Brain
A tiny fish is helping scientists understand how the human brain processes sound, while also giving insight to autism spectrum disorder.
Queensland Brain Institute’s Associate Professor Ethan Scott and Dr Lena Constantin used zebrafish that carry the same genetic mutations as humans with Fragile X syndrome and autism, and discovered the neural networks and pathways that produce the hypersensitivities to sound in both species.
Palaeontologists have made a surprising discovery while searching through 100-year-old fossil collections from the UK - a new mystery species of pterosaur, unlike anything seen before.
St Petersburg University researchers, led by Professor Raul R. Gainetdinov, Director of the Institute of Translational Biomedicine and Academic Supervisor of the St Petersburg University Hospital, have found a new role for recently discovered neurotransmitter system that uses the trace amine-associated receptor 5 (TAAR5) for neurotransmission. It has been observed that lack of TAAR5 in mice leads to a higher number of dopamine neurons and an increase in adult neurogenesis, i.e. the process by which new neurons are formed in the brain.
An international team of scientists have unveiled the world's first production of a purified beam of neutron-rich, radioactive tantalum ions. This development could now allow for lab-based experiments on exploding stars helping scientists to answer long-held questions such as "where does gold come from?"
A team at Aalto University has used bacteria to produce intricately designed three-dimensional objects made of nanocellulose. With their technique, the researchers are able to guide the growth of bacterial colonies through the use of strongly water repellent - or superhydrophobic - surfaces. The objects show tremendous potential for medical use, including supporting tissue regeneration or as scaffolds to replace damaged organs. The results have been published in the journal ACS Nano.
The journal CrystEngComm has published a special issue to mark the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) reaching 1 million structures, with 33 papers that highlight the breadth of applications made possible with this data.
CrystEngComm has published new research on all aspects in the design and understanding of solid-state and crystalline materials since 1999. They publish work covering a wide range of chemistries, but all involve the use of a design or optimisation strategy to develop a deeper understanding of the structures.
Having surgery means placing complete trust in a team of professionals, and counting on them to fix what's wrong while keeping surgical risks as low as possible.
But one of those risks, surgery experts have begun to realize, has nothing to do with what happens in the operating room. Instead, it has to do with treating post-surgery pain without raising the chance that the patient will get hooked, or more dependent, on opioids.
LAWRENCE -- For a geoscientist, the benefits of performing fieldwork are countless. Researching in nature gives geoscientists firsthand contact with the earth's raw materials and a chance to test ideas and develop theories -- as well as to make new discoveries. For this reason, geoscientists often trek to faraway locations, negotiating difficult physical terrain and distinctive cultural landscapes to access geologic features vital to their research.
DURHAM, N.C. - Researchers at Duke University and the University of California, Los Angeles, have developed a biomaterial that significantly reduces scar formation after wounding, leading to more effective skin healing. This new material, which quickly degrades once the wound has closed, demonstrates that activating an adaptive immune response can trigger regenerative wound healing, leaving behind stronger and healthier healed skin.
Many children and young people with obsessive thoughts and compulsions experience that their OCD, anxiety and depressive symptoms worsen during a crisis such as COVID-19. This is shown by a new research result from Aarhus University and the Centre for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Central Denmark Region. The findings have been published in BMC Psychiatry.
DALLAS, Nov. 9, 2020 -- Women veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), especially those who are younger and non-white, have an increased risk of developing heart disease, according to a study to be presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2020. The meeting will be held virtually, Friday, November 13 - Tuesday, November 17, 2020, and is a premier global exchange of the latest scientific advancements, research and evidence-based clinical practice updates in cardiovascular science for health care worldwide.
Researchers from the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) and the NOVA University of Lisbon (UNL) have used platinum (Pt) compounds of a liquid crystalline nature to design nanocrystal structures capable of effectively encapsulating and transporting water-insoluble drugs that are otherwise difficult to administer.
The study, published in Nano Research, shows that besides their applications in bioimaging techniques as phosphorescent markers, the new Pt(II) nanocrystals may also have an application in biomedicine: to encapsulate water-insoluble drugs.
A long-standing mystery in the study of glaciers was recently --- and serendipitously -- solved by a team led by University of Hawai'i at Mānoa astrobiologist and earth scientist Eric Gaidos. Their findings were published this week in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
Family Success
Using data from the HSE University longitudinal study Trajectories in Education and Careers (TrEC), Ilya Prakhov https://www.hse.ru/en/staff/prakhov, Olga Kotomina and Alexandra Sazhina determined which forms of family engagement in the school are useful and which are harmful to the student.
Borrowing a page from high-energy physics and astronomy textbooks, a team of physicists and computer scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has successfully adapted and applied a common error-reduction technique to the field of quantum computing.