Culture
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — China’s control measures during the first 50 days of the COVID-19 epidemic may have delayed the spread of the virus to cities outside of Wuhan by several days and, by interrupting transmission nationwide, prevented more than 700,000 infections across the country, according to an international team of researchers. The findings, published today (March 31) in the journal Science, could be useful to countries that are still in early phases of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Oxford, United Kingdom. A team of medical researchers and bioethicists at Oxford University has published results today in Science that furthers our understanding of coronavirus transmission.
Environmental features attracting older adults to physical activity differ among neighbourhood types
Destinations in nature, such as a lakeside or a walking trail, are the most commonly perceived environmental features motivating older adults to engage in outdoor mobility. In a study conducted at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, it was however observed that reporting a motivating feature did not necessarily mean the same thing as being more physically active.
Some call it baby fat. But recent research has shown that adults have it too--which is a good thing. Brown fat, the so-called good fat that can protect against obesity and associated health risks, like cardiovascular disease and diabetes, is located in small pockets throughout the body. Most mammals use brown fat (and its closely related cousin beige fat) to stay warm.
Despite intensive research effort, the process of metastasis, which allows carcinoma cells to leave the tumor of origin, to migrate and to grow tumors within other organs, is still the leading cause of mortality for cancer patients. It is acknowledged that the acquisition of migrating capacities by cancer cells relies on a process called Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition (EMT). During this process, cancer cells lose their ability to attach to other cells, become independent cells and gain abilities to migrate, thus switching from an epithelial state to a so-called mesenchymal state.
The idea of a complex spider society--in which thousands of spiders live, hunt, and raise their young together in a single colony--is unsettling to many of us. We are perhaps lucky then that this scene is relatively rare among arachnids. Among the 40,000 known species of spiders, the vast majority live solitary lives and will often show aggression toward other spiders they encounter, even within their own species. There are fewer than 25 known species of social spiders, distributed broadly across 6 different families and 9 different genera.
Researchers have developed the first blood test that can accurately detect more than 50 types of cancer and identify in which tissue the cancer originated, often before there are any clinical signs or symptoms of the disease.
In a study involving thousands of participants, a new blood test detected more than 50 types of cancer as well as their location within the body with a high degree of accuracy, according to an international team of researchers led by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Mayo Clinic.
First comprehensive estimates from mainland China of the proportion of people with COVID-19 who required hospitalisation, and latest death rate estimates, both show sharp increases with age. Authors warn that without intervention the number of people needing hospital treatment is likely to overwhelm even the most advanced healthcare systems worldwide, though caution that as the pandemic unfolds, it is possible that outcomes could improve and it will be important to revise estimates in this study.
Key findings:
The machine learning techniques scientists use to predict outcomes from large datasets may fall short when it comes to projecting the outcomes of people's lives, according to a mass study led by researchers at Princeton University in a collaboration with researchers across many institutions, including Virginia Tech.
This mass collaboration, called the Fragile Families Challenge, represents a cohort of scientists that build statistical and machine-learning models to predict and measure life outcomes for children, parents, and households across the United States.
One promising way to treat diabetes is with transplanted islet cells that produce insulin when blood sugar levels get too low. However, patients who receive such transplants must take drugs to prevent their immune systems from rejecting the transplanted cells, so the treatment is not often used.
New Rochelle, NY, March 30, 2020--A new study quantifies the future economic burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in women with a history of preterm delivery (PTD). The study, which used a novel Markov microsimulation model to quantify CVD burden in terms of cost and years of life lost over a 50-year period, is published in Journal of Women's Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.
The investigational drug evinacumab reduced low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol to near-normal levels among patients with a rare cholesterol disorder, meeting the primary endpoint in the first randomized placebo-controlled trial of the drug, which is being presented at the American College of Cardiology's Annual Scientific Session Together with World Congress of Cardiology (ACC.20/WCC).
Rochester, MN, March 30, 2020 - Patients with underlying health conditions such as hypertension, heart failure, and chronic kidney disease are at increased risk of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Physicians, healthcare professionals, researchers, and patients are actively debating the potential influence of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) in patients during the COVID-19 outbreak.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- The mighty Calusa ruled South Florida for centuries, wielding military power, trading and collecting tribute along routes that sprawled hundreds of miles, creating shell islands, erecting enormous buildings and dredging canals wider than some highways. Unlike the Aztecs, Maya and Inca, who built their empires with the help of agriculture, the Calusa kingdom was founded on fishing.