The global outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its new variants has created a need for effective disinfection technologies to protect against harmful pathogens. While vaccines offer some protection, their effectiveness against future variants is uncertain. Therefore, additional strategies are important during the pre-vaccine stage. UV irradiation has lately emerged as a safe, effective, and convenient strategy to inactivate and eliminate disease-causing micro-organisms. The wavelength range of 200-235 ...

Separation processes are essential in the purification and concentration of a target molecule during water purification, removal of pollutants, and heat pumping, accounting for 10–15% of global energy consumption. To make the separation processes more energy efficient, improvement in the design of porous materials is necessary. This could drastically reduce energy costs by about 40–70%. The primary approach to improving the separation performance is to precisely control the pore structure. In this regard, ...

Did you know rivers carry about 40 trillion metric tons of river water into the ocean every year? This meeting point, known as the estuary, holds great potential for electricity generation. Mixing the two types of water -- seawater and river water containing different salt concentrations -- releases a substantial amount of Gibbs free energy, which can be converted to electricity using semipermeable membranes. However, the performance of membranes has limited the economic viability of membrane-based approaches, leaving the vast potential of this naturally abundant energy source largely untapped. To overcome the challenges associated with the membranes, researchers have developed membrane-free ...

Roughly six million Black people moved away from the American South during the Great Migration between 1910 and 1970, hoping to escape racial violence and discrimination while pursuing economic and educational opportunities. Now, research has uncovered a link between this historic event with present-day inequalities and implicit biases. In a new Social Psychological and Personality Science article, researchers report that current implicit bias among White people at the county-level is associated with the proportion of Black residents living in that county during the Great Migration (circa 1930). The research supports the Bias ...

Floods and landslides in Sri Lanka could be better predicted by applying weather forecasting techniques currently used in India, a study has found. The new research has the potential to help communities better prepare for extreme rainfall in Sri Lanka. The South Asian island is extremely vulnerable to floods and landslides caused by heavy rainfall. In May 2017, more than 150 people were killed after Sri Lanka experienced flooding triggered by monsoon rains. Led by Dr Akshay Deoras and published today (Thursday, 27 July) in Geophysical Research Letters, the study expands the ...

A new study published in the Journal of Urology Open Plus reveals that 7 saw palmetto products met the identity and potency standards to effectively address urinary tract symptoms associated with an enlarged prostate. According to the lead author of the study, Dr. Bilal Chughtai, who is a board-certified urologist, of the 28 supplements included in the study, only six of the lipid extracts and one multi-active product were found to have the appropriate dosage of 320 milligrams of saw palmetto extract and the minimum 80% fatty acids clinically shown to address ...

A new trip-planning app has shown encouraging results in improving navigation inside subway stations, according to a study published in IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine, promising the possibility of easier commutes for people who are blind and low-vision.  Designed by researchers at NYU Tandon School of Engineering and NYU Grossman School of Medicine, Commute Booster routes public-transportation users through the “middle mile” – the part of a journey inside subway stations or other similar transit hubs – in addition to the “first” and “last” miles that bring travelers to and from those hubs.  “The ...

Boston - July 27, 2023 - Mangos are one of the most popular fruits1 in the world, grown in more than 100 countries2 globally and consumed by an extremely diverse population. Now, two new studies funded by the National Mango Board and presented as posters during the American Society for Nutrition’s Annual Conference (Nutrition 2023) show mangos may play a role in risk reductions for vascular issues while helping to improve antioxidant levels among relatively healthy adult men and women who are overweight ...

With its sensitive infrared cameras and high-resolution spectrometer, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is revealing new secrets of Jupiter's Galilean satellites, in particular Ganymede, the largest moon, and Io, the most volcanically active. In two separate publications, astronomers who are part of JWST's Early Release Science program report the first detection of hydrogen peroxide on Ganymede and sulfurous fumes on Io, both the result of Jupiter's domineering influence. "This ...

The ultra-soft tentacle, which measures just 2 millimetres in diameter and is controlled by magnets, can reach some of the smallest bronchial tubes and could transform the treatment of lung cancer.  It paves the way for a more accurate, tailored, and far less invasive approach to treatment and has been developed by engineers, scientists and clinicians based at the STORM Lab in Leeds.  The researchers tested the magnetic tentacle robot on the lungs of a cadaver and found that it can travel 37% deeper than the standard equipment and leads to less tissue damage.  The results ...

Kyoto, Japan -- Humans may never be able to tame the Sun, but hydrogen plasma -- making up most of the Sun's interior -- can be confined in a magnetic field as part of fusion power generation: with a caveat.  The extremely high temperature plasmas, typically as high as 100 million degrees Celsius, confined in the tokamaks -- donut-shaped fusion reactors -- cause damage to the containment walls of these mega devices. Researchers inject hydrogen and inert gases near the device wall to cool the plasma by radiation and recombination, ...

Bio-LUSH, a Horizon Europe project led by Stockholm University, extracts high-quality fibers from diverse plants, maximizing resource utilization for sustainable bio-based innovation. Supported by the EU-call Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU), the research project establishes a value chain for sustainable products such as textiles, food packaging and reinforced composites ready for the consumer market, thus driving plant-based solutions for a circular bioeconomy. The four-year Bio-LUSH project, launched in May 2023, supports the establishment of a ...

Undernutrition during pregnancy is one of the factors linked to an increased risk of diseases in children as they grow older. Yet, maternal malnutrition remains a problem for women worldwide. Animal studies have shown that a low-fiber diet during pregnancy impairs brain nerve function in offspring. Now, in the first human cohort study on the relation of maternal nutritional imbalance and infants’ brain development, researchers in Japan have investigated if the same effects can be found in humans. “Most pregnant women in Japan consume far less dietary ...

