Folate is a B vitamin and a necessary nutrient to prevent neural tube defects, such as spina bifida. Folic acid, a synthetic form of folate, has been added to vitamins, breakfast cereals and other products in the U.S. and more than 80 other countries to ensure pregnant women get adequate amounts. However, new research suggests there may be such a thing as too much folic acid. In a study published in Communications Biology, a Nature publication, researchers from the UC Davis School of Medicine and the UC Davis MIND Institute showed that imbalances in folic acid and vitamin B12 can alter brain development in mice.  “There's no doubt the introduction ...

LA JOLLA, CA — Calibr, the drug discovery and development division of Scripps Research, today announced Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: GILD) has exercised its option to exclusively license the research institute’s investigational nucleoside reverse transcriptase translocation inhibitor (NRTTI) prodrug. The NRTTI prodrug, designated GS-1614, is a development candidate resulting from a collaboration between Scripps Research and Gilead aimed at advancing a best-in-class long-acting HIV regimen. Calibr ...

Assessing how seriously injured a person is, involves weighing up lots of different parameters fast. If healthcare professionals could get support making fast-paced, life-critical decisions from an AI tool, more lives could be saved. This is shown by research from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, along with the University of Gothenburg and the University of Borås.  "If severely injured people are transported directly to a university hospital, the chances of survival increase, as there are resources to take care of all types of injuries. Therefore, we need to be able to better say who is severely injured, and who is not, so ...

The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) is pleased to announce that Dr. Christoph Keller has been appointed as the next Director of the National Science Foundation’s National Solar Observatory (NSO) succeeding Dr. Valentin Pillet, who will be retiring as Director in 2024. Previously Dr. Keller was Director of Science at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. He will begin his five-year term on May 6, 2024. “Christoph Keller is an outstanding choice for the next NSO Director,” ...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4, 2024 – Climate change is one of the biggest issues of the 21st century, a crisis that affects the fate of the entire world as well as our place in it. A warming Earth will destroy ecosystems, flood cities, and lead to countless suffering and death for people worldwide. Part of the challenge of dealing with climate change is helping people understand its complex impacts. In The Physics Teacher, co-published by AIP Publishing and the American Association of Physics Teachers, researchers from Fordham University partnered with middle and high schools in the Bronx and Manhattan in a citizen ...

AMHERST, Mass. – A team of computer scientists led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently announced a new method for automatically generating whole proofs that can be used to prevent software bugs and verify that the underlying code is correct. This new method, called Baldur, leverages the artificial intelligence power of Large Language Models (LLMs), and, when combined with the state-of-the-art tool Thor, yields unprecedented efficacy of nearly 66%. The team was recently awarded a coveted Distinguished Paper award at the ...

In a first for USC Stem Cell scientists, the laboratory of Giorgia Quadrato, an assistant professor of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine, has pioneered a novel human brain organoid model that generates all the major cell types of the cerebellum, a hindbrain region predominantly made up of two cell types necessary for movement, cognition, and emotion: granule cells and Purkinje neurons. This marks the first time that scientists have succeeded in growing Purkinje cells that possess the molecular and electrophysiological features of functional neurons in an all-human system. These breakthroughs in organoid-directed brain modeling have been published recently ...

Researchers have uncovered evidence hinting that the most common bug spray ingredient, DEET, might cause reproductive problems by affecting the formation of egg cells during pregnancy. The findings come from a study in C. elegans — worms that don’t look like they have much in common with humans yet serve as surprisingly useful bellwethers of how toxins in the environment affect human reproduction. Get more HMS news here The research, published Jan. 4 in iScience, raises difficult questions. Chief among them is how to balance the possible reproductive harms ...

