SAN DIEGO, CA, NOVEMBER 13, 2023 — Research from Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) reveals a significant psychological impact related to inflammatory arthritis patients’ efforts to maintain employment while coping with the challenges of their illness. The study, titled “The Psychological Experience of Work for People with Inflammatory Arthritis (IA),” was presented at the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Convergence 2023 on November 13 in San Diego. “A large body of research indicates that people with inflammatory arthritis are at increased risk for work disability, which can profoundly affect their lives. ...

In a recent publication in Nature Communications, a joint research team of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), the University of Cologne, and the University of Oldenburg has presented their findings on the functioning of an atypical cryptochrome protein (Cry). These proteins are found in a variety of organisms, and they are often involved in light-controlled biological processes. The marine bristle worm Platynereis dumerilii, for example, employs a special Cry protein designated L-Cry to distinguish between sunlight and moonlight as well as between different moon phases. This is essential for the worms ...

Artificial intelligence (AI) is on the rise. Until now, AI applications generally have “black box” character: How AI arrives at its results remains hidden. Prof. Dr. Jürgen Bajorath, a cheminformatics scientist at the University of Bonn, and his team have developed a method that reveals how certain AI applications work in pharmaceutical research. The results are unexpected: the AI programs largely remembered known data and hardly learned specific chemical interactions when predicting drug potency. The results have now been published in Nature Machine Intelligence. Which drug molecule is most effective? Researchers are feverishly ...

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- Migrant couples who can effectively balance the culture of their homeland while adapting to the dominant culture of their new home are more likely to have a better relationship, according to newly published research from psychologists at Binghamton University, State University of New York.  “When immigrants venture into a new country, they embark on a journey of blending cultures while keeping their roots alive,“ said Binghamton University PhD candidate Quinn Hendershot. “There has been limited research on how their ability to adjust to a new culture while embracing the cultures of their homeland can affect the relationship.” Hendershot ...

– The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded $1.1 million to a team led by Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) researcher Ulkuhan Guler to develop a first-of-its-kind wearable sensor for premature infants that will address racial bias in healthcare by monitoring oxygen levels two different ways and correcting the measurements to account for variations in skin color. The four-year project will create a convenient, affordable, noninvasive sensor about the size of a bandage that will enable infants at risk of lung disease to leave hospitals sooner and be accurately monitored at home, said Guler, an associate professor in the Department ...

HOUSTON – (Nov.13, 2023) – When it comes to chemical reactions, fluorine has a reputation as a ‘magic bullet atom’ for its ability to increase a drug’s absorption and prolong its lifetime. However, traditional methods of adding it to compounds entail expensive materials and can be difficult to pull off. Rice University scientists developed a reliable and cost-effective process of adding fluorine to molecules for increased pharmaceutical drug efficiency using an iron and ...

Philadelphia, November 13, 2023 – A novel assay that detects a unique molecular marker in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) may revolutionize the way this disease is detected and treated according to a new report in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics published by Elsevier. This assay may improve detection of AML driven by KMT2A gene fusions and may affect treatment decision-making, assessing response to therapy, and long-term surveillance. AML is a rare, aggressive blood cancer diagnosed in around 120,000 individuals worldwide each year. Detecting residual disease during treatment is essential for determining prognosis and ...

The German Research Foundation (DFG) will be funding a new Research Training Group (RTG) at the University of Göttingen from next year. The RTG "Curiosity" is based at the Faculty of Biology and Psychology. Funding is expected to total around 7.8 million euros over the following five years. In addition, the DFG has extended the funding for the RTG "Fourier Analysis and Spectral Theory" at the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science by five years. The award for this RTG totals around 4.5 million euros over the extended funding period.    Curiosity is broadly defined ...

New findings from the University of Houston Department of Health and Human Performance reveal a significant association between a lower number of positive childhood experiences and a higher prevalence of binge-eating disorder characteristics, as well as lower scores for intuitive eating.  Binge eating, which includes consuming a substantial amount of food within a brief timeframe and experiencing a loss of control, is linked to adverse weight-related health effects and challenges in mental well-being. Intuitive eating, ...

Nikhil Koratkar, Ph.D., John A. Clark and Edward T. Crossan Professor of Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has been named a fellow of the American Physical Society (APS). Koratkar was recognized for his pioneering contributions to the field of nanoscale science and technology and the use of nanoscale materials in composites and energy storage devices. Each year, no more than 0.05% of the society membership is recognized by their peers for election to the status of fellow of the American Physical Society. The APS Fellowship Program recognizes members ...

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Nov. 13, 2023) – Children’s National Hospital was selected as a spoke for the Investor Catalyst Hub, a regional hub of ARPANET-H, a nationwide health innovation network launched by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H).    The Investor Catalyst Hub seeks to accelerate the commercialization of groundbreaking and accessible biomedical solutions. It uses an innovative hub-and-spoke model designed to reach a wide range of nonprofit organizations and Minority-Serving Institutions, with the aim of delivering scalable healthcare outcomes for all Americans.    “The needs of ...

Despite national medical guidelines supporting the use of antiviral medications in young children diagnosed with influenza, a new study reports an underuse of the treatment.   “Trends in Outpatient Influenza Antiviral Use Among Children and Adolescents in the United States” was published in Pediatrics, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.   “Antiviral treatment, when used early, improves health outcomes with influenza,” said lead author and principal investigator James Antoon, MD, PhD, MPH, assistant professor of Pediatrics and Hospital ...

