NEW YORK, NY (Feb. 28, 2023)—A device that uses ultrasound to calm overactive nerves in the kidneys may be able to help some people get their blood pressure under control.  A new study led by researchers at Columbia University and Université de Paris, France, has found that the device consistently reduced daytime ambulatory blood pressure by an average of 8.5 points among middle-aged people with hypertension. Doctors usually prescribe lifestyle changes, such as reducing salt intake or losing weight, and medications to lower blood pressure in patients with hypertension. Yet about one-third of hypertensive ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Immune cells that keep the brain free of debris but also contribute to inflammation are the likely culprits behind the concentration and memory problems that sometimes follow one type of chemotherapy, a new study in mice suggests. Researchers previously showed that female mice given paclitaxel, a drug commonly used to treat breast, ovarian and other cancers, developed memory problems that were linked to inflammation in the brain. Mice receiving a placebo did not develop the “mental fog” phenomenon known as chemo brain. In this study, the team used a technique to delete immune cells called microglia from the brains ...

From astronomical sums of money to opulent superyachts and lavish villas, the assets of the oligarchs providing the political and financial backing for Russian president Vladimir Putin's military ambitions have been publicly and fervently seized by Western nations since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Yet, the invasion—now in its second year—remains largely unabated as Russia's moneyed elite challenge sanctions in court or simply dodge them. But a new study led by Dartmouth College researchers exposes a massive vulnerability for the Kremlin's critical cadre of billionaires—the small, secretive network of financial experts ...

With the development of human space technology, planetary exploration has become one of the most important space exploration activities of mankind. As of December 2021, a total of 252 planetary probes have been launched around the world. The missions reveal the deep space to humankind. In the new paper published in the journal Space: Science & Technology, Yixin Sun et al review some advances in planetary science made by these missions in the past years. 1.Research Advances in Terrestrial Planets     1. ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Using data from the James Webb Space Telescope’s first year of interstellar observation, an international team of researchers was able to serendipitously view an exploding supernova in a faraway spiral galaxy.  The study, published recently in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, provides new infrared measurements of one of the brightest galaxies in our cosmic neighborhood, NGC 1566, also known as the Spanish Dancer. Located about 40 million miles away from Earth, the galaxy’s extremely active center has led it to become especially popular with scientists aiming to learn more about how star-forming nebulae form and evolve.  In this case, ...

Following a successful pilot study, an online anonymous treatment program aimed at reducing child sexual abuse by providing treatment to individuals who exhibit sexual urges towards children is being launched across the EU.  It is now available in Swedish, German, and Portuguese as well as in an updated English version. The treatment program, which has been developed by researchers and psychologists at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, will be evaluated within the framework of an international research collaboration funded by the EU. "Sexual exploitation of children is a major problem within ...

PULLMAN, Wash – A liquid nitrogen spray developed by Washington State University researchers can remove almost all of the simulated moon dust from a space suit, potentially solving what is a significant challenge for future moon-landing astronauts. The sprayer removed more than 98% of moon dust simulant in a vacuum environment with minimal damage to spacesuits, performing better than any techniques that have been investigated previously. The researchers report on their work in the journal, Acta Astronautica. While people have managed ...

LEAWOOD, Kansas—Articles appearing in an Annals of Family Medicine special supplement published yesterday contain observations, insights, and ideas for advancing health care equity, promoting interprofessional collaboration, transforming education, and improving primary care practices. The supplement, titled, “Advancing Primary Care through Research, Education and Practice: Work of the Health Resources and Services Administration–Supported Academic Units for Primary Care Training and Enhancement,” highlights activities of six HRSA-funded academic units for primary care training enhancement. ...

Not all pollution comes from people. When global temperatures increase by 4 degrees Celsius, harmful plant emissions and dust will also increase by as much as 14 percent, according to new UC Riverside research. The research does not account for a simultaneous increase in human-made sources of air pollution, which has already been predicted by other studies.  “We are not looking at human emissions of air pollution, because we can change what we emit,” said James Gomez, UCR doctoral student and lead author of the study. “We can ...

Artificial intelligence (AI) has long been inspired by the human brain. This approach proved highly successful: AI boasts impressive achievements – from diagnosing medical conditions to composing poetry. Still, the original model continues to outperform machines in many ways. This is why, for example, we can ‘prove our humanity’ with trivial image tests online. What if instead of trying to make AI more brain-like, we went straight to the source?  Scientists across multiple disciplines ...

The word ‘evolution’ may bring to mind dusty dinosaur bones, but it impacts our health every day. For example, even though antibiotics were invented only a century ago, the evolution of antibiotic resistance is already a major concern. The rise in modern health problems such as obesity can also be traced back to evolutionary principles.    An article published in Frontiers in Science demonstrates how applying an evolutionary perspective to medicine can inspire new ways of preventing and treating disease.   “Evolutionary medicine holds promise to transform our understanding of why we get sick ...

Researchers from the Institute of Botany, Czech Academy of Sciences, described the symbiotic relationship between fungi and algae which science has largely overlooked until now. The coexistence of algae and corticioid basidiomycetes, which are common in temperate forests, has been given a new name: alcobiosis. Jan Vondrák of the Department of Taxonomy, Institute of Botany, and the first author of the study says “Years ago, during field trips, we were repeatedly puzzled to find a layer of green algae where some of the fungal coatings on wood or bark (so-called corticioid fungi) are disturbed. We discovered that this is a ...

