A comprehensive analysis of 80 scientific studies has identified a 'window of impairment' of between three and 10 hours caused by moderate to high doses of the intoxicating component of cannabis, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). The findings have implications for the application of drug-driving laws globally, researchers say. The study found the exact duration of impairment depends on the dose of THC, whether the THC is inhaled or taken orally, whether the cannabis user is regular or occasional and the demands of the task being undertaken while intoxicated. The study represents the first ...

The search for life on other planets has received a major boost after scientists revealed the spectral signatures of almost 1000 atmospheric molecules that may be involved in the production or consumption of phosphine, a study led by UNSW Sydney revealed. Scientists have long conjectured that phosphine - a chemical compound made of one phosphorous atom surrounded by three hydrogen atoms (PH3) - may indicate evidence of life if found in the atmospheres of small rocky planets like our own, where it is produced by the biological activity of bacteria. So when an international team of scientists last year claimed to ...

The economies of northern Central Asia rely heavily on agriculture and are particularly affected by changes in the local hydrological cycle. However, this region is one of the largest dryland regions in the Northern Hemisphere and is facing a crisis of water resources shortage in recent decades. One example is the rapid desiccation and salinization of the Aral Sea. While the construction of dams, diversion of waterways and wasting of water have been blamed for the shortage, how climate change has influenced regional water resources remains unknown. In a recently published research article in Geophysical Research Letters (drying trend over northern Central Asia), Jie Jiang and Tianjun Zhou from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese ...

Clouds play a key role in balancing incoming and outgoing solar and thermal radiation. This is a critical process in the earth-atmosphere system. Monitoring cloud height, particle size, particle concentration, etc. are integral to understanding climate dynamics and global climate change. These physical attributes determine the radiative forcing effect of a cloud, or how much incoming radiation that a cloud reflects back to space. Satellites and ground-based radar can measure the cloud top height (CTH). However, inconsistencies exist between various satellites and radar data due to different detection methods and algorithms used to process raw information. To quantify these conflicts, Bo Liu, jointly supervised by Dr. Juan Huo and Prof. Daren Lyu from Institute of Atmospheric ...

KAIST researchers have developed a novel nanofiber production technique called 'centrifugal multispinning' that will open the door for the safe and cost-effective mass production of high-performance polymer nanofibers. This new technique, which has shown up to a 300 times higher nanofiber production rate per hour than that of the conventional electrospinning method, has many potential applications including the development of face mask filters for coronavirus protection. Nanofibers make good face mask filters because their mechanical interactions with aerosol particles give them a greater ability ...

Family history of early cardiac events in first degree relatives such as a parent or sibling is a major risk factor, especially for premature events. Currently, data on risks in close relatives of patients with a family history of premature heart attacks, chronic stable angina or peripheral vascular disease are sparse. Researchers from Florida Atlantic University's Schmidt College of Medicine in collaboration with an international team of leading scientists in Italy, the United Kingdom and Poland, assembled a consecutive series of 230 patients with premature onset of heart attacks, strokes, angina or peripheral artery disease and a comparison group of apparently healthy men and women during a 24-month period. The comparison group had no family or ...

Breast cancer survivors who are overweight have a statistically significant increased risk of developing second primary cancers, according to results from a study conducted by Kaiser Permanente researchers and published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. There are approximately 3.9 million breast cancer survivors in the United States today and studies have found women diagnosed with breast cancer have an 18% increased risk for developing a second cancer compared to the general population. This increased risk is likely due to shared risk factors between the first and second cancers, genetic susceptibility, and long-term effects of breast ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Men were more likely to be the spouse with the most knowledge of a couple's finances in 2016 than they were in 1992 - especially in wealthy couples, a new study suggests. Results come from a survey that interviewed the spouse in mixed-sex married couples that was identified by a household member as "more knowledgeable about the household finances." In 2016, 56% of husbands were designated as most knowledgeable, up from 53% in 1992 and 49% in 1995. But among households in the top 1% of net worth, the husband was designated as the most knowledgeable in 90% of the households in 2016. "Despite the progress women have made in society, there still seems to be a gender gap in who takes care of the finances, especially in wealthy households," said ...

ATLANTA - APRIL 12, 2021 - New study finds higher medical financial hardship in adult survivors of adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancers than in adults without a history of cancer in the United States. The study appears in JNCI: The Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Experts have known that cancer and its treatment can cause significant financial hardship to cancer survivors and their families. However, the long-term economic implications for adult survivors of AYA cancers were not fully understood. In this study, investigators led by Amy D. Lu, MD, The Hospital for Sick Children, and Zhiyuan "Jason" ...

