Tech

The FDA has granted a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) waiver for the cobas Liat PCR System and the cobas Strep A test, the first FDA-cleared device to offer polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology at the point of care, including doctor’s offices and pharmacies.

Nuclear power is likely the least well-understood energy source in the United States. Just 99 nuclear power plants spread over 30 states provide one-fifth of America’s electricity. These plants have provided reliable, affordable and clean energy for decades. They also carry risk - to the public, to the environment and to the financial solvency of utilities.

The case for expanding nuclear energy is based on myths about its status, greenhouse gas emissions, proliferation, accidents, wastes and economics. Let’s take each in turn.

Status

University of Utah engineers have taken a step forward in creating the next generation of computers and mobile devices capable of speeds millions of times faster than current machines.

Fans of homebrewed beer and backyard distilleries already know how to employ yeast to convert sugar into alcohol. But a research team led by bioengineers at the University of California, Berkeley, has gone much further by completing key steps needed to turn sugar-fed yeast into a microbial factory for producing morphine and potentially other drugs, including antibiotics and anti-cancer therapeutics.

Light-emitting electrochemical cells, LEC, is a newly invented lighting technology.

In his thesis, physicist Amir Asadpoordarvish, Umeå University in Sweden, shows how a LEC can be produced through spraying three layers of ink on a substrate and emit light by the current from an ordinary battery.

LEC components can be sprayed onto complicated surfaces, for example to make a light-emitting fork.

Unlike standard cigarettes, the components of electronic cigarettes are not regulated and standardized, thus they vary widely between products. The characteristics of these e-cigarette elements, including their delivery systems, combustion apparatuses, and the composition of the nicotine solutions they contain may affect the levels of potentially hazardous substances in the vapor they produce, according to a new study presented at the 2015 American Thoracic Society International Conference.

The American Cancer Society estimated that 220,800 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in the United States in 2015. Approximately 27,540 men will die of the disease, accounting for 5 percent of all cancer deaths.

People with ulcerative colitis may benefit from taking the live, multi-strain probiotic drink to reduce intestinal inflammation, according to the results of a new study presented at Digestive Disease Week 2015.(1)

XML markup of taxonomic research and specimen data is a valuable tool for structuring the incessantly accumulating biodiversity knowledge. It allows for the opportunity to collectively use the currently fragmented information for more detailed analysis.

30 of physical activity, irrespective of its intensity, 6 days a week is linked to a 40% lower risk of death from any cause among elderly men, finds research published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Boosting physical activity levels in this age group seems to be as good for health as giving up smoking, the findings suggest.

The researchers base their findings on people taking part in the Oslo Study, which invited almost 26,000 men born between 1923 and 1932 for a health check in 1972-3 (Oslo I).

A new discovery by Monash University researchers could save thousands of lupus sufferers each year from serious illness or death caused by secondary infections.

The use of glycated hemoglobin (sugar-bound hemoglobin, or HbA1c) is now in almost universal use to assist doctors in the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. However new research published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes) highlights how anemia--a common condition in the general population, especially in women--can lead to a false diagnosis of diabetes based on HbA1c, when a person's blood sugar control is actually normal. The research is by Dr Emma English, University of Nottingham, UK, and colleagues.

A part of the performance degradation mechanism of the advanced, electrodeless, helicon plasma thruster with a magnetic nozzle, has been revealed by the research group of Dr. Kazunori Takahashi and Prof. Akira Ando at Tohoku University's Department of Electrical Engineering.

Digital signatures are mechanisms for authenticating the validity or authorship of a certain digital message and they aim to be digital counterparts to real (or analog) signatures. The concept was introduced by Diffie and Hellman in 1976. Notice that, when certified, digital signatures have the same legal power as traditional signatures.