A group of researchers is to evaluate whether a simple blood test for bacterial infection could help to reduce the use of antibiotics in patients with COVID-19. A procalcitonin blood test (PCT) is used in hospitals to distinguish between bacterial and viral infections and guide antibiotic treatment.

Data from the National COVID-19 Infection Survey, done in partnership between the University of Oxford, the Office of National Statistics, Public Health England, University of Manchester and the Wellcome Trust, has revealed detailed characteristics of England's coronavirus pandemic, including which factors have contributed most to case numbers over different phases and the prevalence of asymptomatic infections.

FINDINGS UCLA researchers have identified a potential diagnostic marker that could help predict how likely someone with cervical cancer is to respond to the standard treatment of chemotherapy and radiation. The scientists found that PACS-1, a gene that resides on a small segment of the long arm of chromosome 11, is overexpressed in cancer tissues, which can result in cancer growth and spread.

An interdisciplinary team of scientists has created a new molecular tool to help us better understand the cellular basis of behavior. A new molecular probe from Stanford University could help reveal how our brains think and remember. This tool, called Fast Light and Calcium-Regulated Expression or FLiCRE (pronounced "flicker"), can be sent inside any cell to perform a variety of research tasks, including tagging, recording and controlling cellular functions.

A new and less invasive treatment developed by Cancer Research UK researchers is safer than standard major surgery for early-stage rectal cancer, giving patients a better quality of life with fewer life-altering side effects, results from a pilot study show. Results from the TREC trial show that a combination of local keyhole surgery and radiotherapy, rather than major surgery that removes the whole rectum, prevents debilitating side effects, such as diarrhoea, or the need for a permanent colostomy bag.

The Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment collaboration - which made a precise measurement of an important neutrino property eight years ago, setting the stage for a new round of experiments and discoveries about these hard-to-study particles - has finished taking data. Though the experiment is formally shutting down, the collaboration will continue to analyze its complete dataset to improve upon the precision of findings based on earlier measurements.

New research has shown just how picky the iconic superb parrot is about the types of tree hollows they nest in, with the discovery potentially key to protecting the threatened species.

By Mag. Beate Mosing The researchers at the sensory laboratory of the Institute of Analytical Chemistry and Food Chemistry at TU Graz know that "taste" alone is by no means the only decisive factor for culinary enjoyment. "From a scientific point of view, we only distinguish between sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami in terms of taste.

A deficiency in vitamin D on the mother's side could explain why autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is three times more common in boys, say researchers from The University of Queensland. In their latest study, Professor Darryl Eyles and Dr Asad Ali from UQ's Queensland Brain Institute found vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy caused an increase in testosterone in the developing brain of male rats.

Every year, earthquakes shake the ground and volcanoes erupt around the edges of tectonic plates-the massive pieces of Earth's crust that slide slowly across the planet, creating and destroying mountains and oceans on the scale of eons. But the question of when this plate subduction actually began has been a hotly contested debate in earth sciences.

The Australian National University (ANU) has announced a new research project with Janssen Research & Development, LLC, aimed at improving health outcomes in Type 1 Diabetes (T1D). The collaboration was facilitated by Johnson & Johnson Innovation. The project will focus on the development of new methods for measuring and monitoring disease activity.

Older people who undergo emergency surgeries on their operating surgeon's birthday may be more likely to die within a month than patients who go through similar procedures on other days, a new UCLA-led study suggests. The study, published today in the peer-reviewed medical journal BMJ, shows that 30-day mortality rates are approximately 23% higher for patients 65 and older who are treated on a surgeon's birthday.

People's levels of anxiety and depression were at their highest (worst) in the early stages of the March lockdown but improved fairly rapidly following the introduction of restrictions, according to new findings by UCL researchers. The study, published today in Lancet Psychiatry and funded by the Nuffield Foundation and the Wellcome Trust, analysed data from over 36,000 adults who had provided responses on their mental health as part of the UCL COVID -19 Social Study on a weekly basis between 23 March and 9 August 2020.

The CRISPR-Cas9 protein (above) allows researchers to inactivate individual genes in the genome, using a guide RNA sequence that matches the target gene. These guide RNAs are paired with nucleotide barcodes in a new and fast technique to map genetic networks called CRISPR interference with barcoded expression reporter sequencing, or CiBER-seq.

A new framework has been developed by Women's Aid in partnership with academic colleagues - including the University of Bristol - to promote best practice in research into domestic violence and abuse (DVA). The Research Integrity Framework aims to give policy makers and commissioners more clarity on the merits of different types of evidence and research, and the principles of integrity relating to DVA research.

New research suggests testing people's memory over four weeks could identify who is at higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease before it has developed. Importantly, the trial found testing people's ability to retain memories for longer time periods could predict this more accurately than classic memory tests, which test memory over half an hour.

Preschool children's eating, activity, and sleep routines were disrupted during the spring COVID-19 lockdown, which may be detrimental to child health and development a study suggests. Parents of children (aged threeto five-year-old) due to start school in September 2020 shared their children's experiences of the spring lockdown with academics from the Universities of Bristol, Birmingham and Glasgow.

A new study based on scientific sampling of a rusty carbon sink at a permafrost peatland at Sweden has revealed that iron minerals fail to trap organic carbon, a vast source of CO2 and methane not included in global warming forecasts. The study, conducted by researchers from the Universities of Tübingen and Bristol conducted their investigation site at Stordalen mire, Abisko, Sweden appears today [10 December].

Artist's impression of the exoplanet HD 106906 b located a great distance away from the central binary star and the disk of dusty material that surrounds it (Image courtesy of ESA/Hubble, M. Kornmesser). Astronomers are still searching for a hypothetical "Planet Nine" in the distant reaches of our solar system, but an exoplanet 336 light years from Earth is looking more and more like the Planet Nine of its star system.

Research team with participation of the University of Göttingen analyses ways to ensure food supply Ensuring global food security is a key challenge, especially because of the challenges of climate change and increasing demand from a population expected to reach almost ten billion. A high diversity of crops can help ensure food security in agriculture.