Culture
Rates of at-risk alcohol consumption are higher in the South and East of Germany, compared to the North and West, according to a study published in the open access journal BMC Public Health. However, compared to West Germany, people in East Germany eat more healthily, while rates of smoking and lack of physical activity appear to be similar across regions.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Black, Hispanic and indigenous women are more likely to have gaps in insurance around the time of pregnancy than white women, a new study suggests.
Nearly half of all black, Hispanic, and Indigenous women had discontinuous insurance coverage between preconception and after delivering their babies compared to about a fourth of white women, according to the research in Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Around eight in every 100 children (8.4%; 673/7,994) aged 9-10 years in the USA report suicidal ideation (temporarily or regularly thinking about, considering, or planning suicide), according to a new nationally representative observational study of almost 8,000 children aged 9-10 years in the USA, published in The Lancet Psychiatry journal.
Importantly, less than two in every 100 (1.3%; 107/7,994) children aged 9-10 years reported a suicide attempt in the study, and around one in 100 (0.9%; 75/7,994) had past or current suicidal plans.
In December 2019, an outbreak of respiratory illness caused by a novel (new) coronavirus was identified in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. Since then various organizations and media outlets have struggled to identify the respiratory illness correctly.
The AMA Manual of Style, written by editors of the JAMA Network and published by Oxford University Press, has released guidance on the terminology.
An important biological mechanism that is thought to protect brain cells from neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's may also be involved in regulating sleep, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The researchers found that a signaling pathway that helps prevent the buildup of abnormal protein aggregates in brain cells is also required for sleep in both fruit flies and zebrafish. The fact that this mechanism is present in two evolutionarily distant species suggests that it may also be present in humans.
A ketogenic diet can lead to several flu-like symptoms within the first few weeks on the diet, according to a new study published in Frontiers in Nutrition. These symptoms peak in the first 7 days and dwindle after four weeks and range in severity, as reported by users on social media. These reports reveal common but yet unknown symptoms, such as flu fatigue, nausea, dizziness, decreased energy, feeling faint and heartbeat alterations.
Ten years after producing the first sample of the now widely studied family of nanomaterials, called MXenes, Drexel University researchers have discovered a different way to make the atom-thin material that presents a number of new opportunities for using it. The new discovery removes water from the MXene-making process, which means the materials can be used in applications in which water is a contaminant or hampers performance, such as battery electrodes and next-generation solar cells.
Substantial amounts of ammonium salts have been identified in the surface material of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, researchers report, likely revealing the reservoir of nitrogen that was previously thought to be “missing” in comets. The chemical and isotopic composition of the Sun is thought to reflect that of the solar nebula from which it was born. Comets, which are thought to have condensed long ago in the cold outer reaches of the solar nebula, far from the heat of the forming Sun, should contain the same primordial material.
Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) – a group of cancers that affect the the mouth, nose and throat – is a disease driven by mutations in the NOTCH tumor suppressor signaling pathway, according to a new study. It reveals the identity of rare driver mutations in tumor-suppressing genes using a mouse-based in vivo CRISPR screen to evaluate the function of so-called “long tail” mutations. In humans, these mutations are present in 67% of HNSCC patients and converge on NOTCH inactivation, thus promoting tumor development.
Researchers at the University of Tokyo have discovered a new group of proteins, remarkable for their unusual shape and abilities to protect against protein clumps associated with neurodegenerative diseases in lab experiments. The Hero proteins are heat resistant and are widespread in animals from insects to humans.
Researchers of the University of Basel have developed a new method with which individual isolated molecules can be studied precisely - without destroying the molecule or even influencing its quantum state. This highly sensitive technique for probing molecules is widely applicable and paves the way for a range of new applications in the fields of quantum science, spectroscopy and chemistry, as the journal Science reports.
KANSAS CITY, MO--For the first time, scientists from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research and collaborators have described the structure of an endogenously sourced, functioning neuronal amyloid at atomic resolution. The amyloid is composed of self-aggregated Orb2, the fruit fly version of the mRNA-binding cytoplasmic polyadenylation element-binding (CPEB) protein, which has been linked to long-term memory storage. The results of this work, published online March 13, 2020, in Science, have some very interesting implications.
Producing a liter of milk in California emits less greenhouse gas and uses less land and water than it did in 1964, according to a recent study from researchers at the University of California, Davis.
"We compared 1964 through 2014 and found a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gases to produce the same quantity and quality of milk," said senior author Ermias Kebreab, professor and Sesnon Endowed Chair in the Department of Animal Science at UC Davis. "The magnitude of change is surprising."
During the 2016 Zika outbreak, news exposure appears to have had a far bigger impact than local disease risk on the number of times people visited Zika-related Wikipedia pages in the U.S. Michele Tizzoni and colleagues at the ISI Foundation in Turin, Italy, present these findings in PLOS Computational Biology.
Doctors face tough choices during difficult childbirths -- often involving the decision of whether to perform a cesarean section operation. And in the background lies a question: To what extent are these medical decisions motivated by the desire to avoid liability lawsuits?