Researchers at North Carolina State University have designed and demonstrated a new system that allows them to remotely monitor the behavior of freshwater mussels. The system could be used to alert researchers to the presence of toxic substances in aquatic ecosystems. "When mussels feed, they open their shells; but if there's something noxious in the water, they may immediately close their shells, all at once," says Jay Levine, co-author of a paper on the work and a professor of epidemiology at NC State. "Folks have been trying to find ways to measure how widely mussels or oysters open their shells off and on since the 1950s, but there have been a wide variety ...

All viruses mutate as they make copies of themselves to spread and thrive. SARS-CoV-2, the virus the causes COVID-19, is proving to be no different. There are currently more than 4,000 variants of COVID-19, which has already killed more than 2.7 million people worldwide during the pandemic. The UK variant, also known as B.1.1.7, was first detected in September 2020, and is now causing 98 percent of all COVID-19 cases in the United Kingdom. And it appears to be gaining a firm grip in about 100 other countries it has spread to in the past several months, including France, Denmark, and the United States. The World Health Organization says B.1.1.7 is one of several variants of concern along with others that have emerged in South Africa and Brazil. "The UK, ...

Many organisms use sunlight to fuel cellular functions. But exactly how does this conversion of solar energy into chemical energy unfold? In a recent experiment, an international team of scientists, including two researchers from UWM, sought answers using an advanced imaging technique called time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography to watch a pigment found in some marine bacteria as it was exposed to sunlight outside the cell. For this experiment, the researchers documented, for the first time, the dynamics of the "chloride ion-pumping rhodopsin," an atomic "pump," which is jump-started by sunlight and moves chloride ions unidirectionally into the ...

DALLAS - March 23, 2021 - It's not just your legs and heart that get a workout when you walk briskly; exercise affects your brain as well. A new study by researchers at UT Southwestern shows that when older adults with mild memory loss followed an exercise program for a year, the blood flow to their brains increased. The results were published online today in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. "This is part of a growing body of evidence linking exercise with brain health," says study leader Rong Zhang, Ph.D., professor of neurology at UTSW. "We've shown for the first time in a randomized ...

A study of ancient bones shows that Early Neolithic sheep-breeders were faced with high levels of mortality among young animals in their herds. A statistical model, partly developed at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich, allowed the age distribution of the bones to be precisely determined. In the 8th millennium BCE, early sheep-herders were already aware that the conditions under which their animals were housed had an impact on mortality rates among the lambs. This one result of a study researchers led by Nadja Pöllath (a curator at the State Collection for Anthropology and Palaeoanatomy in Munich), LMU zooarchaeologist Joris Peters (who is also the Director of the state collection) ...

The BioRescue consortium develops and applies new technological approaches as a last straw for saving critically endangered species such as the northern white rhinoceros. Advanced Assisted Reproductive Technologies (aART) push the boundaries of what can be done to create new offspring. Consequently, new ethical questions regarding the application of these tools arise and need to be answered, and relevant animal welfare issues to be addressed. In order to ensure that the ethical risk assessment matches the technological breakthrough with aART, the BioRescue ...

Despite guidelines promoting outpatient management of patients with low-risk pulmonary embolism (PE), few patients are currently discharged home from hospital emergency departments in the United States. That is the conclusion of a study titled Outpatient Management of Patients Following Diagnosis of Acute Pulmonary Embolism, published in the March 2021 issue of Academic Emergency Medicine (AEM), a journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM). The retrospective cohort study of more than 61,000 patients treated at 740 acute care United States emergency departments during a two-year period sought to determine disposition practices and subsequent health care utilization in patients with acute PE. According to the findings, ...

A study co-authored by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that telehealth consults among privately insured working-age patients accounted for almost 24 percent of outpatient consults with health care providers during the early phase of the pandemic, March to June 2020, up from less than 0.3 percent during the same period in 2019. The dramatic shift occurred as many medical practices halted or curtailed in-person office hours and patients stayed away from doctor's offices out of fear of transmission during the early months of the pandemic. At the same time, insurance companies and the federal government relaxed policies around telehealth to meet demand for remote medical consults ...

