Amsterdam, April 28, 2021 - Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by slowness of movement and tremors, which often appear asymmetrically in patients. The new model of PD described in this review article published in the Journal of Parkinson's Disease may explain these perplexing asymmetrical motor symptoms and other known variations such as different degrees of constipation and sleep disorders. PD is a heterogenous disorder. Symptoms and the speed with which symptoms progress vary greatly among patients. In three-quarters of patients, motor symptoms initially appear in one side of the body. Some ...

In an interdisciplinary research project carried out at Tel Aviv University, researchers from the School of Plant Sciences affiliated with the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences collaborated with their colleagues from the Sackler Faculty of Medicine in order to study the course of plant root growth. The plant researchers were aided by a computational model constructed by cancer researchers studying cancer cells, which they adapted for use with plant root cells. The fascinating and groundbreaking findings: For the first time in the world, it has been demonstrated, at the resolution of a single cell, that the root grows ...

In the quantum realm, electrons can group together to behave in interesting ways. Magnetism is one of these behaviors that we see in our day-to-day life, as is the rarer phenomena of superconductivity. Intriguingly, these two behaviors are often antagonists, meaning that the existence of one of them often destroys the other. However, if these two opposite quantum states are forced to coexist artificially, an elusive state called a topological superconductor appears, which is exciting for researchers trying to make topological qubits. Topological qubits are exciting as one of the potential technologies for future quantum computers. In particular, topological qubits provide the basis for topological quantum ...

Even though more and more vaccines against the coronavirus are being administered all over the world, many countries are still battling with outbreaks and face difficulties providing help to those in need. One of those countries is Brazil. Here, they are facing a massive second wave outbreak, many daily deaths and instances of the health care systems collapsing. In the city of Manaus things have looked exceptionally bleak from December and through to the early spring. The city was hit so hard by the first wave in 2020 that it was actually thought to be one of the few places in the world to have reached herd immunity. An estimated 75 percent of the population in the city had been infected. But then the second wave ...

The research team led by Prof. WENG Jianping from University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has implemented a comprehensive preconception-to-pregnancy management plan, namely CARNATION study, for women with type1 diabetes (T1D), to reduce the risks of adverse pregnancy outcomes and improve the pregnancy care since 2015. The study was published in Diabetes Care. The management plan, approved by the National Health and Family Planning Commission of the People's Republic of China, is made up of the checklist for the relevant health care providers (HCPs) covering 20 items of care in different ...

Computer scientists often encounter problems relevant to real-life scenarios. For instance, "multiagent problems," a category characterized by multi-stage decision-making by multiple decision makers or "agents," has relevant applications in search-and-rescue missions, firefighting, and emergency response. Multiagent problems are often solved using a machine learning technique known as "reinforcement learning" (RL), which concerns itself with how intelligent agents make decisions in an environment unfamiliar to them. An approach usually adopted in such an endeavor is policy iteration (PI), which starts off with a "base policy" and then improves on it to generate a "rollout policy" (with the process of generation ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- For more than a decade, ecologists have been warning of a downward trend in bumble bee populations across North America, with habitat destruction a primary culprit in those losses. While efforts to preserve wild bees in the Midwest often focus on restoring native flowers to prairies, a new Illinois-based study finds evidence of a steady decline in the availability of springtime flowers in wooded landscapes. The scarcity of early season flowers in forests - a primary food source for bumble bees at this time of year - likely endangers ...

WASHINGTON - The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) has released an expert consensus statement providing cardiologists, cath lab directors, and hospital leadership guidance for contemporary cath lab standards. The document, "SCAI Expert Consensus Update on Best Practices in the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory" will be presented today at the SCAI 2021 Virtual Scientific Sessions with simultaneous publication in Catheterization & Cardiovascular Interventions. The statement has been endorsed by the American College of Cardiology Clinical Policy Approval Committee, American Heart Association, ...

Cells breathe, to an extent, exchanging gases, taking in energy sources from the environment and processing it. Now, researchers from Tohoku University in Japan have shone a light on the process in a new way. Their demonstrated visualization method in model systems was made available online on March 12th in Biosensors and Bioelectronics, ahead of the June print edition. The researchers used spheroids - cultured cells within a close-to-natural environment - to mimic a biological tissue using mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Due to MCSs' ability to self-renew and differentiate into various ...

