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Genetic basis of heart rhythms explored in large population study

New information about the biology behind the heart's electrical activity has been revealed in a major genome study with the largest sample size ever of a project of this type. These molecular mechanisms offer insights into cardiac electrical diseases and could suggest avenues of drug research for preventing and treating heart rhythm or conduction problems. Genes in 44 loci identified as associated with the PR interval on an EKG are overrepresented in cardiac disease processes, including heart block, sick sinus syndrome, and atrial fibrillation.
Source: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-07/uowh-gbo072718.php

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New algorithm could help find new physics

Scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed an algorithm that could provide meaningful answers to condensed matter physicists in their searches for novel and emergent properties in materials.
Source: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-07/uoic-nac072718.php

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UB research suggests how stimulant treatments for ADHD work

Stimulant medications are an effective treatment for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). In the classroom, parents and teachers say that medications like methylphenidate (MPH) can reduce symptoms and improve behavior.Although stimulants have been in use for decades to treat ADHD in school-aged children, just how they work hasn't been clear. But the results of a new study in The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry is filling in critical gaps about the role of improved cognitive functions.
Source: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-07/uab-urs072718.php

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Cooking oil coating prevents bacteria from growing on food processing equipment

Many foods produced on an industrial scale include raw ingredients mixed together in enormous stainless steel machines that can be difficult to clean. The University of Toronto research team proposes a simple new solution: trapping a thin layer of cooking oil at the metal surface to fill in microscopic scrapes, cracks and fissures and create a barrier to bacterial attachment. This solution resulted in a 1,000x reduction in bacterial levels inside the industrial machines tested.
Source: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-07/uotf-coc072718.php

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NASA's GPM sees another dangerous typhoon threatening Japan

The Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core satellite provided a rainfall and cloud analysis on powerful Typhoon Jongdari as it moves toward Japan. Jongdari follows another powerful typhoon that made landfall in Japan earlier this year.
Source: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-07/nsfc-ngs072718.php

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Magnetic surgical cement heals spinal fractures, provides targeted drug delivery

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago report in the journal PLOS ONE, that by adding magnetic particles to surgical cement used to heal spinal fractures, they could guide magnetic nanoparticles directly to lesions near the fractures.
Source: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-07/uoia-msc072718.php

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Researchers are first to sequence rare bacteria that causes rampant tooth decay

Little is know about the bacteria Streptococcus sobrinus, which accelerates tooth decay in some people. This will soon change because a team of Illinois Bioengineering researchers led by Assistant Professor Paul Jensen has successfully sequenced the complete genomes of three strains of S. sobrinus.
Source: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-07/uoic-raf072718.php

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NASA's Parker Solar Probe and the curious case of the hot corona

Something mysterious is going on at the Sun: Its atmosphere gets much, much hotter the farther it stretches from the Sun's blazing surface. Parker Solar Probe offers the chance for scientists to solve this mystery at last.
Source: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-07/nsfc-nps072718.php

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NASA's TESS spacecraft starts science operations

NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite has started its search for planets around nearby stars, officially beginning science operations on July 25, 2018.
Source: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-07/nsfc-nts072718.php

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NASA catches tropical depression 9E at peak before dissipation

The Eastern Pacific Ocean's Tropical Depression 9E formed on July 26 and by July 27 the depression had dissipated over 1,200 miles from Hilo, Hawaii. NASA's Terra satellite captured a look at the storm at its peak.
Source: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-07/nsfc-nct072718.php

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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/