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Medicine19 Aug 2024

The plausible role of vascular adhesion molecules in cardiovascular diseases

https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.15212/CVIA.2024.0046 Announcing a new article publication for Cardiovascular Innovations and Applications journal. Vascular Adhesion Molecules (VAMs) appear to play important roles in the development of Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD). The roles of these molecules in mediating inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, and plaque formation suggest that they may be important as both biomarkers and therapeutic targets. Understanding and targeting these molecules are hoped to substantially contribute to ...

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Medicine19 Aug 2024

Whole-exome sequencing identifies three novel TTN variants in Chinese families with dilated cardiomyopathy

https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.15212/CVIA.2024.0040 Announcing a new article publication for Cardiovascular Innovations and Applications journal. Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), a severe heart disease, is the leading cause of heart failure and sudden cardiac death worldwide. DCM is defined by a dilated and deficient systolic left ventricle (LV) and is a major risk factor for morbidity and mortality worldwide. DCM progression can be ascribed to genetic and non-genetic factors, including hypertension, infectious agents, toxins, and drugs. Sarcomere genes play crucial roles in myocardial cells’ physical structure and physiological function. Various cardiomyopathies ...

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Environment19 Aug 2024

Key biofuel-producing microalga believed to be a single species is actually three

MEDIA INQUIRES WRITTEN BY Laura Muntean Ashley Vargo laura.muntean@ag.tamu.edu 601-248-1891 FOR ...

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Medicine19 Aug 2024

Simple alternative criteria identify people with the most to gain from lung cancer screening

Embargoed for release until 5:00 p.m. ET on Monday 19 August 2024 Annals of Internal Medicine Tip Sheet @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 ...

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Science19 Aug 2024

For some older adults with kidney failure, dialysis may not be the best option

Whether dialysis is the best option for kidney failure and, if so, when to start, may deserve more careful consideration, according to a new study. For older adults who were not healthy enough for a kidney transplant, starting dialysis when their kidney function fell below a certain threshold — rather than waiting — afforded them roughly one more week of life, Stanford Medicine researchers and their colleagues found. More critically, perhaps, they spent an average of two more weeks in ...

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Medicine19 Aug 2024

UC Davis Health develops a real-time action plan to help patients with lung disease cope with wildfire smoke

A multidisciplinary team of UC Davis Health experts are calling on health systems to create wildfire preparedness action plans to support patients with preexisting respiratory diseases. They are urging providers to proactively put in place interventions to mitigate the effects of poor air quality from smoke. Their article, published in the Journal of the COPD Foundation, identifies the needs of high-risk populations when affected by wildfire smoke. It outlines an action plan for health systems to help these groups with the burdens of poor air quality from wildfires. “Patients ...

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Science19 Aug 2024

MIT study explains why laws are written in an incomprehensible style

Legal documents are notoriously difficult to understand, even for lawyers. This raises the question: Why are these documents written in a style that makes them so impenetrable? MIT cognitive scientists believe they have uncovered the answer to that question. Just as “magic spells” use special rhymes and archaic terms to signal their power, the convoluted language of legalese acts to convey a sense of authority, they conclude. In a study that will appear in the journal of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers found that even non-lawyers use this type of language when asked to write laws. “People seem to understand that there’s ...

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Environment19 Aug 2024

Understanding of early life ecosystems highlighted in new publication

STARKVILLE, Miss.—With a new understanding of past life on the planet through fossils, a Mississippi State biological sciences faculty member is helping researchers better predict Earth’s future. In a new paper published in July in the esteemed peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Donald L. Hall Professor of Biology Matthew Brown unearths a specific area of under-studied fossils: microbial eukaryotes—more specifically, testate amoebae from 750 million ...

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Medicine19 Aug 2024

New research finds scalable mindfulness interventions delivered via telehealth improve pain and well-being for veterans with chronic pain

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (08/19/2024) — Mindfulness-based interventions delivered via telehealth in a scalable format can improve pain and overall well-being among veterans with chronic pain, according to new research published today in JAMA Internal Medicine. In a randomized clinical trial, researchers aimed to test the effectiveness of two eight-week telehealth mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) designed to be scalable and widely implemented in healthcare systems. MBIs help people pay attention non-judgmentally in the present moment and often involve practices like meditation, breathing exercises or gentle movement. “Although mindfulness interventions are evidence-based ...

