Press releases

A research group led by the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, finds that sensory neurons in human skin modulate melanocytes via the secretion of Repulsive Guidance Molecule B

Gender nonconforming youth are often subject to bullying and harassment, but the negative effects of this experience are not well understood. Previous studies have found that gender-nonconforming youth are at heightened risk of depression, social withdrawal and avoidance behaviour compared to gender-conforming youth. The association between gender nonconformity and psychological distress has been found to be more common among adolescent boys than girls. Both heterosexual and sexual-minority individuals can be subject to victimisation based on their gender expression, regardless of their actual sexual orientation.

The activity of deep-focus earthquakes, which increases with depths from ~400 km to a peak at ~600 km, is enigmatic because conventional brittle failure is unlikely to occur at elevated pressures. Our experiments showed that formation of thin weak layers filled with nano-crystalline olivine/wadsleyite, upon the pressure-induced phase transition of olivine, is the major cause of deep-focus earthquakes on the metastable olivine wedge in deep slabs.

Osaka University researchers identified the specific protein complex that recognizes when cellular organelles called lysosomes become damaged. When this occurs, the CUL4A protein complex transfers a molecular tag, called polyubiquitin, to a lysosomal protein known as LAMP2. WDFY1, another protein in the complex, is able to recognize and interact with LAMP2. These initial steps are critical to beginning a process called lysophagy, in which these damaged lysosomes are cleared away by the cell.

Asia Research News monitors the latest research news in Asia. Some highlights that caught our attention this week are the best way to calm a crying baby, technology to sot sex in bovine semen, and a prosthesis for breast cancer patients made from an aquatic plant.

It is commonly believed that patients with chronic kidney disease should limit their protein intake given that excessive protein worsens kidney function. However, a new study by Osaka Metropolitan University scientists indicates that changes in skeletal muscle mass are positively correlated with protein intake, suggesting the necessity of adequate protein intake to improve muscle mass after kidney transplantation.

Scientists from The University of Tokyo formulated nonlinear, nonequilibrium energy dissipation relationships using methods from geometry to better understand the kinetics of irreversible chemical processes

Cellular structures called mitochondria depend on microproteins to assist and control the assembly of a protein chain that extracts energy from nutrients, according to a new study by scientists in Singapore.

Researchers develop a new integrated framework that factors in the many variables relevant to accurate carbon emissions modeling in the transportation sector, allowing for policymakers to choose the best path to achieve carbon neutrality.

Measuring the velocity field of a fluid flow, such as air or water, allows for greater feedback and control, something that could boost the performance and fuel-efficiency of aircraft. A research group has developed, and now successfully tested, a new method to measure fluid flow velocities.

Demonstration of embodied cognition mechanisms in the brain could have implications for artificial intelligence.

Giants in History: Sir Mokshagundam Srinivasa Shastry Vishveshwarayya (15 September 1860 – 14 April 1962) is widely regarded as India’s most outstanding engineer.

Various approaches for treating lymph node metastasis exist. But now, a research team from Tohoku University has combined two forms of therapy to create a superior treatment method than conventional chemotherapy.

A team of researchers including Kavli IPMU has found people in Japan, US, and Germany show different concerns regarding Artificial Intelligence (AI) being used in entertainment, shopping services, or to help find criminals.

A commentary in Nature Medicine advocates the proper application of artificial intelligence in healthcare and warns of the dangers when machine learning algorithms are misused.

The Memorandum of Understanding signed between The Ngee Ann Kongsi and Duke-NUS Medical School emphasises the need for more research as treatment and prevention options are currently limited for conditions such as Parkinson’s disease.

An estimated 1208 excess suicide deaths for men and 1825 for women were recorded during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan through December 2021, with the impact being greatest in women and younger age groups.

An international research team led by scientists from Osaka Metropolitan University has developed a method to identify symmetries in multi-dimensional data using Bayesian statistical techniques. Bayesian statistics has been in the spotlight in recent years due to improvements in computer performance and its potential applications in artificial intelligence. However, this statistical approach requires complex calculations of integrals, which are often considered approximations only. In their new study, the research team successfully derived new exact integral formulas. Their findings contribute to improving the accuracy of methods to identify data symmetries, possibly extending their applications to wider areas of interest, such as genetic analysis.

Research shows that natural catastrophes may trigger or exacerbate attacks of incapacitating migraine in disaster victims.

Microglia acts as the first line of defense in the central nervous system, constantly scanning for pathogens and abnormalities. Now, Tohoku University scientists have demonstrated that microglial genes associated with the synapse—structures that allow neurons to pass signals to one another—undergo changes in response to the brain processing traumatic memories.

Researchers at The University of Tokyo create a geometric representation of thermodynamic systems and apply it to self-replicating processes, which may help improve our understanding of the physical constraints of living organisms

Osaka Metropolitan University scientists developed a new method to isolate hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), which play a significant role in liver cancer progression. With enzymatic cold perfusion and utilization of an antibody against CD49a, a reliable HSC surface marker, the new method allows HSC isolation with high yield and purity from livers with various conditions, be they normal or fatty tumor-prone, from both mice and humans. The findings are expected to contribute to the development of efficient tools for characterizing NASH- or fatty liver-based liver cancer.

Thangka is a devotional scroll-painting tradition, emerging from seventh-century Nepal, in which images of Buddhist deities are painted on scrolls to gain divine merit and to serve as visual aids for teaching and meditating.

While the primary site of SARS-CoV-2 infection is in the nose, most antiviral immunity studies have been performed with peripheral blood. T-cell analysis of nasal swab samples suggests getting infected with SARS-CoV-2 following vaccination could confer potentially more robust, nasal-based immunity.

Researchers study sex-determination in birds using primordial germ cells and RNA-sequencing analysis.

Researchers at Hiroshima University are closer to identifying the molecular processes underlying how floods deprive plants of oxygen — and how to engineer hardier crops.

Giants in History: Hwang Hye-seong (5 July 1920 – 14 December 2006) was an expert on Korean royal court cuisine, the knowledge of which she dedicated her career to keeping alive.

To automatically generate data for training deep convolutional neural network models to segment building facades, researchers from Osaka University used a three-dimensional model and game engine to generate digital city twin synthetic training data. They found that a model trained on these data mixed with some real data was competitive with a model trained on real data alone, revealing the potential of digital twin data to improve accuracy and replace costly manually annotated real data.

Scientists have quantified the glacier mass loss on the Kamchatka Peninsula; the accelerated loss in the region since the turn of the millennium is likely to increase in the short term.

Crucial to our everyday use the Li-ion battery can be found everywhere. Research at Tohoku University has resulted in a hybrid electrolyte that is both more stable while also retaining excellent conductivity. This will pave the way to a safer polymeric solid electrolyte for Li-ion batteries with a myriad of applications.