Tech
Nature has made extravagant use of a simple molecule--DNA, the floorplan of all earthly life.
Inventive researchers have used the same base-pairing properties that bond two strands of DNA into the familiar double helix to build innumerable useful structures at the nanometer scale.
One such method, known as DNA origami, has yielded rich results in recent years, enabling the construction of a rapidly growing menagerie of 2- and 3-dimensional objects, with far-flung applications in material science, nanoelectronics, photonics and the biomedical arena.
Recordings of the sounds in tropical forests could unlock secrets about biodiversity and aid conservation efforts around the world, according to a perspective paper published in Science.
Compared to on-the-ground fieldwork, bioacoustics --recording entire soundscapes, including animal and human activity -- is relatively inexpensive and produces powerful conservation insights. The result is troves of ecological data in a short amount of time.
UPTON, NY--This holiday season, scientists at the Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN)--a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility at Brookhaven National Laboratory--have wrapped a box of a different kind. Using a one-step chemical synthesis method, they engineered hollow metallic nanosized boxes with cube-shaped pores at the corners and demonstrated how these "nanowrappers" can be used to carry and release DNA-coated nanoparticles in a controlled way. The research is reported in a paper published on Dec.
A team of experimentalists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory and theoreticians at University of Alabama Birmingham discovered a remarkably long-lived new state of matter in an iron pnictide superconductor, which reveals a laser-induced formation of collective behaviors that compete with superconductivity.
Large differences in radiation doses used for CT scans are mainly due to how the scanners are used by medical staff rather than differences in the patients scanned or the machines used, finds a study in The BMJ today.
Setting more consistent dose standards should therefore be possible and will ensure that patients are not exposed to unnecessary radiation risks.
Quantum computing and quantum information processing technology have attracted attention in recently emerging fields. Among many important and fundamental issues in nowadays science, solving Schroedinger Equation (SE) of atoms and molecules is one of the ultimate goals in chemistry, physics and their related fields. SE is "First Principle" of non-relativistic quantum mechanics, whose solutions termed wave-functions can afford any information of electrons within atoms and molecules, predicting their physicochemical properties and chemical reactions.
Statin treatment exhibits a beneficial effect in patients of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Statins are common treatments for such conditions.
Doctors could get a head start treating cancer thanks to new AI developed at the University of Surrey that is able to predict symptoms and their severity throughout the course of a patient's treatment.
1. Canagliflozin not associated with increased risk for fracture
Abstract: http://annals.org/aim/article/doi/10.7326/M18-0567
Editorial: http://annals.org/aim/article/doi/10.7326/M18-3550
URLs go live when the embargo lifts
LA JOLLA--(December 31, 2018) When we perceive the world around us, certain objects appear to be more noticeable than others, depending on what we do. For example, when we view a forest-covered mountain from a distance, the forest looks like a large green carpet. But as we get closer, we start noticing the individual trees, and the forest fades to the background. What happens in the brain as our experience changes so drastically?
PHILADELPHIA (December 31, 2018) - Imagine trying to figure out how something works when that something takes place in a space smaller than a femtoliter: one quadrillionith of a liter. Now, two scientists with a nose for solving mysteries have used a combination of mathematical modeling, electrophysiology, and computer simulations to explain how cells communicate effectively in highly constricted spaces such as the olfactory cilia, where odor detection takes place.
Bottom Line: Emergency department patients who are sexual or gender minorities reported greater satisfaction when information on sexual and gender identity was collected on forms during registration instead of by nurses who asked about it during the visit.
Animal diseases that infect humans are a major threat to human health, and diseases often spillover to humans from nonhuman primates. Now, researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases have carried out an extensive social sciences evaluation of how populations in Cameroon interact with nonhuman primates, pointing toward behaviors that could put people at risk of infection with new diseases.
For years, the diagnosis of scabies has relied on time-consuming and intrusive full-body examinations. Now, researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases have found that an exam of just a patient's hands, feet and lower legs may have the potential to catch more than 90 percent of all scabies cases, regardless of severity. These speedier exams may be useful in public health assessments on the prevalence of scabies.
New Haven, Conn. -- An all-Yale team of researchers successfully treated a patient with disfiguring sarcoidosis, a chronic disease that can affect multiple organs, with a drug approved for rheumatoid arthritis. Successful treatment of two other patients with similarly severe disease suggests an effective treatment for an incurable, sometimes life-threatening illness is within reach, the scientists said.
The research was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.