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A University of Maryland researcher and colleagues found that the fungus Metarhizium robertsii removes mercury from the soil around plant roots, and from fresh and saltwater. The researchers also genetically engineered the fungus to amplify its mercury detoxifying effects.

Mercury pollution of soil and water is a worldwide threat to public health. This new work suggests Metarhizium could provide an inexpensive and efficient way to protect crops grown in polluted areas and remediate -laden waterways.

The study, which was conducted by UMD professor of entomology Raymond St. Leger and researchers in the laboratory of his former post-doctoral fellow, Weiguo Fang (now at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China), was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on November 14, 2022.

Continue reading “Researcher shows how a common fungus eliminates toxic mercury from soil and water” | >

🔺An ambient Sci Fi journey that evolves from light to dark, evoking imagery of distant, undiscovered secrets of the beyond. Let the music guide your mind and prepare for a ride smile In all seriousness though, this is quite a nice one. Not superhappy with the results, but it’s good enough. It’s reminescent of my older sci fi journeys. At times you may find it to dark and pressing, but the light will come again. Also, the ambience in this one is really cool. I took my time to sound design passing spaceships and shuttles as distant traffic in the background and it works extremely well and feels totally believable imo. Think I’m gonna do a video just for that ambience. Oh, visuals is kinda great too smile Thanks for your support guys smile Have a great day everyone🔺 SEO: I create ambient space music, ambient sci fi music, ambient cyberpunk music, ambient fantasy music to be used as ambient background music. You can use the music as ambient music for study, ambient music for focus, ambient music for work, ambient music for sleep, ambient music for relaxation, ambient music for reading, ambient music for writing — whatever really smile All my ambient music contains rain ambience or nature ambience. My music is best described as atmospheric ambient music, soothing ambient music, relaxing ambient music, tranquil ambient music, ethereal ambient music, cinematic ambient music, dark ambient music.

Note:
All music on this channel is not to be used without permission. It’s made for this channel only and is protected by Youtube Copyright law.

Continue reading “Ambient Sci Fi Music For People Wishing They Were Born in The Year 3336” | >

Circa 2006

To analyze the clinical and histological findings in boys with bilateral anorchia and the response to testosterone treatment on penis length.

Patients were divided into two groups according to the absence (group A, n = 29) or the presence (group B, n = 26) of palpable intrascrotal or inguinal mass at first clinical examination.

A micropenis was found in 46% of patients (n = 24) with a similar proportion in both groups. Testosterone treatment induced a mean penis length gain of 1.9 ± 1.3 SDS (standard deviation score). However, micropenis persisted in six patients. Histological examination (n = 18) confirmed the absence of any testicular structure with deferent ducts being present unilaterally or bilaterally in all but three patients. In these three patients, a hemorrhagic testis, probably as a result of a mechanical torsion, was found.

Continue reading “Bilateral anorchia in infancy: Occurence of micropenis and the effect of testosterone treatment” | >

Circa 2021:3

Surgical management of breast cancer often results in the absence of the breast. However, existing breast reconstruction methods may not meet the need for a replacement tissue. Tissue engineering with the use of emerging materials offers the promise of generating appropriate replacements. Three-dimensional (3D) printing technology has seen a significantly increased interest and application in medically-related fields in the recent years. This has been especially true in complex medical situations particularly when abnormal or complicated anatomical surgical considerations or precise reconstructive procedures are contemplated. In addition, 3D bio-printing which combines cells with bio-material scaffolds offers an exciting technology with significant applications in the field of tissue engineering. The purpose of this manuscript was to review a number of studies in which 3D printing technology has been used in breast reconstructive surgical procedures, and future directions and applications of 3D bio-printing.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed among US women and is second only to lung cancer as a cause of cancer death among women as of 2019. Because ~268,600 (almost six times than DCIS) new cases prove to be an invasive type of breast cancer (1), many women had to choose the removal of the breast, with immediate consideration for a replacement tissue. Although this was satisfactory in many patients, either saline or gel-filled breast implants (2) do carry real risks of complications such as infection, capsular contracture, implant dislocation, or deformities (3, 4). The option of autologous reconstruction can be more texturally natural aesthetically, but it requires a more complex procedure, significant time and expense, and possible muscle weakness or hernia formation at the tissue donor site (5). Tissue engineering intends to address these limitations by combining the 3D printing technology with synthetic or natural structural elements.

Three-dimensional (3D) printing, also known as computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), was based on digital model files using metal powder or plastic and other adhesive materials to construct objects with a computer guided precision, printing layer upon layer. Simplistically, it uses a computer aided design (CAD) program to convert the virtual model of an object into a printable object using an STL (Standard Tessellation Language or STereoLithography) file. The object then gradually and precisely takes shape as each thin layer is added according to the design file, and composed of the desired material for that object in the form of “ink” using the 3D printer. Not only in cases of intraoperative 3D printed models serving as templates, but this technology has extended to implanted scaffolds that have been used to correct defect-specific sites, clearly enhancing patient treatment (6, 7).

Continue reading “3D Printing in Breast Reconstruction: From Bench to Bed” | >

A new study by investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham health care system, demonstrated that shingles, also known as herpes zoster, is associated with an almost 30% higher long-term risk of a major cardiovascular event such a stroke or heart attack. Their results are published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

“Our findings suggest there are long-term implications of shingles and highlight the importance of public health efforts for prevention,” said lead author Sharon Curhan, MD, ScM, a physician and epidemiologist in the Channing Division of Network Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

“Given the growing number of Americans at risk for this painful and often disabling disease and the availability of an effective vaccine, shingles vaccination could provide a valuable opportunity to reduce the burden of shingles and reduce the risk of subsequent cardiovascular complications.”

Continue reading “Shingles associated with increased risk for stroke, heart attack” | >

Billioпs of light-years away, a hυge ball of iпcaпdesceпt gas has beeп discovered, which is brighter thaп hυпdreds of billioпs of Sυпs. It’s hard to imagiпe aпythiпg like that. This object is so bright that it is very difficυlt for astroпomers to fiпd a way to describe it. The most iпterestiпg thiпg is that scieпtists are пot completely sυre of the trυe пatυre of this object. Bυt they have several theories.