News

7-step blueprint proposes new genetic and food security guidelines for aquaculture

Published 28 January, 2022

Researchers from the Institute of Hydrobiology (IHB) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, set out to reexamine fish biology and biotechnologies in the wake of these ongoing changes. Based on their findings, they have developed a new nine-step blueprint for improving the use of genetics and new breed creation in aquaculture species. In their paper, they also share their analysis of the potential of these new breeding strategies to improve the aquaculture seed industry and strengthen food security.

Researchers discover that the Omicron variant may have originated in mice

Published 26 January, 2022

Findings suggest that researchers should focus on SARS-CoV-2 variants isolated from wild animals, especially rodents. If Omicron is determined to have been derived from mice, the implications of it circulating among non-human hosts will pose new challenges in the prevention and control of the epidemic

Women with older and overweight partners are at higher risk of embryo implantation failure

Published 25 January, 2022

In a paper published in the KeAi journal Gynecology and Obstetrics Clinical Medicine, a group of researchers in China explored the effects of advanced paternal age (APA) and abnormal paternal weight (obesity) on in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment in nearly 800 couples who have experienced unexplained recurrent pregnancy loss (uRPL). Specifically, they considered the impact on embryo implantation, embryo quality and the health of the baby.

Researchers develop simple and scalable method of generating formate

Published 11 January, 2022

Researchers used a one-step electrochemical anodic oxidation (AO) method to synthesise the nanoporous tin oxide using tin foil as the raw material. AO is a scalable, simple and efficient alternative for the preparation of nanoporous tin oxide, providing large specific surfaces, high porosity, and abundant grain boundaries. The researchers achieved a formate partial current density of 285 mA·cm-2 in a flow cell, with selectivity of 96.4%.

Why computational algorithms could transform COVID-19 diagnosis and care for low-income countries

Published 07 January, 2022

In a study published in the KeAi journal Data Science and Management, a team of researchers from Africa and Canada tested the ability of seven computational algorithms to diagnose COVID-19 at an early stage, based on common symptoms. The researchers found that the algorithms Multilayer Perceptron, Fuzzy Cognitive Map and Deep Neural Network outperformed Logistic Regression, Naïve Bayes, Decision Tree and Support Vector Machine.

Doing less, achieving more: How the practice of wu-wei can boost athletes’ performance

Published 05 January, 2022

In a conceptual review published in KeAi’s Asian Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, a group of researchers assert that the ancient Chinese wisdom of wu-wei, which can be understood as non-doing or non-striving, is a natural extension of mindfulness training for athletes.

Scientists use sunlight and modified sawdust to reversibly capture carbon dioxide

Published 10 December, 2021

In a study published in Green Energy & Environment, a group of researchers from Renmin University of China propose a new method to capture CO2 using sunlight as the energy source and modified sawdust as the CO2 absorbent. In addition to capturing CO2, their method also avoids using the fossil fuels that would create additional CO2. Importantly, the absorption method they have developed is reversible, so the captured CO2 can be used to generate other products, such as methanol, ethanol and methane.

‘Divide and conquer’ algorithm offers promising route for big data analysis

Published 08 December, 2021

In this study, the researchers have focused on the large-scale inference of a linear expectile regression model, which has wide applications in risk management. They propose a communication-effective, divide and conquer algorithm, in which the summary statistics from the subsystems are combined by the confidence distribution.