Culture
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Concrete sewer pipes around the world are most likely to fail either because their concrete is not strong enough or because they can't handle the weight of trucks that drive over them, a new study indicates.
The study used a statistical analysis to show that those two factors were the most likely to trigger a problem among 16 common causes of sewer pipe failure they examined.
The study was published online earlier this year in the journal Structure and Infrastructure Engineering.
In mid-April, as the COVID-19 epidemic roared through the nation, 2,017,105 jobholders were absent from work because they were ill. The April figure was the highest number since at least 1976, and more than double the rate from mid-April 2019, according to a new study from researchers at Harvard Medical School and CUNY's Hunter College. The findings suggest that the official counts of COVID-19 cases greatly understate the number of people sickened by the virus.
Some smokers might rationalize continuing to smoke because of lower body weight often associated with the habit. However, Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators have determined that even with a lower body mass index (BMI), smokers have a higher risk of depositing fat in and around organs and tissues compared to those who never smoked.
If given the chance, a Kenyan herder is likely to keep a mix of goats and camels. It seems like an irrational economic choice because goats reproduce faster and thus offer higher near-term herd growth. But by keeping both goats and camels, the herder lowers the variability in growth from year to year. All of this helps increase the odds of household survival, which is essentially a gamble that depends on a multiplicative process with no room for catastrophic failure.
The element phosphorus (P) is central to life, agriculture, and food security. Approximately 90% of global phosphate rock demand is for food production. Access to P is put under pressure by population growth, limited P recycling and reuse, and finite P mining resources. In addition to access, the network resilience of P cycling (that is, a system attribute that ensures continuous access of P within the network and is critical for sustainable P management) is vulnerable to socio-environmental shocks and disturbances.
Children, and especially boys, show stronger stereotyping about masculine and feminine jobs than previously suspected, an innovative study by the University of Sussex reveals.
New research reveals the extent to which girls exaggerated their gendered voices to imitate workers in different professions dropped off at around seven but continues to increase beyond that age with boys.
Boys also used an overtly masculine voice even when imitating workers in gender-neutral roles, the study found.
A new study, which analyzed 40 years of Framingham Heart Study data, found an association between lowered rates of hip fractures and decreases in smoking and heavy drinking.The rates of hip fractures in the United States have been declining over the past few decades. Although some experts attribute this change primarily to improved treatments for bone health, a new National Institutes of Health-supported study suggests other factors. These results indicate that modifiable lifestyle factors, along with treatments, may be beneficial to bone health.
Medical and non-medical prescription stimulant use is higher in states without medical cannabis laws (MCLs) than in states with MCLs among heterosexuals and among certain lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) subpopulations. The study led by Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health researchers is published in the International Journal of Drug Policy.
Researchers from North Carolina State University have identified a microRNA (miRNA) that could promote hair regeneration. This miRNA – miR-218-5p – plays an important role in regulating the pathway involved in follicle regeneration, and could be a candidate for future drug development.
LOS ANGELES -- For many with end-stage lung disease, lung transplantation has become a viable option to extend lives and improve the quality of life.
However, once lung transplant recipients leave the hospital, they may experience complications, such as an infection or organ rejection, that can result in unplanned hospital readmissions and other poor outcomes.
One of the many challenges patients face is managing their health from home and adhering to medication schedules.
An alternative amplification technique to detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA could offer a way to rapidly test large numbers of people for COVID-19, although the technique is not as sensitive as quantitative RT-PCR, the current standard method for COVID-19 testing. Faster and less complicated testing could aid in the rapid isolation of infected people and could help to identify and prevent new outbreaks of the disease until a vaccine becomes available. Quantitative RT-PCR can successfully detect viral RNA but requires expensive machinery and chemical reagents that can sometimes be in short supply.
INFORMS Journal Management Science Study Key Takeaways:
Organizations that provide a safe workplace have significantly lower odds of survival.
Organizations that would typically have better survival odds, benefit most from not providing a safe workplace.
University of Hawai'i (UH) at Mānoa researchers and Sumida Farm farmers published a study this week detailing their collaboration to study the past, present and future of the multigenerational farm which produces 70 percent of Hawai'i's watercress. The study highlights that relationships with the broader community have enhanced Sumida Farm's ability to adapt and innovate their farm practices in response to challenges and changing conditions.
Below please find a summary and link(s) of new coronavirus-related content published today in Annals of Internal Medicine. The summary below is not intended to substitute for the full article as a source of information. A collection of coronavirus-related content is free to the public at http://go.annals.org/coronavirus.
1. Opinion: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the public must be protected from research without consent
A five-year study of wind energy potential in Saudi Arabia has culminated in a comprehensive blueprint for progressing the Kingdom's national wind energy strategy. Exhaustive high-resolution modeling was combined with a unique set of wind and weather observations and analysis of land-use restrictions, cost and technologies to guide the optimal buildout of wind turbines.