Arlington, Va. — March 14, 2024 — A new proof-of-concept study published today in the American Journal of Infection Control (AJIC) reports that artificial intelligence (AI) technologies can accurately identify cases of healthcare-associated infections (HAI) even in complex clinical scenarios. The study, which highlights the need for clear and consistent language when using AI tools for this purpose, illustrates the potential for incorporating AI technology as a cost-effective component of routine infection surveillance programs. According to the most recent HAI Hospital ...

Governments must act now to address the effects of climate change and air pollution on fertility rates and reproductive health, says a document published by the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) today (Thursday). The factsheets* provide comprehensive information on global warming, evidence of its impact on fertility, and calls on policymakers to promote swift prevention measures. Priorities should be to reach net zero CO2 emissions within the next 20 years, and to keep global warming within a 1.5% increase, says the expert ...

In preparation for the 2024 Olympic surfing competition, a new judging tower is being constructed in the reef lagoon at Teahupo’o, Tahiti. Researchers from the University of Hawai‘i (UH) at Mānoa, UH Hilo, and Arizona State University and community partners in Tahiti recently published a study in Remote Sensing that assessed the potential impacts of the tower and emphasized the importance of protecting the valuable reef—both as an integral part of the ecosystem and a resource for the local community.  “We ...

DURHAM, N.H. — Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are not typically associated with water ways, like streams and rivers, but emerging research shows that water bodies play an important role in storing and releasing carbon dioxide. As many states look for cost-effective ways to mitigate climate change, scientists at the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station at the University of New Hampshire looked at a way to optimize CO2 sensors to better measure carbon dioxide emissions in lotic, or moving, bodies of water offering a new tool that can help provide valuable information for everything from land use to climate action plans. “These sensors, adapted for highly ...

U.S. veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq who suffered mild traumatic brain injury from exposure to explosive blasts were found to have changes in cerebrospinal fluid proteins that are typically seen in people who develop Alzheimer’s disease, according to researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine and VA Puget Sound Health Care System. “While our research does not prove that veterans who experienced these injuries will develop Alzheimer’s disease, it raises the possibility that ...

Cases of cancer among UK men and women aged 35-69 years have seen a modest rise over the last quarter of a century, but there has also been a substantial decline in death rates, finds a study published by The BMJ today.   The results show a fall in death rates for all cancers combined and for 17 out of 22 cancer types examined, which the researchers say is likely due to fewer people smoking, screening programmes, and improved treatment, while a rise in some less common cancers may be due to higher levels of overweight and obesity, ...

A first of its kind study by Cancer Research UK reveals premature cancer death rates in 35–69-year-olds fell by more than a third over 25 years  Improvements in the UK are a result of smokefree policies, prevention measures, early detection programmes like cancer screening, and more effective treatment options  But the study paints a mixed picture with cancer cases on the rise and cancer mortality rates still too high   The charity’s manifesto, ‘Longer, ...

To combine two low-energy photons into one high-energy photon efficiently, the energy must be able to hop freely, but not too quickly, between randomly oriented molecules of a solid. This Kobe University discovery provides a much-needed design guideline for developing materials for more efficient PV cells, displays, or even anti-cancer therapies. Light of different colors has different energies and is therefore useful for very different things. For the development of more efficient PV cells, OLED displays, or anti-cancer therapies it is desirable to be able to upcycle two low-energy photons into a high-energy photon, ...

Globally, more than half of patients die after infection with the neglected tropical disease, melioidosis, often before they are diagnosed1. A new rapid test could save lives by diagnosing patients in hours, rather than several days taken by current bacterial culture methods, meaning they receive the correct antibiotics faster. The test uses CRISPR to detect a genetic target that is specific to Burkholderia pseudomallei, the bacterium that causes melioidosis, with 93 per cent sensitivity. It was ...

Revolutionary chronic wound treatment could help millions  A team of international scientists has developed an effective treatment for preventing infection in chronic wounds that does not involve antibiotics The treatment involves the plasma (electrical gas) activation of hydrogel dressings to produce a unique mix of different chemical oxidants that applied to the wound are effective in decontaminating and aiding healing in chronic wounds The new method is a significant advance that could revolutionise the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers and internal wounds More than 540 million people ...

AMES, Iowa – Ravindra Singh has spent years studying a gene that when missing or mutated causes spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a deadly disease that’s among the most common genetic disorders in children. His team’s latest work will make the search for treatments even more effective in the years to come. Singh, a professor of biomedical science at Iowa State University, led an eight-year project to create a truncated version of the Survival Motor Neuron 2 (SMN2) gene to facilitate quicker, cheaper and less fragmented research. Nucleic Acids Research, a peer-reviewed ...

Researchers at NYU Tandon School of Engineering have revealed critical shortcomings in recently proposed methods aimed at making powerful text-to-image generative AI systems safer for public use.  In a paper that will be presented at the Twelfth International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR), taking place in Vienna on May 7 - 11, 2024, the research team demonstrates how techniques that claim to "erase" the ability of models like Stable Diffusion to generate explicit, copyrighted, or otherwise unsafe ...

*Note – this is an early press release from the European Congress on Obesity in Venice, Italy 12-15 May. Please credit the congress when using this research* Tirzepatide, a medication authorised to treat obesity and/or type 2 diabetes, consistently reduces bodyweight regardless of the patient’s body mass index (BMI before treatment), from the range of overweight to class III obesity. The study, to be presented at this year’s European Congress on Obesity (Venice, Italy, 12-15 May) is by Prof Carel Le Roux, University ...

