Culture

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause significant illness and death while treatment options remain limited. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have discovered a potential strategy to prevent life-threatening inflammation, lung damage and organ failure in patients with COVID-19. The research appeared online in the journal Cell.

There's a classic video demonstrating how our brains process information and allocate attention in which people bounce and pass basketballs and the viewer is asked to count the passes.

If you haven't seen it, go watch it here and then come back. Go ahead. I'll wait.

Research from UCLA scientists and colleagues from other institutions finds that people with Parkinson's disease who lack meaningful social interactions may be at an increased risk for severe symptoms related to the disease.

The study, which was published in the journal NPJ Parkinson's Disease, evaluated not only the social and emotional life of patients, but also their nutrition and exercise habits.

New Rochelle, NY, November 17, 2020--COVID-19 can directly cause neurologic symptoms and long-term neurological disease. Elevations of blood biomarkers indicative of brain injury have been reported in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid of COVID-19 patients. Clinical application of blood biomarkers to improve medical management of COVID-19 patients is reported in the peer-reviewed Journal of Neurotrauma. Click here (http://doi.org/10.1089/neu.2020.7332) to read the article now.

OAK BROOK, Ill. - Some patients with COVID-19 are at higher risk of neurological complications like bleeding in the brain and stroke, according to a study being presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). The researchers said these potentially life-threatening findings were more common in patients with hypertension and diabetes.

Below please find summaries of new articles that will be published in the next issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The summaries are not intended to substitute for the full articles as a source of information. This information is under strict embargo and by taking it into possession, media representatives are committing to the terms of the embargo not only on their own behalf, but also on behalf of the organization they represent.

An early Edo period document stipulating the Hosokawa clan code of conduct for vassals dispatched on a national project to rebuild Sunpu Castle has been discovered by Kumamoto University researchers. The thirteen articles from the head of the Hosokawa clan in the Kokura domain (area), Tadaoki Hosokawa at the time, delegate full authority to the vassals to lead construction and prevent conflicts with other clans.

Hormones are key players of the endocrine system and have a major influence on our emotional and sexual wellbeing. The hormone oxytocin is involved in a wide range of emotions from social bonding to maternal behaviors like nursing and lactation. But the most popular and well-known role of oxytocin, lending it its popular moniker of 'love hormone,' is its role in romantic and sexual emotions.

New research from the University of Eastern Finland explores the role of diabetes in the cellular and molecular changes underlying Alzheimer's disease (AD). In an AD mouse model, diabetes induced through a diet rich in fats and sugars weakened the accumulation of microglial cells around amyloid plaques and increased the formation of neuritic plaques with prominent tau pathology. Besides the mouse model, a similar observation was also made in hydrocephalus patients with type 2 diabetes, who had fewer microglia around amyloid plaques than patients without diabetes.

The ability to "see" the inner workings of structures (organelles) within cells, in real time, offers the promise of advancements in disease diagnosis and treatment. Organelle dynamics drive the self-efficient micro-world of cells, but current super-resolution microscopy techniques used to track these interactions have limitations.

Matching prices aren't the only reason oysters and champagne pair so well. According to a study published by the University of Copenhagen today, an uncanny umami synergy makes the combination of yeast-brewed bubbly and fresh molluscs a match made in heaven for some. Ironically, the new knowledge could help us consume more vegetables in the future.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- Last year, researchers at the University of California, Riverside, identified the early origins of neural crest cells -- embryonic cells in vertebrates that travel throughout the body and generate many cell types -- in chick embryos. Now the researchers have used a human model to figure out when neural crest cells acquire distinctive molecular and functional attributes.

The number of people who went missing during the first national lockdown in England fell by over a third, compared to data from the previous year. However, a new report out today shows that those who did go missing were deemed more vulnerable and at higher risk.

Researchers from the University of Portsmouth and University of Liverpool worked with six police forces from across the UK, to understand the impact of lockdown on missing people and recommend changes for the future.

T cell responses are critical for providing early control and clearance of many viral infections, but there remain many unknowns concerning T cell immunity in COVID-19. Some T cell responses may even have a detrimental impact on the clinical outcome and contribute to long COVID, a phenomenon that affects roughly 10% of COVID-19 patients, causing them to experience an array of symptoms for a month or longer.

Some, if not all, early sharks that lived 300 to 400 million years ago not only dropped their lower jaws downward but rotated them outwards when opening their mouths. This enabled them to make the best of their largest, sharpest and inward-facing teeth when catching prey, paleontologists at the Universities of Zurich and Chicago have now shown using CT scanning and 3D printing.