MIAMI, FLORIDA (Oct. 17, 2023) – Can lifestyle interventions such as exercise and intermittent fasting help patients with advanced breast cancer better tolerate side effects from treatment? That is the question Tracy Crane, PhD, RDN,  and Carmen Calfa, MD, at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and their collaborators will strive to answer with a $4-million, five-year grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Crane, co-lead of Cancer Control and director of Lifestyle Medicine, Prevention and ...

Saitama, Japan: Plants emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the atmosphere upon mechanical damages or insect attacks. Undamaged neighboring plants sense the released VOCs as danger cues to activate defense responses against upcoming threats (Figure 1). This phenomenon of airborne communication among plants through VOCs was first documented in 1983 and has since been observed in more than 30 different plant species. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying VOC perception to defense induction remain unclear.   Unveiling the Invisible Conversation   The ...

Researchers say mapping the genetic code of the brushtail possum will benefit those working to both conserve and control the animal.   In a five-year long study, just published in Nature Communications, an international group of researchers led by the University of Otago, has assembled the entire genetic code of the marsupial mammal.   The work also uncovered where and when their genes are expressed, and revealed surprising details about their population diversity, reproduction, and origins.    Study lead Associate Professor Tim Hore, of Otago’s Department of Anatomy, describes possums as “a fascinating animal that is loved ...

The factors affecting coral’s resilience — its ability to adapt to and survive environmental changes — seem to be more nuanced than scientists believed. In a study published Oct. 18 in the journal Global Change Biology, researchers reveal surprising findings about a species common to Caribbean waters. The discovery may help improve efforts to save corals from bleaching and other consequences of climate change. A team led by Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Carly Kenkel at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and ...

We live in an era of data deluge. The data centers that are operated to store and process this flood of data use a lot of electricity, which has been called a major contributor to environmental pollution. To overcome this situation, polygonal computing systems with lower power consumption and higher computation speed are being researched, but they are not able to handle the huge demand for data processing because they operate with electrical signals, just like conventional binary computing systems. The Korea Institute of Science ...

London, ON, October 17, 2023 – People experiencing homelessness accounted for an increasing proportion of fatal opioid-related deaths in Ontario, Canada, reaching one in six such deaths by 2021, according to new research from ICES, Western University and Lawson Health Research Institute. In one of the first reports to track the continuous increase in opioid-related mortality in the province among people experiencing homelessness, researchers found that the quarterly proportion of opioid-related overdose ...

Over 4,800 years in the Northern Rockies during wet periods and dry periods, subalpine forests consistently recovered from wildfires, growing back vegetation and leaving evidence of their resilience in lake sediment cores.  Kyra Clark-Wolf, now a CU Boulder postdoc with the North Central Climate Adaptation Center (NC CASC), led the study as part of her dissertation research. NC CASC is a partnership of CU Boulder and the United States Geological Survey. “I thought we might see different ecosystem responses to past fires between wet and dry periods,” said Clark-Wolf. “But ...

Rising lake water temperatures threaten the survival of marimo, unique algal balls found only in cold lakes. Kobe University researchers clarified that the warmer it gets, the more the inward decomposition outpaces the outward growth of these life forms, making them increasingly fragile. Moss balls, or “marimo” in Japanese, are popular pet water plants that are not a moss but a special growth form of filamentous algae. They are found naturally in lakes in northern Japan and cold lakes of ...

The resource utilization of waste is an important means to implement the construction of ecological civilization. Agricultural waste contains rich renewable resources and has high potential value in fertilization and energy conversion. Anaerobic digestion technology is a promising technology for treating agricultural waste. Anaerobic digestion refers to the digestion technology in which organic matter is decomposed into CH4, CO2, H2O and H2S by facultative bacteria and anaerobic bacteria under anaerobic conditions, which can transform solid organic matter into soluble organic matter. Not only does it have the advantages of stable process and low operation cost, the biogas produced can also ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — One double-helix strand of DNA could extend six feet, but it is so tightly coiled that it packs an entire sequence of nucleotides into the tiny nucleus of a cell. If that same DNA was instead split into two strands and divided into many, many short pieces, it would become trillions of uniquely folded 3D molecular structures, capable of bonding to and possibly manipulating specifically shaped molecules — if they’re the perfect fit. These short, single-stranded segments of DNA or RNA are called aptamers, also known as “chemical antibodies.” According to Penn State researchers, ...

Many people who dream of an organized, uncluttered home à la Marie Kondo find it hard to decide what to keep and what to let go. But for those with hoarding disorder — a mental condition estimated to affect 2.5% of the U.S. population — the reluctance to let go can reach dangerous and debilitating levels. Now, a pilot study by Stanford Medicine researchers suggests that a virtual reality therapy that allows those with hoarding disorder to rehearse relinquishing possessions in a simulation of their own home could help them declutter ...

A new study by Australian researchers has shown that fluctuating blood pressure can increase the risk of dementia and vascular problems in older people. Short blood pressure (BP) fluctuations within 24 hours as well as over several days or weeks are linked with impaired cognition, say University of South Australia (UniSA) researchers who led the study. Higher systolic BP variations (the top number that measures the pressure in arteries when a heart beats) are also linked with stiffening of the arteries, associated with heart disease. The findings have been published in the journal Cerebral Circulation – Cognition and ...

There are significant gaps in the UK public’s awareness of the tell-tale signs and symptoms of cancer in children and teens, with just a third of adults expressing confidence in being able to recognise them, find the results of a nationally representative survey published online in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood. Public awareness of the cancer signs and symptoms in this age group is much lower than it is in adults, suggesting the need for initiatives to plug this knowledge gap, say the researchers. Childhood cancer is the leading cause of ...

