PloS One

News

11 Mar 2024
Japanese researchers have broken new ground by creating an edible robot and examining the unique experience of eating it while it moves. This robot, made of gelatin and sugar, pushes the boundaries of how we interact with food and technology. The study delves into the sensory and psychological aspects of consuming a moving robot, offering fresh perspectives on the convergence of robotics with culinary arts and medical applications.
Pair-bonded Java sparrows examined in the study. (Photo: Soma Lab)
25 Oct 2023
Pair-bonded Java sparrows show enlarged eye rings to signal breeding readiness.
Bamboo flowering
29 Aug 2023
A long-lived monocarpic species of bamboo, Phyllostachys nigra var. henonis, only flowers once every 120 years before it dies. The upcoming flowering event for this species does not bode well for its continued long-term survival, as most flowers are not producing viable seeds.
Mothers and babies in Tanzania
05 Jun 2023
App leads to better birth preparation for pregnant women
Image abstract of educational support for children
21 Apr 2023
Osaka Metropolitan University researcher demonstrates that social and educational indicators strongly affect the population decline rate. This indicates that municipalities that invest more in education for children tend to have lower population decline rates. Surprisingly, educational indicators have a greater influence than economic indicators, such as the financial strength index. Some Asian countries, such as South Korea and China, will experience population declines as a result of low birth rates and aging populations.
Sleeveless shirt-type wearable device and smartphone application track IBS patients’ sympathetic nervous system activity
12 Jan 2023
An Osaka Metropolitan University research group recorded the autonomic nervous system activity in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and healthy subjects using a wearable device and a proprietary smartphone application to record daily life events such as defecation and sleep. As a result, they found that sympathetic nervous system activity was activated in IBS patients from 2 minutes before defecation and continued until 9 minutes after defecation. Further research is expected to improve the quality of life of IBS patients and elucidate the pathophysiology.
Measuring knee extension velocity without external load
11 Jan 2023
Osaka Metropolitan University scientists delved into the relationship between gait function and knee extension velocity after total knee arthroplasty and compared the effects of various factors on walking. The results reveal that knee extension velocity, measured while seated, on the operated side was the most important determinant of gait function. These findings are expected to contribute to the development of new rehabilitation programs for efficient gait function improvement.
22 Dec 2022
A research team led by Osaka Metropolitan University has revealed a difference in neural activity in response to visual food stimuli, depending on whether those stimuli are presented consciously or unconsciously. Using a questionnaire to assess the study participants, the team found that this difference was associated with their scores on eating behaviors, including emotional eating and cognitive restraint of food intake. These results indicate that eating behavior cannot be understood without taking into account both unconscious and conscious neural processes.
Human mobility and COVID-19 in suburban cities
19 Oct 2022
Osaka Metropolitan University researchers conducted a study of human mobility to find effective lifestyle changes that enable people to exist with the novel coronavirus COVID-19, while maintaining social and economic activities. They found that restricting the human mobility in specific areas according to the state of the pandemic, rather than uniformly controlling human mobility, could be effective in reducing the number of new COVID-19 infections.
19 Aug 2022
The flash of lightning and the dance of auroras contain a fourth state of matter known as plasma, which researchers have harnessed to produce a gas that may activate plant immunity against wide-spread diseases. The team, based at Tohoku University in Japan, published their findings on June 24 in PLOS One.
Hibernation study Japanese black bear
15 Jul 2022
Cultured human skeletal muscle cells infused with serum from hibernating bears exhibited “muscle gain” confirming that these creatures’ ability to avoid muscular damage despite months of inactivity is in their blood.
DIM damages nuclear membrane in fission yeast
24 Jan 2022
Broccoli may contain advantages beyond nutrition. A molecule found in broccoli, cabbage and more digests down into DIM, a compound with brighter benefits than the name implies, such as inducing cell death in breast, prostate and colon cancer. Now, researchers are beginning to understand the mechanism underpinning this molecular behavior — information that could help elucidate future anti-cancer treatments.
A fictitious soba restaurant website created for the study. The participants were provided images of the website with and without a date of establishment. The establishment year is “大正15年” (Taishō 15, 1926)
10 Nov 2021
Japanese customers have higher expectations of restaurants selling traditional foods more when they display an older year of establishment.
28 Oct 2021
A collaborative project between the Osaka City University Graduate Schools of Medicine and BioMedical Engineering Center (BMEC) revealed new bone formation in critical bone defects of animal model with an exposure to a pencil-type non-thermal atmospheric-pressure plasma at surgery.
A close-up of a bridge, showing deteriorated asphalt pavement and concrete
13 May 2021
Scientists reveal that the deterioration of modern concrete and asphalt structures is due to the presence of trace quantities of organic matter in these structures.
19 Feb 2021
A research team implemented a study based on a program that encouraged elderly patients at care homes in Adachi Ward, Tokyo to participate in activities such as park cleaning, gardening, and shopping. Their results revealed a surprising behavioral change.
19 Feb 2021
Undergraduate students explore a more efficient way to measure protein-containing vessels released by cells
28 Jan 2021
COVID-19 has led to psychological distress among one in three adults, large-scale meta-analysis by researchers at Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, reveals.
27 May 2020
A re-analysis of dinosaur skulls from northern Alaska suggests they belong to a genus that lived over a broad latitudinal range extending into the Arctic.
21 Apr 2020
It is no secret that genetic factors play a role in determining whether children have neurodevelopmental disorders. Maternal exposure to drugs and viral or bacterial illnesses can be detrimental too.
27 Mar 2020
Screening is important for the early detection of cervical cancer, but rates were significantly affected, in some areas for years, following a devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
23 Feb 2020
Walking is one of our most natural, daily actions. Now, a new study led by a Tohoku University researcher suggests that walkers use step synchronization as a form of non-verbal social communication. The results lend credence to the effects of psychological traits on movement interaction between humans. 
01 Nov 2019
Antibodies against viruses from the same family as Ebola and Marburg have been detected in fruit bats and the human community hunting them, indicating cross-species virus transmission has occurred in the past, warns a global team of infectious disease scientists.
20 Sep 2019
Researchers from Duke-NUS Medical School, in collaboration with the Agency for Science, Technology and Research’s Bioinformatics Institute, and the University of Texas Medical Branch, USA, have discovered that the dengue virus changes its shape through mutations in Envelope protein to evade vaccines and therapeutics. The study also gives insights on the types of treatment strategies to use at different stages of infection. This could give rise to new approaches in vaccine development and treatment for dengue disease.
Plant Picture
06 Feb 2019
Desert bacteria protect food crops from salt toxicity.
Figure 1
17 Dec 2018
Major study of 7,663 Malaysian women shows that breastfeeding, physical activity and soy intake are protective against breast cancer. The findings were from the Malaysian Breast Cancer (MyBrCA) genetic study and the Malaysian Mammographic Density (MyMammo) study.
Photo
24 Sep 2018
ScreenMen is a mobile web app that educates, motivates and empowers men to undergo evidence-based health screening. It was developed rigorously based on theories, evidence and needs assessment. It is currently undergoing a randomised controlled trial to determine its effectiveness in improving screening uptake in men.
Fig. 1
27 Aug 2018
A study by researchers at Nagoya University and other universities has indicated that feeding rats a high-sucrose diet only at night, when they are active, ameliorates high levels of fat accumulation in the blood and liver, avoiding the associated adverse effects of metabolic syndrome.
Plant colonization
02 Jul 2018
Bacteria isolated from desert plants could provide the key to maintaining productive agriculture in arid regions.
image1
18 Apr 2018
A new malaria metabolic model may uncover better ways to treat a highly deadly disease.

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