses.</p><p>The study, \"Agricultural flood vulnerability assessment and risk quantification in Iowa,\" was published online Feb. 26 in the journal <em>Science of the Total Environment.</em></p><p>The University of Iowa and the Iowa Water Center funded the research.</p><p><strong>Story Source:</strong></p>','2022-04-06 17:51:26.713801','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Iowa','Researchers have created a detailed set of maps examining the flood risk for all farmland in Iowa. The maps show 450,000 acres of crops in areas with a 50% chance of flooding, and losses from flooding averaging $230 million annually.\n',1,70,'<li>Enes Yildirim, Ibrahim Demir. <strong>Agricultural flood vulnerability assessment and risk quantification in Iowa</strong>. <em>Science of The Total Environment</em>, 2022; 826: 154165 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154165\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154165</a>\n</li>'),(1928,'Laser light, a dye and a nonsurgical implant could help overcome obesity','laser-light,-a-dye-and-a-nonsurgical-implant-could-help-overcome-obesity','2022-04-06 17:51:33.171040',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">When dieting and exercise aren\'t enough, weight-loss surgery can be an effective obesity treatment. But people who don\'t want surgery have other options, including insertion of an appetite-suppressing balloon or other implant in the stomach. Now, researchers report in <em>ACS Applied Materials &amp; Interfaces</em> that they have augmented that procedure in laboratory animals by coating an implant with a laser-activated dye that kills cells producing ghrelin, the \"hunger hormone.\"</p><p>Implants can be inserted in the stomach through the mouth after local anesthesia. In 2019, Hwoon-Yong Jung, Jung-Hoon Park and colleagues designed a new type of implant. The \"intragastric satiety-inducing device\" (ISD) consists of a stent -- which lodges in the lower esophagus -- attached to a disk that rests in the opening to the stomach. The disk has a hole in the center to let food through. Tests in pigs showed that the ISD lowered food intake and weight gain by enhancing the feeling of fullness and reducing levels of ghrelin, which is produced by cells near the top of stomach. But the device caused complications, including acid reflux and migration into the stomach. In their latest project, Jung, Park, Kun Na and colleagues wanted to find out if they could suppress ghrelin even more by coating the ISD\'s disk with a compound that, with a shot of laser light, could kill some of the ghrelin-producing cells. The implant could then be removed to avoid the side effects associated with the initial design.</p><p>In this preliminary study, the team coated ISDs with methylene blue -- an FDA-approved drug -- and then placed them in the stomachs of young pigs. When exposed to laser light, the coating released singlet oxygen, an energized form of oxygen that killed nearby ghrelin-producing cells in the pigs\' stomachs and then rapidly disappeared. After one week, the treatment reduced ghrelin levels and body weight gain by half compared with an untreated pig, though these differences declined in the following weeks unless the light treatment was repeated. With further development, the simple procedure could become a new type of minimally invasive treatment to help obese patients lose weight, the researchers say.</p><p>The authors acknowledge support from the Korea Medical Device Development Fund grant funded by the Korean government (Project number: KMDF_PR_20200901_0036).</p>','2022-04-06 17:51:33.171040','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'American Chemical Society','When dieting and exercise aren\'t enough, weight-loss surgery can be an effective obesity treatment. But people who don\'t want surgery have other options, including insertion of an appetite-suppressing balloon or other implant in the stomach. Now, researchers report that they have augmented that procedure in laboratory animals by coating an implant with a laser-activated dye that kills cells producing ghrelin, the \'hunger hormone.\'\n',1,139,'<li>Sanghee Lee, Ji Won Kim, Jinhwan Park, Hee Kyong Na, Do Hoon Kim, Jin Hee Noh, Dae Sung Ryu, Jae Myung Park, Jung-Hoon Park, Hwoon-Yong Jung, Kun Na. <strong>Photodynamic Methylene Blue-Embedded Intragastric Satiety-Inducing Device to Treat Obesity</strong>. <em>ACS Applied Materials &amp; Interfaces</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsami.2c00532\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1021/acsami.2c00532</a>\n</li>'),(1929,'Earthworms like to eat some plastics, but side effects of their digestion are unclear','earthworms-like-to-eat-some-plastics,-but-side-effects-of-their-digestion-are-unclear','2022-04-06 17:51:36.202220',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Earthworms are a welcome sight for gardeners and farmers because the wriggling invertebrates recycle nutrients from soil, making them more accessible to plants. As worms burrow, they consume almost everything in their path, including microscopic plastic pollution. Now, researchers reporting in ACS\' <em>Environmental Science &amp; Technology</em> have observed that earthworms actually prefer soil with some types of microplastics but digest the polymers differently, which the team suggests could impact the animals\' health and the ecosystem.</p><p>Soil is becoming increasingly contaminated by fragments of plastic -- especially microplastics less than 5 mm wide -- that have broken off of larger plastic waste or have been directly released from products as small particles. Previously, researchers have shown that earthworms will ingest these synthetic particles, even breaking them apart into smaller pieces. But during the digestion process, animals could potentially be harmed by the microplastics themselves or by the toxic substances they carry. Currently, companies are producing alternatives to petroleum-based plastics that are derived from plants, are biodegradable or both. Just like traditional plastics, these \"bioplastics\" can also fragment into microscopic particles, but there is limited information on whether earthworms will also ingest and decompose these materials. So, Lei Wang and colleagues wanted to compare the willingness of earthworms to consume soil laced with microscopic pieces of bioplastic and petroleum-derived plastic, studying the <em>in vitro </em>digestion and excretion of the particles.</p><p>By placing earthworms in chambers with different types of plastics in certain locations in the soil, the researchers found that worms preferred soils with bio-based polylactic acid (PLA) particles or petroleum-derived polyethylene terephthalate (PET) particles but actively avoided some semi-synthetic plastics. When lactic acid and terephthalic acid, sour-smelling monomers that make up PLA and PET, respectively, were spiked into soil, the worms were also attracted, suggesting that the animals were drawn in by the odors as potential cues for food. In another experiment, the researchers put earthworms in soil mixed with either microscopic PLA or PET particles. Analysis of the creatures\' excretions showed that their digestive systems broke down PLA into much smaller fragments than was observed with PET plastics. The animals also excreted PLA much more slowly. The researchers say the results show that earthworms can promote the breakdown of bioplastics, such as PLA, in soil. They add that more studies are needed to determine how the slow excretion of PLA fragments affects the health of these animals and whether the worms are an option to remove degradable plastics from the environment.</p><p>The authors acknowledge funding from a National Key Research and Development Project of China, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Tianjin Municipal Science and Technology Bureau, the Ministry of Education (China) and the Tianjin Research Innovation Project for Postgraduate Students.</p>','2022-04-06 17:51:36.202220','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'American Chemical Society','Earthworms are a welcome sight for gardeners and farmers because the wriggling invertebrates recycle nutrients from soil, making them more accessible to plants. As worms burrow, they consume almost everything in their path, including microscopic plastic pollution. Now, researchers have observed that earthworms actually prefer soil with some types of microplastics but digest the polymers differently, which the team suggests could impact the animals\' health and the ecosystem.\n',1,111,'<li>Lei Wang, Yawen Peng, Yali Xu, Junjie Zhang, Chunguang Liu, Xuejiao Tang, Yuan Lu, Hongwen Sun. <strong>Earthworms’ Degradable Bioplastic Diet of Polylactic Acid: Easy to Break Down and Slow to Excrete</strong>. <em>Environmental Science &amp; Technology</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c08066\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1021/acs.est.1c08066</a>\n</li>'),(1930,'The cacao tree enigma','the-cacao-tree-enigma','2022-04-06 17:51:44.139524',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Cacao has long been a sought-after raw material for the worlds food industry. At first glance, it therefore seems surprising that biology knows little about the pollination of the cacao tree -- although it is precisely this process that is the basis for fruit set and ultimately for the yield.</p><p>At second glance, however, one quickly understands why the pollination of this tropical crop holds so many secrets: cacao flowers are very small and are usually found by the thousands on a tree. The insects that gather at the flowers are also tiny and very diverse in terms of species. All these factors make systematic observations difficult.</p><p><strong>Study in the north and south of Peru</strong></p><p>A new study now brings more clarity. It was conducted in Peru by an international research team at the Chair of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology at Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg, Germany. The leading project organization was Bioversity International, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) funded the project.</p><p>South America is the native region of the cacao tree, which occurs there in the undergrowth of tropical rainforests. In agriculture, too, the cacao tree is planted in the shade of larger trees, in so-called agroforestry systems. The researchers applied glue to cacao flowers in 20 such systems in northern and southern Peru to investigate which animals visit the flowers. They also analysed the influence of the degree of shading and the distance to the nearest forest on visitor activity at the flowers.</p><p>The results have been published in the journal <em>Ecological Solutions and Evidence</em>. The first author is biologist Justine Vansynghel, who has been a doctoral student at JMU under Professor Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter since 2018.</p><p><strong>A wide variety of insects cavort on the blossoms</strong></p><p>In the cacao agroforests in the dry north of Peru, aphids (38 %), ants (13 %) and thrips (10 %), were the most frequent flower visitors. In the more humid south, on the other hand, thrips (65%), midges (14%) and parasitic wasps (10%) were the most common.</p><p>In the north, the researchers counted more insects on the cacao flowers the more shaded the plantations were. In the south, on the other hand, the insects preferred to stay in less shaded plantations, at least during the rainy season in which the study took place. The distance to the nearest forest did not play a role in the extent of flower visitation in either region.</p><p><strong>Pollen transfer and fruit set remain poor</strong></p><p>Justine Vansynghel\'s team also observed that only two percent of the pollinated cacao flowers set fruit. Transferring pollen by hand tripled fruit set to seven percent, which is still very poor.</p><p>The doctoral researcher can only speculate about the factors that limit fruit set. One reason could be that there are simply no efficient pollinators for cacao in Peru. This is suggested by the fact that only very few pollen grains were counted on most of the cacao flowers, an average of 30. Four times that amount would be needed for successful pollination, according to the literature. Another reason for low fruiting in cacao could be that the individual cacao plants are genetically incompatible with each other.</p><p><strong>Many questions remain to be clarified</strong></p><p>So there remain major gaps in our knowledge of the biology of the cacao tree. \"Among other things, it would be important to identify the main pollinators,\" says Justine Vansynghel. Then it would also be possible to develop higher-yielding agroforestry systems and improved management strategies in the Peruvian native regions of the cacao tree.</p><p>Why are cacao yields in Peru so much worse than in Africa or Asia? \"In Indonesia, you can achieve a fruit set of around 50 percent with hand pollination. This is probably because the plantations there do not use the native South American cacao clones, but higher-yielding ones,\" explains the JMU researcher.</p><p>On the other hand, cacao plantations in Africa and Asia are threatened by so many diseases and pests that large monocultures can be eliminated at once. Another problem with the high-yielding, non-native clones is that they only produce good harvests for five to ten years. After that, old plantations are abandoned, and existing forest is cut back for new plantations.</p>','2022-04-06 17:51:44.139524','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Würzburg','The tropical tree, from whose seeds chocolate and other sweets are produced, has its secrets. Unravelling them is not so easy.\n',1,118,'<li>Justine Vansynghel, Carolina Ocampo‐Ariza, Bea Maas, Emily A. Martin, Evert Thomas, Tara Hanf‐Dressler, Nils‐Christian Schumacher, Carlos Ulloque‐Samatelo, Teja Tscharntke, Ingolf Steffan‐Dewenter. <strong>Cacao flower visitation: Low pollen deposition, low fruit set and dominance of herbivores</strong>. <em>Ecological Solutions and Evidence</em>, 2022; 3 (2) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2688-8319.12140\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1002/2688-8319.12140</a>\n</li>'),(1931,'Achilles’ heel of dangerous hospital pathogen','achilles’-heel-of-dangerous-hospital-pathogen','2022-04-06 17:51:45.092622',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Each year, over 670,000 people in Europe fall ill through pathogenic bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, and 33,000 die of the diseases they cause. In 2017, the WHO named antibiotic resistance as one of the greatest threats to health worldwide. Especially feared are pathogens that are resistant to several antibiotics. Among them, <em>Acinetobacter baumannii</em> stands out, a bacterium with an extraordinarily pronounced ability to develop multiresistance and, as a \"hospital superbug,\" dangerous above all for immunosuppressed patients. <em>Acinetobacter baumannii</em> is highly resilient because it can remain infectious for a long time even in a dry environment and thus endure on the keyboards of medical devices or on ward telephones and lamps. This property also helps the microbe to survive on dry human skin or in body fluids such as blood and urine, which contain relatively high concentrations of salts and other solutes.</p><p>The team from Research Unit 2251 of the German Research Foundation led by Goethe University has now shed light on a central mechanism via which <em>Acinetobacter baumannii</em> settles in such an adverse environment: like many bacteria as well as plants or fungi, <em>Acinetobacter baumannii</em> is able to synthesize the sugar alcohol mannitol, a substance excellent at binding water. In this way, <em>Acinetobacter baumannii</em> prevents desiccation.</p><p>Almost unique, however, is the way that <em>Acinetobacter baumannii</em> synthesizes mannitol: instead of two enzyme complexes as are common in most organisms, the two last steps in mannitol synthesis are catalysed by just one. A team of researchers led by Professor Beate Averhoff and Professor Volker Müller already discovered this \"MtlD\" enzyme with two catalytic activities back in 2018. The team headed by Professor Klaas Martinus Pos, who is also a member of the Research Unit, has now succeeded in shedding light on the enzyme\'s spatial structure.</p><p>He explains: \"We\'ve discovered that the enzyme is usually present in the form of free monomers. Although these have the necessary catalytic activities, they are inactive. Only a dry or salty environment triggers what is known as \'osmotic stress\' in the bacterium, after which the monomers aggregate as dimers. Only then does the enzyme become active and synthesize mannitol.\" The researchers have also identified which parts in the structure are particularly important for the enzyme\'s catalytic functions and for dimer formation.</p><p>Professor Volker Müller, spokesperson for Research Unit 2251, is convinced: \"Our work constitutes an important new approach for fighting this hospital pathogen since we\'ve identified a biochemically sensitive point in the pathogen\'s metabolism. In the future, this could be the starting point for customized substances to inhibit the enzyme.\"</p>','2022-04-06 17:51:45.092622','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Goethe University Frankfurt','Researchers have shed light on the structure of an enzyme important in the metabolism of the pathogenic bacterium Acinetobacter baumannii. The enzyme \'MtlD\' is critical for the bacterium\'s synthesis of the sugar alcohol mannitol, with which it protects itself against water loss and desiccation in dry or salty environments such as blood or urine. Structural analysis has revealed weak spots where it might be possible to inhibit the enzyme and thus attack the pathogen.\n',1,203,'<li>Heng-Keat Tam, Patricia König, Stephanie Himpich, Ngoc Dinh Ngu, Rupert Abele, Volker Müller, Klaas M. Pos. <strong>Unidirectional mannitol synthesis of            Acinetobacter baumannii            MtlD is facilitated by the helix–loop–helix-mediated dimer formation</strong>. <em>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</em>, 2022; 119 (14) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2107994119\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1073/pnas.2107994119</a>\n</li>'),(1932,'Hubble probes extreme weather on ultra-hot Jupiters','hubble-probes-extreme-weather-on-ultra-hot-jupiters','2022-04-06 20:59:02.552742',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">In studying a unique class of ultra-hot exoplanets, NASA Hubble Space Telescope astronomers may be in the mood for dancing to the Calypso party song \"Hot, Hot, Hot.\" That\'s because these bloated Jupiter-sized worlds are so precariously close to their parent star they are being roasted at seething temperatures above 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. That\'s hot enough to vaporize most metals, including titanium. They have the hottest planetary atmospheres ever seen.</p><p>In two new papers, teams of Hubble astronomers are reporting on bizarre weather conditions on these sizzling worlds. It\'s raining vaporized rock on one planet, and another one has its upper atmosphere getting hotter rather than cooler because it is being \"sunburned\" by intense ultraviolet (UV) radiation from its star.</p><p>This research goes beyond simply finding weird and quirky planet atmospheres. Studying extreme weather gives astronomers better insights into the diversity, complexity, and exotic chemistry taking place in far-flung worlds across our galaxy.</p><p>\"We still don\'t have a good understanding of weather in different planetary environments,\" said David Sing of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, co-author on two studies being reported. \"When you look at Earth, all our weather predictions are still finely tuned to what we can measure. But when you go to a distant exoplanet, you have limited predictive powers because you haven\'t built a general theory about how everything in an atmosphere goes together and responds to extreme conditions. Even though you know the basic chemistry and physics, you don\'t know how it\'s going to manifest in complex ways.\"</p><p>In a paper in the April 7 journal <em>Nature</em>, astronomers describe Hubble observations of WASP-178b, located about 1,300 light-years away. On the daytime side the atmosphere is cloudless, and is enriched in silicon monoxide gas. Because one side of the planet permanently faces its star, the torrid atmosphere whips around to the nighttime side at super-hurricane speeds exceeding 2,000 miles per hour. On the dark side, the silicon monoxide may cool enough to condense into rock that rains out of clouds, but even at dawn and dusk, the planet is hot enough to vaporize rock. \"We knew we had seen something really interesting with this silicon monoxide feature,\" said Josh Lothringer of the Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.</p><p>In a paper published in the January 24 issue of <em>Astrophysical Journal Letters</em>, Guangwei Fu of the University of Maryland, College Park, reported on a super-hot Jupiter, KELT-20b, located about 400 light-years away. On this planet a blast of ultraviolet light from its parent star is creating a thermal layer in the atmosphere, much like Earth\'s stratosphere. \"Until now we never knew how the host star affected a planet\'s atmosphere directly. There have been lots of theories, but now we have the first observational data,\" Fu said.</p><p>By comparison, on Earth, ozone in the atmosphere absorbs UV light and raises temperatures in a layer between 7 to 31 miles above Earth\'s surface. On KELT-20b the UV radiation from the star is heating metals in the atmosphere which makes for a very strong thermal inversion layer.</p><p>Evidence came from Hubble\'s detection of water in near-infrared observations, and from NASA\'s Spitzer Space Telescope\'s detection of carbon monoxide. They radiate through the hot, transparent upper atmosphere that is produced by the inversion layer. This signature is unique from what astronomers see in the atmospheres of hot-Jupiters orbiting cooler stars, like our Sun. \"The emission spectrum for KELT-20b is quite different from other hot-Jupiters,\" said Fu. \"This is compelling evidence that planets don\'t live in isolation but are affected by their host star.\"</p><p>Though super-hot Jupiters are uninhabitable, this kind of research helps pave the way to better understanding the atmospheres of potentially inhabitable terrestrial planets. \"If we can\'t figure out what\'s happening on super-hot Jupiters where we have reliable solid observational data, we\'re not going to have a chance to figure out what\'s happening in weaker spectra from observing terrestrial exoplanets,\" said Lothringer. \"This is a test of our techniques that allows us to build a general understanding of physical properties such as cloud formation and atmospheric structure.\"</p><p>The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA\'s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, in Washington, D.C.</p>','2022-04-06 20:59:02.552742','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center','Astronomers have discovered bloated Jupiter-sized worlds that are so precariously close to their parent star they are being roasted at seething temperatures above 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. That\'s hot enough to vaporize most metals, including titanium. They have the hottest planetary atmospheres ever seen. Hubble astronomers are reporting on bizarre weather conditions on these sizzling worlds. It\'s raining vaporized rock on one planet, and another one has its upper atmosphere getting hotter rather than cooler because it is being \'sunburned\' by intense ultraviolet (UV) radiation from its star.\n',1,27,'<li>Joshua D. Lothringer, David K. Sing, Zafar Rustamkulov, Hannah R. Wakeford, Kevin B. Stevenson, Nikolay Nikolov, Panayotis Lavvas, Jessica J. Spake, Autumn T. Winch. <strong>UV absorption by silicate cloud precursors in ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-178b</strong>. <em>Nature</em>, 2022; 604 (7904): 49 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04453-2\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41586-022-04453-2</a>\n</li>'),(1933,'Century-old malaria parasite puzzle solved as ape origin traced','century-old-malaria-parasite-puzzle-solved-as-ape-origin-traced','2022-04-06 21:39:58.537774',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Scientists have solved a 100-year-old mystery about the evolutionary links between malaria parasites that infect humans and chimpanzees.</p><p>They have discovered that the parasite <em>P. malariae </em>- one of six species that spreads malaria among humans - originated in African apes before evolving to infect people.</p><p>While it is often associated with mild disease, if untreated <em>P. malariae</em> can cause long-lasting, chronic infections that may last a lifetime, researchers say.</p><p>The evolutionary puzzle has its origins in the 1920s when scientists identified chimpanzees infected by parasites that appeared identical to <em>P. malariae</em> under a microscope.</p><p>It was thought both parasites belonged to the same species, but - until now - this could not be verified as the genetic make-up of the chimpanzee strain had never been studied.</p><p>Now, scientists at the University of Edinburgh, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania, USA, have used leading edge techniques to study the parasites\' DNA.</p><p>They have found that there are, in fact, three distinct species. One species - <em>P. malariae</em> - infects mainly humans, while the two others infect apes.</p><p>One of the two ape-infecting parasites was found in chimpanzees, gorillas and bonobos across Central and West Africa. This previously unknown species is only distantly related to the human parasite.</p><p>The other ape parasite is much more closely related to the one that infects humans. Knowing this enabled researchers to make detailed comparisons of the genetic diversity of the two species.</p><p>This revealed that the human malaria parasite population went through a genetic bottleneck, where its population temporarily shrank and most of its genetic variation was lost.</p><p>A likely explanation for this is that <em>P. malariae</em> was originally an ape parasite, but a small number of parasites switched hosts to begin infecting humans, the team says.</p><p>The study, published in the journal <em>Nature Communications</em>, was funded by the National Institutes of Health.</p><p>Lead author Dr Lindsey Plenderleith, of the University of Edinburgh\'s School of Biological Sciences, said: \"Among the six parasites that cause malaria in humans,<em> P. malariae</em> is one of the least well understood. Our findings could provide vital clues on how it became able to infect people, as well as helping scientists gauge if further jumps of ape parasites into humans are likely.\"</p>','2022-04-06 21:39:58.537774','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Edinburgh','Scientists have solved a 100-year-old mystery about the evolutionary links between malaria parasites that infect humans and chimpanzees.\n',1,27,'<li>Lindsey J. Plenderleith, Weimin Liu, Yingying Li, Dorothy E. Loy, Ewan Mollison, Jesse Connell, Ahidjo Ayouba, Amandine Esteban, Martine Peeters, Crickette M. Sanz, David B. Morgan, Nathan D. Wolfe, Markus Ulrich, Andreas Sachse, Sébastien Calvignac-Spencer, Fabian H. Leendertz, George M. Shaw, Beatrice H. Hahn, Paul M. Sharp. <strong>Zoonotic origin of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium malariae from African apes</strong>. <em>Nature Communications</em>, 2022; 13 (1) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29306-4\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41467-022-29306-4</a>\n</li>'),(1934,'Biodegradable gel boosts immune system\'s attack on several cancers in mice','biodegradable-gel-boosts-immune-system\'s-attack-on-several-cancers-in-mice','2022-04-06 21:40:01.834574',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">A new biodegradable gel improves the immune system\'s ability to keep cancer at bay after tumors are surgically removed.</p><p>The gel, tested in mice, releases drugs and special antibodies that simultaneously deplete immune-blocking cells called macrophages from the surgical site and activate T cells so they can attack cancer.</p><p>University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists tested the gel on mouse models of several cancers. They found that the gel effectively kept in check tumors that are known to respond well to this kind of immune therapy, like CT26 colon cancers. But the gel also worked well against B16F10 melanomas, S180 sarcomas and 4T1 triple negative breast cancers, which are less responsive to immune therapy and more prone to metastasizing.</p><p>These proof-of-concept experiments will support additional research on other animal models that could lead to future clinical trials in people.</p><p>The experiments were led by the lab of Quanyin Hu, a professor in the UW-Madison School of Pharmacy, with support from pharmacy professor Seungpyo Hong and colleagues in the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. The team published their findings April 6 in the journal <em>Nature Communications.</em></p><p>\"We are really glad to see that this local strategy can work against so many different kinds of tumors, especially these non-immunogenic tumors,\" says Hu. \"We are even more glad to see this local treatment can inhibit tumor metastasis.\"</p><p>Surgery is an excellent treatment for many tumors, but small numbers of cancer cells that remain after the operation can allow tumors to grow back. To counteract this process, the researchers developed their gel to slowly release into the surgical site two key components.</p><p>One is the drug Pexidartinib, which is approved for use to inhibit the function of tumor-associated macrophages. These cells promote the growth of tumors, and inhibiting the cells slows that cancerous growth.</p><p>The second component of the gel were platelets -- the bits of cells that clot blood -- bound to immune-stimulating antibodies. These antibodies, known as anti-PD-1, help the immune system\'s T cells recognize and attack cancerous cells.</p><p>The researchers hoped that the local release of the antibody-bound platelets and Pexidartinib would both maximize their effect near the tumor site and minimize side effects that occur when these therapies are given intravenously and circulate widely in the body. Indeed, mice given the gel showed insignificant side effects. Bodies degrade the gel over time.</p><p>Hu\'s team tested the gel against a broad suite of cancers because these tumors vary in how they respond to immune-based therapies like the anti-PD-1-conjugated platelets. In each case, the gel significantly slowed the growth of lingering cancer cells and increased the lifespan of mice. The gel also greatly reduced the spread of the metastasizing breast cancer model the researchers examined.</p><p>In recent years, Hong and Hu have independently been developing new ways to control cancers without traditional chemotherapy, which has severe side effects. Now collaborating, they plan to continue testing creative approaches that could find their way into human patients in the coming years.</p><p>\"This is just the initial phase of collaboration between our two labs,\" says Hong.</p>','2022-04-06 21:40:01.834574','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Wisconsin-Madison','The gel, tested in mice, releases drugs and special antibodies that simultaneously deplete immune-blocking cells called macrophages from the surgical site and activate T cells so they can attack cancer.\n',1,89,'<li>Zhaoting Li, Yingyue Ding, Jun Liu, Jianxin Wang, Fanyi Mo, Yixin Wang, Ting-Jing Chen-Mayfield, Paul M. Sondel, Seungpyo Hong, Quanyin Hu. <strong>Depletion of tumor associated macrophages enhances local and systemic platelet-mediated anti-PD-1 delivery for post-surgery tumor recurrence treatment</strong>. <em>Nature Communications</em>, 2022; 13 (1) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29388-0\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41467-022-29388-0</a>\n</li>'),(1935,'Neolithic made us taller and more intelligent but more prone to heart disease','neolithic-made-us-taller-and-more-intelligent-but-more-prone-to-heart-disease','2022-04-06 21:40:23.554888',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">After the Neolithic, European populations showed an increase in height and intelligence, reduced skin pigmentation and increased risk of cardiovascular disease due to genetic changes that lowered concentrations of \'good\' HDL cholesterol. The changes reflect ongoing evolutionary processes in humans and highlight the impact the Neolithic revolution had on our lifestyle and health, write researchers from Nijmegen and Hannover in Frontiers in Genetics. Research of these past events offers interesting starting points for today\'s science and health care.</p><p>Just like plants, animals and other organisms, humans are dynamic organisms with variable traits. Look at how humans behave and their appearance and you will see differences in skin colour, eating habits, susceptibility to diseases, height and so on. Such external features are called \'phenotype\'. This appearance (phenotype) can be influenced by, for example, genetic factors, social and cultural habits, eating behaviour and environmental factors.</p><p>Nijmegen scientists, in cooperation with colleagues from the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI, Hannover), have investigated whether they could trace the development of some complex human traits of modern Europeans from, say, 50,000 years B.C. to the present. These are complex traits such as height and intelligence. In this case, \'complex\' means this trait is not determined by one gene but by dozens or even hundreds of genes. Each of these genes has only a very small effect on such a trait.</p><p><strong>Genetic archaeology</strong></p><p>How can you track down all the genes that interfere with height? This can be done with a technique called GWAS: genome-wide association studies. You take all human genes (genome) to see which genes have an effect on height. It\'s not a causal relationship (you do not know exactly how those genes influence height), but a statistical relationship (it is always the same genes that show up when height is determined). In a large population study, you can get a list of genes involved in human height and compare this list of genes of modern Europeans with those of our distant ancestors. Archaeological research has unearthed already more than 800 people whose DNA has been mapped. Ultimately, this reference gives you a kind of timeline of European height genes, in which you can search for changes and turning points along the way.</p><p><strong>Speeding up evolutionary processes</strong></p><p>The researchers analyzed not only height but also other complex features such as skin pigmentation, weight/BMI, lipid metabolism, intelligence and cardiovascular disease. \"In general, we see a clear change of some of these traits before and after the Neolithic Revolution, as if there was an acceleration of evolutionary processes then,\" says Mihai Netea from Radboudumc. The Neolithic (New Stone Age) is an important period in human development, often referred to as the Neolithic Revolution. Wandering hunter-gatherers slowly disappeared and were replaced by locally settled farmers, resulting in a completely different lifestyle, change of diet, and different socio-cultural customs.</p><p><strong>Height, skin colour, cholesterol</strong></p><p>Yang Li, researcher at the HZI: \"During this transitional period, we not only found a clear change in body height, but in skin colour as well. Europeans, for example, have retained their dark skin colour for a remarkably long time, and it really lightens during this period. This may be due to migration from populations in the Middle East with less pigmented skin. In many genes involved in metabolism and the risk of cardiovascular disease we saw little change, only with one obvious exception: HDL cholesterol -- often called \'good\' cholesterol -- shows a clear decrease. It increases the risk of arthrosclerosis, but there\'s a link with intelligence as well.\"</p><p><strong>Intelligence</strong></p><p>There\'s a change in genetic factors that leads to the development of coronary artery disease by means of a decrease in HDL cholesterol. This raises the question, what is the evolutionary advantage of this lower HDL-cholesterol concentration? Li: \"Perhaps it is in the development of cognitive functions, because cholesterol is fundamental to the development and functioning of the brain. Some minimal changes in genes -- called polymorphisms -- in cholesterol metabolism have been linked to cognitive functions, while variations in levels of HDL and LDL have been linked to changes in intelligence, learning and memory. These are hypotheses, not proofs, but illustrate the importance of this research, in which we are exploring factors that can influence the development of complex human traits.\"</p><p><strong>Useful for the present</strong></p><p>This evolutionary research into the change of human traits in Europeans past can also be useful for the present. Netea: \"It helps us to understand the physiology of contemporary humans and we may be able to tailor public health measures better to specific populations. Research has learned, for example, that Asian populations already have an increased risk of metabolic and cardiovascular complications at a lower BMI compared to European populations. We can take that into account in prevention strategies. Look at the mass rural-urban migration, which is accompanied by major changes in social and cultural habits, eating behaviour and environmental factors. What will it mean for important human physiological traits, for evolutionary pressures on human traits and genes, and human diseases in modern societies?\"</p>','2022-04-06 21:40:23.554888','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Radboud University Medical Center','After the Neolithic, European populations showed an increase in height and intelligence, reduced skin pigmentation and increased risk of cardiovascular disease due to genetic changes that lowered concentrations of \'good\' HDL cholesterol. The changes reflect ongoing evolutionary processes in humans and highlight the impact the Neolithic revolution had on our lifestyle and health. Research of these past events offers interesting starting points for today\'s science and health care.\n',1,27,'<li>Yunus Kuijpers, Jorge Domínguez-Andrés, Olivier B. Bakker, Manoj Kumar Gupta, Martin Grasshoff, Cheng-Jian Xu, Leo A.B. Joosten, Jaume Bertranpetit, Mihai G. Netea, Yang Li. <strong>Evolutionary Trajectories of Complex Traits in European Populations of Modern Humans</strong>. <em>Frontiers in Genetics</em>, 2022; 13 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2022.833190\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.3389/fgene.2022.833190</a>\n</li>'),(1936,'Simulations explain Greenland’s slower summer warming','simulations-explain-greenland’s-slower-summer-warming','2022-04-06 21:40:27.023537',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Climate changes in the tropical Pacific have temporarily put the brakes on rapid warming and ice melting in Greenland.</p><p>A puzzling, decade-long slowdown in summer warming across Greenland has been explained by researchers at Hokkaido University in Japan. Their observational analysis and computer simulations revealed that changes in sea surface temperature in the tropical Pacific Ocean, thousands of miles to the south, trigger cooler summer temperatures across Greenland. The results, published in the journal <em>Communications Earth &amp; Environment</em>, will help improve future predictions of Greenland ice sheet and Arctic sea ice melting in coming decades.</p><p>\"The Greenland ice sheet is melting in the long run due to global warming associated with greenhouse gas emissions, but the pace of that melting has slowed in the last decade,\" says Hokkaido University environmental Earth scientist, Shinji Matsumura. \"That slowing was a mystery until our research showed it is connected to changes to the El Niño climate pattern in the Pacific.\"</p><p>El Niño is a natural, cyclic phenomenon that raises the water temperature in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific Ocean. Scientists know that such large-scale changes alter atmospheric conditions elsewhere due to their association with powerful waves of air pressure called teleconnections. But climate experts struggled to see how the Pacific El Niño could cool Greenland in the summer, because easterly summer winds in the tropics usually prevent such teleconnections from forming.</p><p>In the new study, the team accounted for recent changes in the Pacific El Niño event, which pushed the warmer sea temperatures further north than usual. This took them beyond the influence of the easterly wind and allowed atmospheric teleconnections that stretch up to Greenland to form.</p><p>In turn, these teleconnections disrupt the atmospheric conditions and thus the weather around Greenland in the summertime. Specifically, they drive more intense cyclones, which move colder air over the land. This is enough, the new study shows, to explain the lower-than-expected temperatures and ice melting in the region. Temperatures and rates of ice sheet melting both peaked in 2012.</p><p>\"The findings, and the slowdown in Greenland\'s summertime warming, do not undermine the seriousness of climate change or the need to tackle greenhouse gas emissions,\" Matsumura stresses. Rather, they demonstrate how natural changes can act alongside the long-term global warming trend to vary local conditions. The slowdown in warming is local to Greenland. The wider Arctic region remains one of the fastest warming places on Earth.</p><p>El Niño events tend to be followed by similar but different natural climatic shifts called La Niña, in which sea surface temperatures drop. These events tend to bring higher temperatures to Greenland.</p><p>\"We expect that global warming and ice sheet melting in Greenland and the rest of the Arctic will accelerate even further in the future due to the effects of anthropogenic warming,\" Matsumura says.</p>','2022-04-06 21:40:27.023537','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Hokkaido University','Climate changes in the tropical Pacific have temporarily put the brakes on rapid warming and ice melting in Greenland.\n',1,163,'<li>Shinji Matsumura, Koji Yamazaki, Kazuyoshi Suzuki. <strong>Slow-down in summer warming over Greenland in the past decade linked to central Pacific El Niño</strong>. <em>Communications Earth &amp; Environment</em>, 2021; 2 (1) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00329-x\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s43247-021-00329-x</a>\n</li>'),(1937,'With a whiff, \'e-nose\' can sense fine whisky','with-a-whiff,-\'e-nose\'-can-sense-fine-whisky','2022-04-06 21:40:34.554637',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Scotch or Irish, single malt or blended? While a whisky enthusiast might be able to distinguish the good stuff from run-of-the-mill by smell alone, most tipplers rely on the label, black or otherwise.</p><p>Whisky is one of the most popular alcoholic beverages worldwide and, with some high-end brands fetching five or six figures, it\'s also a favourite target for fraud.</p><p>To combat this, researchers have developed an electronic nose (e-nose) that can distinguish between different brands, origins, and styles by \"sniffing\" the liquor.</p><p>The project was led by Associate Professor Steven Su with PhD students Wentian Zhang and Taoping Liu, from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), in collaboration with chemists Professor Shari Forbes and Dr Maiken Ueland.</p><p>\"Up until now, detecting the differences between whiskies has required either a trained whisky connoisseur, who might still get it wrong, or complex and time-consuming chemical analysis by scientists in a lab, said Associate Professor Su.</p><p>\"So to have a rapid, easy to use, real-time assessment of whisky to identify the quality, and uncover any adulteration or fraud, could be very beneficial for both high-end wholesalers and purchasers,\" he said.</p><p>The team used a new e-nose prototype (called NOS.E), developed at UTS, to identify the differences between six whiskies by their brand names, regions, and styles in less than four minutes.</p><p>The experiment used samples of three blended malts and three single malt whiskeys, including Johnnie Walker red and black label whiskey, Ardberg, Chivas Regal and a Macallan\'s 12-year-old whisky.</p><p>The study, recently published in the journal IEEE Sensors, showed the e-nose reached 100% accuracy for detecting the region, 96.15% accuracy for brand name and 92.31% accuracy for style.</p><p>NOS.E is designed to mimic the human olfactory system, using eight gas sensors to detect odours in a vial of whisky. The sensor array generates the unique signal matrix according to the different odour molecules it comes into contact with.</p><p>The e-nose was tested and displayed at the CEBIT Australia tradeshow. Image: UTS</p><p>It then sends the data to a computer for analysis, with a machine learning algorithm trained to recognise whisky characteristics.</p><p>The researchers confirmed the NOS.E findings using state-of-the-art lab tests on the whisky samples: time-of-flight mass spectrometry paired with two-dimensional gas chromatography, which yielded similar results.</p><p>The technology has applications not only in the alcohol industry, with beverages such as wine and cognac as well as whisky, but also for other products that are subject to counterfeiting such as high-end perfume.</p><p>The e-nose technology has also been used to detect illegal animal parts sold on the black market, such as black rhino horns, and has great potential for health applications and disease detection.</p>','2022-04-06 21:40:34.554637','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Technology Sydney','Researchers have developed an e-nose that can distinguish different types of whisky.\n',1,27,'<li>Wentian Zhang, Taoping Liu, Amber Brown, Maiken Ueland, Shari L. Forbes, Steven Weidong Su. <strong>The Use of Electronic Nose for the Classification of Blended and Single Malt Scotch Whisky</strong>. <em>IEEE Sensors Journal</em>, 2022; 22 (7): 7015 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/jsen.2022.3147185\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1109/jsen.2022.3147185</a>\n</li>'),(1938,'New link between greenhouse gasses and sea level rise','new-link-between-greenhouse-gasses-and-sea-level-rise','2022-04-06 21:40:38.288890',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">A new study provides the first evidence that rising greenhouse gases have a long-term warming effect on the Amundsen Sea in West Antarctica. Scientists from British Antarctic Survey (BAS) say that while others have proposed this link, no one has been able to demonstrate it.</p><p>Ice loss from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet in the Amundsen Sea is one of the fastest growing and most concerning contributions to global sea level rise. If the West Antarctic Ice Sheet were to melt, global sea levels could rise by up to three metres. The patterns of ice loss suggest that the ocean may have been warming in the Amundsen Sea over the past one hundred years, but scientific observations of the region only began in 1994.</p><p>In the study -- published in the journal <em>Geophysical Research Letters -- </em>oceanographers used advanced computer modelling to simulate the response of the ocean to a range of possible changes in the atmosphere between 1920-2013.</p><p>The simulations show the Amundsen Sea generally became warmer over the century. This warming corresponds with simulated trends in wind patterns in the region which increase temperatures by driving warm water currents towards and beneath the ice. Rising greenhouse gases are known to make these wind patterns more likely, and so the trend in winds is thought to be caused in part by human activity.</p><p>This study supports theories that ocean temperatures in the Amundsen Sea have been rising since before records began. It also provides the missing link between ocean warming and wind trends which are known to be partly driven by greenhouse gasses. Ocean temperatures around the West Antarctic Ice Sheet will probably continue to rise if greenhouse gas emissions increase, with consequences for ice melt and global sea levels. These findings suggest, however, that this trend could be curbed if emissions are sufficiently reduced and wind patterns in the region are stabilised.</p><p>Dr Kaitlin Naughten, ocean-ice modeller at BAS and lead author of this study, says,</p><p>\"Our simulations show how the Amundsen Sea responds to long-term trends in the atmosphere, specifically the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds. This raises concerns for the future because we know these winds are affected by greenhouse gases. However, it should also give us hope, because it shows that sea level rise is not out of our control.\"</p><p>Professor Paul Holland, ocean and ice scientist at BAS and a co-author of the study, says,</p><p>\"Changes in the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds are a well-established climate response to the effect of greenhouse-gasses. However, the Amundsen Sea is also subject to very strong natural climate variability. The simulations suggest that both natural and anthropogenic changes are responsible for the ocean-driven ice loss from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.\"</p>','2022-04-06 21:40:38.288890','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'British Antarctic Survey','Researchers have used advanced ocean modelling techniques to reveal how greenhouse gas emissions contribute to warmer oceans and resulting melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.\n',1,163,'<li>Kaitlin A. Naughten, Paul R. Holland, Pierre Dutrieux, Satoshi Kimura, David T. Bett, Adrian Jenkins. <strong>Simulated Twentieth‐Century Ocean Warming in the Amundsen Sea, West Antarctica</strong>. <em>Geophysical Research Letters</em>, 2022; 49 (5) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2021GL094566\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1029/2021GL094566</a>\n</li>'),(1939,'Touchy subject: 3D printed fingertip \'feels\' like human skin','touchy-subject:-3d-printed-fingertip-\'feels\'-like-human-skin','2022-04-06 21:40:49.523006',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Machines can beat the world\'s best chess player, but they cannot handle a chess piece as well as an infant. This lack of robot dexterity is partly because artificial grippers lack the fine tactile sense of the human fingertip, which is used to guide our hands as we pick up and handle objects.</p><p>Two papers published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface give the first in-depth comparison of an artificial fingertip with neural recordings of the human sense of touch. The research was led by Professor of Robotics &amp; AI (Artificial Intelligence), Nathan Lepora, from the University of Bristol\'s Department of Engineering Maths and based at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory.</p><p>\"Our work helps uncover how the complex internal structure of human skin creates our human sense of touch. This is an exciting development in the field of soft robotics -- being able to 3D-print tactile skin could create robots that are more dexterous or significantly improve the performance of prosthetic hands by giving them an in-built sense of touch,\" said Professor Lepora.</p><p>Professor Lepora and colleagues created the sense of touch in the artificial fingertip using a 3D-printed mesh of pin-like papillae on the underside of the compliant skin, which mimic the dermal papillae found between the outer epidermal and inner dermal layers of human tactile skin. The papillae are made on advanced 3D-printers that can mix soft and hard materials to create complicated structures like those found in biology.