​​​​​​PITTSBURGH, March 19, 2024 – University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine scientists have identified drug candidates that show promise to reverse the ability of HIV to escape detection by the immune system. The discovery, described today in Cell Chemical Biology, reveals a potential path to eliminate the viral reservoir that cannot be cleared with existing antiretroviral drugs. This reservoir is what prevents people from being completely cured of HIV even when their viral load is undetectable in standard tests. “We ...

In the most comprehensive genetic study of the people living in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea to date, researchers from Papua New Guinea and the U.K. revealed the complex population structure and migration patterns of the communities in the region. The results, published March 19 in The American Journal of Human Genetics, lay the foundation for future research on the fatal disease kuru—a disease transmitted during traditional anthropophagic mortuary practices— that devastated the area in the 20th century. “We navigated one of the most complex landscapes possible in terms of geographical, cultural and linguistic diversity and set the scene ...

The middle-aged brain could provide a window into future cognitive health, researchers write in a review publishing March 19 in the journal Trends in Neurosciences. The team reviewed evidence from human and animal studies suggesting that middle age—commonly considered as the period between 40 and 60 or 65 years of age—marks a shift in brain aging. They argue that more research should be dedicated to middle age, a period of life that is historically understudied. “Middle age is associated with specific and modifiable risk factors for future dementia risk,” write the authors, who include neuroscientist Yvonne Nolan ...

Bottom Line: The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) concludes that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of primary care interventions to prevent child maltreatment. Child maltreatment, which includes child abuse and neglect, can have profound effects on health, development, survival, and well-being throughout childhood and adulthood. The prevalence of child maltreatment in the U.S. is uncertain and likely underestimated. In 2021, an estimated 600,000 children were identified by Child Protective Services as experiencing abuse ...

About The Study: Among 11,000 Medicare beneficiaries age 65 or older who experienced stroke after receiving either brand of the COVID-19 bivalent vaccine, there was no evidence of a significantly elevated risk for stroke during the days immediately after vaccination.  Authors: Yun Lu, Ph.D., of the Food and Drug Administration in Silver Spring, Maryland, 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/jama.2024.1059) Editor’s ...

WASHINGTON, March 19, 2024 – The thorax, the part of the body between the neck and abdomen, provides medical professionals with a valuable window into a patient’s respiratory health. By evaluating sound vibrations produced by the airflow induced within the lungs and bronchial tree during normal breathing as well as those produced by the larynx during vocalizations, doctors can identify potential disease-related abnormalities within the respiratory system. But, among other shortcomings, common respiratory assessments can be subjective and are only as good as the quality ...

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have developed a simple, web-based decision aid called My Decision/Mi Decisión that helps empower pregnant individuals who are considering tubal sterilization to make informed decisions about their reproductive health, according to a new study published today in JAMA Network Open. With significant misunderstandings surrounding sterilization, the Pitt researchers can now offer comprehensive, engaging and accessible information to help support individuals as they make the best contraceptive decisions for themselves. “When patients are making decisions about their health and fertility, we want to make certain ...

An estimated one in six people suffer from a brain disorder worldwide, according to the American Brain Foundation. Current research has provided some insight into cell-communication inside the brain, but there are still a lot of unknowns surrounding how this crucial organ functions. What if there was a comprehensive map that took into consideration not just the biology of the brain, but the specific location where the biology occurs? Researchers in the College of Engineering have developed a powerful, cost-effective method to do just that.  Chang Lu, the Fred W. Bull Professor of Chemical Engineering, has been leading ...

Alexandria, VA, USA – A study aiming to determine if poorer families pay more for dental care as a proportion of their total income than richer families. was presented at the 102nd General Session of the IADR, which was held in conjunction with the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research and the 48th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research, on March 13-16, 2024, in New Orleans, LA, USA.  The abstract, ...

According to the United Nations, the proportion of people aged over 65 now outnumber children younger than 5. The enormous growth in the elderly population is posing a socioeconomic challenge to societies worldwide, and necessitates new sweeping interventions for age-associated diseases. This year we have an incredibly exciting program with global thought-leaders sharing their latest insights into aging and how we target the aging process ensuring everyone lives a healthier and longer life. Welcome to the 11th Aging Research and Drug Discovery Meeting. This year, ARDD is proud to be a partner of XPRIZE ...

NOTE TO EDITORS: High-resolution b-roll, soundbites and images are available for download at https://bit.ly/3PfnX5Y  COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new cancer treatment that uses a person’s own immune cells has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating the most dangerous type of skin cancer. Now this form of cellular therapy (tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte – or TIL therapy) is showing promise in advanced lung cancers through clinical trials underway at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer ...

Alexandria, VA, USA – A study aiming to use AI and predictive models to forecast the likelihood of permanent tooth loss, as an indicator of overall oral health, based on various behavioral and lifestyle factors was presented at the 102nd General Session of the IADR, which was held in conjunction with the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research and the 48th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research, on March 13-16, 2024, in New Orleans, LA, USA.  The abstract, “Artificial Intelligence Algorithms for Understanding the Determinants of Oral Health” was presented during ...

