Higher thiazide doses are associated with greater reductions in urine calcium, which in turn correlate with fewer symptomatic kidney stone events, according to a Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) study published in JAMA Network Open.    Thiazide diuretics, commonly prescribed to prevent kidney stone recurrence, are drugs that act directly on the kidneys to promote diuresis (urine flow) by inhibiting the sodium/chloride cotransporter located in the distal convoluted tubule of a nephron ...

How old are you, really? Your chronological age is the number of years you have been alive. Your biological age is how old your cells are which scientists believe may better assess one’s age-related health and disease risk.  People biologically age at different rates, depending on genetic and environmental factors, so that a person’s chronological age does not necessarily match their biological age. In recent years, direct-to-consumer biological age tests have become increasingly accessible and popular as interest has increased ...

In a study published today (22 August) in Cell Reports Physical Science, a team led by Dr Yoshikatsu Hayashi demonstrated that a simple hydrogel - a type of soft, flexible material - can learn to play the simple 1970s computer game ‘Pong’. The hydrogel, interfaced with a computer simulation of the classic game via a custom-built multi-electrode array, showed improved performance over time.  Dr Hayashi, a biomedical engineer at the University of Reading’s School of Biological Sciences, said: "Our research shows that even very simple materials can exhibit complex, adaptive behaviours typically associated with living systems or sophisticated AI.   "This ...

Artificial intelligence (AI) can help identify molecules that could serve as new drugs for mental health disorders. AI can be used to predict the three-dimensional structures of important receptors and thereby speed up the development of potential drugs. This is the result of a new study from Uppsala University published in Science Advances. In drug development, experimental methods are often used to determine the three-dimensional structures of target proteins and to understand how molecules bind to them. This information is needed to design drug molecules efficiently. However, the process to determine structures can be demanding, meaning this ...

A research team has developed a computer vision technique that can perform dichotomous image segmentation, high-resolution salient object detection, and concealed object detection in the same framework. Their novel bilateral reference framework (BiRefNet) is able to capture tiny-pixel features and holds potential for a wide range of practical computer vision applications.   The work is published in the journal CAAI Artificial Intelligence Research on August 22.   In computer vision research, ...

In the ever-evolving field of robotics, a groundbreaking approach has emerged, revolutionizing how robots perceive, navigate, and interact with their environments. This new frontier, known as brain-inspired navigation technology, integrates insights from neuroscience into robotics, offering enhanced capabilities and efficiency. Brain-inspired navigation technologies are not just a mere improvement over traditional methods; they represent a paradigm shift. By mimicking the neural mechanisms of animals, these technologies provide robots with the ability to navigate through complex and unknown terrains with unprecedented accuracy ...

On behalf of the Community Health Impact Coalition (CHIC), Dr. Madeleine Ballard, global health leader and CEO of CHIC, is the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation’s 2024 Roux Prize winner. The award recognizes Dr. Ballard’s work alongside thousands of community health workers (CHWs) to secure quality care for all, through evidence-based health systems benefiting millions of people across the world.  Half of the world's population lacks access to essential health services. Around the globe, CHWs have stepped up to address this critical gap and deliver care in a way that improves access, increases equity, and saves lives. Despite their ...

The death of a massive, rapidly spinning star can shake the universe. And the resulting ripples — known as gravitational waves — could be felt by instruments on Earth, according to new research published August 22 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. These new sources of gravitational waves just await discovery, the scientists behind the research predict. The gravitational waves emerge following the violent deaths of rapidly rotating stars 15 to 20 times the mass of the sun. Upon running ...

INDIANAPOLIS – Chronic cough, with symptoms lasting more than eight weeks, affects approximately one in 10 adults. Cough is among the most common reasons for seeking medical care in the United States, yet chronic cough is difficult to treat. One of the largest studies of chronic cough and one of the first to explore the use of opioids, which are known to suppress cough, to treat these patients, has found that 20 percent of patients with chronic cough received a prescription for a cough suppressant containing an opioid. With the goals of estimating opioid prescription in the chronic cough population and of informing alternative treatment ...

SAN ANTONIO — August 22, 2024 —Scientists at Southwest Research Institute have developed a new screening method to identify drug formulations that can penetrate the blood-brain barrier (BBB), to facilitate treatment of brain diseases and conditions. “The BBB protects the brain and central nervous system from potentially harmful substances in the bloodstream, regulating the transport of essential nutrients and ions while maintaining the stability of the central nervous system,” said Research Engineer Nicholas McMahon, from SwRI’s Bioengineering group. “However, the very characteristics that make the BBB such an ...

Bioactive compounds like polyphenols and their health benefits have long captured public attention and interest. Commonly present in plant-based food like fruits, vegetables, seeds, coffee, and tea, the polyphenols have a strong bitter taste and, in the normal course, is excreted by our body due to poor absorption. The polyphenols interact with human bitter taste receptors also known as Type 2 taste receptors (T2R) expressed within and outside the oral cavity. Notably, the activation of T2R expressed along the ...

A new treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer shows favourable results in that surgery can sometimes be avoided completely. It also reduces the risk of recurrence. The method has been confirmed as effective in a comprehensive study conducted at Uppsala University and published in eClinicalMedicine. “The tumour disappears completely more often, thereby increasing the chance of avoiding surgery and retaining normal rectum and rectal function. Moreover, there are fewer metastases,” says Bengt Glimelius, Professor of Oncology ...

