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UrduTraumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and disability. Post-injury distress is common, with many individuals experiencing chronic anxiety and depressive symptoms as well as chronic pain.
Category: Research Results
Machine learning unearths signature of slow-slip quake origins in seismic data
Combing through historical seismic data, researchers using a machine learning model have unearthed distinct statistical features marking the formative stage of slow-slip ruptures in the earth’s crust months before tremor or GPS data detected a slip in the tectonic plates. Given the similarity between slow-slip events and classic earthquakes, these distinct signatures may help geophysicists understand the timing of the devastating faster quakes as well.
Species competition and cooperation influence vulnerability to climate change
Organisms need to work together to adapt to climate change, especially in the presence of competitors, suggests a new study published today in eLife.
High fructose diet in pregnancy impacts metabolism of offspring, study finds
An increased level of fructose intake during pregnancy can cause significant changes in maternal metabolic function and milk composition and alter the metabolism of their offspring, researchers from the University of Otago, Wellington, have found.
The historical partnership that revolutionized battery research at Argonne
Argonne battery scientist Michael Thackeray highlights the ongoing research into manganese-based lithium-ion batteries, and how his work with Nobel Prize winner John B. Goodenough in the 80s has informed today’s studies.
UCI cyber-physical security researchers highlight vulnerability of solar inverters
Irvine, Calif., Aug. 18, 2020 – Cyber-physical systems security researchers at the University of California, Irvine can disrupt the functioning of a power grid using about $50 worth of equipment tucked inside a disposable coffee cup. In a presentation delivered at the recent Usenix Security 2020 conference, Mohammad Al Faruque, UCI associate professor of electrical engineering & computer science, and his team revealed that the spoofing mechanism can generate a 32 percent change in output voltage, a 200 percent increase in low-frequency harmonics power and a 250 percent boost in real power from a solar inverter.
Picture this: Employee fraud decreases when they see family photos
Displaying family photos in the workplace cuts down on employee fraud and other unethical behavior, new Washington University in St. Louis research finds. For instance, in one study the researchers conducted, participants who looked at pictures of family or friends filed expense reports claiming about $8 less on average than workers without pictures. While $8 may not seem like much, it can add up quickly.
Half of breast cancer survivors had delays in care due to COVID-19
The results of an online questionnaire of 609 breast cancer survivors in the U.S. suggest that nearly half of patients experienced delays in care during the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study, by researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago, is published in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment.
Cool New Worlds Found in Our Cosmic Backyard
How complete is our census of the Sun’s closest neighbors? Astronomers using NSF’s NOIRLab facilities and a team of data-sleuthing volunteers participating in Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, a citizen science project, have discovered roughly 100 cool worlds near the Sun — objects more massive than planets but lighter than stars, known as brown dwarfs. Several of these newly discovered worlds are among the very coolest known, with a few approaching the temperature of Earth — cool enough to harbor water clouds.
Surprising Coral Spawning Features Revealed
When stony corals have their renowned mass spawning events, in sync with the moon’s cycle, colonies simultaneously release an underwater “cloud” of sperm and eggs for fertilization. But how do the sperm and eggs survive several hours as plankton, given threats from predators, microbes and stresses such as warming waters? A Rutgers-led team has discovered some surprising features in coral sperm and eggs (collectively called gametes), according to a study in the journal PeerJ.
Cold-weather accounts for almost all temperature-related deaths
With the number of extreme weather days rising around the globe in recent years due to global warming, it is no surprise that there has been an upward trend in hospital visits and admissions for injuries caused by high heat over the last several years. But cold temperatures are responsible for almost all temperature-related deaths, according to a new study published in the journal Environmental Research.
Biomedical scientists piece together how medication paralyzes parasitic worms
A new study upends the widely held belief that a medication used to treat lymphatic filariasis doesn’t directly target the parasites that cause the disease. The research shows the medication, diethylcarbamazine, temporarily paralyzes the parasites.
LJI team gets first-ever look at a rare but vital stem cell in humans
Scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) have tracked down the rare stem cells that generate neutrophils in human bone marrow. This research, published August 18, 2020, in Immunity, gives researchers a potential path for intervening in diseases where neutrophil development goes awry.
These drugs carry risks & may not help, but many dementia patients get them anyway, study finds
Nearly three-quarters of older adults with dementia have filled prescriptions for medicines that act on their brain and nervous system, but aren’t designed for dementia, a new study shows. That’s despite the special risks that such drugs carry for older adults — and the lack of evidence that they actually ease dementia-related behavior problems.
Using A Public Restroom? Mask Up!
Think you don’t need to worry about COVID-19 while using a public restroom? Researchers from Yangzhou University in China recently reported that flushing public restroom toilets can release clouds of virus-laden aerosols for you to potentially inhale. If that’s not cringeworthy enough, after running additional computer simulations, they’ve concluded that flushing urinals does likewise. In Physics of Fluids, the group shares its work simulating and tracking virus-laden particle movements when urinals are flushed.
