Physician associates provide safe and effective care when they work under the direct supervision of doctors and care for patients who have already been diagnosed, or when they undertake procedures for which they have been highly trained, finds a rapid review published in The BMJ today. However, the rapid review on the safety and effectiveness of physician associates found insufficient evidence to support them assessing undiagnosed patients under indirect supervision—when seeing undiagnosed patients in primary care, for example. Patient satisfaction levels ...

The more we interact with robots, the more human we perceive them to become – according to new research from the University of East Anglia. It may sound like a scene from Blade Runner, but psychologists have been investigating exactly what makes robot interactions feel more human. A new paper published today reveals that playing games with robots to ‘break the ice’ can help bring out their human side. The research team say that the implications are significant for the future of robotics. As robots take on roles from care-giving to customer service, designing interactions that promote social engagement ...

Individual expectations about one's health can influence him/her future condition and the speed of the progression of a disease: in fact, a research conducted by researchers of psychology at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan campus, shows that, after a diagnosis of asthma, people who are optimistic about their health will have a slower progression of the disease. The study was published in the journal Health Expectations (Wiley) and conducted by full Professor Francesco Pagnini of the Department of Psychology at the Università Cattolica and colleagues. Professor Pagnini explains: “this study was developed in response to ...

When surgeons dissect tissue to remove a tumor or make a repair they must work cautiously, relying on electrophysical monitors and their own anatomical knowledge to avoid cutting nerves, which could complicate the patient’s recovery. A University of New Mexico surgeon has helped develop and test a first-of-its-kind drug that binds to nerve tissue and fluoresces – emits light – enabling surgeons to better see the nerves they’re trying to work around. A newly published study in Nature Communications ...

The latest research published in Genes & Diseases unveils groundbreaking insights into the role of the aging process and the associated factor EMP1 in the progression of resectable pancreatic cancer (PC). The study, conducted by a team of researchers from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chongqing Medical University, has established a prognostic model that links EMP1 expression with adverse clinical outcomes, particularly among older PC patients.   Pancreatic cancer remains a highly aggressive ...

  A recent study published in Genes & Diseases reveals a novel role of XPR1 in promoting ovarian cancer growth by regulating autophagy and MHC-I expression. The research, conducted by scientists from Chongqing Medical University, identifies XPR1 as a critical factor influencing the aggressiveness of ovarian cancer through its interaction with LAMP1 and the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway. These findings shed light on new therapeutic targets for ovarian cancer, a malignancy known for its poor prognosis and resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors.   The ...

CLEVELAND—Researchers at Case Western Reserve University have developed an environmentally safer type of plastic that can be used for wearable electronics, sensors and other electrical applications. The material, a so-called ferroelectric polymer, is made without fluorine, considered a “forever” chemical that hurts the environment because compounds made with it don’t break down quickly or at all. Although the researchers are still working to improve the material’s electric and elastic properties, the potential is vast for its flexibility of electronic uses and eco-friendly structure. “How this material ...

Key takeaways Researchers from Penn and Arizona State University pinpoint a lone five-particle package (a 5-plet) that could upend string theory by detecting it at the Large Hadron Collider. “Ghost” tracks that vanish mid-flight may be the smoking gun physicists are chasing. Early data squeeze the search window, but the next collider runs could make—or break—the case. In physics, there are two great pillars of thought that don’t quite fit together. The Standard Model of particle physics describes all known fundamental particles and three forces: electromagnetism, ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Alexandra Staub, author and professor of architecture in the College of Arts and Architecture’s Stuckeman School at Penn State, examines how architects can better serve society by changing their approach to the building process in her latest book titled “Architecture and Social Sustainability: Understanding the New Paradigm.” Published by Routledge, the book presents examples of “how we can better design for stakeholder agency, serve historically marginalized populations, and further our theoretical thinking about sustainability writ large,” according to the book’s ...

CLEVELAND—Case Western Reserve University chemist Divita Mathur was awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) grant for her research in synthetic DNA nanoparticles, which have potential applications in gene therapy. The grant will support Mathur’s work in synthesizing nanoparticles and studying how they behave inside cells in a laboratory. She will use single-cell injections and a microscope to track the nanoparticles and watch what happens to them over time ...

Researchers working on an incurable blood cancer can now use a new lab model which could make testing potential new treatments and diagnostics easier and quicker, new research has found.   In a paper published in Nature Communications a team of researchers led from the University of Birmingham have studied blood cells from patients with a blood cancer called myelodysplastic syndrome disease (MDS). This disease often develops into a highly aggressive form of Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML).   Working with this new model ...

Acute hypoxemic respiratory failure (AHRF) represents one of the most common yet challenging conditions treated in intensive care units (ICUs) worldwide. While the emergence of multiple options for non-invasive respiratory support has revolutionized care in such cases, selecting the optimal approach remains difficult. Now, a special issue from the Journal of Intensive Medicine titled “Non-invasive respiratory support for acute hypoxemic respiratory failure” provides key insights to guide these critical treatment decisions. This collection establishes a robust foundation for understanding the key respiratory support ...

LA JOLLA, CA—A new study, published recently in Nature Communications, offers the first-ever map of which parts of Chikungunya virus trigger the strongest response from the body's T cells.  With this map in hand, researchers are closer to developing Chikungunya vaccines or therapies that harness T cells to strike specific targets, or "epitopes," to halt infection. The new study also offers important clues for understanding why many people experience chronic, severe joint pain for years after clearing the virus. "Now we can see what T cells are seeing patients with chronic disease," says LJI Assistant Professor ...

