Five leading cancer research organizations in the United States are jointly announcing the start of patient enrollment in Molecular Analysis for Combination Therapy Choice (ComboMATCH), a unique, precision medicine initiative to test new combinations of cancer drugs guided by tumor biology. The Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, Children's Oncology Group, ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group, NRG Oncology, and SWOG Cancer Research Network plan to conduct many early-phase treatment trials through this platform in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN). NCI is part of ...

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a fatal motor neuron disease that causes people to gradually lose control of their muscles. There is no cure, and current treatments focus on reducing symptoms and providing supportive care. Reporting June 1 in the journal Cell Stem Cell, researchers from Japan show in an early clinical trial that the Parkinson’s disease drug ropinirole is safe to use in ALS patients and delayed disease progression by 27.9 weeks on average. Some patients were more responsive to ropinirole treatment than others, and the researchers ...

University of Washington researchers have discovered they can detect atomic "breathing," or the mechanical vibration between two layers of atoms, by observing the type of light those atoms emitted when stimulated by a laser. The sound of this atomic "breath" could help researchers encode and transmit quantum information.  The researchers also developed a device that could serve as a new type of building block for quantum technologies, which are widely anticipated to have many future applications in fields such as computing, ...

Philadelphia, June 1, 2023 – Researchers from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) recently discovered that extremely thorough “deep sequencing” of the genome in tissue samples and cell-free DNA of patients with potentially life-threatening vascular anomalies captured several genetic variants related to disease that were not captured with conventional genetic sequencing methods. More than 60% of patients saw an improvement in their condition after being placed on targeted therapies related to these newly found genetic variants. The findings were published today in the journal Nature Medicine. Vascular ...

A tiny Central American country is charting a path to slowing climate change, while boosting the economy and making communities safer. A new Stanford-led study quantifies the value of Belize’s coastal mangrove forests in terms of how much carbon they can hold, the value they can add to tourism and fisheries, and the protection they can provide against coastal storms and other risks. Importantly, the findings, published June 1 in Nature Ecology and Evolution, have already provided a basis for Belize’s commitment to protect or restore additional mangrove forests totaling an area about the size ...

About The Study: In this study using smart thermometers to measure within-household transmission at a national scale, researchers discerned an important role for children in the spread of viral infection within households during the COVID-19 pandemic, heightened when schools were in session, supporting a role for school attendance in COVID-19 spread.  Authors: Kenneth D. Mandl, M.D., M.P.H., of Boston Children’s Hospital, is the corresponding author.  To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/  (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.16190) Editor’s ...

About The Study: The use of race-neutral reference equations to interpret pulmonary function tests resulted in a significant increase in the number of Black individuals with respiratory impairments along with a significant increase in the severity of the identified impairments. More work is needed to quantify the effect these reference equations would have on diagnosis, referral, and treatment patterns.  Authors: Alexander T. Moffett, M.D., of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, is the corresponding author.  To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website ...

About The Study: The efficacy and safety observed in this randomized clinical trial suggest that low-dose atropine may provide a treatment option for childhood myopia progression. Authors: Karla Zadnik, O.D., Ph.D., of the Ohio State University College of Optometry in Columbus, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/  (doi:10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2023.2097) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial ...

The accuracy of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening for prostate cancer can be improved by accounting for genetic factors that cause changes in PSA levels that are not associated with cancer, according to a multi-center study led by UC San Francisco and Stanford University. In a study publishing June 1, 2023 in Nature Medicine, UCSF researchers and their collaborators conducted a large genome-wide association study of PSA in more than 95,000 men without diagnosed prostate cancer, which identified over 80 novel PSA-associated variants. They set ...

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has launched a large precision medicine cancer initiative to test the effectiveness of treating adults and children with new drug combinations that target specific tumor alterations. Known as the Combination Therapy Platform Trial with Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice (ComboMATCH), the initiative is the largest of its kind to test combinations of cancer drugs guided by tumor biology. The endeavor aims to identify promising treatments that can advance to larger, more definitive clinical ...

Image To prevent a global health crisis, scientists around the world are searching for ways to fight bacteria that can evade the current arsenal of antibiotics.   A promising target for new and improved antibiotics are riboswitches, small stretches of RNA that regulate a process necessary for the production of proteins by the bacterial cell. Riboswitches are found almost exclusively in bacteria and could be targeted with antibiotics so that animals or humans are unaffected. With a full understanding of how riboswitches work, researchers may be able to develop drugs that disrupt the cellular machinery ...

Thursday 1st June: Dr Philip Cardiff, Associate Professor at University College Dublin's School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, has received a European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator grant of €2 million for his 5-year project XenoSim. With the support of this award, Dr Cardiff will develop advanced computational techniques that can provide unprecedented insights into the cutting-edge realm of pig-to-human heart transplants ERC Consolidator Grants are awarded to help excellent scientists, ...

Brussels, 1 June 2023 – Today, the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) is excited to share the publication of the first consensus paper by the SISAQOL-IMI Consortium1. The paper provides an overview of the stakeholders’ views on the need for SISAQOL-IMI and the agreed priority set of patient-reported outcome (PRO) objectives that the Consortium will produce international consensus-based recommendations on. The Setting International Standards in Analysing ...

New Curtin University research has identified the most carbon-rich soils in Australia are in areas that are most threatened by human activities and climate change, including Eucalypt and mangrove forests, and woodland and grassland areas that cover large parts of the country’s interior. Lead researcher Dr Lewis Walden from Curtin’s Soil & Landscape Science in the School of Molecular and Life Sciences said the findings highlighted the need to protect key terrestrial and coastal marine ecosystems, which play an important contributing role in national strategies to mitigate climate change. “Using multiscale machine ...

