Feed aggregator

As part of a five-year, $2 million NSF project, Georgia Tech researchers uncover new methods for using sound and vibration to treat and diagnose brain diseases. The research could eliminate reliance on MRIs, paving the way for less costly and simpler systems that could serve a wider population.

The discovery of a novel enzyme that releases a valuable chemical from agricultural waste could provide an important breakthrough in the upscaling of renewable fuels and chemicals, a new study shows.

It's easy to think that more nutrients -- the stuff life needs to grow and thrive -- would foster more vibrant ecosystems. Yet nutrient pollution has in fact wrought havoc on marine systems, contributing to harmful algae blooms, worse water quality and oxygen-poor dead zones.

New research compares the health impacts of fracking on either side of the New York and Pennsylvania border and found that people who live in areas with a high concentration of wells are at higher risk for heart attacks.

Arum Han, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University, and his collaborators have designed an experimental system that shows exposure of SARS-CoV-2 to a very high temperature, even if applied for less than a second, can be sufficient to neutralize the virus so that it can no longer infect another human host.

Aerosol products used in the home now emit more harmful volatile organic compound (VOC) air pollution than all the vehicles in the UK, new research shows. A new study by the University of York and the National Centre for Atmospheric Science reveals that the picture is damaging globally with the world's population now using huge numbers of disposable aerosols - more than 25 billion cans per year.

To improve news literacy and reduce the spread of misinformation, NYUAD Center for Cybersecurity researcher and lead author Nicholas Micallef is part of a team that designed Fakey, a game that emulates a social media news feed and prompts players to use available signals to recognize and scrutinize suspicious content and focus on credible information. Players can share, like, or fact-check individual articles.

WFIRM scientists are tackling necrotizing enterocolitis with a human placental-derived stem cell (hPSC) therapy strategy that is showing promising results.

Using data from the 2010-2018 National Health Interview Surveys, Michigan Medicine researchers found that just 16% of men who were 18 to 21 years old had received at least one dose of the HPV vaccine at any age. In comparison, 42% of women in the same age bracket had gotten at least one shot of the vaccine.

After developing a link discovery method in 2020 using terahertz radiation, Brown and Princeton researchers addressed what would happen if a wall or other reflector creates a non-line-of-sight path from the base station to the receiver. In APL Photonics, they consider two different generic types of transmitters and explore how their characteristics can be used to determine whether an NLOS path contributes to the signal received by the receiver.

Researchers at the US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have discovered a new way to generate 2D superconductivity at an interface of an insulating oxide material, at a higher transition temperature than ever seen before for these materials.

Muscle weakness in patients with Becker disease is caused by unusual electrical activity in muscle fibres termed 'plateau potentials' that make them temporarily inactive, says a study published today in eLife.

A group of researchers has discovered a new approach to cereal plant breeding that takes into account the internal "calculator" of plant seeds that makes them continuously reorganize themselves (global coherence). The approach includes unforeseen and unintended changes in the plant when genetically manipulated by the plant breeders. The researchers expect that the method can be used to improve the world's crops much more efficiently.

Despite the prevalence of Alzheimer's, there are still no treatments, in part because it has been challenging to study how the disease develops. Now, scientists at the Salk Institute have uncovered new insights into what goes awry during Alzheimer's by growing neurons that resemble--more accurately than ever before--brain cells in older patients. And like patients themselves, the afflicted neurons appear to lose their cellular identity.

Although bone has some capacity to regenerate, large bone defects cannot be healed without major medical procedures. Metallic implants are widely used, but their bioinertness poses a challenge. In Biointerphases, researchers showcase approaches that are alternatives to metallic implants and use natural polymer coatings to improve bone-implant integration, also known as osseointegration. Establishing a strong chemical interaction between a metal and a completely organic and natural polymer is a significant advancement in bone tissue engineering.

Freshwater accounts for only about 2.5% of water on Earth, so much of the world experiences serious water shortages. In AIP Advances, scientists report the development of a highly efficient desalination device that uses a titanium-containing layer capable of absorbing solar energy. When sunlight strikes the layer, it heats rapidly and vaporizes the water. By placing the unit in a transparent container with a sloped quartz roof, the water vapor can be condensed and collected.

A four-year effort has reduced the rate of cesarean sections for low-risk, first-time mothers in California, according to a study led by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative.

Ambitious climate policies could help to reduce extreme poverty in developing countries. This is the result of a new study by scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) - a result that is in contrast to wide-spread assumptions that climate change mitigation comes with a trade-off for poverty reduction. To turn climate policies and poverty reduction into a win-win situation for planet and people, a progressive redistribution of emission pricing revenues and a fair international burden sharing are key.

What The Study Did: This analysis uses the World Health Organization pharmacovigilance database to explore the potential safety signal of facial paralysis after COVID-19 vaccination. When compared with other viral vaccines, mRNA COVID-19 vaccines did not display a signal of facial paralysis.

Bottom Line: The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) reaffirms its earlier recommendation of screening for high blood pressure in adults 18 years or older with office blood pressure measurement and obtaining measurements outside of the clinical setting for confirming a diagnosis of high blood pressure before starting treatment.