Millions of people with diabetes are at risk of developing foot ulcers, which often lead to amputations and other health complications. Now, Scientists from the Centre for Biomechanics and Rehabilitation Technologies (CRBT) have developed a new method to reliably detect this risk without the need for complex electronic in-shoe sensors. Dr Panagiotis Chatzistergos, Associate Professor in Orthopaedic Biomechanics, explained: "In the UK alone, 169 people have a toe, foot or limb amputated as a result of diabetes every week, yet importantly up to 80% of these amputations could have been prevented with correct management. "Routine overloading ...

New research shows what is often assumed to be 'fair' in conservation practice may not be considered so by the very people most affected by it--and a new approach is needed if protected areas are to be effective. Lead author Dr Georgina Gurney, from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies based at James Cook University, said considering local stakeholder conceptions of fairness in conservation is critical. "If conservation is perceived as unfair it can lead to conflict, undermining support and cooperation," Dr Gurney said. She said it is not only an ethical matter but key to achieving good ...

University of Illinois Chicago researchers studying birth outcomes in marmoset monkeys found there were no adult maternal characteristics like age or weight gain during pregnancy to predict stillbirth or early neonatal death, but that a mother's birth weight or litter size were associated with early neonatal death. "Our findings of early life contributions to adult pregnancy outcomes in the common marmoset disrupt mother-blaming narratives of pregnancy outcomes in humans," the paper states. Julienne Rutherford, associate professor at UIC's School of Nursing, is lead author of "Womb to Womb: Maternal litter size and birth weight but not adult characteristics predict early neonatal death of offspring in the common marmoset monkey" published in the journal PLOS ONE. Marmosets ...

Since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were questions about how people in active cancer treatment would fare if they became infected with SARS-CoV-2. The worries were due, in large part, to the effects that cancer and its treatments can have on the immune system. Now that COVID-19 vaccines are widely available, concerns have shifted to the safety and effectiveness of vaccination in this potentially vulnerable population. A study published June 5 in the journal Cancer Cell aims to allay those fears. In a review of 200 patients with a wide spectrum of cancer diagnoses, researchers at Montefiore Health System and Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, NY, found that after full vaccination, 94% of patients overall demonstrated seroconversion, ...

The routes and schedules of public transit, the presence or absence of sidewalks, the availability of different transportation options, and the design of highways that divide cities--these are examples of aspects of transportation systems that can profoundly impact underserved communities' access to basic needs like jobs, health care, education and even food. A new study by University of Michigan researchers reveals common barriers that transportation decision-makers face in considering these issues and addressing them. To conduct the study, a team from a multidisciplinary project involving engineering, ...

DARIEN, IL - A study shows that a deep neural network model can accurately predict the brain age of healthy patients based on electroencephalogram data recorded during an overnight sleep study, and EEG-predicted brain age indices display unique characteristics within populations with different diseases. The study found that the model predicted age with a mean absolute error of only 4.6 years. There was a statistically significant relationship between the Absolute Brain Age Index and: epilepsy and seizure disorders, stroke, elevated markers of sleep-disordered breathing (i.e., apnea-hypopnea index and arousal ...

The widely studied metallic asteroid known as 16 Psyche was long thought to be the exposed iron core of a small planet that failed to form during the earliest days of the solar system. But new University of Arizona-led research suggests that the asteroid might not be as metallic or dense as once thought, and hints at a much different origin story. Scientists are interested in 16 Psyche because if its presumed origins are true, it would provide an opportunity to study an exposed planetary core up close. NASA is scheduled to launch its Psyche mission in 2022 and arrive at the asteroid in 2026. UArizona ...

[RALEIGH, N.C.] - How are the squirrels doing this year? The bears? The armadillos? How would you know? A new paper published June 8 sets up the framework for answering these questions across the United States by releasing the data from the first national mammal survey made up of 1,509 motion-activated camera traps from 110 sites located across all 50 states. Unlike birds, which have multiple large-scale monitoring programs, there has been no standard way to monitor mammal populations at a national scale. To address this challenge, scientists from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute recently collaborated ...

