For Immediate Release Contact:  Mark Couch, 303-724-5377, mark.couch@cuanschutz.edu   Where Do Our Limbs Come From?             AURORA, Colo. (May 24, 2023) – An international collaboration that includes scientists from the University of Colorado School of Medicine has uncovered new clues about the origin of paired appendages – a major evolutionary step that remains unresolved and highly debated. The researchers describe their study in an article published today in the journal Nature. “This has become ...

Which kind of resistance training promotes more muscle growth: low load with many repetitions or high load with fewer repetitions? According to a study conducted at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in São Paulo state, Brazil, it makes no difference.  The study lasted eight weeks and involved 18 volunteers in two different training protocols. One group performed high-load (HL) exercises with fewer repetitions, while the other did low-load (LL) exercises with more repetitions. Muscle mass was measured in the first and last exercise sessions. A comparison of the two groups did not show any difference in muscle growth or metabolic stress, measured in an ...

While some patients recover from the effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection, others have experienced the aftereffects of COVID-19 long after the initial infection. One of these long COVID symptoms is reduced exercise capacity. But questions remain about the mechanisms underlying why some COVID patients continue to experience diminished exercise capacity while others recover without this condition. In a study recently published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, a team of researchers from UC San Francisco found that lower than expected exercise capacity was common ...

Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers say they have used artificial intelligence models and machine-learning algorithms to successfully predict which components of amino acids that make up therapeutic proteins are most likely to safely deliver therapeutic drugs to animal eye cells.   The project, a collaboration with researchers from the University of Maryland, holds promise for advancing new and more tolerable drug treatments for common chronic blinding eye diseases, including glaucoma and macular degeneration, which affect 3 million and about 20 million people in the United States, respectively. Current drug therapies ...

Impaired function of lung fibroblast is considered causative for symptoms of the incurable lung disease COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). Using high-resolution epigenetic profiling, German and British scientists have now identified potential targets for COPD treatment. The team detected early epigenetic changes in the genome of COPD fibroblasts, providing new insights into the disease pathogenesis and potential therapeutic avenues. COPD, affecting approximately 600 million people globally, is characterized by chronic inflammation, progressive airway narrowing, and alveolar destruction. Despite its global prevalence, ...

Philadelphia, May 24, 2023 – Repeatedly heading a soccer ball has been previously associated with negative long-term brain health for professional players. However, in a new study from researchers at the Minds Matter Concussion Program at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), a small number of repeated soccer headers equivalent to a throw-in did not cause immediate neurophysiological deficits for teens, suggesting that limited soccer heading exposure in youth sports may not result in irreversible harm if players are properly trained. The ...

Amsterdam, May 24, 2023 – In a noteworthy case study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease investigators report autopsy findings in a 65-year-old woman with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) who received three open label infusions of the experimental anti-amyloid beta (Aβ) antibody drug lecanemab. Four days after the last infusion, she experienced stroke symptoms and died several days later due to multifocal intracerebral hemorrhage despite attempts at therapeutic intervention. Neuropathologic findings reflected ...

Researchers from City, University of London, in collaboration with the University of Surrey, De Montfort University, Universities UK (UUK) and the National Centre (NatCen) for Social Research have conducted the first pilot study into students’ experiences of all forms of violence and victimisation at UK universities. The Violence at University project, led by Dr Carrie-Anne Myers, Reader in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at City, aimed to investigate whether an effective tool could be developed for tracking when, where and how incidents take place. Tackling violence and harassment has been high on universities’ agenda for several years. Hate crime has ...

Human augmentation technologies refer to technological aids that enhance human abilities. They include things like exoskeletons, but also augmented reality headsets. A study at the Chair of Human-Centered Ubiquitous Media at LMU has now shown that users have high expectations of the effects of these technologies. As soon as they believe that AI is enhancing their cognitive abilities, they increase their risk-taking. And they do this independently of whether the AI is actually assisting them.   “The hype around AI applications affects the expectations of users. This can lead to riskier behavior,” says Steeven Villa, doctoral researcher ...

NEWPORT NEWS, VA – A teenage fascination with metals has led to a prestigious early-career award for a superconducting radiofrequency (SRF) materials scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility.  Shreyas Balachandran has been chosen to receive the ICMC Cryogenic Materials Award for Excellence, presented annually to an individual under 40 who has demonstrated innovation, impact and international recognition for their work in advancing the knowledge of cryogenic materials.  “It’s ...

SAN ANTONIO — May 24, 2023 —Dr. Peter Lee of Southwest Research Institute’s Tribology Research and Evaluations Section has been named a Fellow of the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE). An STLE fellowship recognizes society members with significant contributions over 20 years of active practice in the field of tribology and lubrication engineering. These contributions must meet a standard considered by STLE above and beyond those typically expected of a scientist or engineer. Tribology is the study of lubrication, friction ...

Known as the “plant destroyer,” the genus Phytophthora is considered one of the most important groups of plant pathogens—causing significant economic and environmental losses throughout history and into today. There are over 200 identified species in the Phytophthora genus. These pathogens, and those yet to be identified, can spread quickly due to the increasing rate of global trade, e-commerce, and travel. Rapid identification is therefore critical for effective plant disease management. While several international online resources for Phytophthora identification ...

