Culture
Just as the sun has planets and the planets have moons, our galaxy has satellite galaxies, and some of those might have smaller satellite galaxies of their own. To wit, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a relatively large satellite galaxy visible from the Southern Hemisphere, is thought to have brought at least six of its own satellite galaxies with it when it first approached the Milky Way, based on recent measurements from the European Space Agency's Gaia mission.
A new therapy could combat persistent joint infections in horses, potentially saving them from years of pain. Morris Animal Foundation-funded researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) lysate that, when teamed with antibiotics, can eradicate bacterial biofilms common in joint infections. The therapy could also be applied to other species, including humans and dogs.
Prions are a class of misfolded proteins that form aggregates called "amyloid fibrils." These aggregates are the main culprit behind severe mammalian neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's. What makes them so deadly is that they are capable of transmitting their erroneous conformation to otherwise healthy proteins, causing an imbalance in cellular function. Currently, there are no effective treatments for fatal prion diseases, mainly because studying mammalian prions is challenging.
Bird species that have the capacity to express novel foraging behaviours are less vulnerable to extinction than species that do not, according to a collaborative study involving McGill University and CREAF Barcelona and published today in Nature Ecology & Evolution.
The researchers found that birds that were able to incorporate new foods into their diet or develop new techniques to obtain food were better able to withstand the environmental changes affecting their habitat, which represent their main threat of extinction.
Scientists from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IPC PAS) in cooperation with the Faculty of Chemistry of the Warsaw University of Technology (WUT) have developed a new, solvent-free method for the encapsulation of drug molecules in MOF (Metal-Organic Framework) porous materials.
In satellite photos of the Earth, clouds of bright green bloom across the surface of lakes and oceans as algae populations explode in nutrient-rich water. From the air, the algae appear to be the primary players in the ecological drama unfolding below.
But those single-celled organisms we credit for influencing the aquatic environment at the base of the food chain may be under the influence of something else: viruses whose genes can reconfigure their hosts' metabolism.
Biofuels are an important part of the broader strategy to replace petroleum-based gasoline, diesel, and jet fuels that we use today. However, biofuels have so far not reached cost parity with conventional petroleum fuels.
People with aortic stenosis and a low surgical risk became eligible for a less invasive valve replacement last summer, spurring increased demand for the catheter-based procedure called TAVR. But only a subset of U.S. hospitals, including Michigan Medicine's Frankel Cardiovascular Center, are able to offer transcatheter aortic valve replacement.
New Medicare rules have lowered procedural volume requirements for hospitals who wish to offer TAVR to their patients.
But will this truly allow more people to get a TAVR who had trouble accessing the procedure before?
Researchers have shown how a by-product of steel making can be used to both treat wastewater and make stronger concrete, in a zero-waste approach to help advance the circular economy.
Produced during the separation of molten steel from impurities, steel slag is often used as a substitute aggregate material for making concrete.
Steel slag can also be used to absorb contaminants like phosphate, magnesium, iron, calcium, silica and aluminium in the wastewater treatment process, but loses its effectiveness over time.
The lungs are constantly exposed to the external environment and maintain homeostasis by adapting to stress and tissue damage. Furthermore, lung function is known to decrease with age so respiratory failure can occur if their structure or function breaks down. It is therefore important for aging societies around the world to search for factors inside and outside the body that directly affect lung function.
The world has been hit hard by coronavirus, and health services and authorities everywhere are struggling to reduce the spread, combat the disease and protect the population. Nevertheless, the pandemic will cost lives throughout the world. An environmental researcher from Aarhus University has studied whether there could be a link between the high mortality rate seen in northern Italy, and the level of air pollution in the same region. The short answer is "yes possibly". The long answer is in the article below.
Study from University of Warwick reveals dynamics of the protein assemblies that make up cellular 'muscles'
The dumbbell-shaped protein myosin II is similar to the one in our own muscles
New microscopy technique applied to visualise label free ensembles of myosin for first time
Self-organising ensembles could provide a model for future smart materials
The movements of cell muscles in the form of tiny filaments of proteins have been visualised at unprecedented detail by University of Warwick scientists.
Atomic bomb tests conducted during the Cold War have helped scientists for the first time correctly determine the age of whale sharks.
The discovery, published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, will help ensure the survival of the species - the largest fish in the world - which is classified as endangered.
Measuring the age of whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) has been difficult because, like all sharks and rays, they lack bony structures called otoliths that are used to assess the age of other fish.
Ann Arbor, April 6, 2020 - A new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, published by Elsevier, reports valuable new grip strength metrics that provide healthcare practitioners with an easy-to-perform, time-efficient screening tool for type 2 diabetes (T2DM).
The ice giant Uranus' unusual attributes have long puzzled scientists. All of the planets in our Solar System revolve around the Sun in the same direction and in the same plane, which astronomers believe is a vestige of how our Solar System formed from a spinning disc of gas and dust. Most of the planets in our Solar System also rotate in the same direction, with their poles orientated perpendicular to the plane the planets revolve in. However, uniquely among all the planets, Uranus' is tilted over about 98 degrees.