Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center announced 12 recipients of the 2024 Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award, which recognizes exceptional achievement in graduate studies in the biological sciences.  This year’s recipients come from U.S. and international research institutions with thesis topics that include brain signals related to learning and emotion, bacterial pathogens and health, AI algorithms in rare disease diagnosis and treatment, and immune cells involved in brain tumors.  “Weintraub awardees showcase how scientists are using advancements in technology to explore questions that have been out of reach,” said Jihong Bai, ...

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi State University's Department of Computer Science and Engineering has launched a new open-access academic journal focused on advancements in artificial intelligence. The journal AI Letters aims to fill a gap in peer-reviewed publications covering AI research. Department Head Shahram Rahimi and Assistant Research Professor Noorbakhsh Amiri Golilarz, editors-in-chief of the journal, saw the need for a publication that could quickly share new ideas and insights in AI, a hot topic ...

Over the last four decades, warming climate and ocean temperatures have rapidly altered the Greenland Ice Sheet, creating concern for marine ecosystems and weather patterns worldwide. The environment has challenged scientists in their attempts to measure how water moves around and melts the ice sheet because equipment can be destroyed by icebergs floating near the glaciers. Collected using a novel approach, research from the University of Maine has unearthed new information to help scientists better understand circulation patterns of ocean water around glaciers. A group of pioneers in glacial research attached GPS devices to icebergs and used their mobility to understand fjord circulation, ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Putting off a burdensome task may seem like a universal trait, but new research suggests that people whose negative attitudes tend to dictate their behavior in a range of situations are more likely to delay tackling the task at hand. The psychological term to describe this mental process is called valence weighting bias, which describes people’s tendency to adapt in new circumstances by drawing more strongly from either their positive or negative attitudes – or, in the context of approaching an unpleasant task, whether negative or positive internal “signals” carry the most weight in guiding the final behavior.   “And ...

Suppose two speakers of the same language are playing a guessing game where each has the same color swatches, and Player 1 tries to get Player 2 to guess a hue by naming the color. If the second player consistently guesses correctly as often as possible, that indicates their language has an efficient color naming system. Past research has shown that efficient color vocabularies are constrained both by how people perceive colors and by how much they want or need to communicate about a given color. For example, Penn researchers found in a 2021 study that the need to communicate about reds and yellows is high across languages, while greens are more important in some languages. Now, ...

Score another one for artificial intelligence. In a recent study, 151 human participants were pitted against ChatGPT-4 in three tests designed to measure divergent thinking, which is considered to be an indicator of creative thought. Divergent thinking is characterized by the ability to generate a unique solution to a question that does not have one expected solution, such as “What is the best way to avoid talking about politics with my parents?” In the study, GPT-4 provided more original and elaborate answers than the human participants. The study, “The current state of artificial intelligence generative ...

Boston, MA – Results from a new nationwide cohort study show that, despite strong recommendations in favor of consuming omega-3 fatty acids for optimal pregnancy outcomes and offspring health, 25% of participants reported rarely, or never eating fish during pregnancy, with fewer taking omega-3 supplements. The study, “Demographic and health characteristics associated with fish and n-3 fatty acid supplement intake during pregnancy: results from pregnancy cohorts in the ECHO program” was led by investigators at the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute and published February 27 in Public Health Nutrition. The study is timely, ...

March 1, 2024, Port St. Lucie, Fla: Cleveland Clinic researchers have discovered a key mechanism used by Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), also known as human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8), to induce cancer. The research points to effective new treatment options for KSHV-associated cancers, including Kaposi’s sarcoma, primary effusion lymphoma, and HHV8-associated multicentric Castleman disease.   “Our findings have significant implications: viruses cause between 10% to 20% of cancers worldwide, a number that is constantly increasing ...

Saint Louis University associate professor of health management and policy in the College for Public Health and Social Justice, SangNam Ahn, Ph.D., recently published a paper in Journal of Clinical Psychology that examines the relationship between childhood adversity, and psychiatric decline as well as adult adversity and psychiatric and cognitive decline. His team discovered that just one instance of adversity in childhood can increase cases of mental illness later in life, and adverse events in adults can lead to a greater chance of both mental ...

A £2.5m grant will enable a new network driving research into metamaterials, headed up by a researcher from the University of Warwick.   Metamaterials have phenomenal potential. They are artificial 3D structures comprised of at least two different materials. This combination and the structure give metamaterials properties beyond those of the materials used to make them. These properties may be electromagnetic, acoustic, magnetic, mechanical/structural, thermal, or chemical.   Metamaterials could transform our economy in a digital age, helping to address society’s challenges by contributing to manufacturing in areas of sustainability, health care, ...

Participants in the Framingham Heart Study who achieved higher levels of education tended to age more slowly and went on to live longer lives as compared to those who did not achieve upward educational mobility, according to a new study at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and The Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center. Upward educational mobility was significantly associated with a slower pace of aging and lower risk of death. The results are published online in JAMA Network Open. The Framingham Heart Study is an ongoing observational study first initiated in 1948 that currently spans three generations. The Columbia analysis is ...

About The Study: The results of this study highlight how rates of recurring and chronic food insecurity among families with older adults rose substantially over the past 20 years. Monitoring national trends in food insecurity among older adults has direct programmatic and policy implications.  Authors: Cindy W. Leung, Sc.D., M.P.H., of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, 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/jamahealthforum.2023.5463) Editor’s ...

