University of Toronto (U of T) researchers have found that cancer cells can enhance tumor growth by hijacking enhancer DNA normally used when tissues and organs are formed. The mechanism, called enhancer reprogramming, occurs in bladder, uterine, breast and lung cancer, and could cause these types of tumors to grow faster in patients. Published in the journal Nucleic Acids Research, the results also pinpoint the role that specific proteins play in regulating the enhancer region which may lead to improved treatments for these cancer types. Living cells, even cancer cells, follow instructions in the genome to turn genes on and off in different ...

The West’s electrical grid is a 136,000-mile patchwork of transmission lines connecting two Canadian provinces, 11 Western states and pieces of three others, serving 80 million people. While it drives a vital and growing piece of the U.S. economy, this fragile network remains vulnerable to increasingly extreme weather and wildfire risks, according to Masood Parvania, an associate professor of electrical and computing engineering at the University of Utah’s John and Marcia Price College of Engineering. “These ...

Key takeaways Two-thirds of white Americans believe that Black Americans do not experience racism or racial inequities in health care. UCLA psychologists exposed white study participants to the well-documented history of medical-related mistreatment of Black Americans. Subsequently, white participants were more likely to adopt a new perspective and support policies aimed at reducing racial disparities in health care. Being exposed to some of the many historical incidences of anti-Black racism in American health care can contribute to ...

Maximum Academic Press (MAP) is pleased to announce that 11 more journals including Circular Agricultural Systems, Food Innovation and Advances, Food Materials Research, Fruit Research, Grass Research, Medicinal Plant Biology, Ornamental Plant Research, Seed Biology, Technology in Horticulture, Tropical Plants and Vegetable Research have achieved a significant milestone by being indexed in the CABI (Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International) database. Previously, Beverage Plant Research, Forestry Research and Studies in ...

Numerous studies have shown that leading a fulfilling and satisfying life may improve cognitive function by encouraging health-protective behaviors such as physical activity and reduced stress. Many of these studies assess this relationship from a population level, rather than among individuals. But a closer look within the general population suggests that life satisfaction may not have a positive effect on all people, according to a new study led by Boston University School of Public Health researchers. Published in the journal SSM – Mental Health, the ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – For some families, the year after childbirth may not only mean loads of diapers but stacks of unpaid medical bills as well. Postpartum individuals are more likely to have medical debt than those who are pregnant, suggests a new Michigan Medicine led study that evaluated collections among a statewide commercially insured cohort of 14,560 pregnant people and 12,157 people in the postpartum period. “Our findings suggest that current out-of-pocket costs before and after childbirth ...

Experimental researchers often find themselves of two minds when interacting with the public. On one side, researchers gather knowledge and test hypotheses based on participants’ responses. On the other side, they use their own knowledge and expertise to engage and educate the public about topics of public concern related to their science. Abby Walker, associate professor of linguistics in the Department of English at Virginia Tech, and her collaborator secured a National Science Foundation ...

September 28, 2023 – Women undergoing autologous breast reconstruction – in which the breast is reconstructed using the patient's own tissues– report higher satisfaction with their breasts at follow-up, compared to those undergoing implant-based reconstruction, reports a study in a special October supplement to Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.  "The findings were unexpected, since autologous ...

The National Alliance against Disparities in Patient Health (NADPH) presents a Roundtable Discussion on the topic of embedding ethics and equity into artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) infrastructure. The expert panel discussion is published in the peer-reviewed journal Big Data. Click here to read the article now.  Moderating the Roundtable Discussion is Malaika Simmons, MSHE, Chief Operating Officer of NADPH. The expert panelists include Rachele Hendricks-Sturrup, DHSc, Chief Data Governance Officer and Project Director, NADPH, Gabriella Waters, Director of Research and Operations, Center for Equitable AI and Machine Learning Systems, Director of the ...

WASHINGTON (Sept. 28, 2023) — Grandmother was right: Scrubbing behind the ears and between the toes may help keep the skin in those regions healthy, or so says a new study by a team at the George Washington University.    The microbiome, or the collection of microbes living on and in the human body, are known to play a role in human health and the skin is no different. A new study by a team at the George Washington University has shown that the composition of the skin microbiome varies across dry, moist and oily regions of the skin.   Researchers ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Every person hosts trillions of microorganisms, like bacteria and viruses, on their skin and in organs including those that make up the digestive tract, like their mouth, that collectively make up their microbiome. Microbiome research can lead to medical breakthroughs to treat diseases like inflammatory bowel syndrome and diabetes. According to Laura Weyrich, associate professor of anthropology and bioethics at Penn State, microbiome samples from Indigenous communities have played an important role in furthering Western ...

URBANA, Ill. – Family mealtimes are important for parents and children as a space to communicate, socialize, and build attachment relationships. But it can be difficult for busy parents to balance family and work life. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign explores how parents’ job stress influences their attendance at family mealtimes, and in turn, children’s socioemotional development. “We all struggle to maintain the balance between work life and family life. But this might ...

Forget walking 10,000 steps a day. Taking at least 50 steps climbing stairs each day could significantly slash your risk of heart disease, according to a new study from Tulane University. The study, published in Atherosclerosis, found that climbing more than five flights of stairs daily could reduce risk of cardiovascular disease by 20%. Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) along with coronary artery disease and stroke are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. “Short bursts of high-intensity stair climbing are a time-efficient ...

