Science X Newsletter Friday, Nov 16

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Here is your customized Science X Newsletter for November 16, 2018:

Spotlight Stories Headlines

ColorUNet: A new deep CNN classification approach to colorization

Solving mazes with single-molecule DNA navigators

A way to make batteries almost any shape desired

Scientists produce 3-D chemical maps of single bacteria

Half of the world's annual precipitation falls in just 12 days, new study finds

Graphene flickers at 400Hz in 2500ppi displays

New study reveals connection between climate, life and the movement of continents

Repurposing FDA-approved drugs can help fight back breast cancer

Newborn babies' brain responses to being touched on the face measured for the first time

Take a weight off: Tears, joy as kilo gets historic update (Update)

Progress in genetic testing of embryos stokes fears of designer babies

Researcher discovers new pathway for heat transport in the ocean

Patchy distribution of joint inflammation resolved

A gut bacterium as a fountain of youth? Well, let's start with reversing insulin resistance

AI heralds new frontiers for predicting enzyme activity

Astronomy & Space news

	Abell 1033: To boldly go into colliding galaxy clusters Hidden in a distant galaxy cluster collision are wisps of gas resembling the starship Enterprise—an iconic spaceship from the "Star Trek" franchise.
	Electric blue thrusters propelling BepiColombo to Mercury In mid-December, twin discs will begin glowing blue on the underside of a minibus-sized spacecraft in deep space. At that moment Europe and Japan's BepiColombo mission will have just come a crucial step closer to Mercury.
	SpaceX gets nod to put 12,000 satellites in orbit SpaceX got the green light this week from US authorities to put a constellation of nearly 12,000 satellites into orbit in order to boost cheap, wireless internet access by the 2020s.
	New discovery shows glass made from exploding stars The next time you're gazing out of the window in search of inspiration, keep in mind the material you're looking through was forged inside the heart of an exploding ancient star.
	Overflowing crater lakes carved canyons across Mars Today, most of the water on Mars is locked away in frozen ice caps. But billions of years ago it flowed freely across the surface, forming rushing rivers that emptied into craters, forming lakes and seas. New research led by The University of Texas at Austin has found evidence that sometimes the lakes would take on so much water that they overflowed and burst from the sides of their basins, creating catastrophic floods that carved canyons very rapidly, perhaps in a matter of weeks.
	Evidence of aliens? What to make of research and reporting on 'Oumuamua, our visitor from space As an astrophysicist, probably the most common question I get asked is: "Are we alone in the universe and do aliens exist?"
	Scientists discover new way to prevent spacecraft errors Scientists from the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (Russia) and the Scientific Research Institute of System Analysis of the Russian Academy of Sciences have recently developed components for designing fault-tolerant asynchronous circuits, which can be used in space vehicles.
	Small satellites tackle big scientific questions CU Boulder will soon have new eyes on the sun. Two miniature satellites designed by researchers at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) are scheduled to launch later this month on Spaceflight's SSO-A: SmallSat Express mission onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
	Image: Finding an elusive star behind a supernova Located 65 million light-years away is a blue supergiant star that once existed inside a cluster of young stars in the spiral galaxy NGC 3938, as shown in this artist's concept. It exploded as a supernova in 2017 and Hubble Space Telescope archival photos were used to locate the doomed progenitor star, as it looked in 2007.
	App to the moon It is magnificently quiet at the rim of the lunar crater. Nearly 400 000 km away from Earth, the silence and vastness of the unknown terrain can be overwhelming. Yet our moonwalker does not feel alone.
	NASA accepts delivery of European powerhouse for moonship NASA has accepted delivery of a key European part needed to power the world's next-generation moonship.
	Cargo ship launch clears crewed mission to space station A Russian Soyuz rocket sent a cargo ship on its way to the International Space Station on Friday, a successful launch that cleared the way for the next crew to travel to the space outpost.
	Russia stages first Soyuz launch since accident A Russian Soyuz rocket with a cargo vessel blasted off Friday in the first launch to the International Space Station (ISS) since a manned accident last month.
	Scientists are using artificial intelligence to see inside stars using sound waves How in the world could you possibly look inside a star? You could break out the scalpels and other tools of the surgical trade, but good luck getting within a few million kilometers of the surface before your skin melts off. The stars of our universe hide their secrets very well, but astronomers can outmatch their cleverness and have found ways to peer into their hearts using, of all things, sound waves.

