Feature Channels: All Journal News

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California relies on the Sierra Nevada snowpack for a significant portion of its water needs, yet scientists understand very little about how future changes in snowpack volume and timing will influence surface water and groundwater. Now researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) are developing an advanced hydrologic model to study how climate change might affect California watersheds.

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Patients who have been taking opioid pain relievers for several months before spinal fusion surgery are at increased risk of complications after their surgery, reports a study in the journal Spine, published by Wolters Kluwer.

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South Africa has the worst epidemic of HIV in the world. According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, 19 percent of the global number of people living with HIV are in South Africa. Many people in South Africa and around the globe do not even know they have HIV.

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To make protein, soybean plants need a lot of nitrogen. Beneficial bacteria in root nodules typically assist. A new study shows it’s possible to increase the number of soybean root nodules—and the bacteria that live there--to further increase crop yields. This could remove the need to apply additional nitrogen fertilizers.

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Scientists from two institutes at the Vienna BioCenter (VBC) have developed a method to identify and characterise microRNAs in individual cells of living animals.

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Research led by the University of Southampton is helping governments in low-income countries strengthen their capacity to build and use population maps, to plan for the future and respond to emergencies.

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Researchers from Queen’s University Belfast have demonstrated for the first time how molecular analysis of clinical trial biopsy samples can be used to help clinicians identify the key changes that occur in an individual patient’s bowel (colorectal) tumour prior to surgery, so clinicians can better understand and treat the disease.

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Flexible, tunable technique warms plants without need for electricity, aiding ecosystem research in remote locales.

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A new study has identified two genes associated with hyperemesis gravidarum, whose cause has not been determined in previous studies. The genes, known as GDF15 and IGFBP7, are both involved in the development of the placenta and play important roles in early pregnancy and appetite regulation.

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A review article by Prof. Stefan Broer, Ph.D., highlights opportunities and challenges in using amino acid transporters as drug targets. Amino Acid Transporters as Disease Modifiers and Drug Targets provides an overview of methods used to identify new inhibitors for amino acid transporters and outlines cell and organ function where these can be used to modulate, prevent or to treat diseases.

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New research from scientists at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology shows how a diet high in fat and cholesterol depletes the ranks of artery-protecting immune cells, turning them into promoters of inflammation, which exacerbate atherosclerotic plaque buildup that occurs in cardiovascular disease. The team has also found that high density lipoproteins (HDL)—more commonly known as “good cholesterol”—counteract this process, helping the protective immune cells maintain their identity and keep arteries clear.

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A UT Southwestern study in mice provides new clues about how a class of anti-rejection drugs used after organ transplants may also slow the progression of early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.

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The nation’s overall cardiovascular health worsened from 1988 to 2014, with disparities among racial and ethnic groups dropping slightly. But the reduction in disparities was due to worsening health among whites — not improvements among African-Americans and Mexican-Americans, a new UCLA-led study suggests. “The reason for the reduction in disparities was unexpected,” said lead author Dr.

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Four faculty members at New Mexico State University have published findings of their study involving effective measures to remedy stress among adolescents.

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Understanding strontium titanate’s odd behavior will aid efforts to develop materials that conduct electricity with 100 percent efficiency at higher temperatures.

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A new study from the University of Iowa finds firms headquartered in more religiously observant counties have higher credit ratings and lower debt costs, evidence that suggests lenders and bondholders consider the company’s culture when deciding whether to give them money.

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Chemical genomic-guided engineering of gamma-valerolactone-tolerant yeast.

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Researchers have discovered a “missing mutation” in severe infant epilepsy—long-suspected genetic changes that might trigger overactive, brain-damaging electrical signaling leading to seizures. They also found early indications that specific anti-seizure medications might prevent disabling brain injury.

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In a striking new finding, researchers at the UC Davis MIND Institute found that typically-developing children gain more neurons in a region of the brain that governs social and emotional behavior, the amygdala, as they become adults. This phenomenon does not happen in people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Instead, children with ASD have too many neurons early on and then appear to lose those neurons as they become adults. The findings were published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

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Understanding of tuberculosis is associated with higher, not lower, stigmatization of TB patients in Brazil, according to a new “Insights” report from Vanderbilt’s Latin American Public Opinion Project.

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Weather patterns, brain activity and heartbeats each generate lines of complex data. To analyze this data, researchers must first divide up this continuous data into discrete pieces -- a task difficult to perform simply and accurately. Researchers have devised a method to transform data from complex systems, reducing the amount of important information lost, while still using less computing power than existing methods. They describe this new method in the current issue of Chaos.

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In this week’s issue of Journal of Applied Physics, investigators report the discovery of a new material that may be able to directly detect dark matter. The material, known as a scintillator, should be sensitive to dark matter that is lighter than a proton. This will allow the search for dark matter to enter a largely unexplored mass range, below that of the proton.

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A new particle detector design proposed at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Berkeley Lab could greatly broaden the search for dark matter – which makes up 85 percent of the total mass of the universe yet we don’t know what it’s made of – into an unexplored realm.

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Limiting first-year medical residents to 16-hour work shifts, compared to “flexing” them to allow for some longer shifts, generally makes residents more satisfied with their training and work-life balance, but their training directors more dissatisfied with curtailed educational opportunities. That’s one conclusion of a new study published online March 20 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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Limiting first-year medical residents to 16-hour work shifts, compared to “flexing” them to allow for some longer shifts, generally makes residents more satisfied with their training and work-life balance, but their training directors more dissatisfied with curtailed educational opportunities. That’s one conclusion of a new study published online March 20 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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Increasing the availability of effective pain management in low- to middle-income countries will be an essential part of ongoing efforts to expand global access to safe surgery and anesthesia, according to a special article in the April issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia.

