Eurekalert

Guideline-adherent exercise is shown in a large study to be associated with substantially lower risks of atrial fibrillation and stroke. A new generation of "smart" devices with diagnostic capabilities could open the door to low-cost, highly effective disease prevention programs.

Computational tools are indispensable in almost all scientific disciplines. Especially in cases where large amounts of research data are generated and need to be quickly processed, reliable, carefully developed software is crucial for analyzing and correctly interpreting such data. Nevertheless, scientific software can have quality quality deficiencies. To evaluate software quality in an automated way, computer scientists at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS) have designed the SoftWipe tool.

Screening and testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) decreased by 63% for men and 59% for women during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study led by Penn State and Quest Diagnostics researchers. The researchers said this may be the result of restrictions placed on direct patient care and shifts to telehealth and could lead to a possible future surge in STI cases.

Professor Ueyama Takehiko (Biosignal Research Center, Kobe University) and the inner ear research group (Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine) have identified the cell types in the inner ear cochlea responsible for acquired hearing loss. In addition, they were able to suppress this hearing loss in genetically modified mice. These results are expected to contribute towards the development of the world's first drug-based treatment for hearing loss.

A new study has shown that effective opioid-sparing anaesthesia with dexmedetomidine can be guided with NOL pain monitoring technology (Medasense). The study showed that the NOL monitor is able to detect the effect of dexmedetomidine on the patient's pain response and enable administration of less intraoperative opioids.

Researchers create amazingly intricate implants for tissue engineering, by flipping conventional 3D printing techniques. The collaboration advances the development of new technologies for regrowing bones and tissue. Using glue and high school-grade 3D printers, the Australian team have delivered incredibly complex bioscaffolds that were impossible to achieve with standard 3D printing technology - until now.

Researchers at The University of Tokyo Institute of Industrial Science have demonstrated that food waste, such as fruit peels and vegetable leaves, can be processed into construction materials that are stronger than concrete but still edible and even tasty. Food scraps that produced weaker materials could be reinforced by adding another food-derived component. These results highlight a potential strategy which could impact the associated economic and environmental burdens of recycling food waste,

Researchers from the University of Tsukuba have identified a new type of carbonic anhydrase enzyme that can convert CO2 to HCO3- without the use of a metal ion. This discovery not only increases our understanding of how this essential family of enzymes work, but could also be applied to artificial synthesis to help generate renewable energy sources in the future.

QUT researchers have used experimental x-ray techniques at the Australian Synchrotron to gain fundamental insights into how gypsum dehydrates under pressure and the processes that create earthquakes.

Popular television shows and movies can bolster teenagers' mental health and help them cope with bullying, sexual assault, suicidal thoughts, substance abuse and depression when these issues are depicted with empathy and appropriate resources are provided, a new report by UCLA's Center for Scholars and Storytellers shows. And the need is great.

A combination of optical coherence tomography (OCT), adaptive optics and deep neural networks can easily and precisely track changes in the number and shape of retinal ganglion cells in the eye. This new AI-driven method can enable better diagnosis and monitoring for neuron-damaging eye and brain diseases like glaucoma.

China has made remarkable gains in reducing the number of women who die during childbirth and boosting child survival rates over the past 70 years, according to new review.

A security issue in the certification signatures of PDF documents has been discovered by researchers from Bochum. This special form of signed PDF files can be used, for instance, to conclude contracts. The team showed that the second contractual party can change the contract text unnoticed when they add their digital signature, without this invalidating the certification.

A mouse model was generated to mimic the condition of vitamin B6 (VB6) deficiency observed in a subtype of patients with schizophrenia by feeding with a VB6-lacking diet. The noradrenergic system in the brain of VB6-deficient mice was enhanced, leading to social deficits and cognitive impairment. Inhibiting the excessive noradrenaline (NA) release by VB6 supplementation into the brain or treatment with ?2A adrenoreceptor agonist guanfacine suppressed the increased NA metabolism and ameliorated the behavioral deficits.

Biomedical engineers at Duke University have developed an automatic process that uses streamlined artificial intelligence (AI) to identify active neurons in videos faster and more accurately than current techniques. The technology should allow researchers to watch an animal's brain activity in real time, as they are behaving.

Road verges cover 1.2% of land in Great Britain - an area the size of Dorset - and could be managed to help wildlife, new research shows.

UK residents have a positive outlook on vaccine passports, according to new research from the University of Surrey, with their role being seen as helpful in restarting travel and hospitality as we gradually ease out of lockdown.

Smartwatches and other wearable devices may be used to sense illness, dehydration and even changes to the red blood cell count, according to biomedical engineers and genomics researchers at Duke University and the Stanford University School of Medicine.

An international research team, led by scientists from the University of Tübingen and the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), discovers additional component in staphylococcal cell wall that turns the bacterium potentially deadly.

An investigation carried out by the astrophysicists of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) ?ofia Chrobáková, a doctoral student at the IAC and the University of La Laguna (ULL), and Martín López Corredoira, questions one of the most interesting findings about the dynamics of the Milky Way in recent years: the precession, or the wobble in the axis of rotation of the disc warp is incorrect.