HOUSTON - (May 17, 2021) - In an important step toward the clinical application of synthetic biology, Rice University researchers have engineered a bacterium with the necessary capabilities for diagnosing a human disease. The engineered strain of the gut bacteria E. coli senses pH and glows when it encounters acidosis, an acidic condition that often occurs during flareups of inflammatory bowel diseases like colitis, ileitis and Crohn's disease. Researchers at the University of Colorado (CU) School of Medicine used the Rice-created organism in a mouse model of Crohn's disease to show acidosis activates a signature set of genes. The corresponding ...

Humans leave their "footprints" on the land area all around the globe. These land-use changes play an important role for nutrition, climate, and biodiversity. Scientists at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) combined satellite data with statistics from the past 60 years and found that global land-use changes affect about 32 percent of the land area. This means that they are about four times as extensive as previously estimated. The researchers publish their findings in the scientific journal Nature Communications. Whether it is deforestation, urban growth, agricultural expansion, or reforestation - land-use changes are diverse and have ...

Researchers from Tohoku University have developed a new numerical method that paves the way for simulating landslide tsunamis. Their research was published in the journal Computational Mechanics on May 13, 2021. Landslides occurring on land or underneath the sea - known as subaerial and submarine landslides respectively - can cause devastating tsunamis. They also pose other hazards such as severing submarine cables and pipelines. Yet the mechanisms at play behind these landslides are less well understood, partly due to the multifaceted interactions taking place: a collapse of the seabed and/or the interaction between soil and water. Conventional approaches make it difficult to ...

Clinics that mailed mifepristone and misoprostol tablets to patients during the pandemic have experienced a high demand and have been able to safely screen and care for patients via telehealth, according to two studies recently published online in the journal Contraception. The first study identifies factors that supported the provision of abortion pills across four healthcare settings. Factors that contributed to success included clinic staff helping to organize the telehealth appointment and to distribute pills, the first paper noted, as well as already having telehealth ...

Doctors often recommend Omega-3s to help patients lower their cholesterol and improve heart health. Those Omega-3s can come from fatty fish like salmon and mackerel, or supplements that often contain a combination of the acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Now, new research from the Intermountain Healthcare Heart Institute in Salt Lake City finds that higher EPA blood levels alone lowered the risk of major cardiac events and death in patients, while DHA blunted the cardiovascular benefits of EPA. Higher DHA levels at any level of EPA, worsened health outcomes. Results of the Intermountain study, which examined nearly 1,000 patients over a 10-year-period, will be presented virtually at the ...

Gears and mechanical transmissions are at home in the Emilia-Romagna region, the Motor Valley of northern Italy. A team of researchers from the University of Bologna and the Institute for Organic Synthesis and Photoreactivity of the National Research Council (Cnr-Isof) in Bologna, led by Massimo Baroncini and Alberto Credi, has planned, constructed and operated NanoGear, a device consisting of interlocked molecular components and designed to function as a gear. Since molecules are nanometric objects (1 nanometer = 1 millionth of a millimetre), it is an exceedingly small device: certainly, ...

DALLAS, May 17, 2021 -- Detecting a critical heart defect before birth (congenital heart defects) is less likely when a mother lives in a rural area, lives in a neighborhood with low socioeconomic status or is Hispanic, according to new research published today in the American Heart Association's flagship journal Circulation. Diagnosing a heart defect before birth reduces infant death rates, increases access to prompt medical treatment, improves neurodevelopmental outcomes and decreases the risk of brain injury for the infant after birth. "The benefits of prenatal diagnosis for heart defects have been recognized for years, yet prenatal detection occurs in less than 60% of congenital heart disease cases in many U.S. ...

A valve invented by engineer Nikola Tesla a century ago is not only more functional than previously realized, but also has other potential applications today, a team of researchers has found after conducting a series of experiments on replications of the early 20th-century design. Its findings, reported in the journal Nature Communications, suggest that Tesla's device, which he called a "valvular conduit," could harness the vibrations in engines and other machinery to pump fuel, coolants, lubricants, and other gases and liquids. Now known as the Tesla Valve, the patented device has inspired strategies for ...

