Friday 16 July 2021

One in two COVID hospital cases develop complications: study

As many as one in every two people hospitalized with severe COVID-19 go on to develop other health complications, according to comprehensive new research released on Friday.

Melbourne returns to lockdown as Australia scrambles to curb outbreak

Melbourne's streets returned to the eerie quiet of lockdown for the fifth time Friday, as Australia battled to contain an outbreak of the Delta variant of COVID-19 in its two largest cities.

Aussie scientists see life-saving potential in spider venom

A group of Australia-based scientists are looking to venom from a deadly native spider to actually save lives, by halting the harmful effects of heart attacks.

China steps up climate fight with emissions trading scheme

China launched its long-awaited emissions trading system on Friday, a key tool in its quest to drive down climate change-causing greenhouse gases and go carbon neutral by 2060.

BioNTech produces 10 times more antibodies than China's Sinovac: study

People who received BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine had ten times the amount of antibodies than those given China's Sinovac, a Hong Kong study has shown, adding to growing data on different jabs' effectiveness.

Using migration data to fine-tune marketing strategies to rural Indian communities

Researchers from National University of Singapore and Stanford University published a new paper in the Journal of Marketing that investigates how rural consumers in India shift their expenditures towards branded consumption when they migrate to urban areas.

Common medication used to reduce cholesterol levels may reduce COVID-19 severity

In a new study from University of California San Diego School of Medicine, researchers have confirmed that patients taking statin medications had a 41 percent lower risk of in-hospital death from COVID-19. The findings were published July 15, 2021 in PLOS ONE and expand upon prior research conducted at UC San Diego Health in 2020.

Scientists turn methane into methanol at room temperature

A team of researchers from Stanford University and the University of Leuven in Belgium has further elucidated an intriguing process that could be an important step toward a methanol fuel economy with abundant methane as the feedstock, an advance that could fundamentally change how the world uses natural gas.

Chemical reactions break free from energy barriers using flyby trajectories

A new study shows that it is possible to use mechanical force to deliberately alter chemical reactions and increase chemical selectivity—a grand challenge of the field.

Q&A: What is China's carbon trading scheme?

China Friday launched the world's biggest carbon trading system to help lower emissions, but critics and analysts have raised doubts about whether it will have a significant impact.

Ficlatuzumab plus chemotherapy may benefit patients with relapsed/refractory AML

The investigational therapeutic ficlatuzumab in combination with chemotherapy showed signs of clinical efficacy in patients with relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia, according to results published in Blood Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Screening often misses endometrial cancer in Black women

A screening tool used to evaluate the need for endometrial cancer biopsies in women frequently misses the signs of this cancer in Black women, according to a new study released today in JAMA Oncology.

Europe floods: search for missing goes on as toll tops 90

The death toll from devastating floods across parts of western Germany and Belgium rose above 90 on Friday, as the search continued for hundreds of people still unaccounted for.

With virus cases rising, mask mandate back on in Los Angeles

Los Angeles County will again require masks be worn indoors in the nation's largest county, even by those vaccinated against the coronavirus, while the University of California system also said Thursday that students, faculty and staff must be inoculated against the disease to return to campuses.

1st female grizzly in 40 years collared in Washington state

Wildlife biologists have captured a female grizzly bear in Washington state for the first time in 40 years, fitting it with a radio collar so they can track its movements, officials said Thursday.

Evacuations expand in Oregon as fire spreads erratically

More people living along the eastern edge of an Oregon wildfire were told to evacuate late Thursday as the inferno began spreading rapidly and erratically in hot afternoon winds and threatened to merge with a nearby, smaller fire that had also exploded in size.

Arrival of land plants changed Earth's climate control system

The arrival of plants on land about 400 million years ago may have changed the way the Earth naturally regulates its own climate, according to a new study led by researchers at UCL and Yale.

Long COVID: More likely in patients with 5+ symptoms in first week of infection

The presence of more than five symptoms of COVID-19 in the first week of infection is significantly associated with the development of long COVID, irrespective of age or gender, according to a new review published by the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.

Food insufficiency linked to lack of mental health services during pandemic

A new national study published in Public Health Nutrition on July 15 found that Americans experiencing food insufficiency were three times as likely to lack mental health support during the COVID-19 pandemic than those not experiencing food insufficiency.

National survey IDs gaps and opportunities for regenerative medicine workforce

Answering a charge from the National Science Board, the RegenMed Development Organization (ReMDO), through its RegeneratOR Workforce Development Initiative, has released the results of a national survey of regenerative medicine biomanufacturing knowledge, skills, and abilities needed for successful employment in the regenerative medicine field.

Self-inflicted firearm injuries three times more common in rural youth

A national study published in the Journal of Pediatrics found that Emergency Department (ED) visits by youth for self-harm were nearly 40 percent higher in rural areas compared to urban settings. Strikingly, ED visits by youth for self-inflicted firearm injuries were three times more common in rural areas. Youth from rural areas presenting to the ED for suicidal ideation or self-harm also were more likely to need to be transferred to another hospital for care, which underscores the insufficient mental health resources in rural hospitals.

Unconventional superconductor acts the part of a promising quantum computing platform

Scientists on the hunt for an unconventional kind of superconductor have produced the most compelling evidence to date that they've found one. In a pair of papers, researchers at the University of Maryland's (UMD) Quantum Materials Center (QMC) and colleagues have shown that uranium ditelluride (or UTe2 for short) displays many of the hallmarks of a topological superconductor—a material that may unlock new ways to build quantum computers and other futuristic devices.

Nearly 20 percent of intact forest landscapes overlap with extractive industries

A new study from WCS and WWF reveals that nearly 20 percent of tropical Intact Forest Landscapes (IFLs) overlap with concessions for extractive industries such as mining, oil and gas. The total area of overlap is 376,449 square miles (975,000 square kilometers), about the size of Egypt. Mining concessions overlap most with tropical IFLs, at 11.33 percent of the total area, while oil and gas concessions overlap with 7.85 percent of the total area.