The press release
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Medicine4 Jan 2024

Minimizing immunotherapy’s potentially harmful side effects

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 ...

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Medicine4 Jan 2024

Study finds paxlovid treatment does not reduce risk of long COVID

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 ...

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Medicine4 Jan 2024

Menarini Group and Insilico Medicine enter global exclusive license agreement for novel KAT6 inhibitor for potential breast cancer treatment and other oncology indications

● 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, ...

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Science4 Jan 2024

New population risk prediction model for likelihood of ICU admission and survival

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 ...

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Physics4 Jan 2024

Chung-Ang University study reveals a higher market valuation of cash holdings of firms adopting electronic voting

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 ...

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Medicine4 Jan 2024

Women undergoing fertility treatment who are stressed may have heart health issues during pregnancy

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 ...

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Medicine4 Jan 2024

Study finds preconception stress may affect health of women undergoing fertility treatment

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 ...

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Medicine4 Jan 2024

AI-driven study redefines right heart health assessment with novel predictive model

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 ...

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Medicine4 Jan 2024

Better mental, physical health in older people tied to living near nature

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 ...

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Medicine4 Jan 2024

100 years of Science Changing Life: Scripps Research celebrates a century of transforming human health

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 ...

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Physics4 Jan 2024

JAMA names seven academic physicians and nurses to new Editorial Fellowship Program

Chicago, January 4, 2024 — The JAMA Network today announces a new class of seven academic physicians and nurses selected for a new program to provide junior faculty and current research fellows opportunities to learn about biomedical journals and scientific publication. This inaugural group of fellows will spend six months immersed as part of the JAMA editorial team to obtain direct exposure to the editorial review process and enhance their skills in scientific communication. Fellows will be assigned to a current JAMA editor for mentorship, attend manuscript meetings, participate in discussions about research design, data validity, potential clinical importance, and conduct ...

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Medicine4 Jan 2024

New technique could improve liver fibrosis treatment

Chronic liver disease, a growing threat to global health, often progresses silently in its early stages. Detecting its precursor, steatotic liver disease (SLD), and advanced liver fibrosis before complications arise is crucial to prevent devastating outcomes. The newly developed Chronic Liver Disease (CLivD) score offers a promising non-invasive approach to this challenge. In a recent study involving a US general population sample, researchers explored the CLivD score’s ability to identify SLD and advanced fibrosis, assessed using liver stiffness measurement (LSM). The study also evaluated the potential ...

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Physics4 Jan 2024

Hunting for the elusive tetraneutrons with thermal fission

Tetraneutron is an elusive atomic nucleus consisting of four neutrons, whose existence has been highly debated by scientists. This stems primarily from our lack of knowledge about systems consisting of only neutrons, since most atomic nuclei are usually made of a combination of protons and neutrons. Scientists believe that the experimental observation of a tetraneutron could be the key to exploring new properties of atomic nuclei and answering the age-old question: Can a charge-neutral multineutron system ever exist? Two recent experimental studies reported the presence of tetraneutrons in bound state and resonant state (a state that decays ...

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Physics4 Jan 2024

Understanding the role of a new enzyme in the development of autism spectrum disorder

Over the past decades, scientists have made substantial progress unveiling the underlying mechanisms behind many psychiatric disorders. Every year, new genetic mutations or protein dysregulations are identified as potential culprits for the symptoms, and sometimes even the root causes of complex neurological diseases, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD), schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s. Despite these efforts, the precise roles of several proteins involved in brain function remain obscure. Such is the case for indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 2 (IDO2), an enzyme expressed in the brain and metabolized by the ...

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Science4 Jan 2024

An innovative approach for evaluating muscle coordination and fatigue

Surface electromyography (sEMG) is a traditional method used to measure the electrical activity of muscles during physical activity. This method has remained unchanged for over 70 years and involves the use of two standard approaches. The first involves a pair of electrodes—metals that conduct electricity through non-metals—to record from a particular muscle, while the second employs a grid of electrodes arranged in a small rectangular layout in order to measure the potential distribution of intra-muscle activity. However, these approaches only provide a measurement of a single muscle at a time. Thus, limiting our understanding of how our muscles coordinate ...

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Science4 Jan 2024

New theoretical framework unlocks mysteries of synchronization in turbulent dynamics

Weather forecasting is important for various sectors, including agriculture, military operations, and aviation, as well as for predicting natural disasters like tornados and cyclones. It relies on predicting the movement of air in the atmosphere, which is characterized by turbulent flows resulting in chaotic eddies of air. However, accurately predicting this turbulence has remained significantly challenging owing to the lack of data on small-scale turbulent flows, which leads to the introduction of ...