About The Study: The results of this study that included 573,000 persons suggest that hearing loss was associated with increased dementia risk, especially among people not using hearing aids, suggesting that hearing aids might prevent or delay the onset and progression of dementia. The risk estimates were lower than in previous studies, highlighting the need for more high-quality longitudinal studies.  Authors: Manuella Lech Cantuaria, Ph.D., of the University of Southern Denmark in Odense, is the corresponding author. (doi:10.1001/jamaoto.2023.3509) To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ Editor’s ...

About The Study: The findings of this study of 2,709 patients hospitalized with sepsis from 2016 to 2019 at an urban tertiary care center suggest a language-based inequity in outcomes. Further studies are needed to understand drivers of this inequity, how it may manifest in other diverse health systems, and to inform equitable care models for patients with limited English proficiency.  Authors: Neha P. Limaye, M.D., M.P.H., of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, is the corresponding author.   To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link ...

BOSTON – New research indicates that the eating disorder anorexia nervosa is associated with being an early riser, unlike many other disorders that tend to be evening-based such as depression, binge eating disorder and schizophrenia. The study, which is published in JAMA Network Open and led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), in collaboration with University College London and the University of the Republic in Uruguay, also revealed a link between anorexia nervosa and insomnia risk. Previous research has suggested a possible connection between eating disorders and the body’s internal clock, or circadian clock, which controls a wide range of biological ...

Press release: Princess Máxima Center for pediatric oncology EMBARGO: JANUARY 4, 2024 AT 11:00 AM ET (US)   A detailed 'atlas' of neuroblastoma tumors points to a new target for immunotherapy. Scientists from the Princess Máxima Center for pediatric oncology in the Netherlands mapped this childhood tumor at the level of individual cancer and immune cells. In doing so, they discovered a brake on the immune system that can be blocked with existing immunotherapy. The results in the lab are promising; preparations for a clinical study are underway. Every year, 25 children in the Netherlands ...

A new peer-reviewed study in the American Journal of Human Genetics highlights the work of the biobank at the Colorado Center for Personalized Medicine (CCPM), a world-class site for precision medicine in research and clinical care created in partnership with the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and UCHealth. The paper focuses on CCPM’s research and personalized medical care.   “We’re one of the only institutions in the world that has accomplished the dual-purpose of using genetic information to accelerate scientific discovery in research while providing actionable clinical results to patients that ...

In cooperation with research partners in Germany and France, the infectious disease specialist Dr Jan Rybniker and his team at University Hospital Cologne and the University of Cologne’s Faculty of Medicine have identified new, antibiotic molecules that target Mycobacterium tuberculosis and make it less pathogenic for humans. In addition, some of the discovered substances may allow for a renewed treatment of tuberculosis with available medications – including strains of the bacterium that have already developed drug resistance. The research has been published in the article ‘Discovery of dual-active ethionamide boosters ...

At EPFL's School of Engineering, Professor Li Tang's Laboratory of Biomaterials for Immunoengineering has made significant strides in cancer treatment research. In laboratory settings, this innovative CAR-T therapy has consistently eradicated cancerous tumors in mouse models. Separately, in on-going clinical trials, eleven patients seemed to achieve complete remission using this treatment, marking a success rate of 100% to date. Notably, evidence from the lab study, published in Nature Biotechnology, suggests the therapy's long-term effectiveness, and indicates that its fabrication may be both quicker and more cost-effective ...

MIAMI, FLORIDA (EMBARGOED UNTIL JAN. 4, 2024, at 10 AM EST) – Recent advances in treating multiple myeloma, the second most common blood cancer, and other blood malignancies are providing improved outcomes – and hope – to patients worldwide. But treatment breakthroughs such as the immunotherapy drug teclistamab can lead to potentially lethal side effects, including cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and immune cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS). These potential side effects have necessitated giving immunotherapy drugs in the hospital setting, where patients remain for five to seven days and receive other drugs ...

