Data harvested from wearable devices and health apps could be valuable in public health research, according to a study. Vaccines can prevent SARS-CoV-2 infections and, in cases where the virus is able to break through, vaccination lowers the risks of severe disease, hospitalization, ICU admission, and death. Marc Wiedermann and colleagues used data from smartwatches and fitness trackers collected by the Corona Data Donation Project to investigate whether vaccination produces measurable changes in personal health and wellbeing. The Corona-Datenspende-App was launched ...

A study in a semi-natural setting finds that targeting just the very bottom of a room’s walls with insecticide will kill most of the mosquitoes, suggesting a cheaper and easier way to treat houses during disease outbreaks. The mosquito Aedes aegypti is a vector for serious diseases, including dengue, chikungunya and Zika. In Asia and Latin America, one approach taken to control mosquitoes that rest inside homes is indoor residual spraying, in which interior walls are coated with a persistent insecticide. However, the large surface area that must be coated makes the approach expensive to implement. Luca Facchinelli and colleagues sought to identify ...

Deep Longevity is at the forefront of AI-based longevity science, using deep learning techniques to analyse multiple data types and develop accurate aging clocks. These clocks provide valuable insights into an individual's biological age, offering a holistic understanding of their health and longevity potential. By partnering with House of Gaia, Deep Longevity seeks to bring their cutting- edge technologies and expertise to a wider audience, empowering individuals to take control of their well-being. House of Gaia is a respected name in the wellness industry, known for its comprehensive range of holistic health services and programs. By ...

SAN ANTONIO — July 25, 2023 —The U.S. Air Force awarded Southwest Research Institute a $4.8 million contract to further develop an adaptable, “continuously staring,” next-generation electronic warfare system capable of detecting advanced enemy radar signals. Using cutting-edge algorithms in a congested signal test environment, the system demonstrated more than 99% probability of intercepting signals with no false detections in a USAF verified simulated environment, a software model loaded with enemy radar. “Eliminating ...

Having a food allergy as a baby is linked to asthma and reduced lung function later in childhood, according to a world first study. The research, led by Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and published in the Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, found that early life food allergy was associated with an increased risk of both asthma and reduced lung growth at six years of age. Murdoch Children’s Associate Professor Rachel Peters said this was the first study to examine the relationship between challenge-confirmed food allergy in infancy and asthma and poorer lung health ...

Non-biodegradable plastics are major contributors to land and marine pollution, destroying habitats and causing harm to both flora and fauna. Hence, the switch to bioplastics is imperative to ensure sustainability. The success of environmental initiatives aimed at increasing bioplastic adoption critically hinges on understanding consumer behavior. However, consumer preferences and perceptions around bioplastics, particularly in Japan and other Asian countries,  are not well understood. A recent study published online on July 10, 2023 in the Journal of Cleaner Production attempted to find answers to questions surrounding Japanese consumers’ preferences ...

In today’s world of digital information, an enormous amount of data is exchanged and stored on a daily basis. In the 1980s, IBM unveiled the first hard drive—which was the size of a refrigerator—that could store 1 GB of data, but now we have memory devices that have a thousand-fold greater data-storage capacity and can easily fit in the palm of our hand. If the current pace of increase in digital information is any indication, we require yet newer data recording systems that are lighter, have low environmental impact, and, most importantly, have higher data storage density. Recently, a new class of materials called axially ...

A spectacular new image released today by the European Southern Observatory gives us clues about how planets as massive as Jupiter could form. Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), researchers have detected large dusty clumps, close to a young star, that could collapse to create giant planets. “This discovery is truly captivating as it marks the very first detection of clumps around a young star that have the potential to give rise to giant planets,” says Alice Zurlo, a researcher at the Universidad Diego Portales, Chile, involved ...

If you were ever to see sewage sludge up close, you might be hard-pressed to find any redeemable value; however, researchers at UBC’s Bioreactor Technology Group see it another way. Using a combination of heat, water and phase separation, UBC researchers have developed a cost-effective method to concentrate phosphorous—which can be efficiently recovered by extraction—from wastewater sludge. “Phosphorous is a non-renewable, but essential, element for life and has many industrial uses,” explains Huan Liu, a doctoral student with UBCO’s School of Engineering and lead author of a new study investigating ...

It’s not exactly what he’s best known for, but Alexander Hamilton helped develop the first national, compulsory health insurance policy in the world: a 1798 taxpayer-financed plan Congress approved to cover sick and disabled seamen.  “The interests of humanity are concerned in it,” Hamilton wrote.  And they still are, as MIT Professor Amy Finkelstein notes in a new book. The U.S. has repeatedly tried to provide medical care for those who need it and cannot afford it. These efforts may have started with Hamilton, but ...

University of Virginia School of Medicine researchers have discovered a key driver of chronic inflammation that accelerates aging. That finding could let us slow the clock to live longer, healthier lives, and may allow us to prevent age-related conditions such as deadly heart disease and devastating brain disorders that rob us of our faculties. So what drives this harmful inflammation? The answer is improper calcium signaling in the mitochondria of certain immune cells. Mitochondria are the power generators in all cells, ...

**Images available** Nine European countries, including the UK, have today (25 July 2023) joined forces to commit to the construction of the European Solar Telescope (EST) The EST will be the biggest solar telescope ever constructed in Europe and aims to provide unparalleled new insights into the phenomena of space weather The University of Sheffield will lead a consortium of UK universities that will help to develop designs for the construction of the large-aperture solar telescope The first light of the EST is ...