A form of brain-inspired computing that exploits the intrinsic physical properties of a material to dramatically reduce energy use is now a step closer to reality, thanks to a new study led by UCL and Imperial College London researchers. In the new study, published in the journal Nature Materials, an international team of researchers used chiral (twisted) magnets as their computational medium and found that, by applying an external magnetic field and changing temperature, the physical properties of these materials could be adapted to suit different machine-learning tasks. Such an approach, known as physical reservoir ...

People in many parts of the United States possess few chances for the robust community engagement that underpins healthy democracies, according to a new report that for the first time maps civic opportunity across the country. The heat map created by Johns Hopkins University’s SNF Agora Institute, reveals patterns of inequality in civic opportunity tied to race, class, immigration status and education. Researchers also found that a great deal of civic engagement happens through local faith institutions and social and fraternal organizations, not D.C.-based advocacy organizations that tend to carry political clout. The report is the initial phase ...

Immigration to and living on Mars have long been depicted in science fiction works. But before dream turns into reality, there is a hurdle man has to overcome -- the lack of essential chemicals such as oxygen for long-term survival on the planet. However, hope looms up thanks to recent discovery of water activity on Mars. Scientists are now exploring the possibility of decomposing water to produce oxygen through electrochemical water oxidation driven by solar power with the help of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts. The challenge is to find a ...

Young adults are now more likely to vape than to use traditional cigarettes. After years of public health success in decreasing the numbers of people using cigarettes, researchers are seeing striking increases in the numbers of young people who use e-cigarettes regularly – so much so that, for the first time, there are more young people who begin to use nicotine through vaping rather than through cigarettes.   “We now have a shift such that there are more ‘never smokers’ who vape than established smokers,” ...

About The Study: This analysis finds that COVID-19 and the drug overdose epidemic were major contributors to the widening gender gap in life expectancy (nearly six years) between women and men in recent years. Men experienced higher COVID-19 death rates for likely multifactorial reasons, including higher burden of comorbidities and differences in health behaviors and socioeconomic factors, such as labor force participation, incarceration, and homelessness. Differentially worsening mortality from diabetes, heart disease, homicide, and suicide suggest that chronic metabolic disease and mental illness may also contribute.   Authors: Brandon W. Yan, M.D., ...

About The Study: The data from this nationally representative survey study reveal a shift in tobacco use among young adults (ages 18-24), showing historically low cigarette use, which has positive public health significance. However, e-cigarette use is higher (14.5%) than reported previously, coinciding with the introduction of salt-based devices in 2015 to 2018. Over half of established vaping young adults never regularly smoked. Research suggests that exclusive e-cigarette users are unlikely to ...

About The Study: The findings of this study indicate an increase in the prevalence of breastfeeding initiation and breastfeeding duration at 12 months from 1999 to 2018 in the U.S. Temporal changes of breastfeeding duration at 12 months were more prevalent among male infants, older mothers, Mexican American and multiracial participants, and households with higher income. Authors: Yongjun Zhang, Ph.D., M.D., of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine in Shanghai, is the corresponding author. To access ...

Nearly one in five school-aged children and preteens now take melatonin for sleep, and some parents routinely give the hormone to preschoolers, according to new research from the University of Colorado Boulder published Nov. 13 in JAMA Pediatrics. This concerns the authors, who note that safety and efficacy data surrounding the products are slim, such dietary supplements lack full regulation by the Food and Drug Administration.  “We hope this paper raises awareness for parents and clinicians, and sounds the alarm for the scientific community,” said lead author Lauren Hartstein, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow ...

San Francisco—November 13, 2023—Researchers at Gladstone Institutes have discovered that a rare genetic variant known as the “Christchurch mutation” can block detrimental effects of apolipoprotein E4, the best-established risk factor for the most common form of Alzheimer’s disease. The apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene has long been known to affect the risk of Alzheimer’s disease through its three main variants: E2 (low risk), E3 (intermediate risk), and E4 (high risk). More recently, a ...

Scientists know very little about conditions in the ocean when life first evolved, but new research published in Nature Geoscience has revealed how geological processes controlled which nutrients were available to fuel their development. All life uses nutrients such as zinc and copper to form proteins. The oldest lifeforms evolved in the Archean Eon, three and a half billion years before the dinosaurs first appeared. These microbes showed a preference for metals such as molybdenum and manganese compared to their more recent counterparts. This ...

Fasting interventions, which involve alternating periods of fasting and refeeding, are generally thought to improve health. But these interventions don’t work as well in old animals. The question is: Why? By studying the short-lived killifish, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne have shown that older fish deviate from a youthful fasting and refeeding cycle, and instead enter a state of perpetual fasting, even when ingesting food. However, the benefits of refeeding after fasting in old killifish can be restored by genetically activating a specific subunit of AMP kinase, an important sensor ...

A new element of the catastrophic impacts of climate change is emerging – how global warming is impacting the human brain. In a paper published today in Nature Climate Change, an international team of academics explore the ways in which research has shown that a changing environment affects how our brains work, and how climate change could impact our brain function in the future. The paper is led by the University of Vienna with input from the universities of Geneva, New York, Chicago, Washington, Stanford, Exeter in the UK and the Max Plank Institute in Berlin. It also explores the role that neuroscientists can play in further understanding and addressing ...

Research Highlights: In a 3-year trial, intensive treatment with antihypertensive medication to reduce systolic blood pressure, the top number, to less than 120 mm Hg reduced cardiovascular disease events among people at high-risk for cardiovascular disease by 12% compared to standard treatment with a target of less than 140 mm Hg. The effects were consistent regardless of participants’ diabetes status (Type 1, Type 2 or none) or history of stroke. Embargoed until 8 a.m. ET, Monday, Nov. 13, 2023 PHILADELPHIA, ...