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Urgent action needed to protect dolphins and porpoises from bycatch in European waters

Eurekalert - May 05 2021 - 00:05
Marine scientists are calling on the EU to adopt a comprehensive plan to protect dolphins and porpoises from fisheries bycatch in European waters. To help address the bycatch issue, which is the primary global threat to dolphins and porpoises, the researchers put forward a framework to reduce bycatch levels.
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An uncrackable combination of invisible ink and artificial intelligence

Eurekalert - May 05 2021 - 00:05
Coded messages in invisible ink sound like something only found in espionage books, but in real life, they can have important security purposes. Yet, they can be cracked if their encryption is predictable. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces have printed complexly encoded data with normal ink and a carbon nanoparticle-based invisible ink, requiring both UV light and a computer that has been taught the code to reveal the correct messages.
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New study identifies quality measures for end-of-life care for children with cancer

Eurekalert - May 05 2021 - 00:05
There is currently no consensus on what quality end-of-life care for children with cancer looks like, or how to measure and deliver it; however, investigators recently assembled an expert panel to help fill this void. In a study published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the panel endorsed 16 measures that cover different aspects of care that are important for children with cancer and their families.
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Microneedles are promising devices for painless drug delivery with minimal side effects

Eurekalert - May 05 2021 - 00:05
A recent study from the University of Helsinki monitors the breakthrough progresses in the development of microneedles for immunotherapy and discusses the challenges regarding their production. Researchers suggest using microneedles for immunotherapy due to the high abundance of immune cells under the skin. The aim is to vaccinate or treat different diseases, such as cancer and autoimmune disorders, with minimal invasiveness and side effects.
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Sex-specific genetics of autism

Eurekalert - May 05 2021 - 00:05
Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) report in Neuropsychopharmacology that a mutation in the gene EPHB2 is linked to increased autism risk in girls.
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Biophotonics in photomedicine

Eurekalert - May 05 2021 - 00:05
Biophotonics in Photomedicinehttps://doi.org/10.15212/bioi-2020-0043Announcing a new article publication for BIO Integration journal. In this editorial the authors Hui Liu and Juan Chen from Shanxi Eye Hospital, Taiyuan, China discuss biophotonics in photomedicine.
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Repeat vape aerosol exposure causes minimal damage to lung tissue compared to cigarettes

Eurekalert - May 05 2021 - 00:05
In this latest press release from the Imperial Brands Science website, we detail how our researchers developed an advanced 3D lung tissue model, leading to the first peer-reviewed vaping study evaluating repeated cigarette smoke and aerosol exposure. Results showed minimal effects to lung tissue from vape aerosol compared to cigarette smoke.
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The ants, bees and wasps of Canada, Alaska and Greenland - a checklist of 9250 species

Eurekalert - May 05 2021 - 00:05
A series of distributional lists is being published for a group of organisms that, despite its size and diversity, is still poorly known: the insect order Hymenoptera, which includes ants, bees and wasps. The surveyed area spreads across Canada, Alaska and Greenland. When complete, this will be the largest species checklist for northern North America. The checklists are being published as a topical collection of eleven papers in the open-access, peer-reviewed Journal of Hymenoptera Research.
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Examination of an Estonian patient helped discover a new form of muscular dystrophy

Eurekalert - May 05 2021 - 00:05
The examination of an Estonian girl with progressive muscle weakness brought about collaboration of researchers from ten countries, which led to the discovery of a new form of muscular dystrophy caused by changes in the Jagged2 (JAG2) gene. In the research, a special muscle magnetic resonance imaging study was used in Estonia for the first time, revealing a pattern of muscle involvement characteristic of pathogenic variants in JAG2.
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Coalitions and conflict among men

Eurekalert - May 05 2021 - 00:05
As in many other socially-living species, humans form coalitions to gain advantage in conflicts or to seek or maintain social status. However, studying coalition formation in human societies is complicated by the formal institutions - such as businesses, courts, and governments - that structure social relationships and conflict resolution. But even in small-scale human societies with a relative lack of such formal institutions, there is scant research on the details of coalition formation.
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Tübingen study raises hope for effective malaria vaccine

