Culture
Up to 7 million people each year receive care in an emergency department (ED) for chest pain, a symptom of a potential heart condition. Over 80 percent of chest pain patients, however, ultimately have no evidence of cardiovascular disease or acute coronary syndrome. To disincentivize patients from over-utilizing costly care, insurers and employers are increasingly opting for high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) that require significant out-of-pocket spending before coverage begins.
The exoplanet satellite hunter CHEOPS of the European Space Agency (ESA), in which the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) is participating along with other European institutions, has unexpectedly detected a third planet passing in front of its star while it was exploring two previously known planets around the same star. This transit, according to researchers, will reveal exciting details about a strange planet "without a known equivalent".
HOUSTON - (June 28, 2021) - Rice University computer scientists are sending RAMBO to rescue genomic researchers who sometimes wait days or weeks for search results from enormous DNA databases.
DNA sequencing is so popular, genomic datasets are doubling in size every two years, and the tools to search the data haven't kept pace. Researchers who compare DNA across genomes or study the evolution of organisms like the virus that causes COVID-19 often wait weeks for software to index large, "metagenomic" databases, which get bigger every month and are now measured in petabytes.
A connective tissue protein known to support the framework of organs also encourages immune responses that fight bacterial infections, while restraining responses that can be deadly in the condition called sepsis, a new study finds.
India and Pakistan have fought four wars in the past few decades, but when India faced an oxygen shortage in its hospitals during its recent COVID-19 surge, Pakistan offered to help.
On Twitter, hashtags like #IndiaNeedsOxygen and #PakistanStandsWithIndia trended. Finding these positive tweets, however, was not as easy as simply browsing the supportive hashtags or looking at the most popular posts. Negative tweets often hijack the supportive hashtags for trolling or fighting with other users. And Twitter's algorithm isn't tuned to surface the most positive tweets during a crisis.
Public opinion surveys could be used more widely to understand regional variation in vaccine hesitancy, experts have recommended.
The research shows vaccine uptake rates for childhood vaccines are significantly lower in regions where hesitancy observed in mass public opinion surveys is more pronounced.
An incredibly rare hybrid warbler with mismatched color patterns has allowed researchers to disentangle the genetic drivers of two traits that usually come as a package deal--the black face mask and the black throat patch in blue-winged and golden-winged warblers. A new study describing the peculiar bird and pinpointing the location in the genome that controls the face mask and throat patch appears online in the journal Ecology.
WASHINGTON, D.C.--A new study in Annals of Emergency Medicine highlights the importance of protecting physician residents--early-career doctors still in training--and emergency care teams from incidents of physical or verbal abuse.
Philadelphia, June 28, 2021--Researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have discovered that a specific type of lung cell exhibits unconventional immune properties and may contribute to the outcome of respiratory viral infections. The researchers focused on type II alveolar (AT2) cells, which are non-immune cells of the lung that are critical for basic lung health and tissue repair after lung injury.
The use of transparent masks during communication increases comprehension of speech by about 10% for people with hearing loss and people with normal hearing, according to a study published in the journal Ear and Hearing.
Scientists isolated a molecule, extracted from the leaves of the European chestnut tree, with the power to neutralize dangerous, drug-resistant staph bacteria. Frontiers in Pharmacology published the finding, led by scientists at Emory University.
The researchers dubbed the molecule Castaneroxy A, after the genus of the European chestnut, Castanea. The use of chestnut leaves in traditional folk remedies in rural Italy inspired the research.
Photobombs - when something or someone unexpectedly enters a camera's field of sight during the taking of a photograph - happen every day. Sometimes it is a friend, other times a stranger or perhaps a bird. Rarely, however, is it a whole planet. Yet, this is exactly what happened while CHEOPS, the Swiss-led space telescope, was taking pictures of a planetary system 50 light-years away.
A planet like no other
Annapolis, MD; June 28, 2021—Drones keep getting smaller and smaller, while their potential applications keep getting bigger and bigger. And now unmanned aircraft systems are taking on some of the world’s biggest small problems: insect pests.
The year 2020 was a period of economic hardship and significant change in a wide range of sectors for most countries. A team of authors from HSE University has explored how Russia will recover from this crisis and which industries will be affected by the economic recovery. Their study was published in the journal Voprosy ekonomiki.
LAWRENCE -- Despite facing cultural and political pushback, the evidence remains clear: Face masks made a difference in Kansas.
"These had a huge effect in counties that had a mask mandate," said Donna Ginther, the Roy A. Roberts Distinguished Professor of Economics and director of the Institute for Policy & Social Research at the University of Kansas. "Our research found that masks reduced cases, hospitalizations and deaths in counties that adopted them by around 60% across the board."