New models will help manage impacts of sea-level rise on vulnerable coast
Category: Research Results
Viewing Dopamine Receptors in Their Native Habitat
DALLAS – June 11, 2020 – Dopamine, a chemical that sends messages between different parts of the brain and body, plays a key role in a variety of diseases and behaviors by interacting with receptors on cells. But despite their importance in physiology and pathology, the structure of these receptors embedded in a phospholipid membrane – their natural environment on the cell surface – was unknown. A new study led by UT Southwestern researchers reveals the structure of the active form of one type of dopamine receptor, known as D2, embedded in a phospholipid membrane.
NUS engineers quintuple the efficiency of moving data bits in silicon chips for artificial intelligence applications
New innovative circuit technique can transfer digital bits at five times lower power consumption than existing chips, prolonging battery life in AI-enabled systems
Self-healing Artificial Electronic Skin Monitors Various Physical and Chemical Variables
A doctoral student at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology has invented a soft polymer that is elastic and waterproof, and that knows how to heal itself in the event of an “injury,” such as a scratch, cut, or twist.
How Stimulus Dollars are Spent will Affect Emissions for Decades
The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have led to a record crash in emissions. But it will be emission levels during the recovery—in the months and years after the pandemic recedes—that matter most for how global warming plays out
Treatment Gap Between Men and Women for Stroke May Have Narrowed
While studies in the early 2000s showed that women were 30% less likely to receive clot-busting treatment for a stroke than men, a new analysis of recent studies found that the gap has narrowed to 13%, according to a meta-analysis published in the June 10, 2020, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
New imaging method tracks brain’s elusive networks
Understanding the source and network of signals as the brain functions is a central goal of brain research. Now, Carnegie Mellon engineers have created a system for high-density EEG imaging of the origin and path of normal and abnormal brain signals.
Government health, safety regulations backfire with conservatives, study shows
A new study from the University of Notre Dame shows government-imposed restrictions can backfire, depending on political ideology.
Passing crucial, challenging introductory chemistry course gives biggest boost to underrepresented students
Underrepresented students in STEM received lower grades in a general chemistry series compared to their peers and were less likely to continue. But if underrepresented students completed the first course with at least the minimum grade needed to continue, they were more likely than their peers to do so.
Researchers Identify New Genetic Defect Linked to ALS
Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) have identified how certain gene mutations cause amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The finding could offer potential new approaches for treating this devastating condition.
Mental, physical health of people with obesity affected during COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic is having a significant impact on people with obesity as they struggle to manage their weight and mental health during shelter-in-place orders, according to research led by The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) and UT Southwestern.
Pre-term deliveries due to COVID-19 could be avoided by studying EHRs
Using electronic health record data to simulate drug trials for pregnant patients could one day offer a solution to the current practice of delivering babies, even if they are pre-term, if the mother contracts COVID-19, according to a position paper published in Nature Medicine.
How COVID-19 has altered sleep in the United States and Europe
Stay-at-home orders and “lockdowns” related to the COVID-19 pandemic have had a major impact on the daily lives of people around the world and that includes the way that people sleep, two studies report June 10 in the journal Current Biology.
After 65 years, a Desert Nomad Crosses a Railroad Track and Makes History
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) released a photo today of a single Asiatic wild ass or khulan (Equus hemionus hemionus) crossing a previously impenetrable barrier along the Trans Mongolian Railroad – the first known crossing by this near-threatened species into the eastern steppe in 65 years.
Reprogramming of immune system cures child with often-fatal fungal infection
In the June 11 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, a team of UCLA physicians and scientists describes the first case of immune modulation being used to cure a severe and often fatal fungal infection. The team “retuned” a 4-year-old’s immune system so that it could fight off disseminated coccidioidomycosis.
Finding community in digital spaces
The coronavirus has driven us indoors and separated us from coworkers, friends and loved ones. That’s nothing really new for Sara Loftus, a West Virginia University geography doctoral student who is studying how to build an online community.
COVID-19 mouse model will speed search for drugs, vaccines
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed a mouse model of COVID-19 that is expected to speed up the search for drugs and vaccines for the potentially deadly disease.
Acoustics put a fresh spin on electron transitions
A Cornell team led by Greg Fuchs, assistant professor of applied and engineering physics in the College of Engineering, has shown that these transitions can be driven solely by acoustics. This eliminates the need for the magnetic antenna, enabling engineers to build smaller, more power-efficient acoustic sensors that can be packed more tightly on a single device.
New Recommendations on Genetic Testing for Prostate Cancer
Genetic testing for prostate cancer is still not common. New guidelines show why it’s important, and which genes to test for.
Political ‘oil spill’: Polarization is growing stronger — and getting stickier
Experts have documented that political polarization is intensifying in the United States. However, a Penn State sociologist now suggests that this separation isn’t just more intense, but it is also growing broader, coagulating into an ideological slick of opinions.
