In patients undergoing colonoscopy to screen for colorectal cancer, deeper sedation using the anesthetic drug propofol may improve detection of "serrated" polyps — a type of precancerous lesion that can be difficult to detect, reports a study in the Online First edition of Anesthesiology, the peer-reviewed journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA). "Our study provides the first evidence that monitored anesthesia care with propofol might increase detection of serrated polyps, which are more likely to be missed than adenomatous polyps during colonoscopy," said lead author ...

The electromyographic(EMG) signal is the bioelectrical current generated during muscle contraction. It can be transmitted as an input signal to an intelligent bionic prosthetic hand to control hand movements. By increasing the number of signal acquisition channels, richer information about the intention of the action can be captured, thus improving the success rate of the recognition of the intention of the action. However, it is not better to have more acquisition channels. As the number of channels increases, the hardware system becomes more complex, and the effect of improving the accuracy of gesture recognition gradually ...

The ability of the human wrist to rotate around the forearm axis in 2 directions is crucial for many daily activities. This rotation, limited to a range of approximately [-90°, 90°], restricts the wrist's capacity to execute complex operational tasks. For example, when we open or lock a door with a key, our wrist performs a large rotational movement. When we screw, the wrist needs to twist 180° several times. However, due to the limited rotation angle, the hand needs to leave the key or screwdriver several times to complete the entire work process. In order to realize large rotation ratio in a single actuator, a research team from Zhejiang ...

A research team at DZNE has been awarded around one million US dollars for the development of an innovative, AI-based method to measure the “choroid plexus” three-dimensionally in human brain scans. These finely branched brain structures are the main sources of the “cerebrospinal fluid” and thus of great significance for the function of the brain and spinal cord. It is also assumed that they play a role in various neurological diseases, including Alzheimer’s. The research project is funded by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). The “cerebrospinal fluid” (CSF) is ...

This report presents gained knowledge identified at two events during the Greenland Science Week on the 7th of November 2023 in Nuuk, Greenland: The 1st Biennial Greenland Marine Research Seminar and The workshop on Status and Development for East Greenland Waters Both events had a forward-looking focus, to gain insight and knowledge from stakeholders and other parties, to be implemented in future research. The marine research seminar also served as a follow-up on earlier ECOTIP and Face-It stakeholder involvement in Greenland and was an opportunity to share project results and recommendations ...

Highlights: In lab experiments, copper shows antimicrobial properties, including against pathogens like Salmonella. Copper beads in animal feeds may improve gut health in pigs. A new bead design effectively delivers copper to the lower intestine. New findings show copper beads influence the microbial makeup in a pig’s gut, but more work is needed to optimize the benefits.   Washington, D.C. — April 17, 2024 — Copper is a natural antimicrobial material that, when added to pig feed, may promote the growth and ...

Florida Atlantic University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science is among eight university teams in the United States selected to work with NASA and the U.S. military to foster innovation and expertise in the small satellite sector. NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) is partnering with the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force for the 2024 Mission Concept Program. A CubeSat is among a class of research spacecraft called nanosatellites about the size of a 4-inch cube and typically weighing less than 5 pounds. Running from May through August, the University Nanosatellite ...

Waltham — April 10, 2024 — The nursing work environment, nurse education, and staffing levels are independent factors affecting hospital scores on a key measure of patient-centered care – with significant implications for reimbursements, reports a study in Medical Care. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer. "Our results provide evidence-based guidance about which modifiable aspects of hospital nursing are likely to improve patient experience ratings," said Kathleen E. Fitzpatrick Rosenbaum, PhD, RN, CCRN, of Yale University. How do nursing factors affect HCAHPS ...

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have developed a powerful, new technique to generate “movies” of changing protein structures and speeds of up to 50 frames per second. Senior author, Dr. Simon Scheuring, the Distinguished Professor of Anesthesiology Research at Weill Cornell Medicine and colleagues developed the new approach to gain a better understanding of how biological molecules change structurally over time. Although investigators in this field routinely image static proteins and other molecules finely ...

Chattering squirrels, charming coypus, and tail-slapping beavers — along with some other rodents — have orange-brown front teeth. Researchers have published high-resolution images of rodent incisors in ACS Nano, providing an atomic-level view of the teeth’s ingenious enamel and its coating. They discovered tiny pockets of iron-rich materials in the enamel that form a protective shield for the teeth but, importantly, don’t contribute to the orange-brown hue — new insights that could improve human dentistry. Human and animal teeth are coated in a ...

DALLAS, April 17, 2024 — Language barriers, longstanding structural racism barriers, underrepresentation within the ranks of health care professionals and higher than average rates of poor health risk factors are among the alarming trends that continue to impede quality health care outcomes for Hispanic Latino people living in the United States. The American Heart Association, celebrating 100 years of lifesaving service as the world’s leading nonprofit organization focused on heart and brain health for all, is making strides ...

Glenview, Illinois – Esha Kapania, MD, will be the mentee for the inaugural year of the 2024 APCCMPD and CHEST Medical Educator Scholar Diversity Fellowship. Designed to pair a fellow-in-training with an established medical educator, the unique scholarship was launched in August by the American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) and the Association of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Program Directors (APCCMPD) to improve diversity in pulmonary and critical care medical education. The program focuses ...

PULLMAN, Wash. –  While the electronic tongue bears little physical resemblance to its namesake, the strand-like sensory probes of the “e-tongue” still outperformed human senses when detecting contaminated wine in a recent study. In an experiment at Washington State University, the e-tongue identified signs of microorganisms in white wine within a week after contamination—four weeks before a human panel noticed the change in aroma. This was also before those microbes could be grown from the wine in a petri-dish. Winemakers traditionally rely on these two methods, sniffing the wine and petri-dish testing, to ...

