The El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the Earth's most consequential interannual climate fluctuation. Alternating irregularly between warm El Niño and cold La Niña phases, it brings shifts in ocean surface temperature and disrupts wind and rainfall patterns across the tropics. Unlike El Niño, which usually lasts one year, La Niña tends to develop after an El Niño and lasts for two consecutive years or more. This is known as a multiyear La Niña event and exerts prolonged and aggregated impacts, such as increased wildfires, flooding, and altered ...

Earth is truly unique among our Solar System’s planets. It has vast water oceans and abundant life. But Earth is also unique because it is the only planet with plate tectonics, which shaped its geology, climate and possibly influenced the evolution of life. Plate tectonics describes the movement and interaction of tectonic plates on Earth’s surface. This movement is driven by the very slow creeping motion of Earth's mantle, called convection, which carry heat from the interior to our planet's ...

Alcohol is one of the most commonly used psychoactive drugs, with a growing number of users in many parts of the world. Despite the awareness regarding its adverse effects, individuals can get habituated to alcohol consumption, leading to a medical condition called alcohol use disorder (AUD). AUD is characterized by the abuse, dependency, and addiction of alcohol, leading to compromised social responses and interactions of the individual. Moreover, it impairs spatial working memory (memory that allows us to orient ourselves ...

Researchers have found that people with obstructive sleep apnea have an increased cardiovascular risk due to reduced blood oxygen levels, largely explained by interrupted breathing. Obstructive sleep apnea has long been associated with increased risk of cardiovascular issues, including heart attack, stroke, and death, but the findings from this study, partially supported by the National Institutes of Health and published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, show the mechanism mostly responsible ...

Research from the Registro Nacional de Cáncer notes that Uruguay has the highest cancer incidence and mortality rates in Latin America. In particular, cervical cancer is the third leading cause of cancer related morbidity among Uruguay's female population. To further motivate action to combat cervical cancer, BGI Genomics today released its State of Cervical Cancer Awareness Report in Uruguay. This report assesses the level of knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to cervical cancer screening and the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. By examining these key areas, this survey seeks to highlight the associated barriers and opportunities. ...

Although rare, mucosal melanoma in humans has a low survival rate. It has been difficult to investigate due to a lack of similar cancers in animals for study. Researchers explored a protein common to human and canine mucosal melanoma. The protein seems to be what makes this cancer so problematic, as it mobilizes the cancer cells, allowing them to spread. Researchers hope that eliminating this protein could lead to a potential treatment. The study is published in Molecular Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. Melanoma is a type of cancer that begins in ...

As an electromechanical actuator, symmetric-actuating devices are often used in the fields where symmetrical motion, drive, and control are required, such as grasping or scissoring operations, and fast symmetric opening or closing of microchannels. One scenario with strong demand is minimally invasive surgery, including precision grasping and cutting tumor cells, retinal microsurgery, etc. In the field of micro electromechanical devices, the scissoring or grasping operation essentially belongs to two symmetrical actuations between two end-effectors. However, there is almost no one motor that can directly generate two symmetrical linear motions. In general, to produce two symmetrical ...

DALLAS, July 26, 2023 — Existing research shows certain types of migraines can increase the risk of stroke, and there is growing evidence that they may also lead to other types of cardiovascular disease (CVD). To learn more about these connections, the American Heart Association, the world's leading nonprofit organization focused on heart and brain health for all, is providing a total of $2.1 million in grants for seven new scientific research projects. The selected teams of scientists for the “Migraine ...

NEW YORK, July 26, 2023 – The Blavatnik Family Foundation and the New York Academy of Sciences announced today the 2023 laureates of the  Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists.   Each will receive $250,000, the largest unrestricted scientific award for America’s most innovative, faculty-ranked scientists and engineers who are under the age of 42. The winners and their distinguished research: 2023 Laureate in Life Sciences: William Anderegg, Ph.D., The University of Utah (Ecology & Evolutionary ...

Lymph nodes are one of the body’s first lines of defense against disease. Immune cells are dispatched from these biological police stations to fight off intruders. But somehow, lymph nodes are also the first stop for most metastatic cancers. “It’s paradoxical,” Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Assistant Professor Semir Beyaz says. “The cancer goes right in, but the immune cells aren’t doing anything. It’s important to understand what’s going on because this is how cancer takes the whole body hostage.” Beyaz joined with collaborators from Massachusetts General Hospital to investigate. They ...

Researchers from WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, University of Bonn, and FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg published a new Journal of Marketing article that examines how consumers respond to new products co-developed with universities and the unique marketing opportunities for these products. Firms often collaborate with universities to access novel scientific knowledge and technological expertise with an aim to develop superior new products. For example, Italian start-up Angles90 co-developed the first dynamic training grips with the faculty of Strength Training Ergonomics at the Technical University of ...

PULLMAN, Wash. –Sexual health, diet and exercise are the three topics that steal the show when it comes to popular health-related videos on TikTok. Unfortunately, there’s little else in terms of engaging health-related content on the video sharing platform, a Washington State University study found.  The social media platform’s mostly young audience also seems to prefer health-related videos featuring popular influencers’ role model appeals, such as their diet or exercise routine, rather than expert medical advice, ...

PARAMUS, N.J., July 26, 2023 – Octapharma USA today announced that Balfaxar® (prothrombin complex concentrate, human-lans; marketed in Europe and Canada as octaplex®) has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the urgent reversal of acquired coagulation factor deficiency induced by vitamin K antagonist (VKA, e.g., warfarin) therapy in adult patients with need for urgent surgery or invasive procedures. Balfaxar® helps restore blood coagulation by replenishing the levels of clotting factors that are deficient due to warfarin therapy. Balfaxar® ...

