The scientific community has long been enamored of the potential for soft bioelectronic devices, but has faced hurdles in identifying materials that are biocompatible and have all of the necessary characteristics to operate effectively. Researchers have now taken a step in the right direction, modifying an existing biocompatible material so that it conducts electricity efficiently in wet environments and can send and receive ionic signals from biological media. “We’re talking about ...

Key takeaways  Decreasing trend in opioid prescriptions: There was a notable nationwide reduction in opioid prescriptions after surgery from 2013 to 2017, reflecting a shift in the medical community's approach to pain management.  Social determinants affect opioid prescription rates: At the county level, lower median population age, higher education levels, insufficient sleep, higher health care costs, fewer mental health providers, and higher uninsured rates are linked to higher opioid prescription rates.  No ...

Staphylococcus aureus (SA) is an extremely common bacterial infection; about 30% of people have colonies of SA living in their nose. SA is often harmless, but it is also a leading cause of hospital-acquired and community-associated infections. A vaccine for SA would be a game-changer for public health, but for decades, all vaccine candidates for SA have failed in clinical trials despite successful preclinical studies in mice. Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have finally explained why. In a new study, published January ...

About The Study: Based on four simulation models, breast cancer screening, treatment of stage I to III breast cancer, and treatment of metastatic breast cancer were each associated with reduced breast cancer mortality between 1975 and 2019 in the U.S.  Authors: Sylvia K. Plevritis, Ph.D., of the Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, California, 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/jama.2023.25881) Editor’s ...

About The Study: This systematic review and meta-analysis of 42 eligible studies, including 17 among children (n = 45,851) and 25 among adults (n = 268,095), found a positive association between intake of 100% fruit juice and weight gain in children. Analysis of cohort studies in adults found a significant positive association among studies unadjusted for total energy, suggesting potential mediation by calories; an analysis of trials in adults found no significant association between 100% fruit juice consumption and body weight. The findings ...

About The Study: The findings of this study of U.S. families receiving employer-sponsored health insurance suggest that three decades of increasing health care premiums were likely associated with reduced annual earnings and increased earnings inequality by race and ethnicity and wage level and were meaningfully associated with wage stagnation.  Authors: Kurt Hager, Ph.D., M.S., of the UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester, Massachusetts, is the corresponding author.   To access the embargoed ...

About The Study: The results of this survey study involving 4,119 currently competing U.S. college athletes suggest that interpersonal violence is associated with marked changes in the psychosocial health and emotional well-being of college athletes, particularly those who identify as female and with non-heterosexual sexual orientations. Variations in coaching style have the potential to alter these associations. Ongoing efforts are needed to leverage the unique position that coaches hold to help reduce interpersonal violence and create safe places where all college athletes can thrive.  Authors: Yetsa A. Tuakli-Wosornu, M.D., ...

PHILADELPHIA – Ordering a palliative care consultation by “default” – via an automatic order programmed into the electronic medical record that doctors may cancel if they choose – is an effective strategy to give more hospitalized patients the opportunity to benefit from palliative care, and sooner, according to a new study led by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Palliative care is specialized medical care focused on relieving the symptoms and stress of a serious illness and improving quality of life, in alignment with a patient’s ...

The rising cost of health insurance is an ongoing concern in the United States. New research shows that increasing health insurance costs are eating up a growing proportion of worker’s compensation, and have been a major factor in both flattening wages and increasing income inequality over the past 30 years.  In a study from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, researchers found that the cost of employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) health care benefits increased much faster than workers’ wages since the late 1980s, ...

AURORA, Colo. (January 16, 2024) – Researchers from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have found that a team intervention, provided by phone, leads to persistent improvements in depression, anxiety, and quality of life for people managing chronic illnesses. Additionally, researchers found that the improvement in quality of life results last months after intervention concludes. In a study, published today in JAMA, researchers observe the impact a telecare intervention program, called ADAPT, has on veterans suffering from poor quality of life as a result ...

An experiment outlined by a UCL (University College London)-led team of scientists from the UK and India could test whether relatively large masses have a quantum nature, resolving the question of whether quantum mechanical description works at a much larger scale than that of particles and atoms. Quantum theory is typically seen as describing nature at the tiniest scales and quantum effects have not been observed in a laboratory for objects more massive than about a quintillionth of a gram, or more precisely 10^(-20)g. The new experiment, described in a paper published in Physical Review Letters and involving researchers at UCL, the University of Southampton and ...

16 January 2024 – EMBO is pleased to announce that ten life scientists have been awarded EMBO Installation Grants, which support group leaders who will move to, or have recently moved to, countries participating in the scheme. The scientists’ inspiring research spans a wide range of biological processes: ageing, tumour biology, gut-brain axis communication, microbiota and gene editing tools are among the topics they are exploring. One installation grantee will establish a laboratory in the Czech Republic, one in Greece, two in Hungary, ...

The use of dual metal sulfides, specifically ZnS/CuS, shows marked improvement in electrochemical stability and performance when included in the design of flexible lithium-ion capacitors over the use of transition metal sulfides and carbon fiber materials.   Technology is becoming more and more integrated with daily life, especially wearable, flexible tech and smart devices. Transition metal sulfide (TMS) materials are popular among choices for anodes in developing flexible lithium-ion capacitors ...

