Quarks are the subatomic particles thought to make up nearly everything we can see. Now it turns out they could be an illusion created by quantum trickery

We can't find any trace of cosmic dark matter – perhaps because our models of the early universe are missing a crucial piece, says astrophysicist Dan Hooper

Dark energy dominates the universe, and could lead it to a cold, bleak end. But that's not to say we have much clue what it is or how it works

There is no law of physics dictating that dark matter and dark energy can’t be connected, and it is natural to wonder about it, writes Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

CES 2015, LAS VEGAS – HARMAN, the premium global audio, visual, infotainment and enterprise automation group (NYSE:HAR), today unveiled the world’s first aftermarket amplifiers to feature HARMAN’s Clari-Fi technology, a proprietary software solution capable of analyzing and improving sound quality of compressed, digital music sources in real-time. HARMAN introduced Clari-Fi at CES 2014 and now the JBL® GTR and Infinity® Kappa amplifiers will feature the technology to provide a superior audio experience when playing digital music from streaming audio services.

IFA 2015, BERLIN – HARMAN International Industries, Incorporated (NYSE:HAR), the premier connected technologies company for automotive, consumer and enterprise markets, today announced the world’s first aftermarket amplifiers to feature HARMAN’s Clari-Fi...

Los Angeles' downtown flower market saw a brisk trade on Thursday morning (May 7) after California Governor Gavin Newsom gave the green light to retail florist stores to begin opening on Friday (May 8), ahead of Mother's Day in the U.S.

Singapore unveiled a four-legged canine-like robot on Friday (May 8) to remind park goers to maintain social distancing.

The extinct shark Edestus used its teeth like saw blades, sliding them past each other like a power tool to slice through the soft flesh of its prey

Tropical seas are ecological hotspots where predators should be active and easy to catch – but 50 years of data shows sharks are easier to catch in cooler seas

The age of a whale shark can be determined by dating the rings of growth in their cartilage, a method that has confirmed that these animals can live for at least 50 years

The Silicon Valley venture capital firm known for its early backing of companies such as Uber Technologies Inc is raising a new fund, but without one of its most prominent general partners, a source...

U.S. money market fund assets increased by $72.69 billion to $4.652 trillion in the week ended April 28, the Money Fund Report said on Wednesday.

U.S. money market fund assets increased by $37.80 billion to $4.690 trillion in the week ended May 5, the Money Fund Report said on Wednesday.

Singapore unveiled a four-legged canine-like robot on Friday (May 8) to remind park goers to maintain social distancing.

Jason Statham’s new film The Meg looks gloriously silly and good luck to it, but it got us thinking about what its giant prehistoric shark was really like and why it died out

Vast machines have left the subterranean world of a potash mine in the Urals with ammonite-like whorls, photographed for a project to highlight lasting human impacts on the planet.

Fossil traces hidden deep underground may solve the mystery of dark matter, the elusive substance that makes up 80 per cent of the universe

Companies across the globe are focused on delivering voice-enabled products to their customers. However, voice technology is a nascent, complicated one that few companies can develop internally, without any collaboration. Enter, HARMAN Embedded Audio. A...

In an attempt to stem the spread of coronavirus, China has shut its wildlife markets for good. It is a welcome move, says Adam Vaughan

Wearing a dress she made of eight giant plastic inflatable roses over a wire structure and a headpiece crowned by a globe, Chinese performance artist Kong Ning is using fashion to draw attention to environmental protection on Earth Day.

CES 2020 – LAS VEGAS, Nev. – January 6, 2020 – HARMAN, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., focused on connected technologies for automotive, consumer and enterprise markets, today launched the HARMAN Ignite Marketplace, an...

Dark energy dominates the universe, and could lead it to a cold, bleak end. But that's not to say we have much clue what it is or how it works

The story of how gin and tonic came together fizzes with adventure, discovery, imperial ambition, biopiracy and a generous splash of fake news

Las Vegas, Nev. — HARMAN International, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. focused on connected technologies for automotive, consumer and enterprise markets, is introducing the Mark Levinson № 5105 Turntable at CES 2020. The №...

Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba set the stage for the biggest IPO ever as it looks to raise $21 billion sometime in September. Conway G. Gittens reports.

The low-cost carrier’s shares have a choppy morning as it reports a solid jump in annual profits and a 35% hike in its dividend.

In July 2019, a sophisticated backdoor trojan in Google Play was reported. We conducted an inquiry of our own, discovering a long-term campaign, which we dubbed “PhantomLance”, its earliest registered domain dating back to December 2015.