*Note – this is an early press release from the European Congress on Obesity in Venice, Italy 12-15 May. Please credit the congress when using this research* New research to be presented at this year’s European Congress on Obesity (Venice, Italy, May 12-15) shows that the obesity medication tirzepatide consistently reduces bodyweight and waist circumference regardless of the length of time the person has been living with overweight or obesity. The study is by Dr Giovanna Muscogiuri, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy, and colleagues. Tirzepatide (Mounjaro®) was approved by the US Food and ...

Breakthrough could help lead to the development of new low-power semiconductors or quantum devices. As the integrated circuits that power our electronic devices get more powerful, they are also getting smaller. This trend of microelectronics has only accelerated in recent years as scientists try to fit increasingly more semiconducting components on a chip. Microelectronics face a key challenge because of their small size. To avoid overheating, microelectronics need to consume only a fraction of the electricity of conventional electronics while still operating at peak performance. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. — In fourth grade, Jay Sexton first encountered one of James McPherson’s most influential works, “Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era.” That experience would ignite a lifelong passion for studying history and establish an ongoing legacy as a preeminent scholar in the study of the American story. As director of the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy at the University of Missouri — a world-renowned academic center devoted to the study of the American founding, including constitutional ...

Toronto – A leading academic expert in household finance, Claire Célérier, who is an associate professor of finance at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, has been named by the Government of Canada as the Canada Research Chair in Household Finance. Prof. Célérier’s research explores how finance can benefit households, investigating the role of innovation and the impact on diversity and inclusion. She addresses these questions taking different ...

DURHAM, N.C. – Mechanical engineers at Duke University have devised a new type of diagnostic platform that uses sound waves to spin an individual drop of water up to 6,000 revolutions per minute. These speeds separate tiny biological particles within samples to enable new diagnostics based on exosomes. A very light disc placed on top of the spinning drop features etched channels that are equipped with star-shaped nanoparticles tailored to enable the label-free detection of specific disease-relevant bioparticles called exosomes. The technique ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A new paper co-written by a team of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign business professors found that default testing of K-12 students for COVID-19 during the pandemic could have saved up to one out of every five school days lost to the coronavirus during the fall 2021 semester. Schools adopting an “opt-out model” – in which students were regularly tested for COVID-19 unless they proactively declined or “opted out” of testing – experienced a 30% lower positivity rate than schools ...

A new study by researchers at the University of Arizona Health Sciences identified a link between poor sleep and migraine attacks that suggests improving sleep health may diminish migraine attacks in people with migraine. Many people with migraine report having sleeping disorders, including insomnia, trouble falling or staying asleep, poor sleep quality, excessive daytime sleepiness, waking up from sleep and being forced to sleep because of a migraine headache. Until now, it was unknown ...

INDIANAPOLIS -- A study of more than 21,000 average risk patients at 186 sites across the U.S., led by Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University School of Medicine research scientist Thomas Imperiale, M.D., has found that the next generation multi-target stool DNA colorectal cancer screening test detects 94 percent of colorectal cancers. This test has the best performance for detection of both colorectal cancer and advanced precancerous polyps of any noninvasive colorectal cancer screening test. Study results are published in the New England Journal of Medicine. “We found that the next generation stool DNA test ...

SEATTLE — March 14, 2024 — A blood test intended for screening for colorectal cancer in people who are of average risk and not experiencing symptoms correctly detected colorectal cancer in 83% of people confirmed to have the disease, according to a study published March 14 in the New England Journal of Medicine. The accuracy rate for colorectal cancer is similar to at-home stool tests used for early detection of colorectal cancer. “The results of the study are a promising step toward developing more convenient tools to detect colorectal cancer early while it is more easily treated,” said corresponding ...

A collaborative project to bring the promise of cell therapy to patients with a deadly form of brain cancer has shown dramatic results among the first patients to receive the novel treatment. In a paper published today in The New England Journal of Medicine, researchers from the Mass General Cancer Center, a member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, shared the results for the first three patient cases from a phase 1 clinical trial evaluating a new approach to CAR-T therapy for glioblastoma (GBM). The trial, known as INCIPIENT, is designed to evaluate the safety of CARv3-TEAM-E T cells in patients with recurrent GBM. Just days after a single ...

By Linh Truong Since the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) was first monitored in 2004, it has been the focus of thousands of scientific papers and even a blockbuster movie that grossed more than $552 million worldwide. New research is hoping to add another twist to the current conversation. Published in Nature Communications, Increased Asian Aerosols Drive a Slowdown of Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation identifies the effect of aerosols over Asia on the AMOC, a complex system of currents in the Atlantic Ocean. Jian Lu, Earth scientist at the Department ...

A new UCLA-led study suggests that some people living with long COVID may be able to alleviate certain symptoms by using short-term, self-regulating therapies. The small-scale study, published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, recruited a group of 20 long COVID patients, many of whom had been experiencing symptoms for more than a year. Each participant underwent six sessions of biofeedback therapy, which involves the practice of breathwork and relaxation techniques paired with visual feedback to teach self-regulation of autonomic functions such as heart rate and temperature. Clinical psychologist Dr. Natacha Emerson, the study’s lead author and assistant clinical professor ...