In a new study, researchers explain why one particular cathode material works well at high voltages, while most other cathodes do not. The insights, published in the 19 June issue of the journal Science, could help battery developers design rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that operate at higher voltages. Researchers used a powerful X-ray imaging technique combined with new data analysis algorithms to gain insights -- at the nanoscale level -- on the mechanical properties of a cathode material called an LNMO spinel (composed of lithium, nickel, manganese and oxygen ...

Investigators at Children's Hospital Los Angeles are providing new hope for babies with short bowel syndrome (SBS) by developing a novel model of SBS in zebrafish, described in a paper published online on June 18 by the American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology. SBS is a highly morbid disease where the small intestine is either shortened or non-functional, leaving the patient with the inability to absorb enough nutrients from food. This results in profound malnutrition, dehydration, and can be fatal. Some patients increase their ability ...

Salmon are severely impacted by the loss of floodplain habitats throughout the West Coast. In few places is this more pronounced than in Oregon's Tillamook Bay, where nearly 90 percent of estuaries' tidal wetlands have been lost to development -- threatening the survival of federally-protected coho salmon and the safety of the local community. Now, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, NOAA Fisheries, and others have come together to reduce flood risk, increase resiliency of the ecosystem, and restore salmon habitat in Tillamook Bay by coordinating and aligning their ...

New UCLA research offers further evidence that cocaine use disrupts the immune system, making people who use it more likely to become infected with HIV. In research published online June 18 in the peer-reviewed journal Scientific Reports, researchers with the UCLA AIDS Institute and Center for AIDS Research used an advanced form of humanized mice -- that is, immunodeficient mice engineered to have a human-like immune system -- to study the effects of cocaine. The findings suggest that using cocaine makes people significantly more susceptible to HIV infection. 'Substance ...

VIRGINIA BEACH. The Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean (MARCO) applauds the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) on their recent approval of an amendment to protect deep sea corals from the impacts of fishing gear in the Mid-Atlantic. If approved by the Secretary of Commerce, the amendment will create "deep sea coral protection zones" in areas where corals have been observed or where they are likely to occur. In total, the areas proposed for designation encompass more than 38,000 square miles - an area nearly the size of Virginia. Established by the ...

Cigarette prices and images on cigarette packets have an impact on women in terms of continuing to smoke or quitting. In fact, less educated women are more responsive to pictorial labels on cigarette packets, as revealed by a study that has analysed, for the first time, the generation differences among female smokers, a group which, despite policy measures, has not stopped growing. In Spain, smoking levels are declining among men, but this trait does not extend to women. In the face of this phenomenon, experts claim that policy measures are needed to tackle such gender ...

Clathrin proteins involved in endocytosis form a lattice that can dramatically change its shape Combination of fluorescence microscopy and 3D electron microscopy allows quantitative data to be analysed Results offer new understanding of role of clathrin in endocytosis Researchers at EMBL Heidelberg have solved a question that has puzzled cell biologists for decades - how does the protein machine that allows cells to swallow up molecules during endocytosis function? Endocytosis is the process by which cells engulf molecules and draw them inside the cell where they perform ...

This news release is available in French. Researchers at Inserm (Inserm Unit 930 "Imaging and Brain") attached to François-Rabelais University and Tours Regional University Hospital have combined three clinical, neurophysiological and genetic approaches in order to better understand the brain mechanisms that cause autism. When tested on two families, this strategy enabled the researchers to identify specific gene combinations in autistic patients that distinguished them from patients with intellectual disabilities. This study, published in the journal Molecular ...

Boulder, Colo., USA - J.E. Harvey and colleagues discuss the Main Himalayan Thrust, which is the plate-boundary fault underlying the Himalaya. They write, "Convergence along the fault drives uplift of the Himalaya and causes catastrophic earthquakes like the recent Gorkha earthquake in central Nepal." C. Nagy and colleagues use geologic field mapping and structural analysis in the upper Karnali Valley of northwestern Nepal to confirm the existence of a strike-slip dominated fault, oriented sub-parallel to the Himalayan mountain belt. These and other LITHOSPHERE papers ...

A study by researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health debunks the assumption that global warming will lead to a decline in the number of deaths in winter. Findings by Professor Patrick Kinney, ScD, professor of Environmental Health Sciences and director of the School's Climate and Health Program, showed that a warming climate trend led to much smaller reductions in cold-related mortality than some experts have anticipated. Among 39 cities in the U.S. and France, there was no evidence that cities having warming temperatures experienced any less ...

Low energy activities that involve sitting down are associated with an increased risk of anxiety, according to research published in the open access journal BMC Public Health. These activities, which include watching TV, working at a computer or playing electronic games, are called sedentary behavior. Further understanding of these behaviors and how they may be linked to anxiety could help in developing strategies to deal with this mental health problem. Many studies have shown that sedentary behavior is associated with physical health problems like obesity, heart disease, ...

In a new study published today in The Veterinary Journal, scientists from the University of Surrey warn about the numerous risks posed to racehorses from the misuse of cobalt chloride, a banned performance-enhancing agent that has been used illegally by trainers in Australia and USA. The team of researchers have uncovered that when excessive levels of the alleged performance-enhancing substance are administered to a horse, it can cause serious cardiovascular issues, potential nerve problems, thickening of the blood and thyroid toxicity. The researchers also pointed to ...

In a study that contradicts the received wisdom on health impacts of climate change, scientists say that we shouldn't expect substantial reduction in winter deaths as a result of global warming. This new research is published today (Friday 19 June) in IOP Publishing's Environmental Research Letters journal. The research team was led by Professor Patrick Kinney of Columbia University in the USA. Professor Kinney said "As Dr Margaret Chan told delegates at the recent World Health Assembly, we need to know the potential impacts of climate change on health so that we can ...