Researchers describe the “generic Air-gen effect”—nearly any material can be engineered with nanopores to harvest, cost effective, scalable, interruption-free electricity AMHERST, Mass. – A team of engineers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has recently shown that nearly any material can be turned into a device that continuously harvests electricity from humidity in the air. The secret lies in being able to pepper the material with nanopores less than 100 nanometers in diameter. The research appeared in the journal Advanced Materials. “This is very exciting,” ...

Recent technological advances have given us a remarkable ability to manipulate and control light waves, opening up numerous applications in various fields, such as optical communication, sensing, imaging, energy, and quantum computing. At the heart of this progress are photonic structures that can control light waves, either at the chip level in the form of photonic integrated circuits (PICs) or in free space as meta-optics. Combining these structures allows for the creation of compact optical systems. The PICs can be used to make subtle changes to the light wave, ...

BOSTON, March 29, 2023 — The Institute for Protein Innovation (IPI), a nonprofit research organization, announced today a $210 million gift from Tim Springer, Ph.D., veteran entrepreneur and professor at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital, who founded IPI in 2017 with Andrew Kruse, Ph.D. The gift will advance protein science and accelerate research to improve human health.  The philanthropic gift—made by Springer, his wife Chafen Lu, Ph.D., and their children—adds ...

DALLAS – Texas scientists will receive $2.5 million in funding to advance their research thanks to a new prize program from Lyda Hill Philanthropies and TAMEST (Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering, Science and Technology). The Hill Prizes, funded by Lyda Hill Philanthropies, will accelerate high-risk, high-reward research ideas with significant potential for real-world impact. The Prizes will celebrate top Texas innovators and researchers whose work could significantly impact science and society in five categories: Medicine, Engineering, Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences ...

Berlin and Washington DC, May 24, 2023 – Morressier announced today an integrity suite that will be offered as part of its end-to-end platform, designed to increase the quality of and trust in the outputs of scientific research. Pre-flight checks for authors will flag potential quality issues, check for completeness of submissions, and provide recommendations for improvements in areas such as language. Publishers using the Morressier platform now have access to a powerful suite of automated tools to help them identify integrity issues early and at scale. Plagiarism detection tools in the Morressier platform, for instance, indicate phrases in submissions that may ...

SEngine Precision Medicine, the precision oncology innovator matching patients to medicines based on their own tumor samples, announces the publication of a new case report showing a patient’s remarkable response to an off-label therapy identified by its PARIS® Test. Despite standard-of-care chemotherapy and two surgeries, the patient’s low-grade serous ovarian cancer (LGSOC) was progressing and her prognosis was terminal. But by testing a range of therapies in organoids grown from the patient’s own tumor sample, SEngine’s PARIS® Test identified as ...

Far more older adults these days log on to secure websites or apps to connect with their health information or have a virtual health care appointment, compared with five years ago, a new poll shows. Overall, 78% of people aged 50 to 80 have used at least one patient portal, up from 51% in a poll taken five years ago, according to findings from the University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging. Of those with portal access, 55% had used it in the past month, and 49% have accounts on more than one portal. But the poll also reveals major disparities, with some groups of older adults less likely to use patient portals, or more likely ...

A Michigan Medicine-led study finds that stressors across the lifespan — including poverty, abuse and divorce — are associated with worsening health and functional outcomes for people with multiple sclerosis. Using survey data from more than 700 people with MS, researchers discovered that stressful events occurring both in childhood and adulthood contributed significantly to participants’ level of disability. The results are published in Brain and Behavior. “MS is the leading cause of non-traumatic ...

People who experience a type of stroke linked with nearly half of all dementias could be treated for the first time by repurposing two cheap and common drugs, a trial shows.   Researchers found that isosorbide mononitrate and cilostazol, which are already used to treat other heart and circulatory diseases, can safely improve the debilitating outcomes people experience after lacunar stroke.   The two drugs, which were found to be even more effective when used in combination, could be available as a treatment for lacunar strokes within five years, if the results are ...

Research Highlights: An analysis of data for more than 58,000 women in the U.K. Biobank found that both short (less than 21 days) or long (more than 35 days) menstrual cycles were associated with the development of cardiovascular disease, heart attack or atrial fibrillation (AFib). Short or long menstrual cycle length was associated with a 19% higher risk of heart disease among those women compared to women with menstrual cycle length between 22 to 34 days. Irregular menstrual cycle length was associated with a 40% higher risk of atrial ...

Statement Highlights: Addressing low levels of physical activity among people in some targeted groups has the potential to improve equity in cardiovascular health. Physical activity levels are lower among some population groups known to have higher cardiovascular disease risk, including adults who are older, female, Black, have depression, have disabilities, have lower socioeconomic status or live in rural areas. It’s important to improve resources and opportunities to decrease barriers to physical activity. Physical activity initiatives should engage the community and ...

A cleft lip or palate arises from the combined effects of genes and inflammatory risk factors experienced during pregnancy, such as smoking or infections, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The study, published in Nature Communications, has revealed for the first time how genetic and environmental factors come together to form a cleft lip or palate in a developing foetus. Cleft lip, with or without cleft palate, is the most common craniofacial malformation seen at birth, affecting one in 700 live births. It can have devastating ...

A long history of exposure to air pollution is associated with a higher risk of developing severe disease, admission to hospital or an intensive care unit (ICU) and death by COVID‑19 according to a study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a research centre supported by the ”la Caixa” Foundation. The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, was based on a large cohort of 4,660,502 adults resident in Catalonia in 2020, the year the Spanish autonomous community had a high incidence of COVID-19. The ...