Chronic cough is among the most common reasons for seeking medical care, with middle-aged women the group most affected. New studies at Uppsala University also show that this condition appears to be a hereditary phenomenon. The studies have been published in ERJ Open Research and PLOS ONE. “More than 10% of the population has a chronic cough, which has been shown to entail several negative consequences: reduced quality of life, reduced ability to work and voice problems. At present, we have insufficient knowledge about ...

Highlights: Flu vaccine efficacy varies year to year. A universal flu vaccine would protect people against all influenza strains that infect humans and last more than a season. A new vaccine candidate incorporates proteins from 8 strains of influenza. Recent tests of the candidate show efficacy in animal models, and the researchers hope to move to clinical trials soon.   Washington, D.C.—Annual flu vaccines protect against severe infection, but they vary in efficacy and may not match the most virulent strains ...

DALLAS, August 22, 2024 — A new $20 million research initiative will engage the people most impacted by health disparities in developing solutions that may help improve their overall health and well-being. The American Heart Association, celebrating 100 years of lifesaving service as the world’s leading nonprofit organization focused on heart and brain health for all, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), a leading national philanthropy dedicated to taking bold leaps to transform health, are ...

The Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) has developed a redox-active metal-organic hybrid electrode material (SKIER-5) for Li batteries that remains stable in cold conditions as low as minus 20 degrees Celsius. By addressing the limitations of graphite as an anode material of conventional Li batteries under freezing conditions, SKIER-5 has the potential to be a superior alternative. This novel material can be used in Li batteries for a variety of applications, including electric vehicles, drones, and ultra-small electronic devices, even in low temperatures. Currently, ...

Heart attack, stroke, nerve damage. These are just some of the complications for which millions of Americans with diabetes are at greater risk. When a person has any of these chronic diabetes complications, they are more likely to have a mental health disorder, and vice versa, according to a University of Michigan-led study.  That is, the relationship goes both ways: having a mental health condition also increases the risk of developing chronic complications of diabetes.  “We wanted to see if chronic diabetes complications ...

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), comprising Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), are chronic inflammatory conditions affecting the gastrointestinal tract. These diseases can lead to various complications, including strictures, fistulas, and abscesses, significantly impacting patients' quality of life. Endoscopy plays a crucial role in diagnosing IBD, assessing disease activity, and monitoring treatment response. In recent years, advances in operative endoscopy have introduced ...

Parental bed-sharing is unlikely to impact children’s psychological development, new research has found. The study from the University of Essex looked at nearly 17,000 British babies and tracked them for 11 years – finding kids who shared beds were happy and healthy. Dr Ayten Bilgin, from the Department of Psychology, found no association between bed-sharing at 9 months and childhood emotional or behavioural problems. The practice is mired in controversy as some experts previously thought it negatively affected children’s development. However, others say it helps both parents and children as they are nearby for feeding and if they wake in the night. Dr Bilgin, said: ...

PULLMAN, Wash. – An artificial intelligence algorithm can allow researchers to more efficiently use 3D printing to manufacture intricate structures. The Washington State University study, published in the journal Advanced Materials Technologies, could allow for more seamless use of 3D printing for complex designs in everything from artificial organs to flexible electronics and wearable biosensors. As part of the study, the algorithm learned to identify, and then print, the best versions of kidney and prostate organ models, printing out 60 continually improving versions. “You can optimize the results, saving time, cost and labor,” said Kaiyan Qiu, co-corresponding ...

New research from Northwestern University has systematically proven that a mild zap of electricity can strengthen a marine coastline for generations — greatly reducing the threat of erosion in the face of climate change and rising sea levels. In the new study, researchers took inspiration from clams, mussels and other shell-dwelling sea life, which use dissolved minerals in seawater to build their shells. Similarly, the researchers leveraged the same naturally occurring, dissolved minerals to form a natural cement between sea-soaked grains of sand. But, instead of using metabolic energy like mollusks ...

A computational model built by researchers at the Institute of Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) and the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) can predict which drugs will be most effective in treating diseases caused by mutations that can bring protein synthesis to a halt, resulting in unfinished proteins.  The findings, published today in Nature Genetics, mark an important step in helping personalise treatment by matching patients with specific mutations with the most promising drug candidate. The predictive model, a publicly ...

Researchers from North Carolina State University and Johns Hopkins University have demonstrated a technology capable of a suite of data storage and computing functions – repeatedly storing, retrieving, computing, erasing or rewriting data – that uses DNA rather than conventional electronics. Previous DNA data storage and computing technologies could complete some but not all of these tasks. “In conventional computing technologies, we take for granted that the ways data are stored and the way data are processed are compatible with each other,” ...

One hundred years after the human brain’s electrical activity was first recorded, experts are celebrating the legacy of its discovery and sharing their predictions and priorities for its future.  Since the first recording in July 1924, human electroencephalography (EEG) has been integral to our understanding of brain function and dysfunction: most significantly in the clinical diagnosis of epilepsy, where the analysis of the EEG signal meant that a condition previously seen as a personality disorder was quickly redefined as a disorder of brain activity.  Now, a century on, more than 500 experts from around the globe, ...

Stroke and spinal cord injuries can severely impair motor functions, and understanding how to promote recovery is a critical challenge. While damaged neurons in the brain and spinal cord have limited ability to regenerate, the brain can form or strengthen alternative neural pathways involving uninjured parts of the brain, enabling functional recovery. Such reorganization of pathways in the brain is called neural plasticity, and identifying the involved pathways and understanding their functions can ...