MIAMI, FLORIDA (May 23, 2024) – Coral Olazagasti expected a relatively smooth transition when she moved to New York to start her residency after graduating from medical school in her native Puerto Rico. But that proved wishful thinking. She not only experienced major culture shock, but also her superiors and colleagues often chastised her for speaking too loudly and joked about her accent. “Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory so when I moved to New York, I thought it wasn’t going to be a big change,” said Olazagasti, ...

The 2024 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) will take place in Chicago and online May 31-June 4.   Below are highlights of Fred Hutch Cancer Center research to be presented at the conference and experts available to comment on news. You can follow Fred Hutch on social media for additional updates and check out Fred Hutch booth #14018 in the exhibit hall.  For interview requests with Fred Hutch experts, please contact media@fredhutch.org.      Prostate cancer  Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men in the United States and, according to the National Cancer Institute, ...

Scientists have known for years that a lattice of blood vessels nourishes cells in the retina that allow us to see – but it’s been a mystery how the intricate structure is created. Now, researchers at UC San Francisco have found a new type of neuron that guides its formation. The discovery, described in the May 23, 2024, issue of Cell, could one day lead to new therapies for diseases that are related to impaired blood flow in the eyes and brain. “This is the first time anyone has seen retinal neurons using direct contact with blood vessels as a way of guiding them to form these precise 3-D lattices,” said ...

The American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) Women in Plant Biology Committee recently named 25 Inspiring Women in Plant Biology to celebrate their achievements and inspire future generations of female plant biologists. This committee, dedicated to addressing particular concerns to women scientists and promoting the inclusion of female plant biologists throughout the Society and profession, created this list with input and nominations from the community.  “This initiative was inspired by two things: First, our desire to improve recognition of inspiring women scientists. We have had ...

Speaking at the World Health Assembly, authors of a new Lancet Series call for urgent global action on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and ensuring sustainable access to antibiotics through:   Intensifying efforts to promote vaccination, access to safe water and sanitation, and hospital infection control, thereby reducing infections and the use of antibiotics, which protects their long-term effectiveness.  Expanding access to existing and new antibiotics, which could save many lives lost to bacterial infections.  Increasing investment in new antibiotics, vaccines and diagnostics that are designed to be affordable and ...

Inadequate access to simple elective surgery in developing countries is storing up future health problems for patients and may create a spiral of future health complications putting more people’s lives at risk, a new study reveals. Analysing the experience of more than 18,000 patients in 640 hospitals across 83 countries, researchers, experts used hernia repair to represent elective health care, concluding that such treatments are essential to prevent over-reliance on emergency systems. The study reveals ...

The newly released Cass Review on transgender care for young people has been pivotal in the UK, where the prescription of puberty “blocking” drugs outside of research protocols has now ceased. But in the United States, where the treatment-intensive, “gender affirming” model of care is the norm, the impact of Cass’s four-year investigation and final report has been largely ignored, finds journalist Jennifer Block in The BMJ today. The review concluded that the evidence on use of puberty blockers and hormones for children and teens experiencing gender ...

Artificial intelligence software has been developed to rapidly analyze animal behavior so that behaviors can be more precisely linked to the activity of individual brain circuits and neurons, researchers in Seattle report. The program promises not only to speed research into the neurobiology of behavior, but also to enable comparison and reconcile results that disagree due to differences in how individual laboratories observe, analyze and classify behaviors, said Sam Golden, assistant professor of biological structure at the University of Washington School of Medicine.  “The approach allows labs to develop behavioral procedures however they want and makes it possible ...

Barrow Neurological Institute has opened a new cutting-edge research center that is expected to revolutionize neurological research and expand Phoenix’s research footprint into the areas of environmental neurology and health equity.  The Barrow Neuro Analytics Center, located at the Park Central property in the Phoenix Medical Quarter, comprises a 10,099 square-foot dry laboratory housing 10 principal research investigators and their dedicated teams. These experts delve into critical areas such as environmental epidemiology, advanced neuroimaging, global health, neurological drug development, health ...

Integration of pharmacies with physician practices, where on-site pharmacies open at physician practice locations, is a growing trend in cancer treatment. However, little is known about how this integration affects drug utilization or expenditures, along with other aspects of the patient experience. A study published today in JAMA Network Open compared the outcomes of patients treated by oncologists whose practices integrated with pharmacies, to those of oncologists that did not integrate. Researchers found a slight increase in utilization of oral oncology drugs, but no significant change in expenditures on the drugs.  In addition, there were no discernible ...

CHICAGO –  Researchers from Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center (ACC) and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania will present data on the latest advances in cancer research at the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, happening May 31—June 4, 2024 in Chicago and online. Follow @PennMedicine and @PennMDForum for updates. Expert interviews Experts from Penn Medicine are available to comment on a wide range of cancer research and care topics before, during, and after the meeting by video call, phone, or email. To arrange interviews, ...

A groundbreaking study led by UCLA Health has unveiled the most detailed view of the complex biological mechanisms underlying autism, showing the first link between genetic risk of the disorder to observed cellular and genetic activity across different layers of the brain.   The study is part of the second package of studies from the National Institutes of Health consortium, PsychENCODE. Launched in 2015, the initiative, chaired by UCLA neurogeneticist Dr. Daniel Geschwind, is working to create maps of gene regulation across different regions of the brain and different stages of brain development. The consortium aims to bridge the gap between studies ...

