The Blessings Products Blog.: July 2019

Wednesday, 31 July 2019

Excitonic insulators: Experimental observation of a new class of materials

A University of Wollongong / Monash University collaboration has found evidence of a new phase of matter predicted in the 1960s: the excitonic insulator.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/excitonic-insulators-experimental-observation-of-a-new-class-of-materials

Stomach-protecting medicines can trigger allergies

Stomach-protecting drugs are widely used. Now, using quantitative prescribing data from Austria, a study conducted by MedUni Vienna in collaboration with the Austrian Social Insurance Institutions, has shown that stomach-protecting drugs (especially so-called proton pump inhibitors or PPIs) correlate with subsequent prescriptions for anti-allergy medication. Based on virtually the entire population, this now validates the finding of previous epidemiological and experimental studies that stomach-protecting drugs can intensify or even trigger allergies. The risk of an allergic reaction to allergens that requires anti-allergy treatment is doubled or even tripled. The results were recently published in Nature Communications.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/stomach-protecting-medicines-can-trigger-allergies

Scientists say 10 warmest UK years have all been since 2002

Britain's weather service says the country's 10 hottest years since the 19th century have all occurred since 2002, as climate change makes the U.K. warmer and wetter.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/scientists-say-10-warmest-uk-years-have-all-been-since-2002

Blood pressure control less likely among those treated in low-income areas

People enrolled in a large clinical hypertension management trial were half as likely to control their blood pressure if they received care at clinics and primary care practices in low-income areas, according to new research in Journal of the American Heart Association, the Open Access Journal of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/blood-pressure-control-less-likely-among-those-treated-in-low-income-areas

First pictures of enzyme that drives new class of antibiotics

Understanding how antibiotic scaffolds are constructed in nature can help scientists prospect for new classes of antibiotics through DNA sequencing and genome mining. Researchers have used this knowledge to help solve the X-ray crystal structure of the enzyme that makes obafluorin—a broad spectrum antibiotic agent made by a fluorescent strain of soil bacteria. The new work from Washington University in St. Louis and the University at Buffalo is published July 31 in the journal Nature Communications.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/first-pictures-of-enzyme-that-drives-new-class-of-antibiotics

EPA clears path for proposed copper and gold mine near Alaska's Bristol Bay

Federal officials said Tuesday they would not block a proposed copper and gold mine near Alaska's Bristol Bay despite objections by critics who contend it would imperil a fishery and harm wetlands and streams.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/epa-clears-path-for-proposed-copper-and-gold-mine-near-alaskas-bristol-bay

Vaquita porpoise about to go extinct, researchers warn

The vaquita porpoise, one of the world's most endangered animals, could become extinct within a year if fishing nets continue being used illegally, a university in Scotland warned on Wednesday.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/vaquita-porpoise-about-to-go-extinct-researchers-warn

Researchers raise the heat on molten metals to forge future technologies

Solid-state materials are important for developing new technologies, from renewable energy applications to electronics. Manufacturing these advanced materials often requires metal-flux synthesis, a complex process that relies heavily on costly trial-and-error.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/researchers-raise-the-heat-on-molten-metals-to-forge-future-technologies

Biodiversity highest on Indigenous-managed lands

More than one million plant and animal species worldwide are facing extinction, according to a recent United Nations report. Now, a new UBC-led study suggests that Indigenous-managed lands may play a critical role in helping species survive.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/biodiversity-highest-on-indigenous-managed-lands

Overturning the truth on conservation tillage

Just as we blend, cut, and fold ingredients together to follow a recipe, farmers use equipment to stir together soil and crop residue (stalks and roots of previous crops) before planting. This mechanical action is called tillage.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/overturning-the-truth-on-conservation-tillage

Many North American indigenous youth experience symptoms of depression during adolescence

Studies of youth and their experiences with depression have tended not to include Indigenous youth. A new study that analyzed data on the development of depressive symptoms among Indigenous youth in the United States and Canada found that many of the youth had experienced these symptoms during adolescence. The study also identified the risks associated with developing symptoms of depression and how depressive symptoms were associated with alcohol use disorder.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/many-north-american-indigenous-youth-experience-symptoms-of-depression-during-adolescence

PE fitness tests have little positive impact for students

A new study reveals that school fitness tests have little impact on student attitudes to PE—contrary to polarised views on their merits—and for many students, fitness testing during PE may be wasting valuable class time when used in isolation from the curriculum.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/pe-fitness-tests-have-little-positive-impact-for-students

