Curated News: PNAS

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A liquid nanofoam liner undergoing testing could prolong the safe use of football helmets, says a Michigan State University researcher.

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A new study by researchers at UC Santa Cruz shows how a genetic mutation throws off the timing of the biological clock, causing a common sleep syndrome called delayed sleep phase disorder.

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Trump’s 2016 victory in the Electoral College without leading in the popular vote has led to wide speculation of a repeat in 2020. Columbia University researchers have been wondering the same thing. They examined how Electoral College outcomes are conditioned by how states voted in previous elections. Their simulations suggest that in 2020 the Electoral College bias is likely to again favor the Republicans, but to a lesser degree than in 2016.

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While decades of monitoring and regulatory efforts have paid little attention to Lake Michigan's tiny tributaries, new research shows that they play an outsized role in feeding algae blooms and impacting coastal waters.

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UNC-Chapel Hill scientists discovered that many rhinoviruses need a human protein called STING to make copies of its RNA, opening the door to a new strategy for controlling infection of these pesky and at times very dangerous pathogens.

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Powerful APS X-rays are used to uncover the structure and behavior of proteins controlling tarantula muscles. These insights may help scientists better understand our own muscles.

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Our DNA acts like a book of recipes for making proteins. But if a recipe is wrong, what does a cell do Peng Mao, PhD, and his team discovered an intricate series of events that cells use to repair our DNA as the recipes are being read. Their findings could lead to improved cancer treatments.

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Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of cognitive impairment that affects millions of people worldwide. Despite growing awareness about the debilitating and lifelong progressive consequences of TBI, there are currently no treatments that slow the deteriorative process. TBI survivors are currently treated with extensive physical and cognitive rehabilitation, accompanied by medications that may mitigate symptoms yet do not halt or slow neurodegeneration. Now, researchers have found for the first time that this process can be pharmacologically reversed in an animal model of this chronic health condition, offering an important proof of principle in the field and a potential path to new therapy.

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The increased adherence of women to Coronavirus policies may be one of the reasons for the lower vulnerability and mortality that they experienced, compared to men, in the early phase of the epidemic.

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Treatment with a peptide that mimics the naturally occurring protein GIV prevents immune overreaction and supports a mechanism critical for survival in mouse models of sepsis and colitis, according to a UC San Diego study.

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A team led by Penn Medicine has engineered powerful new antimicrobial molecules from toxic proteins found in wasp venom. The team hopes to develop the molecules into new bacteria-killing drugs, an important advancement considering increasing numbers of antibiotic-resistant bacteria which can cause illness such as sepsis and tuberculosis.

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MADISON – Ecologists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have found that carnivores living near people can get more than half of their diets from human food sources, a major lifestyle disruption that could put North America’s carnivore-dominated ecosystems at risk.

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ORNL story tips: Remote population counting, slowing corrosion and turning down the heat

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Surviving on a warming planet can be a matter of timing—but simply shifting lifecycle stages to match the tempo of climate change has hidden dangers for some animals, according to new research from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour and Cornell University.

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Similarities among individuals living in the same communities can dramatically change their risk of dying by suicide, according to a new study by Indiana University researchers.

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Irvine, Calif., Oct. 1, 2020 — Uneven population distribution can significantly impact the severity and timing of COVID-19 infections within a city or county, leading individual communities to have vastly different experiences with the pandemic, according to a recent study led by the University of California, Irvine. Findings published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences show that the heterogeneous spatial features of interpersonal connections may produce dramatic local variations in exposures to those with the illness.

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With implications for the transmission of diseases like COVID-19, researchers have found that ordinary conversation creates a conical 'jet-like' airflow that quickly carries a spray of tiny droplets from a speaker's mouth across meters of an interior space.

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New study addresses a mystery first raised in March: Why do some people with COVID-19 develop severe inflammation? The research shows how the molecular structure and sequence of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein could be behind life-threatening inflammatory conditions MIS-C and cytokine storm.

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Researchers at Mass Eye and Ear have developed a unique diagnostic tool called DystoniaNet that uses artificial intelligence to detect dystonia from MRI scans in 0.36 seconds. DystoniaNet is the first technology of its kind to provide an objective diagnosis of the disorder. In a new study of 612 brain MRI scans, the platform diagnosed dystonia with 98.8 percent accuracy.

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Neutron scattering at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has shown that cholesterol stiffens simple lipid membranes, a finding that may help us better understand the functioning of human cells.

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University of Wisconsin–Madison scientists discovered that many different genetic mutations result in surprisingly similar changes to heart muscle proteins in patients with the most severe manifestations of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

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Study by UC’s New Electorate Project documents a growing divide on preferences for absentee ballots. Before the pandemic, there wasn’t any difference in the rates at which Democratic and Republican voters actually cast their ballots by mail or in-person. That may change now.

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Achieving herd immunity to COVID-19 is an impractical public health strategy, according to a new model developed by University of Georgia scientists. The study recently appeared in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Researchers have created a machine-learning algorithm that can pick up on subtle signs of osteoarthritis – too abstract to register in the eye of a trained radiologist – on an MRI scan taken years before symptom onset.

