INFORMATION:
Smoking cannabis significantly impairs vision, study finds
Smoking cannabis significantly impairs vision but many users are unaware of it
2021-04-13
(Press-News.org) A study carried out by the University of Granada indicates that smoking cannabis significantly alters key visual functions, such as visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, three-dimensional vision (stereopsis), the ability to focus, and glare sensitivity
Yet, more than 90% of users believe that using cannabis has no effect on their vision, or only a slight effect
A group of researchers from the Department of Optics of the University of Granada (UGR) has studied the effects of smoking cannabis on various visual parameters compared to the effect that the users themselves perceive the drug to have on their vision.
This study, led by Carolina Ortiz Herrera and Rosario González Anera, has been published in the journal Scientific Reports. Its main author, Sonia Ortiz Peregrina, explains that cannabis use is on the rise despite being an illegal drug. According to the national Survey on Alcohol, Drugs and Other Addictions in Spain 2019-2020, cannabis use nationally has increased since 2011, with 37% of Spanish adults having used this drug at some time. Approximately 10% consumed it in the last year.
In this study, which had the approval of the Human Research Ethics Committee of the UGR (ref. 921/CCEIH/2019), an exhaustive visual trial was conducted on 31 cannabis users, both when they had not consumed any substance in advance and also when they were under the effect of the drug. The researchers also studied the participants' perception of the visual effects of having consumed this drug.
The results showed that, following consumption, visual aspects such as visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, three-dimensional vision (stereopsis), the ability to focus, and glare sensitivity significantly worsened. Despite this, not all subjects reported a worsening of their vision after smoking cannabis. Indeed, 30% reported that their vision had not suffered at all, while 65% responded that it had worsened only slightly. The authors note that the visual parameter that could be most strongly linked to users' perception of the visual effect is contrast sensitivity.
The study found a negative effect on all of the visual parameters evaluated, with the effect of cannabis on some of the parameters being analysed for the first time in this research. These results, together with the lack of awareness that the participants presented about the visual impairment caused by smoking cannabis, indicate the need to carry out awareness-raising campaigns, as this visual deterioration can pose a danger when performing everyday tasks.
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
US power sector is halfway to zero carbon emissions
2021-04-13
Concerns about climate change are driving a growing number of states, utilities, and corporations to set the goal of zeroing out power-sector carbon emissions. To date 17 states plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico have adopted laws or executive orders to achieve 100% carbon-free electricity in the next couple of decades. Additionally, 46 U.S. utilities have pledged to go carbon free no later than 2050. Altogether, these goals cover about half of the U.S. population and economy.
These are ambitious targets, but a new look at the past 15 years in the electricity sector shows that large reductions in emissions are possible.
New research from the Department of Energy's Lawrence ...
Northern Star Coral study could help protect tropical corals
2021-04-13
As the Rhode Island legislature considers designating the Northern Star Coral an official state emblem, researchers are finding that studying this local creature's recovery from a laboratory-induced stressor could help better understand how to protect endangered tropical corals.
A new study published today in mSystems, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology, investigates antibiotic-induced disturbance of the coral (Astrangia poculata) and shows that antibiotic exposure significantly altered the composition of the coral's mucus bacterial microbiome, but that all the treated corals recovered ...
Study of US tuna fisheries explores nexus of climate change, sustainable seafood
2021-04-13
A new study published in Elementa by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz and NOAA examines traditional aspects of seafood sustainability alongside greenhouse gas emissions to better understand the "carbon footprint" of U.S. tuna fisheries.
Fisheries in the United States are among the best managed in the world, thanks to ongoing efforts to fish selectively, end overfishing, and rebuild fish stocks. But climate change could bring dramatic changes in the marine environment that threaten seafood productivity and sustainability. That's one reason why researchers ...
Researchers develop new method for putting quantum correlations to the test
2021-04-13
Physicists from Swansea University are part of an international research collaboration which has identified a new technique for testing the quality of quantum correlations.
Quantum computers run their algorithms on large quantum systems of many parts, called qubits, by creating quantum correlations across all of them. It is important to verify that the actual computation procedures lead to quantum correlations of desired quality.
However, carrying out these checks is resource-intensive as the number of tests required grows exponentially with the number of qubits involved.
Researchers from the College of Science, working with colleagues from Spain ...
Novel guidelines help select optimal deconvolution method
2021-04-13
Biomedical scientists are increasingly using deconvolution methods, those used to computationally analyze the composition of complex mixtures of cells. One of their challenges is to select one method that is appropriate for their experimental conditions among nearly 50 available.
To help with method selection, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children's Hospital have extensively evaluated 11 deconvolution methods that are based on RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) data analysis, determining each method's ...
