Despite the success of vaccines for preventing COVID-19, and of drugs for treating the disease, outcomes for severely ill patients admitted to the hospital remains poor. Identifying new therapies for severe COVID-19 remains a high priority and one in which Vanderbilt University Medical Center is taking a leading role.   A study published April 11 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) evaluated two drugs that act on the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) as potential treatments for severe COVID-19. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19, enters ...

New research by the University of Warwick has identified characteristics of aggressive driving – which impact both road users and the transition to self-driving cars of the future.   In the first study to systematically identify aggressive driving behaviours, scientists have measured the changes in driving that occur in an aggressive state. Aggressive drivers drive faster and with more mistakes than non-aggressive drivers – putting other road users at risk and posing a challenge to researchers working on self-driving car technology.   The research comes as a leading Detective Chief Superintendent, Andy ...

Patients treated with blood pressure-lowering drugs can experience much greater improvements from a change of medication than from doubling the dose of their current medication. This is shown by a new study from Uppsala University, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). In this study, 280 patients tested four different blood pressure-lowering drugs over the course of a year. “The effect of a change of medication can be twice as great as the effect of doubling the dose of the patient’s current medication. It was clear in our study that certain patients achieved lower blood pressure from one drug than from another. This effect is ...

Cell secretions like proteins, antibodies, and neurotransmitters play an essential role in immune response, metabolism, and communication between cells. Understanding cell secretions is key for developing disease treatments, but current methods are only able to report the quantity of secretions, without any detail as to when and where they are produced. Now, researchers in the BIOnanophotonic Systems Laboratory (BIOS) in the School of Engineering and at the University of Geneva have developed a novel optical imaging ...

In Brazil, a group of researchers supported by FAPESP created mutant forms of Salmonella to understand the mechanisms that favor colonization of the intestinal tract of chickens by these pathogenic bacteria and find better ways to combat the infection they cause. An article on the study is published in the journal Scientific Reports. In it, the researchers note that, contrary to expectations, the mutant strains caused more severe infections than wild-type bacteria. In the mutant strains, the genes ttrA and pduA were deleted. In previous research using mice, both genes had been shown to account for the ability of Salmonella to ...

ANN ARBOR, Michigan — A cancer diagnosis can cause financial strain on patients as they cope with the cost of treatment and lost work. But what about their partners?   A new study from University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center researchers surveyed the partners of colorectal cancer patients and found the financial impact of a loved one’s diagnosis also impacts the partner’s health-related quality of life.   “We know that financial toxicity or hardship is a significant effect of cancer and its treatment ...

ST. LOUIS, MO, April 10, 2023 – New research lead by Keith Slotkin, PhD, member, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center opens the door for scientists to equip plants with the tools they need to adapt to rising levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), high heat, and other stressors associated with climate change. The newly published study in the journal The New Phytologist revealed that the transgenerational inheritance occurred via DNA methylation, the process by which plants “mark” DNA without changing the code of the DNA itself ...

Ana Fernandez-Sesma, PhD, has been appointed Chair of the Department of Microbiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dr. Fernandez-Sesma will direct all educational and research functions of the Department, while cultivating an academic culture that advances insights into virology, vaccinology, immunology, and microbiology, and encourages innovative approaches to teaching and mentoring.   Dr. Fernandez-Sesma has distinguished herself as an investigator focused on the mechanisms of immune evasion used by viruses, including dengue (DENV), ...

Coinciding with the increased support for populist parties that we have witnessed all over the West, the last decade has also seen an increase in the number of populism-related studies, covering topics such as the causes and consequences of voting for parties that support these ideas, or the reasons for and possible consequences of the emergence and increasing presence of the attitudes on which they are based. The links between conspiracy theories and populism have also aroused a great degree of interest. Carolina Galais, a researcher at the Universitat ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – Researchers have found that digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) has improved breast cancer screening performance in community practice and identifies more invasive cancers, compared to digital mammography. In addition, radiologists’ interpretive performance improved with DBT. The results of the study were published today in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). “Our study demonstrated that more radiologists in U.S. community practice are meeting recommended performance standards with digital breast tomosynthesis than ...

A key receptor regulating memory formation has been localized to interneurons, according to a study with implications for drug development. Robert Pearce and colleagues probed the localization of γ-aminobutyric acid type A receptors that incorporate α5 subunits (α5-GABAARs). α5-GABAARs are concentrated within the hippocampus, a brain structure that is essential for the formation of episodic memories. The general anesthetic etomidate blocks learning by targeting α5-GABAARs, as do many drugs designed to enhance cognition, intended for use in people with Alzheimer’s disease, ...

In the process of organoid manufacturing, bioprinting technology can not only facilitate the creation and maintenance of complex biological 3D shapes and structures, but also allow for standardization and quality control during production. And the addition of artificial intelligence, which can validate the product potential in the manufacturing process, allows to provide a more standardized source of cells for the organoid in terms of viability, function, etc. In other words, bioprinting combined with artificial intelligence is expected to perform real-time ...

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the most diagnosed cancer among males and third among females in Saudi Arabia, with up to two-thirds diagnosed at an advanced stage, according to the King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre. This report shows Saudi Arabia has a high percentage of respondents (62.7%) who never took CRC tests, far higher than global average of 54.1%. This shows the Kingdom's Early Cancer Detection Program still needs to build greater awareness among the public. To uncover attitudes and the ...

