Philadelphia, June 22, 2021 - Vivid photos of the red "COVID arm" rash and reports of facial swelling in patients who have received dermatological fillers after Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccination for COVID-19 may increase patients' concerns about mRNA vaccine side effects and contribute to vaccine hesitancy. A comprehensive review in Clinics in Dermatology, conducted by University of Connecticut School of Medicine researchers and published by Elsevier, confirms that almost all cutaneous reactions are largely self-limited and should not discourage getting the vaccine. The authors reviewed ...

A research team from Northwestern Engineering and the University of Messina in Italy have developed a new magnetic memory device that could lead to faster, more robust Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems. Composed of antiferromagnetic materials, the memory technology is immune to external magnetic fields and could one day improve a variety of computing systems, including AI hardware, cryptocurrency mining, and space exploration programs. A paper outlining the work, titled "Observation of Current-induced Switching in Non-collinear Antiferromagnetic IrMn3 by Differential Voltage Measurements," was published June 22 in the journal Nature Communications. Pedram Khalili, associate ...

Poll of 1,161 Ontario students shows attitudes toward cannabis differ from alcohol, creating potentially risky and dangerous driving behaviour Ontario students are more likely to get behind the wheel of a vehicle after smoking cannabis than drinking alcohol, a new study from researchers at the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Medicine has revealed. The study, published in Preventive Medicine, found 10 percent of licensed Ontario high school students reported driving within an hour of cannabis use. Driving after drinking alcohol was much less prevalent, with 3.5 percent of students doing so. The study, led by master's student Nathan Cantor, found that students who favour cannabis ...

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- Political institutions such as the timing of elections and presidentialism had a larger influence on COVID-19 strategies than the institutions organizing national healthcare, according to a research team led by a professor at Binghamton University, State University of New York. Olga Shvetsova, a political scientist at Binghamton University, and fellow researchers explored policy strategies on public health by the federal incumbents worldwide. Specifically, they looked at whether national incumbents led the charge as the pandemic unfolded ...

Dietary protein is needed to supply essential amino acids for the synthesis of the structural and functional components of living cells. Thus, food protein quantity and quality are both essential for good health. The 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) published an "ounce equivalents" recommendation to help consumers meet protein requirements with a variety of protein food sources. For example, the DGAs present a variety of "ounce equivalents" in the protein food groups stating that 1 ounce of meat is equivalent to 1 cooked egg, ¼ cup of red kidney beans, 1 tablespoon of peanut butter, 2 ounces of tofu, ...

Irvine, CA - June 22, 2021 - A new University of California, Irvine-led study reveals albumin (Alb), among the most abundant proteins in the body, activates a proton channel (hHv1), also widespread in the body, giving sperm the ability to penetrate and fertilize an egg, and allowing white blood cells to secrete large amounts of inflammatory mediators to fight infection. The study titled, "Direct activation of the proton channel by albumin leads to human sperm capacitation and sustained release of inflammatory mediators by neutrophils," was published today in Nature Communications. Researchers examined the physiological ...

Machine learning algorithms do a lot for us every day--send unwanted email to our spam folder, warn us if our car is about to back into something, and give us recommendations on what TV show to watch next. Now, we are increasingly using these same algorithms to make environmental predictions for us. A team of researchers from the University of Minnesota, University of Pittsburgh, and U.S. Geological Survey recently published a END ...

In a cancer that has not seen new targeted therapies for over 20 years, MUSC Hollings Cancer Center researcher and oncologist Nancy Klauber-DeMore, M.D., is pioneering new discoveries. Using a combination of personal passion and expertise, Klauber-DeMore shifted her knowledge of the pro-angiogenic protein SFRP2 in breast cancer to address the lack of treatment options for patients with aggressive metastatic osteosarcoma. The results of the combination treatment with SFRP2 and PD-1 antibodies in a preclinical model were published in Cancers. Osteosarcoma expert William Tap, M.D., chief of the Sarcoma Medical Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering ...

Changes in climate resulting from carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into the Earth's atmosphere are not equal to the climate changes from deliberate CO2 removals--and assuming such a balance could lead to different climate outcomes that may skew climate targets, according to new Simon Fraser University-led research. "Because of the complexity of the Earth's system, things are not as simple as "one ton of CO2 in, equals one ton of CO2 out," says Kirsten Zickfeld, a distinguished professor of climate science in SFU's Department of Geography, and lead author of a new paper published ...

The shift to home working brought about by the pandemic could cost the UK economy up to £32bn a year in lost personal income tax. Highly paid workers who live abroad but work in the UK will pay their income tax in their country of residence, rather than to HMRC - which researchers say could cost billions each year. This new mobility of the workforce can also affect where corporate income tax is paid and value created, as well as VAT and where goods and services are purchased. Professor Rita de la Feria, Chair in Tax Law in the University of Leeds' School of Law, co-led the new research with Dr Giorgia Maffini, Tax Policy expert, at PWC, ...

Legend has it that Marie Antoinette's hair turned gray overnight just before her beheading in 1791. Though the legend is inaccurate--hair that has already grown out of the follicle does not change color--a new study from researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons is the first to offer quantitative evidence linking psychological stress to graying hair in people. And while it may seem intuitive that stress can accelerate graying, the researchers were surprised to discover that hair color can be restored when stress is eliminated, a finding that contrasts with a recent study in mice that suggested that stressed-induced gray hairs are permanent. The ...

WOODS HOLE, Mass. -- It's cold in the depths of the world's oceans; most of the seafloor is at a chilly 4°C. Not so the seafloor of Guaymas Basin in the Gulf of California. Here, tectonic plates drift apart and heat from Earth's interior can rise up -- so far up that it bakes large areas of the seafloor sediments, turning buried organic matter into methane and other energy-rich compounds. What kinds of organisms thrive in this oceanic hotspot? In two new studies, MBL Assistant Scientist END ...

