A new study shows that it is possible to use machine learning and statistics to address a problem that has long hindered the field of metabolomics: large variations in the data collected at different sites. “We don’t always know the source of the variation,” said Daniel Raftery, professor of anesthesiology and pain medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle. “It could be because the subjects are different with different genetics, diets and environmental exposures. Or it could be the way samples were collected and ...

Legume plants have the unique ability to interact with nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the soil, known as rhizobia. Legumes and rhizobia engage in symbiotic relations upon nitrogen starvation, allowing the plant to thrive without the need for externally supplied nitrogen. Symbiotic nodules are formed on the root of the plant, which are readily colonized by nitrogen-fixing bacteria. The cell-surface receptor SYMRK (symbiosis receptor-like kinase) is responsible for mediating the symbiotic signal from rhizobia perception to formation of the nodule. ...

Modern populations of fallow deer possess hidden cultural histories dating back to the Roman Empire which ought to be factored into decisions around their management and conservation. New research, bringing together DNA analysis with archaeological insights, has revealed how fallow deer have been repeatedly moved to new territories by humans, often as a symbol of colonial power or because of ancient cultures and religions. The results show that the animal was first introduced into Britain by the Romans ...

Woods Hole, Mass. (February 12, 2024) – Studying a rock is like reading a book. The rock has a story to tell, says Frieder Klein, an associate scientist in the Marine Chemistry & Geochemistry Department at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).    The rocks that Klein and his colleagues analyzed from the submerged flanks of the St. Peter and St. Paul Archipelago in the St. Paul’s oceanic transform fault, about 500 km off the coast of Brazil, tells a fascinating and previously unknown story about parts of the geological ...

The replacement of regular salt with a salt substitute can reduce incidences of hypertension, or high blood pressure, in older adults without increasing their risk of low blood pressure episodes, according to a recent study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. People who used a salt substitute had a 40% lower incidence and likelihood of experiencing hypertension compared to those who used regular salt. According to the World Health Organization, hypertension is the leading risk factor for cardiovascular disease and mortality. It affects over 1.4 billion adults and results in 10.8 million deaths per year worldwide. One of the ...

Statement Highlights: The new scientific statement highlights heart disease as the leading cause of death for women and emerging evidence that has identified several gender-specific risk factors for heart disease in women, including complications during pregnancy and premature menopause. Compared to men, women also have different symptoms of heart disease, are less likely to receive evidence-based therapies and are more likely to have adverse cardiovascular outcomes after a cardiac event. Targeted public health interventions ...

February 12, 2024, Mountain View, CA -- In a paper published in the Astronomical Journal, a team of researchers from the SETI Institute, Berkeley SETI Research Center and the University of Washington reported an exciting development for the field of astrophysics and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), using observations from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission to monitor the SETI Ellipsoid, a method for identifying potential signals from advanced civilizations in the ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The secret to making delicious chocolate with less added sugar is oat flour, according to a new study by Penn State researchers. In a blind taste test, recently published in the Journal of Food Science, 25% reduced-sugar chocolates made with oat flour were rated equally, and in some cases preferred, to regular chocolate. The findings provide a new option for decreasing chocolate’s sugar content while maintaining its texture and flavor. “We were able to show that there is a range in which you can ...

How well do the algorithms used in the AI-supported analysis of medical images perform their respective tasks? This depends to a large extent on the metrics used to evaluate their performance. An international consortium led by scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) in Heidelberg has compiled the knowledge available worldwide on the specific strengths, weaknesses and limitations of the various validation metrics. With "Metrics Reloaded", the researchers are ...

Houston, Texas, the epicenter of the global energy market, and the University of Houston – the Energy University – are leading the transition towards a cleaner, more sustainable future with innovative solutions. With three-quarters of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions stemming from burning fossil fuels for energy, it's clear that the key to curbing emissions lies in reimagining how energy is produced and consumed. In Texas, the shift is already well on its way. Technologies like giant batteries, ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — White people surveyed in a recent study indicated they would be more likely to confront those who post racist content on social media if their objective were to defend the norms for political discussions rather than to change the person’s prejudiced beliefs.  Communication professors Stewart M. Coles of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Daniel S. Lane of the University of California, Santa Barbara surveyed people during the 2020 U.S. presidential election cycle to explore the conditions under ...

Ultra-processed foods make up more than half the food average Americans eat. Including frozen and prepared meals, most packaged snacks, desserts and carbonated soft drinks—but also including more innocuous foods—they are often considered the bane of healthy eating, containing little to no nutrition to fuel healthy bodies. However, “not all processed foods are created equal,” according to University of Rhode Island Nutrition Professor Kathleen Melanson. Evidence to support the assumption that ultra-processed foods are all bad for one’s health is limited, and the nutritional ...

Youth with foster care involvement have an increased risk for mental health diagnoses, trauma and worse outcomes in adulthood than their peers. Research about how youth with disabilities, including autism and intellectual disability, interact with this system is lacking. Evidence for how youth with autism or intellectual disability in the foster care system access and use services is needed to advance ways to improve their outcomes. Recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Pediatrics, researchers at Drexel University’s A.J. Drexel Autism Institute, in collaboration with George Mason University’s ...

