Poor air quality linked to cognitive problems in babies Poor air quality could be causing cognitive deficits in babies and toddlers, according to new research from the University of East Anglia. A new study published today reveals an association between poor air quality in India and impaired cognition in infants under two. Without action, the negative impact on children’s long-term brain development could have consequences for life. Lead researcher Prof John Spencer, from UEA’s School of Psychology, said: “Prior work has shown that poor air quality is linked ...

During the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, a constant public fear was the rise of a new variant of the disease. Among the countless possibilities of a SARS-CoV-2 viral mutation, some were really alarming, such as Omicron, Delta, and Gamma. The strains with greater virulence and ability to invade the immune system are defined as variants of concern (VOCs), since they also have the potential to overwhelm the health system, increasing the number of admissions to intensive care units (UTIs). Recently published in the Intensive ...

Genetic markers such as fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP), simple sequence repeat (SSR), and single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) provide unique identifiers for individual organisms. This aids the identification of significant genetic variations in plants, allowing modern plant breeding to select superior crop varieties. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has enhanced marker-assisted selection or backcross breeding of crops, which is the transfer a desired trait such into the favored genetic background of another. However, due to its expensive nature and extensive data processing requirements, NGS is not practical for screening large populations ...

Recently，Prof. LIU Lei's group from Peking University，the user of the Steady-state High Magnetic Field Experimental Facility (SHMFF), Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS) of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), together with Prof. WANG Zhaosheng from High Magnetic Field Center, HFIPS of CAS and other co-authors revealed the structure-property relationship in 2D amorphous materials for the first time by the study of amorphous monolayer carbon (AMC). The relevant research was published in ...

Recently, Professor WU Dayu of Changzhou University, the user of China's Steady High Magnetic Field Facility (SHMFF), Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), together with his collaborators proposed a facile mechanical strategy to optimize the electronic structures of the catalytic center by mechanically induced spin transition, and realized a new method for designing efficient biomimetic catalysts. The results were published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition. In recent years, the synthesis of transition-metal catalysts has received extensive attention. ...

Organic peroxy radicals (RO2) are important intermediates in the degradation of atmospheric volatile organic compounds (VOCs). RO2 not only participates in the chain cycles of atmospheric radicals and influences oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere, but also controls the formation of secondary pollutants. Under low NOx conditions, peroxy radicals react mainly with HO2 radicals, as well as with themselves, and their products tend to have low volatility easily entering the particulate phase. However, the associated double radical ...

A research team led by Prof. YANG Liangbao from Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences found that hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) could effectively block electron tunneling and extend the ultimate plasmonic enhancement limits in a single-atom-layer gap, providing deep insights into quantum mechanical effects in plasmonic systems and enabling potential novel applications based on quantum plasmonics. The results were published in Nano Letters. The team have been working on developing surface-enhanced ...

A team of researchers led by Prof. JIANG Changlong from Institute of Solid State Physics (ISSP), Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of of Chinese Academy of Sciences developed a new sensing system for detecting carbaryl residues. The research findings have been published in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. Carbaryl is a widely used insecticide that can easily enter the body through respiratory intake and dermal contact, resulting in serious health hazards, including carcinogenicity and reproductive abnormalities. Therefore, it is crucial to detect carbaryl residues in environmental and food samples. However, ...

A recent study published in Sensors and Actuators: B. Chemical highlights the development of highly active oxidase mimics using MnOx nanobelts (NBs) generated through laser irradiation in liquid (LIL) techniques by researchers from Institute of Solid State Physics, Hefei Institute of Physical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Although nanozymes with oxidase mimic activity have shown promise for biomarker sensing, their lower activity compared to natural enzymes has constrained their wider application. In this research, the team identified that MnOx NBs with an ultrathin layered structure ...

AUGUSTA, Ga. (April 25, 2023) – The first in-human-study of a new immunotherapy that blocks a natural enzyme tumors commandeer for their protection was well tolerated by children with relapsed brain tumors and enabled many to have unexpected months of a more normal life, researchers say. “Our kids were by and large out of the hospital and going about their daily activities. They were in school, we had young adults who were in college living in a dorm on their own, taking their medicine on their own and coming to see us once a month,” says Theodore S. Johnson, MD/PhD, pediatric hematologist/oncologist ...

In the United States, depression and anxiety are on the rise in African Americans and the evidence suggests that racism is a contributing factor, creating a ripple effect on mental health. Janeé M. Steele Ph.D. and Charmeka S. Newton, Ph.D. are licensed mental health professionals and scholars who specialize in culturally responsive therapy. They say: “In the Black community there can be a real resistance to our own trauma – for example, if I wasn’t exposed to physical abuse, is it really that bad? “But this kind of systemic, permeating racism that exists all ...

It’s a dangerous world out there. From bacteria and viruses to accidents and injuries, threats surround us all the time. And nothing protects us more steadfastly than our skin. The barrier between inside and out, the body’s largest organ is also its most seamless defense. And yet the skin is not invincible. It suffers daily the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, and it tries to keep us safe by sensing and responding to these harms. A primary method is the detection of a pathogen, which kicks the immune system into action. But new research from the lab of Rockefeller’s Elaine Fuchs, published in Cell, reveals an alternative protective ...

The promise of superconductivity for electrical power transmission and transportation has long been held back by high costs. Now researchers from the University of Houston and Germany have demonstrated a way to cut the cost and upend both the transit and energy transport sectors by using superconductors to move people, cargo and energy along existing highway infrastructure. The combined system would not only lower the cost of operating each system but would also provide a way to store and transport liquified hydrogen, an important ...