Technology news

	ColorUNet: A new deep CNN classification approach to colorization A team of researchers at Stanford University has recently developed a CNN classification method to colorize grayscale images. The tool they devised, called ColorUNet, draws inspiration from U-Net, a fully convolutional network for image segmentation.
	Electronic skin points the way north While birds naturally perceive the Earth's magnetic field and use it for orientation, humans do not share this ability—at least, until now. Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) in Germany have developed an electronic skin (e-skin) with magnetosensitive capabilities sensitive enough to detect and digitize body motion in the Earth's magnetic field. As this e-skin is extremely thin and malleable, it can easily be affixed to human skin to create a bionic analog of a compass. This might not only help people with orientation issues, but could also facilitate interaction with objects in virtual and augmented reality. The results have been published in the journal Nature Electronics.
	How to make AI less biased With machine learning systems now being used to determine everything from stock prices to medical diagnoses, it's never been more important to look at how they arrive at decisions.
	Tajikistan launches giant dam to end power shortage Tajikistan on Friday inaugurates a $3.9 billion hydro-electric power plant, a mega project that will enable the impoverished country to eliminate domestic energy shortages and export electricity to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
	Air taxis – why they're no longer pie in the sky Imagine a taxi service that picked you up (into the sky) and then dropped you off after an exciting journey, completely free of road works and traffic lights. It has been claimed that air taxis could be flying us through the air in just a few years' time – and it's true that some big companies are speeding ahead with the idea.
	Honeycomb-like frameworks with unusual rippled shapes can produce buckle-resistant architectures Composite panels that sandwich a porous inner core between two solid outer sheets are increasingly being used in aircraft to reduce weight while maintaining structural rigidity. A study led by A*STAR may help other industries exploit the benefits of sandwich panels by using three-dimensional (3-D) printing to generate core structures optimized for different mechanical loads.
	How to dance to a synthetic band Music plays an important role in most people's lives regardless of the genre and in a wide variety of contexts from celebrations and parties to simply providing background while a task is being performed. Until very recently, music was only heard when musicians played it live, the ability to record music displaced that live performance to some degree, and then the invention of electronic musical instruments and digitisation changed our appreciation of music yet again.
	Development of a humanoid robot prototype, HRP-5P, capable of heavy labor Researchers have developed a humanoid robot prototype, HRP-5P, intended to autonomously perform heavy labor or work in hazardous environments.
	Researchers make android child's face strikingly more expressive Japan's affection for robots is no secret. But is the feeling mutual in the country's amazing androids? Roboticists are now a step closer to giving androids greater facial expressions to communicate with.
	Toward urban air mobility: Air taxis with side-by-side rotors In this high-resolution visualization of NASA's side-by-side, intermeshing rotor air taxi concept, researchers are working to understand complex rotor air flow interactions, simulated using high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics methods. The image/video shows the vortex wake, colored according to pressure. Intermeshing rotors offer the advantage of being more compact while being more efficient in cruise than twin-motored helicopters without overlapping rotors. How do NASA engineers conduct such research? They do so with the help of some of the most powerful supercomputers in the world, giving them the capability to solve complex computational problems in just a few days.
	What is augmented reality, anyway? Augmented reality systems show virtual objects in the real world – like cat ears and whiskers on a Snapchat selfie, or how well a particular chair might fit in a room. The first big break for AR was the "Pokémon GO" game, released in 2016 with a feature that let players see virtual Pokémon standing in front of them, ready to be captured and played with. Now, technology companies like Microsoft and Mozilla – the company behind the Firefox browser – and even retail businesses like IKEA and Lego are exploring the potential of AR.
	VW wants to storm car market with cheaper electric model Volkswagen intends to invest 44 billion euros ($50 billion) in the electric and autonomous car technologies expected to reshape the industry—and said it would make battery-powered vehicles more accessible to mass-market auto buyers by selling its new I.D. compact for about what a Golf diesel costs.
	Volkswagen to spend 44 bn euros on 'electric offensive' German auto giant Volkswagen said Friday it will invest 44 billion euros by 2023 in the smarter, greener cars of the future as it ramps up efforts to shake off the "dieselgate" emissions cheating scandal.
	Airbnb says revenue for 3Q was best ever, topping $1 billion Airbnb had its best quarter ever, even as cities across the U.S. have started clamping down on the short-term rental market.

