The inner workings of a "self-destruct switch" present on human cells that can be activated during an immune response have been revealed. In unprecedented detail, KAUST scientists with collaborators in China report the 3D atomic structure of the human PANX1 protein, which may help underpin new therapies that target the immune system. When cells become infected with a pathogen, the body's immune system works to destroy the infected cells before they become a threat to surrounding tissues. This form of cell death, during which a cell releases potent ...

The first civilisations to build monumental palaces and urban centres in Europe are more genetically homogenous than expected, according to the first study to sequence whole genomes gathered from ancient archaeological sites around the Aegean Sea. The study has been published in the journal Cell. Despite marked differences in burial customs, architecture, and art, the Minoan civilization in Crete, the Helladic civilization in mainland Greece and the Cycladic civilization in the Cycladic islands in the middle of the Aegean Sea, were genetically similar during the Early Bronze age ...

We live in times when among the most limited and precious resources on Earth are air and water. No matter the geographical location, the pollution spreads quickly, negatively affecting even the purest regions like Mount Everest. Thus, anthropogenic activity decreases the quality of the environment, making it harmful for flora and fauna. Current waste treatment methods are not sufficient, so novel and effective methods for maximizing pollutants removal are highly needed. One of the robust and prosperous solutions that make it possible to degrade various highly toxic chemicals from air and water is based on nanotechnology. Nanomaterials offer unique physicochemical properties, ...

Coral are not completely defenceless against attacking juvenile crown of thorns starfish and can fight back to inflict at times lethal damage, new research has found. This occurs during a period of the crown of thorns starfish life cycle, where small juveniles shift from a vegetarian diet of algae to coral prey. But this change in diet makes the juveniles more vulnerable to attack by coral. Population outbreaks of adult crown of thorns starfish, alongside coral bleaching is one of the greatest threats to tropical reef habitats. Video footage shows when the tube feet (small tube-like projections on the underside of a starfish's arm used for movement) of juvenile crown ...

Patients suffering a heart attack received percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), a procedure to clear blocked arteries in the heart, an average of 10 minutes faster after clinicians and paramedics began using an app to facilitate efficient hospital intakes for these patients, according to a study being presented at the American College of Cardiology's 70th Annual Scientific Session. The study was conducted at Baystate Medical Center, a health system headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts, that, like many U.S. hospitals, serves patients across a wide ...

Black patients from disadvantaged neighborhoods were significantly more likely to die within five years of surviving a heart attack compared with Black heart attack patients from wealthier neighborhoods and white patients of any socioeconomic means who survive a heart attack, according to a study being presented at the American College of Cardiology's 70th Annual Scientific Session. The researchers analyzed data from nearly 32,000 patients with health insurance treated for a heart attack within the Kaiser Permanente Southern California hospital system between 2006-2016. The researchers assigned each ...

People with prediabetes were significantly more likely to suffer a heart attack, stroke or other major cardiovascular event when compared with those who had normal blood sugar levels, according to research being presented at the American College of Cardiology's 70th Annual Scientific Session. Researchers said the findings should serve as a wake-up call for clinicians and patients alike to try to prevent prediabetes in the first place. "In general, we tend to treat prediabetes as no big deal. But we found that prediabetes itself can significantly boost someone's chance of having a major cardiovascular event, even if they never progress to having diabetes," ...

People with heart disease are more likely to become seriously ill from the flu and other respiratory illnesses, including the coronavirus. Yet, new research finds that only half of Americans with a history of heart disease or stroke report getting an annual flu shot, despite widespread recommendations to do so. Rates of vaccination were even lower among Blacks and Hispanics, according to data being presented at the American College of Cardiology's 70th Annual Scientific Session. Researchers say the findings should renew efforts to assure flu vaccination is a routine part of quality cardiovascular care. "As a nation, the U.S. health care system must do a better job protecting a population that is at very high risk for serious ...

