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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 24, 2021 at 10:39am

Study: Benefits outweigh risks for autonomous vehicles—as long as you regulate them

An interdisciplinary panel of experts has assessed the risks and potential benefits associated with deploying autonomous vehicles (AVs) on U.S. roads and predicts that the benefits will substantially outweigh potential harms—but only if the AVs are well regulated.

Veljko Dubljevic et al, Toward a rational and ethical sociotechnical system of autonomous vehicles: A novel application of multi-criteria decision analysis, PLOS ONE (2021). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0256224

https://techxplore.com/news/2021-08-benefits-outweigh-autonomous-ve...

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 24, 2021 at 10:35am

One material with two functions could lead to faster memory

In a step toward a future of higher performance memory devices, researchers  have developed a new device that needs only a single semiconductor known as perovskite to simultaneously store and visually transmit data.

By integrating a light-emitting electrochemical cell with a resistive random-access memory that are both based on perovskite, the team achieved parallel and synchronous reading of data both electrically and optically in a 'light-emitting memory.'

Meng-Cheng Yen et al, All-inorganic perovskite quantum dot light-emitting memories, Nature Communications (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24762-w

https://techxplore.com/news/2021-08-material-functions-faster-memor...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 24, 2021 at 10:17am

High-efficiency ultraviolet light emitting diodes to sterilize pathogens, including SARS -CoV-2

Every year, thousands of lives and billions of dollars are spent worldwide as a result of health-care associated and waterborne illnesses. Sterilization is a critical preventative measure and it can be achieved by a number of techniques including irradiation using ultraviolet (UV) light. This need has gained greater urgency because of the global coronavirus pandemic, as effective sterilization practices can curtail the spread of infectious diseases.

Current sources like mercury lamps are bulky, contain toxic chemicals and are not as versatile in applications as semiconductor light sources. AlGaN is the material of choice for high efficiency deep UV light sources, which is the only alternative technology to replace mercury lamps for water purification and disinfection. To date, however, AlGaN-based mid and deep UV LEDs exhibit very low efficiency. One of the primary limiting factors is the poor hole injection, due to the ineffective p-type doping of AlGaN alloys using Mg, especially for the high Al composition alloys that are essential for the UV-C (200-280 nm) wavelength ranges.

A promising technique that can overcome this challenge and enhance hole injection into the device active region is by utilizing a tunnel junction structure. The hole injection in such devices is driven by the interband transport of electrons from the valence band of the p-type layer to the conduction band of the n-type layer.

A. Pandey et al, High-efficiency AlGaN/GaN/AlGaN tunnel junction ultraviolet light-emitting diodes, Photonics Research (2020). DOI: 10.1364/PRJ.383652

A. Pandey et al, High-efficiency AlGaN/GaN/AlGaN tunnel junction ultraviolet light-emitting diodes, Photonics Research (2020). DOI: 10.1364/PRJ.383652

https://phys.org/news/2021-08-high-efficiency-ultraviolet-emitting-...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 24, 2021 at 10:06am

The analysis of regular flavonoid intake with gut microbiome and blood pressure levels found:

• Study participants who had the highest intake of flavonoid-rich foods, including berries, red wine, apples and pears, had lower systolic blood pressure levels, as well as greater diversity in their gut microbiome than the participants who consumed the lowest levels of flavonoid-rich foods.
• Up to 15.2% of the association between flavonoid-rich foods and systolic blood pressure could be explained by the diversity found in participants' gut microbiome.
• Eating 1.6 servings of berries per day (one serving equals 80 grams, or 1 cup) was associated with an average reduction in systolic blood pressure levels of 4.1 mm Hg, and about 12% of the association was explained by gut microbiome factors.

• Drinking 2.8 glasses (125 ml of wine per glass) of red wine a week was associated with an average of 3.7 mm Hg lower systolic blood pressure level, of which 15% could be explained by the gut microbiome.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-08-gut-bacteria-flavonoid-rich-...

part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 24, 2021 at 10:05am

Gut bacteria and flavonoid-rich foods are linked and improve blood pressure levels

Flavonoid-rich foods, including berries, apples, pears and wine, appear to have a positive effect on blood pressure levels, an association that is partially explained by characteristics of the gut microbiome, according to new research published today in Hypertension, an American Heart Association journal.

Our gut microbiome plays a key role in metabolizing flavonoids to enhance their cardioprotective effects, and this study provides evidence to suggest these blood pressure-lowering effects are achievable with simple changes to the daily diet.