Medicine & Health news

	Repurposing FDA-approved drugs can help fight back breast cancer Screening Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved compounds for their ability to stop cancer growth in the lab led to the finding that the drug flunarizine can slow down the growth of triple-negative breast cancer in an animal model of the disease. Led by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and the National Taiwan University College of Medicine, the team shows in the journal Scientific Reports proof of concept that this approach can potentially lead to the discovery of drugs in a way that is quicker and less expensive than traditional drug development strategies.
	Newborn babies' brain responses to being touched on the face measured for the first time A newborn baby's brain responds to being touched on the face, according to new research co-led by UCL.
	Progress in genetic testing of embryos stokes fears of designer babies Recent announcements by two biotechnology companies have stoked fears that designer babies could soon be an option for those who can afford to pick and choose which features they want for their offspring. The companies, MyOme and Genomic Prediction, have been working on technology that they hope to sell to fertility clinics, which could someday lead to the option of terminating pregnancies if fetuses have undesirable characteristics, such as low IQ levels.
	Patchy distribution of joint inflammation resolved Chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and spondylo-arthritis (SpA) are chronic, disabling diseases with a poor outcome for loco-motoric function if left untreated. RA and SpA each affect about 1 percent of the population. The reason that certain joints are more affected than others has been a longstanding question, now resolved by Isabelle Cambré and Prof. Dirk Elewaut from the VIB-UGent Center for Inflammation Research. The results appear in Nature Communications
	A gut bacterium as a fountain of youth? Well, let's start with reversing insulin resistance Move over Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus. There's a new health-promoting gut bacterium in town, and it's called Akkermansia muciniphila.
	New inflammation inhibitor discovered A multidisciplinary team of researchers led from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have developed an anti-inflammatory drug molecule with a new mechanism of action. By inhibiting a certain protein, the researchers were able to reduce the signals that trigger an inflammation. The study is published in Science and was done in collaboration with the University of Texas Medical Branch, Uppsala University and Stockholm University.
	Playing high school football changes the teenage brain A single season of high school football may be enough to cause microscopic changes in the structure of the brain, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
	Gene editing possible for kidney disease For the first time scientists have identified how to halt kidney disease in a life-limiting genetic condition, which may pave the way for personalised treatment in the future.
	When your brain won't hang up: Sustained connections associated with symptoms of autism For decades, scientists have examined how regions of the brain communicate to understand autism. Researchers at University of Utah Health believe the symptoms of autism may result from sustained connections between regions of the brain. The details of their study are available November 16 in the journal JAMA Network Open.
	Cell study reveals how head injuries lead to serious brain diseases UCLA biologists have discovered how head injuries adversely affect individual cells and genes that can lead to serious brain disorders. The life scientists provide the first cell "atlas" of the hippocampus—the part of the brain that helps regulate learning and memory—when it is affected by traumatic brain injury. The team also proposes gene candidates for treating brain diseases associated with traumatic brain injury, such as Alzheimer's disease and post-traumatic stress disorder.
	From the ashes of a failed pain drug, a new therapeutic path emerges In 2013, renowned Boston Children's Hospital pain researcher Clifford Woolf, MB, BCh, Ph.D., and chemist Kai Johnsson, Ph.D., his fellow co-founder at Quartet Medicine, believed they held the key to non-narcotic pain relief. Woolf had shown that tetrahydrobioptrin—a protein also known as BH4—is a primary natural modulator of neuropathic and inflammatory pain sensitivity. Quartet was founded on the premise that inhibiting BH4 production could prevent the progression of acute pain to chronic pain in millions of patients, without threat of addiction or tolerance.
Inhaling deodorant spray to get high can be fatal, doctors warn Inhaling a deodorant spray to get high can be fatal, warn doctors in the journal BMJ Case Reports, following the death of a 19 year old who turned to inhalant abuse in the absence of any other drugs.
Friends and family increase the risk of children becoming smokers in the UK Teenagers whose mothers smoked during pregnancy, or whose parents or friends smoke, are more likely to smoke themselves.
	Sucking your baby's pacifier may benefit their health Many parents probably think nothing of sucking on their baby's pacifier to clean it after it falls to the ground. Turns out, doing so may benefit their child's health.
	Researchers launch website on firearm deaths and injuries among children Nearly 28,000 American children and teens have died because of firearms in the past decade—second only to the 44,800 who died in motor vehicle collisions.