DURHAM, N.C. - Engineers at Duke University have demonstrated a prototype X-ray scanning machine that reveals not just the shape of an object but its molecular composition. With unprecedented resolution and accuracy, the technology could revolutionize a wide range of fields such as cancer surgery, pathology, drug inspection and geology. Many of the ideas behind the prototype were originally conceived in the pursuit of performing better bomb detection for aviation security. In the new paper, published online May 19 in the journal Scientific Reports, the researchers adapted the technology for several targeted scientific and medical applications. "Whether you're trying to spot a bomb in a bag or a tumor in a body, the physics is more or less the same," said ...

Watching honeybees buzz among flowers, it's easy to see how the expression "busy as a bee" arose. One of many movements a bee's body makes is the repetitive curving and straightening of its abdomen. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces have found that tiny hairs reduce friction from these motions, saving energy for the industrious insects' daily activities while reducing wear and tear. This knowledge could help researchers design longer-lasting moving parts. A bee's abdomen is divided into several tough outer plates that make up its exoskeleton. When the abdomen flexes and extends, these segments slide over each other, creating friction. However, the overlapping portions of the segments show very little wear and tear, ...

WASHINGTON, June 9, 2021 -- The World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control recommend keeping a certain distance between people to prevent the spread of COVID-19. These social distancing recommendations are estimated from a variety of studies, but further research about the precise mechanism of virus transport from one person to another is still needed. In Physics of Fluids, by AIP Publishing, researchers from Stony Brook University, Harvard, ETH Zurich, and Hanyang University demonstrate normal breathing indoors without a mask ...

Summer rainfall on the Tibetan Plateau is highly predictable on multiyear timescales in large ensemble predictions, according to a research team led by ZHOU Tianjun from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The study, published in Science Advances on June 9, shows evidence that the predictable signal of summer rainfall across the hinterland of the Tibetan Plateau is substantially underestimated in state-of-the-art decadal prediction models. The predictable signal is so weak that it can be concealed by unpredictable noise. "The too weak predictable signal arises from the low signal-to-noise ratios in models in comparison with the real world," ...

A new study at the University of Chicago Medicine and Washington University found that a single inhalation session with 25% nitrous oxide gas was nearly as effective as 50% nitrous oxide at rapidly relieving symptoms of treatment-resistant depression, with fewer adverse side effects. The study, published June 9 in Science Translational Medicine, also found that the effects lasted much longer than previously suspected, with some participants experiencing improvements for upwards of two weeks. These results bolster the evidence that non-traditional treatments may be a viable option for patients whose depression is not responsive to typical antidepressant medications. It may also provide a rapidly effective treatment option for patients in crisis. Often called "laughing gas," nitrous ...

A single, one-hour treatment that involves breathing in a mixture of oxygen and nitrous oxide -- otherwise known as laughing gas -- significantly improved symptoms in people with treatment-resistant depression, according to new data from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Chicago. In a phase 2 clinical trial, the researchers demonstrated that symptoms of depression improve rapidly following treatment with inhaled nitrous oxide. Further, they reported the benefits can last for several weeks. The findings are published June 9 in the journal Science Translational Medicine. "A large percentage of patients don't respond to standard antidepressant therapies -- the ...

A new study unexpectedly identified tiny deposits of elemental copper and iron within the brains of two deceased people with Alzheimer's disease. The findings could help scientists better understand how these elemental metals, which were uncovered in the cores of amyloid plaques, contribute to neurodegenerative diseases and could point to a target for alternative Alzheimer's therapies. While enzymes and proteins containing positively charged copper and iron ions have been known to control key processes in the human brain, little has been known about how the organ mineralizes iron and copper, including the formation of elemental metallic nanoparticles, which ...

(Boston)--Should treatment of alcoholics be different based on gender? Yes, according to a new study that shows that alcoholic men and women respond differently to their disease resulting in different levels of brain activity and brain abnormalities. Research indicates that they distinguish facial expressions differently and that this is an important clue as to how treatment strategies might be tailored. Chronic long-term Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) or "alcoholism," is a harmful condition that has been associated with deficits in emotion and memory, including memory for the emotional expressions of faces. In addition to its effects on memory for facial emotions, AUD also has been associated with impairments ...

