Culture
WASHINGTON, Dec. 17, 2020 -- Kombucha is a bubbly, fermented tea that has gained popularity in the health and wellness scene over the last decade -- but what is it exactly? This week, the Reactions team breaks down kombucha's chemistry and investigates which ordinary beverages they can turn into kombucha: https://youtu.be/YxARRckS9dA.
New UBC Okanagan research is changing the way aircraft and wind turbine operators are addressing the risks related to ice build-up.
In a follow-up study from one released previously this year, Assistant Professor Mohammad Zarifi and his team at UBCO's Okanagan MicroElectronics and Gigahertz Applications (OMEGA) Lab, have broadened the scope and functionality of their ice sensors.
More and more evidence is coming out that people with COVID-19 are suffering from cognitive effects, such as brain fog and fatigue.
And researchers are discovering why. The SARS-CoV-2 virus, like many viruses before it, is bad news for the brain. In a study published Dec.16 in Nature Neuroscience, researchers found that the spike protein, often depicted as the red arms of the virus, can cross the blood-brain barrier in mice.
This strongly suggests that SARS-CoV-2, the cause of COVID-19, can enter the brain.
Atherosclerosis is marked by the buildup of inflammatory cells which narrow arteries to the point of chest pain and muscle weakness. Severe cases result in lesions and internal ruptures of arteries or even thrombosis in coronary arteries. One way that investigators are working to understand how atherosclerosis occurs and progresses is by looking at long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), strands of RNA that are not translated into proteins and which may play integral but understudied roles in cell regulation and disease progression.
Systemic sclerosis is an autoimmune disease associated with inflammation and fibrosis, or scarring, that affects organs including the skin, heart, kidney and lungs.
A new study looking at the patterns of movement from 400,000 people offers fresh insights into how a neighborhood's economic conditions mixed with the mobility patterns of its residents and visitors relates to the well-being of the neighborhood and can serve as a predictor of violence.
In a new paper published in Stem Cell Reports, Bhanu Telugu and co-inventor Chi-Hun Park of the University of Maryland (UMD) Department of Animal and Avian Sciences show for the first time that newly established stem cells from pigs, when injected into embryos, contributed to the development of only the organ of interest (the embryonic gut and liver), laying the groundwork for stem cell therapeutics and organ transplantation. Telugu's start-up company, Renovate Biosciences Inc.
Adalatherium is an important piece in a very large puzzle on early mammalian evolution in the southern hemisphere, one in which most of the other pieces are still missing
In recent years, the number of high-risk groups for ischemic diseases such as critical limb ischemia where tissues of toe may decay is increasing due to increase in the number of people with obesity, diabetes, and hypertension which are triggered by changes in dietary habits, and consumption of smoking and alcohol. A number of studies are actively conducted on endothelial progenitor cells (hEPCs), which are stem cells that contribute to the blood vessel regeneration in the ischemic tissues, to treat such ischemia diseases.
Mathematicians have used machine learning to develop a new model for measuring poverty in different countries that junks old notions of a fixed 'poverty line'.
The study by academics at Aston University, published in the journal Nature Communications, suggests mainstream thinking around poverty is outdated because it places too much emphasis on subjective notions of basic needs and fails to capture the full complexity of how people use their incomes.
The Christmas season is associated with preventable harms from cards, tree decorations, and presents, as well as overeating and overdrinking, so do the benefits of Christmas outweigh the harms?
In the Christmas issue of The BMJ, Robin Ferner and Jeffrey Aronson dig out some cautionary tales from the archives.
Hospital clowns might help improve physical symptoms and psychological wellbeing in children and adolescents having treatment for acute or chronic conditions, finds a study in the Christmas issue of The BMJ.
The findings suggest that incorporating appropriate laughter and play into clinical practice can be beneficial for young patients who need to stay in hospital.
Previous studies have suggested that hospital clowns can help to reduce stress and anxiety in children before and after surgery, but results have been inconsistent.
As Father Christmas gears up for the busiest 24 hours of his year, what skills does he use to get a seemingly impossible job done effectively and safely - and can they be applied to medicine?
In the Christmas issue of The BMJ, two doctors reflect on the many lessons that the medical profession can learn from Father Christmas.
One in five doctors in Sweden has a parent who is also trained in medicine, more than triple the proportion for doctors born three decades earlier, finds a study in the Christmas issue of The BMJ.
The findings suggest that among doctors in Sweden, medicine might increasingly run in families.
Days when high profile European football matches are played are associated with more traffic accidents in Asia than days when less popular matches are played, finds a study in the Christmas issue of The BMJ.
One explanation may be that Asian drivers stay awake until the early hours of the morning to watch high profile football games and lose sleep as a result.