The legacy of the Soviet Union’s collapse plays a greater role in the foreign policies of Georgia and Ukraine than previous studies have suggested. Conducting foreign policy in former Soviet countries can be a major challenge as the Russian state does not accept the new order. These are the findings outlined in the thesis of political scientist Per Ekman from Uppsala University. “To understand Russia’s war in Ukraine, for example, it is important to see the war as part of a longer historical event. Since their first day of independence, Georgia and Ukraine have had to deal with Russian ambitions to control the region. For many in the West, it took a ...

Oxford, UK – Genomic Press has released a captivating interview with Professor Robin Dunbar, the eminent evolutionary psychologist and anthropologist whose work has fundamentally altered our understanding of human social networks. Published in the Innovators and Ideas section of Genomic Psychiatry, this in-depth conversation offers unique insights into Professor Dunbar's scientific journey and the far-reaching implications of his research. Professor Dunbar, best known for conceptualizing "Dunbar's number" - the cognitive limit to the number of stable social relationships ...

Hepatocellular carcinoma, a type of liver cancer associated with hepatitis infections, is known to have a high recurrence rate after cancer removal. Recent advances in antiviral therapy have reduced the number of patients affected, but obesity and diabetes are factors in hepatocellular carcinoma prevalence. However, these factors’ effects on patient survival and cancer recurrence have been unclear. To gain insights, Dr. Hiroji Shinkawa’s research team at Osaka Metropolitan University’s Graduate School of Medicine analyzed the relationship between diabetes mellitus, obesity, and postoperative outcomes in 1,644 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma ...

Duke-NUS introduces 35 innovative pictograms to make medication instructions clearer, especially for seniors. These visual aids are designed to ensure patients take their medications correctly and safely, with the aim of improving overall health outcomes. The team looks to collaborate with healthcare institutions and pharmacies to standardise pictograms portraying medication instructions across Singapore. SINGAPORE, 3 OCTOBER 2024 – Transforming patient care through clarity and simplicity, Duke-NUS Medical School has introduced visual aids or pictograms designed to make medication instructions clearer. ...

With the continuous development of nanotechnology, more artificial chiral nanomaterials have been constructed. As one of the most representative optical properties of these chiral nanomaterials, CD is a powerful sensing technology. Compared with other analytical methods, CD signal has higher sensitivity, but it cannot achieve in-situ imaging in vivo. Scientists have managed to prepare chiral nanocomposites with more diverse biological functional properties to compensate for this shortcoming. However, some chiral nanocomposites assembled by electrostatic adsorption or other methods are easily dissociated and destroyed in complex physiological environments, resulting in performance ...

FINDINGS A UCLA research team has created the Comorbid Operative Risk Evaluation (CORE) score to better account for the role chronic illness plays in patient's risk of mortality after operation, allowing surgeons to adjust to patients’ pre-existing conditions and more easily determine mortality risk.   BACKGROUND For almost 40 years, researchers have used two tools, the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) and Elixhauser Comorbidity Index (ECI), to measure the impact of existing health conditions on patient outcomes. These tools use ICD codes that are input by medical professionals and billers to account for patient illness. These ...

Mount Sinai Health System today announced that Mount Sinai BioDesign, the medical technology incubator of the Health System, has expanded its reach to become a key, effective partner for the broader MedTech community. Through synergistic partnerships between clinicians, technologists, and industry partners, Mount Sinai BioDesign is able to offer an array of services, including expert clinical and engineering feedback, preclinical trial development and execution, data gathering and analysis, and pivotal clinical study management. Mount Sinai BioDesign has already established several mature partnerships that have ...

Study Reveals Limits of Using Land Surface Temperature to Explain Heat Hazards in Miami-Dade County The findings underscore the importance of further research to enhance our understanding of urban heat dynamics in subtropical and tropical regions, ensuring that heat mitigation efforts are informed by the most accurate data available. A recent study published in the journal PLOS Climate on October 2, 2024, examines the effectiveness of using land surface temperatures (LSTs) as proxies for ...