Doctors often misdiagnose zinc deficiency, and seem to be unaware of the impact of excess zinc on the body, shows a small audit of clinical practice, published online in the Journal of Clinical Pathology. Too much zinc, taken in the form of dietary supplements, may disrupt copper uptake, leading to neurological problems and anaemia, the evidence indicates. Zinc is an essential trace element that is required in daily quantities of 5.5 to 9.5 mg for men, and 4 to 7 mg for women. But zinc supplements are usually only available in formulations of 45 or 50 mg. The US recommended ...

The inclusion of experimenters -- who are unlikely to become habitual users -- in e-cigarette prevalence studies is of 'questionable' value for monitoring population public health trends, finds research published online in the journal Tobacco Control. Setting the threshold at a minimum of use on six out of the past 30 days would eliminate many of those who are motivated primarily by curiosity and unlikely to become regular users. And it would provide a more accurate picture of use, say the researchers. There is no uniform definition for current users of e-cigarettes. ...

Endometrial cancer (EC) can spread by several routes, including the lymph system, blood vessels, through the uterine wall, as well as through the fallopian tubes into the peritoneal cavity, but the association of transtubal dissemination of EC with cancer stage, histological type, and mortality is unknown. However, according to a study published June 18 in the JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, women who have undergone a tubal ligation (TL) and develop more aggressive types of EC may have lower mortality. The authors postulate that women who have had TL have ...

DALLAS, June 18 -- Individual state stroke legislation plays a compelling role in certifying primary stroke centers and improving availability and accessibility of care to acute stroke patients, according to research in the American Heart Association journal Stroke. A hospital that has been certified as a Primary Stroke Center (PSC) has met specific standards for delivering prompt stroke care. To be eligible, hospitals must meet several criteria, including setting up a dedicated stroke-focused program staffed by medical professionals trained in stroke care. Researchers ...

University of Washington biologist Samuel Wasser is a pioneer in using DNA evidence to trace the origin of illegal ivory and help police an international trade that is decimating African elephant populations. The broadest application yet uses DNA from tons of ivory samples associated with large-scale trafficking. Results show that over the past decade, ivory has largely come from just two areas in Africa -- one each for the forest and savanna elephants. The findings are published June 18 in the journal Science. 'Africa is a huge continent, and poaching is occurring ...

This news release is available in Japanese. New genetic tools are helping researchers to trace illegal ivory back to the elephant populations from which it came, and they might help law enforcement crack down on poaching in the future. Elephant poaching is happening at rates that threaten African populations with extinction. After analyzing 28 ivory seizures made between 1996 and 2014 -- each of them containing half a ton of tusks or more -- Samuel Wasser and colleagues suggest that the illegal ivory trade has been fueled primarily by two poaching hotspots in Africa ...

This news release is available in Japanese. Researchers have found evidence of shared decision-making among a troop of wild baboons, providing insight into how animals that live in socially complex, hierarchical societies reach consensus on decisions that affect the entire group. Until now, researchers had wondered if animals with clear hierarchies, such as primates or wolves, use democracy to reach a consensus -- or if their decisions are governed by dominant leaders. It's been difficult to study this, however, because recording the behavior of many individuals simultaneously ...

This news release is available in Japanese. A new study aiming to provide a better understanding of how injection wells in the U.S. influence earthquake activity cites wastewater injection rate as a critical factor. In the study, the highest-rate wastewater disposal wells analyzed were nearly twice as likely to be associated with earthquake events compared to their lower-rate counterparts. Earthquakes can be induced by industrial processes, a fact established decades ago. Since 2009, when seismicity in the U.S. midcontinent began to surge, earthquakes induced by the underground ...

This news release is available in Japanese. Opening Iran's national uranium enrichment plant to multinational involvement could limit the long-term risks of Iran's nuclear program as restrictions on it expire, according to this Policy Forum. In July, Iran is expected to sign an agreement restricting its nuclear program, but also affirming its right to pursue uranium enrichment as those restrictions end in 2025 and beyond. Authors Alexander Glaser, Zia Mian, and Frank von Hippel suggest that selling shares of Iran's uranium enrichment plant to other countries could help ...

PRINCETON, N.J.--Within the next two weeks, or soon after, the United States and five world powers hope to finalize a nuclear deal with Iran to limit its nuclear activities in exchange for a relaxing of international economic and financial sanctions. But what happens in 10 years when some of the key restrictions being discussed begin to phase out? One of the biggest concerns is Iran's uranium enrichment program, which uses high-speed centrifuges to produce uranium enriched to a level appropriate for nuclear power reactor fuel. Enrichment plants like this can be quickly ...

Well-practiced motor skills like riding a bike are extremely stable memories that can be effortlessly recalled after years or decades. In contrast, a new study publishing in PLOS Computational Biology shows that changes to motor skill memories occurring over the course of a single practice session are not immediately stable, according to researchers Andrew Brennan and Maurice Smith of Harvard University School of Engineering and Applied Science and Center for Brain Science. We're all familiar with the old saying that you never forget how to ride a bike and perhaps personally ...

Chlamydia trachomatis is a formidable foe. It's the most common sexually transmitted pathogen, infecting more than 100 million people each year. In the developing world, chlamydial infection is the leading cause of preventable blindness. Around the world, it ranks as the number one cause of infertility and ectopic pregnancy. Chlamydial infection ignites chronic inflammation, which scars mucosal surfaces such as eyelids, ovaries or fallopian tubes. Most people who carry the bacterium don't know it. Women with chlamydia are much more vulnerable to other sexually transmitted ...