University of Virginia School of Medicine public health researchers, together with colleagues at the University of South Carolina, have received a $3.37 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to determine if online behavioral weight-management programs for rural residents can be improved by adding a human touch. Online obesity programs have typically failed to yield the same benefits as in-person programs, the researchers note, so they will test three approaches to add human involvement. More than 600 volunteer participants will be enrolled in a core online 24-week weight-loss ...

The American Pediatric Society (APS) is pleased to announce Rachel Katzenellenbogen, MD, as the 2024 Norman J. Siegel New Member Outstanding Science Award recipient for her considerable contributions to pediatric science. The award will be presented to Dr. Katzenellenbogen during the APS Presidential Plenary at the Pediatric Academic Societies 2024 Meeting. The award was created in honor of one of the world’s leading nephrologists, Norman J. Siegel, MD, FASN. Dr. Siegel was an outstanding teacher and mentor, nurturing the early careers of numerous fellows and residents. He was a leader within the medical community and educated the ...

Scattering sunlight-reflecting particles in the atmosphere could slow rapid melting in West Antarctica and reduce the risk of catastrophic sea-level rise, according to a study led by Indiana University researchers. The study, one of the first to look at how climate engineering might impact Antarctica, comes as scientists sound the alarm over the increasing likelihood of accelerated ice loss in West Antarctica this century. The work appears in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. “Even if the world meets the ambitious target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels — which we are not on track ...

Washington, D.C.—The American Academy of Microbiology, the scientific think tank and honorific leadership group at the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), has released a new report, The Role of Microbes in Mediating Methane Emissions. The report highlights recommendations to further the scientific community’s understanding of microbial processes of methane production and consumption to mitigate methane emissions and address climate change. Microbes can influence climate change through biogeochemical cycles that ...

NYU Tandon School of Engineering is poised to become one of an extremely select group of American universities offering an undergraduate program in quantum technology, situating it at the forefront of a fast-growing field in which high employer demand significantly outpaces available talent.  Beginning in the spring 2024 semester, NYU Tandon students can start earning credits towards the new quantum tech minor, offered through the Department of Applied Physics.  In the past decade, quantum technology – the use of ...

LOS ANGELES – Nov. 15, 2023 – Stand Up To Cancer® (SU2C) today announced three Research Teams focused on bringing new therapies to clinical trials for the treatment of gastroesophageal cancer (GEC). The Research Teams, a part of a Dream Team Collective supported by the Torrey Coast Foundation, will unite top researchers from 11 institutions to address critical problems in GEC prevention, diagnosis and treatment. The Dream Team Collective aims to foster new and inclusive cancer research on the causes and treatments of GEC, mentor a new generation of scientists focused on GEC, bring ...

Researchers from Indiana University and Texas Christian University published a new Journal of Marketing study that examines the impact of a hospital’s portfolio strategy on patient demand. The study, forthcoming in the Journal of Marketing, is titled “Hospital Portfolio Strategy and Patient Choice” and is authored by Sarang Sunder and Sriram Thirumalai. Structural changes in the healthcare industry (e.g., the institution of the Affordable ...

Recently, morning omelets and holiday dinners have gotten more expensive. One likely cause is bird flu, outbreaks of which led to the deaths of millions of chickens and turkeys from infection or culling in 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and which still demands rigorous monitoring of wild populations. Now, reporting in Environmental Science & Technology Letters, researchers have developed a method that detected infectious bird flu virus in wetlands frequented by waterfowl. Wild birds represent a significant reservoir of avian influenza ...

From the depths of the seas to snow on mountains and even the air above cities, microplastics are turning up increasingly often. Now, in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology Letters, researchers have analyzed microplastics in clouds above mountains. They suggest that these tiny particles could play a role in cloud formation and, in turn, affect weather. Microplastics — plastic fragments smaller than five millimeters — originate from a myriad of items used daily, such as clothing, packaging and car tires. As research in the field evolves, scientists are not only detecting microplastics in the atmosphere but also investigating how they may play a role in cloud formation. ...

Considering the molecular subtype of muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) based on differences in tumor RNA expression can improve the ability of an existing tumor biomarker such as the COXEN score to predict which patients’ tumors are likely to respond to chemotherapy given before surgery. Individual molecular subtypes, however, were not associated with significant differences in patients’ overall survival (OS) or progression-free survival (PFS) times. Those are the conclusions from a secondary analysis of data from the S1314 clinical trial, a large study in patients with MIBC that was conducted by the SWOG Cancer Research Network, a clinical trials group funded by ...

Aldehydes are toxic compounds that are produced in the body by metabolic processes, especially upon alcohol consumption. They are dangerous because they bind to cellular macromolecules such as DNA, RNA, and proteins, and crosslink them.   Crosslinking damage to DNA must be repaired by the cell to prevent premature aging and cancer. However, it was previously unknown whether and how cells sense and resolve crosslinking damage to single-stranded RNA. A team led by Professor Julian Stingele from ...

Every tree species has its story. Unraveling all 73,000 of them is a significant undertaking for science, in no small part because a considerable proportion of tree biodiversity is tropical, rare, remote and subject to the ravages of deforestation. And an estimated 9,200 tree species have yet to be discovered. Even trees well-known to science have mysteries. One is the Seychelles’ endangered coco de mer, or sea coconut palm tree, which is now relegated to parts of two small Indian Ocean islands and in decline. Only some 8,200 individuals remain. What Lodoicea madivica lacks in range it makes ...

