SAN ANTONIO – For patients whose breast cancer converted from lymph node-positive to lymph node-negative disease after neoadjuvant chemotherapy, skipping adjuvant regional nodal irradiation (RNI) did not increase the risk of disease recurrence or death five years after surgery, according to results from the NRG Oncology/NSABP B-51/RTOG 1304 clinical trial presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held December 5-9, 2023. Patients who are diagnosed with breast cancer that has already spread to regional lymph nodes may receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy; in some cases, neoadjuvant therapy completely eradicates ...

Washington, December 6, 2023—Students achieve better grades in college science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses when those classrooms have higher numbers of underrepresented racial-minority and first-generation college students, according to new research released today. The findings were published in AERA Open, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Educational Research Association. While this link holds true for all students, it is even stronger for students who are underrepresented racial minorities (URMs) and the first in their family to attend college. The authors found that in STEM courses ...

The brains of special warfare community personnel repeatedly exposed to blasts show increased inflammation and structural changes compared with a control group, potentially increasing the risk of long-term, brain-related disease, according to a new study. Researchers from the University of Virginia School of Medicine and Naval Medical Research Command (NMRC) led the study, which compared the brains of nine special operations personnel exposed to blasts with a control group of nine military service members with only minimal exposures to blasts. Participants’ brains were analyzed using sophisticated imaging techniques, combined with surveys ...

Philadelphia, December 6, 2023 – Aging is associated with chronic, nonresolving inflammation, or “inflammaging,” that can lead to tissue dysfunction. New findings reported in The American Journal of Pathology, published by Elsevier, reveal insights into the cellular programs and factors that promote the resolution of inflammation during aging. These findings may lead to the development of new strategies to limit age-related organ decline.   The resolution of inflammation is an active process that is governed by numerous factors, such as specialized ...

Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, Ph.D., M.D., M.A.S.., Editor in Chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and the JAMA Network™ has been named as one of Modern Healthcare’s 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare 2023 for the second year in a row. This program acknowledges and honors individuals who are deemed by their peers and the senior editors of Modern Healthcare to be the most influential figures in the industry in terms of leadership and impact. "It’s an honor to be recognized for two consecutive years by Modern Healthcare," ...

A new risk model uses baseline sociodemographic and financial measures to predict which patients prescribed long-term therapy with aromatase inhibitors for breast cancer are at significantly higher risk of stopping that therapy early (non-adherence). The work will be presented in a poster spotlight discussion session at the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) on Wednesday, December 6th. The authors analyzed data from the SWOG S1105 clinical trial, including measures of patient adherence to aromatase inhibitor (AI) therapy for hormone-sensitive breast cancer. They created a model ...

To reduce marine debris, which causes serious environmental pollution in the sea, researchers at the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT, President Kim, Byung-suk) have developed a technology for reducing floating debris in rivers. Since the river is the main transportation channels for land-originated marine debris, the research team led by Dr. Sang Hwa Jung launched a living lab project involving local governments, local citizens, and experts. Chungcheongnam-do (also ...

Berlin, Germany, and Washington, D.C., December 6, 2023 – Morressier, the company transforming scholarly communications, today announced the formation of a new Strategic Advisory Board composed of the most senior leaders from across the scholarly communications community. The Board, which is facilitated and supported by Morressier, will act as a lively, critical, and direct forum, stimulating innovation and collaboration across the industry on crucial issues such as research integrity and publishing workflows. The ...

In an effort to improve the health of Tribal communities and Indigenous people, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded $9 million in funding for Native scientists at Arizona State University and elsewhere to create the first Indigenous-led Tribal Data Repository. Since the SARS-CoV-2 worldwide pandemic began, global Indigenous communities have been particularly hard hit, with health disparities including lack of access to health care and undue burden of infections leading to increased hospitalizations and higher death rates. In response, Indigenous researchers and scientists have been working to secure and fund efforts to better understand the impact of COVID-19 and ...

Detailed insights into muscle and tendon movement mechanisms during stretching are essential to improve our overall mobility and flexibility. It is not only important for optimum athletic performance, but also crucial for preventing musculoskeletal injuries. When an individual stretches, 50% to 70% of the elongation is absorbed into the muscle belly, i.e., the fleshy part of the muscle containing most fibers. However, in skeletal muscles with fascicles, the muscle fibers are shorter than the muscle belly and attach to the tendon at an angle. This angle between the fascicles and the tendon changes in response to the length of the muscle belly ...

The ocean is a critical life-support system for our planet through its role in global climate regulation. It absorbs most of the carbon emissions and heat trapped in the atmosphere which are a result of human activities. Over the years, this has led to ocean warming (OW), ocean acidification (OA), and ocean deoxygenation (OD). Moreover, increased anthropogenic‑nitrogen-deposition (AND) has largely influenced marine environments. As part of these consequences, the gases nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) are largely controlled by 'prokaryotes’ or microbial organisms living in the ocean. While several studies have analyzed ...

Research Highlights: A study of married or partnered, middle-aged and older heterosexual couples in the U.S., England, China and India found that in 20% to 47% of the couples, both spouses/partners had high blood pressure. The prevalence of both spouses/partners having high blood pressure was highest in England and the U.S., however, spouses/partners whose spouses/partners had high blood pressure were more likely to also have high blood pressure in China and India. Researchers suggest couple-based interventions to improve high blood pressure diagnosis and management, such as couple-based screening, skills training or joint ...

LA JOLLA (December 6, 2023)—Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers—only about one in eight patients survives five years after diagnosis. Those dismal statistics are in part due to the thick, nearly impenetrable wall of fibrosis, or scar tissue, that surrounds most pancreatic tumors and makes it hard for drugs to access and destroy the cancer cells. Now, researchers at the Salk Institute have discovered how a class of anti-cancer drugs called HDAC inhibitors can help treat pancreatic cancer by modulating ...

