Background and objectives Oral contraceptive pills (OCPs) are commonly used for contraception, but their long-term effects on oxidative stress, lipid profiles, and liver function remain unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of intermediate-term OCP use (Yasmin) on oxidative stress, lipid profile, and liver function, with particular emphasis on antioxidant markers, lipid metabolism, and hepatic enzyme activity, to better understand the potential metabolic and hepatic effects. Methods A case-control study was conducted in Maysan Governorate, Iraq, involving 150 women (100 OCP users and 50 ...

A first-of-its-kind study provides a snapshot of the substantial mental health burden on nurses around the world. Published in the journal International Nursing Review, the research documents the impact of three years of intense working conditions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Our study describes how nurses are affected by stressors in their workplace and shows how the stress carries over into their home life. The personal losses from the pandemic complicate this picture as there could easily be lingering grief in a third of the workforce,” said Allison Squires, ...

Doctors at Queen Mary University of London, Barts Health NHS Trust, and University College London have led the development of a simple, minimally invasive Targeted Thermal Therapy (Triple T) that has the potential to transform medical management of a common, but commonly overlooked, cause of high blood pressure.  This breakthrough, published today in The Lancet, could, after further testing, help millions of people worldwide who currently go undiagnosed and untreated.  In the UK, Triple T, known scientifically as endoscopic ultrasound-guided radiofrequency ablation, was rigorously tested, in collaboration with researchers from ...

WASHINGTON - In our digital times as we are inundated with YouTube videos, memes and social media, satire is everywhere, but it can be more damaging to people's reputations than direct criticism, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.  Seemingly innocuous satire may be more harmful than direct criticism because it can dehumanize people and reduce them to caricatures, the study found. The research was published online in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.    “Most people think satire is just humorous and playful, but dehumanization exists on a spectrum and can include things like forgetting ...

Background and objectives Protein disulfide isomerases (PDIs) are essential enzymes that facilitate the proper folding of proteins and maintain protein quality within the endoplasmic reticulum. Dysregulation of PDIs has been correlated with numerous disorders, including cancer and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). E64FC26 (EFC), a small molecule that inhibits a wide range of PDI family members, has shown promise as a therapeutic agent in oncology. However, its effects on RA have not yet been studied. This research investigates the efficacy of EFC as a potential treatment for RA. Methods To investigate EFC’s effects on RA fibroblast-like ...

Dr. Ha Yoon-Cheol's team at KERI's Next Generation Battery Research Center has developed an 'enhanced coprecipitation method' that enables faster and higher-quality production of lithium superionic conductors for ASSBs. ASSB replaces the ‘electrolyte’, which transfers ions between the anode and cathode, with a solid instead of a liquid, significantly reducing the risk of fire or explosion.. Solid electrolytes are difficult to manufacture and expensive. However, in 2021, Dr. Ha Yoon-Cheol's team garnered significant attention by proposing the 'coprecipitation method', ...

The rapid melting and thinning of the Arctic ice have sparked serious concerns in the scientific community. In addition, sea ice thickness also has decreased, which makes ice cover more vulnerable to warming air and ocean temperature. Understanding the ecological role of sea ice in the Arctic is crucial, particularly because the extent of sea ice in the region has been decreasing at an unprecedented rate. What would happen to the Arctic marine ecosystem if the sea ice melted even faster? To answer these questions, a long-term monitoring and data collection system is necessary in the harsh Arctic environment. However, ...

Older adults who didn’t have enough savings to cover emergency expenses during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic faced another surprising problem: higher levels of loneliness.   In a new study, researchers at The Ohio State University found that adults over the age of 65 faced increases in loneliness during the pandemic, regardless of income level or wealth.   But those who said they would have to use a credit card to pay off an emergency expense over time were more likely to report high levels of loneliness.   “Our ...

Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a common and severe complication that occurs after stem cell transplantation, where the donor’s immune cells attack the recipient’s tissues. Ocular manifestation of GVHD is among the most challenging to treat, often leading to chronic inflammation and corneal tissue damage, which can result in loss of vision. Conventional treatments, including corticosteroids, are frequently used to manage ocular inflammation associated with GVHD. However, these therapies come with significant side effects, including the risk of glaucoma and other ocular complications. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), a heterogeneous population of cells present in various ...

Multifamily residential buildings with multiple floors are common in South Korea. These buildings usually have pilotis—support structures like pillars that elevate the building, creating an open ground floor generally used for parking vehicles. These piloti parking spaces are often risky to navigate for pedestrians and residents due to limited visibility, unclear boundaries between adjacent areas, and poor management. For instance, these spaces have blind spots that criminals could exploit, which induces fear among people. Though evidence-based architectural design strategies ...

Researchers have developed a sustainable catalyst that increases its activity during use while converting carbon dioxide (CO2) into valuable products. This discovery offers a blueprint for designing next-generation electrocatalysts. A collaborative team from the University of Nottingham's School of Chemistry and the University of Birmingham have developed a catalyst made of tin microparticles supported by a nanotextured carbon structure. The interactions between the tin particles and graphitised ...

Years before tau tangles show up in brain scans of patients with Alzheimer's disease, a biomarker test developed at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine can detect small amounts of the clumping-prone tau protein and its misfolded pathological forms that litter the brain, cerebrospinal fluid and potentially blood, new research published today in Nature Medicine suggests. The cerebrospinal fluid biomarker test correlates with the severity of cognitive decline, independent of other factors, including brain amyloid deposition, thereby opening doors for early-stage disease diagnosis ...

