Eurekalert

Women with a history of weight cycling - losing and regaining 10 pounds or more, even once - have increased rates of insomnia and other sleep problems, reports a study in the Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, official journal of the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.

A diet that improves the biomarkers of metabolic health, and that could potentially slow the aging process, has moved a step closer to reality.

The University of Maryland (UMD) co-published a paper to examine pollinators from both an economic and ecological perspective, providing much needed insight into the complexities of valuing pollination. This recent collaboration highlights the importance of characterizing the economic value of pollination services, including that of managed and wild pollinators, both for the sustainability of honey bee markets and the protection of overall ecosystem health.

Solid-state batteries pack a lot of energy into a small space, but their electrodes are not good at keeping in touch with their electrolytes. Liquid electrolytes reach every nook and cranny of an electrode to spark energy, but liquids take up space without storing energy and fail over time. Researchers are now putting solid electrolytes in touch with electrodes made of strategically arranged materials - at the atomic level - and the results are helping drive better solid-state battery technologies.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers are presenting at the 2021 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). Toni K. Choueiri, MD, will present results from the randomized, double-blind, phase III KEYNOTE-564 trial evaluating pembrolizumab versus placebo after surgery in patients with renal cell carcinoma during ASCO's Plenary Session.

More than 90 years ago, astronomer Edwin Hubble observed the first hint of the rate at which the universe expands, called the Hubble constant.

Scientists have discovered that the way in which neurons are connected within regions of the brain, can be a better indicator of disease progression and treatment outcomes for people with brain disorders such as epilepsy.

Ph.D. candidate Nicolás Pérez-Consuegra notes that geological knowledge is essential for predicting what areas in a tropical mountain range are more prone to have landslides, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and the catastrophic consequences that these events might have in the surrounding populations.

A new study provides public health planning authorities with a method of calculating the number of COVID-19 isolation beds they would need for people experiencing homelessness based on level of infection in the city. The research holds promise for controlling spread of the virus - or future infectious diseases - in a population that is highly vulnerable and less likely than many others to access health care services.

The chemical bisphenol F (found in plastics) can induce changes in a gene that is vital for neurological development. This discovery was made by researchers at the universities of Uppsala and Karlstad, Sweden. The mechanism could explain why exposure to this chemical during the fetal stage may be connected with a lower IQ at seven years of age -- an association previously seen by the same research group. The study is published in the scientific journal Environment International.

In groundbreaking work, a team led by Santa Fe Institute Professor Chris Kempes has developed a new ecological biosignature that could help scientists detect life in vastly different environments.

Theoretical physicists at Goethe University Frankfurt have analysed data from the black hole M87* as part of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration to test Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity. According to the tests, the size of the shadow from M87* is in excellent agreement being from a black hole in general relativity, but sets constraints on the properties of black holes in other theories.

In a pilot study, researchers at the University of Toledo have brought scientific credence that backs anecdotal reports of emotional support animals having positive impacts on chronic mental health issues.

A new study in the Journal of the American Heart Association is the first to show that exposure to a stressful political election is strongly associated with an increase in potentially life-threatening cardiac events.

Solar geoengineering is not a fix-all for climate change but it could be one of several tools to manage climate risks. A growing body of research has explored the ability of solar geoengineering to reduce physical climate changes. But much less is known about how solar geoengineering could affect the ecosystem and, particularly, agriculture. Now, research finds that solar geoengineering may be surprisingly effective in alleviating some of the worst impacts of global warming on crops.

A particular type of dendritic cell is responsible for the tissue damage that occurs in non-alcoholic steatohepatits (NASH) in mice and humans. The dendritic cells cause aggressive, proinflammatory behavior in T cells, as now discovered by researchers from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in collaboration with colleagues from Israeli research institutes. Blocking these dendritic cells alleviates symptoms in mice. This type of approach might also prevent the development of serious liver damage in NASH patients.

Young children who practice visual working memory and reasoning tasks improve their math skills more than children who focus on spatial rotation exercises, according to a large study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. The findings support the notion that training spatial cognition can enhance academic performance and that when it comes to math, the type of training matters. The study is published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.

A study of more than 3 million insured US adult patients under 65 found that nearly 3% take immunosuppressive drugs that may elevate risk for severe COVID-19 symptoms and hospitalization if they became infected. There is growing evidence that immunosuppressive drugs may also reduce the COVID vaccine's efficacy.

MD Anderson researchers have developed a first-of-its-kind AI tool to identify rare groups of biologically important cells from the noise of large, complex single-cell datasets. The new tool, called SCMER, can help reserachers gain new insights across many applications.

Antiretroviral therapy, the common approach in the treatment of HIV, halts replication of the virus and has saved the lives of millions of people. However, for patients the drug cocktail becomes a lifetime necessity because they continue to harbor latent HIV in a small number of immune system cells. In the absence of treatment, HIV can again replicate and rebound into full blown AIDs.