Using data from Mass General Brigham’s electronic health records, Brigham researchers quantified the burden of SARS-CoV-2-associated sepsis early in the pandemic New research suggests that the virus responsible for COVID-19 was a more common and deadly cause of sepsis during the initial period of the pandemic than previously assumed. The study, led by investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, used electronic health record (EHR) data from five Mass General Brigham hospitals to track the rate of SARS-CoV-2-associated ...

About The Study: The results of this study of 431,000 inpatient encounters at five Massachusetts hospitals suggest that SARS-CoV-2–associated sepsis was common and had higher mortality than presumed bacterial sepsis early in the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings highlight the high burden of SARS-CoV-2–associated sepsis and demonstrate the utility of electronic health record-based algorithms to conduct surveillance for viral and bacterial sepsis.  Authors: Claire N. Shappell, M.D., M.P.H., of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, is the corresponding author.   To access the embargoed ...

About The Study: In this 50-state survey study of 13,438 adults who reported probable or definite COVID-19 infection, endorsement of misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic, lack of trust in physicians or scientists, conspiracy-mindedness, and the nature of news sources were associated with receiving non–evidence-based treatment for COVID-19. These results suggest that the potential harms of misinformation may extend to the use of ineffective and potentially toxic treatments in addition to avoidance of health-promoting behaviors.  Authors: Roy ...

About The Study: In this study of Black and white U.S. adults ages 45 and older, neighborhood-level factors, including safety and physical and social environments, and individual-level factors, including discrimination, attenuated racial disparities in cardiovascular health. Interventional approaches to improve ideal cardiovascular health that separately target neighborhood context and discrimination by gender and race are warranted.  Authors: Anika L. Hines, Ph.D., M.P.H., of the ...

Children with mental health issues are more likely to have poor mental and physical health in their late teens and early 20s, and are at greater risk of social isolation, low educational attainment, financial difficulties and heavy substance use. That’s according to new research led by RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, which examined a wide range of data from more than 5,000 children and young adults in Ireland.  The findings, published today in JAMA Network Open, are drawn from the ‘Growing up in Ireland’* study. The researchers from Ireland, the UK, and Australia followed trends of mental health throughout childhood (ages 9-13) for 5,141 ...

Language is the most important tool for human communication and essential for life in our society. “Despite a great deal of neuroscientific research on the representation of language, little is known about the organisation of language in the human brain. Much of what we do know comes from single studies with small numbers of subjects and has not been confirmed in follow-up studies,” says Dr Sabrina Turker from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig. This meta-analysis aims to help change that. Based on more than 400 ...

Study by LMU psychologists shows that distractor objects can help the visual system develop more effective search strategies. People are continuously provided with an overwhelming stream of events flooding the sensory organs. However, while the brain has impressive processing capabilities, its capacity is strongly limited. Thus, an observer cannot consciously experience all the events and information available at any one time, but has to focus on some limited subset of the whole. For many decades, researchers have investigated the neuro-cognitive mechanisms of this selective attention through the use of visual search and have shown that contextual cueing plays ...

Diagnosis of Plasmodium falciparum malaria using rapid diagnostic tests and treatment with artemisinin derivatives, the main component of the malaria treatments recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), are under threat in the Horn of Africa. Scientists from the Laboratory of Parasitology and Medical Mycology at the University of Strasbourg and Strasbourg University Hospital, in collaboration with the Eritrean Ministry of Health, the Institut Pasteur, Columbia University in New York and WHO, have detected the emergence and spread in Eritrea of parasites with both artemisinin resistance and genome modifications ...

Tsukuba, Japan—Proteins are subject to post-translational chemical modifications that result in functional diversity. Methylation is one such modification that is generally believed to occur on lysine and arginine residues. Recently, this modification has been shown to occur on histidine residues as well. Furthermore, it has been suggested that histidine methylation occurs in a wide range of proteins. However, many details remain unknown: for example, which are the proteins that are methylated and ...

A team of researchers from China has made a significant breakthrough in biomedical engineering by developing a novel adhesive that promises to revolutionize wound management and tissue repair. The research, published in Engineering, unveils a biocomposite adhesive that exhibits robust adhesion and real-time skin healing properties. Adhesives have long been recognized as a valuable tool in biomedical engineering. However, current adhesive systems face challenges in achieving strong and durable adhesion, limiting their effectiveness in wound healing. ...

A research team led by Changjiang Wu at SINOPEC (Beijing) Research Institute of Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. in China has made important progress in understanding the polymerization behavior and thermal properties of copolymers formed through ethylene copolymerization with linear and end-cyclized olefins. The findings, published in the journal Engineering, shed light on the potential of utilizing different comonomers in olefin solution polymerization to obtain high-performance polyolefin materials. Polyolefin elastomers (POEs) are widely used in various industries due to their exceptional properties. However, the high cost ...

Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, and the Hospital for Special Surgery Research Institute have uncovered new details about how the immune system prevents the production of antibodies that can recognize and damage the body’s own, healthy tissues. The study, to be published September 29 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM), also reveals how this process is impaired in autoimmune disorders such as systemic sclerosis and systemic lupus ...

(WASHINGTON, Sept. 29, 2023) – Patients with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer of plasma cells in the bone marrow, who also have diabetes have a reduced overall survival when compared to those without diabetes. In a subgroup analysis, this difference in survival due to diabetes was seen in white patients but not in Black patients, according to a study published today in Blood Advances. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, diabetes affects 13% of the U.S. population, and this prevalence is growing rapidly. Multiple myeloma is the second most common blood cancer in the U.S. and disproportionately ...

