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Over 500 multiphysics papers and presentations now available: https://goo.gl/iLBF2z
In this open-access resource you will find over 500 papers, presentations, posters, and abstracts from the worldwide COMSOL Conference 2017. Browse the collection: https://goo.gl/iLBF2z
Here is your customized Science X Newsletter for April 4, 2018:
Spotlight Stories Headlines
Astronomy & Space news
 | New study suggests tens of thousands of black holes exist in Milky Way's centerA Columbia University-led team of astrophysicists has discovered a dozen black holes gathered around Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. The finding is the first to support a decades-old prediction, opening up myriad opportunities to better understand the universe. |
 | Astronomers discover a 'super-Earth' exoplanet orbiting a low-mass starUsing microlensing method, an international team of astronomers has detected a new "super-Earth" alien world circling a low-mass star about five times less massive than our sun. The finding is detailed in a paper published March 28 on the arXiv pre-print repository. |
 | Astrophysicists map the infant universe in 3-D and discover 4,000 early galaxiesAstronomers today announce one of the largest 3D maps of the infant Universe, in a presentation at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science in Liverpool. A team led by Dr David Sobral of Lancaster University made the chart using the Subaru telescope in Hawaii and the Isaac Newton telescope in the Canary Islands. Looking back in time to 16 different epochs between 11 and 13 billion years ago, the researchers discovered almost 4000 early galaxies, many of which will have evolved into galaxies like our own Milky Way. |
 | Artificial intelligence helps to predict likelihood of life on other worldsDevelopments in artificial intelligence may help us to predict the probability of life on other planets, according to new work by a team based at Plymouth University. The study uses artificial neural networks (ANNs) to classify planets into five types, estimating a probability of life in each case, which could be used in future interstellar exploration missions. The work is presented at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science (EWASS) in Liverpool on 4 April by Mr Christopher Bishop. |
 | Magnetic hot spots on neutron stars survive for millions of yearsA study of the evolution of magnetic fields inside neutron stars shows that instabilities can create intense magnetic hot spots that survive for millions of years, even after the star's overall magnetic field has decayed significantly. The results will be presented by Dr Konstantinos Gourgouliatos of Durham University at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science (EWASS) in Liverpool on Wednesday, 4th April. |
 | Supercomputer simulations shed light on the heliospheric interface"Three-dimensional Features of the Outer Heliosphere Due to Coupling between the Interstellar and Heliospheric Magnetic Field. V. The Bow Wave, Heliospheric Boundary Layer, Instabilities, and Magnetic Reconnection" originally appeared this past August in the Astrophysical Journal, a publication of the American Astronomical Society. But the paper, whose co-authors include two researchers at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), has recently received renewed attention thanks to its unique insights into physical phenomena occurring at the heliospheric interface. |
 | Hubble makes the first precise distance measurement to an ancient globular star clusterAstronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have for the first time precisely measured the distance to one of the oldest objects in the universe, a collection of stars born shortly after the big bang. |
Replica of bedroom in '2001: a Space Odyssey' on display in WashingtonFilm buffs can now visit a replica of the bedroom depicted in the penultimate scene of "2001: A Space Odyssey" on the 50th anniversary of its release. | |
 | Researcher documents exact locations, times of Ansel Adams' Alaska photosLegendary photographer Ansel Adams created many stunning black-and-white landscape images during his lifetime, and one of his most striking masterpieces is "Denali and Wonder Lake" (formerly known as Mount McKinley and Wonder Lake). |
Cargo-packed Dragon arrives at space stationSpaceX's unmanned Dragon cargo ship arrived Wednesday at the International Space Station, packed with food, gear and science experiments for the astronauts living in orbit. | |
 | New NASA X-plane construction begins nowNASA's aeronautical innovators are ready to take things supersonic, but with a quiet twist. |
Video: The sweet smell of life supportWhen NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren blasted off from Kazakhstan in July of 2015 for his first expedition aboard the International Space Station, he had some lofty expectations: | |
 | Giant clue in the search for Earth 2.0In a new study published today in the Astrophysical Journal, researchers from New York University Abu Dhabi and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, CA, share new findings about how the presence of "giant" planets (between 10 and 1000 times as large as the Earth) affects potentially habitable neighbors that would be discovered with the next generation of ground-based and space-borne telescopes. |
 | From car engines to exoplanetsChemical models developed to help limit the emission of pollutants by car engines are being used to study the atmospheres of hot exoplanets orbiting close to their stars. The results of a collaboration between French astronomers and applied combustion experts will be presented by Dr Oliva Venot and Dr Eric Hébrard at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science (EWASS) 2018 in Liverpool. |
 | 'Rockoons' may soon make launching satellites into space more accessibleA Purdue University-affiliated startup is seeking to open up access to space for microsatellite companies by modernizing a launch technique first used in the 1950s. |
