With its notoriously hot and humid climate and robust industrial environment, Houston is one of the most ozone-polluted cities in the United States. Now, a University of Houston research team is integrating the power of machine learning (ML) with innovative analysis techniques to pinpoint the city’s air pollution sources more accurately. While the ozone layer in the stratosphere protects the Earth, and us, from the harmful rays of the sun, it’s also a major pollutant that can be harmful to human health when it’s closer to the ground. Long-term exposure to surface ozone can cause difficulty breathing, worsen asthma and increase the ...

New Haven, Conn. — The mystery of Ezekiel’s Wheel — the extinct sea creature, not the Biblical vision — may have taken its final turn, thanks to Yale paleontologists. In so doing, the researchers have also finally put a scientific name to the favorite fossil of a beloved amateur fossil hunter. Samuel J. Ciurca Jr., who died in 2021, was a curatorial affiliate of the Yale Peabody Museum for many years. He collected tens of thousands of fossils, primarily from the Silurian rocks of upstate New York and southern Ontario, Canada. He donated more than 11,000 ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. – A new study at the University of Missouri — in partnership with Harvard-Smithsonian researchers — shows that when colleges host ‘STEM Career Days,’ the students who attend are far more likely to pursue a career in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) related field. The findings not only highlight the benefits of college recruiters introducing high school students to STEM-related opportunities, but they can also help increase and diversify ...

NEW ORLEANS, La. – Chevron and Ochsner Health continue to offer their Lung Cancer Awareness, Education and Prevention Program for a third consecutive year thanks to a $50,000 donation from Chevron. The program will be offered in Jefferson Parish for the first time and continue to reach community members in St. Tammany, East Baton Rouge, West Baton Rouge, Ascension, St. Charles, Terrebonne, and Lafourche parishes. Ochsner Health and Chevron formed a key partnership for the Lung Cancer Awareness, Education and Prevention Program to improve lung health and overall wellness. ...

Embargoed for release until 5:00 p.m. ET on Monday 6 November 2023 Annals of Internal Medicine Tip Sheet @Annalsofim Below please find summaries of new articles that will be published in the next issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The summaries are not intended to substitute for the full articles as a source of information. This information is under strict embargo and by taking it into possession, media representatives are committing to the terms of the embargo not only on their own behalf, but also on behalf of the organization they represent. ---------------------------- 1. Patients more likely to lose weight if physicians offer advice using optimistic tone   Abstract: ...

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, in collaboration with the National Energy Technology Laboratory, are among 11 projects in eight states selected to receive a combined $36 million to accelerate the development of marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) capture and storage technologies.   The funding from the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) is part of the ARPA-E Sensing Exports of Anthropogenic Carbon Through Ocean ...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Yabing Chen, Ph.D., has been awarded two National Institutes of Health grants totaling more than $5 million to further her research into vascular diseases ranging from hardening of the arteries to dementia. Vacuolar calcification, which leads to the hardening of blood vessels and increased vascular stiffness, is a hallmark of the aging process in the cardiovascular system. As early as the mid-1600s, physician Thomas Sydenham noted that “a man is as old as his arteries.” Chen expands that to include two different disease processes. “I like ...

Maternal mortality in the U.S. is on the rise and more than half of maternal deaths occur in the postpartum year. A study by Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the School of Social Work provides insights into the challenges that birthing people face in the year after birth - both medical and social - which could be drivers of postpartum morbidity and mortality. The study is the first large scale and representative survey of postpartum health ever conducted in the U.S. The findings ...

BOSTON – The alarming increase in firearm injuries to children and adolescents in the United States has taken an enormous mental and behavioral health toll on victims, survivors, and their families, with ripple effects on the economy and health care spending, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School (HMS) have found. In a study published in the November Issue Health Affairs, the team cited the substantial opportunities for improvements in clinical practice for survivors of gun violence and their family members, such as improved screening for mental and behavioral health needs, as well as enhanced educational programs for the ...

Since 2020, firearms have been the number one cause of death among children and teens in the United States, surpassing even car accidents, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2022 more than 4,500 young people died from firearm injuries. In addition to those who die, thousands more young people survive firearm injuries each year. The harm from these injuries reverberates for months and years, with ripple effects on parents and siblings, according to the findings of a new study published Nov. 6 in the November issue of Health Affairs. “The unspeakable ...

A nationwide Medicare program that aims to improve health care and reduce costs by linking health-care reimbursements to health quality and cost outcomes resulted in no improvements in mental health care, according to a study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Yale School of Public Health. The study, which looked at a nationally representative sample of Medicare beneficiaries from 2016 to 2019, found no differences in mental health between Medicare beneficiaries who received their ...

Toronto, ON – A new study published in the journal Substance Use and Misuse finds that while user-generated content and advertising content related to illegal muscle-building drugs is prohibited across all social media platforms, legal muscle-building dietary supplements faced few restrictions. “These findings are concerning given that the use of muscle-building dietary supplements can have negative social and behavioral effects, which adolescents and young adults may be particularly susceptible to,” says lead author Kyle T. Ganson, PhD, MSW, assistant professor at the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. “There ...

