Coffee drinking is a heritable habit, and one that carries a certain amount of genetic baggage. Caffeinated coffee is a psychoactive substance, notes Sandra Sanchez-Roige, Ph.D., an associate professor in the University of California San Diego School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry. She is one of an international group of researchers that compared coffee-consumption characteristics from a 23andMe database with an even larger set of records in the United Kingdom. She is the corresponding author of a study recently published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology. Hayley ...

CLEVELAND—Since 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has presented significant challenges to global public health, infecting millions and claiming numerous lives. While widespread vaccination efforts have alleviated the immediate threat, lingering questions persist about the long-term effects of the virus on those infected. An interdisciplinary team of scientists has made a significant breakthrough to understand how the body adapts to COVID-19 infection, potentially offering crucial insights into managing the complex disease. Led by  Christopher Wilson, professor of medicine at Loma Linda University, the collaborative effort involved ...

Study Title: Radiation Therapy for HPV-Positive Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: An ASTRO Clinical Practice Guideline Publication: Practical Radiation Oncology Dana-Farber Cancer Institute author: Danielle Margalit, MD, MPH Summary: A multi-disciplinary task force convened by the American Society for Radiation Oncology has issued new guidelines for radiation therapy for HPV-associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC). The expert task force recommends optimal dosing regimens for radiation therapy when used alone or after surgery, incorporating the latest data on minimizing doses to areas that may affect patient quality of life such as swallowing. ...

The Argonne in Chicago South Side STEM Opportunity Landscape Project was awarded the Societal Impact Award by the Chicago Council on Science and Technology (C2ST) for its commitment to advancing equity and opportunity in STEM education and careers across underserved communities. C2ST is a nonprofit that works to inspire and engage all segments of society about science and technology and their contributions to society. The South Side STEM Opportunity Landscape Project is part of Argonne in Chicago, which is focused on driving inclusive innovation to advance economic and societal impacts for underserved and underrepresented communities. The ...

The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has awarded $3.7 million to kickstart the Western Fire & Forest Resilience Collaborative, led by Winslow Hansen, a forest ecologist at Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. Funds are enabling the formation of an interdisciplinary collaborative that will advance science-based management solutions to the growing wildfire crisis. In the Western US, climate change and a legacy of fire suppression have led to larger, more severe, and more frequent fires — with devastating consequences for people, natural resources, and the climate. By dramatically speeding ...

The international NOvA collaboration presented new results at the Neutrino 2024 conference in Milan, Italy, on June 17. The collaboration doubled their neutrino data since their previous release four years ago, including adding a new low-energy sample of electron neutrinos. The new results are consistent with previous NOvA results, but with improved precision. The data favor the “normal” ordering of neutrino masses more strongly than before, but ambiguity remains around the neutrino’s oscillation properties. The latest NOvA data provide a very precise measurement ...

Artificial intelligence (AI) has permeated many aspects of medicine, with promises of  accurate diagnoses, better management decisions, and improved outcomes for both patients and the healthcare system. However, to successfully implement AI technology in clinical practice, trust and acceptance among healthcare providers to use such tools is crucial. Now, using the treatment of digestive diseases as a case study, an international study led by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has found that doctors in the gastroenterology practice generally trust and accept AI medical tools. Through ...

About The Study: Rates of cannabis-related disorder encounters increased from 2017 through 2022 among Medicare-insured older adults. This study observed the highest rates in states or territories that legalized adult and medical use of cannabis. The results also suggest higher average annual increases in states or territories that legalized medical cannabis. Corresponding author: To contact the corresponding author, Silvia Perez-Vilar, Ph.D., Pharm.D., email silvia.perezvilar@fda.hhs.gov To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media ...

About The Study: In this study of 450 community outpatient mental health treatment facilities in 20 high-burden states, approximately one-third offered medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD). These results suggest that further study is needed to report MOUD uptake, either through increased prescribing at all clinics or through effective referral models. Corresponding author: To contact the corresponding author, Jonathan Cantor, Ph.D., email jcantor@rand.org. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link ...

About The Study: Although Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) hospital star rating was associated with postoperative mortality, serious complications, and readmissions, there was wide variation in surgical outcomes within each star rating group. These findings highlight the limitations of the CMS hospital star rating system as a measure of surgical quality and should be a call for continued improvement of publicly reported hospital grade measures.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Adrian Diaz, M.D., M.P.H., email adrian.diaz@osumc.edu. To access the embargoed ...

Sepsis patients could be treated based on their immune system’s response to infection, not their symptoms. New research uncovers how different people respond to sepsis based on their genetic makeup, which could help identify who would benefit from certain treatments and lead to the development of targeted therapies.   The team, from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the University of Oxford, and collaborators, built on their previous work that identified different subgroups of patients with sepsis. They aimed to understand more about why sepsis response varies between patients and the different underlying immune response pathways. The new study, published today (18 June) in Cell Genomics, ...

The migratory locust Locusta migratoria is an economically important crop pest that is said to have come to Egypt in the Old Testament as the eighth of the ten biblical plagues, "to devour all that plants that grow". The migratory locust is rarely found in Europe, but in Africa and Asia it not only causes millions of dollars’ worth of damage but also has a deadly impact on local people, threatening their food and their very existence. The locusts occur in two phases: as solitary animals and in swarms. The insects are most feared when they ...

A new study published today in JAMA Network Open by an international cohort of researchers provides the latest data on the effectiveness of treating pancreatic cancer patients with chemotherapy (with or without radiation therapy) before surgery to remove a tumor. The study focuses specifically on pancreatic adenocarcinoma patients. The research found that after treatment and surgery, nearly five percent of patients had no detectable cancer cells left in the area where the tumor was, achieving a pathological complete response (pCR). “PCR means that the cancer has responded extremely well to the treatment, leaving no ...

