A new study by Novateur Ventures provides a comparative analysis of twelve COVID-19 Vaccines that had initiated or announced the Phase III clinical trial stage by early November 2020. The study highlights the early successes, as well as the hurdles and barriers yet to be overcome for ending the global COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 vaccines analyzed for the study messenger RNA - Moderna and Pfizer/BioNtech Viral Vector-based (non-replicating) Vaccines - Astra Zeneca/University of Oxford, CanSino Biologics, Gamaleya Research Institute, Johnson & Johnson/Janssen (J&J)) Recombinant Protein-based Vaccines - Novavax and Medicago Inactivated Virus - Three Chinese conglomerates and one Indian company The study 'Target Product Profile Analysis ...

Biodiversity is increasingly ruined by humanity's many impacts, a major aspect of which is biological invasion. Although there are a lot of studies reporting that invasive predators decrease the population size of native species, only a few studies have reported impact on phenotypic traits such as morphology and performance of native species. Particularly island ecosystem is very sensitive to invasive predators because strong predators such as mammalian predators are not in such environment. Researchers at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT) analyzed predators' effect on frogs in a Japanese island and their findings were reported in Biological ...

If you reach for water when a muscle cramp strikes, you might want to think again. New research from Edith Cowan University (ECU) has revealed drinking electrolytes instead of pure water can help prevent muscle cramps. The study, published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, found that people who drank electrolyte enhanced water during and after exercise were less susceptible to muscle cramps than those who drank pure water. Muscle cramps are a common painful condition affecting many people, including around 39 per cent of marathon runners, 52 per cent of rugby players and 60 per cent of cyclists. ...

Scientists are learning that a lesser-studied region on the pandemic coronavirus is recognized by COVID-19 infection-fighting antibodies. These antibodies were identified in blood samples from previously infected patients, and were found to potently prevent the virus from infecting cells. The coronavirus spike protein is the key that unlocks the door to the cell, and antibodies bind to the spike protein to jam this function. Much attention has been given to studying antibodies that target the receptor-binding domain on the coronavirus spike protein. (The receptor-binding domain of the spike is responsible for triggering the merging of the ...

Anemia, a condition characterized by the lack of healthy red blood cells in the body, is common in patients with chronic kidney disease who need to undergo routine hemodialysis (a process that helps to "clean" the blood when the kidneys don't function well). Thus, red blood cell-stimulating agents (called "erythropoiesis-stimulating agents" or ESAs) and iron supplements (ISs) are administered as part of this process. But, complications can arise if the patients have an altered iron metabolism or poor response to medications. Moreover, the medications tend to be expensive and impose a heavy financial burden on public health. Thus, with such patients currently ...

Malting, the processing of cereal grains into malt, generates rootlets as a side-stream product, which is currently mostly utilised as animal feed. However, this leftover material has not only a high protein content, but also high amounts of phytochemicals, which makes it a highly potential source of development for the food industry, according to a recent study from the University of Eastern Finland, published in npj Science of Food. Germination increased the amount of phytochemicals The study utilised metabolomics to analyse samples from grains of four cereals typically used in malting: barley, rye, wheat, and oats. The researchers were particularly interested in phytochemicals, which are bioactive compounds ...

Leesburg, VA, March 18, 2021--According to ARRS' American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR), contrast-enhanced mammography (CEM) showed concordance with MRI in women with newly diagnosed breast cancer and breast augmentation. Noting that CEM has not been investigated in women with breast augmentation, Molly Carnahan and her Mayo Clinic team in Phoenix, AZ, concluded, "the findings suggest a possible role of CEM for staging in women with breast augmentation and contraindication or limited access to MRI." From an institutional database of 2,215 women who underwent ...