Climate Change Impact on Green Energy Production
As the climate of the planet is changing, many researchers are looking to more renewable energy sources. In the Journal of Sustainable and Renewable Energy, researchers investigate whether the power generated by solar and wind farms would differ between current and future climates. The researchers focused on sites in Australia where variable renewable generators are located or are likely to be located in the future based on the Australian Energy Market Operator’s system plan.
Humid Air Can Extend Lifetime of Virus-Laden Aerosol Droplets
The novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is thought to spread through natural respiratory activities, but little is known about how the virus is transported through the air. Scientists report in Physics of Fluids on a study of how airflow and fluid flow affect exhaled droplets that can contain the virus. Their model includes a more accurate description of air turbulence that affects an exhaled droplet’s trajectory. Calculations with their model reveal, among other things, an important and surprising effect of humid air.
Trace Vapor Generator for Detecting Explosives, Narcotics
Trace vapor detection technologies are crucial for ensuring reliable and safe detection of explosives and illegal drugs. Researchers have developed a compact testing device called the Trace Vapor Generator for Explosives and Narcotics, which is portable and can be used for non-contact sampling of these vapors. In Review of Scientific Instruments, the team reports the TV-Gen can accurately generate trace vapors of low vapor pressure compounds and can produce vapors in complex backgrounds.
New tool improves fairness of online search rankings
In a new paper, Cornell University researchers introduce a tool they’ve developed to improve the fairness of online rankings without sacrificing their usefulness or relevance.
Study Debunks Robocall Myths, Lays Groundwork For Stopping Them
New research finds that the number of robocalls isn’t going up, and that answering a robocall doesn’t make you more likely to get additional robocalls. However, stories you’ve heard about individuals getting hundreds of back-to-back unsolicited calls? Those are true.
Acidic Niche Keeps Lymphatic System in Check during Immune Response, Moffitt Researchers Say
In a new article published in Nature Communications, Moffitt Cancer Center researchers describe a novel acidic niche within lymph nodes that plays an integral role in regulating T cell activation.
Live Press Conference: Targeting iron uptake to create a new class of antibiotics against UTIs
A press conference on this topic will be held Tuesday, Aug. 19, at 1 p.m. Eastern time online at www.acs.org/fall2020pressconferences.
Live Press Conference: Mixing silk with polymers could lead to better biomedical implants
A press conference on this topic will be held Tuesday, Aug. 20, at 9 a.m. Eastern time online at www.acs.org/fall2020pressconferences.
Live Press Conference: ‘Cyborg’ technology could enable new diagnostics, merger of humans and AI
A press conference on this topic will be held Tuesday, Aug. 19, at 10 a.m. Eastern time online at www.acs.org/fall2020pressconferences.
Scan For Arterial Plaque is Better At Predicting Heart Attack Than Stroke
DALLAS – Aug. 18, 2020 – The amount of calcified plaque in the heart’s arteries is a better predictor of future heart attacks than of strokes, with similar findings across sex and racial groups, according to new research from UT Southwestern.
Smartphones Are Lowering Student’s Grades, Study Finds
The ease of finding information on the internet is hurting students’ long-term retention and resulting in lower grades on exams, according to a Rutgers University–New Brunswick study.
New building block in plant wall construction
University of Adelaide researchers as part of a multidisciplinary, international team, have uncovered a new biochemical mechanism fundamental to plant life.
The research, published in The Plant Journal details the discovery of the enzymatic reaction involving carbohydrates present in plant cell walls, which are essential for their structure.
Evolution in real-time: How bacteria adapt to their hosts
Some bacteria become increasingly infectious when they have to move from cell to cell in order to survive. Bacteria that invade animal cells in order to multiply are widespread in nature. Some of these are pathogens of humans and animals. In the environment, they are often found inside unicellular organisms. A research team led by Matthias Horn at the Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science at the University of Vienna has made use of laboratory experiments to gain a better understanding of how these bacteria adapt to their host cell over time and become increasingly infectious under certain conditions.
Escape Artists: How Vibrio Bacteria Break Out of Cells
DALLAS – Aug. 18, 2020 – As soon as the foodborne pathogen Vibrio parahaemolyticus infects a human intestinal cell, the bacteria are already planning their escape. After all, once it is in and multiplies, the bacterium must find a way out to infect new cells.
Low-Cost Home Air Quality Monitors Prove Useful for Wildfire Smoke
Published recently in the journal Sensors, a new study by Berkeley Lab air quality scientists tested four models of low-cost air quality monitors during actual wildfire pollution events and found that their readings of PM2.5 – or particulate matter under 2.5 microns, which has been linked to respiratory and cardiovascular issues – were consistently higher than the reference monitor used by the regulatory agencies; however, since each monitor had a relatively consistent response to the smoke, it is possible to use the readings to estimate true PM2.5 levels. Overall, the researchers concluded that the monitors can provide actionable information.