Flavonoids are compounds found naturally in fruits, vegetables and plant-based foods such as tea, chocolate and wine, and have been shown in previous research to offer a variety of health benefits to the body. Flavonoids are broken down by the body's gut microbiome—the bacteria found in the digestive tract. Recent studies found a link between gut microbiota, the microorganisms in the human digestive tract, and cardiovascular disease (CVD), which is the leading cause of death worldwide. Gut microbiota is highly variable between individuals, and there are reported differences in gut microbial compositions among people with and without CVD.

With increased research suggesting flavonoids may reduce heart disease risk, this study assessed the role of the gut microbiome on the process. Researchers examined the association between eating flavonoid-rich foods with blood pressure and gut microbiome diversity. The study also investigated how much variance within the gut microbiome could explain the association between intake of flavonoid-rich foods and blood pressure.

Microbial Diversity and Abundance of Parabacteroides Mediate the Associations Between Higher Intake of Flavonoid-Rich Foods and Lower Blood Pressure, Hypertension (2021). www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.116 … TENSIONAHA.121.17441

part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 23, 2021 at 9:57am

Food allergy and intolerance: the differences

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 22, 2021 at 11:17am

'Missing jigsaw piece’: engineers make critical advance in quantum computer design

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 22, 2021 at 11:03am

People with rare autoimmune diseases are at higher risk of death from Covid-19

New research has revealed that people with rare autoimmune rheumatic diseases are at an increased risk of developing Covid-19 and subsequently dying from it. Experts found that people with these conditions were 54% more likely to test positive for a Covid-19 infection, and death related to Covid-19 was 2.4 times more likely than for people in the general population when age and sex was taken into account. Researchers say there is an urgent need to understand the effectiveness of the vaccine among people with diseases such as vasculitis and lupus. The findings, published as a pre-print in medRxiv and currently under peer review, is the work of a team of doctors and researchers from RECORDER (Registration of Complex Rare Diseases Exemplars in Rheumatology), which is a joint project between the University of Nottingham, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and the National Disease Registration Service at Public Health England.

In this latest study, funded by the British Society for Rheumatology and Vasculitis UK, the team looked at nearly 170,000 people in England with rare autoimmune rheumatic diseases. Between March and July 2020, during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in England, they found:

• 1,874 people (1.11%) had Covid-19 infection (PCR test positive)

• Taking age into account, the infection rate in people with rare autoimmune rheumatic diseases was 54% higher than in the general population

• 713 (0.42%) people living with rare autoimmune rheumatic disease died related to Covid-19 infection

• Covid-19 related death was 2.4 times more common in people with rare autoimmune rheumatic disease compared to the general population (taking age and sex into account)

These findings are particularly important as recently published data show that people who are immunosuppressed, which includes many people with rare autoimmune rheumatic diseases, can have lower levels of protection from Covid-19 vaccination due to a weaker immune response.

https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/news/rare-autoimmune-diseases-and-covi...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 22, 2021 at 10:34am

Hubble Captures a Stunning 'Einstein Ring'

Gravity is the weird, mysterious glue that binds the Universe together, but that's not the limit of its charms. We can also leverage the way it warps space-time to see distant objects that would be otherwise much more difficult to make out.

This is called gravitational lensing, an effect predicted by Einstein, and it's beautifully illustrated in a new release from the Hubble Space Telescope.

In the center in the image (below) is a shiny, near-perfect ring with what appear to be four bright spots threaded along it, looping around two more points with a golden glow.

This is called an Einstein ring, and those bright dots are not six galaxies, but three: the two in the middle of the ring, and one quasar behind it, its light distorted and magnified as it passes through the gravitational field of the two foreground galaxies.

Because the mass of the two foreground galaxies is so high, this causes a gravitational curvature of space-time around the pair. Any light that then travels through this space-time follows this curvature and enters our telescopes smeared and distorted – but also magnified.

This, as it turns out, is a really useful tool for probing both the far and near reaches of the Universe. Anything with enough mass can act as a gravitational lens. That can mean one or two galaxies, as we see here, or even huge galaxy clusters, which produce a wonderful mess of smears of light from the many objects behind them.

Astronomers peering into deep space can reconstruct these smears and replicated images to see in much finer detail the distant galaxies thus lensed. But that's not all gravitational lensing can do. The strength of a lens depends on the curvature of the gravitational field, which is directly related to the mass it's curving around.

So gravitational lenses can allow us to weigh galaxies and galaxy clusters, which in turn can then help us find and map dark matter – the mysterious, invisible source of mass that generates additional gravity that can't be explained by the stuff in the Universe we can actually detect.

https://esahubble.org/images/potw2132a/

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 22, 2021 at 8:02am

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