Micro- and nanoplastics are in our food, water and the air we breathe. They are showing up in our bodies, from testicles to brain matter. Now, University of British Columbia researchers have developed a low-cost, portable tool to accurately measure plastic released from everyday sources like disposable cups and water bottles. The device, paired with an app, uses fluorescent labeling to detect plastic particles ranging from 50 nanometres to 10 microns in size – too small to be detected by the naked eye – and delivers results in minutes. The method and findings are detailed in ACS Sensors. “The breakdown of larger plastic pieces into microplastics ...

About The Study: White patients discharged from the emergency department with a nonspecific diagnosis of interest were significantly more likely than Black patients to receive related diagnostic testing in this study. The extent to which this represents diagnostic test overuse in white patients vs undertesting and missed diagnoses in Black patients deserves further study.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Michael I. Ellenbogen, M.D., email mellenb6@jhmi.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.30306) Editor’s ...

Two groundbreaking studies published in the journal Cell shed light on the assembly, function and evolutionary diversity of the chloroplast protein import system. Chloroplasts are fundamental organelles in plant cells that act as the primary site of photosynthesis to sustain life on Earth. Although chloroplasts have their own genome, most of their proteins are encoded in the nucleus and synthesized as preproteins in the cytosol. These preproteins are subsequently transported across the outer and inner envelope membranes of the chloroplasts. The translocon machineries, known as the TOC (translocon at the outer chloroplast membrane) and TIC (translocon at ...

All organisms — from fungi to mammals — have the capacity to evolve and adapt to their environments. But viruses are master shapeshifters with an ability to mutate greater than any other organism. As a result, they can evade treatments or acquire resistance to once-effective antiviral medications.  Working with herpes simplex virus (HSV), a new study led by Harvard Medical School researchers sheds light on one of the ways in which the virus becomes resistant to treatment, a problem that could be particularly ...

Whether you’re strolling through a garden, wandering a park, or simply enjoying an open space in the United States, you’re likely to notice bees buzzing about the flowers. While honeybees, imported from Europe in the 17th century to produce honey, are the most recognizable, they aren’t the only bees at work. If you’re a keen observer, you might spot some of the thousands of less familiar, native bee species that call these spaces home.  Native wild bees play a crucial ecological role, ensuring the survival and reproduction of ...

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are known for their remarkable properties, which make them essential in many advanced technologies. Yet, creating these nanotubes efficiently and on a large scale has been a persistent challenge.   Now, a team led by Professor Takahiro Maruyama at Meijo University has introduced a revolutionary method that utilizes cobalt (Co) and iridium (Ir) nanoparticle catalysts in a liquid-phase synthesis process. This innovative approach offers a promising solution to the longstanding issues of production efficiency and scalability. These findings have been published ...

Study led by UCSF estimates 3 to 5% of women have unplanned pregnancies following “permanent” sterilization   Tubal sterilization is thought to be a permanent form of birth control and is the most common method of contraception nationally. But a new study led by UC San Francisco reports that tubal surgery fails often enough that some other forms of birth control are usually more effective.     The authors found that 3 to 5% of women in the United States who had their tubes tied later reported an unplanned pregnancy. This failure rate led the authors to suggest that patients who really want to avoid future pregnancy should instead ...

New York, NY (August 27, 2024) – The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) Catalyst Award program has awarded a $4 million, five-year grant to Prashant Rajbhandari, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Disease) at the Mount Sinai Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism Institute, to investigate a new frontier in understanding metabolic diseases like obesity and type 2 diabetes. While much is known about how organs like the liver, fat tissue, and ...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Louisville’s groundbreaking Green Heart Louisville Project has found that people living in neighborhoods where the number of trees and shrubs was more than doubled showed lower levels of a blood marker of inflammation than those living outside the planted areas. General inflammation is an important risk indicator for heart disease and other chronic diseases. The Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute launched the first-of-its-kind project in 2018 in partnership with The Nature ...

A research paper by scientists at Beijing Institute of Technology presented a sciatic nerve stimulation method that will aid in lower extremity standing and stepping. The new research paper, published on Jul. 04 in the journal Cyborg and Bionic Systems, used the electrical nerve stimulation method and achieved muscle control via different sciatic nerve branches to facilitate the regulation of lower limb movements during stepping and standing. Peripheral nerve stimulation is an effective neuromodulation method in patients with lower extremity movement disorders caused by stroke, spinal cord injury, or other diseases. ...

A finding by a McGill-led team of neuroscientists could open doors to new treatments for a range of psychiatric and neurological disorders attributed to dysfunctions in specific dopamine pathways. For those struggling with a psychiatric disorder such as schizophrenia, addiction or ADHD, or with neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease or Alzheimer’s, there might be good news ahead. The neuroscientists have discovered that a small group of dopamine neurons in the striatum play a crucial role in balancing several essential brain functions, including those related to reward, cognition and movement. Dopamine ...

Whether between galaxies or within doughnut-shaped fusion devices known as tokamaks, the electrically charged fourth state of matter known as plasma regularly encounters powerful magnetic fields, changing shape and sloshing in space. Now, a new measurement technique using protons, subatomic particles that form the nuclei of atoms, has captured details of this sloshing for the first time, potentially providing insight into the formation of enormous plasma jets that stretch between the stars. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) created ...

Crime films, action films, comedies, or documentaries? A person's favourite film genre reveals a lot about how their brain works. This is the finding of a new study led by the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) that compared data on film preferences with recordings of the brain activity of around 260 people. Fans of action films and comedies reacted very strongly to negative emotional stimuli, while participants who favoured documentaries or crime films and thrillers had a significantly weaker reaction. The results were published in the journal "Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience". Films are ...

