341 articles from THURSDAY 13.8.2020

Review: Consequences of systemic racism in urban environments

Even as studies have shown that the uneven distribution of urban heat islands, urban tree canopy cover, and urban environmental hazards, for example, are strongly dictated by structural racism and classism in cities, relatively few studies have addressed the varied contributions of social factors like race to ecological heterogeneity in cities.

Scientists sound the alarm: Lockdowns may escalate the obesity epidemic

Emotional stress, economic anxiety, physical inactivity and social distance - locking down society to combat COVID-19 creates psychosocial insecurity that leads to obesity, warn three Danish researchers. Counter measures are needed if we are to keep the public both metabolically healthy and safe from the coronavirus

Snowshoe hare carcasses feed more then the usual suspects, study shows

What do lynx, flying squirrels, ravens, and wolverines have in common? They will all scavenge from snowshoe hare carcasses under the right conditions, according to a new study by University of Alberta ecologists. And they're not alone. In fact, researchers documented 24 different species feeding from snowshoe hare carcasses in Canada's northern boreal forest.

Strict diet explains metabolic effect of gastric bypass surgery

In many studies, bariatric surgery has been highlighted as an almost magical method for weight loss and reversing type 2 diabetes. One question that has remained largely unanswered is how the effect of surgery differs from the effects of a strict low-calorie diet. This question has now been examined by researchers at Lund University in Sweden in a study published in the journal Diabetes.

Study focuses on a different kind of liquid biopsy to detect cancer

In a study published August 13, 2020, in Cell by a team of collaborators from Memorial Sloan Kettering and Weill Cornell Medicine, researchers report that tiny packages of materials released by tumors, called EVPs (extracellular vesicles and particles), may serve as biomarkers for detecting a number of different types of cancer in the early stages.

Studying how skin cancer starts

New research by Ortiz-Rodríguez and mentor Carlos Crespo, a professor and lead researcher in the The Crespo Group lab, reveals for perhaps the first time how quickly certain pre-cancerous lesions can form on the DNA of our skin when exposed to sunlight.

Syphilis may have spread through Europe before Columbus

Columbus brought syphilis to Europe -- or did he? A recent study conducted at the University of Zurich now indicates that Europeans could already have been infected with this sexually transmitted disease before the 15th century. In addition, researchers have discovered a hitherto unknown pathogen causing a related disease. The predecessor of syphilis and its related diseases could be over 2,500...

Systemic racism has consequences for all life in cities

Social inequalities, specifically racism and classism, are impacting the biodiversity, evolutionary shifts and ecological health of plants and animals in our cities. That's the main finding of a review paper published Aug. 13 in Science led by the University of Washington, with co-authors at the University of California, Berkeley, and University of Michigan.

The behavior of therapeutic antibodies in immunotherapy

Since the late 1990s, immunotherapy has been the frontline treatment against lymphomas where synthetic antibodies are used to stop the proliferation of cancerous white blood cells. However, in the more than 20 years since their use began, the molecular mechanisms that underlie this therapy are still little understood. For the first time, scientists from the CNRS, Institut Pasteur and Université...

The larynx has evolved more rapidly in primates

The larynx is larger, more variable in size, and has undergone faster rates of evolution in primates than in carnivores, according to a study published August 11, 2020 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Daniel Bowling of Stanford University, W. Tecumseh Fitch of the University of Vienna, and colleagues.

UCalgary researchers discover the microbiome's role in attacking cancerous tumours

University of Calgary researchers have discovered which gut bacteria help our immune system battle cancerous tumours and how they do it. The discovery may provide a new understanding of why immunotherapy, a treatment for cancer that helps amplify immune response, works in some cases, but not others. The findings, published in Science, show combining immunotherapy with specific microbial therapy...