ROSEVILLE, CALIF. – July 24, 2023 – A pair of new studies presented as abstracts today at the American Society of Nutrition (ASN) annual meeting report that daily prune consumption has promising effects on several biomarkers related to cardiovascular health. Conducted in postmenopausal women and men 55 years and older, the studies reveal: In men, long-term prune consumption improved HDL cholesterol and the total cholesterol to HDL ratio, while decreasing oxidative stress and the inflammatory biomarker C-reactive protein ...

Excess heat from electronic or mechanical devices is a sign or cause of inefficient performance. In many cases, embedded sensors to monitor the flow of heat could help engineers alter device behavior or designs to improve their efficiency. For the first time, researchers exploit a novel thermoelectric phenomenon to build a thin sensor that can visualize heat flow in real time. The sensor could be built deep inside devices where other kinds of sensors are impractical. It is also quick, cheap and easy to manufacture using well-established methods. According ...

Eliminating forced labor is a vital starting point for creating a just and sustainable food supply, but most of us don’t know much about the labor conditions involved in producing our food. It’s possible that the people who picked and processed some of the items on our dinner table worked in conditions that involved force, fraud, coercion, or debt bondage. In a study published July 24 in Nature Food, researchers at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and the University of Nottingham Rights Lab calculated the risk of forced labor across all aspects of the U.S. food supply, excluding seafood. They found that the majority of forced ...

About The Study: The results of this study of more than 1.4 million adult Danish citizens followed up from 1977 to 2018 suggest that the risk of dementia was more than doubled for both men and women with diagnosed depression. The persistent association between dementia and depression diagnosed in early and middle life suggests that depression may increase dementia risk. Authors: Holly Elser, M.D., Ph.D., of the Hospital of 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/jamaneurol.2023.2309) Editor’s ...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- Plants form alliances with microbes in the soil in which they grow. Legumes, for example, benefit from a symbiotic relationship with microbes that inhabit nodules in their roots and “fix” nitrogen in the atmosphere to make it available to promote the legumes’ growth. But are microbes always beneficial to plants? Or does competition between strains for plant access degrade the service the bacteria ultimately provide? A team led by scientists at the University of California, Riverside, set up experiments to answer these questions and better understand the competition process. The researchers used a native ...

About The Study: Social isolation was significantly associated with higher odds of skilled nursing facility stays and nursing home placement during two years, but not with hospitalization, in this nationally representative study of 11,000 older adults. Efforts to deter or delay nursing home entry should seek to enhance social contact at home or in community settings.  Authors: Mary Louise Pomeroy, Ph.D., M.P.H., of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, 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/jamainternmed.2023.3064) Editor’s ...

About The Study: The prevalence of daily consumption of soft drinks was associated with the prevalence of overweight and obesity among adolescent students in this study of 107 countries and regions. These results, in conjunction with other evidence, suggest that reducing soft drink consumption should be a priority in combating adolescent overweight and obesity.  Authors: Huan Hu, Ph.D., of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health in Kanagawa, Japan, is the corresponding author.  To access the ...

About The Study: In this study evaluating 538,000 deaths in individuals ages 25 and older in Florida and Ohio between March 2020 and December 2021, excess mortality was significantly higher for Republican voters than Democratic voters after COVID-19 vaccines were available to all adults, but not before. These findings suggest that differences in vaccination attitudes and reported uptake between Republican and Democratic voters may have been factors in the severity and trajectory of the pandemic in the U.S.  Authors: Jacob Wallace, Ph.D., of the Yale School of Public Health in New Haven, Connecticut, is the corresponding author. To ...

About The Study: Participation in a home visiting program provided by community health workers working with nurses and social workers, compared with usual care, was associated with reduced risk for adverse birth outcomes, improved prenatal and postnatal care, and reductions in disparities, among birthing individuals with Medicaid. The risk reductions in adverse birth outcomes were greater among Black individuals.  Authors: Cristian I. Meghea, Ph.D., of Michigan State University in East Lansing, is the corresponding author. To ...

LA JOLLA (July 24, 2023)—Although infections can present with many different symptoms, one common symptom is the loss of fat and muscle, a process called wasting. Salk scientists wanted to know whether wasting was beneficial in fighting infections. Researchers in Professor Janelle Ayres’ lab discovered the wasting response to T. brucei infection in mice occurs in two phases, each regulated by different immune cells. While fat loss did not benefit the fight against infection, muscle loss did—a surprising clue that some wasting may help manage illness. The findings, published in Cell Reports on July 24, 2023, can inform the development of more effective ...

A busy, crowded, confusing emergency room is not an ideal place for a person living with dementia. But 1.4 million times a year, people with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia end up in emergency care, a new study shows. Together, they make up nearly 7% of all emergency visits for any reason by people over age 65, according to a University of Michigan team’s findings published in JAMA Neurology. And compared with their peers who don’t have dementia, these patients have twice the rate of seeking emergency care after an accident or a behavioral or ...

LOS ANGELES – The Inflation Reduction Act’s policy capping out-of-pocket costs for insulin to $35 for a month’s supply led to increases in the total number of insulin fills for Medicare beneficiaries, according to a new study from the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics and University of Wisconsin–Madison. Following the cap’s enactment in January 2023, the number of insulin fills among Medicare Part D enrollees increased from 519,588 to 523,564 per month. In contrast, the number of insulin fills decreased among older adults without Medicare during the same period. The study was published today in the Journal of ...