UK must not fall behind in race to 'humanize' drug discovery Researchers writing in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine are warning that current research models and regulation are blocking the development of human-relevant approaches to drug discovery and are perpetuating animal-based approaches. The UK currently has world-leading research in this area but significant investment in non-animal technologies is taking place in the US and Europe.
	Home DNA tests doom anonymity for sperm, egg donors All Ryan Kramer had to do was to swab his cheek and embark on nine days of geneological research to identify his biological father, a man who thought he would remain anonymous when he donated his sperm and never took a DNA test himself.
	Artificial intelligence predicts treatment effectiveness How can a doctor predict the treatment outcome of an individual patient? Traditionally, the effectiveness of medical treatments is studied by randomised trials where patients are randomly divided into two groups: one of the groups is given treatment, and the other a placebo. Is this really the only reliable way to evaluate treatment effectiveness, or could something be done differently? How can the effectiveness of a treatment method be evaluated in practice? Could some patients benefit from a treatment that does not cause a response in others?
	Identification of LZTR1 leads to novel insights into RAS-driven diseases Mutations in RAS proteins initiate many of the most aggressive tumors, and the search for pharmacological inhibitors of these proteins has become a priority in the battle against cancer. Michail Steklov, Francesca Baietti, and colleagues from the Anna Sablina lab (VIB-KU Leuven Center for Cancer Biology) identified LZTR1 as an evolutionarily conserved component of the RAS pathway.
	Going for a checkup? You may be screened for alcohol use Here's to your health.
	Resistant bacteria: Can raw vegetables and salad pose a health risk? Salad is popular with people who want to maintain a balanced and healthy diet. Salad varieties are often offered for sale ready-cut and film-packaged. It is known that these types of fresh produce may be contaminated with bacteria that are relevant from the point of view of hygiene. A working group led by Professor Dr. Kornelia Smalla from the Julius Kühn Institute (JKI) has now shown that these bacteria may also include bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics.
	Meditation helps conflict veterans with PTSD, study finds Transcendental meditation—the practice of effortless thinking—may be as effective at treating PTSD in conflict veterans as traditional therapy, US researchers said Friday, in findings that could help tens of thousands deal with their trauma.
	Name-brand medications driving spike in U.S. drug spending (HealthDay)—Rising drug spending in the United States is being fueled by expensive name-brand prescription medicines, a new study shows.
	Insurance coverage for adult obesity care increasing (HealthDay)—Coverage for adult obesity care improved substantially in Medicaid and state employee insurance programs between 2009 and 2017, according to a study published online Nov. 14 in Obesity to coincide with the annual meeting of The Obesity Society (ObesityWeek), held from Nov. 11 to 15 in Nashville, Tennessee.
	UnitedHealthcare to feature Apple Watch in wellness plans UnitedHealthcare, the nation's largest health insurance company, is incorporating the world's top-selling wristwatch into wellness plans for millions of beneficiaries.
	Faecal transplant may protect premature babies from fatal bowel disease Children born prematurely often experience serious problems with the gastrointestinal tract and therefore have increased risk of developing life-threatening bowel infections. Now, researchers from the University of Copenhagen have shown in a study on pigs that transplantation of faeces from healthy pigs changes the bowel's bacterial composition in those born prematurely and protects them from the fatal bowel disease necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).
	Q&A: Home remedies may help prevent morning sickness Dear Mayo Clinic: I am newly pregnant and not looking forward to the terrible morning sickness I experienced with my first two pregnancies. There were weeks when it felt like I could not keep any food down. What causes morning sickness? Is there any way to prevent it? At what point should I be seen by a physician?
	Poliolike illness tests an overstretched public health system The mysterious, poliolike disease that has struck 414 people—mostly young children—across the United States since 2014 comes at a time when the public health system already is overstretched.
	Toxins override key immune system check Staphylococcus aureus bacteria can cause numerous diseases, such as skin infections, pneumonia and blood poisoning (sepsis). The strong immune response triggered by the bacteria is an aggravating factor here. One reason for this lies in specific bacterial toxins—as established by a team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and University of Tübingen. These toxins reduce the amount of cells capable of suppressing the immune response. So multi-resistant strains, which produce very high levels of enterotoxin, become even more dangerous.
	Stroke: Preventing the damage by acting on the neuronal environment? To protect neurons and limit the damage after a stroke, researchers from the CNRS, the University of Caen-Normandie, University Paris-Est Créteil, and the company OTR3 have targeted the matrix that surrounds and supports brain cells. Their results, just published in the journal Theranostics, have confirmed this strategy on rats, and will lead to a clinical study between now and late 2019.