Study: "Untested Admissions: Examining Changes in Application Behaviors and Student Demographics Under Test-Optional Policies" Author: Christopher Bennett (Vanderbilt University) This study was published today in American Educational Research Journal. Key Findings: In undergraduate admissions, the adoption of test-optional policies at selective private institutions was linked to a 3-4 percent increase in enrollment of Pell Grant recipients, a 10-12 percent increase in enrollment of first-time Black, Latinx, and Native students, and a 6-8 percent increase in enrollment of first-time students who were women. However, these gains translate into only a 1 percentage point increase in the ...

Study: "Disproportionate Burden: Estimating the Cost of FAFSA Verification for Public Colleges and Universities" Authors: Alberto Guzman-Alvarez (University of Pittsburgh), Lindsay C. Page (University of Pittsburgh) This study was published today in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. Main Findings: The institutional compliance costs of the FAFSA verification mandate in 2014 totaled nearly $500 million, with the burden falling disproportionately on public institutions and community colleges in particular. Twenty-two percent of an average community college's financial aid office ...

Study: "21st Century Tracking and De Facto School Segregation: Excluding and Hoarding Access to College Prep" Author: Heather E. Price (Marian University) This study will be presented today at the AERA 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting. Session: Schools and Social Policy: Segregation, Housing, and Transportation Date/Time: Monday, April 12, 9:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. ET Main Finding: The prevalence of Black, non-Hispanic students in high schools that do not offer any AP or IB courses in multi-school districts that fund college-prep curricula cannot be explained by resource or school factors. Details: Using national data, this study examined how the ...

BEER-SHEVA, Israel...April 13, 2021 - Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) have for the first time identified new drug candidates based on molecules isolated from probiotic Kefir yogurt for combating pathogenic bacteria and treating various inflammatory conditions, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and COVID-19 related cytokine storms. The research, published in Microbiome, a leading peer-reviewed publication was led by Orit Malka, a Ph.D. student of Prof. Raz Jelinek, GU vice president and dean for research and development. "These results are notable, since this is the first demonstration that virulence of human pathogenic bacteria can be mitigated ...

Study: "Paying for Whose Performance? Teacher Incentive Pay and the Black-White Test Score Gap" Authors: Andrew J. Hill (Montana State University), Daniel B. Jones (University of Pittsburgh) This study was published today in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. Key Finding: Teacher incentive pay programs that focused on raising student achievement in high-need high schools expanded the test score gap between Black and White students by between 64 percent and 85 percent. Details: The Black-White test score gap has proven to be one of the most persistent phenomena in American education, for reasons that cannot be entirely explained by student characteristics or school and teacher quality. Teacher performance pay is increasingly common in the United States ...

GEOGRAFI A new study by a University of Copenhagen researcher finds that thawing permafrost in Alaska causes colder water in smaller rivers and streams. This surprising consequence of climate change could affect the survival of fish species in the Arctic's offshore waters. Arctic stream The study's researchers discovered that thawing permafrost causes groundwater to run deeper, where it becomes cooler than when it flows near the soil surface. Rising global temperatures are causing frozen Arctic soil - permafrost - to thaw. In a new study, researchers have discovered something surprising: small ...

Tsukuba, Japan - Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver disorder worldwide, affecting as much as a quarter of humanity. It is characterized by fat accumulation in liver cells and may progress to inflammation, cirrhosis and liver failure. Now, researchers at the University of Tsukuba reveal the positive effects, beyond the expected weight-loss benefit, of exercise on the liver. NAFLD is associated with unhealthy behaviors such as overeating and a sedentary lifestyle. In Japan 41% of middle-aged men have NAFLD and 25% will progress to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and hepatic dysfunction. Weight reduction is fundamental to NAFLD management. Unfortunately, ...

Tsukuba, Japan--Liver disease, from metabolic and bacterial causes, is a growing concern. What connects these dots? The gut, or more specifically, bacteria in the gut. Bacteria that cause inflammation in the mouth are transported through the digestive tract to the gut and liver, where they can cause liver inflammation. Lipopolysaccharides, important structural molecules in some bacteria, act as endotoxins, producing systemic effects that can manifest as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Now, a multidisciplinary team from the University of Tsukuba show that exercise could be used to improve the oral environment in people with NAFLD, potentially leading to a new treatment for the disease. These ...