  New discoveries from the Pleistocene-age Gantangqing site in southwestern China reveal a diverse collection of wooden tools dated from ~361,000 to 250,000 years ago, marking the earliest known evidence of complex wooden tool technology in East Asia. The findings reveal that the Middle Pleistocene humans who used these tools crafted the wooden implements not for hunting, but for digging and processing plants. Although early humans have worked with wood for over a million years, wooden artifacts are quite rare in the archaeological ...

Ecologists are concerned that forest ecosystems will not keep pace with a rapidly changing climate, failing to remain healthy and productive. Before the rapid climate change of the past century, tree populations in the Northern Hemisphere adapted to colder and warmer periods over thousands of years. During onsets of Ice Ages, tree populations migrated south, seeking warmer conditions as global temperatures cooled, their seeds dispersed by winds and carried by animals. When the climate warmed again, tree species adapted by migrating north to more suitable conditions. Mature trees are long-lived, and their populations can’t migrate quickly. Current climate change ...

Ecologists celebrated the release of thousands of palm-sized lake sturgeon into northwest Ohio's Maumee River in 2018, kicking off an ambitious two-decade plan to re-establish the ancient species in the waters it once called home. More than five years later, it’s still too soon to declare success. But early signs are promising, according to recent research led by The University of Toledo and published in the peer-reviewed North American Journal of Fisheries Management. The research tracked the first-year survival rates for cohorts released in 2018, 2019 and 2021, with results suggesting that the initiative is on track to achieve its goal of a self-sustaining ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Incoming information from the retina is channeled into two pathways in the brain’s visual system: one that’s responsible for processing color and fine spatial detail, and another that’s involved in spatial localization and detecting high temporal frequencies. A new study from MIT provides an account for how these two pathways may be shaped by developmental factors. Newborns typically have poor visual acuity and poor color vision because their retinal cone cells are not well-developed at birth. This means that early in life, they are seeing blurry, color-reduced imagery. The MIT team proposes that such blurry, color-limited ...

Scientists have found evidence that the Asian continent was free of permafrost all the way to its northerly coast with the Arctic Ocean when Earth’s average temperature was 4.5˚C warmer than today, suggesting that the whole Northern Hemisphere would have also been free of permafrost at the time. The stark findings indicate that if average global temperatures were to rise by this amount in the future, permafrost found in the Northern Hemisphere today would thaw. Such a temperature increase would release up to 130 billion tonnes of carbon currently frozen in the ground over the coming decades. The ...

New Haven, Conn. — Cancer fighting T-cells, the immune system’s primary enforcers, are scarce in the rare kidney cancer called chromophobe renal cell carcinoma (ChRCC) and those that are present are indifferent to the tumor threat and traditional immune therapies, revealing the need for new targets and treatments.   Those are among the results described in a July 2 published report in the Journal of Clinical Oncology that set out to understand the biology of certain kidney tumors, including ChRCC, and their immune responses.   The study found that ChRCC, which accounts ...

Enhanced diagnostic method of the ITSC fault The study, led by Dr. Wentao Huang, overcame a critical gap in five-phase permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) diagnostics: conventional methods fail to assess inter-turn short-circuit (ITSC) severity. The method integrates two technologies: a real-time tracker that diagnoses faults, and an AI analyzer that processes signals to quantify damage while estimating short-circuit parameters. Overcoming the Blind Spot For years, the challenge of quantifying inter-turn short-circuit severity in operating motors has stumped engineers, as traditional methods struggled ...

Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have reconciled two closely related but contentious mechanisms underlying transcription, the process of converting genetic information in DNA into messenger RNA. Phase separation has been proposed as a driving force in transcription due to its ability to selectively concentrate proteins and DNA in discrete droplets. However, scientists have been unclear about what really matters for transcription: the phase-separated droplets or the molecular interactions that contribute to phase separation by forming networks.     To address ...

Scientists have long known that the brain’s visual system isn’t fully hardwired from the start—it becomes refined by what babies see—but the authors of a new MIT study still weren’t prepared for the degree of rewiring they observed when they took a first-ever look at the process in mice as it happened in real-time. As the researchers in The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory tracked hundreds of “spine” structures housing individual network connections, or “synapses,” on the dendrite branches of neurons in the visual cortex over 10 days, they saw that only 40 percent of the ...

New research analysing an online survey of 1,633 respondents found 15% recent use of doxycycline post- and pre-exposure prophylaxis (doxyPEP/PrEP) among men who have sex with men (MSM), transgender and gender diverse people in the Netherlands according to a recent study published by Eurosurveillance [1]. These data highlight an increase in the informal use of doxyPEP/PrEP, with 65% of the participants intending to use it in the future. Currently, doxyPEP/PrEP is not recommended or actively promoted by healthcare professionals in the Netherlands. Informal ...

Each time a cell divides, a small section of each chromosome’s protective cap — the telomere — is worn away. Most cells use an enzyme called telomerase to help mitigate this loss, but 10% to 15% of cancers have another mechanism called the alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) pathway. “ALT is found in some of the worst cancers, such as pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, osteosarcomas and subsets of glioma,” said Roderick O’Sullivan, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology at the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center. “Interfering with ALT in these cancers ...

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a common, debilitating neurodegenerative disease affecting about 10 percent of people over the age of 65 and one third of people aged 85 and above. Besides environmental factors, the genes have a strong influence on whether or not a person develops AD during their lifetime. Through genome sequencing of DNA from large groups of healthy people and people with AD, some naturally occurring small changes in the DNA, known as genetic variants, were found to be more frequent in AD patients than in healthy people. As more and more of these AD-associated genetic “risk” variants are discovered, ...