ST. LOUIS – How should others make decisions for pediatric patients? For decades, there has been debate in academic literature about the ethical principles that govern medical decision-making for children. In response to this, a group of leading scholars in pediatric ethics participated in a June 2022 symposium, “Best Interests and Beyond: Standards of Decision Making in Pediatrics,” at Saint Louis University. Over the course of three days, the 17 scholars debated one question – in the context of U.S. pediatric care, what moral precepts ought to guide parents and clinicians in medical decision-making for children? A group of ...

The largest storm in the solar system, a 10,000-mile-wide anticyclone called the Great Red Spot, has decorated Jupiter's surface for hundreds of years. A new study now shows that Saturn — though much blander and less colorful than Jupiter — also has long-lasting megastorms with impacts deep in the atmosphere that persist for centuries. The study was conducted by astronomers from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, who looked at radio emissions from the planet, which come from below the surface, and found long-term disruptions in the distribution ...

A new digital headset designed to measure alterations in brain function could change decisions about how quickly an athlete is ready to return to play after a concussion. In an evaluation of the device, UC San Francisco researchers found it revealed brain changes even in athletes whose concussion symptoms had gone away, suggesting they could be playing too soon. Although not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the device could fill an important niche among athletes, clinicians, trainers and coaches, who are concerned about the long-term effects of repeated sports-related concussions. These include chronic traumatic encephalopathy, ...

*This press release was amended on August 9, 2023. Due to a mistake in interpretation of data, the previous version of the release stated the study found that NO2 exposure is associated with a decreased risk of breast cancer. The authors have confirmed that the results showed that NO2 exposure is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer.   Key points: A cohort study of millions of Medicare beneficiaries found that chronic exposures to PM2.5 and NO2 over a 10-year period increased the risk of developing colorectal and prostate cancers. Even in areas with low pollution levels, researchers found substantial associations between exposures to ...

Qixin Zhong, professor in the University of Tennessee Department of Food Science, has been named an Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Fellow. The honor was bestowed as a result of Zhong’s years of contribution to food science and to IFT through his scientific, engineering and leadership efforts. In his research enhancing food quality, safety and healthfulness, Zhong creates multilength scale structures to improve the function of food ingredients. His cutting-edge innovations and research developments have impacted countless producers and consumers. Zhong says he is honored to be named a Fellow, and ...

Ask just about any person in the University of Tennessee Extension family what they like about their job, and they might mention the impact they have in their communities and the people they help. Long thought of as a career where you can realize a calling for service, an international organization now confirms what many employees have believed for some time – that UT Extension is a great place to work. The International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) has named UT Extension as its 2023 Employer of the Year. This ...

Forensic researchers at the University of Tennessee Knoxville’s famous Anthropological Research Facility, popularly known as the “Body Farm,” have made headlines for decades in their discoveries of what happens to human bodies after death. Now, a multidisciplinary team—engineers, soil scientists, and biologists—digs in with them for a deeper look at what happens to the soil underneath a decomposing body. Their study, “Soil Elemental Changes During Human Decomposition,” published in June 2023 by PLOS One, could benefit investigators searching for human remains in remote or hard-to access-vegetated areas. “This ...

Cambridge, MA – Flat screen TVs that incorporate quantum dots are now commercially available, but it has been more difficult to create arrays of their elongated cousins, quantum rods, for commercial devices. Quantum rods can control both the polarization and color of light, to generate 3D images for virtual reality devices. Using scaffolds made of folded DNA, MIT engineers have come up with a new way to precisely assemble arrays of quantum rods. By depositing quantum rods onto a DNA scaffold in a highly controlled way, the researchers can regulate their orientation, which is a key factor in determining the polarization of light emitted by the array. This makes it easier ...

In a world where annual economic losses from corrosion surpass 2.5 trillion US Dollars, the quest for corrosion-resistant alloys and protective coatings is unbroken. Artificial intelligence (AI) is playing an increasingly pivotal role in designing new alloys. Yet, the predictive power of AI models in foreseeing corrosion behaviour and suggesting optimal alloy formulas has remained elusive. Scientists of the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung (MPIE) have now developed a machine learning model that enhances the predictive accuracy by up to 15% compared to existing frameworks. This model uncovers new, but realistic corrosion-resistant alloy compositions. ...

Effluents from wastewater treatment plants have a dual effect: Some species disappear, while others benefit. Especially certain insect orders, such as stonefly and caddisfly larvae, are decimated. Certain worms and crustaceans, by contrast, can increase in number. A team from Goethe University Frankfurt led by Daniel Enns and Dr. Jonas Jourdan has corroborated this in a comprehensive study, which has now been published in the journal Water Research. They examined 170 wastewater treatment plants in Hesse in relation to species composition. Wastewater treatment plants are ...

URBANA, Ill.  – Producers of infant formula employ comprehensive food safety systems, including product testing to ensure those systems are working. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign finds that some testing methods are more powerful at catching contaminants than others. Spacing out samples over time in a stratified sampling pattern is better at catching risky pathogens like Cronobacter than randomly sampling from the product as it is being produced, the researchers found. Furthermore, while taking more samples of product generally increases the chance to catch the pathogen, there is a point after which it ...

EL PASO, Texas (Aug. 11, 2023) – How are our region’s pecan farms affected by drought? Is there a better way to address domestic violence in Ciudad Juárez? These are a few of the big questions scientists are asking as they prepare to embark on a new cross-border research collaboration. Created by The University of Texas at El Paso, the U.S.-Mexico Faculty Collaboration Fellowship program will support research projects with higher education institutions in the State of Chihuahua to spur studies on issues ...