First in-depth forecasts of future worldwide health impacts of smoking reveal potential effects of eliminating smoking on life expectancy and premature deaths by 2050. Based on current trends, global smoking rates could continue to decrease to 21.1% in males and 4.18% in females by 2050. Analysis indicates accelerating actions towards the elimination of smoking globally would increase life expectancy and prevent millions of premature deaths, resulting in 876 million fewer years of life lost (YLLs).  Reducing smoking rates to 5% by 2050 would increase life expectancy by one year among males and 0.2 years among females ...

Analysis of the impact on lung cancer deaths of banning tobacco sales in people born between 2006 and 2010 indicates 1.2 million deaths could be avoided.   The findings suggest the creation of a tobacco-free generation could prevent almost half (45.8%) of future lung cancer deaths in men, and around one-third (30.9%) in women, in this birth cohort. Nearly two-thirds (65.1%) of the deaths averted would be in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Close to two-thirds (61.1%) of all lung cancer deaths in high-income countries would be avoided.  Creating a generation of people who never smoke could prevent 1.2 million deaths from lung cancer globally, according ...

  The number of adults vaping in England who have never regularly smoked has increased sharply since 2021, when disposable e-cigarettes first became popular, according to a new study by UCL researchers. The study, published in Lancet Public Health and funded by Cancer Research UK, estimated that, as of April 2024, about one million adults who had never regularly smoked now vaped in England, a sevenfold increase since 2021, with most of them vaping daily and over a sustained period. This increase was largely driven by young adults, ...

New research has found methane emissions from slurry stores on dairy farms may be up to five times greater than official statistics suggest - and highlights the huge potential for turning them into a renewable energy source.  The study shows that if captured and turned into biogas, emitted methane could be worth more than £400m a year to the dairy sector in saved fuel costs, or around £52,500 for an average-sized dairy farm.   Capture technology already exists, and if rolled out across the EU dairy herd, the conversion of methane to biofuel could reduce emissions equivalent to an estimated 5.8% of the ...

    UNDER STRICT EMBARGO UNTIL 00:01 AM (UK TIME) ON THURSDAY 3RD OCTOBER 2024   A rare collection of 300-year-old petitions gives voice to the forgotten women who cared for England’s most vulnerable children while battling their local authorities.   ‘Confirm the said yearly annuity or otherwise the child is very like to be famished & starved’ – Ellen Fell (1665) 'Taking pity of them for fear they should be starved to death for want of food [I] did table & receive the said three Children' - Anne Beesley (1671)   Today, the UK faces a major retention ...

Polar sea ice is ever-changing. It shrinks, expands, moves, breaks apart, reforms in response to changing seasons, and rapid climate change. It is far from a homogenous layer of frozen water on the ocean’s surface, but rather a dynamic mix of water and ice, as well as minute pockets of air and brine encased in the ice. New research led by University of Utah mathematicians and climate scientists is generating fresh models for understanding two critical processes in the sea ice system that have profound influences on global climate: the flux of heat through sea ice, thermally linking the ocean and atmosphere, and the dynamics of the ...

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (10/2/2024) — The University of Minnesota Medical School recently received a five-year, $3.2 million R01 grant from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases for a project that will study the epigenetic factors of low back pain. Low back pain affects 619 million people globally and is the single leading cause of disability worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. This chronic pain impacts people of all ages and can affect quality of life and mental well-being.  Epigenetics refers to biological processes that affect how genes work without altering the DNA itself. These changes can ...

SAN ANTONIO, Oct. 2, 2024 – The Caring for the Caregiver Program (C4CP) of the School of Nursing at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) has earned a national award for its comprehensive education and support for families living with dementia. The 5TH Annual Maude’s Awards were announced in Seattle, rewarding innovations that enrich the quality of life for persons living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, as well as their care partners. The award was created in 2019 by Richard Ferry, co-founder of management consulting firm Korn Ferry International, ...

