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1,204 news posts in Mind and body

Health

28 Jul 2021

Machine learning and knowledge engineering uncovers significant role of elevated blood glucose in severe Covid-19

By Colm Gorey, Frontiers’ Science Communications Manager A digital reconstruction of SARS-CoV-2 primary infection in the lungs. Image: Blue Brain Project/EPFL 2005-2021. All rights reserved Why does Covid-19 present itself more severe in some patients but not in others? The question has puzzled researchers and clinicians since the start of the pandemic, but now new research from the EPFL Blue Brain Project may have found a major clue to solving the mystery thanks to machine learning. Analyzing data extracted from 240,000 open access scientific papers, the findings of a paper published in Frontiers revealed the previously undiscovered roles elevated blood glucose levels have in the severity of Covid-19. What makes one person more at risk of developing severe Covid-19 than someone else? While it is widely accepted that elderly people are the most at-risk during the current pandemic, many young, seemingly healthy people have also been hospitalized by the disease. A number of preexisting conditions are known to contribute to the severity of the disease – such as diabetes, obesity and hypertension – but a more recent finding has highlighted the impact of blood glucose levels among both diabetic and non-diabetic people. Yet the role that glucose plays in the […]

Humanities

27 Jul 2021

‘Talking drum’ shown to accurately mimic speech patterns of west African language

By Peter Rejcek, science writer The Ifesowapo dùndún ensemble performing in Igbo Ora, southwest Nigeria. Image: Dr Cecilia Durojaye A novel analysis into the acoustical similarities between Yorùbá vocalizations and a west African instrument called the dùndún found a high degree of correlation. The researchers discovered that the talking drum mimics the microstructure of the tonal language and can be categorized into four different modes. In addition, the study emphasizes the value of studying non-western culture to understand various phenomena in mainstream musicology and linguistics that go beyond western domains. Musicians like Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton are considered virtuosos, guitarists who could make their instruments sing. Drummers in west Africa who play hourglass-shaped percussion instruments called dùndúns can make their instrument not only sing, but talk. New research published in the journal Frontiers in Communication is one of the first to show the high degree of acoustic correlation between these talking drums and the spoken Yorùbá language. Dùndún drumming is a musical-oral tradition where skilled drummers, manipulating the intensity and pitch of the instrument, can mimic Yorùbá, a tonal language mainly spoken in southwest Nigeria. Dubbed ‘talking drums’, dùndúns can be used as purely musical instruments or what scientists […]

Life sciences

15 Jul 2021

The two-thousand-year-old mystery of the havoc-wreaking worm

By Daegan Miller / University of Massachusetts Amherst Office of News and Media Relations Section of a piling attacked by shipworms in Belfast, Maine. Image credit: Barry Goodell / University of Massachusetts Amherst Humans have known for over two thousand years that shipworms, a worm-like mollusk, are responsible for damage to wooden boats, docks, dikes and piers. Yet new research from the University of Massachusetts Amherst published in Frontiers in Microbiology reveals that we still don’t know the most basic thing about them: how they eat. “It’s unbelievable,” says Reuben Shipway, adjunct assistant professor in microbiology at UMass Amherst, research fellow at the Centre for Enzyme Innovation at the University of Portsmouth, UK, and one of the paper’s authors. “The ancient Greeks wrote about them, Christopher Columbus lost his fleet due to what he called ‘the havoc which the worm had wrought,’ and, today, shipworms cause billions of dollars of damage a year.” Read original article. Download original article (pdf) Shipworms also play a key role in mangrove forest ecosystems, found throughout the world’s tropical regions, and are responsible for cycling a huge amount of carbon through the web of life. “Yet,” says Shipway, “we still don’t know how they do what […]

Neuroscience

24 Jun 2021

Surprising ‘fight or flight’ discovery in sleepwalkers paves way to new understanding of phenomenon

By Colm Gorey, Frontiers science writer Image: New Africa/Shutterstock.com New research published in the open access journal Frontiers investigating the biological mysteries of sleepwalking found the levels of ‘fight or flight’ response in those who wander at night is surprisingly lower than those who sleep soundly. Somnambulism – otherwise known as sleepwalking – is a phenomenon which has fascinated the public and neurologists for decades, but a lot of what causes it remains a mystery. Affecting up to 4% of adults, sleepwalking is a non-rapid-eye movement (NREM) sleep parasomnia that not only gives someone a poor night’s sleep, but also puts them at serious risk of injury and, in some cases, lead to unintended violence against others. The following day can also prove challenging as the sleepwalker will feel unrested and a strong desire to fall asleep (somnolence). Unfortunately for those predisposed to sleepwalking episodes, prolonged sleep deprivation increases both their frequency and complexity, making it harder for them to achieve the deep sleep the body needs to function healthily. Now, in a paper published to Frontiers in Neurology, researchers at the University of Montréal and Montréal Sacred Heart Hospital, Canada aimed to further investigate the hypothesis that sleepwalking is […]

Neuroscience

22 Jun 2021

Twin study is first to reveal common genetic risk factors for PTSD and migraine

By Conn Hastings, science writer Image credit: LanaG/Shutterstock.com While scientists have known that PTSD and migraine often co-occur, no one had studied this link before now. A new study by the open access publisher Frontiers on identical twins investigates the genetic basis for both migraine and PTSD. It reveals epigenetic changes that are shared by PTSD and migraine, suggesting that similar environmental risk factors are at play in both conditions. The findings could help researchers to develop new treatments. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and migraine often co-occur, but researchers knew relatively little about how or why this happens. A new study in Frontiers in Neuroscience is the first to investigate if the conditions have a common genetic basis. By studying identical twins, where one twin in each pair lives with PTSD or migraines and the other twin does not, the researchers found common genes that may play a role in both conditions. These genes may help to explain why the conditions co-occur, and could reveal new treatment targets for both. PTSD is a psychiatric disorder that typically occurs after a traumatic experience, such as a life-threatening event. Most people will experience a traumatic event at some point in their lives, […]