A new study by Dr. Lindsay Spiers (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission) and Professor Thomas Frazer (College of Marine Science at the University of South Florida), published in PeerJ Life & Environment, presents crucial findings on the feeding preferences of herbivorous fishes and the sea urchin Diadema antillarum in Little Cayman. The study, titled "Comparison of feeding preferences of herbivorous fishes and the sea urchin Diadema antillarum in Little Cayman," sheds new light on the dynamics of these herbivores and their impact on the resilience of Caribbean coral reefs. Caribbean coral reefs face significant challenges, ...

The global change program Future Earth is an international alliance of organizations and agencies that was launched by the UN in June 2012. The Future Earth 2025 Vision identified eight global challenges for scientific research to accelerate progress in sustainability, improve collaboration, and mobilize resources. After more than a decade of this global change program, researchers are analyzing the challenges Future Earth has faced and the path forward. Discussion presented in a recently published paper reviews these challenges faced by the coalition and proposes solutions to help these programs meet the many needs of the global community. The paper was published on ...

WASHINGTON (November 15, 2023) – Georgetown University Medical Center’s Center for Global Health Science and Security (GHSS) today announces the launch of a first-of-its-kind wildlife disease database -- a system for collecting records of viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites, etc. -- designed to support an early warning system for potential viral emergence. The Pathogen Harmonized Observatory, or PHAROS, is open to the global community and free to access. Scientists in GHSS’ Verena program, a collaborative ...

The Department of Biomedicine at the University of Basel and the University Hospital Basel, today announced that it delivered the first surgical procedure to treat Osteoarthritis (OA) in humans. The procedure called Nasal Chondrocyte Tissue-Engineered Cartilage, or N-TEC, provides an innovative alternative to cure confined knee cartilage lesions as well as to address degenerative OA cases that have to date required knee joint replacements – prosthetics that routinely need replacing after 15-20 years. The team at Basel is spearheading the next-generation human clinical trials that will ...

NEW YORK, NY—November 15, 2023—From 2018 to 2022, eating disorder claim lines increased 65 percent nationally as a percentage of all medical claim lines.[1] All eating disorders studied increased during this period, but at different rates: avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) by 305 percent,[2] binge-eating disorder by 81 percent, anorexia nervosa (anorexia) by 73 percent and bulimia nervosa (bulimia) by 3 percent. These and other findings on eating disorders are reported in a FAIR Health white paper released today: Spotlight on Eating Disorders: An Analysis of Private Healthcare Claims.   Eating ...

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) is up one spot to 22nd globally in this year’s Highly Cited Researchers list by Clarivate, a United Kingdom-based data company. For the sixth year running, the University has the largest number of influential scientists among Singapore institutions recognised, with 42 NTU researchers that have significant and broad influence in their fields of research named. These 42 scientists account for 44 mentions in the list, with two individuals recognised more ...

EMBARGOED until November 15, 2023 Contact: Michelle Thompson   George Mason University  mthomp7@gmu.edu  703-993-3485    New study finds association between insecticide exposure and lower sperm concentration in adult men  Comprehensive systematic review of 25 studies over nearly 50 years reveals consistent evidence of associations between insecticide exposure and lower sperm concentration    FAIRFAX, Va – Melissa J. Perry, Sc.D., MHS, dean of the George Mason University ...

Researchers have developed a new deep learning AI tool that generates life-like birdsongs to train bird identification tools, helping ecologists to monitor rare species in the wild. The findings are presented in the British Ecological Society journal, Methods in Ecology and Evolution. Identifying common bird species through their song has never been easier, with numerous phone apps and software available to both ecologists and the public. But what if the identification software has never heard a particular bird before, or only has a small sample of recordings to reference? This is a problem facing ...

Oral nicotine pouches, a tobacco-leaf-free product marketed as an alternative to cigarettes, do little to curb current smokers’ nicotine cravings, according to a new study. Public health scientists with The Center for Tobacco Research at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute report these findings in the medical journal Addiction.  Nicotine pouches are small pre-portioned bags filled with nicotine powder, flavorings, artificial sweeteners and other chemicals that extend shelf life. Marketed ...

Bottom Line: Over 10% of fecal immunochemical tests (FIT) used for routine colorectal cancer (CRC) screening in a safety-net health system contained unsatisfactory samples that could not be processed. Journal in Which the Study was Published: Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Authors: Rasmi Nair, MBBS, PhD, an assistant professor at the Peter O’Donnell Jr. School of Public Health of UT Southwestern Medical Center, and Po-Hong Liu, MD, a gastroenterology fellow at UT Southwestern Medical Center Background: ...

Counterfeit Australian identity documents, especially driver’s licences, rank among some of the most frequently listed and sold identity documents on anonymous dark web marketplaces, according to new research from the Centre of Forensic Science at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). These documents are used by crime rings, terrorist organisations and other criminals for a wide range of illicit activities, including identity crime, money laundering, human and drug trafficking, illegal immigration, scams and ...

It’s one of the most famous taglines in film history, immortalising sharks as ruthless predators. But beyond the horror generated by Spielberg’s Jaws series, a persistent fear of sharks remains, with consequences that extend into reality.   Following human-shark interactions in South Australia, this fear has prompted the Education Department’s ban on school-based sea activities for at least the remainder of the term. And while safety is at the core of such decisions, we should be cautious of scaremongering, says UniSA shark ...

Researchers from Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine have identified the role of iron in ocular toxoplasmosis (OT), a form of toxoplasmosis that causes blindness. They found reduced iron concentration in the clear gel part of the eye of human patients and iron accumulation in the retina of mice. Treatment of mice with a compound that decreases iron was successful in reducing their symptoms. Their findings show the important role of iron in the disease and that controlling it may lead to a successful treatment. Their ...