Tag Archives: trajectory

MU Researchers Develop Advanced Three-Dimensional “Force Microscope”

Innovation could lead to faster drug therapies and increased understanding of proteins on the microscopic level

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Membrane proteins are the “gatekeepers” that allow information and molecules to pass into and out of a cell. Until recently, the microscopic study of these complex proteins has been restricted due to limitations of “force microscopes” that are available to researchers and the one-dimensional results these microscopes reveal. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have developed a three-dimensional microscope that will yield unparalleled study of membrane proteins and how they interact on the cellular level. These microscopes could help pharmaceutical companies bring drugs to market faster. (more…)

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IBM Big Data Technology Helps South Korea’s Meteorological Administration Increase Accuracy of Weather Forecasting

South Korea’s most powerful data storage system helps tackle weather’s data deluge

Seoul, SOUTH KOREA – 27 Feb 2013: South Korea’s Meteorological Administration (KMA) and IBM today announced a project to help KMA and its affiliate, the National Meteorological Satellite Center (NMSC), tackle Big Data for better, more accurate and predictive environmental forecasting.

As South Korea’s national meteorological organization, KMA’s mission is to protect citizens’ lives and property from natural disasters and support economic activities sensitive to environmental conditions. (more…)

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Russia Meteor Not Linked to Asteroid Flyby

New information provided by a worldwide network of sensors has allowed scientists to refine their estimates for the size of the object that entered that atmosphere and disintegrated in the skies over Chelyabinsk, Russia, at 7:20:26 p.m. PST, or 10:20:26 p.m. EST on Feb. 14 (3:20:26 UTC on Feb. 15).

The estimated size of the object, prior to entering Earth’s atmosphere, has been revised upward from 49 feet (15 meters) to 55 feet (17 meters), and its estimated mass has increased from 7,000 to 10,000 tons. Also, the estimate for energy released during the event has increased by 30 kilotons to nearly 500 kilotons of energy released. These new estimates were generated using new data that had been collected by five additional infrasound stations located around the world – the first recording of the event being in Alaska, over 6,500 kilometers away from Chelyabinsk. The infrasound data indicates that the event, from atmospheric entry to the meteor’s airborne disintegration took 32.5 seconds. The calculations using the infrasound data were performed by Peter Brown at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. (more…)

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Death and dying 2000-2009: Hospice Use Rises; So Does Aggressive Care

A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association documents an increase in hospice use over the last decade but also finds more ICU utilization, more repeat hospitalizations, and more late health care transitions. The data raises concern about whether aggressive care and burdensome transitions at the end of life are consistent with the wishes of patients or those of their family members.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A study published Feb. 6 in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that while more seniors are dying with hospice care than a decade ago, they are increasingly doing so for very few days right after being in intensive care. The story told by the data, said the study’s lead author, is that for many seniors palliative care happens only as an afterthought. (more…)

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UCLA Researchers Map Damaged Connections in Phineas Gage’s Brain

Famous 1848 case of man who survived a terrible accident has modern parallel

Poor Phineas Gage. In 1848, the supervisor for the Rutland and Burlington Railroad in Vermont was using a 13-pound, 3-foot-7-inch rod to pack blasting powder into a rock when he triggered an explosion that drove the rod through his left cheek and out of the top of his head. As reported at the time, the rod was later found, “smeared with blood and brains.”

Miraculously, Gage lived, becoming the most famous case in the history of neuroscience — not only because he survived a horrific accident that led to the destruction of much of his left frontal lobe but also because of the injury’s reported effects on his personality and behavior, which were said to be profound. Gage went from being an affable 25-year-old to one that was fitful, irreverent and profane. His friends and acquaintances said he was “no longer Gage.” (more…)

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