</p><p>\"We found our 3D-printed tactile fingertip can produce artificial nerve signals that look like recordings from real, tactile neurons. Human tactile nerves transmit signals from various nerve endings called mechanoreceptors, which can signal the pressure and shape of a contact. Classic work by Phillips and Johnson in 1981 first plotted electrical recordings from these nerves to study \'tactile spatial resolution\' using a set of standard ridged shapes used by psychologists. In our work, we tested our 3D-printed artificial fingertip as it \'felt\' those same ridged shapes and discovered a startlingly close match to the neural data,\" said Professor Lepora</p><p>\"For me, the most exciting moment was when we looked at our artificial nerve recordings from the 3D-printed fingertip and they looked like the real recordings from over 40 years ago! Those recordings are very complex with hills and dips over edges and ridges, and we saw the same pattern in our artificial tactile data,\" said Professor Lepora.</p><p>While the research found a remarkably close match between the artificial fingertip and human nerve signals, it was not as sensitive to fine detail. Professor Lepora suspects this is because the 3D-printed skin is thicker than real skin and his team is now exploring how to 3D-print structures on the microscopic scale of human skin.</p><p>\"Our aim is to make artificial skin as good -- or even better -- than real skin,\" said Professor Lepora.</p><p><strong>Story Source:</strong></p>','2022-04-06 21:40:49.523006','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Bristol','A highly sensitive, 3D-printed fingertip could help robots become more dexterous and improve the performance of prosthetic hands by giving them an in-built sense of touch.\n',1,191,'<li>Nicholas Pestell, Thom Griffith, Nathan F. Lepora. <strong>Artificial SA-I and RA-I afferents for tactile sensing of ridges and gratings</strong>. <em>Journal of The Royal Society Interface</em>, 2022; 19 (189) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2021.0822\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1098/rsif.2021.0822</a>\n</li>'),(1940,'Researchers look to licorice for promising cancer treatments','researchers-look-to-licorice-for-promising-cancer-treatments','2022-04-07 04:24:23.562544','<p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Licorice is more than a candy people either love or hate -- it may play a role in preventing or treating certain types of cancer, according to researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago.</p><p>Gnanasekar Munirathinam and his research team are studying substances derived from the licorice plant Glycyrrhiza glabra to determine if they could be used to prevent or stop the growth of prostate cancer. Munirathinam is an associate professor in the department of biomedical sciences at the College of Medicine Rockford.</p><p>A research review into molecular insights of a licorice-derived substance called glycyrrhizin for preventing or treating cancer conducted by Dr. Munirathinam and student researchers suggests further research could lead to specific agents for clinical use.</p><p>The journal<em> Pharmacological Research </em>recently published the study titled \"Oncopreventive and oncotherapeutic potential of licorice triterpenoid compound glycyrrhizin and its derivatives: Molecular insights.\"</p><p>\"When we look at the research out there and our own data, it appears that glycyrrhizin and its derivative glycyrrhetinic acid have great potential as anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer agents,\" Munirathinam said. \"More research is needed into exactly how these could best be used to develop therapies, but this appears to be a promising area of cancer research.\"</p><p>Should everyone go out and eat a bunch of licorice? Probably not, because it may affect blood pressure, interact with certain medications, and cause serious adverse effects, including death, when used excessively. An occasional sweet treat of licorice candy or tea may be better options until more studies can show how to best harness the plant\'s benefits.</p><p>\"Very few clinical trials in humans have been conducted,\" Munirathinam said. \"We hope our research on prostate cancer cells advances the science to the point where therapies can be translated to help prevent or even cure prostate and other types of cancer.\"</p><p>College of Medicine Rockford students Rifika Jain, Mohamed Ali Hussein, Preksha Shahagadkar, Shannon Pierce and Chad Martens are co-authors of the review, which was partly supported by the National Institutes of Health (R0CA227218) and Brovember Inc.</p>','2022-04-07 00:43:05.404521','uploads/news/licorice.jpg',1,'University of Illinois Chicago','A research review into molecular insights of a licorice-derived substance called glycyrrhizin for preventing or treating cancer suggests further research could lead to specific agents for clinical use.',1,35,'<li>Rifika Jain, Mohamed Ali Hussein, Shannon Pierce, Chad Martens, Preksha Shahagadkar, Gnanasekar Munirathinam. <strong>Oncopreventive and oncotherapeutic potential of licorice triterpenoid compound glycyrrhizin and its derivatives: Molecular insights</strong>. <em>Pharmacological Research</em>, 2022; 178: 106138 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.phrs.2022.106138\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/j.phrs.2022.106138</a>\r\n</li>'),(1941,'Florida\'s state shell at higher risk of extinction than previously thought','floridas-state-shell-at-higher-risk-of-extinction-than-previously-thought','2022-04-07 04:06:34.401933','<p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">The Florida horse conch population -- one of the world\'s largest invertebrate animals -- is shrinking. Established in 1969 as the Florida state shell with a record length of two feet, it has become symbolic of Florida\'s natural resources and widely used in advertising for the state\'s tourism industry. But unregulated commercial harvesting and recreational live collection are pushing populations closer to collapse.</p><p>According to a study led by the University of South Florida, the average lifespan of a Florida horse conch is between eight and 10 years, and it doesn\'t start reproducing until about age six, giving birth to up to 28,000 offspring each year. This is a dramatic shift from previous belief that a horse conch could live for half a century -- meaning far fewer offspring are born to replace those removed as a result of harvest or natural causes.</p><p>The interdisciplinary research team, which includes the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and current and former USF graduate students, also found that the largest Florida horse conch is no more than 16 years old. The two-foot shell is on display at the Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum in Sanibel. The team\'s results, published in <em>PLOS ONE</em>, were based on analyses of museum specimens, reducing harm to an already fragile population if they removed shells from the wild.</p><p>To estimate horse conch ages, researchers analyzed chemical bands in the shell, which track water temperature as the snail grows and can be counted like tree rings to measure the passage of time. Unlike tree rings, which are visible, the chemical bands can only be determined by geochemical analysis.</p><p>The team was also able to determine the horse conch\'s amount of growth each year by wrapping string around each coil and then straightening and measuring the string. They found females grow rapidly each year of their lives, whereas males slow down early and mature at a much smaller size. Researchers determined that female horse conchs start laying eggs at about age six, based on spikes in shell carbon levels.</p><p>\"Our research shows that horse conch reproduction is less likely to keep pace with intense harvest than previously thought,\" said lead author Greg Herbert, associate professor from the USF School of Geosciences. \"Horse conch populations are important. They create habitat for other species by leaving empty shells of dead prey around for fish, crabs and other animals to use as homes. They also contribute to the unique experience that we have in Florida of being able to go to the beach and seeing one of the largest seashells in the world at the water\'s edge.\"</p><p>Data from FWC shows that there has been a steady population decline since the mid-1990s. Commercial fishermen reported a peak count of 14,511 Florida horse conchs in 1996, followed by 6,124 in 2000, 1,461 in 2015 and just 67 in 2020.</p><p>\"We still know very little about how many horse conchs exist and where their preferred habitats or what their optimal environmental conditions are,\" said co-author Stephen Geiger, research scientist at the FWC. \"Because we have no dedicated funding for more than 1,500 species of mollusks found in the waters that surround Florida, we continue to seek grants that enable us to study their biological traits, including those that will help managers decide if some species are in need of better protection.\"</p><p>The shells that were studied were collected from the Dry Tortugas, Vaca Key, Sanibel Island and Cape Romano. Researchers say the further north you go, the smaller the Florida horse conch, possibly due to overexploited fisheries and recreational collecting.</p><p><strong>Story Source:</strong></p>','2022-04-07 03:28:08.226738','uploads/news/floridas-state-shell-a.jpg',1,'University of South Florida (USF Innovation)','Unregulated commercial harvesting and recreational live collection are pushing Florida horse conch populations closer to collapse.',1,216,'<li>Gregory S. Herbert, Stephen P. Geiger, Stephen G. Hesterberg, Nicole Seiden, Jaime A. Rogers, Ryan M. Harke, Martin Šala, Kaydee J. West, Ethan A. Goddard. <strong>Age and growth of one of the world’s largest carnivorous gastropods, the Florida Horse Conch, Triplofusus giganteus (Kiener, 1840), a target of unregulated, intense harvest</strong>. <em>PLOS ONE</em>, 2022; 17 (4): e0265095 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265095\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1371/journal.pone.0265095</a>\r\n</li>'),(1942,'Selective breeding sustainably protects honey bees from Varroa mite','selective-breeding-sustainably-protects-honey-bees-from-varroa-mite','2022-04-07 17:45:21.720540',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">A new breed of honey bees provides a major advance in the global fight against the parasitic <em>Varroa</em> mite, new research shows.</p><p>The invasive mite, which has spread to all continents except Australia and Antarctica, has been the prime threat to honey bees since its initial expansion 50 years ago.</p><p>In the study -- by the universities of Louisiana and Exeter, and the Agricultural Research Service of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) -- \"Pol-line\" bees, bred for resistance to the mite in a rigorous 20-year breeding programme, were trialled alongside a standard variety in a large-scale pollination operation.</p><p>The mite-resistant bees were more than twice as likely to survive the winter (60% survival compared to 26% in standard honey bees). While the standard honey bees experienced high losses unless extensive chemical miticide treatments were used.</p><p>\"The <em>Varroa</em> mite is the greatest threat to managed honey bee colonies globally,\" said Dr Thomas O\'Shea-Wheller, of the Environment and Sustainability Institute at Exeter\'s Penryn Campus in Cornwall.</p><p>\"So far, new methods to control the mites -- and the diseases that they carry -- have had limited success, and the mites are becoming increasingly resistant to chemical treatments. It\'s a ticking time-bomb.</p><p>\"By selectively breeding bees that identify and remove mites from their colonies, our study found a significant reduction in mite numbers, and crucially, a two-fold increase in colony survival.</p><p>\"While this is the first large-scale trial, continued breeding and use of these bees has shown consistently promising results.</p><p>\"This kind of resistance provides a natural and sustainable solution to the threat posed by <em>Varroa</em> mites, and does not rely on chemicals or human intervention.\"</p><p>The study took place across three US states (Mississippi, California, and North Dakota), where commercial beekeepers move tens of thousands of colonies annually to provide pollination for large-scale agriculture.</p><p><em>Varroa</em> mites originated in Asia, so European honey bees (the most common species kept for pollination) have not evolved alongside them, and therefore lack effective resistance.</p><p>Like humans, managed bees are largely \"decoupled\" from natural selection, Dr O\'Shea-Wheller said, so they cannot develop resistance like they might in the wild.</p><p>However, managed bees sometimes respond to mites (which reproduce in the cells of bee larvae) by expelling infested larvae -- killing both the larvae and the mites, in a behaviour known as <em>Varroa</em>-sensitive hygiene (VSH).</p><p>By selectively breeding for this trait, colonies can be produced that automatically protect themselves from infestation, while maintaining large colony sizes and ample honey production.</p><p>\"The great thing about this particular trait is that we\'ve learned honey bees of all types express it at some level, so we know that with the right tools, it can be promoted and selected for in everyone\'s bees,\" said research molecular biologist Dr Michael Simone-Finstrom, of the USDA Agricultural Research Service.</p><p>Colony survival over the winter is particularly important for beekeepers, because honey bees are in high demand in the early spring -- a key time for pollinating high-value crops such as almonds.</p><p>The study also examined levels of viruses associated with <em>Varroa</em> mites in bee colonies.</p><p>The colonies bred for <em>Varroa</em> resistance showed lower levels of three major viruses (DWV-A, DWV-B, and CBPV).</p><p>Interestingly however, when examined separately from levels of mite infestation, these viruses were not strong predictors of colony losses.</p><p>\"A lot of research is focussed on the viruses, with perhaps not enough focus on the mites themselves,\" Dr O\'Shea-Wheller said.</p><p>\"The viruses are clearly important, but we need to take a step back and be rigorous in delivering the best practical outcomes, because if you control the mites, you automatically control for the viruses that they transmit.\"</p><p>Dr O\'Shea-Wheller said bee breeding and testing is expensive and takes time, but that breeding mite-resistant bees is cost-effective in the long term, and is likely to be the only sustainable solution to deal with the <em>Varroa</em> pandemic.</p><p>The study was funded by USDA.</p>','2022-04-07 17:45:21.720540','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Exeter','A new breed of honey bees provides a major advance in the global fight against the parasitic Varroa mite, new research shows.\n',1,70,'<li>Thomas A. O’Shea-Wheller, Frank D. Rinkevich, Robert G. Danka, Michael Simone-Finstrom, Philip G. Tokarz, Kristen B. Healy. <strong>A derived honey bee stock confers resistance to Varroa destructor and associated viral transmission</strong>. <em>Scientific Reports</em>, 2022; 12 (1) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-08643-w\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41598-022-08643-w</a>\n</li>'),(1943,'Astronomers detect \'galactic space laser\'','astronomers-detect-\'galactic-space-laser\'','2022-04-07 17:45:31.720307',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">A powerful radio-wave laser, called a \'megamaser\', has been observed by the MeerKAT telescope in South Africa.</p><p>The record-breaking find is the most distant megamaser of its kind ever detected, at about five billion light years from Earth.</p><p>The light from the megamaser has travelled 58 thousand billion billion (58 followed by 21 zeros) kilometres to Earth.</p><p>The discovery was made by an international team of astronomers led by Dr Marcin Glowacki, who previously worked at the Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy and the University of the Western Cape in South Africa.</p><p>Dr Glowacki, who is now based at the Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) in Western Australia, said megamasers are usually created when two galaxies violently collide in the Universe.</p><p>\"When galaxies collide, the gas they contain becomes extremely dense and can trigger concentrated beams of light to shoot out,\" he said.</p><p>\"This is the first hydroxyl megamaser of its kind to be observed by MeerKAT and the most distant seen by any telescope to date.</p><p>\"It\'s impressive that, with just a single night of observations, we\'ve already found a record-breaking megamaser. It shows just how good the telescope is.\"</p><p>The record-breaking object was named \'Nkalakatha\' [pronounced ng-kuh-la-kuh-tah] -- an isiZulu word meaning \"big boss.\"</p><p>Dr Glowacki said the megamaser was detected on the first night of a survey involving more than 3000 hours of observations by the MeerKAT telescope.</p><p>The team is using MeerKAT to observe narrow regions of the sky extremely deeply and will measure atomic hydrogenin galaxies from the distant past to now. The combination of studying hydroxl masers and hydrogen will help astronomers better understand how the Universe has evolved over time.</p><p>\"We have follow-up observations of the megamaser planned and hope to make many more discoveries,\" Dr Glowacki said.</p><p>MeerKAT is a precursor instrument for the Square Kilometre Array -- a global initiative to build the world\'s largest radio telescopes in Western Australia and South Africa.</p>','2022-04-07 17:45:31.720307','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research','A powerful radio-wave laser, called a \'megamaser\', has been observed by the MeerKAT telescope in South Africa. The record-breaking find is the most distant megamaser of its kind ever detected, at about five billion light years from Earth. The light from the megamaser has traveled 58 thousand billion billion (58 followed by 21 zeros) kilometers to Earth.\n',1,27,'<li>Marcin Glowacki, Jordan D. Collier, Amir Kazemi-Moridani, Bradley Frank, Hayley Roberts, Jeremy Darling, Hans-Rainer Klöckner, Nathan Adams, Andrew J. Baker, Matthew Bershady, Tariq Blecher, Sarah-Louise Blyth, Rebecca Bowler, Barbara Catinella, Laurent Chemin, Steven M. Crawford, Catherine Cress, Romeel Davé, Roger Deane, Erwin de Blok, Jacinta Delhaize, Kenneth Duncan, Ed Elson, Sean February, Eric Gawiser, Peter Hatfield, Julia Healy, Patricia Henning, Kelley M. Hess, Ian Heywood, Benne W. Holwerda, Munira Hoosain, John P. Hughes, Zackary L. Hutchens, Matt Jarvis, Sheila Kannappan, Neal Katz, Dušan Kereš, Marie Korsaga, Renée C. Kraan-Korteweg, Philip Lah, Michelle Lochner, Natasha Maddox, Sphesihle Makhathini, Gerhardt R. Meurer, Martin Meyer, Danail Obreschkow, Se-Heon Oh, Tom Oosterloo, Joshua Oppor, Hengxing Pan, D. J. Pisano, Nandrianina Randriamiarinarivo, Swara Ravindranath, Anja C. Schröder, Rosalind Skelton, Oleg Smirnov, Mathew Smith, Rachel S. Somerville, Raghunathan Srianand, Lister Staveley-Smith, Masayuki Tanaka, Mattia Vaccari, Wim van Driel, Marc Verheijen, Fabian Walter, John F. Wu, Martin A. Zwaan. <strong>LADUMA: Discovery of a luminous OH megamaser at z&gt;0.5</strong>. <em>The Astrophysical Journal Letters (accepted)</em>, 2022 [<a href=\"https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.02523\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">abstract</a>]</li>'),(1944,'Astronomers have spotted the farthest galaxy ever','astronomers-have-spotted-the-farthest-galaxy-ever','2022-04-07 17:45:44.253184',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">An international team of astronomers, including researchers at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard &amp; Smithsonian, has spotted the most distant astronomical object ever: a galaxy.</p><p>Named HD1, the galaxy candidate is some 13.5 billion light-years away and is described Thursday in the <em>Astrophysical Journal</em>. In an accompanying paper published in the <em>Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letters</em>, scientists have begun to speculate exactly what the galaxy is.</p><p>The team proposes two ideas: HD1 may be forming stars at an astounding rate and is possibly even home to Population III stars, the universe\'s very first stars -- which, until now, have never been observed. Alternatively, HD1 may contain a supermassive black hole about 100 million times the mass of our Sun.</p><p>\"Answering questions about the nature of a source so far away can be challenging,\" says Fabio Pacucci, lead author of the <em>MNRAS</em> study, co-author in the discovery paper on <em>ApJ</em>, and an astronomer at the Center for Astrophysics. \"It\'s like guessing the nationality of a ship from the flag it flies, while being faraway ashore, with the vessel in the middle of a gale and dense fog. One can maybe see some colors and shapes of the flag, but not in their entirety. It\'s ultimately a long game of analysis and exclusion of implausible scenarios.\"</p><p>HD1 is extremely bright in ultraviolet light. To explain this, \"some energetic processes are occurring there or, better yet, did occur some billions of years ago,\" Pacucci says.</p><p>At first, the researchers assumed HD1 was a standard starburst galaxy, a galaxy that is creating stars at a high rate. But after calculating how many stars HD1 was producing, they obtained \"an incredible rate -- HD1 would be forming more than 100 stars every single year. This is at least 10 times higher than what we expect for these galaxies.\"</p><p>That\'s when the team began suspecting that HD1 might not be forming normal, everyday stars.</p><p>\"The very first population of stars that formed in the universe were more massive, more luminous and hotter than modern stars,\" Pacucci says. \"If we assume the stars produced in HD1 are these first, or Population III, stars, then its properties could be explained more easily. In fact, Population III stars are capable of producing more UV light than normal stars, which could clarify the extreme ultraviolet luminosity of HD1.\"</p><p>A supermassive black hole, however, could also explain the extreme luminosity of HD1. As it gobbles down enormous amounts of gas, high energy photons may be emitted by the region around the black hole.</p><p>If that\'s the case, it would be by far the earliest supermassive black hole known to humankind, observed much closer in time to the Big Bang compared to the current record-holder.</p><p>\"HD1 would represent a giant baby in the delivery room of the early universe,\" says Avi Loeb an astronomer at the Center for Astrophysics and co-author on the <em>MNRAS</em> study. \"It breaks the highest quasar redshift on record by almost a factor of two, a remarkable feat.\"</p><p>HD1 was discovered after more than 1,200 hours of observing time with the Subaru Telescope, VISTA Telescope, UK Infrared Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope.</p><p>\"It was very hard work to find HD1 out of more than 700,000 objects,\" says Yuichi Harikane, an astronomer at the University of Tokyo who discovered the galaxy. \"HD1\'s red color matched the expected characteristics of a galaxy 13.5 billion light-years away surprisingly well, giving me a little bit of goosebumps when I found it.\"</p><p>The team then conducted follow-up observations using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to confirm the distance, which is 100 million light years further than GN-z11, the current record-holder for the furthest galaxy.</p><p>Using the James Webb Space Telescope, the research team will soon once again observe HD1 to verify its distance from Earth. If current calculations prove correct, HD1 will be the most distant -- and oldest -- galaxy ever recorded.</p><p>The same observations will allow the team to dig deeper into HD1\'s identity and confirm if one of their theories is correct.</p><p>\"Forming a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, a black hole in HD1 must have grown out of a massive seed at an unprecedented rate,\" Loeb says. \"Once again, nature appears to be more imaginative than we are.\"</p><p><strong>Story Source:</strong></p>','2022-04-07 17:45:44.253184','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics','An international team of astronomers has spotted the most distant astronomical object ever: a galaxy. Shining only ~300 million years after the Big Bang, it may be home to the oldest stars in the universe, or a supermassive black hole.\n',1,185,'<li>Yuichi Harikane, Akio K. Inoue, Ken Mawatari, Takuya Hashimoto, Satoshi Yamanaka, Yoshinobu Fudamoto, Hiroshi Matsuo, Yoichi Tamura, Pratika Dayal, L. Y. Aaron Yung, Anne Hutter, Fabio Pacucci, Yuma Sugahara, Anton M. Koekemoer. <strong>A Search for H-Dropout Lyman Break Galaxies at z~12-16</strong>. <em>The Astrophysical Journal (in press)</em>, 2022 [<a href=\"https://arxiv.org/abs/2112.09141\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">abstract</a>]</li>'),(1945,'Uranium detectable in two-thirds of US community water system monitoring records','uranium-detectable-in-two-thirds-of-us-community-water-system-monitoring-records','2022-04-07 17:46:25.142842',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">A study on metal concentrations in U.S. community water systems (CWS) and patterns of inequalities, researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health found that metal concentrations were particularly elevated in CWSs serving semi-urban, Hispanic communities independent of location or region, highlighting environmental justice concerns. These communitieshad the highest levels of uranium, selenium, barium, chromium, and arsenic concentrations.</p><p>Even at low concentrations, uranium in particular represents an important risk factor for the development of chronic diseases. Until now little epidemiological research had been done on chronic water uranium exposures despite the potential health effects of uranium exposure from CWSs. <em>U</em>ranium in particular, has been underappreciated in the literature as a public drinking water contaminant of concern. The study results are published in the journal<em> The Lancet Planetary Health.</em></p><p>\"Previous studies have found associations between chronic uranium exposure and increased risk of hypertension, cardiovascular disease, kidney damage, and lung cancer at high levels of exposure,\" said Anne Nigra, PhD, assistant professor of Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. \"Our objectives were to estimate CWS metal concentrations across the U.S, and identify sociodemographic subgroups served by these systems that either reported high metal concentration estimates or were more likely to report averages exceeding the US EPA\'s maximum contaminant level (MCL).\"</p><p>Approximately 90 percent of U.S. residents rely on public drinking water systems, with most residents relying specifically on community water systems that serve the same population year-round. The researchers evaluated six-year EPA review records for antimony, arsenic, barium, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, mercury, selenium, thallium, and uranium to determine if average concentrations exceeded the maximum contaminant levels set by the EPA which regulates levels for six classes of contaminants. This includedapproximately 13 million records from 139,000 public water systems serving 290 million people annually. The researchers developed average metal concentrations for 37,915 CWSs across the country, and created an online interactive map of estimated metal concentrations at the CWS and county levels to use in future analyses.</p><p>According to findings 2·1 percent of community water systems reported average uranium concentrations from 2000 to 2011 in exceedance of the EPA maximum contamination levels, and uranium was frequently detected during compliance monitoring (63% of the time). Arsenic, barium, chromium, selenium, and uranium concentrations were also disproportionately elevated in CWSs serving semi-urban, Hispanic populations, raising concerns for these communities and the possibility of influencing inequalities in public drinking water.</p><p>Nigra and her colleagues note that the consistent association between elevated CWS metal concentrations and semi-urban, Hispanic communities implies that concentration disparities are a failure of regulatory policy or treatment rather than underlying geology. Hispanic/Latino populations show numerous health disparities including increased mortality due to diabetes, as well as liver, kidney, and cardiovascular disease.</p><p>\"Additional regulatory policies, compliance enforcement, and improved infrastructure are therefore necessary to reduce disparities in CWS metal concentrations and protect communities served by public water systems with elevated metal concentrations,\" said Nigra. \"Such interventions and policies should specifically protect the most highly exposed communities to advance environmental justice and protect public health.</p><p>Co-authors are Filippo Ravalli, Kathrin Schilling Yuanzhi Yu, and Ana Navas-Acien, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health; Benjamin C Bostick, and Steven N Chillru, Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University; and Anirban Basu, University of London.</p><p>The study was supported by the US National Institutes for Environmental Health Sciences, grants P42ES010349, P30ES009089, R01ES028758, R21ES029668, and 5T32ES007322; the U.S. National Institutes of Health Office Of The Director and National Institute Of Dental &amp; Craniofacial Research, grant DP5OD031849.</p><p>Detailed interactive map of public water contaminants: <a href=\"https://msph.shinyapps.io/drinking-water-dashboard/\">https://msph.shinyapps.io/drinking-water-dashboard/</a></p><p><strong>Story Source:</strong></p>','2022-04-07 17:46:25.142842','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Columbia University\'s Mailman School of Public Health','A study on metal concentrations in U.S. community water systems (CWS) and patterns of inequalities, researchers found that metal concentrations were particularly elevated in CWSs serving semi-urban, Hispanic communities independent of location or region, highlighting environmental justice concerns. These communities had the highest levels of uranium, selenium, barium, chromium, and arsenic concentrations. Even at low concentrations, uranium in particular represents an important risk factor for the development of chronic diseases.\n',1,153,'<li>Filippo Ravalli, Yuanzhi Yu, Benjamin C Bostick, Steven N Chillrud, Kathrin Schilling, Anirban Basu, Ana Navas-Acien, Anne E Nigra. <strong>Sociodemographic inequalities in uranium and other metals in community water systems across the USA, 2006–11: a cross-sectional study</strong>. <em>The Lancet Planetary Health</em>, 2022; 6 (4): e320 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(22)00043-2\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/S2542-5196(22)00043-2</a>\n</li>'),(1946,'Study finds persistent racial and ethnic disparities in sleep duration','study-finds-persistent-racial-and-ethnic-disparities-in-sleep-duration','2022-04-07 19:51:05.364161',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Using data collected by the National Health Interview Survey from 2004 to 2018, researchers found that the proportion of people who reported sleeping fewer than seven hours per day increased significantly over the 15-year period, and it was significantly higher among Black people.</p><p>The study was published on April 7 in <em>JAMA Network Open</em><em>.</em></p><p>\"As an indicator of sleep health, adequate sleep duration is essential for achieving and maintaining a healthy life,\" said lead author César Caraballo-Cordovez, MD, postdoctoral associate in the Yale-based Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CORE). \"The current expert consensus is that most adults should get between 7 and 9 hours of sleep in a 24-hour period; and we found that Black people, on average, were persistently less likely to report sleeping such recommended duration. Specifically, we found that over the 15 years we analyzed, Black people had the highest prevalence of both short sleep duration [fewer than seven hours] and long sleep duration [more than nine hours].\"</p><p>The Yale-led team reported that, in 2018, the percentage of people reporting short sleep duration was 11 points higher among Black people when compared with white people. The same disparity was 7.5 points in 2004. They investigated how these findings varied by sex and household income and found that the disparities were the highest for Black women and Black individuals with middle or high income.</p><p>There were also differences between racial and ethnic groups when sleep duration was analyzed by age. For instance, they found that the disparities were the highest for young and middle-aged Black adults, slightly narrowing among the elderly. \"This suggests that factors related to working or employment conditions are disproportionally preventing Black individuals from having adequate sleep,\" said Caraballo-Cordovez.</p><p>Sleep is closely related to overall physical and mental health, said senior author Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM, Harold H. Hines Jr. Professor of Medicine at Yale and director of CORE.</p><p>\"Both short sleep and long sleep duration are associated with higher risk of suffering adverse medical events, including higher risk of death,\" he said. \"Thus, the persistent sleep disparities for Black people may be contributing to the persistent average worse health status among Black people There should be renewed efforts to eliminate the socioeconomic and health conditions that prevent minoritized racial and ethnic individuals from achieving adequate sleep-including racism.\"</p><p>The study team included Shiwani Mahajan, MBBS, MHS; Javier Valero-Elizondo, MD, MPH; Yuan Lu, ScD; Daisy Massey, Amarnath R. Annapureddy, MD; Brita Roy, MD, MPH, MHS; Carley Riley, MD, MPP, MHS; Karthik Murugiah, MBBS; Johanna Elumn, MSW, PhD; Marcella Nunez-Smith, MD, MHS; Howard P. Forman, MD, MBA; Chandra Jackson, PhD, MS; Khurram Nasir, MD, SM; and Jeph Herrin, PhD.</p>','2022-04-07 19:51:05.364161','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Yale University','Using data collected by the National Health Interview Survey from 2004 to 2018, researchers found that the proportion of people who reported sleeping fewer than seven hours per day increased significantly over the 15-year period, and it was significantly higher among Black people.\n',1,201,'<li>Baylee F. Bakkila, Daniel Kerekes, Marcella Nunez-Smith, Kevin G. Billingsley, Nita Ahuja, Karen Wang, Carol Oladele, Caroline H. Johnson, Sajid A. Khan. <strong>Evaluation of Racial Disparities in Quality of Care for Patients With Gastrointestinal Tract Cancer Treated With Surgery</strong>. <em>JAMA Network Open</em>, 2022; 5 (4): e225664 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.5664\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.5664</a>\n</li>'),(1947,'Reconstructing the states of a nonlinear dynamical system','reconstructing-the-states-of-a-nonlinear-dynamical-system','2022-04-07 21:24:40.893258',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Many frequently observed real-world phenomena are nonlinear in nature. This means that their output does not change in a manner that is proportional to their input. These models have a degree of unpredictability, where it is unclear how the system will respond to any changes in its input. This is especially important in the case of dynamical systems, where the output of the model changes with time. For such systems, the time series data, or the measurements from the system over time, have to be analyzed to determine how the system changes or evolves with time.</p><p>Due to the commonality of the problem, many solutions have been proposed to analyze time-series data to gain an understanding of the system. One method of reconstructing the state of a system based on time series data is state space reconstruction, which can be used to reconstruct those states where the system remains stable or unchanged with time. Such states are known as \"attractors.\" However, the accuracy of the reconstructed attractors depends on the parameters used for reconstruction, and due to the finite nature of the data, such parameters are difficult to ascertain, resulting in inaccurate reconstructions.</p><p>Now, in a new study to be published on April 1, 2022, in <em>Nonlinear Theory and Its Applications, IEICE</em>, Professor Tohru Ikeguchi from Tokyo University of Science, his PhD student Mr. Kazuya Sawada from Tokyo University of Science, and Prof. Yutaka Shimada from Saitama University, Japan, have used the geometric structure of the attractor to estimate the reconstruction parameters.</p><p>\"To reconstruct the state space using time-delay coordinate systems, two parameters, the dimension of the state space and the delay time, must be set appropriately, which is an important issue that is still being actively studied in this field. We discuss how to set these parameters optimally by focusing on the geometric structure of the attractor as one way to solve this problem,\" explains Prof. Ikeguchi.</p><p>To obtain the optimal values of the parameters, the researchers used five three-dimensional nonlinear dynamical systems and maximized the similarity of the inter-point distance distributions between the reconstructed attractor and the original attractor. As a result, the parameters were obtained in a way that produced a reconstructed attractor which was geometrically as close as possible to the original.</p><p>While the method was able to generate the appropriate reconstruction parameters, the researchers did not factor in the noise that is normally encountered in real-world data, which can significantly affect the reconstruction. \"Mathematically, this method has been proven to be a good one, but there are many considerations that need to be made before applying this method to real-world data analysis. This is because real-world data contains noise, and the length and accuracy of the observed data is finite,\" explains Prof. Ikeguchi.</p><p>Despite this, the method resolves one of the limitations involved in determining the state of nonlinear dynamical systems that are encountered in various fields of science, economics, and engineering. \"This research has yielded an important analysis technique in the current data science field, and we believe that it is important for handling a wide variety of data in the real world,\" concludes Prof. Ikeguchi.</p>','2022-04-07 21:24:40.893258','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Tokyo University of Science','We often encounter nonlinear dynamical systems that behave unpredictably, such as the earth\'s climate and the stock market. To analyze them, measurements taken over time are used to reconstruct the state of the system. However, this depends on the quality of the data. Now, researchers have proposed an all-new method for determining the necessary parameters that results in an accurate reconstruction. Their new technique has far-reaching implications for the field of data science.\n',1,27,'<li>Kazuya Sawada, Yutaka Shimada, Tohru Ikeguchi. <strong>Similarities of inter-point distance distributions on original and reconstructed attractors</strong>. <em>Nonlinear Theory and Its Applications, IEICE</em>, 2022; 13 (2): 385 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1587/nolta.13.385\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1587/nolta.13.385</a>\n</li>'),(1948,'Surfer science supports seawater study','surfer-science-supports-seawater-study','2022-04-07 21:33:06.397305',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Seawater samples taken from a surfboard have helped scientists understand microscopic life in the waves, new research shows.</p><p>Phytoplankton are at the base of ocean food chains, and nearshore waters like the \"surf zone\" often contain the highest levels of these tiny organisms.</p><p>However, sampling water in the surf zone is difficult, so data on some aspects of this environment is scarce.</p><p>Dr Bob Brewin -- a surfer and scientist from the University of Exeter -- took to the waves to collect water samples to analyse seasonal changes in phytoplankton.</p><p>And the research team -- led by Exeter and Plymouth Marine Laboratory -- are working to gather more data from surfers, swimmers, kayakers and others who use nearshore waters.</p><p>\"Nearshore waters often have the highest levels of biodiversity in the ocean,\" said Dr Brewin, of Exeter\'s Penryn Campus in Cornwall.</p><p>\"Phytoplankton are a very important component of that, but at present we struggle to monitor seasonal and longer-term changes in nearshore phytoplankton concentrations.</p><p>\"It\'s hard to take research vessels or build monitoring stations in places where waves are constantly breaking, and this leaves key gaps in our knowledge.\"</p><p>The new study, based 67 samples taken by Dr Brewin off Bovisand Beach near Plymouth (UK) in a 12-month period, is intended as a pilot to see if this citizen-science approach could be used more widely.</p><p>The samples were tested for chlorophyll-a concentration (a proxy of phytoplankton biomass) and compared with data from a recording station about four miles offshore.</p><p>The results suggest phytoplankton levels nearshore and offshore are similar in autumn, winter and spring.</p><p>However, in July and August phytoplankton biomass was much higher in nearshore waters than offshore -- where levels dropped dramatically.</p><p>Dr Brewin said the likely cause of this is that the spring bloom of phytoplankton in offshore waters depletes chemical nutrients, and these relatively stable waters don\'t churn enough over the summer to replenish them.</p><p>Meanwhile, the constant motion of waves near the shore stirs up nutrients, and together with nutrients from river run-off, this allows phytoplankton to continue blooming.</p><p>Dr Brewin said more research is needed to test and confirm this hypothesis, and to investigate the possible impacts of climate change in nearshore waters.</p><p>\"The timing and distribution of these blooms is critical for how energy moves up the food web,\" he said.</p><p>\"For example, fish larvae need that phytoplankton to feed -- if the timing is just a little bit off, that can be devastating for the growth of the larvae.\"</p><p>Speaking about the use of surfers and other ocean users as citizen scientists, he added: \"If we start now, in 20 or 30 years we could have a really good understating of how climate change is impacting the nearshore environment.\"</p><p>Lead author Elliot McCluskey said: \"Surfers and other water sports enthusiasts are regularly going in and out the ocean for fun, all around the world.</p><p>\"Many have an intrinsic desire to protect the regions they inhabit. Our work suggests they could to that by helping to understand the cycles of life in the ocean.\"</p><p>The research team included the University of California, the University of North Carolina Wilmington and Nova Southeastern University.</p><p>Dr Brewin\'s work is funded by a UKRI Future Leader Fellowship.</p>','2022-04-07 21:33:06.397305','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Exeter','Seawater samples taken from a surfboard have helped scientists understand microscopic life in the waves, new research shows.\n',1,27,'<li>Elliot McCluskey, Robert J. W. Brewin, Quinten Vanhellemont, Oban Jones, Denise Cummings, Gavin Tilstone, Thomas Jackson, Claire Widdicombe, E. Malcolm S. Woodward, Carolyn Harris, Philip J. Bresnahan, Tyler Cyronak, Andreas J. Andersson. <strong>On the Seasonal Dynamics of Phytoplankton Chlorophyll-a Concentration in Nearshore and Offshore Waters of Plymouth, in the English Channel: Enlisting the Help of a Surfer</strong>. <em>Oceans</em>, 2022; 3 (2): 125 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/oceans3020011\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.3390/oceans3020011</a>\n</li>'),(1949,'Exercise shown to release protein reducing bowel cancer risk','exercise-shown-to-release-protein-reducing-bowel-cancer-risk','2022-04-07 21:33:14.146593',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Experts have identified for the first time exactly how exercise can lower your risk of getting bowel cancer and slow the growth of tumours.</p><p>Scientists at Newcastle University have shown that physical activity causes the cancer-fighting protein, interleukin-6 (IL-6), to be released into the bloodstream which helps repair the DNA of damaged cells.</p><p>The findings, published in the <em>International Journal of Cancer</em>, sheds new light on the importance of moderate activity in the fight against the life-threatening illness and could help develop treatments in the future.</p><p><strong>Repairing DNA</strong></p><p>Dr Sam Orange, Lecturer in Exercise Physiology at Newcastle University, said: \"Previous scientific evidence suggests that more exercise is better for reducing bowel cancer risk as the more physical activity people do, the lower their chances of getting it. Our findings support this idea.</p><p>\"When exercise is repeated multiple times each week over an extended period, cancer-fighting substances -- such as IL-6 -- released into the bloodstream have the opportunity to interact with abnormal cells, repairing their DNA and reducing growth into cancer.\"</p><p>In the small-scale study, which is a proof of principle, the team from Newcastle and York St John universities recruited 16 men aged 50-80, all of whom had lifestyle risk factors for bowel cancer, such as being overweight or obese and not physically active.</p><p>After providing an initial blood sample, the participants cycled on indoor bikes for a total of 30-minutes at a moderate intensity and a second blood sample was taken as soon as they finished pedalling.</p><p>As a control measure, on a separate day, scientists took further blood samples before and after the participants had rested. Tests were carried out to see if exercise altered the concentration of cancer-fighting proteins in the blood compared to resting samples and it was found that there was an increase in IL-6 protein.</p><p>Scientists added the blood samples to bowel cancer cells in a lab and monitored cell growth over 48 hours. They identified that blood samples collected straight after exercise slowed the growth of the cancer cells compared with those collected at rest.</p><p>Furthermore, as well as reducing cancer growth, the exercise blood samples reduced the extent of DNA damage, suggesting that physical activity can repair cells to create a genetically stable cell type.</p><p>Dr Orange said: \"Our findings are really exciting because they reveal a newly identified mechanism underlying how physical activity reduces bowel cancer risk that is not dependent on weight loss.</p><p>\"Understanding these mechanisms better could help develop more precise exercise guidelines for cancer prevention. It could also help develop drug treatments that mimic some of the health benefits of exercise.</p><p>\"Physical activity of any type, and any duration, can improve health and reduce bowel cancer risk but more is always better. People who are sedentary should begin by moving more and look to build physical activity into their daily routines.\"</p><p>Dr Adam Odell, Senior Lecturer in Biosciences from York St John University, who was also involved in the study alongside Dr Alastair Jordan and Dr Owen Kavanagh, added: \"Importantly, it is not just bowel cancer risk that can be reduced by leading a more active lifestyle. Clear links exist between higher exercise levels and a lower risk of developing other cancers, such as cancers of the breast and endometrium.</p><p>\"By working out a mechanism through which regular physical activity is able to produce anti-cancer effects, our study provides further support for current national and global efforts to increase exercise participation.\"</p><p><strong>Bowel cancer prevalence</strong></p><p>Bowel cancer is the 4th most common cancer in the UK, accounting for 11% of all new cancer cases. There are around 42,900 people diagnosed in the UK every year, that\'s nearly 120 each day.</p><p>It is estimated that physical activity reduces the risk by approximately 20%. It can be done by going to the gym, playing sports or through active travel such as walking or biking to work, but also as part of household tasks or work like gardening or cleaning.</p><p>The team intend to carry out further research to identify exactly how exercise reduces DNA damage in early-stage cancers and to establish the most effective form of exercise for protecting against the disease.</p>','2022-04-07 21:33:14.146593','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Newcastle University','Experts have identified for the first time exactly how exercise can lower your risk of getting bowel cancer and slow the growth of tumors.\n',1,22,'<li>Samuel T. Orange, Alastair R. Jordan, Adam Odell, Owen Kavanagh, Kirsty M. Hicks, Tristan Eaglen, Stephen Todryk, John M. Saxton. <strong>Acute aerobic exercise‐conditioned serum reduces colon cancer cell proliferation in vitro through interleukin‐6‐induced regulation of            DNA            damage</strong>. <em>International Journal of Cancer</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ijc.33982\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1002/ijc.33982</a>\n</li>'),(1950,'How mountain streams signal climate change','how-mountain-streams-signal-climate-change','2022-04-07 21:33:16.352838',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">A new tool can better assess an important but overlooked indicator of global warming: the variety of bugs, worms, and snails living in high mountain streams.</p><p>Water-based invertebrates are especially vulnerable when the climate swings from historic droughts to massive floods. Because they serve as food for other forms of alpine life, such as birds, bats, frogs and fish, ecologists worry about the insects\' ability to thrive.</p><p>Understanding how these small creatures are affected by climate change requires understanding where we ought to find them. Yet, classic ecological theories did not account for what a team of UC Riverside ecologists and their UC collaborators found on a recent survey of aquatic life in California\'s Sierra Nevada.</p><p>As a step toward protecting them, the team applied a new theory for predicting biodiversity to high mountain streams. That theory, and the results of the field survey that gave rise to it, are now detailed in an article in the journal <em>Ecological Monographs</em>.</p><p>\"We\'ve come up with new ways of thinking about biodiversity in high mountain Sierra streams, because the old ways weren\'t successful for us,\" said Kurt Anderson, associate professor of evolution and ecology, and article co-author.</p><p>\"Classic theories of stream ecology weren\'t developed in the Sierras, so we are adapting a new set of ideas to better explain what we\'re seeing up there,\" Anderson said.</p><p>One such classic theory is the River Continuum Concept, which discusses how stream ecosystems function as they move from the stream sources down to bigger, more open rivers. According to the continuum concept, there should be a smooth gradient of change from high to low elevations. The team surveyed for stream biodiversity along a gradient, to test concepts like this one.</p><p>\"We saw a change, but only partially and not for the reasons the theory said we should,\" Anderson said. \"For example, we found that lakes tended to interrupt the smooth change we were supposed to have seen.\"</p><p>The UCR team observed that diversity of invertebrates generally increased in waters headed down and was lowest in steams situated immediately below lakes.</p><p>\"We believe the lakes may have a disconnecting effect and are causing the downstream waterways to have to start over again in building diversity,\" said Matthew Green, UCR ecologist and first author on the new paper.</p><p>The team also found a great variety of life forms in cold, isolated streams high up in the headwaters. Despite the general trend toward an increase of diversity moving downstream, sometimes, differences in species among isolated headwaters could be as great as those between upstream and downstream.</p><p>\"These are the aquatic life forms that are at the edge of the precipice of climate change,\" said Dave Herbst, a researcher from the Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory, a UC Natural Reserve, and co-author on the paper.</p><p>The areas just below lakes were dominated by only a few species of invertebrates and insects with the ability to filter food particles. Other sites with mixed food sources had more species present.</p><p>The team recommends that interconnected systems of flowing water be protected from diversions, and from habitat damage caused by unrestrained land development. When waters are allowed to flow as they should, the number of resources available to creatures that live in them support higher diversity.