The first ethical framework for conducting human research on commercial spaceflight was proposed today in an article in Science by an international team that included Hastings Center president Vardit Ravitsky. Ravitsky’s contribution focused on promoting diversity among the researchers and participants, which is essential to ensuring the research benefits society at large. Human research on commercial spaceflight is expected to expand significantly in the near future, and yet there are no rules for ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – New research suggests that ultrasound may have potential in treating a group of harmful chemicals known as PFAS to eliminate them from contaminated groundwater.   Invented nearly a century ago, per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, also known as “forever chemicals,” were once widely used to create products such as cookware, waterproof clothing and personal care items. Today, scientists understand that exposure to PFAS can cause a number of human health issues such as birth defects and cancer. But because the bonds inside these chemicals don’t break down easily, they’re notoriously ...

Bottom Line: Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) reduced the risk of severe infections by 90% in patients with multiple myeloma undergoing treatment with an anti-BCMA bispecific antibody. Journal in Which the Study was Published: Blood Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Author: Guido Lancman, MD, a clinical associate at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre of the University Health Network and an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Toronto Background: Bispecific antibodies targeting the BCMA ...

In a groundbreaking study, a research team led by Changhu Xue and Xiangzhao Mao from the Ocean University of China has developed a remarkable double-layer polysaccharide hydrogel (DPH) that promises to revolutionize the field of intestine-targeted oral delivery of probiotics. The team’s findings, published in Engineering, demonstrate the potential of DPH to enhance the bioavailability, intestinal colonization, and overall effectiveness of probiotics in treating various diseases. The research team’s study focused on addressing the challenges posed by the harsh gastrointestinal environment and the short retention ...

New guidelines are needed to assure that research on human subjects performed on commercial spaceflights is conducted ethically, a panel of experts say in a commentary appearing in the September 28 issue of the journal Science. Their paper is titled Ethically cleared to launch? Private companies are expected to fly thousands of people into space in the coming decades. Those aboard will include workers and passengers who will have the opportunity to participate in research studies. Such research is not only essential to assure the safety of future space travelers but often also addresses critical issues of human health in general. Buț ...

Large differences in flower characteristics between wildflowers with different pollinators are achieved by a few key genetic differences, according to a study by Carolyn Wessinger at the University of South Carolina, US, and colleagues, publishing September 28th in the open access journal PLOS Biology. Plants that rely on animal pollinators, such as insects or birds, have evolved distinctive suites of flower characteristics — known as “pollination syndromes” — that are tailored to the pollinator. For example, most plants in the ...

To help resolve the scientific debate over whether it was a giant asteroid or volcanic eruptions that wiped out the dinosaurs and most other species 66 million years ago, Dartmouth researchers tried a new approach — they removed scientists from the debate and let the computers decide. The researchers report in the journal Science a new modeling method powered by interconnected processors that can work through reams of geological and climate data without human input. They tasked nearly 130 processors with analyzing the fossil record in reverse to pinpoint the events and conditions that led to the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) extinction event that ...

HOUSTON – (Sept. 28, 2023) – The commercial spaceflight industry is expanding opportunities for scientific research in space, but the industry needs clear ethical guidelines before human research is ready for liftoff. In a new policy paper published in Science, a global, multidisciplinary team of bioethicists, health policy experts, space health researchers, commercial spaceflight professionals and government regulators outlines potential ethical concerns facing the future of commercial space research and provides guiding principles ...

A genome-wide survey of highly endangered staghorn coral in the Caribbean has identified 10 genomic regions associated with resilience against white band disease – an emergent infectious disease responsible for killing up to 95% of Caribbean Acropora species, including staghorn corals (A. cervicornis). The findings could be used as a conservation tool to improve disease resistance in the wild and nursery stocks of staghorn corals used to repopulate damaged coral reefs throughout Caribbean waters. Over the last several decades, Earth’s reef corals have experienced unprecedented declines. Increased anthropogenic ...

A previously uncharacterized adhesin protein specific to a human fungal pathogen first discovered in 2009 plays a crucial role in the fungus’s ability to colonize a variety of living and non-living surfaces, and in its virulence, according to a new study. “These findings [about Candida auris] offer insight into the genetics and molecular mechanisms by which [this fungus] mediates surface association, a trait critical to the increasing disease burden of this emerging pathogen,” write the authors. Since its first discovery in 2009, C. auris has become increasingly responsible for life-threatening infections in health care facilities worldwide. Outbreaks of ...

From long-frozen and potentially dangerous pathogens awakening in Arctic permafrost to emerging heat-related hazards in human pregnancy, ongoing climate change presents new challenges for human health. In this Special Issue, Science’s News Department offers a collection of five news stories highlighting several facets of the complex intersection between heat, disease, and human health and the researchers seeking to understand related emerging threats. In one Feature, Science Correspondent Kai Kupferschmidt discusses ...

A novel approach to a question that’s been widely investigated reveals more insights about the environmental forcings associated with the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, suggesting that volcanism and other biological changes imparted stress on the global carbon cycle across the Cretaceous/Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary. In addition to providing new insights into the factors that contributed to extinction, the approach could be useful in disentangling other complex perturbations in the Earth system and their associated climatic and biological impacts. The end-Cretaceous mass ...