	Yoga linked to improved body satisfaction Body dissatisfaction is highly prevalent among young adults and often leads to severe adverse health consequences, including disordered eating, weight gain over time and poor psychological health. To help address the problem, researchers led by Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, a professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, are exploring how yoga could help people see themselves in a better light.
	Boys identify more strongly with their peers than others Trying to get your teenage boys to behave at the dinner table? Chances are they will respond better if you get one of their peers to model the behaviour for them, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Toronto.
	With hospitalization losing favor, judges order outpatient mental health treatment When mental illness hijacks Margaret Rodgers' mind, she acts out.
	Women's wellness: Tips for guiding girls to a healthy body image Girls often face significant pressure to look attractive. The quest for a perfect body or appearance can take a heavy toll, though. Find out what you can do to help young girls develop and maintain a healthy body image and self-esteem.
	Some pharmacies thwart efforts to improve access to the opioid overdose reversal drug In response to the opioid crisis, all 50 states have changed their laws to make naloxone, the overdose reversal drug, easier to get and use.
	This STD is more common than gonorrhea, but few people know about it. Researchers are hoping to change that Johns Hopkins researchers are spearheading efforts to raise awareness and learn more about a sexually transmitted disease few people know about but scientists believe makes people infertile.
	Startup aims to help supervisors, employees foster engagement and healthy work-life cultures The boss wants the project completed before the holiday break, your spouse needs to work late and pick up gifts, someone needs to get the children from the after-school programs and feed them a healthy dinner.
	Exercise is medicine, and doctors are starting to prescribe it There is a movement afoot (pun intended) to get more people exercising by involving their family doctors.
	Do hangover cures actually work? It seemed like a good idea at the time. But a few drinks with friends turned into a few more, and the next morning you're not feeling so crash hot. Is there anything you can take to help?
	A low-gluten, high-fiber diet may be healthier than gluten-free When healthy people eat a low-gluten and fibre-rich diet compared with a high-gluten diet, they experience less intestinal discomfort including less bloating. Researchers at University of Copenhagen show that this is due to changes of the composition and function of gut bacteria. The new study also shows a modest weight loss following low-gluten dieting. The researchers attribute the impact of diet on healthy adults more to changes in the composition of dietary fibres than gluten itself.
	Inside the mind of a young person Our brains begin to form in the womb but continue to take shape into adolescence. In a series of articles, we look at how the latest research could help us support children's development, helping them overcome learning disorders and build resilience against future mental health problems.
	Benefits of smoking cessation take time, study reveals People who quit smoking see their risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) immediately begin to drop, but it may take up to 16 years for their health to reach the level of someone who has never smoked, according to a new Vanderbilt study.
Study suggests way to prevent rare pulmonary disease Research by Vanderbilt scientists suggests that it may be possible to prevent or even reverse pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a rare, progressive disease characterized by narrowing of and high blood pressure in the small arteries of the lungs.
	New study shows NKT cell subsets play a large role in the advancement of NAFLD Since 2015 it has been known that the gut microbiota could have a direct impact on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which affects up to 12% of adults and is a leading cause of chronic liver disease. In the November issue of the Journal of Immunology, released today, a report by Maricic et al. suggests that a genetic deficiency of iNKT cells has a strong impact on the microbial diversity and sheds new light on the role of type I natural killer T (or iNKT) cell subsets in the progression of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a form of NAFLD. The team, led by Vipin Kumar, represented a collaboration between multiple CMI member labs, including Rohit Loomba and Rob Knight as part of the CMI Seed Grant program.
	College students choose smartphones over food University at Buffalo researchers have found that college students prefer food deprivation over smartphone deprivation, according to results from a paper in Addictive Behaviors.
	Traditional chemotherapy superior to new alternative for oropharyngeal cancers A drug increasingly used in combination with radiotherapy to treat a type of cancer that forms in the tonsils or the base of the tongue is inferior to a previously favored option, according to a large, clinical trial led by School of Medicine researchers that tracked patient survival and disease progression.
Flaws in industry-funded pesticide evaluation Academic researchers have examined raw data from a company-funded safety evaluation of the pesticide chlorpyrifos. They discovered an effect on the brain architecture of the exposed laboratory animals at all tested doses, which was not included in the reported conclusions. Karolinska Institutet in Sweden led this independent study, which is published in the scientific journal Environmental Health.
