Culture
Patients with low income have a higher risk of death following surgery for lung cancer compared with patients with high income. The association remains even after taking prevalence of common comorbidities, and other factors that are known to influence the risk of death, into account. This is according to a study published in the journal Thorax by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.
An analysis of patient records in Canada provides important new insights into changing patterns of inpatient healthcare utilization. Between 2007 and 2016, standardized hospitalization rates declined for coronary artery and vascular disease, heart rhythm disorders, stroke, and heart failure but increased for some important conditions: acquired valvular heart disease; vascular cognitive impairment; and congenital heart disease.
LA JOLLA--Flashback to mid-March: the novel coronavirus had reached San Diego, California. Few people could get tested, and even less was known about how the virus mutated as it spread from person to person.
Scientists now know that two variants of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) were circulating at that time. The variants, called G614 and D614, had just a small difference in their "spike" protein--the viral machinery that coronaviruses use to enter host cells.
On May 5, 2020, news broke about a reportedly more contagious variant of SARS-CoV-2--the virus that causes COVID-19--based on a preliminary paper posted to the preprint server bioRxiv. The preprint stated that a variant of the virus with a particular mutation leading to an amino acid change, D614G, in its spike protein was "more transmissible" than other forms and represented an "urgent concern" for containment and vaccine development.
Researchers have shown that a variation in the viral genome of Covid-19 improved its ability to infect human cells and helped it become the dominant strain circulating around the world today.
The study, published today in the journal Cell, shows the variation is more infectious in cell cultures under laboratory conditions. The variant, named 'D614G', makes a small but effective change in the 'spike' glycoprotein that protrudes from the surface of the virus, which it uses to enter and infect human cells.
LOS ALAMOS, N.M., July 2, 2020-- Research out today in the journal Cell shows that a specific change in the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus virus genome, previously associated with increased viral transmission and the spread of COVID-19, is more infectious in cell culture. The variant in question, D614G, makes a small but effective change in the virus's 'Spike' protein, which the virus uses to enter human cells.
Syracuse, N.Y. - A new study published recently in "BMC Pediatrics" shows a connection between the time of the month when low-income families receive their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and the number of emergency room visits due to injuries to children from those families.
Childhood injuries are the leading cause of illness and death in the United States, resulting in an estimated 9.2 million emergency department visits and $17 billion in medical costs annually. For preschoolers, it is the leading cause of disability.
New Rochelle, NY, July 2, 2020--The Editor-in-Chief of Human Gene Therapy, the first journal devoted to the field of gene therapy, and one of the world's leading experts on gene therapy have co-authored a new editorial, Moving Forward After Two Deaths in a Gene Therapy Trial of Myotubular Myopathy, in response to the news of two deaths in a now-halted gene therapy clinical trial.
Studies have shown the Arctic is warming roughly twice as fast as the rest of the world, and its soil holds twice the amount of carbon dioxide as the atmosphere. New research from San Diego State University finds that water from spring snowmelt infiltrates the soil and triggers fresh carbon dioxide production at higher rates than previously assumed.
This is in addition to trapped carbon escaping from the soil, which means an acceleration in warming that is not quite accounted for in current measurement techniques.
Infecting some volunteers with COVID-19 may provide valuable insights for future rounds of vaccine testing, but would require very strict controls, argues a group of infectious disease experts in the New England Journal of Medicine.
DALLAS - July 2, 2020 - Two new studies led by UT Southwestern scientists outline how individual cells maintain their internal clocks, driven both through heritable and random means. These findings, published online May 1 in PNAS and May 27 in eLife, help explain how organisms' circadian clocks maintain flexibility and could offer insights into aging and cancer.
WASHINGTON--People with endocrine disorders may see their condition worsen as a result of COVID-19, according to a new review published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society.
If there's one myth that has persisted through the years without much evidence, it's this: multiply your dog's age by seven to calculate how old they are in "human years." In other words, the old adage says, a four-year-old dog is similar in physiological age to a 28-year-old person.
New research published today in the Journal of Physiology shows that 12 weeks of easy-to-administer passive stretching helps improve blood flow by making it easier for your arteries to dilate and decreasing their stiffness.
Passive stretching differs from active stretching in that the former involves an external force (another person or gravity) stretching you, whereas active stretching is performed on your own. The changes they observed in blood vessels could have implications for diseases, including the number one global killer, heart disease.
Why do you like the music you do? You would think that it is because of the music itself. But that's only half the story. Surprisingly, the other half of the story doesn't have much to do with music at all. A new Big Data study from Bar-Ilan University and Columbia Business School found that the musician's personality plays a large role, as well, in listener preferences.