DALLAS, May 23, 2024 —According to American Heart Association data, 9 out of every 10 people who experience cardiac arrest outside of a hospital die. This is in part because they do not receive immediate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) more than half of the time. CPR, especially if performed immediately, can double or triple a person’s chance of survival. The American Heart Association and the Buffalo Bills want more people to be confident and capable when faced with a cardiac emergency. Through the HeartBEAT ...

Images Closing in on the theoretical maximum efficiency, devices for turning heat into electricity are edging closer to being practical for use on the grid, according to University of Michigan research.    Heat batteries could store intermittent renewable energy during peak production hours, relying on a thermal version of solar cells to convert it into electricity later.    "As we include higher fractions of renewables on the grid to reach decarbonization goals, we need lower costs and longer durations of ...

Researchers analyzing data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have pinpointed three galaxies that may be actively forming when the universe was only 400 to 600 million years old. Webb’s data shows these galaxies are surrounded by gas that the researchers suspect to be almost purely hydrogen and helium, the earliest elements to exist in the cosmos. Webb’s instruments are so sensitive that they were able to detect an unusual amount of dense gas surrounding these galaxies. This gas will likely end up fueling the formation of new stars in the galaxies. “These ...

“The massive use of antibiotics and antimicrobials in people and animals has led to these substances appearing in unexpected environmental samples,” said Irantzu Vergara, researcher in the UPV/EHU’s IBeA group. Drugs that do not end up fully metabolised in the body reach the environment through various routes (such as manure, sewage sludge used as fertilisers, etc.), are leached into the soil and may end up transferring to crops or earthworms, which are at the base of the food chain. “Although ...

Collagen, a major component of the extracellular matrix, plays a crucial role in tumor development. During the development of tumors (“tumorigenesis”), collagen fibers become linearized and densely deposited, hindering immune cell infiltration and promoting tumor metastasis. However, quantifying these collagen changes during melanoma progression has been challenging. In-vivo imaging of collagen As reported in Biophotonics Discovery, researchers from the Morgridge Institute for Research and University of Wisconsin – Madison recently addressed this challenge by using quantitative imaging to visualize collagen ...

Noise-canceling headphones have gotten very good at creating an auditory blank slate. But allowing certain sounds from a wearer’s environment through the erasure still challenges researchers. The latest edition of Apple’s AirPods Pro, for instance, automatically adjusts sound levels for wearers — sensing when they’re in conversation, for instance — but the user has little control over whom to listen to or when this happens. A University of Washington team has developed an artificial intelligence system that lets a ...

HOUSTON – (May 23, 2024) – Lighting a gas grill, getting an ultrasound, using an ultrasonic toothbrush ⎯ these actions involve the use of materials that can translate an electric voltage into a change in shape and vice versa. Known as piezoelectricity, the ability to trade between mechanical stress and electric charge can be harnessed widely in capacitors, actuators, transducers and sensors like accelerometers and gyroscopes for next-generation electronics. However, integrating these materials into miniaturized systems has been difficult ...

In a study of nearly 200 young women who have survived breast cancer, most of those who tried to conceive were able to become pregnant and give birth   This study fills in major gaps from previous studies of fertility among breast cancer survivors   BOSTON – New research by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators has encouraging news for young women who have survived breast cancer and want to have children. The study, which tracked nearly 200 young women treated for breast cancer, found that the majority of those who tried to conceive during a median of 11 years after treatment were able to become pregnant and give birth to a child. The findings, ...

Researchers from SWOG Cancer Research Network, a cancer clinical trials group funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will share results of their work in 30 presentations at the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, which takes place May 31 – June 4 in Chicago. The clinical trials reported on in this work are led by SWOG and conducted by the NIH-funded NCI National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) and the NCI Community Oncology Research ...

ABSTRACTS: 2018, 2517, 3513, 5504, 6016, 7007, 9515, 12017, LBA8007, LBA9516 CHICAGO ― The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Research Highlights showcases the latest breakthroughs in cancer care, research and prevention. These advances are made possible through seamless collaboration between MD Anderson’s world-leading clinicians and scientists, bringing discoveries from the lab to the clinic and back. This special edition features presentations by MD Anderson researchers at the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting. In addition to the ...

Dae Hyun Kim, MD, ScD is the recipient of a 2024 A. Clifford Barger Excellence in Mentoring Award at Harvard Medical School. Kim is an associate scientist at the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research at Hebrew SeniorLife, an HMS Associate Professor of Medicine, a geriatrician at the Division of Gerontology in the Department of Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and a Harvard School of Public Health Instructor in the Department of Epidemiology. The Excellence in Mentoring Awards were established to recognize the value of quality mentoring ...

The results in Nature Communications find that symbiotic, nitrogen-fixing bacteria can ensure dominance among soil microbes due to its signalling-based communication with the legume plant host. Researchers discovered that when legumes need nitrogen, they will send out from the roots and into the soil specific molecules that are in turn recognized by the symbiotic bacteria to produce another molecule, the Nod factor which is recognized back by the legume plant. When this mutual recognition was established, the plant will modify the panel of root secreted molecules and by this will affect which soil bacteria can grow in the vicinity ...

­­­Colleen Ryan, associate vice provost in the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty & Academic Affairs Indiana University Bloomington (IUB), has been named vice provost for faculty at Tufts University. She will start in the position on July 1. Ryan currently holds the rank of professor of Italian in the Department of French and Italian at IUB, is an affiliate faculty member in the Department of Gender Studies, and was the director of undergraduate studies for Italian from 2015-2023. Her areas of expertise ...