Research Highlights: As more people across the U.S. use marijuana for medical and recreational reasons, two new studies suggest its regular intake may damage heart and brain health. In one study, daily use of marijuana raised the risk of developing heart failure by about one-third, even after considering other factors, compared to people who reported never using marijuana. In a second study, older people with any combination of Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol who used marijuana, ...

Research Highlights: In a small study of adults living in rural America, those who identified as transgender were more likely to have cardiovascular disease risk factors, including tobacco use, obesity, high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes or insulin resistance, high cholesterol and/or alcohol use. Study participants with the highest odds of having cardiovascular disease risk factors were transgender males. The findings highlight the need for interventions focused on reducing health disparities among the transgender population, researchers said. Embargoed until 4 a.m. CT/5 a.m. ET, Monday, Nov. 6, 2023 DALLAS, Nov. 6, 2023 — Transgender ...

Research Highlights: An experimental, leadless pacemaker housing is able to partially recharge the device’s battery by generating electrical energy from heartbeats. The device generated about 10% of the energy needed to stimulate another heartbeat. The preliminary findings show that leadless pacemaker batteries may be recharged by converting the heart’s mechanical/pressure energy into electrical energy, however, more research is needed. Embargoed until 4 a.m. CT/5 a.m. ET, Monday, Nov. 6, 2023 DALLAS, ...

Research Highlights: High blood pressure risk was higher among adolescent girls with a condition associated with irregular menstrual periods called polycystic ovary syndrome, compared to teens without this condition, according to a study of girls between 13-17 years of age. In a separate study of women younger than age 50, those with painful menstrual periods had a notably higher risk of heart disease compared with those women without the condition known as dysmenorrhea. Researchers of both studies suggest future investigations focus on how these reproductive conditions may impact women’s long-term cardiovascular disease risk. Embargoed until 4 a.m. CT/5 a.m. ET, Monday, Nov. ...

Research Highlights: Artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning models may help to predict the risk of cardiovascular disease events and detect heart valvular disease, according to two preliminary research studies. One study found that artificial intelligence analyzing sound data of the heart recorded from a digital stethoscope was able to more accurately detect heart valve disease than a health care professional who listened to the heart with a traditional stethoscope. In a study evaluating data from the UK Biobank, an artificial intelligence/deep learning program effectively analyzed and sorted eye images ...

Research Highlights: Depression and anxiety may accelerate the onset of risk factors for increased heart attack and stroke, according to a Boston-based study. People with a higher genetic sensitivity to stress developed a cardiovascular risk factor at a younger age, than people without the genetic marker. A separate study based in Dallas found that cumulative stress contributed to health behaviors — such as smoking — that negatively affect cardiovascular health and potentially increasing plaque buildup in the arteries and other known cardiovascular disease risk factors. Embargoed until 4 a.m. ...

DURHAM, NC -- A speech prosthetic developed by a collaborative team of Duke neuroscientists, neurosurgeons, and engineers can translate a person’s brain signals into what they’re trying to say. Appearing Nov. 6 in the journal Nature Communications, the new technology might one day help people unable to talk due to neurological disorders regain the ability to communicate through a brain-computer interface. “There are many patients who suffer from debilitating motor disorders, like ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) or locked-in syndrome, that can impair their ability to speak,” said Gregory Cogan, Ph.D., a professor of ...

LA JOLLA (November 6, 2023)—Regulatory T cells are specialized immune cells that suppress the immune response and prevent the body from attacking its own cells. Understanding how these cells work is key to determining how they might be manipulated to encourage the destruction of cancer cells or prevent autoimmunity. Cell behavior is influenced by chromatin architecture (the 3D shape of chromosomes) and which genes are accessible to proteins—like Foxp3, which promotes regulatory T cell development. Now, Salk Professor Ye Zheng and Assistant Professor Jesse ...

