Tech
A new study from the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology describes how existing infrared technology can be adapted to measure recognition memory and other cognitive outcomes in infants.
Influenza-specific bone marrow plasma cells - responsible for maintaining the level of protective antibodies following a flu shot - are short-lived, and decline to their pre-vaccination levels within a year, researchers report. While the findings help explain the lackluster persistence of the antibody response often observed from the annual influenza vaccination, the new study offers insight into how the longevity of the next generation of vaccines could be enhanced.
Since the late 1990s, immunotherapy has been the frontline treatment against lymphomas where synthetic antibodies are used to stop the proliferation of cancerous white blood cells. However, in the more than 20 years since their use began, the molecular mechanisms that underlie this therapy are still little understood. For the first time, scientists from the CNRS, Institut Pasteur and Université de Bordeaux have observed the interaction between therapeutic antibodies and their target protein.
Key knowledge gaps exist in our understanding of how ocean microplastics transport bacteria and viruses - and whether this affects the health of humans and animals, researchers say.
With millions of tons of plastic reaching the world's oceans every year - and trillions of particles floating on the surface - the potential impacts of plastic pollution are vast.
Plastic particles are known to carry specific combinations of metals, pollutants and pathogens (bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms that can cause disease).
What The Article Says: Researchers report the clinicopathologic and autopsy findings observed in the olfactory system of two patients with SARS-CoV-2-positive nasal swabs.
Authors: Patrizia Morbini M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Pavia in Pavia, Italy, is the corresponding author.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jamaoto.2020.2366)
Chronic pain is one of the most important health priorities of the 21st century, with a socioeconomic cost that may far exceed other most other medical problems. It is the leading reason why people stop working prematurely, and a leading cause of loss of independence in the elderly leading to requirements for care. And the magnitude of the problem continues to increase as society ages. The lack of effective drugs for pain has led to an urgency to develop new treatments, with technology-based approaches being an potentially important avenue for innovation.
Perovskite and organic solar cells are promising options for future generations of solar cells. Over recent years, their efficiency has rapidly caught up with that of conventional silicon-based cells.
"The best perovskite solar cells currently achieve efficiency levels of 25 percent," says Peter Mueller-Buschbaum, Professor of Functional Materials at the TUM Department of Physics. "These thin solar cells, less than one micrometer thick, applied to ultra-thin, flexible synthetic sheet, are extremely lightweight. They can therefore produce nearly 30 watts per gram."
Researchers have developed a new test that can diagnose COVID-19 in just 20 minutes.
The findings, published in the Journal of Medical Microbiology, show the rapid molecular test called N1-STOP-LAMP, is 100% accurate in diagnosing samples containing SARS-CoV-2 at high loads.
Researchers from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences found that the projected uncertainty of the precipitation increase over global land monsoon regions by the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) models was mainly due to the spread of circulation changes across models.
Their study was published in Geophysical Research Letters on June 9.
It is known that different regions of the brain help us prioritize information so we can efficiently process visual scenes. A new study by a team of neuroscientists has discovered that one specific region, the occipital cortex, plays a causal role in piloting our attention to manage the intake of images.
The work, which appears in the latest issue of the journal Current Biology, relies on a method, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), which helps illuminate this dynamic.
From Sinatra to Katy Perry, celebrities have long sung about the power of a smile - how it picks you up, changes your outlook, and generally makes you feel better. But is it all smoke and mirrors, or is there a scientific backing to the claim?
Groundbreaking research from the University of South Australia confirms that the act of smiling can trick your mind into being more positive, simply by moving your facial muscles.
"Blue whirls" -- small, spinning blue flames that produce almost no soot when they burn -- have attracted great interest since their discovery in 2016, in part because they represent a potential new avenue for low-emission combustion.
Now, a team of researchers at the University of Maryland and Texas A&M University has identified how these intriguing whirls are structured. Their findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances on August 12, 2020.
An international task force, including two University of Massachusetts Amherst computer scientists, concludes in new research that mobile health (mHealth) technologies are a viable option to monitor COVID-19 patients at home and predict which ones will need medical intervention.
The technologies - including wearable sensors, electronic patient-reported data and digital contact tracing - also could be used to monitor and predict coronavirus exposure in people presumed to be free of infection, providing information that could help prioritize diagnostic testing.
North Carolina State University researchers have demonstrated a new technique for creating ultrasound images. The new approach is substantially simpler than existing techniques and could significantly drive down technology costs.
NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite provided a night-time image of Elida in the Eastern Pacific Ocean that helped confirm the storm had weakened to a post-tropical cyclone.
What is a Post-tropical Cyclone?