Monthly Archives: May 2019
Is the gravimetric water content true? NIR spectroscopy gives an answer for polymers and composites
A common way to measure water content is by weighting the polymer or a composite sample, using a gravimetric method. This method often overlooks that there is already some water inside the initial (mistakenly called “dry”) material.
Non-invasive prenatal testing – safer or simply more profitable?
Non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) is growing more and more popularand is advertised worldwide by dozens of companies as a safer alternative to invasive testing. In most countries it is paid for privately by the patient. But its
Behind the journey to spawn of European eels: expression and role of adrenergic receptors during silvering
Eels make an astonishing journey to spawn, migrating from Europe to the Sargasso Sea, near Bermuda, and back again. After spawning, larvae are transported by the Gulf Stream to the continental shelf of Europe and North Africa,
Climate change and the unfeasibility of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
With recent upward trends in global temperatures and sea levels, many countries are experiencing higher rates of evapotranspiration, groundwater depletion, water salinity, and loss of habitats. Moreover, increases in living standards entail higher consumption of animal products
Inhibitors of intracellular enzymes for treatment of multiple sclerosis
Lymphocytes are white blood cells that are central in the immune response to foreign microorganisms. Like all cells, lymphocytes have a membrane, a lipid bilayer, that envelops the content of the cell. Proteins attached to the cell
Finding the beta-beta residue pairing for protein structure prediction
Prediction of the tertiary structure of proteins from their amino acid sequences is of great importance and of urgent demand in structural bioinformatics and biophysics, especially considering the increasing gap between the numbers of sequences and structures
Repetitive DNA in the ABCA7 gene influences Alzheimer’s disease
Dementia, which is characterized by decline of memory or other cognitive traits to the extent that a person’s daily functioning is affected, is one of the most important global health challenges of our time. Approximately 50 million
Objectivity applied to embodied subjects
Objectivity is a contested concept, especially when applied to human beings. Subjectivity is pervasive in human life, and personal passions and feelings are spices of daily existence. We argue that a cognitive concept of objectivity is appropriate
English borrowing: 5+ tips on how to write borrowed words correctly
Posted by Noah Harris How often do you dig yourself deeper into a hole how to write affect or effect, lay or lie, grey or gray? If it happens to you very often, what to say about
A new biomarker for Triple negative breast cancer MCP-1 drives cancer invasiveness and metastasis
Breast Cancer is the second leading cause of mortality in women in the United States. Breast cancer arise in the ducts of the mammary glands that produces milk in a lactating breast. Breast cancers usually express various
Can historians work with environmental scientists? New insights for addressing climate change from interdisciplinary research
How can we uncover how past societies responded to and accommodated changes in their physical environment? It is an important question, because climate change as well as natural events such as droughts, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions could
Advanced plasmonics: Self-assembly brings order
Nanoporous self-organized membranes are complex, sophisticatedly fabricated, hierarchical nanostructures which combine several unique properties such as very developed surface area and long pores through the whole free-standing or surface-bond films of several micrometers to several hundred micrometres
miR-146 and miR-155, two key modulators of the immune response and of the oncogenic transformation
Micro-RNA (miRNAs or miRs) are small noncoding RNAs that negatively regulate protein coding gene transcripts and exert an important role in the control of gene expression. miRs are deregulated in many tumors and play an active role
Bone marrow chilling could warm the body
In order to keep warm during cold exposure, heat production must be increased. This can be achieved through non-shivering and shivering thermogenesis. The main tissue involved in non-shivering thermogenesis is brown adipose tissue (BAT) which is located
Crossing borders to accelerate diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases
Neurodegenerative diseases of the Central Nervous System are affecting 50 million people worldwide. The forecast is that these numbers will steeply increase due to the aging population. These diseases are difficult to diagnose, due to a substantial
Parkinson disease: a tale of three neurotransmitters
The progressive loss of dopaminergic innervation of the basal ganglia, in particular of the dorsal striatum (putamen) is responsible for the motor signs of Parkinson disease such as bradykinesia, rigidity and loss of postural reflexes. Present therapies
No-bonding reactivity of Helium under pressure
Noble gas (NG) elements have been thought historically to be chemically inert. Nevertheless, already in 1930, Pauling predicted that Xenon could react with other elements. Thirty years later, Bartlett synthetized the first Xe compound, Xe+[PtF6]–. High pressure
Disengaging ATF6 from DREAM for neuroprotection
To study early changes in neuronal function during the pre-symptomatic phase of a given neurodegenerative disease is very important. It could deliver early diagnostic markers, offer prognostic clues about disease progression and uncover novel therapeutic targets for
Grandmothers’ breastfeeding stories to mothers: a knowledge translation gift
Breastfeeding is an ideal way to feed babies that promotes and protects health throughout life. In the Northwest Territories, Canada, in follow-up to a study from one region of the territory, we conducted a territory-wide study to
Therapeutic delivery vehicle development by combinatorial post-modification
Polymers are widely used in the construction of nanocarriers for therapeutic delivery because of their precisely controllable structure and low toxicity. Combinatorially modified polymers usually have a portion of similar structures, while other specific structures determine the