A study published in the scientific journal Addiction provides the most comprehensive evidence to date of the association between recreational cannabis laws (RCLs) in US states and responses in the illegal markets for cannabis, heroin, and other drugs in those states. As of 2021, 17 US states and the District of Columbia have implemented RCLs that allow people aged 21 and older to possess, use and supply limited amounts of cannabis for recreational purposes. This study found that the implementation of RCLs was associated with the following responses in the illegal drug market in those states: 9.2% decrease in street/illegal cannabis ...

Scientists have proposed the first steps towards a united global plan to save our oceans, for the sake of human health. An interdisciplinary European collaboration called the Seas Oceans and Public Health In Europe (SOPHIE) Project, led by the University of Exeter and funded by Horizons 2020, has outlined the initial steps that a wide range of organisations could take to work together to protect the largest connected ecosystem on Earth. In a commentary paper published in the American Journal of Public Health the researchers call for the current UN Ocean Decade to act as a meaningful catalyst for global change, reminding us that ocean ...

In its response to pathogens and vaccines, our immune system relies on dendritic cells. These white blood cells patrol the body's tissues, collect components of pathogens and vaccines and transport them via lymphatic vessels to the nearest lymph node. There, they present the collected material to other immune cells in order to trigger an immune response. How exactly dendritic cells get from the tissue into lymphatic vessels and from there to the lymph node is the focus of research conducted by Cornelia Halin, Professor of Pharmaceutical Immunology at ETH Zurich. For a long ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- For children, pandemic norms have meant virtual school, holidays over Zoom and for some, even seeing the doctor from their own homes. One in five parents in a new national poll say their child had a virtual health visit over the past year for either check-ups, minor illnesses, mental health or a follow up - a marked increase in remote care for children. And while some parents still have reservations about using telemedicine for their kids, the majority were satisfied with the experience, suggest findings from the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health at the University of Michigan. "COVID has had a major impact ...

Indigenous peoples in Canada have higher rates of death and complications after surgery and lower rates of surgeries than other populations, found new research published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). "Understanding surgical outcomes and access to surgical services is a vital step toward addressing colonialism and structural racism within health care, so we can identify the gaps and determine what needs to be improved," said Dr. Nadine Caron, a general surgeon in Prince George and co-director of the Centre for Excellence in Indigenous Health ...

Hamilton, ON (May 17, 2021) - Boys born weighing less than a kilogram are miracles, but they do not age as well as the girls, according to new research from McMaster University. Researchers following a group of extremely low birth weight (ELBW) babies as well as their normal weight counterparts have found that, at least biologically, the premature or preemie boys age more quickly and are 4.6 years older than boys with normal birth weight born at the same time. The difference was not found between birth weight groups in girls. In the study published in the journal Pediatrics today, the researchers point out that the rate of aging may be influenced by boys' handling ...

Whether it's plankton exposed to parasites or people exposed to pathogens, a host's initial immune response plays an integral role in determining whether infection occurs and to what degree it spreads within a population, new University of Colorado Boulder research suggests. The findings, published May 13 in The American Naturalist, provide valuable insight for understanding and preventing the transmission of disease within and between animal species. From parasitic flatworms transmitted by snails into humans in developing nations, to zoonotic spillover events from mammals and insects to humans--which have caused ...

Fifty years after presumably becoming extinct as a breeding species in Bulgaria, the Griffon Vulture, one of the largest birds of prey in Europe, is back in the Eastern Balkan Mountains. Since 2009, three local conservation NGOs - Green Balkans - Stara Zagora, the Fund for Wild Flora and Fauna and the Birds of Prey Protection Society, have been working on a long-term restoration programme to bring vultures back to their former breeding range in Bulgaria. The programme is supported by the Vulture Conservation Foundation, the Government of Extremadura, Spain, and EuroNatur. Its results have been described in the open-access, peer-reviewed Biodiversity Data Journal. Two large-scale projects funded by the EU's LIFE tool, one of them ongoing, facilitate the import of captive-bred or ...