 | Image: Dragon lifts offThe latest Dragon cargo vehicle was launched to the International Space Station on 2 April, taking with it ESA's Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor. |
 | Image: NASA's Low-boom Flight Demonstration missionAeronautical innovations are part of a government-industry partnership to collect data that could make supersonic flight over land possible, dramatically reducing travel time in the United States or anywhere in the world. |
 | Did you know that a satellite crashes back to earth about once a week, on average?This past weekend, a lot of attention was focused on the Tiangong-1 space station. For some time, space agencies and satellite trackers from around the world had been predicting when this station would fall to Earth. And now that it has safely landed in the Pacific Ocean, many people are breathing a sigh of relief. While there was very little chance that any debris would fall to Earth, the mere possibility that some might caused its share of anxiety. |
Technology news
 | Linguistic changes in gender and ethnic stereotypes correlated with major social movements and demographic changesArtificial intelligence systems and machine-learning algorithms have come under fire recently because they can pick up and reinforce existing biases in our society, depending on what data they are programmed with. |
 | What lies beneath: 'Cognitive' GPR could vastly speed urban constructionDigging a hole in most major cities—for new construction or infrastructure repair—is no minor undertaking. |
 | Scholarly snowball: Deep learning paper generates big online collaborationBioinformatics professors Anthony Gitter and Casey Greene set out in summer 2016 to write a paper about biomedical applications for deep learning, a hot new artificial intelligence field striving to mimic the neural networks of the human brain. |
 | Shrimp-inspired camera may enable underwater navigationThe underwater environment may appear to the human eye as a dull-blue, featureless space. However, a vast landscape of polarization patterns appear when viewed through a camera that is designed to see the world through the eyes of many of the animals that inhabit the water. |
 | Spotify soars in $26 billion stock debutSpotify soared Tuesday to a value of more than $26 billion in its long-awaited stock debut as the market delivered a ringing endorsement of the future of music streaming. |
 | Advanced driver aids aren't just for luxury carsAutomakers have come a long way from safety features such as seat belts and air bags that are meant to prevent injuries in a crash. Today, manufacturers are adding advanced driver aids that can fend off an accident in the first place. And there's a good chance that your next new car will have them. |
 | It's time for third-party data brokers to emerge from the shadowsFacebook announced last week it would discontinue the partner programs that allow advertisers to use third-party data from companies such as Acxiom, Experian and Quantium to target users. |
 | Facebook data harvesting—what you need to knowFacebook makes most of its money from advertising, and – as the Cambridge Analytica scandal continues to haunt Mark Zuckerberg's company – users are demanding to know how their data is being wrangled and harvested. |
 | House panel says Facebook's Zuckerberg to testify April 11Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify before a House oversight panel on April 11 amid a privacy scandal that has roiled the social media giant, the panel announced Wednesday. |
Driverless cars are already here, but the roads aren't ready for themThe recent deaths of a woman struck by a car Uber was testing in driverless mode and of a man whose Tesla Model X crashed when his hands were off the steering wheel because he was letting the car do some of the driving may shift the debate over autonomous vehicles. | |
 | Facebook revamps privacy policy in heels of scandalFacebook's new privacy policy aims to explain the data it gathers on users more clearly—but doesn't actually change what it collects and shares. |
 | Facebook scandal affected more users than thought: up to 87MFacebook revealed Wednesday that tens of millions more people might have been exposed in the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal than previously thought and said it will restrict the user data that outsiders can access. |
 | Share buybacks: good, bad or ugly?Share buybacks are all the rage among the world's companies, to the delight of many shareholders but not of critics who say they are lazy, short-sighted and mostly designed to enrich corporate fat cats. |
 | 3 shot in YouTube office attack; suspect 'hated' companyA woman suspected of shooting three people at YouTube headquarters before killing herself was furious with the company because it had stopped paying her for videos she posted on the platform, her father said late Tuesday. |
 | India's Jet Airways to buy 75 Boeing jets in multi-billion dollar orderIndian airline Jet Airways has entered an agreement to buy 75 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in a deal that could be worth more than $7 billion. |
 | Human factors research accelerates mission planningThe key to a successful flight mission is planning – sometimes several hours of it. Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) specialists in human factors and human computer interfaces are working with PMA-281, Strike Planning and Execution Systems in Patuxent River, Maryland, to streamline the current mission planning process and identify user interface requirements supporting multi-domain mission management in next-generation naval planning capabilities. |
 | Minding the gap ahead of future fuelsOil expert Tadeusz Patzek aims to ensure that efficient recovery of oil and gas remains feasible whilst scientists find alternative green energy sources. |
 | Why we should all cut the Facebook cord—or should we?I wrote my dissertation on the political economy of scholarly communication, and the transformative potentials of what were then emerging internet technologies. |