Alexandria, VA, USA – A study aiming to predict oral cancer-related mortality among adults in the United States and identify the predictors of oral cancer-related mortality using the Machine Learning Approach. was presented at the 102nd General Session of the IADR, which was held in conjunction with the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research and the 48th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research, on March 13-16, 2024, in New Orleans, LA, USA. The abstract, “Predicting Oral Cancer-Related Mortality among Adults Using Machine Learning Approach” was presented ...

Alexandria, VA, USA – A study aiming to deliver Fingolimod (FTY720) loaded polymer scaffolds to enhance oral wound healing by modulating pro-regenerative immune cell migration associated with improved vascularization and tissue remodeling was presented at the 102nd General Session of the IADR, which was held in conjunction with the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research and the 48th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research, on March 13-16, 2024, in New Orleans, LA, USA. The abstract, “Harnessing Biomaterial-Based ...

Alexandria, VA, USA – A study aiming to examine oral hygiene self-care behavior among patients with self-reported mental health disorders was presented at the 102nd General Session of the IADR, which was held in conjunction with the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research and the 48th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research, on March 13-16, 2024, in New Orleans, LA, USA. The abstract, “Oral Health Behaviors Associated with Mental Health Disorders” was presented during the ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – Researchers have developed a new, interpretable artificial intelligence (AI) model to predict 5-year breast cancer risk from mammograms, according to a new study published today in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). One in 8 women, or approximately 13% of the female population in the U.S., will develop invasive breast cancer in their lifetime and 1 in 39 women (3%) will die from the disease, according to the American Cancer Society. Breast ...

Social activities such as interactions with others and participation in organised events can prevent cognitive decline in long-term care facility. Research from Amsterdam UMC, carried out among 3600 patients in 42 Dutch and Belgian care homes, shows that participation in social activities offers a protective effect for those with no, or little, cognitive impairment. These results are published today in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.   "Cognitive decline in long-term care residents is relatively common, a Canadian study showed that almost a quarter of residents cognitively declined after a year of residency," ...

(Boston)—Coping is defined as cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage stressors that people believe exceed their ability and resources to respond to effectively. While previous research has linked stressor characteristics, such as the type of event and its duration, and how stressed people feel in response to them, to higher mortality risk, far fewer studies have considered the long-term health consequences of how we manage stressors (coping) in large-scale studies.   In a new study from ...

(WASHINGTON, March 19, 2024) – Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and lumbar puncture (LP) may not always be necessary for diagnosing and managing a serious neurological complication associated with CAR T-cell therapy, according to a new Blood Advances study. Findings further validated the use of the electroencephalogram (EEG) – a noninvasive test measuring electrical activity in the brain – in managing this neurotoxicity. “When treating patients for CAR T-cell associated toxicities, we typically follow pretty ...

Most of the white blood cells in your body are a type of cell called neutrophils. Despite their high numbers, they are less well understood than other immune cells, in part because they have very short lifespans: an average neutrophil lives for only eight hours. However, recent work has shown that neutrophils are very flexible cells, capable of dialing inflammation up or down, especially in the context of cancer. This makes them attractive targets for immunotherapy, which aims to tweak the immune system to more potently attack disease. But neutrophil-based ...

Nearly all farm workers who participated in a recent study in Florida were dehydrated at the end of their shifts, and more than half were still dehydrated the following morning. The study, a partnership between the University of Illinois Chicago and the Farmworker Association of Florida, used urine samples collected first thing in the morning, at lunch and at the end of a shift to assess the risk of dehydration over five days in May 2021 and May 2022 at a vegetable farm in southern Florida. A total of 111 workers, most of them men from Mexico and Guatemala, participated in the study, which is published in the journal ...

When the “hockey stick” graph, which illustrated a steep increase in global temperatures, was published in 1998, it reshaped the world’s understanding of climate change. A quarter-century later, with climate change now wreaking havoc around the world, graphics depicting global warming are more important than ever to inform policymaking. However, a recent USC-led study reveals that some graphics developed for reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are too complex, even for the intended audiences of policymakers and practitioners. Researchers recommend limiting each graphic, which the IPCC refers to as “figures,” ...

Waltham — March 18, 2024 — Numbers of craniofacial injuries related to exercise and weightlifting have increased sharply over the past decade, reports a study in The Journal of Craniofacial Surgery. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.  "Incidence of craniofacial injury significantly increased between 2013 and 2022, illuminating the need for better education and risk mitigation strategies," according to the new research by Rohan Mangal, MSc, and colleagues of University of Miami. Rates of exercise-related head and facial injuries appear higher for men than women, and ...

Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI) has reached a significant milestone with the publication of a groundbreaking study in a globally esteemed journal, marking a crucial stride toward the commercialization of all-solid-state batteries, free from the inherent risks of explosion and fire. Dr. Park Jun-woo of the KERI Next-Generation Battery Research Center and Sung Junghwan (student researcher at the UST KERI Campus) have successfully engineered a revolutionary technology. This technology, focused on the "size-controlled ...

Monitoring levels of DNA shed by tumors and circulating in the bloodstream could help doctors accurately assess how gastroesophageal cancers are responding to treatment, and potentially predict future prognosis, suggests a new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and its Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. The study tracked minimal residual disease (the amount of cancer left following treatment) by analyzing circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), showing how these ...