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George Mason University researchers and World Bank launch web portal for hospitals

(George Mason University) The team's work supports evidence-based decision making, informed by models, to rethink and facilitate hospital operations during the pandemic.




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Computational techniques explore 'the dark side of amyloid aggregation in the brain'

(University of Massachusetts Amherst) As physicians and families know too well, though Alzheimer's disease has been intensely studied for decades, too much is still not known about molecular processes in the brain that cause it. Now researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst say new insights from analytic theory and molecular simulation techniques offer a better understanding of amyloid fibril growth and brain pathology.




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Understanding the diversity of cancer evolution based on computational simulation

(The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo) Understanding the principles of cancer evolution is important in designing a therapeutic strategy. A research group at The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo (IMSUT) announced a new simulation model that describes various modes of cancer evolution in a unified manner.




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Astronomers could spot life signs orbiting long-dead stars

(Cornell University) To help future scientists make sense of what their telescopes are showing them, Cornell University astronomers have developed a spectral field guide for rocky worlds orbiting white dwarf stars.




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Research reveals possibly active tectonic system on the moon

(Brown University) Strange spots scattered across the moon's nearside where bedrock is conspicuously exposed are evidence of seismic activity set in motion 4.3 billion years ago that could be ongoing today, the researchers say.




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Exoplanets: How we'll search for signs of life

(Arizona State University) An interdisciplinary team of researchers, led by Arizona State University, has provided a framework called a 'detectability index' to help prioritize exoplanets to study and provide scientists with a tool to select the best targets for observation and maximize the chances of detecting life.




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NASA CubeSat mission to gather vital space weather data

(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) NASA has selected a new pathfinding CubeSat mission to gather data not collected since the agency flew the Dynamics Explorer in the early 1980s.




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Highly efficient hydrogen gas production using sunlight, water and hematite

(Kobe University) Hydrogen is a possible next generation energy solution, and it can be produced from sunlight and water using photocatalysts. A research group from Kobe University has developed a strategy that greatly increases the amount of hydrogen produced using hematite photocatalysts. In addition to boosting the high efficiency of what is thought to be the world's highest performing photoanode, this strategy will be applied to artificial photosynthesis and solar water-splitting technologies via university-industry collaborations.




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Fly ash geopolymer concrete: Significantly enhanced resistance to extreme alkali attack

(University of Johannesburg) Fly ash generated by coal-fired power stations is a global environmental headache, creating groundwater and air pollution from vast landfills and ash dams. The waste product can be repurposed into geopolymer concrete, such as precast heat-cured structural elements for buildings. However, a critical durability problem has been low resistance to extreme alkali attack. UJ researchers found that high temperature heat-treatment at 200 degrees Celsius can halve this harmful mechanism in fly ash geopolymer concretes.




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Carbon footprint hotspots: Mapping China's export-driven emissions

(University of Michigan) The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted just how reliant the United States and other countries are on Chinese manufacturing, with widespread shortages of protective medical gear produced there.




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A radar for plastic: High-resolution map of 1 kilometer grids to track plastic emissions in seas

(Tokyo University of Science) Plastic waste often ends up in river bodies and oceans, posing a serious threat to the marine ecosystem. To prevent the accumulation of plastic debris, we must find out where plastic emission is prevalent. To this end, scientists in Japan have come up with a new method to track plastic emissions from inland areas to sea. This method is useful to identify the 'hotspots' of plastic emission and can even help to implement appropriate measures to avoid plastic pollution.




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Archaeologists verify Florida's Mound Key as location of elusive Spanish fort

(Florida Museum of Natural History) Florida and Georgia archaeologists have discovered the location of Fort San Antón de Carlos, home of one of the first Jesuit missions in North America. The Spanish fort was built in 1566 in the capital of the Calusa, the most powerful Native American tribe in the region, on present-day Mound Key in the center of Estero Bay on Florida's Gulf Coast.