</p><p>\"That is what will permit these small, but crucially important life forms to thrive,\" Anderson said. \"Where intact habitats have been compromised, restoration efforts may be key to providing the entire ecosystem with resilience to the coming adversities of climate change.\"</p>','2022-04-07 21:33:16.352838','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of California - Riverside','A new tool can better assess an important but overlooked indicator of global warming: the variety of bugs, worms, and snails living in high mountain streams.\n',1,98,'<li>Matthew D. Green, Kurt E. Anderson, David B. Herbst, Marko Spasojevic. <strong>Rethinking biodiversity patterns and processes in stream ecosystems</strong>. <em>Ecological Monographs</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecm.1520\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1002/ecm.1520</a>\n</li>'),(1951,'Sitting Tai Chi exercises improved recovery outcomes for older stroke survivors','sitting-tai-chi-exercises-improved-recovery-outcomes-for-older-stroke-survivors','2022-04-07 21:33:26.274495',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Stroke survivors who practiced a seated form of Tai Chi had equal or greater improvement in hand and arm strength, shoulder range of motion, balance control, symptoms of depression and activities of daily living after three months, compared to those who participated in a standard stroke rehabilitation exercise program, according to new research published today in <em>Stroke</em>.</p><p>The American Heart Association\'s/American Stroke Association\'s Guidelines for the Early Management of Patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke recommend people start stroke rehabilitation within seven days and continue for up to six months after a stroke. However, many survivors opt out of rehabilitation therapy because they lack physical stability or are unable to fully use their arms. The Association also notes in a Scientific Statement about Physical Activity and Exercise Recommendations for Stroke Survivors that flexibility and muscle strength training, including yoga and Tai Chi, are reported to be beneficial for stroke survivors in improving balance, quality of life and mental health, while reducing the fear of falling.</p><p>Tai Chi, a traditional Chinese martial art, consists of a series of slow, careful movements of the hands, arms, neck, legs and core combined with deep breathing. The novelty of this study is that researchers developed a sitting routine of Tai Chi exercises for people who had a recent ischemic stroke (blocked blood vessel to the brain) and experienced hand and arm weakness or partial paralysis.</p><p>\"Tai Chi has a long history as a form of exercise in China. We revised the Tai Chi movements for people who have weakness or partial limb paralysis. It is tailored so that participants can move one arm with the help of the healthy arm,\" said Jie Zhao, Ph.D., lead study author and a lecturer at Yunnan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Yunnan, China.</p><p>The study was conducted at two traditional Chinese medicine hospitals in Kunming, China. Researchers recruited 160 adults (average age of 63 years; 81 men and 79 women) who had suffered their first-ever ischemic stroke within six months of joining the study and retained their use of at least one arm. Among the study participants, half were randomly assigned to the sitting Tai Chi program, and the other half were part of the control group that practiced a standard stroke rehabilitation exercise program (hospital-recommended upper limb movements; the amount, implementation strategies and caregiver responsibilities were similar to the Tai Chi group).</p><p>The participants in the sitting Tai Chi group received individual training from a Tai Chi instructor for one week during hospitalization and a self-guided video to practice at home for three days a week for 11 weeks. The control group received a self-guided exercise video of standard exercises to practice at home for 12 weeks. Family members and caregivers supervised the at-home exercise for both study groups. Sixty-nine people in the sitting Tai Chi group and 65 people in the control group completed the 12-week program and 4-week follow-up. Physical function and psychological state were measured for all study participants via questionnaires and assessment tools at the start of the study and at four additional times during the 16-week program, and the outcomes of the two groups were compared.</p><p>Researchers analyzed the questionnaires and assessment tools and found:</p><p>\"Sitting Tai Chi can be practiced in a chair or wheelchair and is very convenient since it can be done in your home. The program costs almost nothing to practice, and it doesn\'t require any special equipment or travel time,\" Zhao said.</p><p>This is the first randomized controlled trial focused on a modified sitting Tai Chi routine and found improved short-term outcomes in a group who may struggle to adhere to a standard stroke rehabilitation exercise program. The results demonstrate this mind-body practice is an effective option to enhance balance, coordination, strength and flexibility, particularly for stroke survivors with hand and arm weakness or partial paralysis.</p><p>\"My follow-up study will measure the long-term effects of sitting Tai Chi,\" Zhao said. \"People will most likely need to adhere to the sitting Tai Chi exercise beyond 12 weeks to get the beneficial long-term effects.\"</p><p>One of the limitations is that the study was conducted at only two centers. In addition, the physicians and health care professionals at the centers are trained in traditional Chinese medicine and are supportive of the study, so the results may not be representative of the rehabilitation available to stroke survivors who receive care at other hospitals.</p><p>According to the American Heart Association, stroke is the fifth leading cause of death in the United States, and a leading cause of long-term disability.</p>','2022-04-07 21:33:26.274495','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'American Heart Association','A study found that after three months of practicing a modified form of Tai Chi in which participants are seated, stroke survivors had improved hand and arm function, sitting balance, mental health and quality of life, compared to stroke survivors who participated in a standard stroke rehabilitation exercise program. The study is the first randomized controlled trial to indicate practicing a seated form of Tai Chi early after a stroke enhanced health outcomes.\n',1,27,'<li>Jie Zhao, Janita Pak Chun Chau, Aileen Wai Kiu Chan, Qiang Meng, Kai Chow Choi, Xiaoqi Xiang, Yali Zhao, Rong He, Qin Li. <strong>Tailored Sitting Tai Chi Program for Subacute Stroke Survivors: A Randomized Controlled Trial</strong>. <em>Stroke</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1161/STROKEAHA.121.036578\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1161/STROKEAHA.121.036578</a>\n</li>'),(1952,'Social determinants of health affect care for people with congenital heart disease','social-determinants-of-health-affect-care-for-people-with-congenital-heart-disease','2022-04-07 21:33:28.415074',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">As medical and surgical treatments have improved and survival has increased, the majority of people with congenital heart disease are now adults rather than children, yet disparities driven by social determinants of health (SDOH) limit access to the lifelong specialty care needed, according to a new American Heart Association scientific statement published today in the <em>Journal of the American Heart Association</em>, an open access, peer-reviewed journal of the Association.</p><p>An American Heart Association scientific statement is an expert analysis of current research and may inform future guidelines. The new statement focuses on the impact of SDOH -- the conditions in which people are born and live, such as education, employment, housing, income, and access to food and safety -- among people born with congenital heart defects. Societal factors impact the ability of people born with congenital heart disease to get appropriate specialty treatment throughout their lives and particularly when they are transitioning from pediatric to adult care.</p><p>The word congenital means existing at birth. The terms \"congenital heart defect\" and \"congenital heart disease\" are often used to mean the same thing and are used interchangeably in the scientific statement. It\'s important to note, however, that while \"disease\" is more commonly used, \"defect\" is more correct because the heart problem is a defect or abnormality, not a disease. A congenital heart defect results when the heart or blood vessels near the heart don\'t develop normally before birth. These structural problems can usually be surgically addressed; however, for many, the condition is not completely cured. People with a congenital heart defect (CHD) -- particularly those with complex heart problems -- may require multiple operations and need specialty heart care throughout their lives.</p><p>\"Social determinants of health affect every single facet of CHD -- from who is born with a heart abnormality to who is diagnosed prenatally, to outcomes of surgery, to clinical follow-up as well as transitioning to adult care,\" said the Chair of the statement writing group Keila N. Lopez, M.D., M.P.H., an associate professor of pediatrics and medical director of the transition medicine division of pediatric cardiology at Texas Children\'s Hospital/Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.</p><p>This statement follows a 2020 presidential advisory from the Association, published as a call to action to confront structural racism as a fundamental driver of health disparities.</p><p>\"When people think about individuals with poorer health outcomes, they often assume that these are the direct result of individual choices that people make; however, that is often not the case. Differences in the social determinants of health are often directly linked to worse health outcomes,\" said Lopez. \"Disparities in health outcomes, such as life expectancy differences, are in large part due to long-standing systemic and structural racism factors across society that affect the communities in which people live and the care that is available, all of which negatively affects their lifelong health.\"</p><p>At the population level of care, the statement points out that while there has been overall improvement in outcomes due to advances in surgical and medical care for congenital heart defects, there has been minimal improvement in equitable access across the U.S. to that care. Specialty care services are concentrated in urban areas, making access difficult for those who live in rural or smaller communities. Availability of care also refers to an individual\'s access to transportation and working at a job with the flexibility to have time off for health care needs, which tends to be more challenging for people with a complex disease and who have a lower socioeconomic status. Referral patterns to specialty care can also affect access to care.</p><p>Studies have explored referral patterns to congenital cardiac centers by insurance status, revealing a higher proportion of people with private insurance being referred to hospitals with lower mortality compared to those who have public insurance. Strategies to address these access issues include increasing specialist availability via satellite clinics in nonurban areas and increasing telehealth capabilities. Investigating policies for public insurance accessibility both within states and across state lines will be important to ensure access to CHD care. Improving access to care and insurance coverage can also support a healthier transition to adulthood and adult care for people with congenital heart disease.</p><p>\"Individuals who lack access for any reason also tend to have the highest gaps in care, particularly when transferring from pediatric to adult congenital specialty care, making the impact of social determinants particularly important between the ages of 18 and 26,\" said Lopez. \"Individuals often lose access to insurance during these years of early adulthood.\"</p><p>At the institutional level of care, the statement reports that it is unclear the degree to which hospital-level factors influence disparities of care versus the SDOH or individual factors. Some hospitals perform a higher volume of specialty heart care and surgeries, yet there is still a wide range of outcomes even across hospitals with the same volume. While race, ethnicity and lower socioeconomic status have been associated with worse outcomes after congenital heart disease surgery, more research is needed in this area to better understand these associations.</p><p>There are, however, nonsurgical factors that affect the type of care available at different institutions. These factors include variations in home monitoring and visitation programs; the availability of programs to support nutrition, growth and cognitive development (such as school-based outreach); and varying levels of cultural competence in these programs. Also, the availability of non-English language providers and resources can make a difference in the quality of care at different institutions. The statement suggests the need for data to understand institutional referral patterns, hospital volume, and the resources, income and insurance needed to receive care at the hospitals with appropriate specialty care.</p><p>A systemic look at access to care focuses on the availability and diversity of the health care workforce. Even for people who have health insurance, a lack of specialty providers is a major concern as the population of adults with CHD continues to grow. There are fewer than 500 board-certified specialists in adult congenital heart disease in the U.S., and they are primarily located at specialty heart centers in urban areas.</p><p>\"There is a lack of funding for subspecialty fellowships in pediatric cardiology and adult congenital heart disease,\" said Lopez. \"While Medicaid funds most residency slots for internal medicine training, it often does not provide funds for pediatric subspecialty fellowships, which restricts the number of available slots. Applicants and institutions must then fund their own fellowship training programs, such as those for adult congenital heart disease.\"</p><p>In addition to the need for more CHD health professionals, there is ample opportunity to increase diversity among pediatric cardiologists. Fewer than 8% of CHD physicians are people from diverse racial and ethnic groups, although the percentage in pediatric cardiology fellowship programs edged up slightly between 2006 and 2016 (from 7.7% to 9.9%, respectively).</p><p>\"Racial and ethnic diversity matters for health outcomes, patient trust and research. Studies confirm that having concordant care and a clinician workforce that resembles the population they are serving has an impact on patient outcomes. It\'s critical to improve the diversity of the pipeline by encouraging medical students to enter subspecialties, including pediatric cardiology and adult congenital heart disease,\" Lopez said.</p><p>Suggestions to improve diversity include: 1) establishing high school and undergraduate \"pipeline\" programs that expose young students to health care professionals that look like them and encourage them along the educational pathway to health care professions; 2) recalibrating medical school admission to include holistic assessment of applicants; 3) substantial cost reduction for graduate or medical school; 4) establishing and funding minority-serving medical schools; and 5) greater focus on retention and promotion of physicians from diverse racial and ethnic groups.</p><p>At the individual level, the statement highlights the role of implicit bias, microaggression and racism and how they create barriers to care. The statement calls attention to the importance for individuals to serve as their own advocates to combat biases and systemic racism within the health care system.</p><p>\"Race is a social construct,\" said Lopez. \"Using it as a biological construct to explain racial differences in outcomes is not valid. We must recalibrate how race is incorporated in scientific and medical research moving forward; it is important information to ensure we increase equity for all people regardless of race or ethnicity.\"</p><p>Although this statement is limited to congenital heart disease, the same concerns about transition to adult care apply to many other medical conditions in children.</p><p>\"We are not alone. Many of my colleagues care for children with lifelong, complex medical conditions -- such as cystic fibrosis, sickle cell disease, type 1 diabetes and spina bifida. In the past, many of these children may not have survived past childhood, so developing successful transitions to adult care is an urgent need that is universal for all children as they age into adulthood,\" said Lopez.</p><p>This scientific statement was prepared by the volunteer writing group on behalf of the American Heart Association\'s Congenital Cardiac Defects Committee of the Council on Lifelong Congenital Heart Disease and Heart Health in the Young (the Young Hearts Council); the Council on Epidemiology and Prevention; and the Council on Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health. American Heart Association scientific statements promote greater awareness about cardiovascular diseases and stroke issues and help facilitate informed health care decisions. Scientific statements outline what is currently known about a topic and what areas need additional research. While scientific statements inform the development of guidelines, they do not make treatment recommendations. American Heart Association guidelines provide the Association\'s official clinical practice recommendations.</p><p>Co-authors are Vice Chair Shabnam Peyvandi, M.D., M.A.S.; Carissa Baker-Smith, M.D., M.P.H.; Glenn Flores, M.D.; Michelle Gurvitz, M.D., M.S.; Tara Karamlou, M.D., M.Sc.; Flora Nunez Gallegos, M.D., M.P.H.; Sara Pasquali, M.D., M.H.S.; Angira Patel, M.D., M.P.H.; Jennifer K. Peterson, Ph.D., A.P.R.N.-C.H.S.; Jason L. Salemi, Ph.D., M.P.H.; and Clyde Yancy, M.D., M.Sc.</p>','2022-04-07 21:33:28.415074','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'American Heart Association','Improving overall health equity for people with congenital heart disease requires recognizing the impact of social determinants of health throughout their lifespan. Systemic societal inequities and structural racism impact the health of people with congenital heart disease from prenatal care through adulthood. A new scientific statement suggests strategies to improve equity in congenital heart disease care that include research into implicit and explicit biases, systemic inequities that result in poorer social determinants of health, and examines the population, institutional, systemic and individual level contributors to health disparities.\n',1,27,'<li>Keila N. Lopez, Carissa Baker‐Smith, Glenn Flores, Michelle Gurvitz, Tara Karamlou, Flora Nunez Gallegos, Sara Pasquali, Angira Patel, Jennifer K. Peterson, Jason L. Salemi, Clyde Yancy, Shabnam Peyvandi. <strong>Addressing Social Determinants of Health and Mitigating Health Disparities Across the Lifespan in Congenital Heart Disease: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association</strong>. <em>Journal of the American Heart Association</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.122.025358\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1161/JAHA.122.025358</a>\n</li>'),(1953,'Deep-sea osmolyte finds applications in molecular machines','deep-sea-osmolyte-finds-applications-in-molecular-machines','2022-04-07 21:33:33.477435',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">The molecule trimethylamine <em>N</em>-oxide (TMAO) can be used to reversibly modulate the rigidity of microtubules, a key component of molecular machines and molecular robots.</p><p>Kinesin and microtubules (MTs) are major components of cytoskeleton in cells of living organisms. Kinesin and microtubules together play crucial roles in a wide range of cellular functions, most significantly intracellular transport. Recent developments in bioengineering and biotechnology allows for using these natural molecules as components of molecular machines and molecular robots. <em>In vitro</em> gliding assay has been the best platform to evaluate the potential of these biomolecules for molecular machines.</p><p>A team of scientists led by Assistant Professor Arif Md. Rashedul Kabir of Hokkaido University has reported a simple and straightforward method to reversibly and dynamically control the rigidity of kinesin propelled MTs. Their findings have been published in <em>ACS Omega, </em>a journal published by the American Chemical Society (ACS).</p><p>In an <em>in vitro</em> gliding assay, kinesin molecules are attached to a base material, and propel MTs as the molecular shuttles. The rigidity of the motile MTs is a crucial metric that determines the success of their applications as the component of molecular machines. One of the major hurdles in regulating the rigidity of MTs is that previous methods affected the rigidity of MTs permanently and were irreversible. The development of a method to control the rigidity of MTs in a reversible manner would allow for dynamic adjustment of MT property and functions, and would be a massive development in molecular machines, molecular robotics, and related fields.</p><p>Kabir and his colleagues employed trimethylamine <em>N</em>-oxide (TMAO), a molecule that acts as an osmolyte in many deep-sea organisms, to study its effects on MTs in an <em>in vitro</em> gliding assay. TMAO is known to stabilize proteins under stressful or denaturing conditions of heat, pressure, and chemicals. The team demonstrated that TMAO affects the rigidity of MTs without depending on the need for any modifications to MT structures.</p><p>At relatively low TMAO concentrations (0 mM to 200 mM), MTs remained straight and rigid and the motion of the MTs in the gliding assay was unaffected. As the TMAO concentration was increased further, the MTs showed bending or buckling, and their velocity decreased. The team quantified this effect of TMAO on the conformation of the MT, showing that the persistence length, a measure of rigidity, of MTs was 285 ± 47 ?m in the absence of TMAO and that decreased to 37 ± 4 ?m in the presence of 1500 mM TMAO.</p><p>The team further demonstrated that the process was completely reversible, with MTs regaining their original persistence length and velocity when the TMAO was eliminated. These results confirmed that TMAO can be used to reversibly modulate the mechanical property and dynamic functions of MTs.</p><p>Finally, the team has investigated the mechanism by which TMAO alteres the rigidity of MTs. Based on their investigations, Dr. Arif Md. Rashedul Kabir and his team members concluded that TMAO mediates disruption of the uniformity in force applied by the kinesins along MTs in the gliding assay; the non-uniform force generated by the kinesins appeared to be responsible for the change in rigidity or persistence length of the kinesin propelled MTs.</p><p>\"This study has demonstrated a facile method for regulating the MT rigidity reversibly in an <em>in vitro</em> gliding assay without depending on any modifications to the MT structures,\" Kabir said. Future works will focus on elucidating the exact mechanism by which TMAO acts, as well as, on utilizing TMAO for controlling the properties and functions of MTs and kinesins, which in turn will be beneficial for the molecular machines and molecular robotics.</p>','2022-04-07 21:33:33.477435','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Hokkaido University','The molecule trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) can be used to reversibly modulate the rigidity of microtubules, a key component of molecular machines and molecular robots.\n',1,27,'<li>Arif Md. Rashedul Kabir, Tasrina Munmun, Tomohiko Hayashi, Satoshi Yasuda, Atsushi P. Kimura, Masahiro Kinoshita, Takeshi Murata, Kazuki Sada, Akira Kakugo. <strong>Controlling the Rigidity of Kinesin-Propelled Microtubules in an In Vitro Gliding Assay Using the Deep-Sea Osmolyte Trimethylamine N-Oxide</strong>. <em>ACS Omega</em>, 2022; 7 (4): 3796 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.1c06699\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1021/acsomega.1c06699</a>\n</li>'),(1954,'Achilles’ heel of high-risk multiple myeloma','achilles’-heel-of-high-risk-multiple-myeloma','2022-04-07 21:33:45.320897',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Chromosomal abnormalities are found in most multiple myeloma (MM) patients. While myeloma patients have generally benefited from the advancement of treatment modalities over the years, the treatment outcome for patients having two or more high-risk prognostic events remains poor. In a novel step forward, a research team led by Professor Chng Wee Joo from the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore (CSI Singapore) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) embarked on a study which aims to address the unmet clinical need in this group of patients.</p><p>The deletion of chromosome 17p13 (17p13(del)) and the gain of chromosome 1q21 (1q21(gain)) are long-standing independent high-risk biomarkers. However, the biological significance underlying the poor outcome in MM patients having co-occurrence of both chromosomal abnormalities has never been interrogated.</p><p>In the study recently published in <em>Oncogene</em> in February 2022, Prof Chng and his team uncovered that MM cells of patients harbouring concomitant 17p13(del) with 1q21(gain) have loss of functional p53 and NEIL1 respectively, both of which are important DNA repair genes. MM cells of this high-risk patient group demonstrated defective DNA damage response (DDR) associated with high genomic instability signature and persistent activation of Chk1 pathway.</p><p>Findings revealed that in the event of NEIL1 and p53 inactivation, cells would be highly dependent on the Chk1 pathway, suggesting a synthetic lethal relationship between p53-NEIL1-Chk1 abnormalities. Interestingly, this proof-of-concept study is one of the first in this high-risk myeloma patient subgroup.</p><p>Their findings present the biological and therapeutic relevance of Chk1 inhibition in targeting DDR and genomic instability, both of which are characteristic traits of high-risk patients with co-occurrence of the two chromosomal abnormalities. More importantly, discovering the Achilles\' heel of this disease has opened doors for more effective and novel treatment modalities to address an unmet medical need of myeloma.</p><p>Moving forward, Prof Chng and his team are hoping to establish Chk1 inhibitors as the standard of care and targeted treatment for 17p13(del)-1q21(gain) high-risk patients. The team plans to further investigate the leverage of this genomic instability on the armamentarium of novel therapies in myeloma, including immune-based and cell therapy products.</p>','2022-04-07 21:33:45.320897','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'National University of Singapore','Chromosomal abnormalities are found in most multiple myeloma (MM) patients. While myeloma patients have generally benefited from the advancement of treatment modalities over the years, the treatment outcome for patients having two or more high-risk prognostic events remains poor. In a novel step forward, a research team has embarked on a study which aims to address the unmet clinical need in this group of patients.\n',1,27,'<li>Phaik Ju Teoh, Omer An, Tae-Hoon Chung, Thamil Vaiyapuri, Anandhkumar Raju, Michal M. Hoppe, Sabrina H. M. Toh, Wilson Wang, Ming Chun Chan, Melissa J. Fullwood, Anand D. Jeyasekharan, Vinay Tergaonkar, Leilei Chen, Henry Yang, Wee Joo Chng. <strong>p53-NEIL1 co-abnormalities induce genomic instability and promote synthetic lethality with Chk1 inhibition in multiple myeloma having concomitant 17p13(del) and 1q21(gain)</strong>. <em>Oncogene</em>, 2022; 41 (14): 2106 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41388-022-02227-8\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41388-022-02227-8</a>\n</li>'),(1955,'Brainstem atrophy is linked to extrapyramidal symptoms in frontotemporal dementia','brainstem-atrophy-is-linked-to-extrapyramidal-symptoms-in-frontotemporal-dementia','2022-04-07 21:33:48.180230',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Frontotemporal dementia patients with extrapyramidal symptoms have brainstem atrophy and reduced metabolism in certain areas of the brain significantly more often than patients without extrapyramidal symptoms, a new study from the University of Eastern Finland shows. This observation can facilitate differential diagnostics in frontotemporal dementia. The findings were published in <em>Journal of Neurology</em>.</p><p>Frontotemporal dementia, FTD, is an umbrella term for degenerative brain diseases that affect behaviour and cognition. Sometimes, FTD comes with extrapyramidal symptoms, such as those in Parkinson\'s disease, and this makes the diagnosis of FTD challenging. However, the new study now shows that accurate imaging and analysis of the brain may make it possible to distinguish between FTD and other diseases that cause extrapyramidal symptoms.</p><p>Extrapyramidal symptoms refer to involuntary movements, typically tremor, slowness, stiffness, loss of facial expressions and automatic movements, such as arm swing when walking. They are often associated with extrapyramidal disorders such as Parkinson\'s disease and atypical parkinsonism. Examples of atypical parkinsonism include progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and corticobasal degeneration (CBD). They share disease mechanisms with frontotemporal dementia, which is why they are nowadays considered to be part of the same spectrum of diseases. Frontotemporal dementia is traditionally divided into two main categories: the more common variant with behavioural changes as an early symptom, and the rarer primary progressive aphasia (PPA) with problems related to speech as an early symptom.</p><p>Neurodegeneration associated with progressive memory disorders is typically imaged in two ways: magnetic resonance imaging of the brain provides accurate information on brain structures and volumes of the different parts of the brain, whereas positron emission tomography, or a PET scan, provides information on metabolism in different areas of the brain. Degeneration of the brain tissue is often preceded by slow or missing metabolism.</p><p>The researchers analysed Kuopio University Hospital\'s medical records on a total of 139 patients with frontotemporal dementia, PSP or CBD, focusing in particular on their diagnosis and the presence of extrapyramidal symptoms. The patients\' MRI and PET images were analysed using automated analysis software.</p><p>The researchers found that patients with extrapyramidal symptoms also had atrophy of the basal ganglia in the midbrain, and of the brainstem. When looking at patients with frontotemporal dementia alone, it was found that patients with extrapyramidal symptoms had brainstem atrophy considerably more often than patients without extrapyramidal symptoms. In addition, PET image analyses showed reduced metabolism in the superior cerebellar peduncle and the frontal lobes in patients with extrapyramidal symptoms.</p><p>The study showed, for the first time, that significant structural and metabolic differences can be detected in the brain of frontotemporal dementia patients with extrapyramidal symptoms, compared to patients without these symptoms.</p><p>\"If our findings are confirmed in other cohorts, they can be used in early diagnostics to distinguish between frontotemporal dementia and Parkinson\'s disease, for example. These findings will also provide us with a better understanding of the mechanisms of these diseases,\" says Doctoral Researcher Sami Heikkinen, the lead author of the article.</p><p>\"Although the treatment of these diseases is symptomatic at the moment, an early and accurate diagnosis is an important step towards the development of disease modifying treatments.\"</p><p>The study was conducted in the research group on Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration and Early Onset Dementia, led by Adjunct Professor Eino Solje.</p>','2022-04-07 21:33:48.180230','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Eastern Finland','Frontotemporal dementia patients with extrapyramidal symptoms have brainstem atrophy and reduced metabolism in certain areas of the brain significantly more often than patients without extrapyramidal symptoms, a new study shows. This observation can facilitate differential diagnostics in frontotemporal dementia.\n',1,179,'<li>Sami Heikkinen, Antti Cajanus, Kasper Katisko, Päivi Hartikainen, Ritva Vanninen, Annakaisa Haapasalo, Johanna Krüger, Anne M. Remes, Eino Solje. <strong>Brainstem atrophy is linked to extrapyramidal symptoms in frontotemporal dementia</strong>. <em>Journal of Neurology</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00415-022-11095-x\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1007/s00415-022-11095-x</a>\n</li>'),(1956,'New discovery in animal exoskeletons leads to advances in designing construction materials','new-discovery-in-animal-exoskeletons-leads-to-advances-in-designing-construction-materials','2022-04-07 21:34:12.242133',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Researchers from Monash University have discovered a new design motif derived from the rigid external covering of invertebrates that may help create more damage tolerant materials for future building and construction.</p><p>In a paper published in <em>Nature Communications</em>, Professor Wenhui Duan from the Department of Civil Engineering at Monash University says the new pattern, adding to the eight known and common biological structural design patterns, can add a high strength motif to commonly used building materials such as composites and cement, and may help reduce carbon emissions.</p><p>The cement industry is one of the largest producers of carbon dioxide, creating up to 8% of worldwide human-made emissions of this gas; this discovery will assist in reducing the use of cement by improving the material\'s damage tolerance.</p><p>The research team replicated the design motif in cement material, one of the most consumed construction materials in the world. They adopted a 3D printing technique combined with nanotechnology and artificial intelligence to fabricate a lightweight cement composite which adopted this segmental design motif, demonstrating a superior load-bearing capacity and a unique progressive failure pattern.</p><p>\"We demonstrated the application of this design motif in producing a high strength, damage tolerant lightweight cement material. In addition, this design motif can also be applied to various materials such as ceramic, glass, polymeric and metallic materials for advanced materials design, energy storage/conversion and architectural structures, in collaboration with the teams from University of Queensland and University of Manchester,\" says Professor Duan.</p><p>Since the 1972 discovery of the helical structure, one of the most common structural patterns in biology, there has been a drive to extract design motifs from more than 7 million living species in the world to aid the fabrication of structured/structural materials.</p><p>After almost 50 years of research, remarkable repetitions have been confirmed in most classes of species but only eight categories of design motifs have ever been extracted and adopted in materials design, until now.</p><p>The new design structure has been identified in various species such as the exoskeletons of arthropods, the legs of mammals, amphibians and reptiles. These design motifs are valuable sources of inspiration for modern materials design and aid the fabrication of structural material.</p><p>\"Compared to the current design motif, our segmental design motif dissipates the energy by segment rotation. The beauty of our discovered design motif is that the material can exhibit a unique periodic progressive failure behaviour. It means we can contain the damage within a particular region of material, while the rest of the structure can still maintain the integrity and most (around 80%) of load-bearing capacity.\"</p>','2022-04-07 21:34:12.242133','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Monash University','Researchers have discovered a new design motif derived from the rigid external covering of invertebrates that may help create more damage tolerant materials for future building and construction.\n',1,37,'<li>Wei Wang, Shu Jian Chen, Weiqiang Chen, Wenhui Duan, Jia Zie Lai, Kwesi Sagoe-Crentsil. <strong>Damage-tolerant material design motif derived from asymmetrical rotation</strong>. <em>Nature Communications</em>, 2022; 13 (1) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-28991-5\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41467-022-28991-5</a>\n</li>'),(1957,'Sustainable strategies to treat urban runoff','sustainable-strategies-to-treat-urban-runoff','2022-04-07 21:34:34.247589',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">We know the lakes and rivers in and around urban environments are contaminated by plastic debris, detergents, pesticides, heavy metals and other contaminants, but new research is showing that urban runoff toxicity is ill-defined and potentially underestimated globally. Researchers including Nathalie Tufenkji, Professor of Chemical Engineering at McGill University and Canada Research Chair in Biocolloids and Surfaces, are calling for cities to better manage and treat urban runoff to protect sources of drinking water and reduce the impacts on aquatic ecosystems.</p><p>As urban areas increase, so does urban runoff, directly impacting surface water quality and storage. This can cause acute toxicity to aquatic organisms, or even present a chronic risk to ecosystems and to humans via seafood and drinking water. For example, urban runoff mortality syndrome is a phenomenon that describes mass die-offs in salmon due to untreated storm-water.</p><p>The researchers say international actions and policies could be implemented to control pollutant release, preventing adverse ecological impacts. \"Cities need sustainable technologies to simultaneously treat and store runoff, especially for densely populated cities,\" said Tufenkji. Some examples of these sustainable solutions include retention ponds and settling tanks. \"Such retention processes could act as on-site surge tanks while also removing several contaminants from runoff before discharge into natural waters.\"</p>','2022-04-07 21:34:34.247589','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'McGill University','Researchers call for cities to better manage and treat urban runoff to protect sources of drinking water and reduce the impacts on aquatic ecosystems.\n',1,27,'<li>Mathieu Lapointe, Chelsea M. Rochman, Nathalie Tufenkji. <strong>Sustainable strategies to treat urban runoff needed</strong>. <em>Nature Sustainability</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-00853-4\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41893-022-00853-4</a>\n</li>'),(1958,'Most precise ever measurement of W boson mass to be in tension with the Standard Model','most-precise-ever-measurement-of-w-boson-mass-to-be-in-tension-with-the-standard-model','2022-04-07 21:53:31.762779',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">After 10 years of careful analysis and scrutiny, scientists of the CDF collaboration at the U.S. Department of Energy\'s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory announced today that they have achieved the most precise measurement to date of the mass of the W boson, one of nature\'s force-carrying particles. Using data collected by the Collider Detector at Fermilab, or CDF, scientists have now determined the particle\'s mass with a precision of 0.01% -- twice as precise as the previous best measurement. It corresponds to measuring the weight of an 800-pound gorilla to 1.5 ounces.</p><p>The new precision measurement, published in the journal <em>Science</em>, allows scientists to test the Standard Model of particle physics, the theoretical framework that describes nature at its most fundamental level. The result: The new mass value shows tension with the value scientists obtain using experimental and theoretical inputs in the context of the Standard Model.</p><p>\"The number of improvements and extra checking that went into our result is enormous,\" said Ashutosh V. Kotwal of Duke University, who led this analysis and is one of the 400 scientists in the CDF collaboration. \"We took into account our improved understanding of our particle detector as well as advances in the theoretical and experimental understanding of the W boson\'s interactions with other particles. When we finally unveiled the result, we found that it differed from the Standard Model prediction.\"</p><p>If confirmed, this measurement suggests the potential need for improvements to the Standard Model calculation or extensions to the model.</p><p>The new value is in agreement with many previous W boson mass measurements, but there are also some disagreements. Future measurements will be needed to shed more light on the result.</p><p>\"While this is an intriguing result, the measurement needs to be confirmed by another experiment before it can be interpreted fully,\" said Fermilab Deputy Director Joe Lykken.</p><p>The W boson is a messenger particle of the weak nuclear force. It is responsible for the nuclear processes that make the sun shine and particles decay. Using high-energy particle collisions produced by the Tevatron collider at Fermilab, the CDF collaboration collected huge amounts of data containing W bosons from 1985 to 2011.</p><p>CDF physicist Chris Hays of the University of Oxford said, \"The CDF measurement was performed over the course of many years, with the measured value hidden from the analyzers until the procedures were fully scrutinized. When we uncovered the value, it was a surprise.\"</p><p>The mass of a W boson is about 80 times the mass of a proton, or approximately 80,000 MeV/c<sup>2</sup>. CDF researchers have worked on achieving increasingly more precise measurements of the W boson mass for more than 20 years. The central value and uncertainty of their latest mass measurement is 80,433 +/- 9 MeV/c<sup>2</sup>. This result uses the entire dataset collected from the Tevatron collider at Fermilab. It is based on the observation of 4.2 million W boson candidates, about four times the number used in the analysis the collaboration published in 2012.</p><p>\"Many collider experiments have produced measurements of the W boson mass over the last 40 years,\" said CDF co-spokesperson Giorgio Chiarelli, Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN-Pisa). \"These are challenging, complicated measurements, and they have achieved ever more precision. It took us many years to go through all the details and the needed checks. It is our most robust measurement to date, and the discrepancy between the measured and expected values persists.\"</p><p>The collaboration also compared their result to the best value expected for the W boson mass using the Standard Model, which is 80,357 ± 6 MeV/c<sup>2</sup>. This value is based on complex Standard Model calculations that intricately link the mass of the W boson to the measurements of the masses of two other particles: the top quark, discovered at the Tevatron collider at Fermilab in 1995, and the Higgs boson, discovered at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in 2012.</p><p>CDF co-spokesperson David Toback, Texas A&amp;M, stated the result is an important contribution to testing the accuracy of the Standard Model. \"It\'s now up to the theoretical physics community and other experiments to follow up on this and shed light on this mystery,\" he added. \"If the difference between the experimental and expected value is due to some kind of new particle or subatomic interaction, which is one of the possibilities, there\'s a good chance it\'s something that could be discovered in future experiments.\"</p><p><strong>Story Source:</strong></p>','2022-04-07 21:53:31.762779','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'DOE/Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory','Scientists have achieved the most precise measurement to date of the mass of the W boson, one of nature\'s force-carrying particles. The measured value shows tension with the value expected based on the Standard Model of particle physics.\n',1,94,'<li>T. Aaltonen, S. Amerio, D. Amidei, A. Anastassov, A. Annovi, J. Antos, G. Apollinari, J. A. Appel, T. Arisawa, A. Artikov, J. Asaadi, W. Ashmanskas, B. Auerbach, A. Aurisano, F. Azfar, W. Badgett, T. Bae, A. Barbaro-Galtieri, V. E. Barnes, B. A. Barnett, P. Barria, P. Bartos, M. Bauce, F. Bedeschi, S. Behari, G. Bellettini, J. Bellinger, D. Benjamin, A. Beretvas, A. Bhatti, K. R. Bland, B. Blumenfeld, A. Bocci, A. Bodek, D. Bortoletto, J. Boudreau, A. Boveia, L. Brigliadori, C. Bromberg, E. Brucken, J. Budagov, H. S. Budd, K. Burkett, G. Busetto, P. Bussey, P. Butti, A. Buzatu, A. Calamba, S. Camarda, M. Campanelli, B. Carls, D. Carlsmith, R. Carosi, S. Carrillo, B. Casal, M. Casarsa, A. Castro, P. Catastini, D. Cauz, V. Cavaliere, A. Cerri, L. Cerrito, Y. C. Chen, M. Chertok, G. Chiarelli, G. Chlachidze, K. Cho, D. Chokheli, A. Clark, C. Clarke, M. E. Convery, J. Conway, M. Corbo, M. Cordelli, C. A. Cox, D. J. Cox, M. Cremonesi, D. Cruz, J. Cuevas, R. Culbertson, N. d’Ascenzo, M. Datta, P. de Barbaro, L. Demortier, M. Deninno, M. D’Errico, F. Devoto, A. Di Canto, B. Di Ruzza, J. R. Dittmann, S. Donati, M. D’Onofrio, M. Dorigo, A. Driutti, K. Ebina, R. Edgar, A. Elagin, R. Erbacher, S. Errede, B. Esham, S. Farrington, J. P. Fernández Ramos, R. Field, G. Flanagan, R. Forrest, M. Franklin, J. C. Freeman, H. Frisch, Y. Funakoshi, C. Galloni, A. F. Garfinkel, P. Garosi, H. Gerberich, E. Gerchtein, S. Giagu, V. Giakoumopoulou, K. Gibson, C. M. Ginsburg, N. Giokaris, P. Giromini, V. Glagolev, D. Glenzinski, M. Gold, D. Goldin, A. Golossanov, G. Gomez, G. Gomez-Ceballos, M. Goncharov, O. González López, I. Gorelov, A. T. Goshaw, K. Goulianos, E. Gramellini, C. Grosso-Pilcher, J. Guimaraes da Costa, S. R. Hahn, J. Y. Han, F. Happacher, K. Hara, M. Hare, R. F. Harr, T. Harrington-Taber, K. Hatakeyama, C. Hays, J. Heinrich, M. Herndon, A. Hocker, Z. Hong, W. Hopkins, S. Hou, R. E. Hughes, U. Husemann, M. Hussein, J. Huston, G. Introzzi, M. Iori, A. Ivanov, E. James, D. Jang, B. Jayatilaka, E. J. Jeon, S. Jindariani, M. Jones, K. K. Joo, S. Y. Jun, T. R. Junk, M. Kambeitz, T. Kamon, P. E. Karchin, A. Kasmi, Y. Kato, W. Ketchum, J. Keung, B. Kilminster, D. H. Kim, H. S. Kim, J. E. Kim, M. J. Kim, S. H. Kim, S. B. Kim, Y. J. Kim, Y. K. Kim, N. Kimura, M. Kirby, K. Kondo, D. J. Kong, J. Konigsberg, A. V. Kotwal, M. Kreps, J. Kroll, M. Kruse, T. Kuhr, M. Kurata, A. T. Laasanen, S. Lammel, M. Lancaster, K. Lannon, G. Latino, H. S. Lee, J. S. Lee, S. Leo, S. Leone, J. D. Lewis, A. Limosani, E. Lipeles, A. Lister, Q. Liu, T. Liu, S. Lockwitz, A. Loginov, D. Lucchesi, A. Lucà, J. Lueck, P. Lujan, P. Lukens, G. Lungu, J. Lys, R. Lysak, R. Madrak, P. Maestro, S. Malik, G. Manca, A. Manousakis-Katsikakis, L. Marchese, F. Margaroli, P. Marino, K. Matera, M. E. Mattson, A. Mazzacane, P. Mazzanti, R. McNulty, A. Mehta, P. Mehtala, A. Menzione, C. Mesropian, T. Miao, E. Michielin, D. Mietlicki, A. Mitra, H. Miyake, S. Moed, N. Moggi, C. S. Moon, R. Moore, M. J. Morello, A. Mukherjee, Th. Muller, P. Murat, M. Mussini, J. Nachtman, Y. Nagai, J. Naganoma, I. Nakano, A. Napier, J. Nett, T. Nigmanov, L. Nodulman, S. Y. Noh, O. Norniella, L. Oakes, S. H. Oh, Y. D. Oh, T. Okusawa, R. Orava, L. Ortolan, C. Pagliarone, E. Palencia, P. Palni, V. Papadimitriou, W. Parker, G. Pauletta, M. Paulini, C. Paus, T. J. Phillips, G. Piacentino, E. Pianori, J. Pilot, K. Pitts, C. Plager, L. Pondrom, S. Poprocki, K. Potamianos, A. Pranko, F. Prokoshin, F. Ptohos, G. Punzi, I. Redondo Fernández, P. Renton, M. Rescigno, F. Rimondi, L. Ristori, A. Robson, T. Rodriguez, S. Rolli, M. Ronzani, R. Roser, J. L. Rosner, F. Ruffini, A. Ruiz, J. Russ, V. Rusu, W. K. Sakumoto, Y. Sakurai, L. Santi, K. Sato, V. Saveliev, A. Savoy-Navarro, P. Schlabach, E. E. Schmidt, T. Schwarz, L. Scodellaro, F. Scuri, S. Seidel, Y. Seiya, A. Semenov, F. Sforza, S. Z. Shalhout, T. Shears, P. F. Shepard, M. Shimojima, M. Shochet, I. Shreyber-Tecker, A. Simonenko, K. Sliwa, J. R. Smith, F. D. Snider, H. Song, V. Sorin, R. St. Denis, M. Stancari, D. Stentz, J. Strologas, Y. Sudo, A. Sukhanov, I. Suslov, K. Takemasa, Y. Takeuchi, J. Tang, M. Tecchio, P. K. Teng, J. Thom, E. Thomson, V. Thukral, D. Toback, S. Tokar, K. Tollefson, T. Tomura, S. Torre, D. Torretta, P. Totaro, M. Trovato, F. Ukegawa, S. Uozumi, F. Vázquez, G. Velev, K. Vellidis, C. Vernieri, M. Vidal, R. Vilar, J. Vizán, M. Vogel, G. Volpi, P. Wagner, R. Wallny, S. M. Wang, D. Waters, W. C. Wester, D. Whiteson, A. B. Wicklund, S. Wilbur, H. H. Williams, J. S. Wilson, P. Wilson, B. L. Winer, P. Wittich, S. Wolbers, H. Wolfmeister, T. Wright, X. Wu, Z. Wu, K. Yamamoto, D. Yamato, T. Yang, U. K. Yang, Y. C. Yang, W.-M. Yao, G. P. Yeh, K. Yi, J. Yoh, K. Yorita, T. Yoshida, G. B. Yu, I. Yu, A. M. Zanetti, Y. Zeng, C. Zhou, S. Zucchelli. <strong>High-precision measurement of the            W            boson mass with the CDF II detector</strong>. <em>Science</em>, 2022; 376 (6589): 170 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abk1781\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1126/science.abk1781</a>\n</li>'),(1959,'COVID-19 alters levels of fertility-related proteins in men, study suggests','covid-19-alters-levels-of-fertility-related-proteins-in-men,-study-suggests','2022-04-07 21:53:45.148216',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Many people who recover from COVID-19 experience long-term symptoms, such as brain fog or heart problems. Increasing evidence suggests that the virus can also impair fertility. Now, researchers reporting in <em>ACS Omega</em> have analyzed protein levels in semen of men who have recovered from COVID-19. The pilot study suggests that even mild or moderate illness could change the levels of proteins related to male reproductive function, the researchers say.</p><p>Although SARS-CoV-2 mainly affects the respiratory system, the virus -- and the body\'s response to it -- also damages other tissues. Recent evidence indicates that COVID-19 infection can reduce male fertility, and the virus has been detected in male reproductive organs. Firuza Parikh and Rajesh Parikh at Jaslok Hospital, Sanjeeva Srivastava at the Indian Institute of Technology and colleagues wondered if COVID-19 infection could have long-term impacts on the male reproductive system. To find out, they decided to compare levels of proteins in the semen of healthy men and those who previously had mild or moderate cases of COVID-19.</p><p>The researchers analyzed semen samples from 10 healthy men and 17 men who had recently recovered from COVID-19. None of the men, who ranged in age from 20 to 45, had a prior history of infertility. The team found that the recovered men had significantly reduced sperm count and motility, and fewer normally shaped sperm, than men who hadn\'t had COVID-19. When the researchers analyzed semen proteins using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, they found 27 proteins at higher levels and 21 proteins at lower levels in COVID-19-recovered men compared with the control group. Many of the proteins were involved in reproductive function. Two of the fertility-related proteins, semenogelin 1 and prosaposin, were present at less than half their levels in the semen of the COVID-19-recovered group than in the semen of controls. These findings suggest that SARS-CoV-2 has direct or indirect effects on male reproductive health that linger after recovery, the researchers say. The work might also reveal insights into the pathophysiology of human reproduction in recovered men, they add. However, they note that larger studies should be done to confirm these findings, and a control group of men who recently recovered from other flu-like illnesses should be included to ensure that the findings are specific for COVID-19.</p><p>The authors acknowledge funding from Jaslok Hospital.