Beryllium-10, a rare radioactive isotope produced by cosmic rays in the atmosphere, provides valuable insights into the Earth's geological history. A research team from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), in collaboration with the TUD Dresden University of Technology and the Australian National University (ANU), has discovered an unexpected accumulation of this isotope in samples taken from the Pacific seabed. Such an anomaly may be attributed to shifts in ocean currents or astrophysical events that occurred approximately 10 million years ago. The findings hold the potential to serve as a global time marker, representing a promising ...

A new mathematical model sheds light on how the brain processes different cues, such as sights and sounds, during decision making. The findings from Princeton neuroscientists may one day improve how brain circuits go awry in neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer’s, and could help artificial brains, like Alexa or self-driving car technology, more helpful. The findings were published February 10 in the journal Nature Neuroscience. Walking to work, commuters encounter many sensory signals along their route, such as the glow of a crosswalk signal that indicates whether it’s safe to cross or beware of oncoming traffic. ...

Financial markets are reacting not just to Donald Trump's return to the White House but also to the unpredictability of this victory, according to a new study from the University of Surrey.  Investors must diversify their portfolios to mitigate risks associated with political volatility and to remain vigilant about the potential for abrupt market corrections.  A new study, published in Economics Letters, indicates that while there was an immediate surge in stock prices following Trump's election, this was quickly tempered by investor concerns over potential trade wars and international instability.   A group of ...

Why do our mental images stay sharp even when we are moving fast? A team of neuroscientists led by Professor Maximilian Jösch at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) has identified a mechanism that corrects visual distortions caused by movement in animals. The study, conducted in mice, identifies a core function that can be generalized across the vertebrate visual system, including primates such as humans. The findings are published in Nature Neuroscience. Despite its rapid development in recent decades, the video camera industry is still catching up with the capabilities of the human eye. In particular, action cams are designed ...

Euclid blasted off on its six-year mission to explore the dark Universe on 1 July 2023. Before the spacecraft could begin its survey, the team of scientists and engineers on Earth had to make sure everything was working properly. During this early testing phase, in September 2023, Euclid sent some images back to Earth. They were deliberately out of focus, but in one fuzzy image Euclid Archive Scientist Bruno Altieri saw a hint of a very special phenomenon and decided to take a closer look. “I look at the data from Euclid as it comes in,” explains Bruno. “Even from that first observation, I could see it, but after Euclid made more observations of the area, ...

The report “Assessing Deep-Tech Innovation Hubs in Germany: The Case of Biotechnology” evaluates Germany’s performance in deep-tech innovation within biotech using a comprehensive index and examines five key hubs: Berlin, Heidelberg, Munich, Nuremberg-Erlangen, and Stuttgart. These hubs were analyzed in terms of fundamental research, research and development in biotech, startup activity, public infrastructure, and business environment.  Berlin, Munich, and Heidelberg are the leading biotech hubs Berlin leads the index due to its strong public infrastructure ...

Experiencing pain may increase the odds that cancer survivors will use cigarettes and cannabis, according to a recent study published by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. The study also found that cigarette smoking and pain are linked to more treatment-related side effects and worse health among cancer survivors. Pain and use of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, alcohol, and cannabis commonly occur together in the general population. To characterize pain in relation to such non-opioid substance ...

Scientists have found that taking a playful approach to life doesn’t mean you don’t take your situation seriously, but it can mean you cope with it better. By surveying people about their experiences during a Covid-19 lockdown, they learned that more playful people were more positive about the future and coped more actively and creatively. Life gave them lemons, and they made lemonade.  “Our study revealed that playfulness and resilience are intimately connected through what we call ‘lemonading’ — the ability to imagine ...

Unresectable canine hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has limited nonsurgical treatment options. Sorafenib is a targeted therapy for unresectable canine HCC. However, there are limited reports on the expression of target genes. Therefore, the efficacy of the targeted therapies for canine HCC remains unclear. In HCC, the prognosis is generally good when complete surgical resection is possible. Unresectable nodular and diffuse HCC have a poor prognosis and limited nonsurgical treatment options. In humans, systemic therapies including ...

Opioid prescriptions in the emergency department (ED) were associated with small increases in later opioid prescriptions and hospital admissions, found new research published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.241542. To understand the relationship between opioid prescribing in the ED and subsequent harm, researchers looked at opioid prescribing at all Alberta EDs from 2010 to 2020. Of the more than 13 million visits, 689 074 patients (5.3%) filled an opioid prescription. The researchers found that opioid prescriptions did not increase the risk of ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Adults with high levels of playfulness showed strong resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to less playful individuals, new research shows. The study led by Xiangyou “Sharon” Shen of Oregon State University is important because playfulness is a vital but underappreciated resource for building resilience and maintaining well-being during difficult periods such as the pandemic, Shen said. And it’s a resource that individuals can cultivate. “Understanding how playful people navigate adversity can inform interventions and strategies to help people cope with stress and uncertainty,” said Shen, an assistant professor ...

Tokyo, Japan – Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have elucidated how hydrogen and carbon monoxide is adsorbed into solids containing a crown-motif structure of platinum and gold. Using quick-scan X-ray absorption measurements and theoretical calculations, they studied a solid of [PtAu8(PPh3)8]-H[PMo12O40] called PtAu8-PMo12 and found that gas adsorption is affected strongly by the dimension of nanoscale voids in the structure. This highlights the importance of engineering voids in materials for next generation sensors and gas separation.   Ligand-protected metal clusters have been a source of ...

A new study in Nature describing a fossil of a nearly complete and intact bird skull from Antarctica is shedding light on the early evolution of today’s birds and avian diversity at the end of the Age of Dinosaurs. The skull is from Vegavis iaai, an extinct duck-like bird that lived during the Late Cretaceous, just before non-avian dinosaurs went extinct. It’s one of very few 3D bird skulls known to science from the Cretaceous — a 79-million-year geological period and the last era when ...