Body-worn cameras will help reduce police use of force, but the problem runs much deeperProfessional policing is one of the great inventions of modernity. Police are there to help people feel safe. A police force is therefore a vital institution in the realisation of the fundamental democratic values of freedom, security, safety and justice. But, from time to time, incidents occur that cause the public to challenge these fundamental assumptions. | |
 | Telematics technology steering toward smarter EU roadsIf we are to have truly smart cities our transport systems will have to be more cost-effective, safer and sustainable. Perhaps most of all they will need to be more integrated, as the EU-funded project MFDS demonstrates. |
Sales of diesel cars in Germany drop after court permits banGerman officials say there's been a sharp drop in sales of new diesel cars, following a court decision that allows cities to ban the use of heavily polluting vehicles. | |
 | Air Force looking to additive manufacturing to expand hypersonic flight capabilitiesThe Air Force is testing materials produced through ceramic additive manufacturing to advance their potential future use in hypersonic flight vehicles. |
Medicine & Health news
 | Fragile X imaging study reveals differences in infant brainsFor the first time, UNC School of Medicine researchers have used MRIs to show that babies with the neurodevelopmental condition fragile X syndrome had less-developed white matter compared to infants that did not develop the condition. Imaging various sections of white matter from different angles can help researchers focus on the underlying brain circuitry important for proper neuron communication. |
 | New method allows scientists to watch brain cells interacting in real timeAn advance by UCLA neuroscientists could lead to a better understanding of astrocytes, a star-shaped brain cell believed to play a key role in neurological disorders like Lou Gehrig's, Alzheimer's and Huntington's disease. |
 | Study shows how moms' brains are hard-wired to gather youngA mother's "basic instinct" to grab her wandering offspring and return them to the nest depends on a specific set of brain cell signals, a new study in mice finds. |
 | Adult-like human heart muscle grown from patient-specific stem cellsGrowing human cardiac tissue that behaves like native heart muscle would be transformative for biomedical research, enabling researchers to study human physiology and model heart diseases under fully controlled conditions. While today scientists can grow many tissues, including the heart muscle, from stem cells taken from a small blood sample of any of us, current bioengineered tissues fail to show some of the most critical hallmarks of adult human heart function. Researchers have not been able to build a cultured heart muscle mature enough to be useful for medical research—until now. |
Telomerase-expressing liver cells regenerate the organ, researchers findLiver stem cells that express high levels of telomerase, a protein often associated with resistance to aging, act in mice to regenerate the organ during normal cellular turnover or tissue damage, according to a study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. | |
 | Researchers advise long-term monitoring of infants infected with Zika after birthA collaborative research team led by Ann Chahroudi, MD, PhD, of Emory University is recommending long-term clinical monitoring for infants infected with Zika virus early after birth. The recommendation is based on the team's research results showing for the first time that postnatal Zika virus infection of rhesus macaque infants results in persistent abnormalities in brain structure and function as well as behavior and emotions. |
 | Mutation of worm gene, swip-10, triggers age-dependent death of dopamine neuronsDopamine, a signaling chemical in the brain, has the lofty job of controlling emotions, moods, movements as well as sensations of pleasure and pain. Dysfunction of this critical neurotransmitter is the cause of a number of diseases, most notably, Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's disease is caused by the death of dopamine-producing cells and most theories of disease risk involve the selective vulnerability of ageing dopamine neurons to genetic mutations or to environmental toxins, or both. |
 | Researchers test stem cell-based retinal implant for common cause of vision lossPhysicians and researchers at the USC Roski Eye Institute have collaborated with other California institutions to show that a first-in-kind stem cell-based retinal implant is feasible for use in people with advanced dry age-related macular degeneration. The results of their phase I/IIa study, which was funded in part by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, were published today in Science Translational Medicine. |
 | Healthy red blood cells owe their shape to muscle-like structuresRed blood cells are on a wild ride. As they race through the body to deliver oxygen, they must maintain a distinct dimpled shape—and bounce back into form even after squishing through narrow capillaries. Red blood cells that can't keep their shape are associated with diseases like sickle cell anemia. |
 | Boosting natural defenses to fight antibiotic-resistant pneumoniaAntibiotic resistance is a growing threat in bacterial pneumonia. While immune-stimulating treatments can help the body kill the bacteria, they can also cause inflammation that damages and weakens lung tissue. Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital now describe an approach that offers the best of both worlds: enhanced bacterial killing with reduced lung damage. |
 | How did gonorrhea become a drug-resistant superbug?The bacterium that causes the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea is resistant to multiple standard antibiotics and now threatens to develop resistance against ceftriaxone, which is on the World Health Organization List of Essential Medicines and is the last effective antibiotic against the organism. UNC School of Medicine researchers have identified mutations to the bacterium Neisseria gonnorrhoeae that enable resistance to ceftriaxone that could lead to the global spread of ceftriaxone-resistant "superbug" strains. |
