Researchers from The University of Osaka and collaborators developed a wastewater-based method to estimate influenza incidence by measuring viral RNA concentrations in wastewater. The approach can separately estimate influenza A and B trends and may detect epidemic changes about one week earlier than conventional patient report data. The study highlights wastewater surveillance as a promising complement to existing public health systems for earlier healthcare preparedness.

Different psychiatric symptoms stem from different disruptions in the brain, suggesting that targeting those specific disruptions could enable more precise treatment. This study focused on coupling between two brain regions linked to rumination — the repetitive, intrusive negative thinking common in depression. Using real-time fMRI functional connectivity neurofeedback, a technique that allows people to observe and regulate their own brain activity, 68 subclinical participants with depressive symptoms were guided to shift this coupling pattern toward what is typically seen in healthy individuals. As participants' brain activity moved closer to the healthy pattern, their rumination symptoms improved. The same was not seen for unrelated symptoms like anxiety. Furthermore, the broader brain networks containing these regions also showed healthier activity patterns. Overall, this targeted, brain-based approach holds promise for more precise psychiatric treatment — one that addresses the specific neural roots of individual symptoms rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all solution.

A research team led by Professor Yoshitaka Nishiyama of Saitama University has developed cyanobacterial strains that efficiently produce and secrete free fatty acids (FFAs), key precursors for jet and diesel fuels, using photosynthesis. By enhancing endogenous galactolipases and an RND-type efflux transporter, the team enabled the microalga Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 to release FFAs outside the cell, simplifying and reducing the energy-intensive steps of harvesting, drying, and extraction. Because the strains were developed using a self-cloning approach without retaining foreign genes, it offers advantages for future industrial use. The findings could help advance low-cost, carbon-neutral biofuel production from carbon dioxide and sunlight.

Kyoto, Japan -- Every year in the West Pacific, as summer ends and September rolls around, typhoons are not far behind. Typhoons are the most impactful extreme weather events affecting Japan and East Asia, and due to climate change, extremely strong typhoons are becoming more frequent. In order to adapt critical infrastructure to these massive storms and protect coastal areas, accurate accounting for their future impact is essential.

Assessing the disaster risks of a typhoon season involves quantitatively predicting storm intensity and frequency, relying heavily on the characteristics of regional meteorological fields and natural variability inherent in the climate system. Though varying typhoon characteristics are related to sea surface temperatures -- SST -- probabilistic evaluations that account for SST have been insufficient.

This motivated a team of researchers at KyotoU's Disaster Prevention Research Institute to analyze typhoon intensity through spatial SST patterns. They combined a slab-ocean model with the Global Atmospheric Climate Model developed by the Meteorological Research Institute of the Japan Meteorological Agency, resulting in a unique simulation that successfully represents atmosphere-ocean interactions on a global scale.

Proteins change shape as they function, and these changes are essential for processes such as drug interactions and cellular activity. Researchers from the Tokyo University of Science developed an AI-based method called DeepAFM that is trained on millions of simulated images representing different protein states, accurately identifying transitions between closed and open states in a protein called SecA. This approach highlights the growing potential of AI to solve complex challenges in biology and medicine.