Friday 21 June 2019

Exposure to others' suffering even worse than being shot at

We usually think that trauma from war is related to the fact that soldiers have been under constant threat of death. New research shows a slightly different picture.

* This article was originally published here

National emergency alerts potentially vulnerable to attack

On October 3, 2018, cell phones across the United States received a text message labeled "Presidential Alert." The message read: "THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed."

* This article was originally published here

Applying active inference body perception to a humanoid robot

A key challenge for robotics researchers is developing systems that can interact with humans and their surrounding environment in situations that involve varying degrees of uncertainty. In fact, while humans can continuously learn from their experiences and perceive their body as a whole as they interact with the world, robots do not yet have these capabilities.

* This article was originally published here

Emaciated polar bear found in Russia taken for treatment

An emaciated polar bear seen roaming around an industrial city in Russia far south of its normal sea ice hunting grounds is being transported to a zoo for examination and treatment.

* This article was originally published here

Robot circulatory system powers possibilities

Untethered robots suffer from a stamina problem. A possible solution: a circulating liquid—"robot blood"—to store energy and power its applications for sophisticated, long-duration tasks.

* This article was originally published here

Imaging results, health data combine in AI model to predict breast cancer

Women know the drill: Breast cancer is too commonly a cancer diagnosis to be ignored, as early detection could make a difference. While false positives may cause an enormous amount of undue stress, false negatives have an impact on how early a cancer is detected and subsequently treated.

* This article was originally published here

California launches anti-illegal pot campaign

Marijuana shoppers are going to be getting a message from California regulators: Go legal.

* This article was originally published here

A new drug target for chemically induced Parkinson's disease

More than three decades ago, scientists discovered that a chemical found in a synthetic opioid, MPTP, induced the onset of a form of Parkinson's disease. In a new study led by scientists from the School of Veterinary Medicine, researchers found that an enzyme in the body can metabolize compounds formed in the brain from alkaloids present in certain foods and tobacco into MPTP-like chemicals, triggering a neurodegenerative condition in mice.

* This article was originally published here

Waymo teams up with Renault, Nissan on robotaxis outside US

Self-driving car pioneer Waymo is teaming up with automakers Renault and Nissan to make its first journey outside the U.S. with a ride-hailing service that will dispatch a fleet of robotaxis in France and Japan.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers find new mutation in the leptin gene

The global obesity epidemic is so far-reaching it now has an overarching name: globesity. Texas Biomed Staff Scientist Raul Bastarrachea, M.D., is part of a team that discovered a new mutation in the gene that regulates the key hormone suppressing hunger called leptin. This new mutation could help researchers understand why people develop excess of body fat. Dr. Bastarrachea's research is aimed at helping tackle metabolic disorders like cardiovascular disease and diabetes which are fueled by obesity and impact millions of people around the world.

* This article was originally published here

Whales freed from Russia 'jail' head to sea in trucks

Whales captured to perform in aquariums and held in cramped pens in far eastern Russia on Friday were journeying in trucks back to their home waters after President Vladimir Putin backed their release.

* This article was originally published here

Possible signal pathway in the fight against obesity-related fatty liver disease identified

A research group from the Medical University of Vienna reports how the hormone leptin stimulates the liver to export lipids and reduce the fat production in the liver. This occurs due to the activation of neurons in the brain stem. These findings provide new approaches for the fight against non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which often occurs in connection with obesity. The results were just published in Nature Communications.

* This article was originally published here

Detecting problems of the anti-bleeding system in 60 minutes

Various diseases can cause hemorrhages or thromboses, sometimes fatal, resulting in particular from complications during surgery. This may take the form of a dysfunction of the platelets (hemostasis), the blood cells that plug the holes in the damaged blood vessels. Researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), the University of Franche-Comté (UFC) and the Etablissement français du Sang (Bourgogne Franche Comté), have developed a device called BlooDe to study the plugging capacity of platelets.

* This article was originally published here

Looking for freshwater in all the snowy places

Snowflakes that cover mountains or linger under tree canopies are a vital freshwater resource for over a billion people around the world. To help determine how much freshwater is stored in snow, a team of NASA-funded researchers is creating a computer-based tool that simulates the best way to detect snow and measure its water content from space.

* This article was originally published here

High on iron? It stops anaemia but has a downside

A global study looking at the role that iron plays in 900 diseases has uncovered the impact of both low and high iron levels—and the news is mixed.

* This article was originally published here

Many elderly patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma benefit from targeted therapies

Many elderly patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC)—who are often underrepresented in clinical trials to treat the kidney cancer—are seeing overall survival benefits from treatment with targeted therapies, according to a new study from Penn Medicine researchers published this month in JAMA Network Open. Analyzing 13 years of data on Medicare patients, the study found that the patients who received targeted therapies were more medically complex than those who received the older, more toxic treatments that were available earlier in the study period, indicating that newer treatments are offering hope to more people.

* This article was originally published here

NRL, SwRI to add PUNCH to NASA's solar mission

U.S. Naval Research Laboratory researchers partnered with Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) to shine a light on the impact of the solar atmosphere on the interplanetary medium between the Earth and the Sun.

* This article was originally published here