 | Taxes key in war on 'lifestyle' disease: health expertsGlobal health leaders declared war on lifestyle diseases Thursday, decrying the impact of tobacco, alcohol and soft drinks on the world's poor, while calling for taxes to curb consumption and finance healthcare. |
 | Smokers have worse diets than non-smokersSmokers have worse quality diets than former smokers or non-smokers, according to a study published in the open access journal BMC Public Health. |
Childhood exposure to flame retardant chemicals declines following phase-outExposure to flame retardants once widely used in consumer products has been falling, according to a new study by researchers at the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health. The researchers are the first to show that levels of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) measured in children significantly decreased over a 15-year period between 1998 and 2013, although the chemicals were present in all children tested. The Center previously linked exposure to PBDEs with attention problems and lower scores on tests of mental and physical development in children. | |
 | Obesity impacts liver health in kids as young as eight years oldA new study published today in the Journal of Pediatrics is the first to show that weight gain may have a negative impact on liver health in children as young as 8 years old. The study found that bigger waist circumference at age 3 raises the likelihood that by age 8, children will have markers for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. |
 | Vegetables may help protect elderly women from hardening of neck arteriesElderly Australian women who ate more vegetables showed less carotid artery wall thickness, according to new research in Journal of the American Heart Association, the Open Access Journal of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. |
Parkinson's disease and binge eatingThe results of a new study conducted by Damiano Terenzi, Raffaella Rumiati and Marilena Aiello of SISSA show that "binge eating," which affects some Parkinson's patients, is associated with an impairment of working memory. This deficit prevents people from remembering the long-term goal of healthy eating behaviours. A fault in this mechanism was previously associated with eating disorders that typically affect adolescents. In the study, published in Parkinsonism and Related Disorders, the authors also investigated reward sensitivity and, its components, including the pleasure connected with the consumption of food and the desire to obtain food. | |
 | How to reprogram memory cells in the brainLong-term memory of specific places is stored in the brain in so-called place cells. A team of neuroscientists headed by Dr. Andrea Burgalossi of the University of Tübingen's Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN) have now reprogrammed such place cells in free-roaming mice, by sending electrical impulses directly to individual neurons. After stimulation, these cells were reprogrammed in that their place-related activity switched to the location where the stimulation was performed. The study is now being published in Cell Reports. |
Risks to victimised youth in alternative cultures exposedYoung people belonging to alternative subcultures, such as goths, emos or metal fans, are at a greater risk of self-harm and suicide than those who do not, according to a research review. | |
 | New study links obesity to community characteristics, demographicsNearly 70 percent of the U.S. adult population meets the definition of overweight or obese, but a new study by University of Arkansas researchers shows the problem isn't randomly distributed across the country. Instead, obesity is concentrated in areas with social and demographic factors that create what researchers term an "ecology of disadvantage." |
 | Are people with Parkinson's disease depressed or demoralized?People with Parkinson's disease who show signs of depression may actually have a condition called demoralization, according to a study published in the April 4, 2018, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. That study found demoralization may be common in Parkinson's disease. |
 | Nursing students not always ID'ing fundamental care needs(HealthDay)—When presented with different care scenarios, nursing students are not correctly identifying all the fundamental care needs of patients, according to a study published online March 11 in the Journal of Clinical Nursing. |
 | Most parents willing to enroll child in food allergen trials(HealthDay)—The majority of caregivers of children with food allergy are willing to consider participation in clinical trials for food allergy immunotherapy, according to a research letter published in the March issue of the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. |
Medically tailored meal delivery service reduces costs for high utilizers of health careA medically tailored meal delivery service provided to homebound and critically or chronically ill individuals in Massachusetts achieved a 16 percent net reduction in health care costs, according to a new study published today in the April issue of Health Affairs. Dually eligible for Medicaid and Medicare services, these individuals are among the highest cost, highest needs patients. | |
 | Extramarital sex partners likely to be close friends, men more apt to cheat: studyAmericans who admit to having extramarital sex most likely cheat with a close friend, according to research from the University of Colorado Boulder's Department of Psychology and Neuroscience. |
 | Taming an unruly target in diabetesFocusing on a simple hormone in us all, a Yale researcher has found specific forms of it that poke toxic holes in cells—a discovery that he is leveraging into a treatment for patients with diabetes. |
 | Researchers to investigate screening for prostate cancer using MRI—potentially replacing the PSA testA new clinical study will test for the first time if MRI scans can be used for population screening to detect prostate cancer more accurately. The current prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test is considered too unreliable for population screening, and the scientists will study if MRI could be used to screen men to pick up cancers earlier and more reliably, and help save lives. |
