Wednesday 8 May 2019

Nipah virus: Age and breathing difficulties increase the risk of disease spread

Nipah virus, a bat-borne paramyxovirus found throughout South and South East Asia, has been identified by WHO as an emerging infectious disease that may cause severe epidemics in the near future. Infections in humans result in severe respiratory and neurological disease with a high case fatality. With no available treatment or vaccine, the control of Nipah virus outbreaks must rely on a detailed understanding of factors that may facilitate inter-human transmission.

* This article was originally published here

Mining microbial treasures from toxic sites

Filled with a noxious brew of copper, cadmium and arsenic, with a pH rivaling that of sulfuric acid, Montana's Berkeley Pit seems inhospitable to life. Nonetheless, scientists have discovered microorganisms in this abandoned copper mine and other human-made noxious sites. These extreme environments induce microbes to synthesize potent, never-before-seen molecules that could find uses in human medicine, according to an article in Chemical & Engineering News, the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society.

* This article was originally published here

Identifying therapeutic targets in sepsis' cellular videogame

Sepsis is a medical condition that few patients have heard of and most doctors dread. The body's response to attack by bacteria can trigger a cascade of cellular self-destruction that inadvertently causes blood clots, multi-organ failure, and death.

* This article was originally published here

GM unveils $700 mn Ohio investment, plans to sell shuttered plant

General Motors Wednesday announced plans to invest $700 million in Ohio and to sell a shuttered plant to a company that makes electric trucks, drawing cheers from President Donald Trump who has assailed the US automaker for cutting American jobs.

* This article was originally published here

Intelligence can link to health and aging

For over 100 years, scientists have sought to understand what links a person's general intelligence, health and aging. In a new study, a University of Missouri scientist suggests a model where mitochondria, or small energy producing parts of cells, could form the basis of this link. This insight could provide valuable information to researchers studying various genetic and environmental influences and alternative therapies for age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease.

* This article was originally published here

New approach to drug discovery could lead to personalized treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders

Researchers have developed a method that could drastically accelerate the search for new drugs to treat mental health disorders such as schizophrenia.

* This article was originally published here

FDA grapples with 'living' medical devices

Imagine a not-too-distant future when medical devices powered by artificial intelligence continuously adapt to new symptoms presented by patients and learn how to make accurate diagnoses much like a well-trained physician would.

* This article was originally published here

Graphite coating makes perovskite solar cells waterproof

A cheaper, cleaner and more sustainable way of making hydrogen fuel from water using sunlight is step closer thanks to new research from the University of Bath's Centre for Sustainable Chemical Technologies.

* This article was originally published here

New data shows it's tough to have lung disease

People with asthma have the lowest overall health literacy according to a first-of-its-kind national health survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The survey uses a survey tool developed by Swinburne's Distinguished Professor of Health Sciences Richard Osborne.

* This article was originally published here

'Stop and search' frequency reduced when law enforcement and academic research cooperate

It has been a busy few days in the fierce debate about addressing the knife crime problem in England and Wales. London Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick unveiled year-on-year declines in knife crime and homicides in the capital for the year ended March, and claimed it was thanks to more police stop and search. Just days earlier, the College of Policing, which oversees police standards in England and Wales, said more or less the opposite about the tactic. Stop and search, it said, risks aggrieving people subjected to it and making them more likely to commit violent crimes down the line; instead, it wants England and Wales to adopt the more progressive approach to policing that has emerged in Scotland.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers violate Bell's inequality with remotely connected superconducting qubits

The efficient generation of entanglement between remote quantum nodes is a crucial step in securing quantum communications. In past research, entanglement has often been achieved using a number of different probabilistic schemes.

* This article was originally published here

Contracts give Coca-Cola power to 'quash' health research, study suggests

A study of over 87,000 documents obtained through Freedom of Information requests has revealed a contract mechanism that could allow Coca-Cola to "quash" findings from some of the health research it funds at public universities in the US and Canada.

* This article was originally published here

Survey: New moms often overlook critical postpartum care during 'fourth trimester'

The three trimesters of pregnancy are filled with doctor's appointments, preparations and careful surveillance of the health of both mom and baby. However, in the months after their baby is born, known as the fourth trimester, priorities often shift for new moms, and their own health can fall to the bottom of their to-do lists. A new national survey by Orlando Health found more than a quarter of mothers did not have a plan to manage their health after giving birth, while more than 40 percent say they felt anxious, overwhelmed or depressed.

* This article was originally published here

New legal data traces almost 11 years of state 'zero tolerance' school discipline policies

A new legal dataset published on LawAtlas.org today shows shifts and trends in state-level "zero tolerance" or exclusionary school discipline laws, focusing on how the laws regulate expulsion and suspension.

* This article was originally published here