‘We’re not talking about primordial prevention. They’re already at risk for having an early heart attack or stroke’ First comprehensive study in 30 years to examine pediatric preventive cardiology in the U.S., Canada Heart disease is the leading cause of death in U.S. adults CHICAGO --- Today in the U.S., a child with risk factors for heart disease (high blood pressure, overweight, etc.) can wait close to a year to see a cardiologist because of high demand and limited resources. This is precious time that could be spent managing ...

Scientists have worked out how one unusual species of trilobite — an ancient, sea-dwelling relative of spiders and lobsters — was able to defend itself against predators and survive a bumpy ride as Earth’s oxygen levels fluctuated.  The seas were filled with trilobites for nearly 300 million years starting in the Cambrian Period, some 520 million years ago. During their time on Earth, which lasted much longer than the dinosaurs, they survived two major episodes of mass extinctions and dominated ocean floor ecosystems. Their ...

PULLMAN, Wash. – Young men in a recent study who were regular consumers of sports media were more likely to accept rape myths, a set of false and prejudiced beliefs that can serve to excuse or downplay sexual assault. This connection held even after accounting for participants who believed in certain negative “masculine norms,” namely that men should control women or they should be sexually permissive and try to have sex with as many women as possible. “Sports media exposure had a unique contribution, and it was significant,” said Stacey Hust, a professor at Washington State University’s Murrow College of Communication and the study’s ...

Osaka, Japan – “Your presence means the world to me” may sound like a wedding invitation cliché, but an Osaka Metropolitan University study has shown that the presence of others while working does generate a state of relaxation and positive brain activity. In psychiatry, occupational therapy encompasses not only the individual-therapist relationship but also occupational activities and group work. In clinical practice, having multiple individuals engage in separate activities within the same room has been deemed effective as part of occupational therapy. ...

The antibiotic cefazolin is an essential drug according to the World Health Organization (WHO). It is usually produced via batch manufacturing, but this multistep process is time-consuming, wasteful and requires very specialized facilities. Now for the first-time, researchers have manufactured cefazolin using the continuous-flow method. This method is cheaper, quicker, less wasteful and more flexible in terms of how much drug can be produced when it’s needed. Improving access to cefazolin is vital for global health and particularly relevant for countries such as Japan, which experienced a shortage in 2019. This study is published in the Bulletin ...

BALTIMORE, August 5, 2023–As artificial intelligence systems like ChatGPT find their way into everyday use, physicians will start to see these tools incorporated into their clinical practice to help them make important decisions on diagnosis and treatment of common medical conditions. These tools, called clinical decision support (CDS) algorithms, can be enormously helpful in helping guide health care providers in determining, for example, which antibiotics to prescribe or whether to recommend a risky heart surgery. The success of these new technologies, however, depends largely on how physicians interpret and act upon a tool’s ...

University of Melbourne researchers have developed a fast, inexpensive and scalable method for engineering blood vessels from natural tissue. Co-led by ARC Future Fellow Associate Professor Daniel Heath and Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor and Shanahan Chair in Frontier Medical Solutions Andrea O’Connor, both from the Department of Biomedical Engineering, the researchers employed a novel approach to ‘tissue engineering’ blood vessels. By combining multiple materials and fabrication technologies, they developed a method to create blood vessels with complex geometries like native blood ...

By Wynne Parry Much about tiny, swimming rotifers makes them ideal study subjects. Although barely visible to the naked eye, these transparent animals and their innards are readily viewed under a microscope. What’s more, they grow readily in laboratory culture, offering scientists an otherwise difficult-to-obtain perspective from their corner of the animal kingdom. However, while rotifers have been used experimentally for more than a century by many research groups, scientists have so far lacked the ability to readily manipulate rotifers’ genetics, placing a hard limit on the experiments they can run with these animals.  A joint ...

The Ecological Society of America has named Elisabeth Huber-Sannwald, Ph.D., as the editor-in-chief of the newest title in its portfolio of journals. The international open-access journal, Earth Stewardship, will focus on facilitating collaborations between scientists and society to shape a sustainable future for nature and people. It will be ESA’s first publication focused on integrating the natural and social sciences; the humanities; and technical, local and Indigenous Knowledges. Earth Stewardship will highlight perspectives from the southern ...

The Ecological Society of America (ESA) will present its 16th annual Regional Policy Award to the Director for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation’s (CTUIR) Department of Natural Resources Eric Quaempts on Sunday, Aug 6, 5:00pm EDT, during the ESA Conference Opening Plenary. The ESA annual award recognizes  the use of ecological science to inform regional policy decisions. This is the first time in the history of the ESA policy award that a Tribal member and Tribal governance employee has been recognized for integrating tribal ecological approaches. Since ...

BOSTON - A new way to monitor two-photon lithography nanoscale fabrication could help improve the accuracy and efficiency of creating 3D engineered tissue scaffolds, according to a new study. Tissue scaffolds mimic the natural extracellular matrices found in the body, which creates a 3D environment ideal for tissue formation. Jieliyue Sun, an engineering Ph.D. student from the lab of Kimani Toussaint, Brown University will present this research at the Optica Imaging Congress. The hybrid meeting will take place 14 – 17 August 2023 in Boston. “Tissue scaffolds are three-dimensional structures that can support the growth and development of cells or tissues for biomedical ...

Highlights: Researchers led by Rafael Auras in the Michigan State University School of Packaging have shown how to make a bio-based polymer compostable in both home and industrial settings. The team said its research, published in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, can help divert plastic packaging that’s been soiled by food, the vast majority of which is not recycled. Another end-of-use option, like composting, can thus help keep plastics out of landfills and the environment. To make the compostable polymer, the team blended bioplastics known as polylactic acid, or PLA, and thermoplastic ...

