Culture
SCOTTSDALE, Az., February 27, 2020 -- A targeted therapy drug used for breast and kidney cancers may also extend progression-free survival for patients with advanced head and neck cancer who are at high risk for recurrence after standard treatment. Patients enrolled in a randomized phase II trial who received the mTOR inhibitor everolimus were more likely to be cancer-free a year after therapy than those who took a placebo drug, and the benefit persisted for those with mutations in their TP53 gene.
The number of people infected with the new corona virus continues to skyrocket, with more than 80000 cases worldwide as of the end of February. But there's no vaccine or cure in sight, meaning that doctors can do little more than offer supportive treatment to the very sick and hope their bodies can survive the infection.
Now, however, a coalition of European researchers says that already approved drugs might hold the key to treating the new virus. Their findings have been published as a pre-proof in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases.
Weather is an ever-present force in consumers' daily lives, yet there is little marketing research on how it affects consumers and businesses. A new UBC Sauder School of Business study reveals that sunny and snowy conditions trigger consumers to mentally visualize using products associated with the respective weather, which leads to consumers placing a higher value on them. Researchers also found the link between weather and higher product valuation only works for products that are related to being outside.
Scientists have shown that some key points of animal evolution -- like the ones leading to humans or insects -- were associated with a large loss of genes in the genome. The study, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, compared over 100 genomes to investigate what happened at the gene level during the evolution of animals after their origin.
Like most other species, male sea turtles will mate with any female sea turtle they can. However, when it comes to female sea turtles and mate selection, it's a little more complex. Sea turtles are known to have multiple mates, yet there is no consensus on why they do.
Many children with autism face developmental delays, including communication and behavioral challenges and difficulties with social interaction. This makes learning new skills a major challenge, especially in traditional school environments.
Previous research suggests socially assistive robots can help children with autism learn. But these therapeutic interventions work best if the robot can accurately interpret the child's behavior and react appropriately.
The impacts of the corona virus on people's health and daily life, stock markets, and businesses illustrate the increasingly interconnected nature of the challenges facing governments around the world. Putting systemic thinking at the centre of policymaking will be essential to address these issues in an era of rapid and disruptive change, according to a new joint report by IIASA and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Scientists from the University of Surrey have identified mutations in a gene in an Escherichia coli (E. coli) model that could help explain a form of anti-microbial resistance (AMR) known as 'persistence'.
For many years, researchers have disagreed as to why some global areas have an extremely large species richness, while others have almost no species. In other words, what explains the uneven distribution of biodiversity on earth?
Older people's risk of recurrent fractures decreases by 18 percent if the care they receive is more structured and preventive, through fracture liaison services. This is shown by a study from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
How did the universe begin? How does quantum mechanics, the study of the smallest things relate to gravity and the study of big things? These are some of the questions physicists have been working to solve ever since Einstein released his theory of relativity.
Now researchers are presenting guidelines for how active matter, such as cells and microorganisms, can best be studied using machine learning techniques. The guidelines can help others navigate the new field, which can significantly improve research in active matter.
Penn Medicine researchers are the first to discover two distinct neuroanatomical subtypes of schizophrenia after analyzing the brain scans of over 300 patients. The first type showed lower widespread volumes of gray matter when compare to healthy controls, while the second type had volumes largely similar to normal brains. The findings, published Thursday in the journal Brain, suggest that, in the future, accounting for these differences could inform more personalized treatment options.
The first UK clinical trial to increase the identification and treatment of hepatitis C (HCV) patients in primary care has been found to be effective, acceptable to staff and highly cost-effective for the NHS. The University of Bristol-led Hepatitis C Assessment to Treatment Trial (HepCATT), published in the British Medical Journal today [27 February], provides robust evidence of effective action GPs should take to increase HCV testing and treatment.
For half a century, scientists who have developed models of how ecological communities function have arrived at an unsettling conclusion. Their models' predictions--seen as classic tenets of community ecology--suggested that mutualistic interactions between species, such as the relationship between plants and pollinators, would lead to unstable ecosystems.