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Medicine 2024-06-24

Comparison of no-test telehealth and in-person medication abortion

About The Study: This prospective, observational study found that medication abortion obtained following no-test telehealth screening and mailing of medications was associated with similar rates of complete abortion compared with in-person care with ultrasonography and met prespecified criteria for noninferiority, with a low prevalence of adverse events. Quote from corresponding author Lauren J. Ralph, Ph.D., M.P.H.: “This is a prospective, observational study comparing patients who received medication abortion care remotely and without ultrasound to those who went in person to a facility and got an ultrasound. Using data from patient surveys and their medical record, we found ...
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3D maps of diseased tissues at subcellular precision
Medicine 2024-06-24

3D maps of diseased tissues at subcellular precision

An open-source platform developed by researchers in Nikolaus Rajewsky’s lab at the Max Delbrück Center creates molecular maps from patient tissue samples with subcellular precision, enabling detailed study and potentially enhancing routine clinical pathology. The study was published in “Cell.” Researchers in the Systems Biology Lab of Professor Nikolaus Rajewsky have developed a spatial transcriptomics platform, called Open-ST, that enables scientists to reconstruct gene expression in cells within a tissue in three ...
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Medicine 2024-06-24

Estimated effectiveness of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19

About The Study: The findings of this case-control study reaffirm current recommendations for broad age-based use of annually updated COVID-19 vaccines given that (1) the BNT162b2 XBB vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech; 2023-2024 formulation) provided statistically significant additional protection against a range of COVID-19 outcomes and (2) older versions of COVID-19 vaccines offered little, if any, long-term protection, including against hospital admission, regardless of the number or type of prior doses received.   Corresponding Author: To contact the ...
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Medicine 2024-06-24

New study shows medication abortion without ultrasound to be safe

Researchers compared patients who received care remotely to those who got ultrasounds and found no differences in outcomes.    Medication abortion patients who receive pills by mail without first getting an ultrasound do just as well as those who are examined and given the drugs in person, new research from UC San Francisco has found.    The study, which appears June 24 in JAMA, adds to evidence from UCSF’s Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) program that using telehealth for medication abortion is safe and effective.     Although the ...
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Medicine 2024-06-24

New approach accurately identifies medications most toxic to the liver

The current method for assessing medication-related liver injury is not providing an accurate picture of some medications’ toxicity—or lack thereof—to the liver, according to a new study led by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Classification of a medication’s potential to damage the liver, termed “hepatotoxicity,” has been historically determined by counting individual reported cases of acute liver injury (ALI). Instead, the researchers used real-world health care data to measure rates of ALI within a population and uncovered that some medications’ levels of danger to the liver ...
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Medicine 2024-06-24

Study reveals new opportunities to develop cancer treatments

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and collaborating institutions have uncovered new potential therapeutic targets for cancer and new insights into existing cancer drug targets, expanding the breadth of possibilities for treating this disease. Using a comprehensive approach that included integrating proteomics, genomics and epigenomics data from 10 cancer types, the team identified protein and small protein or peptide targets in cancer tissues and validated many of them experimentally as promising candidates for therapeutic strategies. The study appeared in Cell. “Experience ...
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Bezos Center for Sustainable Protein launches at Imperial with $30M funding
Medicine 2024-06-24

Bezos Center for Sustainable Protein launches at Imperial with $30M funding

Bezos Earth Fund grant establishes new Centre at Imperial to transform global food systems from environmentally damaging to innovative by creating sustainable solutions. Imperial’s Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein, launched today, will develop innovative and evidence-based solutions through the design, delivery, and commercialisation of alternative food products that are economically and environmentally friendly, nutritious, affordable, and tasty. The Centre, spanning across seven Imperial academic departments, will advance research into precision fermentation, cultivated meat, bioprocessing and automation, ...
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Star clusters observed within a galaxy in the early Universe for the first time
Space 2024-06-24

Star clusters observed within a galaxy in the early Universe for the first time

The history of how stars and galaxies came to be and evolved into the present day remains among the most challenging astrophysical questions to solve yet, but new research brings us closer to understanding it. In a new study by an international team led by Dr. Angela Adamo at Stockholm University, new insights about young galaxies during the Epoch of Reionization have been revealed. Observations with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) of the galaxy Cosmic Gems arc (SPT0615-JD) have confirmed that the light of the galaxy was emitted 460 million years after ...
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Science 2024-06-24

How much oxygen do very premature babies need after birth?

