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To improve our understanding of the physical mechanisms involved and provide an observational basis for model validation, Dr. Licheng Feng (National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center) and colleagues set out to diagnose the atmospheric and oceanic factors that could have been responsible for the second-year cooling in the 2017/18 La Niña event. They have had their findings published in Advances of Atmospheric Sciences (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-020-0028-4).
An early blood test could detect which babies deprived of oxygen at birth are at risk of serious neurodisabilities like cerebral palsy and epilepsy.
The prototype test looks for certain genes being switched on and off that are linked to long-term neurological issues. Further investigations of these genes may provide new targets for treating the brain damage before it becomes permanent.
Patients who suffer from thrombosis, pulmonary embolism or stroke are usually put on drugs that help their blood flow more smoothly through their body. Occupying a large section of the drug market, anticoagulants, or "blood thinners" as they are popularly known, can keep blood clots from forming or getting bigger, and can therefore help with recover from heart defects or prevent further complications.
LOS ANGELES (Aug. 4, 2020) - More than three years after a clinical trial was prematurely ended for failing to show progress in healing heart attack scars, a prominent peer-reviewed journal is publishing some surprising results showing that the heart cell treatment does benefit patients.
LA JOLLA--Your immune system's "memory" T cells keep track of the viruses they have seen before. This immune cell memory gives the cells a headstart in recognizing and fighting off repeat invaders.
Now, a new study led by scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) shows that memory helper T cells that recognize common cold coronaviruses also recognize matching sites on SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Article #22: "Selective and cross-reactive SARS-CoV-2 T cell epitopes in unexposed humans," by Jose Mateus et al. Please see paper PDF for full author and institution list.
Contact: Alessandro Sette at alex@lji.org (email). Daniela Weiskopf at daniela@lji.org (email).
Researchers in China identified four key population categories useful in guiding COVID-19 public health policies aimed at minimizing the spread of the disease and reducing fatalities. The team, led by Dr. Baoguo Jiang of the Department of Orthopedics & Traumatology at Peking University People's Hospital, published their findings in the journal Precision Clinical Medicine on May 28.
Researchers reported a novel technology enhancing the high transparency of refractive polymer film via a one-step vapor deposition process. The sulfur-containing polymer (SCP) film produced by Professor Sung Gap Im's research team at KAIST's Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering has exhibited excellent environmental stability and chemical resistance, which is highly desirable for its application in long-term optical device applications.
Hypermutation is an unusual occurence that can lead to many nearby mutations at once, severely damaging our genetic material and potentially causing cancer. The best known type of local hypermutation, called a mutation shower or thunderstorm, is quite uncommon and it leads to many mutations accumulated in a small area, e.g. a single gene.
Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) have showed that applying "temporal pressure" to the skin of mice can create a new way to deliver drugs.
In a paper published in Science Advances, the researchers showed that bringing together two magnets so that they pinch and apply pressure to a fold of skin, led to short term changes in the skin barrier and specifically the formation of "micropores" underneath its surface.
Solar activity varies in 11-year cycles. As the activity cycle switches to a new one, the Sun is usually very calm for several years.
Researchers have demonstrated the use of tinted, semi-transparent solar panels to generate electricity and produce nutritionally-superior crops simultaneously, bringing the prospect of higher incomes for farmers and maximising use of agricultural land.
Computer systems that emulate key aspects of human problem solving are commonly referred to as artificial intelligence (AI). This field has seen massive progress over the last years. Most notably, deep learning enabled groundbreaking progress in areas such as self-driving cars, computers beating the best human players in strategy games (Go, chess), computer games, and in poker, and initial applications in diagnostic medicine.
Like humans, cattle are social creatures with complex relationships that change as group dynamics evolve. A study published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science offered new insights into the social networking behavior of dairy cows, building on a body of research that could someday help reshape farm management practices to create healthier living environments for the animals.
Researchers from University of Hong Kong, Yonsei University, and Chinese University of Hong Kong published a new paper in the Journal of Marketing that examines the relationship between animated movement speed in video ads and consumers' assessment of the product size.
The study forthcoming in the Journal of Marketing is titled "Speed Up, Size Down: How Animated Movement Speed in Product Videos Influences Size Assessment and Product Evaluation" and is authored by Michael Jia, B. Kyu Kim, and Lin Ge.