Earth
Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women, and metastasis from the breast to other areas of the body is the leading cause of death in these patients. Detecting circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the bloodstream could help doctors find and treat metastases at an earlier stage, increasing chances of survival. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Sensors have developed a method that could more sensitively detect CTCs within the complex environment of blood.
How much can society gain by cutting consumption of materials -- by using materials smarter, using less or recycling materials? A new report from the International Resource Panel for the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) says the gains are substantial and can be key to enabling countries to meet their emissions targets.
TAMPA, Fla. (Nov. 18, 2020)- For more than 10,000 years, the people who lived on the arid landscape of modern-day western New Mexico were renowned for their complex societies, unique architecture and early economic and political systems. But surviving in what Spanish explorers would later name El Malpais, or the "bad lands," required ingenuity now being explained for the first time by an international geosciences team led by the University of South Florida.
Prostate cancer is caused by elevated hormone levels, and tumours are generally treated using hormone therapy. However, after some time, tumour growth is no longer dependent on hormones, which results in resistance to treatment. As a result, new types of treatments are urgently needed.
Osaka, Japan - Successful drug development has a significant impact on people's quality of life worldwide. Being able to track how molecules get into target cells, and observing what they do when they are inside, is key to identifying the best candidates. Analysis techniques therefore form an important part of the drug discovery process. Researchers from Osaka University, in collaboration with RIKEN, have reported a Raman microscopy-based approach for visualizing small-molecule drugs that uses gold nanoparticles. The team's findings are published in ACS Nano.
Detailed modeling of the effect of volcanic eruptions on the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has shown that the climate response to these events depends on the timing of the eruption and the preceding conditions. The research, led by KAUST researchers Evgeniya Predybaylo and Georgiy Stenchikov, settles a long-standing debate about the role of volcanic eruptions in global climate perturbations.
Researchers have discovered that a protein thought to only be involved in the development of neurons in the brain also plays a major role in the development and growth of pancreatic cancer. Their findings demonstrate for the first time how the protein, called Netrin-G1, helps pancreatic cancer cells survive by protecting them from the immune system and supplying them with nutrients.
Current chemotherapy regimens slow cancer progression and save lives, but these powerful drugs affect both healthy and cancerous cells. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Nano Letters have designed DNA-based nanogels that only break down and release their chemotherapeutic contents within cancer cells, minimizing the impacts on normal ones and potentially eliminating painful and uncomfortable side effects.
COLUMBUS, Ohio - City living appears to improve reproductive success for migratory tree swallows compared to breeding in more environmentally protected areas, a new five-year study suggests. But urban life comes with a big trade-off - health hazards linked to poorer water quality.
Bountiful harvests in one location can mean empty water reservoirs and environmental woes far from farmlands. A unique study in this week's Nature Communications examines how food, energy, water and greenhouse gases create a vast front in the battle to feed the planet.
Nearly 200 years ago, Charles Darwin noted striking diversity among the finches of the Galapagos Islands, and his observations helped him propose the role of natural selection in shaping species. Today, some biologists focus their attention on a related group of birds, the finch-like capuchino seedeaters of South America, and their studies are deepening our understanding of the forces that drive evolution.
During a 2016 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) expedition to explore a pair of World War II shipwrecks that lie off the North Carolina coast, marine scientists ensconced within glass-domed submersibles navigated to the Atlantic Ocean seafloor in the hope of profiling the fish communities residing on the wrecks.
A recent review of published studies in non-human mammals examines "sexual disturbance," or male behavior towards a female around mating that can be costly for the female--for example, that might inflict physical harm or cause mother-offspring separation. The findings are published in Mammal Review.
WASHINGTON, November 17, 2020 -- Pandemics are fueled, in part, by dense populations in large cities where networks of buildings, crowded sidewalks, and public transportation force people into tighter conditions. This contrasts with conditions in rural areas, where there is more space available per person.
DURHAM, N.C. -- More than three decades after they were found to have elevated blood lead levels as children, a group of middle-aged adults were found to have some small but significant changes in brain structure that corresponded to their dose of lead exposure in early life.
MRI scans at age 45 revealed some small but significant changes in the brains of the people who had higher lead exposures measured at age 11.