Culture
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a pathological condition characterized by excessive fat stored in the liver that is not attributed to heavy alcohol consumption, which can lead to liver failure and even cancer. Obesity, type 2 diabetes, and high cholesterol levels are all risk factors for this disease, and like the global prevalence of obesity, the prevalence of NAFLD is coincidently expected to rise as well.
Researchers led by TMDU fabricate a material that will aid bone healing, help medical practitioners clearly assess the full damage to bones after an injury, and clarify probable patient outcomes
Floating solar farms could help to protect lakes and reservoirs from some of the harms of climate change, a new study suggests.
However, given the complex nature of water bodies and differing designs of solar technologies, there could also be detrimental ecosystem impacts of deploying floating solar arrays.
Conventional solar farms are controversial due to the amount of land they take up. This is leading to increasing interest in floating solar farms - making use of the additional space that bodies of water provide.
A new study from the University of Bergen (UiB) shows that the way young people view their bodies have a great impact on their BMI.
In a two-year follow up study among 1225 Norwegian adolescents in their early teens, professor Eivind Meland and his team examined how body mass index, self-esteem and self-rated health were mutually impacted and influenced by body dissatisfaction.
"We revealed that positive self-image and self-esteem protected against weight gain", professor emeritus Meland says.
A new study shows that when people replace their old couch with a new one that has no added flame retardants, levels of the harmful chemicals in household dust drop significantly. Replacing the foam inside the couch cushions is also just as effective. The findings confirm that choosing healthier furniture without flame retardants can make a big difference in people's--especially children's--everyday exposures to these toxic chemicals.
Copepods are tiny crustaceans about the size of a grain of rice, but they are one of the most important parts of the Earth's aquatic ecosystems. Their behavior and interaction with the environment, however, remains a relative mystery. Now, a recent paper published in the Journal of Experimental Biology sheds new light on how these miniature marvels move and cluster in the ocean.
Chemists from RUDN University found out that fluorine and fluoroalkyl groups increase the efficiency of catalysts in metathesis reactions that are used in the pharmaceutical industry and polymer chemistry. The team also identified fluorine-containing compounds that can simplify the purification of the catalyst from the reaction product, making it reusable. The results of the study were published in the Russian Chemical Reviews journal.
Beware of fellow bacteria bearing gifts: Skoltech research presents new potential antimicrobial agen
Skoltech researchers examined the antibiotic compounds that employ a 'Trojan horse' strategy to get into a bacterial cell unrecognized and prevent the synthesis of proteins, ultimately killing the cell. They were able to identify new gene clusters that look like those of known 'Trojan horses' - these likely guide the biosynthesis of new antimicrobials that require further investigation. The review paper was published in the journal RSC Chemical Biology.
A new study from the University of Kent's School of Anthropology and Conservation has found that Oldowan and Acheulean stone tool technologies are likely to be tens of thousands of years older than current evidence suggests.
They are currently the two oldest, well-documented stone tool technologies known to archaeologists.
A new view of the region closest to the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy Messier 87 (M87) has shown important details of the magnetic fields close to the black hole and hints about how powerful jets of material can originate in that region.
The unprecedented rainfall from Hurricane Harvey in 2017 brought more than flood damage to southeast Texas. For people living in environmental justice communities such as the Manchester neighborhood near the Houston Ship Channel, heavy rainfall and flooding may have increased risks of exposure to harmful chemicals from nearby industry.
Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have produced a detailed molecular atlas of lung development, which is expected to be a fundamental reference in future studies of mammalian biology and of new treatments for diseases, such as COVID-19, that affect the lungs.
Bone turnover markers, and specifically bone resorption markers, are commonly used to monitor patients' response to pharmacological treatment and adherence.
An international team of researchers has found that three commonly used antiviral and antimalarial drugs are effective in vitro at preventing replication of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The work also underscores the necessity of testing compounds against multiple cell lines to rule out false negative results.
The team, which included researchers from North Carolina State University and Collaborations Pharmaceuticals, looked at three antiviral drugs that have proven effective against Ebola and the Marburg virus: tilorone, quinacrine and pyronaridine.
Scientists investigating the genetics of chilli pepper species have discovered a whole host of new chilli hybrids that can be grown by crossing domesticated peppers with their wild cousins. This will allow plant breeders to create new varieties that have better disease resistance and could increase productivity.
Despite their huge world-wide culinary appeal, chillies are relatively difficult to cultivate, being prone to disease and sensitive to growing conditions.