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A new study published in Cell Reports by Óscar Llorca from CNIO, Fernando Moreno-Herrero from CNB, and Puri Fortes from CIMA-University of Navarra, sheds light on one of these extraordinary DNA repair systems. The team revealed the function of a molecular staple using a cutting-edge nanotechnology method, marking the first time it has been observed in action. In liver cancer with the worst prognosis A few years ago, a team led by Puri Fortes team discovered that about half of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (the most common type of liver cancer) produce an RNA molecule called NIHCOLE, which is found mainly in the most aggressive tumors and is associated with a poor prognosis....

Using datasets from neurosurgical patients and those with brain lesions, investigators mapped lesion locations associated with spiritual and religious belief to a specific human brain circuit. More than 80 percent of people around the world consider themselves to be religious or spiritual. But research on the neuroscience of spirituality and religiosity has been sparse. Previous studies have used functional neuroimaging, in which an individual undergoes a brain scan while performing a task to see what areas of the brain light up....

“This is a highly detailed look at the compositional structure of this huge impact basin using modern, cutting-edge data,” said Dan Moriarty, a postdoctoral researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center who led the research while a doctoral student at Brown. “Given that it’s such an important target for future exploration and perhaps returning a sample to Earth, we hope this will serve as a framework for more detailed study and landing site selection....

Einstein’s theory of relativity is remarkable not only because it is so successful in explaining seemingly bizarre observations (like the bending of starlight) or because it has assembled a coherent picture of nature. One would expect these results from any good theory. Relativity is also amazing because its has shown that the universe behaves in completely non-intuitive ways (at least to humans): time dilates, lengths contract, gravity warps space, and mass and energy are related by E=mc^2....

“Now that we know that macropinocytosis is ‘revved up’ in both pancreatic cancer cells and the surrounding fibrotic tissue, blocking the process might provide a ‘double whammy’ to pancreatic tumors,” says Cosimo Commisso, Ph.D., associate professor and co-director of the Cell and Molecular Biology of Cancer Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys and senior author of the study. “Our lab is investigating several drug candidates that inhibit macropinocytosis, and this study provides the rationale that they should be advanced as quickly as possible....

It has long been known that in both marine and terrestrial systems species (including animals, plants, and single-celled organisms) show a “latitudinal diversity gradient,” with biodiversity peaking at the equator. But until now, limited fossil data has prevented researchers from thoroughly investigating how this diversity gradient first arose. In this new study, researchers at the Universities of Oxford, Leeds, and Bristol, used a group of unicellular marine plankton called planktonic foraminifera....

In rare events, the sheath of electrons and ions enveloping Venus in a height of 150 to 300 kilometers can expand into space like a tail. This exceptional deformation occurs on the planet’s night side, when the solar wind, the flow of charged particles from the Sun, nearly comes to a stop. Scientists under the lead of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) were now for the first time able to study such an event in detail....

In a hypothesis paper published today (March 14) in the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease, an international team of researchers—including University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) neurologists Ray Dorsey, MD, Ruth Schneider, MD, and Karl Kieburtz, MD—postulate that TCE may be an invisible cause of Parkinson’s. In the paper, they detail the widespread use of the chemical, the evidence linking the toxicant to Parkinson’s, and profile seven individuals, ranging from a former NBA basketball player to a Navy captain to a late U....

They said: Another key quote comes from the introduction: The study was called “Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus as an Agent of Emerging and Reemerging Infection” and it was published in October 2007 by Clinical Microbiology Reviews, a journal by the American Society for Microbiology. You can access the full study here. Reference: “Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus as an Agent of Emerging and Reemerging Infection” by Vincent C. C....

Using a model based on density functional theory, it is possible to determine the optimal positioning for basketball players in a given scenario. This can increase their chances of successfully scoring or defending against the opposing team. Boris Barron, a doctoral student working with Tomás Arias, professor of physics recently presented his work at the American Physical Society conference in Las Vegas. He used detailed data of player positions from this season’s NBA games to develop his model....

The Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer (ITMS) imaged above is a part of an instrument that will detect lunar volatiles from both the extremely thin atmosphere of the Moon and from the lunar soil. Its name is the Exospheric Mass Spectrometer (EMS), a the key element of NASA’s Astrobotic mission that will fly to the Valles Mortis region of the Moon in 2021. The sensor is also part of ESA’s Prospect mission to study lunar water ice on board the Russian Luna-27 lander, set for launch in 2025....