About The Study: The findings of this study of 372 veterans suggest that the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on everyday function may occur via multiple pathways regardless of whether or not they had a documented infection with COVID-19. Future work with larger samples is needed to validate the estimated associations.  Authors: Theodore J. Iwashyna, M.D., Ph.D., of Ann Arbor VA in Ann Arbor, Michigan, 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.2024.0869) Editor’s ...

Researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) find that the cells that make up aldosterone-producing adenomas become more transcriptionally active and express higher levels of genes linked to hormone production over intratumoral differentiation.   Tokyo, Japan – There is strength in teamwork, and it turns out that this applies to tumors, too. Researchers from Japan have reported that different types of cells within a single benign tumor may work together to promote the tumor’s growth.   In a study published this ...

Older drivers who have worse spatial orientation ability experience greater difficulty when making turns across oncoming traffic, according to new research from the University of East Anglia (UEA).  Spatial orientation skills are the combination of skills that enable us to mentally determine our position, or the position of our vehicle and other vehicles, relative to the environment.  Lead author Sol Morrissey, a PhD researcher at UEA’s Norwich Medical School, said: “Driving safety is typically reduced in older adults due to changes that take place during ...

Crown ethers were discovered in 1967. They were then modified by adding a metal-containing unit creating metallacrown ethers. These metallacrown ethers have been the subject of intensive research. Depending on the molecular makeup of the metallacrown ethers and their resultant architecture, the properties and therefore the uses of the metallacrowns can change. They have many different uses currently, and ongoing studies continue to expand their application. Just a few of these include magnetic refrigeration, imaging agents—specifically as potential contrast agents in magnetic resonance imaging—and single-molecular ...

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has caused serious damage to public health and the global economy, and one strategy to combat COVID-19 has been the development of broadly neutralizing antibodies for prophylactic and therapeutic use. The most emergency-use authorized (EUA) therapeutic monoclonal antibodies, are more likely to lose their neutralizing activities as the viral epitopes (e.g. the receptor-binding domain, RBD) within spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 they target are more prone to mutate. By contrast, the S2 subunit of spike protein, has a much lower frequency of mutation than ...

Researchers have discovered how “leaky” mitochondria – the powerhouses of our cells – can drive harmful inflammation responsible for diseases such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. Scientists may be able to leverage the findings to develop better treatments for those diseases, improve our ability to fight off viruses and even slow aging. The new discovery reveals how genetic material can escape from our cellular batteries, known as mitochondria, and prompt the body to launch a damaging immune response. By developing therapies to target this process, doctors may one day be able to stop the harmful inflammation ...

To find out how planetary systems such as our Solar System form, an international research team including scientists from the University of Cologne studied a stellar nursery, the Orion Nebula, using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). By observing a protoplanetary disc named d203-506, they discovered the key role massive stars play in the formation of planetary systems that are less than a million years old. The study, led by Dr Olivier Berné from the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) ...

A research paper by scientists at Bournemouth University proposed a randomized pilot trial, which aimed to determine the effect of an intervention where outdoor walking distance is used as a goal to increase daily activity of older adults using a commercial activity monitor at 3 to 6 months post total hip replacement (THR). The new research paper, published on Nov. 30 in the journal Cyborg and Bionic Systems, indicated the participants in the intervention group had higher activity levels after THR, compared to those in the control group. The Cohen’s effect ...

Zinc-air batteries are an inexpensive, powerful battery alternative that can be used on the small scale to power electronics or on the large scale for electric vehicles or energy storage. These batteries work when oxygen from the air oxidizes zinc, but the difficulty in oxygen activation which degrades battery performance has prevented their wide commercial adoption. Information presented in a paper published in Carbon Future on 19 January shows how fullerene- metalloporphyrin derived carbon materials as catalysts can improve the performance and stability of zinc-air batteries. “The sluggish kinetic characteristics caused by the difficulty ...

Highlights: A chemical called Bisphenol A (BPA) is used to make many durable plastics and resins. Previous studies suggest high BPA exposure can increase health risks and change gut microbiome structure. Researchers investigated links between BPA exposure, obesity and the gut microbiome. The study found that normal-weight children had more unique bacteria taxa, which may help degrade BPA. The findings may help point to microbial strains that neutralize BPA in the gut. Washington, D.C. — March 1, 2024 — A synthetic chemical called Bisphenol A, or BPA, is widely used in the production of durable plastic products including eyewear, ...

Community leaders and administrators now have a more powerful tool for understanding their communities’ economic strengths and vulnerabilities, thanks to the newly enhanced and cleverly monikered National Economic Resilience Data Explorer (NERDE). The online data portal’s enhanced second edition makes it easier for users to create economic development plans, improve resilience and apply for economic assistance and grants. NERDE first launched as a partnership between the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National ...

The most recent COVID-19 booster shot reduces adults’ risk of moderate or severe COVID by more than half, according to a new nationwide data study from September 2023 through January 2024, a period of JN.1 variant dominance. The new study is one of the first to evaluate protection provided by the updated shot against COVID-19-associated emergency department and urgent care visits (markers for moderate disease) and against hospitalizations (a marker for severe disease), in individuals 18 and older, due to JN.1, the most ...

Mendelian randomization, a powerful tool in medical research, helps us understand whether certain factors truly cause disease. This technique uses genetic variations as "natural experiments" to reveal cause-and-effect relationships. However, choosing the proper genetic variations is crucial for accurate results. Think of a train network where the genetic variation is the starting point, the exposure is a station, and the disease is the destination. The train must pass through the exposure station en route to the disease. This represents the critical assumption of Mendelian randomization: ...