Men navigate their intimate partner relationships depending on their masculine style, says new research led by UBC men’s health expert John Oliffe. The study, which drew from in-depth interviews with 92 straight men ages 19 to 43 from diverse cultural backgrounds, found three types of masculinities: Neo-traditionalists – Some men largely follow traditional gender roles, such as being the provider and protector in the relationship Egalitarian – Others seek a more equal partnership, with emphasis on mutuality and measurable give and take Progressive ...

Unexpected new insights into how COVID-19 infects cells may help explain why coronaviruses are so good at jumping from species to species and will help scientists better predict how COVID-19 will evolve. Throughout the pandemic, there has been much discussion of how COVID-19 infiltrates cells by hijacking a protein called ACE2 found on human cells. But the new research from the School of Medicine reveals that ACE2 isn’t required for infection. Instead, the virus has other means it can use to infect cells.  That versatility suggests that coronaviruses can use multiple “doors” ...

VANCOUVER, Wash. – Dry lightning can still be disastrous even when conditions aren’t so dry, a study has found.  These cloud-to-ground strikes during little to no rainfall were previously thought to pose wildfire danger only if occurring with less than 2.5 mm of rain in a day (about 0.10 inches). A Washington State University-led study of lightning-ignited wildfires in the U.S. West found the strikes caused wildfires despite up to 7.7 mm (about 0.3 inches) of precipitation. While still a low amount of rain, the more accurate estimation could help responders detect fires earlier, especially those known as “holdovers,” which can smolder for many ...

Worcester, Mass. – August 10, 2023 – Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) researcher Markus Nemitz is the recipient of a $599,815 CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation to develop an innovative architecture for low-cost custom robots capable of traversing challenging terrains by swimming, crawling, climbing, and diving through hostile and confined spaces as part of search-and-rescue operations. Nemitz, an assistant professor in WPI’s Department of Robotics Engineering, will focus on developing ...

Medical imaging via X-rays, CT scans, MRIs and ultrasounds provide health-care professionals with unique perspectives and a better understanding of what’s happening inside a patient’s body. Using various forms of waves, these machines can visualize many unseen ailments and diseases. This imaging is beneficial for health-care professionals to make correct diagnoses, but the added insight of spectroscopy provides even more detail. Spectroscopy offers a means to identify biomolecules within specimens through ...

The climate crisis is increasing the frequency and intensity of floods, droughts and heatwaves, with Africa expected to be among the global regions hit hardest. Yet the systems and technologies across the continent that monitor and forecast weather events and changes to water levels are “missing, outmoded or malfunctioning” – leaving African populations even more exposed to climate change. This is according to a team of risk experts and climatologists from the UK and Africa led by the University of Cambridge, who ...

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 14, 2023 — Imagine using insects as a source of chemicals to make plastics that can biodegrade later — with the help of that very same type of bug. That concept is closer to reality than you might expect. Today, researchers will describe their progress to date, including isolation and purification of insect-derived chemicals and their conversion into functional bioplastics. The researchers will present their results at the fall meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS Fall 2023 is a hybrid meeting being held virtually and in-person Aug. 13–17, and features about 12,000 presentations on a wide range of science topics. “For ...

With climate change, irrigating more crops in the United States will be critical to sustaining future yields, as drought conditions are likely to increase due to warmer temperatures and shifting precipitation patterns. Yet less than 20% of croplands are equipped for irrigation. A Dartmouth-led study finds that by the middle of the 21st century under a moderate greenhouse gas emissions scenario, the benefits of expanded irrigation will outweigh the costs of installation and operation over an expanded portion of current U.S. ...

DALLAS, Aug. 14, 2023 - A new American Heart Association scientific statement highlights evidence that supports shared decision-making, a term that describes the process of ensuring patients have the knowledge and tools to make decisions about their health in collaboration with their professional health care team. The statement publishes today in the American Heart Association’s flagship, peer-reviewed journal Circulation. More than 100 trials have demonstrated that shared decision-making ...

