Six days after a prone and restrained George Floyd died under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien dismissed charges that racism is rampant among police by arguing that “a few bad apples” are giving police “a terrible name.”
Category: Research Results
Unique access: Doctors, nurses in COVID-19 epicenter aided by proactive personality
A new study from Notre Dame offers the first examination of proactive personality in times of immediate response to a crisis — the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic at a hospital in Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak.
Sleep loss hijacks brain’s activity during learning
Sleep is crucial for consolidating our memories, and sleep deprivation has long been known to interfere with learning and memory.
On the way to lifelike robots
In order for robots to be able to achieve more than simple automated machines in the future, they must not only have their own “brain”. Empa researchers postulate that artificial intelligence must be expanded to include the capabilities of a Physical Artificial Intelligence, PAI. This will redefine the field of robotics and the relationship between man and machine.
Racially Diverse Congregations in U.S. Have Nearly Tripled in the Past 20 Years, Baylor University Study Finds
Racially diverse congregations have nearly tripled in the United States over the past 20 years, according to a Baylor University study. But racial desegregation in American religion still faces difficulties.
Employment insecurity linked to anxiety and depression among young adults during COVID-19
Young adults may be less susceptible to the serious adverse health effects of COVID-19, but they have not been absolved from economic and employment downturns — and there has been little research on how employment insecurity has affected them.
Genetic Risk for Fatal Blood Clots Identified in IBD Patients
Blood clots are the biggest cause of death in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) ─ ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease. In a retrospective study recently published in the journal Gastroenterology, Cedars-Sinai investigators found that a combination of rare and common genetic variants in some IBD patients significantly increased their risk of developing clot-causing thromboembolic diseases.
Vitamin C’s effectiveness against COVID may hinge on vitamin’s natural transporter levels
High doses of vitamin C under study for treating COVID-19 may benefit some populations, but investigators exploring its potential in aging say key factors in effectiveness include levels of the natural transporter needed to get the vitamin inside cells.
From 84 Days to 5 Hours: Telemedicine Reduces Dermatology Consult Time
Allowing primary care doctors to take photos and send them to dermatologists improved access to specialty care
More Young Adults Are Thinking About Suicide and Death, National Survey Finds
More than one-third of young adults in the United States report having thoughts of death and suicide, while nearly half show at least moderate symptoms of depression, according to a nationwide survey led by researchers from Rutgers University–New Brunswick, Harvard Medical School, Northeastern, Harvard and Northwestern universities.
Sorting out viruses with machine learning
The ongoing global pandemic has created an urgent need for rapid tests that can diagnose the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the pathogen that causes COVID-19, and distinguish it from other respiratory viruses.
Scientists discover possible genetic target for treating endometriosis
Michigan State University researchers have identified a potential genetic target for treating an especially painful and invasive form of endometriosis.
University of Pittsburgh Neuroscientists Advance Understanding of Pain from Light Touch
Researchers from the Pittsburgh Center for Pain Research uncovered additional complexities behind mechanical allodynia – the sensation of pain from innocuous stimuli, such as light touch.
Advanced Photon Source at the heart of COVID-19 research
Argonne scientists, working as part of a national consortium of structural genomics experts, have greatly increased our knowledge of the virus that causes COVID-19.
Professional Athletes May Not Suffer More Severe Cognitive Impairment Than Others, Study Indicates
DALLAS – Nov. 11, 2020 – Even though repeated hits to the head are common in professional sports, the long-term effects of concussions are still poorly understood. While many believe that professional athletes who experience multiple concussions will end up with severe cognitive impairment later in life, a UT Southwestern study suggests that may not necessarily be the case.
Conservatives and Liberals Motivated by Different Psychological Factors, New Study Shows
Liberalism and conservatism are associated with qualitatively different psychological concerns, notably those linked to morality, shows a new study.
Family talks about finances impact students’ money views
Students whose families talked openly about money reported feeling less stress and higher optimism when it came to money management and their future finances.
Research helps improve a key ingredient in vegetable oil
Plant breeding advances will help farmers growing oil palm, an important oilseed crop
3D-printed weather stations could enable more science for less money
3D printing and low-cost sensors have made it possible to build a weather station for a few hundred dollars. Could these inexpensive, homegrown versions perform as well as their pricier counterparts?
Researchers 3D print biomedical parts with supersonic speed
Forget glue, screws, heat or other traditional bonding methods. A Cornell University-led collaboration has developed a 3D printing technique that creates cellular metallic materials by smashing together powder particles at supersonic speed.
