Wednesday 19 June 2019

Study: More aggressive treatments needed to improve 5-year survival rate for glioblastoma

Despite improvements in median and short-term survival rates for patients with glioblastoma, the most common brain tumor in adults, the percentage of patients achieving five-year survival remains low, according to new Mayo Clinic research.

* This article was originally published here

Teaching AI agents navigation subroutines by feeding them videos

Researchers at UC Berkeley and Facebook AI Research have recently proposed a new approach that can enhance the navigation skills of machine learning models. Their method, presented in a paper pre-published on arXiv, allows models to acquire visuo-motor navigation subroutines by processing a series of videos.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers have success in detecting if images of faces were manipulated

Make some noise for Adobe in its effort to detect fakery. They unleashed the powers of machine learning to automatically detect when images of faces have been manipulated.

* This article was originally published here

State initiative to address disparities in mother's milk for very low birth weight infants

Researchers at Boston Medical Center initiated a statewide quality improvement imitative to increase mothers' ability to produce and provide milk for very low birth weight infants at their discharge, as well reduce the racial/ethnic disparities in milk production and provision to these infants. A new study, published June 18th in Pediatrics, indicates that the initiative yielded positive results on improving rates of prenatal human milk education, early milk expression and skin to skin care among mothers of very low birth weight infants during initial hospitalization, but did not lead to sustained improvement in mother's milk provision at hospital discharge.

* This article was originally published here

Trump moves to weaken Obama climate policy, bolster coal industry

The Trump administration on Wednesday unveiled its final plan to rewrite a major Obama-era climate change policy, replacing proposed regulations that cracked down on coal-burning power plants with a weaker alternative.

* This article was originally published here

Perfect quantum portal emerges at exotic interface

Researchers at the University of Maryland have captured the most direct evidence to date of a quantum quirk that allows particles to tunnel through a barrier like it's not even there. The result, featured on the cover of the June 20, 2019 issue of the journal Nature, may enable engineers to design more uniform components for future quantum computers, quantum sensors and other devices.

* This article was originally published here

Delayed Kentucky internet project faces new squirrel setback

A project that would bring high-speed internet across Kentucky will be delayed because company representatives say an "abundance" of squirrels have chewed through wiring.

* This article was originally published here

Coverage losses in Arkansas following implementation of Medicaid work requirements

Thousands of adults in Arkansas lost insurance coverage in the first six months after Medicaid work requirements were implemented, with no change in employment, according to a new study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The study is the first quantitative evidence on the nation's first-ever work requirements in Medicaid, which started in Arkansas in June 2018.

* 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

Physicists show novel Mott state in twisted graphene bilayers at 'magic angle'

A University of Oklahoma physics group sheds light on a novel Mott state observed in twisted graphene bilayers at the 'magic angle' in a recent study just published in Physical Review Letters. OU physicists show the Mott state in graphene bilayers favors ferromagnetic alignment of the electron spins, a phenomenon unheard of in conventional Mott insulators, and a new concept on the novel insulating state observed in twisted graphene bilayers.

* This article was originally published here

NOAA Fisheries biologists record singing by rare right whale

Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say they have recorded singing by a rare right whale for the first time.

* This article was originally published here

Finding 'Nemo's' family tree of anemones

Thanks in part to the popular film Finding Nemo, clownfishes are well known to the public and well represented in scientific literature. But the same can't be said for the equally colorful sea anemones—venomous, tentacled animals—that protect clownfishes and that the fish nourish and protect in return. A new study published online this month in the journal Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution takes a step to change that, presenting a new tree of life for clownfish-hosting sea anemones along with some surprises about their taxonomy and origins.

* This article was originally published here

'Goldilocks' neurons promote REM sleep

Every night while sleeping, we cycle between two very different states of sleep. Upon falling asleep, we enter non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) sleep where our breathing is slow and regular and movement of our limbs or eyes are minimal. Approximately 90 minutes later, how-ever, we enter rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. This is a paradoxical state where our breathing becomes fast and irregular, our limbs twitch, and our eyes move rapidly. In REM sleep, our brain is highly active, but we also become paralyzed and we lose the ability to thermoregulate or maintain our constant body temperature. "This loss of thermoregulation in REM sleep is one of the most peculiar aspects of sleep, particularly since we have finely-tuned mechanisms that control our body temperature while awake or in non-REM sleep," says Markus Schmidt of the Department for BioMedical Research (DBMR) of the University of Bern, and the Department of Neurology, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital. On the one hand, the findings confirm a hypothesis proposed earlier by Schmidt, senior author of the study, and on the other hand represent a breakthrough for sleep medicine. The paper was published in Current Biology and highlighted by the editors with a comment.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers enhance security in proof of stake blockchain protocols

Blockchain Technology is known to be one of the top disruptive technologies of today that is driving the fourth industrial revolution. A blockchain, designed to be resistant to the modification of its data, offers security and privacy benefits that are well appreciated particularly by banks, governments and techno-corporations.

* This article was originally published here

Kinshasa: Commuting hell in DR Congo's capital

Cities almost everywhere have transport problems—just ask people stuck in traffic jams or overcrowded trains for their opinion.

* This article was originally published here

Atrial fibrillation linked to increased risk of dementia, even in stroke-free patients

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is linked to an increased risk of dementia, even in people who have not suffered a stroke, according to the largest study to investigate the association in an elderly population.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers identify compounds that starve melanoma cancer cells of energy

Researchers at Oregon State University and Oregon Health & Science University have found a possible counterpunch to the drug resistance of melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer.

* This article was originally published here

Pediatric T1DM medication adherence drops on weekends, holidays

(HealthDay)—For children with type 1 diabetes, medication adherence is lower during school holidays and on weekends, according to a study recently published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.

* This article was originally published here