Culture
DURHAM, N.C. - Using a bedroom air filter that traps fine particles of pollution with diameters smaller than 2.5 micrometers can significantly improve breathing in asthmatic children, a new study by American and Chinese scientists shows.
It's the first study to document that physiological improvements occur in the childrens' airways when air filters are in use, and it suggests that with consistent use, the filters may help prevent, not just alleviate, asthmatic flare-ups.
With the goal of ensuring that single-cell RNA sequencing, a current focus of intense research, makes use of the best possible methods, an international group has benchmarked 13 different methods. The group, led by Holger Heyn of the Centro Nacional de Análisis Genómico (CNAG-CRG) in Spain, found that the Quartz-seq2 method, developed by a team in the RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, was overall the best method developed to sequence single-cell RNA. The research was published in Nature Biotechnology.
University of Groningen scientists observed the characteristics of a single enzyme inside a nanopore. This revealed that the enzyme can exist in four different folded states, or conformers, that play an active role in the reaction mechanism. These results will have consequences for enzyme engineering and the development of inhibitors. The study was published in Nature Chemistry on 6 April.
Researchers have made a major breakthrough in developing gene-editing tools to improve our understanding of one of the most important ocean microbes on the planet.
The international project, co-led by scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in the UK, unlocks the potential of the largest untapped genetic resource for the development of natural products such as novel antibacterial, antiviral, anti-parasitic and antifungal compounds.
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Imagine you are meeting a friend for dinner at a new restaurant. You may try dishes you haven't had before, and your surroundings will be completely new to you. However, your brain knows that you have had similar experiences -- perusing a menu, ordering appetizers, and splurging on dessert are all things that you have probably done when dining out.
A Japanese research team has successfully developed a system to predict the severity of Alport syndrome, a serious hereditary kidney disease that occurs in about 1 out of 5,000 people in the US. Patients with Alport syndrome have abnormalities in the causative protein, type IV collagen, that often lead to chronic renal dysfunction requiring dialysis. Without a kidney transplant, this can eventually lead to kidney failure and death.
The project Electronic AXONs: wireless microstimulators based on electronic rectification of epidermically applied currents (eAXON, 2017-2022), funded by a European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant awarded to Antoni Ivorra, head of the Biomedical Electronics Research Group (BERG) of the Department of Information and Communication Technologies (DTIC) at UPF principally aims to "develop very thin, flexible, injectable microstimulators to restore movement in paralysis", says Ivorra, principal investigator of the project.
CHICAGO (April 6, 2020): Researchers from Stanford University's department of surgery (Stanford, Calif.) have created an algorithm that aims to protect operating room team members who perform urgent and emergency operations from Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and rationally conserve the personal protective equipment (PPE) they wear. This best practice guideline is published as an "article in press" on the Journal of the American College of Surgeons website ahead of print.
It's the outside that counts: Their charisma has an impact on the introduction and image of alien species and can even hinder their control. An international research team, led by the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences and the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), have investigated the influence of charisma on the management of invasive species.
BOSTON - (March 17, 2020) - When we are exposed to sufficient cold or exercise, small clusters of brown fat cells in our bodies begin to burn up energy. Since 2009, when researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center and other institutions discovered that this helpful form of fat can be active in adults, scientists have sought to turn up the heat from these cells to treat obesity, diabetes and other metabolic conditions.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The risk of transmitting the virus PPRV, which produces a highly infectious and often fatal disease in sheep and goats, does not appear to vary significantly by an animal's age, unlike its sibling virus measles, which is most prominent in children. Instead, animals in areas where livestock are the sole source of an owner's livelihood are more likely to become infected compared to herds whose owners rely on a mix of livestock and agriculture.
"Do CEOs matter?" has been a perennial question in management discourse. But "the CEO effect" has been notoriously difficult to isolate -- a moving target caught in the slipstream of dynamic forces that shape firm performance.
PHILADELPHIA (April 6, 2020) - Data show that the number of people with clinically complex health and social needs is growing. Programs designed to support these adults have fallen short and the healthcare system is becoming overtaxed by these "super-utilizers".
Friday, 3rd of April, 2020, London, UK - The Biogerontology Research Foundation, a registered UK charity supporting and promoting aging and longevity research worldwide since 2008, today announced the publication of a paper titled "Geroprotective and senoremediative strategies to reduce the comorbidity, infection rates, severity, and lethality in gerophilic and gerolavic infections" in the leading journal Aging.
At the SuperKEKB Collider, scientists have performed the first searches of invisibly decaying low mass boson particles. The results come from the Belle II experiment--an experiment mainly dedicated to studying B mesons, which are rare, unstable particles composed by a beauty quark and other lighter quarks. Belle II creates B mesons by colliding electrons and positrons, but those same collisions can produce other particles. Now, researchers have searched for low mass Z' bosons, hypothetical new particles that could connect ordinary and dark matter.