ROCKVILLE, Md. — The Federation of American Society for Experimental Biology (FASEB) recently co-authored a report to provide guidance to society publishers on how to address diversity and inclusivity matters within their journal programs. Titled Recommendations for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Initiatives for Society Publishers, the report was published by the Society Publishers’ Coalition, of which FASEB is a member. Darla P. Henderson, PhD, FASEB Director of Open Science and Research Integrity and Director of Publications, represented FASEB and was among the report’s ...

Researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) show that it is possible to generate functional parathyroid glands using mouse embryonic stem cells using blastocyst complementation Tokyo, Japan – Regenerative medicine has opened up exciting possibilities in the world of medicine. Now, researchers in Japan are searching for ways to recreate and rebuild body tissues and organs, which may be an alternative cure for diseases. In a recently published study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), researchers from Tokyo Medical ...

To further motivate action to combat cervical cancer, BGI Genomics today released its State of Cervical Cancer Awareness Report. This report is released on World Self-Care Day, July 24, 2023, as the WHO notes that self-care - including cervical cancer screening - can be practiced "24 hours a day/7 days a week". 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, ...

(Vienna, 24 July 2023) Cancer is twice as likely to affect people experiencing homelessness (PEH) as members of the housed population. The disease is the second most common cause of death among PEH, a group that is underserved when it comes to medical care. At the same time, there is a lack of awareness and of structures for targeted cancer screening. Against this backdrop, a team headed by MedUni Vienna has examined the current situation in four European countries and drawn up approaches for the development of a prevention programme. ...

Researchers from the Department of Mechanics and Engineering Science at Peking University (PKU), led by Prof. Chen Shiyi and Prof. Yang Yantao, have recently proposed a groundbreaking mechanism to enhance the efficiency of heat transfer in convective turbulence. The paper has been published in the first-class journal Physical Review Letters, entitled “Boundary-Layer Disruption and Heat-Transfer Enhancement in Convection Turbulence by Oscillating Deformations of Boundary.” Convective turbulence, driven by gravity-induced instabilities resulting from temperature ...

Recently, a study conducted by researchers from Peking University and Oxford Population Health shed light on the susceptibility of Chinese men to 60 diseases related to alcohol consumption. The study, titled "Alcohol consumption and risks of more than 200 diseases in Chinese men," was published in the prestigious journal Nature Medicine. Alcohol consumption poses a significant global health threat, with previous research highlighting its strong association with diseases such as liver cirrhosis, stroke, and various types of cancer. However, there has been a lack of ...

As a macroscopic quantum state of matter, superconductivity has attracted tremendous attention in the field of scientific research and industry over the past century. According to the BCS (Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer) microscopic theory, superconductivity arises from the condensation of coherent Cooper pairs, and each Cooper pair is formed by two electrons with opposite spins and momenta. Theoretically, when time-reversal symmetry is broken, Cooper pairs may acquire a finite momentum and exhibit a spatially modulated superconducting order parameter, which is known as the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov ...

A group of Chinese scientists has recently found key evidence for the existence of nanohertz gravitational waves, marking a new era in nanohertz gravitational wave research. The research was based on pulsar timing observations carried out with the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST). The research was conducted by the Chinese Pulsar Timing Array (CPTA) collaboration. Researchers (Prof. Kejia Lee, Post-Doc. Siyuan Chen, PhD students Jiangwei Xu, and Zihan Xue) from Department of Astronomy ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Women with a history of endometriosis had higher concentrations of cadmium in their urine compared to those without that diagnosis, according to a Michigan State University study that suggests the toxic metal could be linked to the development of endometriosis.  Affecting one in 10 reproductive-age women, endometriosis is a gynecologic condition in which tissue that looks like the lining of the uterus, or womb, appears outside the uterus. Those with endometriosis can experience chronic, painful and debilitating symptoms, which can interfere with all aspects of life, including daily activity, work productivity, ...

Ann Arbor, July 24, 2023 - Among nearly 10 million US infants born between 2016 and 2018, breastfed babies were 33% less likely to die during the post-perinatal period (day 7−364) than infants who were not breastfed, reports a new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, published by Elsevier. The findings build on previous US research with smaller datasets, which documented the association between the initiation of breastfeeding and the reduction of post-perinatal infant mortality by a range of 19% to 26%. Lead investigator Julie L. Ware, MD, MPH, ...

An analysis of real-world data from more than 1.2 million patients from health systems in four geographically dispersed states -- Indiana, Oregon, Texas and Utah -- conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s VISION Network, has determined both the number of adults needed to be vaccinated to prevent one COVID-19 associated hospitalization and the number needed to be vaccinated to prevent one COVID-19 associated emergency department (ED) visit. This study is one of the first, ...

A new study involving over 700,000 U.S. veterans reports that people who adopt eight healthy lifestyle habits by middle age can expect to live substantially longer than those with few or none of these habits. The eight habits are: being physically active, being free from opioid addiction, not smoking, managing stress, having a good diet, not regularly binge drinking, having good sleep hygiene, and having positive social relationships.   According to the results, men who have all eight habits at age 40 would be predicted to live an average of 24 years longer than men with none of these habits. For women, having all eight healthy lifestyle factors ...

More people are drinking milk alternatives made from plant sources such as oats, soy, or almonds, but do plant-based products deliver the same nutrition as cow’s milk? Results from a new study suggest that most don’t.   Cow’s milk is an important source of calcium and vitamin D, both of which are identified in the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans as nutrients of public health concern for underconsumption. Cow’s milk is also a major source of protein in the American diet.   To assess how the nutritional content of plant-based milk alternatives compares to that of cow’s milk, researchers examined more than ...