New research from UC Santa Cruz is finally giving you the go-ahead to sing in the shower as loud as you want. Because, as it turns out, you probably sound pretty darn good. Psychologists wanted to study “earworms,” the types of songs that get stuck in your head and play automatically on a loop. So they asked people to sing out any earworms they were experiencing and record them on their phones when prompted at random times throughout the day. When researchers analyzed the recordings, they found that a remarkable proportion of them perfectly matched the pitch of the original songs they were based upon.  More specifically, 44.7% of recordings had a pitch error of 0 semitones, ...

Providing cancer care for someone who also has a chronic illness, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, requires a systematic, co-management approach to produce better cancer and overall health outcomes, said UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Samuel Cykert, MD. Cancer patients with a chronic illness often experience poorer outcomes. This is especially true for Black patients. Contributing to this disparity, studies show, is the increased likelihood that people with chronic illnesses may not be offered standard cancer treatments like surgery, chemotherapy or radiation. If they do start standard treatment, they might not complete it due to complications from ...

CHICAGO—August 14, 2024—Each year, the American Ornithological Society (AOS) confers awards on individuals and groups for their ornithological research and notable contributions to the science and practice of ornithology, and for their service to the society. Our 2024 awardees represent outstanding contributions to the scientific study and conservation of birds and to the AOS. The 2024 recipients will accept their awards at the AOS annual meeting (AOS 2024) in Estes Park, Colorado, in October. “Our award winners this year epitomize the excellence in research, publications, service, and conservation in ornithology towards which we all strive in our profession,” ...

Researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (St. Jude) and the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) today announced a significant paradigm shift in the understanding of T-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL), an aggressive and high-risk form of cancer, to one frequently driven by genetic changes in non-coding portions of our DNA. The collaborative study, supported by the Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research Program (Kids First) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) Common Fund, was published ...

A WEHI study could help solve a long-standing mystery into why a key immune organ in our bodies shrinks and loses its function as we get older. The thymus is an organ essential for good health due to its ability to produce special immune cells that are responsible for fighting infections and cancer. In a world-first, researchers have uncovered new cells that drive this ageing process in the thymus – significant findings that could unlock a way to restore function in the thymus and prevent our immunity from waning as we age. Watch and embed the video: https://youtu.be/2x1UGqNh77w At a glance The thymus is an organ essential for our immune defence ...

Key takeaways Venting about your frustrations with one friend to another may feel good, but it doesn’t necessarily reduce anger. Experiments showed that people who listened to a friend vent liked and supported that person more than those who were vented about — but only if the person venting didn’t derogate or seem aggressive toward the other friend. Venting might be an effective tool of competition for listeners’ affections precisely because it is not readily recognized as a tool of competition. Venting about your frustrations with one friend to another isn’t necessarily cathartic, but it can make the friend you’re talking to like and ...

CLEVELAND – University Hospitals (UH) Seidman Cancer Center hematologist-oncologist Leland Metheny, MD, is leading the trial. He says in the two years since the foundational pre-clinical work was completed, the team has shown that it’s feasible to manufacture BAFF CAR T-cells for human subjects. The innovation is introducing genes into T-cells via the process of electroporation in the Wesley Center for Immunotherapy at UH Seidman Cancer Center. In January 2022, a research team from UH Seidman Cancer Center and Case Western Reserve University published a groundbreaking ...

Within each of us lies an army of cells whose topmost duty is protecting against external pathogens and internal threats such as proliferating cancer cells. Yet, immune cells can sometimes erroneously attack the body, causing autoimmune diseases like type 1 diabetes. Texas A&M researchers recently received an RO1 grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a strategy to deliver immune-suppressing proteins generally produced by specialized stem cells. Such an approach could potentially help reduce the immune system's attack on the insulin-producing beta-cells in the pancreas and open doors to a novel treatment for type 1 diabetes. "We are excited that the ...

A new brain-computer interface (BCI) developed at UC Davis Health translates brain signals into speech with up to 97% accuracy — the most accurate system of its kind. The researchers implanted sensors in the brain of a man with severely impaired speech due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The man was able to communicate his intended speech within minutes of activating the system. A study about this work was published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, affects the nerve cells that control movement ...

New research co-led by experts at Mass General Brigham found that brain scans can detect consciousness in some patients with brain injury who are unresponsive. In the study, 241 participants with severe brain injury who do not respond when given a simple instruction were assessed with functional MRI (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG), or both tests. During these tests, participants heard instructions, such as “imagine opening and closing your hand” followed, 15-30 seconds later by “stop imagining opening and closing your hand.” The fMRI and EEG brain ...

Benjamin Manard, an analytical chemist in the Chemical Sciences Division of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, will receive the 2024 Lester W. Strock Award from the Society of Applied Spectroscopy. The prize is named for the late Lester W. Strock, a crystal chemist and pioneer in applied spectroscopy. The annual award recognizes researchers who produce outstanding publications in analytical atomic spectrochemistry. “Manard’s publications over the last five years demonstrate a clear focus on the elemental and isotopic analysis of nuclear materials using a variety ...

Millions of patients worldwide suffer from a chronic itching condition with no identifiable cause – a condition known as chronic pruritus of unknown origin (CPUO) – that has no targeted therapies approved to treat it. Many of these patients suffer for years with little relief, but a new University of Maryland School of Medicine study may provide hope for future treatments. Patients were found to have lower than normal levels of metabolite biomarkers in the blood plasma that could point to a cause of their excruciating symptoms. Findings were recently published in the journal Scientific Reports. “Our study found a distinct deficit in certain metabolite ...

