Oral health deteriorates in morbidly obese people on a diet in preparation for bariatric surgery and patients who have undergone the procedure, with increasing caries, gingivitis and periodontitis. This is the conclusion of a study conducted by researchers at the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP) in Brazil. Articles on the study are published in the Journal of Oral Rehabilitation and Clinical Oral Investigations, stressing the importance of participation by a dentist in the assessment of bariatric patients.  The study was funded by FAPESP (projects 17/26400-6 and 16/10940-9), following 100 patients divided into two groups (dietary ...

Patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who received vitamin C and D supplements while undergoing intensive chemotherapy had lower rates of complications, such as infections, bleeding, and inflammation, when compared with similar, previously treated patients who did not receive these supplements. Moreover, while the study showed no difference in survival between the two groups, a subgroup analysis showed that among patients with a genetic mutation known as NPM1 – found in about one in three patients with AML – the risk of death was nearly 50% lower among those ...

Thirteen-year-old Grace Hoyt received potentially the best birthday gift ever this month when pediatric ophthalmologists at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital Colorado administered the first treatment designed specifically to slow her vision loss associated with posterior column ataxia with retinitis pigmentosa (PCARP), a rare genetic condition that affects vision and the nervous system. “It’s so incredible that she has this opportunity,” Susan Hoyt says of her daughter, who received the first treatment Aug. 24. “We’ve known that Grace is going to go blind, but to have ...

Radiotheranostics embodies the convergence of diagnostic and therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals into a unified platform. In cancer treatment, radiotheranostic procedures typically involve the use of antibodies that bind to proteins abundantly found on the surface of cancerous cells. The antibodies are labeled with a suitable radioisotope, which facilitates imaging procedures used to diagnose cancer and can be used to target cancerous cells and bombard them with deadly radiation as a form of treatment.   Although radiolabeled antibodies show promise as a treatment for cancer, several hurdles impede their clinical translation. ...

For the 314,000 people diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year, hope often comes in the form of platinum-based drugs such as cisplatin. Cisplatin causes the death of quick-dividing tumour cells, so it is a potent first-line defence in the treatment of the often fatal disease. However, over half of ovarian cancer patients develop recurrence and become resistant to cisplatin and other platinum-based chemotherapies, contributing to the five-year survival rate of 31%. It is unclear why this resistance occurs, but a solution is urgently ...

When artificial intelligence robots that have been designed to use algorithms to complete source search tasks, such as search and rescue operations during a fire, encounter a disturbance, they are often unable to complete their task. Proposed solutions have ranged from trying to improve algorithms to introducing additional robots, but these AI-driven robots still encounter fatal problems. Researchers have proposed a solution: a human-AI collaboration that takes advantages of the unique skills of the human brain to overcome challenges. The paper was published in the Journal of Social ...

A new physician-training system in telehealth simulates key parts of traditional, in-person neurological exams that use little reflex hammers, pinpricks, and flashlights to test nerve function. The three-year program, which was designed by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, has trained at least 68 neurology residents since its rollout in 2020. Published online Aug. 3 in Neurology Education, a new analysis of the curriculum identifies challenges to translating in-person exam techniques ...

Researchers from Texas Christian University, University of South Carolina, and RealPage published a new Journal of Marketing article that examines the impact of online reviews on hotel booking performance with a specific focus on the competitive effects of reviews. The study, forthcoming in the Journal of Marketing, is titled “The Competitive Effects of Online Reviews on Hotel Demand” and is authored by Sanghoon Cho, Pelin Pekgun, Ramkumar Janakiraman, and Jian Wang. Recent reports indicate that a majority of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations when deciding to book a hotel. A 2019 study ...

As drinking water flows through pipes and into a glass, it runs against the rubber seals inside some plumbing devices. These parts contain additives that contribute to their flexibility and durability, but these potentially harmful compounds can leak into drinking water, according to a small-scale study in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology Letters. The authors report that the released compounds, which are typically linked to tire pollution, also transformed into other unwanted byproducts. To enhance rubber’s strength and durability, manufacturers typically mix in additives. Scientists have shown that tire dust ...

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai announced today that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Brazilian Clinical Research Institute (BCRI) to focus on advancing cardiovascular disease research, innovation, and medical education. "This partnership is part of a broader initiative to expand Mount Sinai Heart’s reach globally, and Latin America is an important part of that goal," said Deepak L. Bhatt, MD, MPH, Director of Mount Sinai Heart and Dr. Valentin Fuster Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at Icahn Mount Sinai. "Our partnership ...

As summer draws to a close, the long vines and tendrils of most melons and gourds in the Cucurbitaceae family snake their way along the ground. And they’re dotted with fruits, such as cucumbers or pumpkins. Below are some recent papers published in ACS journals that report insights into melons’ potential health impacts, pathogens and contaminants. Reporters can request free access to these papers by emailing newsroom@acs.org. “Nanoparticles Loaded with a Carotenoid-Rich Extract from Cantaloupe Melon Improved Hepatic Retinol Levels in a Diet-Induced Obesity Preclinical Model” ACS ...

Cambridge, MA (September 6, 2023) — The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard today announced a new research alliance with Novo Nordisk aimed at addressing critical unmet clinical needs in diabetes and cardiometabolic diseases. The collaboration will focus on advancing three programs over the next three years. Two programs aim to identify drug targets for clinically important subtypes of type 2 diabetes, which affects more than 37 million people in the United States alone, and one program aims to unravel the genetic roots of cardiac fibrosis, or scarring of the heart, which occurs in many cardiovascular diseases that can lead to ...