New research has shown that fire-ice - frozen methane which is trapped as a solid under our oceans - is vulnerable to melting due to climate change and could be released into the sea. An international team of researchers led by Newcastle University found that as frozen methane and ice melts, methane - a potent greenhouse gas - is released and moves from the deepest parts of the continental slope to the edge of the underwater shelf. They even discovered a pocket which had moved 25 miles (40 kilometres). Publishing in the journal Nature Geoscience, the researchers say this means that much more methane could potentially be vulnerable and released into the atmosphere ...

Francis Crick Institute press release Under strict embargo: 10:00hrs GMT Wednesday 6 December 2023 Peer reviewed Experimental study Animals Influx of water and salts propel immune cells through the body Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute, working with Imperial College London, King’s College London and University of Cambridge, have shown that an influx of water and ions into immune cells allows them to migrate to where they’re needed in the body.   Our bodies respond to illness by sending out ...

Coral reefs are the most biodiverse systems in the sea and central to the life of many coastal human communities. Half a billion people rely on coral reefs for protection from storms, provision of seafood as well as promotion of tourism and recreation. But climate change is compromising the health of coral reefs globally. Increasing sea temperatures are driving coral bleaching and death. So, the resilience of reefs in the face of climatic challenges is crucial to our collective future, and new research led by Arizona State University has delivered greater understanding of a key aspect of reef health. In a paper published on December 6, 2023, by the London, UK-based journal Proceedings of ...

Most people with schizophrenia have extensive impairment of memory, including prospective memory, which is the ability to remember to perform future activities. Results from a randomized clinical trial published in Neuropsychopharmacology Reports indicate that repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), a non-invasive method that uses alternating magnetic fields to induce an electric current in the underlying brain tissue, may help ameliorate certain aspects of prospective memory in individuals with schizophrenia. The trial included 50 patients with schizophrenia and 18 healthy controls. Of the 50 patients, 26 completed ...

In a recent study published in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, Veterans with housing instability were 53% more likely to receive a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia (ADRD) than those with stable housing. The study included 44,194 Veterans experiencing homelessness or housing instability and 44,194 with secure housing who were followed from 2011 to 2019. None of the Veterans had a diagnosis of ADRD prior to 2011. By 2015, the midpoint of the study, 7.23% and 3.66% of housing ...

New research published in JCCP Advances indicates that experiencing negative life events (NLE) during childhood is linked with a higher risk of developing symptoms of depression during young adulthood. Thinning of the orbitofrontal cortex, a region in the brain that affects emotion, during adolescence was also associated with increased depressive symptoms later in life. The study involved brain imaging tests conducted in 321 participants across four time points from ages 14 to 22 years. Investigators also used a questionnaire at the first time point to measure NLE, and they tested for depressive symptoms at the fourth time point. A higher ...

New research published in Arthritis & Rheumatology suggests that for people overweight or with obesity who also have knee or hip osteoarthritis, a slow-to-moderate—but not fast—rate of weight loss caused by anti-obesity medications may lower their risk of premature death. Among 6,524 participants with knee or hip osteoarthritis who were taking orlistat, sibutramine, or rimonabant, the 5-year death rate was 5.3%, 4.0%, and 5.4% for the “weight gain/stable”, “slow-to-moderate weight loss,” and “fast weight loss” groups, respectively. ...

The world has reached a pivotal moment as threats from Earth system tipping points – and progress towards positive tipping points – accelerate, a new report shows. The Global Tipping Points Report – the most comprehensive assessment of tipping points ever conducted – says humanity is currently on a disastrous trajectory. The speed of fossil fuel phase out and growth of zero-carbon solutions will now determine the future of billions of people. The report says current global governance is inadequate for the scale of the challenge and makes six key ...

SYDNEY, Dec. 6, 2023 – Prisons are typically noisy environments, filled with clanking metal bars and echoing concrete surfaces. This level of constant noise is harmful to both prisoners and staff, but there are few guidelines for designing better, quieter facilities. James Boland, an acoustician for SLR Consulting, employed insights from the field of sensory criminology to better understand the unique acoustic needs inside prison environments. His presentation will take place Dec. 6 at 2:40 p.m. Australian Eastern Daylight Time, as part of Acoustics 2023 Sydney, running Dec. 4-8 at the International Convention Centre ...

SYDNEY, Dec. 6, 2023 – Table tennis has been played for decades as a more accessible version of tennis. The sport is particularly beginner-friendly while maintaining a rich level of competitive play. However, like many sports, it remains inaccessible to people who are blind or have low vision. Phoebe Peng, an Engineering Honours student at the University of Sydney, is researching ways to allow people with low vision and blindness to play pingpong using sound. The process uses neuromorphic cameras and an array of loudspeakers, designed to allow players ...

Twice daily non-invasive electrical stimulation of the brain may boost mental processes (cognitive function) in people with Alzheimer’s disease, suggest the results of a small clinical trial published online in the open access journal General Psychiatry. The technology, known as transcranial direct current stimulation, or tDCS for short, may help to fire up the brain’s plasticity, enabling ‘rewiring’ through the formation of new neural networks, the findings suggest.  tDCS comes in the form of a device with two electrodes, placed over specific areas of a person’s ...

Starting menstrual cycles at a young age—before the age of 13—is linked to a heightened risk of developing type 2 diabetes in mid-life, finds US research published online in the open access journal BMJ Nutrition Prevention & Health. And it also seems to be associated with an increased risk of having a stroke before the age of 65 in those with the disease, particularly those who started having periods before the age of 10 or younger, the findings indicate. Diabetes and its complications are on the rise among young and middle aged US adults, while the age at which women start having periods is falling ...