Culture
In 2013, researchers at Boston Children's Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital launched a multi-center study comparing a work schedule that included traditional, extended work shifts for resident physicians (24 hours or more) with a schedule that eliminated extended shifts and cycled resident physicians through day and night shifts (maximum, 16 hours). They expected the new schedule with shorter shifts would reduce serious medical errors by allowing residents to get more sleep.
For more than a decade, astronomers have searched for planets orbiting AU Microscopii, a nearby star still surrounded by a disk of debris left over from its formation. Now scientists using data from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and retired Spitzer Space Telescope report the discovery of a planet about as large as Neptune that circles the young star in just over a week.
The system, known as AU Mic for short, provides a one-of-kind laboratory for studying how planets and their atmospheres form, evolve and interact with their stars.
"Squeezing" is used in physics, among other things, to improve the resolution of measuring instruments. It allows disturbing noise to be suppressed in a way that smaller signals can be detected more sensitively.
The research team led by physicist Professor Eva Weig at the University of Konstanz has now been able to show how such a squeezed state can be measured in a much simpler way than with the existing methods. Moreover, the new method allows examining squeezed states in systems where such measurements were not possible before.
An international research team led by Dr. Tali Ilovitsh of the Biomedical Engineering Department at Tel Aviv University developed a noninvasive technology platform for gene delivery into breast cancer cells. The technique combines ultrasound with tumor-targeted microbubbles. Once the ultrasound is activated, the microbubbles explode like smart and targeted warheads, creating holes in cancer cells' membranes, enabling gene delivery. Conducted over two years, the research was published on June 9 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The rapid politicization of the COVID-19 pandemic can be seen in messages members of the U.S. Congress sent about the issue on the social media site Twitter, a new analysis found.
Using artificial intelligence and resources from the Ohio Supercomputer Center, researchers conducted an analysis that covered all 30,887 tweets that members sent about COVID-19 from the first one on Jan. 17 through March 31.
Virtually screening antiviral compounds against SARS-CoV-2 structure may speed up drug and vaccine D
Virtually screening antiviral compounds to model their interactions with the SARS-CoV-2 virus may enable scientists to more easily identify antiviral drugs that work against the virus while informing the search for viable vaccine candidates, according to a new study. By screening for interactions with certain structural domains and active sites on the virus, this structure-based approach may help scientists identify existing drugs that can be repurposed, including therapies developed to treat MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV, Ebola, and HIV.
An analysis of COVID-19-related tweets issued by members of Congress from January 17 through March 31, 2020 finds that Democrats and Republicans quickly polarized along party lines in their messaging about the virus on Twitter. The findings underscore the lack of political consensus as the crisis ballooned in the United States - a consensus that democratic countries rely on during emergencies.
A new study led by researchers at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology is the first to demonstrate that a tiny protein has a big impact on health and longevity in both animals and humans.
Astronomers this month released the largest collection of sharp, detailed images of debris disks around young stars, showcasing the great variety of shapes and sizes of stellar systems during their prime planet-forming years. Surprisingly, nearly all showed evidence of planets.
The researchers, in this perspective, discuss about the recent outbreak of COVID-19 throughout the world and its relation with food safety and biosecurity. This new type of pneumonia of unknown causes in the Hubei Province of China has hit public health and economy extremely hard. COVID-19 has already crossed other forms of flu and viral infections in morbidity and mortality. More than 100,000 confirmed cases had been reported, by March 6, 2020, with a mortality rate of around 3.5%. So far, more than 90 countries have reported confirmed cases of the COVID-19.
Eelgrass, a species of seagrass named for its long slippery texture, is one of nature's superheroes. It offers shade and camouflage for young fish, helps anchor shorelines, and provides food and habitat for many marine species.
Out beyond our solar system, visible only as the smallest dot in space with even the most powerful telescopes, other worlds exist. Many of these worlds, astronomers have discovered, may be much larger than Earth and completely covered in water — basically ocean planets with no protruding land masses. What kind of life could develop on such a world? Could a habitat like this even support life?
Background: The characterization of COVID-19 in patients with cancer remains limited in published studies and nationwide surveillance analyses. Reports from China and Italy have raised the possibility that patients with cancer on active therapy have a higher risk of COVID-19 related severe events, although there is a knowledge gap as to which aspects of cancer and its treatment increase the risk of severe COVID-19 disease.
Although most beer consumers can distinguish between different bitter tastes in beer, this does not appear to influence which beer they like. It seems they just like beer, regardless of the source of the bitterness.
That is the conclusion of Penn State sensory researchers who conducted multiple studies with more than 150 self-identified beer drinkers to see if they could differentiate bitterants in beer. But the question of whether humans can discriminate between types of bitterness remains controversial, according to researcher John Hayes, associate professor of food science.
People with inoperable anal cancer treated with carboplatin-paclitaxel had fewer complications and lived longer than those who received another chemotherapy that has been more often administered.
The results from an international trial, published by the Journal of Clinical Oncology, suggest that carboplatin-paclitaxel become the standard of care for anal cancer, a rare disease that accounts for less than 3% of all gastrointestinal malignancies. The InterAAct trial compared carboplatin-paclitaxel with cisplatin plus 5-flourouracil (5FU).