In a hopeful sign for demand for more safe, effective antibiotics for humans, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have leveraged artificial intelligence to develop a new drug that already is showing promise in animal trials. Publishing their results in Nature Biomedical Engineering, the scientists describe using a large language model—an AI tool like the one that powers ChatGPT—to engineer a version of a bacteria-killing drug that was previously toxic in humans, so that it would be safe to use. The prognosis for patients ...

For Embargoed Release: July 31, 2024 at 3:00 am ET USA   Media Contact: Katelyn Deckelbaum, katelyn.deckelbaum@gwu.edu and Kathy Fackelmann, kfackelmann@gwu.edu   Study Finds Many Cocoa Products Contaminated by Heavy Metals Dark chocolate lovers may want to limit their consumption to an ounce a day to stay on the safe side, according to the authors WASHINGTON (July 24, 2024) - A new study from George Washington University found a disquieting percentage of cocoa products in the U.S. contain heavy metals that exceed guidelines, including higher concentrations in organic products. GW researchers analyzed ...

Monarch butterflies, with their striking orange and black wings, are some of the most recognizable butterflies in North America. But they're in trouble. Monarch caterpillars can only eat the leaves of milkweed, a native wildflower. As milkweed has disappeared, so have the monarchs, to the point that they're at risk of extinction. Research shows that planting milkweed in home gardens can add significant monarch habitat to the landscape. In a new study in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, ...

Tokyo, Japan – Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have created sheets of transition metal chalcogenide “cubes” connected by chlorine atoms. While sheets of atoms have been widely studied e.g. graphene, the team’s work breaks new ground by using clusters instead. The team succeeded in forming nanoribbons inside carbon nanotubes for structural characterization, while also forming microscale sheets of cubes which could be exfoliated and probed. These were shown to be an excellent catalyst for generating hydrogen. Two-dimensional materials are a breakthrough in nanotechnology, realizing ...

LOS ANGELES — Keck Hospital of USC earned five stars, the highest rating possible, on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) 2024 quality star rating report. This is the second year in a row the hospital has received five stars.  Only approximately 16% of hospitals across the country, 483 out of 3,076, received five stars out of a one-to-five-star rating system.   “Receiving this prestigious recognition for the second time in a row validates the hospital’s continuous commitment to patient safety and best patient outcomes and is a testament to the dedication and hard ...

Led by University of Melbourne theoretician and HPC expert Associate Professor Giuseppe Barca, a research team has achieved the first quantum simulation of biological systems at a scale necessary to accurately model drug performance. Utilising the unprecedented “exascale” power of the Frontier supercomputer at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility in Tennessee, US, the team has developed groundbreaking software capable of accurately predicting the chemical reactions and physical properties of molecular systems comprising ...

A study published in the June 2024 issue of the journal Pedosphere looks at how a non-native armored scale insect alters the leaf litter decomposition dynamics of the novel host cycad species in newly invaded islands. The scale insect, known as cycad aulacaspis scale, or CAS, has been invading new territories around the globe for decades, killing the resident cultivated and natural cycad populations. Non-native insect herbivores that invade island communities often threaten native plants that serve as newly discovered hosts. The scientific community often quantifies plant ...

In a pioneering development for the biomedical field, a research team led by Yuanjin Zhao from Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, China, has published a research article in Engineering. The article, titled “Controllable Histotomy Based on Hierarchical Magnetic Microneedle Array Robots,” introduces a novel technique for tissue slicing and cultivation that could revolutionize the way primary tissues are handled in clinical settings. The in vitro cultivation of patient-derived tissues is crucial for accurate diagnosis, precision medication, individualized therapy, and tissue engineering. However, current tissue slicing and cultivation techniques often fall ...

Gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductors can now be grown without ammonia, a toxic chemical that needs a sophisticated detoxifying system before it can be released into the atmosphere. The new technique is not only more environmentally friendly but also allows for the efficient and high-quality growth of crystals at a lower cost. Scientists can make semiconductors more efficiently with a reduced need for raw materials and power. Researchers from Nagoya University in Japan led the study, which was published in Scientific Reports.  GaN is a compound made up of gallium (Ga) and nitrogen ...

Fast and accurate transient stability analysis is crucial to power system operation. With high penetration level of wind power resources, practical dynamic security region (PDSR) with hyper plane expression has outstanding advantages in situational awareness and series of optimization problems. The precondition of obtaining accurate PDSR boundary is to locate sufficient points around the boundary (critical points). Therefore, a research team led by Yanli Liu from Tianjin University, China, has developed a space division and Wasserstein generative adversarial network with gradient penalty (WGAN-GP) based fast generation method of PDSR boundary. The study, published in Engineering. The ...

A new report from the University of California San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy reveals significant changes in support for labor unions among U.S. workers. The report, published by the Economics Policy Institute, delves into the evolving attitudes toward unions and identifies three major shifts are occurring in U.S. workers: a recent, marked decline in opposition to labor unions, a rise of workers who are interested in—but unsure about—unions and an emerging generation gap in attitudes toward unionization between younger and older workers. “While we compared levels of support for workplace unionization ...

Ensuring older hospital patients receive specialised medication management could reduce their stay in hospital and potentially lower their risk of death, according to new research conducted by Flinders University in collaboration with Flinders Medical Centre. One in ten older people experience ‘adverse drug reactions’ (ADRs) to medications whilst in hospital, the research published in The Journal of the American Medical Directors Association (JAMDA) found. “As the population is getting older, patients have more chronic medical ...