Breathing in secondhand cigarette smoke may leave you more vulnerable to heart failure, a condition where the heart isn't pumping as well as it should and has a hard time meeting the body's needs, according to a study being presented at the American College of Cardiology's 70th Annual Scientific Session. The data showed that nonsmokers with recent exposure to secondhand smoke had a 35% increased odds of developing heart failure compared with those who hadn't been around tobacco. The association between tobacco exposure and heart failure remained, even after controlling for ...

People who clock six to seven hours of sleep a night had the lowest chance of dying from a heart attack or stroke when compared with those who got less or more sleep, according to a study being presented at the American College of Cardiology's 70th Annual Scientific Session. This trend remained true even after the research team accounted for other known conditions or risk factors for heart disease or stroke. The study, according to researchers, is the first to explore the association between baseline cardiovascular risk and duration of sleep and adds to mounting evidence that sleep--similar to diet, smoking and exercise--may play a defining role in someone's cardiovascular ...

Individuals living with a spouse with heart disease were more than twice as likely to have heart disease themselves, according to a study being presented at the American College of Cardiology's 70th Annual Scientific Session. Researchers surveyed more than 5,000 heterosexual couples over the age of 45 living in seven regions of China from 2014-2016. Participants provided information about their personal health history and that of their spouse, including details about risk factors such as body mass index and blood pressure; lifestyle factors such as physical activity, smoking and alcohol use; and socioeconomic factors. For the study, a history of cardiovascular disease was defined as experiencing ...

Young Black women show a high prevalence of obesity, elevated blood pressure and other lifestyle-related factors that may put them on a trajectory to develop heart disease at a young age, according to a study presented at the American College of Cardiology's 70th Annual Scientific Session. While previous research has drawn attention to the burden of heart disease among Black women, the new study is unique in its focus on examining the age at which heart disease risk factors emerge in this population in a community setting. The researchers found high rates of lifestyle-linked risk factors among Black women as early as their 20s and 30s. "Young people should be the healthiest members of our population with normal body weight and normal blood pressure," ...

Hamilton, ON (May 5, 2021) - Schools and child care centres should train staff on food allergies and have epinephrine available to treat anaphylaxis, but new guidelines do not recommend food bans. The recommendations come from an international team, led by McMaster University, which has developed practice guidelines for the prevention and management of allergic reactions to food at child care centres and schools. The guidelines were published today in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. "The management of food allergy is a sensitive topic," said Susan Waserman, ...

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 5, 2021) - Collaborative research between the University of Kentucky (UK) and University of Southern California (USC) suggests that a noninvasive neuroimaging technique may index early-stage blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction associated with small vessel disease (SVD). Cerebral SVD is the most common cause of vascular cognitive impairment, with a significant proportion of cases going on to develop dementia. BBB dysfunction represents a promising early marker of SVD because the BBB regulates a number of important metabolic functions, including clearance of toxic brain substances. Advanced ...

Current guidelines for managing osteoporosis specifically call out hip or spine fractures for increasing the risk for subsequent bone breaks. But a new UCLA-led study suggests that fractures in the arm, wrist, leg and other parts of the body should also set off alarm bells. A fracture, no matter the location, indicates a general tendency to break a bone in the future at a different location, said Dr. Carolyn Crandall, the study's lead author and a professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "Current clinical guidelines have only been emphasizing hip and spine fractures, but our findings challenge that viewpoint," Crandall said. "By not paying attention to which types of fractures increase the risk of future fractures, we are missing the opportunity to ...

Research led by the Garvan Institute of Medical Research has for the first time mapped the unique genetic profile of the skeleton's 'master regulator' cells, known as osteocytes. The study published today in Nature Communications outlines the genes that are switched on or off in osteocytes, a type of bone cell that controls how other types of cells make or break down parts of the skeleton to maintain strong and healthy bones. "This new information provides a kind of genetic shortlist we can look to when diagnosing bone diseases that have a genetic component," says the study's first author Dr Scott Youlten, Research Officer in the Bone Biology ...

