HOUSTON ― The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Research Highlights showcases the latest breakthroughs in cancer care, research and prevention. These advances are made possible through seamless collaboration between MD Anderson’s world-leading clinicians and scientists, bringing discoveries from the lab to the clinic and back. Recent developments at MD Anderson offer insights into drug-drug interactions for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndromes; patient-derived xenograft models as a viable translational ...

In the blink of an eye, the unruly, superheated plasma that drives a fusion reaction can lose its stability and escape the strong magnetic fields confining it within the donut-shaped fusion reactor. These getaways frequently spell the end of the reaction, posing a core challenge to developing fusion as a non-polluting, virtually limitless energy source. But a Princeton-led team composed of engineers, physicists, and data scientists from the University and the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have harnessed ...

Sometimes our bodies need a boost. Millions of Americans rely on pacemakers—small devices that regulate the electrical impulses of the heart in order to keep it beating smoothly. But to reduce complications, researchers would like to make these devices even smaller and less intrusive. A team of researchers with the University of Chicago has developed a wireless device, powered by light, that can be implanted to regulate cardiovascular or neural activity in the body. The featherlight membranes, ...

About The Study: The results of this study of 5,951 women ages 63 to 99 suggest that promoting regular physical activity and minimal sedentary time may be prudent for primary prevention of heart failure and its subtype with preserved ejection fraction for which treatment is limited.  Authors: Michael J. LaMonte, Ph.D., M.P.H., of the University at Buffalo—SUNY, 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/jamacardio.2023.5692) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other ...

About The Study: In this study using data from 1,948 U.S. adults with lifetime suicide attempts from a nationally representative population-based survey, an estimated 19.6% reported not having met criteria for any psychiatric disorders prior to their first attempt. This finding challenges clinical notions of who is at risk for suicidal behavior and raises questions about the safety of limiting suicide risk screening to psychiatric populations.  Authors: Maria A. Oquendo, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media ...

About The Study: The acupuncture intervention used in this randomized clinical trial including 93 participants was clinically efficacious and favorably affected the psychobiology of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in combat veterans. These data build on extant literature and suggest that clinical implementation of acupuncture for PTSD, along with further research about comparative efficacy, durability, and mechanisms of effects, is warranted.  Authors: Michael Hollifield, M.D., of the Tibor Rubin VA Medical Center in Long Beach, California, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2023.5651) Editor’s ...

New study finds that persistent COVID-19 infections are surprisingly common, with around one to three in every 100 infections lasting a month or longer. Some persistent infections had a high number of mutations, suggesting they could act as reservoirs to seed new variants of concern. People with persistent infections lasting for 30 days or longer were 55% more likely to report having Long Covid than people with more typical infections. Reinfections with the same variant were rare. A new study led by the University of Oxford has ...

Researchers have revealed the mechanism of a drug shown to be effective in treating certain types of cancer, which targets a protein modification silencing the expression of multiple tumor suppressor genes. They also demonstrated in clinical trials the efficacy of the drug in reducing tumor growth in blood cancer. The findings could lead to longer-term treatments for the disease and therapies for other types of cancer with similar underlying causes. A team of researchers from the University of Tokyo and their collaborators focused on therapies targeting H3K27me3, a modification on a DNA-packaging histone protein, which plays a large role in regulating ...

CHAPEL HILL, NC – UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center has been selected as one of nine national research sites for the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, newly launched Cancer Screening Research Network (CSRN), which will evaluate promising and emerging cancer screening technologies. Supporting the Biden-Harris Administration’s Cancer Moonshot initiative, the CSRN will conduct large, multi-center cancer screening studies with diverse populations in a variety of healthcare settings. The studies are designed to identify ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The science is clear that movement is good for our bodies as we age. But just how much physical activity is beneficial for people over 60? A new study from the University at Buffalo provides an answer, and it’s not 10,000 steps per day. In fact, the study — published Feb. 21 in JAMA Cardiology — of nearly 6,000 U.S. women aged 63-99 reports that, on average, 3,600 steps per day at a normal pace was associated with a 26% lower risk of developing heart failure. The observational study from the Women’s Health Initiative ...

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has launched a clinical trials network to evaluate emerging technologies for cancer screening. The Cancer Screening Research Network (CSRN) will support the Biden-Harris administration’s Cancer Moonshot℠ by investigating how to identify cancers earlier, when they may be easier to treat. Eight groups have received funding from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of NIH, to carry out the initial activities of the network. “There are many cancers we still cannot reliably ...

WASHINGTON (Feb. 21, 2024) – Painting a sobering picture, a research team led by Children’s National Hospital culled years of data demonstrating that maternal mental illness is an under-recognized contributor to the death of new mothers. They are calling for urgent action to address this public health crisis in the latest edition of JAMA Psychiatry.    Backed by dozens of peer-reviewed studies and health policy sources, the journal’s special communication comes as maternal mortality soars ...

Researchers from IOCB Prague and Ghent University have been working on improving the properties of gelatin-based materials, thereby expanding the possibilities of their use mainly in medicine. In a paper published in ACS Applied Engineering Materials, they have presented 3D-printable materials that can be easily monitored using an X-ray machine or through computed tomography (CT). Gelatin-based materials have been a hot topic of research in the last ten years because they are straightforward to produce, non-toxic, inexpensive, ...

