Eurekalert

Flies have discriminating taste. Like a gourmet perusing a menu, they spend much of their time seeking sweet nutritious calories and avoiding bitter, potentially toxic food. But what happens in their brains when they make these food choices? Yale researchers discovered an interesting way to find out. They tricked them.

Research published today has demonstrated the viability of 3D-printed tissue scaffolds that harmlessly degrade while promoting tissue regeneration following implantation.

These Oncotarget results suggest that GBM might induce epigenetic alterations in tumor infiltrating CD4 T-cells

The major finding of this Oncotarget study was perioperative tryptophan depletion and increased taurine synthesis.

Cells that have undergone EMT can promote tumor growth and neovascularization either indirectly, by promoting endothelial transdifferentiation of carcinoma cells, or directly, by acquiring an endothelial phenotype, with FOXC2 playing key roles in these processes

A new risk calculator can help predict how long an older adult will live, and support end-of-life planning. The method used to develop the tool is published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.200022.

A KAIST immunology research team found that most convalescent patients of COVID-19 develop and maintain T cell memory for over 10 months regardless of the severity of their symptoms. In addition, memory T cells proliferate rapidly after encountering their cognate antigen and accomplish their multifunctional roles. This study provides new insights for effective vaccine strategies against COVID-19, considering the self-renewal capacity and multipotency of memory T cells.

Based on field survey data of aboveground biomass of herbaceous marsh and the distribution data set of marsh wetland in China, a study led by Prof. JIANG Ming from the Northeast the Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences analyzed for the first time the aboveground biomass and its spatial distribution pattern of herbaceous marsh in China. The result was published on Science China Earth Sciences in 2021.

Japanese astronomers have developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) technique to remove noise in astronomical data due to random variations in galaxy shapes. After extensive training and testing on large mock data created by supercomputer simulations, they then applied this new tool to actual data from Japan's Subaru Telescope and found that the mass distribution derived from using this method is consistent with the currently accepted models of the Universe.

Inadequate exposure to UVB light from the sun may be associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer, particularly in older age groups, according to a study using data on 186 countries, published in the open access journal BMC Public Health.

Scientists have reconstructed the Eastern Mediterranean silver trade, over a period including the traditional dates of the Trojan War, the founding of Rome, and the destruction of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. The team of French, Israeli and Australian scientists and numismatists found geochemical evidence for pre-coinage silver trade continuing throughout the Mediterranean during the Late Bronze and Iron Age periods, with the supply slowing only occasionally. Silver was sourced from the whole north-eastern Mediterranean, and as far away as the Iberian Peninsula.

Why are gold deposits found at all? Gold is famously unreactive, and there seems to be little reason why gold should be concentrated, rather than uniformly scattered throughout the Earth's crust. Now an international group of geochemists have discovered why gold is concentrated alongside arsenic, explaining the formation of most gold deposits

Scientists have found an unexplained cache of fossilised shark teeth in an area where there should be none - in a 2900 year old site in the City of David in Jerusalem. This is at least 80 km from where these fossils would be expected to be found. There is no conclusive proof of why the cache was assembled, but it may be that the 80 million-year-old teeth were part of a collection, dating from just after the death of King Solomon*.

Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have used high power impulse magnetron scattering (HiPIMS) to create thin films of tungsten with unprecedentedly low levels of film stress. By optimizing the timing of a 'substrate bias pulse' with microsecond precision, they minimized impurities and defects to form crystalline films with stresses as low as 0.03 GPa, similar to those achieved through annealing. Their work promises efficient pathways for creating metallic films for the electronics industry.

Researchers studied pelagic red crab range and strandings from 1950 to 2019 and compared these data with ocean conditions, like temperature and current movements. The team found that the appearance of red crabs outside of their normal range correlated with the amount of seawater flowing from Baja California to central California.

For the first time in the UAE, researchers at NYU Abu Dhabi have used nuclear magnetic resonance techniques to determine the structure of a specific nanobody, Nb23, potentially leading to a better understanding of how this small protein derived from an antibody type, found only in camelids (i.e camels, llamas, and alpacas) and sharks, can fight diseases ranging from rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and psoriasis to lymphoma and breast cancer.

To survive life threatening injuries, cancer cells use a technique in which they eat parts of the membrane surrounding them. This is shown for the first time in research from a team of Danish researchers.

Immunotherapy has revolutionized the field of cancer treatment. However, inflammatory reactions in healthy tissues frequently trigger side effects that can be serious. Scientists (UNIGE/Harvard Medical School) have succeeded in establishing the differences between deleterious immune reactions and those targeting tumor cells that are sought after. It appears that while the immune mechanisms are similar, the cell populations involved are different. This work makes it possible to envisage targeted and less dangerous treatments for cancer patients.

Using a method developed for HIV, researchers have identified stable T cell vaccine targets in SARS-CoV-2. These stable targets, known as highly networked epitopes, are highly likely to be stable in different variants of the virus. The results provide a path forward for a broadly protective COVID-19 T cell vaccine.

"Based on what we learned in the survey, there are some simple measures, such as providing a borrowed wheelchair to people so they have mobility while their chair is being repaired, that could reduce the adverse consequences," said Dr. Dyson-Hudson. "Other facilitators include increasing the speed of repairs, training people in wheelchair maintenance, and routinely scheduling follow-up appointments after a repair is made, so any subsequent problems can be caught early."