New colloidal technique could give a juicy sensation without adding fat  Switch to plant-based diets needed to hit climate change targets  One of the biggest obstacles to the uptake of plant-based alternatives to meat is their very dry and astringent feel when they are eaten.  Scientists, led by Professor Anwesha Sarkar at the University of Leeds, are revolutionising the sensation of plant proteins, transforming them from a substance that can be experienced as gloopy and dry to one that is juicy and fat like.   And the only substance they are adding to the plant proteins is water.   Plant protein microgels  To ...

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 13, 2023 — In the refrigerated grocery store aisle, meat alternatives greatly outnumber plant-based seafoods. But more mock seafood options are needed because of unsustainable fishing and aquaculture practices, which can deplete the supply and harm the environment. Today, researchers present a new approach for creating desirable vegan seafood mimics that taste good, while maintaining the healthful profile of real fish. They 3D-printed an ink made from microalgae protein and mung bean protein, and their proof-of-concept calamari rings can even be air-fried for a quick, tasty snack. The researchers will present their results at the fall meeting of the American ...

Kashif Nawaz and Mahabir Bhandari, building technologies researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, were recognized for research achievements in support of ASHRAE during the 2023 annual conference of the national heating, refrigerating, and air-conditioning engineering society. Nawaz, a distinguished researcher and head of ORNL’s Buildings Technologies Research Section, received the Crosby Field Award, which honors the highest-rated paper presented before a technical session, a symposium or poster session ...

An unusual case of a Long Covid patient’s legs turning blue after 10 minutes of standing highlights the need for greater awareness of this symptom among people with the condition, according to new research published in the Lancet.  The paper, authored by Dr Manoj Sivan at the University of Leeds, focuses on the case of one 33-year man who developed with acrocyanosis – venous pooling of blood in the legs.  A minute after standing, the patient’s legs began to redden and became increasingly blue over time, with veins becoming more prominent. After 10 minutes the colour was much more pronounced, with the patient ...

Tears to the glenoid labrum—cartilage tissue that lines the shoulder where the arm joins—can be repaired with arthroscopic surgery, which significantly weakens the joint and involves a lengthy recovery. Liping Tang, a bioengineering professor at The University of Texas at Arlington, is developing a new method to repair labrum tears that would enable the body to regenerate tissue to completely reattach the sides of the tear. He recently received a five-year, $2.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases for the research, which would improve the current standard of care ...

Asian/Pacific Island Nursing Journal (APINJ) Editor-in-Chief: Hyochol (Brian) Ahn, PhD, MSN, MS-ECE, MS-CTS, APRN, ANP-BC, FAAN and guest editor Shu-Fen Wung, Ph.D., RN, ACNP-BC, FAAN welcome submissions to a special theme issue examining "Artificial Intelligence (AI) and ChatGPT in Asian and Pacific Islander (API) Health." Generative AI, like ChatGPT, can have many applications in health care and medicine, particularly in addressing the unique needs and challenges faced by API communities. Potential topics related to the use of generative AI in health care and nursing care specific to API health that we ...

ST. LOUIS – How should others make decisions for pediatric patients? For decades, there has been debate in academic literature about the ethical principles that govern medical decision-making for children. In response to this, a group of leading scholars in pediatric ethics participated in a June 2022 symposium, “Best Interests and Beyond: Standards of Decision Making in Pediatrics,” at Saint Louis University. Over the course of three days, the 17 scholars debated one question – in the context of U.S. pediatric care, what moral precepts ought to guide parents and clinicians in medical decision-making for children? A group of ...

The largest storm in the solar system, a 10,000-mile-wide anticyclone called the Great Red Spot, has decorated Jupiter's surface for hundreds of years. A new study now shows that Saturn — though much blander and less colorful than Jupiter — also has long-lasting megastorms with impacts deep in the atmosphere that persist for centuries. The study was conducted by astronomers from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, who looked at radio emissions from the planet, which come from below the surface, and found long-term disruptions in the distribution ...

