Culture
Using telescopes from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and other organisations around the world, astronomers have spotted a rare blast of light from a star being ripped apart by a supermassive black hole. The phenomenon, known as a tidal disruption event, is the closest such flare recorded to date at just over 215 million light-years from Earth, and has been studied in unprecedented detail. The research is published today in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
A rare blast of light, emitted by a star as it is sucked in by a supermassive black hole, has been spotted by scientists using telescopes from around the world.
It's been three years since the landmark detection of a neutron star merger from gravitational waves. And since that day, an international team of researchers led by University of Maryland astronomer Eleonora Troja has been continuously monitoring the subsequent radiation emissions to provide the most complete picture of such an event.
In an elegant choreography, plants take cues from their environment and channel them into flowers, roots, or branches. In a new paper in Nature Communications, biologist Doris Wagner of the School of Arts & Sciences and colleagues identified some of the behind-the-scenes machinations that go into arriving at these variations in plant architecture.
PITTSBURGH, Oct. 12, 2020 - Variations in a gene that regulates dopamine levels in the brain may influence the mobility of elderly and frail adults, according to new research from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.
These results, published today in the Journal of The American Geriatrics Society, add to a growing body of evidence hinting that lower dopamine levels could contribute to the slower, often disabling walking patterns seen in some elderly populations.
COLUMBUS, Ohio - As COVID-19 cases surged this spring, the pandemic led some people more than others to ponder their own mortality. A new study in China and the United States suggests that these people were the ones who showed the highest levels of stress and the least engagement at work.
But the research also uncovered a bright spot: The right kind of boss helped reduce stress and increase engagement and pro-social behavior in their workers who were anxious about COVID-19.
A research team at LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong (HKUMed) discovered that exosomes derived from Vδ2-T cells (Vδ2-T-Exos) can effectively control Epstein-Barr virus-associated tumours and induce T-cell anti-tumour immunity. The novel findings of Vδ2-T-Exos provide insights into new therapeutic approach for Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated tumours. The ground-breaking findings have been published in the leading academic journal, Science Translational Medicine. [Link to the publication]
Background
(Vienna, October 12, 2020) New research presented today at UEG Week Virtual 2020 has shown that delays in colorectal cancer (CRC) screening caused by COVID-19 has resulted in significantly increased death rates for the cancer.
Researchers at the University of Bologna produced a model to forecast the impact of time delays in CRC screening on CRC mortality caused by COVID-19. The results found that moderate (7-12 months) and large (>12 months) delays in screening caused a 3% and 7% increase in advanced stage CRC respectively.
(Vienna, October 12, 2020) Weight loss surgery significantly cuts the risk of developing pancreatic cancer in people who are obese with diabetes, a new 20-year analysis has found.
The study, presented today at UEG Week 2020 Virtual, analysed 1,435,350 patients with concurrent diabetes and obesity over a 20-year period. A total of 10,620 patients within the study had undergone bariatric (weight loss) surgery, an operation that helps patients lose weight by making changes to the digestive system.
Researchers at CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, have found that SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, can survive for up to 28 days on common surfaces including banknotes, glass - such as that found on mobile phone screens - and stainless steel.
The research, undertaken at the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (ACDP) in Geelong, found that SARS-CoV-2:
survived longer at lower temperatures
Volume 11, Issue 28 of Oncotarget features "Genetic analysis of the cooperative tumorigenic effects of targeted deletions of tumor suppressors Rb1, Trp53, Men1, and Pten in neuroendocrine tumors in mice" by Xu et, al. which reported that the authors examined whether the TSGs Rb1, Trp53, Pten, and Men1 have cooperative effects in suppressing neuroendocrine tumors in mice.
Volume 11, Issue 26 of Oncotarget reported that in this study the authors studied the differences in mi RNA expression between sporadic and FAP-associated Desmoid tumors using microarray confirmed by quantitative PCR.
BEER-SHEVA, Israel -- Many mothers are experiencing an increase in insomnia severity and mild-to-high levels of acute COVID?19 anxiety, according to a new study by researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and The Max Stern Yezreel Valley College in Israel.
Wearable sensors are evolving from watches and electrodes to bendable devices that provide far more precise biometric measurements and comfort for users. Now, an international team of researchers has taken the evolution one step further by printing sensors directly on human skin without the use of heat.
Led by Huanyu "Larry" Cheng, Dorothy Quiggle Career Development Professor in the Penn State Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, the team published their results in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.
In severe cases of COVID-19, Emory researchers have been observing an exuberant activation of immune cells, resembling acute flares of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), an autoimmune disease.
Their findings point towards tests that could separate some COVID-19 patients who need immune-calming therapies from others who may not. They also may begin to explain why some people infected with SARS-CoV-2 produce abundant antibodies against the virus, yet experience poor outcomes.
The results were published online on Oct. 7 in Nature Immunology.