A team of researchers from UC San Francisco has found that Paxlovid (Nirmatrelvir-ritonavir) did not reduce the risk of developing long COVID for vaccinated, non-hospitalized individuals during their first COVID-19 infection. They also found a higher proportion of individuals with acute symptoms rebound and test-positivity than previously reported. The study appears Jan. 4, 2024, in the Journal of Medical Virology. Paxlovid treatment for acute COVID-19 has been shown to be effective for high-risk unvaccinated individuals. But the effect of the treatment on long COVID risk, including whether it protects vaccinated people from getting long COVID, has been less clear. The ...

● KAT6 is an emerging target in hormone sensitive breast tumors and other cancers. Overexpression of KAT6A/B correlates with poor clinical outcomes in patients with ER+/HER2- breast cancer – the most common subtype. ● The molecule has demonstrated strong preclinical activity. Insilico Medicine presented data on the novel molecule at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in early December. ● This agreement includes upfront and milestone payments with a combined potential value of over $500m and sales royalties. FLORENCE, Italy and NEW YORK: The Menarini Group ("Menarini"), a leading international pharmaceutical and diagnostics company, and Stemline Therapeutics, ...

INDIANAPOLIS – A significant obstacle to improving care and outcomes for intensive care unit (ICU) patients is the unexpected nature of becoming seriously ill. Which groups of patients are likely to become severely ill and will they survive their ICU stay? In a first step in creating infrastructure for further studies to identify and follow cohorts of patients who may become critically ill, researchers including Sikandar Khan, D.O, M.S., of Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University School of Medicine, have developed and conducted ...

Firms worldwide are increasingly adopting electronic voting, enabling shareholders to cast their votes online, instead of attending shareholder meetings in-person. Shareholders can enjoy superior accessibility to the meetings with electronic voting, compared to those with traditional and in-person setups. Despite the emerging popularity of electronic voting in recent years, however, there is limited evidence of its impact on governance. To address this gap in research, Associate Professor Wonsuk Ha from the School of Business Administration, Chung-Ang University, along ...

WASHINGTON—A new Journal of the Endocrine Society study among women attending a fertility center found that those with more stress before pregnancy had higher blood sugar levels during pregnancy, which is a sign of weaker cardiovascular health. People’s stress levels have continued to rise over the years, particularly in the last few years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, putting them at risk for serious health issues such as heart disease. Research shows women may experience more stress than men, especially those going through infertility. Maintaining a healthy pregnancy ...

Stress during pregnancy is known to influence health outcomes, but a new study from Mass General Brigham researchers suggests that stress levels before pregnancy are also important to evaluate. Investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital analyzed the link between self-reported stress immediately before conception among women seeking fertility care and blood glucose levels, a marker of heart health. The team found that maternal stress during preconception ...

New York, NY [January 4, 2023]—In a milestone study, researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have harnessed the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the assessment of the heart’s right ventricle, which sends blood to the lungs.  Conducted by a team using AI-enabled electrocardiogram (AI-ECG) analysis, the research demonstrates that electrocardiograms can effectively predict right-side heart issues, offering a simpler alternative to complex imaging technologies and potentially enhancing patient outcomes. The findings were described in the December 29 online ...

SPOKANE, Wash. – Even small differences in the availability of urban green and blue spaces may be associated with better mental and physical health in older adults, according to a Washington State University study. The study’s findings showed that having just 10% more forest space in a person’s residential ZIP code was associated with reduced serious psychological distress, which covers mental health problems that require treatment and interfere with people’s social lives, work or school. Similarly, a 10% increase in green space, tree cover, water bodies ...

100 years of Science Changing Life: Scripps Research celebrates a century of transforming human health LA JOLLA, CA—Scripps Research, a nonprofit biomedical institute ranked one of the most influential in the world for its impact on innovation, will celebrate its 100-year history throughout 2024. This significant milestone marks a century of seminal discoveries in immunology, infectious diseases (such as COVID-19, flu, HIV), neuroscience, heart disease, cancer, and more. The institute has also made strides in groundbreaking chemistry advances, drug development and educational ...