Face masks mandates have led people to spend less time at home, but whether this has exposed Americans to more risk is still a question, according to a new study published Thursday in Scientific Reports. Using anonymized location data from smart devices, the study, conducted by Yale School of the Environment Professor Eli Fenichel, Youpei Yan, YSE postdoctoral associate, Colorado State University Assistant Professor Jude Bayham and Aaron Richter, a Yale research affiliate, examined changes in behavior of residents two weeks before and two weeks after mask mandates were implemented in regions of the United States. The study found that residents spent between 11-24 more minutes outside their homes after a facemask mandate was issued, even as COVID-19 rates were rising in the U.S. ...

A new study of autism risk genes by UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley scientists implicates disruption in prenatal neurogenesis - a process in which specialized "progenitor" cells give rise to new brain cells - in the development of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). The study also shows that estrogen, perhaps in a form produced within brain cells, can protect against this disruption and steer the brain on a normal course of development. The most striking findings in the study, published on January 25, 2021 in Neuron, were derived from experiments using embryos of the western clawed frog (Xenopus tropicalis), a species prized by biologists for the unique insights it offers into development. Human genes involved in development ...

Prompted by the need to improve conventional treatments for people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1), a team from the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) has identified a therapeutic approach to restore the effectiveness of immune cells. The study, led by doctoral student Hamza Loucif and Professor Julien van Grevenynghe, was published in the journal Autophagy. Most people infected with HIV-1 require daily antiretroviral therapy to control the infection. These drugs cause significant side effects without fully restoring the normal functioning of the immune system. ...

SPOKANE, Wash. - Diabetic patients taking the natural product goldenseal while taking the prescription drug metformin may be unwittingly sabotaging their efforts to maintain healthy blood glucose levels. This concern arose from a recent study published in the journal Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics. Metformin--the world's most-prescribed oral glucose-lowering medication--was included in a cocktail of selected drugs given to participants in a clinical study led by scientists at Washington State University's College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. The study sought to determine the impact of goldenseal on specific ...

A new study by scientists at Utrecht University and the United Nations University concludes that about half of global wastewater is treated, rather than the previous estimate of 20%. Despite this promising finding, the authors warn that treatment rates in developing countries are still very low. The study and its dataset were published Open Access in the journal Earth System Science Data. Humans and factories produce vast quantities of wastewater per day. If not properly collected and treated, wastewater may severely threaten human health and pollute the environment. 144 million swimming pools The authors use national statistics to estimate volumes of wastewater production, collection, treatment and reuse. "Globally, about 359 ...

Faster speech rate, greater intensity in the middle of the word, and falling pitch at the end of the word: that is the prosody[1] to adopt if one wants to come across as reliable and honest to one's listeners. Scientists from the Science and Technology for Music and Sound laboratory (CNRS/Ircam/Sorbonne Université/Ministère de la Culture)[2] and the Perceptual Systems Laboratory (CNRS/ENS PSL) have conducted a series of experiments[3] to understand how we decide, based on the voice, whether a speaker is honest and confident, or on the contrary dishonest and uncertain. They have also shown that this signature was perceived similarly ...

The sense of hearing is, quite literally, a molecular tightrope act. Turns out, it involves acrobatics as well. In a paper published in Nature Communications on Feb 8, researchers at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital show that a dynamic and delicate connection between two pairs of diminutive protein filaments plays a central role in in hearing. The tension held by these filaments, together called a tip link, is essential for the activation of sensory cells in the inner ear. The team's analyses reveal that the filaments, which are joined end-to-end, work together like trapeze artists holding ...

COVID-19 has not only caused a temporary drop in global CO2 emissions, it has also reduced the share of power generated by burning coal - a trend that could in fact outlast the pandemic. This is the key result of a new study by a team of economists based in Potsdam and Berlin that looked at COVID-19's impact on the energy system and demand for electricity. Their findings show that the pandemic, while putting a terrible toll on people's lives and the economy, has also opened a window of opportunity to make this current trend of decreasing coal use irreversible: Supported by the right climate policy measures, power sector emissions could decline more rapidly than previously thought. "Coal has been hit harder by the Corona crisis than other power sources - and the reason is ...

