Saturable absorbers as passive modulators in passively mode-locked fiber lasers play a crucial role in the generation of ultrashort pulses. Germanene, a graphene-like two-dimensional material with fast carrier relaxation time and large nonlinear absorption coefficient comparable to that of graphene, is a saturable absorber material with very fast response. Researchers led by Prof. Wei Xia at University of Jinan (UJN), are interested in modulation switches in fiber lasers, and two-dimensional material saturable absorbers have been a hot research topic in recent years. Two-dimensional materials make up for the disadvantages of ...

About The Study: This study of more than 70 million births or spontaneous abortions showed the prevalence of hepatitis C (HCV)-positive pregnancies in the U.S. increased 16-fold between 1998 and 2018. Maternal HCV infection was associated with increased odds of preterm labor, poor fetal growth, or fetal distress. These data may support recent recommendations for universal HCV screening with each pregnancy.  Authors: Po-Hung Chen, M.D., Ph.D., of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, ...

About The Study: The findings of this study of births to females ages 18 to 24 suggest that additional recommended cervical cancer screenings before birth were associated with an increased risk of preterm delivery. Cervical cancer screening guidelines should consider the downstream implications for preterm delivery risk when weighing the population-level costs of screenings against the benefits of reduced cervical cancer mortality.  Authors: Rebecca Bromley-Dulfano, M.S., of Harvard University Medical School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is the corresponding author. To ...

Francis Crick Institute press release Under strict embargo: 16:00hrs BST 21 July 2023 Peer reviewed Experimental study Cells Research reveals the scale of disorder underpinning Motor Neurone Disease Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute and UCL have shown that hundreds of proteins and mRNA molecules are found in the wrong place in nerve cells affected by Motor Neuron Disease (MND), also known as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). ALS is a rapidly progressing and devastating condition that causes paralysis by affecting ...

LA JOLLA, CA — Scripps Research scientists have developed a machine-learning system—a type of artificial intelligence (AI) application—that can track the detailed evolution of epidemic viruses and predict the emergence of viral variants with important new properties. In a paper in Cell Patterns on July 21, 2023, the scientists demonstrated the system by using data on recorded SARS-CoV-2 variants and COVID-19 mortality rates. They showed that the system could have predicted the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 “variants of concern” (VOCs) ahead of their official designations by the World Health Organization (WHO). Their ...

Researchers from the University of Liverpool have created a biomedical compound that has the potential to stop the spread of breast cancer. A recently published paper details these early findings. Scientists from the Chemistry and Biochemistry Departments at the University of Liverpool and Nanjing Medical School in China have discovered a possible way to block proteins produced in the body when a patient has cancer and which causes its spread to other parts of the body. This process, called metastasis, is largely responsible for patient deaths. The major problem hindering the successful treatment of commonly occurring cancers is not the primary tumour which can usually be removed by ...

Male crickets sing in unison to attract females – but stop singing if a rival gets too close, new research shows. University of Exeter scientists watched more than 100 male field crickets, and measured how often they chirped at the same time (called “singing overlap”). Singing by males one to five metres away from a listening male had a “stimulatory effect”, leading to a chorus of crickets singing together. However, males were less likely to sing if another cricket chirped within one metre – possibly because the territorial insects instead chose to fight ...

Some people’s brain function still affected by Long COVID years after infection  UK researchers have found that people with longer-term COVID-19 symptoms including brain fog showed reduced performance in tasks testing different mental processes up to two years after infection with the virus.   Researchers from King’s College London looked at whether infection with COVID-19 affected performance in two rounds of online cognitive testing that took place in 2021 and 2022. Data was collected for over 3,000 participants of the COVID Symptom Study Biobank study, across 12 tasks that tested memory, attention, reasoning, processing speed and ...

A scientist from Northumbria University has been awarded almost half a million pounds to develop a new technology which could transform deep-space communication, radio astronomy, medical imaging and airport security scanning. Dr Juna Sathian has received a grant from the government’s Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to develop a new type of MASER (Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) device. The forerunner to LASERs, MASERs were first discovered in the 1950s. But there has been ...

Benjamin Franklin may be best known as the creator of bifocals and the lightning rod, but a group of University of Notre Dame researchers suggest he should also be known for his innovative ways of making (literal) money. During his career, Franklin printed nearly 2,500,000 money notes for the American Colonies using what the researchers have identified as highly original techniques, as reported in a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The research team, led by Khachatur Manukyan, an associate research professor ...

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and collaborating institutions are developing a strategy to predict the response of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) to chemotherapy, which would be a valuable tool for physicians deciding on the treatment with better probability of success on an individual basis. The study appears in Cancer Research Communications, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. “Multiple research innovations in cancer diagnostics are on display in this work,” said co-corresponding author Dr. Matthew Ellis, member of the Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center and the Dan ...

NEWPORT NEWS, VA – Peter Hurck has been searching for strange particles, named such because they contain strange quarks, since beginning work on his Ph.D. As the 2023 Jefferson Science Associates (JSA) Postdoctoral Prize winner, he’ll continue conducting data analyses to identify strange particles and learn about their properties. Many of these experiments that contribute to the data Hurck is analyzing are conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, which is managed and operated by JSA. “Strangeness hasn't been studied as much because it's quite ...

On July 19, the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology released a statement expressing concerns on the National Institutes of Health budget proposed in the House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies funding bill. The bill allocates only $44.7 billion for NIH, which represents a 6.4% decrease from fiscal year 2023 levels and would have detrimental repercussions for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute ...

