Culture
Boston, MA-- Hypertension, abnormally high blood pressure, is associated with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. Many healthcare professionals still believe that incremental changes in blood pressure are normal, and expected, with aging. A new study by investigators at Brigham and Women's Hospital, published in the journal of JAMA Cardiology, found that a systolic (top) blood pressure that regularly exceeds 120-125 mmHg could signal impending hypertension, regardless of age.
New research has revealed how the history of life can be distorted by the ways animals decompose and lose body parts as they decay - and the ways in which decayed bodies ultimately become fossilised.
In a new study published in the journal Palaeontology, a group of palaeontologists from the UK and Ireland, led by the University of Leicester, has followed a macabre, and nasally-challenging road to knowledge - watching carefully as animal carcasses decompose in order to better understand the process.
LA JOLLA, CA--New research from scientists at the La Jolla Institute For Allergy and Immunology shows how a diet high in fat and cholesterol depletes the ranks of artery-protecting immune cells, turning them into promoters of inflammation, which exacerbate atherosclerotic plaque buildup that occurs in cardiovascular disease. The team has also found that high density lipoproteins (HDL)--more commonly known as "good cholesterol"--counteract this process, helping the protective immune cells maintain their identity and keep arteries clear.
Scientists have found that high carbon dioxide levels cause squid to bungle attacks on their prey.
PhD candidate Blake Spady from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (Coral CoE) at James Cook University (JCU) led the investigation. He said that the oceans absorb more than one-quarter of all the excess carbon dioxide (CO2) released into the atmosphere by humans and this uptake of additional CO2 causes seawater to become more acidic.
About a third of all Swiss exports result from fundamental discoveries in synthetic chemistry. Certain drugs and perfumes, as well as food and agricultural products -- and even Ferrari's famous red colour - are derived from new molecular structures invented by Swiss scientists. Chemists at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, have just discovered that chemical bonds based on antimony -- a forgotten element at the very bottom of the periodic table -- yield powerful new catalysts that can be used to accurately stimulate the transformation of a molecule from within.
A team of researchers from Ludong University compared the susceptibility of different triangle silver nanoprisms (TSNPRs) towards H2O2 and elucidated the influence of capping agents and structural size on the etching process, with the aim of optimizing TSNPRs for H2O2 etching-based biosensors, such as glucose and glucose oxidase. The result of their research was recently published in a paper in NANO.
Systems biologists, physicists, and engineers have intensively worked at computational tools to analyze, predict, and optimize the effects of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) to treat chronic neurological diseases. These efforts often have overlapping objectives and closely-related methods, but they are rarely compared, combined, or jointly discussed, perhaps because they often target different research communities.
A new Epilepsia study indicates that individuals without electroencephalogram (EEG) training can detect ongoing seizures in comatose patients through a novel method by which patients' brain waves are converted to sound.
The traditional approach to interpreting EEGs requires physicians with formal training to visually assess the waveforms. This approach may not be practical in critical settings where a trained EEG specialist is not readily available.
Soybean is rich in protein, which is great for the humans and animals eating it. But this high protein content comes at a cost.
To make protein, soybean plants need a lot of nitrogen. The plants get some of the nitrogen they need by working with specialized bacteria in the soil. These bacteria live in root nodules. They pull nitrogen from the atmosphere and convert it to a form the plants can use.
But this process-biological nitrogen fixation-may not provide all the nitrogen soybean crops need. Farmers may have to apply nitrogen fertilizer as well.
Beginning in 2013, a mysterious disease crippled sea star populations up and down the U.S. west coast. Over a matter of months, many sea star species died in record-breaking numbers, though Pisaster ochraceus--a keystone species known as the ochre sea star--was among the hardest hit. Now, researchers at UC Santa Cruz have analyzed just how much the populations of this species have declined, but they have not yet determined what factors might be contributing to the epidemic.
For years, scientists have been inspired by nature to innovate solutions to tricky problems, even oil spills -- manmade disasters with devastating environmental and economic consequences. A new USC study takes a cue from leaf structure to fabricate material that can separate oil and water, which could lead to safer and more efficient oil spill clean-up methods.
WASHINGTON-(March. 20, 2018)- A medicine that slows balding and stimulates hair growth also may make stiff vessels more stretchy and improve blood flow to vital organs like the brain, according to an experimental model study published online March 2 in American Journal of Physiology--Heart and Circulatory Physiology.
NEW ORLEANS, March 20, 2018 -- Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) adults were less likely than heterosexuals to have ideal cardiovascular health, according to preliminary research presented at the American Heart Association's Epidemiology and Prevention | Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health Scientific Sessions 2018, a premier global exchange of the latest advances in population-based cardiovascular science for researchers and clinicians.
The platypus is the ultimate evolutionary mashup of birds, reptiles and mammals. The iconic, egg-laying, venom producing, duck-billed platypus first had its genome sequenced in 2008, revealing its unique genetic makeup and its divergence from the rest of the mammals around 160 million years ago.
Now, a greater effort to understand its ecological and population history has been made possible by the first, whole-scale genome sequencing efforts of 57 platypuses across Eastern Australia and Tasmania.
Up to one in five people may show signs of a synaesthesia-like phenomenon in which they 'hear' silent flashes or movement, according to a new study from City, University of London.
While the effect is barely known to science, the researchers found that this 'visually-evoked auditory response' (vEAR) is far more common than other types of synaesthesia - such when certain sounds elicit a specific colour - with flashing lights and motion evoking vivid sounds.