Tech
WASHINGTON--Machine learning, a form of artificial intelligence, can predict which women are at high risk of developing gestational diabetes and lead to earlier intervention, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) scientists have discovered a gene-regulating snippet of RNA that may contribute to the spread of many breast cancers. In animal experiments, the researchers could reduce the growth of metastatic tumors with a molecule designed to target that RNA and trigger its destruction. The same strategy, they say, could be used to develop a new breast cancer treatment for patients.
National Institutes of Health researchers have isolated a set of promising, tiny antibodies, or "nanobodies," against SARS-CoV-2 that were produced by a llama named Cormac. Preliminary results published in Scientific Reports suggest that at least one of these nanobodies, called NIH-CoVnb-112, could prevent infections and detect virus particles by grabbing hold of SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins. In addition, the nanobody appeared to work equally well in either liquid or aerosol form, suggesting it could remain effective after inhalation. SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes COVID-19.
An international team from Germany, Sweden, Russia and the USA, led by scientists from European XFEL, has published the results of an experiment that could provide a blueprint for the analysis of transitions states in atoms and molecules. This would open up new opportunities to gain insights into important processes such as photocatalysis, elementary steps in photosynthesis and radiation damage.
NUST MISIS scientists found a way to reduce the cost of industrial and electronics heatsinks production up to 10 times. Consequently, the product itself would also cost less. The proposed methods presume the use of rubbers and silicon carbide as components, i.e. these components are mixed, pressed and sintered. The article on the research is published in Polymers.
Under certain conditions, antigen testing using self-collected swabs from the anterior nose may constitute a reliable alternative to antigen testing using nasopharyngeal swabs collected by health professionals. This is the conclusion drawn by a team of researchers from Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Heidelberg University Hospital. Results from their study have been published in the European Respiratory Journal*.
Researchers from the Microtubule Organization lab, headed by Jens Lüders at IRB Barcelona, and the Macromolecular Complexes in DNA Damage Response Group, led by Oscar Llorca at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), have achieved the first in vitro reconstitution of the human -tubulin ring complex (γTuRC), responsible for initiating microtubule formation. In addition, they revealed its 3D structure by cryo-electron microscopy. The key to their success lies in the identification of the RUVBL protein complex as an essential γTuRC assembly helper.
Two consecutive studies on this have been published in the journals Brain Sciences and BMC Neuroscience.
The same stimulus hurts differently
TAMPA, Fla (Dec. 21, 2020) -- Postpartum hemorrhage, or excessive bleeding after delivery, is still one of the leading causes of severe maternal injury and death in the United States. And the rise in obesity among pregnant women has been linked to increased rates of this potentially serious, largely preventable obstetric complication.
In the 1970s, physicists uncovered a problem with the Standard Model of particle physics--the theory that describes three of the four fundamental forces of nature (electromagnetic, weak, and strong interactions; the fourth is gravity). They found that, while the theory predicts that a symmetry between particles and forces in our Universe and a mirror version should be broken, the experiments say otherwise. This mismatch between theory and observations is dubbed "the Strong CP problem"--CP stands for Charge+Parity.
The advantages of light-emitting diodes (LEDs), such as their tiny size, low cost and excellent power efficiency, mean they are found everywhere in modern life. A KAUST team has recently developed a way of producing a white-light LED that overcomes some critical challenges.
Abstracts are summaries that introduce scientific articles. Their purpose is to inform as to the content of the text so that in a short time potential readers can get a general idea of the contents and decide whether they are interested in reading the entire document. Formally, it is a basically informative summary that synthesizes the most important contributions of the article: the topic of study, the methodology applied, and, above all, the results obtained.
Adapting a traditional endless runner video game and using a raccoon as the protagonist, researchers from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) and the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM, in its Spanish acronym), among other institutions, have developed a platform that allows the identification and evaluation of the degree of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents.
Stem cells create new nerve cells in the brain over the entire life span. One of the places this happens is the hippocampus, a region of the brain that plays a significant role in many learning processes. A reduction in the number of newly formed nerve cells has been observed, for example, in the context of depression and Alzheimer's disease, and is associated with reduced memory performance in these conditions.
From stem cell behavior to the activity of genes in individual cells
Researchers of the "Cell Biology and Physiology-LABRET" group of the University of Malaga (UMA), together with the Networking Biomedical Research Center in Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN), have described a new genetic skeletal disorder based on a precision medicine strategy.
By using methods of massive sequencing -of all genes- they have identified the mutations that caused a rare bone disorder, particularly, the mutations in "LAMA5", the gene encoding an extracellular matrix protein around blood vessels in skeletal tissue.