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    Category Biology/Biotechnology

    New Quantum Dots study uncovers Implications for Biological Imaging

    December 6, 2022, Categories  Physics, Biology/Biotechnology

    CdZnSe/CdZnS quantum dots (QDs) have a complex internal structure that extends the lifetime. (A) TEM analyses reveal a zinc selenide-rich core interior and a cadmium sulfide shell exterior. (B) Time resolved emission reveals lifetime tunability by simple alterations to the QD structure. The lifetimes can be 10-times greater compared with similar materials.

    Researchers report the synthesis of semiconductor ‘giant’ core-shell quantum dots with record-breaking emissive lifetimes. In addition, the lifetimes can be tuned by making a simple alteration to the material’s internal structure.

    A new study involving researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago achieved a milestone in the synthesis of multifunctional photonic nanomaterials.

    The group, which included collaborators from Pr...

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    Do Women Age differently from Men?

    December 2, 2022, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Rapamycin prolongs lifespan only in female fruit flies.
    © K. Link

    The effect of medicines on women and men can differ significantly. This also applies to the currently most promising anti-aging drug rapamycin, as researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne and University College London have now shown. They report in Nature Aging that the drug only prolongs the lifespan of female fruit flies, but not that of males.

    In addition, rapamycin only slowed the development of age-related pathological changes in the gut in female flies. The researchers conclude that the biological sex is a crucial factor in the effectiveness of anti-aging drugs.

    The life expectancy of women is significantly higher than that of men...

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    Machine Learning Model builds on Imaging Methods to better Detect Ovarian Lesions

    December 2, 2022, Categories  Biology/Biotechnology, Physics, Health/Medical

    ultrasound images or a benign and a malignant lesion using Zhu's new technique
    (From left) The top row shows an ultrasound image of a malignant lesion, the blood oxygen saturation, and hemoglobin concentration. The bottom row is an ultrasound image of a benign lesion, the blood oxygen saturation, and hemoglobin concentration. (Image: Zhu lab)

    New research yields a novel method to use ultrasound to enhance machine learning’s ability to accurately diagnose — or rule out — ovarian cancer.

    Although ovarian cancer is the deadliest type of cancer for women, only about 20% of cases are found at an early stage, as there are no real screening tests for them and few symptoms to prompt them...

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    Mom’s Dietary Fat Rewires Male and Female Brains Differently

    November 30, 2022, Categories  Biology/Biotechnology

    A microglia (in magenta) from a male mouse born to a mom on a high-fat diet, which sequesters more brain serotonin (in green) than males with mom’s eating a typical lab diet. (Bilbo Lab)
    A microglia (in magenta) from a male mouse born to a mom on a high-fat diet, which sequesters more brain serotonin (in green) than males with mom’s eating a typical lab diet. (Bilbo Lab)

    Excess fat triggers immune cells to overeat serotonin in the brain of developing male mice, leading to depression-like behavior. More than half of all women in the United States are overweight or obese when they become pregnant. While being or becoming overweight during pregnancy can have potential health risks for moms, there are also hints that it may tip the scales for their kids to develop psychiatric disorders like autism or depression, which often affects one gender more than the other.

    What hasn’t been understood however is how the accumulation of fat tissue in mom might signal through the ...

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