Giving very premature babies high concentrations of oxygen soon after birth may reduce the risk of death by 50 percent, compared to lower levels of oxygen says new research led by University of Sydney researchers. When premature babies are born, they sometimes need help breathing because their lungs haven’t finished developing. To help babies during this process, doctors may give them extra oxygen through a breathing mask or breathing tube. The study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, examined clinical trial data and outcomes of ...
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Medicine 2024-06-24

Trial offers hope for cheaper, more tolerable, ketamine treatment

For those suffering from treatment-resistant depression, the anaesthetic drug ketamine offers hope, but it has side effects and can be costly to access – a University of Otago-led clinical trial may change that.   Working in collaboration with New Zealand’s Douglas Pharmaceuticals, researchers have conducted a trial of ketamine in an extended-release tablet form.   The study, published in prestigious international journal Nature Medicine, involved 168 adults for whom regular anti-depressant therapy ...
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Medicine 2024-06-24

Fertility treatments could get boost from stem cells

An unexpectedly versatile and regenerative stem cell in early embryos may be key to creating new effective fertility treatments, suggests a new study in mice from the University of Copenhagen. It probably will not surprise anyone that pregnancy is a very complicated process. First, a sperm cell must find its way and fertilize an egg in the fallopian tube, after which the egg begins to divide. After about five days, the egg becomes a blastocyst, which eventually develops into a fetus. But for more and more people, fertility is becoming increasingly harder to achieve due to various factors ...
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Medicine 2024-06-24

Ketamine slow-release tablet reduces symptoms of severe depression: Clinical trial

A new tablet form of ketamine has shown promise in treating severe depression, offering a potential alternative to existing clinic-based treatments that can be expensive and lacking in convenience for some patients. Unlike the injectable and nasal spray alternatives that require clinicians to monitor patients for two hours while side effects subside, the slow-release tablet form can be taken safely at home without medical supervision and with negligible side effects. Led by Professor Paul Glue of University of Otago, researchers from UNSW Sydney and the affiliated Black Dog Institute (BDI) collaborated with colleagues from ...
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The future takes flight: Autonomous eVTOLs transforming air mobility
Technology 2024-06-24

The future takes flight: Autonomous eVTOLs transforming air mobility

In recent years, a new era of transportation innovation has unfolded with the introduction of autonomous electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircrafts. These advanced air mobility (AAM) systems are poised to revolutionize urban and regional transportation by offering efficient, sustainable, and rapid transit solutions, potentially transforming daily commutes and cargo deliveries alike. eVTOL technology, which enables aircrafts to ascend, hover, and land vertically, has become a focus for both academic research and commercial ventures due to its numerous advantages ...
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Medicine 2024-06-24

One bad apple spoils the barrel: New study uncovers multiple molecular subgroups in liver cancer with most aggressive driving clinical outcomes

Singapore, 24 June 2024 – A study led by clinician-scientists and scientists from the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) and A*STAR’s Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) and funded by the National Research Foundation Singapore (NRF) has discovered unexpected molecular heterogeneity even within the same liver tumours. More than 40% of HCC harbours more than one molecular subtype within the same tumour and in these, the clinical outcomes for the patients are best predicted by the most aggressive subtype. This phenomenon, termed the “bad apple effect”, has significant implications on the understanding of liver cancer and suggests that a more holistic sampling ...
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Medicine 2024-06-24

Rising health care prices are driving unemployment and job losses

New Haven, Conn. — Rising health care prices in the U.S. are leading employers outside the health care sector to reduce their payroll and decrease their number of employees, according to a new study co-authored by Yale economist Zack Cooper.  The study, published June 24 as a working paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), found that when health care prices increased, non-health care employers responded by reducing their payroll and cutting the jobs of middle-class workers. For the average county, a 1% increase in health ...
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Medicine 2024-06-24

NUTRITION 2024 press materials available now

Press materials are now available for NUTRITION 2024, the annual flagship meeting of the American Society for Nutrition (ASN). Top nutrition scientists and practitioners from around the world will gather to share the latest research findings on food and nutrition during the meeting, held in Chicago from June 29–July 2. Register for a press pass to attend NUTRITION 2024 in person or to access embargoed press materials before the meeting. Explore the meeting schedule, poster presentations, poster theater flash sessions and oral presentations to see all the exciting research ...
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Science 2024-06-24

Study Shows Stricter Alcohol Policies Are Associated with Reduction in Homicides

Ann Arbor, June 24, 2024 – Alcohol consumption is involved in a large proportion of homicides and suicides each year in the United States, but there has been limited evidence on how policies targeting alcohol use influence violence. A statistical analysis in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, published by Elsevier, indicates that more restrictive alcohol policy environments are associated with a reduction in specific states’ homicide rates. Lead investigator James P. Murphy, PhD, RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, says, "Previous studies have found a significant relationship between some state-level ...
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Kennesaw State University researcher to analyze electromagnetic waves with help of grant
Physics 2024-06-24

