Culture
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) scientists developed the world's first mobile genome sequence analyzer, a new iPhone app called iGenomics. By pairing an iPhone with a handheld DNA sequencer, users can create a mobile genetics laboratory, reminiscent of the "tricorder" featured in Star Trek. The iGenomics app runs entirely on the iOS device, reducing the need for laptops or large equipment in the field, which is useful for pandemic and ecology workers.
UCLA RESEARCH ALERT
FINDINGS
UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers studying cancer evolution have created a framework to help determine which tool combinations are best for pinpointing the exact timing of DNA mutations in cancer genomes. There are currently many different algorithms that researchers have developed to help determine the timing of mutations, but until now, it has been unclear which algorithm will work best for which cancer, and what common biases influence their results.
BACKGROUND
How well women with cervical cancer respond to treatment and survive correlates with the level of 10 proteins in their blood that also are associated with a "zombie" cell state called senescence, Medical College of Georgia scientists report.
Scientists striving to understand how and when volcanoes might erupt face a challenge: many of the processes take place deep underground in lava tubes churning with dangerous molten Earth. Upon eruption, any subterranean markers that could have offered clues leading up to a blast are often destroyed.
CLEVELAND--Researchers at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have identified a new target in development of Alzheimer's disease (AD) that could lead to therapies focused on treating the neurodegenerative condition early in its progression.
The discovery helps bolster a promising approach to AD research: finding and manipulating processes earlier in the disease's development with hopes of slowing its advance.
What The Study Did: COVID-19 outcomes based on race and ethnicity were compared in this observational study of patients in a large health system in New York City, and the association of any disparities with coexisting medical conditions and neighborhood characteristics also was assessed.
Authors: Gbenga Ogedegbe, M.D., M.P.H., of the NYU Grossman School of Medicine in New York, is the corresponding author.
What The Study Did: This observational study assessed the rate of appendix perforations during the COVID-19 pandemic at a children's hospital compared with 2019.
Authors: Rick Place, M.D., M.H.A., of Inova Fairfax Medical Campus in Falls Church, Virginia, 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.2020.27948)
Boston, MA - Women with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression have an almost fourfold greater risk of early death from cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, type 2 diabetes, accidents, suicide, and other causes than women without trauma exposure or depression, according to a large long-term study conducted by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) researchers report a cross-linker for dental cement that breaks down under UV light, making treatments easier to reverse.
News at a Glance:
Analysis of Victorian data by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute suggests that COVID-19 cases in schools and childcare were mainly driven by community transmission
373 students possibly acquired COVID-19 via a school or early childhood education centre
The COVID-19 in Victorian Schools Report recommends prioritising opening schools and childcare for onsite learning as soon as community transmission levels fall and provides detailed mitigation plans for outbreaks
A group of researchers developed a promising fix to CRISPR-Cas9's problem with unwanted genetic changes using a method that allows them to turn off gene-editing until it reaches key cell cycle phases where more accurate repairs are likely to happen.
Reactive oxygen molecules, also known as "free radicals", are generally considered harmful. However as it now turns out, they control cellular processes, which are important for the brain's ability to adapt - at least in mice. Researchers from the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and the Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden (CRTD) at TU Dresden published the findings in the journal Cell Stem Cell.
A combined research team from the Universities of Portsmouth and Bournemouth and Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust has shown that an assessment score used to measure a patient's severity of illness can be applied to patients with Covid-19 without modification.
The Portsmouth Academic ConsortIum For Investigating COVID-19 (PACIFIC-19) team has shown that the National Early Warning Score (NEWS) is equally good at predicting certain adverse clinical outcomes in patients with Covid-19 and other groups of patients admitted to hospital.
A new study from Karolinska Institutet and the Helmholtz Diabetes Research Center shows that primary cilia, hair-like protrusions on endothelial cells inside vessels, play an important role in the blood supply and delivery of glucose to the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreatic islets. The findings are published in eLife and may be relevant for transplantation therapies in diabetes, as formation of functional blood vessels is important for the treatment to be successful.
Emotions are complex phenomena that influence our minds, bodies and behaviour. A number of studies have sought to connect given emotions, such as fear or pleasure, to specific areas of the brain, but without success. Some theoretical models suggest that emotions emerge through the coordination of multiple mental processes triggered by an event. These models involve the brain orchestrating adapted emotional responses via the synchronisation of motivational, expressive and visceral mechanisms.