These slow healing injuries significantly raise the risk of infection, tissue damage, and amputation. Approximately one in five of these patients will ultimately face an amputation. The research team focused on what they see as a central cause of chronic wounds, a shortage of oxygen deep within damaged tissue. When oxygen levels are too low, wounds stay trapped in a prolonged inflammatory phase. This environment encourages bacterial growth and tissue breakdown instead of repair. "Chronic wounds don't heal by themselves," said Iman Noshadi, UCR associate professor of bioengineering who led the research team. The team described its oxygen targeting gel approach in Nature Communications Material. It splits water molecules and steadily releases oxygen over time. In untreated animals, injuries failed to close and were often fatal. "We could make this patch as a product where the gel may need to be renewed periodically," said Prince David Okoro, UCR bioengineering doctoral candidate in Noshadi's lab and paper co author. Choline, one of its main ingredients, helps regulate immune activity and reduce excessive inflammation. Chronic wounds often contain high levels of reactive oxygen species, unstable molecules that damage cells and extend inflammation. By supplying stable oxygen while calming this overactive response, the gel helps restore healthier conditions for tissue repair. "But none of them really address hypoxia, which is the fundamental problem. Oxygen and nutrient shortages are major barriers in efforts to grow replacement tissues and organs, which is a long term goal of the Noshadi laboratory. "When the thickness of a tissue increases, it's hard to diffuse that tissue with what it needs, so cells start dying," Noshadi said. "This project can be seen as a bridge to creating and sustaining larger organs for people in need of them." Some of the forces behind rising chronic wound rates cannot be solved with a medical device alone. Along with aging and diabetes, lifestyle factors also play a role. But this innovation represents a chance to reduce amputations, improve quality of life, and give the body what it needs to heal itself." Note: Content may be edited for style and length. Breakthrough Discovery Targets Virus Infecting 95% of the World's Population Scientists Find an Early Parkinson's Signal Hidden in Blood “Cosmic Volcano” Erupts Again: Black Hole Awakens After 100 Million Years Ghost” 7-Foot Great White Shark Caught in the Mediterranean Sparks 160-Year Investigation Stay informed with ScienceDaily's free email newsletter, updated daily and weekly. Or view our many newsfeeds in your RSS reader: Keep up to date with the latest news from ScienceDaily via social networks: Tell us what you think of ScienceDaily -- we welcome both positive and negative comments.

Triceratops and other horned dinosaurs had exceptionally large nasal cavities compared to most animals. They compared those scans with the snout anatomy of living animals such as birds and crocodiles. By combining direct examination with informed reconstruction, they mapped out how nerves, blood vessels, and air passages likely fit inside the skull. The oversized nasal passages may also have helped regulate body temperature and moisture. and then wonder, "Why does it have such an enormous head?" Project Research Associate Seishiro Tada from the University of Tokyo Museum found himself focused on that second question while studying a specimen (a fossilized one). "I have been working on the evolution of reptilian heads and noses since my master's degree," he said. "Triceratops in particular had a very large and unusual nose, and I couldn't figure out how the organs fit within it even though I remember the basic patterns of reptiles. Horned dinosaurs, known as Ceratopsia, had some of the most dramatic head structures, and Triceratops stands out as one of the most recognizable. "Employing X-ray-based CT-scan data of a Triceratops, as well as knowledge on contemporary reptilian snout morphology, we found some unique characteristics in the nose and provide the first comprehensive hypothesis on the soft-tissue anatomy in horned dinosaurs," he said. Essentially, Triceratops tissues evolved this way to support its big nose. I came to realize this while piecing together some 3D-printed Triceratops skull pieces like a puzzle." Respiratory turbinates are thin, scroll shaped bones inside the nasal cavity that increase surface area, allowing blood and air to exchange heat more efficiently. Triceratops was likely not fully warm blooded, but these structures may still have played an important role in controlling temperature and retaining moisture. Given the size of its skull, managing heat would have been a challenge. The presence of respiratory turbinates suggests its nose helped stabilize internal conditions. "Although we're not 100% sure Triceratops had a respiratory turbinate, as most other dinosaurs don't have evidence for them, some birds have an attachment base (ridge) for the respiratory turbinate and horned dinosaurs have a similar ridge at the similar location in their nose as well. That's why we conclude they have the respiratory turbinate as birds do," said Tada. "Horned dinosaurs were the last group to have soft tissues from their heads subject to our kind of investigation, so our research has filled the final piece of that dinosaur-shaped puzzle. Next, I would like to tackle questions around the anatomy and function of other regions of their skulls like their characteristic frills." “Cosmic Volcano” Erupts Again: Black Hole Awakens After 100 Million Years Ghost” 7-Foot Great White Shark Caught in the Mediterranean Sparks 160-Year Investigation Stay informed with ScienceDaily's free email newsletter, updated daily and weekly. Keep up to date with the latest news from ScienceDaily via social networks: Tell us what you think of ScienceDaily -- we welcome both positive and negative comments.

