When it comes to the ocean’s response to global warming, we’re not in entirely uncharted waters. A UC Riverside study shows that episodes of extreme heat in Earth’s past caused the exchange of waters from the surface to the deep ocean to decline. This system has been described as the "global conveyer belt," because it redistributes heat around the globe through the movement of the ocean waters, making large portions of the planet habitable.  Using tiny, fossilized shells recovered from ancient deep-sea sediments, the study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences demonstrates how the conveyor belt responded around 50 ...

SAN DIEGO – June 13, 2024 – A combination of GLP-1 agonists taken before metabolic and bariatric surgery may help patients with extreme obesity lower the risk of post-operative complications, according to a new study* presented today at the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) 2024 Annual Scientific Meeting Patients with extreme obesity, a body mass index (BMI) of 70 or more, face a higher risk of complications from surgery compared to patients with lower BMIs. Studies have shown weight loss before surgery can mitigate risk but lifestyle intervention ...

The reason why targeted treatment for non-small cell lung cancer fails to work for some patients, particularly those who have never smoked, has been discovered by researchers from UCL, the Francis Crick Institute and AstraZeneca. The study, published in Nature Communications, shows that lung cancer cells with two particular genetic mutations are more likely to double their genome, which helps them to withstand treatment and develop resistance to it. In the UK, lung cancer is the third most common type of cancer and the leading cause of cancer death.  Around 85% of patients with lung cancer have non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and this is the most common type found in patients ...

Younger workers are struggling with feelings of loneliness and a lack of appreciation at work and tend to feel more comfortable working with people their own age, according to a survey by the American Psychological Association. The 2024 Work in America survey, conducted online by The Harris Poll of more than 2,000 working U.S. adults, found that three in 10 U.S. workers reported that people in their organization who are not close to their age do not see the value in their ideas (32%). That number was significantly higher for workers aged ...

Early detection and treatment of hereditary transthyretin-related amyloidosis via genetic counseling are crucial. Yet, not all at-risk individuals seek genetic counseling, and management for presymptomatic carriers remains unclear. To tackle these knowledge gaps, a research team from Japan conducted a retrospective study on over 200 people who sought genetic counseling at a medical center, shedding light on the current advantages and limitations of current practices.    Hereditary transthyretin-related amyloidosis (AATRv amyloidosis) is a rare inherited ...

Bottom Line: The MEK inhibitor trametinib (Mekinist) was an effective treatment for pediatric patients with relapsed or refractory juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) enrolled in a phase II clinical trial, with seven of 10 patients alive after a median of two years. Journal in Which the Study was Published: Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Authors: The senior author is Mignon Loh, MD, who is the director of the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research and the head of the Division of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology, Bone ...

A new machine-learning system developed at the University of Alaska Fairbanks can automatically produce detailed maps from satellite data to show locations of likely beetle-killed spruce trees in Alaska, even in forests of low and moderate infestation where identification is otherwise difficult. The automated process can help forestry and wildfire managers in their decisions. That’s critical as the beetle infestation spreads. The Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection calls the spruce beetle “the most damaging ...

Alzheimer's disease is the world’s most common neurodegenerative disease, affecting more than 50 million people globally. Alzheimer’s disease is also among the most fatal, landing as one of the top five causes of death worldwide. However, most currently available treatments are limited to alleviating the disease’s symptoms. Now, a new study led by Chapman University researchers has explored the efficacy of using two existing Alzheimer’s disease drugs simultaneously to reduce mortality. It is one of the largest and ...

The number of people aged 65 and older with type 1 diabetes increased from 1.3 million in 1990 to 3.7 million in 2019, while death rates fell 25% from 4.7 per 100,000 population in 1990 to 3.5 in 2019, finds an analysis of data from over 200 countries and regions in The BMJ today. Overall, the results show that more people with type 1 diabetes are living longer. However, death rates fell 13 times faster in high income countries compared with low and middle income countries, indicating that substantial ...

Momentary shifts in mood, even those lasting just a matter of seconds, profoundly alter the brain’s response to pleasurable experiences in people with bipolar disorder, finds a new study by UCL researchers. Previous research shows that mood can make us experience events in more positive or negative light – irrespective of having bipolar disorder. When we are in a good mood, we are drawn to viewing things more favourably – causing the good mood to rollover and gain momentum. Equally, when we are upset we get drawn into perceiving bad outcomes as even worse, causing us to remain upset or get even more upset. This “momentum” in mood can bias how we perceive events ...

LAWRENCE — A partnership between scientists at the University of Kansas and collaborators in Europe, including war-torn Ukraine, will result in computer models of biological cells likely to hasten health breakthroughs by simulating molecular interactions inside cells with near experimental accuracy at vastly longer timescales than similar efforts. The research is supported by the National Science Foundation’s IMPRESS-U (International Multilateral Partnerships for Resilient Education and Science System in Ukraine) program that aims to “support excellence in science and engineering research, education, and innovation through international collaboration and ...

DETROIT — Alice Walker, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemistry in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Wayne State University, received a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award from the National Science Foundation to fund her research on applying computational chemistry to the understanding and rational design of new fluorescent protein (FP) sensors. “A sensor, chemically speaking, is a molecule that turns on or off in response to certain stimuli,” said Walker. “Proteins are good sensors because they have a florescent element; they essentially glow in the dark in response to when it touches something. ...