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Medicine4 Jan 2024

Scientists use high-tech brain stimulation to make people more hypnotizable

How deeply someone can be hypnotized — known as hypnotizability — appears to be a stable trait that changes little throughout adulthood, much like personality and IQ. But now, for the first time, Stanford Medicine researchers have demonstrated a way to temporarily heighten hypnotizablity — potentially allowing more people to access the benefits of hypnosis-based therapy. In the new study, to be published Jan. 4 in Nature Mental Health, the researchers found that less than two minutes of electrical ...

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Medicine4 Jan 2024

Salk scientists uncover key brain pathway mediating panic disorder symptoms

LA JOLLA (January 4, 2024)—Overwhelming fear, sweaty palms, shortness of breath, rapid heart rate—these are the symptoms of a panic attack, which people with panic disorder have frequently and unexpectedly. Creating a map of the regions, neurons, and connections in the brain that mediate these panic attacks can provide guidance for developing more effective panic disorder therapeutics. Now, Salk researchers have begun to construct that map by discovering a brain circuit that mediates panic ...

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Science4 Jan 2024

Gender parity in autism research: Synaptic similarities challenge focus on male models

New study reveals striking similarities in synaptic abnormalities and behavioral patterns between male and female mouse models of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The study challenges the traditional focus on male subjects in ASD research and highlights the critical importance of including both sexes in investigations. This finding urges a pivotal shift in the scientific community's approach to understanding and addressing ASD, emphasizing the necessity of considering both males and females to comprehensively ...

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Medicine4 Jan 2024

Tiredness experienced by Long-COVID patients has a physical cause

Researchers from Amsterdam UMC and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) have discovered that the persistent fatigue in patients with long-COVID has a biological cause, namely mitochondria in muscle cells that produce less energy than in healthy patients. The results of the study were published today in Nature Communications. "We're seeing clear changes in the muscles in these patients," says Michèle van Vugt, Professor of Internal Medicine at Amsterdam UMC. 25 long-COVID patients and 21 healthy ...

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Medicine4 Jan 2024

New roles for autophagy genes in cellular waste management and aging

Autophagy, which declines with age, may hold more mysteries than researchers previously suspected. In the January 4th issue of Nature Aging, it was noted that scientists from the Buck Institute, Sanford Burnham Prebys and Rutgers University have uncovered possible novel functions for various autophagy genes, which may control different forms of disposal including misfolded proteins—and ultimately affect aging. “While this is very basic research, this work is a reminder that it is critical for us to understand whether we have the whole story about the different genes that have been related to aging or age-related diseases,” said Professor ...

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Medicine4 Jan 2024

The surprisingly resourceful ways bacteria thrive in the human gut

The gut microbiome is so useful to human digestion and health that it is often called an extra digestive organ. This vast collection of bacteria and other microorganisms in the intestine helps us break down foods and produce nutrients or other metabolites that impact human health in a myriad of ways. New research from the University of Chicago shows that some groups of these microbial helpers are amazingly resourceful too, with a large repertoire of genes that help them generate energy for themselves and potentially influence human health as well. The paper, published January 4, 2024, in Nature ...

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Science4 Jan 2024

Genomic ‘tweezer’ ushers in a new era of precision in microbiome research

In a landmark study recently published in the journal Nature Methods, researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have unveiled mEnrich-seq—an innovative method designed to substantially enhance the specificity and efficiency of research into microbiomes, the complex communities of microorganisms that inhabit the human body. Unlocking the Microbial World with mEnrich-seq Microbiomes play a crucial role in human health. An imbalance or a decrease in the variety of microbes in our bodies can lead to an increased risk of several diseases. However, in many microbiome applications, the focus is on studying specific ...

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Medicine4 Jan 2024

Scientists tame chaotic protein fueling 75% of cancers

Meet MYC, the shapeless protein responsible for making the majority of human cancer cases worse. UC Riverside researchers have found a way to rein it in, offering hope for a new era of treatments. In healthy cells, MYC helps guide the process of transcription, in which genetic information is converted from DNA into RNA and, eventually, into proteins. “Normally, MYC’s activity is strictly controlled. In cancer cells, it becomes hyper active, and is not regulated properly,” said UCR associate professor of chemistry Min Xue. “MYC is less like food for cancer cells and more like a steroid ...

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Medicine4 Jan 2024

Breakthrough in designing complicated all-α protein structures

A team of researchers has developed an innovative method to design complicated all-α proteins, characterized by their non-uniformly arranged α-helices as seen in hemoglobin. Employing their novel approach, the team successfully created five unique all-α protein structures, each distinguished by their complicated arrangements of α-helices. This capability holds immense potential in designing functional proteins. This research has been published in the journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology on January 4, 2024. Proteins fold into unique three-dimensional structures based on their amino acid sequences, which then dictate their ...

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