Title: Depression Before Parkinson's Disease?
Category: Health News
Created: 4/30/2007 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/30/2007 12:00:00 AM

Title: New Finding Could Mark Shift in Alzheimer's Research
Category: Health News
Created: 4/29/2010 8:10:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/29/2010 12:00:00 AM

Title: Adding Surgery to Meds May Improve Life With Parkinson's
Category: Health News
Created: 4/29/2010 8:10:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/29/2010 12:00:00 AM

Title: Group Doctor Visits May Help Parkinson's Patients
Category: Health News
Created: 4/28/2011 11:01:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/28/2011 12:00:00 AM

Title: Muhammad Ali's Daughter Champions Fight Against Parkinson's Disease
Category: Health News
Created: 5/3/2013 10:35:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 5/3/2013 12:00:00 AM

Title: Ex-Baseball Star Kirk Gibson Has Parkinson's Disease
Category: Health News
Created: 4/28/2015 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/29/2015 12:00:00 AM

Title: Make Your Amusement Park Visits Safe
Category: Health News
Created: 5/4/2018 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 5/4/2018 12:00:00 AM

Title: Don't Drink or Inject Our Product, Lysol Maker Says in Response to Trump Remark
Category: Health News
Created: 4/24/2020 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/27/2020 12:00:00 AM

Title: Many Americans in the Dark About Eye Health
Category: Health News
Created: 1/26/2020 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 1/27/2020 12:00:00 AM

It's official—PMC has just become home to two million articles! The record-breaking article, which came from the American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics, became publicly available in the PMC archive on June 23. This new PMC milestone has occurred almost three years to the day since PMC reached its last one: the one-million article mark in June 2007. See also: PubMed Central Hits One Million Article Mark.

Title: Therapy by Phone Helps Parkinson's Patients Manage Depression
Category: Health News
Created: 4/10/2020 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/13/2020 12:00:00 AM

Title: More Trees, Parks May Mean Longer Lives for City Dwellers
Category: Health News
Created: 4/28/2020 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/29/2020 12:00:00 AM

ABSTRACT

Selectable markers are indispensable for genetic engineering, yet their number and variety are limited. Most selection procedures for prototrophic cells rely on the introduction of antibiotic resistance genes. New minimally invasive tools are needed to facilitate sophisticated genetic manipulations. Here, we characterized three endogenous genes in the human fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus for their potential as markers for targeted genomic insertions of DNAs of interest (DOIs). Since these genes are involved in uptake and metabolization of pyrimidines, resistance to the toxic effects of prodrugs 5-fluorocytosine and 5-fluorouracil can be used to select successfully integrated DOIs. We show that DOI integration, resulting in the inactivation of these genes, caused no adverse effects with respect to nutrient requirements, stress resistance, or virulence. Beside the individual use of markers for site-directed integration of reporter cassettes, including the 17-kb penicillin biosynthetic cluster, we demonstrate their sequential use by inserting three genes encoding fluorescent proteins into a single strain for simultaneous multicolor localization microscopy. In addition to A. fumigatus, we validated the applicability of this novel toolbox in Penicillium chrysogenum and Fusarium oxysporum. Enabling multiple targeted insertions of DOIs without the necessity for exogenous markers, this technology has the potential to significantly advance genetic engineering.

IMPORTANCE This work reports the discovery of a novel genetic toolbox comprising multiple, endogenous selectable markers for targeted genomic insertions of DNAs of interest (DOIs). Marker genes encode proteins involved in 5-fluorocytosine uptake and pyrimidine salvage activities mediating 5-fluorocytosine deamination as well as 5-fluorouracil phosphoribosylation. The requirement for their genomic replacement by DOIs to confer 5-fluorocytosine or 5-fluorouracil resistance for transformation selection enforces site-specific integrations. Due to the fact that the described markers are endogenously encoded, there is no necessity for the exogenous introduction of commonly employed markers such as auxotrophy-complementing genes or antibiotic resistance cassettes. Importantly, inactivation of the described marker genes had no adverse effects on nutrient requirements, growth, or virulence of the human pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus. Given the limited number and distinct types of selectable markers available for the genetic manipulation of prototrophic strains such as wild-type strains, we anticipate that the proposed methodology will significantly advance genetic as well as metabolic engineering of fungal species.

After more than 20 years of minimal funding, the U.S. is opening its purse strings to research on gun violence prevention.

