Highlights from the journal CHEST®, June 2021

A new Alzheimer's disease drug will hit the market soon, the first in nearly two decades. But some experts say the evidence for it isn't terribly strong and worry that it may cost a lot. Still, the announcement of its approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration made headlines nationwide. The attention reflects the toll dementia takes on patients, families and society, and the lack of good treatment options. Meanwhile, millions of adults could lower the chance that they'll ever need a drug like that. To do so, they will need to work with their primary care providers and use the power ...

There is a growing body of evidence supporting airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Despite updates from the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Public Health Agency of Canada that the virus can be transmitted by short- and long-range aerosols, Canada's public health guidance has not been adequately updated to address this mode of transmission, argue authors of a commentary published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) Canadian public health guidance and practices should be updated to include more emphasis on the following airborne mitigation measures: ventilation, filtration and better masks. "Ventilation is a key element in the fight against airborne transmission. We need clear guidelines ...

Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have shown that even after lung tissue has been damaged, it may be possible to reverse fibrosis and promote tissue repair through treatment with microgel-coated mesenchymal stromal cells. Pulmonary fibrosis is a chronic disease caused by environmental toxins, medications or medical conditions like pneumonia and rheumatoid arthritis. It is characterized by the formation of scar tissue due to damage or an unchecked immune response, and it can cause mild to severe difficulty breathing and oxygen deprivation. Fibrosis ...

 Most cities in São Paulo state (Brazil) have low potential capacity to adapt to climate change in terms of the ability to formulate public policy that facilitates the revamping of their housing and transportation systems, for example, to account for the impact of climate change. This is the main conclusion of a study conducted by researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) in partnership with colleagues at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and the Federal University of Itajubá (UNIFEI) in Brazil, and the University of Michigan in the United States.  Researchers linked to a project supported by FAPESP participated in the study. The results ...

If your idea of conspiracy theories entails aliens, UFOs, governmental cover-ups at Roswell Air Force base, and the melody of The X-Files--you're not alone. That was, indeed, the classic notion, says END ...

The spectacularly colorful aurora borealis -- or northern lights -- that fills the sky in high-latitude regions has fascinated people for thousands of years. Now, a team of scientists has resolved one of the final mysteries surrounding its origin. Scientists know that electrons and other energized particles that emanate from the sun as part of the "solar wind" speed down Earth's magnetic field lines and into the upper atmosphere, where they collide with oxygen and nitrogen molecules, kicking them into an excited state. These molecules then relax by emitting light, producing the beautiful green and red hues of the aurora. What ...

MELVILLE, N.Y., June 8, 2021 -- Many voice actors use a variety of speech vocalizations and patterns to create unique and memorable characters. How they create those amazing voices could help speech pathologists better understand the muscles involved for creating words and sounds. During the 180th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, which will be held virtually June 8-10, Colette Feehan, from Indiana University, will talk about how voice actor performances can lead to better understanding about the speech muscles under our control. The session, "Articulatory and acoustic phonetics of voice actors," will take place Tuesday, June 8, at 2:40 p.m. Eastern U.S. Just like any professional of any field that requires some sort of physical skill, voice actors certainly put in time and ...

New research published in the journal Psychological Science reveals a pervasive but unfounded stereotype: that women (but not men) who engage in casual sex have low self-esteem. This finding was consistent across six separate experiments with nearly 1,500 total participants. "We were surprised that this stereotype was so widely held," said Jaimie Arona Krems, an assistant professor of psychology at Oklahoma State University and first author on the paper. "This stereotype was held by both women and men, liberals and conservatives, and across the spectrum in terms of people's levels of religiosity and sexism." But across the studies, Krems also observed that the stereotype was unfounded: There was virtually no relationship ...

During the COVID-19 pandemic, food systems faced disruptions from staff shortages and supply chain issues. Now, a Virginia Tech researcher is assisting with efforts to help plants themselves from facing their own pandemic. Just like human diseases, plant diseases don't have arbitrary boundaries. These diseases don't stop at a border crossing or a port of entry. That's why plant disease surveillance, improved plant disease detection systems, and predictive plant disease modeling - integrated at the global scale - are necessary to mitigate future plant disease outbreaks and protect the global food supply, according to a team of researchers in a new commentary published in "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences." "The ...

That internal nagging feeling that drives you to seek sleep at night and wake in the morning to eat, work, and play, is, it turns out, genetic, and it's not just in people. Nearly every living organism - from animals to plants as well as several microorganisms and fungi - has an internal body clock, or a circadian rhythm. Yet, scientists have been perplexed out how these genes operate. Now, Virginia Tech scientists have taken a step closer to an answer thanks to the DNA of a mouse, a petri dish, and much patience. In a new study published in the journal Genes & Development, Shihoko Kojima, an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, part of the Virginia Tech College of Science, ...