Biodiversity appears to strongly suppress pathogens and pests in many plant and animal systems, but this “dilution effect” can vary strikingly in magnitude This study uses forest inventory data from over 25,000 plots to show that the prevalence of tree pests is jointly controlled by the diversity and phylogenetic composition of forests     ##### In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available paper in PLOS Biology:   http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3002473 Press-only preview: PENDING Contact: Andrew Gougherty, andrew.gougherty@usda.gov Image ...

Tuesday, February 27, 2024, CLEVELAND: Research by Cleveland Clinic and three other U.S. medical centers has found that bariatric surgery provides better long-term control of blood glucose levels in patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes, compared with medical therapy.   Study participants who had bariatric surgery also experienced higher rates of complete diabetes remission up to 12 years after their surgical procedure.  The research was published in JAMA.  The Alliance of Randomized trials of Medicine vs Metabolic Surgery in Type 2 Diabetes (ARMMS-T2D) consortium analyzed long-term results of four randomized trials that were ...

A research study led by the Keck School of Medicine of USC found that certain combinations of foods consumed during pregnancy may be linked to a higher likelihood of developing preeclampsia, a potentially life-threatening blood pressure condition that can have serious consequences for both mother and baby.  The study, which focuses on low-income Hispanic women in Los Angeles, suggests that different combinations of foods in a woman's diet during pregnancy have the potential to increase or reduce the likelihood of preeclampsia development, and that interventions in diet during pregnancy may help reduce the risk of preeclampsia. It is known that Hispanic women develop ...

People who are diagnosed with head and neck cancer often receive a standard type of chemotherapy as part of their treatment. If they are exposed to secondhand smoke during chemotherapy — even if they have never smoked themselves — the treatment may be far less effective at killing cancer cells. That finding, considered the first of its kind, was revealed in a study recently published by researchers at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences. Tobacco use is a well-established risk factor for cancer and a signal of poor outcomes, especially ...

[Boston, MA—February 27, 2024] Research recently published early online in journals of the American Meteorological Society demonstrates changes at the Earth’s poles, including altered ocean-sea ice dynamics, dampened temperature extremes, and differing responses to solar radiation at the north and south poles, and suggests that long-term warming trends may have played more of a role in 2023’s record-low Southern Ocean ice than previously supposed. Three papers in the Journal of Climate (JCli) find that the Arctic and Antarctic appear to be adjusting to a warming climate with fundamental changes in regional climate dynamics. The Antarctic ocean-sea ice system may be fundamentally ...

Even as it's become clear that an inherited susceptibility to some cancers is more common than once thought, genetic testing of family members of cancer patients hasn't increased as much as experts had hoped. A new study led by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital demonstrates that a remote online genetic education program can be a powerful motivator for people with a family history of cancer to undertake genetic testing. The GENetic Education, Risk Assessment, and TEsting (GENERATE) study included 601 people from across 45 states who had a close relative with the most common form of pancreatic cancer. Participants ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. — A recent Mayo Clinic study examining the effects of daylight saving time (DST) on heart health suggests that the impact is likely minimal. In the nationwide study, researchers applied an advanced statistical model to look for any connections between DST and serious cardiovascular problems, including heart attacks and strokes. The study looked at 36,116,951 adults aged 18 and up across most U.S. states. (Arizona and Hawaii were excluded since these states do not observe DST.) Researchers focused on the week directly after the spring and fall DST transition, ...

A new tool could reduce costs for diagnosing infectious diseases. Biomedical researchers from The University of Texas at Austin have developed a new, less expensive way to detect nuclease digestion – one of the critical steps in many nucleic acid sensing applications, such as those used to identify COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.   A new study published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology shows that this low-cost tool, called Subak, is effective at telling when nucleic acid cleavage occurs, which happens when an enzyme called nuclease breaks down nucleic acids, such as DNA or RNA, into smaller fragments.  The traditional way of identifying nuclease ...

Two Tufts-related initiatives have been included in the White House’s new round of public and private sector commitments, announced today by the Biden-Harris administration, to end hunger, improve nutrition, and reduce diet-related disease in the United States by 2030. The White House Challenge to End Hunger and Build Healthy Communities continues the Biden-Harris administration’s work started at the historic White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health that was held in September 2022, encouraging stakeholders from all corners to develop bold commitments to help achieve the administration’s five key pillars of national ...

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (2/27/2024) — In a major scientific breakthrough, newly published research from an international consortium led by the University of Minnesota’s Masonic Cancer Center has the potential to transform the landscape of ovarian cancer treatment.  Published today in JAMA Network Open, the findings indicate that ovarian cancer patients with high levels of stroma within their tumors are twice as likely to exhibit chemoresistance to the conventional standard of care. Stroma is the non-cancerous tissue that provides support to tumors. The ...

NRG Oncology, a National Cancer Institute (NCI) National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) group focused on improving outcomes for adults with cancer through multi-center clinical research, recently announced a new Chair and Vice Chair of the organization’s Canadian Members Subcommittee. The NRG Canadian Members Subcommittee is tasked with engaging and supporting NRG’s Canadian member institutions through their participation in NRG research. This subcommittee was created to tackle the unique regulatory, administrative, and ...

BATON ROUGE – People with type 2 diabetes who underwent bariatric surgery achieved much better long-term blood glucose control compared to people who received medical management plus lifestyle interventions, according to a new study published in JAMA, or Journal of the American Medical Association, and funded by the National institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases, part of The National Institutes of Health. In addition, participants who underwent bariatric surgery, also called metabolic or weight-loss surgery, were more likely to stop needing diabetes medications and had higher rates of diabetes remission up to 12 years post-surgery. ...