The new results will help to follow patients with a bad prognosis more closely, and to move towards more personalized treatments. Mercedes Robledo, co-lead author, has been studying pheochromocytomas since 1996 and leads the CNIO group that has identified 5 of the 22 genes associated with these rare tumors.  The research analyzes an "exceptionally high" number of samples, something very difficult in rare diseases and achieved thanks to the collaboration of centers from countries all over the world. Pheochromocytoma is a rare tumor, with an ...

A new machine learning model can predict traffic activity in different zones of cities. To do so, a Complexity Science Hub researcher used data from a main car-sharing company in Italy as a proxy for overall city traffic. Understanding how different urban zones interact can help avoid traffic jams, for example, and enable targeted responses of policy makers - such as local expansion of public transportation.   Understanding people's mobility patterns will be central to improving urban traffic flow. “As populations grow in urban areas, this knowledge can help policymakers design and implement effective transportation ...

Depression is more widespread among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning (LGBTQ) youth than heterosexual, cisgender youth, making parental support more important for these adolescents. A new study released in Child Development by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin looks at parental social support and psychological control in relation to depressive symptoms for LGBTQ youth in the United States. Psychological control attempts to intrude into the psychological and emotional development of the child (e.g., thinking processes, self-expression, emotions, and attachment to parents). Although ...

SUTD to Launch South-east Asia’s First O-RAN Open Testing and Integration Centre (OTIC) Announced at the Mobile World Congress Barcelona (MWC) 2023, Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) will launch a new O-RAN[1] Asia & Pacific Open Testing and Integration Centre (OTIC) in Singapore. As part of Singapore’s S$70 million Future Communications R&D Programme (FCP) supported by Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and the National Research Foundation, Singapore (NRF), the Asia & Pacific OTIC in Singapore ...

Rare earth elements (REEs) are a group of 17 chemically similar metals, which got their name because they typically occur at low concentrations (between 0.5 and 67 parts per million) within the Earth’s crust. Because they are indispensable in modern technology such as light emitting diodes, mobile phones, electromotors, wind turbines, hard disks, cameras, magnets, and low-energy lightbulbs, the demand for them has increased steadily over the past few decades, and is predicted to rise further by 2030. As ...

A “biocomputer” powered by human brain cells could be developed within our lifetime, according to Johns Hopkins University researchers who expect such technology to exponentially expand the capabilities of modern computing and create novel fields of study. The team outlines their plan for “organoid intelligence” today in the journal Frontiers in Science. “Computing and artificial intelligence have been driving the technology revolution but they are reaching a ceiling,” said Thomas Hartung, a professor of environmental health sciences at ...

Amongst healthcare professionals, the feeling of being supported in the workplace can protect them against adverse mental health and burnout, according to a new study published in CMAJ Open by researchers at Queen Mary University of London and medical staff at various hospitals across the UK. CoPE-HCP study was designed, during the early part of COVID-19 pandemic, when there was great concern for the mental health of healthcare professionals with no scientifically-proven mitigating strategies to reduce that impact. Funded by Barts Charity, this new longitudinal study found that feeling unsupported ...

LA JOLLA, CA—A clinical trial carried out at Scripps Research has shown that apremilast, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of psoriasis, cuts alcohol intake by more than half in people with severe alcohol use disorder (AUD). Collaborators at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) and other institutions also showed that, in mice, apremilast boosts activity in an area of the brain known to be involved in AUD. The research was published online ahead of ...

LA JOLLA, CA—The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has awarded scientists at Scripps Research a $10 million grant to study the cellular and molecular changes in the brain that underlie alcohol use disorder (AUD). The grant will fund the Scripps Research Alcohol Research Center (TSRI-ARC) for five years, carrying the research into its 50th year of consecutive NIAAA funding—first beginning in 1977. “A lot of exciting things have happened in the AUD field over the last 45 years, and the center has been at the forefront of many of them,” ...

New research published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes [EASD]) is the first study to show that childhood obesity is associated with an increased risk of four of the five recently proposed subtypes of adult-onset diabetes. The study is by Yuxia Wei, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, and colleagues. In 2018, a ground-breaking study identified five novel subtypes of adult-onset diabetes: severe autoimmune diabetes (SAID, including type 1 diabetes and latent autoimmune diabetes in adults [LADA]) and four ...

Nature has remained in balance for a long time, but climate change due to modern human activities is disrupting the balance of the natural system. The disruption makes it more difficult for humans – who must work with nature to survive – to predict the future. Moreover, developing countries with limited understanding and preparation for climate change are more vulnerable to climate change-driven social and economic damage. Recently, a research team from POSTECH corrected the biases of future regional climate model projection data to ...

Eliminating animal milk alone from the diet of adults with eosinophilic esophagitis, or EoE, is as effective at treating the disease as eliminating animal milk plus five other common foods, a clinical trial funded by the National Institutes of Health has found. For people with EoE whose disease remains active after they forgo animal milk, a more restrictive diet may help them achieve remission, according to the researchers. These findings were published today in the journal The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology.  “Diet-based therapy for eosinophilic esophagitis will be much ...

Are our pets leaking information about us? Pet and animal-related apps are creating cybersecurity risks to their owners, new research has shown.         While being able to trace your cat and dog may be an attractive benefit to many pet owners as it can provide peace of mind, allowing a third party to track your movements may be much less attractive. Computer scientists at Newcastle University and Royal Holloway, University of London have exposed multiple security and privacy issues by evaluating 40 popular Android apps for pets and other companion animals as well as farm animals. The results show that several of these apps ...