Tech
Botox, a medication derived from a bacterial toxin, is commonly injected to ease wrinkles, migraines, muscle spasms, excessive sweating and incontinence. Forehead injection of the medication is also currently being tested in clinical trials for its ability to treat depression.
WHAT:
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions have discovered another set of pore-like holes, or channels, traversing the membrane-bound sac that encloses the deadliest malaria parasite as it infects red blood cells. The channels enable the transport of lipids--fat-like molecules--between the blood cell and parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. The parasite draws lipids from the cell to sustain its growth and may also secrete other types of lipids to hijack cell functions to meet its needs.
A way of shrinking the devices used in quantum sensing systems has been developed by researchers at the UK Quantum Technology Hub Sensors and Timing, which is led by the University of Birmingham.
Sensing devices have a huge number of industrial uses, from carrying out ground surveys to monitoring volcanoes. Scientists working on ways to improve the capabilities of these sensors are now using quantum technologies, based on cold atoms, to improve their sensitivity.
What The Viewpoint Says: This article summarizes recommendations made in a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report about how to safely reopen and operate elementary and secondary schools for the 2020-2021 school year, which emphasizes the need for partnerships with public health officials and community leaders, and for transparent communication of risks and rewards that will result from every policy decision.
Authors: Kenne A. Dibner, Ph.D., of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine in Washington, is the corresponding author.
A new study by researchers at the University of Kentucky identifies a novel function of the enzyme spermine synthase (SMS) to facilitate colorectal cancer growth.
SMS is an enzyme that produces spermine from spermidine, which has been shown to be important for cell growth. However, excessive accumulation of spermidine can have harmful effects on cell viability. How cancer cells maintain a relatively high level of spermidine but below the toxic threshold to facilitate tumor growth is not well understood.
Bisphosphonates have been shown to reduce the risk of osteoporotic fractures. To avoid possible side effects of long-term therapy, many patients take a drug holiday after several years of bisphosphonate therapy. A team from the Department of Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology at Ruhr-Universität Bochum has examined the implications of such drug holidays on fracture risk. They found that in patients who had previously suffered a vertebral fracture, a longer bisphosphonate drug holiday was associated with an increase in the risk of so-called major osteoporotic fractures (MOFs).
Strong wind shear has been the undoing of Tropical Storm Douglas. NASA's Terra satellite provided infrared data revealed the tropical cyclone was devoid of strong storms, indicating wind shear has weakened it.
One Warning Remains for Douglas
On July 29, a Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for portions of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument from Maro Reef to Lisianski.
NASA's Terra Satellite Reveals Effects of Wind Shear
Each year, millions of monarch butterflies migrate across eastern North America to fly from as far north as the U.S.-Canadian border to overwinter in central Mexico -- covering as much as 3,000 miles. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Rocky Mountains, western monarchs generally fly 300 miles down to the Pacific Coast to spend the winter in California. It was long believed that the eastern and western monarchs were genetically distinct populations.
After being dethroned last year, German chemical giant BASF is once again number one in C&EN's annual Global Top 50 list of chemical companies for 2019. Chemical & Engineering News, the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, reports that a shakeup in the international chemical markets was brewing even before the upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
A typical recycling process converts large quantities of items made of a single material into more of the same. However, this approach isn't feasible for old electronic devices, or "e-waste," because they contain small amounts of many different materials that cannot be readily separated. Now, in ACS Omega, researchers report a selective, small-scale microrecycling strategy, which they use to convert old printed circuit boards and monitor components into a new type of strong metal coating.
Louisiana State University Associate Professor of Physics Mark M. Wilde and his collaborator have solved a 20-year-old problem in quantum information theory on how to calculate entanglement cost--a way to measure entanglement--in a manner that's efficiently computable, useful, and broadly applicable in several quantum research areas.
AMES, Iowa - You're in the middle of the aorta, the body's pipeline for oxygen-rich blood, looking back toward the heart's primary pump, the left ventricle.
The ventricle muscle contracts and the aortic heart valve's three leaflets explode open and blood flows by at up to 200 centimeters a second. And what's this?
Those three leaflets are flapping in the flow - fluttering, in engineering terms. That's a problem. It could lead to leaflet tearing, calcium deposits, fatigue failure, even damage to the blood flowing by.
Extensive power outages and satellite blackouts that affect air travel and the internet are some of the potential consequences of massive solar storms. These storms are believed to be caused by the release of enormous amounts of stored magnetic energy due to changes in the magnetic field of the sun's outer atmosphere - something that until now has eluded scientists' direct measurement. Researchers believe this recent discovery could lead to better "space weather" forecasts in the future.
A treatment for multiple myeloma that harnesses the body's cancer-fighting T cells was safe in humans and showed preliminary signs of effectiveness, according to a clinical trial involving 23 patients with relapsed or treatment-resistant disease. Although more research is needed to determine how well the treatment works, the trial results indicate that the regimen may be safer than other cell therapies and may improve outcomes in people with advanced multiple myeloma.