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Diverse livelihoods helped resilient Levänluhta people survive a climate disaster

(University of Helsinki) A multidisciplinary research group coordinated by the University of Helsinki dated the bones of dozens of Iron Age residents of the Levänluhta site in Finland, and studied the carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios. The results provide an overview of the dietary habits based on terrestrial, marine and freshwater ecosystems, as well as of sources of livelihoods throughout the Levänluhta era.




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Study reveals rich genetic diversity of Vietnam

(Molecular Biology and Evolution (Oxford University Press)) In a new paper, Dang Liu, Mark Stoneking and colleagues have analyzed newly generated genome-wide SNP data for the Kinh and 21 additional ethnic groups in Vietnam, encompassing all five major language families in MSEA, along with previously published data from nearby populations and ancient samples.




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X-ray analysis sheds light on construction and conservation of artefacts from Henry VIII's warship

(University of Warwick) 21st century X-ray technology has allowed University of Warwick scientists to peer back through time at the production of the armour worn by the crew of Henry VIII's favoured warship, the Mary Rose.




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Deformed skulls in an ancient cemetery reveal a multicultural community in transition

(PLOS) The ancient cemetery of Mözs-Icsei d?l? in present-day Hungary holds clues to a unique community formation during the beginnings of Europe's Migration Period, according to a study published April 29, 2020 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Corina Knipper from the Curt-Engelhorn-Center for Archaeometry, Germany, István Koncz, Tivadar Vida from the Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary and colleagues.




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Demographic expansion of several Amazonian archaeological cultures by computer simulation

(Universitat Pompeu Fabra - Barcelona) Expansions by groups of humans were common during prehistoric times, after the adoption of agriculture. Among other factors, this is due to population growth of farmers which was greater than of that hunter-gatherers. We can find one example of this during the Neolithic period, when farming was introduced to Europe by migrations from the Middle East.




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Fossil reveals evidence of 200-million-year-old 'squid' attack

(University of Plymouth) Researchers say a fossil found on the Jurassic coast of southern England in the 19th century demonstrates the world's oldest known example of a squid-like creature attacking its prey.




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New freeze-resistant trichinella species discovered in wolverines

(US Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service) A new freeze-resistant Trichinella species has been discovered in wolverines by Agricultural Research Service scientists and their colleagues. Trichinella are parasites that cause the disease trichinosis (formally referred to as trichinellosis), which people can get by eating raw or undercooked meat from infected animals.




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Outsmarting the enemy: Treefrogs rely on illusions to find a mate without being eaten

(Purdue University) Researchers at Purdue University have discovered that male treefrogs reduce their attractiveness to predators and parasites by overlapping their mating calls with their neighbors.




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Arizona State University scientists rewire photosynthesis to fuel our future

(Arizona State University) Hydrogen is an essential commodity with over 60 million tons produced globally every year. However over 95 percent of it is made by steam reformation of fossil fuels, a process that is energy intensive and produces carbon dioxide. If we could replace even a part of that with algal biohydrogen that is made via light and water, it would have a substantial impact.




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Modeling gas diffusion in aggregated soils

(American Society of Agronomy) Researchers develop soil-gas diffusivity model based on two agricultural soils.




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University of Tennessee extension forester named 2020 Forester of the Year

(University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture) David Mercker, an Extension forestry specialist with the University of Tennessee Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries, has been named 2020 Extension Forester of the Year by the Forest Landowners Association (FLA). FLA is a national organization that promotes and protects the interests of private forest landowners and bestows this award annually as determined by its board of directors.




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First results from NASA's ICESat-2 mission map 16 years of melting ice sheets

(University of Washington) By comparing new measurements from NASA's ICESat-2 mission with the original ICESat mission, which operated from 2003 to 2009, scientists were able to measure precisely how the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have changed over 16 years.




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Seafloor currents may direct microplastics to biodiversity hotspots of the deep

(American Association for the Advancement of Science) Microplastic particles entering the sea surface were thought to settle to the seafloor directly below them, but now, a new study reveals that slow-moving currents near the bottom of the ocean direct the flow of plastics, creating microplastic hotpots in sediments of the deep sea.