Responding to Challenges of Older Adults with COVID-19
Older adults with COVID-19 who survive hospitalizations and return to their homes confront substantial health challenges and an unpredictable future. Early evidence suggests that complex and long-term physical, functional, cognitive, and emotional negative health consequences will be the norm for them. However, the trajectories of health care needs of older adults with COVID-19 in the weeks and months following hospital discharge have yet to be identified.
New Report on Enforcement of Gun Laws in Baltimore Finds More Focused Approached Could Reduce Violence, Improve Community Relationships with City Police
A new report from the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health finds that broad “stop-and-search” practices used for many years by Baltimore police to look for illegally possessed guns have minimal, if any, impact on gun violence. These practices also result in mental and physical harm to those who are unjustifiably searched and serve to undermine community trust in police. The researchers also found that residents of communities most impacted by gun violence in Baltimore want more focused and accountable law enforcement to reduce gun violence.
Sounds of sickness: Perceptions of coughs, sneezes not diagnosed accurately
You’re standing in the store’s check-out line, and the customer behind you viciously coughs.
Reusing chicken litter shows benefits
Beneficial bacteria in reused poultry litter can reduce Salmonella levels
COVID-19 Test That Relies on Viral Genetic Material Gives False Negative Results if Used Too Early in Those Infected
In a new study, Johns Hopkins researchers found that testing people for SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes COVID-19 — too early in the course of infection is likely to result in a false negative test, even though they may eventually test positive for the virus.
ASTRO issues first clinical guideline on radiation therapy for cervical cancer
A new clinical guideline from the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) provides recommendations for radiation therapy to treat patients with nonmetastatic cervical cancer. The guideline outlines indications and best practices for EBRT and brachytherapy in postoperative and definitive settings, and it also addresses chemotherapy and surgery when used in combination with radiation. The guideline is published online in Practical Radiation Oncology.
Antarctic sea-ice models improve for the next IPCC report
A study of 40 sea ice models finds they all project that the area of sea ice around Antarctica will decrease by 2100, but the amount of loss varies between the emissions scenarios.
Cellular stress causes cancer cell chemoresistance
Postgenomic technologies reveal new mechanism of stress-induced chemoresistanceResistance of cancer cells against therapeutic agents is a major cause of treatment failure, especially in recurrent diseases. An international team around the biochemists Robert Ahrends from the University of Vienna and Jan Medenbach from the University of Regensburg identified a novel mechanism of chemoresistance which has now been published in “Nature Communications”.
Link between liver and heart disease could lead to new therapeutics
A newly published study of flies found that protecting liver function also preserves heart health. The research could lead to new therapeutic approaches in human health and illuminate the role of understudied organelles known as peroxisomes.
Study Identifies Strategies States Use to Limit Local Government Control
Local governments are often innovators of public health policymaking—the first smoke-free air acts, menu labeling laws, and soda taxes were all implemented locally. However, states are increasingly limiting local control over public health issues by passing laws that overrule local regulations, a practice known as preemption.
A new study by researchers at NYU School of Global Public Health, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, takes a closer look at the strategies state legislatures use—often behind closed doors—to pass preemptive laws that limit local government control.
Widespread facemask use could shrink the ‘R’ number and prevent a second COVID-19 wave – study
• Cambridge-led modelling looks at population-level facemask use.
• The more people use facemasks in public, the smaller the ‘R’.
• Even basic homemade masks significantly reduce transmission at a population level.
• Researchers call for information campaigns – “my mask protects you, your mask protects me” – that encourage the making and wearing of facemasks.
Cancer Researchers Have a Head Start in Fight Against COVID-19
Researchers at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center have been actively engaged in the effort to develop treatments or other control strategies that can help communities worldwide to address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Research team sees major shift in relationship between state-by-state traffic and COVID-19 cases, offering insights into outcomes of lockdown policies
“In many states, traffic appears to be a leading indicator, increasing first, with COVID-19 cases rising after a delay of up to 11 days,” said Northern Arizona University professor Kevin Gurney, head of the NAU research group analyzing the data. Pawlok Dass, a postdoc in the School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems, is the lead research scientist on the project.
Ancient micrometeoroids carried specks of stardust, water to asteroid 4 Vesta
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis are the first to study presolar materials that landed on a planet-like body. Their findings may help solve the mystery: where did all the water on Earth come from?
Virginia Tech research provides new explanation for neutrino anomalies in Antarctica
A new research paper co-authored by a Virginia Tech assistant professor of physics provides a new explanation for two recent strange events that occurred in Antarctica – high-energy neutrinos appearing to come up out of the Earth on their own accord and head skyward.