Mammals see with their eyes, hear with their ears and smell with their nose. But which sense or organ allows them to orient themselves on their migrations, which sometimes go far beyond their local foraging areas and therefore require an extended ability to navigate? Scientific experiments led by the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW), published together with Prof. Richard A. Holland (Bangor University, UK) and Dr. Gunārs P?tersons (Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies) now show that the cornea of the eyes is the location of such an important sense in migrating bats. If the cornea is anaesthetised, the otherwise ...

A study involving researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Gothenburg University in Sweden has found that low levels of a protein called PDGFRb are associated with particularly good results of radiotherapy in women with early-stage breast cancer. The study, which is published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, also suggests that the efficacy of radiotherapy can be improved with drugs that block this protein. Some 900 women in Sweden are diagnosed with DCIS (ductalcarcinoma in situ), the earliest possible form of invasive breast cancer. Standard treatment is ...

MINNEAPOLIS - Chronic kidney disease is when a person's kidneys progressively lose their ability to filter waste from the blood and eliminate fluids. Now a new study has found that people with reduced kidney function may have an increased risk of developing dementia. The study is published in the May 5, 2021, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Chronic kidney disease affects approximately 15% of adults in the United States and it is more common as people age. However, since many people don't experience ...

CLEVELAND, Ohio (May 5, 2021)--Vitamin D is a critical part of a healthy diet. Among other benefits, it has been shown to protect against bone disease and maintain soft tissue health. A new study suggests that it may also play a role in the degree of postoperative pain postmenopausal women experience after undergoing total knee replacement. Study results are published online today in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS). Vitamin D deficiency is a major issue globally. It is estimated that 60% of adults have insufficient levels of the bone-building vitamin. Estrogen deficiency in perimenopausal women has been associated with decreased levels of vitamin D. A sedentary lifestyle and lack of sun exposure have also been shown to contribute to vitamin D ...

A new study published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology ¬provides insights on how common hospitalized patients develop liver injury from taking different medications. When investigators analyzed the records of 156,570 hospitalized patients, they found 499 cases of drug-induced liver injury (DILI), for an incidence of 0.32%. Anti-infective agents, cancer medications, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were the major categories of drugs causing DILI, and the highest incidence was due to voriconazole (an antifungal medication). Patients with high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, ...

A new study published in Arthritis Care & Research indicates that few individuals with the autoimmune disease lupus who were publicly insured through Medicaid received recommended vaccines in 2000-2010. Also, those who were unvaccinated needed more acute care for vaccine-preventable illnesses. From 2000-2010, there were 1,290 patients who visited the emergency department or were hospitalized for vaccine-preventable illness, and 93% of these visits occurred in patients without billing codes for related vaccinations. Patients who were Black had a 22% higher risk of needing such care than those who were white. "These episodes represent missed opportunities to deliver essential ...

Untreated mental health disorders can be a serious problem for women and their children during pregnancy and after giving birth, during the postpartum period. A recent analysis funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and published in Psychiatric Research & Clinical Practice notes that few studies have examined the benefits of medications for mental health disorders in pregnant and postpartum women. And while many studies have reported on potential harms, the large majority could not separate the effect of medications from the effect of the underlying disorder. As a result, it ...

Investigators found similarities in the bacterial composition of the mouth among patients with early rheumatoid arthritis and those at risk of developing the disease, compared with healthy individuals who were not at risk. The findings come from a study published in Arthritis & Rheumatology. Patients and at-risk individuals had an increased relative abundance of potentially pro- inflammatory bacteria in the mouth, suggesting a possible link between oral microbes and rheumatoid arthritis. "Prevotella and Veillonella--both gram-negative anaerobes--were at higher relative abundance in saliva, and ...

Erythropoietin (EPO) is a medication used to stimulate the production of new red blood cells, which is impaired in individuals with kidney failure. Unfortunately, however, the treatment may increase the risk of hip fractures. In an analysis published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research that examined 1997-2013 records from two large U.S. databases, investigators found that EPO doses administered to patients with kidney failure on hemodialysis fluctuated widely over time, and hip fracture rates closely tracked the average dose of EPO doses used in patients. "Patients with renal failure can benefit from EPO treatment; however, as with all medications, ...