Inventor of xenobots unveils new advance toward artificial life New AI algorithm compresses billions of years of evolution into seconds The evolved robot has three legs and rear fins, something a human engineer would never devise Researcher: ‘Now anyone can watch evolution in action as AI generates better and better robot bodies in real time.’ A team led by Northwestern University researchers has developed the first artificial intelligence (AI) to date that can intelligently design robots from ...

Two Rice University bioengineers received the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s New Innovator Award (NIA) for creative research projects demonstrating broad impact potential. Part of the High-Risk, High-Reward Research program, NIA awards support early-career investigators with ambitious, unconventional project proposals “in any area of biomedical, behavioral or social science research relevant to the NIH mission,” according to the agency’s website. Rice’s ...

Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is a debilitating yet all-too-common condition, which can severely affect quality of life for patients undergoing treatment. For those struggling with CRF, there have been no effective pharmaceutical treatments for the constellation of symptoms that together define the syndrome. In a new study led by Yale Cancer Center researchers at Yale School of Medicine, the team found that a metabolism-targeting drug called dichloroacetate (DCA) helped alleviate CRF in mice, without interfering with cancer ...

Effective September 26, 2023, NRG Oncology-RTOG 1308, a phase III randomized trial comparing overall survival after photon versus proton chemoradiotherapy for patients with inoperable stage II-IIIB non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has met its accrual target. The trial, one of several NRG Oncology ongoing clinical trials across various malignancies within the National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) that compare photon versus proton radiation therapy techniques, is the first phase III head-to-head comparison of these ...

Even as the world slowly begins to decarbonize industrial processes, achieving lower concentrations of atmospheric carbon requires technologies that remove existing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere — rather than just prevent the creation of it. Typical carbon capture catches CO2 directly from the source of a carbon-intensive process. Ambient carbon capture, or “direct air capture” (DAC) on the other hand, can take carbon out of typical environmental conditions and serves as one weapon in the battle against climate change, particularly as reliance ...

Dr. Tanya Stoyanova, associate professor of molecular and medical pharmacology and urology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, was awarded a $350,000 Idea Development Award from the Department of Defense. The award will help Stoyanova, a member of the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, to identify new cancer detection and treatment strategies for small cell lung cancer, a highly aggressive form of the disease that accounts for approximately 15% of lung cancers. Known for spreading quickly, most people diagnosed with the disease face low chances of survival beyond five years. The award ...

Carol L. Silva, the Edith Kinney Gaylord Presidential Professor of Political Science in the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences and Senior Associate Vice President for Research and Partnerships at the University of Oklahoma, has been elected a 2023 fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. “Carol is an experienced, dynamic leader with an extensive record of excellence in research and building successful multidisciplinary programs and convergent teams focused on grand challenge problems at the intersection of public policy and technology. We congratulate her on this election to the NAPA and look forward to the impact she will make among these national thought ...

Large health systems are acquiring smaller physician practices at what some consider an alarming rate, leaving fewer independent practices. When the COVID-19 pandemic occurred, it was unclear whether the independent practices would be able to “keep up” (maintain the same level of patient care) with larger practices, which have more resources, and if care for patients with chronic conditions might be disrupted by the pandemic.   A new study from Associate Dean of Research Alison Cuellar found that independent practices experienced a smaller drop in patient volume than ...

The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) invites all journalists to attend its 2023 Annual Scientific Meeting — the country’s largest interdisciplinary conference in the field of aging — from November 8 to 12 in Tampa, Florida. Qualified media representatives intending to cover the meeting may register free of charge. More than 3,000 professionals are expected to attend the five-day gathering at the Tampa Convention Center. The theme for 2023 is “Building Bridges > Catalyzing Research > Empowering All Ages,” and the program schedule contains ...

Females may infer what makes a male attractive by observing the choices of more experienced females, and the context of those choices matters, according to a mathematical model publishing October 3rd in the open access journal PLOS Biology. Rather than simply copying their peers, females might learn to prefer rare traits that set successful males apart from others, Emily DuVal at Florida State University, US, and colleagues report. Sexual selection — where traits become more common because of their attractiveness to the opposite sex — can produce strange and elaborate characteristics, such as huge antlers, bright plumage, and ...

Despite increasing rates of tuberculosis in prisons across the globe, current WHO TB prevention guidelines fail to reach incarcerated populations. Programs should instead prioritize them, argue a group of researchers from Stanford, Harvard, UCL and a range of other global institutions. ##### In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available paper in PLOS Medicine: http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1004288 Article Title: Prioritizing persons deprived of liberty in global guidelines for tuberculosis preventive treatment Author Countries: United States Funding: ...

A machine learning model equipped with only data on people’s age, smoking duration and the number of cigarettes smoked per day can predict lung cancer risk and identify who needs lung cancer screening, according to a new study publishing October 3rd in the open access journal PLOS Medicine by Thomas Callender of University College London, UK, and colleagues. Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer death worldwide, with poor survival in the absence of early detection. Screening for lung cancer among those at highest risk could reduce ...

Residents of rural counties have overall worse health outcomes than their urban counterparts. A study published in PLOS Global Public Health  by William Weeks at Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington, United States and colleagues introduces a Health Equity Dashboard for policy makers to visualize health disparities in specific locations, and to examine the relationship between health-related measures and socio-demographic characteristics. Despite overall decreasing mortality rates prior to 2020, health disparities between rural and urban areas in the United States have increased. To better understand inequities in health-related measures between rural and non-rural populations, ...

