Wednesday 5 June 2019

Surprising enzymes found in giant ocean viruses

A new study led by researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and Swansea University Medical School furthers our knowledge of viruses—in the sea and on land— and their potential to cause life-threatening illnesses. Their findings, which examine newly-identified genes carried by mysterious "giant" viruses, could represent potential new drug targets for giant viruses linked to human diseases. The work published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

* This article was originally published here

Study: New drug regimens improve outcomes for kidney transplant patients

Preliminary results from a $5.2 million clinical trial led by University of Cincinnati researchers show that the immunosuppressive drug belatacept can help safely and effectively treat kidney transplant patients without the negative long-term side effects of traditional immunosuppressive regimens, the study's leaders announced this week.

* This article was originally published here

Glacial sediments greased the gears of plate tectonics

Earth's outer layer is composed of giant plates that grind together, sliding past or dipping beneath one another, giving rise to earthquakes and volcanoes. These plates also separate at undersea mountain ridges, where molten rock spreads from the centers of ocean basins.

* This article was originally published here

Mojo Vision shows off display technology for augmented reality

What meets the eye is important—but in the case of entering the realm of augmented reality, how it meets the eye is an issue. A California company is on that case. They have technology to let AR users keep in the flow eyes-up. Hands-free.

* This article was originally published here

Obesity worsens disability in multiple sclerosis

Obesity is an aggravating factor in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, the most common form of the disease. A recent study by the Unit of Neurology and Neurorehabilitation of the I.R.C.C.S. Neuromed in Pozzilli (Italy) confirms that lipid metabolism can have a role in determining the severity of multiple sclerosis.

* This article was originally published here

DNA from 31,000-year-old milk teeth leads to discovery of new group of ancient Siberians

Two children's milk teeth buried deep in a remote archaeological site in north eastern Siberia have revealed a previously unknown group of people lived there during the last Ice Age.

* This article was originally published here

'Slothbot' takes a leisurely approach to environmental monitoring

For environmental monitoring, precision agriculture, infrastructure maintenance and certain security applications, slow and energy efficient can be better than fast and always needing a recharge. That's where "SlothBot" comes in.

* This article was originally published here

Apple's new Photos app for iOS 13 may just be the tool you've been waiting for

We take more and more photos every year on our new and improved smartphones, but finding them is probably the greatest pain point consumers face.

* This article was originally published here

France to propose new tax on flights in Europe

France on Thursday will propose a new tax on flights in Europe to encourage travellers to switch to less polluting forms of transport, a source in the transport ministry told AFP.

* This article was originally published here

Agent Unicorn headset for ADHD children may make understanding easier

The quest for a better understanding among scientists of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) goes on.

* This article was originally published here

The lifelong health benefits of intimacy

(HealthDay)—Much research has explored the mental and physical health benefits of maintaining social contacts well into later life. Studies also show that maintaining sexual health can have profound benefits that may include slowing down the aging process.

* This article was originally published here

Specific ion effects directed noble metal aerogels

Noble metal foams (NMFs) are a new class of functional materials that contain both noble metals and monolithic porous materials for impressive multi prospects in materials science and multidisciplinary fields. In a recent study now published on Science Advances, Ran Du and a team of interdisciplinary researchers in Physical Chemistry, Materials Engineering and Physics developed highly tunable NMFs by activating specific ion effects to produce a variety of single/alloy aerogels. The new materials contained adjustable composition—with gold (Au), silver (Ag), palladium (Pd) and platinum (Pt)—and special morphologies.

* This article was originally published here

Exploring deeper understanding and better description of networks

Since the beginning of the last century, research on complex systems has advanced the fields of chaos, fractals and networks. A network consists of nodes and edges, where nodes represent the elements of a complex system and edges describe the interactions among them. Such node-edge relations can be represented by an adjacency matrix, whose order equals the number of nodes and each row-sum corresponds to a node degree. The heterogeneity of node degrees leads to the emergence of star-shaped structures centered at hub nodes.

* This article was originally published here

US soldiers have worse heart health than civilians

Active duty Army personnel have worse cardiovascular health compared to people of similar ages in the civilian population, according to new research in Journal of the American Heart Association, the Open Access Journal of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.

* This article was originally published here

New study links childhood abuse with hot flash frequency

Numerous adverse health outcomes have been linked to childhood maltreatment, including mental illness, cardiovascular disease, and premature mortality. A new study suggests that childhood abuse (which was found to have occurred in 44% of the sample population) may also cause more hot flashes, especially during sleep. Results are published online today in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS).

* This article was originally published here

1st Mexican gray wolf litter born at Phoenix Zoo in 20 years

Phoenix Zoo officials say the first litter of endangered Mexican gray wolf pups has been born there in 20 years.

* This article was originally published here