Only a third of outpatient community mental health treatment facilities in 20 states with the highest opioid related overdose deaths report offering medication treatment for opioid use disorders, suggesting efforts may be needed to strengthen such services, according to a new RAND study.   Among the 450 clinics surveyed, factors that increased the likelihood that clinics would provide medication for opioid use disorders included being a certified behavioral health clinic and providing integrated mental and substance use disorder treatment.   Researchers found that most clinics that did not offer medication treatment said they referred patients to other clinics for ...

LA JOLLA (June 18, 2024)—Salk Institute Assistant Professor Jesse Dixon has been named a 2024 Pew Biomedical Scholar by The Pew Charitable Trusts. This honor provides funding to early-career investigators who demonstrate outstanding promise in science toward advancing human health. Dixon and the other 21 awardees will each receive $300,000 over four years to support their research. “Through his development and use of leading-edge genetic tools, Jesse has already made a major impact on how we study diseases such ...

PHILADELPHIA—The Pew Charitable Trusts today announced the 22 researchers who have been selected to join the Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences. These early-career scientists will receive four years of funding to explore some of the most pressing questions in human health and medicine. “Pew believes that supporting promising early-career researchers is key to scientific innovation, and for nearly 40 years our scholars have helped change the world—creating lifesaving therapies and responding to emerging health crises around the globe,” ...

Scientists at the University of Cambridge have discovered that a type of white blood cell - called a regulatory T cell - exists as a single large population of cells that constantly move throughout the body looking for, and repairing, damaged tissue. This overturns the traditional thinking that regulatory T cells exist as multiple specialist populations that are restricted to specific parts of the body. The finding has implications for the treatment of many different diseases – because almost all diseases and injuries trigger the body’s immune system. Current anti-inflammatory drugs treat the whole ...

PHILADEPHIA—The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Alexander and Margaret Stewart Trust announced today the 2024 class of the Pew-Stewart Scholars for Cancer Research, five early-career scientists who will each receive four-year grants to explore new avenues in cancer development, diagnosis, and treatment. This is the 11th year the Alexander and Margaret Stewart Trust has partnered with Pew to cultivate a legacy of cutting-edge cancer research. “Despite decades of groundbreaking research and innovative breakthroughs, millions of Americans are still all too familiar with the devastation and uncertainty of a cancer diagnosis,” ...

PHILADELPHIA—The Pew Charitable Trusts today announced the 2024 class of the Pew Latin American Fellows Program in the Biomedical Sciences. The 10 postdoctoral fellows from six Latin American countries—Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, and Peru—will receive two years of funding to conduct research in laboratories across the United States. They will work under the mentorship of prominent biomedical scientists, including alumni from the Latin American fellows program and the Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences. “The grave threats to human health over the past few years—from COVID-19 to growing rates of cancer in younger adults—underscore ...

Thanks to the combined computing power of Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Intel, the CCDC announces that a potentially significant advancement in drug discovery has been achieved. A curated data set of protein structures from the Protein Data Bank (PDB) with predicted hydrogen positions is now available for download. This project was supported by an Intel RISE Technology Initiative contribution. Historically, collaborations with the pharmaceutical industry have enabled the development of reliable methods for interpreting interactions within protein binding sites using proprietary information not publicly available. Repeating these studies ...

Renal tumor pathology has evolved considerably, expanding from two main types of renal malignant tumors to over 20 distinct types. Diagnostic criteria have advanced from purely morphological features to include histochemistry, immunohistochemistry (IHC), and molecular genetics. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Society of Urologic Pathology (ISUP) have been instrumental in updating these criteria, resulting in a comprehensive framework essential for accurate diagnosis, effective treatment, and improved patient outcomes. The field of renal tumor pathology has undergone ...

A new paper from an interdisciplinary team at MUSC Hollings Cancer Center describes how the bacteria Porphyromonas gingivalis interferes with chemotherapy-induced mitophagy, allowing oral cancer tumors to become resistant to the drug’s effects.   Besim Ogretmen, Ph.D., SmartState Endowed Chair in Lipidomics and Drug Discovery in the College of Medicine, and Ӧzlem Yilmaz, D.D.S., Ph.D., a professor, clinician-scientist and microbiologist in the College of Dental Medicine, worked with graduate ...

In late 2019 the previously unremarkable galaxy SDSS1335+0728 suddenly started shining brighter than ever before. To understand why, astronomers have used data from several space and ground-based observatories, including the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT), to track how the galaxy’s brightness has varied. In a study out today, they conclude that they are witnessing changes never seen before in a galaxy — likely the result of the sudden awakening of the massive black hole at its core. “Imagine you’ve been observing a distant galaxy for years, and it always seemed calm and inactive,” ...

Gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, encompassing esophageal, gastric, small bowel, and colorectal carcinomas, represent a significant global health burden due to their high incidence and mortality rates. This review by M. Jesús Fernández-Aceñero et al. provides an in-depth analysis of the molecular characteristics, prognosis, and current therapeutic strategies for these malignancies, highlighting the latest advancements and challenges in the field. Esophageal carcinoma is among the ten most prevalent tumors globally, with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) being the most common subtype. ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Discovering that hepatitis E virus is associated with sperm in pigs suggests the virus may be both sexually transmitted and linked to male infertility, according to a new study. Hepatitis E (HEV) is the leading cause of the acute viral liver infection in humans worldwide, mostly in developing regions where sanitation is poor. The virus is also endemic in pigs in the United States – though it is present mostly in organs rather than muscle, and is killed when the meat is cooked. Because HEV has been linked to fatal pregnancy complications and reports of male infertility ...