Culture
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Two genes that are important for the diverse colors and patterns of warbler plumage have evolved through two very different processes, according to a new study led by Penn State researchers. These evolutionary processes could help explain the rapid evolution of these songbirds into so many unique species.
PHILADELPHIA-- The labyrinth of jumbled blood vessels in the tumor microenvironment remains one of the toughest blockades for cellular therapies to penetrate and treat solid tumors. Now, in a new study published online today in Nature Cancer, Penn Medicine researchers found that combining chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy with a PAK4 inhibitor drug allowed the engineered cells to punch their way through and attack the tumor, leading to significantly enhanced survival in mice.
Researchers at ELTE Department of Ethology in Budapest compared how young companion dogs and companion pigs seek human proximity in a novel environment. It turned out that both dogs and pigs stay close to their owner if no other person is present; but if a stranger is also there, only dogs stay near humans, pigs prefer to stay away. The study reveals that living in a human family is not enough for early developing a general human preference in companion animals, species differences weigh in.
BEER-SHEVA, Israel...November 30, 2020 - An end-to-end cyber-biological attack, in which unwitting biologists may be tricked into generating dangerous toxins in their labs, has been discovered by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev cyber-researchers.
More than one-third of kids who have COVID-19 are asymptomatic, according to a University of Alberta study that suggests youngsters diagnosed with the disease may represent just a fraction of those infected.
"The concern from a public health perspective is that there is probably a lot of COVID-19 circulating in the community that people don't even realize," said Finlay McAlister, a professor of medicine in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry.
Understanding the sequence of human DNA gives scientists information about diseases, including potentially how to diagnose or treat them. In a new paper published in Nature Biotechnology, scientists from the School of Life Sciences at the University have shown that it is now possible to selectively sequence fragments of DNA more quickly and cost effectively than previously, without searching through DNA strands that are not relevant to the biological question, reaching that answer quicker than before.
What The Study Did: Researchers linked administrative health care and demographic data from Medicare to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York/Equifax Consumer Credit Panel to characterize the financial presentation of Alzheimer disease and related dementias before and after diagnosis.
Authors: Lauren Hersch Nicholas, Ph.D., M.P.P., of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, is the corresponding author.
What The Study Did: Nationally representative data were used to examine if racial disparities in the occurrence of dementia in the United States changed from 2000 to 2016.
Authors: Melinda C. Power, Sc.D., of George Washington University in Washington, D.C., 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/jamaneurol.2020.4471)
What The Study Did: The distribution of race/ethnicity among cases of COVID-19]-associated multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children reported to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is described in this observational study.
Authors: Ellen H. Lee, M.D., of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in Long Island City, New York, is the corresponding author.
What The Study Did: This observational study assessed whether receiving unemployment insurance is associated with lower health-related social needs, better health care access and better mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Authors: Seth A. Berkowitz, M.D., M.P.H., of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is the corresponding author.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
A research team co-led by a scientist at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has developed a method to study how HIV mutates to escape the immune system in multiple patients, which could inform HIV vaccine design.
November 30, 2020 - Insilico Medicine, a leading company in AI-powered drug discovery, today announced that the paper titled "Molecular Sets (MOSES): A Benchmarking Platform for Molecular Generation Models" was published in Frontiers in Pharmacology.
Plastics in the ocean can release chemicals that cause deformities in sea urchin larvae, new research shows.
Scientists soaked various plastic samples in seawater then removed the plastic and raised sea urchin embryos in the water.
The study, led by the University of Exeter, found that urchins developed a variety of abnormalities, including deformed skeletons and nervous systems.
These abnormalities were caused by chemicals embedded in the plastics leaching out into the water, rather than the plastics themselves.
A major review of palliative care services around the world has highlighted huge inconsistencies in provision, with patients in some countries receiving a fraction of the support provided elsewhere.
More than 11 million cases have been reviewed at the University of Leeds' Academic Unit of Palliative Care, which found length of care for people with life limiting and terminal conditions varies acutely across different countries - and within the countries themselves.
The researchers found:
Esports players are up to 21 per cent healthier weight than the general population, hardly smoke and drink less too, finds a new QUT (Queensland University of Technology) study.