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration has conducted test observations achieving the highest resolution ever obtained from the surface of the Earth, by detecting light from the centers of distant galaxies at a frequency of around 345 GHz. When combined with existing images of supermassive black holes at the hearts of M87 and Sgr A at the lower frequency of 230 GHz, these new results will not only make black hole photographs 50% crisper but also produce multi-color views of the region immediately outside the boundary of these cosmic beasts.  The new detections, led by scientists from the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) that ...

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration has conducted test observations, using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and other facilities, that achieved the highest resolution ever obtained from the surface of Earth [1]. They managed this feat by detecting light from distant galaxies at a frequency of around 345 GHz, equivalent to a wavelength of 0.87 mm. The Collaboration estimates that in future they will be able to make black hole images that are 50% more detailed than was possible before, bringing the region immediately outside the boundary of nearby supermassive black holes into sharper focus. They will also ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A proposed artificial intelligence tool to support clinician decision-making about hospital patients at risk for sepsis has an unusual feature: accounting for its lack of certainty and suggesting what demographic data, vital signs and lab test results it needs to improve its predictive performance. The system, called SepsisLab, was developed based on feedback from doctors and nurses who treat patients in the emergency departments and ICUs where sepsis, the body’s overwhelming response to an infection, is most ...

At the MIT Press, we believe that everyone deserves access to scholarship. Our dedication to this mission remains strong as we head into the fourth funding cycle for Direct to Open (D2O), our model for open access monographs. Libraries and consortia can commit to support the program through November 30, 2024. “Direct to Open is a game changer,” said Amy Brand, Director and Publisher at the MIT Press. “We know that open scholarship benefits authors, readers, and the academy at large. This is why we ...

A study finds an increased risk of developing a productive SARS-CoV-2 infection in obese people. Obesity is known to predict worse outcomes and higher mortality for those with COVID-19. Masanori Aikawa and colleagues sought to determine if obesity also affected the likelihood of getting ill in the first place. To investigate, the authors analyzed electronic medical records for 687,813 patients from the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, including 72,613 individuals with suspected SARS-CoV-2 exposure, 18,447 of whom tested positive. The authors limited their data to a timeframe before vaccination became widespread in Massachusetts, to avoid the possible confounding ...

A close reading of Darwin’s work suggests a deep interest in cyclical events. Rhythmic phenomena in nature—today the subjects of the field of chronobiology—have been studied since at least the 18th century. In a perspective, Tiago Gomes de Andrade and Andrew D. Beale examined the writings and work of Charles Darwin to explore and share the eminent naturalist’s deep fascination with biological rhythms. Darwin’s work on the “sleep movements” in plants, published in 1880 with his son Francis is well known. This work examined the daily cycle of opening and closing of leaves. But as far ...

Amidst the ongoing energy crisis and under the threat of climate change, exploiting renewable energy sources has quickly become a global necessity. Though our options are varied, solar energy seems to be our best bet—experts estimate that it may become our main energy source well before the turn of the century. Despite its clear advantages, solar energy generation has some limitations. Much like the wind, solar irradiance in a given region can vary quickly depending on weather conditions, causing fluctuations in power ...

Sophia Antipolis, France – 27 August 2024: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the most common cause of death across Europe but while CVD mortality rates are generally decreasing, the decline is much less in middle-income than in high-income countries, according to new data from the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Atlas of Cardiology, published in the European Heart Journal.1  The fourth edition of ESC Atlas statistics again demonstrate that CVD is the most common cause of death in the 55 ESC member countries studied. There are over 3 million deaths due to CVD per year – the equivalent of 8,500 deaths per day – which represents 37.4% of all deaths annually. ...

Researchers from the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences, in cooperation with colleagues from the Faculty of Tropical AgriScience of the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague, are unravelling the mysteries of the life of termites. Colonies of the species Neocapritermes taracua boast a unique type of defence, which is provided by worker termites at the end of their lives. When attacked, they sacrifice themselves by setting off an explosive chemical reaction, the ...

PULLMAN, Wash. – While meant to simulate wood bats, regulation USA Baseball metal bats are more forgiving than wood for young players who might not connect with the ball on a bat’s optimal “sweet spot.” After testing wood bats and two types of metal bats with youth players, Washington State University researchers found that the exit speed of a hit ball was as much as 5% faster with metal bats over wood. Analyzing the data, they found that the performance of the USA Baseball metal bats at the sweet spot was similar to wood. It was when the hits were on less optimal areas that there was a bigger difference. “There’s ...

Researchers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC) and the Fundación Biofisica Bizkaia (FBB, located in Biofisika Institute) have developed an artificial intelligence which can differentiate cancer cells from normal cells, as well as detect the very early stages of viral infection inside cells. The findings, published today in a study in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence, pave the way for improved diagnostic techniques and new monitoring strategies for disease. The tool, AINU (AI of the NUcleus), scans high-resolution images of cells. The ...

London, United Kingdom – 27 August 2024: Clinical follow-up using virtual voice technology helped identify complications after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) with a high degree of patient satisfaction, according to research presented at ESC Congress 2024.1  Explaining the rationale for the development of the virtual voice assistant for TAVI patients, study author Dr. Marta Herrero Brocal from the Dr. Balmis General University Hospital of Alicante, Spain said: “Aortic valve stenosis is common, especially in the ageing population.2 It can be treated with surgery ...