LOS ANGELES — Cirrhosis is chronic, progressive end-stage liver disease that occurs when scar tissue prevents the liver from functioning normally. Studies have shown that two of the leading causes of cirrhosis — alcohol use disorder and viral hepatitis — occur more frequently in transgender individuals, but there has been little research examining if these risk factors translate into greater incidences of cirrhosis among transgender patients.   A new study from Keck Medicine ...

Omega Centauri is a spectacular collection of about ten million stars, visible as a smudge in the night sky from Southern latitudes. Through a small telescope, it looks no different from other so-called globular clusters: a spherical collection of stars, so dense towards the centre that it becomes impossible to distinguish individual stars. But now a new study, led by Maximilian Häberle (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy), confirms what astronomers had been suspecting for some time: Omega Centauri contains a central black hole. The black hole appears to be the “missing link” between its stellar and ...

About The Study: Based on this longitudinal cohort study of 1,001 mental health treatment facilities, telehealth availability has declined since the public health emergency end with respect to scope and modality of services, suggesting targeted policies may be necessary to sustain telehealth access.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Ryan K. McBain, Ph.D., M.P.H., email rmcbain@mail.harvard.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.20853) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, ...

About The Study: The findings of this study suggest that use of touch-screen, engaging, tablet games by toddlers may inhibit early social-communicative interactions.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Dimitri A. Christakis, M.D., M.P.H., email dimitri.christakis@seattlechildrens.org. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.18492) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support. #  ...

A newly developed molecule, LK-2, could inform new therapies for stroke-related brain injury, finds scientists at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids).  An ischemic stroke occurs when blood flow to a part of the brain is interrupted, depriving the brain cells of oxygen and nutrients. Without timely treatment, brain cells can die, resulting in permanent damage to the brain and its functions. Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide, affecting millions every year.  An international study published in Nature co-led by Dr. Lu-Yang Wang, a Senior Scientist in the ...

· Lupus is an autoimmune disease affecting more than 1.5 million people in the U.S. · Until now, the causes of this disease remained unclear · Scientists are working to expand research into novel treatment CHICAGO --- Northwestern Medicine and Brigham and Women’s Hospital scientists have discovered a molecular defect that promotes the pathologic immune response in systemic lupus erythematosus (known as lupus) and show that reversing this defect may potentially reverse the disease. Lupus affects more than 1.5 million ...

A new study found that the prevalence of nicotine pouch use was low in U.S. adults despite a 641% increase in sales of the products between 2019 and 2022. Researchers say the findings raise questions about who is using the millions of nicotine pouches sold in the U.S. and why. Nicotine pouches, a new commercial tobacco product, contain a crystalline powder with nicotine, flavorings (including fruit, mint or candy) and other additives. They do not cause respiratory harm and are perceived by some as an alternative to help adults who smoke tobacco quit. ...

An unexpected find has enabled important progress to be made in the battle against harmful bacteria.   An international team of researchers, led by Professor Peter Fineran from the University of Otago, investigated a particular protein used by bacteria-infecting viruses, known as phages.   Research into this microscopic arms race between bacteria and phages is important as it can lead to alternatives to antibiotics.   Published in prestigious international journal Nature, the study analysed a protein phages use when deploying anti-CRISPR, their method of blocking the CRISPR–Cas immune system of bacteria.   Lead ...

Ancient DNA from bones and teeth hints at a role of the plague in Stone Age population collapse. Contrary to previous beliefs, the plague may have diminished Europe's populations long before the major plague outbreaks of the Middle Ages, new research shows. In the 14th century Europe, the plague ravaged the population during the so-called 'Black Death,' claiming the lives of nearly a third of the population. But the plague arrived in Scandinavia several thousand years earlier, and despite several theories suggesting otherwise, the plague might have caused an epidemic, according to new research from ...

PHILADELPHIA— To make someone put their phone down while driving, show them the money—with a catch, according to new research published in JAMA Open. When a group of auto insurance customers were tempted with a cash incentive—and regular feedback letting the driver know how they were doing compared to other drivers trying to reduce their phone time—handheld phone use dropped significantly, a team at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found.  The researchers examined several different strategies ...

Omega Centauri is a spectacular collection of 10 million stars, visible as a smudge in the night sky from Southern latitudes. Through a small telescope, it looks no different from other so-called globular clusters; a spherical stellar collection so dense towards the center that it becomes impossible to distinguish individual stars. But a new study, led by researchers from the University of Utah and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, confirms what astronomers had argued about for over a decade: Omega Centauri contains a central black hole. The black hole appears to be the missing link between its stellar ...

An international consortium of researchers led by University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto and University of Zurich have built the first-ever molecular atlas of the human brain vasculature at single-cell resolution, spanning from early development to adulthood and through disease stages such as brain tumours and brain vascular malformations. The international consortium includes research teams from UHN’s Krembil Brain Institute, Donald K. Johnson Eye Institute, Toronto General Hospital Research Institute and Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, the University of Toronto’s Donnelly Centre, Mount Sinai Hospital’s Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum ...

In a study published online in Nature, a research team led by Prof. PAN Jianwei, Prof. CHEN Yuao, and Prof. YAO Xingcan from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has, for the first time, observed the antiferromagnetic phase transition within a large-scale quantum simulator of the fermionic Hubbard model (FHM). This study highlights the advantages of quantum simulation. It marks an important first step towards obtaining the low-temperature phase diagram of the FHM and understanding the role of quantum magnetism in the mechanism of high-temperature ...

