Statement Highlights: The American Heart Association supports a value-based care and payment (VBP) system that is person-centered, equitable, coordinated and seeks to improve equity, patient and provider experience, and individual and population health while controlling costs. Defining and improving clinician understanding of value-based payment program design and best practices promotes informed decisions for participating and successfully engaging in these models. Embargoed until 4:00 a.m. CT/5:00 a.m. ET, Monday, July 10, 2023 DALLAS, July 10, 2023 — The American Heart Association, a global force for longer, healthier lives for all, ...

Indigenous Peoples in Canada have higher illness rates and lower life expectancies than non-Indigenous Canadians. A new study reveals that Indigenous men in the country who have prostate cancer are being diagnosed with more advanced and more aggressive tumors than their non-Indigenous counterparts. The findings are published by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. To identify disparities in prostate cancer screening, diagnoses, management, and outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous men in Canada, a team led by Adam Kinnaird, MD, PhD, of the University of Alberta, ...

Ülo Mander, Professor of Physical Geography and Landscape Ecology at the University of Tartu, received the Advanced Grant from the European Research Council to study the cycle of nitrous oxide (N2O), commonly known as the laughing gas, in fens and peatlands, its links to global climate change, and possible land-use practices that could help curb the production of this greenhouse gas in the future. Laughing gas is one of the most dangerous greenhouse gases produced by microbial life in the soils of agricultural areas and drained ...

Financial payments made by land developers to offset their impacts on threatened species may fall short, according to University of Queensland-led research. Professor Jonathan Rhodes from the School of the Environment focused on koala populations in the fast-developing South East Queensland region and a government scheme which allows developers to make financial payments to compensate for environmental consequences.  “Just like when you make a financial contribution to offset your carbon emissions when ...

Researchers have found that the plastic mulch used to support the growth of Californian strawberries sheds large quantities of plastic mulch fragments. These particles have been shown to negatively impact soil qualities, casting doubt on the long-term viability of their use. The findings from the survey are likely to apply world-wide to plastic use in agricultural production. Presenting their work at the Goldschmidt geochemistry conference in Lyon, postdoctoral researcher Dr Ekta Tiwari (from Sistla group at California Polytechnic ...

The material a bird selects for its nest depends on the dimensions of its beak, according to researchers. Using data on nest materials for nearly 6,000 species of birds, a team based at the University of Bristol and the University of St Andrews utilised random forest models, a type of machine learning algorithm, to take data from bird beaks and try to predict what nest materials that species might use. They found a surprisingly strong correlation. Using only information on beak shape and size, they were able to correctly predict broad nest material use in 60% of species, rising to ...

Warmer springs are causing British bees to wake up earlier, a new study has found, threatening the pollination of crops such as apples and pears. The research – which is believed to be the largest of its kind in Great Britain – found that for every 1 degree Celsius rise in temperature caused by climate change, wild bees, such as bumblebees, emerge from their nests 6.5 days earlier on average. As spring starts earlier and bees emerge closer to the start of the year, they may lose sync with the plants on which ...

We all discard a huge amount of plastic and other man-made materials into the environment, and these are often picked up by birds. New research has shown that 176 bird species around the world are now known to include a wide range of anthropogenic materials in their nests. All over the world, birds are using our left-over or discarded materials. Seabirds in Australia incorporate fishing nets into their nests, ospreys in North America include baler twine, birds living in cities in South America add ...

Generating haploid plants for the purpose of obtaining pure doubled haploid (DH) lines is widely recognized as one of the most efficient breeding strategies in modern agriculture. Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus), an important fruit crop known for its nutritional value and flavor, has undergone long-term artificial selection resulting in genetic narrowing. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a haploid induction system to enhance traditional breeding methods and facilitate the development of valuable pure DH lines. In March 2023, the Plant Biotechnology Journal published an online paper titled "Production of double haploid watermelon via ...

Tokyo, Japan – A team led by researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University studied how microplastics in the environment accumulate heavy metals. As the microplastics spread, so do their toxic cargo. Focusing on polystyrene foam, they collected particles along a river running through Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. They found significant levels of heavy metals accumulated on the particles, reflecting local land use and industries, as well as surface features like holes and biofilms which help pollutants collect. The spread of plastic debris into the natural environment is an ecological disaster. As plastic waste makes ...

Extinct dwarf hippos that once roamed Madagascar lived in forests rather than open grasslands preferred by common hippos on mainland Africa, researchers at the University of Cincinnati discovered. The findings suggest grasslands that now cover much of the enormous island off the eastern coast of southern Africa were a relatively recent change facilitated by people rather than a natural habitat sustained in part by these famously large vegetarians. The study was published in the journal Plants, People, Planet. When Madagascar broke away from Africa’s mainland 150 million years ago, its plants and animals evolved in geographic isolation in the ...

Researchers have known that a lack of quality sleep can increase a person’s risk of diabetes. What has remained a mystery, however, is why. Now, new findings from a team of sleep scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, are closer to an answer. The researchers have uncovered a potential mechanism in humans that explains how and why deep-sleep brain waves at night are able to regulate the body’s sensitivity to insulin, which in turn improves blood sugar control the next day.  “These synchronized brain waves act like a finger that flicks the ...

July 7, 2023 – Patients undergoing bilateral total knee arthroplasty (TKA) are at an increased risk of several types of complications, as compared with matched patients undergoing unilateral TKA, reports a study in The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio in partnership with Wolters Kluwer. "Patients who underwent simultaneous bilateral TKA were at higher risk of experiencing postoperative complications such ...