	Nonprescription use of Ritalin may cause structural changes in brain, study finds As nonprescription use of Ritalin increases among young adults, researchers at the University at Buffalo Clinical and Research Institute on Addictions warn that such use may cause irreversible structural changes in certain areas of the brain.
	Yes, GPS apps make you worse at navigating – but that's OK Many of us have had the experience of arriving in an unfamiliar city and needing to get to a specific destination – whether it's checking in at a hotel, meeting a friend at a local brewery, or navigating to a meeting on time.
	What is the 'right' age to have a child? Over the past three decades, there has been a steady increase in the average age of parents. Advances in fertility science mean that people can, literally, put their eggs or sperm on ice and delay the start of parenthood. Many large companies, such as Apple, Facebook and Google, now offer egg freezing to employees as part of their healthcare package. Putting off having a baby has never been easier or more socially acceptable. But is it a good thing?
Study links social isolation to higher risk of death A large American Cancer Society study links social isolation with a higher risk of death from all causes combined and heart disease for all races studied, and with increased cancer mortality in white men and women. The study, appearing in the American Journal of Epidemiology, says addressing social isolation holds promise if studies show interventions are effective, as they could be relatively simple and could influence other risk factors, as social isolation is also associated with hypertension, inflammation, physical inactivity, smoking, and other health risks.
	Infants born to obese mothers risk developing liver disease, obesity Infant gut microbes altered by their mother's obesity can cause inflammation and other major changes within the baby, increasing the risk of obesity and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease later in life, according to researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.
The keys to advancing research in family medicine Research is an important component of academic medicine, but many family medicine departments have struggled with barriers ranging from departmental culture to the lack of resources needed to advance the field.
	Rapid response inpatient education boosts use of needed blood-thinning drugs A new study designed to reach hospitalized patients at risk shows that a "real-time" educational conversation, video or leaflet can lower the missed dose rates of drugs that can prevent potentially lethal blood clots in their veins.
Newly published model of FSHD and a potential gene therapy to improve functional outcomes Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is the most prevalent dominantly inherited muscular dystrophy in the world. To date, there are no pharmacologic treatments available for the more than 850,000 people affected worldwide.
	Genetic analysis links obesity with diabetes, coronary artery disease A Cleveland Clinic genetic analysis has found that obesity itself, not just the adverse health effects associated with it, significantly increases the risk of Type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease. The paper was published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open.
	Pets can double as asthma antidote (HealthDay)—The "hygiene hypothesis" holds that early exposure to a variety of microorganisms may decrease the risk for chronic inflammatory diseases, like asthma.
	Youth dating violence shaped by parents' conflict-handling views, study finds Parents who talk to their children about nonviolent ways of resolving conflict may reduce children's likelihood of physically or psychologically abusing their dating partners later—even when parents give contradictory messages indicating that violence is acceptable in certain circumstances.
	Different types of physical activity offer varying protection against heart disease While it is well known that physical activity is important for heart health, neither research nor recommendations consistently differentiate between the benefits of different types of physical activity. New research, presented at the ACC Latin America Conference 2018 in Lima, Peru, found that while all physical activity is beneficial, static activities—such as strength training—were more strongly associated with reducing heart disease risks than dynamic activities like walking and cycling.
Drug resistant infections associated with higher in-hospital mortality rates in India In one of the largest studies to measure the burden of antibiotic resistance in a low- or middle-income country, researchers at the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy report that in-hospital mortality is significantly higher among patients infected with multi-drug resistant (MDR) or extensively drug resistant (XDR) pathogens including Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Acinetobacter baumannii.
Patients with rare, incurable digestive tract cancers respond to new drug combination Dublin, Ireland: Patients with rare, but incurable cancers of the digestive tract have responded well to a combination of two drugs that block the MEK and BRAF pathways, which drive the disease in some cases. They have survived for longer without the disease progressing than the usual average time of less than five months, even though their cancer was advanced and had not responded to previous therapies.