The immense diversity in the living world and how it came into being has always been a subject of human enquiry. After centuries of playing detective in search of the basis of the parities and disparities that we see among living beings around us, the past century stood witness to some marvellous discoveries in biology and today the Central Dogma of life has been disclosed to us: DNA makes RNA and RNA makes protein (a facile view of a much more complex sequence of events). Together with contributing environmental factors, proteome(s) (total protein content of a cell) collectively influence 'traits' or characteristics of organisms that vary among individuals of a population. In a population, individuals with traits better suited to their environment have a higher chance at survival ...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The triggers and causes of a severe scarring disease of the lungs -- idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, or IPF -- remain unclear. Now research published in Science Translational Medicine shows how cadmium and carbon black can trigger lung macrophages to produce a modified protein, citrullinated vimentin, or cit vim, which leads to lung fibrosis. Researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and three other American universities also describe a sequence of mechanistic steps in lung macrophages and lung fibroblasts that leads to the lung scarring. One of the enzymes involved in these steps -- peptidylarginine deiminase 2, or PAD2 -- may be a promising target to attenuate cadmium/carbon black-induced ...

March 18, 2021 -- A study conducted at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health reports a high global prevalence of both depression and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic and shows how implementation of mitigation strategies including public transportation and school closures, and stay-at-home orders impacted such disorders. The results are published in Psychological Medicine. "Our research found an elevated global prevalence of these mental health issues during COVID-19 and also revealed there was a wide variance in each at the region- and country-level," said, João Castaldelli-Maia, MD, PhD, NIDA-INVEST Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Epidemiology, and ...

Our knowledge of Alzheimer's disease has grown rapidly in the past few decades but it has proven difficult to translate fundamental discoveries about the disease into new treatments. Now researchers at the California National Primate Research Center at the University of California, Davis, have developed a model of the early stages of Alzheimer's disease in rhesus macaques. The macaque model, published March 18 in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association could allow better testing of new treatments. The model was developed by Professor John Morrison's laboratory ...

IN BRIEF: It's a first: approximately 100 scientists in 42 countries joined forces to learn about the incidence of parental burnout. They found that Western countries are the most affected by parental burnout. The cause? The often individualistic culture of Western countries. This international study, published in Affective Science, shows how culture, rather than socio-economic factors, plays a predominant role in parental burnout. The individualism is more pronounced during health crises. Does the incidence of parental burnout depend on a country's culture? This question was at the heart of the first international study on the subject for which hundreds of scientists in 42 countries mobilised. In other words, the global scientific ...

The results, published in the renowned scientific journal The Cryosphere, have made it possible to reliably describe snow trends at up to 2000 metres above sea level. Higher than that, there are too few measuring stations to be able to extract reliable information for the entire Alpine region. This consistent data set spans five decades and was created through the collaboration of more than 30 scientists from each of the Alpine states. The results and data collected represent a valuable aid for future studies, especially those which centre on climate change. "This ...

Bottlenose dolphins learn to cope with coastal construction activities. That is the conclusion of a study published in END ...

A large gathering of fish tempts harbour porpoises to search for food around oil and gas platforms, even though the noise from these industrial plants normally to scare the whales away. Decommissioned platforms may therefore serve as artificial reefs in the North Sea. Harbour porpoises are one of the smallest of all whales and the only whale that with certainty breeds in Danish waters. The harbour porpoise was protected in 1967 in Danish Waters, and researchers from Aarhus University, Denmark, have previously shown that underwater noise from ships, and seismic surveys of the seabed scare the porpoises away. A brand new study now shows that in some parts of the year there are ...

A new study in Behavioral Ecology, published by Oxford University Press, finds that women are less likely to procreate in urban areas that have a higher percentage of females than males in the population. Although the majority modern cities have more women than men and thus suffer from lower fertility rates, the effects of female-biased sex ratios - having more women than men in a population - is less studied than male-biased ratios. Researchers here analyzed how female-biased sex ratios are linked to marriages, reproductive histories, dispersal, and the effects of urbanization on society. The research team from University of Turku, University of Helsinki and Pennsylvania ...

A joint research team, affiliated with UNIST has unveiled a novel electrolyte additive that could enable a long lifespan and fast chargeability of high-energy-density lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Published in the February 2021 issue of Nature Communications, this research has been carried out by Professor Nam-Soon Choi and Professor Sang Kyu Kwak in the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, in collaboration with Professor Sung You Hong in the Department of Chemistry at UNIST. It has also been participated by Professor Jaephil Cho in the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering at UNIST. As the demand for large-capacity batteries (i.e., EV batteries) increases, efforts are actively underway to replace the conventional lithium-ion ...