Why do politicians lie and deny when they are caught up in political scandal? According to a newly published study led by a University of Nebraska–Lincoln political scientist, the answer may be that their supporters prefer a less-than-credible denial to losing political power and in-group status because of a discredited standard-bearer. “The driving question of our research is whether people are actually incentivizing politicians to deny wrongdoing and escape accountability,” said Pierce Ekstrom, assistant professor of political science at Nebraska. “Certainly, there’s a very strong norm ...

WASHINGTON – A new detailed analysis of a patient’s second cancer after receiving CAR-T therapy for the initial cancer provides rare but important insights intended to offer helpful guidance for oncologists and pathologists about the clinical presentation and pathologic features involved in a CAR-T related second cancer. The finding is reported June 13, 2024, in the New England Journal of Medicine. CAR-T therapy is described by many as a new and promising treatment for blood cancers. CAR-T therapy is made from a patient’s ...

A large study by researchers at Stanford Medicine has found that the risk of secondary blood cancers after CAR-T cell therapy — a cell-based cancer treatment that exploded on the scene in 2017 as a treatment for intractable blood cancers — is low, despite a Food and Drug Administration warning.  In November 2023, the FDA issued a warning about a risk of secondary cancers — particularly blood cancers — that may be associated with CAR-T cell therapy. The warning was preceded by a rising tide of ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – In response to stressful or dangerous stimuli, nerve cells in the spinal cord activate involuntary, autonomic reflexes often referred to as “fight or flight” responses. These protective responses cause changes in blood pressure and the release of stress hormones into the blood stream. Normally, these responses are short-lived and well-controlled, but this changes after a traumatic spinal cord injury. A first-ever study published in the journal Science Translational Research identifies a ...

Reno, Nev. (June 12, 2024) – The Western U.S. is heavily reliant on mountain snowpacks and their gradual melt for water storage and supply, and climate change is expected to upend the reliability of this natural process. Many agricultural communities in this part of the country are examining ways to adapt to a future with less water, and new research shows that a focus on supplementing water supply by expanding reservoir capacity won’t be enough to avert future water crises.   Led by scientists at the Desert Research Institute ...

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2024 MINNEAPOLIS – People who give birth to infants less than 5.5 pounds may be more likely to have memory and thinking problems later in life than people who give birth to infants who do not have a low birth weight, according to a study published in the June 12, 2024, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The effect on memory and thinking skills was equivalent to one to two years of aging for those with low-birth-weight deliveries. The study does not prove that delivery of a low-birth-weight ...

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2024 MINNEAPOLIS – People who experience prolonged depressive symptoms starting in young adulthood may have worse thinking and memory skills in middle age, according to a study published in the June 12, 2024, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study also found that depressive symptoms were experienced more often by Black adults than white adults. “The processes that lead to dementia begin long before signs of the disease become apparent, and previous research has shown that Black adults have a higher risk of dementia than white adults,” said study author ...

Philadelphia (June 12, 2024) – A new study published in International Journal of Nursing Studies showed that individuals with Covid-19 were more likely to die in hospitals that were chronically understaffed before the pandemic. This study is one of the first to document the continuing public health dangers of permitting so many U.S. hospitals to ration nursing care by understaffing nursing services.  The study, conducted by researchers at the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR) at the University ...

By late in the pandemic more than 96% of individuals in the U.S. ages 16 and older had COVID-19 antibodies from infection or vaccination. However, immunity from the virus tends to wane over time. Uptake of the boosters has been quite low, meaning that over time the current high levels of protection will dissipate. During the COVID-19 pandemic, at-home antigen tests became widely accepted for detecting infection. In a new joint study by the George Washington University, the University of North Carolina, and others, researchers looked into the benefits of using at-home antibody tests to detect immunity and to make decisions about the need for a COVID-19 booster shot - something ...

Sweetpotato black rot is a devastating disease caused by the fungus Ceratocystis fimbriata. Since the late 1800s, black rot of sweetpotato has threatened to destroy as much as 30% of the sweetpotato crop in the United States. In 2015, all sweetpotato-producing states in the United States experienced one of the worst outbreaks recorded in history, with up to 60% losses reported. While fungicides can help manage the disease, they are not a sustainable solution, especially with volatile restrictions on fungicide residues among major export markets. An additional ...

Gray whales that spend their summers feeding in the shallow waters off the Pacific Northwest coast have undergone a significant decline in body length since around the year 2000, a new Oregon State University study found. The smaller size could have major consequences for the health and reproductive success of the affected whales, and also raises alarm bells about the state of the food web in which they coexist, researchers say. “This could be an early warning sign that the abundance of this population is starting to decline, or is not healthy,” said K.C. Bierlich, co-author on the study and an assistant professor at OSU’s ...

Shelter dogs awaiting adoption fare better with a canine companion than when they’re housed alone, according to new research from Virginia Tech. The study, led by Erica Feuerbacher, associate professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ School of Animal Sciences, revealed that companiable dogs housed together showed fewer signs of stress and were adopted more quickly than dogs that were housed by themselves.  Nearly 4 million dogs enter shelters every year, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The study’s findings offer one possible solution for animal shelters ...

Thousands of years ago, people in ancient Syria likely ate mostly grains, grapes, olives and a small amount of dairy and meat — similar to today’s “Mediterranean diet,” according to a study published June 12 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Benjamin T. Fuller from the University of Leuven, Belgium, Simone Riehl from the University of Tübingen, Germany, and colleagues. Tell Tweini, an archeological site located near the Syrian coastal city of Jableh, contains relics dating ...