As holidays near, people are sneaking shakes of their presents to try to figure out what they’re getting. But present shakers might be a little less sly than they think. New research shows it’s incredibly easy for people watching others shake boxes to tell what they’re up to. “There are few things more delightful than seeing a child’s eyes light up as they pick up a present and wonder what might be inside,” said author Chaz Firestone, a Johns Hopkins University assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences who investigates ...

Some Covid-19 vaccines safely and effectively used lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) to deliver messenger RNA to cells. A new MIT study shows that different nanoparticles could be used for a potential Alzheimer’s disease (AD) therapy. In tests in multiple mouse models and with cultured human cells, a newly tailored LNP formulation effectively delivered small interfering RNA (siRNA) to the brain’s microglia immune cells to suppress expression of a protein linked to excessive inflammation in Alzheimer’s ...

Electrochemical reactions are central to the green transitions. These reactions use the electric current and potential difference to carry out chemical reactions, which enables binding and realizing electric energy from chemical bonds. This chemistry is the basis for several applications, such as hydrogen technology, batteries, and various aspects of circular economy.  Developments and improvement in these technologies require detailed insight into the electrochemical reactions and different factors impacting them. Recent studies have shown that besides the electrode material also the used solvent, its acidity, and ...

PULLMAN, Wash. – A single strand of fiber developed at Washington State University has the flexibility of cotton and the electric conductivity of a polymer, called polyaniline. The newly developed material showed good potential for wearable e-textiles. The WSU researchers tested the fibers with a system that powered an LED light and another that sensed ammonia gas, detailing their findings in the journal Carbohydrate Polymers.  “We have one fiber in two sections: one section is the conventional cotton: flexible and strong enough for everyday use, and the other side is the conductive material,” said Hang Liu, WSU textile ...

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute, UCL and MSD have identified a potential treatment target for a genetic type of epilepsy. Developmental and epileptic encephalopathies are rare types of epilepsy which start in early childhood. One of the most common types of genetic epilepsy, CDKL5 deficiency disorder (CDD), causes seizures and impaired development. Children are currently treated with generic antiepileptic drugs, as there aren’t yet any disease-targeting medications for this disorder. CDD involves losing the function of a gene producing the CDKL5 enzyme, which phosphorylates proteins, meaning it adds an extra phosphate ...

Researchers at Linköping University, Sweden, have examined the brains of 16 patients previously hospitalised for COVID-19 with persisting symptoms. They have found differences in brain tissue structure between patients with persisting symptoms after COVID-19 and healthy people. Their findings, published in the journal Brain Communications, can bring insights into the underlying mechanisms of persisting neurological problems after COVID-19. Several previous studies of persisting problems after COVID have involved MRI brain scanning. Although researchers have found differences compared with healthy brains, these differences are not specific ...

A world without cardiovascular disease (CVD) is possible, yet millions of lives are lost prematurely to heart disease each year, according to the new Global Burden of Disease (GBD) special report published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The report provides an update of health estimates for the global, regional and national burden and trends of CVD from 1990-2022 by analyzing the impact of cardiovascular conditions and risk factors across 21 global regions. Research from this study reflects an urgent need ...

Train accidents could be caused by solar storms switching signalling from red to green according to new research examining the impact of space weather. Solar storms can trigger powerful magnetic disturbances on Earth, creating geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) which could potentially interfere with electricity transmission and distribution grids. A team led by PhD researcher Cameron Patterson and Professor Jim Wild from Lancaster University modelled how GICs flowed through the track circuits of AC electrified lines powered with overhead cables. Using two routes - the Preston to Lancaster section of the West ...

Steel and cement are two materials that no society can do without. Their production comes with a significant carbon footprint, however. To meet zero-emission targets under the Paris Agreement, countries, cities, and industries are depending on new large-scale infrastructure for CO2 transport and storage, renewable electricity and green hydrogen. A new study by researchers at the National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan, and the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, shows that the current rate of deployment of this infrastructure is insufficient. The study ...

MIAMI, FLORIDA (EMBARGOED UNTIL DEC. 10, 2023, AT 7:30 P.M. ET) – The treatment landscape for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is evolving rapidly, as research discoveries at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and other academic cancer centers advance new, more effective therapies for this aggressive blood cancer.  “We’ve seen more progress during the past 10 years than the previous four decades combined,” said Justin M. Watts, M.D., Sylvester hematologist, associate professor of medicine, and Pap Corps Early Career ...

University of Leeds news Embargo: 19:30 ET on Sunday 10 December 2023 / 00.30 GMT on Monday 11 December 2023 New personalised therapy improves survival for patients with CLL leukaemia Personalised treatment for the most common form of adult leukaemia helps patients survive for longer and stay in remission, a phase III trial has found. The trial, by the University of Leeds, has been identified as groundbreaking research by the New England Journal of Medicine and the 65th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition in San Diego, where ...

DOWNLOADABLE VIDEO HERE MIAMI, FLORIDA (EMBARGOED UNTIL SUNDAY, DEC. 10, 2023 AT 8:00 P.M. ET) – A study led by researchers at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine suggests that CAR-T immunotherapy remains a viable option for patients who have lymphoma that goes into remission before the cell therapy begins. While the study doesn’t answer the question of whether cell therapy in remission is the right choice, it does say that it’s not the wrong choice. “I ...

