Words are important to express ourselves. What we don’t say, however, may be even more instrumental in conveying emotions. Humans can often tell how people around them feel through non-verbal cues embedded in our voice. Now, researchers in Germany wanted to find out if technical tools, too, can accurately predict emotional undertones in fragments of voice recordings. To do so, they compared three ML models’ accuracy to recognize diverse emotions in audio excepts. Their results were published in Frontiers in Psychology. “Here we show that machine learning can be used ...

Polymer systems composed of multiple components can spontaneously induce emulsion or microdroplets by mechanical mixing, as an intermediate state of macroscopic phase separation. Unfortunately, the size of generated droplets is nonuniform and their spatial-arrangement is rather random. In addition, they tend to grow larger with time (coarsening). To prevent the change of the microdroplet size, researchers have currently attempted to rapidly lower the temperature, but these efforts can never improve the uniformity of the droplets. If uniformly arranged homogeneous droplets entrapping certain substrates such ...

Getting the 988 and 911 emergency telephone systems to work in concert requires detailed planning and close cooperation, and such efforts may benefit from having one or two people at the local level who act as champions for interoperability, according to a new RAND report.   In order to make sure callers are routed to the appropriate system, efforts need to involve representatives from both 988 and 911 call centers, law enforcement, mobile crisis teams, peer support specialists, behavioral health specialists, and people who have lived experience with crisis services, researchers say.   Local champions can aid such efforts by establishing priorities, convening local stakeholders, brokering ...

FAIRFAX, Va. (March 20, 2024)—A minimally invasive technique that uses ice to freeze and destroy small, cancerous tumors has now been proven effective for breast cancer patients with large tumors, providing a new treatment path for those who are not candidates for surgery, according to new research to be presented at the Society of Interventional Radiology Annual Scientific Meeting in Salt Lake City. “For patients who have larger tumors but can’t undergo surgery, this approach could be more effective than the current standard of care for patients who are not surgical candidates,” ...

FAIRFAX, Va. (March 20, 2024)—Early intervention with a minimally invasive treatment called uterine artery embolization (UAE) can help women avoid hysterectomy due to severe bleeding after childbirth, according to a new study being presented at the Society of Interventional Radiology Annual Scientific Meeting in Salt Lake City. “These findings are important and may help more women avoid hysterectomy and other very serious complications of uncontrolled hemorrhage,” said lead author Younes Jahangiri, M.D., a third-year resident in the interventional and diagnostic radiology program at ...

FAIRFAX, Va. (March 20, 2024)—A minimally invasive treatment using MRI and transurethral ultrasound instead of surgery or radiation is effective in treating prostate cancer, according to new research to be presented at the Society of Interventional Radiology Annual Scientific Meeting in Salt Lake City. The traditional treatment options of radiation or surgery often come with a risk of side effects, including urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction that cause significant morbidity and adverse lifestyle effects. Researchers said that some patients now have a durable alternative for whole-gland treatment with MRI-guided transurethral ultrasound ablation (TULSA) that does not preclude ...

Researchers exploring ways to utilise ChatGPT for work, say it could save organisations and individuals a lot of time and money when it comes to planning trips. A new study, published in Innovations in Education and Teaching International (IETI), has tested whether ChatGPT can be used to design University field studies. It found that the free-to-use AI model is an effective tool for not only planning educational trips around the world, but also could be used by other industries. The research, led by scientists from the University of Portsmouth and University of Plymouth, specifically ...

A research team, comprising Professor Junsuk Rho from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the Department of Chemical Engineering, and the Department of Electrical Engineering, and PhD candidates Seokho Lee and Cherry Park from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), has recently published a paper that highlights the next generation of research trends that combine metaphotonics research with artificial intelligence. The paper has been published in the international journal, Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science.   Metalenses have sparked a revolution in optics, drastically ...

Thanks for a new design contributed by a research team led by Prof. ZHAO Peng from Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS) of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the operation time for plasma torch was extended from several days to several years. "We made the world's longest-lasting plasma torch," said Prof. ZHAO. Plasma torches, devices that generate thermal plasma, are pivotal in various industries due to their ability to efficiently produce high-temperature plasma. It can be applied in many fields including low-carbon metallurgy, powder spheroidization, carbon material preparation, and advanced ...

People who are ‘double jointed,’ a condition formally known as generalised joint hypermobility, may be at heightened risk of  long COVID, suggests a case-control study published in the open access journal BMJ Public Health. They were 30% more likely not to have fully recovered from COVID-19 infection than those without hypermobile joints, and to be experiencing the persistent fatigue associated with long COVID, the findings indicate. Other than older age, the likelihood of developing long COVID seems to be greater ...

The air quality around planned new schools in England is “alarmingly poor,” with 86% of sites exceeding  World Health Organization (WHO) targets on major air pollutants, reveals an analysis published online in the Archives of Disease in Childhood. The consequences for health from exposure to excessive levels of air pollutants are well known, say the researchers, who call for air quality assessment at all stages of planning to be mandated, and legislation and guidance to be updated as a matter of urgency. Children are particularly vulnerable to the harmful effects of air pollution, because their bodies, organs, and immune systems are still developing, explain ...

A major report on the remains of a stilt village that was engulfed in flames almost 3,000 years ago reveals in unprecedented detail the daily lives of England’s prehistoric fenlanders.   Must Farm, a late Bronze Age settlement, dates to around 850BC, with University of Cambridge archaeologists unearthing four large wooden roundhouses and a square entranceway structure – all of which had been constructed on stilts above a slow-moving river. The entire hamlet stood approximately two metres above the riverbed, with walkways bridging some of the main houses, and ...

