NEW ORLEANS, March 20, 2024 — From abstract-looking cloud formations to roars of snow machines on ski slopes, the transformation of liquid water into solid ice touches many facets of life. Water’s freezing point is generally accepted to be 32 degrees Fahrenheit. But that is due to ice nucleation — impurities in everyday water raise its freezing point to this temperature. Now, researchers unveil a theoretical model that shows how specific structural details on surfaces can influence water’s freezing point. The researchers will present their results at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS Spring 2024 is a hybrid meeting being held virtually ...

NEW ORLEANS, March 20, 2024 — Accidents happen every day, and if you drop your smartwatch, or it gets hit really hard, the device probably won’t work anymore. But now, researchers report on a soft, flexible material with “adaptive durability,” meaning it gets stronger when hit or stretched. The material also conducts electricity, making it ideal for the next generation of wearables or personalized medical sensors. The researchers will present their results today at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS Spring ...

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can damage the heart even without directly infecting the heart tissue, a National Institutes of Health-supported study has found. The research, published in the journal Circulation, specifically looked at damage to the hearts of people with SARS-CoV2-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), a serious lung condition that can be fatal. But researchers said the findings could have relevance to organs beyond the heart and also to viruses other than SARS-CoV-2.   Scientists have long known that COVID-19 increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, and Long COVID, ...

In an analysis of information on Medicare beneficiaries with dementia, Medicare expenditures were higher for Black and Hispanic individuals compared with whites. The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society analysis also found that expenditures were highest for Black beneficiaries in every phase of care. The average total Medicare expenditures after being diagnosed with dementia were $165,730 for Black beneficiaries, $160,442 for Hispanic beneficiaries, and $136,326 for white beneficiaries. In the year preceding and immediately following ...

Previous research has identified genetic variants linked to sedentary leisure behavior, which includes activities such as watching television, using a computer, and operating a vehicle. In a new analysis published in Andrology, a higher genetic susceptibility to leisure computer usage was associated with a greater risk of erectile dysfunction in men. In the analysis of data on more than 200,000 men, each 1.2 hour increase in leisure computer usage predicted 3.57-fold greater odds of erectile dysfunction. There was no evidence to suggest ...

New research indicates that antibiotics can effectively target bacteria in the gut that harbor the virus that causes COVID-19 and produce toxin-like peptides that contribute to COVID-19-related symptoms. In the study, which involved 211 participants and was published in the Journal of Medical Virology, individuals who received early antibiotic treatment after having COVID-19 recovered more quickly than those who did not receive antibiotics. The authors had already evaluated the efficacy of certain antibiotics in SARS-CoV-2-infected bacterial cultures in vitro, and this new study demonstrates ...

Consumer sentiment generally refers to consumers’ attitudes and expectations about economic conditions. A new analysis published in Economic Inquiry indicates that U.S. party affiliation has a significant effect on consumer sentiment, and that sentiment, in turn, affects spending intentions. In the study that relied on information dating back to 1991 and focused on data surrounding elections in which the governing party changed, survey respondents from Florida whose party affiliation matched the winning U.S. presidential candidate reported more optimistic views about personal and national economic conditions immediately after the election. In ...

Executive functions (EFs) have been defined as the ability to regulate emotions, thoughts, and behaviors to achieve a goal. Although EFs have been identified as a cornerstone of cognitive development, knowledge of this fundamental ability in children is primarily based on research with North American and Western European samples from middle to high socioeconomic status.   A new article published in the journal Child Development Perspectives highlights the advances that have been made in developmental EFs research from Latin American (LATAM) regions, an understudied area that provides a unique context important to understanding EFs. The ...

IVI will complete the technology transfer by 2025 Oral Cholera Vaccine to be manufactured by Biological E. Limited for India and international markets   March 20, 2024, SEOUL, Republic of Korea and HYDERABAD, India — The International Vaccine Institute (IVI), an international organization with a mission to discover, develop, and deliver safe, effective, and affordable vaccines for global health, today announced that it has commenced a technology transfer of simplified Oral Cholera Vaccine (OCV-S) to Biological ...