In a remarkable breakthrough in the field of Mathematical Science, Professor Kyudong Choi from the Department of Mathematical Sciences at UNIST has provided an irrefutable proof that certain spherical vortices exist in a stable state. This groundbreaking discovery holds significant implications for predicting weather anomalies and advancing weather prediction technologies. A vortex is a rotating region of fluid, such as air or water, characterized by intense rotation. Common examples include typhoons and tornadoes frequently observed in news reports. Professor Choi’s mathematical proof establishes the stability of specific ...

The micro/nano metal pattern formation is a key step in the assembly of various devices. However, ex situ approaches of metal patterning limited their industrial applications due to the poor stability and dispersion of metal nanoparticles. The in situ electroless deposition after lithography patterning may be a better choice for avoiding the growth and aggregation of metal particles in the polymers. Tannic acid is rich in natural products, having an adjacent tri-hydroxyl structure, which can realize the in situ reduction of metal ions on the photoresist pattern. A team of scientists ...

The liver is a vital organ that plays a role in many essential functions, including digestion, detoxification, and metabolism. When the liver is damaged, it has the remarkable ability to regenerate itself. However, the process of liver regeneration is not fully understood. A critical aspect of liver regeneration is removing dead tissue and necrotic lesions. In a recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Feng et al. showed that monocyte-derived macrophages (MoMFs) play a crucial role in this process. MoMFs are a type of white blood cell that is recruited to the liver in response to injury. Once in the liver, MoMFs engulf dead cells ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The organisms that cause visceral leishmaniasis, a potentially deadly version of the parasitic disease that most often affects the skin to cause disfiguring disease, appear to have a secret weapon, new research suggests: They can infect non-immune cells and persist in those uncommon environments. Researchers found the Leishmania donovani parasites in blood-related stem cells in the bone marrow of chronically infected mice – precursor cells that can regenerate all types of cells in the blood-forming system. The finding may help explain why some people who develop visceral leishmaniasis, which is ...

Cheaper, more efficient lithium-ion batteries could be produced by harnessing previously overlooked high pressures generated during the manufacturing process. Scientists at the University of Birmingham have discovered that routine ball milling can cause high pressure effects on battery materials in just a matter of minutes, providing a vital additional variable in the process of synthesizing battery materials. The research (part of the Faraday Institution funded CATMAT project), led by Dr Laura Driscoll, Dr Elizabeth Driscoll and Professor Peter Slater at the University of Birmingham is published in RSC Energy Environmental Science. The use ...

September 29, 2023, Cincinnati, OH — A set of recommendations to address the known variation in outcomes at US congenital heart surgery centers has been endorsed by 15 collaborating societies led by the Congenital Heart Surgeons' Society (CHSS). The guidelines will appear in “Recommendations for Centers Performing Pediatric Heart Surgery in the United States," to be co-published in the World Journal for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery, Annals of Thoracic Surgery, and Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. “In ...

Periodontal disease is one of the most common canine diseases, affecting at least 80% of dogs aged three and over. Periodontal disease begins as gingivitis, where gums become red and inflamed, and may bleed. Untreated, the disease can progress to periodontitis, where the alveolar bone is progressively damaged so that teeth may loosen or fall out. In turn, periodontitis is a risk factor for other diseases like cardiovascular and lung disease. A major cause of periodontal disease is poor oral hygiene, ...

ORLANDO, Fla. – Despite a steady increase in palliative care utilization from 2004 to 2020, non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, and Asian or Pacific Islander patients with metastatic breast cancer were less likely to receive palliative care than non-Hispanic white patients, according to results presented at the 16th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved, held September 29-October 2, 2023. Palliative care consists of treatments or procedures intended ...

ORLANDO, Fla. – A study found multiple gaps in awareness and knowledge about the connection between the human papillomavirus (HPV) and several types of cancer among Hispanic and Latino men who identified as sexual minorities, according to results presented at the 16th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved, held September 29-October 2, 2023. “Sexual minority men are a population group at higher risk for HPV infections and ...

ORLANDO, Fla. – Structural racism was associated with increased county-level cancer mortality rates among minority populations compared with whites, according to results presented at the 16th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved, held September 29-October 2, 2023. “Applying measures that attempt to capture the multiple and compounding ways racism presents in policies, laws, and practices at a population level shows how racism manifests beyond interpersonal interactions to negatively impact cancer outcomes,” said presenter Joelle N. Robinson-Oghogho, ...

ORLANDO, Fla. – A survey conducted in one cancer center’s catchment area found that while a majority of respondents would be willing to participate in a clinical trial, members of racial and ethnic minority groups were significantly less likely to participate than non-Hispanic whites, according to results presented at the 16th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved, held September 29-October 2, 2023. Reasons to participate ...

ORLANDO, Fla. – Compared to the year 2000, a greater proportion of NCI-sponsored early-phase clinical trial participants in 2022 were older, from minority racial/ethnic groups, and lived in historically underrepresented regions of the U.S., according to a study presented at the 16th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved, held September 29-October 2, 2023. “Early-phase clinical trials, which primarily evaluate the safety of new therapies, have historically had insufficient representation of racial minorities, women, elderly ...