News by Subject Biology

The slight decline in drug overdose deaths in 2018 coincides with Chinese regulations on the powerful opioid carfentanil, rather than the result of domestic U.S. efforts to curb the epidemic, a new analysis reveals. What many - including President Donald Trump - perceived as a decline in overdose deaths in 2018, appears to be a return to the historic exponential curve.

A group of medical and environmental researchers from RUDN University evaluated the level of heavy metals in the organism of first-year university students from different countries of the world. The results of the screening helped the scientists to reveal a relationship between a region of residence and the level of toxic metal in organism. According to their opinion, increased heavy metal levels in the organism of students from Africa and Latin America can have a negative impact on their health and performance.

This study selected the Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata) as a model animal for the fetal transfer of OH-PCBs in humans, and revealed OH-PCB concentrations and their relationships in the maternal and fetal brains. The key finding from this study is that OH-PCBs can reach the developing brain of the fetus as early as the first trimester of pregnancy. These OH-PCBs may exceed the levels that induce adverse effects on neurodevelopment.

New international research in the September 2020 issue of JNCCN--Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network finds immunotherapy-related adverse events (irAEs) can impact more than one organ in a single patient. Multi-organ irAEs are more likely to happen sequentially rather than simultaneously.

Flavourings combine with solvents in e-cigarettes to produce new toxic chemicals that irritate the airways, triggering reactions that can lead to breathing and heart and blood vessel problems, according to new research presented at the 'virtual' European Respiratory Society International Congress. There is an embargoed press conference at 17.00 hrs CEST today (Tuesday).

What happens if an electric car burns in a road tunnel or an underground car park? In the Hagerbach test tunnel in Switzerland, Empa researchers and tunnel safety expert Lars Derek Mellert set fire to battery cells of electric cars, analyzed the distribution of soot and smoke gases and the chemical residues in the extinguishing water.