Monday 8 July 2019

Light touch to improve rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis

A new way of detecting rheumatoid arthritis using infrared light could offer an objective way of diagnosing the disease and monitoring treatment effectiveness, a University of Birmingham study shows.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/light-touch-to-improve-rheumatoid-arthritis-diagnosis

Walmart uses virtual reality to test new store managers

Walmart Inc, the country's largest private employer, is using virtual reality headsets to test which employees have the aptitude for middle management positions.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/walmart-uses-virtual-reality-to-test-new-store-managers

How T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon and Sprint fight robocalls on their network

Answering the phone nowadays can be like playing Russian roulette—eventually, you're going to answer a robocall, and that's a game nobody wants to play.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/how-t-mobile-at-t-verizon-and-sprint-fight-robocalls-on-their-network

Nutritional supplements and diets not always protective, research suggests

Do the nutritional supplements people take or the diets they adhere to actually protect them against cardiovascular problems and death?

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/nutritional-supplements-and-diets-not-always-protective-research-suggests

New anticancer agents may better control tumor growth in nearly every cancer type

A gene called MYC has become one of the hottest targets for cancer researchers around the world. MYC is known to drive tumor growth in nearly all cancer types—but successfully targeting the gene has proven to be a challenge. One that has been baffling researchers for more than three decades.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/new-anticancer-agents-may-better-control-tumor-growth-in-nearly-every-cancer-type

A tale of two proteins: The best and worst of metabolic adaptation

The Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) hypothesis is supported by multiple human epidemiological studies and animal studies. It states that the nutritional environment in early life makes people susceptible to lifestyle-related diseases, such as obesity, diabetes and heart attack, as adults. Many of those diseases exhibit reduced mitochondrial metabolism in the tissues of the body. Now, researchers from Kumamoto University in Japan reveal that two metabolic pathways involved in energy metabolism may play a role in the DOHaD hypothesis.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/a-tale-of-two-proteins-the-best-and-worst-of-metabolic-adaptation

Eight ways to halt a global food crisis

There are serious challenges to global food supply everywhere we look. Intensive use of fertilisers in the US Midwest is causing nutrients to run off into rivers and streams, degrading the water quality and causing a Connecticut-size dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. Chocolate production will soon be challenged in West Africa – home to over half of global production. A variety of nutritional impacts are predicted due to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide—including decreased protein content in food, which has a potential to exacerbate malnutrition. And this is just a very small sample of the risks to the food supply chain that are foreseen.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/eight-ways-to-halt-a-global-food-crisis

Summer Eurasian nonuniform warming found related to the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation

The positive-phase of Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) can indeed cause Eurasian summer nonuniform warming, according to Prof. Shuanglin Li, Dean of Atmospheric Science at the University of Geosciences (Wuhan) and Executive Vice-Director at the Climate Change Research Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and one of the authors of a recently published study.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/summer-eurasian-nonuniform-warming-found-related-to-the-atlantic-multidecadal-oscillation

Two tiny supercomputing Pioneer nanosatellites launched

The latest ESA Partnership Projects mission has launched two tiny supercomputing nanosatellites aboard a Soyuz rocket from Vostochny in Russia.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/two-tiny-supercomputing-pioneer-nanosatellites-launched

Museum starts 'live' restoration of Rembrandt masterpiece

Amsterdam's famed Rijksmuseum on Monday began a historic restoration of Rembrandt's "The Night Watch", erecting a huge glass cage around the painting so the public can see the work carried out live.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/museum-starts-live-restoration-of-rembrandt-masterpiece

Microvascular disease anywhere in the body may be linked to higher risk of leg amputations

Microvascular disease is independently associated with a higher risk of leg amputation compared to people without the disease, according to new research in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/microvascular-disease-anywhere-in-the-body-may-be-linked-to-higher-risk-of-leg-amputations

Bitcoin compared to what? New index shows energy consumption

Bitcoin has landed front and center in the ongoing debate over benefits of cryptocurrencies and impact on the environment.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/bitcoin-compared-to-what-new-index-shows-energy-consumption

Is that news really 'fake,' or is it just biased?