The University of Barcelona has led a study that suggests using the drug known as pemafibrate to treat liver disease associated with metabolic disorders, the most common liver pathology in the world, which affects one in four people. The drug has long been marketed in Japan for another use: improving blood lipid levels in patients with hyperlipidaemia, a common condition in diabetics. Now, however, it could help address this serious liver disease, which still has no specific treatment. The study, carried out on laboratory animal models and published in the journal Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, was conducted by a team led by Professor Juan ...

NEW ORLEANS – Ochsner Health’s Healthy State initiative, in partnership with The American Journal of Managed Care, will host a free conference on value-based care from 3:30-7 p.m. on Thursday, July 25 at The Westin New Orleans hotel in Louisiana.   Registration and program details are available here for “Healthy State: Know It, Own It, Live It: Creating a Thriving Louisiana Through Innovation in Value-Based Care.” The event is open to the public, medical professionals, health policy experts and community organizers.  Organized ...

A new consortium co-led by Weill Cornell Medicine, has been awarded a five-year, $31 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to accelerate the development of faster, more effective treatment regimens for tuberculosis (TB). Investigators at the University of California, San Francisco; Johns Hopkins Medicine; and Vanderbilt University Medical Center comprise the other co-leads.       The Preclinical Design and Clinical Translation ...

Women over the age of 65 who require complex heart surgery are more likely than men to receive care at low quality hospitals — where they also die in greater numbers following the procedure, a Michigan Medicine study finds. The research, published in JAMA Network Open, covered nearly 450,000 Medicare beneficiaries who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting, or heart bypass surgery, between late 2015 and early 2020. Compared to men, women were 1.26 times more likely to be treated at low quality hospitals, meaning facilities with the highest 30-day mortality rates. At those low quality hospitals, ...

Vehicle exhaust from fossil fuel combustion constitutes a main source of air pollutants like carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. To mitigate air pollution, researchers are looking into additive to fuels like dimethoxymethane (DMM). But DMM production brings its own environmental hazards. In their paper published June 21 in Carbon Future, a Chinese research team demonstrated how a series of phosphorous-modified nanocarbon catalysts could advance green DMM production. Unique fuel properties of this diesel blend fuel include high oxygen content and chemical stability as well as low toxicity. A blend of DMM and ...

FROM: James Urton (Note: researcher contact information at the end) Humans drove wolves to extinction in Washington state around the 1930s. Thanks to conservation efforts, by about 80 years later, wolves had returned — crossing first from the Canadian border into Washington around 2008 and later entering the state from Idaho. Since then, wolf numbers in Washington have been steadily growing, raising questions about what the return of this large predator species means for ecosystems and people alike. In northeast Washington, where wolves have recovered most successfully, researchers from the University of Washington and the Washington Department ...

The Moon’s recent discovery of energy resources, such as water ice, has refocused interest on its potential as a sustainable hub for space exploration. NASA has also announced the Artemis mission, aiming for long-term human presence on the lunar surface. However, infrastructure expansion, such as lunar base construction plays a vital role. Yet, transporting construction materials from Earth to the lunar surface via landers incurs a significant cost of 1.2 million USD per kilogram. Weight directly translates to cost, making the transportation of construction materials from Earth to the Moon nearly impossible. To solve this problem, Korea ...

A smartphone’s unique Bluetooth fingerprint could be used to track the device’s user–until now. A team of researchers have developed a simple firmware update that can completely hide the Bluetooth fingerprint, eliminating the vulnerability.  The method was developed by a team of researchers at the University of California San Diego. The team discovered the vulnerability caused by Bluetooth fingerprints in a study they presented at the 2022 IEEE Security & Privacy conference. They presented the fix to this vulnerability two years later at the 2024 IEEE Security & Privacy conference. The math behind the update itself is complex but the implementation ...

Ischemic heart disease stands as a significant global cause of morbidity and mortality. One promising avenue for treatment involves human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPS-CMs). Derived from adult somatic cells such as blood or skin cells, hiPS cells possess the capacity to differentiate into various tissues, including cardiomyocytes. These cells can potentially repair damaged heart tissue, but their clinical application is limited due to concerns about immune rejection. Understanding the immunogenicity of hiPS-CMs is crucial for advancing their ...

Overproduction of Group 2 innate lymphoid cells or ILC2s—a type of white blood cells—can sometimes exacerbate conditions such as bronchial asthma, chronic rhinosinusitis, atopic dermatitis, and organ fibrosis through an exaggerated immune response. Although there are immunomodulatory drugs that can suppress Type 2 helper T (Th2) cells, drugs capable of suppressing ILC2s are currently lacking. Now, however, in a breakthrough study that could lead to the development of a new therapeutic strategy targeting ILC2s, researchers led by Associate Professor Arifumi Iwata of the Chiba University Hospital, Japan, have identified molecular ...

The Specialised Group on Chemistry of Natural Products (GQPN) of the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry (RSEQ) has awarded its Excellence in Research Award 2023 to Professor Ricardo Riguera. The Evaluation Committee thus recognises his valuable contribution to this area of chemistry. Among other advances, his work has made it possible to describe a large number of bioactive metabolites, such as the first heptacyclopeptide and the first cyclodepsipeptide isolated from marine organisms. Riguera also identified one of the first examples of cytotoxic metabolites from marine bacteria, the first description of L-galactose as part of a natural product, and the first description ...

FINDINGS A UCLA-led team has developed a machine-learning model that can predict with a high degree of accuracy the short-term survival of dialysis patients on Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy (CRRT).   BACKGROUND CRRT is a therapy used for very sick hospitalized patients whose health status makes them ineligible for regular hemodialysis. It is a gentler therapy that provides continuous treatment over a prolonged period. About half of adults placed on CRRT, however, do not survive, rendering the treatment futile for both patients ...