Tech

Researchers have observed a sudden increase of ice loss in a previously stable region of Antarctica. Using measurements of the elevation of the Antarctic ice sheet made by a suite of satellites, the researchers found that the Southern Antarctic Peninsula showed no signs of change up to 2009. Around 2009, multiple glaciers along a vast coastal expanse, measuring some 750 kilometers in length, suddenly started to shed ice into the ocean at a nearly constant rate of 60 cubic kilometers, or about 55 trillion liters of water, each year.

A recent study with Kansas State University researchers details vaccine development for two new strains of avian influenza that can be transmitted from poultry to humans. The strains have led to the culling of millions of commercial chickens and turkeys as well as the death of hundreds of people.

The new vaccine development method is expected to help researchers make vaccines for emerging strains of avian influenza more quickly. This could reduce the number and intensity of large-scale outbreaks at poultry farms as well as curb human transmission.

The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) issued a positive opinion recommending a change to the terms of the marketing authorization for IMBRUVICA (ibrutinib) in the European Union to indicate the treatment of adult patients with Waldenström's macroglobulinemia (WM) who have received at least one prior therapy, or in first line treatment for patients unsuitable for chemo-immunotherapy.

Results of the 72-patient, placebo-controlled Phase II study evaluating RGN-259 (RegeneRx preservative-free eye drops) for the treatment of dry eye patients using Ora Inc.'s controlled adverse environment (CAE) model have been published and identify the key efficacy targets for a larger, multi-center, Phase IIb/III U.S. clinical trial targeted for later this year. The trial will be sponsored by ReGenTree, LLC, a U.S. joint venture owned by RegeneRx and G-treeBNT.

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed algorithms that enable robots to learn motor tasks through trial and error using a process that more closely approximates the way humans learn, marking a major milestone in the field of artificial intelligence.

They demonstrated their technique, a type of reinforcement learning, by having a robot complete various tasks -- putting a clothes hanger on a rack, assembling a toy plane, screwing a cap on a water bottle, and more -- without pre-programmed details about its surroundings.

OrthoTrophix, Inc., has completed subject enrollment and all scheduled dosing in its Phase 2 clinical study of TPX-100 in subjects with bilateral osteoarthritis of the knee. 115 subjects have completed all scheduled intra-articular injections. The last subject's last visit of the clinical site is scheduled in April 2016, and the study results are expected in mid-2016.

Imagine someone hands you a smoothie and asks you to identify everything that went into it.

You might be able to discern a hint of strawberry or the tang of yogurt. But overall it tastes like a blend of indiscernible ingredients.

Now imagine that the smoothie is made of 20,000 ground-up cells from, say, the brain.

An extract from the thunder god vine, long used in traditional Chinese medicine, reduces food intake and causes up to a 45% decrease in body weight in obese mice. The weight-loss compound, called Celastrol, produces its potent effects by enhancing the action of an appetite-suppressing hormone called leptin. The findings are an early indicator that Celastrol could be developed into a drug for the treatment of obesity.

Malaria is a cruel and disabling disease that targets victims of all ages. Even now, it is estimated to kill one child every minute. Recent progress in halting the spread of the disease has hinged on the use of insecticide-treated bed nets and spraying programmes that target the insect that spreads the disease, the African malaria mosquito (Anopheles gambiae).

Phase 2b clinical trial results that demonstrated statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in IBS-C symptoms for tenapanor-treated patients compared to patients receiving placebo.

As previously reported, at the 50 mg dose of tenapanor, the study met its primary efficacy endpoint of an increase in the complete spontaneous bowel movement (CSBM) responder rate. Most secondary endpoints, including abdominal pain and other abdominal and IBS-C symptoms, demonstrated clinically meaningful improvements.

Sulimov dogs are specially bred for Aeroflot's canine service through crossing the Arctic Herding Laika and the Subtropical Jackal. The Sulimov dog is as hardy, unpretentious, loyal and smart as its Arctic ancestor. The new breed took its good sense of smell from the subtropical relative.

These specially-trained dogs live in Aeroflot's Aviation Safety Department Canine Unit and are an integral part of aviation safety.

Enrollment of the first patients into STEADFAST (Single Trial Evaluating Alzheimer's Disease Following Addition to Symptomatic Therapy), vTv's Phase 3 placebo controlled trial of azeliragon, an oral antagonist of the Receptor for Advanced Glycation Endproducts (RAGE) for treatment of mild Alzheimer's disease has begun. Phase 3 begins following a Phase 2 trial that demonstrated positive results in slowing cognitive decline with 5 mg/day of azeliragon in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's Disease.

Human error is estimated to cause more than 90% of traffic accidents, a percentage that might be drastically reduced by the implementation of self-driving cars featuring smart systems that control most aspects of driving. Although the potential benefits of self-driving cars have been widely touted, their success on the roadways of the near future is largely reliant on whether or not drivers are willing to trust these smart systems enough to hand over the wheel.

A class of FDA-approved cancer drugs may be able to prevent problems with brain cell development associated with disorders including Down syndrome and Fragile X syndrome, researchers at the University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute have found.

Researchers have held tremendous interest in liquid metal electronics for many years, but a significant and unfortunate drawback slowing the advance of such devices is that they tend to require external pumps that can't be easily integrated into electronic systems.

So a team of North Carolina State University (NCSU) researchers set out to create a reconfigurable liquid metal antenna controlled by voltage only, which they describe in the Journal of Applied Physics, from AIP Publishing.