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Data from 2 space lasers comprehensively estimate polar ice loss and sea level rise

(American Association for the Advancement of Science) Ice sheet losses from Greenland and Antarctica have outpaced snow accumulation and contributed approximately 14 millimeters to sea level rise over 16 years (2003 to 2019), a new analysis of data from NASA's laser-shooting satellites has revealed.




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Ocean acidification prediction now possible years in advance

(University of Colorado at Boulder) CU Boulder researchers have developed a method that could enable scientists to accurately forecast ocean acidity up to five years in advance. This would enable fisheries and communities that depend on seafood negatively affected by ocean acidification to adapt to changing conditions in real time, improving economic and food security in the next few decades.




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Using AI to map marine environments

(University of Bath) Researchers at the University of Bath have developed an AI model that can automatically classify underwater environments directly from sonar measurements.




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A Wisconsin chief justice faced backlash for blaming a county's coronavirus outbreak on meatpacking employees, not 'regular folks'

Chief Justice Patience Roggensack faced backlash for her comment, with some people calling it "elitist" to separate meatpackers from "regular folks."





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Fresno residents adjust to first day of mandatory face masks

You can now add Fresno to the growing list of cities that are now requiring people to wear face masks in public places.





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Working women, and especially single moms, are hit hard by coronavirus downturn

Now Swain, 40, spends her evenings having dinner with her girls, age 5 and 8, and studying for her real-estate license, which she hopes will provide more long-term stability for her family after the coronavirus crisis upended her livelihood. "I can't be put in a position like this again," said Swain, a bartender for 20 years. American women are taking an outsized hit from the early wave of unemployment caused by the pandemic, due to the nature of the jobs that were lost in the business shutdowns to control the spread of the coronavirus.





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Russian hackers accessed emails from Merkel's constituency office: Der Spiegel

Russia's GRU military intelligence service appears to have got hold of many emails from Chancellor Angela Merkel's constituency office in a 2015 hack attack on Germany's parliament, Der Spiegel magazine reported on Friday, without citing its sources. A spokesman for the German government had no immediate comment. Der Spiegel said federal criminal police and the federal cyber agency had been able to partially reconstruct the attack and found that two email inboxes from Merkel's office had been targeted.





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A standard for real-time calculation of pollutant emissions allocated to the use of ICT

(École de technologie supérieure) The first ever standard for real-time calculation of pollutant emissions allocated to the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) was recently introduced, thanks to the work of the IEEE ICT Emissions Working Group Committe, chaired by Mohamed Cheriet, a Professor in the Systems Engineering Department at École de technologie supérieure. Under the auspices of the IEEE Standards Association, the Working Group Committee is made up of researchers from diverse backgrounds and many different countries.




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Life Sciences undergraduates track bird song and coral reef diversity from home

As part of the College's move to remote learning, 143 first-year students are taking a series of virtual field courses to investigate biodiversity.




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Coronavirus mutations offer insights into virus evolution

By analysing virus genomes from over 7,500 people infected with Covid-19, researchers have characterised patterns of diversity of SARS-CoV-2 genome.




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Sleeter receives funding for historical simulations on diplomacy

(George Mason University) Nathan Sleeter, Research Assistant Professor, Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media (RRCHNM), is directing a project in which RRCHNM will create three classroom simulations based on events from the history of diplomacy for secondary education instructors.




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nTIDE April 2020 jobs report: COVID recession hits workers with disabilities harder

(Kessler Foundation) Andrew Houtenville, Ph.D., research director of the University of New Hampshire's Institute on Disability: 'Unlike the Great Recession and the Great Depression, many workers in the COVID Recession may be 'on temporary layoff' (aka furloughed) and may be recalled, rather than losing their jobs completely. To further investigate this issue, we plan to release a Special nTIDE Report on May 15.'




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UCSF expert to offer 'confessions of unfocused researcher' on road to better care

(American Geriatrics Society) The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) and AGS Health in Aging Foundation today announced that Alexander K. Smith, MD, MPH, an associate professor of medicine at UCSF and one of geriatrics' most influential rising researchers and advocates, will be honored with the 2020/2021 Thomas and Catherine Yoshikawa Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement in Clinical Investigation.