Looking for better ways to treat patients with esophageal cancer, University of Colorado Cancer Center member Martin McCarter, MD, is investigating whether a new treatment sequence will result in better outcomes. As they await the results of a group of clinical trials -- including one at the CU Cancer Center -- McCarter and other University of Colorado researchers (led by surgery resident Bobby Torphy, MD, PhD) looked at data from the National Cancer Database to see if they could identify other patients who have undergone the new sequence, and what the outcomes for those patients were. The group published a paper in the Annals of Surgical Oncology in April ...

Rainfall associated with the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), the belt of converging trade winds and rising air that encircles the Earth near the Equator, affects the food and water security of approximately 1 billion people worldwide. They include about 11% of the Brazilian population, concentrated in four states of the Northeast region - Rio Grande do Norte, Ceará, Piauí, and Maranhão. Large swathes of these states have a semi-arid climate, and about half of all their annual rainfall occurs in only two months (March and April), when the tropical rain belt reaches its southernmost position, over the north of the Northeast region. During the rest of the year, the tropical ...

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) -- The secret to healthier skin and joints may reside in gut microorganisms. A study led by UC Davis Health researchers has found that a diet rich in sugar and fat leads to an imbalance in the gut's microbial culture and may contribute to inflammatory skin diseases such as psoriasis. ...

New research published in the Journal of Medicinal Food suggests eating prunes each day can improve risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) including raising antioxidant capacity and reducing inflammation among healthy, postmenopausal women. Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death worldwide posing a significant public health challenge. The research led by San Diego State University reveals that prunes can positively affect heart disease risk. "When you look at our prior research and the research of others combined with this new data, you'll see consistent ...

"Workforce issues are the most significant challenges facing the long-term care industry," states the opening editorial of a new special issue of The Gerontologist titled " END ...

Almost all cells in our body contain a nucleus: a somewhat spherical structure that is separated from the rest of the cell by a membrane. Each nucleus contains all the genetic information of the human being. So it serves as a kind of library - but one with strict requirements: If the cell needs the building instructions for a protein, it won't simply borrow the original information. Instead, a transcript of it is made in the nucleus. The machinery required for this is very complex, not least because the transcripts are not simple copies. In addition to essential information, genes also contain numerous passages of meaningless "garbage". They are removed when the transcript is made. Biologists call this editorial revision ...

Persons suffering from the autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis can develop various neurological symptoms caused by damage to the nervous system. Especially in early stages, these may include sensory dysfunction such as numbness or visual disturbances. In most patients, MS starts with recurring episodes of neurological disability, called relapses or demyelinating events. These clinical events are followed by a partial or complete remission. Especially in the beginning, the symptoms vary widely, so that it is often difficult even for experienced doctors to interpret them correctly to arrive at a diagnosis of MS. Above-average numbers of medical appointments It has been evident for some ...

The most comprehensive molecular study to date of the brains of people who died of COVID-19 turned up unmistakable signs of inflammation and impaired brain circuits. Investigators at the Stanford School of Medicine and Saarland University in Germany report that what they saw looks a lot like what's observed in the brains of people who died of neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. The findings may help explain why many COVID-19 patients report neurological problems. These complaints increase with the severity of infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. And they can persist as an aspect of "long COVID," a long-lasting disorder that sometimes ...

If only it were as simple as finding more grassland for an antelope. The story of efforts to conserve the endangered oribi in South Africa represent a diaspora of issues as varied as the people who live there. On its surface, like many threatened species, you have conflict between a need for habitat and private landownership. But dig a little deeper and you'll uncover a seedy underbelly of political corruption, gambling, struggles over land, and racial tensions. No matter how much success is made through more traditional conservation efforts, says a new study by a University of Georgia researcher, the species ...

Rutgers scientists have used a diagnostic technique for the first time in the opioid addiction field that they believe has the potential to determine which opioid-addicted patients are more likely to relapse. Using an algorithm that looks for patterns in brain structure and functional connectivity, researchers were able to distinguish prescription opioid users from healthy participants. If treatment is successful, their brains will resemble the brain of someone not addicted to opioids. "People can say one thing, but brain patterns do not lie," said Suchismita Ray, lead researcher and an associate professor in the Department of Health Informatics at Rutgers School of Health Professions. "The brain patterns that ...

Cancer cells can become resistant to treatments through adaptation, making them notoriously tricky to defeat and highly lethal. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Cancer Center Director David Tuveson and his team investigated the basis of "adaptive resistance" common to pancreatic cancer. They discovered one of the backups to which these cells switch when confronted with cancer-killing drugs. KRAS is a gene that drives cell division. Most pancreatic cancers have a mutation in the KRAS protein, causing uncontrolled growth. But, drugs that shut off mutant KRAS do not stop the proliferation. ...

Lifestyle changes for demand-side climate change mitigation is gaining more and more importance and attention. A new IIASA-led study set out to understand the full potential of behavior change and what drives such changes in people's choices across the world using data from almost two billion Facebook profiles. Modern consumption patterns, and especially livestock production in the agricultural sector to sustain the world's growing appetite for animal products, are contributing to and speeding the advance of interconnected issues like climate change, air pollution, and biodiversity ...

Imagine flexible surgical instruments that can twist and turn in all directions like miniature octopus arms, or how about large and powerful robot tentacles that can work closely and safely with human workers on production lines. A new generation of robotic tools are beginning to be realized thanks to a combination of strong 'muscles' and sensitive 'nerves' created from smart polymeric materials. A research team led by the smart materials experts Professor Stefan Seelecke and Junior Professor Gianluca Rizzello at Saarland University is exploring fundamental aspects of this exciting field of soft robotics. In the factory of ...