New research provides guidance on how to successfully motivate California's Medicaid population to quit smoking New research shows improved smoking cessation outcomes can be achieved within the Medi-Cal (California's Medicaid program) population by supplementing telephone counseling with access to nicotine-replacement patches and moderate financial incentives that are not contingent on outcomes. The group that received these additional services was more likely to make a quit attempt and remain smoke-free, both short- and long-term. This study also adds to the evidence that modest financial incentives can be an effective smoking cessation intervention for a low-income population.
Milk allergy affects half of U.S. food-allergic kids under age one Although parents often focus on peanuts as the food allergy they need to worry about most, cow's milk is the most common food allergy in children under the age of 5. New research being presented at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) Annual Scientific Meeting found that over two percent of all U.S. children under the age of 5 have a milk allergy, and 53 percent of food-allergic infants under age 1 have a cow's milk allergy.
Secondhand marijuana smoke causes asthma symptoms in child allergic to cannabis It's well established that secondhand smoke from cigarettes is a risk to anyone who suffers from asthma. New research being presented at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) Annual Scientific Meeting shows it's possible for both children and adults with uncontrolled asthma to find their symptoms worsening due to cannabis allergy and exposure to marijuana smoke.
Sucking your baby's pacifier to clean it may prevent allergies If the thought of sucking your baby's pacifier to clean it and then popping it in your baby's mouth grosses you out, think again. New research being presented at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) Annual Scientific Meeting suggests a link between parental sucking on a pacifier and a lower allergic response among young children.
Caregiver's poor knowledge of asthma means longer hospital stay for child Asthma is a complex disease, and it can be a challenge to keep up with your child's medications and treatments. New research being presented at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) Annual Scientific Meeting shows children of caregivers with poor asthma knowledge were four times more likely to have a prolonged hospital stay. A "prolonged" stay was defined as more than two days.
Your severe eczema may best be treated by allergy shots If you've suffered with severe atopic dermatitis (eczema) for a long time and have tried what you think is every available option for relief, you may want to consider allergy shots. A medically-challenging case being presented at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) Annual Scientific Meeting found that allergy shots provided significant benefits to the eczema symptoms suffered by a 48-year-old man.
Will your epinephrine auto injector still work if it gets frozen? If you are one of the millions of people in the U.S. who has a severe allergy and carries an epinephrine auto injector (EAI) you may have wondered if it will still work if it gets left in your car in winter and freezes. Turns out it will still work, according to new research being presented at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) Annual Scientific Meeting.
Safest way to dine out for those with food allergies is using up to 15 strategies People with food allergies know eating at a restaurant means using multiple strategies to make sure your order doesn't contain something that could send you to the hospital with anaphylaxis—a severe life-threatening reaction.
	North Korea running low on TB meds, experts fear epidemic The withdrawal of a major international aid organization threatens to leave tens of thousands of tuberculosis patients in North Korea without the medication they need and could spiral into a severe crisis if it is not addressed soon, according to health experts familiar with the situation in the North.
	Pilot program informs Baltimore doctors, nurses the latest in diabetes care standards About 140 Baltimore-area doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners are among the first in the country to receive new training aimed at conveying the latest care standards for diabetes.
	Our research finds pregnant prisoners are giving birth without midwifery support Newly published research by Dr. Laura Abbott, specialist midwife and senior lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire, has highlighted significant risks to the safety and wellbeing of pregnant mothers and their babies in UK prisons; including women giving birth in cells without midwifery care.
	Transgender Americans still face workplace discrimination despite some progress and support of companies like Apple Activist Gwendolyn Ann Smith founded Transgender Day of Remembrance on Nov. 20 to honor the memory of those whose lives were lost due to trans prejudice and hatred.
	Jennie-O recalling ground turkey in salmonella outbreak Jennie-O Turkey recalled packages of ground turkey in a salmonella outbreak, and regulators say additional products from other companies could be named as their investigation continues.
	EMA recommends fexinidazole, the first all-oral treatment for sleeping sickness The European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has adopted a positive scientific opinion of fexinidazole, the first all-oral treatment that has been shown to be efficacious for both stages of sleeping sickness. This approval is a result of clinical trials led by the non-profit research and development organization DNDi and an application submitted by Sanofi. The decision paves the way for the distribution of fexinidazole in endemic countries in 2019.