HOUSTON, GOLDEN, Colo. and WATERTOWN, Mass. ― The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Nexo Therapeutics today announced a multi-year strategic collaboration that aligns the innovative technology and capabilities of each organization at the earliest stages of drug discovery and development to rapidly advance impactful new cancer therapies against previously undruggable targets. The agreement brings together Nexo’s unique drug discovery platform, which combines innovative covalent chemistry and chemical biology, with the translational research and drug development expertise ...

Scientists have discovered the honey produced by Australian ants possesses unique anti-microbial activity against bacteria and fungi that could make the liquid useful medicinally. The research, published today in PeerJ, was led by Andrew Dong and Dr Kenya Fernandes from the University of Sydney’s Carter Lab, which is led by Professor Dee Carter from the School of Life and Environmental Sciences and Sydney Institute for Infectious Diseases. The team studied the Australian honeypot ant, Camponotus inflatus, which is found throughout desert areas mainly in Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Among ...

Aurora, Colo. (July 26, 2023) – Children’s Hospital Colorado (Children’s Colorado) today announced the launch of the Precision Medicine Institute, which will allow experts to more efficiently integrate precision medicine into care provided to patients throughout the hospital. The Precision Medicine Institute uses innovative technology to integrate big data, including genomic data, into each individual patient's care plan to determine the best treatment for each patient. Precision medicine, also known as personalized medicine or genomic medicine, uses the most up-to-date technology ...

Research Highlights: Despite similar rates of bystander CPR after an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, Asian adults in the U.S. were 8% less likely to survive to hospital discharge and 15% less likely to have favorable neurological outcomes compared to white adults, according to an analysis of nearly 279,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests. The study is believed to be the first research comparing bystander CPR and survival rates between Asian and white adults in the U.S. after cardiac arrest. Embargoed until 4 a.m. CT/5 a.m. ET Wednesday, July 26, 2023 DALLAS, July 26, 2023 — Despite similar rates of bystander CPR after an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, Asian ...

Arctic terns – which fly on the longest migrations of any animal on Earth – may be able to navigate the dangers posed by climate change, new research suggests. The birds live in near-perpetual daylight, breeding in the north of our planet and flying to Antarctica for the Southern Hemisphere summer, covering enough distance in their lifetime to travel to the moon three times. The new study, led by the University of Exeter and the Met Office, examined the likely impacts of climate change on arctic terns outside of ...

Osaka, Japan – The way that water molecules behave in proton conducting materials is very important for understanding—and making the most of—their properties. This means being able to look at very rapid snapshots to catch changes in the water motion. Researchers from Osaka University have taken a close look at semiclathrate hydrate crystals using quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS). Their findings are published in Applied Physics Letters. Semiclathrate hydrates have water molecule frameworks that house other molecules or ions as ‘guests’ in their structures. The overall properties of the framework can therefore be controlled and tailored to particular ...

The near-infrared (NIR) spectrum contains characteristic vibrational absorption bands of numerous organic functional groups. NIR phosphor-converted light-emitting diodes (pc-LEDs) have gathered increasing interests in fields including non-destructive testing and night vision. In 2016, Osram reported the first NIR pc-LED, SFH4735, while with low output power (16 mW @ 350 mA) and limited wavelengths. Furthermore, luminescent contrast agents operating within the second biological imaging window (1000-1800 nm) exhibit lower tissue absorption and scattering coefficients in contrast to the traditional first window (750-950 nm), thereby ...

Results of an innovative clinical trial led by Perth researchers have shown that the drug interferon could help reduce the spread of COVID-19 from a positive person to their household contacts, with the study helping to inform treatment options for a future pandemic. The trial - CONCORD-19 - tracked 1,172 participants in 341 households in Santiago, Chile where there was a positive COVID-19 case between December 2020 and June 2021. Researchers tested the effectiveness of treating the infected people and their uninfected household contacts with interferon, with the aim of evaluating whether this drug reduces the severity of the disease and the spread of COVID-19 within ...

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) — Over the last several years, the residents of Santa Monica, a coastal city on the edge of Los Angeles, saw something neither they, their parents, or perhaps even their grandparents had ever seen before: a three-foot-tall dune system rising gently from the flat, groomed expanse of one of the world’s most famous urban beaches. It’s a six year alliance between sand, wind and vegetation, and, according to UC Santa Barbara researchers, it’s one way to enlist nature to help protect the coast from the impacts of climate change. “The project was really to assess whether we could naturally grow dunes on a heavily ...

Sophia Antipolis, 26 July 2023:  Childhood is a window of opportunity to tackle obesity before the damage it causes is irreversible, according to a scientific statement by experts on heart disease and childhood obesity published today in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).1 The document was produced by the Task Force for Childhood Health of the European Association of Preventive Cardiology (EAPC) of the ESC and the European Childhood Obesity Group (ECOG). Childhood obesity is on the rise. According to the World Health Organization, while less than 1% of children and adolescents aged 5-19 were obese in 1975, ...

Static isometric exercises—the sort that involve engaging muscles without movement, such as wall sits and planks—are best for lowering blood pressure, finds a pooled data analysis of the available evidence from clinical trials, published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. But ‘cardio’ (aerobic exercise); dynamic resistance training, such as squats, press-ups, and weights; high intensity interval training or HIIT for short (episodic short bouts of high intensity exercise ...

The cumulative health and economic consequences of the premature loss of a parent may be greater for boys than for girls, suggest the findings of a large long term study published online in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. Experiencing the death of a parent before the age of 21, however, is strongly linked to poor mental health and lower earnings/unemployment in adulthood for both sexes, the data indicate. Previously published research has pointed to a link between premature parental death and the child’s subsequent health and prosperity. But no studies have drawn ...