A molecular imaging tool developed by researchers at the University of California’s two nationally ranked medical centers, UCLA and UCSF, helps improve the accuracy of predicting the risk of cancer recurrence in patients with intermediate to high-risk prostate cancer who undergo surgery. The tool, known as prostate-specific membrane antigen PET imaging, or PSMA PET, provides prognostic information before treatment begins that can predict if the patient will have a high risk for the cancer returning after surgery. “In patients ...

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), which affects an estimated 6.5 million adults in the United States, hits some groups harder than others. Compared to non-Hispanic whites, Hispanic Americans are 1.5 times as likely to develop AD, and African Americans are twice as likely. But scientists know little about the reasons behind these disparities, because the vast majority of AD research has been done with non-Hispanic white people. A new study that reviewed 11,871 research articles on AD brain imaging, led by researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, has now revealed the extent of ...

Cancer patients saw a significant fall in Covid-related hospitalisations and mortality following the rollout of vaccines in the first panoramic study of its kind.   The research published in Scientific Reports today (Tuesday 25 July) looked at the impact of the global pandemic on case-outcome rates for cancer patients across a 21-month period from November 2020 to August 2022. The team of researchers led by the University of Birmingham found that hospitalisations in the period fell from nearly one in three patients (30.58%) to one in 13 patients (7.45%); and, case-mortality rates fell from more than one in five patients (20.53%) to less than one in 30 patients (3.25%).   Among ...

A new paper in Biology Methods & Protocols, published by Oxford University Press, shows it may be possible to design vaccines that will induce a stronger immune response to infecting pathogens, such as the virus causing COVID-19. In this study, the authors proposed and tested a new bioinformatic approach and tool that allows researchers to select parts of proteins that will elicit a strong immune response. Vaccines developed based on this approach would provide better protection from diseases. The immune system of humans (and other vertebrates) discriminates between self and non-self structures to attack and destroy the latter. T cells are the part of the immune system ...

Adding a flux during the synthesis of oxyhydrides is a promising strategy to obtain a pure, homogenous product, reveal scientists from Tokyo Tech. An SrCl2 flux promoted the melting of a part of reactants and facilitated their diffusion of reactants, which proved to be the key to producing highly pure SrVO2.4H0.6 or Sr3V2O6.2H0.8 perovskite oxyhydrides in high-pressure and high-temperature reactions. These compounds have potential as catalysts and as electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries.      Perovskite oxyhydrides ...

As a bold venture at the forefront of biomedical research, the PULSE project is poised to develop paradigm-changing bioprinting technology for applications in space and on Earth. Awarded nearly 4 million euros by the European Innovation Council’s Pathfinder Open, PULSE emerges from interdisciplinary scientific collaborations and, over five years, will foster technological innovations to improve human health and pave the way for safer and more sustainable space exploration. By combining magnetic and acoustic levitation into an innovative bioprinting platform, PULSE’s device should be capable of achieving unparalleled spatiotemporal control of cell deposition. ...

Philadelphia, July 25, 2023—In the largest study of its kind, researchers from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) used electronic health record (EHR) data from more than 200,000 pediatric patients to describe patterns of pediatric allergies across the United States, validating a population-level pattern of allergy development known as the “allergic march,” in which allergies first present as eczema, followed by food allergies, asthma, and environmental allergies. The ...

In the quest to unravel the underlying mechanisms of natural systems, accurately identifying causal interactions is of paramount importance. Leveraging the advancements in time-series data collection through cutting-edge technologies, computational methods have emerged as powerful tools for inferring causality. However, existing model-free methods have struggled to differentiate between generalized synchrony* and causality, leading to false predictions. On the other hand, model-based methods, while accurate, have been limited by their dependence on specific models, hindering their widespread applicability. *Synchrony ...

In-cell engineering can be a powerful tool for synthesizing functional protein crystals with promising catalytic properties, show researchers at Tokyo Tech. Using genetically modified bacteria as an environmentally friendly synthesis platform, the researchers produced hybrid solid catalysts for artificial photosynthesis. These catalysts exhibit high activity, stability, and durability, highlighting the potential of the proposed innovative approach. Protein crystals, like regular crystals, are well-ordered molecular structures with diverse properties and a huge potential for customization. They can assemble naturally from materials found within cells, which not only greatly reduces the synthesis ...

Can poor sleep and circadian rhythm make chronic pain conditions worse? Edson College Assistant Professor Chung Jung Mun plans to find out through an innovative longitudinal study.  Mun was awarded a $3 million grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, to explore the possible connection. “There are countless individuals suffering from multiple chronic pain disorders. A person with chronic migraine headaches is also likely to suffer from chronic low back pain. What we’re trying to find ...

A Texas A&M University doctoral student has collaborated with an innovative surgical navigation and robotics company on motion capture research that can potentially improve implant alignment during knee replacement surgeries. Aaron Henry is a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Engineering program in the Department of Multidisciplinary Engineering. He worked with Caira Surgical, a surgical navigation and robotic orthopedic surgery company that focuses on simplifying workflows and developing technological ...

A mouse injured on one leg experiences an “awakening” of stem cells in the other leg as if the cells are preparing to heal an injury. Something similar happens in axolotls, which are masters at limb regeneration. Heart injuries in zebrafish can trigger certain changes in far-away organs like the kidney and brain. “In many different organisms, you can see the whole body respond to an injury. But whether or not those responses actually have any function has been unclear,” says Bo Wang, assistant professor of bioengineering at Stanford, “So that’s what we’re focusing on.” In ...

Jakarta … San Francisco … Shanghai … Phoenix … Houston. These major cities and others around the globe have many similarities, but they share one particular commonality that is concerning for residents. They are among the global cities most affected by climate change. While each of these cities has proven resilient for centuries, urban planners, community leaders and civil engineers continue to address their many environmental challenges. In preparing for these cities’ future, however, it might be more ...