Culture
Wildfire, a natural phenomenon, existed on the Earth over 400 Ma. However, the mechanisms underlying wildfire-climate interactions are not clear. Wildfire forcing has long been underestimated or overlooked in climate change studies.
A study led by AN Zhisheng from the Institute of Earth Environment (IEE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences revealed a linkage between glacial cycles and inland Asian high-intensity wildfire events by analyzing high-resolution soot deposition over the last 2.6 million years. The study was published online in PNAS on Feb. 24.
Scientists at Newcastle University have revealed how a simple blood test could be used to help identify cardiovascular ageing and the risk of heart disease.
For the first time, experts led by Professor Konstantinos Stellos report that higher levels of amyloid-beta in the blood may be a key indicator of cardiovascular disease.
It is hoped that this research will one day lead to the development of a simple blood test that could be used as a clinical biomarker to identify patients who are most at risk, so that preventative measures can be put in place and death rates reduced.
People with diabetes are at a higher risk of fracturing a bone than the general population. And if they do break one it also takes longer than normal to heal.
PHILADELPHIA (February 24, 2020) - As opioid overdoses continue to grab headlines, more states are providing their communities with easier access to naloxone, which can prevent death by reversing opioid overdoses. But while naloxone may be available at township buildings, libraries, or other community locations, little is known about how schools maintain a supply and use naloxone to prepare for treating overdose.
MAYWOOD, IL. - Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has shown significant efficacy in treating major depressive and obsessive compulsive disorders. A newly published literature review by Antonio H. Iglesias, MD, a Loyola Medicine neurologist and assistant professor at the Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, highlights the compelling scientific and clinical data supporting further studies into the use of TMS to treat a broader range of common neurological conditions, including stroke, acute migraines and dementia.
When Donald Trump formally announced his presidential candidacy in a June 2015 speech, he declared, among other comments, that "when Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best," referred to Mexican immigrants as rapists, and reiterated his intention to build a wall at the border.
What impact did Trump's remarks have on normalizing expressions of prejudice? In the years since the election, many have speculated his racially inflammatory speech empowered people with latent prejudices to finally act on them -- a phenomenon known as the "Trump effect."
In a future built on quantum technologies, planes and spaceships could be fueled by the momentum of light. Quantum computers will crunch through complex problems spanning chemistry to cryptography with greater speed and energy efficiency than existing processors. But before this future can come to pass, we need bright, on-demand, predictable sources of quantum light.
Minneapolis, Minn. - February 24, 2020 - A new website developed by researchers at Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute (HHRI) and the University of Minnesota (UMN) is making it easier for organ transplant candidates to choose which transplant center is right for them.
The website, transplantcentersearch.org, was developed for candidates seeking kidney, liver, heart and lung transplants. Data for liver centers is currently live. Data for other organs will soon be available.
Many patients with rare, fast-growing neuroendocrine tumors respond well to a common immunotherapy drug combination, according to the first peer-reviewed publication out of DART, short for Dual Anti-CTLA-4 and Anti-PD-1 Blockade in Rare Tumors, a unique rare cancer clinical trial.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Stress has a justifiably bad reputation for making people feel crummy. But new research suggests that despite its negative side effects, it may also lead to a surprising social benefit.
In a study, a team of scientists including Penn State researchers found that experiencing stress made people both more likely to give and receive emotional support from another person. This was true on the day they experienced the stressor as well as the following day.
Bottom Line: An analysis of annual surveys from graduating students at all U.S. allopathic medical schools suggests self-reported medical student mistreatment remains common and varies by sex, race/ethnicity and sexual orientation. This observational study included 27,504 unique student surveys, representing 72.1% of graduating medical school students in 2016 and 2017.
Bottom Line: Cannabis use apparently continues to increase among older adults in the U.S. based on findings reported in this research letter. Researchers analyzed national survey data from 2015-2018 for nearly 15,000 adults 65 and older to estimate how common past-year cannabis use was. Previous studies have indicated sharp increases from 2006-2016. Cannabis has been legalized in many states for medical and recreational use. Authors of the current study estimate the proportion of adults who reported past-year marijuana use increased from 2.4% to 4.2% from 2015 to 2018.
The Neolithic revolution, and the corresponding transition to agricultural and pastoralist lifestyles, represents one of the greatest cultural shifts in human history, and it has long been hypothesized that this might have also provided the opportunity for the emergence of human-adapted diseases. A new study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution led by Felix M.
ORLANDO, Feb. 24, 2020 - Speculation about where laws come from ranges from crediting judges and legal scholars to God.
However new research co-authored by a University of Central Florida researcher and appearing in the journal Nature Human Behaviour today offers evidence that criminal laws come from an intuitive and shared, universal sense of justice that humans possess.
HOUSTON - (Feb. 24, 2020) - In one pot, at room temperature, chemists at Rice University are able to make valuable pharmaceutical precursors they say could change the industry.
The Rice group of chemist László Kürti introduced an inexpensive organic synthesis technique that catalyzes the transfer of nitrogen atoms to olefins, unsaturated organic compounds also known as alkenes.
Exposed nitrogen atoms are critical to drug discovery. The Rice process combines nitrogen and hydrogen atoms in triangular aziridine products that are readily available to react with other agents.