A team led by engineers at the University of California San Diego has developed a biodegradable polymer system to treat rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune and inflammatory disease, by working in concert with the power of the human immune system. The research builds on increasing clinical interest in modulating the immune system to treat cancers and autoimmune disease, as well as previous work with all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) which is produced naturally in the body and helps cells grow and develop. By approaching these challenges from the perspective of a biomaterials ...

PLYMOUTH MEETING, PA and CHICAGO, IL [April 4, 2023] — The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) today announced the addition of the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center as the newest Member Institution to join the not-for-profit alliance of leading cancer centers. There are now 33 academic centers across the United States contributing multidisciplinary subject matter experts to 61 different panels determining the latest evidence-based expert consensus recommendations for risk assessment, prevention, evaluation and treatment, surveillance, supportive care, and survivorship throughout the ...

Fossil fuel consumption contributes to significant greenhouse gas emissions and severe climate issues. It is imperative to explore sustainable alternatives to the current industrial production of chemicals and fuels. The efficient utilization of lignocellulosic biomass as a substitute for fossil resources is a promising approach to promote the sustainable development of modern society. Although numerous valorization routes for lignocellulose have been explored, large-scale lignocellulose valorizations are still limited. In this regard, a group of researchers ...

The saliva of mosquitoes infected with dengue viruses contains a substance that thwarts the human immune system and makes it easier for people to become infected with these potentially deadly viruses, new research reveals. Dengue has spread in recent years to Europe and the Southern United States in addition to longstanding hotspots in tropical and subtropical areas such as Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America. The new discovery, from a University of Virginia School of Medicine scientist and his collaborators, helps explain why the disease is so easily transmitted and could eventually lead to ...

Humans have complex social behavior, diverse communication skills, and a capacity for highly developed tool use. Researchers argue that human evolution may resemble the process of animal domestication, where less aggressive animals are favoured. In the same way, human evolution may be the result of natural selection for more prosocial and cooperative individuals. Such individuals are more likely to interact with others and form complex communities, in which they can learn from each other. “The theory of self-domestication is hard to test”, says first author Limor Raviv. “This is because only one other species besides humans has been argued ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – Researchers who surveyed women attending breast cancer screening appointments found that one in five is likely to skip additional testing after an abnormal finding on their mammogram if there is a deductible or co-payment, according to an editorial published in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Health care costs and insurance premiums have increased in recent years. With the advent of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) have grown ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – Ultrasound is an effective standalone diagnostic method in patients with focal breast complaints, according to a study published in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Focal breast complaints can refer to pain, lumps, nipple discharge or other symptoms and conditions confined to a specific area of the breast. In women, focal breast complaints are a frequent problem. In the Netherlands, approximately 70,000 women visit radiology departments annually with focal breast complaints. The most common being the presence of lumps or pain. Many women who have focal breast complaints are between the ages of 30 and 50 years. Digital breast ...

BALTIMORE, April, 4, 2023-- As more consumers turn to the newly available ChatGPT for health advice, researchers are eager to see whether the information provided by the artificial intelligence chatbot is reliable and accurate. A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) indicates that the answers generated provide correct information the vast majority of the time; sometimes, though, the information is inaccurate or even fictitious. Findings were published today in the journal Radiology. In February 2023, UMSOM researchers created a set of 25 questions related to advice on getting screened ...

A recent study in the Journal of Biological Chemistry revealed the key to a protein that commonly causes blindness. The biological process involves a protein that is essential for transporting toxic compounds out of the eye, similar to a garbage recycling service. The challenge is that, like food and the waste it generates, these compounds are essential for the eye to function properly — until they build up and cause blindness. The scientists behind the study research a protein transporter, called ABCA4, that lines the edges of specialized photoreceptor cells in the retina and is normally poised to remove toxic, fatty retinal byproducts ...

In a study conducted in the lab as well as during the COVID-19 lockdowns, participants reported higher levels of tiredness after eight hours of social isolation. The results suggest that low energy may be a basic human response to a lack of social contact. The study conducted at the University of Vienna and published in Psychological Science also showed that this response was affected by social personality traits of the participants.  If we do not eat for an extended period, a series of biological processes ensue that create a craving sensation we recognize as hunger. As a social species, we also need other people to survive. Evidence shows that a lack of social contact induces ...

Insilico Medicine (“Insilico”), a clinical-stage generative artificial intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery company, today announced that four abstracts have been accepted as poster presentations at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2023. Insilico will present four novel inhibitors for the treatment of cancer developed with its end-to-end Pharma.AI platform. Drawing from trillions of data points and millions of compounds and molecular fragments, the platform uses ...

Red tides, caused by Karenia brevis blooms, are a recurring problem in the coastal Gulf of Mexico. The organism, Karenia brevis, produces toxins that can cause fish kills, respiratory irritation in humans and cause death in sea turtles, dolphins, manatees and birds. The ability to detect red tide blooms at all life stages and cell concentrations is critical to increasing predictive capabilities and developing potential mitigation strategies to protect public health and vital resources. Current methods used to monitor red tide such as microscopic identification and enumeration, standard flow cytometry, as well as others have limitations. Some of these ...

April 4, 2023, TORONTO — Becoming the first genomics lab to be accredited by three of the leading North American accreditation organizations positions OICR Genomics to generate new discoveries about what drives diseases like cancer and new, personalized ways to diagnose and treat them. The lab earned a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) certificate of accreditation in January 2023 for its whole genome and whole transcriptome sequencing assay, a comprehensive genetic test that can find all changes in the DNA of a tumour. This comes after accreditation from the College of American Pathologists (CAP) in 2021 and from Accreditation Canada Diagnostics (ACD) — ...

