Current risk assessment guidelines for ischemic stroke may underestimate patients with mild carotid stenosis. A Japanese multicenter study found that unstable plaque—particularly intraplaque hemorrhage—was a key stroke predictor. Surgical intervention, such as carotid endarterectomy, significantly reduced stroke risk compared to medical therapy alone. These findings could prompt a shift in how physicians assess and treat mild but symptomatic carotid artery disease.

Researchers from The University of Osaka discover new biomarkers at the cell and protein levels for predicting relapse of autoimmune vasculitis before the beginning of treatment. The insights into the disease mechanism and these new biomarkers may lead to better treatment strategies and outcomes for new vasculitis patients.

Carbon-containing meteorites look like they had less severe impacts than those without carbon because the evidence was blasted into space by gases produced during the impact. The Kobe University discovery not only solves a 30-year-old mystery, but also provides guidelines for a future sampling mission to Ceres.

A Kobe University team was able to edit the DNA of Lactobacillus strains directly without a template from other organisms. This technique is indistinguishable from natural variation and enabled the researchers to create a strain that doesn’t produce diabetes-aggravating chemicals.

An Osaka Metropolitan University-led team of researchers identified raccoons as the probable reservoir of the cytolethal distending toxin (cdt) gene-positive Providencia strains in Japan.

While a comprehensive cure-all to these neurological conditions is unlikely, scientists are making headway into understanding their fundamental characteristics with the hope of preventing or alleviating cognitive and motor impairments. In a new study published in Science Advances, researchers from the Molecular Neuroscience Unit and the former Cellular and Molecular Synaptic Function Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) have now discovered that ATP, which is most commonly thought of as the ‘fuel’ of our cells, plays a surprising role in relation to neurodegenerative diseases.

Studying the charge behavior inside multi-layered organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) is crucial to improve the efficiency and lifetime of such devices. But, this is extremely challenging to examine under operating conditions. To address this, researchers from Chiba University, Japan, used electronic sum-frequency generation (ESFG) spectroscopy to investigate interface-specific charge behavior inside OLEDs under light-emitting conditions and reported ESFG as a non-invasive and innovative method to observe electric-field formation in OLEDs.

Kyoto, Japan -- Smartphones may often feel like a source of stress, feeding us an endless stream of bad news and social comparison. But what if they could also be the solution?

A team of researchers from Kyoto University believes they can be. The team has developed a smartphone app that delivers core techniques of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)—a proven treatment for depression and anxiety—straight into the hands of users, and tested it in the largest-ever individually randomized trial of its kind.

Their resilience training app, called RESiLIENT, was tested on nearly 4,000 adults across Japan experiencing subthreshold depression—a form of low-level but persistent depressive symptoms that doesn’t meet criteria for major depressive disorder but can still be debilitating. This condition affects an estimated 11% of people worldwide and often goes untreated.

Researchers have developed a mesoporous Co₃O₄ catalyst doped with atomically dispersed iridium (Ir) for efficient acidic OER. This unique structure boosts Ir efficiency, minimizes metal leaching, and maintains performance for over 100 hours at just 248 mV overpotential.

Addressing the challenges of fragrance design, researchers at Institute of Science Tokyo  have developed an AI model that can automate the creation of new fragrances based on user-defined scent descriptors. The model uses mass spectrometry profiles of essential oils and corresponding odor descriptors to generate essential oil blends for new scents. This breakthrough is a game-changer for the fragrance industry, moving beyond trial-and-error, enabling rapid and scalable fragrance production.