</p>','2022-04-07 21:53:45.148216','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'American Chemical Society','Increasing evidence suggests that the COVID-19 virus can also impair fertility. Now, researchers have analyzed protein levels in semen of men who have recovered from COVID-19. The pilot study suggests that even mild or moderate illness could change the levels of proteins related to male reproductive function, the researchers say.\n',1,214,'<li>Susmita Ghosh, Swapneil Parikh, Mehar Un Nissa, Arup Acharjee, Avinash Singh, Dhruv Patwa, Prashant Makwana, Arundhati Athalye, Abhilash Barpanda, Malini Laloraya, Sanjeeva Srivastava, Firuza Parikh. <strong>Semen Proteomics of COVID-19 Convalescent Men Reveals Disruption of Key Biological Pathways Relevant to Male Reproductive Function</strong>. <em>ACS Omega</em>, 2022; 7 (10): 8601 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.1c06551\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1021/acsomega.1c06551</a>\n</li>'),(1960,'New evidence suggests California\'s environmental policies preferentially protect whites','new-evidence-suggests-california\'s-environmental-policies-preferentially-protect-whites','2022-04-07 21:54:03.350896',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Asian and Hispanic communities experience significantly more air pollution from economic activity compared to predominantly white neighborhoods across the state of California, according to new research from the University of California San Diego\'s School of Global Policy and Strategy.</p><p>The study published in the journal <em>Nature Sustainability</em> suggests California\'s environmental regulations as a whole preferentially protect white, non-Hispanic people within the state from exposure to air pollution.</p><p>The study focused on 2020 when the state issued shelter-in-place orders in response to COVID-19. The researchers compared patterns of air pollution both before and during the shutdown, using data from public and privately-owned air monitor networks, along with satellite measurements of the pollutant gas nitrogen dioxide. After considering various factors, even how much communities were sheltering-in-place, the researchers found that during the period when the \"in-person\" economy was shut down, neighborhoods with high Asian and Hispanic populations experienced disproportionately large declines in air pollution. That means the inverse is true when it\'s business as usual.</p><p>They also found that Black communities didn\'t see a similar disproportionate benefit in air quality during the shutdown. Black California residents were exposed to higher levels of pollution compared to whites during the shutdowns when only essential businesses were operating. The same was true after COVID-19 restrictions lifted. This suggests power plants, electricity generators and other emission sources that were not curtailed during the shelter-in-place orders are regularly exposing these populations to dirtier air.</p><p>The paper also finds low-income communities are consistently exposed to more pollution when the economy is fully functioning and that these neighborhoods also saw disproportionately cleaner air during the shutdown. However, when the researchers accounted for income in their analysis, it didn\'t explain the findings of higher air pollution exposures for Asian, Hispanic communities throughout the state.</p><p>\"Income only explains about 15 percent of the disproportionate decrease in air pollution experienced by Asian and Hispanic communities during the shutdown,\" said Jennifer Burney, the Marshall Saunders Chancellor\'s Endowed Chair in Global Climate Policy and Research at the School of Global Policy and Strategy. \"This may be surprising to many because people tend to conflate income and race, both because systemic discrimination is a hard thing to face and because we have accepted that we live in a world where individuals can \'buy\' cleaner air through higher housing prices in less polluted areas.\"</p><p>Burney added, \"the COVID shutdown gave us a window into what pollution patterns look like when most of the economy is turned off and it showed that though there is some small overlap, income does not explain the racial and ethnic bias in how our economy creates and distributes pollution.\"</p><p>Burney and the research team take this as evidence of an environmental policy failure. In California, all emissions are subject to regulation -- transportation, energy, construction and other industries have to meet strict environmental standards.</p><p>\"One would think that in a state with strong environmental policies, where we track what is being emitted where, that our regulatory system might do a good job of protecting everyone equally,\" Burney said. \"But this is really strong evidence of systemic bias. Pollution sources from everything that was shut down, transportation, businesses, restaurants, etc. all add up during business-as-usual conditions. Thus, the total system is tipped, exposing racial and ethnic minorities to more pollution.\"</p><p>The health impacts of poor air quality are far-reaching. Unhealthy air is linked to higher rates of infant mortality and adult mortality as well as respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses.</p><p><strong>Policy recommendations to address systemic environmental racism </strong></p><p>While the study is limited to the state of California, the researchers believe that the disparity in air quality between ethnicities most likely applies to other states. The paper includes various policy recommendations. For example, the largest pollution source affected by the pandemic\'s slowdown was transportation, so policies that affect transportation emissions could have important impacts for California\'s underrepresented communities.</p><p>Additionally, given that air pollution disparities experienced by racial and ethnic minorities are not explained by income, it means environmental strategies based on income alone could not be expected to achieve strong racial and ethnic equity. This suggests that different metrics should be incorporated when evaluating environmental regulations to meet average environmental standards and promote equity.</p><p>\"There is no clear, quantitative equity criterion applied in regulatory analysis to safeguard against environmental racism,\" said co-author Katharine Ricke, an assistant professor at the School of Global Policy and Strategy and Scripps Institution of Oceanography. \"For example, if an industry wants to build a factory, they have to complete an environmental assessment report, but that report isn\'t required to include a set of metrics to demonstrate how different demographic groups nearby would be affected. If industries had to run atmospheric models to show that the proposed facility is not going to disproportionately affect minority neighborhoods nearby, that could instigate a significant shift in making environmental regulation more equitable.\"</p><p>The authors also suggest including communities in the planning process when there are proposed changes to their surrounding environment that could impact air quality.</p><p>\"This is not new, but procedural justice is also critical,\" said co-author Pascal Polonik, a Ph.D. candidate at Scripps Oceanography. \"Communities need to be engaged in meaningful ways to ensure that everyone has access to what should be a democratic process.\"</p><p>Polonik added that \"by improving access to information, such as data from the crowd-sourced sensors that were utilized in the study, could help communities be part of informed decision-making. Unfortunately, these sensors tend to be located in the places least likely to be impacted by unjust pollution exposure.\"</p><p>Other paper authors include Richard Bluhm, assistant professor at Leibniz University Hannover and fellow in the Department of Political Science at UC San Diego; Kyle S. Hemes, postdoctoral research fellow at Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment; Luke C. Sanford, assistant professor at Yale University\'s School of the Environment; Susanne A. Benz, postdoctoral fellow at Dalhousie University; and Morgan C. Levy, assistant professor at the School of Global Policy and Strategy and Scripps Institution of Oceanography.</p>','2022-04-07 21:54:03.350896','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of California - San Diego','Asian and Hispanic communities experience significantly more air pollution from economic activity compared to predominantly white neighborhoods across the state of California, according to new research.\n',1,196,'<li>Richard Bluhm, Pascal Polonik, Kyle S. Hemes, Luke C. Sanford, Susanne A. Benz, Morgan C. Levy, Katharine L. Ricke, Jennifer A. Burney. <strong>Disparate air pollution reductions during California’s COVID-19 economic shutdown</strong>. <em>Nature Sustainability</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-00856-1\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41893-022-00856-1</a>\n</li>'),(1961,'Hunting for gravitational waves from monster black holes','hunting-for-gravitational-waves-from-monster-black-holes','2022-04-07 22:29:50.188685',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Our universe is a chaotic sea of ripples in space-time called gravitational waves. Astronomers think waves from orbiting pairs of supermassive black holes in distant galaxies are light-years long and have been trying to observe them for decades, and now they\'re one step closer thanks to NASA\'s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope.</p><p>Fermi detects gamma rays, the highest-energy form of light. An international team of scientists examined over a decade of Fermi data collected from pulsars, rapidly rotating cores of stars that exploded as supernovae. They looked for slight variations in the arrival time of gamma rays from these pulsars, changes which could have been caused by the light passing through gravitational waves on the way to Earth. But they didn\'t find any.</p><p>While no waves were detected, the analysis shows that, with more observations, these waves may be within Fermi\'s reach.</p><p>\"We kind of surprised ourselves when we discovered Fermi could help us hunt for long gravitational waves,\" said Matthew Kerr, a research physicist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington. \"It\'s new to the fray -- radio studies have been doing similar searches for years. But Fermi and gamma rays have some special characteristics that together make them a very powerful tool in this investigation.\"</p><p>The results of the study, co-led by Kerr and Aditya Parthasarathy, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany, were published online by the journal <em>Science</em> on April 7.</p><p>When massive objects accelerate, they produce gravitational waves traveling at light speed. The ground-based Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory -- which first detected gravitational waves in 2015 -- can sense ripples tens to hundreds of miles long from crest to crest, which roll past Earth in just fractions of a second. The upcoming space-based Laser Interferometer Space Antenna will pick up waves millions to billions of miles long.</p><p>Kerr and his team are searching for waves that are light-years, or trillions of miles, long and take years to pass Earth. These long ripples are part of the gravitational wave background, a random sea of waves generated in part by pairs of supermassive black holes in the centers of merged galaxies across the universe.</p><p>To find them, scientists need galaxy-sized detectors called pulsar timing arrays. These arrays use specific sets of millisecond pulsars, which rotate as fast as blender blades. Millisecond pulsars sweep beams of radiation, from radio to gamma rays, past our line of sight, appearing to pulse with incredible regularity -- like cosmic clocks.</p><p>As long gravitational waves pass between one of these pulsars and Earth, they delay or advance the light arrival time by billionths of a second. By looking for a specific pattern of pulse variations among pulsars of an array, scientists expect they can reveal gravitational waves rolling past them.</p><p>Radio astronomers have been using pulsar timing arrays for decades, and their observations are the most sensitive to these gravitational waves. But interstellar effects complicate the analysis of radio data. Space is speckled with stray electrons. Across light-years, their effects combine to bend the trajectory of radio waves. This alters the arrival times of pulses at different frequencies. Gamma rays don\'t suffer from these complications, providing both a complementary probe and an independent confirmation of the radio results.</p><p>\"The Fermi results are already 30% as good as the radio pulsar timing arrays when it comes to potentially detecting the gravitational wave background,\" Parthasarathy said. \"With another five years of pulsar data collection and analysis, it\'ll be equally capable with the added bonus of not having to worry about all those stray electrons.\"</p><p>Within the next decade, both radio and gamma-ray astronomers expect to reach sensitivities that will allow them to pick up gravitational waves from orbiting pairs of monster black holes.</p><p>\"Fermi\'s unprecedented ability to precisely time the arrival of gamma rays and its wide field of view make this measurement possible,\" said Judith Racusin, Fermi deputy project scientist at NASA\'s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. \"Since it launched, the mission has consistently surprised us with new information about the gamma-ray sky. We\'re all looking forward to the next amazing discovery.\"</p><p><strong>Story Source:</strong></p>','2022-04-07 22:29:50.188685','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center','Our universe is a chaotic sea of ripples in space-time called gravitational waves. Astronomers think waves from orbiting pairs of supermassive black holes in distant galaxies are light-years long and have been trying to observe them for decades, and now they\'re one step.\n',1,56,'<li>M. Ajello, W. B. Atwood, L. Baldini, J. Ballet, G. Barbiellini, D. Bastieri, R. Bellazzini, A. Berretta, B. Bhattacharyya, E. Bissaldi, R. D. Blandford, E. Bloom, R. Bonino, P. Bruel, R. Buehler, E. Burns, S. Buson, R. A. Cameron, P. A. Caraveo, E. Cavazzuti, N. Cibrario, S. Ciprini, C. J. Clark, I. Cognard, J. Coronado-Blázquez, M. Crnogorcevic, H. Cromartie, K. Crowter, S. Cutini, F. D\'Ammando, S. De Gaetano, F. de Palma, S. W. Digel, N. Di Lalla, F. Fana Dirirsa, L. Di Venere, A. Domínguez, E. C. Ferrara, A. Fiori, A. Franckowiak, Y. Fukazawa, S. Funk, P. Fusco, V. Gammaldi, F. Gargano, D. Gasparrini, N. Giglietto, F. Giordano, M. Giroletti, D. Green, I. A. Grenier, L. Guillemot, S. Guiriec, M. Gustafsson, A. K. Harding, E. Hays, J.W. Hewitt, D. Horan, X. Hou, G. Jóhannesson, M. J. Keith, M. Kerr, M. Kramer, M. Kuss, S. Larsson, L. Latronico, J. Li, F. Longo, F. Loparco, M. N. Lovellette, P. Lubrano, S. Maldera, A. Manfreda, G. Martí-Devesa, M. N. Mazziotta, I. Mereu, P. F. Michelson, N. Mirabal, W. Mitthumsiri, T. Mizuno, M. E. Monzani, A. Morselli, M. Negro, L. Nieder, R. Ojha, N. Omodei, M. Orienti, E. Orlando, J. F. Ormes, D. Paneque, A. Parthasarathy, Z. Pei, M. Persic, M. Pesce-Rollins, R. Pillera, H. Poon, T. A. Porter, G. Principe, J. L. Racusin, S. Rainò, R. Rando, B. Rani, S. M. Ransom, P. S. Ray, M. Razzano, S. Razzaque, A. Reimer, O. Reimer, J. Roy, M. Sánchez-Conde, P. M. Saz Parkinson, J. Scargle, L. Scotton, D. Serini, C. Sgrò, E. J. Siskind, D. A. Smith, G. Spandre, R. Spiewak, P. Spinelli, I. Stairs, D. J. Suson, S. J. Swihart, S. Tabassum, J. B. Thayer, G. Theureau, D. F. Torres, E. Troja, J. Valverde, Z. Wadiasingh, K. Wood, G. Zaharijas. <strong>A gamma-ray pulsar timing array constrains the nanohertz gravitational wave background</strong>. <em>Science</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abm3231\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1126/science.abm3231</a>\n</li>'),(1962,'After \'mama,\' children’s first words include \'this\' and \'that\'','after-\'mama,\'-children’s-first-words-include-\'this\'-and-\'that\'','2022-04-07 22:30:16.016197',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Across languages and cultures, words that help direct caregivers\' attention are likely to be among the first children learn and use frequently, according to a new Cornell study that is the largest ever, by sample size, of early vocabulary development in an Indigenous language.</p><p>The early use of words like \"this\" and \"that\" has been documented in widely spoken languages such as English, Spanish and Mandarin, which have relatively simple systems for demonstratives, said Amalia Skilton, a linguistics scholar and Klarman Fellow in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&amp;S).</p><p>Skilton observed similar patterns among 45 Ticuna speakers in Peru, suggesting that children\'s strong drive to share attention has similar effects on language learning -- especially on the first words -- even in languages that differ structurally and that are spoken in very different social settings.</p><p>\"Children learn demonstratives that call others\' attention to objects -- such as \'this/that\' and \'here/there\' -- at extremely young ages, when they know very few other words,\" Skilton said. \"\'This\' and \'here\' show up just as early as stereotypical first words like \'mama.\'\"</p><p>Demonstratives play a \"starring role\" in language development, Skilton writes in \"Learning Speaker- and Addressee-Centered Demonstratives in Ticuna,\" published April 7 in the <em>Journal of Child Language</em>. They are one of the main tools for directing what linguists call joint attention, which allows us to label objects with names, coordinate our actions and cooperate.</p><p>\"Sharing attention is the infrastructure for the rest of language and social interaction,\" Skilton said.</p><p>English has only two primary demonstratives (\"this\" and \"that\") but some languages have up to a dozen. Ticuna, spoken by roughly 69,000 Indigenous people living along the Amazon/Solimões River in Peru, Colombia and Brazil, features six demonstratives, four of which were studied because of their more common usage.</p><p>Over more than a year in Cushillococha, Peru, a community of about 5,000 that relies on subsistence farming, Skilton recorded children ages 1 to 4 at play and interacting with caregivers in their homes. She analyzed Ticuna language development captured in nearly 15 hours of video samples.</p><p>Despite their small vocabularies, 12 of the 14 one-year-olds observed in the study said \"this/that\" or \"here/there,\" demonstrating the universal drive to share attention. Skilton said the research confirms that caregivers can expect children to start using those words at around 12 to 18 months old \"no matter what language they speak.\"</p><p>But the type of demonstratives used shows that while very young children are eager to share attention, they have difficulty understanding others\' perspectives. Ticuna children learned \"egocentric\" demonstratives -- equivalent to \"this/here near me\" -- about two years earlier than \"interactive\" demonstratives like \"that/there near you,\" Skilton found. And they used those egocentric words more often than adults, accounting for as much as 15% of all words spoken.</p><p>It\'s already known that children have trouble understanding what others believe or know. Skilton said her research adds the finding that young children also struggle with understanding how other people view objects in space. She believes that\'s a function of cognitive development, not the learning of any particular language.</p><p>Thus, Skilton said, parents and other caregivers shouldn\'t necessarily be concerned if children under age 3 use interactive words incorrectly.</p><p>\"While adults think of these words as simple,\" Skilton said, \"their meanings are fairly challenging for children to understand at young ages and having trouble with them is a typical part of child development.\"</p><p>Skilton plans to return to Peru to continue her research that comprises the first comprehensive study of joint attention development in a non-Western setting, shifting her focus to children\'s use of pointing gestures to direct adults\' attention. She is collaborating during her three-year Klarman fellowship with faculty host Sarah Murray, associate professor in the Department of Linguistics (A&amp;S).</p><p>Skilton\'s research has been supported by a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship, an NSF Documenting Endangered Languages Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant, and an NSF Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowship.</p>','2022-04-07 22:30:16.016197','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Cornell University','Across languages and cultures, words that help direct caregivers\' attention are likely to be among the first children learn and use frequently, according to a new study of early vocabulary development in an Indigenous language.\n',1,27,'<li>Amalia Skilton. <strong>Learning speaker- and addressee-centered demonstratives in Ticuna</strong>. <em>Journal of Child Language</em>, 2022; 1 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0305000922000101\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1017/S0305000922000101</a>\n</li>'),(1963,'Nanotechnology research: Faster, cheaper COVID tests','nanotechnology-research:-faster,-cheaper-covid-tests','2022-04-07 23:38:54.449330',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">A University of Georgia nanotechnology research groupentered the race to develop a rapid test for COVID-19 in August 2020, running experiments on a new sensor for an American manufacturing company. The group, led by Yiping Zhao and Ralph Tripp, tested nanotechnology-based optical sensors designed for COVID-19 detection and saw the potential for their home-grown technology.</p><p>In March 2022, the group filed a patent application and published its first paper on rapid detection of COVID-19, using a localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) virus sensor, developed based on human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 protein (ACE2) functionalized silver nanotriangle arrays.</p><p>The sensor has high sensitivity and specificity to the spike protein RBD of SARS-CoV-2 as well as human coronavirus NL63.</p><p>\"Right now, we already have rapid antigen test kits available on the market, though the big issue continues to be the high rate of false positives, around 60%,\" said Yanjun Yang, doctoral student in the UGA College of Engineering and lead author on the new paper.</p><p>\"Our technology, also in a rapid kit but using a spectrometer to do the detection, is much more accurate.\"</p><p>The swab-based rapid test developed by the Zhao group uses a UV spectrometer for spike protein detection. The test will cover all COVID-19 variants, as well as any future variants.</p><p>\"The method we developed shall have a much better sensing performance than the rapid test kits, very close to the PCR tests currently in use,\" said Zhao, Distinguished Research Professor in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences department of physics and astronomy. \"The setup and the operation of the sensor is very simple, and the test time essentially will be less than 10 minutes.\"</p><p>Zhao\'s lab is developing a detector based on this work within $10 and the sensor will link to a smartphone app.</p><p>\"The LSPR sensor has several advantages in rapid diagnostics of SARS-CoV-2 (CoV2). Highly sensitive, specific, and able to detect CoV2 at picomolar concentrations in saliva, it\'s rapidity at less than 20 minutes is as good or better than current diagnostic platforms including RT-qPCR, also known as the \'gold standard\',\" said Tripp, professor and GRA Chair in Vaccine and Therapeutic Development in the College of Veterinary Medicine department of infectious diseases and co-author on the study. \"In addition, this method of detection is highly reproducible. This platform is a significant leap forward in diagnostics.\"</p><p>\"Working with biologists and developing this technology was a great experience,\" Yang said. \"I\'ve only done research in the lab, so I never knew how to make something become a product, so it\'s a really good opportunity to understand how we can tie our work to the practical issues and make it commercialized.\"</p><p>The study is published in <em>Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical</em></p>','2022-04-07 23:38:54.449330','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Georgia','A nanotechnology research group entered the race to develop a rapid test for COVID-19 in August 2020, running experiments on a new sensor for an American manufacturing company. The group tested nanotechnology-based optical sensors designed for COVID-19 detection and saw the potential for their home-grown technology.\n',1,137,'<li>Yanjun Yang, Jackelyn Murray, James Haverstick, Ralph A. Tripp, Yiping Zhao. <strong>Silver nanotriangle array based LSPR sensor for rapid coronavirus detection</strong>. <em>Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical</em>, 2022; 359: 131604 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.snb.2022.131604\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/j.snb.2022.131604</a>\n</li>'),(1964,'Researchers develop glass-in-glass fabrication approach for making miniature IR optics','researchers-develop-glass-in-glass-fabrication-approach-for-making-miniature-ir-optics','2022-04-07 23:38:59.902370',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Researchers have developed a new fabrication process that allows infrared (IR) glass to be combined with another glass and formed into complex miniature shapes. The technique can be used to create complex infrared optics that could make IR imaging and sensing more broadly accessible.</p><p>\"Glass that transmits IR wavelengths is essential for many applications, including spectroscopy techniques used to identify various materials and substances,\" said research team leader Yves Bellouard from Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland. \"However, infrared glasses are difficult to manufacture, fragile and degrade easily in the presence of moisture.\"</p><p>In the Optica Publishing Group journal <em>Optics Express</em>, the researchers describe their new technique, which can be used to embed fragile IR glasses inside a durable silica matrix. The process can be used to create virtually any interconnected 3D shape with features measuring a micron or less. It works with a wide variety of glasses, offering a new way to fine-tune the properties of 3D optics with subtle combinations of glass.</p><p>\"Our technique could open the door to a whole new range of new optical devices because it can be used to make infrared optical circuits and arbitrarily shaped IR micro-optics that were not previously possible because of the poor manufacturability of IR glass,\" said Enrico Casamenti, first author of the paper. \"These optics could be used, for example, for spectroscopy and sensing applications or to create an IR camera small enough to integrate into a smartphone.\"</p><p><strong>Merging materials</strong></p><p>The new fabrication process grew out of previous work in which Bellouard\'s research team collaborated with the team of Andreas Mortensen, also at EPFL, to develop a method for forming highly conductive metals inside an insulating 3D silica substrate.</p><p>\"Our team began seeking innovative ways to achieve broadband light confinement in arbitrarily shaped 3D optical circuits,\" said Bellouard. \"That\'s when we decided to explore the possibility of modifying a process that we first demonstrated using metal so that it could be used to produce structures that combine two types of glass.\"</p><p>For the new approach, the researchers start by creating an arbitrarily shaped 3D cavity inside a fused silica glass substrate using femtosecond laser-assisted chemical etching. This uses the pulsed beam of a femtosecond laser -- which can be focused to a spot roughly one micrometer wide -- to alter the glass structure in a way that allows the exposed areas to be removed with a chemical such as hydrofluoric acid.</p><p>Once this is done, the tiny cavity must be filled with another material to create a composite structure. The researchers accomplished this by using a miniaturized version of pressure-assisted casting, in which a second material is melted and pressurizing so that it can flow and solidify within the network of carved silica cavities. The second material can be a metal, glass or any material with a melting point below that of the carved silica substrate and that does not react with silica glass.</p><p><strong>Creating complex optics</strong></p><p>\"Our fabrication method can be used to protect IR glass, opening new avenues for micro-scale infrared optical circuits that are fully integrated in another glass substrate,\" said Bellouard. \"Also, because fused silica and chalcogenide offer high refractive-index contrast, we can form these materials into IR waveguides that can transmit light much like optical fibers.\"</p><p>The researchers demonstrated the new method by creating various complex shapes, including an EPFL logo, using chalcogenide IR glass and a silica glass substrate. They also showed, with the help of colleagues at ETH Zurich, that some of the structures they created could effectively be used for guiding mid-IR light emitted from a quantum cascade laser at 8 microns. Few optical components are available for this spectral range because of manufacturing challenges.</p><p>They are continuing to explore the capabilities of the new process in terms of combining different glasses and plan to test the composite parts in spectroscopy and other applications.</p>','2022-04-07 23:38:59.902370','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Optica','Researchers have developed a new fabrication process that allows infrared (IR) glass to be combined with another glass and formed into complex miniature shapes. The new technique can be used to create virtually any interconnected 3D shape with features measuring a micron or less. The technique can be used to create complex infrared optics that could make IR imaging and sensing more broadly accessible.\n',1,97,'<li>Enrico Casamenti, Gözden Torun, Luciano Borasi, Maxime Lautenbacher, Mathieu Bertrand, Jérôme Faist, Andreas Mortensen, Yves Bellouard. <strong>Glass-in-glass infiltration for 3D micro-optical composite components</strong>. <em>Optics Express</em>, 2022; 30 (8): 13603 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OE.451026\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1364/OE.451026</a>\n</li>'),(1965,'Researchers discover new neurodevelopmental disorder','researchers-discover-new-neurodevelopmental-disorder','2022-04-07 23:39:08.808391',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Australian researchers have discovered a new neurodevelopmental disorder after uncovering its link to a tumor suppressor gene.</p><p>The international research collaboration, led by the Murdoch Children\'s Research Institute (MCRI) and published in the <em>American Journal of Human Genetics</em>, has linked a recognised tumor suppressor gene to a new neurodevelopmental syndrome, ending the diagnostic journey for 32 families around the world.</p><p>The study found variations in the FBXW7 gene were associated with the newly identified condition, which causes mild to severe developmental delay, intellectual disability, hypotonia and gastrointestinal issues.</p><p>Murdoch Children\'s researcher Dr Sarah Stephenson said because the FBXW7 gene regulated the life-cycle of cells, cell growth and survival, the research team speculated that abnormal cell proliferation during brain development may underpin the broad spectrum of brain abnormalities identified in this new disorder.</p><p>\"FBXW7 now joins a steeply increasing number of intellectual disability/autism spectrum disorder genes that have been implicated in disorders that affect nervous system development, leading to atypical brain function, affecting emotion, learning ability, self-control and memory,\" she said.</p><p>The study used cutting-edge diagnostic tools, genomic sequencing and global data sharing platforms to identify 35 people, aged 2-44 years, from 32 families in seven countries harbouring the FBXW7 gene, which had variants that were associated with the never-before described neurodevelopmental syndrome.</p><p>Almost all affected people had developmental delay and intellectual disability, ranging from borderline to severe, 62 per cent had decreased muscle tone, 46 per cent noted feeding difficulties and constipation and 23 per cent had seizures. Brain imaging also detailed variable underlying structural differences affecting the cerebellum, nerve fibres and white matter.</p><p>The team then reduced the gene\'s levels in a fly model, which affected the flies\' ability to jump in response to a stimulus. This supported the observation that the 28 variants in FBXW7 were the cause of the condition. It also further cemented the fundamental role of the gene in development broadly, and the brain, specifically.</p><p>Murdoch Children\'s Professor Tiong Tan, also a clinical geneticist at Victorian Clinical Genetics Services (VCGS), said the findings highlighted the power of undiagnosed diseases programs that use new genomic sequencing technologies and international data sharing and collaboration to bring diagnoses to children and families who have been seeking answers, often for many years.</p><p>Drawing on the research and clinical expertise at MCRI and VCGS, Rare Diseases Now (RDNow) has established a pathway for children who remain undiagnosed after a genomic test such as exome sequencing.</p><p>\"The clinical features are so variable with this neurodevelopmental disorder that in some cases it would have been difficult to diagnose without the genomic tools and associated expertise,\" Professor Tan said.</p><p>\"The diagnosis has given closure and certainty to families, will personalise clinical care of each affected individual and has revealed the genetic and reproductive risks. It\'s a dominant condition so an affected person will have a 50-50 chance of passing it on to each of their children. This diagnosis will empower those impacted to make decisions about their reproductive options.\"</p><p>Professor Tan said the next step was to test these results in human stem cells, which would be engineered into brain cells for analysis in the lab, and develop a better understanding of how the brain was affected in this condition.</p>','2022-04-07 23:39:08.808391','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Murdoch Childrens Research Institute','Researchers have discovered a new neurodevelopmental disorder after uncovering its link to a tumor suppressor gene.\n',1,124,'<li>Sarah E.M. Stephenson, Gregory Costain, Laura E.R. Blok, Michael A. Silk, Thanh Binh Nguyen, Xiaomin Dong, Dana E. Alhuzaimi, James J. Dowling, Susan Walker, Kimberly Amburgey, Robin Z. Hayeems, Lance H. Rodan, Marc A. Schwartz, Jonathan Picker, Sally A. Lynch, Aditi Gupta, Kristen J. Rasmussen, Lisa A. Schimmenti, Eric W. Klee, Zhiyv Niu, Katherine E. Agre, Ilana Chilton, Wendy K. Chung, Anya Revah-Politi, P.Y. Billie Au, Christopher Griffith, Melissa Racobaldo, Annick Raas-Rothschild, Bruria Ben Zeev, Ortal Barel, Sebastien Moutton, Fanny Morice-Picard, Virginie Carmignac, Jenny Cornaton, Nathalie Marle, Orrin Devinsky, Chandler Stimach, Stephanie Burns Wechsler, Bryan E. Hainline, Katie Sapp, Marjolaine Willems, Ange-line Bruel, Kerith-Rae Dias, Carey-Anne Evans, Tony Roscioli, Rani Sachdev, Suzanna E.L. Temple, Ying Zhu, Joshua J. Baker, Ingrid E. Scheffer, Fiona J. Gardiner, Amy L. Schneider, Alison M. Muir, Heather C. Mefford, Amy Crunk, Elizabeth M. Heise, Francisca Millan, Kristin G. Monaghan, Richard Person, Lindsay Rhodes, Sarah Richards, Ingrid M. Wentzensen, Benjamin Cogné, Bertrand Isidor, Mathilde Nizon, Marie Vincent, Thomas Besnard, Amelie Piton, Carlo Marcelis, Kohji Kato, Norihisa Koyama, Tomoo Ogi, Elaine Suk-Ying Goh, Christopher Richmond, David J. Amor, Jessica O. Boyce, Angela T. Morgan, Michael S. Hildebrand, Antony Kaspi, Melanie Bahlo, Rún Friðriksdóttir, Hildigunnur Katrínardóttir, Patrick Sulem, Kári Stefánsson, Hans Tómas Björnsson, Simone Mandelstam, Manuela Morleo, Milena Mariani, Marcello Scala, Andrea Accogli, Annalaura Torella, Valeria Capra, Mathew Wallis, Sandra Jansen, Quinten Weisfisz, Hugoline de Haan, Simon Sadedin, Sze Chern Lim, Susan M. White, David B. Ascher, Annette Schenck, Paul J. Lockhart, John Christodoulou, Tiong Yang Tan. <strong>Germline variants in tumor suppressor FBXW7 lead to impaired ubiquitination and a neurodevelopmental syndrome</strong>. <em>The American Journal of Human Genetics</em>, 2022; 109 (4): 601 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ajhg.2022.03.002\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/j.ajhg.2022.03.002</a>\n</li>'),(1966,'Can artificial intelligence reveal why languages change over time?','can-artificial-intelligence-reveal-why-languages-change-over-time?','2022-04-07 23:54:47.274806',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">The way we speak today isn\'t the way that people talked thousands -- or even hundreds -- of years ago. William Shakespeare\'s line, \"to thine own self be true,\" is today\'s \"be yourself.\" New speakers, ideas, and technologies all seem to play a role in shifting the ways we communicate with each other, but linguists don\'t always agree on how and why languages change. Now, a new study of American Sign Language adds support to one potential reason: sometimes, we just want to make our lives a little easier.</p><p>Deaf studies scholar Naomi Caselli and a team of researchers found that American Sign Language (ASL) signs that are challenging to perceive -- those that are rare or have uncommon handshapes -- are made closer to the signer\'s face, where people often look during sign perception. By contrast, common ones, and those with more routine handshapes, are made further away from the face, in the perceiver\'s peripheral vision. Caselli, a Boston University Wheelock College of Education &amp; Human Development assistant professor, says the findings suggest that ASL has evolved to be easier for people to recognize signs. The results were published in <em>Cognition</em>.</p><p>\"Every time we use a word, it changes just a little bit,\" says Caselli, who\'s also codirector of the BU Rafik B. Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science &amp; Engineering\'s AI and Education Initiative. \"Over long periods of time, words with uncommon handshapes have evolved to be produced closer to the face and, therefore, are easier for the perceiver to see and recognize.\"</p><p>Although studying the evolution of language is complex, says Caselli, \"you can make predictions about how languages might change over time, and test those predictions with a current snapshot of the language.\"</p><p>With researchers from Syracuse University and Rochester Institute of Technology, she looked at the evolution of ASL with help from an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that analyzed videos of more than 2,500 signs from ASL-LEX, the world\'s largest interactive ASL database. Caselli says they began by using the AI algorithm to estimate the position of the signer\'s body and limbs.</p><p>\"We feed the video into a machine learning algorithm that uses computer vision to figure out where key points on the body are,\" says Caselli. \"We can then figure out where the hands are relative to the face in each sign.\" The researchers then match that with data from ASL-LEX -- which was created with help from the Hariri Institute\'s Software &amp; Application Innovation Lab -- about how often the signs and handshapes are used. They found, for example, that many signs that use common handshapes, such as the sign for children -- which uses a flat, open hand -- are produced further from the face than signs that use rare handshapes, like the one for light (see videos).</p><p>This project is part of a new and growing body of work connecting computing and sign language at BU.</p><p>\"The team behind these projects is dynamic, with signing researchers working in collaboration with computer vision scientists,\" says Lauren Berger, a Deaf scientist and postdoctoral fellow at BU who works on computational approaches to sign language research. \"Our varying perspectives, anchored by the oversight of researchers who are sensitive to Deaf culture, helps prevent cultural and language exploitation just for the sake of pushing forward the cutting edge of technology and science.\"</p><p>Understanding how sign languages work can help improve Deaf education, says Caselli, who hopes the latest findings also bring attention to the diversity in human languages and the extraordinary capabilities of the human mind.</p><p>\"If all we study is spoken languages, it is hard to tease apart the things that are about language in general from the things that are particular to the auditory-oral modality. Sign languages offer a neat opportunity to learn about how all languages work,\" she says. \"Now with AI, we can manipulate large quantities of sign language videos and actually test these questions empirically.\"</p>','2022-04-07 23:54:47.274806','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Boston University','American Sign Language (ASL) signs that are challenging to perceive -- those that are rare or have uncommon handshapes -- are made closer to the signer\'s face, where people often look during sign perception. By contrast, common ones, and those with more routine handshapes, are made further away from the face, in the perceiver\'s peripheral vision. The findings suggest that ASL has evolved to be easier for people to recognize signs.\n',1,166,'<li>Naomi Caselli, Corrine Occhino, Bruno Artacho, Andreas Savakis, Matthew Dye. <strong>Perceptual optimization of language: Evidence from American Sign Language</strong>. <em>Cognition</em>, 2022; 224: 105040 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105040\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105040</a>\n</li>'),(1967,'Ocean water samples yield treasure trove of RNA virus data','ocean-water-samples-yield-treasure-trove-of-rna-virus-data','2022-04-08 01:41:38.240397',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Ocean water samples collected around the world have yielded a treasure trove of new data about RNA viruses, expanding ecological research possibilities and reshaping our understanding of how these small but significant submicroscopic particles evolved.</p><p>Combining machine-learning analyses with traditional evolutionary trees, an international team of researchers has identified 5,500 new RNA virus species that represent all five known RNA virus phyla and suggest there are at least five new RNA virus phyla needed to capture them.</p><p>The most abundant collection of newly identified species belong to a proposed phylum researchers named <em>Taraviricota</em>, a nod to the source of the 35,000 water samples that enabled the analysis: the <em>Tara</em> Oceans Consortium, an ongoing global study onboard the schooner <em>Tara</em> of the impact of climate change on the world\'s oceans.</p><p>\"There\'s so much new diversity here -- and an entire phylum, the <em>Taraviricota</em>,were found all over the oceans, which suggests they\'re ecologically important,\" said lead author Matthew Sullivan, professor of microbiology at The Ohio State University.</p><p>\"RNA viruses are clearly important in our world, but we usually only study a tiny slice of them -- the few hundred that harm humans, plants and animals. We wanted to systematically study them on a very big scale and explore an environment no one had looked at deeply, and we got lucky because virtually every species was new, and many were really new.\"</p><p>The study appears online today (April 7, 2022) in <em>Science</em>.</p><p>While microbes are essential contributors to all life on the planet, viruses that infect or interact with them have a variety of influences on microbial functions. These types of viruses are believed to have three main functions: killing cells, changing how infected cells manage energy, and transferring genes from one host to another.</p><p>Knowing more about virus diversity and abundance in the world\'s oceans will help explain marine microbes\' role in ocean adaptation to climate change, the researchers say. Oceans absorb half of the human-generated carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and previous research by this group has suggested that marine viruses are the \"knob\" on a biological pump affecting how carbon in the ocean is stored.</p><p>By taking on the challenge of classifying RNA viruses, the team entered waters still rippling from earlier taxonomy categorization efforts that focused mostly on RNA viral pathogens. Within the biological kingdom <em>Orthornavirae</em>, five phyla were recently recognized by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV).</p><p>Though the research team identified hundreds of new RNA virus species that fit into those existing divisions, their analysis identified thousands more species that they clustered into five new proposed phyla: <em>Taraviricota, Pomiviricota, Paraxenoviricota, Wamoviricota</em> and <em>Arctiviricota</em>,which, like <em>Taraviricota</em>, features highly abundant species -- at least in climate-critical Arctic Ocean waters, the area of the world where warming conditions wreak the most havoc.</p><p>Sullivan\'s team has long cataloged DNA virus species in the oceans, growing the numbers from a few thousand in 2015 and 2016 to 200,000 in 2019. For those studies, scientists had access to viral particles to complete the analysis.</p><p>In these current efforts to detect RNA viruses, there were no viral particles to study. Instead, researchers extracted sequences from genes expressed in organisms floating in the sea, and narrowed the analysis to RNA sequences that contained a signature gene, called RdRp, which has evolved for billions of years in RNA viruses, and is absent from other viruses or cells.</p><p>Because RdRp\'s existence dates to when life was first detected on Earth, its sequence position has diverged many times, meaning traditional phylogenetic tree relationships were impossible to describe with sequences alone. Instead, the team used machine learning to organize 44,000 new sequences in a way that could handle these billions of years of sequence divergence, and validated the method by showing the technique could accurately classify sequences of RNA viruses already identified.</p><p>\"We had to benchmark the known to study the unknown,\" said Sullivan, also a professor of civil, environmental and geodetic engineering, founding director of Ohio State\'s Center of Microbiome Science and a leadership team member in the EMERGE Biology Integration Institute.</p><p>\"We\'ve created a computationally reproducible way to align those sequences to where we can be more confident that we are aligning positions that accurately reflect evolution.\"</p><p>Further analysis using 3D representations of sequence structures and alignment revealed that the cluster of 5,500 new species didn\'t fit into the five existing phyla of RNA viruses categorized in the <em>Orthornavirae</em> kingdom.</p><p>\"We benchmarked our clusters against established, recognized phylogeny-based taxa, and that is how we found we have more clusters than those that existed,\" said co-first author Ahmed Zayed, a research scientist in microbiology at Ohio State and a research lead in the EMERGE Institute.</p><p>In all, the findings led the researchers to propose not only the five new phyla, but also at least 11 new orthornaviran classes of RNA viruses. The team is preparing a proposal to request formalization of the candidate phyla and classes by the ICTV.</p><p>Zayed said the extent of new data on the RdRp gene\'s divergence over time leads to a better understanding about how early life may have evolved on the planet.</p><p>\"RdRp is supposed to be one of the most ancient genes -- it existed before there was a need for DNA,\" he said. \"So we\'re not just tracing the origins of viruses, but also tracing the origins of life.\"</p><p>This research was supported by the National Science Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Ohio Supercomputer Center, Ohio State\'s Center of Microbiome Science, the EMERGE Biology Integration Institute, the Ramon-Areces Foundation and Laulima Government Solutions/NIAID. The work was also made possible by the unprecedented sampling and science of the <em>Tara</em> Oceans Consortium, the nonprofit Tara Ocean Foundation and its partners.</p><p>Additional co-authors on the paper were co-lead authors James Wainaina and Guillermo Dominguez-Huerta, as well as Jiarong Guo, Mohamed Mohssen, Funing Tian, Adjie Pratama, Ben Bolduc, Olivier Zablocki, Dylan Cronin and Lindsay Solden, all of Sullivan\'s lab; Ralf Bundschuh, Kurt Fredrick, Laura Kubatko and Elan Shatoff of Ohio State\'s College of Arts and Sciences; Hans-Joachim Ruscheweyh, Guillem Salazar and Shinichi Sunagawa of the Institute of Microbiology and Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics; Jens Kuhn of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Alexander Culley of the Université Laval; Erwan Delage and Samuel Chaffron of the Université de Nantes; and Eric Pelletier, Adriana Alberti, Jean-Marc Aury, Quentin Carradec, Corinne da Silva, Karine Labadie, Julie Poulain and Patrick Wincker of Genoscope.</p>','2022-04-08 01:41:38.240397','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Ohio State University','Ocean water samples collected around the world have yielded a treasure trove of new data about RNA viruses, expanding ecological research possibilities and reshaping our understanding of how these small but significant submicroscopic particles evolved.\n',1,204,'<li>Ahmed A. Zayed, James M. Wainaina, Guillermo Dominguez-Huerta, Eric Pelletier, Jiarong Guo, Mohamed Mohssen, Funing Tian, Akbar Adjie Pratama, Benjamin Bolduc, Olivier Zablocki, Dylan Cronin, Lindsey Solden, Erwan Delage, Adriana Alberti, Jean-Marc Aury, Quentin Carradec, Corinne da Silva, Karine Labadie, Julie Poulain, Hans-Joachim Ruscheweyh, Guillem Salazar, Elan Shatoff, Ralf Bundschuh, Kurt Fredrick, Laura S. Kubatko, Samuel Chaffron, Alexander I. Culley, Shinichi Sunagawa, Jens H. Kuhn, Patrick Wincker, Matthew B. Sullivan, Silvia G. Acinas, Marcel Babin, Peer Bork, Emmanuel Boss, Chris Bowler, Guy Cochrane, Colomban de Vargas, Gabriel Gorsky, Lionel Guidi, Nigel Grimsley, Pascal Hingamp, Daniele Iudicone, Olivier Jaillon, Stefanie Kandels, Lee Karp-Boss, Eric Karsenti, Fabrice Not, Hiroyuki Ogata, Nicole Poulton, Stéphane Pesant, Christian Sardet, Sabrinia Speich, Lars Stemmann, Matthew B. Sullivan, Shinichi Sungawa, Patrick Wincker. <strong>Cryptic and abundant marine viruses at the evolutionary origins of Earth’s RNA virome</strong>. <em>Science</em>, 2022; 376 (6589): 156 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abm5847\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1126/science.abm5847</a>\n</li>'),(1968,'Engineers describe how fluid suspensions exhibit different behaviors at different scales','engineers-describe-how-fluid-suspensions-exhibit-different-behaviors-at-different-scales','2022-04-08 01:41:40.802818',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Honey is already a pretty thick liquid, but let it begin to crystalize and it can become downright clumpy. The sugar crystals in suspension seem to increase its viscosity. This phenomenon occurs throughout the natural and constructed world: From mudflows to paint, suspensions of particles tend to behave like viscous fluids.</p><p>Engineers use this to their advantage by modeling the macroscopic properties of a suspension based on the size and concentration of its particles. However, this approximation breaks down at a certain scale. UC Santa Barbara\'s Virgile Thiévenaz and Alban Sauret sought to determine when and how.</p><p>They discovered that particles don\'t spread out evenly once a suspension drops below a certain length scale, such as when the fluid pinches in to form the neck of a droplet. Eventually, there will be a thin region without any particles that behave like a pure liquid. The findings, published in the <em>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,</em> highlight the limit of approximations and have many potential applications in industrial settings.</p><p>Viscosity quantifies the internal friction between layers of a fluid. In a viscous liquid, one layer exerts more drag on its neighbor, producing a thicker fluid that is more resistant to deformation and flow. Particles in a suspension behave in a similar manner. A particle is more likely to move when its neighbors move, which increases the fluid\'s effective viscosity. Higher concentrations bring particles closer together, strengthening the effect. \"So as long as you look at the suspension from far away, it\'s just a more viscous liquid,\" explained Thiévenaz, a postdoctoral researcher in the mechanical engineering department.