Resistance exercise improves insulin resistance, glucose levelsA new study suggests that resistance exercise may improve indicators of type 2 diabetes by increasing expression of a protein that regulates blood sugar (glucose) absorption in the body. The paper, published ahead of print in the American Journal of Physiology—Endocrinology and Metabolism, was chosen as an APSselect article for April. | |
 | There's an allergy epidemic in Africa, and not enough specialists to deal with itAllergies are on the rise in Africa, but with too few specialists to treat them, and a parallel increase in immune deficiency diseases, the situation is worse than we thought. According to researchers from Ain Shams University in Egypt in an article published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the answer is more funding, motivated governments and better scientific partnerships. |
 | Men and women now on equal footing for cardiovascular risk, with both improvingBoth men and women over 50 reduced their risk factors for heart disease and stroke between 1990 and 2010, according to a new study from USC demographers. The study also showed that differences related to age and gender had largely gone away. |
 | The type of sugar you eat may trigger fullness—or cravings for more foodSugar gets a lot of bad press, and for good reason. Too much of it increases the risk of obesity, diabetes, heart attack and stroke. And Americans tend to eat a lot of it—more than 60 percent blow through the government's recommended consumption on a daily basis. |
 | Six things you can do to reduce your risk of dementiaAn ageing population is leading to a growing number of people living with dementia. Dementia is an umbrella term for a group of symptoms including memory impairment, confusion, and loss of ability to carry out everyday activities. |
 | From IQ to blood pressure, we should not be complacent about leadWe poisoned ourselves with lead during the 20th century in most industrial nations. We used the metal widely, because lead paint is durable, engines run better on leaded gasoline and lead water pipes don't rust. |
 | Not all vaginal implants are a problem and treating them the same puts many women at riskLast week, a Senate Committee investigating the impacts of "transvaginal mesh implants" on women in Australia handed down its report, with 13 recommendations. The implants are medical devices surgically inserted to prevent prolapse and urinary incontinence—conditions that affect many women over their lifetime, with around 20% requiring surgical treatment. |
 | Anti-psychotics used to manage autism and intellectual disability behaviour can have serious side effects—new studyAntipsychotic medication is typically licensed in the UK for people with serious mental health conditions, such as schizophrenia. But in recent years, some antipsychotic drugs have been prescribed more and more "off label". That is, for a condition for which they do not have approval from the medicines regulatory agency to treat. |
Most primary care offices do not offer reduced price care to the uninsured, study findsA new study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that the uninsured face significant barriers to primary care, highlighting a group that remains vulnerable even after the Affordable Care Act insurance expansions. With trained auditors depicting low-income new uninsured patients, the study found that fewer than one in seven could confirm an office visit occurred if they were required to make payment arrangements to cover the cost of the visit. | |
 | Flu shots not a magic bullet for the elderly—and new research helps to explain whyElderly people who find their annual flu shot is not helping them beat the virus may be lacking in effective natural killer cells, according to new research. |
More communication needed regarding disposal of pet pharmaceuticalsIf no one told you the proper way to get rid of those leftover heartworm pills, bottles of flea shampoo and other pet care products your household no longer needs, you're not alone. | |
 | Relaxation response may reduce blood pressure by altering expression of a set of genesHigh blood pressure—or hypertension—is a major risk factor for heart attack and stroke that affects as many as 100 million Americans and 1 billion people worldwide. Decades of research have demonstrated that the relaxation response—the physiological and psychological opposite of the well-known fight-or-flight stress response that can be achieved through relaxation techniques like yoga or mediation - can reduce blood pressure in people with hypertension. Exactly how these interventions act on the body to lower blood pressure remains unclear. |
 | Flu vaccine protects pregnant women against pertussisResearch by Wits scientists shows that pregnant women vaccinated against influenza also have less pertussis infection. |
 | How to break the language barrier of aphasiaRob Nelson has just three little words for people who've lost their own ability to read, write or speak: "Don't give up." |
 | Why the age of sexual consent continues to be a worldwide challengeFrance is considering changing its legal age of consent so that sex before the age of 15 is automatically considered rape after recent child sex cases raised serious concerns. At the moment, prosecutors have to prove that the underage sex was non-consensual to obtain a rape conviction. |
 | Losing 'protective' fat in thighs, buttocks good for the heartAlthough past research has shown that thigh, hip and buttocks fat might actually protect against heart disease, a new study says losing fat in those areas is linked to better cardiovascular health. |
