WHAT: A large study found that greater exposure to long-term air pollution was linked with increased risks for blood clots that can occur in deep veins, which, if untreated, can block blood flow and cause serious complications, even death.   These findings came from a longitudinal study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that included 6,651 U.S. adults who were followed for an average of 17 years between 2000 and 2018. Participants lived in or near one of six major metropolitan areas: New York, Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Throughout the study, 248 adults, 3.7% of the study sample, developed blood clots ...

The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) is proud to announce the recipients of the inaugural Prince Mohammad bin Fahd University (PMU)-National Academy of Inventors International Patent Award. This year’s recipients will be honored at a special ceremony on December 12th, 2024 at PMU’s campus in Al-Khobar, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The PMU-NAI International Patent Award was created to recognize and honor distinguished scientists, research institutions, research centers, and universities across the globe for their outstanding patents and inventions that create positive societal ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – Using just one inhalation lung CT scan, a deep learning model can accurately diagnose and stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to a study published today in Radiology: Cardiothoracic Imaging, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). COPD is a group of progressive lung diseases that impair a person’s ability to breathe. Symptoms typically involve shortness of breath and fatigue. There currently is no cure for COPD, and it is the third leading cause of death worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. A ...

Alliance Foundation Trials, LLC (AFT) and Pfizer Inc. today announced results from the phase III PATINA trial demonstrating that the addition of palbociclib (IBRANCE®) to current standard-of-care first-line maintenance therapy (following induction chemotherapy) resulted in statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) by investigator assessment in patients with hormone receptor-positive (HR+), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive (HER2+) metastatic ...

SAN ANTONIO – Patients with low-risk ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) who underwent active monitoring reported comparable physical, emotional, and psychological outcomes to patients who received upfront treatment, according to results from the COMET clinical trial presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), held December 10-13, 2024. The results of this study were simultaneously published in JAMA Oncology. “Active monitoring” is a strategy in which patients are monitored closely, with surgery reserved for those patients who ...

SAN ANTONIO – For patients with “good-risk” ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) who underwent breast- conserving surgery and did not receive radiotherapy, tamoxifen significantly decreased the risk of recurrence in the same breast, according to results presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), held December 10-13, 2024. “Good-risk” DCIS was defined as grade 1 or 2, 2.5 cm or smaller, and having clear surgical margins of 3 mm or greater. Current guidelines from the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) advise that patients who undergo breast-conserving surgery after a diagnosis ...

SAN ANTONIO – Among patients with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative, low-risk ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), those who underwent active monitoring had similar two-year invasive ipsilateral breast cancer recurrence rates as those who underwent guideline-concordant treatment, according to results from the COMET clinical trial presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), held December 10-13, 2024. The results of this study were simultaneously published in JAMA. “Active monitoring” is a strategy in which patients are monitored closely, with surgery reserved for those patients who develop cancer. A steady increase ...

SAN ANTONIO – Patients with intermediate-risk breast cancer had similar rates of 10-year overall survival whether or not they underwent chest wall irradiation (CWI) after mastectomy, according to results from the BIG 2-04 MRC SUPREMO clinical trial presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), held December 10-13, 2024. “While post-mastectomy CWI is the standard of care for most patients with early-stage breast cancer who have four or more positive axillary lymph nodes, its role in patients with fewer positive lymph nodes or node-negative disease remains controversial,” ...

About The Study: Women with low-risk ductal carcinoma in situ randomized to active monitoring did not have a higher rate of invasive cancer in the same breast at 2 years compared with those randomized to guideline-concordant care.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, E. Shelley Hwang, MD, MPH, email shelley.hwang@duke.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jama.2024.26698) Editor’s Note: Please ...

About The Study: In this prespecified secondary analysis of the Comparing an Operation to Monitoring, With or Without Endocrine Therapy (COMET) prospective randomized trial, the overall lived experience of women randomized to undergo active monitoring for low-risk ductal carcinoma in situ was similar to that of women randomized to guideline-concordant care during the 2 years following diagnosis.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Ann H. Partridge, MD, MPH, email ann_partridge@dfci.harvard.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website ...

Not only are they the smallest among us, premature children also face health and life challenges that make them the most vulnerable. Generally speaking, they have a slightly higher risk of mortality due to illness. It is now apparent that they also have a higher risk of unexpected death from so-called external causes: road traffic accidents, substance abuse and suicide. This has been revealed in a major Nordic study led by Professor Kari Risnes from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). The researchers have analyzed birth data and causes of death for nearly 37,000 individuals aged between 15 ...

Petrovax announced today the positive results from “Long-CoV-III-21,” a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of bovhyaluronidase azoximer in adult patients with pulmonary sequelae of COVID-19. Bovhyaluronidase azoximer, marketed under the brand name Longidaza, is a polymer-conjugated hyaluronidase with an extended half-life. The study drug and placebo were administered for 71 days, with an observation period extending to Day 180. Longidaza demonstrated a statistically significant 62% reduction in the proportion of patients with exertional desaturation ...

Mosasaurs are extinct marine lizards, spectacular examples of which were first discovered in 1766 near Maastricht in the Netherlands, fueling the rise of the field of vertebrate palaeontology (the study of fossil remains of animals with backbones). Palaeontologist Michael Polcyn presented the most comprehensive study to date on the early evolution and ecology of these extinct marine reptiles. On 16 December, Polcyn will receive his PhD from Utrecht University for his research into the evolution of the mosasaurs. "Mosasaurs are a textbook example of macroevolution, ...