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Medicine19 Aug 2024

Current HIV prevention medication users often stigmatize other PrEP users as ‘promiscuous’

Novel findings attend to attitudes of the stigmatized, rather than stigmatizers Past research identified perception of promiscuity and assumptions that PrEP users are HIV-positive as key drivers of perceived stigma Perception of stigma is highest among those who believe their sexual behavior puts them at risk for HIV Knowing others who use PrEP does not influence one’s fear of potential discrimination CHICAGO --- Public health messaging that drives stigma around Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), a medication that can reduce HIV risk by up to 99%, appears to play a role in uptake of the medication. While the potential mismarketing of the drug is well-understood and ...

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Social Science19 Aug 2024

How "winner and loser effects" impact social rank in animals - and humans

Research has shown that in many animals, the winners of a fight are more likely to win subsequent contests, while the losers tend to lose their following fights. In experiments where male stickleback fish were randomly introduced to another fish, 65% of the winning fish won the second match, while all losing fish lost the second contest. Such winner and loser effects can greatly influence individual behavior and fitness. This effect happens in humans as well. In "Winner and Loser Effects and Social Rank in Humans," recently published in The Quarterly Review of Biology, authors Noah M. T. Smith and Reuven ...

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Medicine19 Aug 2024

Research study examines Alzheimer’s disease drug on tissue samples from people with Down syndrome

People with Down syndrome are likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease at a young age, with autopsy studies showing that by age 40 years, the brains of individuals with Down syndrome have amyloid plaques. Yet people with Down syndrome have been excluded from or underrepresented in clinical trials of new therapies for treating AD. Lecanemab, which has been shown to target and remove beta-amyloid plaques, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat AD early in the disease’s progression. ...

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Medicine19 Aug 2024

International Society of Biomechanics recommendations for wearables-based motion capture

Dr. Reed Gurchiek, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioengineering, Clemson University, and an Early-stage Investigator, was a co-first author of a recent publication in the Journal of Biomechanics titled “International Society of Biomechanics recommendations on the definition, estimation, and reporting of joint kinematics in human motion analysis applications using wearable inertial measurement technology”. A collaborative effort that incorporated feedback from the biomechanics community has produced recommendations in five categories: sensor characteristics ...

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Science19 Aug 2024

Rutgers researchers discover new way to control the sense of touch

Rutgers researchers have found a new way to manage the receptors that control the sense of touch, which could lead to treating chronic pain more effectively. “Identifying a natural molecule that specifically reduces pain sensitivity offers hope for new therapeutic strategies in the management of pain,” said Tibor Rohacs, a professor in the Department of Pharmacology, Physiology and Neuroscience at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and a member of the Rutgers Brain Health Institute. “Our goal is to translate these findings into effective treatments that improve the quality of life for people suffering from chronic ...

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Medicine19 Aug 2024

New UH study targets early signs of vision loss in diabetic patients

A $3.3 million study at the University of Houston College of Optometry will track the health of patients with prediabetes and diabetes to find out who might develop eye problems and be at risk for future vision loss. The study is being led by Wendy Harrison, associate professor, and is underwritten by the National Eye Institute. Vision loss in type 2 diabetes results from diabetic retinopathy, caused by damage to blood vessels in the retina, the light-sensitive layer of tissue in the back of your eye. The disease can appear without warning. “The ...

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Medicine19 Aug 2024

Herbal-based nutraceuticals in management of lifestyle diseases: Experience from Indian population

Lifestyle diseases, also known as non-communicable diseases (NCDs), have emerged as a major health burden globally, including in India. These diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, and metabolic disorders, are primarily caused by unhealthy lifestyle choices like sedentary behavior, poor dietary habits, and stress. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), NCDs are responsible for 41 million deaths annually, accounting for 74% of all global deaths. Notably, 86% of these premature deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. The increasing prevalence of lifestyle diseases ...

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Medicine19 Aug 2024

Taming Parkinson’s disease with intelligent brain pacemakers

Media Contact: Robin.Marks@ucsf.edu, (415) 502-6397 Subscribe to UCSF News Taming Parkinson’s Disease with Intelligent Brain Pacemakers UCSF studies show personalized, self-adjusting, neuromodulation has the potential to enhance movement and sleep. Two new studies from UC San Francisco are pointing the way toward round-the-clock personalized care for people with Parkinson’s disease through an implanted device that can treat movement problems during the day and insomnia at night. The approach, called adaptive deep brain stimulation, or aDBS, uses methods derived from AI to ...