Most people relate cholesterol to heart health, but it is also a critical component in the growth and spread of brain cancer. VCU Massey Cancer Center researcher Suyun Huang, Ph.D., recently discovered how cholesterol becomes dysregulated in brain cancer cells and showed that the gene responsible for it could be a target for future drugs. The mean survival of patients with the most common and aggressive type of brain cancer, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), is 14 months. The need to find new, effective treatments is urgent and has driven Huang, a member of the Cancer Biology research program at Massey, to detail ...

Some 40% of critically ill patients who undergo tracheal intubation to support their breathing suffer a life-threatening complication, research from National University of Ireland Galway has revealed. The study, published today in JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, involved 2,964 critically ill men and women. It was carried out across 29 countries from 1 October 2018 to 31 July 2019 to determine the risk of adverse events arising from the invasive procedure. John Laffey, Professor of Intensive Care Medicine at NUI Galway and Consultant in ...

HOUSTON - (March 23, 2021) - Fish that dine on corals may pay it forward with poop. It's an unexpected twist on coral reef symbiosis, said Rice University marine biologist Adrienne Correa, whose lab discovered coral predator feces are jam-packed with living symbiotic algae that corals depend on for survival. The discovery confirms that poop from coral-eating fish is an important environmental source of symbiotic dinoflagellate algae on coral reefs. Correa said coral-eating predators are typically thought of as biting and weakening reef structures, thereby generating hiding spaces for other organisms and, ultimately, beach sand. In contrast, grazing fish that crop down bushy algae get the limelight for helping reefs maintain healthy coral ...

Hummingbird hawkmoths are small insects that hover in the air like hummingbirds when drinking nectar from flowers. Dr. Anna Stöckl from the Biocentre of the Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg in Bavaria, Germany, is studying the visual performance of these insects. Dr. Stöckl and her doctoral student Ronja Bigge now present their latest findings in the journal Current Biology. "To control their flight, hummingbird hawkmoths rely on optic flow in the lower half of their visual field," Ronja Bigge explains. Optic flow is the relative motion that the surrounding image casts on the animals' retinas when they fly. We experience this phenomenon ourselves when travelling by train ...

DETROIT (March, 23, 2021) - Henry Ford physician, John Craig, M.D., is leading an international research effort to improve the multidisciplinary collaboration between otolaryngologists and dental providers around the globe when it comes to diagnosing odontogenic sinusitis (ODS). ODS is an infectious condition of the paranasal sinuses that can occur from either dental infection or dental procedures involving the upper jaw. There are multiple ways that infection can spread from the teeth to sinuses, and in more severe scenarios, to the eye, brain, or rest of the body. It has been shown that the various clinicians ...

Rural America is running short on physicians. This worries health experts who have linked limited access to primary care providers to major gaps in health outcomes for rural communities. Addressing this issue is complicated, but new research from the University of Georgia suggests that understanding geographic trends in medical school applicants could help project where the future physician workforce is likely to practice. Knowing a medical student's hometown is an important piece of the puzzle, said study author Donglan "Stacy" Zhang, because geography is known to predict where many new doctors choose to practice. "More than 60% of doctors choose their practice location in ...

The Bale Mountains in south-central Ethiopia are considered to be one of the most unique centers of endemism, with an extraordinary number of plants and animals that can only be found there. Numerous species are already known from this Afromontane high-elevation plateau, making it a biodiversity hotspot, but ongoing research continues to reveal the presence of so far unknown and undescribed organisms. Zoologists END ...

WASHINGTON--Exposure in the womb to a drug used to prevent miscarriage appears to raise the offspring's cancer risk decades later, especially for colorectal and prostate cancers, researchers have found. They will present the results of their new study Tuesday at ENDO 2021, the Endocrine Society's annual meeting. Some adult children of women who received the drug, hydroxyprogesterone caproate (OHPC or 17-OHPC), during pregnancy in the 1950s and 1960s are now experiencing more than twice the odds of cancer, said the study's lead researcher, Caitlin Murphy, Ph.D., M.P.H., an assistant professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. OHPC is a synthetic progestogen hormone that was ...

