Culture
Scientists from the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project, a National Institutes of Health-funded consortium including researchers from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, have completed a wide-ranging set of studies documenting how small changes in DNA sequence can impact gene expression across more than four dozen tissues in the human body.
Thanks to various crystalline topologies, tunable chemical composition, high (hydro)thermal stability, and controllable surface acidity/basicity, zeolites are widely used in petroleum refining, petrochemical manufacture, fine chemical synthesis, biomedicine , environmental chemistry, etc. However, for many zeolite-catalyzed reactions, the molecular diameters of the reaction species involved are often larger than the pore apertures of the zeolites.
A pneumococcal vaccine was effective at protecting children in Laos against the most severe type of pneumonia, a new study has found.
The research led by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) and published in The Lancet Regional Health - Western Pacific, found the PCV13-vaccine reduced hypoxic pneumonia and pneumonia requiring oxygen support by 37 per cent.
MCRI Dr Cattram Nguyen said although pneumococcal vaccines were known to reduce severe cases of childhood pneumonia, no studies from Asia had measured their effectiveness until now.
People all over the world associate colors with emotions. In fact, people from different parts of the world often associate the same colors with the same emotions. This was the result of a detailed survey of 4,598 participants from 30 nations over six continents, carried out by an international research team. "No similar study of this scope has ever been carried out," said Dr. Daniel Oberfeld-Twistel, member of the participating team at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU).
World Health Organization-recommended campaigns to circumcise millions of African boys and men to reduce HIV transmission are based more on systemic racism and 'neocolonialism' than sound scientific research, according to a critical appraisal published in Developing World Bioethics.
More than 25 million men and boys have already been circumcised as a result of voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) campaigns in eastern and southern Africa, implemented by the United States government and Western non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
About one third of the payments received by farmers are linked to specific "greening measures" to promote biodiversity. The cultivation of nitrogen-fixing legumes is very popular. However, these measures have been criticized because the benefits for biodiversity are unclear. Now a team from the University of Göttingen, the Julius Kühn Institute and the Thuenen Institute in Braunschweig has investigated whether the cultivation of the faba bean (Vicia faba - also known as the broad bean or fava bean) can support wild bees.
People who binge-drink show more extensive dysfunction across their brains than previously realised, a new study from the University of Sussex has shown.
The research shows that binge-drinkers' brains have to put more effort into trying to feel empathy for other people in pain.
Epigenetic* changes in the islets of Langerhans of the pancreas can be detected in patients several years before the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes (T2D). These changes are responsible for the altered methylation activity of specific genes which differs from that in healthy individuals. In humans, 105 such changes have been discovered in blood cells. This was shown in a study by researchers from the DZD/DIfE, which has now been published in the journal Diabetes. These findings could help to develop diagnostic markers for type 2 diabetes.
Androids, or robots with humanlike features, are often more appealing to people than those that resemble machines -- but only up to a certain point. Many people experience an uneasy feeling in response to robots that are nearly lifelike, and yet somehow not quite "right." The feeling of affinity can plunge into one of repulsion as a robot's human likeness increases, a zone known as "the uncanny valley."
The journal Perception published new insights into the cognitive mechanisms underlying this phenomenon made by psychologists at Emory University.
UVA researchers have discovered that concussions and traumatic brain injuries, even when mild, cause swelling that blocks the brain's ability to clean itself of harmful toxins and debris.
In addition to an immediate impact on memory and brain inflammation, this may seed the brain for Alzheimer's, dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases.
The discovery helps explain why repeated brain injuries are so harmful and suggests they increase the risk of long-term problems.
It also suggests a reason why blows to the head affect different people differently.
Researchers at Tel Aviv University (TAU) have analyzed 18 ancient texts dating back to around 600 BCE from the Tel Arad military post using state-of-the-art image processing, machine learning technologies, and the expertise of a senior handwriting examiner. They have concluded that the texts were written by no fewer than 12 authors, suggesting that many of the inhabitants of the kingdom of Judah during that period were able to read and write, with literacy not reserved as an exclusive domain in the hands of a few royal scribes.
Face masks have become an important tool in fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic. However, improper use or disposal of masks may lead to "secondary transmission". A research team from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has successfully produced graphene masks with an anti-bacterial efficiency of 80%, which can be enhanced to almost 100% with exposure to sunlight for around 10 minutes. Initial tests also showed very promising results in the deactivation of two species of coronaviruses.
Using public transportation, visiting a place of worship, or otherwise traveling from the home is associated with a significantly higher likelihood of testing positive with the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, while practicing strict social distancing is associated with a markedly lower likelihood, suggests a study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Interferon (IFN) responses are one of the first defenses the body mounts against viral infections, and research has shown that it plays a role controlling viral replication. But when researchers at Baylor College of Medicine investigated whether IFN restricted human norovirus (HuNoV) infection in human intestinal enteroids (HIEs), a cultivation system that recapitulates many of the characteristics of the human infection, they unexpectedly discovered that endogenous IFN responses by HIEs restricted growth of HuNoV strain GII.3, but not of GII.4, the most common strain worldwide.
Philadelphia, September 10, 2020 - Investigators have determined that treating patients with an advanced form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) with levodopa, a safe and readily available drug commonly used to treat Parkinson's disease, stabilized and improved their vision. It reduced the number of treatments necessary to maintain vision, and as such, will potentially reduce the burden of treating the disease, financially and otherwise.