249 articles from WEDNESDAY 10.6.2020

Microplastic background pollution in the Curonian Spit beach

An article written by an international team of scientists was published recently in Marine Pollution Bulletin magazine. The team included representatives of the Russian Academy of Sciences Shirshov Institute of Oceanology Atlantic Department, the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, and the Institute of Baltic Sea Research (Warnemunde, Germany)

New 'sun clock' quantifies extreme space weather switch on/off

Extreme space weather events can significantly impact systems such as satellites, communications systems, power distribution and aviation. They are driven by solar activity which is known to have an irregular but roughly 11 year cycle. By devising a new, regular 'sun clock', researchers have found that the switch on and off of periods of high solar activity is quite sharp, and are able to...

New control technique could improve accuracy of industrial robots

The brains of humans and other animals often practice feedforward control as they are very good at whole-system modeling. But for machines, such modeling is computationally hard. However, researchers with Huazhong University of Science and Technology and the University of California at Berkeley have developed a new feedforward method that improves on conventional feedforward techniques.

New in Ethics and Human Research

Covid-19: Why Challenge Trials of Vaccines Could be Ethical, Despite Severe Risks, Equitably Sharing the Benefits and Burdens of Research. Early-view articles and the May-June 2020 issue.

New procedure 'rewires' the heart to prevent recurrent fainting spells

A procedure conducted for the first time in the United States at University of Chicago Medicine has provided much-needed relief for a patient who suffered from recurrent fainting spells. Called cardioneural ablation, the procedure essentially rewired the heart to treat the recurring sudden drops in heart rate and blood pressure that had been causing the 52-year-old woman to faint at least once...

New study finds surface disturbance can limit mule deer migration

Researchers used 145 migrations from 56 individual deer to examine disturbance effects at various scales. Results consistently showed that mule deer use of migration corridors steeply declined when surface disturbance from roads and well pads surpassed 3%. Mule deer were able to migrate through areas where surface disturbance was lower.

New study of endangered pacific pocket mice provides valuable genetic insights

Drawing on genetic data from six generations of Pacific pocket mice in this program, a new study has tracked reproductive success relative to a mouse's ancestral population. The findings, published this month in the journal Conservation Genetics, indicate that genetic diversity should be introduced from the larger, genetically healthier populations of Pacific pocket mice into a smaller, less...

Newly synthesized fungal compound can switch on a self-destruct button for cancer

Cancers cells use a special technique to propagate; they delete their 'programmed death' gene through mutation, 'forget' to die when their lifetime is over, and continue to grow instead. A research team from Tokyo University of Science has developed a method through which a fungal compound capable of rearming the self-destruct gene in certain cancer cells can be artificially produced in marketable...

Noise disturbs the brain's compass

Our sense of direction tends to decline with age. In 'Nature Communications', researchers from the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases and experts from the USA report on new insights into the causes of this phenomenon. These study results could contribute to the development of diagnostic tools for early detection of dementia.

Nutraceuticals for promoting longevity

The review, published in Current Nutraceuticals, offers a special focus on the nutraceuticals that impact insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor signaling and sirtuin activity in mediating longevity and healthspan.

Oncotarget: Adoptive cell therapy in combination with checkpoint inhibitors

Volume 11, Issue 22 of @Oncotarget reported that there are rationale and evidence supporting immune therapy in Ovarian Cancers. The authors investigated the potential for adoptive cell therapy from in vitro expanded tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in combination with checkpoint inhibitors and conducted immunological testing of ex vivo expanded TILs.