“Proton therapy [...] seems to have decisive advantages with regard to the long-term survival of [adenoid cystic carcinoma] [...]” BUFFALO, NY- August 4, 2023 – A new editorial paper was published in Oncoscience (Volume 10) on June 28, 2023, entitled, “Adenoid cystic carcinoma of the head and neck – treatment strategies of a highly malignant tumor with variable localizations.” In this new editorial, researchers Florian Dudde, Kai-Olaf Henkel and Filip Barbarewicz from the Army Hospital Hamburg discuss head and neck tumors, which are among the most common malignancies. ...

Researchers have modified a commercial virtual reality headset, giving it the ability to measure brain activity and examine how we react to hints, stressors and other outside forces. The research team at The University of Texas at Austin created a noninvasive electroencephalogram (EEG) sensor that they installed in a Meta VR headset that can be worn comfortably for long periods. The EEG measures the brain's electrical activity during the immersive VR interactions. The device could be used in many ways, ...

Chemical modifications of RNA molecules, such as m6A, can critically impact gene expression, influencing various aspects of cancer development and progression. However, while studies into m6A modification of messenger RNA (mRNA) have been extensive, exploration of its impact on lncRNAs, especially within the context of PDAC, has been relatively limited. In an innovative study published in the Genes & Diseases journal, a team from the The Children's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, People's Hospital of Hangzhou Medical College and University of Mississippi Medical Center employed a methylated RNA immunoprecipitation ...

In an effort to address health disparities linked to low socioeconomic environments, a University of Massachusetts Amherst kinesiologist is partnering with Western Massachusetts preschools to implement a physical activity program for young children. Sofiya Alhassan, professor of kinesiology in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences, will measure the impact of a gross motor skills-based physical activity program on the cognitive development of 3- to 5-year-olds enrolled in preschools in communities with low socioeconomic ...

In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available paper in PLOS Medicine: http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1004261 Article Title: Age- and sex-specific hospital bed-day rates in people with and without type 2 diabetes: A territory-wide population-based cohort study of 1.5 million people in Hong Kong Author Countries: China Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work. END ...

Bacteria make up more than 10% of all living things but until recently we had little realization that, as in humans, soil bacteria have internal clocks that synchronize their activities with the 24-hour cycles of day and night on Earth. New research shows just how complex and sophisticated these bacterial circadian clocks are, clearing the way for an exciting new phase of study. This work will provide diverse opportunities, from precision timing of the use of antibiotics, to bioengineering smarter gut and soil microbiomes. An international ...

Key Takeaways: When news sites relax paywall access to their sites, they leverage the power of sampling to increase subscribers. Temporarily suspending paywall restrictions on certain major stories or trends serves the public interest while conditioning new visitors to pay for access later.   BALTIMORE, MD, August 1, 2023 – A new study has revealed that when news sites temporarily relax or suspend restrictions tied to paywall access, they eventually see an increase in subscribers. This ...

Marine conservation experts have revealed the extent of marine megafauna catch by small-scale fisheries, in Thailand for the first time. The Newcastle University study provides the first-ever estimate of the annual catch of marine megafauna species, including rays, sharks, sea turtles, dolphins, and dugongs, in Thailand’s small-scale fisheries – those fisheries using small boats, low tech equipment and often haul their fishing gear by hand. Published in the journal Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Research, the results ...

A new study by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill examined nitrogen fixation among diazotrophs—microorganisms that can convert nitrogen into usable form for other plants and animals—living among sargassum. Sargassum, a brown macroalgae in the seaweed family, floats on the surface of the open ocean and provides habitat for a colorful array of marine life such as small fish, brine shrimp and other microorganisms. Previous studies have overlooked diazotrophs associated ...

North Carolina leads the nation for most households relying on private wells as a primary source of drinking water, with one in four households on private wells. These wells are not regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act, and most are not tested for contaminants, especially in low-income areas. A new study published in Environmental Justice by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that private well testing and treatment levels were significantly predicted by race and income, even though high levels of contamination were equally distributed across the research areas. “Although we found alarming levels of well water contamination ...

A Swansea University-led study revealed breastfeeding rates in Wales increased during the pandemic. The research, which included all women in Wales who gave birth between 2018 and 2021, found that breastfeeding rates at six months were higher during Covid compared to the pre-pandemic period - with rates increasing from 16.6 per cent before the pandemic to 20.5 per cent in 2020. The study also found a strong correlation between a mother's intention to breastfeed and the likelihood of exclusively breastfeeding ...

East Hanover, NJ – August 4, 2023 – People with disabilities maintained their job numbers, reflecting all-time highs in July, according to today’s National Trends in Disability Employment – semi-monthly update (nTIDE), issued by Kessler Foundation and the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability (UNH-IOD). nTIDE experts stated that more people with disabilities are engaged working and seeking work. Month-to-Month nTIDE Numbers (comparing June 2023 to July 2023) Based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Jobs Report released today, the labor force participation rate for people with disabilities (ages 16-64) ...

DENVER/Aug. 4, 2023 – A recent scientific paper published in the journal Microorganisms highlights the development of the first broad range of reptile cell lines, a significant feat that researchers say will help advance reptile conservation. In the study, which was funded by Morris Animal Foundation and conducted by researchers at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine, researchers established cell lines from a variety of reptiles, including crocodilians, snakes, turtles, tortoises and lizards. Cell lines are populations of cells from multicellular organisms that have been grown in a laboratory and can be used for a ...