</p><p>In droplet experiments, Thiévenaz and Sauret observed that suspensions will stretch like a viscous liquid down to a certain thickness, after which it becomes possible to pull the particles away from each other. This creates regions with varying concentrations that behave differently. Eventually, a region won\'t contain any particles and will act like a pure fluid. After this, the effective viscosity simplifies to that of the pure liquid.</p><p>Engineers have compiled a lot of data to calibrate the effective viscosity of suspensions with particle size and concentration at large scales. Thiévenaz and Sauret\'s challenge was to figure out at what scale the approximations classically used to model suspensions began to unravel.</p><p>With more experimentation, the authors determined that this threshold also varies with particle size and concentration. A suspension will transition from acting like a viscous fluid to behaving more like a heterogeneous mixture at scales on par with the size of the particles.</p><p>Interestingly, smaller particles seem to have a proportionately stronger effect. \"Relative to the particle size, the threshold is much larger for small particles at a given concentration,\" said Sauret, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering.</p><p>For instance, a suspension with a 30% concentration of 140 micrometer particles may behave smoothly down to scales of 600µm, or about four times the particles\' diameter. But a suspension with 20µm particles at the same concentration may display this effect down to 250µm: a smaller scale overall, but more than 12 times the particles\' diameter.</p><p>Predicting the behavior of a suspension has major applications in manufacturing. A process may require manipulating films or creating tiny droplets, and technicians need to be able to predict the properties of these systems. For dip-coated parts, properly manipulating the particles in a film can be the difference between a finished product and an absolute mess, Sauret explained.</p><p>Spray coating provides an even clearer illustration of this phenomenon. A pure liquid, like a varnish, will behave differently than a suspension, like paint, when spray coating a product. When compared to a pure liquid with the same effective viscosity, a suspension will break up earlier with fewer, larger droplets. The researchers\' next task is determining how the number and size of droplets depends on parameters like speed, particle concentration and particle size.</p><p>Approximating suspensions as viscous liquids works well, but only at certain scales. \"At some point that\'s going to fail,\" Sauret said. \"And we need to be able to say, \'at this point you cannot use this approach, and instead you need to use a different method.\"</p><p><strong>Story Source:</strong></p>','2022-04-08 01:41:40.802818','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of California - Santa Barbara','Honey is already a pretty thick liquid, but let it begin to crystalize and it can become downright clumpy. The sugar crystals in suspension seem to increase its viscosity. This phenomenon occurs throughout the natural and constructed world: From mudflows to paint, suspensions of particles tend to behave like viscous fluids.\n',1,45,'<li>Virgile Thiévenaz, Alban Sauret. <strong>The onset of heterogeneity in the pinch-off of suspension drops</strong>. <em>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</em>, 2022; 119 (13) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2120893119\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1073/pnas.2120893119</a>\n</li>'),(1969,'Private protected areas help conserve overlooked and threatened regions','private-protected-areas-help-conserve-overlooked-and-threatened-regions','2022-04-08 01:41:54.661868',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">New research shows that private protected areas help conserve underrepresented biomes and highly threatened regions.</p><p>A privately protected area (PPA) is a privately managed portion of land set aside to preserve biodiversity and ecosystems. PPAs can be set up by a number of different entities such as individuals, community groups, corporations or NGOs -- this is different to most standard protected areas (PAs) which are managed and maintained by state and government entities.</p><p>PPAs are increasing in number and extent but until now very little was known about the scale of their conservation contribution.</p><p>Now, researchers from the Universities of Leeds and Manchester have assessed 17,561 privately protected areas in 15 countries across five continents.</p><p>Their findings, published today in <em>Nature Ecology and Evolution,</em> reveal that compared to state protected areas, PPAs are twice as likely to be in areas with the greatest human disturbance, such as regions used for agriculture and mining. They are three times more likely to be in biomes with almost no established conservation reserves and protect 1.2% of key biodiversity areas.</p><p>According to the study, the largest one to date, PPAs account for 3.4% of land under protection. PPAs also increase the connectivity between conserved areas by over 7%. Connectivity is incredibly important as it helps prevent genetic bottlenecks, allowing for easier dispersal of seeds and animal migration.</p><p>Lead author Rachel Palfrey, a PhD researcher in School of Earth and Environment at Leeds, said: \"Our study shows that privately protected areas can make unique and very real contributions to the conservation estate. They deserve more attention, recognition and resources for better design and implementation.</p><p>\"By recognising their role in conservation efforts, more can be done to co-ordinate the establishment of privately protected areas and maximise their benefits.</p><p>\"State governed protected areas dominate conservation strategies in most countries but government action alone will be insufficient to reach global conservation targets and help safeguard against devastating biodiversity loss.\"</p><p>Scientists have warned that human activities are driving a mass extinction of life on the planet and widespread biodiversity loss could lead to a global ecosystem collapse.</p><p>Conservation efforts will be a key topic at the upcoming UN biodiversity Conference in May 2022. Often referred to as the \"Biodiversity COP,\" the conference will see the adoption of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. The framework provides a strategic vision and a global roadmap for the conservation, protection, restoration and sustainable management of biodiversity and ecosystems for the next decade.</p><p>The study helps further the understanding of how PPAs could help us develop a stronger network of protected areas.</p><p>Dr Johan Oldekop, Senior Lecturer in Environment and Development from the Global Development Institute at Manchester, said: \"The current global network of protected areas underrepresents key species and ecosystems. It lacks connectivity and does not adequately protect areas of high wildlife and biodiversity importance.</p><p>\"Privately protected areas are not the silver bullet for conservation efforts, but they are clearly an important part of the picture.</p><p>\"This study highlights the importance of using all available resources and interests to establish vitally important protected portions of land. Greater legislative, technical and financial support for privately protected areas could help facilitate their establishment and also strengthen legal frameworks for other forms of conservation, including indigenous reserves and community conserved areas.\"</p><p>In 2021 a coalition of more than 50 countries committed to protect nearly a third of the planet by 2030 in an effort to slow the extinctions of wildlife.</p><p>Currently, terrestrial protected areas cover approximately 16% of the world\'s land mass. However, the study warns that these PAs are disproportionately created in higher and steeper areas that have lower agricultural and economic potential. It cautions that at the current rate PAs are established, conservation goals are unlikely to be met.</p><p>The authors stress the need for more research into the spatial contributions of privately protected areas around the world to help support their inclusion in national conservation strategies.</p><p>Dr George Holmes, associate professor of conservation and society at Leeds, said: \"Further research in needed to examine the underlying factors and governance structures that influence the landscape choices of privately protected areas.</p><p>\"Future analyses should include efforts to better understand the role of different stakeholders, such as private landowners and land trusts, and their motivations for the establishment of privately protected areas, as well as assessments of national policies and incentives that support privately protected areas.\"</p>','2022-04-08 01:41:54.661868','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Leeds','New research shows that private protected areas help conserve underrepresented biomes and highly threatened regions. Researchers have assessed 17,561 privately protected areas in 15 countries across five continents. Their findings reveal that compared to state protected areas, PPAs are twice as likely to be in areas with the greatest human disturbance, such as regions used for agriculture and mining. They are three times more likely to be in biomes with almost no established conservation reserves and protect 1.2% of key biodiversity areas.\n',1,34,'<li>Rachel Palfrey, Johan A. Oldekop, George Holmes. <strong>Privately protected areas increase global protected area coverage and connectivity</strong>. <em>Nature Ecology &amp; Evolution</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01715-0\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41559-022-01715-0</a>\n</li>'),(1970,'Turbulence from spawning fish keeps a healthy circulation in coastal waters','turbulence-from-spawning-fish-keeps-a-healthy-circulation-in-coastal-waters','2022-04-08 01:41:57.646171',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">A new study has shown how fish influence ocean ecosystems in coastal regions, revealing for the first time how they circulate nutrients and oxygen around the waters when they spawn. This process is key to keeping the ecosystems running.</p><p>Oceans are made up of multiple layers, ranging from lighter, warmer waters at the top to denser, cooler waters at the bottom. Ocean mixing is vital to move heat, oxygen, nutrients and pollutants between different layers and therefore plays a major role in how ecosystems sustain life.</p><p>Although it is well established that winds and tides supply the bulk of the energy that drives mixing, the contribution made by swimming organisms has not been understood -- until now.</p><p>In this new study, a team led by the University of Southampton spent fifteen days monitoring water turbulence in the Ría de Pontevedra, a bay in the north-west coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The researchers used an instrument called microstructure profiler, which measures variations in the ocean current speed and temperature over very small distances.</p><p>The results, published in the journal <em>Nature Geoscience</em><em>, </em>showed that increased levels of turbulence and mixing occurred every night, similar to turbulence caused by a major storm, despite the weather staying calm throughout the study.</p><p>Using acoustic information from the ship\'s echosounder and samples collected with small fishing nets the research team were able to attribute the signal to shoals of fish, which gathered in the area at night. In particular, the small nets were full of recently spawned eggs of European anchovy, <em>Engraulis encrascicolus</em>, providing strong evidence that the anchovies\' frantic behaviour during spawning caused the turbulence.</p><p>\"We believe that biological mixing was intense in our observations because the bay is highly stratified -- the temperature and other properties vary significantly at different depths,\" explained Dr Bieito Fernández Castro, a research fellow at the University of Southampton who led the study.</p><p>\"Previous studies have suggested that biological turbulence causes minimal mixing because the circular motions of water that the fish generate while swimming are too small. This is certainly true in the open ocean, where temperature changes occur over tens of meters. However, we have shown that closer to land, where the layers change over a much shorter distance, the anchovies are able to mix them together,\" he continued.</p><p>The study has revealed that whilst biological mixing may not be very important in the open ocean, it can be significant in coastal ecosystems, where a thriving marine life coexists with rapid vertical changes in the make-up of the ocean. The vertical mixing created by fish schools could impact the redistribution of temperature, nutrients and other important water constituents, like oxygen, which play a fundamental role in the functioning of the ecosystem upon which the fish themselves rely.</p><p>The findings therefore highlight the capacity of living organisms to influence and reshape the physical environment where they live.</p><p>\"The observation of how our anchovies drove mixing was totally fortuitous. We were set to study how turbulence affects marine life and we end up showing, for the first time, that marine life can influence ocean turbulence, which in turn influences marine life!\" Dr Fernández Castro concluded.</p><p>The study formed part of the REMEDIOS research project, which is led by the University of Vigo (Spain) with partners including the University of Southampton and investigates the role of mixing in phytoplankton growth.</p><p>Video: <a href=\"https://youtu.be/f-fosxKyzQ8\">https://youtu.be/f-fosxKyzQ8</a></p>','2022-04-08 01:41:57.646171','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Southampton','A new study has shown how fish influence ocean ecosystems in coastal regions, revealing for the first time how they circulate nutrients and oxygen around the waters when they spawn. This process is key to keeping the ecosystems running.\n',1,116,'<li>Bieito Fernández Castro, Marian Peña, Enrique Nogueira, Miguel Gilcoto, Esperanza Broullón, Antonio Comesaña, Damien Bouffard, Alberto C. Naveira Garabato, Beatriz Mouriño-Carballido. <strong>Intense upper ocean mixing due to large aggregations of spawning fish</strong>. <em>Nature Geoscience</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00916-3\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41561-022-00916-3</a>\n</li>'),(1971,'New hope for predicting and treating heart failure in babies born with deadly heart defect','new-hope-for-predicting-and-treating-heart-failure-in-babies-born-with-deadly-heart-defect','2022-04-08 01:42:00.177390',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Almost one third of babies born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, or HLHS, die from heart failure before their first birthday. By uncovering cellular processes that drive heart failure in these young patients, a new study may hold the answers to identifying and treating those at highest risk of early death.</p><p>Published today in <em>Cell Stem Cell</em>by scientists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, the study found that two commonly used medications, Viagra and an over-the-counter drug called tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA), restored processes that drive heart failure in cells derived from patients, opening potential avenues for new HLHS treatments.</p><p>\"HLHS is one of the most lethal types of congenital heart disease,\" said Cecilia Lo, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Developmental Biology at Pitt, and senior author of the study. \"What causes heart failure in HLHS patients who die before one year of age is unknown, and the only treatment option is a heart transplant, which often is not possible. If we can find the cause, then there is hope for therapy.\"</p><p>To get to the heart of severe HLHS causes, Lo and Xinxiu (Cindy) Xu, Ph.D., first author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher in Lo\'s lab, collected skin cells from three healthy people and 10 HLHS patients, who had either milder disease, surviving past age five without a transplant, or severe HLHS, meaning they died or required a heart transplant in their first year of life.</p><p>First, Xu reprogrammed patient skin cells into so-called induced pluripotent stem cells, which can become any type of cell. Next, she added a mixture of growth factors and nutrients that prompt the stem cells to develop into heart cells.</p><p>By observing the heart cells under a microscope, the researchers noticed clear differences among cells from different patient groups. Just as a living heart squeezes and releases to pump blood, so too do heart cells in a dish, even without blood to circulate. Cells from patients with milder HLHS looked and behaved similarly to those from healthy people, pulsing quickly and steadily. In contrast, cells from the severe group throbbed in a more languid manner, eerily reminiscent of what doctors see in the hearts of many living HLHS patients.</p><p>Looking more closely, the researchers found that heart cells from both patient groups had defective mitochondria, the energy-generating centers, but this dysfunction was worse in the severe group. Heart cells from severe HLHS patients also failed to rally natural defenses against stress caused by the mitochondrial defect.</p><p>Having identified what was wrong at a cellular level, the researchers now had targets for therapies. They found that sildenafil, commonly known as Viagra, and TUDCA rescued the mitochondrial defect in heart cells from patients with severe disease.</p><p>Xu explained that if the heart is a car, the mitochondrion is like an engine. She thinks of sildenafil as engine oil, \"lubricating\" mitochondrial function, preventing it from overheating. TUDCA, on the other hand, is like coolant, also protecting the engine from overheating. Either of these drugs can reduce stress caused by defective mitochondria, helping heart cells from severe patients to achieve what patients with milder HLHS accomplish naturally.</p><p>\"We chose these drugs because we know they are safe and already approved in the clinic for other conditions,\" added Lo. \"This means it will take less time to get treatments to patients compared with developing entirely new drugs.\"</p><p>For HLHS patients, this could mean new therapies -- that don\'t rely on heart transplant -- are on the horizon to treat heart failure.</p><p>Lo said that the study opens possibilities for using stem cell-derived heart cells to model heart failure in dish and screen drugs faster than traditional animal model approaches.</p><p>The findings could also lead to development of tests that prioritize patients for early heart transplant.</p><p>\"Because the defect is on a cellular level, a simple blood test might be able to detect defective mitochondria, allowing early identification of patients most vulnerable to heart failure,\" said Lo. \"Ultimately, these findings will help achieve our goal of improving the clinical care and quality of life for patients with the congenital heart disease such as HLHS.\"</p><p>Other authors who contributed to the study were Abha S. Bais, Ph.D., Hisato Yagi, Ph.D., Timothy N. Feinstein, Ph.D., Xiaoqin Liu, M.D., Ph.D., Krithika Sudhakar Rao, Ph.D., Haoting He, Phillip Adams, D.O., Sruti Shiva, Ph.D., Madhavi K. Ganapathiraju, Ph.D., Dennis Kostka, Ph.D., and Jiuann-Huey Ivy Lin, M.D., Ph.D., all of Pitt; Kang Jin, B.S., and Bruce Aronow, Ph.D., of the University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children\'s Hospital Research Foundation; Wenjuan Zhu, Ph.D., of the Chinese University of Hong Kong; Phong Nguyen, M.S., and Joseph Criscione, B.S., of the University of Rochester; Gloria S. Pryhuber, M.D., Gisela Beutner, Ph.D., and George A. Porter Jr, M.D., Ph.D., all of the University of Rochester Medical Center; Kalyani B. Karunakaran, of the Indian Institute of Science; and Catherine K. Kuo, Ph.D., of the University of Rochester and the University of Maryland.</p><p>This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (HL132024, HL142788, HL144776 and PR140183), the Children\'s Heart Foundation, UPMC Children\'s Hospital of Pittsburgh and the American Heart Association.</p>','2022-04-08 01:42:00.177390','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Pittsburgh','Almost one third of babies born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, or HLHS, die from heart failure before their first birthday. By uncovering cellular processes that drive heart failure in these young patients, a new study may hold the answers to identifying and treating those at highest risk of early death.\n',1,150,'<li>Xinxiu Xu, Kang Jin, Abha S. Bais, Wenjuan Zhu, Hisato Yagi, Timothy N. Feinstein, Phong K. Nguyen, Joseph D. Criscione, Xiaoqin Liu, Gisela Beutner, Kalyani B. Karunakaran, Krithika S. Rao, Haoting He, Phillip Adams, Catherine K. Kuo, Dennis Kostka, Gloria S. Pryhuber, Sruti Shiva, Madhavi K. Ganapathiraju, George A. Porter, Jiuann-Huey Ivy Lin, Bruce Aronow, Cecilia W. Lo. <strong>Uncompensated mitochondrial oxidative stress underlies heart failure in an iPSC-derived model of congenital heart disease</strong>. <em>Cell Stem Cell</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.stem.2022.03.003\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/j.stem.2022.03.003</a>\n</li>'),(1972,'AI predicts if -- and when -- someone will have cardiac arrest','ai-predicts-if----and-when----someone-will-have-cardiac-arrest','2022-04-08 01:42:05.849098',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">A new artificial intelligence-based approach can predict, significantly more accurately than a doctor, if and when a patient could die of cardiac arrest. The technology, built on raw images of patient\'s diseased hearts and patient backgrounds, stands to revolutionize clinical decision making and increase survival from sudden and lethal cardiac arrhythmias, one of medicine\'s deadliest and most puzzling conditions.</p><p>The work, led by Johns Hopkins University researchers, is detailed today in <em>Nature Cardiovascular Research.</em></p><p>\"Sudden cardiac death caused by arrhythmia accounts for as many as 20 percent of all deaths worldwide and we know little about why it\'s happening or how to tell who\'s at risk,\" said senior author Natalia Trayanova, the Murray B. Sachs professor of Biomedical Engineering and Medicine. \"There are patients who may be at low risk of sudden cardiac death getting defibrillators that they might not need and then there are high-risk patients that aren\'t getting the treatment they need and could die in the prime of their life. What our algorithm can do is determine who is at risk for cardiac death and when it will occur, allowing doctors to decide exactly what needs to be done.\"</p><p>The team is the first to use neural networks to build a personalized survival assessment for each patient with heart disease. These risk measures provide with high accuracy the chance for a sudden cardiac death over 10 years, and when it\'s most likely to happen.</p><p>The deep learning technology is called Survival Study of Cardiac Arrhythmia Risk (SSCAR). The name alludes to cardiac scarring caused by heart disease that often results in lethal arrhythmias, and the key to the algorithm\'s predictions.</p><p>The team used contrast-enhanced cardiac imagesthat visualize scar distribution from hundreds of real patients at Johns Hopkins Hospital with cardiac scarring to train an algorithm to detect patterns and relationships not visible to the naked eye. Current clinical cardiac image analysis extracts only simple scar features like volume and mass, severely underutilizing what\'s demonstrated in this work to be critical data.</p><p>\"The images carry critical information that doctors haven\'t been able to access,\" said first author Dan Popescu, a former Johns Hopkins doctoral student. \"This scarring can be distributed in different ways and it says something about a patient\'s chance for survival. There is information hidden in it.\"</p><p>The team trained a second neural network to learn from 10 years of standard clinical patient data, 22 factors such as patients\' age, weight, race and prescription drug use.</p><p>The algorithms\' predictions were not only significantly more accurate on every measure than doctors, they were validated in tests with an independent patient cohort from 60 health centers across the United States, with different cardiac histories and different imaging data, suggesting the platform could be adopted anywhere.</p><p>\"This has the potential to significantly shape clinical decision-making regarding arrhythmia risk and represents an essential step towards bringing patient trajectory prognostication into the age of artificial intelligence,\" said Trayanova, co-director of the Alliance for Cardiovascular Diagnostic and Treatment Innovation. \"It epitomizes the trend of merging artificial intelligence, engineering, and medicine as the future of healthcare.\"</p><p>The team is now working to build algorithms now to detect other cardiac diseases. According to Trayanova, the deep-learning concept could be developed for other fields of medicine that rely on visual diagnosis.</p><p>The team from Johns Hopkins also included: Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Data-Intensive Computation Mauro Maggioni; Julie Shade; Changxin Lai; Konstantino Aronis; and Katherine Wu. Other authors include: M. Vinayaga Moorthy and Nancy Cook of Brigham and Women\'s Hospital; Daniel Lee of Northwester University; Alan Kadish of Touro College and University System; David Oyyang and Christine Albert of Cedar-Sinai Medical Center.</p><p>The work was supported by National Institutes of Health grants R01HL142496 , R01HL126802, R01HL103812; Lowenstein Foundation, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship DGE-1746891, Simons Fellowship for 2020-2021, National Science Foundation grant IIS-1837991, Abbott Laboratories research grant. The PRE-DETERMINE study and the DETERMINE Registry were supported by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute research grant R01HL091069, St Jude Medical Inc, and St. Jude Medical Foundation.</p>','2022-04-08 01:42:05.849098','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Johns Hopkins University','A new artificial intelligence-based approach can predict, significantly more accurately than a doctor, if and when a patient could die of cardiac arrest. The technology, built on raw images of patient\'s diseased hearts and patient backgrounds, stands to revolutionize clinical decision making and increase survival from sudden and lethal cardiac arrhythmias, one of medicine\'s deadliest and most puzzling conditions.\n',1,150,'<li>Dan M. Popescu, Julie K. Shade, Changxin Lai, Konstantinos N. Aronis, David Ouyang, M. Vinayaga Moorthy, Nancy R. Cook, Daniel C. Lee, Alan Kadish, Christine M. Albert, Katherine C. Wu, Mauro Maggioni, Natalia A. Trayanova. <strong>Arrhythmic sudden death survival prediction using deep learning analysis of scarring in the heart</strong>. <em>Nature Cardiovascular Research</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s44161-022-00041-9\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s44161-022-00041-9</a>\n</li>'),(1973,'Evidence in mice that bacteria in tumors help cancer cells metastasize','evidence-in-mice-that-bacteria-in-tumors-help-cancer-cells-metastasize','2022-04-08 01:42:08.817803',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Bacteria promote cancer metastasis by bolstering the strength of host cells against mechanical stress in the bloodstream, promoting cell survival during tumor progression, researchers report April 7<sup>th</sup> in the journal <em>Cell.</em></p><p>\"Our study reveals that the cancer cell\'s behavior is also controlled by the microbes hiding inside tumors, the majority of which were originally thought to be sterile,\" says senior author Shang Cai of the Westlake Laboratory of Life Sciences and Biomedicine. \"This microbial involvement is distinct from the genetic, epigenetic, and metabolic components that most cancer drugs target.\"</p><p>\"However, our study does not mean that using antibiotics during cancer treatment will benefit patients,\" he says. \"Therefore, it is still an important scientific question of how to manage the intratumor bacteria to improve cancer treatment in the future.\"</p><p>Microbes play a critical role in affecting cancer susceptibility and tumor progression, particularly in colorectal cancers. However, emerging evidence suggests that they are also integral components of the tumor tissue itself in in a broad range of cancer types, such as pancreatic cancer, lung cancer, and breast cancer. Microbial features are linked to cancer risk, prognosis, and treatment responses, yet the biological functions of tumor-resident microbes in tumor progression remain unclear.</p><p>Whether these microbes are passengers or drivers of tumor progression has been an intriguing question. \"Tumor cells hijacked by microbes could be more common than previously thought, which underscores the broad clinical value of understanding the exact role of the tumor-resident microbial community in cancer progression,\" Cai says.</p><p>To address this gap, Cai and his collaborators used a mouse model of breast cancer with significant amounts of bacteria inside cells, similar to human breast cancer. They found that the microbes can travel through the circulatory system with the cancer cells and play critical roles in tumor metastasis. Specifically, these passenger bacteria are able to modulate the cellular actin network and promoted cell survival against mechanical stress in circulation.</p><p>\"We were surprised initially at the fact that such a low abundance of bacteria could exert such a crucial role in cancer metastasis. What is even more astonishing is that only one shot of bacteria injection into the breast tumor can cause a tumor that originally rarely metastasizes to start to metastasize,\" Cai says. \"Intracellular microbiota could be a potential target for preventing metastasis in broad cancer types at an early stage, which is much better than to have to treat it later on.\"</p><p>Although the study revealed a clear role of intratumor bacteria in promoting cancer cell metastatic colonization, the authors did not exclude the possibility that the gut microbiome and immune system may act together with intratumor bacteria to determine cancer progression. In the future, further in-depth analysis of how bacteria invade tumor cells, how intracellular bacteria are integrated into the host cell system, and how bacteria-containing tumor cells interact with the immune system will provide insights on how to properly implement antibiotics for cancer therapeutics in the clinic.</p>','2022-04-08 01:42:08.817803','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Cell Press','Bacteria promote cancer metastasis by bolstering the strength of host cells against mechanical stress in the bloodstream, promoting cell survival during tumor progression, researchers report.\n',1,89,'<li>Aikun Fu, Bingqing Yao, Tingting Dong, Yongyi Chen, Jia Yao, Yu Liu, Hang Li, Huiru Bai, Xiaoqin Liu, Yue Zhang, Chunhui Wang, Yajing Guo, Nan Li, Shang Cai. <strong>Tumor-resident intracellular microbiota promotes metastatic colonization in breast cancer</strong>. <em>Cell</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2022.02.027\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/j.cell.2022.02.027</a>\n</li>'),(1974,'High-ranking naked mole-rats are more resilient','high-ranking-naked-mole-rats-are-more-resilient','2022-04-08 01:42:19.536302',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Naked mole-rats not only look strange, they have a strange lifestyle, too: they spend their entire lives underground. They also feel very little pain, rarely develop cancer and are exceptionally long-lived for a rodent -- living up to 37 years. All this makes the hairless burrow-dwellers prime candidates for scientific study.</p><p>For nearly 20 years, Professor Gary Lewin at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC) has been researching these extraordinary animals. \"The naked mole rats live in strictly organized colonies,\" Lewin says. \"Each animal knows its rank and the tasks it has to perform.\" Now Lewin\'s team in the Molecular Physiology of Somatic Sensation Lab, together with scientists at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Freie Universität Berlin and the University of Pretoria, has made a new discovery: The researchers report in <em>Open Biology</em> that naked mole-rats of higher social rank have a larger spleen. The organ plays a key role in the immune system and is involved in the formation, maturation and retention of immune cells. \"This could mean that higher-ranking animals have better built-in defenses than animals below them on the social hierarchy,\" says lead author Dr. Valérie Bégay of Lewin\'s team.</p><p><strong>No sign of disease, despite an enlarged spleen</strong></p><p>The shriveled sausages on four legs are so special that Bégay carefully examines each naked mole-rat used in an experiment. She noticed that some of the animals had a much larger spleen than others. That got her wheels turning. \"We initially thought that the animals with the larger spleens were sick,\" the researcher recounts. That\'s because the organ swells up when the body fights inflammation and disease, as many types of immune cells are manufactured and stored there. \"But we couldn\'t find anything, not even inflammatory markers in the blood or any other evidence of disease,\" she reports. \"There had to be another explanation for the enlarged spleen.\"</p><p>With the help of Dr. Alison Barker, Bégay found out that spleen size is linked to the animal\'s social status. The scientist, who recently studied mole-rat dialects, is very experienced in conducting behavioral research experiments. They determined rodent rank by having two naked mole-rats run towards each other in a tube. \"The higher-ranked animal will always climb over the lower-ranked animal,\" Barker says. \"It keeps the upper hand, so to speak.\"</p><p><strong>Higher-ranking animals cope better with disease</strong></p><p>It was through this method that the researchers learned that the higher-ranked animals had enlarged spleens. Bégay then studied the organs at the molecular level. She used RNA sequencing and tissue sample analysis to classify the different immune cells in the spleen. This showed that the number of macrophages is increased in the enlarged organs. Macrophages act as the body\'s defense soldiers. They kill invading pathogens by surrounding and swallowing them. That\'s why they are also called scavenger cells. \"The enlarged spleen might enable the higher-ranked animals to fight infections better and deal with inflammation and injury more easily,\" Bégay explains.</p><p>A stronger immune system in higher-ranking animals is not unique to naked mole-rats. In macaques, too, the higher-ranked group members are better equipped to fight disease. But instead of an enlarged spleen, the monkeys have a differently organized system of immune protection. \"It really surprised us that there could be such large differences in spleen size without disease being present,\" Lewin says. \"The rank of a naked mole-rat depends on how it behaves in the group. The size of the spleen is linked in turn to rank. This would ultimately mean that behavior directly affects the physical characteristics of the immune system, or vice versa.\"</p><p><strong>The queen never experiences menopause</strong></p><p>The researchers also suspect that the spleen influences an animal\'s longevity. Successful naked mole-rats -- that is, those able to get their way with other colony members -- live longer. The queen does not typically die of old age, but is usually killed during a \"coup\" -- namely, when another female gathers male followers around her and removes the old queen. \"Up until her last day, the queen is fertile,\" says Lewin. \"She never experiences menopause -- as if her organism did not age.\" This suggests at the very least that a strong immune system slows down the aging process. Mammals do not usually produce offspring until the end of their lives: they have a post-reproductive lifespan.</p><p>The scientists are now asking new questions. For instance, which comes first: the larger spleen or the higher rank? This has not yet been determined. The only thing that is clear is that naked mole-rats are not born into their social status, but work their way up. The desire for sex may be their driving force: Only the highest-ranking members -- the queen and two to three pashas -- are allowed to reproduce. \"This could be a selection mechanism,\" Lewin says. \"By allowing only the most successful to mate, it ensures that the animals with the strongest immune systems pass on their genes.\"</p><p>Lewin also hopes to gain new insights into cancer. Naked mole-rats have a very efficient defense system against the disease. Whether the spleen plays a role in this remains to be seen. First, the scientists must conduct further cell analysis. \"We are still at the very beginning,\" he stresses.</p><p><strong>Story Source:</strong></p>','2022-04-08 01:42:19.536302','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association','Naked mole-rats are full of surprises. The latest is that higher-ranked mole-rats most likely have an immunological advantage over animals with lower social status.\n',1,27,'<li>Valérie Bégay, Branko Cirovic, Alison J. Barker, Robert Klopfleisch, Daniel W. Hart, Nigel C. Bennett, Gary R. Lewin. <strong>Immune competence and spleen size scale with colony status in the naked mole-rat</strong>. <em>Open Biology</em>, 2022; 12 (4) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsob.210292\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1098/rsob.210292</a>\n</li>'),(1975,'The role of genes in prenatal responses to air pollution','the-role-of-genes-in-prenatal-responses-to-air-pollution','2022-04-08 01:42:22.131371',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Exposure to pollution during pregnancy can have many adverse effects in infants and children that can even extend into adulthood. For example, air pollution exposure is associated with increased risk of low birth weight, preterm birth and risk for developing asthma later in life. Much of this is due to the fast pace of fetal growth and development; however, the exact ways pollutants have these effects and the roles of genes related to immune function and stress response are not fully understood.</p><p>In a study published in the journal <em>Antioxidants</em>, researchers from Texas A&amp;M University and the University of Florida worked to clarify how a gene related to oxidant response known as <em>Nrf2</em> affects fetal development in an experimental model. Natalie Johnson, PhD, associate professor at the Texas A&amp;M School of Public Health, along with Carmen Lau, DVM, Jonathan Behlen and others exposed animal models modified to lack the <em>Nrf2</em> gene and unmodified animal models to particulate pollution like that found in diesel exhaust. They then evaluated the effects on litter size, birth weight and immune markers found in the lung and liver tissue of newborn offspring.</p><p>Particulate matter pollution is divided into three categories based on particle size: coarse particles, fine particles and ultrafine particles. Fine particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter and ultrafine particles less than one-tenth of a micron across are of greatest concern. Researchers have found associations between fine particulate pollution and increased odds of respiratory diseases, but less work has been done on ultrafine pollutants, and no health standards currently exist for this smallest category. The tiny size of ultrafine particles means they can work deeper into airways, possibly making them an even bigger health risk than fine particles.</p><p>The gene <em>Nrf2</em> is known to affect immune function and stress response in adults, but research on the effects of this gene in infants and children has been explored less. To better understand the role of <em>Nrf2</em> during development and clarify how ultrafine particles affect health, researchers exposed both unmodified animal models and those that have had the <em>Nrf2</em> genes knocked out to fresh, filtered air and air containing ultrafine particles like those found in diesel exhaust, a common pollutant in urban areas. The researchers monitored weight gain in pregnant animal models in all four groups and recorded litter sizes and birth weights of the offspring.</p><p>There were no statistically significant differences in weight gain in the animal models in the four groups during pregnancy. Similarly, there were not notable differences in litter sizes. However, the <em>Nrf2</em>-deficient offspring had lower birth weights than their unmodified counterparts, with the greatest effects in <em>Nrf2</em>-deficient animal models exposed to pollution. Exposure to pollution had no notable effects in unmodified animal models, which may indicate <em>Nrf2</em> playing some protective role during pregnancy.</p><p>The researchers also analyzed lung and liver tissue from the offpsring to measure differences in certain immune markers and expression of genes related to oxidative stress response. They found significant differences in immune markers in <em>Nrf2</em>-deficient offpsring, indicating a change in immune function in those models. These findings point to the lack of a functioning <em>Nrf2</em> gene being a main contributor to the differences between the groups.</p><p>These results are in line with other studies that have found associations between <em>Nrf2</em> deficiency and some chronic diseases. For example, previous research found that adult <em>Nrf2</em>-deficient animal models were more likely to develop autoimmune diseases. Although more work lies ahead, this study demonstrates that the absence of a functioning <em>Nrf2</em> gene affects prenatal growth of animal models, especially when exposed to ultrafine particulate air pollution in utero.</p><p>These findings could point to a possible mechanism through which ultrafine particulate matter can affect placental function and prenatal health. This highlights a need for further research into the roles of genes on immune and stress response and how those genes interact with environmental factors. The research also reinforces the importance of establishing health standards for ultrafine particulate matter pollution, which appear to have serious effects on prenatal and neonatal health and development.</p>','2022-04-08 01:42:22.131371','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Texas A&M University','Exposure to pollution during pregnancy can have many adverse effects in infants and children that can even extend into adulthood. For example, air pollution exposure is associated with increased risk of low birth weight, preterm birth and risk for developing asthma later in life. Much of this is due to the fast pace of fetal growth and development; however, the exact ways pollutants have these effects and the roles of genes related to immune function and stress response are not fully understood.\n',1,108,'<li>Carmen H. Lau, Drew Pendleton, Nicholas L. Drury, Jiayun Zhao, Yixin Li, Renyi Zhang, Gus A. Wright, Aline Rodrigues Hoffmann, Natalie M. Johnson. <strong>NRF2 Protects against Altered Pulmonary T Cell Differentiation in Neonates Following In Utero Ultrafine Particulate Matter Exposure</strong>. <em>Antioxidants</em>, 2022; 11 (2): 202 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/antiox11020202\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.3390/antiox11020202</a>\n</li>'),(1976,'Cell biology: How mitochondria report stress','cell-biology:-how-mitochondria-report-stress','2022-04-08 01:42:36.097163',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">LMU researchers have discovered the mechanism by which the protein DELE1 detects organelle stress. This offers a possible new approach for treating neurodegenerative diseases.</p><p>Researchers have long posited a link between dysfunctions in mitochondria, little organelles in the interior of cells, and the aging process and age-related illnesses, such as Alzheimer\'s disease. \"Many such illnesses cannot be cured -- partly because we don\'t yet understand fundamental mechanisms,\" says Professor Lucas Jae from LMU\'s Gene Center Munich.</p><p>Frequently, the mitochondrial dysfunction is triggered by various forms of stress -- this much is known. Stress can come from the cell or originate in the mitochondrion itself, such as through reactive oxygen species, which occur during cellular respiration. Although they have their own genome, mitochondria are incapable of responding independently to stress. \"This means that disturbances must be reported to the rest of the cell,\" explains Dr. Evelyn Fessler from the Gene Center Munich.</p><p>In <em>Nature Communications</em>, Fessler and Jae, together with Luisa Krumwiede, describe a mechanism whereby a special protein in humans, DELE1, detects various kinds of stress while being imported into mitochondria and reports them to the cell. This can lead to different responses, such as repairs or induced cell death.</p><p><strong>Known molecule, unknown mechanism</strong></p><p>Two years ago, Jae\'s team explored the question as to how mitochondrial stress is actually reported to the cell. The researchers found a new signaling pathway consisting of the proteins OMA1, DELE1, and HRI, which looks after such tasks. \"So we knew which factors recognize mitochondrial stress, but we didn\'t understand key aspects,\" recalls Jae. \"How does the DELE1 signal travel from the mitochondrion into the cytoplasm of the cell? And how can DELE1, as an individual protein, detect the many different types of stress?\"</p><p>Now the researchers have found answers. DELE1 is continuously imported into the mitochondria and processed by proteases. Deep inside the mitochondria, DELE1 is then quickly degraded. As such, there are molecules constantly passing through the outer and inner membranes of mitochondria in order to be imported.</p><p>Mitochondrial stress causes this importing process to fail. New DELE1 molecules are arrested on their way into the mitochondria and, depending on the source of the disturbance, are either cut by OMA1 or remain uncleaved outside the organelles. In any case, the portion of the DELE1 protein that possesses the signaling effect is unmasked in the cytosol. \"All the different types of stress lead to one of the sub-steps involved in the importing and processing of DELE1 coming to a halt,\" summarizes Jae. This is how mitochondrial stress is detected.</p><p>DELE1 also recognizes dysfunctions in the mitochondrial enzymes PITRM1 and MPP. In neurodegenerative diseases, these enzymes are mutated. \"Specifically in connection with such defects, we have observed that it\'s important for cellular survival for DELE1 to detect the problem and inform the cell,\" notes Jae.</p><p>What happens next? \"Now that we understand the mechanism, we can investigate many different scenarios,\" reports Fessler. The researchers want to discover how the decision is made as to whether a cell enters a repair phase due to a stress response or goes into programmed cell death, because otherwise it would present a danger. They also hope to be able to modulate the signaling pathway such that it favors cellular survival in times of mitochondrial stress: a possible approach for treating neurodegenerative diseases.</p>','2022-04-08 01:42:36.097163','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München','Researchers have discovered the mechanism by which the protein DELE1 detects organelle stress. This offers a possible new approach for treating neurodegenerative diseases.\n',1,39,'<li>Evelyn Fessler, Luisa Krumwiede, Lucas T. Jae. <strong>DELE1 tracks perturbed protein import and processing in human mitochondria</strong>. <em>Nature Communications</em>, 2022; 13 (1) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29479-y\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41467-022-29479-y</a>\n</li>'),(1977,'Nano particle trapped between mirrors works as a quantum sensor','nano-particle-trapped-between-mirrors-works-as-a-quantum-sensor','2022-04-08 04:05:38.288996','<p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Sensors are a pillar of the Internet of Things, providing the data to control all sorts of objects. Here, precision is essential, and this is where quantum technologies could make a difference. Researchers are now demonstrating how nanoparticles in tiny optical resonators can be transferred into quantum regime and used as high-precision sensors.</p><p>Advances in quantum physics offer new opportunities to significantly improve the precision of sensors and thus enable new technologies. A team led by Oriol Romero-Isart of the Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information at the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Department of Theoretical Physics at the University of Innsbruck and a team lead by Romain Quidant of ETH Zurich are now proposing a new concept for a high-precision quantum sensor. The researchers suggest that the motional fluctuations of a nanoparticle trapped in a microscopic optical resonator could be reduced significantly below the zero-point motion, by exploiting the fast unstable dynamics of the system.</p><p><strong>Particle caught between mirrors</strong></p><p>Mechanical quantum squeezing reduces the uncertainty of motional fluctuations below the zero-point motion, and it has been experimentally demonstrated in the past with micromechanical resonators in the quantum regime. The researchers now propose a novel approach, especially tailored to levitated mechanical systems. \"We demonstrate that a properly designed optical cavity can be used to rapidly and strongly squeeze the motion of a levitated nanoparticle,\" says Katja Kustura of Oriol Romero-Isart\'s team in Innsbruck. In an optical resonator, light is reflected between mirrors and it interacts with the levitated nanoparticle. Such interaction can give rise to dynamical instabilities, which are often considered undesirable.</p><p>The researchers now show how they can instead be used as a resource. \"In the present work, we show how, by properly controlling these instabilities, the resulting unstable dynamics of a mechanical oscillator inside an optical cavity leads to mechanical squeezing,\" Kustura says. The new protocol is robust in the presence of dissipation, making it particularly feasible in levitated optomechanics. In the paper, published in the journal Physical Review Letters, the researchers apply this approach to a silica nanoparticle coupled to a microcavity via coherent scattering. \"This example shows that we can squeeze the particle by orders of magnitude below the zero-point motion, even if starting from an initial thermal state,\" Oriol Romero-Isart is pleased to say.</p><p>The work provides a new use of optical cavities as mechanical quantum squeezers, and it suggests a viable new route in levitated optomechanics beyond the quantum ground state cooling. Micro-resonators thus offer an interesting new platform for the design of quantum sensors, which could be used, for example, in satellite missions, self-driving cars, and in seismology. The research in Innsbruck and Zurich was financially supported by the European Union.</p><p><strong>Story Source:</strong></p>','2022-04-08 01:42:43.737618','uploads/news/Low-Res_squeezing.png.png',1,'University of Innsbruck','Sensors are a pillar of the Internet of Things, providing the data to control all sorts of objects. Here, precision is essential, and this is where quantum technologies could make a difference. Researchers are now demonstrating how nanoparticles in tiny optical resonators can be transferred into quantum regime and used as high-precision sensors.',1,94,'<li>Katja Kustura, Carlos Gonzalez-Ballestero, Andrés de los Ríos Sommer, Nadine Meyer, Romain Quidant, Oriol Romero-Isart. <strong>Mechanical Squeezing via Unstable Dynamics in a Microcavity</strong>. <em>Physical Review Letters</em>, 2022; 128 (14) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.143601\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.143601</a>\r\n</li>'),(1978,'An immune ‘fingerprint’ reveals path for better treatment of autoimmune diseases','an-immune-‘fingerprint’-reveals-path-for-better-treatment-of-autoimmune-diseases','2022-04-08 01:42:54.190515',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">\'We analysed the genomic profile of over one million cells from 1,000 people to identify a fingerprint linking genetic markers to diseases such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, type 1 diabetes, spondylitis, inflammatory bowel disease, and Crohn\'s disease,\' says Professor Joseph Powell, joint lead author at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. \'We were able to do this using single cell sequencing, a new technology that allows us to detect subtle changes in individual cells,\' he says.