A team led by the University of Reading conducted the first-ever study to identify how the four main winter weather patterns in North America behave depending on the strength of the stratospheric polar vortex. This is a ribbon of wind and low pressure that circles the Arctic at heights of 10-50km, trapping cold air inside. It is already well established that the vortex wind strength influences weather in Europe and Asia, and the study revealed it also has a strong effect on three out of the four main winter weather patterns in North America, giving forecasters an additional tool to understand potentially high-impact weather during winter....

A new study in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, using data from NASA’s Spitzer and Kepler space telescopes, offers the best-yet picture of what these planets are made of. They used the telescope observations to calculate the densities more precisely than ever, then used those numbers in complex simulations. Researchers determined that all of the planets are mostly made of rock. Additionally, some have up to 5 percent of their mass in water, which is 250 times more than the oceans on Earth....

M-dwarf stars, the most common type of star by far, are smaller and cooler than the Sun, and they can have very active magnetic fields. Their cool surface temperatures result in their habitable zones (HZ) being close to the star (the HZ is the range of distances within which an orbiting planet’s surface water can remain liquid). Any rocky exoplanets that orbit an M-dwarf in its HZ, because they are close to the star, are especially vulnerable to the effects of photoevaporation which can result in partial or even total removal of the atmosphere....

Some people are resistant to depression and anhedonia, or lack of pleasure, even when exposed to chronic stress. To measure susceptibility to anhedonia, Prakash et al. trained rats to activate an electrode that stimulated reward circuits in their brain, causing feelings of pleasure. The rats experienced social stress once a day and then were given access to self-stimulation fifteen minutes later. In rats susceptible to anhedonia, the stress dramatically increased the intensity of stimulation needed to feel pleasure, while it had little effect on the resilient rats....

Researchers from Osaka University have made the striking discovery that multidrug-resistant bacteria may have been around longer than we thought. In findings published this month in Communications Biology, the researchers investigated the evolutionary relationships among hundreds of RND-type efflux pumps–specialized proteins that pump multiple different types of antibiotics out of a bacterial cell, making it multidrug-resistant. “Interestingly, we found that RND efflux pump AcrB from H. influenzae was relatively ancient but exported the same antibiotics as its more evolved counterpart from Escherichia coli,” explains lead author of the study Martijn Zwama....

New variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus are spreading rapidly, and there are fears that current COVID-19 vaccines won’t protect against them. The latest in a series of structural studies of the SARS-CoV-2 variants’ “spike” protein, led by Bing Chen, PhD, at Boston Children’s Hospital, reveals new properties of the Alpha (formerly U.K.) and Beta (formerly South Africa) variants. Of note, it suggests that current vaccines may be less effective against the Beta variant....

Regular use of fish oil supplements may be linked to a lower risk of death and cardiovascular disease (CVD) events, such as heart attack and stroke, suggests an analysis of data from the UK Biobank study, published in The BMJ today (March 4, 2020). Further studies should explore what dose is needed to achieve a clinically meaningful effect, say the researchers. Fish oil is a popular dietary supplement in the UK and other developed countries....

For the past hour, a Nile crocodile has been silently lurking in the muddy river. When the apex predator strikes, its powerful jaws clamp onto the hindquarter of an unsuspecting impala with a force of 5,000 pounds. The real weapon, however, is the water itself, as the crocodile drags its prey to the deep end to drown. The success of the croc’s ambush lies in the nanoscopic scuba tanks — hemoglobins — that course through its bloodstream, unloading oxygen from lungs to tissues at a slow but steady clip that allows it to go hours without air....

Treatment with IFN-α2b was shown for the first time to improve virus clearance and decrease levels of inflammatory markers in a cohort of COVID-19 patients. Treatment with antivirals such as interferons may significantly improve virus clearance and reduce levels of inflammatory proteins in COVID-19 patients, according to a new study in Frontiers in Immunology. Researchers conducting an exploratory study on a cohort of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Wuhan found that treatment with interferon (IFN)-α2b significantly reduced the duration of detectable virus in the upper respiratory tract and reduced blood levels of interleukin(IL)-6 and C-reactive protein (CRP), two inflammatory proteins found in the human body....