Microparticle dust aggregates, which are thought to play a role in the formation of new planets, are less likely to stick together after a collision when the aggregates are larger. Current evidence suggests that microparticles of cosmic dust collide and stick together to form larger dust aggregates that may eventually combine and develop into planets. Numerical models that accurately characterize the conditions required for colliding microparticle aggregates to stick together, rather than bounce apart, are therefore ...

Changes in ocean wave and storm conditions have not caused long-term impacts on sandy coastlines in the past 30 years, a new study has found. Published today in Scientific Reports, the study draws on data from 30 years of global satellite and model studies to investigate whether changes in ocean wave conditions will have an impact on the stability of coastal environments. The compounding effect of climate change driven variations in waves, storm surge and sea level rise is projected to lead to shoreline position change along most of the world’s sandy coasts. A team ...

The “warm Arctic–cold Eurasia” is one of the most significant patterns of winter climate system changes in the mid-high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. In winter 2020/21, this large-scale pattern underwent a significant and intense subseasonal reversal between the early and late winter. At the same time, the sea-ice anomalies in the Barents–Kara Sea changed from being significantly negative in early winter to positive in late winter. For the slow-varying process of winter sea ice, the rapid freezing ...

An exquisitely preserved fossil forest from Japan provides missing links and helps reconstruct a whole Eurasia plant from the late Miocene epoch. Complete plant fossils are seldom found as a single piece, as wood, leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, or pollen detach easily from plants. This results in leaves and trunks having separate scientific names. Putting together the different parts to reveal the complete plant is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. Connecting these dots and reconstructing plants is important to establish their taxonomic identity—their ...

A better way to wirelessly charge over long distances has been developed at Aalto University. Engineers have optimized the way antennas transmitting and receiving power interact with each other, making use of the phenomenon of “radiation suppression”. The result is a better theoretical understanding of wireless power transfer compared to the conventional inductive approach, a significant advancement in the field. Charging over short distances, such as through induction pads, uses magnetic near fields to transfer power with high efficiency, but at longer distances the efficiency dramatically drops. New research shows that this high efficiency ...

This research was conducted by Nazlı Sönmez, ESMT Berlin; Kavitha Srinivasan and Rengaraj Venkatesh, Aravind Eye Hospital (India); Ryan W. Buell, Harvard Business School; and Kamalini Ramdas, London Business School. The researchers wanted to understand the impact of shared medical appointments on patient experience (knowledge gained and satisfaction) and behavior (follow-up rates and medication compliance rates).  In shared medical appointments (SMAs), patients with the same medical condition meet with the physician in a group, with each patient receiving attention in turn. The physician shares information customized to a patient’s specific needs as well ...

A research team from the School of Public Health, LKS Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong (HKUMed), provides genetic evidence that metformin might promote healthy ageing using a cohort study of more than 300,000 participants of European descent (UK Biobank). This proof-of-concept work supports further clinical research into the drug repositioning of metformin in healthy longevity. The findings are now published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity, a leading peer-reviewed, international journal in the field of geriatrics and gerontology [link to the publication]. Background Metformin is a first-line medication for type 2 diabetes. ...

A new position paper presents an up-to-date review and expert recommendations using the GRADE methodology to inform the implementation of trabecular bone score (TBS)* in clinical practice for the management of primary and secondary osteoporosis.1 TBS is a grey-level scale textural measurement acquired from dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry lumbar spine images that correlates with bone microarchitecture and which can be used alongside FRAX and bone mineral density measurements to enhance the assessment of fracture risk and to inform treatment initiation and monitoring.  The position paper was authored by an international ...

JMIR Cardio Editor-in-Chief: Gunther Eysenbach, MD, MPH, FACMI welcomes submissions to a special theme issue examining "Generative and Multimodal Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Digital Cardiovascular Medicine." This call for papers aims to explore the potential of generative AI in health care and medicine, specifically in the field of cardiovascular medicine and its subspecialties. This includes, but is not necessarily limited only to, large language models and multimodal AI that can be applied to electrophysiology, congenital heart diseases, transplant cardiology, ...

Highlights: Toxic shock syndrome (TSS) is a rapid-onset, life-threatening disease associated with strains of Staphylococcus aureus. New findings published in Microbiology Spectrum suggest that a probiotic combination could reduce incidence of TSS. In lab experiments, the probiotics reduced production of the superantigen that causes TSS. The researchers say a probiotic approach may also help people who suffer from other staph infections, including those with atopic dermatitis or type 2 diabetes. Washington, D.C. – The widespread, pathogenic microbe Staphylococcus aureus can colonize the skin and mucous membranes throughout the body, particularly the vagina ...

The preclinical study showed that injecting ovarian tissue-derived differentiated induced pluripotent stem cells can restore hormone production and fertility in mice with premature ovarian failure related to genetic diseases and cancer treatment A new study by investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding members of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, in a preclinical model demonstrates the potential for restoring fertility when the ovaries have stopped working. Researchers found that adult stem cells could restore healthy hormone levels after chemotherapy and lead to natural conception resulting in the birth of live mice. Techniques based on the study could revolutionize fertility ...

ROCKVILLE, Md.—Researchers have discovered a link between gastric bypass surgery and an increased risk of non-alcohol substance use disorder, according to a new study in Obesity, The Obesity Society’s (TOS) flagship journal. “The current study shows that non-alcohol substance use disorder was 2.5 times more common after gastric bypass surgery compared with controls receiving usual obesity care, but the total number of patients having non-alcohol substance use disorder was overall low. Healthcare professionals should consider the risk of non-alcohol substance use disorder in the care of patients treated with gastric bypass surgery,” ...