The Following News Release Contains Potentially Disturbing Content: Trigger Warnings Fail to Help and May Even Harm
New research suggests that trigger warnings have little or no benefit in cushioning the blow of potentially disturbing content and, in some cases, may make things worse.
Telemedicine Proven Effective Means of Monitoring Patients in Large Pediatric Neurology Network
As the COVID-19 pandemic sent entire communities into lockdown, doctors quickly adopted telehealth strategies without knowing whether they would be effective or feasible. Now, a new study from the Division of Neurology at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) shows that for pediatric neurology care, the transition was very successful even in a short period of time and may provide guidance on the future of pediatric care after the pandemic subsides.
Rutgers-Harvard-Northeastern Researchers Release 50-State Survey Data on COVID-19
Rutgers scholar Katherine Ognyanova is available to comment on the latest Rutgers-Harvard-Northeastern survey data from The COVID-19 Consortium for Understanding the Public’s Policy Preferences Across States.
Study: Mixed Progress in Efforts to Reduce Low Value Breast Cancer Surgery
A U-M review found national Choosing Wisely recommendations to reduce overtreatment in early stage breast cancer weren’t consistently followed.
Women’s communication shapes division of labor in household
A new study led a team that analyzed the role that communication plays in the division of household labor. They found that partner communication is the most important factor linking the division of household labor to satisfaction in the relationship. But the way that the partners’ communication matters depends on gender.
Google’s trends: UofL researcher using internet searches to map the spread of COVID-19
In a new study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, Higgins and colleagues at Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Indiana University and Kentuckiana ENT found a correlation between searches for symptoms of the disease and new confirmed cases and deaths.
Volcanic activity and changes in Earth’s mantle were key to rise of atmospheric oxygen
Evidence from rocks billions of years old suggest that volcanoes played a key role in the rise of oxygen in the atmosphere of the early Earth.
Female Athletes at Risk for Nutritional Deficiencies
Lack of proper nutrition education may affect female athletes’ performance and long-term health, says Rutgers researcher
Happiness Might Protect You From Gastrointestinal Distress
DALLAS – June 9, 2020 – Serotonin, a chemical known for its role in producing feelings of well-being and happiness in the brain, can reduce the ability of some intestinal pathogens to cause deadly infections, new research by UT Southwestern scientists suggests. The findings, publishing online today in Cell Host & Microbe, could offer a new way to fight infections for which few truly effective treatments currently exist.
Yale scientists develop a new experimental method to study infection and disease, including COVID-19
Yale Cancer Center scientists have developed a new cell screening method for agents that alter biologic functions. This approach uses thousands of artificial proteins called “traptamers” and may help to answer research questions that are difficult to address with other cell screening methods, including the SARS-CoV-2 virus, COVID-19. The data is published today in the journal Cell Reports.
Biohybrid Model Uses Organic Lungs, Synthetic Muscles to Re-Create Respiration Mechanics
Discussed in APL Bioengineering, researchers created a high-fidelity respiratory simulator that accurately represents the interplay between the abdomen, diaphragm, lungs and pleural space, the fluid-filled membrane surrounding the thorax and lungs. The model, using swine lungs, soft robotic materials and artificial muscles, allows precise tuning of pressure in each part of the system, so specific disease conditions can be tested. It also proved extremely useful for testing ventilator-only respiration by removing the elastomeric diaphragm.
Serious Complication of Crohn’s Disease May Be Preventable in Young People
For children and young adults with Crohn’s disease, steroid-sparing therapies may help reduce the risk of developing a severe and common complication of the inflammatory bowel condition, a new study suggests.
Paper-Based Device Provides Low-Power, Long-Term Method for Analyzing Sweat
Researchers at North Carolina State University have constructed a paper-based device as a model of wearables that can collect, transport and analyze sweat in next-generation wearable technology. Using a process known as capillary action, akin to water transport in plants, the device uses evaporation to wick fluid that mimics the features of human sweat to a sensor for up to 10 days or longer. They discuss their work in the journal Biomicrofluidics.
Targeting SARS-CoV-2 Enzyme with Inhibitors
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, many researchers are studying epidemiological models to predict its propagation. However, a mathematician and expert in complex systems decided to focus on finding targets within SARS-CoV-2 for new drugs to attack. In the journal Chaos, he discusses the dramatic increase in the sensitivity of the main protease of SARS-CoV-2 to small disturbances, which made him suspect there is a role for inhibitors to play in killing the virus.
Predicting Cancer Behavior Requires Better Understanding of Tumor Cells
Our ability to predict who will get cancer, how patients will respond to treatment, or if patients will relapse is still quite limited, despite advances in the detection of genetic mutations and the establishment of risk factors; recently researchers were inspired to find new ways of looking at the problem. In Biomicrofluidics, they report that using cellular mechanophenotyping, along with traditional methods such as immunostaining and genetic analysis, may provide a more comprehensive view of a tumor.