EMBL-EBI researchers use UK Biobank data to uncover new information about rare diseases of the eye. Researchers have analysed image and genomic data from the UK Biobank to find insights into rare diseases of the human eye. These include retinal dystrophies – a group of inherited disorders affecting the retina – which are also the leading cause of blindness certification in working-age adults. The retina is found at the back of the eye. It’s a layered tissue that receives light…
Parabolic flights: a simulated gravity laboratory. Space travel has always tested the human body by the effects of the new conditions of altered gravity on biological systems. It has long been known that continuous exposure to microgravity conditions human physiology and causes effects that compromise muscular, sensory, endocrine and cardiovascular functions. But is it also risky to be exposed to altered gravity for short periods of time? Now, a paper published in the journal Acta Astronautica examines the effects on…
Thanks to a current study with significant participation of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, the distribution of particulate matter in cities can be calculated more precisely. Within the framework of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the indicator 11.6.2 for capturing exposure to particulate matter in cities can be calculated in greater detail. The advantages are the more precise determination of the indicator and the possibility of uniform application throughout Europe. Using Hamburg as an example, the study shows different…
… imminent past 1.8℃ planetary warming. A study published in Nature Communications by an international team of scientists shows that an irreversible loss of the West Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, and a corresponding rapid acceleration of sea level rise, may be imminent if global temperature change cannot be stabilized below 1.8°C, relative to the preindustrial levels. Coastal populations worldwide are already bracing for rising seas. However, planning for counter-measures to prevent inundation and other damages has been extremely difficult…
First study of AI-assisted colonoscopy for colorectal cancer surveillance in patients with genetic predisposition – People with Lynch syndrome have a higher hereditary risk of colon cancer. Despite regular endoscopic surveillance, it remains elevated in those affected. Researchers at the National Center for Hereditary Tumor Diseases (NZET) at Bonn University Hospital (UKB) have now found that artificial intelligence (AI) can improve the effectiveness of colonoscopy in the presence of Lynch syndrome. The study results have been published online in the…
… due to surrounding farmland. Insect decline is also progressing in German nature reserves. One reason for this is the intensification of agriculture. In a study recently published in the journal “Biodiversity and Conservation”, a team of authors led by biodiversity researchers Florian Dirk Schneider of ISOE – Institute for Social-Ecological Research and Sebastian Köthe of NABU – Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union Germany shows that farmland in the vicinity of protected areas can have a negative impact on insect…
A Europe-wide consortium of 19 universities, research institutions, and companies will investigate indoor air pollution over the next four years. The Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) in Leipzig is the only partner in Germany and will develop an innovative tool to monitor indoor air quality. By the end of 2026, the consortium, led by the Brussels-based think tank Lisbon Council, aims to provide scientifically sound information for legislation so that guidelines for indoor air quality can be set and…
MHH psychiatry coordinates largest German study to improve depression treatment. Using biomarkers to find individual diagnostic and therapeutic paths – what already works in oncology is also to become possible in psychiatry. Under the leadership of Professor Dr Helge Frieling, Vice Head of the Department of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the Hannover Medical School (MHH), a national research network is now being launched that aims to tailor the treatment of depression more closely to the individual patient than…
Back to culture – Research led by University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover (TiHo), in cooperation with Hannover Medical School (MHH), Robert Koch Institute, Hannover Concerts, ProEvent Hannover and AWiAS Aviation Services GmbH, examined whether trained corona detection dogs can be used in everyday life. For the first of its kind study, the project team held four concerts at the end of 2021, at which the medical detection dogs sniffed sweat samples from all visitors at the entrance to detect SARS-CoV-2…
A new tracking method to quantify skeletal kinematics in freely moving rodents. How can we measure a skeleton’s motion in a furry animal as it moves through its environment? Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology of Behavior have developed a method to quantify skeletal motion in freely moving rodents in a new level of accuracy and detail. It is based around building a skeleton-model that calculates bone joint movement using basic anatomical principles, such as joint rotation limits,…
Insecticides containing flupyradifurone and sulfoxaflor can have devastating effects on honey bee health. The substances damage the insects’ intestinal flora, especially when used in conjunction with a common fungicide, making them more susceptible to disease and shortening their life span. This was recently proven in a study conducted at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), as published in “Science of the Total Environment”. The two insecticides were considered harmless to bees and…
Scientists have developed a theory that can explain how flying insects determine the gravity direction without using accelerometers. It also forms a substantial step in the creation of tiny, autonomous drones. Scientists have discovered a novel manner for flying drones and insects to estimate the gravity direction. Whereas drones typically use accelerometers to this end, the way in which flying insects do this has until now been shrouded in mystery, since they lack a specific sense for acceleration. In an…
A new study led by the University of Tasmania – with the participation of the University of Bonn – discovered the oldest marine DNA in deep-sea sediments of the Scotia Sea north of the Antarctic continent. The material could be dated to one million years. Such old material demonstrates that sedimentary DNA can open the pathway to study long-term responses of ocean ecosystems to climate change. This recognition will also help assessing current and future change of marine life around…
The findings could help treat deadly arrhythmias. Electrical signals tell the heart to contract, but when the signals form spiral waves, they can lead to dangerous cardiac events like tachycardia and fibrillation. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and clinicians at Emory University School of Medicine are bringing a new understanding to these complicated conditions with the first high-resolution visualizations of stable spiral waves in human ventricles. “Clinicians have known for decades that spiral waves of electrical activity can…
Walking for multi-legged creatures is a lot like slithering, researchers find by comparing ants to robots. The physics of walking for multi-legged animals and robots is simpler than previously thought. That is the finding described by a team of roboticists, physicists and biologists in the Sept. 5 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, in a paper titled “Walking is like slithering: a unifying, data-driven view of locomotion.” “This is important because it will allow roboticists to…
Study will sharpen understanding of precipitation’s influence on aerosols in the atmosphere. A new $620,000, three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Energy will enable a University of Kansas atmospheric scientist to research how aerosols, clouds and precipitation interact over ocean waters, with the goal of producing more accurate Earth System Models. Lead researcher David Mechem, professor and chair of geography & atmospheric science at KU, will use a wide array of data collected at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program (ARM)…
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