HOUSTON and SAN MATEO, Calif. ― The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Panacea Venture today announced the launch of Manaolana Oncology Inc., a new company created to develop and advance antibody-based therapies against novel cancer antigens. Manaolana Oncology seeks to build upon the innovative antibody production capabilities and intellectual property of MD Anderson to research and develop novel monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and other antibody-based therapies for a variety of cancer types, with the goal of advancing promising therapies into ...

Research Highlights: Obesity-related cardiovascular disease deaths tripled between 1999 and 2020 in the U.S. Such deaths were higher among Black individuals (highest among Black women) compared with any other racial group, followed by American Indian/Alaska Native people. Black adults who lived in urban communities experienced more obesity-related cardiovascular disease deaths than those living in rural areas, whereas the reverse was true for all other racial groups. This news release has been updated to include ...

Mold and diseases caused by fungi can greatly impact the shelf life of fruit and vegetables. However, some fungi benefit their hosts by aiding plant survival. Colletotrichum tofieldiae (Ct) is a root mold which typically supports continued plant development even when the plant is starved of phosphorus, an important nutrient for photosynthesis and growth. Researchers studied a unique pathogenic strain of the fungi, called Ct3, which conversely inhibits plant growth. By comparing the beneficial and harmful strains Ct strains, they found that activation of a single fungal secondary metabolism gene cluster determined the negative impact of the fungus on the host ...

In a study of US adolescents, both victims and perpetrators of cyberbullying were more likely than other youth to experience eating disorder symptoms. The findings are published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders. In the study of 10,258 adolescents aged 10–14 years, participants answered questions about whether they had experienced cyberbullying victimization and perpetration, as well as whether they had experienced eating disorder symptoms. Cyberbullying victimization was associated with worrying about weight ...

New research published in Headache reveals that, in children and adolescents, pain in the lower limbs—what are often called “growing pains” by clinicians and are commonly attributed to rapid growth—may indicate the presence or risk of migraines. The study included 100 children and adolescents born to mothers with migraines seen at a headache clinic, with half of the youth experiencing growing pains. “In families of children with growing pains, there is an increased prevalence of other pain syndromes, especially migraine ...

New research published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society indicates that antipsychotics are likely overprescribed and used inappropriately among patients with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) receiving home health care, and such use is linked to worse patient outcomes. Antipsychotic drugs are not approved for the treatment of dementia—they are mostly used off-label to manage the symptoms that many people with ADRD experience, such as agitation, aggression, and psychosis that are called “behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia.” In addition, ...

Osaka, Japan – As cute as raccoons may look, their behaviors are troublesome, and so are their droppings. Known to contain Escherichia albertii—a harmful enteropathogen—raccoon feces challenge zoonotic researchers who grapple to isolate this bacterium for further study. Fortunately, Osaka Metropolitan University scientists have come up with a novel culture medium for efficient isolation of E. albertii, making progress toward alleviating this particular raccoon-conveyed threat. Due ...

The research team led by Dr. Se-Jong Kim and Dr. Juwon Na of the Materials Data Management Center in the Materials Digital Platform Division together with the research team led by Professor Seungchul Lee of POSTECH has developed a technology that can automatically identify and quantify materials microstructure from microscopic images through human-in-the-loop machine learning. KIMS is a government-funded research institute under the Ministry of Science and ICT. Microscopic imaging systems visualize material structure information at multiple ...

Further conservation measures are required to protect Vietnamese reptiles, such as the psychedelic rock gecko (Cnemaspis psychedelica), from habitat loss and overharvesting, concludes a new report, published in the open-access scientific journal Nature Conservation. Having identified areas of high reptile diversity and large numbers of endangered species, the study provides a list of the 50 most threatened species as a guide for further research and conservation action in Vietnam.  The study, based on the bachelor thesis of Lilli Stenger (University of Cologne, Germany), recommends IUCN CPSG’s ...

A unique program that sees students at the Medical College of Georgia working as anesthesia technologists throughout their four years of medical school can influence more of them to pursue the specialty as a career, investigators report. The MCG Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine’s nearly 100-year-old Externship Program is one of only five or six in the country and allows interested medical students to work nights, weekends and holidays, as a critical part of the anesthesia and operating room teams. Anesthesia techs are typically responsible for sterilizing, cleaning, assembling, calibrating, testing and troubleshooting various pieces of machinery in the operating ...

WASHINGTON (September 6, 2023) – An annual survey of physical and sexual violence suffered by Californians documents for the first time the higher incidence of violence among non-binary and transgender people. One in 20 California adults has experienced physical violence (5%) in the past year, a decrease from 8% in 2022, according to The California Violence Experiences Study (CalVEX); but the reported rates for non-binary and transgender individuals were notably higher, 14% and 27%, respectively. “The new data we have in this year’s report show that rates of violence have declined since levels seen during the pandemic, but these experiences remain too ...

SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. 6, 2023 – Myriad Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MYGN), a leader in genetic testing and precision medicine, today revealed new nationwide survey results indicating widespread confusion and misconceptions about ovarian cancer screening among a majority of women.  The Myriad Genetics Cancer Risk survey shows that nearly three out of four women (71%) falsely believe annual pap smears include testing for ovarian cancer. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the “only gynecologic cancer the Pap test screens for is cervical cancer.” “Ovarian cancer is ...

Non-Hermitian systems with their spectral degeneracies known as exceptional points (EPs) have been explored for lasing, controlling light transport, and enhancing a sensor’s response. A ring resonator can be brought to an EP by controlling the coupling between its frequency degenerate clockwise and counterclockwise traveling modes. This has been typically achieved by introducing two or more nano-tips into the resonator’s mode volume. While this method provides a route to study EP physics, the basic understanding of how the nano-tips’ shape and size symmetry impact the system’s non-Hermicity is missing, along with additional loss from both in-plane and out-of-plane ...