Highlights Excessive alcohol consumption causes short-term and long-term health problems An enzyme called ADH1B accelerates the breakdown of alcohol in the body Researchers genetically engineered a probiotic to express ADH1B in mice Mice treated with the probiotic recovered from alcohol exposure faster than untreated mice, and had fewer resulting health problems  Washington, DC – Excessive alcohol consumption leads to painful hangovers and accompanying headaches, fatigue, and nausea. Drinking alcohol has also been linked to a raft of health problems in the human body, including heart disease, cirrhosis, and immune deficiency. One way to avoid those consequences ...

In the United States, federal laws were created to effectively decriminalize prostitution in minors under the age of 18. However, state and local justice systems continue to arrest and incarcerate minors for prostitution, despite widespread agreement that youth involved in commercial sexual exploitation are victims, not offenders.  Most youth tend to fall victim to child prostitution and sex trafficking between the ages of 12 and 14. Victims of child prostitution have especially high rates of prior physical, sexual and emotional abuse as well as neglect.  Calli M. Cain, Ph.D., an assistant professor at Florida Atlantic University’s College of Social Work and Criminal ...

Complimentary press passes are now available for NUTRITON 2023, the annual flagship meeting of the American Society for Nutrition. Join us July 22-25 in Boston to hear about the latest developments in nutrition research, practice, and policy. After three years of virtual meetings, NUTRITION 2023 will bring the nutrition community back together to share cutting-edge research on nutrition and food science, diet and disease, clinical applications, global health, and more. As one of the world’s largest nutrition ...

Scientists at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and the University of Toronto (U of T) have combined forces to develop a new approach to potentially treat tumour cells, called mechanical nanosurgery, even for aggressive, chemoresistant cancers. Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and aggressive primary brain cancer. Despite various treatment options that exist, including surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, the median survival time for patients is only around 15 months. The current global standard-of-care treatment for GBM patients includes chemotherapy using a drug called temozolomide (TMZ), which extends a person’s life expectancy by approximately two months compared ...

Ithaca, NY—Deteriorating habitat conditions caused by climate change are wreaking havoc with the timing of bird migration. A new study demonstrates that birds can partially compensate for these changes by delaying the start of spring migration and completing the journey faster. But the strategy comes with a cost—a decline in overall survival. The findings by researchers from Cornell University, the University of Maryland, and Georgetown University are published in the journal Ecology.   "We found that our study species, the American Redstart, can migrate up to 43% faster to reach its ...

The Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT, President Kim, Byung-suk) has been participating as Korea’s representative organization in the Energy in Buildings and Communities (EBC) programme, an Technical Cooperation Programme under the International Energy Agency (IEA), since 2005. The International Energy Agency Energy in Buildings and Communities Programme (IEA EBC) is an international research organization with 25 member countries including the United States, Japan, Germany, France, and, more recently, Brazil and Turkey. Established in 1977 in response to the global energy crisis, EBC aims to conduct research on conserving energy and ...

Viruses are usually associated with illness. But our bodies are full of both bacteria and viruses that constantly proliferate and interact with each other in our gastrointestinal tract. While we have known for decades that gut bacteria in young children are vital to protect them from chronic diseases later on in life, our knowledge about the many viruses found there is minimal. A few years back, this gave University of Copenhagen professor Dennis Sandris Nielsen the idea to delve more deeply into this ...

VANCOUVER, Wash. – Gossip influences if people receive advantages whether they work in an office in the U.S. or in India—or even in a remote village in Africa, a Washington State University study found. In a set of experiments, WSU anthropologists found that positive and negative gossip influenced whether participants were willing to give a person a resource, such as a raise or a family heirloom, especially when the gossip was specific to the circumstance. For instance, positive gossip concerning ...

Research Highlights: A wireless or leadless (without wires) pacemaker was implanted in a select group of children with irregular heart rhythms during a 5-year period (2016-2021). Smaller catheters that allow easier placement of the leadless pacemaker in children’s smaller bodies may expand wireless pacemakers as an option to consider for more children with irregular heart rhythms. DALLAS, April 11, 2023 — Wireless or leadless pacemakers, commonly implanted in adults, may be a safe and effective short-term ...

An innovative method developed by an Italian team is emerging that will revolutionize the field of archaeology and radiocarbon dating and protect our cultural heritage. The researchers have used it with surprising results on archaeological bones, making the ‘invisible’ visible. This important achievement-published in the journal Communications Chemistry of the Nature group-is the result of extensive research work coordinated by Professor Sahra Talamo, in which experts in the field of analytical chemistry from the University of Bologna and the University of Genoa collaborated. The group has developed a new technique for analyzing archaeological ...

Given the battles over COVID-19 rules and recommendations in the United States over the past three years, the findings of a new UCLA-led study may come as a bit of a shock: Globally, those who professed to hold traditional values tended to adhere more closely to coronavirus-prevention measures than those who considered themselves more liberal. “Across a wide range of countries, people who endorsed traditional cultural values — a position that often underlies socially conservative political philosophies — ...

The yellow crazy ant, or Anoplolepis gracilipes, has the infamous distinction of being among the worst invasive species in the world. However, this is not the reason for which this particular ant is studied by a team of international researchers. What interests them is how the insects reproduce, because males of this ant have long perplexed scientists. "The results of previous genetic analyses of the yellow crazy ant have shown that the males of this species have two copies of each chromosome. This was highly unexpected, as males usually develop from unfertilized eggs in ants, bees, and wasps – and thus should only have one maternal copy of each chromosome," explained Dr. ...