Warmer climate may make new mutations more harmful

A warmer global climate can cause mutations to have more severe consequences for the health of organisms through their detrimental effect on protein function. This may have major repercussions on organisms' ability to adapt to, and survive in, the altered habitats of the future. This is shown in a new Uppsala University research study now published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Scientists uncover potential antiviral treatment for COVID-19

Researchers from the University of Nottingham have discovered a novel antiviral property of a drug that could have major implications in how future epidemics / pandemics—including COVID-19—are managed.

Nearly third of US young people prescribed psychoactive drugs admit misusing them

Nearly a third of US teens and young adults prescribed a psychoactive drug misuse that drug, with the likelihood of misuse rising with age, suggests an analysis of national survey responses published in the online journal Family Medicine & Community Health.

Vet tranquilliser now implicated in third of fatal opioid overdose cases in Philadelphia

The vet tranquilliser, xylazine, is now implicated in almost a third of fatal overdoses involving heroin and/or fentanyl in Philadelphia, reveals research published online in the journal Injury Prevention.

Google deals with trio of US lawsuits over ad prowess

Executives at Google parent company Alphabet will report quarterly earnings on Tuesday, seeking to highlight the internet titan's money-making success while mindful of regulators concerned about the firm's clout.

Austria to ease third virus lockdown from February 8

Austria will start relaxing its third coronavirus lockdown from February 8, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced on Monday, with schools, museums and shops set to reopen.

Data points to Covid vaccine shortfall for Black Americans

A study out Monday suggested Black Americans had not gotten the coronavirus vaccine at a rate proportionate to their population in the nation.

Japan to extend virus emergency, months before delayed Olympics

Japan's government is set to approve a month-long extension of its coronavirus state of emergency on Tuesday, less than six months before the pandemic-postponed Olympic Games open in Tokyo.

Australia's Perth battles bushfire amid virus lockdown

A wildfire on the fringes of Australia's fourth-largest city Perth has destroyed several homes and forced emergency evacuations, authorities said Tuesday, just days after the west coast city entered a coronavirus lockdown.

Economic growth has 'devastating cost to nature', review finds

Humanity's unbridled growth in recent decades has come at a "devastating cost to nature" according a wide-ranging international review on the vital economic role played by our living planet.

Does wearing two masks provide more protection?

Does wearing two masks provide more protection?

WHO team visits animal disease center in Wuhan, China

World Health Organization experts visited an animal disease center in the Chinese city of Wuhan on Tuesday as part of their investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.

Study: Killings surge in 2020; pandemic, protests play roles

Killings rose dramatically across the U.S. last year, and a study released Monday suggests the coronavirus pandemic and racial injustice unrest were factors.

Siemens Energy to shed 7,800 jobs in cost-cutting drive

Energy technology company Siemens Energy said Tuesday that it plans to shed 7,800 jobs worldwide by 2025 as part of a drive to cut costs.

Google antes up $2.6M to settle pay, job discrimination case

Google will pay $2.6 million to more than 5,500 employees and past job applicants to resolve allegations that the internet giant discriminated against female engineers and Asians in California and Washington state.

Google shutters internal Stadia game studio

Google is closing the internal studio tasked with developing games for its Stadia cloud-gaming service, a move that raises questions about the future of the Stadia service itself.

As climate warms, summer monsoons to produce less streamflow

In the summer of 2019, Desert Research Institute (DRI) scientist Rosemary Carroll, Ph.D., waited for the arrival of the North American Monsoon, which normally brings a needed dose of summer moisture to the area where she lives in Crested Butte, Colo. - but for the fourth year in a row, the rains never really came.

In survey of those with uncontrolled asthma, half smoked cannabis

As the number of states increase where medical and recreational cannabis use is legal, so does the importance that physicians discuss with patients the effects of cannabis on those with asthma. A new survey in Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the scientific journal of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, shows that of those who used cannabis, about half smoked it while a third vaped—both "inhalation routes" likely to affect one's lungs.

Say goodbye to the dots and dashes to enhance optical storage media

Purdue University innovators have created technology aimed at replacing Morse code with colored "digital characters" to modernize optical storage. They are confident the advancement will help with the explosion of remote data storage during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mathematical method developed to predict cancer and drug-specific immunotherapy efficacy

Houston Methodist researchers have developed a mathematical model to predict how specific cancers will respond to immunotherapy treatments, thus enhancing chances for successful treatments from a wide variety of cancer-immunotherapy drug combinations. The results were published last month in Nature Biomedical Engineering in collaboration with researchers at MD Anderson Cancer Center.

US adults report highest stress level since early days of the COVID-19 pandemic

As the U.S. confronts a bitter election season, political unrest and violence, a shaky economy, and a soaring death toll due to COVID-19, 84% of U.S. adults say the country has serious societal issues that we need to address, according to a new poll.

Latest review shows intensive care mortality from COVID-19 continued to fall in 2020, but improvement is slowing

A meta-analysis of global studies published in Anaesthesia shows that intensive care morality from COVID-19 has continued to fall since the start of the pandemic, but the improvement is slowing and may have plateaued. The study is by Professor Tim Cook (Consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust, Bath, UK, and Honorary Professor, School of Medicine, University of Bristol, UK) and colleagues.

COVID-19 intensive care mortality in Sweden lower than in many studies from other countries

New research reveals that the COVID-19 intensive care (ICU) mortality rate in Sweden was lower during the first wave of the pandemic than in many studies from other countries. And while analysis of individual underlying conditions found they were linked to mortality, an analysis looking at all these variables together found COVID-19 mortality in intensive care was not associated with underlying conditions, except for chronic lung disease. This new study did, however, find that, like previous research, mortality was driven by age, severity of COVID-19 disease and the presence and extent of organ failure.

X-Stop vs Laminectomy for lumbar spinal stenosis: Quality of life and cost-effectiveness

Researchers in the United Kingdom (UK) conducted a randomized controlled trial in 47 patients with lumbar spinal stenosis to compare treatment outcomes and costs of two competing surgical procedures: insertion of the X-Stop (Medtronic) interspinous distractor device and open decompression surgery with laminectomy. Both procedures improved the patients' quality of life; however, overall, laminectomy gave patients a better quality of life and was also more cost-effective.