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Researchers have found a way to send tiny, soft robots into humans, potentially opening the door for less invasive surgeries and ways to deliver treatments for conditions ranging from colon polyps to stomach cancer to aortic artery blockages.

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Some of the oldest remains of early human ancestors have been unearthed in Olduvai Gorge, a rift valley setting in northern Tanzania where anthropologists have discovered fossils of hominids that existed 1.8 million years ago.

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Turbulent air in the atmosphere affects how cloud droplets form. New research from Michigan Technological University’s cloud chamber changes the way clouds, and therefore climate, are modeled.

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Researchers develop the new "transient vibrational sum-frequency generation microscope," giving them a thorough view of molecular systems—not just single traits of molecules.

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It’s clear that radiation therapy, or radiotherapy, an approach used to treat cancer since the early 20th century, can be an effective companion to newer, immune-stimulating approaches known as immunotherapy. Research from a team from Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center explains how radiation helps boost the immune system’s ability to fight cancer in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors — and provides new evidence that the timing of these therapies can make a big difference in how effectively they work together.

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Infants and young children have brains with a superpower, of sorts, say Georgetown University Medical Center neuroscientists. Whereas adults process most discrete neural tasks in specific areas in one or the other of their brain’s two hemispheres, youngsters use both the right and left hemispheres to do the same task. The finding suggests a possible reason why children appear to recover from neural injury much easier than adults.

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A team of scientists has shed new light on how stone forests and other natural structures are created. Its research also offers promise for the manufacturing of sharp-tipped structures, such as the micro-needles and probes needed for scientific research and medical procedures.

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Warning about the threat of misinformation—before or after an event—significantly reduces the negative impact of misinformation on memory, according to research at Tufts University. The findings could have important implications for improving the accuracy of everyday memory and eyewitness testimony.

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Researchers led by Ludwig Chicago Co-director Ralph Weichselbaum and Ronald Rock of the University of Chicago have identified in preclinical studies a potential drug target for curtailing cancer metastasis.

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Splitting one type of cancer drug in half and delivering the pieces separately to cancer cells could reduce life-threatening side effects and protect healthy, non-cancerous cells, a new study suggests.

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University of Chicago Medicine investigators have found a new way to slow the metastasis of colon cancer: by treating it with a small molecule that essentially locks up cancer cells' ability to change shape and move throughout the body.

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Research from the University of Notre Dame provides insight into how limited testing and gaps in surveillance during the initial phase of the epidemic resulted in so many cases going undetected. 

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Scientists have developed an injectable drug that blocks HIV from entering cells. They say the new drug potentially offers long-lasting protection from the infection with fewer side effects.

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Some bacteria become increasingly infectious when they have to move from cell to cell in order to survive. Bacteria that invade animal cells in order to multiply are widespread in nature. Some of these are  pathogens of humans and animals. In the environment, they are often found inside unicellular organisms. A research team led by Matthias Horn at the Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science at the University of Vienna has made use of  laboratory experiments to gain a better understanding of how these bacteria adapt to their host cell over time and become increasingly infectious under certain conditions.

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"I'm fascinated with life, and that's why I want to break it."

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Researchers from the National University of Singapore have identified a new avenue to maintain bone health, which opens up new and potentially more effective osteoporosis treatments.

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Corals in the Ocean are made up of coral polyps, a small soft creature with a stem and tentacles, they are responsible for nourishing the corals, and aid the coral’s survival by generating self-made currents through motion of their soft bodies.

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Researchers from Tufts have discovered neural mechanisms in mice specific to females that switch estrogen from playing a protective role in glucose metabolism to a disruptive role. The discovery could provide clues to the increased risk of insulin resistance and diabetes among post-menopausal women.

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Geologists from Florida State University’s Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science have discovered how carbon-rich molten rock in the Earth’s upper mantle might affect the movement of seismic waves.

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ORNL Story Tips: Pandemic impact, root studies, neutrons confirm, lab on a crystal and modeling fusion

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Harsh conditions in early life are a fundamental cause of adult stress, and according to new research from the University of Notre Dame on wild baboons, this effect is not explained by a lack of social support in adulthood.

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University of Utah researchers find that stable isotopes in hair reveal a divergence in diet according to socioeconomic status (SES), with lower-SES areas displaying higher proportions of protein coming from cornfed animals. It’s a way, the authors write, to assess a community’s diet and their health risks.

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Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) have for the first time identified stem cells in the region of the optic nerve, which transmits signals from the eye to the brain. The finding presents a new theory on why the most common form of glaucoma may develop and potential for new therapies.

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Iowa State and University of Texas engineers have developed computational models of replacement heart valves to examine the performance of biological tissues built into the valves. They found thinner tissues create problematic flutter.

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The goal of room temperature superconductivity took a small step forward with a recent discovery by a team of Penn State physicists and materials scientists.