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Researchers at Case Western Reserve University have cracked the evolutionary mystery of why chimpanzees and gorillas walk on their knuckles: The short explanation is that these African apes climb trees and they are mobile on the ground.

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On any given day, 20 percent of Americans account for nearly half of U.S. diet-related greenhouse gas emissions, and high levels of beef consumption are largely responsible, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Michigan and Tulane University.

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A new report finds that extremely obese people who have a band surgically strapped around their stomachs to restrict food intake not only lose weight but also suffer less from arthritic knee pain.

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From floral perfume to fruity body wash and shampoos, scents heavily influence consumer purchases. But for most, the smell doesn’t last long after showering before it fades away. Scientists have now developed a way to get those fragrances to stick to the skin longer instead of washing down the drain immediately after being applied.

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Technion researchers have discovered a mechanism which may serve the foundation for the resistance of FIV, the virus that causes “Feline AIDS.” Because of the parallels between FIV and HIV-1, the researchers say the discovery could also assist in the ongoing fight against AIDS.

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Certain species of trees retain stored water, limit root growth to survive three months without water.

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Scientists have gained new insights into a fundamental mystery about hybrid perovskites, low-cost materials that could enhance or even replace conventional solar cells made of silicon.

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Minoxidil, a popular drug used on the scalp to treat hair loss, might improve blood flow to the brain, lower blood pressure and increase elasticity in the blood vessels if taken in an oral form, according to a new study in mice.

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New research from a UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute-affiliated team from the Jack Baskin School of Engineering just published in the journal Nature Biotechnology attempts to close huge gaps in our genomic reference map. The research uses nanopore long-read sequencing to generate the first complete and accurate linear map of a human Y chromosome centromere. This milestone in human genetics and genomics signals that scientists are finally entering a technological phase when completing the human genome will be a reality.

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Saint Louis University researchers have uncovered new answers about why cells rapidly age in children with a rare and fatal disease.

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Research by Berkeley Haas Prof. Ross Levine, the Willis H. Booth Chair in Banking and Finance, is the first to show that when lending conditions ease, businesses invest more in projects to cut pollution.

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Three tumor samples collected over time from a single patient show how cancer evolves in response to treatment.

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Jonathon Schuldt, assistant professor of communication at Cornell University, says it is possible to make faraway climate impacts feel closer. But that doesn’t automatically inspire the American public to express greater support for policies that address it. The paper appeared in the Journal of Environmental Psychology.

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Every year, approximately 12 million adults in the U.S. are diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, and 120,000 die from it. For people with COPD, Haemophilus influenzae, a bacterium, can be particularly dangerous. Now, researchers have unraveled how the bacterium adapts quickly, which may open new avenues for therapy for COPD and other diseases such as ear infections or pneumonia.

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Our faces broadcast our feelings in living color—even when we don’t move a muscle. That’s the conclusion of a groundbreaking study into human expressions of emotion, which found that people are able to correctly identify other people’s feelings up to 75 percent of the time—based solely on subtle shifts in blood flow color around the nose, eyebrows, cheeks or chin.

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A team of physicists has developed a method to generate and self-organize liquids into well-defined patterns, a breakthrough that offers potential new pathways for the development of more sophisticated pharmaceuticals and other consumer products.

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Researchers have identified a therapeutic target to prevent or delay heart failure from pressure overload of the heart, and a potential biomarker for the same. They say their animal studies carry clinical and translational potential.

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A decade ago, the late Seattle Children’s surgeon, Dr. Richard Grady, began traveling to India to provide urgent surgical care to children with a complex disorder called bladder exstrophy. An article in JAMA Surgery documents Grady's work through an international collaborative aimed at alleviating the global burden of this treatable disease.

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Reproductive hormones that develop during puberty are not responsible for changes in social behavior that occur during adolescence, according to the results of a newly published study by a University at Buffalo researcher. “Changes in social behavior during adolescence appear to be independent of pubertal hormones. They are not triggered by puberty, so we can’t blame the hormones,” says Matthew Paul, an assistant professor in UB’s Department of Psychology.

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Tissue-engineering technique based on a novel cylindrical scaffolding design seeded with collagen-secreting cells yields grafts for articular cartilage repair with superior mechanical strength and durability.

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Children with mild to moderate asthma do not benefit from a common practice of increasing their inhaled steroids at the first signs of an asthma exacerbation, according to clinical trial results published in The New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers found short-term increases in inhaled steroids did not prevent attacks in children aged 5 to 11, and may even slow a child’s growth.

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A new study shows that pregnant women and new moms aware of the 2017 guidelines on early introduction of peanuts to prevent allergy are still hesitant to put them in place. And not everyone has heard about them.

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A first of its kind study shows typical interruptions experienced by on-call radiologists do not reduce diagnostic accuracy but do change what they look at and increase the amount of time spent on a case. The implication of the finding is that as radiologists contend with an increasing number of workplace interruptions, they must either process fewer cases or work longer hours — both of which have adverse effects in terms of patient outcomes, said Trafton Drew, the study's lead author. They also may spend more time looking at dictation screens than reviewing medical images.

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Japanese researchers have optimized the design of laboratory-grown, synthetic diamonds. This brings the new technology one step closer to enhancing biosensing applications, such as magnetic brain imaging. The advantages of this layered, sandwichlike, diamond structure are described in a recent issue of Applied Physics Letters.