Higher blood pressure at night than in daytime may be a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease in older men. This is suggested by a new study from researchers at Uppsala University, now published in the journal Hypertension. 'Dementia' is an umbrella term used to describe a category of symptoms marked by behavioural changes and gradually declining cognitive and social abilities. Numerous factors, including hypertension (high blood pressure), affect the risk of developing these symptoms. Under healthy conditions, blood pressure (BP) varies over 24 hours, with lowest values reached at night. Doctors call this nocturnal blood pressure fall 'dipping'. However, in some people, ...

A new process for inserting synthetic gene circuits into host cells, developed by a team of bioengineers at Arizona State University, has broad implications for improving the effectiveness of a range of disease therapies. Synthetic biology is an interdisciplinary research field that uses engineering principles to create biological components that don't exist in the natural world. These synthetic components mimic naturally evolved organisms, but are customized to fight disease, including cancer. A paper recently published in Nature Communications, "Winner-Takes-All Resource Competition Redirects Cascading Cell Fate Transitions," outlines how gene circuits can be reconfigured so that they do not overwhelm the host cells. "We ...

In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an almost 80% decrease in primary care office visits in Ontario and a 56-fold increase in virtual visits, found new research in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). "Initial reports from primary care providers during the pandemic in both Canada and the United States showed major disruptions to care, decreased payments, challenges keeping offices functioning, lack of personal protective equipment and widespread uptake of virtual care, but we didn't know how COVID-19 had affected in-person office visits," says ...

People living in regions with high levels of outdoor artificial light at night may face a higher risk of developing thyroid cancer. The finding comes from a study published early online in END ...

A new national survey of more than 2,000 Americans by END ...

A method that instructs immune system cells to help repair damaged tissues in the intestine has been developed by researchers at KU Leuven and Seoul National University. This opens the way for more effective treatment of inflammatory bowel disease, including ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. The study was carried out on humans and mice. When functioning correctly, the immune system protects against harmful agents such as bacteria that get into the body. But in conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), the immune system attacks the tissues that line the gut, forming ulcers and causing pain and discomfort. Nearly 3.9 million women and 3.0 ...

Philadelphia, February 8, 2021 - Early exposure to nutritious foods may help children develop more healthful eating habits, but package labels can make it difficult for parents to understand what they are feeding their young children, according to a END ...

Researchers in South Korea have successfully developed a wearable sensor that can detect illegal drugs in sweat by using nanomaterials technology that amplify the optical signal of narcotics to a flexible, body-worn material. Led by Dr. Ho Sang Jung, the research unit is part of the Korea Institute of Materials Science(KIMS), a government-funded research institute under the Ministry of Science and ICT. The technology enables fast and highly sensitive drug detection: the sweat patch is attached to the skin for a certain period of time and then irradiated with light for testing. It only takes one minute without requiring additional process. Traditional drug detection process requires a complex method of extracting suspected drug components from ...

Online searches for mobile and isolated activities can help to predict later surges and declines in COVID-19 cases, a team of researchers has found. Its findings, based on a four-month analysis of online searches, offer a potential means to anticipate the pathways of the pandemic--before new infections are reported. "This is a first step towards building a tool that can help predict COVID case surges by capturing higher-risk activities and intended mobility, which searches for gyms and in-person dining can illuminate," says Anasse Bari, a clinical assistant professor in computer science at New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences ...

