There has been a shift away from the use of more reliable hormonal methods of contraception to less reliable fertility awareness methods among women requesting abortion in England and Wales over the past 5 years, reveals research published online in the journal BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health.   Use of the Pill, mini Pill, implants, patches, and vaginal rings has given way to more ‘natural’ methods, such as period tracking apps that highlight monthly peak fertility/ovulation, the findings ...

Implementing bans on the advertising, promotion, and sponsorship of tobacco products is linked to 20% lower odds of smoking, and 37% lower risk of taking up the habit, reveals a pooled data analysis of the available research, published online in Tobacco Control.   The findings indicate that these bans do influence behaviour, lending further weight to calls for their wider international implementation and enforcement, conclude the researchers. In 2019 alone, more than a billion people around the globe regularly smoked tobacco, and smoking caused nearly 8 million deaths, note the researchers. To curb the toll ...

A vascular ‘fingerprint’ on the light sensitive tissue layer at the back of the eye—the retina—can predict a person’s risk of stroke as accurately as traditional risk factors alone, but without the need for multiple invasive lab tests, finds research published online in the journal Heart.  The fingerprint, comprising 29 indicators of vascular health, is a practical and readily implementable approach that is particularly well suited for primary healthcare and low-resource settings, conclude the researchers. Stroke affects around 100 million people around the globe and ...

Mild cognitive impairment is linked to blood vessel dysfunction in the brain’s temporal lobes — the seat of memory — according to a new USC-led study. The findings, seen in people with and without signs of amyloid buildup in the brain, suggest that microvascular trouble may be an important, early biomarker for dementia as well as a potential target for therapy. The research, involving scientists from multiple universities, appears in the journal Neurology. “We’re studying ...

PORTLAND, Ore. – The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded up to $11.9 million to Oregon State University to invent new drug delivery technologies for protecting members of the military from a range of health threats in combat areas. Once designed, developed and tested, the technologies could also be applied as needed within the general public, said OSU College of Pharmacy nanomedicine researcher Gaurav Sahay, the project leader. The award comes from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency through its Hermes program, whose goal is finding new ways to deliver therapeutic agents throughout the body with exceptional ...

Esteemed cancer clinician-scientist Jenny Chang, M.D., MBBChir, MHCM, has been chosen to lead the Houston Methodist Academic Institute. She will serve as executive vice president, president and CEO, and chief academic officer. In her more than 15 years at Houston Methodist, Chang helped transform the Dr. Mary and Ron Neal Cancer Center into one of the top-20 ranked cancer centers in the country. Chang, the Emily Herrmann Presidential Distinguished Chair in Cancer Research, was selected following a national search and succeeds H. Dirk Sostman, M.D., FACR, who will retire next month after two decades of leadership at Houston Methodist. Chang’s ...

Physicists have spent more than a century measuring and making sense of the strange ways that photons, electrons, and other subatomic particles interact at extremely small scales. Engineers have spent decades figuring out how to take advantage of these phenomena to create new technologies. In one such phenomenon, called quantum entanglement, pairs of photons become interconnected in such a way that the state of one photon instantly changes to match the state of its paired photon, no matter how far apart they are.  Nearly 80 years ago, Albert Einstein referred to this phenomenon as "spooky action at a distance." Today, entanglement is the subject of research ...

Although extremely flammable, cotton is one of the most commonly used textiles due to its comfort and breathable nature. However, in a single step, researchers from Texas A&M University can reduce the flammability of cotton using a polyelectrolyte complex coating. The coating can be tailored for various textiles, such as clothing or upholstery, and scaled using the common pad-dry coating process, which is suitable for industrial applications. This technology can help to save property and lives on a large scale.     “Many of the materials in our ...

Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have uncovered how specialized cells surrounding small blood vessels, known as perivascular cells, contribute to blood vessel dysfunction in chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes and fibrosis. The findings, published today in Science Advances, could change how these diseases are treated. The study, led by Luiz Bertassoni, D.D.S., Ph.D., founding director of the Knight Cancer Precision Biofabrication Hub and a professor at the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute and ...

Years ago, as she sat in waiting rooms, Maytal Saar-Tsechansky began to wonder how people chose a good doctor when they had no way of knowing a doctor’s track record on accurate diagnoses. Talking to other patients, she found they sometimes based choices on a physician’s personality or even the quality of their office furniture. “I realized all these signals people are using are just not the right ones,” says Saar-Tsechansky, professor of information, risk, and operations management at Texas McCombs. “We were operating in complete darkness, like there’s no transparency on these things.” In new research, she uses artificial ...

Embargoed for release until 5:00 p.m. ET on Monday 13 January 2025    @Annalsofim          Below please find summaries of new articles that will be published in the next issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The summaries are not intended to substitute for the full articles as a source of information. This information is under strict embargo and by taking it into possession, media representatives are committing to the terms of the embargo not only on their own behalf, but also on behalf ...

The University of Texas at Arlington has been recognized nationally for its commitment to student success and economic mobility, being named a winner in the inaugural Postsecondary Success Recognition Program (PSRP), a U.S. Department of Education initiative. This program honors institutions that excel in enrolling underserved student populations, supporting successful student transfers and completions and preparing graduates for careers that promote economic mobility. UTA was one of only three bachelor’s degree–granting institutions across the nation ...

Bats depend on open bodies of water such as small ponds and lakes for foraging and drinking. Access to water is particularly important for survival in the increasingly hot and dry summers caused by climate change, the time when female bats are pregnant and rear their young. A scientific team from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) has now shown that access to drinking sites is hampered by wind turbines in agricultural landscapes: Many bat species avoid the turbines and water bodies ...

