Culture

Researchers discovered a procedure to restore defective graphene oxide structures that cause the material to display low carrier mobility. By applying a high-temperature reduction treatment in an ethanol environment, defective structures were restored, leading to the formation of a highly crystalline graphene film with excellent band-like transport. These findings are expected to come into use in scalable production techniques of highly crystalline graphene films.

As a result of the overuse or misuse of antibiotics, antimicrobial resistant superbugs represent an extraordinary threat to global health. This threat is particularly great in India, the world's largest consumer of antibiotics and the country facing the highest burden of tuberculosis (TB) in the world.

Canada's tissue manufacturers are now much closer to producing the perfect paper, thanks to new UBC research.

A team working with UBC mechanical engineering professors Sheldon Green and Srikanth Phani have created what is likely the first complete mathematical model of creping, the crinkling process that helps make tissue paper soft and resilient.

A new survey of US doctors reveals they are frequently discussing electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) with patients in a clinical setting. A substantial proportion of physicians also recommend e-cigs to their patients who smoke despite some controversy around the devices.

Over 70% of the more than 560 physicians who participated in the written survey indicated that e-cigs can help patients reduce or eliminate smoking, and nearly half said that they believe e-cigs can reduce risk. Physicians are less likely to recommend e-cigs as a way to quit smoking.

(Vienna, 24 August 2016) New research published in the UEG Journal1 has found that Crohn's disease sufferers experience slower response times than matched individuals that do not have the disease.

The research project "The Social Costs of incarceration" is the largest study of imprisonment and return to a normal life that has ever been conducted in Europe.

In the study, researchers looked at prison sentences linked to recidivism. In addition, the researchers looked at the extent to which former inmates have returned to work. What makes the project unique is linking large administrative data sets to data sets from the courts.

Are there any ways of preventing or delaying the development of Alzheimer's disease or other forms of age-associated dementia? While several previously published studies have suggested a protective effect for cognitive activities such as reading, playing games or attending cultural events, questions have been raised about whether these studies reveal a real cause-and-effect relationship or if the associations could result from unmeasured factors.

CHAPEL HILL, NC - Jason Katz, MD, MHS, associate professor of medicine at UNC School of Medicine and medical director of the cardiac intensive care unit, was the lead author of a recently published manuscript in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology that examined the early growth and maturation of critical care cardiology, and the challenges and uncertainties that threaten to stymie the growth of this fledgling discipline.

The fascination with the ability of geckos to scamper up smooth walls and hang upside down from improbable surfaces has entranced scientists at least as far back as Aristotle, who noted the reptile's remarkable feats in his History of Animals.

But it wasn't until about 15 years ago, when researchers were definitively able to attribute the gecko's powers of adhesion to nanoscale threads in the gecko's toes, that the practical possibilities of biomimicry at microscopic levels caught the imagination of researchers in earnest.

WASHINGTON -- Seniors with traditional Medicare coverage who have more continuity of care - defined as consistently seeing the same physician in an outpatient setting - have lower chances of visiting an emergency department, according to the results of a study published online earlier this month in Annals of Emergency Medicine ("Relationship Between Continuity of Ambulatory Care and Risk of Emergency Department Episodes Among Older Adults").

WASHINGTON --Protocols allowing nurses to administer certain types of treatment in the emergency department can dramatically shorten length of stay for patients with fever, chest pain, hip fractures and vaginal bleeding during pregnancy, according to the results of a study published earlier this month in Annals of Emergency Medicine ("A Pragmatic Randomized Evaluation of a Nurse-Initiated Protocol to Improve Timeliness of Care in an Urban Emergency Department").

Neuherberg, August 24, 2016. Especially in late summer, apprehension about wasp stings increases amongst allergy sufferers. So-called hyposensibilisation therapy can help, but it is linked to a heavy burden on patients and health insurers. Researchers at the Helmholtz Zentrum München and the Technical University Munich have now presented a method in the journal Allergy, which facilitates a personalised procedure.

Fertility experts are calling on the companies who make the solutions in which embryos are cultured during in vitro fertilisation (IVF) to give a clear list of ingredients following publication of a trial that shows that the composition of these laboratory cultures affects the outcomes of the resulting embryos and babies.

It appears that acupuncture may be a viable option for pain management when it comes to pediatric patients who have complex medical conditions, according to new research published by Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare in St. Paul, Minnesota. The study found that a significant portion of children who have chronic care conditions - many of whom are already on numerous medications - might benefit from the use of the low-risk and non-toxic benefits of acupuncture.

SEATTLE -- As the U.S. experiences sharp increases in drug overdoses, researchers in Delaware are using geo-mapping to look at the state, neighborhood by neighborhood, to identify "hot spots" where the use of prescription fentanyl -- an extremely powerful synthetic opiate, which recently attracted national attention as the drug that caused Prince's death -- and other opiates is especially prevalent.