 | Is Alzheimer's caused by disruptions to the brain's energy supply?It is well known that Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia, involves the accumulation of sticky proteins (plaques and tangles) in the brain. But we still don't know what the root cause of the disease is. Given that someone, somewhere in the world, is diagnosed with dementia every three seconds, there is an urgent race to discover the causes of the disease so that treatments can be developed. |
Rates of mental disorders and service use differ by immigration status and ethnicity of American adolescentsImmigrant youth from specific racial-ethnic groups in the USA tend to have lower rates of certain mental disorders compared to their non-immigrant peers, reports a study published in the April 2018 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP). | |
 | Motherhood and inflammatory bowel diseaseWomen with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) should be given more advice about pregnancy so they can make informed choices about whether to have a family, say researchers. |
 | Sure, cancer mutates, but it has other ways to resist treatmentBecause of advances in drug design and precision medicine, researchers have been able to target certain molecules within a cell at the root of a particular disease and to develop specific therapies to undo their damages. Today, precision targeting combines therapy decisions with molecular insights to offer hope after a life-changing cancer diagnosis. |
Shaping behavior, not changing minds, more effective in boosting vaccination ratesA comprehensive review of scientific literature surrounding the psychology of vaccinations has shown that shaping behavior rather than trying to change minds is far more effective at persuading people to get immunized. | |
Using lung MRI to see where and why Canadians with asthma have poor disease controlResearchers at Western University and McMaster University are developing an innovative lung imaging method that provides a unique window on asthma that is aimed at guiding and personalizing treatment for Canadians with severe, poorly controlled asthma. | |
 | One in three older patients die following emergency department intubationIntubation in the emergency department is common and can prevent a patient from dying from a reversible condition. While the benefits of such intubation for young and otherwise healthy patients are clear, it is less obvious whether the benefits of intubation outweigh the risks in older patients. A new study by researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital investigated the outcomes for patients aged 65 and older after emergency department intubation across a variety of conditions and disease. Their results are published in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. |
Tourniquet practice adopted from the military saves lives and limbs in civiliansCivilian trauma medicine has adopted many methods and techniques that have been developed and tested on the battlefield. One such technique, the use of tourniquets to stanch early bleeding in arms and legs, has been shown to improve a trauma victim's chance of survival. Although the use of tourniquets in civilians had been previously studied, its survival benefit had remained unclear. However, new study results published as an "article in press" on the website of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons demonstrate that the use of tourniquets improves survival in civilian trauma victims. These findings are very timely as the first ever National Stop the Bleed Day was just observed across the U.S. on March 31. | |
 | Sleep deficiency increases risk of a motor vehicle crashExcessive sleepiness can cause cognitive impairments and put individuals at a higher risk of motor vehicle crash. However, the perception of impairment from excessive sleepiness quickly plateaus in individuals who are chronically sleep deprived, despite continued declines in performance. Individuals may thus be unaware of their degree of impairment from sleep deficiency, which raises the question of whether these individuals are at an increased risk of motor vehicle crash. A team of researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital addressed this question and their results are published in BMC Medicine. |
 | Microscopic revelations point to new blood infection therapiesResearchers at the University of Calgary's Cumming School of Medicine (CSM) have for the first time been able to observe—live and in real-time—how the human body responds to often lethal fungal blood infections in the lung. |
 | Post-Ebola cataract surgery can safely restore visionCataract surgery can be safely performed on Ebola virus disease survivors with impaired vision, Emory Eye Center ophthalmologists and 40 colleagues around the world report. |
 | Team finds unprecedented psychological distress months after HarveyFour months after Hurricane Harvey soaked the Houston area and displaced more than a third of the population, an alarming 52 percent of Harris County residents said they were still struggling to recover, according to a new report from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health. |
 | 2 out of 3 tanning bed users have never had a skin cancer check(HealthDay)—Even though it's widely known that tanning bed use greatly increases the odds for skin cancer, 70 percent of Americans who've used the devices have never had a doctor check them for the disease. |
 | Super drug-resistant gonorrhea coming to U.S., experts say(HealthDay)—Americans should expect that a super-resistant form of gonorrhea like that found in the United Kingdom will soon reach these shores, health experts say. |
 | Despite California's warning signs, coffee is still safe, experts say(HealthDay)—Science says you can get your coffee buzz without fear of cancer, so experts say you can forget that recent controversial California law. |
 | 'No excuses' for 3 heart disease survivors walking to stay fitJerry McCann, Ray Rivera and Taunya Stewart are living proof that there's no good excuse to avoid physical activity, especially during Move More Month in April. |
 | It's crunch time(HealthDay)—Toned abs don't just look great, they're also vital for good posture and avoiding lower back pain. |
