Earth

A new approach to molecular drug design has yielded a highly promising bladder cancer drug, which induced rapid shedding of tumour cells and resulted in a significant reduction in tumour size when used in clinical trials.

These potent effects were seen in patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) and the treatment was shown to be safe, as no drug-related side effects were observed.

Researchers from Tallinn University of Technology, Grete Raba, Signe Adamberg, and Kaarel Adamberg showed that an acidic environment enhances the production of butyric acid from apple pectin by faecal bacterial consortia - microbiota. Pectin is a dietary fibre abundant in apples, berries, fruits, and vegetables. Pectin is used in jellies and desserts. As human digestive enzymes are not able to degrade pectin, it is metabolized by the microbes of the large intestine.

WASHINGTON, June 28, 2021 -- Ancient Rome's emperors did some pretty bizarre stuff -- bursting into uncontrollable fits of laughter, appointing a horse as a priest, dressing in animal skins and attacking people ... the list goes on. Why were they acting that way? Well, it might have been lead poisoning. In this week's episode, we unwrap the possibility that lead caused the Roman Empire's collapse: https://youtu.be/4k7CvSiomlA.

Allabogdanite was first reported in the early 2000s from the Onello - a small iron meteorite recovered from the gold placer at the Bolshoi Dolguchan River in Eastern Yakutia. Chemically, the mineral belongs to phosphides - the compounds containing phosphorus in a negative oxidation state. It was named in honour of the crystallographer Alla Bogdanova. Since that, allabogdanite was identified in several iron meteorites. The recent discovery at the Dead Sea is the first confirmation of the mineral on Earth.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Mountaintop glacier ice in the tropics of all four hemispheres covers significantly less area -- in one case as much as 93% less -- than it did just 50 years ago, a new study has found.

The study, published online recently in the journal Global and Planetary Change, found that a glacier near Puncak Jaya, in Papua New Guinea, lost about 93% of its ice over a 38-year period from 1980 to 2018. Between 1986 and 2017 the area covered by glaciers on top of Kilimanjaro in Africa decreased by nearly 71%.

A new study has found baby coral reef fishes can outpace all other baby fishes in the ocean.

Lead author Adam Downie is a PhD candidate at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University (Coral CoE at JCU).

Mr Downie said when considering aquatic athletes, young coral reef fishes shine: they are some of the fastest babies, swimming around 15-40 body lengths per second.

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - According to researchers at Marshall University, a maternal diet rich in Omega-3 fatty acids protects from breast cancer development in offspring. In a new study recently published by Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, researchers noted a significant difference in mice from mothers that were fed a diet rich in canola oil, compared with mothers fed a diet rich in corn oil.

PULLMAN, Wash. - A research team led by Washington State University has created a computer model to understand how plants store energy in the thylakoid membrane, a key structure to photosynthesis in plant leaves.

The team confirmed the accuracy of the mathematical model with lab experiments. Their work was recently published in the journal Nature Plants.

As smoky air becomes more common during Washington's wildfire season, many wildlife enthusiasts wonder: What happens to the birds?

Few studies have looked at wildfire smoke impacts on animals, let alone birds. And as Washington and the larger West Coast continue to experience more massive wildfires and smoke-filled air, understanding how birds are affected by smoke -- and how air pollution may influence our ability to detect birds -- are important factors for bird conservation.

PHILADELPHIA -- (June 29, 2021) -- New biomarkers that predict HIV remission after antiretroviral therapy (ART) interruption are critical for the development of new therapeutic strategies that can achieve infection control without ART, a condition defined as functional cure. These biomarkers can also provide critical clues into the biological mechanisms that control HIV replication after stopping therapy, and can help design novel strategies to cure HIV.

This press release is in support of a presentation by Dr Gulam Bahadur presented online at the 37th Annual Meeting of ESHRE.

The tiny mouse embryo has a heart that beats. Its muscles, blood vessels, gut and nervous system are beginning to develop. But this embryo is unusual: It was made in a lab, out of mouse embryonic stem cells, and represents the most sophisticated in vitro (in a dish) model of a mammal ever so created.

Oncotarget published "Predicting clinical outcomes using cancer progression associated signatures" which reported somatic mutation signatures are an informative facet of cancer aetiology, however they are rarely useful for predicting patient outcome.

HAMILTON, ON June 28, 2021 -- Researchers at McMaster University have developed a promising new cancer immunotherapy that uses cancer-killing cells genetically engineered outside the body to find and destroy malignant tumors.

The modified "natural killer" cells can differentiate between cancer cells and healthy cells that are often intermingled in and around tumors, destroying only the targeted cells.

What The Study Did: Researchers looked at whether age-related hearing impairment among older adults is associated with poorer and faster decline in physical function and reduced walking endurance.

Authors: Pablo Martinez-Amezcua, M.D., Ph.D., M.H.S., of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, is the corresponding author.

To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/

(doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.13742)