Large un-walled backfilled burrows of the Taenidium type are known from Paleozoic deltaic marine environments worldwide where they are often associated with Diplichnites trackways. The latter are generally attributed to arthropleurid myriapods and it may be that the burrows were also made by these animals. Here we describe a Taenidium burrow from the Limestone Coal Formation of the Isle of Arran, a formation that also hosts a well-known example of Diplichnites, supporting the association of the two types of trace fossil and extending their known co-occurrence upward into the Upper Carboniferous.

Objective

To investigate the frequency of levodopa-induced dyskinesia in dementia with Lewy bodies (DLBs) and Parkinson disease with dementia (PDD) and compare these frequencies with patients with incident Parkinson disease (PD) through a population-based cohort study.

Background

Plasma cardiac troponin (cTn) elevation occurs in acute ischemic stroke and intracranial hemorrhage and can suggest a poor prognosis. Because acute cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) might lead to venous stasis, which could result in cardiac stress, it is important to evaluate whether cTn elevation occurs in patients with CVT.

We appreciate the readers' comments on the prevalence and impact of apathy on quality of life among individuals with Parkinson disease. In constructing our survey instrument, we discussed the inclusion of apathy as a symptom. However, we ultimately opted against inclusion because of concerns about the specificity of terminology in our online survey. Patients and care partners may not be familiar with the term "apathy,"and near-synonyms such as "reduced motivation" have substantial overlap with other nonmotor features. Still, as the readers point out, apathy is extremely common and under-recognized. Similar to many of the nonmotor symptoms identified in our study,¹ we agree that clinicians should be screening for apathy among those with Parkinson disease.

We read with great interest the study by Tarolli et al.,¹ which explored the burden of disease in Parkinson disease (PD) by evaluating the prevalence of nonmotor symptoms and their association with quality of life. The authors selected nonmotor symptoms based on literature review, expert opinions, and patient interviews. We note that apathy, which has major consequences for patients and carers, was not included as a relevant nonmotor symptom in their study. We performed a subcohort analysis of 60 patients from a study of pain in PD in 110 outpatients (PaCoMo-study, registered trial number: NL6311402917 [toetsingonline.nl]). We retrospectively reviewed the medical records to check whether the clinician identified apathy in these patients in the previous year, which was the case in 15% of the patients (n = 9). Blind to those results, patients were examined with the Apathy Scale (AS).² In total, 63.3% (n = 38) of the patients scored positive on the AS. Only 18.4% of the patients who scored positive on the AS were also classified or mentioned with apathy in the medical records by clinicians.

The nuclear factor kappa B (NF-B) is a potent transcription factor, activation of which typically results in robust proinflammatory signaling and triggering of fast negative feedback modulators to avoid excessive inflammatory responses. Here, we report that infection of epithelial cells, including primary porcine respiratory epithelial cells, with the porcine alphaherpesvirus pseudorabies virus (PRV) results in the gradual and persistent activation of NF-B, illustrated by proteasome-dependent degradation of the inhibitory NF-B regulator IB and nuclear translocation and phosphorylation of the NF-B subunit p65. PRV-induced persistent activation of NF-B does not result in expression of negative feedback loop genes, like the gene for IBα or A20, and does not trigger expression of prototypical proinflammatory genes, like the gene for tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) or interleukin-6 (IL-6). In addition, PRV infection inhibits TNF-α-induced canonical NF-B activation. Hence, PRV infection triggers persistent NF-B activation in an unorthodox way and dramatically modulates the NF-B signaling axis, preventing typical proinflammatory gene expression and the responsiveness of cells to canonical NF-B signaling, which may aid the virus in modulating early proinflammatory responses in the infected host.

IMPORTANCE The NF-B transcription factor is activated via different key inflammatory pathways and typically results in the fast expression of several proinflammatory genes as well as negative feedback loop genes to prevent excessive inflammation. In the current report, we describe that infection of cells with the porcine alphaherpesvirus pseudorabies virus (PRV) triggers a gradual and persistent aberrant activation of NF-B, which does not result in expression of hallmark proinflammatory or negative feedback loop genes. In addition, although PRV-induced NF-B activation shares some mechanistic features with canonical NF-B activation, it also shows remarkable differences; e.g., it is largely independent of the canonical IB kinase (IKK) and even renders infected cells resistant to canonical NF-B activation by the inflammatory cytokine TNF-α. Aberrant PRV-induced NF-B activation may therefore paradoxically serve as a viral immune evasion strategy and may represent an important tool to unravel currently unknown mechanisms and consequences of NF-B activation.