(Santa Barbara, Calif.) — It’s official: The ketogenic diet proved to be effective at controlling polycystic kidney disease (PKD) in the first randomized controlled clinical trial of ketogenic metabolic therapy for PKD.   “I’m really happy about these clinical trial results,” said UC Santa Barbara biologist Thomas Weimbs, whose lab was part of an international collaboration to investigate the effect of the fasting response known as ketosis on the cysts that are the hallmark of the disease. “We now have the first evidence in humans that the cysts really don’t like ...

SAN DIEGO – Non-Hispanic Black patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are living longer, now that new therapies are available, according to a study presented by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center at the 65th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition (Abstract 955). In the past, the standard treatment for AML, a cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow, was intensive chemotherapy. Unfortunately, many older patients were ineligible ...

Ukraine may have lost about 20% of its scientific research capacity — time directly spent by scientists on research activities — as a consequence of the Russia-Ukraine war. The findings, published in Humanities & Social Sciences Communications, also suggest that over 17% of scientists who were research active in Ukraine before the war may have left the scientific research sector by December 2022. Since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, there has been disruption to many sectors of the Ukrainian economy, including the Ukrainian scientific research sector. However, it has so far proved difficult to quantify many of the key impacts of the ...

Until the early morning of February 24th, 2022, Ukrainian scientist Olena Iarmosh did not believe there would be a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Iarmosh grew up and had settled in Kharkiv, her beloved city in Eastern Ukraine and only 40 km away from the Russian border, where she worked for more than 16 years as a lecturer in higher education before fleeing to Switzerland. At approximately 5AM, she awoke to the sounds of bombing, hoping that they were merely the loud sounds of technical maintenance at the local power plant. “My city looks worse now after the bombing than after two occupations by German troops,” ...

A striking and extremely rare half female, half male bird has been spotted by a University of Otago zoologist.   Sesquicentennial Distinguished Professor Hamish Spencer was holidaying in Colombia when an amateur ornithologist John Murillo pointed out a wild Green Honeycreeper with distinct half green, or female, and half blue, male, plumage.   “Many birdwatchers could go their whole lives and not see a bilateral gynandromorph in any species of bird. The phenomenon is extremely rare in birds, I know of no examples from New Zealand ever.   “It is very striking, I was very privileged to see it,” Professor Spencer says.   Photographs of the bird make ...

URBANA, Ill. – Nutrient runoff from agricultural production is a significant source of water pollution in the U.S., and climate change that produces extreme weather events is likely to exacerbate the problem. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign looks at how extreme rainfall impacts runoff and suggests possible mitigation strategies. “We look at more than a decade of precipitation events in the state of Wisconsin and quantify the increase in nutrient runoff right around the event and at the end of the growing season. Climate ...

Peer-reviewed / Observational study / People The Lancet Oncology: Risk of dying from cancer in some poorer districts of England over 70% higher than wealthy districts, study suggests Analysis of the risk of dying from the most cancers with the largest death toll across the 314 districts in England finds that in 2019 the highest risks were in northern cities such as Liverpool, Manchester, Hull and Newcastle, and in coastal areas to the east of London. The risk of dying from cancer before 80 years of age ranged from one in ten in Westminster to one in six in Manchester for women, and from one in eight in Harrow to one in five in Manchester ...

A spacecraft the size of a cereal box has collected precise measurements of the atmospheres of large and puffy planets called “hot Jupiters.” The findings, led by a team from the University of Colorado Boulder, could help reveal how the atmospheres around these and a host of other worlds are escaping into space. The observations are the first results to come from a hard-working NASA spacecraft known as the Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment (CUTE).  Kevin France, principal investigator for the mission, will present the group’s results at a media availability Monday, Dec. 11 at 4:30 p.m. at the 2023 meeting of the American ...

DOWNLOADABLE VIDEO MIAMI, FLORIDA (EMBARGOED UNTIL MONDAY, DEC. 11, 2023 @ 7 P.M. ET) – In a study led by researchers at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, patients recently diagnosed with a common and aggressive form of acute myeloid leukemia reported having improved quality of life when a newly approved drug was part of the treatment plan. Study results will be released during an oral presentation at the 65th ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition, the American Society of Hematology’s conference taking place in San Diego, California, Dec. 9-12. The ...

UNDER STRICT EMBARGO UNTIL 00:01 AM (UK TIME) ON TUESDAY 12TH DECEMBER 2023   A rare roofed theatre, markets, warehouses, a river port and other startling discoveries made by a Cambridge-led team of archaeologists challenge major assumptions about the decline of Roman Italy. New findings from Interamna Lirenas, traditionally written off as a failed backwater in Central Italy, change our understanding of Roman history, its excavators believe. Their thirteen-year study – published today in the edited volume Roman Urbanism in Italy ...

Living through a historic pandemic while handling the stress of the first year of college sent one-third of students in a new study into clinical depression. That’s double the percentage seen in previous years of the same study. And while certain genetic factors appeared to shield first-year students in pre-pandemic years from depression, even students with these protective factors found themselves developing symptoms in the pandemic years. In fact, much of the overall rise in student depression during the pandemic was among young women with this kind of “genetic resilience.” But ...

On December 11, 2023, UC San Diego Health successfully completed the purchase of Alvarado Hospital Medical Center from Prime Healthcare. The acquisition of the 302-bed medical facility greatly expands the university’s growing network of clinics and hospitals to better serve patients with safe, timely and equitable access to high-quality health care.  “We are grateful to all the teams who contributed to this milestone merger with UC San Diego Health. Together, we start a new chapter to expand access to needed medical and surgical care in eastern ...