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Dr. Ellen Flaherty, prestigious Henderson lecturer, sets sight on key priority for us all

(American Geriatrics Society) The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) today announced that Ellen Flaherty, PhD, APRN, AGSF, an assistant professor at the Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine and director of the Dartmouth Centers for Health & Aging, will deliver the society's prestigious Henderson State-of-the-Art Lecture. Dr. Flaherty will deliver her talk, Leveraging the Potential of Interprofessional Teams in Primary Care Practice, at the AGS 2021 Annual Scientific Meeting (#AGS21) in Chicago, Ill. (May 12-15, 2021).




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Geriatrics experts award high honor to visionary organization: West Health

(American Geriatrics Society) For only the second time in its near 80-year history, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) will award one of its highest honors typically reserved for individuals to West Health, a family of nonprofit organizations dedicated to lowering healthcare costs to enable older adults to successfully age in place.




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AGS honors society's first pharmacist president with prestigious Nascher/Manning award

(American Geriatrics Society) The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) will this year honor past AGS President Todd Semla, PharmD, MS, AGSF, with the prestigious Nascher/Manning Award, given biannually at the AGS Annual Scientific Meeting (#AGS21, to be held next year May 13-15 in Chicago, Ill., following the cancellation of the AGS 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting due to COVID-19).




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OU Reproductive Medicine physician receives grant to further study frozen embryo transfers

(University of Oklahoma) OU Medicine recently received a $1.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study one method of embryo transfer involved in IVF: cryopreserved (frozen) embryo transfer.




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Study shows wetter climate is likely to intensify global warming

(Virginia Institute of Marine Science) New study indicates the increase in rainfall forecast by global climate models is likely to hasten the release of carbon dioxide from tropical soils, further intensifying global warming by adding to human emissions of this greenhouse gas into Earth's atmosphere.




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Researchers present a microbial strain capable of massive succinic acid production

(The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)) A research team led by Distinguished Professor Sang-Yup Lee reported the production of a microbial strain capable of the massive production of succinic acid with the highest production efficiency to date. This strategy of integrating systems metabolic engineering with enzyme engineering will be useful for the production of industrially competitive bio-based chemicals.




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Position statement addresses difficult issue: allocating scare resources in COVID-19 era

(American Geriatrics Society) The COVID-19 pandemic has placed unprecedented pressure on societies worldwide, given the pandemic's rapid, often deadly spread. In health care, the pandemic has raised the pressing question of how society should allocate scarce resources during a crisis. This is the question experts addressed today in a new position statement published by the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (DOI: 10.1111/jgs.16537).




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Which COVID-19 models should we use to make policy decisions?

(Penn State) A new process to harness multiple disease models for outbreak management has been developed by an international team of researchers. The team will immediately implement the process to help inform policy decisions for the COVID-19 outbreak.




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Addressing the ethical considerations of SARS-CoV-2 human challenge trials

(American Association for the Advancement of Science) While an effective vaccine for the SARS-CoV-2 virus is likely many months away, development could be accelerated by conducting controlled human infection (CHI) studies -- which are increasingly being considered by the scientific community due to the urgent need.




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Deciphering the hidden interactions within biological networks of varying sizes

(University of Tsukuba) Researchers from the University of Tsukuba discovered that fish schools showed a significant change in behavior with varying school sizes. Using integrated information theory, they showed that a significant change in the interaction between the fish and the overall collective behavior occurred between three- and four-fish schools, including the emergence of leadership within the group. These findings help understand the dynamics of collective behavior.




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Addressing Health Literacy and Numeracy to Improve Diabetes Education and Care

Richard O. White
Oct 1, 2010; 23:238-243
Articles




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Insights From the National Diabetes Education Program National Diabetes Survey: Opportunities for Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support

Linda J. Piccinino
May 1, 2017; 30:95-100
From Research to Practice