Tech
PHILADELPHIA -- Medicaid expansion has helped more young, low-income adults with advanced kidney disease to avoid the costs and poor quality-of-life associated with dialysis, reports a study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine from researchers at Drexel University College of Medicine and the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel.
The study included 15,775 United States adults age 21-64 who received a pre-emptive kidney transplant (i.e., a transplant before needing dialysis treatment) from 2010-2017.
Pluripotent cells can give rise to all cells of the body, a power that researchers are eager to control because it opens the door to regenerative medicine and organ culture for transplants. But pluripotency is still a black box for science, controlled by unknown genetic (expression of genes) and epigenetic signals (biochemical marks that control gene expression like on/off switches).
Osaka, Japan - Researchers from Japan's Osaka University have made an important leap in our understanding of how chronic pain conditions develop. In a study published on July 25 in Journal of Neuroscience, the team explains how a protein previously implicated in neuron growth and cell adhesion is also critical for the development of pain sensitization.
The quantity of cosmic dust that trickles down to Earth each year ranges between several thousand and ten thousand tons. Most of the tiny particles come from asteroids or comets within our solar system. However, a small percentage comes from distant stars. There are no natural terrestrial sources for the iron-60 isotope contained therein; it originates exclusively as a result of supernova explosions or through the reactions of cosmic radiation with cosmic dust.
Antarctic Snow Travels around the World
Queen stingless bees face an increased risk of being executed by worker bees if they mate with two males rather than one, according to new research by the University of Sussex and the University of São Paulo.
A colony may kill their queen because of the quality of offspring, according to the paper by Professor Francis Ratnieks, from the University of Sussex, along with colleagues Ayrton Vollet-Neto and Vera Imperatriz-Fonseca from the University of São Paulo, published in a leading evolutionary journal, the American Naturalist.
A first-of-its-kind study has found that specialised psychological programmes for sexual and domestic violence offenders have led to major reductions in reoffending but best results are achieved with consistent input from a qualified psychologist.
By analysing 138 experiments, researchers have mapped the potential of today's plants and trees to store extra carbon by the end of the century.
The results show trees and plants could remove six years of current emissions by 2100, but only if no further deforestation occurs.
The study, led by Stanford University and the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and including Imperial College London researchers, is published in Nature Climate Change.
Connected areas of high-quality forest running through oil palm plantations could help support increased levels of biodiversity, new research suggests.
There is growing pressure to reduce the consumption of palm oil due to concerns over deforestation. However, the research team, led by the University of York, says promoting more sustainable palm oil is a better alternative.
TAMPA, Fla. - Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare, aggressive skin tumor that is diagnosed in approximately 2,000 people each year in the United States. Since MCC affects so few people, it is difficult to study the genetic factors that lead to its development and how those factors correlate with response to therapy. However, Moffitt Cancer Center researchers have developed the largest descriptive genomic analysis of MCC patients to date, in collaboration with Foundation Medicine and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
The 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing has reignited interest in space travel. However, almost any mission beyond the moon, whether manned or unmanned, will require the spacecraft to remain fully operational for at least several years. The Hall thruster is a propulsion system that is often used by craft involved in long missions. A recent study by Andrey Shashkov and co-workers at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Russia has shown how the operating lives of these systems can be further extended; their work was recently published in EPJ D.
Researchers at Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University created decision models capable of predicting which patients might need more treatment for their depression than what their primary care provider can offer. The algorithms were specifically designed to provide information the clinician can act on and fit into existing clinical workflows.
A tiny lab the size of a postage stamp could be the next big thing in the search for safer anti-clotting drugs to prevent heart attacks and strokes.
The effectiveness of current anti-clotting medication can be limited due to the risk of complications, driving a need for alternatives that can both prevent the formation of blood clots and reduce the risk of excessive and life-threatening bleeding.
Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) formed by group 10 metals (e.g. PtSe2, PtTe2) have emerged as important materials with intriguing properties discovered both in bulk single crystals and atomically thin films. While bulk PtSe2 and PtTe2 are type-II Dirac semimetals, monolayer (ML) PtSe2 film is a semiconductor with helical spin texture induced by local Rashba effect. However, the properties of atomically thin PtTe2 films and the evolution with film thickness remain unexplored.
Feeling unhappy and cranky? The treatment: take a walk under some trees in the park.
That may not be the exact prescription of your doctor, but a first-of-its-kind study shows that visitors to urban parks use happier words and express less negativity on Twitter than they did before their visit--and that their elevated mood lasts, like a glow, for up to four hours afterwards.
DURHAM, N.C. -- A drug used to slow cognitive decline in adults with Alzheimer's disease appears to reverse brain inflammation and neuron damage in rats exposed to alcohol during adolescence.