When the COVID-19 pandemic hit during the winter of 2020, locking down entire countries and leaving people isolated in their homes without outside contact for weeks at a time, many relationship experts wondered what that kind of stress would do to romantic couples. What they found was that when couples blamed the pandemic for their stress, they were happier in their relationships. The findings are outlined in a paper out today in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science. Previous research has shown that romantic partners tend to be more critical toward each other when experiencing ...

Forces of nature have been outsmarting the materials we use to build our infrastructure since we started producing them. Ice and snow turn major roads into rubble every year; foundations of houses crack and crumble, in spite of sturdy construction. In addition to the tons of waste produced by broken bits of concrete, each lane-mile of road costs the U.S. approximately $24,000 per year to keep it in good repair. Engineers tackling this issue with smart materials typically enhance the function of materials by increasing the amount of carbon, but doing so makes materials lose some mechanical performance. By introducing nanoparticles into ordinary cement, Northwestern University ...

TAMPA, Fla (June 21, 2021) -- A blood gene profile associated with a high risk of dying from a severe lung disease can also predict poor outcomes in patients with COVID-19, a multicenter retrospective study led by the University of South Florida Health (USF Health) demonstrated. The risk profile based on 50 genes could help customize how COVID-19 is treated, improve allocation of limited health care resources such as intensive care beds and ventilators, and potentially save lives. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a disease of unknown cause, affects the lung interstitium or the space between the lung sacs and the bloodstream, leading ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Using solar energy to inexpensively harvest hydrogen from water could help replace carbon-based fuel sources and shrink the world's carbon footprint. However, finding materials that could boost hydrogen production so that it could compete economically with carbon-based fuels has been, as yet, an insurmountable challenge. In a study, a Penn State-led team of researchers reports it has taken a step toward overcoming the challenge of inexpensive hydrogen production by using supercomputers to find materials that could help accelerate hydrogen separation when water is exposed to light, a process called photocatalysis. Both electricity and solar energy can be used to separate hydrogen from water, ...

Sperm size varies dramatically among different animal species. But why is sperm size so variable when they share the same job - to fertilize eggs? In a new article published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, researchers from Stockholm University show that animal sperm evolution become supercharged only when sperm swim inside females. Sperm are the most variable cell type known, ranging in size from 0.002 millimeters in a freshwater rotifer to nearly 6 centimeters in a fruit fly. Explaining why sperm are so variable has been a major focus in evolutionary ...

One in three patients who dies in a hospital has sepsis, a severe inflammatory response to an infection, marked by organ dysfunction, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This heavy toll makes predicting which patients are at risk for developing the devastating condition a top priority for clinicians. Additional motivation to identify and treat sepsis cases lies in the fact that sepsis serves as a system-level quality measure, with hospitals judged by both the by the federal Department of Health and Human Services and the CDC on their sepsis rates. Complicating efforts to reduce sepsis is how difficult it can be to diagnose--both accurately and quickly. "Sepsis is something we can ...

(COLUMBUS, Ohio) - According to the American Burn Association, burn injuries affect approximately 250,000 children in the United States each year. The pain associated with burn injuries extends beyond the injury itself; there is also significant pain from dressing changes, which can be exacerbated by the anxiety of anticipating this additional pain. Although opioids relieve burn injury-related pain, they have serious adverse side effects. Prior studies have investigated alternative approaches to pain reduction in burn injury patients that focus on distraction, such as music, hypnosis, toys, and virtual reality (VR). In a study published today in JAMA Network Open, Henry Xiang, MD, MPH, PhD, MBA, and his research team reported the ...

What The Study Did: In the context of recently revised guidelines that discourage routine use of aspirin in adults 70 years and older, these findings suggest that older adults may have potential overuse of aspirin therapy if it is not actively discontinued, especially among those with diabetes. Authors: Rita R. Kalyani, M.D., of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine 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.2021.12210) Editor's Note: The article includes funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author ...