Watermelon is a globally significant agricultural product, both in terms of the total amount produced and the total economic value generated. Scientists at the Boyce Thompson Institute have constructed a comprehensive "super-pangenome" for watermelon and its wild relatives, uncovering beneficial genes lost during domestication that could improve disease resistance and fruit quality of this vital fruit crop. "We aimed to delve deeper into the genetic variations that make watermelons so diverse and unique," stated ...

Historically, the Arctic was considered a pristine region, but scientific research spanning the last three decades has revealed the harsh reality of long-range transported pollutants reaching the Arctic from different corners of the world. In response to this alarming discovery, AMAP was created with the mission to monitor pollution and its effects on the Arctic environment and human health. In a new article published on 26 July 2023, in the journal Environmental Science and Ecotechnology, researchers from Arctic Knowledge Ltd, presents the initiation and implementation of a systematic scientific and political cooperation in the Arctic related to environmental ...

Directing light from place to the place is the backbone of our modern world. Beneath the oceans and across continents, fiber optic cables carry light that encodes everything from YouTube videos to banking transmissions—all inside strands about the size of a hair. University of Chicago Prof. Jiwoong Park, however, wondered what would happen if you made even thinner and flatter strands—in effect, so thin that they’re actually 2D instead of 3D. What would happen to the light? Through a series of innovative experiments, he and his team found ...

An experimental malaria vaccine appears safe and promotes an immune response in African infants, one of the groups most vulnerable to severe malaria disease. There is currently only one malaria vaccine, “RTS,S” that is approved by the World Health Organization and offers partial disease protection. However, in the results of the early-stage phase Ib trial conducted in Tanzania and published on August 11th in the journal Med, researchers find that targeting RH5 – a protein that the malaria pathogen Plasmodium falciparum uses to invade red blood cells – can generate a promising immune response ...

From text-generating ChatGPT to voice-activated Siri, artificial intelligence-powered tools are designed to aid our everyday life — as long as you speak a language they support. These technologies are out of reach for billions of people who don’t use English, French, Spanish or other mainstream languages, but researchers in Africa are looking to change that. In a study published August 11 in the journal Patterns, scientists draw a roadmap to develop better AI-driven tools for African languages. “It doesn’t ...

Scientists have developed a synthetic extracellular matrix (ECM) that can support the growth of a mini endometrium in a dish for at least two weeks. The endometrium—the mucosal lining of the uterus—has been historically hard to model in the lab, which has limited scientists’ ability to study its role in healthy and diseased states like endometriosis. The matrix, described on August 11 in the journal Med, allows cells to interact in an environment that recapitulates human physiology which could help researchers better simulate the healthy and pathological response to menstrual cycles. “With this matrix, we can begin to extrapolate and utilize ...

LA JOLLA (August 11, 2023)—Glioblastoma, the most common and deadly form of brain cancer, grows rapidly to invade and destroy healthy brain tissue. The tumor sends out cancerous tendrils into the brain that make surgical tumor removal extremely difficult or impossible. Now, Salk scientists have found the immunotherapy treatment anti-CTLA-4 leads to considerably greater survival of mice with glioblastoma. Furthermore, they discovered that this therapy was dependent on immune cells called CD4+ T cells infiltrating the brain and triggering the tumor-destructive activities of other immune cells ...

(Boston)—Identification of risk factors for Parkinson’s disease (PD) is essential for early diagnosis. Dating back to the 1920s, Parkinson’s disease and parkinsonism—an umbrella term that refers to motor symptoms found in Parkinson’s disease and also other conditions—have long been described in boxers. Repetitive head impacts from tackle football can also have long-term neurological consequences like chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). But research on the association between participation in tackle football and PD is limited.   In the largest study to describe the association between participation ...

About The Study: This survey study of 5,035 adults found that adults increasingly perceived daily smoking and secondhand exposure to cannabis smoke as safer than tobacco smoke from 2017 to 2021. Given that these views do not reflect the existing science on cannabis and tobacco smoke, the findings may have important implications for public health and policy as the legalization and use of cannabis increase.  Authors: Beth Cohen, M.D., M.A.S., of the University of California, San Francisco, is the corresponding author.  To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/  (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.28691) Editor’s ...

About The Study: The results of this study suggest that, in pregnancies conceived with infertility treatment, delivery at 39 weeks provided the lowest perinatal risk when comparing risk of delivery at this week of gestation versus the subsequent week of gestation.  Authors: Ira Hamilton, M.D., of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in Cincinnati, is the corresponding author.  To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/  (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.28335) Editor’s ...

About The Study: In this study, 729 participants with a history of playing organized football had higher odds of having a reported parkinsonism or Parkinson disease diagnosis compared with participants in other organized sports. Longer duration of play and higher level of football play were associated with higher odds of a reported diagnosis.  Authors: Michael L. Alosco, Ph.D., of the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine in Boston, is the corresponding author.  To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/  (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.28644) Editor’s ...

About The Study: Patients with Parkinson disease who had caregivers at higher risk of depression were more likely to have worse quality of life and higher emergency department use than patients who had caregivers not at higher risk of depression. Additional caregiving resources and interventions to reduce caregiver depression symptoms could potentially improve patient outcomes.  Authors: Nabila Dahodwala, M.D., M.S., of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, is the corresponding author.  To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/  (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.27485) Editor’s ...

A research group led by Kyoto University's Graduate School of Agriculture has deciphered buckwheat's high-precision chromosomal-level genome sequence, a key step toward unraveling the evolution of the buckwheat genome and the origins of the cultivated crop. By altering specific genes using a method independent of common genome-editing techniques, the researchers successfully developed a self-fertile buckwheat variety as well as a new type of the crop with a sticky, mochi-like texture. This breeding method may contribute to a more diverse range of orphan crops than what is possible with existing genome editing technologies. With the world's population predicted to reach ...