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Sex differences in COVID-19 outcomes
In a study of more than 10,600 adult patients hospitalized with COVID-19, women had significantly lower odds than men of in-hospital mortality. They also had fewer admissions to the intensive care unit and less need for mechanical ventilation.
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Subterranean investigations
We've seen robots take to the air, dive beneath the waves and perform all sorts of maneuvers on land. Now, researchers at UC Santa Barbara and Georgia Institute of Technology are exploring a new frontier: the ground beneath our feet. Taking their cues from plants and animals that have evolved to navigate subterranean spaces, they've developed a fast, controllable soft robot that can burrow through sand.
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Alternate-day intermittent fasting leads to less fat loss than traditional daily energy restriction
An alternate-day intermittent fasting schedule offered less fat-reducing benefits than a matched "traditional" diet that restricts daily energy intake, according to a new, 3-week randomized trial involving 36 participants.
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How sex trafficking trauma affects the way its survivors parent
A study of young immigrant mothers who are survivors of sex trafficking found that the trauma affected how they parented: it made them overprotective parents in a world perceived to be unsafe, it fueled emotional withdrawal when struggling with stress and mental health symptoms, and was a barrier to building confidence as mothers. Yet, they coped with such challenges finding meaning in the birth of their child and through social support and faith.
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Over-the-counter fungicide can disrupt hormones
The active ingredient in medicines commonly used to treat yeast infections has the potential to disrupt steroid hormone levels, according to a study from the National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark. This can have consequences for sexual development in unborn babies if women use these medicines during pregnancy.
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Study reveals recipe for even more powerful COVID-19 vaccines
A new study looking at the way human cells activate the immune system in response to SARS-CoV-2 infection could open the door to even more effective and powerful vaccines against the coronavirus and its rapidly emerging variants.
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Having a strong life purpose eases loneliness of COVID-19 isolation
Why can some people weather the stress of social isolation better than others, and what implications does this have for their health? New research from the Communication Neuroscience Lab at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania found that people who felt a strong sense of purpose in life were less lonely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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P-glycoprotein removes Alzheimer's-associated toxin from the brain
A team of SMU biological scientists has confirmed that P-glycoprotein (P-gp) has the ability to remove a toxin from the brain that is associated with Alzheimer's disease.
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Pioneering chemistry approach could lead to more robust soft electronics
A new approach to studying conjugated polymers made it possible for an Army-funded research team to measure, for the first time, the individual molecules' mechanical and kinetic properties during polymerization reaction. The insights gained could lead to more flexible and robust soft electronic materials, such as health monitors and soft robotics.
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How a supermassive black hole originates
How do supermassive black holes in the early universe originate? A team led by a theoretical physicist at the University of California, Riverside, has come up with an explanation: a massive seed black hole that the collapse of a dark matter halo could produce.
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Concordia researchers break down the COVID-19 diagnostic arsenal
For a new paper published in the journal Clinical Microbiology Reviews, a team of researchers led by Concordia engineers sifted through hundreds of papers on COVID-19 detection tools and technologies. They wanted to categorize and understand what exists, what is lacking and what can be improved. The result is a thorough assessment of the field citing almost 600 separate papers that cover an extensive body of literature.
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Researchers uncover unique properties of a promising new superconductor
A study led by University of Minnesota physics researchers has discovered that a unique superconducting metal is more resilient when used as a very thin layer.
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The give and take of mega-flares from stars
The long relationships between stars and the planets around them - including the Sun and the Earth - may be even more complex than previously thought. This is one conclusion of a new study involving thousands of stars using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.
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Advocating reimbursement parity for nurse practitioners
The current Medicare reimbursement policy for nurse practitioners (NPs) allows NPs to directly bill Medicare for services that they perform, but they are reimbursed at only 85% of the physician rate. A growing number of states are granting full practice authority to nurse practitioners. Even more states have loosened practice restrictions due to COVID-19. Both of these reasons illustrate why payment parity is essential.
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Are zoos inadvertently complicit in wildlife trade? The case of a rare Borneo lizard
Should zoos display legally protected species that have been smuggled out of their range countries? A new study in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal Nature Conservation suggests that a pause and rethink may be needed, as it reports that accredited zoos have acquired a rare and legally protected reptile, the earless monitor lizard endemic to Borneo, without any evidence that these animals were legally exported.
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Graphene 'camera' captures real-time electrical activity of beating heart
Scientists today track electrical signals and voltage changes in neurons and muscle cells by labeling individual cells or probing with electrodes. UC Berkeley and Stanford scientists have developed a new type of sensor that employs a sheet of graphene to get a continuous measure of electric field in these tissues. Electric fields change graphene's reflectance. The physicists found a way to amplify and measure the changes caused by action potentials in a beating embryonic chicken heart.
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Omega-3s may hold key to unlocking blood-brain barrier
Spectacular images of a molecule that shuttles omega-3 fatty acids into the brain may open a doorway for delivering neurological therapeutics to the brain.
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Intermittent fasting 'no magic bullet for weight loss' says new study
New research from the University of Bath's Centre for Nutrition, Exercise & Metabolism suggests that if you want to lose weight, intermittent fasting such as the 5:2 diet might be less effective than many people believe.
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How do immune cells get activated?
Chemokine receptors, located at the surface of many immune cells, play an important role in their function. However, despite the importance of this family of receptors, their activation mechanism remains poorly understood. A research consortium (UNIGE/UNIBAS/PSI) has succeeded in decoding the activation mechanism of the CCR5 receptor, a member of this family implicated in several diseases such as HIV/AIDS, cancer, and the respiratory complications of COVID-19.
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Study: A quarter of adults don't want children -- and they're still happy
Is parenting life's greatest joy? New research from Michigan State University psychologists examines life satisfaction of adults who don't want children, revealing no differences compared to adults who are parents.
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