What The Study Did: This qualitative study reports that, in the midst of a major public health crisis, the erosion of family-centered care practices was associated with a dramatic impact on the experiences of family members of patients who died. Authors: Nancy Kentish-Barnes, Ph.D., of  Saint Louis University Hospital in Paris, France, 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.2021.13355) Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial ...

What The Study Did: Results of this study suggest race-specific disparities in SARS-CoV-2 testing and COVID-19 hospital outcomes seen in adults also exist among children, after accounting for several clinical and sociodemographic factors thought to play a role in the disease. Authors: Defne Saatci, M.D., of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, 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/jamapediatrics.2021.1685) Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, ...

What The Study Did: Using administrative healthcare data on 2.9 million households, this study suggests that events that lead to small and informal social gatherings, such as birthdays, and in particular, children's birthdays, are a potentially important source in SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Authors: Anupam B. Jena, M.D., Ph.D., of Harvard Medical School in Boston, 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/jamainternmed.2021.2915) Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please ...

What The Study Did:  This study demonstrated a decrease in respiratory virus detections and a decline in antibiotic prescribing rates for respiratory tract infections during the COVID-19 pandemic. Authors: Alexander J. Lepak, M.D., of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, 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/jamainternmed.2021.2363) Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and ...

In counties with already high COVID-19 infection rates, birthday bashes may have fueled infection spread during the peak months of the pandemic, according to a new analysis led by researchers at Harvard Medical School and the RAND Corporation. The report, published June 21 in JAMA Internal Medicine, shows that in counties with high rates of COVID-19, households with recent birthdays were 30 percent more likely to have a COVID-19 diagnosis, compared with households with no birthdays. The analysis is based on data from health insurance claims. The researchers ...

A computerized brain implant effectively relieves short-term and chronic pain in rodents, a new study finds. The experiments, conducted by investigators at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, offer what the researchers call a "blueprint" for the development of brain implants to treat pain syndromes and other brain-based disorders, such as anxiety, depression, and panic attacks. Publishing June 21 in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, the study showed that device-implanted rats withdrew their paws 40 percent more slowly from sudden pain compared with times when their device was turned off. According to the study authors, this suggests that the device reduced ...

Engineers at Tufts University have developed new methods to more efficiently fabricate materials that behave in unusual ways when interacting with microwave energy, with potential implications for telecommunications, GPS, radar, mobile devices, and medical devices. Known as metamaterials, they are sometimes referred to as "impossible materials" because they could, in theory, bend energy around objects to make them appear invisible, concentrate the transmission of energy into focused beams, or have chameleon like abilities to reconfigure their absorption or transmission of different frequency ranges. The innovation, described today in Nature Electronics, constructs the metamaterials using ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Every year, about 400,000 people receive silicone breast implants in the United States. According to data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a majority of those implants needs to be replaced within 10 years due to the buildup of scar tissue and other complications. A team led by MIT researchers has now systematically analyzed how the varying surface architecture found in these implants influences the development of adverse effects, which in rare cases can include an unusual type of lymphoma. "The surface topography of an implant can drastically affect how the immune response perceives it, and this has important ramifications for the [implants'] design," says Omid Veiseh, a former MIT postdoc. "We ...

Researchers at the University of Bristol have discovered a method which will allow for faster communication systems and better energy saving electronics. The breakthrough was made by establishing how to remotely measure the electric field inside a semiconductor device for the first time. A semiconductor is a material, such as Silicon, which can be used in electronic devices to control electric current. Now, in this new study, published today in Nature Electronics, scientists outline how to precisely quantify this electric field, meaning next generation power and radio frequency electronic devices can be developed which have the potential to be faster, and more reliable, as well as more energy ...