Women who have survived a stroke believe they are less likely to receive adequate emergency care – based on gender and race or ethnicity, a study led by Michigan Medicine and Brown University finds. Researchers analyzed survey data from the American Heart Association Research Goes Red Registry to determine perceptions of emergency care for women with and without a history of stroke. Results published in Stroke reveal that women with a history of stroke were over three times more likely to believe “to a great extent” that they would not receive adequate care in the emergency room based on their gender and race or ethnicity. “It’s clear from our findings ...

Research Highlights: Predicting sudden cardiac death may be possible using artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze medical information in electronic health records, according to preliminary research conducted by researchers in France. Researchers analyzed electronic health records from 25,000 people who had died suddenly and 70,000 people hospitalized for cardiac arrest who did not die in Paris, France and Seattle, Washington and used AI to build personalized health equations that identified each person’s risk of dying from sudden cardiac arrest. Additionally, the researchers were able to develop a customized risk profile of each ...

Researchers from Amsterdam UMC and King's College London have shown that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is beneficial for those with ME/CFS. They analysed data from trials involving almost 1300 patients and found that CBT led to a reduction in fatigue and physical limitations. These results are published today in Psychological Medicine.   “We found CBT led to a clinically relevant reduction in fatigue and functional impairment as well as an increase in physical functioning. These results give a clear picture that CBT can be beneficial for a substantial number of patients. About ...

Humans wouldn’t last long without plant mitochondria and chloroplasts. These essential compartments of plant cells famously capture sunlight and power plant life – and so, ultimately, provide all the food we eat.But there’s a problem: Mitochondria and chloroplasts store instructions for their building blocks in their own ”organelle” DNA or oDNA – and this can get mutated. You can see mild effects of this in some “variegated” plants – where leaves get bleached and lose the ability to photosynthesise (see ...

A Staffordshire University study has revealed a significant deficit in the number of prosthetists, orthotists, prosthetic and orthotic technicians, and support workers in the UK. The report by the Centre for Biomechanics and Rehabilitation Technologies (CBRT) is formally launched today, 6 November 2023. This research, commissioned by the British Association of Prosthetists and Orthotists (BAPO), found there are currently 631 orthotists and 295 prosthetists employed nationwide. However, an additional 142 to 477 prosthetists/orthotists are needed to meet World Health Organization standards of care. "This workforce shortage is worrying," said Professor Nachi ...

Black men in the United States are more likely to develop prostate cancer than white men, and after diagnosis, they’re more likely to have advanced disease and to die than white men with the disease. Although it would seem that earlier prostate‐specific antigen (PSA) screening could reduce the risk of fatal prostate cancer in Black men, new research indicates that at any given PSA level, Black men are more likely to harbor prostate cancer than white men, indicating that they may face an increased risk of prostate cancer than white men at lower PSA levels. The findings are published by Wiley online in CANCER, ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Anyone who’s ever done a belly flop into a swimming pool knows it ends with a blunt-sounding splat, a big splash and a searing red sting. What most people don’t know is why. Daniel Harris does. The assistant professor in Brown University’s School of Engineering says the physics behind the phenomenon aren’t too complex. What happens — and what makes it so painful, he explains — is that the forces from the water surface put up a fierce resistance to the body suddenly going from air to water, which is often still. “All of a sudden, ...

Scientists have made a major breakthrough in the study of species evolution, and provided further evidence that state-of-the-art visual technology can be used to track the tiniest changes in different organisms’ development. New research used a combination of robotic video microscopes and computer vision to measure all of the observable characteristics of embryos of three different species. These measurements were recorded as spectra of energy and, through this, scientists were able to compare shifts between species alongside previously documented differences in the timing of discrete developmental ...

Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI) has developed a world-class 'eco-friendly insulating gas' that replaces SF6 (sulfur hexafluoride), the main cause of global warming in the field of electric power equipment, and developed a design technology to make it applicable to ultra-high voltage transmission circuit breakers.   Of course, power devices must be able to conduct electricity well but an ‘insulation’ function to block electricity is also essential to prepare for unexpected accidents and for safety reasons. SF6 gas offers excellent insulation and with far superior arc extinguishing performance than any other ...