ITHACA, N.Y. – Metropolitan areas with multiple city centers and dispersed green spaces mitigate extreme heat more effectively than those with one dominant city, an analysis by Cornell University city planning scholars finds. Compared to “monocentric” development, “polycentric” spatial patterns better distribute the density of urban cores and curb the sprawl of impervious, heat-absorbing surfaces, according to the analysis of 50 city regions in Germany. Particularly in larger urban areas, polycentric development can moderate the urban heat island effect, ...

The University of Houston is collaborating with Texas A&M University to tackle the challenge hindering the use of Additive Manufacturing (AM), commonly known as 3D printing, for a variety of commercial applications – the need for real-time monitoring and analysis to ensure consistent quality and reproducibility throughout the production process.  At present, quality control and qualification of metal AM parts is mostly carried out through offline inspection and characterization, but ideally, a broad range of sub-surface and bulk microstructural ...

(MEMPHIS, Tenn. – February 12, 2024) St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists improved chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T–cell immunotherapy for acute myeloid leukemia (AML), demonstrating better efficacy in the lab. To overcome common problems with CAR T cells, the researchers created an additional means for the therapy to find and eliminate cancer cells, using a small peptide. The study also showed how a computational approach incorporating AlphaFold predicted protein models could help ...

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Affordable Care Act requires Medicare to issue penalties that reduce payment to hospitals if post-operative readmission rates within 30 days exceed the national average. A new study led by Regenstrief Institute Research Scientist Andrew Gonzalez, M.D., J.D., MPH, reports that including socioeconomic status in the penalty calculation would reduce the amount of readmission penalties for safety-net hospitals, which typically care for the sickest patients. Other factors, including age and sex are ...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 12, 2024 — Could ammonia engines power the cars of the future? Carmakers like Toyota are working to make this a reality. Ammonia is combustible and holds promise as a relatively low-effort way to decarbonize the internal combustion engine — but the devil’s in the details. Join George as he discovers at least one of those details by burning stuff in his basement. https://youtu.be/KZ_NlnmPQYk?si=BleQF9-aReuttCU4 Reactions is a video series produced by the American Chemical Society and PBS Digital Studios. Subscribe to Reactions at http://bit.ly/ACSReactions ...

About The Study: In this study of 276,000 children ages 6 to 23 months in 92 low- and middle-income countries, 10.4% were zero-food children (i.e., children who did not consume any animal milk, formula, or solid or semisolid food during the last 24 hours). The prevalence of zero-food children underscores the need for targeted interventions to improve infant and young child feeding practices and ensure optimal nutrition during this critical period of development. The issue is particularly urgent in West and Central ...

About The Study: The results of this study suggested that transgender and gender-diverse Medicare beneficiaries use significantly more emergency department services than cisgender beneficiaries, particularly for psychological care, and these visits were more likely to be followed by an admission. This study quantifies this excess use of emergent services and highlights upstream implications of delays in seeking timely health care.  Authors: Gray Babbs, M.P.H., of the Brown University School of Public Health in Providence, Rhode Island, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our ...

About The Study: This study found that among youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities, Black youth and females faced higher risk for foster care involvement, and the likelihood of foster care involvement increased with age. There is an urgent need for research that focuses on addressing system-level factors that drive increased risk. Understanding the specific health needs of Black and female youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities is critical to ensure the formation, ...

EMBARGO:  THIS CONTENT IS UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 11 A.M. U.S. EASTERN STANDARD TIME ON FEBRUARY 12. INTERESTED MEDIA MAY RECIVE A PREVIEW COPY OF THE JOURNAL ARTICLE IN ADVANCE OF THAT DATE OR CONDUCT INTERVIEWS, BUT THE INFORMATION MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, OR POSTED ONLINE UNTIL AFTER THE RELEASE WINDOW. For the first time, researchers have identified what appears to be a network of approximately 20 microbes that universally drive the decomposition of animal flesh. The findings have significant implications for the future of forensic science, including ...

Peer reviewed: Yes Type of evidence: Observational study Subject: People UNDER STRICT EMBARGO 16.00 hours [UK GMT] Monday 12 February 2024 / 11.00 hours [US EST] Monday 12 February 2024 Risk of death 12% higher for non-White children in England Twelve percent of infant deaths in England could be avoided if all infants in England had the same risk of death as White infants, a new University of Bristol-led study shows.  Such a change, which equates to more than 200 deaths per year, would bring England – which currently has one ...

Have you ever wondered what happens in the brain when we move to the right or left? Most people don’t; they just do it without thinking about it. But this simple movement is actually controlled by a complex process.  In a new study, researchers have discovered the missing piece in the complex nerve-network needed for left-right turns. The discovery was made by a research team consisting of Assistant Professor Jared Cregg, Professor Ole Kiehn, and their colleagues from the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Copenhagen.  In 2020, Ole Kiehn, Jared Cregg and their colleagues identified the ‘brain’s steering wheel’ – a network ...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — February 12, 2024 — Hevolution Foundation, a global nonprofit organization that provides grants and early-stage investments to incentivize research and entrepreneurship in healthspan science, is announcing 49 new awards under its pioneering Hevolution Foundation - Geroscience Research Opportunities (HF-GRO) program.   As part of Hevolution’s mission to catalyze the healthspan scientific ecosystem and drive transformative breakthroughs in healthy aging, HF-GRO is funding promising pre-clinical research ...