Eurekalert - May 05 2021 - 00:05
At the University Hospital of Tuebingen, a clinical trial led by Prof. Dr. Peter Kremsner, Director of the Institute of Tropical Medicine and Dr. Rolf Fendel, Research Group Leaderat the Institute of Tropical Medicine partnered with the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), was able to show that the vaccine, "Sanaria® PfSPZ-CVac", which is being developed in Tuebingen together with the biotechnology company Sanaria Inc., provides 77 percent cross-strain protection against malaria parasites.
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Bees thrive where it's hot and dry: A unique biodiversity hotspot located in North America

Eurekalert - May 05 2021 - 00:05
Rarely has the United States-Mexico border become the source of positive news of lately. However, a new study, published in the Journal of Hymenoptera Research, demonstrates it's in fact one of the world's top biodiversity hotspots for bees. A multi-year survey led by Robert Minckley of the University of Rochester found more than 470 bee species in 16km2 of Chihuahuan Desert, equivalent to 14% of all known bee species from the United States.
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Release of drugs from a supramolecular cage

Eurekalert - May 05 2021 - 00:05
How can a highly effective drug be transported to the precise location in the body where it is needed? In the journal Angewandte Chemie, chemists at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) together with colleagues in Aachen present a solution using a molecular cage that opens through ultrasonification.
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Mysterious hydrogen-free supernova sheds light on stars' violent death throes

Eurekalert - May 05 2021 - 00:05
A curiously yellow pre-supernova star has caused astrophysicists to re-evaluate what's possible at the deaths of our Universe's most massive stars. The team describe the peculiar star and its resulting supernova in a new study published today in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
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Superconductivity, high critical temperature found in 2D semimetal W2N3

Eurekalert - May 05 2021 - 00:05
2D superconductors have drawn considerable attention both for the fundamental physics they display as well as for potential applications in fields such as quantum computing. Although considerable efforts have been made to identify them, materials with high transition temperatures have been hard to find. Materials featuring both superconductivity and non-trivial band topology have proven even more elusive. A recent Nano Letters paper predicts just such a material in the easily exfoliable, topologically non-trivial semimetal W2N3.
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Large bumblebees start work earlier

Eurekalert - May 05 2021 - 00:05
Larger bumblebees are more likely to go out foraging in the low light of dawn, new research shows.
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Tracking down the tiniest of forces: How T cells detect invaders

Eurekalert - May 05 2021 - 00:05
What happens on a molecular level, when our immune system detects antigens? Scientists in Vienna have found out, how T cells exert tiny forces on antigens. Bonds between T cells and antigen presenting cells break, and this behaviour tells the T cell whether or not it has found the right antigen.
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Revealing the impact of 70 years of pesticide use on European soils

Eurekalert - May 05 2021 - 00:05
Agricultural soils under conventional farming practices contain up to 10 times higher pesticide levels than soils under organic management, according to a study across Europe from the collaboration of Diverfarming, Recare and iSQAPER projects.
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CHOP researchers discover new disease that prevents formation of antibodies

Eurekalert - May 05 2021 - 00:05
Using whole exome sequencing, CHOP researchers discovered a genetic mutation responsible for a new condition that prevents patients from making B cells and antibodies to fight infections. The study describing this condition, which CHOP researchers named PU.1 Mutated agammaglobulinemia (PU.MA), was published today in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.
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Scroll'n'roll -- nanomaterials towards effective photocatalytic pollution treatment

Eurekalert - May 05 2021 - 00:05
We live in times when among the most limited and precious resources on Earth are air and water. No matter the geographical location, the pollution spreads quickly, negatively affecting even the purest regions like Mount Everest. Thus, anthropogenic activity decreases the quality of the environment, making it harmful for flora and fauna. Current waste treatment methods are not sufficient, so novel and effective methods for maximizing pollutants removal are highly needed.
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