 | Depressive symptoms tied to diabetes self-management(HealthDay)—Changes in depressive symptoms can predict improvement in self-efficacy and adherence to diabetes management, according to a study published online March 27 in Diabetes Care. |
 | QI project reduces unnecessary peds inpatient electrolyte testing(HealthDay)—A quality improvement initiative rapidly reduced unnecessary electrolyte testing among hospitalized pediatric patients, according to a study published online April 4 in Pediatrics. |
 | Docs engage little to coordinate medicare home health care(HealthDay)—Physicians do not meaningfully engage with skilled home health care (SHHC) agencies in the certification of Medicare beneficiaries' plans of care, according to a study published online April 3 in the Annals of Internal Medicine. |
 | Metabolic abnormalities seen in testicular cancer survivors(HealthDay)—Testicular cancer survivors (TCS) have metabolic abnormalities characterized by hypertension and increased low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and total cholesterol, according to a study published in the March 1 issue of the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. |
 | Marijuana legalization may reduce opioid use(HealthDay)—State implementation of medical marijuana laws is associated with a reduction in the rate of opioid prescribing, according to a study published online April 2 in JAMA Internal Medicine. |
 | Variations identified in free-text directions in E-prescriptions(HealthDay)—There is considerable variation in the quality of free-text patient directions (Sig) in electronic prescriptions (e-prescriptions), according to a study published online April 2 in the Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy. |
 | Study: Get moving to get happierPhysical activity has long been known to reduce depression and anxiety, and is commonly prescribed to prevent or cure negative mental health conditions. |
 | Practicing Tai Chi helps improve respiratory function in patients with COPDFinding ways to help patients with COPD improve their functional status is an area of interest for pulmonary healthcare providers. Currently, pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is used where available to improve exercise capacity and quality of life, but the treatment requires access to trained staff and specialized facilities. A new study in the journal CHEST looked at Tai Chi as a lower cost, more easily accessed treatment option. Investigators found that this slow, methodical form of exercise is equivalent to PR for improving respiratory function in patients with COPD. |
 | Getting kids to a good weight by 13 may help avoid diabetesThere may be a critical window for overweight kids to get to a healthy level. Those who shed their extra pounds by age 13 had the same risk of developing diabetes in adulthood as others who had never weighed too much, a large study of Danish men found. |
Taxing sugary drinks a no-brainer for New ZealandOn 1 April 2018, the United Kingdom introduced a sugary drinks tax, an important public health measure that University of Otago, Wellington, public health researchers believe should be happening in New Zealand too. | |
 | New system facilitates early prostate cancer detectionResearchers of the Universitat Politècnica de València and the Universidad de Granada, together with doctors from the Hospital Clínic Universitari de València, are working on the development of a new system to diagnose prostate cancer. |
Tough situation after giving birth for women with type-1 diabetesHolding a newborn baby – and, at the same time, dealing with a blood sugar level that is fluctuating like never before. For some women with type-1 diabetes, the situation right after giving birth is overwhelming, and they need more support, according to research at Sahlgrenska Academy, Sweden. | |
 | Researchers find novel genes for longevity in mammalsThe genetic basis of lifespan determination is poorly understood. Most research has been done on short-lived animals, and it is unclear if these insights can be transferred to long-lived mammals like humans. By comparing genes of long- and short-lived rodents, researchers from Leibniz Institute on Aging (FLI) in Jena/Germany now identified in a collaborative project several novel genes possibly influencing longevity and healthy aging in mammals. The results have been published in journal PLoS Genetics. |
Acupressure for menstrual pain—women benefit from self-care appCan acupressure achieve a sustained reduction in menstrual pain? Is an app-based self-care program particularly attractive to young women? These questions are addressed in a new study by researchers from Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the results of which have been published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. | |
Diabetes awareness 'major concern' for UK AsiansSouth Asians living in the UK feel cut off and excluded from education or self-help programmes, preventing them from managing their diabetes properly, according to new research published in the journal Ethnicity and Health. | |
Scoliosis surgery in children with cerebral palsy—quality of life benefits outweigh risksFor children with severe cerebral palsy (CP), surgery for scoliosis (sideways curvature of the spine) significantly improves the quality of life (QoL) for them and their caregivers, reports a study in the April 4, 2018, issue of The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery. | |
Biology news
 | Bowhead whales, the 'jazz musicians' of the Arctic, sing many different songsSpring is the time of year when birds are singing throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Far to the north, beneath the ice, another lesser-known concert season in the natural world is just coming to an end. |
 | Island emus' size related to size of island homesEmus that lived isolated on Australia's offshore islands until the 19th century, including Kangaroo Island, King Island and Tasmania, were smaller versions of their larger mainland relatives – and their overall body size correlated to the size of the islands they inhabited. |
