A multi-institutional research team led by Georgia Tech’s Hailong Chen has developed a new, low-cost cathode that could radically improve lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) — potentially transforming the electric vehicle (EV) market and large-scale energy storage systems.  “For a long time, people have been looking for a lower-cost, more sustainable alternative to existing cathode materials. I think we’ve got one,” said Chen, an associate professor with appointments in the ...

Giving women at risk of premature birth a simple magnesium sulphate infusion (or ‘drip’) can prevent their babies from developing cerebral palsy, a recent Cochrane review has confirmed. The drug itself costs approximately £5 (~$6.50) per dose in England, and requires hospital admission with experienced staff to administer the drug safely to the mother. A new editorial calls for this intervention to be implemented more widely and equitably, as it is still not consistently available worldwide. The first Cochrane review showing that magnesium sulphate protects premature babies against cerebral palsy was published in 2009, and the recent update includes newer trials which further ...

Josh Leonardis received funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health to study why female manual wheelchair users experience shoulder pain and pathology at greater rates than males. Leonardis is a researcher at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, an assistant professor of health and kinesiology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the director of the Musculoskeletal Morphology and Biomechanics Laboratory. “It’s well-documented in literature that ...

UChicago Medicine has become the first medical center in Illinois to implant the Revi neuromodulation device, an exciting new treatment option that could offer relief for patients with urinary urgency incontinence (UUI). “I am really happy that we can offer this innovative approach to all our patients and very proud to be at the real forefront of medicine as the first in the state to have done this surgery,” said urologist Ervin Kocjancic, MD, the surgeon who performed the procedure. UUI, a chronic, debilitating, ...

Multi-disciplinary archaeological survey at the site of Oued Beht, Morocco, reveals a previously unknown 3400–2900 BC farming society. This is the earliest and largest agricultural complex yet found in Africa beyond the Nile. It shares similar features with contemporaneous sites in Iberia. This suggests the Maghreb was instrumental to the shaping of the western Mediterranean during the fourth and third millennia BC. Archaeological fieldwork in Morocco has discovered the earliest, previously unknown farming society from a poorly understood period of north-west African prehistory. This study, published today in Antiquity, reveals for the first ...

Background and Goal: Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a preventive medicine that reduces the risk of contracting HIV. There is concern that PrEP use may be associated with an increase in bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs) like gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis among men who are gay or bisexual. This study explored the relationship between PrEP use and the rates of bacterial STIs over time. Study Approach:  Researchers used data from the iCruise Study, an online longitudinal study of men who are gay or bisexual or have sex with men, in Ontario from July 2017 to April 2018. The study examined how PrEP use related to the number of self-reported ...

Background and Goal: Obesity is a significant health issue, particularly among veterans and racial/ethnic minority groups. Primary care is a key setting for addressing obesity. However, many barriers, including time constraints and limited patient engagement, make effective treatment challenging. This study evaluated whether a technology-assisted health coaching intervention called Goals for Eating and Moving (GEM) could help high-risk patients lose weight more effectively than enhanced usual care (EUC). Study Approach: Researchers conducted a two-arm, cluster-randomized controlled trial involving 19 primary care teams ...

Background and Goal: Underserved communities are at higher risk for uncontrolled high blood pressure (hypertension), which can lead to heart disease and higher death rates. This study evaluated the impact of a remote monitoring program called DIG IT on blood pressure control in underserved patients at a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in Orange County, California. Study Approach: Researchers compared two groups: 70 patients using the DIG IT program, which includes digital blood pressure monitoring, medication management, and a team-based care approach, and a historical control group of 70 patients who received standard care without digital tools. The ...

Background and Goal: The HOMER study was launched to determine the most effective setting for starting buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder. The study faced challenges including shifts in health care delivery, changes in patient preferences, and the emergence of telehealth. The goal was to adapt the study to these circumstances while maintaining its focus on patient-centered care and effective treatment outcomes. Key Insights: The HOMER study had to quickly adapt to challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. With community input, the study design evolved to include a third arm, ...

Background and Goal: Chest pain is a common but challenging symptom for general practitioners to evaluate, as it can be caused by both serious conditions and more benign issues. This study assessed the effectiveness of various risk stratification tools, including clinical decision rules and troponin tests, in helping general practitioners rule out acute coronary syndrome in patients with chest pain. Study Approach: Researchers conducted a systematic review of studies involving adult patients presenting ...

Original Research Family Physicians in Rural Hospitals Associated With Lower Cesarean Rates and Safer Maternal Care Culture  Background and Goal: The U.S. is experiencing a maternal health crisis, particularly in rural areas. This issue is compounded by rising rates of severe maternal morbidity and mortality. Family physicians often fill critical gaps in care in rural areas where obstetricians are scarce. This study examined how the presence of family physicians in rural hospitals impacts cesarean delivery rates and the overall quality of care during childbirth. Study Approach: The study analyzed data from rural ...

Investigators from the SWOG Cancer Research Network have developed and validated a risk prediction model for identifying which patients with advanced cancer who are enrolled to clinical trials are at highest risk for unplanned emergency room (ER) visits and hospital stays. Determining which patients are at significantly higher risk could inform interventions to reduce the need for such visits, improving care quality and reducing costs. The work will be delivered as an oral presentation by Dawn L. Hershman, MD, MS, at the 2024 ASCO Quality Care Symposium, which will ...

Background and Goal: Family medicine residency programs are essential for training future primary care physicians. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) program requires family medicine residents to perform two scholarly projects. One must be a quality improvement project, and the second project type is at the program's discretion. This study assessed the scholarly activity output of family medicine residency programs in the U.S., identified institutional factors associated with increased scholarly ...