PSI researchers have developed a new tomography method with which they can measure chemical properties inside catalyst materials in 3-D extremely precisely and faster than before. The application is equally important for science and industry. The researchers published their results today in the journal Science Advances. The material group of vanadium phosphorus oxides (VPOs) is widely used as a catalyst in the chemical industry. VPOs have been used in the production of maleic anhydride since the 1970s. Maleic anhydride in turn is the starting material for the ...

Widespread adoption of hydrogen-powered vehicles over traditional electric vehicles requires fuel cells that can convert hydrogen and oxygen safely into water - a serious implementation problem. Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder are addressing one aspect of that roadblock by developing new computational tools and models needed to better understand and manage the conversion process. Hendrik Heinz, an associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, is leading the effort in partnership with the University of California Los Angeles. His team recently published new findings on the subject in Science Advances. Fuel cell electric vehicles combine ...

A single one-hour treatment with nitrous oxide - also known as laughing gas - can relieve symptoms of treatment-resistant depression for several weeks, according to a phase 2 clinical trial involving 28 participants. By showing that a 25% concentration of the gas still has therapeutic effects, the results suggest that lower concentrations of nitrous oxide could be useful against depression in the clinic while bringing a lower risk of side effects. Inhaled nitrous oxide is commonly used as a sedative agent in dental and medical offices, but the gas has also attracted attention as a possible treatment for depression. A previous study showed that nitrous oxide had marked ...

New Curtin research has shown how a readily available, cheap and safe-to-use product found in the medicine cabinet of most homes could be the key to better ecological restoration practices with major benefits for the environment and agriculture. The study revealed that aspirin, which naturally occurs in the bark of the willow tree and other plants, can improve the survival of grass species important for ecological restoration and sustainable pasture when applied in a seed coating. Lead researcher Dr Simone Pedrini from the ARC Centre for Mine Site Restoration in Curtin's School of Molecular and Life Sciences, said salicylic acid has been used for its medicinal properties for more than 4000 years and its modern synthetic version, acetylsalicylic acid, or aspirin, is one ...

Our genetic material is stored in our cells in a specific way to make the meter-long DNA molecule fit into the tiny cell nucleus of each body cell. An international team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing, the CECAD Cluster of Excellence in Ageing research at the University of Cologne, the University College London and the University of Michigan have now been able to show that rapamycin, a well-known anti-ageing candidate, targets gut cells specifically to alter the way of DNA storage inside these cells, and thereby promotes gut health and longevity. This effect has been observed in flies and mice. The researchers believe this finding will open up new possibilities for targeted therapeutic interventions ...

BOSTON - A new analysis by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) offers a novel perspective on the disproportionate impact that COVID-19 has had on people of color, low-income populations, and other structurally disadvantaged groups. Their findings, published in a research letter to the END ...

For decades, physicians and dieticians have urged people to limit their intake of high fat foods, citing links to poor health outcomes and some of the leading causes of death in the U.S., such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, dietary components high in saturated fats such as red meat are thought to be risk factors for colon cancer. Diet is thought to strongly influence the risk of colorectal cancer, and changes in food habits might reduce up to 70% of this cancer burden. Other known epidemiological risk factors are family history, inflammatory bowel disease, ...

Watching what was happening around the world in early 2020, University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers knew their region would likely soon be hit with a wave of patients with COVID-19, the infection caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. They wondered how the virus persists on surfaces, particularly in hospitals, and they knew they had only a small window of time to get started if they wanted to capture a snapshot of the "before" situation -- before patients with the infection were admitted. After a call late one Sunday night, a team assembled in the ...

MELVILLE, N.Y., June 9, 2021 -- In the evolutionary battle between hunter and hunted, sound plays an integral part in the success or failure of the hunt. In the case of bats vs. moths, the insects are using acoustics against their winged foes. During the 180th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, which will be held virtually June 8-10, Thomas Neil, from the University of Bristol, will discuss how moth wings have evolved in composition and structure to help them create anti-bat defenses. The session, "Moth wings are acoustic metamaterials," will take place Wednesday, June 9, at 1 p.m. Eastern U.S. Nocturnal moths ...