Tech
T cells play a huge role in our immune system's fight against modified cells in the body that can develop into cancer. Phagocytes and B cells identify changes in these cells and activate the T cells, which then start a full-blown program of destruction. This functions well in many cases - unless the cancer cells mutate and develop a kind of camouflage that let them escape the immune system undetected. Researchers at the University of Freiburg and the Leibniz University Hannover (LUH) have now described how a key protein in this process known as "immune escape" becomes activated.
Authors caution that given the lack of a robust and detailed timeline of records of suspected, probable, and confirmed cases and close contacts, the true size of the epidemic and its pandemic potential remains unclear.
New modelling research, published in The Lancet, estimates that up to 75,800 individuals in the Chinese city of Wuhan may have been infected with 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) as of January 25, 2020.
Theoretical physicists from Trinity College Dublin have found a deep link between one of the most striking features of quantum mechanics - quantum entanglement - and thermalisation, which is the process in which something comes into thermal equilibrium with its surroundings.
Their results are published today [Friday 31st January 2020] in the prestigious journal Physical Review Letters.
We are all familiar with thermalisation - just think how your coffee reaches room temperature over time. Quantum entanglement on the other hand is a different story.
Physicists at Washington University in St. Louis have proposed a way to use data from ultra-high energy neutrinos to study interactions beyond the standard model of particle physics. The 'Zee burst' model leverages new data from large neutrino telescopes such as the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica and its future extensions.
In the face of a changing climate, the process of accounting greenhouse gas emissions is becoming ever more critical. Governments around the world are striving to hit reduction targets using Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidelines to limit global warming. To have a chance of hitting these targets, they need to know how to accurately calculate and report emissions and removals.
Chi Chen, a Boston University graduate researcher, and Ranga Myneni, a BU College of Arts & Sciences professor of earth and environment, released a new paper that reveals how humans are helping to increase the Earth's plant and tree cover, which absorbs carbon from the atmosphere and cools our planet. The boom of vegetation, fueled by greenhouse gas emissions, could be skewing our perception of how fast we're warming the planet.
Lawmakers have focused a great deal of attention on alleviating the opioid public health crisis, while at the same time addressing across-the-board concerns regarding affordability of healthcare. State level Medicaid expansion through the Affordable Care Act is one of those efforts, which targets low-income non-elderly adult populations, who tend to be more at risk of substance use disorders.
Zoo improvements should benefit all animals and include a wide range of "enrichment" techniques, researchers say.
Zoos have made great advances in "environmental enrichment" - making changes to encourage natural behaviour and improve animal wellbeing.
But researchers from the University of Exeter and the University of Winchester say efforts disproportionally focus on large, "popular" animals - with less focus on creatures such as invertebrates, fish and reptiles.
Songs that Sing the Crisis: Music, Words, Youth Narratives and Identities in Late Modernity is the title of a special issue of the journal Young (Nordic Journal of Youth Research) to be published on 1 February, now available online, that reflects on the role of music as an expression of the crisis. It contains case studies of musical genres rap, punk, folk metal, black metal, fado, reggaeton and mahraganat in countries like Spain, Portugal, Finland, Ireland and Egypt.
What impact will self-driving cars have on public health? The Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), an institute supported by "la Caixa", has taken part in a study that analysed the potential risks and benefits of autonomous vehicles for public health. The conclusions of the study, published in the Annual Review of Public Health, indicate that this new type of mobility could benefit public health if the cars are electric and the model used is based on ridesharing.
Nearly 40 years ago, analog data tapes faithfully recorded intense seismic activity in the two months before the historic eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington State in May 1980. It took some lengthy and careful restoration efforts--including a turn in a kitchen oven for some of the tapes--to recover their data.
ITHACA, N.Y. - Soil scientists from Cornell and Rice Universities have dug around and found that although adding carbon organic matter to agricultural fields is usually advantageous, it may muddle the beneficial underground communication between legume plants and microorganisms.
PHOENIX, Ariz. -- Jan. 30, 2019 -- Melding the genetic and cellular analysis of tumors with how they appear in medical images could give physicians and other cancer therapy specialists new insights into how to best treat patients, especially those with brain cancer, according to a new study led by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), an affiliate of City of Hope.
A vegetarian diet may be associated with a lower risk of urinary tract infections (UTIs), a study in Scientific Reports suggests.
UTIs are usually caused by gut bacteria, such as E. coli, which enter the urinary tract through the urethra and affect the kidneys and bladder. Previous research has shown that meat is a major reservoir for E. coli strains known to cause UTIs, but it is unknown whether avoiding meat reduces the risk of UTIs.