Soft tissue preservation in the geological record is relatively rare, and, except where deliberate intervention halts the process of decay (like embalming or freezing), the survival of entire organs is particularly unusual. The spontaneous preservation of the brain in the absence of any other soft tissues - that is, the brain’s survival amongst otherwise skeletonised remains - has historically been regarded as a ‘one-of-a kind’ phenomenon. A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Oxford, led ...

Scientists have developed an ingestible capsule dotted with sensors that can detect pressure in a patient’s guts and detect points of failure. The ingestible system will give colorectal medical teams an unprecedented understanding of the movement of a patient’s digestive tract, or lack thereof. Instead of simply taking images of inside the guts, the system will sense whether it’s contracting, how much pressure is exerted and exactly where it might be inactive. The system has been tested in a synthetic gut and animals. A patent for the technology is pending. The team from Heriot-Watt University and the University of Birmingham, with colleagues from the University ...

Milan, Italy: Researchers have developed a genetic test that can identify how patients with triple negative early-stage breast cancer will respond to immunotherapy drugs. This means that patients who are unlikely to respond to these drugs can avoid the adverse side effects associated with them and can be treated with other therapies.   Professor Laura van ‘t Veer told the 14th European Breast Cancer Conference that the latest results from the I-SPY2 trial [1] suggest that the current standard of care for patients with triple negative breast cancer should be reconsidered.   “Immunotherapy drugs can ...

E-cigarette users with a limited smoking history experience similar DNA changes to specific cheek cells as smokers, finds a new study led by researchers at UCL (University College London) and University of Innsbruck. This study is an incremental step in helping researchers to build a deeper understanding of the long-term effects of e-cigarettes on health. Although it does not show that e-cigarettes cause cancer, studies with long-term follow up are important to assess whether e-cigarettes have harmful effects and, if so, what they are. The study, published in Cancer Research, ...

Milan, Italy: New data from the KEYNOTE-756 phase 3 clinical trial show that adding the immunotherapy drug, pembrolizumab, to chemotherapy before and after surgery for breast cancer leads to better outcomes for patients regardless of their age or menopausal status.   The findings, presented at the 14th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC 14) today (Wednesday), add to information available on the effect of pembrolizumab in patients with early-stage breast cancer that is at high risk of recurring or spreading further, and that is oestrogen ...

The economic impact of federally sponsored research at The University of Texas at Arlington was $38 million in 2022, with expenditures spread among 725 unique vendors, according to a new report. Of that total, the University spent about $24 million on research-related goods and services in Texas. The research dollars also supported the salaries of 1,562 people during this time—including 517 faculty and 746 students. “Research at UTA helps solve some of society’s most important problems, and it is also a vital economic driver in our economy and in the careers of our students and researchers,” said Kate Miller, vice president of research and ...

Researchers at Rice University have unlocked the potential to use 3D printing to make sustainable wood structures, offering a greener alternative to traditional manufacturing methods. Wood has historically been marred by wasteful practices generated during shaping processes, driving up costs and environmental impact. Now researchers in materials science and nanoengineering at Rice have developed an additive-free, water-based ink made of lignin and cellulose, the fundamental building blocks of wood. The ink can be used to produce architecturally ...

In the quest to decipher the evolutionary relationships of extinct organisms from fossils, researchers often face challenges in discerning key features from weathered fossils, or with prioritizing characteristics of organisms for the most accurate placement within a phylogenetic tree. Enter neural networks, sophisticated algorithms that underlie today’s image recognition technology. While previous attempts to utilize neural networks in classifying extinct organisms within phylogenetic trees have struggled, a new study, recently published in PNAS Nexus, heralds a significant breakthrough. The model has been trained ...

Some animals possess the remarkable ability to regenerate lost structures, exemplified by a lizard regrowing its tail. However, this regenerative process must be tightly regulated by the body to ensure proper tissue organization and to prevent abnormal growths, such as cancer. Yet, the precise mechanisms underlying this regulation are not well known. In a recent study published in PLOS Genetics, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have identified an RNA-regulator called Brat as a key player in restraining tissue regeneration through its modulation of downstream growth factors. “There are constraints and protective factors that are important for ...

**Note: the release below is a special early release from the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2024, Barcelona, Spain, 27-30 April). Please credit the congress if you use this story** New research presented early ahead of this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2024, Barcelona, 27-30 April) from a team of researchers in the Netherlands shows how the latest CRISPR-Cas gene editing technology can be used to eliminate all ...

Spring weather brings welcome conditions for flowers and plant life to bloom across the land. The right mixture of temperature, moisture, and light helps keep the green world vibrant. Underwater plant life generally responds to similar environmental encouragements, but a curious discovery in Lake Erie circa 2012 led microbiologists to study an unseasonal display of winter abundance. Blooms of diatoms—microscopic, photosynthetic algae—were alive and well beneath (and within) the lake’s ...

Cape lions used to roam the Cape Flats grassland plains of South Africa, in what is now known as Western Cape Providence. When Europeans arrived in South Africa in the mid-1600s, Cape lions, along with many other African carnivores and herbivores, were hunted as agricultural practice to protect livestock and humans. By the mid-1800s, less than 200 years since European arrival, Cape lions had been hunted to extinction. European naturalists described the Cape lion as having a particularly black mane and as being morphologically distinct. However, alternative depictions and descriptions of Cape ...

Getting screened for cervical cancer isn’t fun. And getting an alert that your initial exam showed a potential sign of trouble, and that you need to go back for a test or procedure to rule out cancer, is even less fun. Plus, those follow-up procedures can cost hundreds of dollars, even though a law makes the initial cervical cancer screening test free to all eligible patients. So it’s no wonder that many of those eligible don’t get screened in the first place – and that among those who get screened and have initial abnormal ...