Osaka, Japan - Humans are exposed to many types of bacteria daily, the majority of which are harmless. However, some bacteria are pathogenic, which means they can cause disease. An extremely common pathogenic bacterial infection is Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) in the stomach, where it can lead to chronic inflammation (gastritis), ulcers, and even cancer. A group of researchers from Osaka University have determined a specific molecular mechanism that H. pylori uses to adapt to growing in the human stomach for long periods of time. In a report published in Nature Communications, this group found that a small RNA molecule called HPnc4160 plays a key role in how H. pylori invades the stomach ...

Researchers at the University of Calgary and The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), in Toronto, have discovered genetic risk factors for OCD that could help pave the way for earlier diagnosis and improved treatment for children and youth. "Our group made the first finding of a genome-wide significant risk gene relevant to childhood OCD," says Dr. Paul Arnold, MD, PhD, co-principal investigator, a professor and director of The Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research & Education at the Cumming School of Medicine. "We've known that OCD runs in families, but we hadn't identified and validated specific genetic risks of OCD symptoms in children and youth until now." The research drew on ...

Inserting lightweight optimization code in high-speed network devices has enabled a KAUST-led collaboration to increase the speed of machine learning on parallelized computing systems five-fold. This "in-network aggregation" technology, developed with researchers and systems architects at Intel, Microsoft and the University of Washington, can provide dramatic speed improvements using readily available programmable network hardware. The fundamental benefit of artificial intelligence (AI) that gives it so much power to "understand" and interact with the world is the machine-learning step, in which ...

Study: "Which U.S. Elementary Schoolchildren Are More Likely to Be Frequently Bullied?" Authors: Paul Morgan (Pennsylvania State University), Adrienne D. Woods (Pennsylvania State University), Yangyang Wang (Pennsylvania State University), George Farkas (University of California, Irvine), Yoonkyung Oh (University of Texas Health Science Center), Marianne Hillemeier (Pennsylvania State University), Cynthia Mitchell (Pennsylvania State University) This study was presented at the AERA 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting Session: Friends, Enemies, and Bullies: Peer Relationships in Schools Date/Time: Saturday, April 10, 10:40 a.m. - 12:10 p.m. ET Main Findings: Kindergarten children who frequently externalize problem behaviors (i.e., are aggressive or ...

PULLMAN, Wash. - Humans cannot live on protein alone - even for the ancient indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest where salmon was once thought to make up as much as 90% of their diet. In a new paper led by Washington State University anthropologist Shannon Tushingham, researchers document the many dietary solutions ancient Pacific Coast people likely employed to avoid "salmon starvation," a toxic and potentially fatal condition brought on by eating too much lean protein. "Salmon was a critical resource for thousands of years throughout the Pacific Rim, but there were a lot of foods that were important," said Tushingham the lead author of the paper published online on April 8 in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. "Native people were ...

Cranfield University research using data from smart meters has found that household water consumption changed significantly after the start of the COVID-19 lockdown, shifting from predominantly higher usage early in the morning to multiple peaks and continued demand throughout the day. The study used machine learning algorithms to analyse and identify patterns in hourly water consumption data from 11,528 households in the East of England from January to May 2020. The research is the first of its kind in the UK to quantify network consumption and segment households ...

The CDC recently declared racism as a threat to public health. But when it comes to dismantling white supremacy in public health, action must be taken beyond issuing statements declaring racism a public health crisis, says Sirry Alang, associate professor of sociology and health, medicine, and society at Lehigh University. A new analysis from Alang and colleagues examines the three core functions of public health -- assessment, policy development and assurance -- and the ten recently revised essential public health services (EPHSs) to offer strategies public health can follow to dismantle white supremacy. The article, "White Supremacy and the Core Functions of Public ...

Older adults with more harmful than healthy bacteria in their gums are more likely to have evidence for amyloid beta--a key biomarker for Alzheimer's disease--in their cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), according to new research from NYU College of Dentistry and Weill Cornell Medicine. However, this imbalance in oral bacteria was not associated with another Alzheimer's biomarker called tau. The study, published in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring, adds to the growing evidence of a connection between periodontal disease (gum disease) and Alzheimer's. Periodontal disease--which affects 70 percent of adults 65 and older, ...