</p><p>The discovery could help individuals find tailored treatments that work for them and guide the development of new drugs.</p><p>The study by researchers in Sydney, Hobart, Melbourne, Brisbane and San Francisco helps us understand why some treatments work well in some patients, but not in others. It\'s the largest study to date to link disease-causing genes to specific types of immune cells.</p><p>A trial is now underway in Sydney with Crohn\'s disease patients to predict which treatments will work for specific patients.</p><p>\'Some autoimmune diseases can be notoriously difficult to treat,\' says Professor Powell.</p><p>\'Because of our immune system\'s complexity, and how vastly it varies between individuals, we don\'t currently have a good understanding of why a treatment works well in some people but not in others,\' he says.</p><p>The study links specific genes and immune cell types to an individual\'s disease, including multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, type 1 diabetes and Crohn\'s disease.</p><p>This means an individual\'s unique genetic profile could be used to deliver treatments tailored to precisely tame their immune system.</p><p>\'Our data also provides a new avenue for narrowing down potential drug targets. The potential health and economic impacts of this research are enormous,\' says Professor Alex Hewitt, joint lead author and clinician-researcher at the University Of Tasmania\'s Menzies Institute for Medical Research.</p><p>\'Most rare genetic diseases are like a major car accident in the body -- they are generally easy to identify and locate where they occur in the genome. But immune diseases are often more like traffic congestion, where genetic changes that hold up traffic are harder to specifically pinpoint. This study has helped us identify the trouble spots,\' says Professor Hewitt.</p><p>\'The greatest insight from this work will be identification of therapeutic targets and defining sub-populations of immune disease, which can then refine clinical trials to assess drug effectiveness,\' he says.</p><p>Our bodies\' immune systems are designed to fight external threats, but autoimmune diseases occur when our immune systems take aim at our own healthy cells. They affect about one in 12 Australians, are incurable and require lifelong treatments to minimise the damage.</p><p>Often, patients will trial many different treatments before finding one that works for them.</p><p>\'Some medications may be very effective in only 15% of patients, so are not recommended as a first-line treatment,\' says Dr Seyhan Yazar, co-first author of the study.</p><p>\'We now have a way to link treatment response back to an individual\'s immune genetics -- and to potentially screen for that 15% of patients before a clinician even administers a treatment.\'</p><p>The researchers say their data could lower the risks associated with developing new treatments.</p><p>\'Pharmaceutical companies may have hundreds of targets and have to make decisions about which they will take forward to Phase I clinical trials, knowing that 90% of potential drug candidates fail during clinical development,\' says Dr José Alquicira-Hernández, co-first author and researcher at the Garvan Institute.</p><p>\'Understanding which cell types are relevant for a particular disease is key for developing new drugs.\'</p><p><strong>A million cells reveal complexity and provide certainty</strong></p><p>The study provides unique insights by looking at genes in individual immune cells on an unprecedented scale. It analysed the genomics of more than one million individual immune cells from around 1,000 healthy individuals, exploring 14 different types of immune cells in total.</p><p>This individual approach paints a far clearer picture than previous studies which analysed combined cells in a blood sample.</p><p>\'The problems with bulk RNA analysis is that we only observe an averaged signal. But there is vast variation in cell functions and cell types that allow the body to defend against attack,\' explains says Dr Yazar.</p><p>\'Average analysis doesn\'t reflect what happens in the full variety of immune cells.\'</p><p><strong>Integrating into clinical trials</strong></p><p>The findings have led to clinical trials.</p><p>\'We are working on a study of Crohn\'s disease in collaboration with St George Hospital that will determine how a patient\'s immune genotype affects their response to different treatments and are looking to establish new trials in a range of autoimmune diseases\' says Professor Powell.</p><p>\'It is a significant milestone of Garvan\'s pioneering OneK1K study aimed at showing how genetics contribute to the risk of immune disease at a cellular level.\'</p>','2022-04-08 01:42:54.190515','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Garvan Institute of Medical Research','Most autoimmune diseases are easy to diagnose but hard to treat. A new article proposes using your unique immune cell fingerprint to rapidly identify which treatments will work for your autoimmune disease.\n',1,91,'<li>Seyhan Yazar, Jose Alquicira-Hernandez, Kristof Wing, Anne Senabouth, M. Grace Gordon, Stacey Andersen, Qinyi Lu, Antonia Rowson, Thomas R. P. Taylor, Linda Clarke, Katia Maccora, Christine Chen, Anthony L. Cook, Chun Jimmie Ye, Kirsten A. Fairfax, Alex W. Hewitt, Joseph E. Powell. <strong>Single-cell eQTL mapping identifies cell type–specific genetic control of autoimmune disease</strong>. <em>Science</em>, 2022; 376 (6589) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abf3041\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1126/science.abf3041</a>\n</li>'),(1979,'Computerized, rolling DNA motors move molecular robotics to next level','computerized-rolling-dna-motors-move-molecular-robotics-to-next-level','2022-04-08 04:02:10.398829','<p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Chemists integrated computer functions into rolling DNA-based motors, opening a new realm of possibilities for miniature, molecular robots. Nature Nanotechnology published the development, the first DNA-based motors that combine computational power with the ability to burn fuel and move in an intentional direction.</p><p>\"One of our big innovations, beyond getting the DNA motors to perform logic computations, is finding a way to convert that information into a simple output signal -- motion or no motion,\" says Selma Piranej, an Emory University PhD candidate in chemistry, and first author of the paper. \"This signal can be read by anyone holding a cell phone equipped with an inexpensive magnifying attachment.\"</p><p>\"Selma\'s breakthrough removes major roadblocks that stood in the way of making DNA computers useful and practical for a range of biomedical applications,\" says Khalid Salaita, senior author of the paper and an Emory professor of chemistry at Emory University. Salaita is also on the faculty of the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, a joint program of Georgia Tech and Emory.</p><p>The motors can sense chemical information in their environment, process that information, and then respond accordingly, mimicking some basic properties of living cells.</p><p>\"Previous DNA computers did not have directed motion built in,\" Salaita says. \"But to get more sophisticated operations, you need to combine both computation and directed motion. Our DNA computers are essentially autonomous robots with sensing capabilities that determine whether they move or not.\"</p><p>The motors can be programmed to respond to a specific pathogen or DNA sequence, making them a potential technology for medical testing and diagnostics.</p><p>Another key advance is that each motor can operate independently, under different programs, while deployed as a group. That opens the door for a single massive array of the micron-sized motors to carry out a variety of tasks and perform motor-to-motor communication.</p><p>\"The ability for the DNA motors to communicate with one another is a step towards producing the kind of complex, collective action generated by swarms of ants or bacteria,\" Salaita says. \"It could even lead to emergent properties.\"</p><p>DNA nanotechnology takes advantage of the natural affinity for the DNA bases A, G, C and T to pair up with one another. By moving around the sequence of letters on synthetic strands of DNA, scientists can get the strands to bind together in ways that create different shapes and even build functioning machines.</p><p>The Salaita lab, a leader in biophysics and nanotechnology, developed the first rolling DNA-based motor in 2015. The device was 1,000 times faster than any other synthetic motor, fast-tracking the burgeoning field of molecular robotics. Its high speed allows a simple smart phone microscope to capture its motion through video.</p><p>The motor\'s \"chassis\" is a micron-sized glass sphere. Hundreds of DNA strands, or \"legs\" are allowed to bind to the sphere. These DNA legs are placed on a glass slide coated with the reactant RNA, the motor\'s fuel. The DNA legs are drawn to the RNA, but as soon as they set foot on it they erase it through the activity of an enzyme that is bound to the DNA and destroys only RNA. As the legs bind and then release from the substrate, they keep guiding the sphere along.</p><p>When Piranej joined the Salaita lab in 2018, she began working on a project to take the rolling motors to the next level by building in computer programming logic.</p><p>\"It\'s a major goal in the biomedical field to take advantage of DNA for computation,\" Piranej says. \"I love the idea of using something that\'s innate in all of us to engineer new forms of technology.\"</p><p>DNA is like a biological computer chip, storing vast amounts of information. The basic units of operation for DNA computation are short strands of synthetic DNA. Researchers can change the \"program\" of DNA by tweaking the sequences of AGTC on the strands.</p><p>\"Unlike a hard, silicon chip, DNA-based computers and motors can function in water and other liquid environments,\" Salaita says. \"And one of the big challenges in fabricating silicon computer chips is trying to pack more data into an ever-smaller footprint. DNA offers the potential to run many processing operations in parallel in a very small space. The density of operations you could run might even go to infinity.\"</p><p>Synthetic DNA is also biocompatible and cheap to make. \"You can replicate DNA using enzymes, copying and pasting it as many times as you want,\" Salaita says. \"It\'s virtually free.\"</p><p>Limitations remain, however, in the nascent field of DNA computation. A key hurdle is making the output of the computations easily readable. Current techniques heavily rely on tagging DNA with fluorescent molecules and then measuring the intensity of emitted light at different wavelengths. This process requires expensive, cumbersome equipment. It also limits the signals that can be read to those present in the electromagnetic spectrum.</p><p>Although trained as a chemist, Piranej began learning the basics of computer science and diving into bioengineering literature to try to overcome this hurdle. She came up with the idea of using a well-known reaction in bioengineering to perform the computation and pairing it with the motion of the rolling motors.</p><p>The reaction, known as toehold-mediated strand displacement, occurs on duplex DNA -- two complementary strands. The strands are tightly hugging one another except for one loose, floppy end of a strand, known as the toe hold. The rolling motor can be programmed by coating it with duplex DNA that is complementary to a DNA target -- a sequence of interest.</p><p>When the molecular motor encounters the DNA target as it rolls along its RNA track, the DNA target binds to the toe hold of the duplex DNA, strips it apart, and anchors the motor into place. The computer read out becomes simply \"motion\" or \"no motion.\"</p><p>\"When I first saw this concept work during an experiment, I made this really loud, excited sound,\" Piranej recalls. \"One of my colleagues came over and asked, \'Are you okay?\' Nothing compares to seeing your idea come to life like that. That\'s a great moment.\"</p><p>These two basic logic gates of \"motion\" or \"no motion\" can be strung together to build more complicated operations, mimicking how regular computer programs build on the logic gates of \"zero\" or \"one.\"</p><p>Piranej took the project even further by finding a way to pack many different computer operations together and still easily read the output. She simply varied the size and materials of the microscopic spheres that form the chassis for the DNA-based rolling motors. For instance, the spheres can range from three to five microns in diameter and be made of either silica or polystyrene. Each alteration provides slightly different optical properties that can be distinguished through a cell phone microscope.</p><p>The Salaita lab is working to establish a collaboration with scientists at the Atlanta Center for Microsystems Engineered Point-of-Care Technologies, an NIH-funded center established by Emory and Georgia Tech. They are exploring the potential for the use of the DNA-computing technology for home diagnostics of COVID-19 and other disease biomarkers.</p><p>\"Developing devices for biomedical applications is especially rewarding because it\'s a chance to make a big impact in people\'s lives,\" Piranej says. \"The challenges of this project have made it more fun for me,\" she adds.</p><p><strong>Story Source:</strong></p>','2022-04-08 03:42:39.330676','uploads/news/Low-Res_selma_piranej_lab.jpg.png',1,'Emory University','Chemists integrated computer functions into rolling DNA-based motors, opening a new realm of possibilities for miniature, molecular robots. These DNA-based motors combine computational power with the ability to burn fuel and move in an intentional direction.',1,131,'<li>Selma Piranej, Alisina Bazrafshan, Khalid Salaita. <strong>Chemical-to-mechanical molecular computation using DNA-based motors with onboard logic</strong>. <em>Nature Nanotechnology</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41565-022-01080-w\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41565-022-01080-w</a>\r\n</li>'),(1980,'Human gene variant produces attention deficit disorder-like problems in mice','human-gene-variant-produces-attention-deficit-disorder-like-problems-in-mice','2022-04-08 03:42:41.658687',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Mutant mice are providing scientists with a new neurobiological framework to understand the brain changes observed in distractible humans who carry a common gene variant whose frequency has been associated with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The scientists demonstrate that mice that express the variant adopt an inattentive phenotype similar to that seen in humans.</p><p>The study, led by researchers from the University of Michigan in collaboration with Florida Atlantic University, Temple University, and the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Institutes of Health, used genetically engineered mice to examine the neural and behavioral effects of a choline transporter (CHT) variant. Prior work by the team has shown that the variant associated with heightened distractibility in humans, though whether the variant was itself causal for inattention was unclear.</p><p>In the new study, researchers made a single change in the gene encoding the neuronal CHT and then searched for physiological changes in the brain, focusing on their ability to sustain production and release of the powerful brain chemical acetylcholine, which is synthetized from choline.</p><p>In humans, disruption of acetylcholine signaling impairs one\'s capacity to filter distractors and to perform focus-demanding tasks. A total loss of CHT function in mice and people leads to early death due to the role played by acetylcholine in muscle contraction, particularly the muscles that control breathing. Lesser reductions in CHT activity allow for normal growth and movement, but mice with these changes exhibit premature fatigue when made to run on a treadmill. Work from the new study reveals that the mice show signs of mental fatigue as well.</p><p>Results of the study, published in <em>The Journal of Neuroscience</em><em>, </em>indicate that the CHT gene variant known as Val89, reduces the rate of choline uptake and the capacity to sustain acetylcholine production during attention-demanding conditions, effects that lead to diminished cognitive performance when the mice are faced with attentional challenges. Evidence from the mouse studies provides direct evidence that Val89 drives increased vulnerability to distraction and provides a mechanistic basis for the diminished frontal cortex activation observed in Val89-expressing humans.</p><p>\"Our mouse studies, along with prior behavioral and brain imaging studies, indicate that a single copy of the variant is sufficient to change acetylcholine availability and its resulting cognitive effects,\" said Randy D. Blakely, Ph.D., co-author, executive director of the FAU Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute and professor, FAU Schmidt College of Medicine. \"Seeing effects from a single copy of Val89 suggests that choline transport may be mediated by a pair of CHT proteins such that one poorly functioning copy can impact the normal function of the other, leading to stronger effects than expected from simply having one copy compromised.\"</p><p>This finding has been reported before in people with neuromuscular disorder causing CHT mutations, but this also appears to be the case for brain function.</p><p>\"Val89 mice lack cognitive flexibility in response to an attentional challenge,\" said Eryn Donovan, lead author and a graduate student in the Department of Psychology, University of Michigan. \"Our findings from this mouse model suggest the potential for a more complete investigation of the effects of the CHT Val89 mutation in the brain as well as the development of therapeutic strategies for those with disrupted acetylcholine signaling.\"</p><p>According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the estimated number of children ever diagnosed with ADHD, according to a 2016 parent survey, is 6.1 million. This same survey shows that 6 in 10 children with ADHD had at least one other mental, emotional or behavioral disorder and 62 percent were taking ADHD medication. Although ADHD most often occurs in children, it also can be diagnosed in adulthood.</p><p>\"We think that the CHT <em>Val89 mouse</em> can be a valuable model to study heritable risk for cognitive disorders that arise from cholinergic dysfunction,\" said Blakely. \"We now can gain much more insight into the brain effects of the Val89 variant in ways that cannot be done in humans and possibly lead to new ways to treat disorders associated with brain acetylcholine signaling that appear in childhood, such as ADHD, or during aging, as with Parkinson\'s disease and Alzheimer\'s disease.\"</p><p>In addition to new insights into a potential risk factor for psychiatric and neurological disorders, Martin Sarter, Ph.D., a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Michigan and the communicating author of the study says that their findings explain why healthy humans expressing this genetic variant exhibit robust attentional vulnerabilities.</p><p>\"As this genetic variant is quite common, occurring in about 9 to 10 percent of humans, we now understand exactly how this variant influences the brain mechanisms that are essential for paying attention,\" said Sarter.</p><p>Other study co-authors are Cassandra Avila, a graduate student and Sarah Klausner, an undergraduate student, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan; Vinay Parikh, Ph.D., an associate professor of psychology and neuroscience, Temple University; Maria Cristina Fenollar Ferrer, Ph.D., Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Section of Human Genetics, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.</p>','2022-04-08 03:42:41.658687','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Florida Atlantic University','Mutant mice are providing scientists with a new neurobiological framework to understand the brain changes observed in distractible humans who carry a common gene variant whose frequency has been associated with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The scientists demonstrate that mice that express the variant adopt an inattentive phenotype similar to that seen in humans.\n',1,27,'<li>Eryn Donovan, Cassandra Avila, Sarah Klausner, Vinay Parikh, Cristina Fenollar-Ferrer, Randy D. Blakely, Martin Sarter. <strong>Disrupted choline clearance and sustained acetylcholine release in vivo by a common choline transporter coding variant associated with poor attentional control in humans</strong>. <em>The Journal of Neuroscience</em>, 2022; JN-RM-1334-21 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1334-21.2022\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1334-21.2022</a>\n</li>'),(1981,'Kisspeptin: A new drug to treat liver disease?','kisspeptin:-a-new-drug-to-treat-liver-disease?','2022-04-08 03:42:52.549053',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">A hormone that triggers puberty and controls fertility in humans might be developed as a treatment for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, according to new Rutgers research.</p><p>The study, appearing in the <em>Journal of Clinical Investigation</em>, provides powerful evidence that a modified version of the naturally occurring hormone kisspeptin can be used to treat non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Globally, NAFLD is the most common form of chronic liver disease that affects children and adults and is linked to the rise in obesity and Type 2 diabetes.</p><p>NAFLD is known as a \"silent\" disease because it starts off with few or no symptoms. It begins with the accumulation of fat in the liver, resulting in a condition known as \'fatty liver\'. As the disease worsens, the liver becomes inflamed resulting in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). This is followed by fibrosis and cirrhosis, where the liver becomes scarred and irreversibly damaged. A subset of NASH patients with cirrhosis will also develop liver cancer. Currently, there are no approved therapeutics to treat NASH.</p><p>Study lead investigator, Moshmi Bhattacharya, an associate professor in the Department of Medicine at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, has spent over 15 years studying kisspeptin in health and disease. Kisspeptin, encoded by the <em>KISS1</em> gene, was discovered in Hershey, Pa. and named for the iconic Hershey chocolate \"kisses.\" In addition to playing key roles in pubertal development and maintaining reproductive function, kisspeptin has also been linked to appetite and sexual attraction.</p><p>Bhattacharya along with co-author Andy Babwah, an associate professor in pediatrics at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, initiated this study to decipher the roles of kisspeptin in the liver, under healthy and obese conditions. The study\'s first author, Stephania Guzman, is a Ph.D. candidate in Rutgers Molecular Biosciences Graduate Program. This collaborative study also included researchers led by Waljit Dhillo at the Imperial College London, U.K.</p><p>The researchers fed mice a high-fat, high-sugar \'Western\' diet to induce obesity and NAFLD. The study showed that kisspeptin given to these mice protected them from the development of fatty liver, NASH and fibrosis. Kisspeptin works by binding its receptor, a protein called KISS1R. The study also showed that when KISS1R is deleted from liver cells, kisspeptin cannot function and mice on western diet develop fatty liver. These experiments uncover a powerful relationship between kisspeptin and the reduction of liver fat and fibrosis.</p><p>The study found:</p><p>\"This work shows the kisspeptin receptor signaling pathway has a potential therapeutic role in NAFLD,\" said co-author, Vinod K Rustgi, director of hepatology and a Distinguished Professor of Medicine at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. \"It does this by protecting against the development of fat in the liver and reducing inflammation and fibrosis. As such, it has the potential to favorably impact the health and lives of millions of patients around the globe.\"</p>','2022-04-08 03:42:52.549053','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Rutgers University','A hormone that triggers puberty and controls fertility in humans might be developed as a treatment for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, according to new Rutgers research.\n',1,146,'<li>Stephania Guzman, Magdalena Dragan, Hyokjoon Kwon, Vanessa de Oliveira, Shivani Rao, Vrushank Bhatt, Katarzyna M. Kalemba, Ankit Shah, Vinod K. Rustgi, He Wang, Paul R. Bech, Ali Abbara, Chioma Izzi-Engbeaya, Pinelopi Manousou, Jessie Yanxiang Guo, Grace L. Guo, Sally Radovick, Waljit S. Dhillo, Fredric E. Wondisford, Andy V. Babwah, Moshmi Bhattacharya. <strong>Targeting hepatic kisspeptin receptor ameliorates non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in a mouse model</strong>. <em>Journal of Clinical Investigation</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1172/JCI145889\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1172/JCI145889</a>\n</li>'),(1982,'Engineered crystals could help computers run on less power','engineered-crystals-could-help-computers-run-on-less-power','2022-04-08 16:13:39.819893',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Computers may be growing smaller and more powerful, but they require a great deal of energy to operate. The total amount of energy the U.S. dedicates to computing has risen dramatically over the last decade and is quickly approaching that of other major sectors, like transportation.</p><p>In a study published online this week the journal <em>Nature</em>, University of California, Berkeley, engineers describe a major breakthrough in the design of a component of transistors -- the tiny electrical switches that form the building blocks of computers -- that could significantly reduce their energy consumption without sacrificing speed, size or performance. The component, called the gate oxide, plays a key role in switching the transistor on and off.</p><p>\"We have been able to show that our gate-oxide technology is better than commercially available transistors: What the trillion-dollar semiconductor industry can do today -- we can essentially beat them,\" said study senior author Sayeef Salahuddin, the TSMC Distinguished professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at UC Berkeley.</p><p>This boost in efficiency is made possible by an effect called negative capacitance, which helps reduce the amount of voltage that is needed to store charge in a material. Salahuddin theoretically predicted the existence of negative capacitance in 2008 and first demonstrated the effect in a ferroelectric crystal in 2011.</p><p>The new study shows how negative capacitance can be achieved in an engineered crystal composed of a layered stack of hafnium oxide and zirconium oxide, which is readily compatible with advanced silicon transistors. By incorporating the material into model transistors, the study demonstrates how the negative capacitance effect can significantly lower the amount of voltage required to control transistors, and as a result, the amount of energy consumed by a computer.</p><p>\"In the last 10 years, the energy used for computing has increased exponentially, already accounting for single digit percentages of the world\'s energy production, which grows only linearly, without an end in sight,\" Salahuddin said. \"Usually, when we are using our computers and our cell phones, we don\'t think about how much energy we are using. But it is a huge amount, and it is only going to go up. Our goal is to reduce the energy needs of this basic building block of computing, because that brings down the energy needs for the entire system.\"</p><p><strong>Bringing negative capacitance to real technology</strong></p><p>State-of-the-art laptops and smart phones contain tens of billions of tiny silicon transistors, and each of which must be controlled by applying a voltage. The gate oxide is a thin layer of material that converts the applied voltage into an electric charge, which then switches the transistor.</p><p>Negative capacitance can boost the performance of the gate oxide by reducing the amount of voltage required to achieve a given electrical charge. But the effect can\'t be achieved in just any material. Creating negative capacitance requires careful manipulation of a material property called ferroelectricity, which occurs when a material exhibits a spontaneous electrical field. Previously, the effect has only been achieved in ferroelectric materials called perovskites, whose crystal structure is not compatible with silicon.</p><p>In the study, the team showed that negative capacitance can also be achieved by combining hafnium oxide and zirconium oxide in an engineered crystal structure called a superlattice, which leads to simultaneous ferroelectricity and antiferroelectricity.</p><p>\"We found that this combination actually gives us an even better negative capacitance effect, which shows that this negative capacitance phenomena is a lot broader than originally thought,\" said study co-first author Suraj Cheema, a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley. \"Negative capacitance doesn\'t just occur in the conventional picture of a ferroelectric with a dielectric, which is what\'s been studied over the past decade. You can actually make the effect even stronger by engineering these crystal structures to exploit antiferroelectricity in tandem with ferroelectricity.\"</p><p>The researchers found that a superlattice structure composed of three atomic layers of zirconium oxide sandwiched between two single atomic layers of hafnium oxide, totaling less than two nanometers in thickness, provided the best negative capacitance effect. Because most state-of-the-art silicon transistors already use a 2-nanometer gate oxide composed of hafnium oxide on top of silicon dioxide, and since zirconium oxide is also used in silicon technologies, these superlattice structures can easily be integrated into advanced transistors.</p><p>To test how well the superlattice structure would perform as a gate oxide, the team fabricated short channel transistors and tested their capabilities. These transistors would require approximately 30% less voltage while maintaining semiconductor industry benchmarks and with no loss of reliability, compared to existing transistors.</p><p>\"One of the issues that we often see in this type of research is that we can we can demonstrate various phenomena in materials, but those materials are not compatible with advanced computing materials, and so we cannot bring the benefit to real technology,\" Salahuddin said. \"This work transforms negative capacitance from an academic topic to something that could actually be used in an advanced transistor.<em>\"</em></p><p>Nirmaan Shanker of UC Berkeley is also a co-first author of this study. Additional co-authors include Li-Chen Wang, Cheng-Hsiang Hsu, Shang-Lin Hsu, Yu-Hung Liao, Wenshen Li, Jong-Ho Bae, Steve K. Volkman, Daewoong Kwon, Yoonsoo Rho, Costas P. Grigoropoulos, Ramamoorthy Ramesh and Chenming Hu of UC Berkeley; Matthew San Jose, Jorge Gomez, Wriddhi Chakraborty, Patrick Fay and Suman Datta of the University of Notre Dame; Gianni Pinelli, Ravi Rastogi, Dominick Pipitone, Corey Stull, Matthew Cook, Brian Tyrrell and Mohamed Mohamed of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology\'s Lincoln Laboratory; Vladimir A. Stoica of Pennsylvania State University; Zhan Zhang and John W. Freeland of Argonne National Laboratory; Christopher J. Tassone and Apurva Mehta of SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory; Ghazal Saheli and David Thompson of Applied Materials; Dong Ik Suh and Won-Tae Koo of SK Hynix; Kab-Jin Nam, Dong Jin Jung, Woo-Bin Song, Seunggeol Nam and Jinseong Heo of Samsung Electronics; Chung-Hsun Lin of Intel Corporation; Narendra Pariha and Souvik Mahapatra of the Indian Institute of Technology; and Padraic Shafer and Jim Ciston of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.</p><p>This research was supported in part by the Berkeley Center for Negative Capacitance Transistors (BCNCT), the DARPA Technologies for Mixed-mode Ultra Scaled Integrated Circuits (T-MUSIC) program, the University of California Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives (UC MRPI) project and the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division under contract No. DE-AC02-05-CH11231 (Microelectronics Co-Design program).</p><p><strong>Story Source:</strong></p>','2022-04-08 16:13:39.819893','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of California - Berkeley','In a new study, University of California, Berkeley, engineers describe a major breakthrough in the design of a component of transistors -- the tiny electrical switches that form the building blocks of computers -- that could significantly reduce their energy consumption without sacrificing speed, size or performance.\n',1,27,'<li>Suraj S. Cheema, Nirmaan Shanker, Li-Chen Wang, Cheng-Hsiang Hsu, Shang-Lin Hsu, Yu-Hung Liao, Matthew San Jose, Jorge Gomez, Wriddhi Chakraborty, Wenshen Li, Jong-Ho Bae, Steve K. Volkman, Daewoong Kwon, Yoonsoo Rho, Gianni Pinelli, Ravi Rastogi, Dominick Pipitone, Corey Stull, Matthew Cook, Brian Tyrrell, Vladimir A. Stoica, Zhan Zhang, John W. Freeland, Christopher J. Tassone, Apurva Mehta, Ghazal Saheli, David Thompson, Dong Ik Suh, Won-Tae Koo, Kab-Jin Nam, Dong Jin Jung, Woo-Bin Song, Chung-Hsun Lin, Seunggeol Nam, Jinseong Heo, Narendra Parihar, Costas P. Grigoropoulos, Padraic Shafer, Patrick Fay, Ramamoorthy Ramesh, Souvik Mahapatra, Jim Ciston, Suman Datta, Mohamed Mohamed, Chenming Hu, Sayeef Salahuddin. <strong>Ultrathin ferroic HfO2–ZrO2 superlattice gate stack for advanced transistors</strong>. <em>Nature</em>, 2022; 604 (7904): 65 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04425-6\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41586-022-04425-6</a>\n</li>'),(1983,'Enhancing deep sleep','enhancing-deep-sleep','2022-04-08 16:13:49.252435',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Researchers have developed a wearable device that plays specific sounds to enhance deep sleep. The first clinical study has now shown that the device is effective, but not at the same level of effectiveness for everyone.</p><p>Many people, especially the elderly, suffer from abnormal sleep. In particular, the deep sleep phases become shorter and shallower with age. Deep sleep is important for the regeneration of the brain and memory, and also has a positive influence on the cardiovascular system.</p><p>Researchers have shown that the brain waves characterizing deep sleep, so-​called slow waves, can be improved by playing precisely timed sounds through earphones while sleeping. While this works well in the sleep laboratory under controlled conditions, there has thus far been no at home solution that can be used longer than just one night.</p><p><strong>SleepLoop to the rescue</strong></p><p>As part of the SleepLoop project, researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a mobile system that can be used at home and aims to promote deep sleep through auditory brain stimulation.</p><p>The SleepLoop system consists of a headband that is put on at bedtime and worn throughout the night. This headband contains electrodes and a microchip that constantly measure the brain activity of the person sleeping. Data from this is analysed autonomously in real-time on the microchip using custom software. As soon as the sleeping person shows slow waves in the brain activity characterising deep sleep, the system triggers a short auditory signal (clicking). This helps to synchronise the neuronal cells and enhance the slow waves. What makes the solution unique is that the person sleeping is not conciously aware of this sound during deep sleep.</p><p><strong>The first clinical study</strong></p><p>Researchers from ETH Zurich and University Hospital Zurich, led by Caroline Lustenberger, group leader at the Neural Control of Movement Lab, have conducted a clinical study with this device for the first time. The results have just been published in the journal <em>Communications Medicine.</em></p><p>The study involved equipping participants, between 60 -- 80 years old, with the SleepLoop system, which they were required to operate themselves in their own home. The system is designed to function independently even by users with little technical experience. \"This worked very well. We had surprisingly little data loss and the participants rated the device as user-friendly,\" says Lustenberger.</p><p>They wore the device every night for a total of four weeks, with the auditory stimulation given on a nightly basis for two weeks and no stimulation for the next two weeks. Neither the subjects nor the researchers knew in which two weeks the auditory signals were played and in which two they were not.</p><p><strong>Auditory stimulation is indeed feasible</strong></p><p>The results of 16 participants of the study show that it was indeed possible to enhance the slow waves through auditory signals during deep sleep in most participants. However, the individual differences were extensive with some of the subjects responding very well to the stimuli, while others responded minimally or not at all.</p><p>According to Lustenberger, the question of whether a person reacted to a stimulus did not depend on their well-being during the day. \"Some people generally responded well to the stimuli and clearly showed enhanced slow waves, while others showed no response, regardless of their daily well-being.\"</p><p>The researchers have used these individual differences to better predict how a given individual will respond to the auditory stimulus. This in turn helps them to optimise and improve the performance of SleepLoop.</p><p><strong>On track for market launch</strong></p><p>A spin-off company Tosoo AG, is currently working on developing the device further and preparing it for the clinical market. It is already clear that it will not be freely available, but only via a doctor\'s prescription.</p><p>\"This is a medical device, not just a wellness consumer product you can order online when you have trouble sleeping,\" emphasises Walter Karlen, who developed the technology at ETH Zurich. 1 Karlen has been appointed Director of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at Ulm University in May 2021. \"Use of the device must be medically indicated and supervised by a doctor,\" he says. Further development of the technology will now continue also in Ulm.</p><p><strong>Story Source:</strong></p>','2022-04-08 16:13:49.252435','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'ETH Zurich','Researchers have developed a wearable device that plays specific sounds to enhance deep sleep. The first clinical study has now shown that the device is effective, but not at the same level of effectiveness for everyone.\n',1,201,'<li>Caroline Lustenberger, M. Laura Ferster, Stephanie Huwiler, Luzius Brogli, Esther Werth, Reto Huber, Walter Karlen. <strong>Auditory deep sleep stimulation in older adults at home: a randomized crossover trial</strong>. <em>Communications Medicine</em>, 2022; 2 (1) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43856-022-00096-6\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s43856-022-00096-6</a>\n</li>'),(1984,'New resource could provide clues on the past, present, and future of clownfish','new-resource-could-provide-clues-on-the-past,-present,-and-future-of-clownfish','2022-04-08 16:13:52.205489',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Clownfish may have been made famous through the popular film Finding Nemo, but probably only a few people realize that these charismatic orange-and-white fish offer huge potential for scientific research. Scientists can use them to answer a myriad of biological questions, from how larvae disperse in the open ocean to how coral reef fish will react to climate change. To help achieve these answers, researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) have pieced together a comprehensive genome of the false clownfish (<em>Amphiprion ocellaris</em>). The study was published in <em>G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics</em>.</p><p>\"This genome, which is like the blueprint of the false clownfish, will be a very useful resource for scientists across biological fields,\" explained Dr. Marcela Herrera Sarrias, one of the two first authors of the study and Postdoctoral Scholar in OIST\'s Marine Eco-Evo-Devo Unit.</p><p>\"We can use the false clownfish as a model species for studying ecology, evolution, adaption, development biology, and more,\" added Prof. Vincent Laudet, Principal Investigator of the Marine Eco-Evo-Devo Unit.</p><p>The false clownfish is found in both tropical and subtropical areas and relies on sea anemones, and thus the coral reef, for survival. Like many coral reef fish, it is expected that their populations will decline as coral reefs decrease in size due to climate change. This species looks very similar to orange clownfish -- the true Nemo -- but the two live in different areas. The false clownfish is found around Okinawa, Southeast Asia, the Philippines, and northwestern Australia while the orange clownfish is around northeastern Australia and some of the Pacific Islands. A comprehensive genome of the orange clownfish was published a few years ago so it was only fitting that, for comparative research, publication of the false clownfish\'s genome followed suit.</p><p>Although previous research has resulted in the genome of the false clownfish, this study produced by far the most high-quality version. The researchers highlighted that this was due to their version being at the scale of chromosomes.</p><p>The genome of the false clownfish is like the comprehensive instruction manual located in every one of its cells. It contains all the information needed for the operation of the fish. This instruction manual is divided into chapters -- the chromosomes -- and these are, in turn, divided into pages -- the genes. Previously published genomes on the false clownfish comprised of scattered genes or chunks of genes, with little understanding of how they were arranged on the chromosome. In this new study, the genome is more fully assembled.</p><p>For this research, false clownfish were collected from Onna-son in Okinawa. The researchers extracted their DNA and RNA and used a sequencing technology to assemble the genomes at a chromosome scale. Then they could start answering some of the biological questions.</p><p>The two species of clownfish fit into the subfamily of anemonefish, which is made up of 28 fish species in total. The researchers decided to compare the two genomes to find out what genes the two species shared that might be missing from the other 26 species.</p><p>\"Evolutionary speaking, the two clownfish species are separated from the other 26 species in the subfamily,\" said Dr. Taewoo Ryu, who led the project and is a Group Leader in OIST\'s Marine Climate Change Unit. \"We wanted to find out what makes them special.\"</p><p>They uncovered 70 genes that were conserved in the genomes of the two species of clownfish, but not in the other 26 species. The other species still had some of the genes, but they were a little bit different. Furthermore, the researcher found that a subset of these genes is related to neurobiological function, so likely impacts the behavior and ecology of the two species of clownfish, in a way that makes them different from the rest of anemonefish.</p><p>\"We\'ve already started generating results using the published genome and there is a huge capacity for further climate change research on this species,\" concluded Prof. Tim Ravasi, senior author of the paper and Principal Investigator of the Marine Climate Change Unit. \"This resource provides a new baseline to start other experiments.\"</p>','2022-04-08 16:13:52.205489','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) Graduate University','Researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University have produced a comprehensive genome of the false clownfish, which could be used to answer a myriad of biological questions.\n',1,132,'<li>Taewoo Ryu, Marcela Herrera, Billy Moore, Michael Izumiyama, Erina Kawai, Vincent Laudet, Timothy Ravasi. <strong>A chromosome-scale genome assembly of the false clownfish, Amphiprion ocellaris</strong>. <em>G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/g3journal/jkac074\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1093/g3journal/jkac074</a>\n</li>'),(1985,'Invisible helium atoms provide exquisitely sensitive test of fundamental theory','invisible-helium-atoms-provide-exquisitely-sensitive-test-of-fundamental-theory','2022-04-08 16:13:56.502283',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Physicists at the Australian National University have developed the most sensitive method ever for measuring the potential energy of an atom (within a hundredth of a decillionth of a joule -- or 10-35 joule), and used it to validate one of the most tested theories in physics -- quantum electrodynamics (QED).</p><p>The research, published this week in <em>Science</em> relies on finding the colour of laser light where a helium atom is invisible, and is an independent corroboration of previous methods used to test QED, which have involved measuring transitions from one atomic energy state to another.</p><p>\"This invisibility is only for a specific atom and a specific colour of light -- so it couldn\'t be used to make an invisibility cloak that Harry Potter would use to investigate dark corners at Hogwarts,\" said lead author, Bryce Henson, a PhD student at ANU Research School of Physics.</p><p>\"But we were able to use to investigate some dark corners of QED theory.\"</p><p>\"We were hoping to catch QED out, because there have been some previous discrepancies between theory and experiments, but it passed with a pretty good mark.\"</p><p>Quantum Electrodynamics, or QED, was developed in the late 1940s and describes how light and matter interact, incorporating both quantum mechanics and Einstein\'s special theory of relativity in a way that has remained successful for nearly eighty years.</p><p>However, hints that QED theory needed some improvement came from discrepancies in measurements of the size of the proton, which were mostly resolved in 2019.</p><p>Around this time ANU PhD Scholar Bryce Henson noticed small oscillations in a very sensitive experiment he was conducting on an ultracold cloud of atoms known as a Bose-Einstein condensate.</p><p>He measured the frequency of the oscillations with record precision, finding that interactions between the atoms and the laser light changed the frequency, as the laser colour was varied.</p><p>He realised this effect could be harnessed to very accurately determining the precise colour at which the atoms did not interact at all with the laser and the oscillation remained unchanged -- in other words effectively becoming invisible.</p><p>With the combination of an extremely high-resolution laser and atoms cooled to 80 billionths of a degree above absolute zero (80 nanokelvin) the team achieved a sensitivity in their energy measurements that was 5 orders of magnitude less than energy of the atoms, around 10- 35 joules, or a temperature difference of about 10-13 of a degree kelvin.</p><p>\"That\'s so small that I can\'t think of any phenomenon to compare it to -- it\'s so far off the end of the scale,\" Mr Henson said.</p><p>With these measurements the team were able to deduce very precise values for the invisibility colour of helium. To compare their results with theoretical prediction for QED, they turned to Professor Li-Yan Tang from the Chinese Academy of the Sciences in Wuhan and Professor Gordon Drake from the University of Windsor in Canada.</p><p>Previous calculations using QED had less uncertainty than the experiments, but with the new experimental technique improving the accuracy by a factor of 20, the theoreticians had to rise to the challenge and improve their calculations.</p><p>In this quest they were more than successful -- improving their uncertainty to a mere 1/40th of the latest experimental uncertainty, and singling out the QED contribution to the atom\'s invisibility frequency which was 30 times larger than the experiment\'s uncertainty. The theoretical value was only slightly lower than the experimental value by 1.7 times the experimental uncertainty.</p><p>Leader of the international collaboration, Professor Ken Baldwin from the ANU Research School of Physics, said that improvements to the experiment might help resolve the discrepancy, but would also hone an extraordinary tool that could illuminate QED and other theories.</p><p>\"New tools for precision measurements often drive big changes in theoretical understanding down the track,\" Professor Baldwin said.</p>','2022-04-08 16:13:56.502283','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Australian National University','Physicists have developed the most sensitive method ever for measuring the potential energy of an atom (within a hundredth of a decillionth of a joule -- or 10-35 joule), and used it to validate one of the most tested theories in physics -- quantum electrodynamics (QED).\n',1,68,'<li>B. M. Henson, J. A. Ross, K. F. Thomas, C. N. Kuhn, D. K. Shin, S. S. Hodgman, Yong-Hui Zhang, Li-Yan Tang, G. W. F. Drake, A. T. Bondy, A. G. Truscott, K. G. H. Baldwin. <strong>Measurement of a helium tune-out frequency: an independent test of quantum electrodynamics</strong>. <em>Science</em>, 2022; 376 (6589): 199 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abk2502\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1126/science.abk2502</a>\n</li>'),(1986,'Old skins cells reprogrammed to regain youthful function','old-skins-cells-reprogrammed-to-regain-youthful-function','2022-04-08 16:14:01.330264',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Research from the Babraham Institute has developed a method to \'time jump\' human skin cells by 30 years, turning back the ageing clock for cells without losing their specialised function. Work by researchers in the Institute\'s Epigenetics research programme has been able to partly restore the function of older cells, as well as rejuvenating the molecular measures of biological age. The research is published today in the journal <em>eLife </em>and whilst at an early stage of exploration, it could revolutionise regenerative medicine.</p><p><strong>What is regenerative medicine?</strong></p><p>As we age, our cells\' ability to function declines and the genome accumulates marks of ageing. Regenerative biology aims to repair or replace cells including old ones. One of the most important tools in regenerative biology is our ability to create \'induced\' stem cells. The process is a result of several steps, each erasing some of the marks that make cells specialised. In theory, these stem cells have the potential to become any cell type, but scientists aren\'t yet able to reliably recreate the conditions to re-differentiate stem cells into all cell types.</p><p><strong>Turning back time</strong></p><p>The new method, based on the Nobel Prize winning technique scientists use to make stem cells, overcomes the problem of entirely erasing cell identity by halting reprogramming part of the way through the process. This allowed researchers to find the precise balance between reprogramming cells, making them biologically younger, while still being able to regain their specialised cell function.