Culture
WASHINGTON, June 6, 2019 -- Cannabidiol, or CBD, is a non-psychoactive compound produced by the marijuana plant that seems to be everywhere these days. Maybe you've even been asked if you'd like it added to your morning cup of joe! Interestingly, the chemical structure of CBD is very similar to THC, which is the marijuana-derived compound responsible for getting people high and the one screened for by drug tests. This structural similarity begs the question: Could using CBD make you fail a drug test?
Sometimes people wish they had greater insight into how their partner really feels. Recent work in social and personality psychology dives into the stories people tell about their romantic relationships, and finds that those prone to avoidant attachment, are less likely to use the word "we" when talking about these relationships.
The results appear in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.
Every year, around half a million children worldwide are born with a rare hereditary disease. Obtaining a definitive diagnosis can be difficult and time consuming. In a study of 679 patients with 105 different rare diseases, scientists from the University of Bonn and the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin have shown that artificial intelligence can be used to diagnose rare diseases more efficiently and reliably. A neural network automatically combines portrait photos with genetic and patient data. The results are now presented in the journal "Genetics in Medicine".
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Scientists often build new protein molecules by stringing groups of amino acids together. These amino acid chains, called polypeptides, are the building blocks needed in drug development and the creation of new biomaterials.
Spatial separation of active from inactive fractions of the genome in the cell nucleus is crucial for gene expression control. A new study uncovers leading mechanisms of such separation and turns our picture of the nucleus upside down.
New York, NY--June 6, 2019--While there are several thousand drugs available to treat a wide range of brain diseases, from depression to schizophrenia, they cannot penetrate the blood-brain barrier (BBB) into the brain. The BBB, which protects the brain from pathogens that may be present in blood, also prevents most drugs from gaining access to the brain functional tissue, the parenchyma, a well-known challenge to the treatment of all brain diseases including neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's.
Every parent knows the frustration of responding to a baby's cries, wondering if it is hungry, wet, tired, in need of a hug, or perhaps even in pain. A group of researchers in USA has devised a new artificial intelligence method that can identify and distinguish between normal cry signals and abnormal ones, such as those resulting from an underlying illness. The method, based on a cry language recognition algorithm, promises to be useful to parents at home as well as in healthcare settings, as doctors may use it to discern cries among sick children.
Evidence that breathing in tiny particles of black carbon, typically a result of burning diesel, is linked to an increased volume of peripheral, smaller blood vessels in the lungs has been observed for the first time in new research published in the European Respiratory Journal [1].
The study adds to the evidence that exposure to diesel pollutants at what are considered relatively low levels may contribute to subtle changes in the lungs that may make people more prone to developing chronic lung disease, the third leading cause of death globally.
Four out of five people with a hidden brain condition that causes limb weakness or paralysis experience lasting physical difficulties.
Research to assess long-term effects of the disorder, called Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) - found 80 per cent of patients still had symptoms in their arms and legs 14 years after initial diagnosis.
Experts, who tracked outcomes of more than 100 patients, hope the study - the largest of its kind - will help doctors provide realistic prognoses in future and encourage more work on treatment.
EVANSTON, Ill. -- An international team has constructed the most detailed, highest resolution simulation of a black hole to date. The simulation proves theoretical predictions about the nature of accretion disks -- the matter that orbits and eventually falls into a black hole -- that have never before been seen.
The research will publish on June 5 in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Cells are incredibly adept at creating complex molecules, like therapeutics, and can do so much better than many of our best factories.
Synthetic biologists look to re-engineer cells to make these molecules for specific needs, including pharmaceuticals and energy applications. But the trial-and-error process is difficult and time-consuming, and often competes with the cell's other goals and processes, like growth and survival.
More than nine million Americans know the scary feeling: sudden, severe shoulder pain and the sensation that their arm feels stuck, unable to move. "Frozen shoulder" is a common condition that happens when the connective tissues around the shoulder joint become thickened and stiff, often a result of trauma, extended use, immobilization, surgical procedures, or inflammation.
Invading predators can devastate an ecosystem. In fact, a leading cause of extinction is the introduction of predators into an isolated system like an island or a lake. The destruction is usually blamed on the predator's eating choices, but sometimes the key lies in the prey animals' responses, according to an international team of researchers led by Princeton's Robert Pringle.
A new study led by researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and Swansea University Medical School furthers our knowledge of viruses--in the sea and on land-- and their potential to cause life-threatening illnesses. Their findings, which examine newly-identified genes carried by mysterious "giant" viruses, could represent potential new drug targets for giant viruses linked to human diseases. The work published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
To treat large gaps in long bones, like the femur, which result from bone tumor removal or a shattering trauma, researchers at Penn Medicine and the University of Illinois at Chicago developed a process that partially recreates the bone growth process that occurs before birth. A bone defect of more than two centimeters is considered substantial, and current successful healing rates stand at 50 percent or less, with failure often resulting in amputation.