Feed aggregator

Publication bias, or the tendency of researchers and journals to not publish uninteresting findings, plagues much of the natural sciences and especially biomedical research. Hiroshima University researchers have developed a meta-analytic technique exploiting publicly available transcriptome databases that avoids the problem -- and in so doing, discovered four genes previously unknown to be associated with responding to low-oxygen stress.

An international team establish that artificial lighting is killing young clownfish living closest to shore. They also found that clownfish grew 44% more slowly than clownfish under natural lighting conditions.

South Korea's Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) has succeeded in investigating and controlling the physical properties of naturally-formed nanoscale wrinkles in 2D semiconductors.

A phenomenon in which an RNA named NORAD drives a protein named Pumilio to form liquid droplets in cells, much like oil in water, appears to tightly regulate the activity of Pumilio. A new study led by UT Southwestern scientists suggests that such RNA-driven "phase separation," in turn, protects against genome instability, premature aging, and neurodegenerative diseases, and may represent a previously unrecognized way for RNAs to regulate cellular processes.

Combining thermotherapy with other treatment modalities can improve the treatment's effectiveness. However, there is a dearth of suitable heat-generating wireless devices that can be implanted in the patient's body enabling greater flexibility and ease of treatment. Recently, researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) have invented a unique induction-based flexible heating device that can address these gaps. The study has been published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.

Chemical rings of carbon and hydrogen atoms curve to form relatively stable structures capable of conducting electricity and more -- but how do these curved systems change when new components are introduced? Researchers based in Japan found that, with just a few sub-atomic additions, the properties can pivot to vary system states and behaviors, as demonstrated through a new synthesized chemical compound.

Researchers explored suicide trends by firearms in white and black Americans ages 5 to 24 years from 1999 to 2018. From 2008 to 2018, rates of suicide by firearms quadrupled in those ages 5 to 14 years and increased by 50% in those ages 15 to 24 years. Suicide deaths by firearms were more prevalent in white than black Americans -- a marked contrast with homicide by firearms, which are far more prevalent in black than white Americans.

Real-world data from Sleep Number® smart bed sleepers shows a potential model for predicting and tracking COVID-19 infection using sleep and biometric measures. Analysis of 18.2 million 360 smart bed sleep sessions finds heart rate variability differs with age, gender and day of the week.

Patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) do not appear to have increased risk of side effects from the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, according to a recent Cedars-Sinai study published online and upcoming in print in the American Journal of Gastroenterology. In fact, those being treated with advanced immune-modifying therapies may experience them less often than the general population.

A research team led by Kelly Wrighton, associate professor in the College of Agricultural Sciences' Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, has uncovered new insights into the role of polyphenols in the soil microbiome, known as a black box for its complexity. They proffer an updated theory that soils - much like the human gut - can be food sources for the microbes that live there.

Designing a soundscape to improve quality of life for an individual is centered on putting their perception at the heart of the process. During the 180th ASA Meeting, Arezoo Talebzadeh from Ghent University will show how a personalized soundscape can help those with dementia by providing clues regarding time of day and place. The session, "Soundscape design for people with dementia; the correlation between psychoacoustic parameter and human perception," will take place Wednesday, June 9.

Two papers describe how ground-breaking image reconstruction and analysis algorithms developed for surface-based MicroBooNE detector filter out cosmic ray tracks to pinpoint elusive neutrino interactions with unprecedented clarity.

A mutation from a human patient with a rare metabolic disorder has been replicated in the Japanese rice fish. Researchers from the Centre for Organismal Studies Heidelberg, Germany, have developed a fish model to study disorders caused by a deficiency in the process of adding sugar molecules to proteins. These findings, published in the journal Development, provide a system to study the causes of complex metabolic disorders in humans.

As 'visual recognition memory' emerges in visual cortex, one circuit of inhibitory neurons supplants another and slower neural oscillations prevail, according to a new MIT study.

COVID-19 caused a 30% fall in electronic and electrical equipment sales in low- and middle-income countries but only a 5% fall in high-income countries, intensifying the north-south digital divide, the UN says. Sales of heavy appliances like refrigerators fell hardest (6-8%) while laptops, cell phones and gaming equipment defied the general trend, rising in high-income countries and on a global basis, but dropping in low- and middle-income countries.

For the first time, Australian scientists have confirmed a link between the role of regular fish oil to break down the ability of 'superbugs' to become resistant to antibiotics. The discovery, led by Flinders University and just published in international journal mBio, found that the antimicrobial powers of fish oil fatty acids could prove a simple and safe dietary supplement for people to take with antibiotics to make their fight against infection more effective.

As many older adults get back to normal life across the United States thanks to high rates of vaccination and lower COVID-19 activity, a new poll suggests many should watch their alcohol intake.

In an international collaboration including EPFL, scientists have achieved giant nonlinearity of UV hybrid light-matter states up to room temperature in a waveguide made of AlInGaN, a wide bandgap semiconductor. The achievement paves the way for new devices in ultrafast chemical and biochemical spectroscopy.

Nearly 30% of adults with a history of heart attack, heart failure, stroke or other cardiovascular disease reported ongoing use of cigarettes or other tobacco products at the start of a large, nationally representative study spanning 2013-2018.At the end of the five-year study, approximately one in five of the study participants was still smoking.Cigarettes were the tobacco product used most often by study participants, followed by cigars and e-cigarettes.

A new study published at the scientific journal Frontiers in Plant Science by CRAG and IRTA researchers reveals the gene that determines Japanese plum skin colour due to the presence or absence of antioxidant pigment anthocyanin. This work provides a highly efficient molecular marker for early selection of coloured and non-coloured fruits in plum breeding programmes, with potential applications in other Rosaceae species.