Genova (Italy), 12th December 2024 – A specific brain mechanism modulates how animals respond empathetically to others’ emotions. This is the latest finding from the research unit Genetics of Cognition, led by Francesco Papaleo, Principal Investigator at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT - Italian Institute of Technology) and affiliated with IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino in Genova. The study, recently published in Nature Neuroscience, provides new insights into psychiatric ...

The Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS) announced that Dr. Yong-Hun Kim from the Energy & Environment Materials Research Division and Dr. Kyung Song from the Material Characterization Center, in collaboration with Professor Hyun-Sang Hwang's team from POSTECH, have successfully developed a groundbreaking heterojunction technology. This technology integrates tungsten disulfide (WS₂), a two-dimensional (2D) material, with hafnium zirconium oxide (HZO), a ferroelectric material, achieving both interfacial stability and superior crystallinity. The results have been accepted by the International Electron Devices Meeting 2024 (IEDM 2024), ...

“Rich” and “full-bodied” are terms that people often use to describe the taste of wine. They are also the properties that kokumi compounds bring to foods like mature Gouda cheese, though scientists haven’t widely explored them in wines. In ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, researchers now connect the dots and report 11 probable kokumi compounds in sparkling wines. Kokumi is often confused with the better-known term umami. Umami is a savory, meaty flavor and is one of the basic five tastes, along with sweet, ...

Superconductors are materials which conduct electricity without any resistance when cooled down below a critical temperature. These materials have transformative applications in various fields, including electric motors, generators, high-speed maglev trains, and magnetic resonance imaging. Among these materials, CuO2 superconductors like Bi2212 stand out due to their high critical temperatures that surpass the Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer limit, a theoretical maximum temperature limit for superconductivity. However, ...

Artificial molecular machines, nanoscale machines consisting of a few molecules, offer the potential to transform fields involving catalysts, molecular electronics, medicines, and quantum materials. These machines operate by converting external stimuli, like electrical signals, into mechanical motion at the molecular level. Ferrocene, a special drum-shaped molecule composed of an iron (Fe) atom sandwiched between two five-membered carbon rings, is a promising foundational molecule for molecular machinery. Its discovery earned the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1973, and it has since ...

Plastic pollution is an ever-growing problem in today’s world, as most societies have become overly dependent on plastics for packaging, medical supplies, and general goods. Plastic litter accumulation in the ocean, either through deliberate dumping or by being transported from a river, poses significant environmental challenges. Additionally, this plastic eventually degrades into small fragments called microplastics, which then impact diverse marine and land ecosystems by working their way up the food chain and into most living organisms. Though their negative effects on cell health are still under study, many nations have taken a cautionary stance, ...

EUGENE, Ore. — Dec. 12, 2024 — Tiny implantable sensors are helping University of Oregon researchers optimize the process of recovery from severe bone injuries.  Scientists at the UO’s Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact have developed miniature implantable sensors that transmit real-time data about what’s happening at an injury site. In a new study, they use the technology to show that a resistance-training rehabilitation program can significantly improve femur injuries in rats ...

Fusion energy research is being pursued around the world as a means of solving energy problems. Magnetic confinement fusion reactors aim to extract fusion energy by confining extremely hot plasma in strong magnetic fields. Its development is a comprehensive engineering project involving many advanced technologies, such as superconducting magnets, reduced-activation materials, and beam and wave heating devices. In addition, predicting and controlling the confined plasma, in which numerous charged particles and electromagnetic fields interact in complex ...

A new study led by investigators from Mass General Brigham has identified a unique brain network that links varied patterns of brain atrophy, or shrinkage, associated with schizophrenia. By combining neuroimaging data from multiple studies involving more than 8,000 participants, the research team found a specific connectivity pattern of atrophy that was present across different stages and symptoms of schizophrenia — and distinct from brain networks associated with other psychiatric disorders. The findings will help to guide a clinical trial that will start recruiting patients soon and will ...

Research has long shown that humans are susceptible to “social identity bias”—favoring their group, whether that be a political party, a religion, or an ethnicity, and disparaging “outgroups.” A new study by a team of scientists finds that AI systems are also prone to the same type of biases, revealing fundamental group prejudices that reach beyond those tied to gender, race, or religion.  “Artificial Intelligence systems like ChatGPT can develop ‘us versus them’ biases similar to humans—showing favoritism toward their perceived ‘ingroup’ while expressing ...

It has been known for nearly 20 years that slow, synchronous electrical waves in the brain during deep sleep support the formation of memories. Why that is was previously unknown. Now, writing in the journal Nature Communications, a team of researchers from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin posits an explanation. According to the study, the slow waves make the neocortex, the location of long-term memory, especially receptive to information. The findings could help to optimize the treatment approaches that are intended to support memory formation from outside. How do permanent memories form? Experts believe that while we sleep, our brains replay the events of ...

Railways, the most climate-friendly mode of transport bar long-distance buses, are bound to play an important role in the fight for net zero. The total emissions of railway travel are currently 31 grams of CO2 equivalents (CO2e) per passenger kilometer, half the amount as for the most economical electrical vehicles. But the carbon emissions of railway traffic can be further reduced, shows a new study in Frontiers in Sustainability by authors in Finland. This is because typical construction materials such as steel and concrete are energetically costly to produce, transport, handle, and maintain. Even on the ...