Culture
The behavior of cells is controlled by their environment. Besides biological factors or chemical substances, physical forces such as pressure or tension are also involved. Researchers from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Heidelberg University developed a method that enables them to analyze the influence of external forces on individual cells. Using a 3D printing process, they produced micro-scaffolds, each of which has four pillars on which a cell is located.
People with bone, joint and muscle pain saw their symptoms worsen during lockdown - according to new research from the University of East Anglia.
A new study published today shows that the majority of people with musculoskeletal pain reported increased symptoms - as the nation adhered to new government restrictions designed to stop the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
And those who experienced most social isolation and loneliness were less likely to access healthcare.
A novel optical switch makes it possible to precisely control the lifespan of genetic "copies". These are used by the cell as building instructions for the production of proteins. The method was developed by researchers from the universities of Bonn and Bayreuth. It may significantly advance the investigation of dynamic processes in living cells. The study is published in the journal Nature Communications.
A researcher at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) has developed a unique method to improve class participation in a graduate-level thermodynamics course by incorporating theater improvisation activities in the classroom.
New research from Public Health England (PHE) presented at this week's ESCMID Conference on Coronavirus Disease (ECCVID) shows up to half of UK key workers from a cohort of just under 3,000 individuals recruited (including police, fire and healthcare workers) who had self-reported symptoms of COVID-19 did not test positive for antibodies to the disease. This suggests that their symptoms were due to other conditions. The study was presented by Ranya Mulchandani, PHE, Birmingham, UK in collaboration with PHE colleagues and academic partners across the UK.
New research presented the ESCMID Conference on Coronavirus Disease (ECCVID, online 23-25 September) shows that the severe COVID-19 immunological profile, represented by changes in cell populations and circulating inflammatory proteins, is already partly present in older healthy individuals.
"Some of these dysregulations might not be a direct result of the infection but rather an underlying profile that is permissive to a more severe form of the disease," explains co-author Ozlem Bulut, Radbound University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
New research presented at the ESCMID Conference on Coronavirus Diseases (ECCVID, online 23-25 September) suggests that the higher risk of poor COVID-19 outcomes in men could be explained by differences in circulating proteins and immune system cells compared with women. The study is by Gizem Kilic, Radbound University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands, and colleagues.
A new study into the causes of sensorimotor impairments prevalent among autistic people could pave the way for better treatment and management in the future, say psychologists.
Publishing findings in the leading journal BRAIN [today: Friday 25 September], the scientists from the universities of Exeter and Bath present fresh evidence that sensorimotor difficulties associated with autism are likely caused by a number of complex and precise neurobiological processes, including differences in the way autistic people perceive the world around them.
Experts identify five key factors for strategies to ease lockdown restrictions - knowledge of infection levels, community engagement, public health capacity, health system capacity, and border control measures.
Analysing the successes and failures of nine high-income countries and regions across these five domains, the authors find an absence of clear and consistent strategies for exiting restrictions and identify key cross-country lessons that can still be learnt.
A team of biologists led by Craig Albertson and Ph.D. student Chaise Gilbert at the University of Massachusetts Amherst report this week on their comparison between museum collections of cichlid fishes collected before a dam was closed in 1984 on the Tocantins River in the Amazon and contemporary specimens taken from the Tucuruí Reservoir by fishermen 34 years later.
WHAT:
New findings by scientists at the National Institutes of Health and their collaborators help explain why some people with COVID-19 develop severe disease. The findings also may provide the first molecular explanation for why more men than women die from COVID-19.
Researchers found rude emails at work can lead to significant distress for employees.
The researchers say that "active" email rudeness is overloaded with strong negative emotions. By comparison, "passive" email rudeness leaves people struggling with uncertainty.
Passive email rudeness may create problems for employees' sleep, which further puts them in a negative emotional state the next morning, thus creating a vicious cycle.
Infectious viruses come in many shapes and sizes and use slightly different attack mechanisms to make humans and animals sick. But all viruses share something in common: They can only do damage by replicating inside the cells of another organism - their host.
Typically, computer models of climate become more and more complex as researchers strive to capture more details of our Earth's system, but according to a team of Penn State researchers, to assess risks, less complex models, with their ability to better sample uncertainties, may be a better choice.
In 1921, Albert Einstein received the Nobel Prize in physics for the discovery that light is quantized, interacting with matter as a stream of particles called photons. Since these early days of quantum mechanics, it is known that photons also possess momentum. The photon's ability to transfer momentum was used in a novel approach by scientists of the Max Born Institute, Uppsala University, and the European X-Ray Free-Electron Laser Facility to observe a fundamental process in the interaction of x-rays with atoms.