A close-up view of nano-sized semiconductors that initiate and speed up a natural process called photocatalytic oxidation. 

Harnessing the Sun’s radiation to help rid the oceans of microplastics contamination is one of several technical innovations to be developed by a new EU-funded project. Beginning in November 2017, a system developed at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden for breaking down microplastics from personal care products will be tested for implementation in homes and wastewater treatment plants. While exposure to sunlight can degrade plastics into harmless elements, it’s a slow process. In some cases plastics can take several years to decompose. Joydeep Dutta, chair of the Functional Materials department at KTH, says this system will speed up that process by making more efficient use of available visible light and ultraviolet rays from the Sun. The system involves coatings with material of nano-sized semiconductors that initiate and speed up a natural process called photocatalytic oxidation, Dutta says. In a test household, these nano material coated filter systems will be placed at the exit of wastewater from homes. Similarly, in wastewater treatment plants these devices will be used to initiate microplastics degradation after the classical treatments are completed.

Talking about dental health with children and parents – about what is healthy and unhealthy for your teeth – can be one way to prevent children from developing overweight. This is suggested in a thesis from Sahlgrenska Academy on children’s diet, BMI and well-being. “Weight can be a sensitive subject, but if you talk about eating behaviors alongside dental health, you’re looking at the issue from a different angle,” confirms Louise Arvidsson, registered dietitian and PhD student at the Institute of Medicine. In one of her sub-studies, she reviewed eating behavior, BMI and dental health of 271 pre-school and primary school children in Sweden. The children’s height, weight, and food intake over one day were compared with the prevalence of cariogenic microorganisms in saliva - and the link was clear: The children who had higher amount of caries bacteria also had significantly higher BMI and worse eating habits. They ate more frequently and consumed more foods rich in sugar.

Yes. As long as it is handled properly, new research reveals. In Norway they say that nothing is in more of a hurry than a dead fish. This is probably true, because on average it takes three days for a fresh cod to reach most sales counters. And for both retailers and customers, a three-day-old fresh fish is stretching it a bit. However, if the fish is frozen on board the vessel and thawed properly before it reaches the sales counter, its quality can be just as good as if it had never seen the inside of a freezer. Just as long as the fishermen and fisheries industry take note of our research results.

 Ricerca su Nature Communications ha, per la prima volta, spiegato i processi ambientali che hanno guidato la variabilità del ghiaccio marino e la presenza dei pinguini e degli elefanti marini durante gli ultimi 10 mila anni nel Mare di Ross in Antartide. Il ghiaccio marino o banchisa di ghiaccio è un elemento fondamentale del sistema climatico e il suo ciclo stagionale influenza la dinamica globale del clima a causa della sua interazione con l'albedo planetario, la circolazione atmosferica e oceanica oltre ad essere un essenziale componente dell’ecosistema marino polare. I meccanismi che guidano la variabilità del ghiaccio marino a causa delle forzanti ambientali naturali ed antropiche sono ancora poco compresi.

Relational factors in music therapy can contribute to a positive outcome of therapy for children with autism. It might not surprise that good relationships create good outcomes, as meaningful relational experiences are crucial to all of us in our everyday life. However, the development of a relationship with a child with autism may be disrupted due to the level of symptoms interfering with the typical development of emotional and social abilities.  In a new study, researchers from GAMUT, Uni Research Health and University of Bergen, could show that the quality of the therapeutic relationship predicts generalized changes in social skills in children diagnosed with an autism spectrum condition (ASC). This predictor study included 48 children between 4 and 7 years who received improvisational music therapy weekly over a period of 5 months. Outcomes related to the child’s social skills were measured before and after treatment. Based on session videos the researchers assessed the relationship between the child and the therapist.  

 A new study found large disparities by sex, race, and age in survival for patients diagnosed with different cancers caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). Published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the findings suggest that improvements in HPV vaccination and access to cancer screening and treatment are needed.
HPV causes most cases of cervical cancer, but it can also cause cancers in other parts of the body, including the oropharynx (the base of the tongue, the tonsils, and the back of the throat), vagina, vulva, penis, and anus. More than 38,000 HPV-associated cancers are diagnosed annually in the United States. Investigators at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion looked to see how survival rates vary for each of these cancers by certain demographic characteristics, such as race and age. The team examined data from 27 population-based cancer registries covering approximately 59 percent of the US population. The researchers focused on invasive cancer diagnosed from 2001-2011 and followed these cases through 2011.

