Culture
WASHINGTON, August 18, 2020 -- Trace vapor detection technologies are crucial for ensuring reliable and safe detection of explosives and illegal drugs. Researchers from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory have developed a compact testing device called the Trace Vapor Generator for Explosives and Narcotics (TV-Gen), which is portable and can be used for non-contact sampling of these vapors.
An enzyme that usually stops bacterial growth in the large intestine stimulates inflammation in some people, resulting in ulcerative colitis - a chronic digestive disease that affects more than 750,000 Americans, according to scientists at Rutgers University-Newark.
Nearly three-quarters of older adults with dementia have filled prescriptions for medicines that act on their brain and nervous system, but aren't designed for dementia, a new study shows.
That's despite the special risks that such drugs carry for older adults -- and the lack of evidence that they actually ease the dementia-related behavior problems that often prompt a doctor's prescription in patients with Alzheimer's disease and related disorders. In fact, some of the drugs have been linked to worse cognitive symptoms in old adults.
What The Study Did: Researchers looked at the association between race and death among patients hospitalized with COVID-19 at 92 hospitals in 12 states.
Authors: Baligh R. Yehia, M.D., M.P.P., of Ascension Health in St. Louis, is the corresponding author.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.18039)
What The Study Did: The readability of information about COVID-19 was evaluated on websites of public health agencies and governments of 15 countries.
Authors: Joseph P. Dexter, Ph.D., of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, is the corresponding author.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.18033)
What The Study Did: This case series describes SARS-CoV-2 transmission on an international commercial airline flight and among a tourist group.
Authors: Sandra Ciesek, M.D., of Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Germany, is the corresponding author.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.18044)
Maunakea, Hawaii - How complete is our census of the Sun's closest neighbors? Astronomers and a team of data-sleuthing volunteers participating in Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, a citizen science project, have discovered roughly 100 cool worlds near the Sun - objects more massive than planets but lighter than stars, known as brown dwarfs.
HANOVER, N.H. - August 18, 2020 - Information about COVID-19 offered by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the White House, and state health departments failed to meet recommendations for communicating with the public, according to a Dartmouth study.
Variations in a gene called CD38, which is involved in attachment behaviour in non-human animals, may be associated with human romantic relationship dynamics in daily life, according to a study published in Scientific Reports.
The ease of finding information on the internet is hurting students' long-term retention and resulting in lower grades on exams, according to a Rutgers University-New Brunswick study.
In the environment, they are often found inside unicellular organisms. A research team led by Matthias Horn at the Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science at the University of Vienna has made use of laboratory experiments to gain a better understanding of how these bacteria adapt to their host cell over time. This is due to changes in the genome and in gene expression. The study has been published in PNAS.
A study from early in the global coronavirus pandemic that evidenced the benefits of using steroids to combat COVID-19 in severely ill patients could have saved lives, according to the University of Huddersfield researchers involved.
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. -- Landmines pose a serious threat in conflict areas, yet modern detection systems struggle to discriminate between explosives and clutter. A project funded by the Army developed a new method for landmine identification that will greatly reduce false alarm rates.
Fewer false alarms will significantly reduce the cost of humanitarian landmine clearance operations and provide greater road mobility by avoiding unnecessary route detours. With this new technology, landmines can be detected without digging.
A new study shows how differentiation of a single gene changes behavior in a wild songbird, determining whether the white-throated sparrow displays more, or less, aggression. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) published the research, led by neuroscientists at Emory University.
The researchers singled out an estrogen receptor from a complex of more than 1,000 genes known as a "supergene," or genetic material inherited together as a block. The work provides a rare look at how genomic divergence can lead to behavioral divergence in a vertebrate.
In recent years, a non-invasive biopsy method called liquid biopsy has shown promise as a potential alternative to tissue biopsy, currently the gold standard in cancer detection and diagnosis. A tissue biopsy sample--traditionally collected through a surgical procedure that may require general anesthesia, accompanied by the risk of complications that may occur from any surgery, from pain through to infection and pneumonia --is typically tested for specific genetic variations, also referred to as mutations, which may offer information on a clear optimal treatment for that cancer.