Researchers working on solutions for antifungal resistance are being encouraged to apply to a new £3.4 million fund led by the University of Exeter with UK government funding. The new fund, called FAILSAFE (Fungal AMR Innovations for LMICS: Solutions and Access For Everyone), is being launched by the University of Exeter’s MRC Centre for Medical Mycology, in partnership with the UK Department of Health and Social Care’s Global AMR Innovation Fund (GAMRIF). Life-threatening fungal diseases take as many lives annually as TB or malaria, but the organisms ...

Evidence from archaeological sites in the medieval English city of Winchester shows that English red squirrels once served as an important host for Mycobacterium leprae strains that caused leprosy in people, researchers report May 3 in the journal Current Biology. “With our genetic analysis we were able to identify red squirrels as the first ancient animal host of leprosy,” says senior author Verena Schuenemann of the University of Basel in Switzerland. “The medieval red squirrel strain we recovered is more closely related to medieval human strains from the same city than to strains isolated from infected ...

The first panoramic view of infection pathways in the human placenta has been created, which could highlight potential drug targets to develop pregnancy-safe therapies for malaria, toxoplasmosis and listeria, all diseases that can cause severe pregnancy complications.     Researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the University of Cambridge, the University of Dundee, and collaborators, used novel ‘mini placenta’ models to map the placental response to infections in early development. This ...

Researchers at the University of Basel and the University of Zurich have been able to prove that British squirrels carried leprosy bacteria as early as the Middle Ages. Further results revealed a link between the pathogens found in the medieval rodents and those in the local human population during that period. Skin spots, deformed noses, ulcers: leprosy, is an infectious disease that can bring about some serious symptoms. The bacterium responsible, Mycobacterium leprae, which still infects around 200,000 people each year especially in the Global South, also has a long history in Europe. The international research group led by paleogeneticist Professor Verena Schünemann ...

The Foundational Questions Institute, FQxI, a philanthropically-funded science funding agency and think tank, is delighted to announce that Dr Pinar Emirdag has been appointed to the Institute’s Board of Directors. Emirdag, a financial services executive and entrepreneur, is currently director of Hupomone Ventures, having previously spearheaded industry-changing initiatives at institutions such as JP Morgan, Citi and the London Stock Exchange and at start-ups including Lava Trading and Clearmatics. FQxI’s Chief Operating Officer Kavita ...

A first-ever stretchy electronic skin could equip robots and other devices with the same softness and touch sensitivity as human skin, opening up new possibilities to perform tasks that require a great deal of precision and control of force. The new stretchable e-skin, developed by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin, solves a major bottleneck in the emerging technology. Existing e-skin technology loses sensing accuracy as the material stretches, but that is not the case with this new version. "Much like human skin has to stretch and bend ...

A common challenge in shipping occurs when ships arrive promptly at their destination, only to find a crowded harbour. Subsequently, they are often required to wait outside the harbour or anchor until port services and a quayside become available. According to a report from the International Maritime Organization (IMO), it is not uncommon for ships to spend between 5-10% of their time waiting to enter port. Excessive speeds followed by extended waiting times with engines running result in a notable increase in fuel consumption. This is a problem that impacts both the climate and the economy. Several European universities, ports, shipping companies and technology firms have now joined forces ...

The interest in antimicrobial solutions for personal and multi-user touch screens, such as tablets and mobile devices, has grown in recent years. Traditional methods like sprayable alcohols or wipes are not ideal for these delicate displays. Antimicrobial coatings applied directly to the glass are a promising alternative, but only if they are transparent and long-lasting. Previous proposed coating solutions, such as photocatalytic metal oxides (e.g., TiO2 and ZnO), have posed some challenges. Additionally, these coatings typically require light and moisture to be antimicrobial and eliminate the microbes present on the surface. Copper ...

  The number of male students at the University of Oxford from elite schools declined significantly by the middle of the twentieth century, a new study shows. In contrast the proportion of female students remained steady. Those with fathers with professional jobs rose dramatically by the 1960s, according to the analysis. At the beginning of the century around 25 to 35 per cent had fathers in professional occupations. This had risen to around 50 per cent among those arriving at Oxford in the 1960s. The research, published in the journal Gender & History, was ...

A model charts the most cost-efficient path to a fully renewable electricity grid for Australia. Raheel Ahmed Shaikh and colleagues modeled possible scenarios for Australia’s eastern and western grids, using solar and wind generation, short-to-long-term energy storage, and financial input data to explore low-cost capacity mix. Going completely renewable would require significant expansion of both generation and storage. Interconnecting the two grids would reduce generation capacity needs by 6% and storage power capacity needs by 14%. The least cost renewable-only grid would be dominated by wind, ...

East Hanover, NJ – May 3, 2024 – John DeLuca, PhD, of Kessler Foundation was named recipient of the 2024 Giants of Multiple Sclerosis® award for rehabilitation. He was one of seven inductees announced by  NeurologyLive® and the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC) this week. Dr. DeLuca is senior vice president, Research and Training at the Foundation and a professor in the departments of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and Neurology at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. Established in 2021, the Giants of Multiple Sclerosis award honors trailblazers, innovators, and visionaries ...

Waltham — April 30, 2024 — One-third of patients undergoing surgery for adult spinal deformity (ASD) also have severe osteoarthritis (OA) of the hip – which is associated with worse spinal alignment and physical functioning, reports a study in The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio in partnership with Wolters Kluwer.  These differences persist even following operative treatment of ASD, ...

