253 articles from TUESDAY 1.9.2020

Can sunlight convert emissions into useful materials?

A team of researchers at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering has designed a method to break CO2 apart and convert the greenhouse gas into useful materials like fuels or consumer products ranging from pharmaceuticals to polymers.Typically, this process requires a tremendous amount of energy. However, in the first computational study of its kind, Shaama Sharada and her team enlisted a more...

Cancer cells take over blood vessels to spread

In laboratory studies, Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and Johns Hopkins University researchers observed a key step in how cancer cells may spread from a primary tumor to a distant site within the body, a process known as metastasis.

Decorating windows for optimal sound transmission

Glass windows typically offer some amount of sound proofing, sometimes unintentionally. In general, ventilation is required to achieve large sound transmission. But some applications -- like gas explosion studies -- require a transparent partition that allows for acoustic propagation without the presence of airflow. In those cases, ventilation is not allowed. In Applied Physics Letters,...

Detecting small amounts of virus in early infections

Diagnostic devices that are used at home or in doctors' offices are often not sensitive enough to detect small amounts of a virus that might be present in samples from asymptomatic patients, which can occur in early stage COVID-19. In Biomicrofluidics, scientists report a membrane-based invention that can concentrate the virus content of a sample of urine or saliva, allowing it to be detected.

Different responses in individual cells give muscles more control

Minute differences in individual muscle cell contractions allow the entire muscle to flex with greater control and accuracy. Long dismissed as "noise" or error, experts now suspect that biological systems may have evolved to include unavoidable variation as a form of information in their communication channels. A team of experts from the University of Tokyo published these findings in the...

Direct observation of desorption of a melt of long polymer chains

Publication in Nature Communication: Simone Napolitano -Laboratory of Polymer and Soft Matter Dynamics, Université libre de Bruxelles - and his collaborators, Xavier Monnier and Daniele Cangialosi, from the International Center of Physics of Donostia and the Centro de Física de Materiales of San Sebastián (Spain) were able to experimentally access the adsorption/desorption transition.

Effective cancer immunotherapy further linked to regulating a cell 'suicide' gene

Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers have added to evidence that a gene responsible for turning off a cell's natural "suicide" signals may also be the culprit in making breast cancer and melanoma cells resistant to therapies that use the immune system to fight cancer. A summary of the research, conducted with mice and human cells, appeared Aug. 25 in Cell Reports.

Elderly people protected against respiratory infections by BCG vaccine

The BCG vaccine has a broad, stimulating effect on the immune system. This gives it an effective preventive action against various infections - possibly also against COVID-19. New studies are investigating that. BCG is frequently given to children, but a double-blind randomized clinical study, a collaboration between Radboud university medical center and the National and Kapodistrian University of...

Estrogen replacement may protect against Alzheimer's disease in women

Amsterdam, September 1, 2020-Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disease and the leading cause of dementia. It affects more women than men. A new study published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease indicates that factors such as age, reproductive stage, hormone levels, and the interplay with other risk factors should be considered in women and proposes a role for early...

Europe's largest Solar Telescope GREGOR unveils magnetic details of the Sun

GREGOR, the largest solar telescope in Europe, which is operated by a German consortium and located on Teide Observatory, Spain, has obtained unprecedented images of the fine-structure of the Sun. Following a major redesign of GREGOR's optics, carried out by a team of scientists and engineers from the Leibniz Institute for Solar Physics (KIS) and the University of Freiburg, the Sun can be observed...

European study finds screen time and sleep duration predict overweight in children

Screen time and sleep duration independently predict excess weight in children and should be considered as part of prevention strategies to reduce the burden of overweight and obesity and related health conditions, according to a study involving over 4,000 children (aged 2 to 11 years old) from eight European countries, being presented at The European and International Congress on Obesity (ECOICO...

Face shield or face mask to stop the spread of COVID-19?

If CDC guidelines aren't enough to convince you that face shields alone shouldn't be used to stop the spread of COVID-19, then maybe a new visualization study will. Researchers simulated coughing and sneezing from a mannequin's mouth using a laser light to visualize droplets expelled. They tested a plastic face shield and found that they block the initial forward motion of the exhaled jet,...

Face shields, masks with valves ineffective against COVID-19 spread

As countries experience a steep surge in COVID-19 infections, face masks have become increasingly accepted as an effective means for combating the spread of the disease when combined with social distancing and frequent hand-washing. Increasingly people are using clear plastic face shields and masks with exhalation valves instead of regular cloth or surgical masks, since they can be more...

First randomised trial backs safety of common heart drugs in COVID-19 patients

Heart patients hospitalised with COVID-19 can safely continue taking angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs), according to the BRACE CORONA trial presented in a Hot Line session today at ESC Congress 2020.ACE inhibitors and ARBs are commonly taken by heart patients to reduce blood pressure and to treat heart failure. There is conflicting...

First treatment identified for fainting

Fainting affects one in two people during their lifetime. Those with recurrent episodes are often afraid to socialise or go to work. Today researchers report the first effective therapy. The late breaking research is presented at ESC Congress 2020.

Giant leap for molecular measurements

Spectroscopy is an important tool of observation in many areas of science and industry. Infrared spectroscopy is especially important in the world of chemistry where it is used to analyze and identify different molecules. The current state-of-the-art method can make approximately 1 million observations per second. UTokyo researchers have greatly surpassed this figure with a new method about 100...