ITHACA, N.Y. -- With artificial intelligence poised to assist in profound scientific discoveries that will change the world, Cornell is leading a new $11.3 million center focused on human-AI collaboration that uses mathematics as a common language. The Scientific Artificial Intelligence Center, or SciAI Center, is being launched with a grant from the Office of Naval Research and is led by Christopher J. Earls, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Cornell Engineering. Co-investigators include Nikolaos Bouklas, assistant professor ...

July 7, 2023 – Fifty percent of patients with metastatic prostate cancer experience some level of financial hardship due to their treatment, according to a study in the August issue of The Journal of Urology®, an Official Journal of the American Urological Association (AUA). The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer. "Our findings help in understanding the rates of and risk factors for financial toxicity among patients with advanced prostate cancer, along with the coping mechanisms, including the impact on personal spending, experienced by those reporting higher levels of financial toxicity," ...

Cancer cells-to-be accumulate a series of specific genetic changes in a predictable and sequential way years before they are identifiable as pre-malignancies, researchers at Stanford Medicine have found. Many of these changes affect pathways that control cell division, structure and internal messaging — leaving the cells poised to go bad long before any visible signs or symptoms occur. The study is the first to exhaustively observe the natural evolution of the earliest stages of human cancers, starting with ...

“Here we report an unusual association of t (5; 17) with t (8; 21) in AML and we try to discuss the prognosis of this association and then the treatment.” BUFFALO, NY- July 7, 2023 – A new research paper was published in Genes & Cancer on June 28, 2023, entitled, “A novel t (5; 17) (q35; q21) associated with t (8; 21) (q22; q22) in a patient with acute myeloid leukemia: case report and review of literature.” The t (8; 21) (q22; q22) with the resulting RUNX1- RUNX1T1 rearrangement is one of the most common cytogenetic abnormalities in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). It is associated with a favorable prognosis. The t (5; 17) (q35; q21) is an ...

MADISON – Communicating science to a general audience can be challenging. Successfully conveying research on polarizing topics such as climate change can be even more difficult. But a new study from University of Wisconsin–Madison researcher Nan Li shows that intentionally integrating art with data visualizations can help non-expert audiences more meaningfully engage with climate change while also bridging political divides in ways that data alone cannot. In fact, data graphs on their own can exacerbate political division on climate change. As an assistant professor in the Department of Life Sciences Communication, Li studies how innovative visual representations of science ...

People with low incomes who live in states that expanded Medicaid got more of the kind of health care that can keep them healthier in the long run, compared with similar people in non-expansion states, a new study finds. They also received more health care overall, specifically clinic visits. But they didn’t crowd out patients covered by Medicare or private insurance such as from an employer, the study finds. Those groups continued to have clinic visits and receive preventive care at the same rate ...

  East Hanover, NJ – July 7, 2023 – June’s job numbers remained around all-time highs for people with disabilities, according to today’s National Trends in Disability Employment – semi-monthly update (nTIDE), issued by Kessler Foundation and the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability (UNH-IOD). nTIDE experts cautioned that employment of people with disabilities may be negatively affected by further anti-inflationary efforts by the Federal Reserve. Month-to-Month nTIDE Numbers (comparing May 2023 to June 2023) Based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The ability to regenerate and pattern blood vessels, the literal lifelines extending deep into soft tissues, remains an elusive milestone in regenerative medicine. Known as tissue revascularization, stimulating blood vessel growth and pattern formation in damaged or diseased tissues could accelerate the field of regenerative medicine, according to Penn State researchers.  With a four-year, $3 million grant awarded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Penn State chemical engineering and reconstructive surgery researchers plan to develop a new way to help restore soft tissue loss in patients ...

Discovering new materials and drugs typically involves a manual, trial-and-error process that can take decades and cost millions of dollars. To streamline this process, scientists often use machine learning to predict molecular properties and narrow down the molecules they need to synthesize and test in the lab. Researchers from MIT and the MIT-Watson AI Lab have developed a new, unified framework that can simultaneously predict molecular properties and generate new molecules much more efficiently ...

A study led by Nagoya University in Japan has identified three previously unknown membrane proteins in ovarian cancer. Using a unique technology consisting of nanowires with a polyketone coating, the group succeeded in capturing the proteins, demonstrating a new detection method for identification of ovarian cancer.     The discovery of new biomarkers is important for detecting ovarian cancer, as the disease is difficult to detect in its early stages where it can most easily be treated. One ...

Ikoma, Japan – Plants have the unique ability to regenerate entirely from a somatic cell, i.e., an ordinary cell that does not typically participate in reproduction. This process involves the de novo (or new) formation of a shoot apical meristem (SAM) that gives rise to lateral organs, which are key for the plant’s reconstruction. At the cellular level, SAM formation is tightly regulated by either positive or negative regulators (genes/protein molecules) that may induce or restrict shoot regeneration, respectively. But which molecules are involved? Are there other regulatory layers that are yet to be uncovered? To seek answers to the above questions, a research group led by Nara ...

Leesburg, VA, July 7, 2023—According to an accepted manuscript published in the American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR), patients discharged from the emergency department (ED) after CT with CTA alone could have benefitted from an alternative or additional MRI evaluation, including using a specialized abbreviated protocol for the modality. Compared with those patients discharged after CT with CTA only, “the use of MRI in select patients presenting to the ED with dizziness was associated with greater frequency of critical neuroimaging results, greater use of echocardiography, ...