Biology researchers in the College of Sciences and UCF Coastal have received two awards from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) totaling more than $2.3 million. A new $1.1 million award to UCF from NOAA Sea Grant as part of the Marine Debris Challenge Competition will fund joint research between UCF’s CEELAB and Aquatic Biogeochemistry Laboratory’s research on plastic-free restored habitats in coastal shorelines and oyster reefs. UCF’s work, in partnership with Texas A&M, and University of Texas Marine Science Institute was selected as one of 11 projects ...

RICHLAND, Wash.— Geochemist Kevin Rosso, a senior scientific leader at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, has been named a Battelle Fellow, the highest recognition at PNNL for leadership and accomplishment in science. He joins six other current Battelle Fellows at PNNL in an honor that less than 0.5% of PNNL scientists achieve during their careers. Rosso is internationally known for his fundamental research on how energy flows among minerals, solutions and microorganisms. These complex processes center on the key role that interfaces—which are shared boundaries—play in controlling ...

What: New findings from the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) Initiative suggest that infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, may be associated with an increase in the number of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) cases. According to the results, 4.5% post-COVID-19 participants met ME/CFS diagnostic criteria, compared to 0.6% participants that had not been infected by SARS-CoV-2 virus.  RECOVER is NIH’s national program to understand, diagnose, prevent, and treat Long COVID. The research team, led by Suzanne D. Vernon, Ph.D., from the Bateman Horne Center in Salt Lake City, ...

In a groundbreaking study published in Environmental Science and Ecotechnology, researchers have advanced our understanding of biophotovoltaic (BPV) systems—innovative devices that merge photosynthetic microbes with electrochemical systems to convert sunlight into electricity. Using the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, the study provides critical insights into the molecular mechanisms driving this green energy technology. Central to BPV systems is the process of extracellular electron transfer (EET), where electrons generated during photosynthesis are harvested by an electrode via mediators such as ferricyanide. The research reveals that EET ...

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (Jan. 13, 2025) — An experimental blood test for pancreatic cancer that was developed by Van Andel Institute and University of Pittsburgh scientists is being evaluated by a commercial laboratory, an important milestone toward making the test available for patients. A recent double-blinded, peer-reviewed analysis published in Cancer Letters revealed that the experimental test correctly identified 71% of pancreatic cancer samples in the lab compared to only 44% correctly identified by the current gold-standard test. Teams led by ...

Researchers at Rice University have uncovered new insights into the evolution of bird behavior, revealing why certain mating systems persist while others disappear over time. In a recent paper published in the journal Evolution, Rafael S. Marcondes and Nicolette Douvas reveal that lekking — a mating system where males display for females without forming lasting bonds — is an evolutionarily stable strategy. In contrast, resource-defense polygamy, where one sex — usually but ...

The night sky has always played a crucial role in navigation, from early ocean crossings to modern GPS. Besides stars, the United States Navy uses quasars as beacons. Quasars are distant galaxies with supermassive black holes, surrounded by brilliantly hot disks of swirling gas that can blast off jets of material. Following up on the groundbreaking 2020 discovery of newborn jets in a number of quasars, aspiring naval officer Olivia Achenbach of the United States Naval Academy has used NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to reveal surprising properties of one of them, quasar J0742+2704. "The biggest surprise was seeing the distinct ...

OXFORD, Miss. – Methamphetamine deaths in the U.S. rose 61-fold from 1999 to 2021, according to a new study, highlighting a growing crisis in addiction and public health.  Looking at the gender breakdown of these deaths could improve harm-reduction efforts and outcomes for patients suffering from addiction, said Andrew Yockey, University of Mississippi assistant professor of public health and co-author of the study.   “We know that, across the board, men are more likely to use every substance except tranquilizers than women, and we found that to be true here,” Yockey said. “Especially if we're thinking about methamphetamine, ...

THIS PUBLICATION IS EMBARGOED UNTIL 3 PM EASTERN TIME ON JANUARY 13, 2025. Oregon’s Cascade Range mountains might not hold gold, but they store another precious resource in abundance: water.  Scientists from the University of Oregon and their partners have mapped the amount of water stored beneath volcanic rocks at the crest of the central Oregon Cascades and found an aquifer many times larger than previously estimated — at least 81 cubic kilometers.  That’s almost three times the maximum capacity of Lake Mead, ...

DALLAS, Jan. 13, 2025 — Corey Bentley, an American Heart Association local volunteer and marketing professional in the San Francisco Bay Area, is the Association’s 2024 National Leaders of Impact™ Winner. In the fall of 2024, more than 300 local leaders in 60 communities volunteered to improve heart health while raising funds to fuel the lifesaving mission of the Association, through its nationwide Leaders of Impact campaign. The head-to-head competition doesn’t just focus on raising critical funds. It also supports access to equitable health in local communities given that health inequities related to uncontrolled high blood pressure rates, tobacco ...

Preschool wheeze is a common condition in children under six, affecting 30-40% of children Aston University’s Dr Gemma Heath led a study into parents’ experiences of managing preschool wheeze, including confusion and psychological distress They identified problems with inconsistent terminology and uncertainty around diagnosis and say a unified approach is needed. A study led by Aston University’s Dr Gemma Heath and  Dr Prasad Nagakumar from Birmingham Children’s Hospital, has shown that treatment and diagnosis for preschool wheeze needs more effective ...

A recent study published in Environmental Science and Ecotechnology reveals significant changes in antibiotic pollution patterns in China’s water systems over the past decade, driven by evolving manure management practices. Conducted by researchers from China Agricultural University and Wageningen University, the study developed the MARINA-Antibiotics (China-1.0) model to track antibiotic flows from livestock manure into rivers and groundwater across 395 sub-basins between 2010 and 2020. The study found a 59% decrease in antibiotic pollution in rivers, primarily due to improved manure recycling and reduced direct manure discharge into waterways. However, ...