Simple resistance training may help counteract age-related nerve deterioration that puts seniors at risk of injuries from falls and other accidents, according to cross-institutional research led by Syracuse University postdoctoral researcher JoCarol Shields and Department of Exercise Science Professor Jason DeFreitas. The nerves that control our muscles naturally degrade and become slower as we age, a process referred to as denervation. This degradation is especially problematic in sedentary individuals. Counteracting this deterioration with exercise could help seniors enjoy greater independence and improve ...

A Swedish-led research team at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital has shown in a new randomized clinical trial that a low dose of the well-known medicine aspirin halves the risk of recurrence after surgery in patients with colon and rectal cancer with a certain type of genetic alteration in the tumor. Every year, nearly two million people worldwide are diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Between 20 and 40 percent develop metastases, which makes the disease both more difficult to treat and more deadly. Previous observational studies have suggested that aspirin may reduce the risk of certain cancers and possibly also the risk of recurrence after surgery ...

SAN ANTONIO — September 17, 2025 — Two instruments developed by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) are integrated into a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite set to launch into space as a rideshare on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket no earlier than Sept. 23, 2025. The SwRI-built Solar Wind Plasma Sensor (SWiPS) and Space Weather Follow-On Magnetometer (SWFO-MAG) are two of four instruments integrated into NOAA’s Space Weather Follow-On Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) satellite. ...

  All-solid-state batteries are safe, powerful ways to power EVs and electronics and store electricity from the energy grid, but the lithium used to build them is rare, expensive and can be environmentally devastating to extract. Sodium is an inexpensive, plentiful, less-destructive alternative, but the all-solid-state batteries they create currently don’t work as well at room temperature.  “It’s not a matter of sodium versus lithium. We need both. When we think about tomorrow’s energy storage solutions, we should imagine the same gigafactory can produce products based on both lithium and sodium chemistries,” ...

Reston, VA (September 17, 2025)—A novel targeted radiation approach for a rare form of malignant tumor—the solitary fibrous tumor (SFT)—has shown significant success, achieving a near-complete response in three patients. The therapy significantly reduced cancer activity and provided symptom relief, underscoring its potential as a viable treatment option. This research was published in the September issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. SFT is a rare type of soft tissue tumor with few treatment options available. Although ...

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4:00 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2025 MINNEAPOLIS — A new study suggests that physical frailty may contribute to the development of dementia. The study was published on September 17, 2025, in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Physical frailty is defined as having three or more of these five symptoms: often feeling tired; little or no physical activity; slow walking speed; low grip strength; and unintentional weight loss. “We’ve known that frailty is associated with a higher risk of ...

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4:00 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2025 MINNEAPOLIS — In amateur soccer players, more frequent heading, or using the head to control or pass the ball, is linked to alterations within the folds of the brain, according to a study published on September 17, 2025, in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study does not prove that soccer heading causes brain changes, it only shows an association. “While taking part in sports has many benefits, including possibly reducing ...

Researchers have revealed a previously unknown way plants shape their growth in response to light — a breakthrough that could better equip crops to handle environmental stress.    In a first-of-its-kind finding, the team discovered how a compound that’s involved in plant metabolism can actually "reprogram” an unrelated light-sensing protein.   This unexpected interaction, which was reported in the journal Nature Communications, is an exciting step toward more fully understanding plant physiology.  “In the future, this mechanism could be exploited to fine-tune plant growth, development and stress ...

GREENSBORO, NC (xx/xx/2025) - North Carolina is experiencing a surge in Lyme disease cases, and a new surveillance study from UNC Greensboro (UNCG) reveals that the primary vector of the bacteria that cause Lyme disease, the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis), has been spreading into areas previously considered low risk. “Currently, 16 states, mostly in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic, and upper Midwest, account for 95% of the reported LD cases,” says Dr. Gideon Wasserberg, a biology professor ...

Getting out of bed in the morning without the risk of passing out is a game-changer for 32-year-old Cody Krebs. In 2022 Krebs experienced a severe spinal cord injury (SCI) in a motor vehicle accident. Since that time, Krebs requires the use of a wheelchair. The damage to his spinal cord means his brain can no longer control blood pressure in his body. He was vulnerable to blood pressure drops where he was at risk of losing consciousness, and spikes placing him at risk of a heart attack and stroke. However, an international clinical trial led by teams at the University of Calgary, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), and University ...

New York City offers nearly every type of medical specialist but provides fewer specialty healthcare providers per capita than smaller cities, according to a new study that challenges conventional assumptions about urban healthcare advantages and reveals a troubling paradox across America's largest metropolitan areas. The research, published in Nature Cities, analyzed data from 1.4 million healthcare providers across 75 medical specialties in 898 metropolitan and micropolitan areas. The innovative approach combines urban scaling theory—which ...

All current local anesthetics block sensory signals — pain — but they also interrupt motor signals, which can be problematic. For example, too much epidural anesthesia can prevent mothers in labor from being able to push. Prolonged local anesthesia after orthopedic surgery can leave patients unable to participate in rehab. Researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital now report an alternative local anesthetic, 2',6'-pipecolylxylidine (PPX), in the journal Anesthesiology, the peer-reviewed ...

