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The inability to tolerate light touch is a telltale feature of autism and one of the disorder's many perplexing symptoms. It has defied treatment, and its precise origins have remained somewhat of a mystery.
Now a study led by investigators at Harvard Medical School's Blavatnik Institute has not only identified the molecular aberrations that give rise to heightened touch sensitivity in autism spectrum disorders but also points to a possible treatment for the condition.
HOUSTON -- A key difference between the few pancreatic cancer patients who survive long-term and the many whose disease overcomes all treatments is the bacterial signatures on their tumors that either stimulate or suppress immune response, a team led by researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reports in the journal Cell.
The researchers also showed that fecal microbiota transplants (FMT) from long-term survivors prompted immune response and stifled tumors in a mouse model of the disease by altering the bacteria on the tumor - its microbiome.
Stereotypically viewed as passive and immobile, a University of Otago, New Zealand, pilot study has shown the powerful influence music and dance can have on older adults with dementia.
Researchers from the Department of Dance and Department of Psychological Medicine used familiar, reminiscent music and the natural gestures of a group of 22 participants to create an original series of dance exercises.
Thin films made of carbon nanotubes hold a lot of promise for advanced optoelectronics, energy and medicine, however with their manufacturing process subject to close supervision and stringent standardization requirements, they are unlikely to become ubiquitous anytime soon.
A new sensor, that can detect ice accumulation in real-time, might be a game-changer when it comes to airline safety and efficiency.
Two distinctly different research teams-one that designs microwave sensors and microelectronics systems, and the other that investigates ice-repellent materials and extreme liquid repellency-joined forces for this latest research coming out of UBC Okanagan's School of Engineering.
(Boston) -- Conversion therapy is a broad term used to describe practices and actions aimed at changing people's sexual orientation or gender identity - to turn anyone who doesn't identify as "straight" into a "straight" person. Historically, conversion therapies have used electroshock therapy, chemical drugs, hormone administrations and even surgery.
New research led by Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Rochester Medical Center indicates that concussions aren't the sole cause of damage to the brain in contact sports. A study of college football players found that typical hits sustained from playing just one season cause structural changes to the brain.
Groundwater - a vital source of water for drinking and irrigation across sub-Saharan Africa - is resilient to climate variability and change, according to a new study led by UCL and Cardiff University.
A consortium of 32 scientists from across Africa and beyond carried out the research, published in Nature, which shows how groundwater replenishment depends upon heavy rainfalls and flood events, amplified by climate change.
Add another item to the ever-growing list of the dangerous impacts of global climate change: Warming oceans are leading to an increase in the harmful neurotoxicant methylmercury in popular seafood, including cod, Atlantic bluefin tuna and swordfish, according to research led by the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH).
Patients fitted with an orthopedic prosthetic commonly experience a period of intense pain after surgery. In an effort to control the pain, surgeons inject painkillers into the tissue during the operation. When that wears off a day or two later, the patients are given morphine through a catheter placed near the spine. Yet catheters are not particularly comfortable, and the drugs spread throughout the body, affecting all organs.
First-ever study to examine gun control effects on urban and suburban/rural firearm homicide rates finds different laws are more effective in different areas.
New Rochelle, NY, August 5, 2019-Researchers have developed a simple, fast, and standardized method for measuring phage virulence quantitatively, which can expediate phage therapy development by allowing robust individual and combined testing of phage efficacy. The method, which takes into account all factors affecting virulence, is published in a preview issue of PHAGE: Therapy, Applications, and Research, a new peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers launching in early 2020.
Cancer treatment often involves a combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Chemotherapy uses medication to stop cancer cells reproducing, but the medication affects the entire body. Radiotherapy uses radiation to kill the cancer cells, and it is targeted to the tumour site. In a recent study, published in the journal EPJ D, researchers from the Leopold-Franzens-University Innsbruck, in Innsbruck, Austria, studied selected molecules of relevance in this context.
Blue sharks use large, swirling ocean currents, known as eddies, to fast-track their way down to feed in the ocean twilight zone--a layer of the ocean between 200 and 1000 meters deep containing the largest fish biomass on Earth, according to new research by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the Applied Physics Lab at the University of Washington (UW). Their findings were published August 6, 2019, in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Tumor cells circulating in blood are markers for the early detection and prognosis of cancer. However, detection of these cells is challenging because of their scarcity. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, scientists have now introduced an ultrasensitive method for the direct detection of circulating tumor cells in blood samples. It is based on the amplified, time-resolved fluorescence measurement of luminescent lanthanide ions released from nanoparticles that bind specifically to tumor cells.