A new paper in Rheumatology, published by Oxford University Press, finds that rheumatic diseases can lead to reproductive problems, though some conditions have more detrimental effects than others. Immune-mediated diseases are a varied group of conditions, but each display an aberrant activity of the immune system. Some diseases, such as juvenile idiopathic arthritis and type 1 diabetes, occur mostly before patients reach their reproductive years, but others show up later in life. Scientists have investigated systemic lupus erythematosus for its impact on reproductive health; the condition increases the risk for some adverse pregnancy ...

Words are important to express ourselves. What we don’t say, however, may be even more instrumental in conveying emotions. Humans can often tell how people around them feel through non-verbal cues embedded in our voice. Now, researchers in Germany wanted to find out if technical tools, too, can accurately predict emotional undertones in fragments of voice recordings. To do so, they compared three ML models’ accuracy to recognize diverse emotions in audio excepts. Their results were published in Frontiers in Psychology. “Here we show that machine learning can be used ...

Polymer systems composed of multiple components can spontaneously induce emulsion or microdroplets by mechanical mixing, as an intermediate state of macroscopic phase separation. Unfortunately, the size of generated droplets is nonuniform and their spatial-arrangement is rather random. In addition, they tend to grow larger with time (coarsening). To prevent the change of the microdroplet size, researchers have currently attempted to rapidly lower the temperature, but these efforts can never improve the uniformity of the droplets. If uniformly arranged homogeneous droplets entrapping certain substrates such ...

Getting the 988 and 911 emergency telephone systems to work in concert requires detailed planning and close cooperation, and such efforts may benefit from having one or two people at the local level who act as champions for interoperability, according to a new RAND report.   In order to make sure callers are routed to the appropriate system, efforts need to involve representatives from both 988 and 911 call centers, law enforcement, mobile crisis teams, peer support specialists, behavioral health specialists, and people who have lived experience with crisis services, researchers say.   Local champions can aid such efforts by establishing priorities, convening local stakeholders, brokering ...

FAIRFAX, Va. (March 20, 2024)—A minimally invasive technique that uses ice to freeze and destroy small, cancerous tumors has now been proven effective for breast cancer patients with large tumors, providing a new treatment path for those who are not candidates for surgery, according to new research to be presented at the Society of Interventional Radiology Annual Scientific Meeting in Salt Lake City. “For patients who have larger tumors but can’t undergo surgery, this approach could be more effective than the current standard of care for patients who are not surgical candidates,” ...

FAIRFAX, Va. (March 20, 2024)—Early intervention with a minimally invasive treatment called uterine artery embolization (UAE) can help women avoid hysterectomy due to severe bleeding after childbirth, according to a new study being presented at the Society of Interventional Radiology Annual Scientific Meeting in Salt Lake City. “These findings are important and may help more women avoid hysterectomy and other very serious complications of uncontrolled hemorrhage,” said lead author Younes Jahangiri, M.D., a third-year resident in the interventional and diagnostic radiology program at ...

FAIRFAX, Va. (March 20, 2024)—A minimally invasive treatment using MRI and transurethral ultrasound instead of surgery or radiation is effective in treating prostate cancer, according to new research to be presented at the Society of Interventional Radiology Annual Scientific Meeting in Salt Lake City. The traditional treatment options of radiation or surgery often come with a risk of side effects, including urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction that cause significant morbidity and adverse lifestyle effects. Researchers said that some patients now have a durable alternative for whole-gland treatment with MRI-guided transurethral ultrasound ablation (TULSA) that does not preclude ...