Data omission in key EPA insecticide study shows need for critical review of industry analysis
For nearly 50 years, a statistical omission tantamount to data falsification sat undiscovered in a critical study at the heart of regulating one of the most controversial and widely used pesticides in America — chlorpyrifos.
Airing commercials after political ads actually helps sell nonpolitical products
About $7 billion reportedly will be spent this fall on television and digital commercials from political campaigns and political action committees, filling the airwaves with political ads many viewers dislike. Companies running ads immediately afterward have been concerned about the potential of a negative spillover effect on how they and their products and services are perceived. But new research from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business finds that the opposite is true. Contrary to mainstream thought, political ads instead yield positive spillover effects for nonpolitical advertisers.
Live Press Conference: Pothole repair made eco-friendly using grit from wastewater treatment
A press conference on this topic will be held Tuesday, Aug. 18, at 12 p.m. Eastern time online at www.acs.org/fall2020pressconferences.
Pothole repair made eco-friendly using grit from wastewater treatment
Potholes can cause billions of dollars of damage every year to automobiles. Today, scientists report a new way to repair roads — by using a remnant of wastewater treatment called grit. They will present their results at the American Chemical Society Fall 2020 Virtual Meeting & Expo.
People Who Feel Their Lives Are Threatened Are More Likely to Experience Miracles
People who experience threats to their existence — which these days may well be economic and political instability — are more likely to experience miracles, according to a Baylor University study.
Consideration of both the potential and constraints of reforestation is needed to achieve climate mitigation goals: NUS-led study
A recent study led by NUS researchers showed that practical considerations, beyond where trees could be planted, may limit the climate change mitigation potential of reforestation. Hence, there is a need to understand how these constraints operate to inform climate policies.
Wide Variation Across Hospitals in Nurse Staffing Is Threat to Public’s Health
According to a new study published today in BMJ Quality & Safety, many hospitals in New York and Illinois were understaffed right before the first surge of critically ill Covid-19 patients. The study, “Chronic Hospital Nurse Understaffing Meets Covid-19,” documented staffing ratios that varied from 3 to 10 patients for each nurse on general adult medical and surgical units. ICU nurse staffing was better but also varied significantly across hospitals.
Targeted therapy combination effective for patients with advanced cholangiocarcinoma and BRAF mutations
In a Phase II trial led by MD Anderson researchers, a combination targeted therapy acheived a 51% overall response rate in patients with cholangiocarcinoma and BRAF V600E mutations. This is the first prospective study for this group of patients.
Evidence reviews support avoiding opioid prescriptions for sprains and strains: McMaster
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses demonstrate that opioids fail to achieve important benefits beyond alternative interventions with less harm.
Targeting the LANDO pathway holds a potential clue to treating Alzheimer’s disease
Reducing neuroinflammation by disrupting a protein involved in recycling cellular components may provide a potential therapeutic approach for treating neurodegeneration and memory loss.
New findings could help scientists tame damaging heat bursts in fusion reactors
Physicists at PPPL discover a new trigger for edge localized modes (ELMs) — instabilities that can halt fusion reactions and damage the tokamaks that house such reactions.
Targeted treatment for depression could benefit patients with psychosis
Patients with early onset psychosis may benefit from treatment for depression, including with anti-depressants alongside other medication, new research shows.
Low humidity increases COVID risk; another reason to wear a mask
Dry air could prompt further disease spread
Potency-enhancing drugs linked to decreased risks in men with colorectal cancer
A new study from Lund University and Region Skåne in Sweden indicates that potency-enhancing PDE5 inhibitor drugs have an anti-cancer potential with the ability to improve the prognosis in patients with colorectal cancer. PDE5 inhibitors include a few approved drugs in which sildenafil (Viagra) is the most well-known.
Long-term exposure to traffic noise may impact weight gain in the UK population
Transport noise is a major problem in Europe, with over 100 million people living in areas where road traffic noise exceeds levels greater than 55dB, the health-based threshold set by the EU.
Army and Illinois researchers design, test protein that may lead to COVID-19 therapeutic
A novel receptor protein that binds to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and prevents it from entering cells may hold promise for treating COVID-19 and other coronavirus-related diseases, according to research published online Aug. 4 in the journal SCIENCE.
Mild COVID-19 cases can produce strong T cell response
Mild cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can trigger robust memory T cell responses, even in the absence of detectable virus-specific antibody responses, researchers report August 14 in the journal Cell.
More than half of the world’s oceans already impacted by climate change
More than 50 percent of the world’s oceans already could be impacted by climate change, with this figure rising to 80 percent over the coming decades, a research team including Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) oceanographer Paul Durack has found using global ocean salinity, temperature observations and a large suite of global climate models.
Global warming is changing our plant communities
Although Live Oak trees are common in South Florida today, Ken Feeley, a University of Miami biology professor, said their time here may be fleeting.
New research reveals effect of global warming on Greenland ice melt
New analysis of almost 30 years’ worth of scientific data on the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet predicts global sea level rise of at least 10 centimetres by the end of the 21st Century if global warming trends continue.