Eurekalert

A new antibody testing study examining samples originally collected through the National Institutes of Health's All of Us Research Program found evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infections in five states earlier than had initially been reported. These findings were published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Scientists have identified how and why some Covid-19 patients can develop life-threatening clots, which could lead to targeted therapies that prevent this from happening.

Research teams from Würzburg, Munich, Erlangen and the MDC in Berlin have identified, for the first time, where special receptors are located on heart muscle cells. Their findings open up new perspectives for developing therapies for chronic heart failure.

Research led by the University of Kent and the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory has resulted in the discovery of a new rare topological superconductor, LaPt3P. This discovery may be of huge importance to the future operations of quantum computers.

What exactly triggers a sneeze? A team led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has identified, in mice, specific cells and proteins that control the sneeze reflex. Better understanding of what causes us to sneeze -- specifically how neurons behave in response to allergens and viruses -- may point to treatments capable of slowing the spread of infectious respiratory diseases.

Links between lipid imbalance and disease have been established, in which lipid changes increase the formation of amyloid plaques, a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. This imbalance inspired researchers to explore the role of lipids comprising the cellular membranes of brain cells. In Biointerphases, the researchers report on the significant role lipids may play in regulating C99, a protein within the amyloid pathway, and disease progression.

Optical cloaking allows objects to be hidden in plain sight by guiding light around anything placed inside the cloak. While cloaking has been popularized in fiction, researchers in recent years have started realizing cloaks that shield objects from view by controlling the flow of electromagnetic radiation around them. In Journal of Applied Physics, researchers examined recent progress of developing invisibility cloaks that function in natural incoherent light and can be realized using standard optical components.

Focus groups were conducted with teenagers to examine their responses to exposure to online and media-based vicarious racism and to explore coping strategies that may be used to combat negative emotions.

Researchers examined whether a sweetened beverage tax in Philadelphia was associated with sustained changes in beverage prices and purchases of sweetened beverages and high-sugar foods two years after implementation of the tax.

In this survey of 1,186 medical, graduate and health professional school faculty, more faculty considered leaving since the COVID-19 pandemic than before. Faculty with children, particularly female faculty with children, were more likely to consider leaving since the pandemic.

USC researchers have created what could be a key building block for assembling a synthetic kidney. In a new study, Zhongwei Li and his colleagues describe how they generate rudimentary kidney structures, known as organoids, that resemble the collecting duct system that helps maintain the body's fluid and pH balance by concentrating and transporting urine. The organoids provide a way to study kidney disease that could lead to new treatments and regenerative approaches for patients.

A previously unreported anatomical structure named the 'cantil' has been described in the popular plant model, Arabidopsis thaliana. Scientists from The Pennsylvania State University, USA, reveal that the cantil forms between the stem and flower-bearing stalk when flowering is delayed. Published in the journal Development, this study highlights that there are still discoveries to be made, even in some of the most meticulously studied species, and provides new clues for understanding conditional growth in plants.

Combustion engines can develop high frequency oscillations, leading to structural damage to and unsafe operating conditions. In Physics of Fluids, research clarifies the feedback processes that give rise to these oscillations. The investigators studied simulated combustion events in a computational model of a rocket combustor and their analysis involved sophisticated techniques, including symbolic dynamics and the use of complex networks to understand the transition into oscillatory behavior.

To counter the effects of climate change on drylands, a new study suggests that global access to water should be managed in a more integrated way.

The influx of warmer water masses from the North Atlantic into the European marginal seas plays a significant role in the marked decrease in sea-ice growth, especially in winter.

New research led by the University of Kent has found that there is no link between bed sharing, infant-mother attachment, and infant behavioral outcomes.

Pesticides safeguard agricultural yields by controlling insects, fungi, and weeds. However, they also enter streams and damage the aquatic communities. In a nationwide monitoring program, scientists led by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research have shown that the governmental thresholds for pesticides are too high and that these levels are still exceeded in over 80% of water bodies. The loss of biodiversity can only be halted if the environmental risk assessment of pesticides is revised.

Local rice varieties in Vietnam could be used to help breed improved crops with higher resilience to climate change, according to a new study published in Rice. Earlham Institute researchers are part of an international collaboration with genebanks and rice breeders in Vietnam -- championed by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) to help abolish world poverty and hunger -- are aiming to identify varieties that can survive an increasingly unpredictable climate.

An extended epidemic model that accounts for uncertainty and the latest data can better predict the evolution of pandemics.

Stem cell biologist Hugo Vankelecom (KU Leuven) and his colleagues have discovered that the pituitary gland in mice ages as the result of an age-related form of chronic inflammation. It may be possible to slow down this process or even partially repair it. The researchers have published their findings in PNAS.