ChatGPT, the AI language model capable of mirroring human conversation, may be better than a doctor at following recognised treatment standards for clinical depression, and without any of the gender or social class biases sometimes seen in the primary care doctor-patient relationship, finds research published in the open access journal Family Medicine and Community Health. However, further research is needed into how well this technology might manage severe cases as well as potential risks and ethical issues arising from its use, say the researchers. Depression is very common, and many of those affected turn first to ...

Immersive virtual reality—digital technology that allows a person to experience being physically present in a non-physical world—seems to ease the pain and distress felt by patients with cancer, suggests a pooled data analysis of the available evidence published in BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care. The technology may also have potential for people with other distressing long term conditions, such as multiple sclerosis (MS), kidney disease, and dementia, the findings indicate. As the physical and practical costs of virtual reality technologies have fallen, interest in their use for improving patients’ quality of life has ...

Having older siblings and childhood tonsil removal are linked to a heightened risk of ankylosing spondylitis, a type of chronic inflammatory arthritis, finds a large study published in the open access journal RMD Open. The findings lend weight to the theory that childhood infections have a role in the development of the condition, which is characterised by inflammation of the spine, joints, and tendons, resulting in pain, stiffness, and fatigue. While genetic predisposition is the leading cause of the disease, early life environmental factors ...

Some strains of heavily antibiotic-resistant bacteria in Ghana are not successful at spreading outside of the hospital, suggesting that control measures can be focused on clinical settings to help curb treatment-resistant infections.  Scientists, from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Oslo University Hospitals, the University for Development Studies, Ghana, and collaborators, used a One Health1 approach to understand the spread of antibiotic resistance in Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae) bacteria in Ghana. It is a bacterial species ...

SAN FRANCISCO — Asian, Hispanic and Black children are much less likely to see ear, nose and throat (ENT) doctors, or otolaryngologists, and receive ear tubes for recurring ear infections, according to research presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY® 2023 annual meeting. Ear tube placement (tympanostomy) is the most common outpatient procedure in U.S. children. The tubes reduce ear infections by letting air flow in and out of the middle ear and draining the fluid that builds up. The procedure requires a referral to an ENT, and if left untreated, ear infections can ...

A cheap and widely available prescription drug can improve symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome in patients seen in GP surgeries, new research presented today at UEG Week 2023 has found.  Amitriptyline, which is commonly used at low doses for a range of health concerns, has been found to improve irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) symptoms too, according to the results of the ATLANTIS trial.  Led by researchers at the Universities of Leeds, Southampton, and Bristol and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), the study was conducted in primary care. GPs prescribed the drug and patients managed their own dose based on the severity of their symptoms, ...

A new mouse model of infection with the COVID-19-causing SARS-CoV-2 virus during pregnancy tracks closely the disease course doctors have observed in SARS-CoV-2-infected pregnant patients, and suggests that treatment with the antiviral Paxlovid provides protection for both mother and child. The new model is described in a study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The researchers found that pregnant mice infected with SARS-CoV-2 later in gestation tended to have worse COVID-19-like disease, as seen in pregnant patients with SARS-CoV-2 infections. Treating the mice with the active ingredients ...

First-generation students at The University of Texas at Arlington will have the opportunity to receive additional scholarship support thanks to a generous gift from Yardi Systems.   Yardi Systems, a property management software leader for real estate clients worldwide, has made a $320,000 gift to establish the Yardi Scholars program, which will award scholarships to students with financial need who intend to major in business, with preference given to first-generation students. Scholars will receive $10,000 per year for up to four consecutive years of study.   “Supporting education is a core pillar of Yardi’s corporate philanthropy,” ...

Clinicians who show more empathy promote better psychological health among breast cancer patients, according to a Rutgers study examining how oncology doctors facilitate psychological well-being.   “Our findings suggest that provider communication is a key component to reducing uncertainty, and thus providers play a key role in helping to facilitate psychological well-being,” said Liesl Broadbridge, a doctoral degree candidate at the Rutgers School of Communication and Information (SC&I) and the lead author of the study published in Patient Education and Counseling. Researcher findings suggest that discussing uncertainties with patients and being empathetic ...

Images Highlights: Researchers at Michigan State University and Purdue University were awarded $2 million by the National Science Foundation to develop new “living materials” for construction that can repair themselves and sequester carbon dioxide.   The materials will be sourced from sustainable biomass, including agricultural waste, and imbued with microbes that absorb carbon dioxide and synthesize polymers and minerals to bolster the materials’ strength.   Unlike ...

URBANA, Ill. – Nanozymes are synthetic materials that mimic the properties of natural enzymes for applications in biomedicine and chemical engineering. They are generally considered too toxic and expensive for use in agriculture and food science. Now, researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed a nanozyme that is organic, non-toxic, environmentally friendly, and cost effective. In a newly published paper, they describe its features and its capacity to detect the presence of glyphosate, a common agricultural herbicide. Their goal is to eventually create a user-friendly ...

SAN FRANCISCO — Women are nearly 50% more likely than men to develop depression after suffering a concussion or other traumatic brain injury (TBI), according to an analysis of nine studies and nearly 700,000 people presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY® 2023 annual meeting. “Most studies showing the link between TBI and depression have focused on men,” said Isaac G. Freedman, M.D., MPH, lead author of the study and an anesthesiology resident at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston. ...