Body

For the first time, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers have measured how forces move through 3D granular materials, determining how this important class of materials might pack and behave in processes throughout nature and industry.

Granular materials such as sand, rice and soil exist everywhere around us. However, scientists and engineers do not yet fully understand how external forces move through these materials. The ability to quantify that force transmission is missing, yet critical in efforts to predict material behavior.

PHILADELPHIA - Special RNA molecules called long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are key controllers for maintaining immune health when fighting infection or preventing inflammatory disorders, according to research led by Jorge Henao-Mejia, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The discovery offers a potential drug target for several inflammatory disorders characterized by an abnormal lifespan in a group of white blood cells, which can lead to organ damage.

Physicians at the Santa Casa de Misericordia and researchers from the Institute of Biomedical Sciences at University of São Paulo describe the case of a baby born with Zika infection in January 2016, who remained infected by the virus even two months and one week after birth.

This is the first reported case of prolonged Zika infection in newborns.

ST. LOUIS -- Which works better to improve the cardiovascular health of those who are overweight - dieting, exercise or a combination of both? A Saint Louis University study finds it doesn't matter which strategy you choose - it's the resulting weight loss that is the protective secret sauce.

DALLAS - Aug. 24, 2016 - Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found that a protein often located on the surface of fat droplets within cells - and especially abundant in the muscles of endurance athletes - can kick-start the more efficient and healthful breakdown of fat.

The findings could have significant implications for development of new ways to treat obesity and type 2 diabetes, said Dr. Perry Bickel, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern and senior author of the study published online today in Nature Communications.

A James Cook University scientist says a new map of the ecological footprint of humankind shows 97 per cent of the most species-rich places on Earth have been seriously altered.

JCU's Professor Bill Laurance has taken part in a study to map the ecological effect of people on the planet. He said the news isn't great.

"The most species-rich parts of the planet--especially including the tropical rainforests--have been hit hardest. In total, around 97 per cent of Earth's biologically richest real estate has been seriously altered by humans," he said.

In Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking-Glass," the Red Queen explains to Alice how a race works in Wonderland, stating, "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place." So, too, does this statement hold true in nature. Competitive species are under constant pressure to evolve as rapidly as possible so as to outgun their competition, and this is often referred to as the Red Queen Theory. The rabbit needs to outrun the fox to avoid being killed, whereas the fox needs to catch the rabbit in order to avoid starvation.

A large international study of more than 200,000 people in nearly 50 countries has revealed that people with psychosis engage in low levels of physical activity, and men with psychosis are over two times more likely to miss global activity targets compared to people without the illness.

Aug. 25, 2016, Berlin -- Inadequate infrastructure and weak logistic chains substantially increase the risk that an extreme natural event will become a disaster. This is a core finding of the World Risk Report 2016, which the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) and Bündnis Entwicklung Hilft - Gemeinsam für Menschen in Not e.V., in cooperation with the University of Stuttgart, presented today in Berlin.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A new study recently published in the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery questions whether patients with isolated moderate to severe mitral valve regurgitation should receive treatment in earlier stages instead of waiting until symptoms appear.

PITTSBURGH, Aug. 24, 2016 - An international team led by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine found that targeting certain donor cells lowered the risk of organ rejection in mice that underwent kidney and heart transplants. The study results, published today in Nature Communications, could lead to new ways of preventing or treating organ transplant rejection in humans.

The Caribbean islands form a natural laboratory for the study of evolution due to their unique biological and geological features. There has been heated discussion since the early 20th century on how species appeared on the islands.

Amsterdam, August 24, 2016 - Scientists have found Ebola's Achilles' heel: a new kind of chemical compound can block the protein Ebola uses to break out of cells and infect new cells. The compounds, revealed in a new paper in Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters, could potentially be used to treat the disease after infection.

The severely burned Mississippi firefighter, who captivated the world when he successfully underwent the most extensive face transplant ever performed, is thriving one year after his historic surgery, according to his medical team at NYU Langone Medical Center. Among his many milestones, he has never had an incident in which his body has attempted to reject his new face - an unprecedented achievement among those who have had the procedure.

Plants are adapting to increasing atmospheric CO2 according to a new study from the University of Southampton.

The research, published in the journal Global Change Biology, provides insight into the long-term impacts of rising CO2 and the implications for global food security and nature conservation.

Lead author Professor Gail Taylor, from Biological Sciences at the University of Southampton, said: "Atmospheric CO2 is rising - emissions grew faster in the 2000s than the 1990s and the concentration of CO2 reached 400 ppm for the first time in recorded history in 2013.