The sense of hearing is, quite literally, a molecular tightrope act. Turns out, it involves acrobatics as well.
Category: Research Results
SURVEY: MOST AMERICANS SAY THEY’LL CONTINUE HEALTH PRECAUTIONS AFTER COVID-19
A new national survey of more than 2,000 Americans by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center finds most plan to continue many of the pandemic precautions in the name of public health, even when the pandemic is over.
Happy childhood? That’s no guarantee for good mental health
It’s well understood that a difficult childhood can increase the likelihood of mental illness, but according to new research from the University of South Australia, a happy and secure childhood does not always protect a child from developing a mental illness later in life.
Macular Degeneration Patients May Be At Greater Risk of COVID Complications
Patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) who become infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, are at higher risk of developing severe complications including requiring supplemental oxygen and death.
Peginterferon-lambda shows strong antiviral action to accelerate clearance of COVID-19
A clinical study led by Dr. Jordan Feld, a liver specialist at Toronto Centre for Liver Disease, University Health Network (UHN), showed an experimental antiviral drug can significantly speed up recovery for COVID-19 outpatients – patients who do not need to be hospitalized. This could become an important intervention to treat infected patients and help curb community spread, while COVID-19 vaccines are rolled out this year.
No more material world? Post-pandemic consumerism can expect a seismic shift
For many people in the world today, life is now divided clearly into two eras: before and after COVID-19. This epochal demarcation will shift how people buy and consume goods.
Gap between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ is being widened by the COVID pandemic, an IU study found
A new study by Indiana University found women, younger individuals, those with lower levels of formal education, and people of color are being hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Ramanujan Machine
Using AI and computer automation, Technion researchers have developed a “conjecture generator” that creates mathematical conjectures, which are considered to be the starting point for developing mathematical theorems. They have already used it to generate a number of previously unknown formulas.
Chinese scientists use knowledge from climate system modeling to develop a global prediction system for the COVID-19 pandemic
At the time of writing, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is seriously threatening human lives and health throughout the world.
Convalescent Plasma Improved Survival in COVID-19 Patients with Blood Cancers
Treatment with convalescent plasma vastly improved the survival rate of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 who also had hematologic malignances that compromise the immune system, according to new data released by the COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium (CCC19).
ASDS Introduces Evidence-based Recommendations to Prevent and Treat Adverse Events of Injectable Fillers
The American Society for Dermatologic Surgery (ASDS) multispecialty Soft-tissue Fillers Guideline Task Force has released its evidence-based recommendations for physicians performing injectable filler procedures. The guideline, published in the February 2021 issue of Dermatologic Surgery, specifically addresses the prevention and treatment of adverse events from injectable filler treatments.
Signs of burnout can be detected in sweat
We’ve all felt stressed at some point, whether in our personal or professional lives or in response to exceptional circumstances like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Anticancer drug may improve outcome for severe COVID-19 patients
Treating severe COVID-19 patients with the anticancer drug bevacizumab may reduce mortality and speed up recovery, according to a small clinical study in Italy and China that was led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden between February and April 2020.
Raised mortality from cardiac arrest in people with COVID-19
Sudden cardiac arrest is more often fatal in people with COVID-19, a new study shows. Those responsible for the research see the results as a wake-up call for the public and care providers alike.
Computer can determine whether you’ll die from COVID
Using patient data, artificial intelligence can make a 90 percent accurate assessment of whether a person will die from COVID-19 or not, according to new research at the University of Copenhagen.
Health Disparities and COVID-19, Toxicity of E-cigarette Generated Aerosols, and More Featured in February 2021 Toxicological Sciences
Toxicological Sciences continues to feature leading toxicology research in the areas of developmental and reproductive toxicology; endocrine toxicology; neurotoxicology; molecular, biochemical, and systems toxicology; and more.
Fee payments to access COVID-19 relief funds threaten household financial security and economic recovery
A new round of COVID-19 relief payments is likely. These relief payments, which propose distributing $1,400 to qualifying adults, will be the third such payment offered since the beginning of the pandemic—the first round of payments occurred in the summer of 2020 offering up to $1,200 per adult and the second round of payments were distributed in the winter offering $600.