Background and Goal: This study examined whether patients with non-reversible chronic airway disease using a transparent capsule in single-dose dry powder inhalers affects the amount of medication delivered. The goal was to determine if patients who use transparent capsules that allow them to see if the medication has been fully inhaled have better inhalation results compared to those using opaque capsules. Study Approach: Researchers conducted an observational cross-sectional study between October 2020 and October ...

Background and Goal: The U.S. is experiencing a maternal health crisis, particularly in rural areas. This issue is compounded by rising rates of severe maternal morbidity and mortality. Family physicians often fill critical gaps in care in rural areas where obstetricians are scarce. This study examined how the presence of family physicians in rural hospitals impacts cesarean delivery rates and the overall quality of care during childbirth. Study Approach: The study analyzed data from rural hospitals in Iowa and collected survey responses from clinicians  about their attitudes and practices related to ...

Background and Goal: “Long COVID” is the continuation or development of new symptoms three months after initial SARS-CoV-2 infection. For many patients with long COVID, primary care is the first point of interaction with the health care system. This study aimed to examine the expectations and experiences of primary care patients seeking treatment for long COVID. Study Approach: Researchers conducted 20 semistructured interviews between 2022 and 2023 with primary care patients from a ...

Inspired by the VA’s My Life, My Story project, this initiative used the Electronic Health Record (EHR) to strengthen the patient-physician relationship. The initiative invited patients to share personal narratives before their first visit with a new primary care physician. Conducted at a regional clinic affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the project involved sending secure messages to patients, asking them to describe what they wanted their health care team to know about them as a person. The majority of patients responded ...

September 23, 2024, Mountain View, CA – The SETI Institute's AIR program announced the recipients of its Cosmic Consciousness residency for mid-career and emerging artists: Open (Mid-Career) category: The recipients are the artist team of Bart Kuipers, Julie Michele Morin, and daniela brill estrada, with their project Exoplanet Poetry. The artists plan to create a book of poems using an AI trained on chemical data from imagined extraterrestrial sources. The book will be presented as a multi-sensory chemical experience, making ...

A probable crater stretching more than 370 miles, or 600 kilometers, across the heart of Australia could reshape our understanding of Earth’s geological history. Researcher Daniel Connelly and Virginia Commonwealth University’s Arif Sikder, Ph.D., believe they have found evidence to support the existence of MAPCIS – the Massive Australian Precambrian-Cambrian Impact Structure -– which is a nonconcentric complex crater that could provide new insights into the geological and biological evolution of our planet. “Working on the MAPCIS project has been an incredible journey,” said Sikder, an associate professor in the Center for ...

Solar flares are extremely intense events that occur in the Sun’s atmosphere, lasting anywhere from a few minutes to several hours. According to the standard flare model, the energy that triggers these explosions is transported by accelerated electrons that hurtle from the magnetic reconnection region in the corona to the chromosphere. As the electrons collide with the chromospheric plasma, they deposit their energy in the plasma, which is heated and ionized as a result. They also cause intense radiation in several ...

A University of Missouri researcher has created a computer program that can unravel the mysteries of how proteins work together — giving scientists valuable insights to better prevent, diagnose and treat cancer and other diseases. Jianlin “Jack” Cheng from Mizzou’s College of Engineering and his student, Nabin Giri, have developed a tool called Cryo2Struct that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to build the three-dimensional atomic structure of large protein complexes, work recently published in Nature Communications. ...

A significant breakthrough in the understanding of sleep mechanism opens new promise for treating sleep disorders and associated neuropsychiatric conditions: Scientists have pinpointed the melatonin receptor MT1 as a crucial regulator of REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. REM sleep is crucial for dreaming, memory consolidation, and emotional regulation. In the brain, the melatonin MT1 receptor affects a type of neuron that synthesizes the neurotransmitter and hormone noradrenaline, found in an ...

The degree to which a surgical patient’s subconscious processing of pain, or “nociception,” is properly managed by their anesthesiologist will directly affect the degree of post-operative drug side effects they’ll experience and the need for further pain management they’ll require. But pain is a subjective feeling to measure, even when patients are awake, much less when they are unconscious. In a new study, MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers describe a set of statistical models that objectively quantified nociception during surgery. Ultimately, they hope to help anesthesiologists optimize drug dose and minimize post-operative ...

The researchers used tiny GPS tracking devices to follow the movements of 104 cranes in Africa, Asia, and Europe. These devices included unique solar-powered GPS leg bands developed by scientists from MPI-AB. The tracking data revealed the impressive migrations that cranes undertook. Some of the migratory routes exceeded 6,400 km of travel round trip and required crossing barriers such as the Alps or Himalaya mountain ranges, the deserts of the Arabian peninsula, or the Mediterranean Sea. In addition to the tracking study, the researchers also developed a statistical framework that revealed how the cranes’ movements relate to aspects of the ...

Engineers at RMIT University have designed an innovative tubular structural system that can be packed flat for easier transport and pop up into strong building materials. This breakthrough is made possible by a self-locking system inspired by curved-crease origami — a technique that uses curved crease lines in paper folding. Lead researchers, Dr Jeff (Ting-Uei) Lee and Distinguished Professor Mike (Yi Min) Xie, said bamboo, which has internal structures providing natural reinforcement, inspired the tube design. “This self-locking system is the result of an intelligent geometric design,” said Lee from RMIT’s School of Engineering. ...