If you started watching a movie from the middle without knowing its plot, you’d likely be better at inferring what had happened earlier than predicting what will happen next, according to a new Dartmouth-led study published in Nature Communications. Prior research has found that humans are usually equally good at guessing about the unknown past and future. However, those studies have relied on very simple sequences of numbers, images, or shapes, rather than on more realistic scenarios. "Events in real life have complex associations relating to time that haven't typically been captured in past work, so we wanted to explore how people make inferences ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, October 2, 2024 Contact: Jillian McKoy, jpmckoy@bu.edu Michael Saunders, msaunder@bu.edu ## Sexual and Gender Minorities More Likely to Experience Life Dissatisfaction, Isolation, Stress A new study found that sexual and gender minority adults in the US were more likely to report multiple social risk factors than heterosexual and cisgender adults, highlighting the need for policies that advance the health and socioeconomic well-being of these groups. Until last year, few national surveys collected information about the prevalence of social risk factors—individual-level adverse experiences such as food insecurity ...

The SWOG S1011 randomized phase 3 trial found no significant improvement in disease-free or overall survival but a higher rate of grade 3-4 adverse events and an increased risk of death in the 90 days after surgery. The findings, published in NEJM, should establish a standard bilateral pelvic lymphadenectomy that includes the external and internal iliac and obturator nodes as the standard of care for these patients. Final results from the SWOG S1011 randomized phase 3 clinical trial, just published ...

A new book from Cam Brewer, Herb Hammond and SFU Resource and Environmental Management director, Sean Markey explores a nature-directed approach to stewardship that enhances cities, restores our relationships with nature and helps to rebuild our relationships with each other. Situated in the understanding that both people and nature belong in urban spaces, and guided by principles of nature, equity and density, Nature- First Cities offers a vision for reestablishing our relationship with nature in cities. This book is of particular interest to urban planners, ...

The COVID-19 vaccine, introduced in December 2022, played a critical role in reducing mortality and morbidity related to the pandemic globally. Yet, by 2023, only 70% of the US population had completed the primary vaccination series. While factors such as race/ethnicity, socio-economic status, geography and political affiliations have been linked to vaccination rates, its relationship with characteristics of health care delivery sites like community health care centers (CHCs), has not been explored. CHCs, which provide comprehensive primary care to low-income populations, including COVID-19 vaccines, are key players in ...

SAN ANTONIO — October 2, 2024 —The Southwest Research Institute-developed Solar Wind Plasma Sensor (SWiPS) has been delivered and integrated into a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite dedicated to tracking space weather. SWiPS will measure the properties of ions originating from the Sun, including the very fast ions associated with coronal mass ejections that interact with the Earth’s magnetic environment. NOAA’s Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) satellite will orbit the Sun at ...

CRISPR-Cas systems help to protect bacteria from viruses. Several different types of CRISPR-Cas defense systems are found in bacteria, which differ in their composition and functions. Among them, the most studied proteins today are Cas9 and Cas12, also known as DNA or ‘gene scissors’, which have revolutionized the field of genome editing, enabling scientists to edit genomes and correct disease-causing mutations precisely. Researchers from the Institute of Biotechnology at the Life Sciences Center of Vilnius University – ...

Global evidence has revealed that women’s environmental quality of life is key to their overall quality of life and health, according to a study published October 2, 2024, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Suzanne Skevington from the University of Manchester, U.K., and colleagues. Gender inequalities in health-related quality of life are generally few and small, even in large surveys. Yet many generic measures limit assessment to quality of life overall and its physical and psychological dimensions, while overlooking internationally important environmental, ...

A new analysis assesses the heterogeneity of factors linked with happiness among single Americans who are just entering adulthood, highlighting a particularly strong link between happiness and satisfying friendships. Lisa Walsh of the University of California, Los Angeles, U.S., and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on October 2, 2024. Prior research suggests that Americans in their early 20s may be less happy, on average, than at other points in their lives. Meanwhile, a growing percentage of young adults are not in long-term romantic relationships, and researchers are increasingly studying single people as a distinct ...