SPOKANE, Wash.—Researchers have long known that many animals live longer in colder climates than in warmer climates. New research in C. elegans nematode worms suggests that this phenomenon is tied to a protein found in the nervous system that controls the expression of collagens, the primary building block of skin, bone and connective tissue in many animals. Since the C. elegans’ protein is similar to nervous system receptor proteins found in other species including humans, the discovery potentially brings scientists closer to finding ways to harness collagen expression to slow down human aging and increase lifespan in the ...

In the United States alone, drug-resistant bacteria and fungi infect almost 3 million people per year and kill about 35,000. Antibiotics are essential and effective, but in recent years overuse has led to some bacteria developing resistance to them. The infections are so difficult to treat, the World Health Organization deemed antibiotic resistance a top 10 global public health threat. Now, Professor John E. Moses at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has created a new weapon against these drug-resistant ...

Sixty per cent of the world's fresh water is bound up in Antarctic ice sheets. Thirty million cubic kilometres of ice is perhaps a difficult number to grasp. But if absolutely all Antarctica’s ice melted, the seas would rise by 58 metres on average. “The ice sheet in East Antarctica stores enormous amounts of water. This means that this is the biggest possible source of future sea level rise – up to 53 meters if all of the East Antarctic ice melts – and is seen as the largest source of uncertainties in the ...

A research team at Chalmers University of Technology is the first to demonstrate a unique method that reduces the aerodynamic resistance of ships by 7.5 per cent. This opens the way for large cargo ships borne across the oceans by wind alone, as wind-powered ships are more affected by aerodynamic drag than fossil-fueled ones. To hit international climate targets, the carbon emissions from shipping must be reduced by more than 50 per cent by 2050 compared to 2008 levels. As much as 99 per cent of global shipping is currently dependent on fossil fuels. Even though electricity may carry smaller ferries ...

Québec City, April 4, 2023 – Genetic factors could contribute to up to 50-75% of the variance in body mass index, or BMI, in the population. By analyzing the genome of more than 800,000 people of European descent, a research team from Université Laval and the Quebec Heart and Lung Institute Research Centre has identified 60 unique proteins expressed in the brain that may be critical regulators of body weight.  This study explored the link between genetic regions associated with body weight and the proteins expressed in the brain. "Previous ...

Research Highlights: Surviving family members of a person who died from sudden cardiac death rely on information from death investigators and health care professionals to process their relative’s death and understand their own risk of inherited heart conditions. The type and timing of the communication received from death investigators and health care professionals influences family members’ experiences and decisions about whether to pursue genetic screening. Future research is needed to guide death investigators and health ...

With a growing interest in generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems worldwide, researchers at the University of Surrey have created software that is able to verify how much information an AI farmed from an organisation’s digital database. Surrey’s verification software can be used as part of a company’s online security protocol, helping an organisation understand whether an AI has learned too much or even accessed sensitive data. The software is also capable of identifying whether AI has identified and is capable of exploiting flaws in software code. For example, in ...

When the human remains found on board the warship Vasa were investigated, it was determined that the skeleton designated G was a man. New research now shows that the skeleton is actually from a woman. About thirty people died when Vasa sank on its maiden voyage in 1628. We cannot know who most of them were, only one person is named in the written sources. When the ship was raised in 1961 it was the scene of a comprehensive archaeological excavation, in which numerous human bones were found on board and examined. “Through osteological analysis it has been ...

Using real data from an online chess platform, scientists of the Complexity Science Hub and the Centro Ricerche Enrico Fermi (CREF) studied similarities of different chess openings. Based on these similarities, they developed a new classification method which can complement the standard classification. "To find out how similar chess openings actually are to each other - meaning in real game behavior - we drew on the wisdom of the crowd," Giordano De Marzo of the Complexity Science Hub and the Centro Ricerche Enrico Fermi (CREF) explains. The researchers analyzed 3,746,135 chess games, 18,253 players and 988 ...

A new paper in Rheumatology Advances in Practice, published by Oxford University Press, indicates that Granulomatosis With Polyangiitis, a nasal disease that causes inflammation of the blood vessels and commonly presents with symptoms in sinuses, throat, lungs, and kidneys, may be commonly misdiagnosed. Researchers believe that many patients identified with the sinus and nasal limited form of the disease may actually be suffering from nasal damage due to cocaine usage. Cocaine is the second most commonly abused drug in the United Kingdom with 2.6% of the population between ages 16 and 59 years old using it. Some 4.8 million people in the United States (or 1.7% ...

Vitamin D deficiency is common among serving military personnel of Navies in the global north, especially submariners, finds a systematic review of the available evidence, published online in Occupational & Environmental Medicine. Countermeasures, such as periodic vitamin D assessment and dietary supplements, should now be considered, say the researchers. Vitamin D has an essential role in musculoskeletal health and in helping to control infections and dampen down inflammation in the body, so is key to ensuring the physical fitness of active duty Navy military ...

A new study from researchers in the Lifecourse Epidemiology of Adiposity (LEAD) Center at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus shows that 90 percent of pregnant women do not receive adequate nutrients during pregnancy from food alone and must look to supplements to fill that deficit. However, they also discovered that 99 percent of the affordable dietary supplements on the market do not contain appropriate doses of key micronutrients that are urgently needed to make up for the nutritional imbalance. The study was published today in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.   “Nutrition is critical for a healthy mom and a healthy baby. ...