Food insecurity is four times higher in Brazilian households headed by single women of colour than those headed by married white men, according to research published in the open access journal PLOS Global Public Health. Gender inequities, skin colour and children in the home increase the risk of food insecurity and the authors argue that policy makers need to consider intersectionality in programmes to reduce it. In 2021 there were 2.37 billion people suffering from food insecurity, with prevalence higher among women than men. The gender gap has increased in recent years, especially in the economic crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. — A recent study based on real-world community patient data confirms the effectiveness of the Pooled Cohort Equation (PCE), developed by the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology in 2013. The PCE is used to estimate a person's 10-year risk of developing clogged arteries, also known as atherosclerosis, and guide heart attack and stroke prevention efforts. Study findings are published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The new study highlights to patients and clinicians the continued reliability and effectiveness of the PCE as a tool for assessing cardiovascular risk, regardless of statin use to lower ...

On 27 September 2023, during a specialised symposium on DNA barcoding at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the Bulgarian Barcode of Life (BgBOL), a Bulgarian DNA barcoding consortium, was founded. By becoming the latest national node to join the International Barcode of Life Consortium (iBOL), the main task before BgBOL will be to coordinate, support, and promote DNA barcoding research in Bulgaria, with a primary focus on the study and preservation of the country's biodiversity. “The Bulgarian Barcode of Life opens up new horizons and opportunities to study and understand the biodiversity ...

On-Yee Lo, PhD, Assistant Scientist II at the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research at Hebrew SeniorLife and Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, is among the awardees of the 2023 Healthy Longevity Catalyst Awards by the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) together with eight global collaborators representing over 50 countries and territories. Lo, the principal investigator, and her colleagues were honored for the work with brain stimulation targeting shared networks to improve physical and cognitive ...

University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) researchers, as part of the Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Consortium (IDCRC), provided an interim analysis showing that the pentavalent (NmCV-5) meningitis vaccine is safe for use in 9-month-old infants in the meningitis belt of sub-Saharan Africa. They presented their results to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization on September 26. SAGE recommended that all countries in the African meningitis belt introduce the novel pentavalent meningococcal ...

ITHACA, N.Y. – A renter doesn’t generally hold much sway with a landlord or management company, but when tenants organize, their power can be formidable. Jamila Michener, associate professor of government and public policy, who has spent years researching tenant organizing, asserts that tenants acting collectively can wield power in “Racism, Power, And Health Equity: The Case Of Tenant Organizing,” which published Oct. 2 in Health Affairs. “It can feel like these families ...

Targeting Mitochondria 2023 Location: Steigenberger Hotel Am Kanzleramt, Berlin  Date: October 11-13 Network with over 210 participants and stay updated with the latest advancements and research on mitochondria. With more than 83 communications, this year's event promises to expand your understanding of mitochondria and its pivotal role in health and disease. Mitochondria will pave the way for the next breakthroughs in medicine, stated Prof. Volkmar Weissig, president of the World Mitochondria Society (WMS), and Prof. Marvin Edeas Chairman of the scientific committee. We are impressed with the caliber of speakers and the groundbreaking ...

A new compound developed at the University of Illinois Chicago potentially could offer an alternative to injections for the millions of people who suffer from an eye condition that causes blindness. Wet age-related macular degeneration causes vision loss due to the uncontrolled growth and leakage of blood vessels in the back of the eye. A new paper in Cell Reports Medicine led by UIC researcher Yulia Komarova finds that a small-molecule inhibitor can reverse damage from AMD and promote regenerative and healing processes.  The drug can also be delivered via eyedrops — an improvement over current ...

Graduate Suraj Sudera created an AI powered grill to cook the perfect steak. His love of engineering led him to create the device called Perfecta™ He founded Birmingham based start-up SEERGRILLS which applies AI and advanced technologies to improve cooking.   An Aston University engineering graduate has created the world’s first AI powered grill. Suraj Sudera has created a cooking device called Perfecta™ which cooks the perfect steak in 90 seconds. Suraj graduated from Aston University in 2015 with a BEng in Mechanical Engineering and ...

INDIANAPOLIS— A breast cancer researcher at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center received a five-year, $2.2 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to examine how certain immune cells support metastatic breast cancer development—and how to stop it. Cells called macrophages usually perform essential tasks as part of the immune system, but breast cancer cells can hijack them to protect cancer cells and help them grow. When this happens, they become tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). “Our goal is to interrupt that communication process between those two cell ...

SAN DIEGO, October 3, 2023 — Using previously taken diagnostic computed tomography (CT) scans in place of CT simulation scans to plan simple palliative radiation treatments can substantially reduce the time some people spend waiting for urgent treatment, improving the patient experience, a new study suggests. Patients who may benefit from this expedited process typically are experiencing pain or other debilitating symptoms, such as an airway blockage. Relying upon existing, recent scans instead of taking new ones reduced the time these patients spent at a cancer treatment center, from nearly five hours to under 30 minutes, ...

New findings may take scientists a step closer to understanding what causes SUDEP—Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy—a rare but fatal complication of epilepsy.  There are about 3,000 deaths from SUDEP each year in the U.S. The biggest risk factor is epilepsy that is not well controlled with medication or surgery, but the exact cause of SUDEP is not known. However, increasing evidence suggests that loss of breathing, or apnea, that persists after a seizure is a major cause of SUDEP.  In the new study, University of Iowa neuroscientists found that stimulating a specific ...