Culture
A large study of middle-aged women shows that age-related changes in skeletal muscle are part of everyday life for women in their fifties. During this time, women transition from perimenopause to postmenopause and the production of estrogen ceases. Loss of estrogen has an effect on muscles and leads to a decline in muscle mass. Physical activity in all of its forms may help maintain muscle mass in midlife.
Knowing what cancer will do next could lessen the likelihood of it becoming resistant to treatment. A new Canadian study investigates how cancer adapts its metabolism to potentially overcome therapies still in development.
As co-author, Research Associate Ayrat Bilyalov explains, the work on photodynamic therapy has been ongoing for 5 years. The group comprises medical professionals from Kazan Federal University and Medical Center of the Presidential Administration of Kazakhstan.
By generalizing a classical statistical model and adapting it for use in analyzing the extremes of rainfall in large datasets, researchers, including KAUST's Raphaël Huser, have devised a more efficient and flexible analytical tool that promises to improve the prediction of flood risk and other extreme weather phenomena.
71 patients with severe lung injury were admitted to four intensive care units at Bordeaux University Hospital and their data were collected and evaluated over a period of six weeks (March/April 2020). AKI was defined using KDIGO criteria and ADQI according to the Acute Disease Quality Initiative (ADQI) 16 workgroup.
Muskrat populations declined sharply across North America over the last 50 years or so, and wildlife scientists have struggled to understand why. A Pennsylvania research team investigated whether pathogens, parasites, environmental contaminants and disease may be contributing to this decline.
Key Takeaways:
The practice of pharmaceutical companies paying doctors as consultants has created longstanding concerns over possible conflicts of interest
New research has found that disclosure laws intended to shed "light" on the practice have served to discourage certain levels of prescriptions in the three categories studied
Disclosure laws resulted in a decline of the prescription of certain branded medications from 31 - 56 percent
Surprisingly, the prescription of generics in the same classes also declined from 25-33 percent.
Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease is the most common form of inherited neuropathies. A genetic mutation causes the insulating myelin layer of peripheral nerves to become progressively damaged, resulting in severe disabilities in the case of CMT type 4B, for instance. Since the molecular basis is largely unknown, this type of CMT is untreatable and incurable to this day.
The intestinal epithelium is the inner layer of the intestinal wall, which separates host tissue from the intestinal microbiota. This layer of cells plays a crucial role in water, electrolyte and nutrient absorption, while limiting the entry of bacteria, viruses, fungi, toxins and antigens into host tissue to ensure intestinal homeostasis. The diverse functions carried out by the intestinal epithelium are supported by multiple specialised intestinal epithelial cells, which are replaced every three to five days from a pool of intestinal stem cells.
Researchers from Russia, Germany, Finland and the U.S. have studied more than 300 quasars -- spinning black holes that produce beams of plasma. The team has found that the shape of these so-called astrophysical jets changes from parabolic to conical at some distance from the black hole, reminiscent of the iconic flared jeans of the '70s. By effectively measuring these "cosmic pants," the researchers aim to interpret the workings of the central engine that accelerates matter to nearly the speed of light at the centers of remote active galaxies.
One of the key objectives for contemporary chemistry is to improve thermomechanical properties of polymers, in particular, thermostability of bioplastics.
In this paper, the team concentrated on researching oligomer and polymer materials with macrocyclic compounds characterized by enhanced thermostability. "Such products have lower vitrification temperatures, which makes them more malleable in comparison with commercial polylactic acid," says co-author, Research Associate Pavel Padnya.
In October 2015, a spectacular rockfall occurred in the Swiss Alps: in the late morning hours, a large, snow-covered block with a volume of more than 1500 cubic meters suddenly detached from the summit of Mel de la Niva. It fell apart on its way downslope, but a number of boulders continued their journey into the valley. One of the large boulders came to a halt at the foot of the summit next to a mountain hut, after travelling more than 1.4 kilometers and cutting through woods and meadows.
Mount Sinai researchers have found that myocardial injury (heart damage) is prevalent among patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and is associated with higher risk of mortality. More specifically, a serious myocardial injury can triple the risk of death. The results were published in the June 5 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have all become aware of how a global crisis can affect our access to food. But imagine the food security impacts of an even worse scenario -- an all-out nuclear war, a large asteroid strike or a supervolcano eruption. Such catastrophes could block out sunlight, alter rainfall patterns and contaminate water supplies, which could drastically affect our food systems.
SARS-CoV-2-associated acute kidney injury (AKI) is one of the more frequently encountered organ involvements in COVID-19 - in as many as 80% of critically ill patients, according to a recent study [2]. The virus infects the cells of the renal tubule system (proximal tubule cells), inter alia, because tubular cells express the ACE2 cell surface receptor that SARS-CoV-2 uses to invade host cells.