Study: ‘Hidden’ genes could be key in development of new antibiotics
A study from the Center for Phage Technology, part of Texas A&M’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Texas A&M AgriLife Research, shows how the “hidden” genes in bacteriophages — types of viruses that infect and destroy bacteria — may be key to the development of a new class of antibiotics for human health.
Global climate trend since Dec. 1 1978: +0.14 C per decade
Global Temperature Report: January 2021
with New Reference Base, 1991-2020
Pandemic Increases Substance Abuse, Mental Health Issues For Those Struggling With Obesity
DALLAS – Feb. 5, 2021 – The COVID-19 pandemic is having a detrimental impact on substance use, mental health, and weight-related health behaviors among people with obesity, according to a new study by researchers at UT Southwestern and the UTHealth School of Public Health.
Researchers find link between children’s time perception and risk for developmental coordination disorder
Neuroscientists at McMaster University have found a link between children who are at risk for developmental coordination disorder (DCD), a common condition that can cause clumsiness, and difficulties with time perception such as interpreting changes in rhythmic beats.
Climate change may have driven the emergence of SARS-CoV-2
A new study published today in the journal Science of the Total Environment provides the first evidence of a mechanism by which climate change could have played a direct role in the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic.
Johnson & Johnson Seeks FDA Emergency Use Authorization for COVID-19 Vaccine
Rutgers was the second-largest Phase 3 clinical research trial site for Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, which applied for emergency use authorization today from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
‘Where did I park my car?’ Brain stimulation improves mental time travel
You might remember you ate cereal for breakfast but forget the color of the bowl. Or recall watching your partner put the milk away but can’t remember on which shelf.
City, University of London academic tracks COVID-19 dark web marketplaces
New research carried out by City data scientist, Dr Andrea Baronchelli, and colleagues, into the dark web marketplace (DWM) trade in products related to COVID-19, has revealed the need for the continuous monitoring of dark web marketplaces (DWMs), especially in light of the current shortage and availability of coronavirus vaccines.
New guidance on how cardiac patients with diabetes can exercise more safely
Cardiac patients who also have diabetes will be able to do their rehabilitation exercises more safely, thanks to the world’s first guidance on the subject, which has been published by international experts including a Swansea University academic.
‘Audeo’ teaches artificial intelligence to play the piano
A University of Washington team created Audeo, a system that can generate music using only visual cues of someone playing the piano.
SARS-CoV-2 under the helium ion microscope for the first time
Scientists at Bielefeld University’s Faculty of Physics have succeeded for the first time in imaging the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus with a helium ion microscope.
Machine learning algorithm may be the key to timely, inexpensive cyber-defense
Attacks on vulnerable computer networks and cyber-infrastructure — often called zero-day attacks — can quickly overwhelm traditional defenses, resulting in billions of dollars of damage and requiring weeks of manual patching work to shore up the systems after the intrusion. Now, a Penn State-led team of researchers used a machine learning approach, based on a technique known as reinforcement learning, to create an adaptive cyber defense against these attacks.
Study shows flu vaccine lessens COVID-19 symptoms in children
Researchers from the University of Missouri School of Medicine have discovered that children who receive a seasonal flu shot are less likely to suffer symptoms from a COVID-19 infection.
A personal benefit of social distancing: lower odds of getting COVID-19
Considering the greater good by social distancing during a pandemic turns out to have an attractive personal benefit: A new study has found that staying away from others also reduces an individual person’s chances of contracting COVID-19.
Synthesized Very-Long-Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Improved Retinal Function in Mice
A University of Utah Health ophthalmologist is investigating how lipids known as VLC-PUFAs could be used to prevent eye disease thanks to a new way to synthesize them for research.
Dialysis patients have 4-fold greater risk of dying from COVID-19
People undergoing long-term dialysis are almost 4 times more likely to die from COVID-19 and should be prioritized for vaccination, found a new Ontario study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).
States with More Gun Laws Have Lower Youth Gun Violence, Rutgers Study Finds
Gun violence among children is lower in states with more gun laws, according to a Rutgers-led study.
Imaging technique provides link to innovative products
A study led by University of Georgia researchers announces the successful use of a new nanoimaging technique that will allow researchers to test and identify two-dimensional materials.