Sophia Antipolis, 17 May 2021: Women with mildly elevated blood pressure in their early 40s have a two-fold risk of acute coronary syndromes in their 50s compared to their counterparts with normal blood pressure. That's the finding of a study published on World Hypertension Day in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).1 "Even if they feel healthy, women should have their blood pressure measured by their primary care physician and repeated at regular intervals with the frequency dependent on the level," said study author ...

Regular gamblers were more than six times more likely to gamble online compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new research. The study, led by the University of Bristol and published today (17 May) in the Journal of Gambling Studies, showed regular male gamblers were particularly prone to gambling more often online during the public lockdown in the UK, compared to their previously reported gambling habits. Although overall men and women gambled less frequently during lockdown, partly due to betting shops being closed, some forms of gambling increased. For instance, usage of online gambling, including poker, bingo, and casino games, grew six-fold among regular gamblers. Respondents who gambled occasionally were still found to be more than twice ...

A unique commission that today issued major new recommendations aimed at fully understanding and reducing the global burden of heart disease in women was led by Roxana Mehran, MD, Professor of Medicine, and Population Health Science and Policy, and Director of Interventional Cardiovascular Research and Clinical Trials at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. "The Lancet Women and Cardiovascular Disease Commission" developed specific, worldwide recommendations for heart disease prevention and treatment based on an unprecedented global review and analysis. The recommendations ...

The Lancet women and cardiovascular disease Commission outlines 10 ambitious recommendations to improve health outcomes for millions of women around the world and achieve the global targets set. In the first-ever global report on cardiovascular disease (CVD) in women, researchers call for urgent action to improve care and prevention, fill knowledge gaps, and increase awareness to tackle the worldwide leading cause of death among women. The all female-led Commission report was published in The Lancet and presented during a plenary session at the American College of Cardiology's 70th Annual Scientific Session (ACC.21). ...

ATS 2021, New York, NY - Patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a rare lung disease that causes shortness of breath and low oxygen levels because of lung scarring, have worse outcomes if they live in poor neighborhoods, according to research presented at the ATS 2021 International Conference. Gillian Goobie, MD, Human Genetics, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues sought to determine how environmental and occupational factors contribute to the development and progression of IPF. People who live in areas with high neighborhood-level disadvantage, as ...

ATS 2021, New York, NY - By removing "race correction" from the interpretation of pulmonary function test (PFT) results, Black individuals were shown to have a significantly higher prevalence and severity of lung disease, according to research presented at the ATS 2021 International Conference. Alexander Moffett, MD, clinical fellow, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, and colleagues, sought to determine the real-world consequences of race correction for the interpretation of PFT results. Race correction, a standard practice in PFT interpretation that has no biological basis, results ...

NEW YORK, NY (May 16, 2021)--Brief pulses of ultrasound delivered to nerves near the kidney produced a clinically meaningful drop in blood pressure in people whose hypertension did not respond to a triple cocktail of medications, reports a new study led by researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and NewYork-Presbyterian. In a clinical trial of the procedure, called renal denervation, daytime blood pressure after two months had dropped 8 points compared to a 3-point drop in patients who were treated with a sham procedure. Nighttime blood pressure decreased ...

Research led by scientists at Children's Cancer Institute and published this week in the international journal, Clinical Cancer Research, has found a combination of therapies that appears to be highly effective against high-risk neuroblastoma and other forms of aggressive childhood cancer. Up to half of all cases of neuroblastoma newly diagnosed in children are 'high-risk', meaning the cancer grows aggressively and is difficult to treat. Despite receiving intensive treatment, most children with high-risk disease die within five years of diagnosis, while those who survive are often left with serious ...

ATS 2021, New York, NY - A weighted "lottery" designed to increase access to the antiviral drug remdesivir during the May-July 2020 COVID-19 surge for those most affected by the coronavirus, including members of the Black, Latinx and indigenous communities, led to more equitable distribution of the badly needed medication, according to research presented at the ATS 2021 International Conference. At a time when supplies of COVID-19 medications were scarce, Douglas B. White, MD, MAS, vice chair and professor of critical care medicine, UPMC endowed chair for ethics in critical care medicine and director of the Program on Ethics and Decision Making in Critical Illness, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and colleagues, convened ...