New Orleans, LA - July 30, 2024 – Ochsner Health announces an enterprise-wide agreement with DeepScribe to implement its ambient AI clinical documentation technology across its 46 hospitals and 370 health and urgent care centers. DeepScribe ambient AI turns each patient conversation into a complete, accurate note with real-time insights for clinicians, empowering them to be fully present with the patient while helping health systems achieve quality and value-based goals. Ochsner clinicians participating during the pilot phase have already seen a positive effect on the patient experience, with 96 percent of their patients stating they are likely to recommend ...

New evidence has emerged about the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Los Angeles County, as shown by a recent study in the journal PLOS ONE. Scientists at USC and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH) found that existing disparities in mental health between white and non-white residents worsened. The study used two surveys conducted in 2018 and in spring 2021 to measure the risk for major depression among adults, alongside data about death rates. The researchers considered monthly averages between March 2020 (when the ...

“Sometimes the crazy ideas lead to watershed improvements.” That was a key takeaway from new research conducted by Utah State University, published in the American Society of Civil Engineer’s Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management. Using Google Sheets during video calls, 26 Colorado River Basin managers and experts took on water user roles to discuss consuming, banking and trading Colorado River water. As Western states face aridity and reservoir levels depleting, more ...

The first Cuban-American to be inducted into the Academy of Sciences in Cuba is a retired Cal Poly biology professor and renowned microbiologist. In May 2024, Professor Emeritus Raul J. Cano was awarded membership in the Academy’s headquarters in the National Capitol building in Havana. Cano, who previously received national attention for his work with amber dating back millions of years, has been heavily involved in research and clinical projects in Cuba over the past five years. Cano partnered with Clinical Hospital Hermanos Ameijeiras in Havana for clinical research in probiotics. ...

WASHINGTON (July 30, 2024) — A study led by Georgetown University neuroscientists reveals that the part of the brain that receives and processes visual information in sighted people develops a unique connectivity pattern in people born blind. They say this pattern in the primary visual cortex is unique to each person — akin to a fingerprint. The findings, described July 30, 2024, in PNAS, have profound implications for understanding brain development and could help launch personalized rehabilitation and sight restoration strategies. For decades, scientists have known that the visual ...

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Ryan Dickson, an assistant professor of horticulture for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, has been developing research since 2018 on growing blackberries indoors and recently secured a nearly $750,000 grant to further that work over the next four years. The experiment station is the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and is home to the largest public-sector breeding program for fresh-market blackberries in the United States. ...

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) — Computers benefit greatly from being connected to the internet, so we might ask: What good is a quantum computer without a quantum internet?  The secret to our modern internet is the ability for data to remain intact while traveling over long distances, and the best way to achieve that is by using photons. Photons are single units (“quanta”) of light. Unlike other quantum particles, photons interact very weakly with their environment. That stability also makes them extremely appealing for carrying quantum information over long distances, a process that requires maintaining a delicate state of entanglement for an extended ...

HERSHEY, Pa. — Healthy blood vessels matter for more than just heart health. Vascular well-being is critical for brain health and potentially in addressing age-related cognitive decline and neurodegenerative disorders, like Alzheimer’s disease, according to new study led by Penn State researchers. The findings point to an understudied but possible key role the brain’s vascular network — or energy infrastructure — plays in the onset of neurodegenerative disease. They published their work today (July 30) in Nature Communications. Using advanced imaging techniques, the team developed maps of a mouse brain that illustrate ...

HERSHEY, Pa. — Every disease is shaped by a genetic component as well as environmental factors like air pollution, climate and socioeconomic status. However, the extent to which genetics or environment plays a role in disease risk — and how much can be attributed to each — isn’t well understood. As such, the actions individuals can take to reduce their risk for disease aren’t often clear. A team led by Penn State College of Medicine researchers found a way to tease apart genetic and ...

Most Americans are aware of fake news and misinformation. In a new study, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania sought to uncover whether the threat of misinformation drives Americans to seek out news sources that reflect their own political beliefs. The study, published in the Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review, found that Democrats, older individuals, and those with higher education levels are more concerned about misinformation in general and that, compared to Republicans, ...

TAMPA, Fla. (July 30, 2024) – University of South Florida students are leading infection control training for fire and emergency medical services personnel as part of a groundbreaking initiative supported by a multi-million-dollar cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This fall, student research and project assistants will begin swabbing first responder vehicles, ambulances, fire trucks and equipment to identify pathogen exposure risks and enhance training. “By working on this aspect ...

Today, The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign joined other partners from around the state in officially announcing its leadership role in the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park. The project – a quantum-focused research and development campus in Chicago – will be managed by a University of Illinois-led organization on behalf of the State of Illinois and Governor J.B. Pritzker. Advances in quantum information science and engineering, together with next generation microelectronics, promise to transform computing, which underpins much of how our modern society operates. Grainger Engineering Associate Dean for Research ...

There are “systemic weaknesses” in the way juries make decisions – and these are likely to be contributing to the conviction of innocent people, failures to convict the guilty, and inequalities, new research warns. The current legal rules involving procedure and evidence are not consistently designed based on robust evidence about how the juries make decisions, but the system could function better, according to a new book. Dr Rebecca Helm, from the University of Exeter, outlines how juries are likely to struggle to make effective legal decisions in predictable case types, including cases involving sexual offences in which testimony ...