Researchers exploring ways to utilise ChatGPT for work, say it could save organisations and individuals a lot of time and money when it comes to planning trips. A new study, published in Innovations in Education and Teaching International (IETI), has tested whether ChatGPT can be used to design University field studies. It found that the free-to-use AI model is an effective tool for not only planning educational trips around the world, but also could be used by other industries. The research, led by scientists from the University of Portsmouth and University of Plymouth, specifically ...

A research team, comprising Professor Junsuk Rho from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the Department of Chemical Engineering, and the Department of Electrical Engineering, and PhD candidates Seokho Lee and Cherry Park from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), has recently published a paper that highlights the next generation of research trends that combine metaphotonics research with artificial intelligence. The paper has been published in the international journal, Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science.   Metalenses have sparked a revolution in optics, drastically ...

Thanks for a new design contributed by a research team led by Prof. ZHAO Peng from Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS) of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the operation time for plasma torch was extended from several days to several years. "We made the world's longest-lasting plasma torch," said Prof. ZHAO. Plasma torches, devices that generate thermal plasma, are pivotal in various industries due to their ability to efficiently produce high-temperature plasma. It can be applied in many fields including low-carbon metallurgy, powder spheroidization, carbon material preparation, and advanced ...

People who are ‘double jointed,’ a condition formally known as generalised joint hypermobility, may be at heightened risk of  long COVID, suggests a case-control study published in the open access journal BMJ Public Health. They were 30% more likely not to have fully recovered from COVID-19 infection than those without hypermobile joints, and to be experiencing the persistent fatigue associated with long COVID, the findings indicate. Other than older age, the likelihood of developing long COVID seems to be greater ...

The air quality around planned new schools in England is “alarmingly poor,” with 86% of sites exceeding  World Health Organization (WHO) targets on major air pollutants, reveals an analysis published online in the Archives of Disease in Childhood. The consequences for health from exposure to excessive levels of air pollutants are well known, say the researchers, who call for air quality assessment at all stages of planning to be mandated, and legislation and guidance to be updated as a matter of urgency. Children are particularly vulnerable to the harmful effects of air pollution, because their bodies, organs, and immune systems are still developing, explain ...

A major report on the remains of a stilt village that was engulfed in flames almost 3,000 years ago reveals in unprecedented detail the daily lives of England’s prehistoric fenlanders.   Must Farm, a late Bronze Age settlement, dates to around 850BC, with University of Cambridge archaeologists unearthing four large wooden roundhouses and a square entranceway structure – all of which had been constructed on stilts above a slow-moving river. The entire hamlet stood approximately two metres above the riverbed, with walkways bridging some of the main houses, and ...

Soft tissue preservation in the geological record is relatively rare, and, except where deliberate intervention halts the process of decay (like embalming or freezing), the survival of entire organs is particularly unusual. The spontaneous preservation of the brain in the absence of any other soft tissues - that is, the brain’s survival amongst otherwise skeletonised remains - has historically been regarded as a ‘one-of-a kind’ phenomenon. A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Oxford, led ...

Scientists have developed an ingestible capsule dotted with sensors that can detect pressure in a patient’s guts and detect points of failure. The ingestible system will give colorectal medical teams an unprecedented understanding of the movement of a patient’s digestive tract, or lack thereof. Instead of simply taking images of inside the guts, the system will sense whether it’s contracting, how much pressure is exerted and exactly where it might be inactive. The system has been tested in a synthetic gut and animals. A patent for the technology is pending. The team from Heriot-Watt University and the University of Birmingham, with colleagues from the University ...

Milan, Italy: Researchers have developed a genetic test that can identify how patients with triple negative early-stage breast cancer will respond to immunotherapy drugs. This means that patients who are unlikely to respond to these drugs can avoid the adverse side effects associated with them and can be treated with other therapies.   Professor Laura van ‘t Veer told the 14th European Breast Cancer Conference that the latest results from the I-SPY2 trial [1] suggest that the current standard of care for patients with triple negative breast cancer should be reconsidered.   “Immunotherapy drugs can ...