PHILADELPHIA (August 14, 2024) – A research team – co-led by Penn Nursing – has made a significant breakthrough in understanding the complex neural circuitry underlying reward and addiction by identifying 34 distinct subtypes of medium spiny neurons (MSNs) in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), a key brain region involved in pleasure and motivation. The findings, published in the journal Scientific Reports by Nature, offer insights into the diversity of these neurons and their potential roles in substance ...

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2024 MINNEAPOLIS – People 60 and older with untreated high blood pressure may have an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease compared to both people who have been or are being treated for high blood pressure as well as people without the chronic condition. The new research, a meta-analysis, is published in the August 14, 2024, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. These results do not prove that untreated high blood pressure causes Alzheimer’s disease, they only show ...

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2024 MINNEAPOLIS – People with multiple sclerosis (MS) have an increased risk of severe coronavirus infection, but there has been concern regarding potential relapse after vaccination. A new study finds that people with MS may not have a higher risk of relapse after COVID-19 vaccination. The study is published in the August 14, 2024, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. “People with MS have an increased risk of severe ...

The Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (TLI) is pleased to announce that its WIC Program has received the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) 2024 WIC Breastfeeding Gold Award of Excellence. The FNS notes that the “intent is to provide models and motivate other local agencies to strengthen their breastfeeding promotion and support activities and ultimately increase breastfeeding initiation and duration rates among WIC participants.” The FNS award letter recognizes the TLI WIC Program “for its exemplary efforts in WIC breastfeeding promotion and ...

The Access for All in ALS Consortium (ALL ALS) announced the successful enrollment of the first participant. Established in the autumn of 2023 with funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), ALL ALS is a multi-institutional effort, and aims to disrupt the ALS clinical research landscape using open science methods to build broadly accessible resources to advance ALS research. The consortium brings together research scientists from across the country, combining their efforts to collect clinical and biomarker data from people with ALS symptoms, asymptomatic individuals at risk of developing inherited forms of ALS, and control participants. The ALL ALS ...

Washington, D.C. - Current U.S. Ph.D. students in qualified graduate programs at accredited U.S. academic institutions who are conducting their graduate thesis research in targeted areas of importance to the DOE Office of Science are invited to apply for the Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program.    Helpful application assistance workshops will be held on Thursday, September 12, 2024, 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM EDT and Thursday, October 10, 2024, 2:00 PM – 4:30 PM EDT.     Applications are due at 5:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on November 6, 2024.     The September 12, ...

Brian Peters, PhD, First Tennessee Endowed Chair of Excellence in Clinical Pharmacy and professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Translational Science at the UT Health Science Center, was recently awarded $3.9 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for a project aimed at unravelling intricate mysteries surrounding complex fungal-bacterial infections. James Cassat, MD, PhD, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and Paul Fidel, PhD, LSU Health New Orleans, are also principal investigators. Infections caused by both fungi ...

Study Title: Parsing digital or analog TCR performance through piconewton forces Publication: Science Advances Dana-Farber Cancer Institute authors: Aoi Akitsu, Kristine N. Brazin, Robert J. Mallis, Jonathan S. Duke-Cohan, Matthew A. Booker, Vincenzo Cinella, Jonathan Lee, Michael Y. Tolstorukov and Ellis L. Reinherz, MD Summary: Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigate new features of T cell performance, delineating a class of digital cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) that are optimal in providing protection against virally infected or otherwise altered body cells, and by extension, most useful for immunotherapy. These digital ...

A team of researchers has made strides in understanding the formation of massif-type anorthosites, enigmatic rocks that only formed during the middle part of Earth’s history. These plagioclase-rich igneous rock formations, which can cover areas as large as 42,000 square kilometers and host titanium ore deposits, have puzzled scientists for decades due to conflicting theories about their origins. A new study published in Science Advances on Aug. 14 highlights the intricate connections between Earth’s evolving ...

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is launching the Institute for Risk Management and Insurance Innovation, a new interdisciplinary research and innovation hub that will leverage the expertise of faculty and students from various disciplines across campus to address complex challenges in risk management and insurance. “The institute will address the financial risks arising from a growing number of threats to our state and beyond, ranging from extreme weather to cybersecurity,” explains Vice Chancellor for Research Penny Gordon-Larsen. “UNC-Chapel Hill is a world leader in translating extreme environmental events into financial risk and now seeks to expand ...

A new Roundtable Discussion in the peer-reviewed journal Autism in Adulthood explores how the two fields of positive psychology and autism might integrate and benefit each other, and the autism community at large. Click here to read the Roundtable. The Roundtable was co-moderated by Patricia Wright, PhD, MPH who is the Executive Director of Proof Positive: Autism Wellbeing Alliance, an organization committed to integrating autism services and the field of positive psychology and Rachel Moseley, ...

Irvine, Calif., Aug. 14, 2024 — University of California, Irvine scientists recently discovered a one-dimensional nanoscale material whose color changes as temperature changes. The team’s results appeared in Advanced Materials.    “We found that we can make really small and sensitive thermometers,” said Maxx Arguilla, UC Irvine professor of chemistry whose research group led the study. “It’s one of the most applied and translatable works to come out of our lab.”     Arguilla ...

Understanding why the popularity of organised events steeped in themes of death, disaster and suffering, such as the well-known Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), Jack the Ripper Walking Tours and Remembrance Sunday, could be key to a deeper understanding of society, say researchers from the University of Surrey. In a study published by Annals of Tourism Research, researchers introduce a comprehensive framework to analyse these events, drawing from fields as diverse as thanatology (the scientific study of death and the practices associated with it), dark tourism, and collective memory ...