Waltham — May 3, 2024 — The artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot called ChatGPT is a powerful way for Black women to educate themselves about HIV prevention, as it provides reliable and culturally sensitive information, according to a study in The Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (JANAC), the official journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care. JANAC is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.  "In addition to immediately available information, regardless of time or geographic location, privacy ...

New research involving the University of East Anglia (UEA) suggests that countries’ current plans to remove CO2 from the atmosphere will not be enough to comply with the 1.5 ºC warming limit set out under the Paris Agreement. Since 2010, the United Nations environmental organisation UNEP has taken an annual measurement of the emissions gap - the difference between countries’ climate protection pledges and what is necessary to limit global heating to 1.5 ºC, or at least below 2 ºC. The ...

Artificial intelligence (AI) tool ChatGPT displayed lower concern than physicians in 36% of potential developmental delays, according to a new study. The research will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2024 Meeting, held May 3-6 in Toronto.  Researchers found ChatGPT made different conclusions about the abnormality of a potential delay than pediatricians 41% of the time. The study investigated how ChatGPT responded to parents’ concerns whether their child’s development was normal or abnormal, including ...

Resident physicians at more than 98% of U.S. training programs aren’t paid enough to afford childcare, according to a new national study. The research will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2024 Meeting, held May 3-6 in Toronto.  Childcare remains unaffordable even at most programs that subsidize childcare or offer it onsite, the examination of data from the Labor Department and the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) revealed. “People in the United States from many walks of life struggle to pay for childcare, and resident physicians are no exception,” said Ryan Brewster, MD, resident physician at Boston Children’s ...

Health care providers can more effectively connect parents and other caregivers of children to needed social resources when they present a menu of options rather than using standard screening tools, a recent study found. The research will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2024 Meeting, held May 3-6 in Toronto.  According to researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, health care providers typically use risk-based screening to identify families facing food and housing insecurity, financial strain, and unsafe environments. Experts ...

Children in rural areas were more than six times as likely to check into a hospital without pediatric services compared to children in urban areas, a new study found. The research will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2024 Meeting, held May 3-6 in Toronto. Researchers studied approximately 80,000 hospital claims for nearly 37,000 children with multiple chronic conditions. The hospitalizations occurred between 2012 and 2017 in Colo., Mass., and N.H. The study found that 41.9% of children in urban areas were first admitted to a children’s hospital for ...

Extending the use of a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment in premature infants by two weeks significantly increases lung volume and lung diffusion capacity, according to a new study. The research will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2024 Meeting, held May 3-6 in Toronto.  CPAP treatment is common for preterm infants with breathing issues, but researchers note there is no consensus on optimal treatment length when the preterm infant is doing well. Preterm birth is the most common cause of altered lung development and breathing issues that can last into adulthood, experts say. “Extending CPAP treatment ...

An alternative method of transferring blood cells to weakened newborns through their umbilical cord does not carry long-term neurodevelopmental risks compared to standard practice, a recent study found. The research will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2024 Meeting, held May 3-6 in Toronto.  Umbilical cord blood contains oxygen and beneficial nutrients for newborns, experts say. Doctors may delay clamping a newborn’s umbilical cord to pass nutrients through their cord if they have poor breathing or a low heart rate immediately after birth. A study found that umbilical cord ...

Use of an eye ultrasound may quickly and safely identify children with brain drainage tube failure in the emergency department, according to a new study. The research will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2024 Meeting, held May 3-6 in Toronto.  A ventricular shunt is a surgically implanted thin, plastic tube that drains extra fluid and relieves pressure on the brain. Children receive ventricular shunts for hydrocephalus, a condition where brain fluid doesn’t drain or reabsorb properly from brain bleeds, tumors, or other causes. Nearly 30% of shunts break, are ...

Youth with high blood pressure are nearly four times more likely to be at long-term risk of serious heart conditions including stroke and heart attack, according to a new study. The research, led by McMaster University, will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2024 Meeting, held May 3-6 in Toronto.  Hypertension affects one of every 15 children and adolescents worldwide and is a growing concern, according to researchers. Despite this, it is unclear what happens to these children in the long-term. Researchers compared 25,605 youth diagnosed with hypertension from 1996-2021 in Ontario to peers without the condition. The study found that ...

Rotavirus vaccines do not cause significant outbreaks of the disease in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), according to a new national study. The research will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2024 Meeting, held May 3-6 in Toronto.  The findings are important, study authors say, because many NICUs avoid vaccinating against rotavirus due to a theoretical risk of transmission, yet some infants are too old to receive the vaccine once discharged from the NICU. The study conducted at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia evaluated the risk of vaccinated patients transferring rotavirus to unvaccinated ...

Symptoms associated with Long COVID in children differ based on the child’s age, according to a nationwide, multi-site study. The research will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2024 Meeting, held May 3-6 in Toronto.  Experts say that the study findings allow clinicians to recognize and manage Long COVID in children more accurately based on common symptoms. The study characterized pediatric Long COVID symptoms and how they differ based on a child’s age. The study identifies symptoms ...

Preterm infants supported with a multicomponent intravenous lipid emulsion saw improved brain development compared to those given a single-fat source, a new study finds. The research will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2024 Meeting, held May 3-6 in Toronto.  Soybean-only lipid emulsions traditionally have been used in neonatal intensive care units to provide intravenous nutritional support to preterm infants, according to researchers. This study investigated the effects of newer multicomponent lipid emulsions, with fat sources derived from soybeans, olives, ...