In their natural condition, peatlands rank among the planet's most important carbon reservoirs. That balance changes when peatlands are drained for farming. As microbes break down the previously preserved plant matter, carbon that has been stored for centuries is released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (CO2). Scientists have closely examined how drainage and shifting water levels affect greenhouse gas emissions in many of these regions. Far less is known about the northernmost peatlands used for agriculture. These areas experience cold temperatures, short growing seasons, and extended daylight during summer months. "From studies in warmer regions, we know that raising the groundwater level in drained and cultivated peatland often reduces CO2 emissions, because the peat decomposes more slowly," explains NIBIO researcher Junbin Zhao. Nitrous oxide can also increase under certain moisture conditions. That's why it's important to look at the overall gas balance," says Zhao. To answer these questions, Zhao and his colleagues carried out a two year field study in 2022 and 2023 at NIBIO's Svanhovd research station in the Pasvik Valley of Northern Norway. Automated chambers tracked CO2, methane, and nitrous oxide emissions multiple times per day throughout the growing season. "The experiment included five plots that together reflected typical management conditions found in a drained agricultural field -- with different groundwater levels, different amounts of fertiliser, and different numbers of harvests per season," Zhao explains. When the Pasvik peatland was heavily drained, it released large amounts of CO2, comparable to cultivated peatlands farther south. "At these higher water levels, methane and nitrous oxide emissions were also low, giving a much better overall gas balance. Under such conditions, the field even absorbed slightly more CO2 than it released," says Zhao. This suggests that maintaining higher groundwater levels in Arctic farmland could serve as an effective climate strategy. "Our findings are especially interesting because emissions were measured continuously around the clock. This meant we captured short spikes of unusually high emissions and natural daily fluctuations, details often missed when measurements are taken only occasionally." When this threshold is reached earlier in the day, you get more hours with net carbon uptake," Zhao explains. Once soil temperatures climbed above about 12°C, microbial activity intensified. "This means that the effect of high water levels is greatest in cool climates -- and that future warming could reduce the benefit. In practice, this means water levels must be considered together with temperature and local conditions." "More fertilizer produced more biomass but did not lead to noticeable changes in CO2 or methane emissions in our experiment," says Zhao. The peat layer may gradually lose carbon even when water levels are kept high," Zhao explains. "One solution could be paludiculture, i.e. growing plant species that tolerate wet conditions so that biomass can be produced without keeping the soil dry." Some areas absorbed CO2, while nearby sections released substantial amounts. "Such local variation can greatly influence national climate accounting and how measures are designed, because one standard emission factor may not reflect reality everywhere," Zhao says. "The results from our study show a clear need for more detailed measurements and more precise water-level management in practice, especially where soils and farming conditions vary significantly between locations." Note: Content may be edited for style and length. Breakthrough Discovery Targets Virus Infecting 95% of the World's Population Scientists Find an Early Parkinson's Signal Hidden in Blood “Cosmic Volcano” Erupts Again: Black Hole Awakens After 100 Million Years Ghost” 7-Foot Great White Shark Caught in the Mediterranean Sparks 160-Year Investigation Stay informed with ScienceDaily's free email newsletter, updated daily and weekly. Or view our many newsfeeds in your RSS reader: Keep up to date with the latest news from ScienceDaily via social networks: Tell us what you think of ScienceDaily -- we welcome both positive and negative comments.