“Our study demonstrated that the VitD/VDR [vitamin D/vitamin D receptor] pathway is required for intestinal homeostasis during normal differentiation and aging.” BUFFALO, NY- February 27, 2024 – A new research paper was published in Aging (listed by MEDLINE/PubMed as "Aging (Albany NY)" and "Aging-US" by Web of Science) Volume 16, Issue 3, entitled, “The anti-aging effect of vitamin D and vitamin D receptor in Drosophila midgut.” Adult stem cells are pivotal for maintaining tissue homeostasis, and their functional ...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Cooking on your gas stove can emit more nano-sized particles into the air than vehicles that run on gas or diesel, possibly increasing your risk of developing asthma or other respiratory illnesses, a new Purdue University study has found. “Combustion remains a source of air pollution across the world, both indoors and outdoors. We found that cooking on your gas stove produces large amounts of small nanoparticles that get into your respiratory system and deposit efficiently,” said Brandon Boor, an associate professor in Purdue’s Lyles School of Civil Engineering, who led this research. Based on these ...

Participants in a workshop organized by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) agree on the importance of mitigating degradation rates for the continuing rollout of clean technologies. Renewable energy is forecast to play an expanded role in meeting future needs, with terawatts of electricity expected to be generated from wind and solar, so the performance of the technologies involved is becoming increasingly important. Any technology degrades over time, so researchers are looking at ways to curb this issue. Mitigating degradation will become a factor ...

Youth mental health in urban environments is significantly better when more nature is incorporated into city design.  A new study from University of Waterloo researchers suggests that forest bathing, the simple method of being calm and quiet amongst the trees, observing nature around you while breathing deeply, can help youth de-stress and boost health and well-being. The study was the first ever to collect on-site, real-time survey data from adolescents about their emotional responses to various urban environments like a transit hub, residential ...

The National Science Foundation awarded Grant Shields, assistant professor of psychological science at the U of A, with a prestigious Faculty Early Career Development award to support his research on the cognitive mechanisms and processes underlying inhibitory control under stress. Inhibitory control is the means by which automatic urges, emotions and behaviors, like wanting to tell your boss what you really think about being asked to work Saturday, are controlled to produce (ideally) better outcomes (yes, you’ll work Saturday because the need for a paycheck outweighs the desire ...

On February 7, 2024, BESTMAP marked the end of the four-year project with a significant Final Dissemination Event in Brussels, Belgium. Titled "Research Lessons to Inform Future CAP Reform," the event was coordinated by project partners - RISE Foundation in collaboration with BESTMAP's sister projects within the AGRIMODELS cluster, all under the Forum for the Future of Agriculture initiative. The event addressed concerns about the ongoing decline of biodiversity in Europe and the unmet environmental goals despite annual spending of €12.1 billion on environmentally oriented measures within the CAP. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) plays a crucial role ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Hundreds of robots zip back and forth across the floor of a colossal robotic warehouse, grabbing items and delivering them to human workers for packing and shipping. Such warehouses are increasingly becoming part of the supply chain in many industries, from e-commerce to automotive production. However, getting 800 robots to and from their destinations efficiently while keeping them from crashing into each other is no easy task. It is such a complex problem that even the best path-finding algorithms struggle to keep up with the breakneck pace of e-commerce or manufacturing.  In a sense, ...

Dartmouth researchers report they have developed the first smartphone application that uses artificial intelligence paired with facial-image processing software to reliably detect the onset of depression before the user even knows something is wrong. Called MoodCapture, the app uses a phone's front camera to capture a person's facial expressions and surroundings during regular use, then evaluates the images for clinical cues associated with depression. In a study of 177 people diagnosed with major depressive disorder, the app correctly identified early symptoms of depression with 75% accuracy. These results suggest the technology could be publicly ...

People living in ancient Eastern Arabia appear to have developed resistance to malaria following the appearance of agriculture in the region around five thousand years ago, a new study reveals. DNA analysis of the remains of four individuals from Tylos-period Bahrain (300 BCE to 600 CE) - the first ancient genomes from Eastern Arabia - revealed the malaria-protective G6PD Mediterranean mutation in three samples. The discovery of the G6PD Mediterranean mutation in ancient Bahrainis suggests that many people in ...

PITTSBURGH, Feb. 27, 2024 – Bariatric surgery is more effective than medical and lifestyle modifications for achieving long-term Type 2 diabetes control and remission, according to new research led by a University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine surgeon-scientist and published today in JAMA. In the largest and longest randomized follow-up study to date, the researchers also found that bariatric surgery improved cholesterol and triglyceride levels more effectively than did medical and lifestyle modifications. Since diabetes and cholesterol are important risk factors for heart disease, the management of both may contribute to fewer heart attacks, strokes and other complications. “This ...

About The Study: After 7 to 12 years of follow-up, individuals originally randomized to undergo bariatric surgery compared with medical/lifestyle intervention had superior glycemic control with less diabetes medication use and higher rates of diabetes remission.  Authors: Anita P. Courcoulas, M.D., of the University of Pittsburgh, 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.2024.0318) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict ...

About The Study: In this study, only health care workers in higher-earning occupations (e.g., registered nurses, physicians, and managers) experienced increases in annual income after state-level Medicaid expansion, which has been shown to improve health care organization finances. These findings suggest that improvements in health care sector finances may increase economic inequality among health care workers, with implications for worker health and well-being.  Authors: Sasmira Matta, M.H.S., of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: ...

About The Study: The findings of this study of 173,000 adult patients who died with cancer suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with amplified socioeconomic disparities in death at home and specialized palliative care delivery at the end of life. Future research should focus on the mechanisms of these disparities and on developing interventions to ensure equitable and consistent specialized palliative care access.  Authors: Camilla Zimmermann, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., of the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, is the corresponding ...