Pediatric Emergency Department (ED) visits for firearm injuries doubled during the pandemic compared to earlier trends, according to a multicenter study published in the journal Pediatrics. During this time, deaths from firearm injuries in children and adolescents that occurred after arrival to the hospital also doubled – up from 3 percent of ED visits pre-pandemic to 6 percent of ED visits during the pandemic. “With the pandemic we saw a drastic increase in firearm purchases, which might have led to the tragic spikes in injuries and deaths from firearms among children ...

People who have a higher biological age than their actual chronological age have a significantly increased risk of stroke and dementia, especially vascular dementia. These are the results of a study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. The study, which was led by Sara Hägg, associate professor, and Jonathan Mak, doctoral student at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, shows that the increased risk persists even if other risk factors such as genetics, lifestyle and socioeconomics are taken into account. As we age, the risk of chronic diseases such as ...

-With pictures- A new study reveals that supermassive black holes at the centres of galaxies, known as quasars, can sometimes be obscured by dense clouds of gas and dust in their host galaxies. This challenges the prevailing idea that quasars are only obscured by donut-shaped rings of dust in the close vicinity of the black hole. Quasars are extremely bright objects powered by black holes gorging on surrounding material. Their powerful radiation can be blocked if thick clouds come between us and the quasar. Astronomers have long thought this obscuring material only exists in the quasar's immediate surroundings, in a "dusty torus" (or donut) encircling it. Now, a team of ...

EMBARGOED: 0001 GMT MONDAY 6 NOVEMBER 2023 New materials developed at the University of Surrey could pave the way for a new generation of flexible X-ray detectors, with potential applications ranging from cancer treatment to better airport scanners.   Traditionally, X-ray detectors are made of heavy, rigid material such as silicon or germanium. New, flexible detectors are cheaper and can be shaped around the objects that need to be scanned, improving accuracy when screening patients and reducing risk when imaging tumours and administering radiotherapy.  Dr Prabodhi Nanayakkara, ...

Highlights Compared with kidney transplant recipients who did not receive sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors, those treated with the medications had lower risks of experiencing kidney transplant failure, kidney transplant rejection, major adverse cardiac events, all-cause mortality, and genitourinary infections. Results from the study will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2023 November 1–November 5. Philadelphia, PA (November 4, 2023) — Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors lower blood sugar levels and have additional beneficial effects on kidney and heart health for individuals with ...

About The Study: The findings of this diagnostic study including 43,000 individuals undergoing hereditary cancer testing demonstrate that the ability to perform RNA sequencing concurrently with DNA sequencing represents an important advancement in germline genetic testing by improving detection of novel variants and classification of existing variants. This expands the identification of individuals with hereditary cancer predisposition and increases opportunities for personalization of therapeutics and surveillance.  Authors: Rachid Karam, M.D., Ph.D., of Ambry Genetics ...

Melon (Cucumis melo L.) is an important vegetable crop that has an extensive history of cultivation, and has been classified into two subspecies, C. melo ssp. agrestis and C. melo ssp. melo. Previous study suggested that the two subspecies were domesticated independently [1], which may have generated different genetic mechanisms for the same trait between the two subspecies. Furthermore, the difference in their geographical distribution resulted in diverse characteristics between the two subspecies, shaping genomic imprinting in their genomes. Wild germplasm is an important genetic resource in crop breeding because of its high genetic diversity ...

Pregnant women living in blighted neighborhoods with high levels of known stressors have higher levels of testosterone – the primary sex hormone in males -- which disrupt hormone regulation and may lead to life-threatening complications during and after childbirth, according to Rutgers research.  “Previous research has shown that exposure to neighborhood stressors is associated with preterm birth, low birth weight and other complications such as preeclampsia, gestational diabetes and stillbirth,” ...