LA JOLLA--(July 24, 2018) Can you tell the smell of a rose from the scent of a lilac? If so, you have your brain's piriform cortex to thank. Compared to many parts of the brain, the piriform cortex--which lets animals and humans process information about smells--looks like a messy jumble of connections between cells called neurons. Now, Salk Institute researchers have illuminated how the randomness of the piriform cortex is actually critical to how the brain distinguishes between similar odors.
WASHINGTON-Although women who have pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) are at heightened risk for also being infected with syphilis and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), few adolescent females diagnosed with PID in the nation's pediatric emergency departments (ED) undergo laboratory tests for HIV or syphilis, according to a retrospective cohort study published online July 24, 2018, in Pediatrics.
A new special issue of SLAS Discovery reflects examples of the recent groundswell of creative new applications for high-throughput flow cytometry (HTFC) in drug discovery.
Chemical reactions take place around us all the time - in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and in the factories that make products we use in everyday life. And those reactions happen way faster than you can imagine.
Given optimal conditions, molecules can react with each other in a quadrillionth of a second.
Industry is constantly striving to achieve faster and better chemical processes. Producing hydrogen, which requires splitting water molecules, is one example.
San Antonio, Texas (July 24, 2018) - A group of scientists at Texas Biomedical Research Institute have zeroed in on a new defense against HIV-1, the virus that causes AIDS. Led by Ruth Ruprecht, M.D., Ph.D., the team used an animal model to show for the first time that an antibody called Immunoglobulin M (IgM) was effective in preventing infection after mucosal AIDS virus exposure. Worldwide, an estimated 90% of new cases of HIV-1 are caused through exposure in the mucosal cavities like the inside lining of the rectum or vagina.
LA JOLLA--(July 23, 2018) A new study from the Salk Institute has found that mice that have their microbiomes depleted with antibiotics have decreased levels of glucose in their blood and better insulin sensitivity. The research has implications for understanding the role of the microbiome in diabetes. It also could lead to better insight into the side effects seen in people who are being treated with high levels of antibiotics. The study appeared in the journal Nature Communications on July 20, 2018.
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated that ordinary blue light can be used to significantly improve the ability to see objects engulfed by large, non-smoky natural gas fires--like those used in laboratory fire studies and fire-resistance standards testing.
As described in a new paper in the journal Fire Technology, the NIST blue-light imaging method can be a useful tool for obtaining visual data from large test fires where high temperatures could disable or destroy conventional electrical and mechanical sensors.
Metallic hydrogen is one of the rarest materials on Earth, yet more than 80 percent of planets--including Jupiter, Saturn, and hundreds of extrasolar planets--are composed of this exotic form of matter.
Its abundance in our solar system--despite its rarity on Earth--makes metallic hydrogen an intriguing focus for researchers at the University of Rochester's Laboratory of Laser Energetics (LLE) who study planet formation and evolution, including how planets both inside and outside our solar system form magnetic shields.
MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass. (July 23, 2018)--Researchers at Tufts University School of Engineering have developed magnetic elastomeric composites that move in different ways when exposed to light, raising the possibility that these materials could enable a wide range of products that perform simple to complex movements, from tiny engines and valves to solar arrays that bend toward the sunlight. The research is described in an article published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
ORLANDO (July 23, 2018): An academic medical center's weight-loss surgery program greatly lowered its rates of several postoperative complications, including rehospitalization in the first month, surgical site and urinary tract infections, and bleeding, despite almost doubling its surgical volume over five years. Results of this multiyear quality improvement project were presented today at the American College of Surgeons (ACS) 2018 Quality and Safety Conference.