Our bodies and behaviors often seem to have rhythms of their own. Why do we go to the bathroom at the same time every day? Why do we feel off if we can't go to sleep at the right time? Circadian rhythms are a behind-the-scenes force that shape many of our behaviors and our health. Michihiro Mieda and his team at Kanazawa University in Japan are researching how the brain's circadian rhythm control center regulates behavior. Termed the superchiasmatic nucleus, or SCN, the control center contains many types of neurons that transmit signals using the molecule GABA, but little is known about how each type contributes to our bodily rhythms. In their newest study, the researchers focused on GABA neurons that produce arginine vasopressin, a hormone that regulates ...

WASHINGTON, D.C, (April 28, 2021) - A new study reveals the use of a potassium ferrate hemostatic patch (PFHP) reduces the time to hemostasis for patients receiving cardiac catherization. The findings indicate a faster approach to removing the compression band used during the procedure, without compromising safety. Positive results of the STAT2 trial follow an initial pilot study and are being presented as late-breaking clinical science at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) 2021 Virtual Scientific Sessions. Cardiac ...

WASHINGTON, D.C, (April 28, 2021) - A retrospective analysis of risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD) in young African American patients is being presented today at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) 2021 Virtual Scientific Sessions. The findings reveal this specific patient segment, African-Americans under age 45, experiences greater CAD risk factors related to smoking, drug and alcohol abuse, HIV as well as mental health conditions including anxiety and depression. CAD is the most common type of heart disease, with high blood pressure, obstructive sleep apnea and diabetes among traditional risk factors. African Americans are disproportionally ...

WASHINGTON, D.C., (April 28, 2021) - Results from a retrospective observational study, presented today at Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) 2021 Virtual Scientific Sessions, reveal a 70% decline in the number of patients presenting with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) during April 2020 compared to April 2019. While the number of patients with AMI seeking care at hospitals dropped during the pandemic, those that did receive care experienced more severe symptoms because of delays in patients seeking emergency services. AMI, commonly recognized as a heart attack, is responsible for more than one million deaths in the U.S. every year. For the best patient outcomes, seeking care within the ...

During the summer of 2020, especially June and July, periods of extreme heavy rainfall occurred in China's Yangtze River Valley (YRV). These rain events caused the severest floods for the region since the summer of 1998. Despite this, the 2020 western North Pacific (WNP) typhoon season started slowly, but eventually produced 23 named tropical cyclones, still slightly below 27, the WNP seasonal average. As summer transitioned to winter, three severe cold surges swept most parts of China during late 2020 and early 2021, prompting the National Meteorological Center to issue its highest cold surge warning alert ...

The research by RMIT University looked at the ramifications on the stock market following Google's withdrawal from mainland China in 2010. It found access to unbiased information about companies' performance - aided by unrestricted internet search results - led to investors making more informed decisions. On the flip side, search results manipulated to show overly positive information led to stocks for those companies being overvalued temporarily, increasing the stock market crash risk by 19%. The study has been published in the Journal of Financial Economics. Lead researcher Dr Gaoping Zheng, a lecturer in finance at RMIT, said the study showed search results influenced decisions, a challenge to previous thinking that they merely justified people's existing ideas. "Until ...

In almost ten per cent of myocardial infarctions, no obvious cause in the coronary artery can be found. Some of the patients are diagnosed with broken-heart syndrome, while others are left without a diagnosis. A new study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden suggests that early magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of the heart can greatly increase the rate of diagnosis. The study has been published in the journal JACC Cardiovascular Imaging. Myocardial infarction is one of the most common diseases in the West, and is usually caused by a blood clot that blocks the coronary artery on the heart's surface. However, in up to ten per cent of all myocardial infarctions, no obvious cause ...

The National Climate Center (NCC) of China has just completed a report that gives an authoritative assessment of China's climate in 2020. It provides a summary of China's climate as well as the major weather and climate events that took place throughout the year. This is the third consecutive year that the NCC has published an annual national climate statement in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters (AOSL). "Against the background of global warming, extreme weather and climate events occur more frequently and have wide influence on society and economies. Last year, floods, droughts, typhoons, low-temperature freezing and snow disasters, and dust storms attacked ...

