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Studies connect hormone to breast cancer and uncover potential for novel targeted drugs
The hormone prolactin has long been understood to play a vital role in breast growth and development and the production of milk during pregnancy. But a pair of recent studies conducted at VCU Massey Cancer Center finds strong evidence that prolactin also acts as a major contributor to breast cancer development and that the hormone could inform the creation of targeted drugs to treat multiple forms of the disease.
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Skin and bones repaired by bioprinting during surgery
Fixing traumatic injuries to the skin and bones of the face and skull is difficult because of the many layers of different types of tissues involved, but now, researchers have repaired such defects in a rat model using bioprinting during surgery, and their work may lead to faster and better methods of healing skin and bones.
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Energy-saving gas turbines from the 3D printer
3D printing has opened up a completely new range of possibilities. One example is the production of novel turbine buckets. However, the 3D printing process often induces internal stress in the components which can in the worst case lead to cracks. Now a research team has succeeded in using neutrons from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) research neutron source for non-destructive detection of this internal stress - a key achievement for the improvement of the production processes.
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New clues to the conundrum of mother-to-child HIV transmission
Each year over 150,000 infants worldwide are infected with HIV in the womb, at birth, or through breastfeeding. Why transmission occurs in some cases but not others has long been a mystery, but now a team led by Weill Cornell Medicine and Duke University scientists has uncovered an important clue, with implications for how to eliminate infant HIV infections.
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Rare neurological condition linked to COVID-19 cases in 21 countries
As researchers continue to study the neurological impacts of COVID-19, a Houston Methodist international collaboration has documented an unexpectedly frequent occurrence of acute transverse myelitis - inflammation of the spinal cord - in 43 COVID-19 patients.
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Genetic changes in head and neck cancer, immunotherapy resistance identified
A multi-institutional team of researchers, led by UC San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center, has identified both the genetic abnormalities that drive pre-cancer cells into becoming an invasive type of head and neck cancer and patients who are least likely to respond to immunotherapy.
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New study provides insight in identifying, treating lung cancer at early stages
Lung carcinomas are the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States and worldwide. Lung squamous cell carcinomas (non-small cell lung cancers that arise in the bronchi of the lungs and make up approximately 30 percent of all lung cancers) are poorly understood, particularly with respect to the cell type and signals that contribute to disease onset.
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Structure gives insight into how plants keep their "mouths" shut
As part of a collaborative effort with scientists at Columbia University, researchers at the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have uncovered the atomic structure of SLAC1 using single particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM).
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Genetic discovery in songbird provides new insights
A new study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals that zebra finches and other songbirds have a low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) gene surprisingly different than other vertebrates.
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UBCO researcher re-evaluates estimate of the world's high-altitude population
New findings detailing the world's first-of-its-kind estimate of how many people live in high-altitude regions, will provide insight into future research of human physiology.Dr. Joshua Tremblay, a postdoctoral fellow in UBC Okanagan's School of Health and Exercise Sciences, has released updated population estimates of how many people in the world live at a high altitude.
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Human genome editing requires difficult conversations between science and society
Researchers argue that advanced tech, especially CRISPR, demands more robust and thoughtful public engagement if it is to be harnessed to benefit the public without crossing ethical lines.
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Better hearing with optical cochlear implants
Imaging techniques enable decisive step toward development of novel hearing prostheses
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Icy clouds could have kept early Mars warm enough for rivers and lakes, study finds
A new study led by University of Chicago planetary scientist Edwin Kite uses a computer model of Mars to put forth a promising explanation onto how Mars once contained rivers and lakes: Mars could have had a thin layer of icy, high-altitude clouds that caused a greenhouse effect.
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First village-level mapping of childhood undernutrition in India reveals local disparities
The first study to predict and map the burden of childhood undernutrition across all of the nearly 600,000 villages in rural India revealed that the risk of childhood undernutrition varies widely.
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Social tensions preceded disruptions in ancient Pueblo societies
Drought is often blamed for the periodic disruptions of ancient Pueblo societies of the U.S. Southwest, but in a study with potential implications for the modern world, archaeologists found evidence that slowly accumulating social tension likely played a substantial role in three dramatic upheavals in Pueblo development. The findings show that Pueblo farmers often persevered through droughts, but when social tensions were increasing, even modest droughts could spell the end of an era of development.
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Surgical procedure may help restore hand and arm function after stroke
Patients who received a novel treatment that combines vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) and rehabilitation showed improvement in upper body motor impairment compared to those who received sham (inactive form of) stimulation and rehabilitation.
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Fooling fusion fuel: How to discipline unruly plasma
PPPL scientists have developed a type of deception to calm unruly plasma and accelerate the harvesting on Earth of fusion energy.
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Is night shift really helping you sleep better?
A new study from BYU published in Sleep Health challenges the premise made by phone manufacturers and found that the Night Shift functionality does not actually improve sleep.
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Cleaner water through corn
Corn is America's top agricultural crop, and also one of its most wasteful. About half the harvest--stalks, leaves, husks, and cobs-- remains as waste after the kernels have been stripped from the cobs. These leftovers, known as corn stover, have few commercial or industrial uses aside from burning. A new paper by engineers at UC Riverside describes an energy-efficient way to put corn stover back into the economy by transforming it into activated carbon for use in water treatment.
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Two novel biobanks offer investigatory targets for cocaine and oxycodone addiction
Researchers have created to novel biobanks of diverse tissues from animals to further explore the biological bases and consequences of addiction to cocaine and oxycodone.
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