Inside the protein channel that keeps bacteria alive
2021-04-13
Almost all bacteria rely on the same emergency valves--protein channels that pop open under pressure, releasing a deluge of cell contents. It is a last-ditch effort, a failsafe that prevents bacteria from exploding and dying when stretched to the limit. If we understood how those protein channels worked, antibiotic drugs could be designed to open them on demand, draining a bacterium of its nutrients by exploiting a floodgate common to many species.
But these channels are tricky to operate in the lab. And how precisely they open and close, passing through a sub-conducting state and ending in a desensitized state under the influence of mechanical forces, remains poorly understood. Now, new research from ...
COVID-19 in our dust may help predict outbreaks, study finds
2021-04-13
A study done in rooms where COVID-19 patients were isolated shows that the virus's RNA - part of the genetic material inside a virus - can persist up to a month in dust.
The study did not evaluate whether dust can transmit the virus to humans. It could, however, offer another option for monitoring COVID-19 outbreaks in specific buildings, including nursing homes, offices or schools.
Karen Dannemiller, senior author of the study, has experience studying dust and its relationship to potential hazards like mold and microbes.
"When the pandemic started, we really wanted to find a way that we could help ...
NIH experts discuss post-acute COVID-19
2021-04-13
WHAT:
Many people who have COVID-19 make a full recovery and return to their baseline state of health; however, some people have symptoms or other sequelae weeks or months after initial SARS-CoV-2 infection. These heterogeneous symptoms were the subject of the virtual "Workshop on Post-acute Sequelae of COVID-19" hosted on Dec. 2 and 4, 2020, by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), in collaboration with other institutes and centers of the National Institutes of Health. A paper published recently in Annals of Internal Medicine ...
Researchers reveal aging signatures across diverse tissue cells in mice
2021-04-13
Researchers have identified molecular signatures of the aging process in mice, publishing their results today in the open-access eLife journal.
Their analyses provide one of the most comprehensive characterisations of the molecular signatures of aging across diverse types of cells from different tissues in a mammal, and will aid future studies on aging and related topics.
Aging leads to the decline of major organs and is the main risk factor for many diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. While previous studies have highlighted different hallmarks of the aging process, the underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms ...
Study warns of 'oxygen false positives' in search for signs of life on other planets
2021-04-13
In the search for life on other planets, the presence of oxygen in a planet's atmosphere is one potential sign of biological activity that might be detected by future telescopes. A new study, however, describes several scenarios in which a lifeless rocky planet around a sun-like star could evolve to have oxygen in its atmosphere.
The new findings, published April 13 in AGU Advances, highlight the need for next-generation telescopes that are capable of characterizing planetary environments and searching for multiple lines of evidence for life in addition to detecting oxygen.
"This ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Make Indian sign language an official language and open more schools for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, Cambridge study advises Indian government
Deep dive into space turns up new Spitzer bubbles
Attention can be used to drive cooperation – new study
A post-treatment blood test could inform future cancer therapy decisions
Bridging Nature and Nurture: Study reveals brain's flexible foundation from birth
Newborns with heart defects may face a higher risk of developing childhood cancer
Continued medication important for heart failure patients
Tools to succeed: Learning support for new nurses
A breakthrough in green hydrogen peroxide production: KIST develops carbon catalyst utilizing airborne oxygen
Travellers: beware of Oropouche virus. Is it the next Zika?
No increased death rates, admission differences for people experiencing homelessness with severe COVID-19
Optimizing public placement of naloxone kits to save lives
Burden of cardiovascular disease caused by extreme heat in Australia to more than double by 2050
Who does Darth Vader vote for? Not the same party as Harry Potter
Ground breaking advances in construction robotics in extreme environments unveiled in review
New strategies to enhance chiral optical signals unveiled
Cambridge research uncovers powerful virtual reality treatment for speech anxiety
2025 Gut Microbiota for Health World Summit to spotlight groundbreaking research
International survey finds that support for climate interventions is tied to being hopeful and worried about climate change
Cambridge scientist launches free VR platform that eliminates the fear of public speaking
Open-Source AI matches top proprietary model in solving tough medical cases
Good fences make good neighbors (with carnivores)
NRG Oncology trial supports radiotherapy alone following radical hysterectomy should remain the standard of care for early-stage, intermediate-risk cervical cancer
Introducing our new cohort of AGA Future Leaders
Sharks are dying at alarming rates, mostly due to fishing. Retention bans may help
Engineering excellence: Engineers with ONR ties elected to renowned scientific academy
New CRISPR-based diagnostic test detects pathogens in blood without amplification
Immunotherapy may boost KRAS-targeted therapy in pancreatic cancer
Growing solar: Optimizing agrivoltaic systems for crops and clean energy
Scientists discover how to reactivate cancer’s molecular “kill switch”
[Press-News.org] Smoking cannabis significantly impairs vision, study findsSmoking cannabis significantly impairs vision but many users are unaware of it