Culture
DALLAS – May 21, 2020 – A new cooling insole developed by UT Southwestern scientists reduced the foot temperature of patients with diabetic neuropathy by several degrees, diminishing a significant risk factor for diabetic foot ulcers.
Chinese researchers from The Trauma Center of Peking University People's Hospital and National Institute of Health Data Science at Peking University are using big data to help identify trauma patients who could experience potential adverse health events in the emergency department through the aid of a clinical decision support system. It was developed using a novel real-world evidence mining and evidence-based inference method, driven by improved information storage and electronic medical records.
We often think of asteroids and comets as distinct types of small bodies, but astronomers have discovered an increasing number of "crossovers." These objects initially appear to be asteroids, and later develop activity, such as tails, that are typical of comets.
A Monash University study has uncovered the role DNA repair plays in preserving egg quality, offering hope for women whose eggs may be damaged through treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy.
The study, led by Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI), found that when the cell death pathway is inhibited in oocytes (eggs) these eggs are capable of repairing severe DNA damage sufficiently to produce healthy offspring.
Meiosis is essential to sexual reproduction. For almost 15 years, it has been commonly held that retinoic acid, a molecule derived from vitamin A, triggers meiosis in mammalian germ cells. Yet, in joint articles published in Science Advances ( 22 May 2020 ), french researchers from the Institut de Biologie Valrose (CNRS / INSERM / Université Côte d'Azur) and the IGBMC (CNRS / INSERM / University of Strasbourg), with their colleagues, demonstrate that meiosis in mice begins and proceeds normally even in the absence of retinoic acid.
Organisms carry long-term "memories" of their ancestral homelands that help them adapt to environmental change, according to a new study that involved raising chickens on the Tibetan Plateau and an adjacent lowland site.
The study provides new insights into how creatures adapt to changing environments, a topic that's especially relevant today in the context of rapid climate change, which is creating challenges for plants and animals worldwide.
Bottom Line: Patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer who had germline or somatic mutations in DNA repair genes had better clinical outcomes after platinum-based chemotherapy, as compared with patients without these mutations.
Journal in Which the Study was Published: Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research
Authors: The senior author was Eileen O'Reilly, MD, medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC). The lead author was Wungki Park, MD, medical oncologist at MSKCC.
A team of researchers from the University of Southampton, the University of Bath and King's College London, have provided compelling evidence of the impact of adversity in childhood on neuropsychological functioning in adulthood. They also showed that neuropsychological difficulties may explain why early adversity is linked to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in later life.
DURHAM, N.C. -- Much like people, fruit flies must decide when the time and place are right to make a move on a mate. Male fruit flies use cues such as age and pheromones to gauge their chances of success, but just how they do that on a molecular level was a mystery.
New research suggests that the answer lies, in part, in their DNA. A new study finds that the scent of other flies, coupled with signals from a male's internal hormones, alter the activity of a gene that controls how turned on he is by pheromones when he reaches maturity.
Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) found quasi-periodic flickers in millimeter-waves from the center of the Milky Way, Sagittarius (Sgr) A*. The team interpreted these blinks to be due to the rotation of radio spots circling the supermassive black hole with an orbit radius smaller than that of Mercury. This is an interesting clue to investigate space-time with extreme gravity.
If we took a journey from Earth's surface to the center, the midway point locates roughly at 1900 km depth in the lower mantle. The lower mantle ranges from 660 to 2900 km depth and occupies 55% of our planet by volume. The chemical composition of the lower mantle is rather simple. It has long been pictured as being made up of 2 major minerals (~95%), namely bridgmanite and ferropericlase. Until recently, this model is directly challenged by a set of discoveries in the lower mantle.
Lugano, Switzerland, 22 May 2020 - Cancer-related fatigue is a prevalent and potentially persistent issue among breast cancer survivors, which can prevent them from returning to their previous life well after treatment ends and they are declared free of disease. A study, to be presented at the ESMO Breast Cancer Virtual Meeting 2020 (23-24 May), has now shown that existing recommendations and proven strategies for reducing fatigue, which can have physical, emotional as well as cognitive dimensions, may not be sufficiently adhered to by early breast cancer patients. (1)
Age, male sex, obesity, and underlying illness have emerged as risk factors for severe covid-19 or death in the UK, according to the largest cohort study to date published by The BMJ today.
The risk of death increases in the over 50s, as does being being male, obese, or having underlying heart, lung, liver and kidney disease.
As the largest prospective observational study reported worldwide to date, it provides a comprehensive picture of the characteristics of patients hospitalised in the UK with covid-19 and their outcomes.
Lugano, Switzerland, 22 May 2020 - Two novel biomarkers have been found to correlate with improved outcomes with immunotherapy in metastatic breast cancer and may help to identify the patients most likely to benefit from this treatment, according to exploratory studies reported at the ESMO Breast Cancer Virtual Meeting 2020 (1,2). The biomarkers are an increase in the number of programmed death ligand-1 (PDL1/CD274) genes measured by copy number alteration (CNA) and the PD-L1 combined positive score (CPS), which assesses PD-L1 expression on both tumour and immune cells.
High-entropy alloys (HEAs) are at the frontier of the metal materials community. They are used as alternative materials in the production of high-temperature turbine blades, high-temperature molds and dies, hard coatings on cutting tools or even components of 4th generation nuclear reactors.
By screening proper combinations of HEAs' constituent elements and regulating their proportions, HEAs can exhibit remarkable mechanical properties at high temperatures and display exceptional strength, ductility and fracture toughness at cryogenic temperatures.