Culture
Nicotinamide, a form of vitamin B3, can inhibit aggressive cell transformations during wound healing and may be key to the development of therapies to treat fibrotic eye diseases that impair vision, according to a new Mount Sinai study published on Thursday, April 2, in Stem Cell Reports.
Published in Communications Biology, the study explored the molecular interactions that occur in our response to varying levels of nutrients, otherwise known as nutrient-sensing pathways, as we grow older.
TORONTO, April 2, 2020 - Women academics are less likely than men to comment on published research, limiting scholarly debate, a new study co-authored by York University sociologist Professor Cary Wu, shows. According to the study, women are also relatively less likely to comment on their male counterparts, published research.
As part of their efforts to slow the outbreak of coronavirus, governments, research institutions and industry are developing contact tracing apps to record interactions between people. The apps warn users if one of the people they have been recorded as being in contact with is later diagnosed with COVID-19 so they can take appropriate steps like self-isolation.
Such apps could prove useful in avoiding long-term confinement measures. However they collect sensitive information like location data, Bluetooth-enabled proximity information, and whether individuals are infected.
WASHINGTON, April 2, 2020 -- Cold brew may be the hottest trend in coffee-making, but not a lot is known about how this process alters the drink's chemical characteristics. Scientists now report that the content of potentially health-promoting antioxidants in coffee brewed without heat can significantly differ from a cup of joe prepared with the same beans in the traditional way, particularly for dark roasts.
In the final few minutes of a spacecraft landing it is moving at hypersonic speeds through many layers of atmosphere. Knowing the air density outside of the vehicle can have a substantial effect on its angle of descent and ability to hit a specific landing spot. But air density sensors that can withstand the harsh hypersonic conditions are uncommon.
A new study in Nature Communications proposes a method to extend polygenic scores, the estimate of genetic risk factors and a cornerstone of the personalized medicine revolution, to individuals with multiple ancestral origins. The study was led by Dr. Davide Marnetto from the Institute of Genomics of the University of Tartu, Estonia and coordinated by Dr. Luca Pagani from the same institution and from the University of Padova, Italy.
A newly developed wireless biologging network (WBN) enables high-resolution tracking of small animals, according to a study published April 2 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Simon Ripperger of the Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, and colleagues. As noted by the authors, WBNs could close an important gap in biologging: the fully automated tracking and proximity-sensing of small animals, even in closed habitats, at high spatial and temporal resolution.
Researchers have found strong evidence that the risk for armed conflict is higher after a climate-related disaster, but only in vulnerable countries.
Lead author Tobias Ide from the University of Melbourne said the disasters include storms, floods and droughts - the frequency and intensity of which will increase in the future, due to climate change.
You wait ages for a pterosaur and then four come along at once.
Hot on the heels of a recent paper discovering three new species of pterosaur, University of Portsmouth palaeobiologists have identified another new species - the first of its kind to be found on African soil.
Pterosaurs are the less well-known cousins of dinosaurs. They had adept flying ability - some as large as a fighter jet and others as small as a model aeroplane.
Since its beginnings, quantum mechanics hasn't ceased to amaze us with its peculiarity, so difficult to understand. Why does one particle seem to pass through two slits simultaneously? Why instead of specific predictions can we only talk about evolution of probabilities? According to theorists from universities in Warsaw and Oxford, the most important features of the quantum world may result from the special theory of relativity, which until now seemed to have little to do with quantum mechanics.
The risk for violent clashes increases after weather extremes such as droughts or floods hit people in vulnerable countries, an international team of scientists finds. Vulnerable countries are characterized by a large population, political exclusion of particular ethnic groups, and low development. The study combines global statistical analysis, observation data and regional case study assessments to yield new evidence for policy-makers.
Sustainable energy storage is in great demand. Researchers at Uppsala University have therefore developed an all-organic proton battery that can be charged in a matter of seconds. The battery can be charged and discharged over 500 times without any significant loss of capacity. Their work has been published in the scientific journal Angewandte Chemie.
Open biomass burning (OBB) has a significant impact on regional air quality, especially on the heavy haze pollution in Northeast China (NEC) in recent years. Recent research published in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters provides scholars and decision-makers with a more comprehensive and long-term analysis of the spatiotemporal patterns of OBB in NEC.
Doctors need to pay particular attention to patients with endocrine disorders and diabetes mellitus in relation to COVID-19 infections, say leading endocrinologists.
In an editorial published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, they say data from Wuhan province in China, where the pandemic started, has revealed that patients with diabetes mellitus were over-represented in the group of people who become severely ill and also among those who died.