For the first time in the World Health Organization’s 76 year history, world leaders have unanimously committed to put social participation - people, communities and civil society - at the heart of health decision making processes. This landmark pledge marks an important step forward in creating a healthy world, say experts in The BMJ today, and they urge everyone to seize their right to influence the decisions that affect their health and well-being. Global challenges such as access to care, climate change, widening ...

Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots have frequently shown signs of an “empathy gap” that puts young users at risk of distress or harm, raising the urgent need for “child-safe AI”, according to a study. The research, by a University of Cambridge academic, Dr Nomisha Kurian, urges developers and policy actors to prioritise approaches to AI design that take greater account of children’s needs. It provides evidence that children are particularly susceptible to treating chatbots as lifelike, quasi-human confidantes, ...

International refugees and academic experts have contributed to a new book examining the resonance of Dante’s Divine Comedy with today’s migrants fleeing the troubles in their home countries. Dante on the Move is launched in Rome today (Thursday 11th July) and has been produced as part of a research project Reading Dante with Refugees led by the University of Birmingham and Trinity College Rome. It features work by people from Afghanistan, China, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Kurdistan, Ukraine, the USA and Venezuela. Mohammed, a Kurdish refugee from Iraqi and contributor to the book survived a shipwreck in the Mediterranean in which many people drowned. He said: “Reading ...

About a third of Canadians feel lonely, and a study from the University of Waterloo shows it has a greater negative impact on memory than even social isolation, though both present a significant risk to the aging population. Loneliness is a subjective emotion that people might feel even while engaging in social activities. It is often associated with depression and an increase in stress hormones that may contribute to impaired memory. Waterloo researchers examined four combinations of social isolation ...

ATLANTA — To offer cross-protection against diverse influenza virus variants, nanoparticle vaccines can produce pivotal cellular and mucosal immune responses that enhance vaccine efficacy and broaden protection, according to a study by researchers in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State University. The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, offers valuable insights into tailoring immunization strategies to optimize influenza vaccine effectiveness. To alleviate the significant ...

URBANA, Ill. – Colleges and universities often highlight leadership development as a critical component of their curriculum — but there is no clear consensus on what constitutes effective leadership education. In a new paper, two educators from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and John Carroll University provide a roadmap for training competent leaders, suggesting a comprehensive, practical approach for postsecondary institutions to follow. “Our purpose was to discuss what it means to develop leaders and what a model for leadership education could ...

The question of whether Mars ever supported life has captivated the imagination of scientists and the public for decades. Central to the discovery is gaining insight into the past climate of Earth’s neighbor: was the planet warm and wet, with seas and rivers much like those found on our own planet? Or was it frigid and icy, and therefore potentially less prone to supporting life as we know it? A new study finds evidence to support the latter by identifying similarities between soils found on Mars and those of Canada’s Newfoundland, a cold subarctic climate. The study, published July 7th in Communications Earth and Environment, looked for soils on Earth with ...

Taylor Swift’s past struggles with body image, disordered eating, and body objectification have had an overall positive influence on her fans’ attitudes on these issues, a new study from University of Vermont (UVM) researchers finds. The new research, published in journal Social Science & Medicine, analyzed the top 200 TikTok and Reddit posts—including over 8,300 online comments—about Taylor Swift, eating disorders, and body image to determine the impact of Swift’s disclosures about her past eating disorder on her fans. “Our findings suggest that fans who felt highly connected to Swift were influenced to positively change their behaviors ...

Cystic fibrosis is one of the most common genetic disorders, causing thick mucus build-up in the lungs and other parts of the body, breathing problems, and infection. A three-drug cocktail known as Trikafta has greatly improved patient quality of life since its development in 2019, but can cause cataracts and liver damage and must be taken daily at a cost of about $300,000 per year. Now, researchers at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and the University of Iowa have developed a gene-editing approach that efficiently corrects the most common mutation that causes cystic fibrosis, found in 85 percent of patients. With further development, it could ...

Researchers have identified unique 3-dimensional features called TULIPs in the genome of posterior fossa group A (PFA) ependymoma, a difficult-to-treat brain tumor diagnosed in very young children. The findings, published in Cell by a team of researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children’s Hospital, McGill University and collaborating institutions, could lead to the development of new treatments. “PFA ependymomas are lethal. Radiation therapy, the only treatment currently available, is not curative and can cause serious developmental and cognitive issues,” ...

While taking snapshots with the high-speed “electron camera” at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Acceleratory Laboratory, researchers discovered new behavior in an ultrathin material that offers a promising approach to manipulating light that will be useful for devices that detect, control or emit light, collectively known as optoelectronic devices, and investigating how light is polarized within a material. Optoelectronic devices are used in many technologies that touch our daily lives, including ...

WASHINGTON, DC – Applications are currently being accepted for the Spring 2025 term of two programs offered by the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science (SC): the Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships (SULI) program and the Community College Internships (CCI) program. The application deadline for the two programs is 5:00 pm (ET) October 2, 2024.  Through the SULI and CCI programs, undergraduate students and recent graduates discover science and technology careers at the DOE national laboratories and gain the experience ...

Toronto, ON – In a groundbreaking effort to mitigate the risks associated with muscle-building dietary supplement use among adolescents and young adults, a comprehensive set of guidelines has been introduced to assist healthcare professionals. These guidelines, published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, focus on assessment and harm reduction strategies to better support young individuals engaged in the use of these readily available supplements. Muscle-building dietary supplements, such as whey protein and creatine monohydrate, are commonly used by adolescents and young adults, particularly boys and young men, and are intended to enhance muscle mass, ...