A process using a light-sensitive chemical can drastically reduce cost and energy consumption to produce gamma-cyclodextrin, a compound that is widely used in manufacturing, according to a Dartmouth study. The research, published in Chem, demonstrates how a hydrazone template can replace energy-intensive distillation to produce and isolate gamma-cyclodextrin--a water-soluble chemical that attracts other molecules and is used to enhance food, pharmaceuticals, and a wide range of consumer products. "These compounds are biodegradable, biocompatible, benign and commonly used," said Ivan Aprahamian, a professor of chemistry at Dartmouth. "We are making ...

By the time people with Alzheimer's disease start exhibiting difficulty remembering and thinking, the disease has been developing in their brains for two decades or more, and their brain tissue already has sustained damage. As the disease progresses, the damage accumulates, and their symptoms worsen. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that high levels of a normal protein associated with reduced heart disease also protect against Alzheimer's-like brain damage - at least in mice. The findings, published June 21 in Neuron, suggest that raising levels ...

An investigational Alzheimer's drug reduced molecular markers of disease and curbed neurodegeneration in the brain, without demonstrating evidence of cognitive benefit, in a phase 2/3 clinical trial led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis through its Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network-Trials Unit (DIAN-TU). These results led the trial leaders to offer the drug, known as gantenerumab, to participants as part of an exploratory open-label extension. The researchers continue to monitor changes in measures of Alzheimer's disease in those participants who are receiving the drug. The DIAN-TU study (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01760005), published June 21 in Nature Medicine, evaluated the effects of two investigational drugs - ...

In the mid-2030s, multiple United States coastal regions may see rapid increases in the number of high-tide flooding (HTF) days, according to a study led by the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa and published today in Nature Climate Change. The combined effects of sea-level rise (SLR) and natural fluctuations in tidal range are anticipated to cause tipping points in the frequency of HTF. Coastal locations around the U.S., particularly along the Atlantic coast, are experiencing recurrent flooding at high tide. The impact of HTF accumulates over numerous seemingly minor occurrences, which can exceed the impact of rare extremes over time. These impacts are subtle--for example, the loss of revenue due to recurrent road and business closures--compared with the physical damage of property ...

Scientists studying a common childhood cancer have made a major breakthrough which could lead to a cure for some youngsters who would not have survived the condition. An international study, involving Newcastle University, UK, has for the first time found a genetic marker in tumours from patients with high-risk neuroblastoma. Research, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, has identified that alterations in the neuroblastoma's ALK (anaplastic lymphoma kinase) gene are associated with a significantly poorer prognosis for children with high-risk disease. Experts ...

Drugs routinely used during fertility treatments to release eggs do not increase the risk of developing breast cancer, new research has shown. Researchers from King's College London, in partnership with King's Fertility, analysed studies involving 1.8 million women undergoing fertility treatments. These women were followed up in studies for an average period of 27 years and had no increase in the risk of developing breast cancer. The research, published today in Fertility and Sterility journal, is the largest study to date assessing whether commonly used fertility drugs are for a cancer risk for women. Fertility treatments can range from using medications to boost the release of an egg in a women's natural cycle to more complex ...

A study by the University of Liverpool has shown that while asymptomatic COVID-19 testing in Liverpool was popular, significant inequalities were evident between those who got tested and those who didn't. Published in the journal The Lancet Regional Health - Europe, the study found that 43% of residents aged over 5 years (n = 214 525) took up the offer of free testing for people without symptoms of COVID-19 between 6th November 2020 and 31st January 2021. A total of 1.3% of tests were positive, meaning that 5192 individuals who did not know they had the virus were notified ...

The avian influenza, an acute viral infectious disease that occurs in poultry such as chickens, ducks, and migratory birds, has been reported to be transmittable to humans. It is difficult to control because it spreads among migratory birds that travel to China, Europe, and elsewhere. Once it is transmitted, it spreads rapidly. Disposing infected livestock is not only costly, but also a cause of serious environmental pollution. This is why vaccines against infectious diseases are imperative. To this, a research team in Korea has recently developed a plant-based, adjuvant-free, recombinant protein vaccine that exhibits a strong immune response. Professor ...