Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are bio-electrochemical systems that utilize bacteria and are promising forms of alternative energy. Similar to chemical fuel cells, MFCs employ both an anode (accepts electrons) and a cathode (donates electrons), but in these devices the live bacteria donate the electrons necessary for current. In this study, the authors assess the functionality of a photosynthetic MFC that utilizes a purple non-sulfur bacterium. The MFC prototype they constructed was found to function over a range of environmental conditions, suggesting its potential use in industrial models.
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Effect of pH Change on Exoskeletons of Selected Saltwater Organisms Which Rely on Calcium Fixation
Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are projected to lead to a 0.3- 0.4 unit decrease in ocean surface pH levels over the next century. In this study, the authors investigate the effect of pH change on the mass of calcified exoskeletons of common aquatic organisms found in South Florida coastal waters.
Read More...The Effects of Micro-Algae Characteristics on the Bioremediation Rate of Deepwater Horizon Crude Oil
Environmental disasters such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill can be devastating to ecosystems for long periods of time. Safer, cheaper, and more effective methods of oil clean-up are needed to clean up oil spills in the future. Here, the authors investigate the ability of natural ocean algae to process crude oil into less toxic chemicals. They identify Coccochloris elabens as a particularly promising algae for future bioremediation efforts.
Read More...Exploring the effects of diverse historical stock price data on the accuracy of stock price prediction models
Algorithmic trading has been increasingly used by Americans. In this work, we tested whether including the opening, closing, and highest prices in three supervised learning models affected their performance. Indeed, we found that including all three prices decreased the error of the prediction significantly.
Read More...Shortage of Black physicians: Florida Black medical student enrollment from 2013 to 2021
Black patients tend to have better health outcomes when cared for by Black physicians, yet Black doctors make up only 5% of U.S. physicians, despite Black people comprising 14% of the population. This analysis of data from Florida medical schools showed a higher enrollment of Black first-year students (13.5%) compared to the national average (9%), and a national increase from 6% in 2013 to 9% in 2021, aligning with the rise of social justice movements. Increasing Black medical student enrollment could reduce health disparities and improve outcomes for Black communities.
Read More...The impact of culturally informed music therapy on visually impaired youth: A Jaffna, Sri Lanka study
The authors looked at the effect of music therapy on visually impaired youth. They found that culturally relevant curricula is an important consideration while also showing that broadly music therapy enhances working memory, emotional well-being and inhibitory control.
Read More...Examining the prevalence of depression in coronary artery disease patients: a cross-sectional analysis
The authors surveyed individuals diagnosed with coronary artery disease about their mental health to study a potential connection between coronary artery disease and depression.
Read More...Cardiovascular Disease Prediction Using Supervised Ensemble Machine Learning and Shapley Values
The authors test the effectiveness of machine learning to predict onset of cardiovascular disease.
Read More...Using Gravitational Waves to Determine if Primordial Black Holes are Sources of Dark Matter
In the quest to understand dark matter, scientists face a profound mystery. Two compelling candidates, Massive Compact Halo Objects (MACHOs) and Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), have emerged as potential sources. By analyzing gravitational waves from binary mergers involving these black holes, authors sought to determine if MACHOs could be the elusive dark matter.
Read More...Evaluation of the causality between testosterone, obesity, and diabetes
The study explored the role of testosterone beyond its well-established effects on male sex characteristics, focusing on its association with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D), using Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis on genomic data.
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