Chemicals in your living room cause diabetes
A new UC Riverside study shows flame retardants found in nearly every American home cause mice to give birth to offspring that become diabetic.
MacGyvering a low-cost way to decontaminate PPE equipment
University of Delaware researchers, led by biomedical engineer Jason Gleghorn, have devised a system for decontaminating N95 masks using off-the-shelf materials that can be purchased at a hardware store for about $50, combined with ultraviolet type C (UV-C) lights found in academic research and industrial facilities.
Mount Sinai Develops Machine Learning Models to Predict Critical Illness and Mortality in COVID-19 Patients
Mount Sinai researchers have developed machine learning models that predict the likelihood of critical events and mortality in COVID-19 patients within clinically relevant time windows.
Study: Loneliness Highest in the 20s and Lowest in the 60s
Seeking to develop effective interventions, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine examined the psychological and environmental factors that lead to patterns of loneliness in different age groups.
How COVID-19 wastewater research can protect the elderly and vulnerable
Wastewater detection of COVID-19 is being used across the US to prevent spread of COVID-19 in college dormitories-now experts are figuring how to use this technology to help another population that lives together in close conditions but at a much greater risk: the elderly residents of nursing homes.
Don’t be fooled by pretty food, USC research warns
As the holiday season nears, thoughts of pumpkin pies, roasted chestnuts and turkey dinners fill our dreams and our grocery shopping lists. While visions of holiday food may be pleasing to the eyes and tantalizing to the palate, it would be a mistake to conclude that pretty food is healthier than other food.
Smart Devices to Schedule Electricity Use May Prevent Blackouts
Power plants generate electricity and send it into power lines that distribute energy to nodes where it can be used. But if the electricity load is more than the system’s capacity, transmission can fail, leading to a cascade of failures throughout the electric grid. In the journal Chaos, researchers show demand side control may be an effective solution to stabilizing the reliability of power grids that use a mix of energy generation sources.
Plasma Treatments Quickly Kill Coronavirus on Surfaces
Researchers from UCLA believe using plasma could promise a significant breakthrough in the fight against the spread of COVID-19. In Physics of Fluids, modeling conducted showed strains of the coronavirus on surfaces like metal, leather, and plastic were killed in as little as 30 seconds of treatment with argon-fed, cold atmospheric plasma. The researchers used an atmospheric pressure plasma jet they built with a 3D printer to spray surfaces that were treated with SARS-CoV-2 cultures.
Improving High-Energy Lithium-Ion Batteries with Carbon Filler
Lithium-ion batteries are the major rechargeable power source for many portable devices as well as electric vehicles, but their use is limited, because they do not provide high power output while simultaneously allowing reversible energy storage. Research reported in Applied Physics Reviews aims to offer a solution by showing how the inclusion of conductive fillers improves battery performance.
Valves on N95 Masks Do Not Filter Exhaled Droplets
Matthew Staymates, fluid dynamicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, is studying different mask types to determine which are the most effective at reducing disease transmission. In Physics of Fluids, he describes exploring the basic flow dynamics of N95 masks with or without exhalation valves. To do this, he generates stunning video from his schlieren imaging, a method to visualize the fluid flow away from the surface of an object, and light scattering.
Weight loss shouldn’t be the goal of PE
For adults, the goal of exercise is often to shed some pounds, but new research from the University of Georgia suggests the objective should be different for kids.
Study: Crop diversification can improve environmental outcomes without sacrificing yields
Diversifying agricultural systems beyond a narrow selection of crops leads to a range of ecosystem improvements while also maintaining or improving yields, according to a new study that analyzed thousands of previously conducted experiments. Diversification practices such as crop rotations and planting prairie strips can lead to “win-win” results that protect the environment without sacrificing yields, according to the analysis.
Mindfulness interventions can change health behaviors – Integrated model helps to explain how they work
A growing body of evidence supports the effectiveness of mindfulness approaches to promote positive changes in health behaviors. New neurobiologically based models of “mindful self-regulation” help to explain the how mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) work to help people make healthy behavior changes, according to a review in the November/December issue of Harvard Review of Psychiatry. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.
Making 3-D Nanosuperconductors with DNA
Scientists developed a platform for making 3-D superconducting nano-architectures with a prescribed organization.
Scientists use bacteria as micro-3D printers
A team at Aalto University has used bacteria to produce intricately designed three-dimensional objects made of nanocellulose. With their technique, the researchers are able to guide the growth of bacterial colonies through the use of strongly water repellent – or superhydrophobic – surfaces.