In an era of concern over "fake news," a new study finds that people draw a distinction between information sources that are dishonest and those that are biased.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/is-that-news-really-fake-or-is-it-just-biased

Quitting alcohol may improve mental well-being, health-related quality of life

Quitting alcohol may improve health-related quality of life for women, especially their mental well-being, according to a study from Hong Kong published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/quitting-alcohol-may-improve-mental-well-being-health-related-quality-of-life

Snow algae thrive in high-elevation ice spires, an unlikely oasis for life

High in the Andes Mountains, dagger-shaped ice spires house thriving microbial communities, offering an oasis for life in one of Earth's harshest environments as well as a possible analogue for life on other planets.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/snow-algae-thrive-in-high-elevation-ice-spires-an-unlikely-oasis-for-life

Becoming new parents increases produce purchases

In the United States, both children and adults eat too few fruits and vegetables, which puts them at risk for poor diet quality and adverse health consequences. A new study in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior found new parents increased their spending on produce in middle- and high-income households.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/becoming-new-parents-increases-produce-purchases

Study confirms disparities in triple-negative breast cancer diagnoses

A new study published early online in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, shows that women of color and young women may face elevated risks of developing triple-negative breast cancers, which are often aggressive and do not respond to hormone therapy or targeted therapy.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/study-confirms-disparities-in-triple-negative-breast-cancer-diagnoses

Good home learning in early years boosts your secondary school achievements

The positive effects of a rich home learning environment during a child's early years continue into adolescence and help improve test scores later in life, according to a new study published in School Effectiveness and School Improvement.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/good-home-learning-in-early-years-boosts-your-secondary-school-achievements

Robot uses machine learning to harvest lettuce

A vegetable-picking robot that uses machine learning to identify and harvest a commonplace, but challenging, agricultural crop has been developed by engineers.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/robot-uses-machine-learning-to-harvest-lettuce

Indonesia cancels tsunami alert after strong quake

A strong magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck off Indonesia on Sunday, the US Geological Survey reported, triggering a brief tsunami warning that sent panicked residents fleeing to higher ground.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/indonesia-cancels-tsunami-alert-after-strong-quake

BA fined £183m over computer theft of passenger data

British Airways has been fined more than £183 million after computer hackers last year stole bank details from hundreds of thousands of passengers, its parent group IAG said Monday.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/ba-fined-183m-over-computer-theft-of-passenger-data

Italy's Prosecco hills join UNESCO World Heritage list

Italy's Prosecco hills northeast of Venice, which have been cultivated for centuries, were on Sunday added to the World Heritage list by the UN cultural organisation.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/italys-prosecco-hills-join-unesco-world-heritage-list

How conspiracy theories followed man to the Moon

It was the biggest piece of supposed fake news before the term "fake news" was even invented.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/how-conspiracy-theories-followed-man-to-the-moon

Put off by US, Chinese students eye other universities

Caught in the crossfire of the US-China trade war, Chinese students are looking for alternative study destinations—threatening to turn off an important source of revenue for American universities.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/put-off-by-us-chinese-students-eye-other-universities

DJ set to be first black African in space killed in bike crash

A South African man who won the chance to be the first black African in space has died in a motorbike crash before turning his dream into reality, his family announced Sunday.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/dj-set-to-be-first-black-african-in-space-killed-in-bike-crash

How visions of the Moon inspired centuries of storytellers

By landing on the Moon in 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin arrived at a place which, up until that point, had been the stuff of fantasy.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/how-visions-of-the-moon-inspired-centuries-of-storytellers

Small step, giant memories: Neil Armstrong's moonwalk remembered

Half a century has passed—but the moment Moon pioneer Neil Armstrong took his historic first step on the lunar surface is etched in the memories of those who tuned in.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/small-step-giant-memories-neil-armstrongs-moonwalk-remembered

Quakes push Californians to prepare for the next big jolt

Shaken residents were cleaning up Sunday from two of the biggest earthquakes to rattle California in decades as scientists warn that both should serve as a wake-up call to be ready when the long-dreaded "Big One" strikes.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/quakes-push-californians-to-prepare-for-the-next-big-jolt