Amsterdam UMC's Alzheimer Centre has developed a prediction model that can predict cognitive decline in patients with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia due to Alzheimer's disease. The next step is developing an app that uses this prediction model, which would represent an important step towards personalised forecasts for patients. The study is published today in the journal Neurology.  After people have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, their first question is often: "What can I expect now?". This question is difficult ...

MINNEAPOLIS – A new study looks at predicting how quickly people with early Alzheimer’s disease will experience cognitive decline. The study is published in the July 10, 2024, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. It also looked at how the new drugs recently approved for the disease may reduce decline. “The rate of cognitive decline varies greatly from person to person, and people are very interested in what to expect from the disease in themselves or their loved ones, so better prediction models are urgently needed,” said study author Pieter J. van der Veere, M.D., of Amsterdam ...

The general public has limited knowledge of the U.S. farm bill that politicians are debating on Capitol Hill, according to the June 2024 Consumer Food Insights (CFI) Report. The survey-based report out of Purdue University’s Center for Food Demand Analysis and Sustainability (CFDAS) assesses food spending, consumer satisfaction and values, support of agricultural and food policies, and trust in information sources. Purdue experts conducted and evaluated the survey, which included 1,200 consumers across the U.S “Around one-third ...

A record-breaking swim by two lion brothers across a predator-infested African river has been documented in a study co-led by Griffith University and Northern Arizona University.  Dr Alexander Braczkowski, from Griffith’s Centre for Planetary Health and Food Security, led a team that filmed a two-male lion coalition crossing the Kazinga Channel in Uganda at night, using high-definition heat detection cameras on drones. The work was done under the supervision of the Uganda Wildlife Authority.   One half of the lion brother duo was a 10-year-old ...

URBANA, Ill. -- The pathogen that causes bacterial spot is very good at what it does. Forming small lesions on the rinds of pumpkins, melons, cucumbers, and other cucurbits, it mars the fruits’ appearance and ushers in secondary pathogens that lead to rot and severe yield loss. The bacterium, Xanthomonas cucurbitae, is so successful that it has had no reason to evolve through time or space. That’s according to new University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign research characterizing ...

“[...] our results put the basis for the use of antioxidants supplementation in Down Syndrome patients to prevent liver-associated pathologies.” BUFFALO, NY- July 10, 2024 – A new research paper was published in Aging (listed by MEDLINE/PubMed as "Aging (Albany NY)" and "Aging-US" by Web of Science) Volume 16, Issue 12, entitled, “Aging exacerbates oxidative stress and liver fibrosis in an animal model of Down Syndrome.” Down Syndrome (DS) is a common genetic disorder characterized by an extra copy of chromosome 21, leading to dysregulation of various metabolic pathways. Oxidative stress in DS is associated ...

“[...] it is crucial for the future application of ABC transporter inhibitors [...] to develop a stratification protocol [...] to identify those PDAC patients who are most likely to benefit from chemosensitization induced by these inhibitors.” BUFFALO, NY- July 10, 2024 – A new editorial paper was published in Oncotarget's Volume 15 on June 20, 2024, entitled, “Targeting ABC transporters in PDAC – past, present, or future?” In this new editorial, Cecilia Bergonzini, Elisa Giovannetti and Erik ...

Machine learning models could enable earlier identification of at-risk children, aiding social workers and potentially improving outcomes, per Danish study of more than 100,000 children ### Article URL:  https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0305974 Article Title: Predictive risk modeling for child maltreatment detection and enhanced decision-making: Evidence from Danish administrative data Author Countries: Denmark, France Funding: Funding for this project was ...

Christmas or Ramadan might seem to come around more quickly each year, for people who pay more attention to time, are more forgetful of plans, and love a good holiday. A research team led by Ruth Ogden of Liverpool John Moores University, UK, and Saad Sabet Alatrany of Imam Ja'afar Al-Sadiq University, Iraq, published these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on July 10, 2024. They suggest this could mean that someone’s experience of time is shaped not only by what they’ve done, but what is left to do. “Christmas seems to come quicker each year,” is a staple of small talk. But the ...

Perceived warmth and competence predict the influence of race, gender and age on callback decisions, suggesting social perceptions might underlie such hiring bias. The meta-analysis of North American correspondence studies is published July 10, 2024 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Carina Hausladen from the California Institute of Technology and ETH Zürich, Marcos Gallo from the California Institute of Technology, and colleagues. In the labor market, applicants from marginalized groups continue to face disparate treatment. To ...

A study led by the Hospital del Mar Research Institute, with Cima University of Navarra and Pompeu Fabra University, has identified a group of small molecules exclusive to liver tumors that could be key to developing cancer vaccines. These are microproteins, very small proteins expressed only by tumor cells. This can result in the activation of immune cells against the tumor. The study is published in Science Advances.   By integrating data from tumors and healthy tissue from over one hundred liver cancer ...

NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES — In preclinical studies, a team of researchers from Mount Sinai Health System in New York City and City of Hope in Los Angeles report new findings on a therapeutic combination that regenerated human insulin-producing beta cells, providing a possible new treatment for diabetes. The findings were published today in Science Translational Medicine.   This work, led by Andrew F. Stewart, MD, Irene and Dr. Arthur M. Fishberg Professor of Medicine and Director of the Mount Sinai Diabetes, Obesity ...