Researchers from the University of Helsinki's Finnish Museum of Natural History Luomus and the National Museums of Kenya have discovered four lichen species new to science in the rainforests of the Taita Hills in southeast Kenya. Micarea pumila, M. stellaris, M. taitensis and M. versicolor are small lichens that grow on bark of trees and on decaying wood. The species were described based on morphological features and DNA-characters. "Species that belong to the Micarea genus are known all over the world, including Finland. However, the Micarea species recently described from the Taita ...

Researchers from Arizona State University, New York University, and Northwestern University published a new paper in the Journal of Marketing that examines how marketers can fuel positive WOM without using explicit incentives. The study, forthcoming in the Journal of Marketing, is titled "How Marketing Perks Influence Word of Mouth" and is authored by Monika Lisjak, Andrea Bonezzi, and Derek Rucker. Word-of-mouth (WOM) is arguably the most influential means of persuasion and can be a critical driver of a company's growth. For this reason, many companies offer consumers incentives to encourage them to generate WOM. Classic examples of this practice are referral and seeding programs, whereby a company literally "pays" ...

A study from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, has yielded new answers to fundamental questions about the relationship between the size of an atom and its other properties, such as electronegativity and energy. The results pave the way for advances in future material development. For the first time, it is now possible under certain conditions to devise exact equations for such relationships. "Knowledge of the size of atoms and their properties is vital for explaining chemical reactivity, structure and the properties of molecules and materials of all kinds. This is fundamental research that is necessary for us to make important advances," explains Martin Rahm, the main author of the study and research leader from ...

(MARCH 17, 2021) - The current outbreak of COVID-19 has raised many questions about the value of consideration of standardized testing through the admissions process. One of the many Coronavirus cancellations included a growing number of universities to waive SAT and ACT scores as an admissions requirement for 2022 applicants. With schools shifting their policy to making standardized "test-optional" and possibly permanently phasing out testing scores in the future as some college experts argue that standardized tests create barriers to students which could reduce their likelihood of acceptance. A new study led by senior research scientist Paul Westrick from the College Board (ACT, Inc.), along with UTSA professor of management, ...

Mass movements such as landslides and hill-slope debris flows cause billions of euros in economic damage around the world every year. Between 20 and 80 million euros are spent annually from the disaster fund to repair disaster damage in Austria, 15 to 50 percent of which is attributable to mud flows and landslides. Now, a team of geologists from Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), in cooperation with the Burgenland state road administration, identified for the first time the chemical influencing factors and triggers for recurrent mass movements in fine-grained sediments. From results published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, preventive measures and strategies ...

Lenexa, Kan. -- The Infusion Nurses Society has expanded its guidance on the use of needleless connectors to include anti-reflux technology in its recently published 2021 Infusion Therapy Standards of Practice, according to Nexus Medical, makers of the Nexus TKO®-6P Anti-Reflux connector. As INS' most recognized publication, the updated Standards outline specific categories of needleless connector technology based on the device's internal mechanism for fluid displacement -- negative displacement, positive displacement, neutral and anti-reflux. Of all the categories, the authors note that anti-reflux needleless connectors cause the least amount of blood reflux, which can ...

A groundbreaking new study led by University of Minnesota Twin Cities researchers from both the College of Science and Engineering and the Medical School shows for the first time that lab-created heart valves implanted in young lambs for a year were capable of growth within the recipient. The valves also showed reduced calcification and improved blood flow function compared to animal-derived valves currently used when tested in the same growing lamb model. If confirmed in humans, these new heart valves could prevent the need for repeated valve replacement surgeries in thousands of children born each year with congenital heart defects. The valves can also be stored for at least six months, which means they could provide surgeons with an "off the shelf" option for treatment. The ...

A long noncoding RNA whose function was previously unknown turns out to play a vital role in mobilizing the immune response following a bone marrow transplant or solid organ transplantation. This RNA molecule, cataloged in scientific databases simply as Linc00402, helps activate immune defenders known as T cells in response to the presence of foreign human cells, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center and Michigan Medicine. The investigation, which included samples from more than 50 patients who underwent a bone marrow or heart transplant, suggests inhibiting ...