Research Highlights: Almost 1 in 5 adults with congenital heart disease living in Israel had or developed an abnormal heart rhythm over five years. Adults with congenital heart disease who developed an irregular heart rhythm in the heart’s upper chambers faced a 65% increased risk of premature death. The adults who developed an irregular heart rhythm in the heart’s lower chambers had double the risk of premature death. Embargoed until 4 a.m. CT/5 a.m. ET Wednesday, April 17, 2024 DALLAS, April 17, 2024 — Almost 1 in 5 adults with congenital heart disease living in Israel had or developed an abnormal ...

A team at the University of Tokyo have constructed an improved mid-infrared microscope, enabling them to see the structures inside living bacteria at the nanometer scale. Mid-infrared microscopy is typically limited by its low resolution, especially when compared to other microscopy techniques. This latest development produced images at 120 nanometers, which the researchers say is a thirtyfold improvement on the resolution of typical mid-infrared microscopes. Being able to view samples more clearly at this smaller scale can aid multiple fields of research, including into infectious diseases, and opens the way for developing ...

Researchers have found that children of women with HIV infection have an increased risk of immune abnormalities following exposure to maternal HIV viraemia, immune dysfunction, and co-infections during pregnancy.  The study, led by Dr Ceri Evans while at Queen Mary University of London, compared clinical outcomes between infants who were HIV-exposed and HIV-unexposed in the Sanitation Hygiene Infant Nutrition Efficacy (SHINE) trial in rural Zimbabwe. Despite high coverage of maternal antiretroviral therapy (ART) and uptake of exclusive breastfeeding, mortality in infants exposed to HIV was 41% higher than in infants not exposed to HIV. Infants who survived and remained HIV-free ...

Competition between species played a major role in the rise and fall of hominins – and produced a “bizarre” evolutionary pattern for the Homo lineage – according to a new University of Cambridge study that revises the start and end dates for many of our early ancestors.   Conventionally, climate is held responsible for the emergence and extinction of hominin species. In most vertebrates, however, interspecies competition is known to play an important role. Now, research shows for the first time that competition was fundamental to “speciation” – the rate at which new species emerge ...

A comparison of treatments for malnutrition enteropathy, caused by severe acute malnutrition (SAM), has found evidence supporting the use of treatments to enhance the healing of mucosal membranes and reduce inflammation in the gut to improve the outcomes of children affected by long-team health consequences of a period of malnutrition.  The Therapeutic Approaches to Malnutrition Enteropathy (TAME), led by researchers from Queen Mary University of London, evaluated four interventions for malnutrition enteropathy in a multi-centre phase ...

Researchers have used artificial intelligence techniques to massively accelerate the search for Parkinson’s disease treatments. The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, designed and used an AI-based strategy to identify compounds that block the clumping, or aggregation, of alpha-synuclein, the protein that characterises Parkinson’s. The team used machine learning techniques to quickly screen a chemical library containing millions of entries, and identified five highly potent compounds for further investigation. Parkinson’s affects more than six million people worldwide, with that number projected to triple by 2040. ...

Toronto, ON —Researchers found that approximately 1 in 5 older Canadian adults with diabetes and no pre-pandemic functional limitations developed functional limitations for the first time during the COVID-19 pandemic. Functional limitations refer to difficulties with basic mobility-related tasks, such as walking two to three blocks, standing up from a chair, or climbing stairs.  In comparison, only one in eight of their peers without diabetes developed functional limitations during the ...

Prolonged droughts followed by sudden bursts of rainfall – how do desert soil bacteria manage to survive such harsh conditions? This long-debated question has now been answered by an ERC project led by microbiologist Dagmar Woebken from the Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science (CeMESS) at the University of Vienna. The study reveals that desert soil bacteria are highly adapted to survive the rapid environmental changes experienced with each rainfall event. These findings were recently published in the prestigious ...

Researchers at the University of Toronto have discovered a DNA repair mechanism that advances understanding of how human cells stay healthy, and which could lead to new treatments for cancer and premature aging. The study, published in the journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, also sheds light on the mechanism of action of some existing chemotherapy drugs. “We think this research solves the mystery of how DNA double-strand breaks and the nuclear envelope connect for ...

While your invigorating morning coffee may become cheaper when there are large fluctuations in the world market price, they are a major additional psychological burden for the farmers who grow the coffee. This is documented in a new international study on the effect of income uncertainty on the mental health of Vietnamese coffee farmers. "Our results suggest that not only poverty, but also the risk of poverty caused by fluctuating prices has a significant additional negative effect on the mental well-being of farmers in low-income countries," says Finn ...

In ancient Greece, over 3000 years ago, wise men used silver salts to prevent wounds from becoming infected. These salts continued to be used until Alexander Fleming discovered the first antibiotic "just" 100 years ago. The use of antibiotics represented a major breakthrough in the treatment of infectious diseases, but resistance soon began to emerge. Bacteria, which have been on the planet longer than us, have found ways to overcome different antibiotics, and today antibiotic resistance is a major global health problem.   In times when everything evolves ...

Significantly reducing trans fat levels in the Nigerian food supply could prevent approximately 10,000 heart disease deaths and save 90 million USD (12 billion Naira, ₦) in healthcare costs over a decade. New findings by The George Institute for Global Health on the health and economic benefits of enacting the country’s trans fat elimination policy were published today in BMJ Global Health. In 2023, Nigeria followed South Africa as only the second African country to adopt a best practice trans fat ...