Research Highlights: After 16 weeks of free, weekly home delivery of fresh produce, study participants boosted their fruit and vegetable consumption by almost ½ of a serving per day and added 42 minutes to their weekly level of physical activity. One year later, participants had better blood sugar control and lower bad cholesterol levels compared to adults who did not receive free, weekly produce deliveries. The study found that adults who participated in the free, weekly produce program had improved cardiovascular health measures.   Embargoed until 8:30 a.m. CT/9:30 a.m. ET, Wednesday, March ...

Geneva / Bonn - The world's generation of electronic waste is rising five times faster than documented e-waste recycling, the UN's fourth Global E-waste Monitor (GEM) reveals today. The 62 million tonnes of e-waste generated in 2022 would fill 1.55 million 40-tonne trucks, roughly enough trucks to form a bumper-to-bumper line encircling the equator, according to the report from ITU and UNITAR. Meanwhile, less than one quarter (22.3%) of the year's e-waste mass was documented as having been ...

Chicago, March 20, 2024 – Eli Perencevich, M.D., M.S., has been named the Editor in Chief of JAMA Network Open. Dr. Perencevich is the Associate Chair for Clinical and Health Services Research and Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, and the Director of the Center for Access & Delivery Research and Evaluation (CADRE) at the Iowa City VA Medical Center. With over 20 years of experience studying the epidemiology and outcomes of hospital-acquired infections using mathematical ...

Wildfires are events that can have significant impacts on ecosystems and human society. In the context of global warming, there has been a notable surge in the frequency and ferocity of wildfires in the Northern Hemisphere over recent years. In 2023, Canada experienced an unprecedented wildfire event, with CO2 emissions increasing by 527.1% over the average of 2001–2022 during the months of May–August. The burned area was more than 6–7 times larger than in a normal year. Notably, both Canada and more than 15 states in the northeastern ...

NEW ORLEANS, March 20, 2024 — From cell phones to watches to electric cars, lithium-ion rechargeable batteries power a plethora of devices. The increased use of this technology means more lithium could find its way into the environment as consumers discard electronic products. Now, researchers describe how lithium can accumulate in a common Southern crustacean: the crawfish. As the season for catching and eating mudbugs comes into full swing, the researchers’ findings highlight the potential implications for public health and the environment. The researchers will present ...

Helping teenagers to understand what is going on inside their own brains is the key to helping them mature into resilient and independent adults, research suggests. Sheila Redfern, a consultant clinical child and adolescent psychologist, proposes that rather than focusing on stamping out difficult behaviours, parents should teach teenagers to manage their feelings and relationships in safe ways. Dr. Redfern says that although parenting teenagers is uniquely challenging, with concerns about social media use, self-harm, ...

NYU Langone Health has received a $15 million gift from innovators and philanthropists Wayne G. Holman, MD, and Wendy Holman to further elevate the world-class treatment and study of endocrine disorders in the newly named and endowed Holman Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism. “Wayne and Wendy’s generosity in this important area of medicine will help NYU Langone further enhance our exceptional research, education and clinical care within the Holman Division of Endocrinology, ...

SPOKANE, Wash.—Getting dementia diagnosed can be a long and difficult process for anyone, but some may face additional challenges based on race or ethnicity and where they live, according to a study led by Washington State University researchers. The study of nearly 95,000 Washington state residents found that people living outside of urban areas as well as Native American and Hispanic people face longer travel distances to be seen by neurologists. The researchers said these disparities could be contributing to delayed diagnoses, which can result in higher costs of care, ...

Paper available at: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/144cIFPtY2VSaqV8AfFHy_hh6xlDcLShy?usp=sharing The public are being encouraged to eat more wild fish, such as mackerel, anchovies and herring, which are often used within farmed salmon feeds. These oily fish contain essential nutrients including calcium, B12 and omega-3 but some are lost from our diets when we just eat the salmon fillet. Scientists found that farmed salmon production leads to an overall loss of essential dietary nutrients. They say that eating more wild ‘feed’ species directly could benefit our health while reducing aquaculture demand for finite marine resources. Researchers analysed ...

Researchers from the Oxford Martin Programme on Ethical Web and Data Architectures (EWADA), University of Oxford, have called for a more considered approach when embedding ethical principles in the development and governance of AI for children. In a perspective paper published today in Nature Machine Intelligence, the authors highlight that although there is a growing consensus around what high-level AI ethical principles should look like, too little is known about how to effectively apply them in principle for children. The study mapped the global landscape of existing ethics guidelines for AI and identified four ...

NEW ORLEANS, March 20, 2024 — The 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was focused on quantum dots — objects so tiny, they’re controlled by the strange and complex rules of quantum physics. Many quantum dots used in electronics are made from toxic substances, but their nontoxic counterparts are now being developed and explored for uses in medicine and in the environment. One team of researchers is focusing on carbon- and sulfur-based quantum dots, using them to create safer invisible inks and to help decontaminate water supplies. The researchers will present their results today at the spring meeting of the ...

NEW ORLEANS, March 20, 2024 — From abstract-looking cloud formations to roars of snow machines on ski slopes, the transformation of liquid water into solid ice touches many facets of life. Water’s freezing point is generally accepted to be 32 degrees Fahrenheit. But that is due to ice nucleation — impurities in everyday water raise its freezing point to this temperature. Now, researchers unveil a theoretical model that shows how specific structural details on surfaces can influence water’s freezing point. The researchers will present their results at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS Spring 2024 is a hybrid meeting being held virtually ...

NEW ORLEANS, March 20, 2024 — Accidents happen every day, and if you drop your smartwatch, or it gets hit really hard, the device probably won’t work anymore. But now, researchers report on a soft, flexible material with “adaptive durability,” meaning it gets stronger when hit or stretched. The material also conducts electricity, making it ideal for the next generation of wearables or personalized medical sensors. The researchers will present their results today at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS Spring ...