1 in 8 Italian cetacean strandings show evidence of fishery interactions, with bottlenose and striped dolphins most commonly affected, according to analysis across four decades of data and more than 5,000 strandings Article URL: http://plos.io/47pWwAl Article title: Assessing fishery interaction on cetaceans stranded along the Italian coastline between 1986 and 2023 Author countries: Italy Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work. END ...

The first-ever measurements of the ethanol content of fruits available to chimpanzees in their native African habitat show that the animals could easily consume the equivalent of more than two standard alcoholic drinks each day, according to researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. It's not clear whether they actively seek out fruit with high ethanol levels, which are typically riper fruit with more sugars to ferment. But the availability of ethanol in many species of fruit that they normally eat suggests that alcohol is a regular part of their diet and likely was a part of the diets of our human ancestors. "Across all sites, male and female chimpanzees ...

Permafrost, ground frozen for at least two years underlying the cold Arctic and alpine regions of the Northern Hemisphere, covers about 17% of the global land surface and stores an estimated one-third of the world's soil organic carbon. As climate change causes this permafrost to thaw, the potential release of greenhouse gases (GHGs) has raised concerns about passing a tipping point, triggering an irreversible positive feedback loop that accelerates warming. A critical unanswered question has been whether these ecosystems can ...

Embargoed until 7pm BST (2pm ET USA) on Wednesday 17 September 2025 – PLOS One embargo -With pictures- Farmers in the Middle East were more committed to wine production over olive growing during times of climatic change in the Bronze and Iron Ages, according to new research. Archaeologists who analysed the charred remains of ancient plant samples found that irrigation was used to maintain grape cultivation as people prioritised viticulture. Their findings provide evidence of the importance of wine production for cultural and economic purposes during that period. The ...

Indian adolescents are mostly starting their periods at an earlier age than 25 years ago - likely because of demographic factors such as improved education, and possibly even climate change.   Article URL: https://plos.io/4nqfag7   Article Title: Understanding age at menarche: Environmental and demographic influences over a quarter century in India Author Countries: Bangladesh Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work. END ...

Temporary medical centers in Gaza known as "Medical Points" (MPs) treat an average of 117 people daily with only about 7 staff per MP, filling a critical role despite severe staffing and supply shortages (with insulin and cancer treatments unavailable in over 90% of cases, for instance).   Article URL: https://plos.io/4nn4PRX Article Title: Resilience amid chaos: The role of Gaza medical points Author Countries: Jordan, Palestine, United States Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work. END ...

In an analysis by race, sex, age, and geography, alcohol-induced death rates in 2024 are nearly double those in 1999, with a sharp increase at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although rates are higher for men, the largest increase in alcohol-induced deaths over the full 25-year period occurred in females aged 25-34, according to a study published on September 17 by Dr. Tony Wong and colleagues at UCLA in the open-access journal PLOS Global Public Health. Alcohol-induced deaths have been increasing over the past two decades. Particularly concering are increases between 2019 ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. — People with substance use disorder who participate in recovery running programs have shown improved success in maintaining their sobriety and reducing their risk for relapse. Those observations led Panayotis Thanos, a University at Buffalo neuroscientist who studies the brain’s reward system, to try to figure out the brain mechanisms behind that phenomenon. In a new study published today in PLOS One, Thanos, PhD, senior research scientist in the Clinical and Research Institute on Addictions in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB, and co-authors reveal that ...

Two healthcare workers get COVID-19 vaccinations on the same day. Both show strong antibody responses initially, but six months later one stays healthy while the other contracts the virus. A new study published in Science Translational Medicine could help explain this difference. Researchers tracked individuals’ antibody levels after vaccinations and identified four distinct patterns of immune response after the first booster vaccination. Notably, the group that started with the highest antibody levels but experienced a faster decline were infected earlier. People with lower blood levels of IgA(S) antibodies, ...

A newly developed molecule brings together two powerful immunotherapy strategies in one treatment. Researchers at the University of Basel and University Hospital Basel, Switzerland, have demonstrated that this fusion protein can both block the “do not attack” signal used by cancer cells and selectively activate tumor-fighting immune cells. This dual action could pave the way for more effective cancer therapies with fewer side effects. Back in the early 1980s, Linda Taylor, just 33 years old, was diagnosed with advanced skin cancer and faced a grim prognosis. Luckily, she met Dr. Stephen Rosenberg from the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, who treated ...

People with temporal lobe epilepsy in particular often wander around aimlessly and unconsciously after a seizure. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB), the University of Bonn, and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) have identified a neurobiological mechanism that could be responsible for this so-called post-ictal wandering and potentially other postictal symptoms. According to their hypothesis, epileptic seizures are not directly responsible for post-ictal symptoms, but rather seizure-associated depolarization waves, also known as spreading depolarization (SD). The results ...

Musical people find it easier to focus their attention on the right sounds in noisy environments. This is shown in a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in the journal Science Advances. The results suggest that music training can be used to sharpen attention and cognition. Being able to focus on a conversation in a room full of noise is a complex task for the brain. In a new study, researchers have investigated how music training affects the brain's ability to focus attention on specific sounds. The ...

Hydride ion (H⁻), with their low mass and high redox potential, are considered promising charge carriers for next-generation electrochemical devices. However, the lack of efficient electrolyte with fast hydride ion conductivity, thermal stability, and electrode compatibility has hindered their practical applications. In a study published in Nature, Prof. CHEN Ping’s group from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) developed a novel core–shell hydride ion electrolyte, and constructed the first rechargeable hydride ion ...