 | Photosynthetic protein structure that harvests and traps infrared lightScientists from the University of Sheffield have solved the structure of a photosynthetic protein to reveal how it converts near-infrared light into an electrical charge. |
 | New coronavirus emerges from bats in China, devastates young swineA newly identified coronavirus that killed nearly 25,000 piglets in 2016-17 in China emerged from horseshoe bats near the origin of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), which emerged in 2002 in the same bat species. The new virus is named swine acute diarrhea syndrome coronavirus (SADS-CoV). It does not appear to infect people, unlike SARS-CoV which infected more than 8,000 people and killed 774. No SARS-CoV cases have been identified since 2004. The study investigators identified SADS-CoV on four pig farms in China's Guangdong Province. The work was a collaboration among scientists from EcoHealth Alliance, Duke-NUS Medical School, Wuhan Institute of Virology and other organizations, and was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health. The research is published in the journal Nature. |
 | Newly discovered hormone helps keep plants from dehydratingResearchers at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS) in Japan have discovered a small hormone that helps plants retain water when none is available in the soil. Published in the journal Nature on April 4, the study shows how the peptide CLE25 moves from the roots to the leaves when water is scarce and helps prevent water loss by closing pores in the leaf surface. |
 | A certain protein could possibly be the key to understanding navigation in birdsA team of researchers at Lund University has found evidence that suggests a certain protein plays a prominent role in bird navigation. They have published their findings in Journal of the Royal Society Interface. |
 | Ancient origins of viruses discoveredResearch published today in Nature has found that many of the viruses infecting us today have ancient evolutionary histories that date back to the first vertebrates and perhaps the first animals in existence. |
 | Research shows first land plants were parasitised by microbesRelationship between plants and filamentous microbes not only dates back millions of years, but modern plants have maintained this ancient mechanism to accommodate and respond to microbial invaders. |
 | Serious monkey business at Malaysia school for macaquesA pig-tailed macaque yanked at a coconut on a piece of string until it fell to the floor, a small victory for the simian student at a Malaysian school that trains monkeys to harvest fruit for farmers. |
 | Terns face challenges when they fly south for winterThe Common Tern is most widespread tern species in North America, but its breeding colonies in interior North America have been on the decline for decades despite conservation efforts. The problem, at least in part, must lie elsewhere—and a new study from The Auk: Ornithological Advances presents some of the best information to date on where these birds go when they leave their nesting lakes each fall. |
 | Stick bugs alter decomposition rates by modifying litter bacteriaBugs the size of tiny twigs have a large impact on the rainforest, according to a new study led by University of Dayton researcher Chelse Prather and published in the current issue of the prominent journal Ecology. |
 | Warming oceans could put seabirds out of sync with preySeabirds may struggle to find food for their chicks as they are unable to shift their breeding seasons as the climate warms, a new study suggests. |
Climate change could impact critical food supplies for migratory birdsClimate change could disrupt a critical fueling-up stage for migratory birds just as they're preparing to depart on their autumn journeys to Central America, according to research published in the journal Ecology Letters. | |
 | How genes shape behaviorSome species of roundworms are just one millimeter long. Their brains have only 302 neurons, compared to our own 86 billion, and lack any recognizable breathing system. They share only 35 percent of their DNA with human beings. |
 | Freedom and flexibility: Thinking outside the cell for functional genomicsOver the past two decades, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute (JGI), a DOE Office of Science User Facility at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, has transitioned from a high-throughput genome sequencing center to a national user facility that provides researchers around the world with access to sequencing and computational analysis capabilities on projects relevant to the DOE missions of energy and environmental challenges. Along with advances in sequencing technologies and capacities, JGI has developed capabilities such as single-cell genomics, synthetic biology, and metabolomics to move beyond generating a DNA sequence to understanding gene functions for a myriad of applications. |
 | Rare coastal martens under high risk of extinction in coming decadesThe coastal marten, a small but fierce forest predator, is at a high risk for extinction in Oregon and northern California in the next 30 years due to threats from human activities, according to a new study. |
 | Personal outreach to landowners is vital to conservation program successVirginia Tech College of Natural Resources and Environment research published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE shows that private landowners trust conservation agencies more and have better views of program outcomes when they accompany conservation biologists who are monitoring habitat management on their land. |
 | Unprecedented collaring effort aims to protect Tanzania's threatened elephantsIn Tanzania, the government, with support from WWF, has launched the country's largest ever elephant collaring effort to protect its dwindling elephant population. With almost 90 per cent of the elephants lost over the last 40 years in the Selous Game Reserve, a World Heritage site, enhancing rangers' ability to guard the remaining ones from poaching is essential to rebuilding the population. |
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