Новости за 07.05.2020

STEM CELLS Translational Medicine researchers demonstrate an alternative approach for treating corneal scarring using stem cells.

In a study published today in Current Biology, researchers from University of Sydney have identified the single gene that determines how Cape honey bees reproduce without ever having sex. One gene, GB45239 on chromosome 11, is responsible for virgin births.

Chinese researchers established an optical BtBI that supports rapid information transmission for precise locomotion control, thus providing a proof-of-principle demonstration of fast BtBI for real-time behavioral control.

Gene drive organisms (GDOs) have been suggested as an approach to solve some of the most pressing environmental and public health issues. Currently, it remains unclear what kind of regulations are to be used to cover the potential risks. In their study, published in the open-access journal BioRisk, scientists evaluate the options for an operational risk assessment of GDOs before their release into environments across the EU.

Researchers at the Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw have demonstrated micrometre-sized 3D-printed aspherical microlenses which can replace bulky microscope objectives in spectroscopic measurements of single point-like light emitters (e.g. quantum dots or atomically thin 2D materials). The proposed microlenses increase the available working distance, i.e. the distance between the lens front and the sample surface, by over two orders of magnitude, and open up new perspectives for a wide class of optical experiments.

Thanks to its unique three-dimensional manufacturing capacity, ultrafast laser writing is a prime candidate to meet the growing demand for the miniaturization of photonic circuitry, e.g., for scaling up optical quantum computers capacity. Towards this goal, scientists from Canada discovered a phenomenon related to the material electronic resonance that allows a much greater miniaturization of the laser written devices. Surprisingly, the new phenomenon allows other intriguing applications such as a new concept of invisibility.

A world-first study led by Monash University has demonstrated significant benefits to a premature baby's heart and brain function when held by the parent in skin-to-skin contact. Parent-infant skin-to-skin care (SSC) or kangaroo care, started in the late 1970s in Columbia when incubators to keep babies warm were not available. It is now widely recognised as a beneficial component of holistic care provided for pre-term infants.

A new national survey conducted by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center confirms these fears, finding that nearly 80% of respondents would be concerned about themselves or an expectant mother in their life in the midst of the current COVID-19 outbreak, with almost half expressing fear of going to a scheduled prenatal appointment.

Hydrogen is a possible next generation energy solution, and it can be produced from sunlight and water using photocatalysts. A research group from Kobe University has developed a strategy that greatly increases the amount of hydrogen produced using hematite photocatalysts. In addition to boosting the high efficiency of what is thought to be the world's highest performing photoanode, this strategy will be applied to artificial photosynthesis and solar water-splitting technologies via university-industry collaborations.

This comprehensive review presented by researchers from K.S. Rangasamy College of Arts and Science, Tiruchengode, Tamil-Nadu, India, gives readers a brief overview of phytoconstituents, nutritional values and medicinal properties of the plant.

ICFO researchers report on a new method to obtain high color purity 3D objects with the use of a new class of nanoparticles.

Repurposing existing medicines focused on known drug targets is likely to offer a more rapid hope of tackling COVID-19 than developing and manufacturing a vaccine, argue an international team of scientists in the British Journal of Pharmacology today.

Computers, mobile phones and all other electronic devices contain thousands of transistors, linked together by thin films of metal. Scientists at Linköping University, Sweden, have developed a method that can use the electrons in a plasma to produce these films.

Researchers from the University of Tsukuba discovered that fish schools showed a significant change in behavior with varying school sizes. Using integrated information theory, they showed that a significant change in the interaction between the fish and the overall collective behavior occurred between three- and four-fish schools, including the emergence of leadership within the group. These findings help understand the dynamics of collective behavior.

Researchers from the University of Tsukuba discovered that the transcription factor Myc plays a central role in the elimination of damaged germline cells. Using the well-established P-M hybrid dysgenesis model in Drosophila, the researchers showed that damaged germline cells downregulate Myc to be eliminated. When Myc was overexpressed, the cells survived but were not of sufficient quality to develop into adulthood. These findings help understand how germline integrity is preserved.

A scientific team found a new metabolism regulation system for the brown adipose tissue using the kallikrein-kinin hormonal system, so far related to the physiology of the renal and cardiovascular system and inflammation and pain processes. This molecular auto-control system of lipidic metabolism, so far unknown, could help prevent the damaging effects derived from an excessive activation of the brown adipose tissue.

The extent to which Brazilian soy production and trade contribute to climate change depends largely on the location where soybeans are grown. This is shown by a recent study conducted by the University of Bonn together with partners from Spain, Belgium and Sweden. In some municipalities, CO2 emissions resulting from the export of soybean and derivatives are more than 200 times higher than in others.

Researchers at the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), belonging to the Nanophotonics Technology Center, have taken a new step in designing omnidirectional invisible materials. At their laboratories, they have discovered a new fundamental symmetry in the laws of electromagnetism, acoustics and elasticity: A temporal supersymmetry. This finding has been published in the Nature Communications journal.

From sustainable energy to quantum computers: high-temperature superconductors have the potential to revolutionize today's technologies. Despite intensive research, however, we still lack the necessary understanding to develop these complex materials for widespread application. "Higgs spectroscopy" could bring about a watershed: It reveals the dynamics of paired electrons in superconductors. A team centered around Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and Max Planck Institute for Solid State... Читать дальше...

Researchers from the University of Tsukuba have revealed that pectin, a carbohydrate found in plant cell walls, plays a vital part in the development of female reproductive tissues of rice plants. It was found that the presence of a gene involved in pectin modification increased plant fertility relative to a modified plant with the gene removed. These findings could have major implications in crop variety development and genetic modification.

As the COVID-19 pandemic enters its third month, businesses in the United States are marketing unlicensed and unproven stem-cell-based 'therapies' and exosome products that claim to prevent or treat the disease. In Cell Stem Cell on May 5, bioethicist Leigh Turner describes how these companies are "seizing the pandemic as an opportunity to profit from hope and desperation."

A new study has found an association between low average levels of vitamin D and high numbers of COVID-19 cases and mortality rates across 20 European countries.

Plastic waste often ends up in river bodies and oceans, posing a serious threat to the marine ecosystem. To prevent the accumulation of plastic debris, we must find out where plastic emission is prevalent. To this end, scientists in Japan have come up with a new method to track plastic emissions from inland areas to sea. This method is useful to identify the "hotspots" of plastic emission and can even help to implement appropriate measures to avoid plastic pollution.

Scientists at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and the Helmholtz Institute Mainz (HIM) in Germany have presented a non-contact method for detecting the state of charge and any defects in lithium-ion batteries.

A new method for reliably identifying the presence of beer or other malted foodstuffs in archaeological finds is described in a study published May 6, 2020 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Andreas G. Heiss from the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW), Austria and colleagues.