A new meta-analysis (an analysis of past research) published by the scientific journal Addiction has found that cannabis legalisation is associated with increased rates of cannabis poisoning.  The risk of cannabis poisoning was higher among studies that focused on children. Cannabis poisoning occurs when too much cannabis is consumed at one time.  The effects of cannabis poisoning include lethargy, drowsiness, dizziness, hypertension, palpitations, tachycardia (elevated heart rate), nausea, vomiting, irritability, agitation, coma, and slowing of the central nervous system.  Cannabis use in children ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (July 27, 2023) — Preparing to head back to school can be a time of many emotions, from excitement to nerves. But for children who found the previous school year to be challenging, it can be an especially stressful experience.  In a new national survey conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of The On Our Sleeves Movement for Children’s Mental Health, 71% of American parents say their children experienced challenges last school year.  The top factors identified by parents included safety concerns (37%), academic challenges (26%), bullying (24%), ongoing social challenges ...

The planet experienced the hottest day on record earlier this month and climate projections estimate the intensity of heat waves and poor air quality will increase and continue to cause severe impacts. Researchers from the University of Waterloo and Toronto Metropolitan University have refined and expanded a method of data collection to assess their health impacts.   They discovered that even moderate temperature increases, for example night-time temperatures starting at 18.4 degrees Celsius, can lead to increased hospital ...

Circularly conjugated compounds with 4n+2 pi-electrons are known as aromatic compounds. They are generally stable and are therefore found in our surroundings. On the other hand, anti-aromatic compounds with 4n pi-electrons have been conventionally considered unstable, and the creation of stable anti-aromatic compounds has been one of the challenging issues in organic chemistry. Several studies on the synthesis, isolation, and characterization of stable and clearly anti-aromatic compounds have been reported in recent years. In general, anti-aromatic compounds are considered to be more susceptible to substituents than aromatic compounds because of their narrower HOMO-LUMO gap. However, ...

Kundalini yoga, a form of yoga that focuses on breathing, meditation, and mental visualization, appeared beneficial for older women who had risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease and concerns about episodes of memory decline, according to a UCLA Health study. Researchers at UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, using a type of MRI that measures activity in regions and subregions of the brain, found that Kundalini yoga, which combines movement and meditation and focuses on breathing, mantra recitation and mental visualization, increased connectivity in an area of the brain that can be impacted by stress and ...

New York, NY (July 27, 2023) – Cigarette smokers have higher odds of tobacco dependence than those who vape or use a variety of types of tobacco products, according to a Mount Sinai study published in July in Nicotine & Tobacco Research. The findings suggest that tailored tobacco cessation programs are needed for people with different tobacco use habits. The researchers identified three clear types of tobacco users: those who predominantly smoke cigarettes, those who predominantly use smokeless tobacco, and those who predominantly use a combination of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and cigars. This discovery is important for tailoring tobacco use reduction ...

Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) is a highly lethal cancer, with a five-year survival rate of less than 20 percent. Although a precursor lesion to EAC, called Barrett's esophagus (BE), is present in roughly seven percent of middle-aged adults, less than one percent of BE patients will progress to EAC, making it difficult to determine which individuals are at risk of developing this deadly cancer. To better understand why only a small fraction of individuals with BE develop EAC, investigators from the Mass ...

Royal colleges in the UK have received more than £9 million in marketing payments from drug and medical devices companies since 2015, but do not always disclose the payments publicly, finds an investigation published by The BMJ today.  Investigative journalist Hristio Boytchev asked the colleges to disclose all payments from industry, campaign groups or patient associations, including the specific amount received from each donor, but they all refused to do so.  Instead, data was compiled from Disclosure ...

Pupils in state secondary schools in England are much more likely to be excluded if they have a history of receiving social care or special educational needs services, finds a new study by UCL researchers. The research, published in Child Abuse and Neglect, used anonymised data from the Department for Education’s National Population Database, which covered all children starting state secondary school in September 2011 and 2012 across the country – equating to around one million students. The team examined the proportion of pupils who had been excluded – either temporarily suspended or permanently expelled – during their time at secondary ...

In what could lead to a revolutionary advancement in the treatment of temporal lobe epilepsy, UC San Diego Health has become one of the first health systems in the country to inject regenerative cells into the brain to treat epileptic seizures.  Part of a national clinical trial, UC San Diego Health’s multidisciplinary team performed the third ever experimental regenerative brain cell therapy procedure earlier this month. UC San Diego Health is the only nationally designated Level 4 Adult Epilepsy Center in the region. During the surgery, Sharona ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ON WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 2023 AAN Issues Guidance on New Treatments for Early Alzheimer’s Disease   MINNEAPOLIS – New therapies for early Alzheimer’s disease, monoclonal antibodies that remove amyloid-β plaques in the brain, are bringing hope to people whose lives have been affected by the disease. To help neurologists discuss these therapies with patients and caregivers, the American Academy of Neurology has developed an Emerging Issues in Neurology article, published online on July 26, 2023, in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Emerging Issues in Neurology articles are designed ...

Many families whose transgender children need gender-affirming care will need to drive much further than before because of laws and other actions passed since 2021 in 20 states, a new study shows. The restrictions mean that 25% of Americans age 10 to 17 now live more than a day’s drive away, round trip, from a clinic that could provide medications and hormones to support their gender transition. Before the restrictions, less than 2% lived this far from a clinic that could provide such care. One ...