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can damage the heart even without directly infecting the heart tissue, a National Institutes of Health-supported study has found. The research, published in the journal Circulation, specifically looked at damage to the hearts of people with SARS-CoV2-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), a serious lung condition that can be fatal. But researchers said the findings could have relevance to organs beyond the heart and also to viruses other than SARS-CoV-2.   Scientists have long known that COVID-19 increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, and Long COVID, ...

In an analysis of information on Medicare beneficiaries with dementia, Medicare expenditures were higher for Black and Hispanic individuals compared with whites. The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society analysis also found that expenditures were highest for Black beneficiaries in every phase of care. The average total Medicare expenditures after being diagnosed with dementia were $165,730 for Black beneficiaries, $160,442 for Hispanic beneficiaries, and $136,326 for white beneficiaries. In the year preceding and immediately following ...

Previous research has identified genetic variants linked to sedentary leisure behavior, which includes activities such as watching television, using a computer, and operating a vehicle. In a new analysis published in Andrology, a higher genetic susceptibility to leisure computer usage was associated with a greater risk of erectile dysfunction in men. In the analysis of data on more than 200,000 men, each 1.2 hour increase in leisure computer usage predicted 3.57-fold greater odds of erectile dysfunction. There was no evidence to suggest ...

New research indicates that antibiotics can effectively target bacteria in the gut that harbor the virus that causes COVID-19 and produce toxin-like peptides that contribute to COVID-19-related symptoms. In the study, which involved 211 participants and was published in the Journal of Medical Virology, individuals who received early antibiotic treatment after having COVID-19 recovered more quickly than those who did not receive antibiotics. The authors had already evaluated the efficacy of certain antibiotics in SARS-CoV-2-infected bacterial cultures in vitro, and this new study demonstrates ...

Consumer sentiment generally refers to consumers’ attitudes and expectations about economic conditions. A new analysis published in Economic Inquiry indicates that U.S. party affiliation has a significant effect on consumer sentiment, and that sentiment, in turn, affects spending intentions. In the study that relied on information dating back to 1991 and focused on data surrounding elections in which the governing party changed, survey respondents from Florida whose party affiliation matched the winning U.S. presidential candidate reported more optimistic views about personal and national economic conditions immediately after the election. In ...

Executive functions (EFs) have been defined as the ability to regulate emotions, thoughts, and behaviors to achieve a goal. Although EFs have been identified as a cornerstone of cognitive development, knowledge of this fundamental ability in children is primarily based on research with North American and Western European samples from middle to high socioeconomic status.   A new article published in the journal Child Development Perspectives highlights the advances that have been made in developmental EFs research from Latin American (LATAM) regions, an understudied area that provides a unique context important to understanding EFs. The ...

IVI will complete the technology transfer by 2025 Oral Cholera Vaccine to be manufactured by Biological E. Limited for India and international markets   March 20, 2024, SEOUL, Republic of Korea and HYDERABAD, India — The International Vaccine Institute (IVI), an international organization with a mission to discover, develop, and deliver safe, effective, and affordable vaccines for global health, today announced that it has commenced a technology transfer of simplified Oral Cholera Vaccine (OCV-S) to Biological ...

A new paper in Rheumatology, published by Oxford University Press, finds that rheumatic diseases can lead to reproductive problems, though some conditions have more detrimental effects than others. Immune-mediated diseases are a varied group of conditions, but each display an aberrant activity of the immune system. Some diseases, such as juvenile idiopathic arthritis and type 1 diabetes, occur mostly before patients reach their reproductive years, but others show up later in life. Scientists have investigated systemic lupus erythematosus for its impact on reproductive health; the condition increases the risk for some adverse pregnancy ...

Words are important to express ourselves. What we don’t say, however, may be even more instrumental in conveying emotions. Humans can often tell how people around them feel through non-verbal cues embedded in our voice. Now, researchers in Germany wanted to find out if technical tools, too, can accurately predict emotional undertones in fragments of voice recordings. To do so, they compared three ML models’ accuracy to recognize diverse emotions in audio excepts. Their results were published in Frontiers in Psychology. “Here we show that machine learning can be used ...

Polymer systems composed of multiple components can spontaneously induce emulsion or microdroplets by mechanical mixing, as an intermediate state of macroscopic phase separation. Unfortunately, the size of generated droplets is nonuniform and their spatial-arrangement is rather random. In addition, they tend to grow larger with time (coarsening). To prevent the change of the microdroplet size, researchers have currently attempted to rapidly lower the temperature, but these efforts can never improve the uniformity of the droplets. If uniformly arranged homogeneous droplets entrapping certain substrates such ...

Getting the 988 and 911 emergency telephone systems to work in concert requires detailed planning and close cooperation, and such efforts may benefit from having one or two people at the local level who act as champions for interoperability, according to a new RAND report.   In order to make sure callers are routed to the appropriate system, efforts need to involve representatives from both 988 and 911 call centers, law enforcement, mobile crisis teams, peer support specialists, behavioral health specialists, and people who have lived experience with crisis services, researchers say.   Local champions can aid such efforts by establishing priorities, convening local stakeholders, brokering ...

FAIRFAX, Va. (March 20, 2024)—A minimally invasive technique that uses ice to freeze and destroy small, cancerous tumors has now been proven effective for breast cancer patients with large tumors, providing a new treatment path for those who are not candidates for surgery, according to new research to be presented at the Society of Interventional Radiology Annual Scientific Meeting in Salt Lake City. “For patients who have larger tumors but can’t undergo surgery, this approach could be more effective than the current standard of care for patients who are not surgical candidates,” ...