Eurekalert

Researchers at Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have developed a new approach in which specifically designed anti-inflammatory nanoparticles (NPs) that could be applied locally and selectively to chronically inflamed muscles severely affected or at more immediate risk of deterioration, and maybe difficult to reach with oral therapeutics.

Researchers report that small quantities of useful molecules such as hydrocarbons are produced when carbon dioxide and water react in the presence of light and a silver nanoparticle catalyst. Their validation study - made possible through the use of a high-resolution analytical technique - could pave the way for CO2-reduction technologies that allow industrial-scale production of renewable carbon-based fuels.

The body's immune cells fight off microbes and other invaders, and can also be reprogrammed or "trained" to respond even more aggressively to such threats, report UCLA scientists who have discovered the fundamental rule underlying this process in a particular class of cells. Their findings, published in the journal Science, could help pave the way for targeted strategies to enhance the immune system.

For the past several years, chemical engineer Michelle O'Malley has focused her research on the anaerobic fungi found in the guts of herbivores, which make it possible for those animals to fuel themselves with sugars and starches extracted from fibrous plants. O'Malley's work, reflected in multiple research awards and journal articles, has centered on how these powerful fungi might be used to extract value-added products from the nonedible parts of plants -- roots, stems and leaves -- that are generally considered waste products.

Roads, bridges, pipelines and other types of infrastructure in Alaska and elsewhere in the Arctic will deteriorate faster than expected due to a failure by planners to account for the structures' impact on adjacent permafrost, according to research by a University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute permafrost expert and others.

Researchers were able to clearly connect declining levels of human mobility during regional shelter-in-place orders with pumas' increased willingness to utilize more urban habitat areas.

An extended application of the CRISPR-Cas technology has been made possible by Dr Manual Kaulich's team at Goethe University: the new 3Cs multiplex technique allows the effect of genetic changes in any two genes to be studied simultaneously in cell cultures. This can provide important clues for the development of therapies to treat cancer or diseases of the nervous and immune systems.

In a paper published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, the researchers reported significant findings supporting the nutritional benefits of Connecticut-grown sugar kelp. They found brown sugar kelp (Saccharina latissima) inhibits hepatic inflammation and fibrosis in a mouse model of diet-induced non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, a fatty liver disease.

Scientists from Helmholtz Zentrum München revise the current textbook knowledge about gastrulation, the formation of the basic body plan during embryonic development. Their study in mice has implications for cell replacement strategies and cancer research.

City of Hope has identified how cancer cells in patients with early-stage breast cancer change and become resistant to hormone or combination therapies. Andrea Bild, Ph.D., used single-cell RNA sequencing to identify resistant traits cancer cells acquire; these cancer cells can persist despite therapy. The team also identified when these resistant traits are acquired and found them as early as two weeks after the start of a treatment regimen -- months faster than current methods.

A new study from Duke and UNC scientists has discovered a crucial protein involved in the communication and coordination between astrocytes as they build synapses in the brain. Lacking this molecule, called hepaCAM, astrocytes aren't as sticky as they should be, and tend to stick to themselves rather than forming connections with their fellow astrocytes.

A new technique to look at tumors under the microscope has revealed the cellular make-up of Wilm's tumors, a childhood kidney cancer, in unprecedented detail. This new approach could help understand how tumors develop and grow, and fuel research into new treatments for children's cancers. Scientists at the Princess Máxima Center for pediatric oncology developed a new imaging technique to study millions of cells in 3D tissue, revealing hundreds of features from each individual cell.

A new research paper published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition last week showed that a low Omega-3 Index is just as powerful in predicting early death as smoking. This landmark finding is rooted in data pulled and analyzed from the Framingham study, one of the longest running studies in the world.

Patients with primary lung cancer detected using low-dose computed tomography screening are at reduced risk of developing brain metastases after diagnosis, according to a study published in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology. JTO is an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer.

A first-of-its-kind study of vegetation growth in the Northern Hemisphere over the past 30 years has found that vegetation is becoming increasingly water-limited as global temperatures increase, which has the potential to reduce plants' ability to absorb atmospheric CO2, increasing greenhouse gasses.

Mythological nymphs reincarnate as a group of corn smut proteins to launch a battle on maize immunity. One of these proteins appears to stand out among its sister Pleiades, much like its namesake character in Greek mythology. The research carried out at GMI - Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences - is published in the journal PLOS Pathogens.

The bones of an early human, unknown to science, who lived in the Levant at least until 130,000 years ago, were discovered in excavations at the Nesher Ramla site, near the city of Ramla. Recognizing similarity to other archaic Homo specimens from 400,000 years ago, found in Israel and Eurasia, the researchers reached the conclusion that the Nesher Ramla fossils represent a unique Middle Pleistocene population, now identified for the first time.

Guided by quantum chemical calculations, scientists design and test a new single atom catalyst that converts propane to propylene with 100% efficiency, with little deactivation by coking. If adopted by industry, the catalyst could save billions of dollars and stop millions of tons of carbon dioxide being emitted into the atmosphere.

Analysis of recently discovered fossils found in Israel suggest that interactions between different human species were more complex than previously believed, according to a team of researchers including Binghamton University anthropology professor Rolf Quam.

Although the Antibody Mediated Prevention (AMP) study that launched in 2016 failed to show significant efficacy in a pair of clinical trials, Denis Burton argues in a Perspective that the AMP study's results represent a landmark in AIDS research; they show -- for the first time -- that a broadly neutralizing antibody (bnAb) can protect humans against exposure to some strains of HIV.