SAN DIEGO ― Combining the JAK inhibitor ruxolitinib with the BCL-xL inhibitor navitoclax was twice as effective in reducing enlarged spleens – a major indicator of clinical improvement – compared with standard-of-care ruxolitinib monotherapy for adult patients with intermediate or high-risk myelofibrosis, a rare bone marrow cancer, according to results of the Phase III TRANSFORM-1 trial reported by researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Data from the global, randomized, placebo-controlled ...

SAN DIEGO ― Two clinical trials led by researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center demonstrated early positive results from novel therapies targeting menin for the treatment of relapsed or refractory acute leukemias with specific genetic alterations. Results from the studies were shared today in oral presentations at the 2023 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting. More information on all ASH Annual Meeting content from MD Anderson can be found at MDAnderson.org/ASH. Menin inhibitor monotherapy ...

SAN DIEGO ― The targeted therapy bezuclastinib was safe and rapidly reduced markers of disease burden while also improving symptoms for patients with a rare blood disorder called nonadvanced system mastocytosis, according to results of the Phase II SUMMIT trial reported by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The findings, presented today at the 2023 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting, demonstrate that all participants treated with bezuclastinib achieved at least a 50% reduction in markers of disease burden and 63% reported their disease symptoms eased within 12 weeks. That number increased to 78% after ...

EMBARGOED UNTIL DECEMBER 9, 2023, AT 12:45 P.M. ET A new study from researchers with Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and collaborating organizations provides insight into the underlying mechanisms of gene mutations commonly seen in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and other myeloid neoplasms. Their findings, to be presented at ASH 2023, the American Society of Hematology’s annual meeting in Santa Diego, Dec. 9-12, could lead to development of more effective drug combinations ...

SAN DIEGO – Early results from a Phase I clinical trial of AT101, a new CAR T cell therapy that uses a distinct binding mechanism to target CD19, show a 100 percent complete response (CR) rate at the higher dose levels studied in the trial, according to researchers from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center. The findings were published today in Molecular Cancer and presented at the 65th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting ...

Older patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph+) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who were not good candidates for the standard treatment of intensive chemotherapy had a median overall survival (OS) of 6.5 years on an alternate regimen of dasatinib and blinatumomab.  These long-term results from the S1318 clinical trial will be presented at the 65th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition in San Diego on December 9 (abstract 1499). Anjali S. Advani, MD, a SWOG investigator at Cleveland Clinic Cancer Institute, led the study, with ...

Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE) — a behavioral intervention that integrates training in mindfulness, emotion regulation strategies and savoring of natural rewards — could hold the key to mitigating relapse in women undergoing medically assisted opioid use disorder treatment, a Rutgers study found.   The pilot study published in the journal Explore, is the first to evaluate the potential neural changes that underlie women’s emotion regulation and craving after an eight-week MORE intervention.   Previous studies have shown that women report higher opioid craving and show a greater inability to ...

Imagine if scientists developed a customizable cancer vaccine that was available — and affordable — for everyone. What if a patient scheduled for surgery also had the option of taking a pill whose composition includes nanorobotics capable of performing the procedure? These and other medical scenarios may seem far-fetched and better suited to a science fiction thriller. However, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) is seeking to take such ideas from the drawing board to ...

Almost US$7 trillion per year in government subsidies and private investment - around 7 per cent of global GDP - has a direct negative impact on nature. Nature-based solutions remain dramatically underfunded. Current public and private finance flows are only US$200 billion per year. To meet climate, biodiversity, and restoration targets, this needs to triple by 2030 and quadruple by 2050. Realignment of public and private nature-negative finance flows is urgently needed Dubai, 9 December 2022 – Close to $7 trillion is invested globally each year in activities that have a direct negative impact on nature from both public and private sector sources - equivalent to ...

Tokyo, Japan – Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have measured how oxygenated hemoglobin levels in the blood change in infants’ brains in response to touch. Using spectroscopy methods with external sensors placed on the scalp of sleeping infants, they found that the time at which levels peak doesn’t change with infant age, but the amount by which it varies over time does. Insights like this shed light on how the physiology of infants develop. The first phase of a newborn’s life is a dazzling array of rapid developmental ...

Which charities will be most effective in ensuring your donation is put to good use? For the first time in the Netherlands, researchers applied scientific methods to pinpoint which charities achieve the most with the donations they receive. The University of Amsterdam and Stichting Doneer Effectief (Donate Effectively Foundation) unveiled the list on Friday, 8 December, during a sold out evening in Rotterdam. ‘We are talking about the Champions League of good causes,’ says professor of Philanthropy & Sustainable Investment Paul Smeets of the University of Amsterdam. The ranking ...

The shimmering green, red and purple curtains of the northern and southern lights — the auroras — may be the best-known phenomena lighting up the nighttime sky, but the most mysterious are the mauve and white streaks called Steve and their frequent companion, a glowing green "picket fence." First recognized in 2018 as distinct from the common auroras, Steve — a tongue-in-cheek reference to the benign name given a scary hedge in a 2006 children's movie — and its associated picket fence were nevertheless thought to be caused by the same physical processes. But scientists were left scratching their heads about how these glowing emissions ...

The High Energy Physics Advisory Panel (HEPAP) to the High Energy Physics program of the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation’s Division of Physics has released a new Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5) report, which outlines particle physicists’ recommendations for research priorities in a field whose projects — such as building new accelerator facilities — can take years or decades, contributions from thousands of scientists, and billions of dollars.  The 2023 P5 report represents the major activity in the field of particle physics that ...