Ohio University Professor of Physiology and Executive Director of the Ohio Musculoskeletal and Neurological Institute (OMNI) Brian Clark Ph.D. was one of 40 expert leaders in the field of aging from around the world chosen to present at a workshop hosted by the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) National Institute on Aging (NIA) on the development of function promoting therapies for age-related weakness. Clark was also asked by the NIH to publish a comprehensive review of his research over the past decade in the Journal of Gerontology. The workshop covered ...

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are typical organic compounds found in cigarette smoke and vehicle exhaust. In addition, PAHs are produced from incomplete combustion of organic material and cooking. The highest concentrations of PM-bound PAHs ranged from 550 ng/m3 to 39000 ng/m3, were observed in Chinese kitchens, fire stations, and ships. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons may combine with ultrafine particles (UFPs) in the air to form particle-bound PAHs. PM0.1 may adsorb large amounts of toxic organic compounds, and long-term exposure to indoor UFPs from cooking resulted in ...

Medication delivered by a novel gel cured 100% of mice with an aggressive brain cancer, a striking result that offers new hope for patients diagnosed with glioblastoma, one of the deadliest and most common brain tumors in humans. “Despite recent technological advancements, there is a dire need for new treatment strategies,” said Honggang Cui, a Johns Hopkins University chemical and biomolecular engineer who led the research. “We think this hydrogel will be the future and will supplement current treatments for brain cancer.” Cui’s team combined an anticancer drug­­­ and ...

An interdisciplinary team of researchers has developed a suite of tools to estimate the total economic value of improving water quality in urban streams. The work can assist federal and state agencies charged with developing environmental regulations affecting urban ecosystems across the Piedmont Region of the United States, which stretches from Maryland to Alabama. “Urban streams are ubiquitous and face a number of stressors from rapid economic development,” says Roger von Haefen, professor of agricultural and resource economics at North Carolina State University and corresponding ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — An unusual blinking fish, the mudskipper, spends much of the day out of the water and is providing clues as to how and why blinking might have evolved during the transition to life on land in our own ancestors. New research shows that these amphibious fish have evolved a blinking behavior that serves many of the same purposes of our blinking. The results suggest that blinking may be among the suite of traits that evolved to allow the transition to life on land in tetrapods — the group of animals that includes mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians — some 375 million years ago. The study appears the week ...

A new machine-learning method could help us gauge the time of our internal body clock, helping us all make better health decisions, including when and how long to sleep.   The research, which has been conducted by the University of Surrey and the University of Groningen, used a machine learning programme to analyse metabolites in blood to predict the time of our internal circadian timing system.     To date the standard method to determine the timing of the circadian system is to measure the timing of our ...

ANN ARBOR—Health surveys and clinical studies have a data collection problem: Because of the way they record sex or gender, they often exclude transgender and gender-diverse people, according to University of Michigan research.   Most studies and surveys either ask participants for their sex, a biological construct, or their gender, a social construct. In this way, they only consider either sex or gender independently or use the two concepts interchangeably, says Kate Duchowny, a research assistant professor in the Survey Research Center at the U-M Institute for Social Research.   Participants either respond with their sex assigned at birth or the ...

Scientists observed seismic waves traveling through Mars’ core for the first time and confirmed model predictions of the core’s composition. An international research team—which included University of Maryland seismologists—used seismic data acquired by the NASA InSight lander to directly measure properties of Mars’s core, finding a completely liquid iron-alloy core with high percentages of sulfur and oxygen. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on April 24, 2023, these findings reveal new insights into how Mars formed and geological differences ...

A new study has uncovered intriguing insights into the liquid core at the centre of Mars, furthering understanding of the planet’s formation and evolution. The research, led by the University of Bristol and published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the US, reveals the first-ever detections of sound waves travelling into the Martian core. Measurements from this acoustic energy, called seismic waves, indicate its liquid core is slightly denser and smaller than previously thought, and comprises a mixture of iron and numerous other elements. The ...

“We have developed a technique in our laboratories that allows us to obtain an antibiogram within 2-4 hours – instead of the current 24 hours for the most common germs and one month for tuberculosis,” says Dr Sandor Kasas at EPFL. Professor Ronnie Willaert at Vrije Universiteit Brussel adds: “Our technique is not only faster but also simpler and much cheaper than all those existing now.” Antibiotic resistance happens when bacteria develop the ability to defeat the drugs designed to kill them. It ...

Targeting part of an antiviral pathway triggered by the accumulation of a key pathogen shared in Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia may one day offer a new therapeutic approach to deterring or delaying cognitive decline, according to preclinical research led by Weill Cornell Medicine scientists. The study, published April 24 in Nature Neuroscience, demonstrates that inhibiting an innate immune system enzyme called cyclic GMP–AMP synthase (cGAS) helps neurons become resilient to the build-up of the protein tau into bundles known as fibrils, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s and some forms of frontotemporal dementia, the two most ...

Organic solar cells have a photoactive layer that is made from polymers and small molecules. The cells are very thin, can be flexible, and are easy to make. However, the efficiency of these cells is still much below that of conventional silicon-based ones. Applied physicists from the University of Groningen have now fabricated an organic solar cell with an efficiency of over 17 percent, which is in the top range for this type of material. It has the advantage of using an unusual device structure that is produced using a scalable technique. The design involves a conductive layer of tin oxide that is grown ...