Yearly Archives: 2016
The price of escalating drug dose to treat rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with its characteristic joint swelling, inflammation, pain and stiffness, may be treated with biologic disease-modifying drugs. One class of drug belonging to this group inhibits tumor necrosis factor (TNF), which plays an important role
Don’t underestimate biodiversity
When you are delimiting species, the units of biodiversity, you must be as up-to-date as possible. We are everyday finding out new things about the living world: discovering new species, reworking the classification and affinities of old ones,
Effect of Na/Li concentration in ionic liquid electrolytes for ion batteries
In recent years, the emergence of wireless gadgets used in our daily life as for example smartphones, laptops, tablets, shavers, electric toothbrushes, among many others makes essential the improvement of the technology that involves the energy storage.
Amazing events in a glass of water
Have you ever thought about what happens when a pill which has to treat for example your headache, is immersed into water (or any other fluid) and sinks to the bottom of a glass? A number of
Innovative tools to improve accuracy of long-term biogeochemical measurements in open ocean
The ocean monitoring plans implemented by European countries differ widely for type of observed variables, resolution and accuracy making difficult to obtain an eterogeneous indication about the health of the European seas. This is specially true for
Can you be sure there’s a difference?
Student’s T test is a frequent method scientists use to “prove something”. The logic of this test is difficult. Very few scientists understand it well. In particular they don’t understand that if the same experiment is done
Aorta tertiary lymphoid organs: Powerhouses of B cell immunity in atherosclerosis
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death worldwide. Yet, our understanding of how the immune system impacts CVD is very limited and immune system-based therapeutic approaches are not in sight. Lymphocytes are major cellular constituents
Long cycle-life shape memory polyimide with energy-storage capacity at high temperature
Shape memory materials such as shape memory polymers (SMP) and shape memory alloys (SMA) have been used in many fields. SMP possesses advantages such as easy process, large recoverable strains and light weight over SMA, but long
Nurses’ thoughts on fall prevention actions and programs
Falls are the most commonly reported patient safety incidents in hospitals (Haines et al., 2013). Fall prevention actions that are customized to reduce patient-specific fall risk factors are essential to reduce falls and fall injuries. Evidence-based (EB)
Hair fibres may turn into micro-tubes
The proteins fulfil their functions over certain ranges of pH, pressure, temperature. Focusing on the temperature, the permitted window is not very large; most of proteins become inactive (denature, therefore lose their function) below 100 °C and
Magnetic Lorentz force modulates circular oscillations of free electrons in thiolate-protected silver nanoparticles
Silver and gold nanoparticles are especially attractive because their free electrons can be excited to oscillate collectively with visible light irradiation, which is known as “surface plasmon resonance (SPR)” oscillation, and it strongly contributes to their apparent
Clinical Utility curve assists clinical decision making
In medicine, clinicians frequently make decisions based on incomplete information, and they must balance the potential benefits and risks from any decision, such as a decision to perform a diagnostic procedure. For example, when a patient presents
One ideal spinal posture does not exist
Postural rehabilitation and/or ergonomic guidelines are frequently the base of both the revalidation from spinal pain as well as prevention strategies for low back pain. In ergonomic advices, people are frequently instructed to adopt a neutral spinal
High-functioning children with autism and their language difficulties
Autism is a developmental disorder that expands along a long spectrum and implicates a number of difficulties for communication and social interaction. The problems of individuals with autism with language vary and correlate, to a large extent,
Carbon isotopes – the chemist’s tool to trace marijuana cultivation environment
The lawful usage of marijuana is a complex legal minefield and point of conflict between states and the federal government. With the US Drug Enforcement Administration recently reaffirming marijuana as a Schedule I Drug, the cultivation, possession,
Von Willebrand factor – the blood vessel plumber
Inconspicuous in its inactive state, a protein called “von Willebrand factor” (VWF) evolves to a real lifesaver in case of an injury. Blood clotting is responsible for stopping a wound from bleeding, but how does this work?
Bacterial infection can be diagnosed and the severity evaluated using WBC count and left shift
In the event of bacterial infection, large numbers of neutrophils migrate from the blood to the infected site in order to destroy the invading microorganism and thus protect the host. The neutrophils removed from the peripheral blood
Combined technology for ready-to-cook meat safety and shelf-life extension
Meat is a highly perishable product. At its production chain, the physicochemical and microbiological quality of meat can be deteriorated because of the physiological status of the animal at slaughter, the spread of contamination during slaughter and
Rise of the gaseous (carbon dioxide) feedstock in circular bioeconomy
Voluminous release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere due to incessant combustion of hydrocarbon based fuel is causing grave environmental effects and irreversible climate changes globally. With the dawn of 20th century industrialization ~9.1 gigatons of CO2
Life emerged from oil
One approach to understanding the origin of life has been to construct chemical models of the cell. To represent the primitive cell membrane, researchers use various molecular assemblies. Among them, the “giant vesicle”, a micrometer-sized hollow structure