Create a picture of how you are feeling on this particular day, said the first exercise in the art therapy. After ten treatments the patients who suffered from severe or moderately severe depression had shown more improvement than the patients in the control group, shows research at Sahlgrenska academy. "The conclusion is that it was the art therapy that facilitated their improvement", says Christina Blomdahl, PhD at the institute of health and care sciences, licensed occupational therapist and art therapist. As part of her dissertation she has allowed 43 patients with severe or moderately severe depression to undergo a manual-based art therapy that she has developed herself. The control group consisted of 36 people who all suffered from the same medical condition. In parallel with this, all participants were given different combinations of medication, cognitive behavioral therapy, psychodynamic therapy and physical therapy. The majority of the participants were so affected by their depression that they were unable to work.

Pre-menopausal women with the most common type of advanced breast cancer are usually excluded from medical research unnecessarily, according to an expert panel at the Advanced Breast Cancer Fourth International Consensus Conference (ABC 4). In new guidelines for treating advanced breast cancer agreed today (Saturday), the panel said that the majority of clinical trials for hormone-dependent advanced breast cancer either explicitly exclude pre-menopausal women, or deter them by means of unnecessarily restrictive inclusion criteria. The panel has called for future trials to be designed to enable both pre- and post-menopausal women to be enrolled. Chair of the ABC 4 conference, Professor Fatima Cardoso, Director of the Breast Unit of the Champalimaud Cancer Centre in Lisbon, Portugal, said: “At present, not only are younger women denied the opportunity to take part in clinical trials, but also clinicians lack the evidence on how best to treat these patients who have advanced breast cancer with limited therapies available.”

 An investigation coordinated by researchers at Ca' Foscari University of Venice gathered the insights of about 200 international experts. Italian Minister of Health Beatrice Lorenzin will present the results tomorrow in Milan . Decisions that will be taken at the G7 Ministerial Meeting on Health that will be open by Minister Beatrice Lorenzin tomorrow in Milan have followed an intense dialogue with the international scientific community on the most efficient strategies to be adopted to deal with the impact of climate changes on health on a global scale in the near future. Since January 2017 and the beginning of preparatory works, the Italian Ministry of Health welcomed a team of researchers from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice coordinated by professor Stefano Campostrini, in collaboration with Foresight, an interdepartmental project of the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (Cnr). Together they designed a questionnaire that was sent out to experts around the world, especially to G7 countries and countries that are particularly vulnerable to the impact of climate change. Reducing emissions and reinforcing surveillance systems were identified by scientists as two of the most urgent global measures to be adopted.

Pheel (Physiology Emotion Experience Lab) è un nuovo laboratorio del Politecnico di Milano che unisce le competenze multidisciplinari dei Dipartimenti di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria (DEIB), Design e Ingegneria Gestionale. Il laboratorio muove dalla constatazione che gli aspetti razionali alla base delle decisioni degli individui, generalmente misurate con indagini demoscopiche e questionari di opinione, stanno diminuendo il loro peso nei processi decisionali, che diventano sempre più determinati da impatti viscerali, emotivi e di relazione sociale. Attraverso l’analisi biometrica e la valutazione esperta, Pheel misura e studia come gli individui reagiscono, valutano e filtrano stimoli di comunicazione, prodotti, servizi o esperienze di interazione con la marca. Nel laboratorio vengono infatti analizzati i segnali biologici e fisiologici degli individui e valutati i loro comportamenti in risposta a specifici stimoli (prodotti/servizi/esperienze, interfacce, messaggi pubblicitari, contenuti editoriali, messaggi di comunicazione non pubblicitaria, interazione sociale, ecc.). Le strumentazioni utilizzate nelle ricerche non sono invasive e sono state testate e verificate su diverse tipologie di soggetti, compresi bambini e persone in condizioni di fragilità.