Kennesaw State University researcher to analyze electromagnetic waves with help of grant

The stereotype of mathematics and mathematicians involves a solitary pursuit of knowledge, but Eric Stachura knows better. The Kennesaw State University assistant professor of mathematics works on quantitative analysis of electromagnetic waves and keeps a collaborative research practice with colleagues near and far. That partnership has led to a three-year grant worth $223,206 from the Army Research Office, a director of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory. “It is a very collaborative subject, ...
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NIH and National Science Foundation to award $15.4 million for RNA research
Medicine 2024-06-24

NIH and National Science Foundation to award $15.4 million for RNA research

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has partnered with the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to provide approximately $15.4 million over three years for research into the structures, functions and interactions of ribonucleic acid (RNA), as well as the creation of RNA-based technologies. RNA sequencing and the mapping of RNA modifications have gained significant momentum in the genomics community in recent years, with a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine outlining a roadmap for the field to build technology and infrastructure to allow researchers to more completely study and catalog RNA and its modifications.  “A ...
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Medicine 2024-06-24

Study examines acceptability of teleneurology across neurological conditions

INDIANAPOLIS – One of the first studies to examine patient acceptability of teleneurology and determine factors influencing acceptability across neurological conditions, has found teleneurology was highly acceptable across the full range of patients with different neurological diagnoses, including headache, movement disorders and other neurological symptoms and diagnoses. The study also determined that the more medical complexity -- having additional diseases -- was associated with increased patient satisfaction with teleneurology. Older patients were as accepting of teleneurology as younger patients, individuals often viewed as more ...
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Science 2024-06-24

Correcting biases in image generator models

Image generator models – systems that produce new images based on textual descriptions – have become a common and well-known phenomenon in the past year. Their continuous improvement, largely relying on developments in the field of artificial intelligence, makes them an important resource in various fields.   To achieve good results, these models are trained on vast amounts of image-text pairs – for example, matching the text "picture of a dog" to a picture of a dog, repeated millions of times. Through this training, ...
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How cells boost gene expression
Medicine 2024-06-24

How cells boost gene expression

The function of non-coding RNA in the cell has long been a mystery to researchers. Unlike coding RNA, non-coding RNA does not produce proteins – yet it exists in large quantities. A research team from the University of Göttingen has now discovered an important function of antisense RNA (asRNA): the researchers found that asRNA acts as a "superhighway" in cell transport and thus accelerates gene expression. The results were published in Nature.   RNA (ribonucleic acid) plays a central role in the translation of DNA information into proteins. There are different types of RNA, one of which is known as messenger ...
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Meet CARMEN, a robot that helps people with mild cognitive impairment
Technology 2024-06-24

Meet CARMEN, a robot that helps people with mild cognitive impairment

Video: https://youtu.be/bGKA32TlVXM?si=0PdhaUyOKH33DFbB Meet CARMEN, short for Cognitively Assistive Robot for Motivation and Neurorehabilitation–a small, tabletop robot designed to help people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) learn skills to improve memory, attention, and executive functioning at home.  Unlike other robots in this space, CARMEN was developed by the research team at the University of California San Diego in collaboration with clinicians, people with MCI, and their care partners. To the best of the researchers’ knowledge, CARMEN is also the only robot that teaches compensatory cognitive strategies to help improve memory and executive function. “We ...
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Science 2024-06-24

NYU creates Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy

New York University has established the Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy, which aims to further our understanding of the sentience and moral status of nonhumans, notably animals and AI systems.  “The world contains quintillions of animals, and in the future, it could contain an even larger number of AI systems,” says Jeff Sebo, CMEP’s founding director and a professor in NYU’s Department of Environmental Studies. “Human activity is increasingly shaping the lives of these beings, and these trends raise important and difficult questions, such as: Which of these beings are sentient, ...
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Science 2024-06-24

New mathematical proof helps to solve equations with random components

Whether it’s physical phenomena, share prices or climate models – many dynamic processes in our world can be described mathematically with the aid of partial differential equations. Thanks to stochastics – an area of mathematics which deals with probabilities – this is even possible when randomness plays a role in these processes. Something researchers have been working on for some decades now are so-called stochastic partial differential equations. Working together with other researchers, Dr. Markus Tempelmayr ...
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