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Medicine19 Aug 2024

Self-adjusting brain pacemaker may help reduce Parkinson’s disease symptoms

A small feasibility study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) found that an implanted device regulated by the body’s brain activity could provide continual and improved treatment for the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD) in certain people with the disorder. This type of treatment, called adaptive deep brain stimulation (aDBS), is an improvement on a technique that has been used for PD and other brain disorders for many years. The study found aDBS was markedly more effective at controlling PD symptoms compared to conventional DBS treatments. “This study marks a big step forward towards ...

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Science19 Aug 2024

Florida’s red flag gun law and firearm and nonfirearm homicide and suicide rates

About The Study: Although firearm homicide mortality increased after Florida’s red flag law enactment (permitting the temporary removal of firearms by law enforcement officers from individuals posing a danger to themselves or others), this increase was lower than expected compared with its synthetic control, resulting in an 11% rate reduction (0.73 fewer deaths per 100,000). There were no differences from expected mortality rates for nonfirearm homicide, firearm suicide, or nonfirearm suicide. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Catherine Gimbrone, MPH, email c.gimbrone@columbia.edu. To ...

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Medicine19 Aug 2024

Number of pediatric inpatient psychiatric beds in the U.S. did not increase 2017-2020 despite youth mental health crisis

U.S. pediatric inpatient psychiatric bed capacity did not change 2017 – 2020, despite increases in pediatric mental health emergency visits, according to a study published in JAMA Pediatrics. Researchers also found substantial geographic variation in inpatient psychiatric bed capacity per 100,000 children, ranging from zero in Alaska to 75 in Arkansas. Over 90 percent of pediatric inpatient beds are in urban centers, raising concerns for youth living in rural areas. “Access to psychiatric inpatient care for youth is insufficient to meet the growing demand, forcing patients to wait for hours or even days in emergency departments or on medical units until a psychiatric bed becomes ...

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Science19 Aug 2024

Using temporary nurses doesn’t mitigate deaths linked with staff shortages

A new study led by the University of Southampton has found that using temporary nursing staff to fill rotas only partially combats an increased risk of patient death associated with staff shortages. Researchers found that avoiding low nurse staffing levels lowers the risk of death among patients – particularly even when drafting in temporary registered nurses to maintain staffing levels. However, despite this, the risk of death remains elevated compared to when the ward is fully staffed by permanent nurses. Findings from the ...

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Medicine19 Aug 2024

Telehealth mindfulness-based interventions for chronic pain

About The Study: Scalable telehealth mindfulness-based interventions improved pain-related function and biopsychosocial outcomes compared to usual care among veterans with chronic pain in this randomized clinical trial. Relatively low-resource telehealth-based mindfulness-based interventions could help accelerate and improve the implementation of nonpharmacological pain treatment in health care systems. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Diana J. Burgess, PhD, email diana.burgess@va.gov. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website ...

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Science19 Aug 2024

Expanded child tax credit and food insecurity

About The Study: Expanded Child Tax Credit (ECTC) enactment was associated with substantially lower food insecurity, and ECTC expiration was associated with substantially greater food insecurity in this cohort study. Key features of the ECTC—monthly payments and no earnings requirements—may be important for food insecurity prevention. Future studies should examine this, along with income as a potential effect modifier. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, ...

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Medicine19 Aug 2024

Machine learning prediction of autism spectrum disorder from a minimal set of medical and background information

About The Study: The machine learning model developed in this study shows promise in the early identification of individuals with an elevated likelihood of autism spectrum disorder, using minimal information, which could affect early diagnosis and intervention strategies. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Kristiina Tammimies, PhD, email kristiina.tammimies@ki.se. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.29229) Editor’s ...

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Technology19 Aug 2024

AI model aids early detection of autism

A new machine learning model can predict autism in young children from relatively limited information. This is shown in a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in JAMA Network Open. The model can facilitate early detection of autism, which is important to provide the right support. “With an accuracy of almost 80 percent for children under the age of two, we hope that this will be a valuable tool for healthcare,” says Kristiina Tammimies, Associate Professor at KIND, the Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet and last author of the study. The research team used a large US database (SPARK) ...

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