Culture
For engineers developing new materials or protective coatings, there are billions of different possibilities to sort through. Lab tests or even detailed computer simulations to determine their exact properties, such as toughness, can take hours, days, or more for each variation. Now, a new artificial intelligence-based approach developed at MIT could reduce that to a matter of milliseconds, making it practical to screen vast arrays of candidate materials.
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- MIT scientists have identified a potential new strategy for treating Fragile X syndrome, a disorder that is the leading heritable cause of intellectual disability and autism.
In a study of mice, the researchers showed that inhibiting an enzyme called GSK3 alpha reversed many of the behavioral and cellular features of Fragile X. The small-molecule compound has been licensed for further development and possible human clinical trials.
What The Study Did: Researchers looked at whether patients with nonfatal intentional opioid overdoses would be more likely to die by suicide than patients with unintentional overdoses with an analysis of deaths following nonfatal opioid overdoses of intentional, unintentional and undetermined intent in California from 2009 to 2011.
Authors: Mark Olfson, M.D., M.P.H., of Columbia University in New York, is the corresponding author.
What The Study Did: This randomized clinical trial investigated the association between pro-male gender bias and negative stereotypes against women during surgical residency on surgical skills and proactive career development of residents in general surgery training programs. Factors contributing to the underrepresentation of women in surgery aren't completely understood.
Authors: Sara P. Myers, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, is the corresponding author.
Low-carb, high-fat ketogenic diets, which have attracted public interest in recent years for their proposed benefits in lowering inflammation and promoting weight loss and heart health, have a dramatic impact on the microbes residing in the human gut, collectively referred to as the microbiome, according to a new UC San Francisco study of a small cohort of volunteer subjects.
What The Study Did: This observational study looked at the disparities that exist between women and men waiting to receive a liver transplant, such as being more likely to die while on the wait list, and how much these differences are associated with factors including geographic location, medical urgency and liver size.
Authors: Jayme E. Locke, M.D., M.P.H., of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, is the corresponding author.
May 20, 2020 -- When things get rough, many Americans turn to prescription pills. About one in eight over the age of 12 take antidepressants for mental disorders such as depression and anxiety, and a quarter of those have done so for 10 years or more, according to a 2017 study by the National Center for Health Statistics. And the use of antidepressants increased 65% from 1999 to 2014.
Most biological processes are carried out by complexes of multiple proteins that work together to carry out some function. How these complicated structures could have evolved is one of modern biology's great puzzles, because they generally stick together using elaborate molecular interfaces, and the intermediate forms through which they came into being have been lost without a trace.
Research into how the SARS-CoV-2 virus induces death is suggesting potential treatments for its most destructive complications.
Leading immunologists in Japan are proposing a possible molecular mechanism that causes massive release of proinflammatory cytokines, or a cytokine storm, leading to the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in COVID-19 patients. Their suggestions, published in the journal Immunity, are based on recent findings that explain how SARS-CoV-2 enters human cells.
Have pollen. Must travel.
Over 80% of the world's flowering plants must reproduce in order to produce new flowers, according to the U.S. Forest Service. This process involves the transfer of pollen between plants by wind, water or insects called pollinators -- including bumblebees.
'Orthonectida is a group of parasitic creatures that was discovered long ago - in 1877. However, their position in the animal system until recently remained a mystery,' said George Slyusarev, Professor at St Petersburg University and Doctor of Biology. 'Initially, they were considered extremely primitive animals that occupy an intermediate position between Protozoans and Metazoans. Hence, their old name is "mesozoa": from the Greek "meso" - "between" animals and protists. However, when we began to research them, they turned out to be not that simple.'
We use cells to breathe, to moderate body temperature, to grow and many other every day processes, however the cells in these processes are so complex its left scientists perplexed into how they develop in different environments. Researchers from the University of Warwick say future research needs to look into the bioelectrical composition of cells for answers.
Entrepreneurial motivation is important to economic growth because entrepreneurs create companies that produce new products and services, which in turn, boost productivity. But we know little about what motivates innovative entrepreneurs and how their motivations differ by gender, culture and other characteristics. A new study from researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Columbia Business School sheds a light on the attributes that drive different types of entrepreneurs.
Springtime rains can be a surprising source of pollen.
University of Iowa researchers report that tree pollen fragments remain in the air for as many as 11 hours after heavy rains, and those granules can make their way deep into the lungs, potentially exacerbating allergies. The researchers base their findings on first-time direct measurements of pollen fragment concentrations during and after spring rains of varying severity in spring, 2019.
AMES, Iowa - Moving more and sitting less was a challenge for many of us, even before states started issuing stay-at-home orders. Despite disruptions to our daily work and exercise routines, there are some subtle changes we can make at home to help improve our mental health.