Increased risk of cardiovascular disease for healthy 75-year-olds who stop taking statins

Statins are known to reduce the risk of further problems in patients of any age who have already suffered heart problems or stroke. However, until now it has not been clear how effective their use is in preventing such events occurring in healthy people aged 75 and over, with no previous history of cardiovascular disease.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/increased-risk-of-cardiovascular-disease-for-healthy-75-year-olds-who-stop-taking-statins

Rare photo captures sea lion falling into mouth of whale

In a stunning photo, a wildlife photographer has captured a sea lion falling into the mouth of a humpback whale in what he calls a "once-in-a-lifetime" moment.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/rare-photo-captures-sea-lion-falling-into-mouth-of-whale

Glimmer of hope as Italy battles 'olive tree leprosy'

Working in an arid Italian field of crumbly soil, agronomists are battling a rampant bacterium that has already infected millions of olive trees and could threaten the entire Mediterranean basin.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/glimmer-of-hope-as-italy-battles-olive-tree-leprosy

DR Congo makes new push to fight year-old Ebola epidemic

An Ebola epidemic raging in eastern DR Congo marks its first year on Thursday in a mood of fear mingled with hope that fresh money and a change of leadership will turn the tide.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/dr-congo-makes-new-push-to-fight-year-old-ebola-epidemic

Early onset of menstruation associated with higher risk of type 2 diabetes

Diabetes is a global health concern expected to affect 693 million people worldwide by 2045. It's been well documented how diet and exercise influence risk of type 2 diabetes; however, a new study suggests that early menarche also is associated with a higher risk, but body mass index (BMI) may mediate this association. Study results are published online today in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS).

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/early-onset-of-menstruation-associated-with-higher-risk-of-type-2-diabetes

An ancient Egypt-to-Black Sea route? Adventurers to test theory

Were the ancient Egyptians able to use reed boats to travel as far as the Black Sea thousands of years ago?

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/an-ancient-egypt-to-black-sea-route-adventurers-to-test-theory

'80s tape, toy dino: Chinatown archaeological dig cut short

An archaeological dig in Boston's historic Chinatown has been cut short after it turned up a 1980s music cassette, a toy dinosaur and other bric-a-brac.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/80s-tape-toy-dino-chinatown-archaeological-dig-cut-short

'Love hormone' has stomach-turning effect in starfish

A hormone that is released in our brain when we fall in love also makes starfish turn their stomach inside out to feed, according to a new study from Queen Mary University of London.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/love-hormone-has-stomach-turning-effect-in-starfish

Warmer winters could lead to longer blue crab season in Chesapeake Bay

Scientists from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science are predicting that warmer winters in the Chesapeake Bay will likely lead to longer and more productive seasons for Maryland's favorite summer crustacean, the blue crab.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/warmer-winters-could-lead-to-longer-blue-crab-season-in-chesapeake-bay

Children born to older parents tend to have fewer behavior problems

Since 1995, parents in many Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries and in the United States have been having their first babies at a later age. Amid this trend in delayed childbearing, a new Dutch study considered the behavior problems of children born to older parents. Specifically, researchers looked at externalizing behaviors (e.g., aggression) and internalizing behaviors (e.g., anxiety, depression) of children born to older parents when the youth were 10 to 12 years old. They found that children of older parents tend to have fewer externalizing behavior problems than children of younger parents. The researchers also found that parents' age was unrelated to children's internalizing behaviors.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/children-born-to-older-parents-tend-to-have-fewer-behavior-problems

Tuesday, 30 July 2019

A voracious Cambrian predator, Cambroraster, is a new species from the Burgess Shale

Palaeontologists at the Royal Ontario Museum and University of Toronto have uncovered fossils of a large new predatory species in half-a-billion-year-old rocks from Kootenay National Park in the Canadian Rockies. This new species has rake-like claws and a pineapple-slice-shaped mouth at the front of an enormous head, and it sheds light on the diversity of the earliest relatives of insects, crabs, spiders, and their kin. The findings were announced July 31, 2019, in a study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/a-voracious-cambrian-predator-cambroraster-is-a-new-species-from-the-burgess-shale

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Wednesday, 31 July 2019

Tuesday, 30 July 2019

Monday, 29 July 2019