Culture
European Union funded researchers have launched the first international network to identify and understand problems associated with Internet use, such as gambling, pornography, bullying, excessive social media use. The Manifesto for a European Research Network into Problematic Usage of the Internet is published today in the peer-reviewed journal, European Neuropsychopharmacology1.
Researchers have used a combination of social media and transport data to predict the likelihood that a given retail business will succeed or fail.
Using information from ten different cities around the world, the researchers, led by the University of Cambridge, have developed a model that can predict with 80% accuracy whether a new business will fail within six months. The results will be presented at the ACM Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing (Ubicomp), taking place this week in Singapore.
It has been known for some time that it is better to transfer a single embryo to a woman's womb during assisted reproduction treatment (ART) rather than several embryos in order to avoid a multiple pregnancy and the risks associated with it such as foetal deaths, miscarriage, premature delivery and low birthweight. However, even when single embryo transfer (SET) is performed, some women still become pregnant with twins or even triplets.
The first "fine-grained" analysis of local authority budgets across Britain since 2010 has found that the average reduction in service spending by councils was almost 24% in England compared to just 12% in Wales and 11.5% in Scotland.
While some areas - Glasgow, for example - experienced significant service loss, the new study suggests that devolved powers have allowed Scottish and Welsh governments to mitigate the harshest local cuts experienced in parts of England.
Consuming too much vitamin A may decrease bone thickness, leading to weak and fracture prone bones, according to a study published in the Journal of Endocrinology. The study, undertaken in mice, found that sustained intake of vitamin A, at levels equivalent to 4.5-13 times the human recommended daily allowance (RDA), caused significant weakening of the bones, and suggests that people should be cautious of over-supplementing vitamin A in their diets.
Individual arm movements are represented by neural activity in both the left and right hemispheres of the brain, according to a study of epilepsy patients published in JNeurosci. This finding suggests the unaffected hemisphere in stroke could be harnessed to restore limb function on the same side of the body by controlling a brain-computer interface.
The right side of the brain is understood to control the left side of the body, and vice versa. Recent evidence, however, supports a connection between the same side of the brain and body during limb movement.
A neuroimaging study of human participants watching the 1994 film Forrest Gump and Alfred Hitchcock's 1961 television drama Bang! You're Dead suggests an important role for the hippocampus in segmenting our continuous everyday experience into discrete events for storage in long-term memory. The research, published in JNeurosci, is among the first to investigate hippocampal function during a natural experience.
Researchers from Keele University have worked with an international team of astronomers to find for the first time that a white dwarf and a brown dwarf collided in a 'blaze of glory' that was witnessed on Earth in 1670.
Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile observed the debris from the explosion
This is the first time such an event has been conclusively identified
The dual rings of dust and gas - the debris from the explosion - resemble an hourglass
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with collaborators across the country, report that people who participate in dementia prevention trials are primarily motivated by altruism and pleased to help.
The findings are published in the October 5 issue of Alzheimer's & Dementia.
Inflammation is currently a well-documented component of atheroslcerosis pathogenesis, which plays a role at each stage of the disease development. Local activation of endothelial cells causing increase endothelial permeability, infiltration of intima with atherogenic low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and recruitment of circulating immune cells is regarded as a first step of atherosclerotic plaque development. Circulating modified LDL is immunogenic, and forms highly atherogenic aggregates with antibodies that are later accumulated in the arterial wall.
A new study led by an infectious disease epidemiologist at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine could change the way doctors treat a common sexually transmitted disease.
Professor Patricia Kissinger and a team of researchers found the recommended single dose of medication isn't enough to eliminate trichomoniasis, the most common curable STD, which can cause serious birth complications and make people more susceptible to HIV. Results of the research are published in Lancet Infectious Diseases.
WASHINGTON, D.C., October 5, 2018 -- In the world of catalytic reactions, polymers created through electropolymerization are attracting renewed attention. A group of Chinese researchers recently provided the first detailed characterization of the electrochemical properties of polyaniline and polyaspartic acid (PASP) thin films. In AIP Advances, from AIP Publishing, the team used a wide range of tests to characterize the polymers, especially their capacity for catalyzing the oxidation of popularly used materials, hydroquinone and catechol.
HOUSTON - (Oct. 5, 2018) - Rice University scientists have developed something akin to the Venus' flytrap of particles for water remediation.
Micron-sized spheres created in the lab of Rice environmental engineer Pedro Alvarez are built to catch and destroy bisphenol A (BPA), a synthetic chemical used to make plastics.
The research is detailed in the American Chemical Society journal Environmental Science & Technology.
Turbidity currents have historically been described as fast-moving currents that sweep down submarine canyons, carrying sand and mud into the deep sea. But a new paper in Nature Communications shows that, rather than just consisting of sediment-laden seawater flowing over the seafloor, turbidity currents also involve large-scale movements of the seafloor itself. This dramatic discovery, the result of an 18-month-long, multi-institutional study of Monterey Canyon, could help ocean engineers avoid damage to pipelines, communications cables, and other seafloor structures.
A team of scientists has successfully trained a new artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm to make accurate predictions regarding cognitive decline leading to Alzheimer's disease.