By comparing the genetic diversity of butterflies in North America, researchers reporting in the journal iScience on March 23 found that the array of different evolutionary distinct groups of butterflies is particularly high in the deserts of Mexico and the southwestern United States. This may be an outcome of actively changing conditions in the Desert Southwest and more generally in the western portion of the continent. "When you think of desert, you don't automatically jump to butterflies, but our results showed that this area is actually a really important hotspot for butterflies, even if it isn't for plants," says co-first author Chandra Earl, who recently received her PhD from the University of Florida. "Just because butterflies are closely tied to their host plants doesn't ...

WASHINGTON, March 23, 2021 -- 5G, or the fifth-generation technology standard for broadband cellular networks, is touted as having finally arrived for ultrafast download speeds, an end to dropped calls and buffering, and greater connectivity to advance autonomous vehicle development, remote surgery, and the Internet of Things. In truth, 5G technology adoption is still in its early stages, according to Michael Hill, technical director of Skyworks Solutions, a California-based advanced-semiconductor company. In their paper, published in Applied Physics Letters, by AIP Publishing, Hill and his colleagues provide an overview on nascent 5G ...

WASHINGTON, March 23, 2021 -- Scientists have been working for the past year to find ways to curb the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Though it is outside their typical realm of study, physicists have been playing an important role in many aspects of research about the pandemic and its impact on people. Particle physicists' keen understanding of gas handling systems positioned them at the forefront for pioneering low-cost, mass-producible ventilators to help address the worldwide shortage. Led by Cristian Galbiati, professor of physics at Princeton University and the Gran Sasso Science Institute, an international, interdisciplinary team called the Mechanical Ventilator Milano ...

Bottom Line: The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) concludes that current evidence is insufficient to make a recommendation about screening for hearing loss in asymptomatic adults 50 and older. Nearly 16% of U.S. adults 18 and over report difficulty hearing. Hearing loss has been associated with an increased risk of falls, hospitalizations, social isolation and cognitive decline. The USPSTF routinely makes recommendations about the effectiveness of preventive care services and this recommendation is similar to its 2012 statement. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jama.2021.2566) Editor's Note: Please see the article for additional information, including ...

WASHINGTON, March 23, 2021 -- According to the National Institutes of Health, respiratory viruses are the most frequent cause of disease and death in humans, a fact highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the potential to cause severe disease, over 70% of viral infections remain asymptomatic. Animal models have been used widely to understand how these viruses infect the host and how the host responds to prevent infection and onset of diseases. Data based on animal models, however, does not always apply well to humans, given the variability ...

What The Study Did: Employees of a health care system were surveyed on the eve of vaccine distribution to encourage them to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, assess their intentions to do so and understand reasons for hesitancy. Authors: Michelle N. Meyer, Ph.D., J.D., Center for Translational Bioethics and Health Care Policy at the Geisinger Health System in Danville, Pennsylvania, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.5344) Editor's Note: Please see the article for additional information, including ...

What The Study Did: This study of working-age people enrolled in private health plans from March 2019 through June 2020 documented patterns of care at the onset of COVID-19. Authors: Jonathan P. Weiner, Dr.P.H., Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.2618) Editor's Note: The article includes funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, ...

What The Study Did: Researchers investigated representation of Black Americans in clinical trials of cardiovascular drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration between 2006 and 2020. Authors: Jiarui Li, M.D., of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College in Beijing, China, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.2640) Editor's Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support. INFORMATION: Media ...

CABI-led Plantwise plant clinics can help promote more sustainable ways to fight crop pests and diseases in Rwanda and Zambia - such as the fall armyworm - with the judicial use of pesticides within Integrated Pest Management (IPM) plans. Dr Justice Tambo, lead author of the study published in the journal Food Policy, surveyed 1,474 farm households in Rwanda and Zambia and found that although farmers who visit plant clinics show a higher probability of opting for pesticides for pest control, they do not use them intensively and are more likely to adopt safer and more sustainable alternatives. The scientists, which include researchers ...