Biology news

	A bigger nose, a bigger bang: Size matters for ecoholocating toothed whales A new study sheds light on how toothed whales adapted their sonar abilities to occupy different environments. The study shows that as animals grew bigger, they were able to put more energy into their echolocation sounds—but surprisingly, the sound energy increased much more than expected.
	By solving a mystery of gene repair, scientists uncover an exception to biology's rules About 15 years ago, UNC Lineberger's Dale Ramsden, Ph.D., was looking through a textbook with one of his students when they stumbled upon a scientific mystery.
	Structural study of antibiotic opens the way for new TB treatments New analysis of the structure and function of the naturally-occurring antimicrobial agent tunicamycin has revealed ways to produce new, safe antibiotics for Mycobacterium tuberculosis and other disease-causing bacteria.
	Cells decide when to divide based on their internal clocks Cells replicate by dividing, but scientists still don't know exactly how they decide when to split. Deciding the right time and the right size to divide is critical for cells – if something goes wrong it can have a big impact, such as with cancer, which is basically a disease of uncontrolled cell division.
	New research uncovers the predatory behavior of Florida's skull-collecting ant "Add 'skull-collecting ant' to the list of strange creatures in Florida," says Adrian Smith a scientist at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and North Carolina State University. His new research describes the behavioral and chemical strategies of a Florida ant, Formica archboldi, that decorates its nest with the dismembered body parts of other ant species.
	Space-inspired speed breeding for crop improvement Technology first used by NASA to grow plants extra-terrestrially is fast tracking improvements in a range of crops. Scientists at John Innes Centre and the University of Queensland have improved the technique, known as speed breeding, adapting it to work in vast glass houses and in scaled-down desktop growth chambers.
	Communal rearing gives mice a competitive edge Research by scientists at the University of Liverpool suggests that being raised communally makes mice more competitive when they're older.
	Dodging antibiotic resistance by curbing bacterial evolution With many disease-causing bacteria ratcheting up their shields against current drugs, new tactics are vital to protect people from treatment-resistant infections.
	Dual-function protein switch can be tweaked to improve the effectiveness of cellular reprogramming Toggling the functions of a protein that regulates gene expression during cellular reprogramming ensures cell fate conversion, an A*STAR study has found.
	Establishment of the immortalized cell line derived from endangered Okinawa rail As part of the cellular conservation of endangered species, a research group initiated a primary cell culture project aimed at preserving endangered avian species in Japan, such as the Okinawa rail. However, primary cells cannot be cultured indefinitely because of cellular senescence and stresses caused by cell culture. To overcome these cell culture limitations, primary cells must be immortalized. As a result, the researchers obtained the immortalized avian cells with cell cycle regulation gene expression.
	Orcas thrive in a land to the north. Why are Puget Sound's dying? Bigger and bigger, with a puff and a blow, the orca surfaces, supreme in his kingdom of green.
	Optogenetics drives structure changes in tissues In optogenetics, researchers use light to control protein activity. This technique allows them to alter the shape of embryonic tissue and to inhibit the development of abnormalities. Now, scientists in EMBL's De Renzis group have enhanced the technique to stop organ-shaping processes in fruit fly embryos. Their results, published in the EMBO Journal, allow control over a crucial step in embryonic development.
	Controlling the gene for the 'immortalizing enzyme' Revealing how a gene is activated in cancer cells to produce an enzyme that helps the cells thrive could lead to new treatments.
	Non-antibiotic drugs also speed up the spread of antibiotic resistance New research from The University of Queensland has found non-antibiotic pharmaceuticals can significantly promote the spread of antibiotic resistance via bacterial mating.
	How vultures use each other as guides through the turbulent skies How would you move through a space when you can't see the obstacles ahead? For example, how would you find your way out of a maze if you were blindfolded? You could either use your other senses, such as touch, to find your way out – or better yet, you could get someone who can see the way out to direct you. But either way you need information.
Future wheat harvests very vulnerable to disease, warn experts Scientists have predicted that within two years a viral disease outbreak will likely hit European wheat harvests, leading to a hike in food prices across the continent.
Selling plants on Amazon: A forest of untapped opportunity A first-of-its-kind study out of Kansas State University examined the the untapped market for selling plants online by horticultural businesses.
	Eleven seal species narrowly escape extinction Population geneticists at Bielefeld University and the British Antarctic Survey have found that eleven seal species only narrowly escaped extinction. Their study has been published today in Nature Communications.
House passes bill to drop legal protections for gray wolves The Republican-controlled House has passed a bill to drop legal protections for gray wolves across the lower 48 states, reopening a lengthy battle over the predator species.

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