The Malaghan Institute of Medical Research in collaboration with Wellington Zhaotai Therapies Limited today announced results of its phase 1 dose escalation trial of a new third generation anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy to be presented at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting in San Diego on 11 December, 3pm. Anti-CD19 CAR T-cells with a CD28 co-stimulatory domain, such as axicabtagene ciloleucel and brexucabtagene autoleucel, are among the most effective CAR T-cell therapies for B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas but are associated with neurotoxicity (immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome, ICANS) in around half of recipients, ...

The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) strongly endorses H.R. 6683, legislation that would block a more than 3% Medicare payment cut scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2024. ASA supports the immediate passage of this legislation this year or early 2024, prior to full implementation of these destructive cuts. “We commend these lawmakers for their leadership on preventing this Medicare payment cut and their efforts to ensure the viability of the nation’s physician practices,” said ASA President Ronald ...

Registrations are open to apply for the São Paulo School of Advanced Science on Quantum Materials, to be held on July 6-16, 2024, at the University of São Paulo’s Physics Institute in São Paulo City, Brazil. The School expects to select and fully support 100 graduate students and young researchers (50 from Brazil and 50 from abroad) to take part in short courses and talks focusing on fundamental, theoretical, and experimental aspects of quantum materials – a fertile ...

Like a shiny, round ornament ready to be placed in the perfect spot on a holiday tree, supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A) gleams in a new image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. As part of the 2023 Holidays at the White House, First Lady of the United States Dr. Jill Biden debuted the first-ever White House Advent Calendar. To showcase the “Magic, Wonder, and Joy” of the holiday season, Dr. Biden and NASA are celebrating with this new image from Webb. While all ...

In December 2022, NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) mission observed the dramatic and unexpected “disappearance” of a stream of charged particles constantly emanating off the Sun, known as the solar wind. This was caused by a special type of solar event that was so powerful, it created a void in its wake as it traveled through the solar system. Due to this event, MAVEN’s measurements at Mars showed that the number of particles making up the solar wind dropped significantly. Without the pressure of the solar wind, the Martian atmosphere and magnetosphere expanded by thousands of kilometers. MAVEN is the only asset currently at Mars able to ...

As presented at the Society for Risk Analysis 2023 Annual conference, Patrycja Sleboda from Baruch College – CUNY and her colleagues from the University of Southern California conducted a national food choice experiment to determine how people respond to labels such as “vegan” and “plant-based” compared to “healthy,” “sustainable,” or “healthy and sustainable.”  Research has shown that limiting meat and dairy intake and eating more fruit and vegetables reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases, Type 2 diabetes, and cancer. Diets with less meat and dairy are also more environmentally ...

Embargoed for release until 5:00 p.m. ET on Monday 11 December 2023  Annals of Internal Medicine Tip Sheet   @Annalsofim  Below please find summaries of new articles that will be published in the next issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The summaries are not intended to substitute for the full articles as a source of information. This information is under strict embargo and by taking it into possession, media representatives are committing to the terms of the embargo not only on their own behalf, but also on behalf of the organization they represent.  ----------------------------  1. Group summarizes guidance for the prevention, ...

Conference indicates surging interest in superhot, superdeep geothermal energy   --Renewable resource has potential to revolutionize our energy system   For Immediate Release: December 11, 2023   By Elizabeth A. Thomson for Quaise Energy   For more information, including technical papers and graphic, please contact Elizabeth Thomson, 22elizabeththomson@gmail.com.     CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--In an indication of growing interest in the holy grail of geothermal energy—tapping ...

University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) Dean Mark T. Gladwin, MD, announced today that the school will receive a $29 million research award over four years from the National Institutes of Health to lead a multicenter trial that aims to improve health outcomes in people who inject opioid drugs and are hospitalized with infectious complications of their drug use. Faculty affiliated with the Institute of Human Virology and the Kahlert Institute for Addiction Medicine at UMSOM will be conducting the research. The research award, which has provided ...

“This review revealed 29 primary risk factors associated with arm morbidity after breast cancer treatment.” BUFFALO, NY- December 11, 2023 – A new review paper was published in Oncotarget's Volume 14 on December 1, 2023, entitled, “Risk factors for long-term arm morbidities following breast cancer treatments: A systematic review.” In this review, researchers Ifat Klein, Michael Friger, Merav Ben David, and Danit Shahar from Assuta Medical Center and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel ...

Alzheimer’s disease has plagued one large Colombian family for generations, striking down half of its members in the prime of life. But one member of that family evaded what had seemed would be fate: Despite inheriting the genetic defect that caused her relatives to develop dementia in their 40s, she stayed cognitively healthy into her 70s. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis now think they know why. A previous study had reported that, unlike her relatives, the woman carried ...

The mystery of aging has fascinated people for millennia, with many willing to do anything to halt or reverse this process, because aging is typically associated with gradual deterioration of most body functions. While senescence is a natural part of life, biologists understand surprisingly little about the emergence of this process during evolution. It is not clear whether aging is inevitable, because there are organisms that seemingly do not age at all, moreover, the phenomenon known as negative aging, or rejuvenation, does exist: some turtles’ vital functions improve ...

PLYMOUTH MEETING, PA [December 11, 2023] — New research in the December 2023 issue of JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network finds patients treated with first-line immunotherapy for advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) showed similar results in terms of survival, progression-free survival, and treatment duration, regardless of race or ethnicity, even with differences in income and insurance. The clinical investigators focused on patients in under-represented groups who were typically less likely to be included in the immunotherapy clinical trials that have been conducted ...