Culture
A team of Johns Hopkins experts has created a clinical guidebook to help hospitals and medical centers rapidly scale up their ability to deliver so-called convalescent plasma therapy, which leverages immune system components found in the plasma portion of blood from people who have recovered from COVID-19 illness.
Many of the most common causes of death are due to diseases whose onset could be significantly slowed down or whose prognosis could be improved by identifying with increasing accuracy individuals at high risk. In the current system, a considerable number of high-risk individuals cannot be identified in time, as currently available tools measure genetic risk inadequately or not at all.
Scientists have developed a technique that could significantly reduce the time of discovering potential new antibody-based drugs to treat disease.
Antibodies are produced by the body in response to the presence of a disease-causing agent. They can also be synthesised in the laboratory to mimic natural antibodies and are used to treat a number of diseases.
Osaka, Japan -- Alzheimer's disease (AD) is known to involve interactions among many different genes, making it difficult to pinpoint the specific mechanisms. But now, researchers from Japan have found a new way to identify genes implicated in neurodegeneration in AD.
The Internet and social media are among the most frequently used sources of information today. Students, too, often prefer online information rather than traditional teaching materials provided by universities. According to a study conducted by Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and Goethe University Frankfurt, students struggle to critically assess information from the Internet and are often influenced by unreliable sources. In this study, students from various disciplines such as medicine and economics took part in an online test, the Critical Online Reasoning Assessment (CORA).
It turns out we should follow our parent's advice when we're thinking about becoming parents ourselves, with a study finding eating the traditional 'three-vegies' before pregnancy lowers the risk of a premature birth.
University of Queensland PhD candidate Dereje Gete analysed the diets of nearly 3500 women and found high consumption of carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, pumpkin, cabbage, green beans and potatoes before conception helped women reach full term pregnancy.
Researchers from the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed a new strontium-substituted bioactive glass (BG) bone cement that optimizes the concentration of strontium to improve peri-implant bone formation and bone-implant contact.
BG bone cement is a minimally invasive alternative to arduous and risky autologous bone grafts and allografts for the treatment of large bone defects.
Scientists have been using fluorescence microscopy to study the inner workings of biological cells and organisms for decades. However, many of these platforms are often too slow to follow the biological action in 3D; and too damaging to the living biological specimens with strong light illumination.
Monsoon rainfall has become more unpredictable in India. Floods and droughts have become more common and pose multiple risks to human health and wellbeing, with children under five being particularly vulnerable. New research finds that more assistance needs to be provided to communities in flood-prone areas to protect children under five from undernutrition.
Since the beginning of the BRITE Constellation in 2013 - a mission in which the first two Austrian satellites were involved - the five nanosatellites have taken millions of images. However, the recordings of a complete nova eruption are unique worldwide.
The nova phenomenon
Our brain contains tens of billions of nerve cells (neurons) which constantly communicate with each other by sending chemical and electrical flashes, each lasting a short one millisecond (0.001 sec). In every millisecond, these billions of swift-flying flashes altogether traveling in a giant star-map in the brain that lights up a tortuous glittering pattern. They are the origins of all body functions and behaviours such as emotions, perceptions, thoughts, actions, and memories; and also brain diseases e.g. alzheimer's and parkinson's diseases, in case of abnormalities.
Philadelphia, April 14, 2020 - In a new study that draws attention to a growing cardiovascular health concern, investigators report that an increasing number of Canadians, particularly women, are unaware that they have high blood pressure, and they are not getting treatment to control their hypertension. The study appears in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, published by Elsevier.
A newly discovered endemic species of melanistic black iguana (Iguana melanoderma), discovered in Saba and Montserrat islands, the Lesser Antilles (Eastern Caribbean), appears to be threatened by unsustainable harvesting (including pet trade) and both competition and hybridization from escaped or released invasive alien iguanas from South and Central America.
1. Novel metrics suggests that electronic consultations are an appropriate and useful alternative to face-to-face medical appointments
Abstract: http://annals.org/aim/article/doi/10.7326/M19-3852
Editorial: http://annals.org/aim/article/doi/10.7326/M20-1320
URL goes live when the embargo lifts
AMHERST, Mass. - A new analysis of earnings inequalities by an international team of 27 researchers has found that the between-workplace share of wage inequality is growing in 12 of 14 high-income countries studied, and that the countries vary a great deal in their levels and trends in overall earnings inequality.