Uncertainty estimation is critical to improving the reliability of deep neural networks. A research team led by Aydogan Ozcan at the University of California, Los Angeles, has introduced an uncertainty quantification method that uses cycle consistency to enhance the reliability of deep neural networks in solving inverse imaging problems. This research was published Dec. 21 in Intelligent Computing, a Science Partner Journal. Deep neural networks have been used to solve inverse imaging problems, such as image denoising, ...

The Aston Institute for Membrane Excellence (AIME) will be set up with a £10m grant from Research England AIME will be led by Professor Roslyn Bill from Biosciences and Professor Paul Topham from Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry The globally unique institute will use biomimetic polymer membranes for applications such as water purification and drug development Aston University will establish the Aston Institute for Membrane Excellence (AIME), a globally unique, cross-disciplinary institute to develop novel biomimetic membranes, after receiving a major grant of £10m from Research England. AIME will be led by Professor Roslyn Bill, from the School ...

In early 2020, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a highly contagious and pathogenic virus, made its alarming debut and quickly spread worldwide, causing the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that threatened human health and public safety. While the world was brought to a standstill, hospitals and health care systems entered unchartered territory and quickly adapted to the evolving health crisis to care for their community and keep potentially sick patients and health care workers from spreading the virus. The magnitude of response involved the reinforced universal masking of health care ...

Cambridge, Mass., Jan. 16, 2024 - A team of researchers from the ADA Forsyth Institute and University of North Carolina (UNC), Chapel Hill used single-cell transcriptomic analysis to successfully map dental pulp stem cells (DPSC) and periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSC) and found remarkable differences between them. The study, which appeared in the Journal of Dental Research, provides the most detailed analysis of these stem cells to date, identifying the entire genome of the stem cells and their potential differentiation trajectories. “Dental pulp and periodontal ligament stem cells both have the potential to develop into any type of cell in the body,” ...

Neuroscientists from the University of Vienna and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm have investigated whether playing violent video games leads to a reduction in human empathy. To do this, they had adult test subjects play a violent video game repeatedly over the course of an experiment lasting several weeks. Before and after, their empathic responses to the pain of another person were measured. It was found that the violent video game had no discernible effect on empathy and underlying brain activity. These results have now been published in the renowned journal eLife. Video games have become an integral part of the everyday life of many ...

WASHINGTON (Jan. 16, 2024) – Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to detect rheumatic heart disease (RHD) with the same accuracy as a cardiologist, according to new research demonstrating how sophisticated deep learning technology can be applied to this disease of inequity. The work could prevent hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths around the world annually.    Developed at Children’s National Hospital and detailed in the latest edition of the Journal of the American Heart Association, the new AI system combines the power of novel ultrasound probes with portable electronic ...

Knowing a patient’s weight is necessary for many weight-based medications such as thrombolytics, anticoagulants and numerous cardiovascular medications. Scaling drugs to a patient’s weight prevents adverse events from overtreatment and treatment failure due to underdosing. Inaccurate weight estimations may lead to inaccurate drug doses, which could cause patient harm.  However, in the emergency department (ED) during resuscitative care, measuring weight is often impossible. Moreover, little is known about the relative accuracy of different methods currently used to weigh patients during emergency care. For example, ...

TORONTO (16 January 2024) – As part of its pioneering approach to drug discovery, the Canadian nonprofit Conscience announced today that its first open science competition has resulted in the identification of seven promising molecules, or “hits,” that show potential for new, more effective drugs for familial Parkinson’s disease.  This first competition in Conscience’s CACHE (Critical Assessment of Computational Hit-Finding Experiments) Challenge series was funded by The ...

From inside an operating room in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, electrophysiologist Maria Milagros Arends, M.D., threads wires from a pacemaker through the veins and into the heart muscle of a patient.  This pacemaker, which regulates the heartbeat and can be lifesaving, was once in the body of another person. It has been recycled, or “reconditioned”— donated, tested, sterilized and shipped from the United States to the South American country for implantation.  “We have a waiting list of around 300 people who could potentially lose their lives in less than a month,” ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A new study links increased use of acetaminophen during pregnancy – particularly in the second trimester – to modest but noticeable increases in problems with attention and behavior in 2-, 3- and 4-year-olds. The study adds to a growing body of evidence linking the frequent use of acetaminophen in pregnancy to developmental problems in offspring. The findings are detailed in the journal Neurotoxicology and Teratology. The research is part of the Illinois Kids Development Study at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, which explores how environmental ...

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are laboratory-designed proteins that mimic the immune system's antibodies. To date, many therapeutic mAbs belonging to the immunoglobulin G (IgG) class of antibodies, have been approved for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. Cell lines such as the Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells are generally used to produce mAbs. Notably, the production and manufacture of mAbs are regulated by critical quality attributes (CQAs) to ensure their safety and efficacy in treatment. An important CQA for mAbs is the N-linked glycosylation present at a specific position (Asn297). N-linked glycans consist of N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc), mannose (Man), fucose ...

DALLAS, JANUARY 16, 2024 — A patient’s oral health can be an indicator of overall health and well-being. Research shows that chronic gum inflammation may be associated with other chronic diseases including coronary artery disease and diabetes.[1] In addition, certain bacteria that live in the mouth can travel through the bloodstream to other parts of the body, including the heart and lungs. Oral bacteria, including viridans group streptococcal (VGS), can cause infective endocarditis, an infection of the inner ...