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UIC research identifies potential pathways to treating alcohol use disorder, depression

Eurekalert - Jun 14 2021 - 00:06
A discovery from researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago may lead to new treatments for individuals who suffer from alcohol use disorder and depression. 
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New combination of materials provides progress toward quantum computing

Eurekalert - Jun 14 2021 - 00:06
In research published today in Nature Communications, engineers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute demonstrated how, when the TMDC materials they make are stacked in a particular geometry, the interaction that occurs between particles gives researchers more control over the devices' properties. Specifically, the interaction between electrons becomes so strong that they form a new structure known as a correlated insulating state. This is an important step, researchers said, toward developing quantum emitters needed for future quantum simulation and computing.
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COVID-19 creates conditions for emergence of 'superfungus' in Brazil

Eurekalert - Jun 14 2021 - 00:06
The presence of Candida auris in a hospital in Salvador, Bahia, was confirmed at end-2020 and reported in an article in the Journal of Fungi. The fungus can cause a lethal invasive disease and is ringing alarm bells because of the speed with which it develops drug resistance.
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Study reveals COVID-19 risk factors for those with IDD

Eurekalert - Jun 14 2021 - 00:06
A study of nearly 550 adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities receiving residential services in New York City found that age, larger residential settings, Down syndrome and chronic kidney disease were the most common risk factors for COVID-19 diagnosis, and heart disease was most associated with COVID-19 deaths.
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Women leaving jail have high vaccine hesitancy; app drops resistance, boosts literacy

Eurekalert - Jun 14 2021 - 00:06
Researchers at the University of Kansas found high vaccine hesitancy among women leaving incarceration, a substantial and vulnerable population in the United States. However, a web-based health app proved effective at boosting the group's health literacy.
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Pollutant concentration increases in the franciscana dolphin

Eurekalert - Jun 14 2021 - 00:06
The concentration of potentially toxic metals is increasing in the population of the franciscana dolphin --a small cetacean, endemic from the Rio de la Plata and an endangered species-- according to a study led by a team of the Faculty of Biology and the Biodiversity Research Institute (IRBio), published in the journal Science of The Total Environment.
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Biodiversity 'hotspots' imperiled along California's streams

Eurekalert - Jun 14 2021 - 00:06
A study of woodland ecosystems that provide habitat for rare, endangered species along streams, rivers throughout California reveals some ecologically important areas are inadvertently benefitting from water humans are diverting for their own needs. Though it seems a short-term boon to these ecosystems, the artificial supply creates an unintended dependence on its bounty, threatens the long-term survival of natural communities and spotlights the need for changes in the way water is managed across the state.
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Model suggests surgery should precede chemotherapy for select patients with ovarian cancer

Eurekalert - Jun 14 2021 - 00:06
Certain patients with an aggressive form of ovarian cancer have a better chance of a cure through surgical removal of their tumor before chemotherapy instead of the reverse, a new study shows.
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Early migrations of Siberians to America tracked using bacterial population structures

Eurekalert - Jun 14 2021 - 00:06
Early migrations of humans to the Americas from Siberia around 12,000 years ago have been traced using the bacteria they carried by an international team including scientists at the University of Warwick.
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Human microbiome could shed light on higher morbidity rate in minoritized populations

Eurekalert - Jun 14 2021 - 00:06
A new Northwestern University study is the first to explicitly address the gut microbiome as a pathway to understanding how environmental inequities could lead to health disparities.
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Toxin-adapted fish pass down epigenetic mutations to freshwater offspring

Eurekalert - Jun 14 2021 - 00:06
Researchers analyzed the epigenetics--molecular factors and processes that determine whether genes are turned on or off--of a group of Poecilia mexicana fish that live in springs naturally high in hydrogen sulfide, which is normally toxic to most organisms. Even after raising samples of fish in freshwater, researchers found that grandchildren of sulfidic-adapted fish had more epigenetic marks in common with their wild, toxic-water-living grandparents than Poecilia mexicana that had always lived in freshwater.
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UM research: Rocky mountain forests now burning more than any point in past 2,000 years

Eurekalert - Jun 14 2021 - 00:06
Following 2020's extreme fire season, high-elevation forests in the central Rocky Mountains now are burning more than at any point in the past 2,000 years, according to a new University of Montana study recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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How do social media influence ethnic polarization?

Eurekalert - Jun 14 2021 - 00:06
Those who deactivated their Facebook profiles report a lower regard for other ethnic groups, and this effect was more prevalent among people living in more ethnically homogenous areas, shows a new study of users in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The findings run counter to a commonly held view that social media usage exacerbates societal polarization.
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A 'pump' gene's surprising role in early brain formation

Eurekalert - Jun 14 2021 - 00:06
In polymicrogyria, the cortex of the brain has irregular, small folds and disorganization in its cell layers, leading to intellectual/developmental disability and epilepsy. This study of four patients with polymicrogyria caused by a mutation in the gene ATP1A3 revealed surprises about the role of a common ion channel pump in early brain development.
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Study reveals factors that shape Haitian Creole-speaking women's birth plans after C-sections

Eurekalert - Jun 14 2021 - 00:06
Despite evidence regarding the benefits of vaginal birth after cesarean and recommendations to support shared decision making to reduce cesarean rates, minority women face many impediments that limit their access to appropriate health information and opportunities for such discussions.
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Study finds survival is more important than a chronic medical condition in prioritizing medical care

Eurekalert - Jun 14 2021 - 00:06
The concept of rationing medical resources during the height of COVID-19 pandemic created tremendous anxiety in the patient and healthcare communities. In planning for that possibility Massachusetts created a triage scoring system focusing on an acute survival score that considers chronic life-limiting medical conditions of the patient, but it does not provide specifics about how to value those conditions in the equation.
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The evolution of good taste

Eurekalert - Jun 14 2021 - 00:06
Does evolution explain why we can't resist a salty chip? Researchers at NC State University found that differences between the elemental composition of foods and the elemental needs of animals can explain the development of pleasing tastes like salty, umami and sweet.
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Climate conditions during the migration of Homo sapiens out of Africa reconstructed

Eurekalert - Jun 14 2021 - 00:06
Climate reconstruction of the last 200,000 years from East Africa illustrates the living conditions of Homo sapiens when they migrated out of Africa / Homo sapiens was mobile across regions during wet phases and retreated to high altitudes during dry phases.
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Researchers model impact of blood pressure control programs at barbershops nationwide

Eurekalert - Jun 14 2021 - 00:06
Investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center built a model to examine the potential impact of implementing blood pressure control programs at barbershops nationwide and found that such programs could reach one in three Black men with uncontrolled blood pressure nationally.
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An unusual symbiosis of a ciliate, green alga, and purple bacterium

Eurekalert - Jun 14 2021 - 00:06
The intracellular purple sulfur bacterium "Candidatus Thiodictyon intracellulare" has lost the ability to oxidize sulfur and now supplies a ciliate with energy from photosynthesis / Youtube video available.
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