</p><p>In 2007, Shinya Yamanaka was the first scientist to turn normal cells, which have a specific function, into stem cells which have the special ability to develop into any cell type. The full process of stem cell reprogramming takes around 50 days using four key molecules called the Yamanaka factors. The new method, called \'maturation phase transient reprogramming\', exposes cells to Yamanaka factors for just 13 days. At this point, age-related changes are removed and the cells have temporarily lost their identity. The partly reprogrammed cells were given time to grow under normal conditions, to observe whether their specific skin cell function returned. Genome analysis showed that cells had regained markers characteristic of skin cells (fibroblasts), and this was confirmed by observing collagen production in the reprogrammed cells.</p><p><strong>Age isn\'t just a number</strong></p><p>To show that the cells had been rejuvenated, the researchers looked for changes in the hallmarks of ageing. As explained by Dr Diljeet Gill, a postdoc in Wolf Reik\'s lab at the Institute who conducted the work as a PhD student: \"Our understanding of ageing on a molecular level has progressed over the last decade, giving rise to techniques that allow researchers to measure age-related biological changes in human cells. We were able to apply this to our experiment to determine the extent of reprogramming our new method achieved.\"</p><p>Researchers looked at multiple measures of cellular age. The first is the epigenetic clock, where chemical tags present throughout the genome indicate age. The second is the transcriptome, all the gene readouts produced by the cell. By these two measures, the reprogrammed cells matched the profile of cells that were 30 years younger compared to reference data sets.</p><p>The potential applications of this technique are dependent on the cells not only appearing younger, but functioning like young cells too. Fibroblasts produce collagen, a molecule found in bones, skin tendons and ligaments, helping provide structure to tissues and heal wounds. The rejuvenated fibroblasts produced more collagen proteins compared to control cells that did not undergo the reprogramming process. Fibroblasts also move into areas that need repairing. Researchers tested the partially rejuvenated cells by creating an artificial cut in a layer of cells in a dish. They found that their treated fibroblasts moved into the gap faster than older cells. This is a promising sign that one day this research could eventually be used to create cells that are better at healing wounds.</p><p>In the future, this research may also open up other therapeutic possibilities; the researchers observed that their method also had an effect on other genes linked to age-related diseases and symptoms. The <em>APBA2</em> gene, associated with Alzheimer\'s disease, and the <em>MAF</em> gene with a role in the development of cataracts, both showed changes towards youthful levels of transcription.</p><p>The mechanism behind the successful transient reprogramming is not yet fully understood, and is the next piece of the puzzle to explore. The researchers speculate that key areas of the genome involved in shaping cell identity might escape the reprogramming process.</p><p>Diljeet concluded: \"Our results represent a big step forward in our understanding of cell reprogramming. We have proved that cells can be rejuvenated without losing their function and that rejuvenation looks to restore some function to old cells. The fact that we also saw a reverse of ageing indicators in genes associated with diseases is particularly promising for the future of this work.\"</p><p>Professor Wolf Reik, a group leader in the Epigenetics research programme who has recently moved to lead the Altos Labs Cambridge Institute, said: \"This work has very exciting implications. Eventually, we may be able to identify genes that rejuvenate without reprogramming, and specifically target those to reduce the effects of ageing. This approach holds promise for valuable discoveries that could open up an amazing therapeutic horizon.\"</p>','2022-04-08 16:14:01.330264','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Babraham Institute','Scientists have developed a new technique for rejuvenating skin cells. This technique has allowed researchers to rewind the cellular biological clock by around 30 years according to molecular measures, significantly longer than previous reprogramming methods. The partially rejuvenated cells showed signs of behaving more like youthful cells in experiments simulating a skin wound. This research, although in early stages, could eventually have implications for regenerative medicine, especially if it can be replicated in other cell types.\n',1,29,'<li>Diljeet Gill, Aled Parry, Fátima Santos, Hanneke Okkenhaug, Christopher D Todd, Irene Hernando-Herraez, Thomas M Stubbs, Inês Milagre, Wolf Reik. <strong>Multi-omic rejuvenation of human cells by maturation phase transient reprogramming</strong>. <em>eLife</em>, 2022; 11 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.71624\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.7554/eLife.71624</a>\n</li>'),(1987,'Crowning a quest into a very well-guarded secret: Structure of the kinetochore corona finally revealed','crowning-a-quest-into-a-very-well-guarded-secret:-structure-of-the-kinetochore-corona-finally-revealed','2022-04-08 18:06:22.107613',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Cell division builds our bodies, supplying all cells in our tissues and organs, from the skin to the intestine, from the blood to the brain. It not only allows these organs to grow, but also to regenerate with fresh cells when required. Cell division starts with the replication of chromosomes, the carriers of the three billion nucleotides of the human genome.The replicated chromosomes are then distributed to the daughter cells in a process named mitosis. During mitosis, a network of thread-like structures named the mitotic spindle initially captures the chromosomes. After positioning them in a highly choreographed process, the spindle separates the chromosomes in opposite direction, so that when two cells form out of one, each inherits an exact copy of the genome. Even the smallest errors in this process will have dire physiological consequences.</p><p><strong>A multilayered challenge </strong></p><p>The kinetochore is the point of contact of chromosomes with the spindle, and is therefore crucially involved in the process of chromosome alignment and partition. It is a complicated multilayered protein complex. \"Understanding kinetochores is a tremendous challenge, as they consist of several layers, each made of many interacting building blocks\" says Musacchio. \"The outermost layer, the corona, has retained some of the most interesting secrets of the kinetochore. Its assembly is particularly interesting, since the complex has a brief lifetime that ends right before the critical steps of chromosome alignment and segregation.\"</p><p>In a series of previous studies, Musacchio\'s laboratory made fundamental inroads into the structure and function of the different layers of kinetochores and how they connect chromosomes to microtubules. To gain this knowledge, the group adopted a reductionist approach named biochemical reconstitution. They produced the individual components of the protein networks outside the cell, in a test tube. They then reassembled them piece by piece to form an almost complete kinetochore that they could study in isolation, in a controlled and simplified environment that contrasts with the enormously complex, buzzing interior of a cell.</p><p>Applying the same strategy, the skilled team of two postdocs, Tobias Raisch and Giuseppe Ciossani, two PhD students, Ennio d\'Amico and Verena Cmentowski, and other co-workers has now been able to rebuild the kinetochore corona. They showed that only two components are sufficient for that: the ROD-Zwilch-ZW10 (RZZ) protein complex and the protein Spindly, which plays an essential role in the interaction of the kinetochore with the microtubules. The corona assembles exclusively on kinetochores, and the mechanisms that limit its growth to these structures had remained a crucial unresolved question. By reconstituting the process <em>in vitro</em>, the scientists were able to identify an enzyme, the kinase MPS1, as the essential catalyst of RZZ corona assembly at the kinetochore.</p><p><strong>One step closer to the crown </strong></p><p>Electron microscopy (EM) has accompanied the study of kinetochores since the 1960\'s, but it wasn\'t until recently, that burgeoning methodological developments made this technique able to visualize the building blocks at the atomic scale. \"In 2017, we generated the first ever 3D structural model of the RZZ complex by cryo-EM,\" says Raunser. \"However, at the 1 nm resolution of this initial model, it was impossible to observe the finest molecular details responsible for biological function.\"</p><p>The new structural analysis improved the resolution to the point that atomic details emerged, finally explaining how interactions of RZZ components with themselves and with Spindly promote corona assembly into a large polymer that surrounds the kinetochore. \"Our work crowns a succession of previous studies on the kinetochore corona, now providing us with a framework to understand the critical moment of cell division when the attachment of chromosomes to microtubules becomes essentially irreversible\" concludes Musacchio. The team\'s future studies will try to integrate the corona into reconstituted kinetochores, moving a new important step towards the reconstitution of chromosome segregation <em>in vitro</em>, a goal of extraordinary ambition that will shed light on the basis of a most fundamental process of life.</p>','2022-04-08 18:06:22.107613','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology','During cell division in a mother cell, the 23 chromosomes that carry the human genome must be first copied and later delivered to two newly forming daughter cells. At least in healthy cells, the result is astonishingly flawless, and no chromosome is ever lost. Not so in malignant cells, where rampant chromosome segregation errors generate a continuous flux of new genetic variants that support metastatic growth and resistance to chemotherapy. A multilayered protein structure called the kinetochore executes the chromosome delivery program.\n',1,29,'<li>Tobias Raisch, Giuseppe Ciossani, Ennio d’Amico, Verena Cmentowski, Sara Carmignani, Stefano Maffini, Felipe Merino, Sabine Wohlgemuth, Ingrid R Vetter, Stefan Raunser, Andrea Musacchio. <strong>Structure of the RZZ complex and molecular basis of Spindly‐driven corona assembly at human kinetochores</strong>. <em>The EMBO Journal</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.15252/embj.2021110411\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.15252/embj.2021110411</a>\n</li>'),(1988,'Dengue detection smartphone tech shows new hope for low-cost diagnostics','dengue-detection-smartphone-tech-shows-new-hope-for-low-cost-diagnostics','2022-04-08 18:06:39.524711',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Accurate home testing could be used for a wider range of illnesses, as new research shows the capability of smartphone-powered tests for Dengue Fever.</p><p>In a paper published in<em> PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases</em> today, biomedical technology researchers from the University of Reading used a new diagnostic kit called Cygnus to detect Dengue Fever with significantly improved rates over lateral flow testing kits.</p><p>Working with academics and clinicians in Thailand, the team trialled the tests alongside already established alternatives in and found the new tests showed 82% clinical sensitivity, beating lateral flow testing (74% sensitivity) and matching hospital-based lab diagnostics (83% sensitivity). At the same time, these devices make 10 measurements allowing us to identify which of the 4 different dengue virus types caused the infection.</p><p>Dr Sarah Needs, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Microfluidic Antimicrobial Resistance Testing from the University of Reading is lead author of the paper.</p><p>Dr Needs said:</p><p>\"The paper shows exciting potential for the use of the microfluidic \'lab on a strip\' tests that can used in conjunction with a smartphone and are more powerful than LFT testing in this case. As well as being cheap to produce, the lab on a strip technology allows users to test many different targets at once in one single sample, so it could be useful to detect multiple diseases not just one.</p><p><strong>Lab on a strip</strong></p><p>The new diagnostic test developed for the research uses \'lab on a strip\' technology, which performs 10 or more tests a very small amount of liquid sample (such as blood, urine or saliva).</p><p>The tests developed for the research were specifically developed to detect Dengue Fever, which affects an estimated 400m cases each year. While most cases are mild, dengue infections can lead to significant complications and can be fatal. Dengue can be most severe in children and is a serious health challenge facing half the global population.</p><p>Dr Alexander Edwards, Associate Professor in Biomedical Technology at the University of Reading co-created the lab on a strip technology.</p><p>Dr Edwards said:</p><p>\"While some people might only recently learned of the trade-offs between home vs lab testing following Covid-19, in many parts of the world rapid lateral flow tests are used for a range of illnesses including dengue.</p><p>\"With the Cygnus concept, we are tackling the biggest hurdle for home testing. How do you make something portable that can be cheaply mass produced while still matching laboratory test performance? By designing the microfluidic lab on a strip using mass-production melt-extrusion it is possible to scale up production and produce hundreds of thousands of tests. By recording results with smartphones, which are becoming ubiquitous, we have designed something that could be revolutionary for healthcare.\"</p>','2022-04-08 18:06:39.524711','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Reading','Accurate home testing could be used for a wider range of illnesses, as new research shows the capability of smartphone-powered tests for Dengue Fever.\n',1,27,'<li>Sarah Helen Needs, Sirintra Sirivisoot, Sophie Jegouic, Tanapan Prommool, Prasit Luangaram, Chatchawan Srisawat, Kanokwan Sriraksa, Wannee Limpitikul, Dumrong Mairiang, Prida Malasit, Panisadee Avirutnan, Chunya Puttikhunt, Alexander Daniel Edwards. <strong>Smartphone multiplex microcapillary diagnostics using Cygnus: Development and evaluation of rapid serotype-specific NS1 detection with dengue patient samples</strong>. <em>PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases</em>, 2022; 16 (4): e0010266 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0010266\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1371/journal.pntd.0010266</a>\n</li>'),(1989,'CRISPR gene editing reveals biological mechanism behind common blood disorder','crispr-gene-editing-reveals-biological-mechanism-behind-common-blood-disorder','2022-04-08 18:06:42.102767',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">UNSW researchers have used CRISPR gene editing -- a type of \'molecular scissors\' -- to understand how deletions in one area of the genome can affect the expression of nearby genes. The work, led by UNSW Associate Professor Kate Quinlan and Professor Merlin Crossley, together with collaborators from the US, will help researchers investigate new therapeutic approaches for one of the world\'s most devastating genetic blood disorders -- sickle cell disease.</p><p>Asymptomatic sickle cell disease patients actually lack a tiny part of the genome, scientists have shown.</p><p>The team\'s findings are published today in academic journal <em>Blood</em>. (Just last week, A/Prof. Quinlan and Prof. Crossley received a $412,919 ARC linkage grant to fund a collaboration between UNSW Sydney and CSL that follows on from the work described in this paper.)</p><p>\"Sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia, a closely related disease, are inherited genetic conditions that affect red blood cells. They are fairly common worldwide -- over 318,000 infants with these conditions are born every year, and haemoglobin disorders cause 3 per cent of deaths in children aged under five years worldwide,\" says co-lead author A/Prof. Quinlan.</p><p>Genetic mutations -- specifically, a defect in the adult globin gene -- are responsible for the disorders. The mutant genes affect the production of haemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen around our bodies.</p><p>\"Interestingly, when children are born, they don\'t show disease symptoms at first, even if they have the mutations, because at that stage, they\'re still expressing <em>foetal</em> globin and not yet <em>adult</em> globin. That\'s because we have different haemoglobin genes that we express at different stages of development,\" says A/Prof. Quinlan.</p><p>\"As the foetal globin gets turned off, and adult globin gets turned on -- which happens within about the first year of life -- the symptoms start to manifest.\"</p><p>When that happens, the red blood cells take on unusual, sickled shapes and block small blood vessels, causing pain, organ damage, and premature death. The disease is particularly common in tropical countries, and in people from places where malaria is endemic.</p><p>\"The goal of our research is finding out how we can reverse the foetal to adult globin switch, so that patients continue to express foetal globin throughout life, rather than the mutant adult globin genes that cause blood cells to become stiff and block vessels,\" says A/Prof. Quinlan.</p><p>Interestingly, this already happens in some people with sickle cell disease: thanks to another, beneficial genetic mutation, a rare subset of patients keeps the foetal globin gene \'on\' throughout their life and are protected from sickle cell symptoms.</p><p>\"In these patients, the persistent expression of foetal globin effectively compensates for the defective adult globin -- but up until this piece of research, we didn\'t really understand the process that led to this incredible advantage,\" A/Prof. Quinlan says.</p><p><strong>\'Deleting\' genes with CRISPR</strong></p><p>To get to the bottom of what\'s going on in these lucky people\'s genome, UNSW PhD student Sarah Topfer compiled data on the rare families that express foetal globin throughout life.</p><p>\"As a first step, Sarah compared deletions in lots of different patients\' genomes -- essentially, she looked to see if any shared element was missing in all of them. What do these patients have in common? She found one very small region was deleted in all these patients\' genomes.\"</p><p>Sarah then used CRISPR gene editing to replicate some of these big patient deletions -- and the small deleted bit they all had in common -- in cell lines in the lab.</p><p>\"CRISPR allows us to \'cut\' bits of DNA out of cells grown in the lab, to modify genes and see what happens as a result -- it\'s essentially a tool to figure out what genes do inside living cells,\" A/Prof. Quinlan says.</p><p>\"We found that deleting just that one little bit was sufficient to make foetal globin go up and adult globin down -- which suggests that we have found the key mechanism that can explain why foetal globin levels remains high in these asymptomatic patients,\" A/Prof. Quinlan says.</p><p>\"Effectively, by deleting the adult globin \'on switch\', we made the foetal globin \'on switch\' active.\"</p><p>Prof. Quinlan says the results were unexpected.</p><p>\"It was surprising to see the findings -- many people have studied these mutations for many years, so the idea that there\'d be one unifying hypothesis that could explain them rather than them all working through different mechanisms will be surprising for the field.</p><p>\"While we went in with the hypothesis that there might be one mechanism, we didn\'t expect it to come out so cleanly -- we thought that perhaps it would be more complicated than what we\'d initially thought.\"</p><p><strong>The CRISPR revolution and potential therapies</strong></p><p>Co-lead author Prof. Crossley, who is also UNSW\'s Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academic &amp; Student Life, says it was impossible to test this model prior to the advent of CRISPR gene editing.</p><p>\"Our group has specialised in using this new technology to understand globin gene switching,\" Prof. Crossley says. \"Australia now has a significant number of people with either sickle cell disease or thalassemia.</p><p>\"The work, supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council, is an important example of how the CRISPR gene editing revolution is accelerating scientific understanding and will deliver new therapies to the clinic.\"</p><p>The scientists say the work revealed today is improving our fundamental understanding of the mechanism behind sickle cell disease.</p><p>\"What this really helps us to do is understand this process of turning off foetal globin and turning on adult globin and how we could reverse that, so that we can use this understanding of the mechanism to help us look for new therapeutic approaches -- it\'s a key piece of the puzzle,\" A/Prof. Quinlan says.</p><p>Some of Prof. Crossley\'s team\'s previous discoveries in the field are informing clinical trials already -- by using beneficial mutations they\'ve discovered in the past that could lead to therapies for these disorders.</p><p>At the 2020 NSW Premier\'s Prizes for Science and Engineering, Prof. Crossley won the award for Excellence in Medical Biological Sciences (cell and molecular, medical, veterinary and genetics) for his work in the field.</p>','2022-04-08 18:06:42.102767','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of New South Wales','Researchers have used CRISPR gene editing -- a type of \'molecular scissors\' -- to understand how deletions in one area of the genome can affect the expression of nearby genes. The work will help researchers investigate new therapeutic approaches for one of the world\'s most devastating genetic blood disorders -- sickle cell disease. Asymptomatic sickle cell disease patients actually lack a tiny part of the genome, scientists have shown.\n',1,27,'<li>Sarah K. Topfer, Ruopeng Feng, Peng Huang, Lana C. Ly, Gabriella E. Martyn, Gerd A. Blobel, Mitchell J. Weiss, Kate G. R. Quinlan, Merlin Crossley. <strong>Disrupting the adult globin promoter alleviates promoter competition and reactivates fetal globin gene expression</strong>. <em>Blood</em>, 2022; 139 (14): 2107 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1182/blood.2021014205\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1182/blood.2021014205</a>\n</li>'),(1990,'Better, faster, energy efficient predictions','better,-faster,-energy-efficient-predictions','2022-04-08 18:06:48.243246',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Predicting how climate and the environment will change over time or how air flows over an aircraft are too complex even for the most powerful supercomputers to solve. Scientists rely on models to fill in the gap between what they can simulate and what they need to predict. But, as every meteorologist knows, models often rely on partial or even faulty information which may lead to bad predictions.</p><p>Now, researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) are forming what they call \"intelligent alloys,\" combining the power of computational science with artificial intelligence to develop models that complement simulations to predict the evolution of science\'s most complex systems.</p><p>In a paper published in <em>Nature Communications</em>, Petros Koumoutsakos, the Herbert S. Winokur, Jr. Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences and co-author Jane Bae, a former postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Applied Computational Science at SEAS, combined reinforcement learning with numerical methods to compute turbulent flows, one of the most complex processes in engineering.</p><p>Reinforcement learning algorithms are the machine equivalent to B.F. Skinner\'s behavioral conditioning experiments. Skinner, the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard from 1959 to 1974, famously trained pigeons to play ping pong by rewarding the avian competitor that could peck a ball past its opponent. The rewards reinforced strategies like cross-table shots that would often result in a point and a tasty treat.</p><p>In the intelligent alloys, the pigeons are replaced by machine learning algorithms (or agents) that learn by interacting with mathematical equations.</p><p>\"We take an equation and play a game where the agent is learning to complete the parts of the equations that we cannot resolve,\" said Bae, who is now an Assistant Professor at the California Institute of Technology. \"The agents add information from the observations the computations can resolve and then they improve what the computation has done.\"</p><p>\"In many complex systems like turbulence flows, we know the equations, but we will never have the computational power to solve them accurately enough for engineering and climate applications,\" said Koumoutsakos. \"By using reinforcement learning, many agents can learn to complement state-of-the-art computational tools to solve the equations accurately.\"</p><p>Using this process, the researchers were able to predict challenging turbulent flows interacting with solid walls, such as a turbine blade, more accurately than current methods.</p><p>\"There is a huge range of applications because every engineering system from offshore wind turbines to energy systems uses models for the interaction of the flow with the device and we can use this multi-agent reinforcement idea to develop, augment and improve models,\" said Bae.</p><p>In a second paper, published in <em>Nature Machine Intelligence</em>, Koumoutsakos and his colleagues used machine learning algorithms to accelerate predictions in simulations of complex processes that take place over long periods of time. Take morphogenesis, the process of differentiating cells into tissues and organs. Understanding every step of morphogenesis is critical to understanding certain diseases and organ defects, but no computer is large enough to image and store every step of morphogenesis over months.</p><p>\"If a process happens in a matter of seconds and you want to understand how it works, you need a camera that takes pictures in milliseconds,\" said Koumoutsakos. \"But if that process is part of a larger process that takes place over months or years, like morphogenesis, and you try to use a millisecond camera over that entire timescale, forget it -- you run out of resources.\"</p><p>Koumoutsakos and his team, which included researchers from ETH Zurich and MIT, demonstrated that AI could be used to generate reduced representations of fine-scale simulations (the equivalent of experimental images), compressing the information almost like zipping large files. The algorithms can then reverse the process, moving the reduced image back to its full state. Solving in the reduced representation is faster and uses far less energy resources than performing computations with the full state.</p><p>\"The big question was, can we use limited instances of reduced representations to predict the full representations in the future,\" Koumoutsakos said.</p><p>The answer was yes.</p><p>\"Because the algorithms have been learning reduced representations that we know are true, they don\'t need the full representation to generate a reduced representation for what comes next in the process,\" said Pantelis Vlachas, a graduate student at SEAS and first author of the paper.</p><p>By using these algorithms, the researchers demonstrated that they can generate predictions thousands to a million times faster than it would take to run the simulations with full resolution. Because the algorithms have learned how to compress and decompress the information, they can then generate a full representation of the prediction, which can then be compared to experiments. The researchers demonstrated this approach on simulations of complex systems, including molecular processes and fluid mechanics.</p><p>\"In one paper, we use AI to complement the simulations by building clever models. In the other paper, we use AI to accelerate simulations by several orders of magnitude. Next, we hope to explore how to combine these two. We call these methods Intelligent Alloys as the fusion can be stronger than each one of the parts. There is plenty of room for innovation in the space between AI and Computational Science.\" said Koumoutsakos.</p><p>The <em>Nature Machine Intelligence </em>paper was co-authored by Georgios Arampatzis (Harvard/ETH Zurich) and Caroline Uhler (MIT).</p>','2022-04-08 18:06:48.243246','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences','Researchers have combined reinforcement learning with numerical methods to compute turbulent flows, one of the most complex processes in engineering. The researchers also used machine learning algorithms to accelerate predictions in simulations of complex processes that take place over long periods of time.\n',1,205,'<li>H. Jane Bae, Petros Koumoutsakos. <strong>Scientific multi-agent reinforcement learning for wall-models of turbulent flows</strong>. <em>Nature Communications</em>, 2022; 13 (1) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-28957-7\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41467-022-28957-7</a>\n</li>'),(1991,'Toward high-powered telecommunication systems','toward-high-powered-telecommunication-systems','2022-04-08 19:14:55.151932',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">For all the recent advances in integrated lithium niobate photonic circuits -- from frequency combs to frequency converters and modulators -- one big component has remained frustratingly difficult to integrate: lasers.</p><p>Long haul telecommunication networks, data center optical interconnects, and microwave photonic systems all rely on lasers to generate an optical carrier used in data transmission. In most cases, lasers are stand-alone devices, external to the modulators, making the whole system more expensive and less stable and scalable.</p><p>Now, researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) in collaboration with industry partners at Freedom Photonics and HyperLight Corporation, have developed the first fully integrated high-power laser on a lithium niobate chip, paving the way for high-powered telecommunication systems, fully integrated spectrometers, optical remote sensing, and efficient frequency conversion for quantum networks, among other applications.</p><p>\"Integrated lithium niobate photonics is a promising platform for the development of high-performance chip-scale optical systems, but getting a laser onto a lithium niobate chip has proved to be one of the biggest design challenges,\" said Marko Loncar, the Tiantsai Lin Professor of Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics at SEAS and senior author of the study. \"In this research, we used all the nano-fabrication tricks and techniques learned from previous developments in integrated lithium niobate photonics to overcome those challenges and achieve the goal of integrating a high-powered laser on a thin-film lithium niobate platform.\"</p><p>The research is published in the journal Optica.</p><p>Loncar and his team used small but powerful distributed feedback lasers for their integrated chip. On chip, the lasers sit in small wells or trenches etched into the lithium niobate and deliver up to 60 milliwatts of optical power in the waveguides fabricated in the same platform. The researchers combined the laser with a 50 gigahertz electro-optic modulator in lithium niobate to build a high-power transmitter.</p><p>\"Integrating high-performance plug-and-play lasers would significantly reduce the cost, complexity, and power consumption of future communication systems,\" said Amirhassan Shams-Ansari, a graduate student at SEAS and first author of the study. \"It\'s a building block that can be integrated into larger optical systems for a range of applications, in sensing, lidar, and data telecommunications.\"</p><p>By combining thin-film lithium niobate devices with high-power lasers using an industry-friendly process, this research represents a key step towards large-scale, low-cost, and high-performance transmitter arrays and optical networks. Next, the team aims to increase the laser\'s power and scalability for even more applications.</p><p>Harvard\'s Office of Technology Development has protected the intellectual property arising from the Loncar Lab\'s innovations in lithium niobate systems. Loncar is a cofounder of HyperLight Corporation, a startup which was launched to commercialize integrated photonic chips based on certain innovations developed in his lab.</p><p>The research was co-authored by Dylan Renaud, Rebecca Cheng, Linbo Shao,</p><p>Di Zhu, and Mengjie Yu, from SEAS, Hannah R. Grant, Leif Johansson from Freedom Photonics and Lingyan He and Mian Zhang from HyperLight Corporation. It was supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency under grant HR0011-20-C-0137 and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under grant FA9550-19-1-0376.</p><p><strong>Story Source:</strong></p>','2022-04-08 19:14:55.151932','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences','Researchers have developed a fully integrated high-power laser on a lithium niobate chip, paving the way for high-powered telecommunication systems, fully integrated spectrometers, optical remote sensing, and efficient frequency conversion for quantum networks, among other applications.\n',1,72,'<li>Amirhassan Shams-Ansari, Dylan Renaud, Rebecca Cheng, Linbo Shao, Lingyan He, Di Zhu, Mengjie Yu, Hannah R. Grant, Leif Johansson, Mian Zhang, Marko Lončar. <strong>Electrically pumped laser transmitter integrated on thin-film lithium niobate</strong>. <em>Optica</em>, 2022; 9 (4): 408 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OPTICA.448617\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1364/OPTICA.448617</a>\n</li>'),(1992,'How T cell-derived interleukin-22 promotes antibacterial defense of colonic crypts','how-t-cell-derived-interleukin-22-promotes-antibacterial-defense-of-colonic-crypts','2022-04-08 20:52:48.975680',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Intestinal epithelial cells line the inner wall of the gut, creating a barrier to dangerous bacteria like enteropathogenic E. colithat seek to attach and efface that barrier, causing diarrhea. Such pathogens pose significant risks to human health and cause infant death in developing countries.</p><p>In a study published in the journal Immunity, Carlene L. Zindl, Ph.D., and Casey T. Weaver, M.D., of the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Pathology show how two types of immune cells -- one a part of the innate immune system and the other a part of the adaptive immune system -- play distinct and indispensable roles to defend that barrier.</p><p>\"In this study, we define a nonredundant role for interleukin-22-producing T cells in antibacterial defense of colonic crypts,\" Weaver said. \"Our findings address a central, unresolved issue regarding the coordination of innate and adaptive immunity and specialization of innate lymphoid cells, or ILCs, and CD4 T cells. Since the discovery of ILC subsets and appreciation of their functional parallel with T cell subsets, it has been unclear what functions are unique to each immune cell population.\"</p><p>The study used mice with bacterial infection of the colon by Citrobacter rodentium, which models human disease caused by enteropathogenic and enterohemorrhagic E. coli. Colons of mice and humans have surface intestinal epithelial cells, or surface IECs, that face the lumen of the colon and line the mouths of colonic crypts. The colonic crypts are the numerous tiny indentations in the colon that are shaped like thick-walled test tubes; at the bottom of each crypt are stem cells that give rise to all new IEC subsets.</p><p>Each crypt is only about 75 to 110 cells deep and 23 cells in circumference, and the human colon has about 9,950,000 crypts. Crypt IECs line each crypt.</p><p>Interleukin-22, or IL-22, is a cytokine signaling protein produced by cells to initiate an immune response. The UAB researchers developed mice that have a reporter gene in IL-22, so they could tell which cells produced IL-22. They also were able to target a deficiency of IL-22 to different immune cell populations, to learn the effect of that loss of IL-22 production in a subset of cells upon the progress of C. rodentium infections.</p><p>The researchers found that the ILC3 subset of innate immune cells were the dominant IL-22-positive cells at steady state, before any infection. During early infection with C. rodentium, days 3 to 6, ILC3s produced the greatest amount of IL-22. During late infection, days 7 to 14, T cells had increased 50-fold in number and were the dominant IL-22 producers. Furthermore, the two types of cells had distinct microanatomic niches -- ILC3s were confined to small, isolated lymphoid follicles, at some distance from crypts, and they did not increase in number during infection. The rapidly growing T cells surrounded the crypts, in closer proximity to IECs compared to ILC3s.</p><p>By knocking out IL-22 production in both or either of the immune cell types, researchers could discern their particular roles -- both by visualizing infection in living mice using a bioluminescent strain of C. rodentium, and by looking at which IECs were activated by IL-22.</p><p>In mice with intact immune systems, some growth of C. rodentium in the colon was seen at days 3 to 7; but the mice survived the infection. In mice without IL-22 production by both ILC3s and T cells, heavy C. rodentium infection was seen at days 3 to 7, and all the mice thereafter succumbed to the infection.</p><p>Mice that had no IL-22 production by the ILC3s, but still maintained IL-22 production in T cells, began to succumb to infection as quickly as the total IL-22 knockout mice; but 40 percent survived, presumably rescued by later IL-22 production from the T cells. Mice with loss of IL-22 production only in the T cells began to succumb to infection at a later time than the other two mouse strains, and they showed 60 percent survival.</p><p>\"These data establish that innate cell-derived IL-22 acts to limit C. rodentium colonization during the early phase of infection,\" said Weaver, the Wyatt and Susan Haskell Chair of Medical Excellence in Pathology, \"but is unable to compensate for T cell-derived IL-22 in bacterial restraint and host protection later.\"</p><p>Microscopic examination of colon sections showed that mice with intact immune systems had bacterial attachment to surface IECs at days 4 to 9, but no bacterial growth inside the crypts. In mice without IL-22 production by all immune cells or by T cells only, heavy infection was seen inside the crypt lumen, and C. rodentium was attached to crypt IECs by day 9.</p><p>When the IL-22 produced by the immune cells binds to IECs, it activates the STAT3 signaling pathway in the target cells, which in turn activates or represses specific genes in the target cells.</p><p>Microscopic examination of colon sections stained for STAT3 activation showed that, despite their critical role in restraining bacterial colonization over the early course of enteropathogenic bacterial infection, ILC3s only induced weak STAT3 signaling, and that signaling was limited to the surface IECs. In contrast, T cells contributed to colon barrier defense by delivering IL-22 to both crypt IECs and surface IECs as an infection progressed, inducing robust, sustained STAT3 signaling in both IEC populations. \"Our data determine that \'specialized\' T cell immunity is required for protection of the colonic crypts during C. rodentium infection,\" Zindl said. \"This may reflect the ability of T cells, unlike ILC3s, to migrate to the crypt epithelium and engage in direct contact with IECs via peptide-MHC and/or surface adhesion molecule interactions.\"</p><p>Zindl is a UAB Scientist I and the lead researcher in the study.</p><p>The resulting gene expression changes in the IECs included heightened expression of messenger RNAs for antimicrobial peptides, neutrophil-recruiting chemokines and enzymes that altered the protective mucins produced by colon goblet cells and enterocytes. All of these help fight a bacterial infection. In contrast, interferon gamma-induced proinflammatory genes were repressed. \"These data reveal a dual role of T cell-derived IL-22,\" Zindl said, \"in both promoting antibacterial defense of the crypts and limiting tissue damage caused by uncontrolled IEC and immune cell activation.\"</p><p>\"Our findings demonstrate spatiotemporal differences in the production and action of IL-22 by ILCs and T cells during infection,\" Weaver said, \"and they reveal an indispensable role for IL-22-producing T cells in the protection of the intestinal crypts.\"</p>','2022-04-08 20:52:48.975680','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Alabama at Birmingham','Intestinal epithelial cells line the inner wall of the gut, creating a barrier to dangerous bacteria like enteropathogenic E. coli that seek to attach and efface that barrier, causing diarrhea. Such pathogens pose significant risks to human health and cause infant death in developing countries. A new study shows how two types of immune cells -- one a part of the innate immune system and the other a part of the adaptive immune system -- play distinct and indispensable roles to defend that barrier.\n',1,91,'<li>Carlene L. Zindl, Steven J. Witte, Vincent A. Laufer, Min Gao, Zongliang Yue, Karen M. Janowski, Baiyi Cai, Blake F. Frey, Daniel J. Silberger, Stacey N. Harbour, Jeffrey R. Singer, Henrietta Turner, Frances E. Lund, Bruce A. Vallance, Alexander F. Rosenberg, Trenton R. Schoeb, Jake Y. Chen, Robin D. Hatton, Casey T. Weaver. <strong>A nonredundant role for T cell-derived interleukin 22 in antibacterial defense of colonic crypts</strong>. <em>Immunity</em>, 2022; 55 (3): 494 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2022.02.003\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/j.immuni.2022.02.003</a>\n</li>'),(1993,'Key to success of drug-resistant bacteria','key-to-success-of-drug-resistant-bacteria','2022-04-08 20:52:55.147379',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Researchers have discovered how Gram-negative bacteria -- which cause drug-resistant pneumonia, bloodstream infections, and surgical site infections in hospitalized patients -- finish building a crucial component of their outer membrane that shields these pathogens from attacks by the immune system and antibiotics. The new findings could accelerate the development of novel drugs to counteract these potentially deadly bacteria, the source of countless infections in health care settings worldwide.</p><p>The study was published online April 6 in <em>Nature</em>.</p><p>\"Previously, we knew that Gram-negative bacteria construct their outer membrane with two main, non-protein components -- lipids and sugars -- which together form an impermeable barrier. The missing link was how this lipopolysaccharide component comes together,\" says Filippo Mancia, PhD, a co-leader of the study and professor of physiology &amp; cellular biophysics at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.</p><p>Using cutting-edge single-particle cryo-electron microscopy, Mancia and colleagues were able to determine the structures of the enzyme that links together the lipids and sugars (called an O-antigen ligase), in two different functional configurations. Then, combining genetic, biochemical, and molecular dynamics experiments, the team learned how the enzyme positions the lipids and sugars so that they can combine to form the protective membrane.</p><p>The lipopolysaccharide component of the outer membrane is critical to the survival of Gram-negative bacteria. \"If you could block its assembly, then you would make the bacteria more sensitive to antibiotics and more vulnerable to the immune system,\" Mancia says.</p><p>Construction of this membrane is an ongoing process, beginning when Gram-negative bacteria are first formed and continuing as the membrane naturally degrades and requires repair. \"This means that we would have many opportunities to disrupt the membrane, not just at one stage of the bacteria\'s life cycle,\" Mancia says.</p><p>After revealing the structure of the enzyme that performs the last and critical step in assembling lipopolysaccharide barriers in drug-resistant bacteria, the researchers may begin to custom-design drugs that inhibit the biosynthesis of this protective membrane.</p>','2022-04-08 20:52:55.147379','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Columbia University Irving Medical Center','Researchers have uncovered how Gram-negative bacteria -- which cause a variety of drug-resistant infections -- build their protective outer layer, which could lead to more effective treatments.\n',1,203,'<li>Khuram U. Ashraf, Rie Nygaard, Owen N. Vickery, Satchal K. Erramilli, Carmen M. Herrera, Thomas H. McConville, Vasileios I. Petrou, Sabrina I. Giacometti, Meagan Belcher Dufrisne, Kamil Nosol, Allen P. Zinkle, Chris L. B. Graham, Michael Loukeris, Brian Kloss, Karolina Skorupinska-Tudek, Ewa Swiezewska, David I. Roper, Oliver B. Clarke, Anne-Catrin Uhlemann, Anthony A. Kossiakoff, M. Stephen Trent, Phillip J. Stansfeld, Filippo Mancia. <strong>Structural basis of lipopolysaccharide maturation by the O-antigen ligase</strong>. <em>Nature</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04555-x\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41586-022-04555-x</a>\n</li>'),(1994,'Air pollution responsible for 180,000 excess deaths in tropical cities','air-pollution-responsible-for-180,000-excess-deaths-in-tropical-cities','2022-04-08 22:04:11.821961',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">The international team of scientists aimed to address data gaps in air quality for 46* future megacities in Africa, Asia and the Middle East using space-based observations from instruments onboard NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) satellites for 2005 to 2018.</p><p>Published today in <em>Science Advances</em>, the study reveals rapid degradation in air quality and increases in urban exposure to air pollutants hazardous to health. Across all the cities, the authors found significant annual increases in pollutants directly hazardous to health of up to 14% for nitrogen dioxide (NO<sub>2</sub>) and up to 8% for fine particles (PM<sub>2.5</sub>), as well as increases in precursors of PM<sub>2.5</sub> of up to 12% for ammonia and up to 11% for reactive volatile organic compounds.</p><p>The researchers attributed this rapid degradation in air quality to emerging industries and residential sources like road traffic, waste burning, and widespread use of charcoal and fuelwood.</p><p>Lead author Dr Karn Vohra (UCL Geography), who completed the study as a PhD student at the University of Birmingham, said: \"Open burning of biomass for land clearance and agricultural waste disposal has in the past overwhelmingly dominated air pollution in the tropics. Our analysis suggests we\'re entering a new era of air pollution in these cities, with some experiencing rates of degradation in a year that other cities experience in a decade.\"</p><p>The scientists also found 1.5- to 4- fold increases in urban population exposure to air pollution over the study period in 40 of the 46 cities for NO<sub>2</sub> and 33 of the 46 cities for PM<sub>2.5.</sub>, caused by a combination of population growth and rapid deterioration in air quality.</p><p>According to the study, the increase in the number of people dying prematurely from exposure to air pollution was highest in cities in South Asia, in particular Dhaka, Bangladesh (totalling 24,000 people), and the Indian cities of Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Surat, Pune and Ahmedabad (totalling 100,000 people).</p><p>The researchers say that while the number of deaths in tropical cities in Africa are currently lower due to recent improvements in healthcare across the continent resulting in a decline in overall premature mortality, the worst effects of air pollution on health will likely occur in the coming decades.</p><p>Study co-author Dr Eloise Marais (UCL Geography) said: \"We continue to shift air pollution from one region to the next, rather than learning from errors of the past and ensuring rapid industrialisation and economic development don\'t harm public health. We hope our results will incentivise preventative action in the tropics.\"</p><p>The study was funded by a University of Birmingham Global Challenges PhD Studentship awarded to Dr Vohra and a NERC/EPSRC grant awarded to Dr Marais.</p><p>*Cities analysed in the study:</p>','2022-04-08 22:04:11.821961','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University College London','Around 180,000 avoidable deaths over 14 years in fast-growing tropical cities were caused by a rapid rise in emerging air pollution, a study has revealed.\n',1,27,'<li>Karn Vohra, Eloise A. Marais, William J. Bloss, Joel Schwartz, Loretta J. Mickley, Martin Van Damme, Lieven Clarisse, Pierre-F. Coheur. <strong>Rapid rise in premature mortality due to anthropogenic air pollution in fast-growing tropical cities from 2005 to 2018</strong>. <em>Science Advances</em>, 2022; 8 (14) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abm4435\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1126/sciadv.abm4435</a>\n</li>'),(1995,'What shapes gut microbiomes of Alaska\'s brown bears? Location, location, location','what-shapes-gut-microbiomes-of-alaska\'s-brown-bears?-location,-location,-location','2022-04-08 22:04:47.698057',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">A recent study of Alaskan brown bears (<em>Ursus arctos</em>) finds that there is significant variation in the gut microbiome of bear populations, depending on where the bears live. The finding advances our understanding of the relationship between wildlife habitat, diet and gut microbiome diversity.</p><p>\"The gut microbiome is the ecosystem of microbial life that populates an animal\'s digestive system -- and this microbiome plays a major role in an animal\'s well-being,\" says Erin McKenney, co-author of a paper on the work and an assistant professor of applied ecology at North Carolina State University. \"Everything we learn about these microbiomes helps us make more informed decisions to support the health of wildlife species.\"</p><p>\"The Alaska wilderness, important habitat for brown bears, is changing,\" says Grant Hilderbrand, co-author of the study and associate regional director for resources for the National Park Service in Alaska. \"The gut microbiome serves as a new diagnostic tool for understanding the health of wildlife populations. It can also help us predict how animal health will change as the environment changes. The study we\'ve done here lays the foundation for advancing our understanding of gut microbiomes in Alaska\'s iconic brown bears.\"</p><p>The researchers launched the project with the goal of characterizing what the gut microbiome of Alaskan brown bears looks like.</p><p>\"Bears are particularly interesting in this context, because they\'re omnivores,\" says Diana Lafferty, co-author of the paper and an assistant professor of biology at Northern Michigan University. \"Bears function as predators and as scavengers, and they have a relatively simple gut system -- which means their microbiome may play a particularly important role in helping them extract nutrients from their diet. With this project, we wanted to establish a baseline of what \'healthy\' microbiomes look like for these animals, which are relatively undisturbed.\"</p><p>The researchers also benefited from piggybacking on other research efforts that were already underway. The National Park Service was already engaged in research projects that involved tracking and observing wild brown bears at three national parks and preserves: Katmai; Lake Clark; and Gates of the Arctic.</p><p>\"By collaborating with ongoing projects, we were able to collect all of the data and samples at no additional cost,\" Hilderbrand says.</p><p>For this study, the researchers analyzed 66 fecal samples from 51 brown bears that were sampled during previous research operations. Because these samples were collected as part of ongoing research initiatives, the researchers also had data on each bear\'s age, sex, size and body condition.</p><p>The researchers extracted microbial DNA from the fecal samples, and assessed those results to determine what kinds of microbes were in each sample.