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Two COVID-19 vaccines show safety, strong immunity in infant model
A group of scientists led by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian reported that the Moderna mRNA vaccine and a protein-based vaccine candidate elicited durable neutralizing antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 in pre-clinical research. There were no adverse effects.
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Investigating carbonate mineral chemical variations to improve oil recovery
Dr. Igor Ivanishin, a postdoctoral researcher in the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University, has firsthand experience with the frustrations of oil production. He spent nine years as a hydraulic fracturing engineer with operating and service companies in Russia. A few years ago, he came to Texas A&M to get his doctoral degree while delving into a reoccurring recovery problem in carbonate reservoirs: why don't they produce oil as predicted?
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Analysis: Chile's transition to democracy slow, incomplete, fueled by social movements
A new article analyzes Chile's transition in 1990 from dictatorship to democracy, the nature of democracy between 1990 and 2019, and the appearance of several social movements geared to expanding this democracy.
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Infrared imaging by ultrathin nanocrystal layers
Researchers reporting in Advanced Photonics demonstrate the conversion of infrared images to the visible, using ultrathin and transparent semiconductor nanocrystals.
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The electron merry-go-round
Freiburg researchers find new mechanism for classical behavior of many-particle quantum systems.
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PSMA-targeted radiotracer pinpoints metastatic prostate cancer across anatomic regions
A phase III clinical trial has validated the effectiveness of the prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeted radiotracer 18F-DCFPyL in detecting and localizing recurrent prostate cancer. Approved by the FDA last month, the radiotracer identified metastatic lesions with high positive predictive values regardless of anatomic region, adding to the evidence that PSMA-targeted radiotracers are the most sensitive and accurate agents for imaging prostate cancer. This study was presented at the SNMMI 2021 Annual Meeting.
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New Web Tool Fights Antibacterial Resistance
In 1943, two scientists named Max Delbrück and Salvador Luria conducted an experiment to show that bacteria can mutate randomly, independent of external stimulus, such as an antibiotic that threatens a bacterial cells' survival. Today the Luria-Delbrück experiment is widely used in laboratories for a different purpose--scientists use this classic experiment to determine microbial mutation rates.
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Drug rebates for insurers tied to higher costs for patients, especially the uninsured
The study found that rebates were associated with increases in out-of-pocket costs for patients by an average of $6 for those with commercial insurance, $13 for Medicare patients and $39 for the uninsured.
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The long view
What will the Earth be like for our children and grandchildren, as temperatures continue to rise? We can be fairly certain of some things: Some regions will become inhospitable, as heat drives their inhabitants away or causes massive declines and changes in their ecosystems. Many other physical, chemical and biological processes will also be affected by rising temperatures that threaten critical ecosystem services such as food production, biodiversity and energy security.
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Research papers that omit 'mice' from titles receive misleading media coverage
There is increasing scrutiny around how science is communicated to the public, but what is the relationship between how scientists report their findings and how media reports it to the public? A study published in PLOS Biology by Marcia Triunfol and Fabio Gouveia suggests that when authors of scientific papers omit the basic fact that a study was conducted in mice (and not in humans) from the article title, journalists reporting on the paper tend to do the same.
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Over half of cardiovascular disease deaths worldwide occur in Asia
The number of people dying from cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Asia is increasing rapidly, with over half of all CVD deaths globally in 2019 occurring in Asian countries, according to a state-of-the-art review paper published in the inaugural issue of JACC: Asia. The data demonstrates an urgent need to understand the burdens and epidemiological features of CVD in Asian countries to develop localized CVD prevention strategies to combat the epidemic.
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Financial distress similar, or greater, for patients with heart disease compared to cancer
Financial toxicity, the financial strain experienced by patients accessing health care, impacts a large population of cancer patients according to prior research. A new study, published in JACC: CardioOncology, finds financial toxicity is often greater among heart disease patients compared to cancer patients, and those with both conditions suffer the highest burden.
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A push for a shift in the value system that defines "impact" and "success"
Discussions of a broken value system are ubiquitous in science, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic served to expose inequality globally. However, according to the authors of an article publishing 15th June 2021 in the open access journal PLOS Biology, science itself is not "broken," but it was built on deeply-entrenched, systemic sexist and racist values, which perpetuate biases through the continued focus on citation rates and impact factors.
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Alzheimer disease research results over-hyped if science papers omit mice from the title
Study published in PLoS Biology shows that Alzheimer disease experimental papers that omit mice from their titles are linked to more science news stories and gain greater visibility. The finding points to yet another type of spin in the reporting of biomedical research.
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Researchers 3D print rotating microfilter for lab-on-a-chip applications
Researchers have fabricated a magnetically driven rotary microfilter that can be used to filter particles inside a microfluidic device. They made the tiny turning filter by creating a magnetic material that could be used with a very precise 3D printing technique known as two-photon polymerization.
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Soaking up the sun: Artificial photosynthesis promises clean, sustainable source of energy
Humans can do lots of things that plants can't do. But plants have one major advantage over humans: They can make energy directly from the sun. That process of turning sunlight directly into usable energy - called photosynthesis - may soon be a feat humans are able to mimic to harness the sun's energy for clean, storable, efficient fuel. If so, it could open a whole new frontier of clean energy.
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Teens experienced helplessness when exposed to secondhand racism
According to a qualitative study published in JAMA Network Open adolescents expressed feelings of helplessness when exposed to secondhand racism online. Specifically, adolescents described helplessness stemming from the pervasiveness of racism in our society.
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New studies identify how tuberculosis destroy the lungs and how to protect them
A "3D Culture System" developed by University of Southampton has closely replicated how cells infected with TB change in the human lung. Analytical evidence of these changes identified 7 key gene changes that cause damage in the lungs, from hundreds of thousands. A second trial showed that a common antibiotic, doxycycline, could help reverse these changes and speed up recovery.
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Sequencing of wastewater can help monitor SARS-COV-2 variants
Viral genome sequencing of wastewater can provide an early warning system of emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants that is independent of investigations of identified clinical cases, according to a new study published in mSystems, an open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. In the study, researchers describe the detection and quantification of variant B.1.1.7, first identified in southeast England, in sewage samples from London, United Kingdom before widespread transmission of this variant was obvious from clinical cases.
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Researchers develop more reliable rapid tests for COVID-19
Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) have developed two rapid diagnostic tests for COVID-19 that are nearly as accurate as the gold-standard test currently used in laboratories. Unlike the gold standard test, which extracts RNA and uses it to amplify the DNA of the virus, these new tests can detect the presence of the virus in as little as five minutes using different methods.
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