AUGUSTA, Ga (Feb. 8, 2021) - Starting with early childhood, otherwise healthy Black people show signs of slightly diminished heart muscle strength and a slightly higher blood pressure than their white counterparts, factors which may put them on a course for early development of congestive heart failure, researchers report. The take-home message for parents and physicians is that, particularly for populations at high cardiovascular risk such as Black people, a close check should be kept on blood pressure starting in early adolescence, says the corresponding author of the study in Journal of the American Heart Association. Children ...

Efforts to improve the social success of autistic adolescents and adults have often focused on teaching them ways to think and behave more like their non-autistic peers and to hide the characteristics that define them as autistic. Psychology researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas, however, have been focusing on another approach: promoting understanding and acceptance of autism among non-autistic people. The researchers published their findings online Jan. 20 in the journal Autism. The study showed that familiarizing non-autistic people with the challenges and strengths of autistic people helped to reduce stigma and misconceptions about autism, but implicit biases about autism were harder to overcome. Desiree Jones, a psychology doctoral student ...

Beer-Sheva, Israel...February 8, 2021 - A new discovery by researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and its affiliated Soroka University Medical Center shows that medical cannabis may reduce blood pressure in older adults. The study, published in the European Journal of Internal Medicine, is the first of its kind to focus on the effect of cannabis on blood pressure, heart rate and metabolic parameters in adults 60 and above with hypertension. "Older adults are the fastest growing group of medical cannabis users, yet evidence on cardiovascular safety for this population is scarce," says Dr. Ran Abuhasira of the BGU Faculty of Health Sciences, one of Israel's leading medical ...

It's well understood that a difficult childhood can increase the likelihood of mental illness, but according to new research from the University of South Australia, a happy and secure childhood does not always protect a child from developing a mental illness later in life. Conducted in partnership with the University of Canberra, the finding is part of a study published in Current Psychology, which examined how early childhood experiences relate to different developmental pathways, and how these might be associated with poor mental health. Given that both positive and negative childhood experiences were found to manifest as anxiety or other mental health disorders into adulthood, ...

Tokyo, Japan - Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University studied the dynamics of foams. When a drop of water was added to a foam raft, the bubbles rearranged themselves to reach a new stable state. The team found that bubble movement was qualitatively different depending on the range of bubble sizes present. Along with analogies with soft-jammed materials, these findings may inspire the design of new foam materials for industry. Foams are everywhere. Whether it's soaps and detergents, meringues, beer foam, cosmetics or insulation for clothing and building, we're surrounded by everyday ...

There is an urgent need for guidelines on how schools can use ventilation to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission in the classroom, according to doctors at Imperial College London and the headteacher of a secondary school in Pinner, Middlesex. In a commentary published by the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, the authors say that improving air quality in classroom spaces should be as important as following government advice regarding social distancing, mask-wearing and hand washing. The authors point to lessons from the airline industry, where the risk of contracting COVID-19 on a flight ...

6 February: The IMbrave150 trial found median overall survival was 19.2 months in patients treated with atezo+bev vs 13.4 months for those treated with sorafenib alone, the current standard treatment (HR, 0.66 [95% CI, 0.52-0.85]; P=0.0009). Survival at 18 months was 52% with atezo+bev and 40% in patients treated with sorafenib. All patients in the trial had nonresectable HCC - the most common form of liver cancer - and had not previously been treated with systemic therapy. A total of 501 patients were treated in the multicentre, open label, randomised controlled trial and the new follow-up figures confirm the superiority of the atezo+bev combination over sorafenib in this group of patients with HCC. Atezolizumab is an immune ...

Around one in three working-age adults (29%) surveyed in France in July 2020 would refuse any COVID-19 vaccine. Willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccination depended upon its country of origin, effectiveness, rate of serious side effects, and site of vaccination. Although attitudes may have changed since July 2020 with the approval of several vaccines and a second wave of COVID-19, the findings suggest that communicating the collective benefits of herd immunity reduced people's hesitancy about being vaccinated. Nearly one in three working-age adults in France (29%) surveyed in July 2020 - when lockdown restrictions had been ...