Ishikawa, Japan - Human beings have the ability to recognize emotions in others, but the same cannot be said for robots. Although perfectly capable of communicating with humans through speech, robots and virtual agents are only good at processing logical instructions, which greatly restricts human-robot interaction (HRI). Consequently, a great deal of research in HRI is about emotion recognition from speech. But first, how do we describe emotions? Categorical emotions such as happiness, sadness, and anger are well-understood by us but can be hard for robots to register. Researchers have focused on "dimensional emotions," which constitute a gradual emotional transition in natural speech. "Continuous dimensional ...

New Curtin research has found urgent action is needed to ensure man-made underwater noise in Australian waters does not escalate to levels which could be harmful to marine animals, such as whales, and negatively impact our pristine oceans. Lead author Professor Christine Erbe, Director of Curtin's Centre for Marine Science and Technology, said recent studies from the northern hemisphere showed man-made noise, in particular from ships, often dominates the underwater soundscape over large areas, such as entire seas, and could interfere with marine fauna that rely on sound for communication, navigation and foraging. "When ...

New research shows that physical activity equivalent to 100 PAI a week can counteract excessive weight gain. PAI stands for Personal Activity Intelligence and tracks how physically active you are throughout the week. You can measure PAI with just about any device that can measure heart rate. The activity metric has been developed by the Cardiac Exercise Research Group (CERG) at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) under the leadership of NTNU Professor Ulrik Wisløff. "Previously, we found that 100 PAI a week can give us a longer and healthier life without cardiovascular disease. Our new study shows that PAI can also help people maintain a healthy body weight," says researcher Javaid ...

More sleep could offset children's excess indulgence over the school holidays as new research from the University of South Australia shows that the same decline in body mass index may be achieved by either extra sleep or extra exercise. The striking new finding is part of a study that shows how children can achieve equivalent physical and mental health benefits by choosing different activity trade-offs across the 24-hour day. Conducted in partnership with the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, and supported by the National Heart Foundation of Australia, the team examined the optimal balance between children's physical activity, sleep, and sedentary time across the 24-hour day to better inform tailored ...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- Researchers at the University of California, Riverside, have used a nanoscale synthetic antiferromagnet to control the interaction between magnons -- research that could lead to faster and more energy-efficient computers. In ferromagnets, electron spins point in the same direction. To make future computer technologies faster and more energy-efficient, spintronics research employs spin dynamics -- fluctuations of the electron spins -- to process information. Magnons, the quantum-mechanical units of spin fluctuations, interact with each other, leading to nonlinear features of the spin dynamics. Such nonlinearities play a central ...

Collagen is a protein found widely in almost all cells of animals, and scientifically can be used to learn much about an animal's life history including human being in the present or in the past. Scientists at the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN) and Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency (FRA), Japan, prove this point for Japanese flounder by measuring isotope ratios in vertebral-bone collagen. The new study, which can be read in Marine Biology, shows that there exist behavioral groups of fish with different migrating and/or feeding patterns. A school of fish will decide their habitat on fundamental needs for survival, ...

Researchers at the National Food Institute have come up with a solution that can help combat both food loss and food waste: They have generated a natural lactic acid bacterium, which secretes the antimicrobial peptide nisin, when grown on dairy waste. Nisin is a food-grade preservative, which can extend the shelf life of foods, and thus can be used to reduce food waste. The discovery also makes it possible to better utilize the large quantities of whey generated when cheese is made. Nisin is approved for use in a number of foods, where it can prevent the growth of certain spoilage microorganisms as well as microorganisms that make consumers sick. It can for instance inhibit spore ...

The target of carbon-neutral and net-zero emissions is the development and utilization of renewable energy. High-energy-density energy storage systems are critical technologies for the integration of renewable energy. Li metal is highly recognized as a promising alternative anode for next-generation rechargeable batteries due to its high theoretical capacity of 3860 mAh g-1 and ultralow electrode potential of -3.04 V compared to the standard hydrogen electrode. However, Li metal batteries' (LMBs) main issue is their low Coulombic efficiency (CE), which limits batteries' cycle life. The low CE in LMBs occurs ...