A new digital headset designed to measure alterations in brain function could change decisions about how quickly an athlete is ready to return to play after a concussion. In an evaluation of the device, UC San Francisco researchers found it revealed brain changes even in athletes whose concussion symptoms had gone away, suggesting they could be playing too soon. Although not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the device could fill an important niche among athletes, clinicians, trainers and coaches, who are concerned about the long-term effects of repeated sports-related concussions. These include chronic traumatic encephalopathy, ...

*This press release was amended on August 9, 2023. Due to a mistake in interpretation of data, the previous version of the release stated the study found that NO2 exposure is associated with a decreased risk of breast cancer. The authors have confirmed that the results showed that NO2 exposure is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer.   Key points: A cohort study of millions of Medicare beneficiaries found that chronic exposures to PM2.5 and NO2 over a 10-year period increased the risk of developing colorectal and prostate cancers. Even in areas with low pollution levels, researchers found substantial associations between exposures to ...

Qixin Zhong, professor in the University of Tennessee Department of Food Science, has been named an Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Fellow. The honor was bestowed as a result of Zhong’s years of contribution to food science and to IFT through his scientific, engineering and leadership efforts. In his research enhancing food quality, safety and healthfulness, Zhong creates multilength scale structures to improve the function of food ingredients. His cutting-edge innovations and research developments have impacted countless producers and consumers. Zhong says he is honored to be named a Fellow, and ...

Ask just about any person in the University of Tennessee Extension family what they like about their job, and they might mention the impact they have in their communities and the people they help. Long thought of as a career where you can realize a calling for service, an international organization now confirms what many employees have believed for some time – that UT Extension is a great place to work. The International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) has named UT Extension as its 2023 Employer of the Year. This ...

Forensic researchers at the University of Tennessee Knoxville’s famous Anthropological Research Facility, popularly known as the “Body Farm,” have made headlines for decades in their discoveries of what happens to human bodies after death. Now, a multidisciplinary team—engineers, soil scientists, and biologists—digs in with them for a deeper look at what happens to the soil underneath a decomposing body. Their study, “Soil Elemental Changes During Human Decomposition,” published in June 2023 by PLOS One, could benefit investigators searching for human remains in remote or hard-to access-vegetated areas. “This ...

Cambridge, MA – Flat screen TVs that incorporate quantum dots are now commercially available, but it has been more difficult to create arrays of their elongated cousins, quantum rods, for commercial devices. Quantum rods can control both the polarization and color of light, to generate 3D images for virtual reality devices. Using scaffolds made of folded DNA, MIT engineers have come up with a new way to precisely assemble arrays of quantum rods. By depositing quantum rods onto a DNA scaffold in a highly controlled way, the researchers can regulate their orientation, which is a key factor in determining the polarization of light emitted by the array. This makes it easier ...

In a world where annual economic losses from corrosion surpass 2.5 trillion US Dollars, the quest for corrosion-resistant alloys and protective coatings is unbroken. Artificial intelligence (AI) is playing an increasingly pivotal role in designing new alloys. Yet, the predictive power of AI models in foreseeing corrosion behaviour and suggesting optimal alloy formulas has remained elusive. Scientists of the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung (MPIE) have now developed a machine learning model that enhances the predictive accuracy by up to 15% compared to existing frameworks. This model uncovers new, but realistic corrosion-resistant alloy compositions. ...

Effluents from wastewater treatment plants have a dual effect: Some species disappear, while others benefit. Especially certain insect orders, such as stonefly and caddisfly larvae, are decimated. Certain worms and crustaceans, by contrast, can increase in number. A team from Goethe University Frankfurt led by Daniel Enns and Dr. Jonas Jourdan has corroborated this in a comprehensive study, which has now been published in the journal Water Research. They examined 170 wastewater treatment plants in Hesse in relation to species composition. Wastewater treatment plants are ...