The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Jennifer Lotz as the Director of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI). Dr. Lotz will begin her five-year appointment as STScI Director starting February 12, 2024. Previously, Dr. Lotz was the Director of the International Gemini Observatory which is operated by NSF’s NOIRLab, and managed by AURA. “Dr. Lotz is a science driven, accomplished leader,” said Dr. Matt Mountain, President of AURA, which manages STScI on behalf of NASA. “Jen’s passion for the Institute’s mission, to enable the ...

Sperm can modulate their energetics by regulating their flagellar waveform—how the sperm oscillate their tails—in order to adapt to varying fluid environments, potentially optimizing their motility and navigation within the reproductive tract. This research is reported in a study publishing November 1 in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science. “Our approach allowed us to investigate how variations in viscosity and shear rates affect sperm behavior at the single-cell level, which was not possible using traditional methods,” says senior study author Reza Nosrati of Monash University. Biochemical and biophysical cues within the reproductive ...

Women with atrial fibrillation (AF) undergoing a procedure called pulsed field ablation (PFA) have just as good outcomes as men with AF undergoing the same procedure, according to a large-scale international study led by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. This study is the first to compare sex outcomes for AF patients undergoing PFA, which is a new technology and the latest ablation modality that can be used to restore a regular heartbeat. The results also show PFA is safe and just as effective for men as for women. Findings were published October 5 in JAMA Cardiology. “These results are important, as ...

About The Study: Although the prevalence of severely elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) has declined, 1 in 17 U.S. adults still have LDL-C levels of 160 to 189 mg/dL and 1 in 48 adults have LDL-C levels of 190 mg/dL or greater. Among those with an LDL-C of 190 mg/dL or greater, 1 in 4 are unaware and untreated, with a higher proportion for an LDL-C of 160 to 189 mg/dL. These gaps disproportionately affect non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, and socioeconomically disadvantaged persons, contributing to disparities in outcomes.   Authors: Salim S. Virani, M.D., Ph.D., of Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan, ...

About The Study: In this meta-analysis of 83 neuroimaging studies of adversity exposure and brain function, prior adversity exposure was associated with altered adult brain reactivity to diverse challenges. These results might better identify how adversity diminishes the ability to cope with later stressors and produces enduring susceptibility to mental health problems.  Authors: Niki Hosseini-Kamkar, Ph.D., of the Royal Ottawa Hospital in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, is the corresponding author.   To access the embargoed ...

PHILADELPHIA – Americans have less confidence in vaccines to address a variety of illnesses than they did just a year or two ago, and more people accept misinformation about vaccines and Covid-19, according to the latest health survey from the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania. The survey conducted October 5-12, 2023, with a panel of over 1,500 U.S. adults, finds that the number of Americans who think vaccines approved for use in the United States are safe dropped to 71% from 77% in April 2021. The percentage of adults who don’t think vaccines approved in the U.S. are safe grew to 16% from ...

Extreme weather and climate events, such as droughts, heatwaves, and rainstorms, pose serious threats to human health, agricultural production, and energy supplies. These events often occur at the same time, and such "compound extreme events" can cause far more damage than any one single event. Climate scientists from the research group of Prof. Aihui Wang from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, argue in a new study that land–atmosphere coupling (the coupling ...

MIAMI, FL – November 1, 2023 -- Miami Cancer Institute, part of Baptist Health South Florida, announced the publication of a multi-institutional retrospective cohort study about the impact of immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) and single-fraction stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) on radiation necrosis (RN) in patients with brain metastasis from non-small cell lung cancer. The study, titled “Immune Checkpoint Inhibition and Single Fraction Stereotactic Radiosurgery in Brain Metastases from Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: An International Multicenter Study of 395 Patients” ...

Landing stably is the precondition for exploring the small celestial body in situ. The surface of small body is weak gravity and irregular, and the surface environment is unknown and uncertain. The landing mechanism tends to rebound and turn over, and the landing stability time is long. However, there is difference  on the Moon and the Mars surface while most of the landing performance researches are focused on the lunar landing so far. Therefore, it is of great important to study the landing ...

ATLANTA, November 1, 2023 — Today, the American Cancer Society (ACS) released an update of its lung cancer screening guideline to help reduce the number of people dying from the disease due to smoking history. The new guideline recommends yearly screening for lung cancer for people aged 50 to 80 years old who smoke or formerly smoked and have a 20-year or greater pack-year history. The recommended annual screening test for lung cancer is a low-dose computed tomography scan (also called a low-dose CT scan, or LDCT). The guideline, last updated ...

Kuala Lumpur, 1 November 2023 An Independent Expert Group (IEG) convened by the United Nations University’s International Institute for Global Health (UNU IIGH) has released a strong statement criticizing the wide and uncritical use of global university rankings. The IEG highlights the vital importance of universities in delivering not just education, training, and research, but also in shaping public policy, promoting informed public discourse, and helping advance democracy and human rights. However, although marketed as a tool for improving university performance and providing information to prospective students, the statement describes how global university ...

WASHINGTON—Women in low- and middle-income countries, especially in the Sub-Saharan Africa region, may be 10 times more likely to have obesity or heart health issues than their male counterparts, according to a large meta-analysis published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. Obesity is a chronic disease characterized by an individual having an excess of body fat or abnormal fat accumulation. People who have obesity are at an increased risk for other serious ...

The American Pediatric Society (APS) is pleased to announce Alan Jobe, MD, PhD, as the 2024 APS John Howland Award recipient, the highest honor bestowed by the APS. The prestigious award signifies the society’s recognition of Dr. Jobe for his significant contributions to advancing child health and the profession of pediatrics. The award will be presented to Dr. Jobe during the APS Presidential Plenary at the Pediatric Academic Societies 2024 Meeting in Toronto, Ontario, May 2 – May 6.                                               The ...

