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Extracellular vesicles derived from oxidatively stressed stromal cells promote cancer progression

Chen et al. | Jan 15, 2024

Extracellular vesicles derived from oxidatively stressed stromal cells promote cancer progression

This paper hypothesized that the tumor microenvironment mediates cancer’s response to oxidative stress by delivering extracellular vesicles to cancer cells. Breast and lung cancer cells were treated with EVs, reavealing that EVs extracted from oxidatively stressed adipocytes increased the cell proliferation of breast cancer cells. These findings present a novel way that the TME influences cancer progression.

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Therapy dogs effectively reduce stress in college preparatory students

Ikeda et al. | Nov 27, 2023

Therapy dogs effectively reduce stress in college preparatory students
Image credit: Ryan Stone

In this article the authors looked at the effect of spending time with a therapy dog before and after stressful events. They found that interacting with a therapy before a stressful event showed more significant reduction in signs of stress compared to interacting with a therapy dog after stressful events have already occurred.

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The juxtaposition of anatomy and physics in the eye

Zhou et al. | Oct 25, 2023

The juxtaposition of anatomy and physics in the eye

People are quick to accept the assumption that a light will appear dimmer the farther away they are, citing the inverse square relationship that illuminance obeys as rationale. However, repeated observations of light sources maintaining their brightness over large distances prompted us to explore how the brightness, or perceived illuminance of a light varies with the viewing distance from the object. We hypothesized that since both the illuminance of the light source and image size decrease at the same rate, then the concentration, or intensity of the image remains unchanged, and subsequently the perceived illuminance.

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Flight paths over greenspace in major United States airports

Lee et al. | Sep 26, 2023

Flight paths over greenspace in major United States airports
Image credit: Mostafijur Rahman Nasim

Greenspaces (urban and wetland areas that contain vegetation) are beneficial to reducing pollution, while airplanes are a highly-polluting method of transportation. The authors examine the intersection of these two environmental factors by processing satellite images to reveal what percentage of flight paths go over greenspaces at major US airports.

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A novel approach for predicting Alzheimer’s disease using machine learning on DNA methylation in blood

Adami et al. | Sep 20, 2023

A novel approach for predicting Alzheimer’s disease using machine learning on DNA methylation in blood
Image credit: National Cancer Institute

Here, recognizing the difficulty associated with tracking the progression of dementia, the authors used machine learning models to predict between the presence of cognitive normalcy, mild cognitive impairment, and Alzheimer's Disease, based on blood DNA methylation levels, sex, and age. With four machine learning models and two dataset dimensionality reduction methods they achieved an accuracy of 53.33%.

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Polluted water tested from the Potomac River affects invasive species plant growth

Chao et al. | Sep 20, 2023

Polluted water tested from the Potomac River affects invasive species plant growth
Image credit: Alex Korolkoff

Here recognizing the potential for pollution to impact the ecosystems of local waterways, the authors investigated the growth of tiger lilies, which are invasive to the Potomac River, in relation to the level of pollution. The authors report that increasing levels of pollution led to increased growth of the invasive species based on their study.

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The effect of viscous drag on damped simple harmonic motion

Michael Powell et al. | Sep 14, 2023

The effect of viscous drag on damped simple harmonic motion

Dynamic viscosity is a quantity that describes the magnitude of a fluid’s internal friction or thickness. Traditionally, scientists measure this quantity by either calculating the terminal velocity of a falling sphere or the time a liquid takes to flow through a capillary tube. However, they have yet to conduct much research on finding this quantity through viscous damped simple harmonic motion. The present study hypothesized that the relationship between the dynamic viscosity and the damping coefficient is positively correlated.

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