The Society for Neuroscience and ARTECHOUSE are proud to present an adaptation of the immersive Life of a Neuron exhibition at American Possibilities: A White House Demo Day on November 7. White House Demo Day highlights more than 40 American innovations in science and technology, fueling our national potential and aspirations. These advances, supported by federal funding, aim to improve American lives and shape our collective future. The Life of a Neuron exhibition showcases how NIH-funded basic research, ...

During his long career, Oran Young has been a strong promoter of geopolitical attention to the Arctic. He is a leader in studies of international governance and environmental institutions, and the world's foremost expert on these themes in the Arctic. As a political scientist and environmental researcher, he is recognized for his interdisciplinary research on international institution building, resource management and the human dimension of climate change in the Arctic. – Being selected to receive the 2024 Mohn Prize is an exceptional honour. For me, it’s the capstone of 50 years of active engagement in Arctic affairs, Oran Young says. The Rector ...

INDIANAPOLIS -- Regenstrief Institute researchers are sharing the stage with other national aging research experts as they participate in the dissemination of scientific advances during the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) 2023 Annual Scientific Meeting on November 8-12 in Tampa, Florida. The meeting provides aging researchers in a variety of disciplines a platform to share stimulating and high-level scholarship. This new and enriching knowledge will shape policy, practice and research for years to come. At the meeting, Regenstrief’s Susan Hickman, ...

The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) and publisher Cell Press are extending their partnership to publish the ISSCR’s open access, peer-reviewed journal, Stem Cell Reports. For more than a decade, Stem Cell Reports has served as an important point of convergence for the stem cell research and regenerative medicine field.   “We are delighted to continue working with Cell Press to provide an outlet for our members and the community to publish impactful and high-quality science,” ...

Researchers at North Carolina State University have created a land change model that simulates interactions between urban growth, increased flooding and how humans adapt in response. The new model could offer a more realistic assessment of risk for urban planners, natural resource managers and other local government stakeholders. “Traditional risk assessment typically involves overlaying inundation layers – areas that may flood – onto existing development or population distribution to identify areas and communities at risk,” says Georgina Sanchez, ...

EVANSTON, Ill., --- New research shows large reductions in gun violence involvement for participants of a Chicago-based community violence intervention (CVI) program. Researchers from Northwestern University evaluated outcomes for the Chicago CRED (Create Real Economic Destiny) program and found that those who completed the full program were more than 73% less likely to have an arrest for a violent crime in the two years following enrollment compared to individuals who did not participate. Analyzing program participation, the researchers ...

EMBARGOED UNTIL: 6, NOVEMBER, 2023, 3 PM US EASTERN A groundbreaking study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences underscores the pivotal role that seasonal Antarctic sea ice plays in the annual molting periods of Adélie penguins. Despite the relatively large amount of sea ice still available in the Ross Sea, researchers have discovered a potential bottleneck in the penguins’ annual cycle, which could be exacerbated as the climate continues to change. Unlike most penguin species, the majority of Adélie penguins are thought to carry out their annual molt ...

PITTSBURGH—Researchers in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, in collaboration with paleontologists from Spain and Poland, used fossil evidence to engineer a soft robotic replica of pleurocystitid, a marine organism that existed nearly 450 million years ago and is believed to be one of the first echinoderms capable of movement using a muscular stem. Published today in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), the research seeks to broaden modern perspective of animal design and movement by introducing a new a field of study - Paleobionics - aimed at using Softbotics, robotics ...

City lights shine all night amid the bustling traffic, businesses and neighborhoods of Southern California, one of the most populated areas that mountain lions call home. A study from the University of California, Davis, found that mountain lions avoid places with artificial light, even during the day. The finding adds to the list of challenges faced by the big cats in the region, where scientists have warned they may face extinction within decades. The new study, published in the journal Philosophical ...

A drug candidate developed by researchers at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center for advanced metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer is now in its first clinical trial. Ramesh Narayanan, PhD, deputy director of the Center for Cancer Research and the Muirhead Endowed Professor in the College of Medicine at UTHSC, and Duane Miller, PhD, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UTHSC, have worked for more than a decade on therapies involving the hormone receptors that influence cancer progression. Their drug candidate, a molecule designed as a treatment for ...

A new mathematical model predicts that mammalian sperm cells have two distinct swimming modes. This prediction opens new questions about potential connections between sperm cells’ motor activity and their transitions to hyperactivation phases that may play an important role in fertilization. The finding is part of a larger effort to use math and fluid dynamics to describe how mammalian sperm move. The research is led by a team of engineers at the University of California San Diego. The new work is published in the journal Physical ...

NEW ORLEANS, La. – Several Ochsner Health hospitals and partners across the Gulf South have earned an ‘A’ Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade for Fall 2023.The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit watchdog that sets standards for excellence in patient care, assigns a grade to general hospitals across the country based on more than 30 national performance measures reflecting errors, accidents, injuries and infections, as well as the systems hospitals have in place to prevent them. The following Ochsner Health hospitals and partners received an ...

Technology is edging closer and closer to the super-speed world of computing with artificial intelligence.  But is the world equipped with the proper hardware to be able to handle the workload of new AI technological breakthroughs? “The brain-inspired codes of the AI revolution are largely being run on conventional silicon computer architectures which were not designed for it,” explains Erica Carlson, 150th Anniversary Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Purdue University. A joint effort between Physicists from Purdue University, University of California San Diego (USCD) and École ...