INDIANAPOLIS -- Regenstrief Institute research scientist Matthew J. Bair, M.D., M.S., and the Indiana Institute of Medical Research (IIMR) at Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center have been awarded the Creative Forces®: National Endowment for the Arts Military Healing Arts Network Award for Clinical Study of Music Therapy and Chronic Pain in U.S. Veterans. The research project titled “Stepped-Care Intervention of Music and Imagery to Assess Relief (SCIMITAR) Trial” will test whether a two-step music therapy intervention ...

Researchers at the World Institute of Kimchi have isolated lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains with high levels of resistance to phages from kimchi fermented at low temperatures for a long period of time. They have also identified the defense mechanism of the LAB strains against phages, viruses that infect and replicate within bacteria. Kimchi, a traditional Korean food, is a lactic acid-fermented vegetable product. Unlike fermented dairy products, which are produced under a sterilized-closed fermentation system, kimchi is produced through spontaneous fermentation initiated by various microorganisms present in the raw materials under a non-sterilized-open fermentation system. Thus, ...

For some, the eyes are a window into the soul. But for Jayashree Kalpathy-Cramer, PhD, professor of ophthalmology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, they're a window into human health. The researcher was granted $300,000 by The Michael J. Fox Foundation this fall to analyze clinical data curated at the Sue Anschutz-Rodgers Eye Center using artificial intelligence (AI) in an effort to identify biomarkers of Parkinson’s disease, a progressive disorder that affects the nervous system and causes uncontrollable movements, such as shaking, throughout the body.  “This approach could be impactful ...

Fidel Santamaria, a professor in the UTSA College of Sciences’ neuroscience, developmental and regenerative biology department, received a $2 million grant through the National Science Foundation’s Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation (EFRI) program to develop new artificial intelligence (AI) applications in the most energy-efficient manner yet. For machine-learning tools to analyze new data, they must first sort data into various categories. For example, if a tool is sorting photos by color, then it needs to recognize which photos are red, yellow or blue to accurately classify them. While this is an easy chore for a human, the task presents a ...

Researchers from Boston University published a Journal of Marketing study showing that tapping into consumers’ sense of ownership prompts them to place a higher value on products from a circular economy. The study, forthcoming in the Journal of Marketing, is titled “Affording Disposal Control: The Effect of Circular Take-Back Programs on Psychological Ownership and Valuation” and is authored by Anna Tari and Remi Trudel.  Governments worldwide view a circular economy as part of the solution to the climate crisis. In the U.S., several states such as California, Connecticut, Maine, Oregon, and ...

Mountains of used plastic bottles get thrown away every day, but microbes could potentially tackle this problem. Now, researchers in ACS Central Science report that they’ve developed a plastic-eating E. coli that can efficiently turn polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste into adipic acid, which is used to make nylon materials, drugs and fragrances. Previously, a team of researchers including Stephen Wallace engineered a strain of E. coli to transform the main component in old PET bottles, terephthalic acid, into something tastier and ...

Young patients from the Middle East and Gulf region presenting with acute coronary syndrome have a greater prevalence of risk factors, including smoking and high cholesterol compared to older patients also presenting with first acute coronary syndrome. The study, presented at the American College of Cardiology Middle East & Eastern Mediterranean 2023 conference, found these patients still had similar outcomes compared to older patients. Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) describes a variety of cardiovascular conditions related to sudden reduction in blood flow to the heart, including heart attack and unstable angina ...

There’s a tried and proven pathway to reducing racial disparities in cancer in Delaware. It worked with colon cancer 10 years ago and should now be applied to the incidence of breast cancer in the state. That's the recommendation of clinicians, program leaders and researchers from the ChristianaCare Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute in a new commentary published in Population Health Management on Nov. 1, 2023.  The commentary — "Reducing Racial Disparities in Breast Cancer: Getting the ...

Those at risk for Type 2 diabetes may already know to avoid sugar, but new research suggests they may want to skip the salt as well. A new study from Tulane University published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings found that frequently adding salt to foods was associated with an increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. The study surveyed more than 400,000 adults registered in the UK Biobank about their salt intake. Over a median of 11.8 years of follow-up, more than 13,000 cases of Type 2 diabetes developed among participants. Compared ...

DALLAS, November 1, 2023 — Health outcomes research has shown that workers in the U.S. experience inequitable health and well-being, with significant variations in the burden of chronic disease, mental health conditions, food insecurity and more across populations, even among those covered by employer-sponsored insurance.[1], [2] Recent studies demonstrate how the workplace can serve as a social driver of health, impacting the risk of conditions such as high blood pressure and heart disease.[3], [4] This growing ...

For the first time, a physical neural network has successfully been shown to learn and remember ‘on the fly’, in a way inspired by and similar to how the brain’s neurons work. The result opens a pathway for developing efficient and low-energy machine intelligence for more complex, real-world learning and memory tasks. Published today in Nature Communications, the research is a collaboration between scientists at the University of Sydney and University of California at Los Angeles. Lead ...

PULLMAN, Wash. – A susceptibility to gain weight may be written into molecular processes of human cells, a Washington State University study indicates. The proof-of-concept study with a set of 22 twins found an epigenetic signature in buccal or cheek cells appearing only for the twins who were obese compared to their thinner siblings. With more research, the findings could lead to a simple cheek swab test for an obesity biomarker and enable earlier prevention methods for a condition that effects 50% of U.S. adults, the researchers said. “Obesity appears to be more complex than simple consumption of food. Our work indicates there’s a susceptibility for this disease ...