Culture
LONDON, ONTARIO - For patients with kidney stones, ureteral stents (hollow devices placed in the ureter - the tube between the kidney and bladder) can be used temporarily to relieve urinary obstruction. Despite the use of antibiotics, ureteral stents often become encrusted with minerals and coated with bacteria. This can lead to complications like infection and the need for replacement surgery.
Experts from the Department of Prehistory and Archaeology of the University of Seville have just published a study in the prestigious journal PLOS ONE on an important archaeological find in the Cueva de la Dehesilla (Cádiz). Specifically, two human skulls and a juvenile goat were discovered along with various archaeological structures and materials from a funerary ritual from the Middle Neolithic period (4800-4000 BC) hitherto unknown in the Iberian Peninsula.
Escherichia coli, known as E. coli, are bacteria which many people associate with causing mild food poisoning, but some types of E. coli can be fatal.
UNSW Science microbiologists studied an E. coli strain that causes a severe intestinal infection in humans: enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC). Their findings were published this week in the journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences).
EHEC is a food-borne pathogen that releases Shiga toxins during infection, resulting in kidney and neurological damage.
New research from the University of Sydney finds that even low levels of alcohol consumption during pregnancy can have an impact on a child's brain development and is associated with greater psychological and behavioural problems in youth including anxiety, depression and poor attention.
Published today in the prestigious American Journal of Psychiatry, the study was led by the University's Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use.
AMES, Iowa - Computer simulations are showing astrophysicists how massive clumps of gas within galaxies scatter some stars from their orbits, eventually creating the smooth, exponential fade in the brightness of many galaxy disks.
Researchers from Iowa State University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and IBM Research have advanced studies they started nearly 10 years ago. They originally focused on how massive clumps in young galaxies affect star orbits and create galaxy disks featuring bright centers fading to dark edges.
Quebec and Montreal, September 25, 2020 - The relationship between the income levels of parents and their children once they reach adulthood is complex, but education could be one of the factors that influence Canadian intergenerational mobility. This according to a study recently published by INRS (Institut national de la recherche scientifique) professor Xavier St-Denis and Statistics Canada researcher Gaëlle Simard Duplain in Canadian Public Policy/Analyse de politiques. The study looks at the role education levels play in intergenerational income mobility in Canada.
A mix of ultrapotent antibodies from recovered COVID-19 patients has been shown to recognize and lock down the infection machinery of the pandemic coronavirus and keep it from entering cells. Each of the antibody types performs these overlapping tasks slightly differently.
Low doses of these antibodies, individually or as a cocktail, were also shown to protect hamsters from infection when exposed to the coronavirus by preventing it from replicating in their lungs.
As 2020 began, many pundits predicted a politically charged year, but few predicted that it would include a global pandemic overtaxing healthcare resources, strained U.S. race relations resulting in mass demonstrations across the globe, devastating fires consuming massive swaths of the United States, and a catastrophic global economic downturn.
TAMPA, Fla. (Sept. 25, 2020) - As COVID-19 quickly spread worldwide this spring, shortages of supplies, including the nasopharyngeal (nasal) swabs used to collect viral samples, limited diagnostic testing.
Tskuba, Japan - Whether it's our diets, building strength, or as part of medical advancements, it is no secret that proteins form an important part of our lives. Tracking how proteins work and move in cells, and purifying engineered proteins, are important tools for researchers. Traditional approaches to label proteins of interest, called "tagging," have the disadvantage of interfering with protein characteristics, including function and localization. Sometimes, these tags can also cross-react, which makes the information they provide nonspecific.
Osaka, Japan. Quantum computers are the new frontier in advanced research technology, with potential applications such as performing critical calculations, protecting financial assets, or predicting molecular behavior in pharmaceuticals. Researchers from Osaka City University have now solved a major problem hindering large-scale quantum computers from practical use: precise and accurate predictions of atomic and molecular behavior.
A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Eastern Finland found that the PLCG2-P522R genetic variant, which protects against Alzheimer's disease, enhances several key functions of immune cells. The results obtained in the study highlight the importance of immune cells as a target of future development of new therapies for Alzheimer's disease.
The framework, published in Frontiers in Microbiology, was applied on transmission data of the influenza virus, and offers to be a new tool for anticipating the consequences of microbial diversity and optimizing disease control measures.
Researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) have developed a high-performance reusable ruthenium-based catalyst for the production of primary amines. Their method represents a major advance for the development of efficient catalysts that enable selective conversion of alcohols into primary amines under mild reaction conditions.
Chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans are our closest relatives, and like us they have relatively large brains and they are very intelligent. But do animals with larger brains really perform better in cognitive tests? A research team from the German Primate Center (DPZ) - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research in Göttingen has for the first time systematically investigated the cognitive abilities of lemurs, which have relatively small brains compared to other primates.