Updated Numbers: GW’s Program on Extremism Tracking Criminal Cases Linked to the Attack on Capitol Hill
The George Washington University Program on Extremism has continued to update a project that is tracking individuals charged with crimes related to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Zinc may help with fertility during COVID-19 pandemic, researchers report
Wayne State University researchers have reported that zinc supplements for men and women attempting to conceive either naturally or through assisted reproduction during the COVID-19 pandemic may prevent mitochondrial damage in young egg and sperm cells.
As climate change cranks up the heat in the Mojave Desert, not all species are equally affected
A new study shows how climate change is having a much greater impact on birds than small mammals in the Mojave Desert in the southwestern United States. The study could inform conservation practices and shed new light on how climate change affects various species differently. The research drew on cutting-edge computer modeling as well as survey data from more than 100 years ago.
Top Pharmacologist Offers Plan to Solve Lingering Disparities in Designing Medicines that Work for All
In a new perspective piece published in the Feb. 5 issue of Science, pharmacologist Namandje Bumpus, Ph.D. — who recently became the first African American woman to head a Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine department, and is the only African American woman leading a pharmacology department in the country — outlines the molecular origins for differences in how well certain drugs work among distinct populations. She also lays out a four-part plan to improve the equity of drug development.
Human immune cells have natural alarm system against HIV
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a potential way to eradicate the latent HIV infection that lies dormant inside infected immune cells. Studying human immune cells, the researchers showed that such cells have a natural alarm system that detects the activity of a specific HIV protein. Rather than attack the virus based on appearance, this strategy is to attack the virus based on what it is doing — vital activities that are required for the virus to exist.
Fecal Transplant Turns Cancer Immunotherapy Non-Responders into Responders
A phase II clinical trial shows that changing the gut microbiome through fecal transplant can transform cancer patients who never responded to immunotherapy into patients who do.
Food Allergies Are More Common Among Black Children
Black children have significantly higher rates of shellfish and fish allergies than White children, in addition to having higher odds of wheat allergy, suggesting that race may play an important role in how children are affected by food allergies, researchers at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Rush University Medical Center and two other hospitals have found.
COVID-19 vaccine from new vaccine platform effective in mice
It is necessary to develop additional COVID-19 vaccines, as different vaccine approaches have their advantages and disadvantages and may work synergistically.
Time management can work but in unexpected ways, according to new research
If you have a second, try typing “time management” into your favourite search engine.
COVID-19 cases in India underreported by more than 20 million, according to new study
A new study, led by professors at the University of Chicago and Duke University, found that COVID-19 cases in the southern state of Karnataka, India, are nearly 95 times greater than reported.
FSU researcher finds restoring trust in government can help limit crises like COVID-19
By: Mark Blackwell Thomas | Published: February 4, 2021 | 12:31 pm | SHARE: A Florida State University researcher has found that trust in government can be restored even in places where it’s lagged for decades and in the process help limit the impact of crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. Dotan Haim, assistant professor of political science, studied war-torn villages in the rural Philippines where residents have little faith in the effectiveness of government.
Unusual 2019-2020 flu season linked to more transmissible strain
The 2019-2020 flu season in the U.S. was unusual in a number of ways. Cases picked up in August rather than the more typical fall and early winter months, and it hit children particularly hard.
Uncovering a Link Between Inflammation and Heart Disease
In a new study in Circulation, researchers from Tufts University School of Medicine in collaboration with investigators at Vanderbilt University and Tufts Medical Center reveal a mechanism that is activating T cells, a type of immune cell, and causing inflammation in the heart.
Global warming found to be culprit for flood risk in Peruvian Andes, other glacial lakes
Human-caused warming is responsible for increasing the risk of a glacial outburst flood from Peru’s Lake Palcacocha, threatening the city below. This study is the first to directly link climate change with the risk of flooding from glacial lakes, which are growing in number and size worldwide.
“Stealthy” Stem Cells Better for Treating Tendon Injuries in Horses
Treating equine donor stem cells with a growth factor called TGF-β2 may allow them to avoid “tripping” the immune response in recipients, according to new research from North Carolina State University.