Culture

Researchers at the University of Helsinki have discovered how regenerative capacity of intestinal epithelium declines when we age. Targeting of an enzyme that inhibits stem cell maintaining signaling rejuvenates the regenerative potential of an aged intestine. This finding may open ways to alleviate age-related gastrointestinal problems, reduce side-effects of cancer treatments, and reduce healthcare costs in the ageing society by promoting recovery.

A study led by scientists of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and the National Centre for Genomic Analysis (CNAG-CRG) from the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) reveals the three-dimensional genomic structure of male germ cells and how this structure determines their function.

There are currently no drugs that stop or inhibit Alzheimer's disease. Despite drug trials showing plaque reduction in the brain, the patients' cognitive function did not improve. Would the results be different if it were possible to design studies that intervene much earlier on in the disease, before cognition is affected? This is what an international study, led by Lund University in Sweden, has attempted to facilitate. The findings have now been published in Neurology.

A wild group of endangered Barbary macaques have been observed, for the first time, "consoling" and adopting an injured juvenile from a neighbouring group. The observations by a scientist from Oxford University and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (ifaw) are published today in the journal Primates.

'Pipo', a nearly three-year-old juvenile, was seriously injured and became separated from his group following a road traffic accident.

Regions of the Universe containing very few or no galaxies - known as voids - can help measure cosmic expansion with much greater precision than before, according to new research.

The study looked at the shapes of voids found in data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) collaboration. Voids come in a variety shapes, but because they have no preferred direction of alignment, a large enough sample of them can on average be used as "standard spheres" - objects which should appear perfectly symmetric in the absence of any distortions.

Accountable care organizations (ACOs), the health care delivery model created by the Affordable Care Act in an effort to reduce Medicare costs while improving coordination and quality of care, typically rely on primary care providers (PCPs) to steer the boat.

"The central message has been that the providers within the ACO need to focus on delivering care through primary care providers," says Vishal Shetty, a University of Massachusetts Amherst Ph.D. student in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.--A new artificial intelligence (AI) tool for detecting unfair discrimination--such as on the basis of race or gender--has been created by researchers at Penn State and Columbia University.

New research led by the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, Ifakara Health Institute and the Zanzibar Malaria Elimination Program suggests that a better understanding of human behavior at night - when malaria mosquitoes are biting - could be key to preventing lingering cases. The Center for Communication Programs (CCP) is based at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

ITHACA, N.Y. - Using nature's color palette from early Earth, Cornell University astronomers have created a cosmic "cheat sheet" in order to understand where discovered exoplanets may fall along their own evolutionary spectrum.

Jack O'Malley-James, a research associate at the Carl Sagan Institute, and Lisa Kaltenegger, professor of astronomy and director of the Carl Sagan Institute, co-authored "Expanding the Timeline for Earth's Photosynthetic Red Edge Biosignature" published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Researchers at Trinity College Dublin have identified, for the first time in oesophageal cancer, the cancer killing capability of a lesser-known type of immune cell, presenting a new potential therapeutic target. Their research has been published today Wednesday, July 10th 2019 in the international journal 'Frontiers in Immunology'.

Travellers returning to Barcelona mirrored the 2017 Zika outbreak in Cuba, according to a study led by the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona and the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, an institution supported by "la Caixa".

Zika virus spread throughout Latin America between 2015 and 2016, followed by a decrease in the number of new cases. Cuba, however, was one of the last countries to report cases: the first autochthonous case was confirmed in March 2016, and recent data indicate that an outbreak with over 600 reported cases occurred mid-2017 in Cienfuegos.

Adults with a first-degree relative with Alzheimer's disease perform more poorly on online paired-learning tasks than adults without such a family history, and this impairment appears to be exacerbated by having diabetes or a genetic variation in the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene linked to the disease.

The findings, published on Tuesday in eLife, may help identify people who have increased risk for developing Alzheimer's disease and could uncover new ways to delay or prevent the disease.

The liver is one of the largest and most versatile organs of the human body. It turns sugars, proteins, and fats from our food into substances useful for the body and releases them to the cells. In addition to its role in human metabolism, the liver is an immunological organ, which is indispensable for detoxifying the blood. Most strikingly, the liver is the only internal organ that can regenerate back to its full size with only 25% of its original mass.

Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions, affecting children's health and wellbeing and leading to obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancer later in life. The number of children with obesity continues to rise globally, particularly for children living in poverty.

DURHAM, N.C. - A newer form of shingles vaccine reduced outbreaks of the painful rash among patients who were transplanted with their own stem cells, according to a study led by a Duke Health researcher and published today in JAMA.

The vaccine appears to offer protection from one of the most common and painful side effects of cell therapy and shows promise for patients with immune-compromising conditions.