Many health conditions - ranging from disease of particular organs such as heart and lungs, widespread metabolic issues such as diabetes, or following trauma such as spinal cord injury - cause difficulties with movement. This can severely affect quality of life and new research published today in the Journal of Physiology highlights the link between loss of the smallest blood vessels in muscle and difficulties moving and exercising. Understanding this link opens up the possibility of aiding recovery by growing more blood vessels in your muscles.
Azulene is a pretty neat substance. As the name suggests, it displays a peculiar blue color. First synthesized in the 1930s, azulene has been used in medicine for its bioactive properties. Now azulene derivatives are being studied for use in organic electronics such as n-type semiconductors, solar cells and non-linear optics. This is made possible by the functionalization of the azulene ring. Odd-positions of the ring had been researched extensively for their high reactivity, though it was hard to select their functionality due to their electronic properties.
New research at Trinity College Dublin, published today (Thursday, February 6th, 2020), shows that the number of people dying in Ireland with palliative care needs will increase 84% to 2046.
The study, conducted at Trinity's Centre for Health Policy and Management and The Irish Longitudinal study on Ageing (TILDA), estimated how many people will die from a serious disease such as cancer, heart disease, organ failure and dementia to 2046. The estimated 84% increase compares to 43% for England and Wales in a similar period.
An unlikely penchant for pee is putting a common sugar ant on the map, as new research from the University of South Australia shows their taste for urine could play a role in reducing greenhouse gases.
Led by wildlife ecologist Associate Professor Topa Petit, the Kangaroo Island-based research found that sugar ants prefer urine over sugar - the food source after which they're named - nocturnally foraging on it to extract nitrogen molecules, some of which could end up in the greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide.
How to teach citizens to become active members of the society? Peter Ehrström, Head of Research in Regional Science, and Marina Lindell, Project Researcher at the Social Science Research Institute of Åbo Akademi University in Vaasa, Finland, approached the question by inviting a group of students on a course that utilized a method called Deliberative Walks. The experiment produced very positive results.
The boundary between life and non-life is a remarkably narrow one. A central hallmark of life is the cellular membrane - a protective barrier of only a few nanometers thickness (one nanometre is a millionth of a millimetre) that is composed of proteins and two fluid layers of water-insoluble lipids. The function and integrity of this lipid bilayer is essential for the survival of the cell. If the cell membrane (or plasma membrane as it is also known) is compromised, the cell will die.
Philadelphia, February 6, 2020 - Over the next decade, older adults will grow to become 20 percent of the US population. A new paper in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, published by Elsevier, found Healthy Teaching Kitchen programs are great vehicles for nutrition education specifically among older veterans.
Scientists from the University of La Serena, Newcastle University, UK, and the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile surveyed ranchers to find out what they thought were the drivers of conflict between people and guanacos (a wild camelid species closely related to the Llama).
Ranchers blamed the increased aridity for reducing the availability of pasture, which meant there was more competition for grazing between livestock and guanacos.
Moral or religious beliefs may lead some people to believe they are addicted to pornography even when their porn use is low or average, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.
Strawberry-flavored mousse tastes 10% sweeter when served from a white container rather than a black one. Coffee tastes nearly twice as intense when it is drunk from a white mug rather than a clear glass one. Adding two-and-a-half ounces to the weight of a plastic yogurt container makes the yogurt seem about 25% more filling.
In the run-up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election, an unusual experiment suggested that it might be possible to influence American voters to adopt less polarized positions.
Posing as political researchers, a research team from McGill and Lund Universities approached 136 voters at the first Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton presidential debate in New York. Participants were asked to compare Trump and Clinton on various leadership traits (such as courage, vision, and analytic skills) by putting an X on a sliding scale.
Dog behavior is extraordinarily flexible – this is why we can keep them in our homes and take them to cafes with us at the weekend. Nevertheless, there are ways in which evolution has not equipped dogs for the challenges of living in our world, and puppies must learn how to cope.
These are some of the things we do they struggle to understand.
1. We leave them alone
PHILADELPHIA -- Every dollar spent on patients receiving support from Penn Medicine's community health worker (CHW) program resulted in an annual return on investment (ROI) of $2.47 for every dollar invested annually by Medicaid, according to a new study published online today in Health Affairs. The savings are generated by reducing hospitalizations.
ADELPHI, Md. (Feb. 5, 2020) - Scientists are closer to understanding exactly what happens inside batteries that make them prone to fire, thanks to a molecular eye of sorts.
Scientists at the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command's Army Research Laboratory teamed with researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to study chemical reactions that occur when two key components of battery interface, forming a critical component in battery commonly known as the solid-electrolyte-interphase, or SEI.
Scientists have found a way to distinguish between two progressive neurodegenerative diseases, Parkinson's disease (PD) and multiple system atrophy (MSA), using a technology developed by a researcher at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). The discovery was published today in Nature.