In a significant advancement for next-generation semiconductors, a collaborative research team, led by Professor Kyoung-Duck Park and Mingu Kang in the Department of Physics at POSTECH, Professor Yong Doug Suh in the Department of Chemistry at UNIST, who concurrently holds the position of Associate Director at the IBS Center for Multidimensional Carbon Materials (CMCM), and Professor Hyun Seok Lee in the Department of Physics at Chungbuk National University, has made groundbreaking discoveries in the field of two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors. Their findings, published in Nano Letters, shed light on the generation and control of trions, providing ...

High-dose pressurized oxygen can stress out old immune cells, leaving behind a younger, better functioning immune system. It helped with acute COVID, and now Anders Kjellberg is testing the method for post-covid as well. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy, giving patients 100 percent oxygen at a pressure corresponding to 10-20 meters below sea level, has been around for almost 100 years. But the method lacks modern evidence from clinical studies, which also means that there is a lack of knowledge about dosage, all patients receive the same dose. "When I started my research, I wanted to find out how the treatment should be dosed to different patients," says ...

A groundbreaking research breakthrough in solar energy has propelled the development of the world’s most efficient quantum dot (QD) solar cell, marking a significant leap towards the commercialization of next-generation solar cells. This cutting-edge QD solution and device have demonstrated exceptional performance, retaining their efficiency even after long-term storage. Led by Professor Sung-Yeon Jang from the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering at UNIST, a team of researchers has unveiled ...

A global team of researchers and industry collaborators led by RMIT University has invented recyclable ‘water batteries’ that won’t catch fire or explode. Lithium-ion energy storage dominates the market due to its technological maturity, but its suitability for large-scale grid energy storage is limited by safety concerns with the volatile materials inside. Lead researcher Distinguished Professor Tianyi Ma said their batteries were at the cutting edge of an emerging field of aqueous energy storage devices, with breakthroughs that significantly improve the technology’s performance and lifespan. “What ...

WASHINGTON—Health care providers who treat diabetes need to think beyond the clinical numbers, such as solely focusing on a person’s glucose goals. Taking the patient experience into account can improve the quality of care and facilitate attainment of treatment goals, according to a new position statement published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. The position statement reflects the consensus of two virtual roundtables the Endocrine Society held in 2022. Participants ...

The Photovoltaics Research Department of the Korea Institute of Energy Research (hereafter KIER), working with the KIER Energy AI and Computational Science Lab, has achieved advancements in the stability and efficiency of semi-transparent perovskite solar cells. These cells have potential use in building windows and tandem solar cells*. The semi-transparent solar cells achieved a record-breaking efficiency of 21.68%, making them the most efficient amongst the perovskite solar cells using transparent electrodes in the world. Additionally, they showed ...

Most chronic wound infections share one thing in common: the presence of biofilms, which are composed of many different microorganisms that congregate as a mass, usually on some type of surface such as a wound bed. Biofilms are thought to be associated with up to 80% of infections, and their ability to stick together makes the biofilm and infection exceptionally difficult to kill. To combat this health care challenge, researchers such as Kendra Rumbaugh, Ph.D., a professor in the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) School of Medicine’s Department of Surgery, are pursuing biofilm dispersal agents such as ...

Whales and dolphins get their nutrients and essential elements through their diet. While eating fish, squid, octopus, crustaceans and other marine mammals, they are also exposed to heavy metal contaminants. Elevated levels of toxins have been found in stranded dolphins and whales along the Southeastern Coast of the United States. Monitoring toxic contaminants in these stranded marine animals, which serve as important sentinels of environmental contamination, and whose health may be linked to human health, is vital. Yet, data remain sparse on how specific elements are distributed within an animal’s body, especially for many rarely encountered ...

Racially biased readings of oxygen levels in the blood using pulse oximeters may further limit opportunities for Black patients with heart failure to receive potentially lifesaving treatments, such as heart pumps and transplants, a Michigan Medicine study finds. “This is especially important because we know that Black patients are already less likely to receive heart pumps or transplants compared to their white counterparts, and these inaccurate readings can further widen a disparity that must be addressed by our health care system,” said first author Scott W. Ketcham, M.D., a third year ...

KANSAS CITY, MO—February 21, 2024—The sea lamprey, a 500-million-year-old animal with a sharp-toothed suction cup for a mouth, is the thing of nightmares. A new study from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research discovered that the hindbrain—the part of the brain controlling vital functions like blood pressure and heart rate—of both sea lampreys and humans is built using an extraordinarily similar molecular and genetic toolkit.  Research from the lab of Investigator Robb Krumlauf, Ph.D., published on February 20, 2024 in Nature Communications offers a glimpse into how the brains of ancient animals evolved. The team unexpectedly uncovered that ...

As part of the New Deal, several governmental programs were created to expand homeownership through mortgages and loans. However, neighborhoods with primarily Black or immigrant communities often were rated “hazardous” for repayment under the discriminatory, “redlining” practice that restricted lending. Today, those same areas are exposed to more air pollution than other urban neighborhoods, and according to research published in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology, the cause could ...

Tuna is one of the most popular seafoods worldwide. But this protein-rich fish can build up high levels of methylmercury from feeding on contaminated prey, like smaller fish or crustaceans. Despite efforts to reduce mercury emissions into the environment, researchers report in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology Letters that levels in tuna appear to be unchanged since 1971. They warn that more aggressive emission reduction targets are needed to start nudging down tuna mercury levels. Environmental ...