Newswise Curated News Channel: PNAS

What microscopic fossilized shells tell us about ancient climate change

University of Utah — Mon, 26 Aug 2024 16:05:52 EST

By analyzing foram shells recovered in drill cores, a study led by University of Utah geologists links rapid climate change that led to thermal maxima 50 million years ago to rising CO2 levels.

Autism Spectrum Disorders Linked to Neurotransmitter Switching in the Brain

University of California San Diego — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 18:05:11 EST

Neurobiologists studying the emergence of autism spectrum disorders have found evidence of altered early development of the nervous system. They linked environmentally induced forms of ASD to changes in neurotransmitters, the chemical messengers that allow neurons to communicate with each other.

Macrophage mix helps determine rate and fate of fatty liver disease

Sanford Burnham Prebys — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 15:05:43 EST

Formerly known as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) is an inflammatory disease characterized by liver scarring or fibrosis that progressively impairs liver function. It is a major risk factor for cirrhosis and liver cancer. And because treatment options are limited, MASH is the second leading cause for liver transplants in the United States after cirrhosis caused by chronic hepatitis C infection. A better understanding of the pathological processes that drive MASH is critical to creating effective treatments. In a new paper published August 19, 2024 in PNAS, a team of scientists from Sanford Burnham Prebys, the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and elsewhere, describe the complex interplay between diseased liver cells and macrophages -- a type of white blood cell whose jobs include killing and removing harmful cells and pathogens and helping to spur normal healing.

Targeting protein has potential to treat leukemia, lymphoma

UT Southwestern Medical Center — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 10:05:04 EST

Targeting a protein called ZFP574 suppressed leukemia in a mouse model of the disease, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers showed in a new study. Their findings, published in PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), could lead to new treatments for leukemias and lymphomas in cancer patients.

Folded peptides are more electrically conductive than unfolded peptides

Thu, 25 Jul 2024 17:05:52 EST

Mini lungs make major COVID-19 discoveries possible

Sanford Burnham Prebys — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 14:05:50 EST

Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys, University of California San Diego and their international collaborators have reported that more types of lung cells can be infected by SARS-CoV-2 than previously thought, including those without known viral receptors.

Beneficial metabolic effects of PAHSAs depend on the gut microbiota in diet-induced obese mice but not in chow-fed mice

George Washington University — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 09:05:59 EST

Dietary lipids play an essential role in regulating the function of the gut microbiota and gastrointestinal tract, and these luminal interactions contribute to mediating host metabolism. Palmitic Acid Hydroxy Stearic Acids (PAHSAs) are a family of lipids with antidiabetic and anti-inflammatory properties, but whether the gut microbiota contributes to their beneficial effects on host metabolism is unknown.

Women of color disproportionately targeted by book bans, study finds

University of Colorado Boulder — Tue, 02 Jul 2024 13:05:19 EST

The first comprehensive analysis of recent book bans in the U.S. reveals that characters and authors of color are more likely to be targeted by book bans than their white counterparts.

Bladder buzz: technologies to improve bladder surgery and monitoring

National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 14:05:28 EST

NIBIB-funded researchers are working to make bladder surgeries better, tackling the issue from two vantage points: improving bladder function using a biodegradable construct that facilitates tissue regeneration, and enhancing patient monitoring by developing an implantable bladder sensor.

Reframing voting as 'duty to others' key to increasing engagement, turnout

Washington University in St. Louis — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 13:05:57 EST

New research by Hannah Birnbaum, at Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, suggests that when people view voting as a duty to others -- rather than to themselves -- they're more likely to feel an obligation to vote.

Human activity contributed to woolly rhinoceros' extinction

University of Adelaide — Mon, 03 Jun 2024 20:05:05 EST

Researchers have discovered sustained hunting by humans prevented the woolly rhinoceros from accessing favourable habitats as Earth warmed following the Last Ice Age.

Stanford scientists bring crystal clarity to diamond's quantum signals

Argonne National Laboratory — Mon, 03 Jun 2024 13:05:18 EST

In work supported by the Q-NEXT quantum center, a Stanford University group digs into diamond to find the source of its apparently temperamental nature when it comes to emitting quantum signals, widening a path for building quantum networks and sensors.

Detecting Odors on the Edge: Researchers Decipher How Insects Smell More with Less

University of California San Diego — Tue, 21 May 2024 15:05:48 EST

While humans feature a sophisticated sense of smell, insects have a much more basic olfactory system. Yet they depend upon smell to survive. Scientists have figured out how fruit flies use a simple but efficient system to recognize odors, and the answer lies at the edges of their antennae.

Long-term ocean sampling in Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay reveals plummeting plankton levels: impact uncertain for local food web

University of Rhode Island — Mon, 20 May 2024 15:05:11 EST

Digitizing decades worth of pre-computer files held in storage at the Narragansett Bay campus let oceanographers at the University of Rhode Island get a better picture of Narragansett Bay over time. URI operates the longest-running time series in Rhode Island, which now reveals that the level of phytoplankton in the bay has dropped by half in the last half century.

UC Irvine-Led Team Uncovers 'Vigorous Melting' at Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier

University of California, Irvine — Mon, 20 May 2024 15:05:08 EST

A team of glaciologists led by researchers at the University of California, Irvine used high-resolution satellite radar data to find evidence of the intrusion of warm, high-pressure seawater many kilometers beneath the grounded ice of West Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier.

Tricking the Brain's inner GPS: Grid cells responses to the illusion of self-location

National Research Council of Science and Technology — Mon, 20 May 2024 00:00:21 EST

Dr. Hyuk-June Moon from the Bionics Research Center at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), in collaboration with Prof. Olaf Blanke's team at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), has successfully induced self-location illusions with multi-sensory virtual reality (VR) in the MRI scanner and observed corresponding changes in the human brain's grid cell activity.

Bridging the gap: From frequent molecular changes to observable phenomena

Hokkaido University — Wed, 15 May 2024 01:00:23 EST

New research employs shutter speed analogies to validate 55-year-old theory about chemical reaction rates.

Study highlights need for cell-type-specific therapies in treatment of HIV

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign — Fri, 10 May 2024 15:05:49 EST

Researchers from the University of Illinois have demonstrated the importance of cell-type-specific targeting in the treatment of HIV. Their study, published in PNAS, is one of the first to examine the differential or cell-type specific effects of HIV latency modulation on myeloid cells, a type of immune cell made in bone marrow.

Study led by ORNL informs climate resilience strategies in urban, rural areas

Oak Ridge National Laboratory — Wed, 08 May 2024 11:05:34 EST

Local decision-makers looking for ways to reduce the impact of heat waves on their communities have a valuable new capability at their disposal: a new study on vegetation resilience.

Using Advanced Genetic Techniques, Scientists Create Mice With Traits of Tourette Disorder

Rutgers University-New Brunswick — Mon, 06 May 2024 12:05:54 EST

In research that may be a step forward toward finding personalized treatments for Tourette disorder, scientists at Rutgers University-New Brunswick have bred mice that exhibit some of the same behaviors and brain abnormalities seen in humans with the disorder. As reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers, using a technique known as CRISPR/Cas9 DNA editing, inserted the same genetic mutations found in humans with Tourette disorder into the corresponding genes in mouse embryos.