For paleontologists who study animals that lived long ago, fossilized remains tell only part of the story of an animal’s life. While a well-preserved skeleton can provide hints at what an ancient animal ate or how it moved, irrefutable proof of these behaviors is hard to come by. But sometimes, scientists luck out with extraordinary fossils that preserve something beyond the animal’s body. Case in point: in a new study published in the journal Current Biology, researchers found fossilized seeds in the stomachs of one of the earliest birds. This discovery shows that these birds were eating ...

In a new study published in JAMA Network Open, researchers at Thomas Jefferson University have developed a novel screening tool to measure digital health readiness, which will be critical in addressing barriers to telehealth adoption among diverse patient populations. The COVID-19 pandemic facilitated many rapid changes in healthcare, including a shift to using telehealth services across the U.S. instead of traditional in-person doctor’s visits. This ensured that patients continued to receive vital care, while only needing access to a mobile device or computer with a webcam. But just because a ...

For more information, contact: Nicole Fawcett, nfawcett@umich.edu     EMBARGOED for release at 11 a.m. Sept. 10, 2024     New law regulating out-of-pocket drug spending saves cancer patients more than $7,000 a year, study finds The Inflation Reduction Act’s limit on Medicare Part D spending leads to significant savings for patients prescribed oral chemotherapy   ANN ARBOR, Michigan — As prescription oral chemotherapies have become a common form of cancer treatment, some patients were paying more than $10,000 a year for medications. A new study ...

About The Study: In this modeling study of racial and ethnic disparities of tuberculosis (TB), these disparities were associated with substantial future health and economic outcomes of TB among U.S.-born persons without interventions beyond current efforts. Actions to eliminate disparities may reduce the excess TB burden among these persons and may contribute to accelerating TB elimination within the U.S. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Nicole A. Swartwood, MSPH, email nswartwood@hsph.harvard.edu. To ...

Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) researchers uncover the genetic link in patients with polycystic kidney disease lacking family history Tokyo, Japan – Polycystic kidney disease (PKD) is an intractable disorder that causes fluid-filled cysts to grow in the kidneys. It is typically seen in adults. As one of the most prevalent hereditary kidney diseases, the autosomal dominant form of PKD is usually caused by mutations in the PKD1 and PKD2 genes. However, one out of ten patients with this condition typically exhibit no family history of the disease and lack ...

NEW YORK/TORONTO – September 10, 2024 –  Researchers at Klick Labs unveiled a cutting-edge, non-invasive technique that can predict chronic high blood pressure (hypertension) with a high degree of accuracy using just a person's voice. Just published in the peer-reviewed journal IEEE Access, the findings hold tremendous potential for advancing early detection of chronic high blood pressure and showcase yet another novel way to harness vocal biomarkers for better health outcomes. The ...

WHO: The Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research Program (Kids First), an initiative of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) WHAT: Kids First announces the release of three comprehensive new pediatric research datasets exploring childhood cancers and congenital disorders. New publicly available datasets include: CHILDHOOD CANCERS Gabriella Miller Kids First (GMKF) Pediatric Research Program in Susceptibility to Ewing Sarcoma Based on Germline Risk and Familial History of Cancer. Principal Investigators: Joshua D. Schiffman, MD. Huntsman Cancer Institute, ...

A new study from Umeå University, Sweden, shows that the body's muscles sense mechanical pressure. This new discovery has important implications for movement neuroscience and may improve the design of training and rehabilitation to relieve stiff muscles. "The results provide an important piece of the puzzle in understanding what information our nervous system receives from muscles," says Michael Dimitriou, associate professor at the Department of Medical and Translational Biology, ...

Women who are being treated for asthma are more likely to miscarry and need fertility treatment to get pregnant, according to a large study presented at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Congress in Vienna, Austria [1]. However, the study also suggests that most women with asthma are able to have babies. The study was presented by Dr Anne Vejen Hansen from the department of respiratory medicine at Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark. She said: “Asthma is common in women of reproductive age. Previous ...

ABSTRACTS: 510MO, 618MO, 1821MO, 71MO, 995MO BARCELONA, Spain ― The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Research Highlights provides a glimpse into recent basic, translational and clinical cancer research from MD Anderson experts. This special edition features upcoming oral presentations by MD Anderson researchers at the 2024 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress focused on clinical advances across a variety of cancer types. In addition to the studies summarized below, forthcoming press releases will feature the following oral presentations: Initial results from a first-in-human ...

Figshare, a leading provider of institutional repository infrastructure that supports open research, is pleased to announce that Appalachian State University has chosen Figshare as its new institutional repository platform to share, showcase and manage its research outputs. Appalachian State University (App State) – part of the University of North Carolina System – chose Figshare as its new repository platform to replace the NC DOCKS consortial repository, which was created in 2007 and is slated to shut down at the end of 2024. The team at App State wanted to ...

Patients taking sulthiame, a drug currently in use for epilepsy, experienced a reduction in their symptoms of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), according to results of a clinical trial presented at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Congress in Vienna, Austria [1].   Patients with OSA often snore loudly, their breathing starts and stops during the night, and they may wake up several times. Not only does this cause tiredness, but it can also increase the risk of high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease and type 2 diabetes. OSA is very common, but many people do not ...

A scientific team supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has created a preclinical blood test to identify adults most likely to develop severe respiratory conditions, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The blood test analyzes 32 proteins that scientists determined accurately predicted an adult with an increased likelihood for requiring medical care for or dying from severe respiratory illness. The risk score was based on lung health data collected from nearly 2,500 U.S. adults over a 30-year period. The findings were published ...