</p><p>\"We found significant differences in the diversity of the bears\' microbiomes at each of the three parks,\" says Sarah Trujillo, corresponding author of the paper who worked on the study while a graduate student at NMU. \"Katmai had the most diversity, and also had the most diverse array of food sources available. Gates of the Arctic, which had the most limited array of food resources, also had bears with the least diverse gut microbiomes. In other words, we found what we expected: the more diverse the diet, the more diverse the gut microbiome.</p><p>\"However, while we found clear distinctions in microbiome diversity at each park, those differences could not be fully explained by diet alone. There appears to be something else at play that we don\'t fully understand yet. That\'s an area for future research.\"</p><p>The work was done with support from Northern Michigan University and the National Park Service.</p>','2022-04-08 22:04:47.698057','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'North Carolina State University','A recent study of Alaskan brown bears (Ursus arctos) finds that there is significant variation in the gut microbiome of bear populations, depending on where the bears live. The finding advances our understanding of the relationship between wildlife habitat, diet and gut microbiome diversity.\n',1,27,'<li>Sarah M. Trujillo, Erin A. McKenney, Grant V. Hilderbrand, Lindsey S. Mangipane, Matthew C. Rogers, Kyle Joly, David D. Gustine, Joy A. Erlenbach, Buck A. Mangipane, Diana J. R. Lafferty. <strong>Intrinsic and extrinsic factors influence on an omnivore’s gut microbiome</strong>. <em>PLOS ONE</em>, 2022; 17 (4): e0266698 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0266698\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1371/journal.pone.0266698</a>\n</li>'),(1996,'Differences between the Moon’s near and far sides linked to colossal ancient impact','differences-between-the-moon’s-near-and-far-sides-linked-to-colossal-ancient-impact','2022-04-08 22:04:50.729237',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">The face that the Moon shows to Earth looks far different from the one it hides on its far side. The nearside is dominated by the lunar mare -- the vast, dark-colored remnants of ancient lava flows. The crater-pocked far side, on the other hand, is virtually devoid of large-scale mare features. Why the two sides are so different is one of the Moon\'s most enduring mysteries.</p><p>Now, researchers have a new explanation for the two-faced Moon -- one that relates to a giant impact billions of years ago near the Moon\'s south pole.</p><p>A new study published in the journal <em>Science Advances </em>shows that the impact that formed the Moon\'s giant South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin would have created a massive plume of heat that propagated through the lunar interior. That plume would have carried certain materials -- a suite of rare-Earth and heat-producing elements -- to the Moon\'s nearside. That concentration of elements would have contributed to the volcanism that created the nearside volcanic plains.</p><p>\"We know that big impacts like the one that formed SPA would create a lot of heat,\" said Matt Jones, a Ph.D. candidate at Brown University and the study\'s lead author. \"The question is how that heat affects the Moon\'s interior dynamics. What we show is that under any plausible conditions at the time that SPA formed, it ends up concentrating these heat-producing elements on the nearside. We expect that this contributed to the mantle melting that produced the lava flows we see on the surface.\"</p><p>The study was a collaboration between Jones and his advisor Alexander Evans, an assistant professor at Brown, along with researchers from Purdue University, the Lunar and Planetary Science Laboratory in Arizona, Stanford University and NASA\'s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.</p><p>The differences between the near and far sides of the Moon were first revealed in the 1960s by the Soviet Luna missions and the U.S. Apollo program. While the differences in volcanic deposits are plain to see, future missions would reveal differences in the geochemical composition as well. The nearside is home to a compositional anomaly known as the Procellarum KREEP terrane (PKT) -- a concentration of potassium (K), rare earth elements (REE), phosphorus (P), along with heat-producing elements like thorium. KREEP seems to be concentrated in and around Oceanus Procellarum, the largest of the nearside volcanic plains, but is sparse elsewhere on the Moon.</p><p>Some scientists have suspected a connection between the PKT and the nearside lava flows, but the question of why that suite of elements was concentrated on the nearside remained. This new study provides an explanation that is connected to the South Pole-Aitken basin, the second largest known impact crater in the solar system.</p><p>For the study, the researchers conducted computer simulations of how heat generated by a giant impact would alter patterns of convection in the Moon\'s interior, and how that might redistribute KREEP material in the lunar mantle. KREEP is thought to represent the last part of the mantle to solidify after the Moon\'s formation. As such, it likely formed the outermost layer of mantle, just beneath the lunar crust. Models of the lunar interior suggest that it should have been more or less evenly distributed beneath the surface. But this new model shows that the uniform distribution would be disrupted by the heat plume from the SPA impact.</p><p>According to the model, the KREEP material would have ridden the wave of heat emanating from the SPA impact zone like a surfer. As the heat plume spread beneath the Moon\'s crust, that material was eventually delivered en masse to the nearside. The team ran simulations for a number of different impact scenarios, from dead-on hit to a glancing blow. While each produced differing heat patterns and mobilized KREEP to varying degrees, all created KREEP concentrations on the nearside, consistent with the PKT anomaly.</p><p>The researchers say the work provides a credible explanation for one of the Moon\'s most enduring mysteries.</p><p>\"How the PKT formed is arguably the most significant open question in lunar science,\" Jones said. \"And the South Pole-Aitken impact is one of the most significant events in lunar history. This work brings those two things together, and I think our results are really exciting.\"</p><p><strong>Story Source:</strong></p>','2022-04-08 22:04:50.729237','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Brown University','New research shows how the impact that created the Moon\'s South Pole -- Aitken basin is linked to the stark contrast in composition and appearance between the two sides of the Moon.\n',1,27,'<li>Matt J. Jones, Alexander J. Evans, Brandon C. Johnson, Matthew B. Weller, Jeffrey C. Andrews-Hanna, Sonia M. Tikoo, James T. Keane. <strong>A South Pole–Aitken impact origin of the lunar compositional asymmetry</strong>. <em>Science Advances</em>, 2022; 8 (14) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abm8475\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1126/sciadv.abm8475</a>\n</li>'),(1997,'Dynamic rivers contributed to Amazon\'s rich bird diversity','dynamic-rivers-contributed-to-amazons-rich-bird-diversity','2022-04-10 06:47:15.478660','<p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">One of the most contentious questions in evolutionary biology is, how did the Amazon become so rich in species? A new study focused on birds examines how the movements of rivers in the Amazon have contributed to that area\'s exceptional biological diversity. The research team, led by the American Museum of Natural History, found that as small river systems change over time, they spur the evolution of new species. The findings also reveal previously unknown bird species in the Amazon that are only found in small areas next to these dynamic river systems, putting them at high risk of imminent extinction. The study is detailed today in the journal <em>Science Advances</em>.</p><p>The lowland rainforests of the Amazon River basin harbor more diversity than any other terrestrial ecosystem on the planet. It is also a globally important biome containing about 18 percent of all trees on Earth and carrying more fresh water than the next seven largest river basins combined. Researchers have long wondered and hotly debate how the Amazon\'s rich biodiversity arose and accumulated.</p><p>\"Early evolutionary biologists like Alfred Russel Wallace noticed that many species of primates and birds differ across opposite riverbanks in the Amazon, and ornithologists now know that rivers are associated -- in one way or another -- with the origin of many avian species,\" said the study\'s lead author Lukas Musher, a postdoctoral researcher at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University and a recent comparative biology Ph.D. graduate of the American Museum of Natural History\'s Richard Gilder Graduate School. \"Moreover, accumulating geological evidence has suggested that these rivers are highly dynamic, moving around the South American landscape over relatively short time periods, on the order of thousands or tens of thousands of years.\"</p><p>To investigate how the movement of rivers across the landscape has influenced the accumulation of bird species in the Amazon, the researchers sequenced the genomes of six species of Amazonian birds.</p><p>\"Even though birds can fly, our study confirmed that current rivers across the Southern Amazon rainforest, even relatively small ones, are highly effective at isolating populations of these six species, which leads to genomic divergence and ultimately speciation,\" said the study\'s senior author Joel Cracraft, Lamont Curator and curator-in-charge in the Museum\'s Department of Ornithology.</p><p>However, because these rivers move around the landscape at different time scales, their movements can have varying outcomes for bird species: when river rearrangements occur quickly, populations of birds on each side can merge before they\'ve had time to differentiate; when river changes happen slowly, species have a longer time to diverge from one another; and when rivers change at intermediate rates, bird populations diverge and then join back together and co-occur when a river moves.</p><p>The scientists also identified distinct populations of birds that should be described as separate species but have been considered a single species until now.</p><p>\"Though we know Amazonian biodiversity is unmatched by any other terrestrial ecosystem, we demonstrated that its species richness may be greatly underestimated even in well-studied groups such as birds,\" Musher said. \"Our results corroborate those of other studies that have reported fine-scale patterns of diversity across the southern Amazon basin -- a region threatened by rapid and ongoing deforestation -- yet this diversity is generally unrecognized. Many of the distinct populations are relatively young and endemic to a small Amazonian region, meaning that a large portion of the Amazon\'s birds may be threatened with loss to imminent extinction.\"</p><p>Other authors on this study include Melina Giakoumis, City College of New York; James Albert, University of Louisiana at Lafayette; Glaucia Del-Rio, Marco Rego and Robb T. Brumfield, Louisiana State University; Camila C. Ribas, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia; Alexandre Aleixo, University of Helsinki, Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, and Instituto Tecnológico Vale, Belém, Brazil; and Gregory Thom and Brian Smith, American Museum of Natural History.</p><p>This work was funded in part by the American Museum of Natural History\'s Richard Gilder Graduate Research Fellowship, The Linda Gormezano Memorial Fund research grant, the Society for Systematic Biologists graduate student research grant, and NSF/NASA Dimensions US-Biota-Sa?o Paulo grant # 1241066.</p>','2022-04-08 22:04:57.525971','uploads/news/3-banner-image-de.jpg',1,'American Museum of Natural History','One of the most contentious questions in evolutionary biology is, how did the Amazon become so rich in species? A new study focused on birds examines how the movements of rivers in the Amazon have contributed to that area\'s exceptional biological diversity. The researchers found that as small river systems change over time, they spur the evolution of new species. The findings also reveal previously unknown bird species in the Amazon that are only found in small areas next to these dynamic river systems, putting them at high risk.',1,34,'<li>Lukas J. Musher, Melina Giakoumis, James Albert, Glaucia Del-Rio, Marco Rego, Gregory Thom, Alexandre Aleixo, Camila C. Ribas, Robb T. Brumfield, Brian Tilston Smith, Joel Cracraft. <strong>River network rearrangements promote speciation in lowland Amazonian birds</strong>. <em>Science Advances</em>, 2022; 8 (14) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abn1099\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1126/sciadv.abn1099</a>\r\n</li>'),(1998,'Producing ammonia through electrochemical processes could reduce carbon dioxide emissions','producing-ammonia-through-electrochemical-processes-could-reduce-carbon-dioxide-emissions','2022-04-09 06:16:50.318925','<p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Ammonia is commonly used in fertilizer because it has the highest nitrogen content of commercial fertilizers, making it essential for crop production. However, two carbon dioxide molecules are made for every molecule of ammonia produced, contributing to excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.</p><p>A team from the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&amp;M University consisting of Dr. Abdoulaye Djire, assistant professor, and graduate student Denis Johnson, has furthered a method to produce ammonia through electrochemical processes, helping to reduce carbon emissions. This research aims to replace the Haber-Bosch thermochemical process with an electrochemical process that is more sustainable and safer for the environment.</p><p>The researchers recently published their findings in <em>Nature Scientific Reports</em><em>.</em></p><p>Since the early 1900s, the Haber-Bosch process has been used to produce ammonia. This process works by reacting atmospheric nitrogen with hydrogen gas. A downside of the Haber-Bosch process is that it requires high pressure and high temperature, leaving a large energy footprint. The method also requires hydrogen feedstock, which is derived from nonrenewable resources. It is not sustainable and has negative implications on the environment, expediting the need for new and environmentally friendly processes.</p><p>The researchers have proposed using the electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) to produce ammonia from atmospheric nitrogen and water. The benefits of using an electrochemical method include using water to provide protons and the ability to produce ammonia at ambient temperature and pressure. This process would potentially require lower amounts of energy and would be less costly and more environmentally friendly than the Haber-Bosch process.</p><p>The NRR works by using an electrocatalyst. For this process to succeed, nitrogen must bond to the surface and break apart to produce ammonia. In this study, the researchers used MXene, a titanium nitride, as the electrocatalyst. What differentiates this catalyst from others is that nitrogen is already in its structure, allowing for more efficient ammonia formulation.</p><p>\"It\'s easier for ammonia to form because the protons can attach to the nitrogen in the structure, form the ammonia and then the ammonia will leave out of the structure,\" said Johnson. \"A hole is made in the structure that can pull the nitrogen gas in and separate the triple bond.\"</p><p>The researchers found that using titanium nitride induces a Mars-van Krevelen mechanism, a popular mechanism for hydrocarbon oxidation. This mechanism follows a lower energy pathway that would allow for higher ammonia production rates and selectivity because of the nitrogen from the titanium nitride catalyst.</p><p>Without modifications to the materials, the researchers reached a selectivity of 20%, which is the ratio of the desired product formed compared to the undesired product formed. Their method could potentially reach a higher selectivity percentage with modifications, forging a new pathway to ammonia production through electrochemical processes.</p><p>\"The Department of Energy has set a goal of a selectivity of 60%, which is a challenging number to reach,\" said Johnson. \"We were able to reach 20% using our material, showcasing a method that we might be able to take advantage of moving forward. If we upgrade our material, can we reach 60% soon? That is the question we will continue to work to answer.\"</p><p>This research could potentially reduce the carbon footprint and global energy usage on a larger scale.</p><p>\"In the future, this could be a major scientific reform,\" said Djire. \"About 2% of the world\'s total energy is used for ammonia production. Reducing that huge number would drastically reduce our carbon footprint and energy consumption.\"</p><p>This study was funded by the Startup Research Fund. Other contributors to the publication are Eric Kelley from the chemical engineering department at Texas A&amp;M, Brock Hunter from Auburn University, and Jevaun Christie and Cullan King from Prairie View A&amp;M University.</p>','2022-04-08 22:05:08.385086','uploads/news/producing-ammonia-thro.jpg',1,'Texas A&M University','Ammonia is commonly used in fertilizer because it has the highest nitrogen content of commercial fertilizers, making it essential for crop production. However, two carbon dioxide molecules are made for every molecule of ammonia produced, contributing to excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.',1,131,'<li>Denis Johnson, Brock Hunter, Jevaun Christie, Cullan King, Eric Kelley, Abdoulaye Djire. <strong>Ti2N nitride MXene evokes the Mars-van Krevelen mechanism to achieve high selectivity for nitrogen reduction reaction</strong>. <em>Scientific Reports</em>, 2022; 12 (1) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-04640-7\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41598-021-04640-7</a>\r\n</li>'),(1999,'Children think farm animals deserve same treatment as pets','children-think-farm-animals-deserve-same-treatment-as-pets','2022-04-11 17:47:46.972657',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Children differ dramatically from adults in their moral views on animals, new research shows.</p><p>University of Exeter researchers asked children aged 9-11 about the moral status and treatment of farm animals (pigs), pets (dogs) and people.</p><p>Unlike adults, children say farm animals should be treated the same as people and pets, and think eating animals is less morally acceptable than adults do.</p><p>The findings suggest that \"speciesism\" -- a moral hierarchy that gives different value to different animals -- is learned during adolescence.</p><p>\"Humans\' relationship with animals is full of ethical double standards,\" said Dr Luke McGuire, from the University of Exeter.</p><p>\"Some animals are beloved household companions, while others are kept in factory farms for economic benefit.</p><p>\"Judgements seem to largely depend on the species of the animal in question: dogs are our friends, pigs are food.\"</p><p>The research team -- including the University of Oxford -- surveyed 479 people, all living in England, from three age groups: 9-11, 18-21 and 29-59.</p><p>The two adult groups had relatively similar views -- suggesting attitudes to animals typically change between the ages of 11 and 18.</p><p>\"Something seems to happen in adolescence, where that early love for animals becomes more complicated and we develop more speciesism,\" said Dr McGuire</p><p>\"It\'s important to note that even adults in our study thought eating meat was less morally acceptable than eating animal products like milk.</p><p>\"So aversion to animals -- including farm animals -- being harmed does not disappear entirely.\"</p><p>The study also found that, as people age, they are more likely to classify farm animals as \"food\" rather than \"pets\" -- while children were equally likely to consider pigs to fall into either of these categories.</p><p>While adjusting attitudes is a natural part of growing up, Dr McGuire said the \"moral intelligence of children\" is also valuable.</p><p>\"If we want people to move towards more plant-based diets for environmental reasons, we have to disrupt the current system somewhere,\" he said.</p><p>\"For example, if children ate more plant-based food in schools, that might be more in line with their moral values, and might reduce the \'normalisation\' towards adult values that we identify in this study.\"</p>','2022-04-11 17:47:46.972657','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Exeter','Children differ dramatically from adults in their moral views on animals, new research shows.\n',1,171,'<li>Luke McGuire, Sally B. Palmer, Nadira S. Faber. <strong>The Development of Speciesism: Age-Related Differences in the Moral View of Animals</strong>. <em>Social Psychological and Personality Science</em>, 2022; 194855062210861 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/19485506221086182\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1177/19485506221086182</a>\n</li>'),(2000,'A single memory is stored across many connected brain regions','a-single-memory-is-stored-across-many-connected-brain-regions','2022-04-11 17:47:49.597638',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">A new study by scientists at The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT provides the most comprehensive and rigorous evidence yet that the mammalian brain stores a single memory across a widely distributed, functionally connected complex spanning many brain regions, rather than in just one or even a few places.</p><p>Memory pioneer Richard Semon had predicted such a \"unified engram complex\" more than a century ago, but achieving the new study\'s affirmation of his hypothesis required the application of several technologies developed only recently. In the study, the team identified and ranked dozens of areas that were not previously known to be involved in memory and showed that memory recall becomes more behaviorally powerful when multiple memory-storing regions are reactivated, rather than just one.</p><p>\"When talking about memory storage we all usually talk about the hippocampus or the cortex,\" said co-lead and co-corresponding author Dheeraj Roy. He began the research while a graduate student in the RIKEN-MIT Laboratory for Neural Circuit Genetics at The Picower Institute led by senior author and Picower Professor Susumu Tonegawa. \"This study reflects the most comprehensive description of memory encoding cells, or memory \'engrams,\' distributed across the brain, not just in the well-known memory regions. It basically provides the first rank-ordered list for high-probability engram regions. This list should lead to many future studies, which we are excited about, both in our labs and by other groups.\"</p><p>In addition to Roy, who is now a McGovern Fellow in the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and the lab of MIT neuroscience Professor Guoping Feng, the study\'s other lead authors are Young-Gyun Park, Minyoung Kim, Ying Zhang and Sachie Ogawa.</p><p><strong>Mapping Memory</strong></p><p>The team was able to map regions participating in an engram complex by conducting an unbiased analysis of more than 247 brain regions in mice who were taken from their home cage to another cage where they felt a small but memorable electrical zap. In one group of mice their neurons were engineered to become fluorescent when they expressed a gene required for memory encoding. In another group, cells activated by naturally recalling the zap memory (e.g. when the mice returned to the scene of the zap) were fluorescently labeled instead. Cells that were activated by memory encoding or by recall could therefore readily be seen under a microscope after the brains were preserved and optically cleared using a technology called SHIELD, developed by co-corresponding author Kwanghun Chung, Associate Professor in The Picower Institute, the Institute for Medical Engineering &amp; Science and the Department of Chemical Engineering. By using a computer to count fluorescing cells in each sample, the team produced brain-wide maps of regions with apparently significant memory encoding or recall activity.</p><p>The maps highlighted many regions expected to participate in memory but also many that were not. To help factor out regions that might have been activated by activity unrelated to the zap memory, the team compared what they saw in zap-encoding or zap-recalling mice to what they saw in the brains of controls who were simply left in their home cage. This allowed them to calculate an \"engram index\" to rank order 117 brain regions with a significant likelihood of being involved in the memory engram complex. They deepened the analysis by engineering new mice in which neurons involved in both memory encoding and in recall could be doubly labeled, thereby revealing which cells exhibited overlap of those activities.</p><p>To really be an engram cell, the authors noted, a neuron should be activated both in encoding and recall.</p><p>\"These experiments not only revealed significant engram reactivation in known hippocampal and amygdala regions, but also showed reactivation in many thalamic, cortical, midbrain and brainstem structures,\" the authors wrote. \"Importantly when we compared the brain regions identified by the engram index analysis with these reactivated regions, we observed that ~60 percent of the regions were consistent between analyses.\"</p><p><strong>Memory manipulations</strong></p><p>Having ranked regions significantly likely to be involved in the engram complex, the team engaged in several manipulations to directly test their predictions and to determine how engram complex regions might work together.</p><p>For instance, they engineered mice such that cells activated by memory encoding would also become controllable with flashes of light (a technique called \"optogenetics\"). The researchers then applied light flashes to select brain regions from their engram index list to see if stimulating those would artificially reproduce the fear memory behavior of freezing in place, even when mice were placed in a \"neutral\" cage where the zap had not occurred.</p><p>\"Strikingly, all these brain regions induced robust memory recall when they were optogenetically stimulated,\" the researchers observed. Moreover, stimulating areas that their analysis suggested were insignificant to zap memory indeed produced no freezing behavior.</p><p>The team then demonstrated how different regions within an engram complex connect. They chose two well-known memory regions, CA1 of the hippocampus and the basolateral amygdala (BLA), and optogenetically activated engram cells there to induce memory recall behavior in a neutral cage. They found that stimulating those regions produced memory recall activity in specific \"downstream\" areas identified as being probable members of the engram complex. Meanwhile, optogenetically inhibiting natural zap memory recall in CA1 or the BLA (i.e. when mice were placed back in the cage where they experienced the zap) led to reduced activity in downstream engram complex areas compared to what they measured in mice with unhindered natural recall.</p><p>Further experiments showed that optogenetic reactivations of engram complex neurons followed similar patterns as those observed in natural memory recall. So having established that natural memory encoding and recall appears to occur across a wide engram complex, the team decided to test whether reactivating multiple regions would improve memory recall compared to reactivating just one. After all, prior experiments have shown that activating just one engram area does not produce recall as vividly as natural recall. This time the team used a chemical means to stimulate different engram complex regions and when they did, they found that indeed stimulating up to three involved regions simultaneously produced more robust freezing behavior than stimulating just one or two.</p><p><strong>Meaning of distributed storage</strong></p><p>Roy said that by storing a single memory across such a widespread complex the brain might be making memory more efficient and resilient.</p><p>\"Different memory engrams may allow us to recreate memories more efficiently when we are trying to remember a previous event (and similarly for the initial encoding where different engrams may contribute different information from the original experience),\" he said. \"Secondly, in disease states, if a few regions are impaired, distributed memories would allow us to remember previous events and in some ways be more robust against regional damages.\"</p><p>In the long term that second idea might suggest a clinical strategy for dealing with memory impairment: \"If some memory impairments are because of hippocampal or cortical dysfunction, could we target understudied engram cells in other regions and could such a manipulation restore some memory functions?\"</p><p>That\'s just one of many new questions researchers can ask now that the study has revealed a listing of where to look for at least one kind of memory in the mammalian brain.</p><p>The paper\'s other authors are Nicholas DiNapoli, Xinyi Gu, Jae Cho, Heejin Choi, Lee Kamentsky, Jared Martin, Olivia Mosto and Tomomi Aida.</p><p>Funding sources included the JPB Foundation, the RIKEN Center for Brain Science, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a Warren Alpert Distinguished Scholar Award, the National Institutes of Health, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the Searle Scholars Program, a Packard Award in Science and Engineering, a NARSAD Young Investigator Award, the McKnight Foundation Technology Award, the NCSOFT Cultural Foundation, and the Institute for Basic Science.</p>','2022-04-11 17:47:49.597638','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Picower Institute at MIT','Innovative brain-wide mapping study shows that \'engrams,\' the ensemble of neurons encoding a memory, is widely distributed including among regions not previously recognized.\n',1,27,'<li>Dheeraj S. Roy, Young-Gyun Park, Minyoung E. Kim, Ying Zhang, Sachie K. Ogawa, Nicholas DiNapoli, Xinyi Gu, Jae H. Cho, Heejin Choi, Lee Kamentsky, Jared Martin, Olivia Mosto, Tomomi Aida, Kwanghun Chung, Susumu Tonegawa. <strong>Brain-wide mapping reveals that engrams for a single memory are distributed across multiple brain regions</strong>. <em>Nature Communications</em>, 2022; 13 (1) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29384-4\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41467-022-29384-4</a>\n</li>'),(2001,'Research helps provide scientific framework for psilocybin use in therapeutic settings','research-helps-provide-scientific-framework-for-psilocybin-use-in-therapeutic-settings','2022-04-11 17:47:54.519514',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">A new paper by an Oregon State University-led research team provides a scientific framework to help shape the rollout of a program in Oregon that will legally permit the use of psilocybin for therapeutic reasons.</p><p>Oregon voters approved a ballot measure in 2020 to allow use of psilocybin, the hallucinogenic compound found in some magic mushrooms, in therapeutic settings, becoming the first state to do so. Preliminary clinical trial data has shown psilocybin has potential to address mental health issues including depression, anxiety and PTSD.</p><p>The state created an advisory board to recommend how to roll out a safe and equitable system for psilocybin use. The Oregon Health Authority in February released draft rules crafted by the advisory board. They are expected to be finalized in the next year.</p><p>Jessie Uehling, a mycologist at Oregon State University who studies fungi and their applications that benefit humanity, was appointed last year by Gov. Kate Brown to the advisory board. Her involvement with the board made her realize the need for the recently published paper in the journal <em>Fungal Biology.</em></p><p>\"There was not a synthesis of all the information about psilocybin that an entity like the advisory board or any other state- or federal-level group would need to make decisions that are informed by science,\" said Uehling, an assistant professor who has a doctoral degree in genetics and genomics and a master\'s in mycology.</p><p>She, along with researchers in Mexico and several universities in the U.S., set out to change that. The paper they just published provides an overview of the biology, diversity and history of psilocybin-containing fungi.</p><p>The authors detail that there are hundreds of fungal species belonging to at least seven genera that are capable of producing psilocybin. Further, they discuss how many psilocybin-producing fungi have deadly poisonous lookalikes which grow in similar locations in natural habitats.</p><p>They also focus on how Indigenous people around the world have historically used the compound for sacred traditions in part because they say these cross-disciplinary insights need to be published, citable and publicly available.</p><p>While indirect evidence of hallucinogenic mushroom rituals dates back thousands of years in Northern Africa and Spain; its use, for hundreds of years, still persists in Mexico. Rules governing how these mushrooms are used among Indigenous Mexican groups has resulted in safe consumption for centuries, the researchers note. These rules include being guided by an elder or shaman, not mixing alcohol, medicine or drugs and discouraging travel for a week after the ceremony.</p><p>\"These mushrooms and their traditions constitute a unique biocultural heritage whose use by Western society must be based on their respect and conservation,\" said Roberto Garibay-Orijel, a researcher at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and co-author of the paper.</p><p>He said it\'s important that the paper emphasizes that the species of mushroom only found in Mexico, and strains from Indigenous territories in Mexico, are protected by the Nagoya protocol, an international agreement that prohibits their use for commercial purposes without the consent of their ancestral owners.</p><p>Recent Western, medicalized psilocybin trials have been designed to mirror the guided experience used by Indigenous groups. The trials have confirmed the importance of preparation and setting when using psilocybin-producing fungi.</p><p>There are currently more than 60 psilocybin clinical trials overseen by the National Institutes of Health. Preliminary data suggest psilocybin therapies are effective in treating major depressive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, smoking cessation and alcoholism.</p><p>Results of psilocybin ingestion outside of clinical trials have found an increased connection to nature, enhanced creativity, greater enjoyment of music and increased positive mood.</p><p>Meanwhile, cities across the U.S. are decriminalizing psilocybin and Washington is considering a measure similar to Oregon\'s that would legalize psilocybin for therapeutic reasons.</p><p>\"Society is having this moment right now where fungi are being appreciated for being really cool,\" Uehling said. \"But they are also really powerful and some can be deadly. So we really need to better understand them through scientific research and proceed with safety as a first priority.\"</p><p>Other co-authors of the paper are Ray Van Court, Michele Wiseman and Kevin Amses, Oregon State; Kyle Meyer and Daniel Ballhorn, Portland State University; Jason Slot, Ohio State University; and Bryn Dentinger, University of Utah.</p><p>The research was funded in part by the National Science Foundation.</p>','2022-04-11 17:47:54.519514','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Oregon State University','A new paper provides a scientific framework to help shape the rollout of a program in Oregon that will legally permit the use of psilocybin for therapeutic reasons.\n',1,39,'<li>R.C. Van Court, M.S. Wiseman, K.W. Meyer, D.J. Ballhorn, K.R. Amses, J.C. Slot, B.T.M. Dentinger, R. Garibay-Orijel, J.K. Uehling. <strong>Diversity, biology, and history of psilocybin-containing fungi: Suggestions for research and technological development</strong>. <em>Fungal Biology</em>, 2022; 126 (4): 308 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.funbio.2022.01.003\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/j.funbio.2022.01.003</a>\n</li>'),(2002,'Study sheds new light on the origin of civilization','study-sheds-new-light-on-the-origin-of-civilization','2022-04-11 17:47:57.910148',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">New research from the University of Warwick, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Reichman University, Universitat Pompeu Fabra and the Barcelona School of Economics challenges the conventional theory that the transition from foraging to farming drove the development of complex, hierarchical societies by creating agricultural surplus in areas of fertile land.</p><p>In <em>The Origin of the State: Land Productivity or Appropriability?</em>, published in the April issue of the <em>Journal of Political Economy,</em> Professors Joram Mayshar, Omer Moav and Luigi Pascali show that high land productivity on its own does not lead to the development of tax-levying states.</p><p><strong>It is the adoption of cereal crops that is the key factor for the emergence of hierarchy.</strong></p><p>The authors theorise that this is because the nature of cereals require that they be harvested and stored in accessible locations, making them easier to appropriate as tax than root crops which remain in the ground, and are less storable.</p><p>The researchers demonstrate a causal effect of cereal cultivation on the emergence of hierarchy using empirical evidence drawn from multiple data sets spanning several millennia, and find no similar effect for land productivity.</p><p>Professor Mayshar said: \"A theory linking land productivity and surplus to the emergence of hierarchy has developed over a few centuries and became conventional in thousands of books and articles. We show, both theoretically and empirically, that this theory is flawed.\"</p><p>Underpinning the study, Mayshar, Moav and Pascali developed and examined a large number of data sets including the level of hierarchical complexity in society; the geographic distribution of wild relatives of domesticated plants; and land suitability for various crops to explore why in some regions, despite thousands of years of successful farming, well-functioning states did not emerge, while states that could tax and provide protection to lives and property emerged elsewhere.</p><p>Professor Pascali said: \"Using these novel data, we were able to show that complex hierarchies, like complex chiefdoms and states, arose in areas in which cereal crops, which are easy to tax and to expropriate, were de-facto the only available crops. Paradoxically, the most productive lands, those in which not only cereals but also roots and tubers were available and productive, did not experience the same political developments.\"</p><p>They also employed the natural experiment of the Columbian Exchange, the interchange of crops between the New World and the Old World in the late 15<sup>th</sup> century which radically changed land productivity and the productivity advantage of cereals over roots and tubers in most countries in the world.</p><p>Professor Pascali said \"Constructing these new data sets, investigating case studies, and developing the theory and empirical strategy took us nearly a decade of hard work. We are very pleased to see that the paper is finally printed in a journal with the standing of the JPE.\"</p><p>Professor Moav said: \"Following the transition from foraging to farming, hierarchical societies and, eventually, tax-levying states have emerged. These states played a crucial role in economic development by providing protection, law and order, which eventually enabled industrialization and the unprecedented welfare enjoyed today in many countries.\"</p><p>\"The conventional theory is that this disparity is due to differences in land productivity. The conventional argument is that food surplus must be produced before a state can tax farmers\' crops, and therefore that high land productivity plays the key role.</p><p>Professor Mayshar added: \"We challenge the conventional productivity theory, contending that it was not an increase in food production that led to complex hierarchies and states, but rather the transition to reliance on appropriable cereal grains that facilitate taxation by the emerging elite. When it became possible to appropriate crops, a taxing elite emerged, and this led to the state.</p><p>\"Only where the climate and geography favoured cereals, was hierarchy likely to develop. Our data shows that the greater the productivity advantage of cereals over tubers, the greater the likelihood of hierarchy emerging.</p><p>\"Suitability of highly productive roots and tubers is in fact a curse of plenty, which prevented the emergence of states and impeded economic development.\"</p>','2022-04-11 17:47:57.910148','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Warwick','New research challenges the conventional theory that the transition from foraging to farming drove the development of complex, hierarchical societies by creating agricultural surplus in areas of fertile land.\n',1,70,'<li>Joram Mayshar, Omer Moav, Luigi Pascali. <strong>The Origin of the State: Land Productivity or Appropriability?</strong> <em>Journal of Political Economy</em>, 2022; 130 (4): 1091 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/718372\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1086/718372</a>\n</li>'),(2003,'Converting solar energy to electricity on demand','converting-solar-energy-to-electricity-on-demand','2022-04-11 17:48:00.816398',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">The researchers behind an energy system that makes it possible to capture solar energy, store it for up to eighteen years and release it when and where it is needed have now taken the system a step further. After previously demonstrating how the energy can be extracted as heat, they have now succeeded in getting the system to produce electricity, by connecting it to a thermoelectric generator. Eventually, the research -- developed at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden -- could lead to self-charging electronics using stored solar energy on demand.</p><p>\"This is a radically new way of generating electricity from solar energy. It means that we can use solar energy to produce electricity regardless of weather, time of day, season, or geographical location. It is a closed system that can operate without causing carbon dioxide emissions,\" says research leader Kasper Moth-Poulsen, Professor at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Chalmers.</p><p>The new technology is based on the solar energy system MOST -- Molecular Solar Thermal Energy Storage Systems, developed at Chalmers University of Technology. Very simply, the technology is based on a specially designed molecule that changes shape when it comes into contact with sunlight. The research has already attracted great interest worldwide when it has been presented at earlier stages.</p><p>The new study, published in <em>Cell Reports Physical Science</em> and carried out in collaboration with researchers in Shanghai, takes the solar energy system a step further, detailing how it can be combined with a compact thermoelectric generator to convert solar energy into electricity.</p><p><strong>Ultra-thin chip converts heat into electricity</strong></p><p>The Swedish researchers sent their specially designed molecule, loaded with solar energy, to colleagues Tao Li and Zhiyu Hu at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, where the energy was released and converted into electricity using the generator they developed there. Essentially, Swedish sunshine was sent to the other side of the world and converted into electricity in China.</p><p>\"The generator is an ultra-thin chip that could be integrated into electronics such as headphones, smart watches and telephones. So far, we have only generated small amounts of electricity, but the new results show that the concept really works. It looks very promising,\" says researcher Zhihang Wang from Chalmers University of Technology.</p><p><strong>Fossil free, emissions free </strong></p><p>The research has great potential for renewable and emissions-free energy production. But a lot of research and development remains before we will be able to charge our technical gadgets or heat our homes with the system\'s stored solar energy.</p><p>\"Together with the various research groups included in the project, we are now working to streamline the system. The amount of electricity or heat it can extract needs to be increased. Even if the energy system is based on simple basic materials, it needs to be adapted to be sufficiently cost-effective to produce, and thus possible to launch more broadly,\" says Kasper Moth-Poulsen.</p><p><strong>More about the Most technology</strong></p><p>Molecular Solar Thermal Energy Storage Systems, Most, is a closed energy system based on a specially designed molecule of carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen, which when hit by sunlight changes shape into an energy-rich isomer -- a molecule made up of the same atoms but arranged together in a different way. The isomer can then be stored in liquid form for later use when needed, such as at night or in winter. The researchers have refined the system to the point that it is now possible to store the energy for up to 18 years. A specially designed catalyst releases the saved energy as heat while returning the molecule to its original shape, so it can then be reused in the heating system. Now, in combination with a micrometer-thin thermoelectric generator, the energy system can also generate electricity to order.</p><p>Kasper Moth-Poulsen. The researchers are active at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Henan Polytechnic University in China, as well as at the Institute of Materials Science in Barcelona and the Catalan Department of Research and Advanced Studies, ICREA, in Spain.</p><p>The research has been funded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research, the Swedish Research Council Formas, the Swedish Energy Agency, the European Research Council (ERC) under grant agreement CoG, PHOTHERM -- 101002131, the Catalan Institute of Advanced Studies (ICREA), and the European Union\'s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme under grant agreement no. 951801.</p>','2022-04-11 17:48:00.816398','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Chalmers University of Technology','A new energy system that makes it possible to capture solar energy, store it for up to eighteen years and release it when and where it is needed has now taken the system a step further. After previously demonstrating how the energy can be extracted as heat, they have now succeeded in getting the system to produce electricity, by connecting it to a thermoelectric generator.\n',1,27,'<li>Zhihang Wang, Zhenhua Wu, Zhiyu Hu, Jessica Orrego-Hernández, Erzhen Mu, Zhao-Yang Zhang, Martyn Jevric, Yang Liu, Xuecheng Fu, Fengdan Wang, Tao Li, Kasper Moth-Poulsen. <strong>Chip-scale solar thermal electrical power generation</strong>. <em>Cell Reports Physical Science</em>, 2022; 3 (3): 100789 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrp.2022.100789\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/j.xcrp.2022.100789</a>\n</li>'),(2004,'Friend or foe? The immune system collaborates with blood cancer cells','friend-or-foe?-the-immune-system-collaborates-with-blood-cancer-cells','2022-04-11 17:48:05.456991',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">An international study coordinated by a University of Helsinki research group demonstrates that the body\'s immune system attacks itself in a rare type of blood cancer. Consequently, treatment should be targeted at the immune system as well, not only the cancer cells.</p><p>According to the latest international assessment, one in two persons will develop cancer at some point in their life. Blood cancers and other previously rare cancer types are also becoming increasingly common in the population. The study of rare cancers is important not only for improving the treatment of patients suffering from them but also because it can teach us about what makes other cancers vulnerable.</p><p>One such rare type of blood cancer is large granular lymphocyte (LGL) leukemia, where the body\'s own immune cells, T cells, form the cancer cells. LGL leukemia is rarely fatal, but it causes several chronic symptoms, including an increased infection risk, anemia and joint pain.</p><p>The symptoms are thought to be caused by the LGL cancer cells attacking the body\'s own tissues. In fact, LGL leukemia resembles autoimmune diseases. Current therapies are usually not curative, and patients\' symptoms return quickly.</p><p>\"Our research group demonstrated 10 years ago that LGL cancer cells typically have a mutation in the <em>STAT3</em> gene, a finding that is now used to diagnose this disease worldwide,\" says Professor of Translational Hematology Satu Mustjoki from the University of Helsinki.</p><p>\"Researchers have previously analysed primarily LGL cancer cells, but we wondered whether other cells of the patient\'s immune system could also have a role in this disease,\" says Doctoral Researcher Jani Huuhtanen, LicMed, from the University of Helsinki and Aalto University.</p><p>Technical research solutions and research datasets in a key position</p><p>According to the researchers, separating normal cells associated with the immune system from blood cancer cells by traditional methods has proven to be extremely difficult, since, for example, in the case of LGL leukemia, cancer cells bear a very close resemblance to normal T cells found in blood.</p><p>New single-cell techniques have enabled a breakthrough that has made it possible for researchers to examine individual cells one at a time. With these techniques, the researchers were able, for the first time, to separate cancer cells from normal T cells and compare them with each other.</p><p>\"Single-cell techniques open up entirely new avenues for research,\" says Docent of Immunology Tiina Kelkka from the University of Helsinki.</p><p>\"But we still needed a large patient cohort, which is hard to gather in rare diseases. Thanks to our research group\'s international collaboration network, we were able to compile a dataset of almost 200 LGL leukemia patients\' samples from Finland, Germany, Italy, the USA and Japan,\" she adds.</p><p>Locking on the immune system and novel therapies</p><p>The study, conducted with this extensive dataset, proved the group\'s assumptions to be correct: in LGL leukemia, the whole immune system, not just the LGL cancer cells, is clearly distinct from other cancers.</p><p>\"The immune system in these patients is overactivated and keeps giving the tumour cells cues to keep growing as well as provides them with a favourable environment,\" says Doctoral Researcher Dipabarna Bhattacharya from the University of Helsinki.</p><p>The findings suggest that current therapies for LGL leukemia should target the whole immune system, not only the cancer cells, to increase the quality of life of patients.</p><p>\"We believe that similar findings will be made in other cancers. In fact, our goal is to use the same techniques to decipher the role of the immune system in other cancers too,\" Jani Huuhtanen says.</p>','2022-04-11 17:48:05.456991','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Helsinki','An international study demonstrates that the body\'s immune system attacks itself in a rare type of blood cancer. Consequently, treatment should be targeted at the immune system as well, not only the cancer cells.\n',1,152,'<li>Jani Huuhtanen, Dipabarna Bhattacharya, Tapio Lönnberg, Matti Kankainen, Cassandra Kerr, Jason Theodoropoulos, Hanna Rajala, Carmelo Gurnari, Tiina Kasanen, Till Braun, Antonella Teramo, Renato Zambello, Marco Herling, Fumihiro Ishida, Toru Kawakami, Marko Salmi, Thomas Loughran, Jaroslaw P. Maciejewski, Harri Lähdesmäki, Tiina Kelkka, Satu Mustjoki. <strong>Single-cell characterization of leukemic and non-leukemic immune repertoires in CD8  T-cell large granular lymphocytic leukemia</strong>. <em>Nature Communications</em>, 2022; 13 (1) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29173-z\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41467-022-29173-z</a>\n</li>'),