Do Neurosurgeons Face Sexual Harassment in Their Profession?
Do neurosurgeons face sexual harassment in their profession? Yes. A survey on this matter was developed and disseminated to members of the neurosurgical community. The results of this survey have been published in a new article in the Journal of Neurosurgery.
Taking a scalpel to opioid painkiller risks: New surgery research shows progress and opportunities
A wave of new studies shows what happens when surgical teams work together to reduce the emphasis on, and supply of, opioid painkillers while still seeking to ease surgery patients’ pain.
Urban gulls adapt foraging schedule to human activity patterns
If you’ve ever seen a seagull snatch some fries or felt their beady eyes on your sandwich in the park, you’d be right to suspect they know exactly when to strike to increase their chances of getting a human snack.
A new study by the University of Bristol is the most in-depth look to date at the foraging behaviours of urban gulls and how they’ve adapted to patterns of human activity in a city.
Scientists speed up artificial organoid growth and selection
The method currently used to produce stem cell-derived tissues has a very limited throughput. By semi-automating tissue differentiation, researchers from MIPT and Harvard have made the process nearly four times faster, without compromising on quality. The new algorithm is also useful for analyzing the factors that affect cell specialization.
Sweet taste reduces appetite?
The sweet taste of sugar, energy intake and the regulatory process of hunger and satietyTo date, very little is known about how sweetness perception contributes to satiety. This study, conducted by an Austrian-German team led by chemists Veronika Somoza and Barbara Lieder, provides new insights into the relationship between the sweet taste of sugar, energy intake and the regulatory process of hunger and satiety.
Machine Learning Advances Materials for Separations, Adsorption, and Catalysis
An artificial intelligence technique — machine learning — is helping accelerate the development of highly tunable materials known as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) that have important applications in chemical separations, adsorption, catalysis, and sensing.
‘Pinprick’ biomarker blood test offers diagnostic potential for HPV-related cancers – clinical study shows rising antibody levels predict the course of cancer
A potential breakthrough in the early detection of the neck, head and anal cancers linked to human papilloma viruses (HPV) has emerged. It is based on a highly specific diagnostic test that appears to indicate cancer, and predict its course, from just a pinprick of blood.
Microbe “Rewiring” Technique Promises a Boom in Biomanufacturing
Berkeley Lab researchers have achieved unprecedented success in modifying a microbe to efficiently produce a compound of interest using a computational model and CRISPR-based gene editing. Their approach could dramatically speed up the research and development phase for new biomanufacturing processes, getting advanced bio-based products, such as sustainable fuels and plastic alternatives, on the shelves faster.
Analysis of Trump’s tweets reveals systematic diversion of the media
New research published today in Nature Communications claims to provide the first evidence-based analysis demonstrating the US President’s Twitter account has been routinely deployed to divert attention away from a topic potentially harmful to his reputation, in turn suppressing negative related media coverage.
Diseases of despair diagnoses increase in Pennsylvania
Medical diagnoses involving alcohol-related disorders, substance-related disorders and suicidal thoughts and behaviors – commonly referred to as diseases of despair – increased in Pennsylvania health insurance claims between the years 2007 and 2018, according to researchers.
Uncovering Novel Genomes from Earth’s Microbiomes
Reported in Nature Biotechnology, the known diversity of bacteria and archaea has been expanded by 44% through a publicly available collection of more than 52,000 microbial genomes from environmental samples resulting from a JGI-led collaboration involving more than 200 scientists around the world.
5 mistakes people make when sharing COVID-19 data visualizations on Twitter
An analysis of coronavirus-related information sharing on Twitter from the School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI found five common errors made by average citizens when trying to visually convey the scope of the COVID-19 pandemic, or its effects on society.
Alloy-Forming Duo Unites to Amp Up Possibilities for Ethanol
Scientists have developed a novel catalyst that converts pure ethanol into a highly valued class of alcohols that can serve as building blocks for everything from solvents to jet fuel.
Simultaneous kidney transplant plus weight loss surgery safe for obese patients
A new study shows that robotic-assisted kidney transplant and weight loss surgery can be performed safely.
Underinsured Transgender Americans More Likely to Turn to Riskier Sources for Gender-Affirming Hormones
People who are transgender and lack access to insurance coverage for gender-affirming hormone therapy are more likely to turn to sources other than a licensed health care provider, a new Michigan Medicine-led study finds.