WASHINGTON—Girls exposed to certain endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) may be more likely to start puberty early, according to new research published in Endocrinology, the flagship basic science journal of the Endocrine Society. EDCs mimic, block or interfere with hormones in the body's endocrine system. There has been an alarming trend toward early puberty in girls, suggesting the influence of chemicals in our environment. Early puberty is associated with an increased risk of psychosocial problems, obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and breast cancer. “We conducted a comprehensive screen of 10,000 environmental compounds ...

The American College of Cardiology’s Quality Summit 2024 will feature several poster presentations regarding rural health delivery and access to care that offer insights into innovative strategies to increase health equity for all heart disease patients. Research examines door-in-door-out and door-to-balloon (D2B) times for heart attack patients at critical access hospitals, improving door-to-thrombolytics for heart attack patients at rural hospitals, remote cardiac rehabilitation to increase access, and improving communications technology for EMS with STEMI patients in rural areas. “Rurality creates unique challenges in delivering high quality cardiovascular ...

East Hanover, NJ – September 10, 2024 – Kessler Foundation researchers have published a novel study exploring the effects of delayed feedback on learning in individuals with moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). The article, “Bypassing Striatal Learning Mechanisms Using Delayed Feedback to Circumvent Learning Deficits in Traumatic Brain Injury” (Doi: 10.1097/HTR.0000000000000947), was published online ahead of print on July 24, 2024, in The Journal of Head Trauma ...

San Francisco, California, United States - The Public Library of Science (PLOS) and the Digital Transformations for Health Lab (DTH-Lab) today announced a strategic partnership between the organizations to increase youth participation in science to include mentorship opportunities, amplifying youth voices in scientific publishing and building a body of research in digital health citizenship with a mini-collection.   “This strategic partnership with DTH-Lab will ensure that youth is empowered ...

Lake Okeechobee is the largest lake in Florida and the second largest in the Southeastern United States. Over the past two decades, blooms of blue-green algae (Microcystis) have emerged in the lake and have been flushed into nearby urban estuaries, causing serious environmental and public health issues. Excess nutrients from industries, agriculture and urban development – particularly nitrogen and phosphorus – are well-known causes of harmful algal blooms worldwide. Historically, Lake Okeechobee has only been considered to be impaired for phosphorus, ...

Tiles that fill two- and three-dimensional spaces with no gaps—including triangles, squares, hexagons, cubes, and other polyhedra—are typically designed with sharp corners and flat faces (straight edges). Gábor Domokos and colleagues explore soft and curved two- and three-dimensional tiles that completely fill space with a minimal number of sharp corners, which they term “soft cells.” The authors demonstrate how to soften polyhedral tiles by systematically deforming edges. The resulting shapes echo those found in nature, including river estuaries, zebra stripes, muscle tissue, and the chambers of seashells, including the Nautilus. Biological structures ...

Mill Valley, CA – September 10, 2024 – The SynGAP Research Fund 501(c)(3) announced a collaboration with Unravel Biosciences, Inc., an AI-enabled therapeutics company, to initiate a clinical study aimed at generating primary clinical data, uncovering novel therapeutic targets, repurposing existing drugs, and stratifying SYNGAP1-Related Disorders (SRD) patients into subgroups based on their predicted response to selected drugs. This collaboration will utilize Unravel’s rareSHIFT™ discovery services and BioNAV™ AI platform to advance the development of targeted therapies for SRD. As part of this ...

SEATTLE, WASH.—September 10, 2024—Climate change is rapidly reshaping our oceans, stressing the nervous systems of marine organisms that have evolved over millions of years. Scientists now face a critical question: How do these environmental shifts affect these animals’ ability to sense and respond to their changing world?  To address this pressing issue, the Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group, a division of the Allen Institute, today announced the launch of the Allen Discovery Center (ADC) for Neurobiology in Changing Environments. This initiative, based at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California ...

CLEVELAND, Ohio (Sept 10, 2024)–Nonhormone options for hot flashes and other menopause symptoms are growing in popularity, especially for women who cannot take hormones due to health complications. Cognitive behavioral therapy and clinical hypnosis are common nonhormone treatment options. According to a new scoping review, however, one is more effective than the other. Results of the scoping review will be presented at the 2024 Annual Meeting of The Menopause Society in Chicago September 10-14. Recognizing that a percentage of menopausal women cannot take hormone therapy either because of health restrictions, such as being a breast ...

CLEVELAND, Ohio (Sept 10, 2024) – Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can cause an array of adverse mental health effects, but physical side effects are also common. A new study conducted with Persian Gulf War female military personnel demonstrates that women with probable PTSD are twice as likely to experience early menopause and related health consequences. Results of the study will be presented at the 2024 Annual Meeting of The Menopause Society in Chicago September 10-14. Commonly reported symptoms of PTSD include anger outbursts, anxiety, and difficulty concentrating and sleeping. Physically, PTSD can also be responsible for serious ...

CLEVELAND, Ohio (Sept 10, 2024)–Recent studies show that women can experience bothersome menopause symptoms, like hot flashes, for longer than originally estimated. As a result, more research is focusing on the long-term effects of hormone therapy. A new study suggests certain estrogen-based hormone therapies have favorable long-term effects on the risk of heart disease. Results of the study will be presented at the 2024 Annual Meeting of The Menopause Society in Chicago September 10-14. Hormone therapy has been the subject of intense debate for more ...

A group from Nagoya University in Japan has created a new technique for growing the tiny metal nanowires (NWs) that are expected to be used in next-generation electronics. Their results suggest a way to mass produce pure metal NWs, which has until now limited their use. The new technique promises to enhance the efficiency of electronics production, including circuitry, LEDs, and solar cells. The study was published in Science. Mass production of NWs has been challenging because of the difficulties of scaling production while maintaining quality and ...