For Embargoed Release: June 1, 2023 at 9:00 am Eastern Time USA Media Contacts: Kathy Fackelmann, kfackelmann@gwu.edu WASHINGTON (June 1, 2023)—While ingestible video capsule endoscopes have been around for many years, the capsules have been limited by the fact that they could not be controlled by physicians. They moved passively, driven only by gravity and the natural movement of the body.  Now, according to a first-of-its-kind research study at George Washington University, physicians can remotely drive a miniature video ...

PHILADELPHIA, UNITED STATES & HANOI, VIETNAM [June 1, 2023] — The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®)—a not-for-profit alliance of leading cancer centers in the United States—today announced the signing of a Memo of Understanding (MOU) with Vietnam National Cancer Hospital (“K Hospital”) and the Vietnam Cancer Association to work together to improve standards for cancer care throughout the country. Five delegates from NCCN visited Hanoi May 24-26 to sign the MOU and pilot the creation of NCCN Harmonized Guidelines™ for Vietnam. “We are honored to collaborate with in-country experts to develop and validate Vietnamese harmonizations ...

The use of 1,3-butadiene as a cheap and abundant raw material for new applications has attracted more interest in recent decades, specifically in the chemical industry. The review covers several important homogeneously catalyzed processes and technologies that are currently used or have the potential to produce fine and bulk chemicals from 1,3-butadiene. This article focuses specifically on the application of homogeneous catalysts and presents representative examples for the readers. For example, palladium-catalyzed telomerization of 1,3-butadiene offers versatile platform chemicals for ...

PULLMAN, Wash. — Tick season is here, along with the increased danger of Lyme disease, and it turns out the tiny arachnids are even tougher than scientists previously thought.  A recent study in Ecological Monographs shows blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) are actually really good at surviving extreme cold and heat in nature. Previous lab research suggests that even short periods of especially warm or cold conditions should easily kill ticks, but the Washington State University-led analysis reveals this is only the case for larval ticks in the environment.  Instead, ...

The coexistence of wildlife and agricultural practices has long posed challenges for wildlife conservation, especially when conflicts arise. Livestock predation is a prime example of such conflicts, requiring effective management strategies that minimize human-wildlife conflict while preserving valuable agricultural resources. A new study published in PeerJ Life & Environment, titled "Integrating Robotics into Wildlife Conservation: Testing Improvements to Predator Deterrents through Movement," explores the integration of robotics and agricultural ...

EMBARGOED by Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association, until June 1, 2023, 7 a.m., ET. Contact: Gina DiGravio, 617-358-7838, ginad@bu.edu (Boston)—Alzheimer disease (AD), the most common neurodegenerative disorder in the world, affects individuals of all races and ethnicities; however, most genetic research for AD has been performed on individuals of European ancestry (EA) with a limited number of large-scale genetic studies in other populations. For many centuries, Ashkenazi Jews lived in communities in Eastern Europe and were genetically isolated from their non-Jewish neighbors. As a result, ...

In crisis, the nucleus calls antioxidant enzymes to the rescue. The nucleus being metabolically active is a profound paradigm shift with implications for cancer research.  Summary points The human nucleus is metabolically active, according to the findings of a new study in Molecular Systems Biology by researchers at the CRG in Barcelona and CeMM/Medical University of Vienna,   In a state of crisis, such as widespread DNA damage, the nucleus protects itself by appropriates mitochondrial machinery to carry out urgent repairs that threaten the genome’s integrity  The ...

Underwater volcanism on the Earth's crust are active contributors of many different elements to the oceanic environment. Hence, they play an important role in biogeochemical and chemosynthetic cycles of the ocean. Although there have been many studies on high-temperature hydrothermal systems in the mid-ocean ridge—a series of underwater volcanoes that trace the edges of the different oceanic plates—there is little information on low-temperature hydrothermal systems in other volcanoes, such as "petit-spot" volcanoes. Petit-spot volcanoes are small volcanoes ...

Ever since the discovery of the two-dimensional form of graphite (called graphene) almost twenty years ago, interest in 2D materials with their special physical properties has skyrocketed. Famously, graphene was produced by exfoliating bulk graphite using sticky tape. Although it was good enough for a Nobel Prize, this method has its drawbacks. An international team of surface scientists has now developed a simple method to produce large and very clean 2D samples from a range of materials using three different substrates. Their method, kinetic in situ single-layer synthesis (KISS) ...

University of Cambridge architects are inviting visitors to the London Design Biennale to experience a prototype home constructed with flexible wooden partition walls which can be shifted to meet the changing needs of residents. The invention aims to reduce waste and carbon while also improving living conditions for those who cannot afford expensive refurbishments. [Images will be available to download here from 10AM (UK Time) on 1st June] House-owners the world over consider ‘knocking through’ walls to achieve more open-plan living or changing layouts to accommodate new arrivals or circumstances. ...

Plastic made from cane sugar also threatens the environment. Researchers from the University of Gothenburg have found that perch change their behaviour when exposed to so-called bioplastic. Traditional plastic, based on fossil oil, has flooded the earth and there is microplastic in all living things. This has led to intensive research for alternatives that decompose faster in nature. Bio-based polymers based on cane sugar are one such option. The most common bioplastic is poly-L-lactide (PLA), which is used in 3D printers, textiles, food packaging, disposable cutlery and other applications. PLA plastic changed the behaviour of perch Bioplastics also have a negative impact on biological ...