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Help for serious shopaholics
For the first time, international experts in psychology have built a framework to diagnose Compulsive Buying-Shopping Disorder - promising help for people struggling to manage their spending behavior and mental wellbeing. The new guidelines, published in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions, confirms that excessive buying and shopping can be so serious as to constitute a disorder, giving researchers and clinicians new powers to develop more targeted interventions for this debilitating condition.
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Complex shapes of photons to boost future quantum technologies
Researchers at Tampere University Photonics Laboratory have demonstrated how two interfering photons can bunch into various shapes. These complex shapes are beneficial for quantum technologies, such as performing fast photonic quantum computations and safe data transfer. The method opens new possibilities also for creating enhanced measurement and sensing techniques.
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Chronic attack on the aging nervous system
Certain immune cells can cause damage to the aging central nervous system, according to a novel study by scientists of the University Hospital and the University of Würzburg.
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Partners of people with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder have often a mental disorder
Almost half of the parents who have children together with a parent with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, are themselves burdened by psychological issues. This can affect family life and the children. This is shown in the research result from the major Danish psychiatry project iPSYCH.
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Powering Discovery: A new expert panel report from the CCA
Research funding agencies around the world are testing creative approaches to address urgent needs while laying the foundation for discoveries that will meet the unpredictable demands of the future. According to a new expert panel report from the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA), Canada can bolster its research capacity by reducing administrative burdens, experimenting with funding approaches, and cultivating a robust, resilient, and diverse scientific workforce.
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Mobile gaming app enhances HIV care
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University improve HIV care by gamifying it. Study shows users of mobile gaming app achieved viral suppression and better medication adherence.
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UBCO researcher uses geology to help astronomers find habitable planets
Astronomers have identified more than 4,000, and counting, confirmed exoplanets -- planets orbiting stars other than the sun -- but only a fraction have the potential to sustain life.Now, new research from UBC's Okanagan campus is using the geology of early planet formation to help identify those that may be capable of supporting life.
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Poor grasp of dating violence in college perpetuates 'boys will be boys' views
A study to understand the dating violence experience and perpetration of college-age women, as well as how they conceptualize violence in dating relationships, reveals normalization of unhealthy violent behaviors where sexual pressure or sexualized verbal harassment are viewed as an innate part of men, supporting the idea that "boys will be boys." Study participants demonstrated a lack of knowledge of the forms of dating violence and its consequences. They accepted, rationalized and provided excuses for these acts of violence.
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Researchers advance 3D printing to aid tissue replacement
Professor Arda Gozen looks to a future someday in which doctors can hit a button to print out a scaffold on their 3-D printers and create custom-made replacement skin, cartilage, or other tissue for their patients.
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Intestinal polyps in close relatives can increase risk of colorectal cancer
Cancer of the colon and rectum is one of the deadliest forms of cancer, and has in recent years affected growing numbers of young people. In the largest registry study to date, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and Harvard University in the USA demonstrate a possible connection between colorectal polyps in close relatives and the risk of developing colorectal cancer. The study, which is published in The British Medical Journal, is of potential consequence for different countries' screening procedures.
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Human mesenchymal stem cells show promise in treating chronic lung infections
A study released in STEM CELLS Translational Medicine offers hope for those suffering from a chronic, difficult to treat condition called non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) lung infection.
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New study shows tree nuts may play a role in both weight loss and weight maintenance
In a randomized, controlled study published online in the journal, Nutrients, researchers found that including mixed tree nuts in a weight management program resulted in significant weight loss and improved satiety.
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New clinical practice guideline on community acquired pneumonia
In its latest clinical practice guideline on community-acquired pneumonia the American Thoracic Society's guidelines panel addresses the use of nucleic acid-based testing for non-influenza viral pathogens. The guideline was published online in the May 1 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. An explainer video may be viewed here.
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New study traces back the progenitor genomes causing COVID-19 and geospatial spread
Sudhir Kumar's team reconstructed the genome of the SARS-CoV-2 progenitor and its early pedigree from a dataset of coronavirus genomes. They found the SARS-CoV-2 progenitor was already circulating with an earlier timeline, at least 6 to 8 weeks prior to the first genome sequenced in China. They have also developed an intuitive mutational fingerprint and Greek symbol classification categorization system of the major strains, sub-strains and variants infecting an individual or colonizing a global region.
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Pandemic worsened older adults' mental health & sleep; others show long-term resilience
Nearly one in five older adults say their mental health has gotten worse since the pandemic began in March 2020, and an equal percentage say their sleep has suffered in that time too. More than one in four say they're more anxious or worried than before the COVID-19 era, according to a new poll of people age 50 to 80. But the poll also reveals hopeful signs that many older adults are showing long-term resilience.
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Laser light makes a comeback (literally)
Researchers from Osaka University find a phenomenon of reciprocating propagation of laser pulse intensity in free space.
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Air pollution linked to high blood pressure in children; other studies address air quality and the heart
A meta-analysis of 14 air pollution studies from around the world found that exposure to high levels of air pollutants during childhood increases the likelihood of high blood pressure in children and adolescents, and the risk of hypertension later in life.A special publication on air pollution features several studies focused on the relationship between ambient air pollution with cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension.
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Chemical 'nose' sniffs critical differences in DNA structures
Small changes in the structure of DNA have been implicated in breast cancer and other diseases, but they've been extremely difficult to detect -- until now. Using what they describe as a "chemical nose," UC Riverside chemists are able to "smell" when bits of DNA are folded in unusual ways.
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Climate action potential in waste incineration plants
The climate action potential of carbon capture during the processing of biomass feedstock is considerable, ETH Zurich researchers have calculated. If this potential is to be fully exploited in practice, however, there are challenges to overcome.
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Microplastics found in Europe's largest ice cap
In a recent article in Sustainability, scientists from Reykjavik University (RU), the University of Gothenburg, and the Icelandic Meteorological Office describe their finding of microplastic in a remote and pristine area of Vatnajokull glacier in Iceland, Europe's largest ice cap. Microplastics may affect the melting and rheological behaviour of glaciers, thus influencing the future meltwater contribution to the oceans and rising sea levels.
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