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Paths for reducing harmful air pollution in South Asia identified
Technology 2023-07-11

Paths for reducing harmful air pollution in South Asia identified

Fine particulate matter comes from wood burning, power generation, motor vehicles and other combustion sources that emit tiny particles into the air. At only 2.5 micrometers or smaller, these particles are small enough to be inhaled and cause lasting damage to the heart and lungs. Known as PM2.5, exposure to these particles is a leading mortality risk factor in India and the surrounding region of South Asia. A new study by researchers in Randall Martin’s lab in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis evaluated the contribution of various emission sectors and fuels to PM2.5 mass for 29 states in India ...
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Zoonotic researcher receives ORAU Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award
Science 2023-07-11

Zoonotic researcher receives ORAU Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award

Daniel Becker, Ph.D., an assistant professor of Biology in the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences, has received an Oak Ridge Associated Universities Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award for his continued research on bat migration in western Oklahoma. “We’re studying migratory Mexican free-tailed bats and the pathogens they might carry that are possible threats to human or wildlife health,” Becker said. “This award allows us to purchase the microchips we implant in the bats and ...
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Cancer disparities: Sylvester researchers, collaborators seek answers to prostate, breast cancer among people of African ancestry
Medicine 2023-07-11

Cancer disparities: Sylvester researchers, collaborators seek answers to prostate, breast cancer among people of African ancestry

MIAMI, FLORIDA (July 11, 2023) – “Please, please do it (cancer screening), if not for yourself, then for the next generation. We need to see the day when we end cancer.” Those are the impassioned words of Charinus Johnson-Davis, who was diagnosed with breast cancer a dozen years ago but is now cancer-free after a double-mastectomy and 28 rounds of chemotherapy plus radiation. She is on a mission to help address cancer disparities affecting Black women and men, and is one of the first to enroll in the African Cancer Genome Registry, a new study at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer ...
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Science 2023-07-11

AGS supports CMS decision to require real-world data for monoclonal antibodies

New York (July 11, 2023)  — The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) supports the recently announced decision from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to require the collection of real-world information via a registry to study monoclonal antibodies directed against amyloid for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. This decision applies to monoclonal antibodies that receive traditional approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Currently, lecanemab (trade name ...
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Medicine 2023-07-11

GSA Connects 2023: A premier international scientific meeting

11 July 2023 The Geological Society of America Release no. 23-25 Contact: Justin Samuel +1-303-357-1026 jsamuel@geosociety.org For immediate release GSA Connects 2023: A Premier International Scientific Meeting The Geological Society of America visits Pittsburgh Boulder, Colo., USA: Media registration is open now for The Geological Society of America’s Connects 2023 meeting, to be held 15–18 October 2023 at the David L Lawrence Convention Center (1000 Fort Duquesne Blvd) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. The organizing committee is pleased to be planning a dynamic meeting centered around ...
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Generative AI ‘fools’ scientists with artificial data, bringing automated data analysis closer
Technology 2023-07-11

Generative AI ‘fools’ scientists with artificial data, bringing automated data analysis closer

The same AI technology used to mimic human art can now synthesize artificial scientific data, advancing efforts toward fully automated data analysis. Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed an AI that generates artificial data from microscopy experiments commonly used to characterize atomic-level material structures. Drawing from the technology underlying art generators, the AI allows the researchers to incorporate background noise and experimental imperfections into the generated ...
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Science 2023-07-11

Satisfaction with online dating app depends on what you’re looking for

With an estimated 75 million active users each month, Tinder is the most popular dating app in the world. But a new study by Stanford Medicine researchers and collaborators has found, surprisingly - though perhaps not to users of the app - that many users are not swiping for dates. In a survey of more than a thousand Tinder users, half said they were not interested in meeting offline, and nearly two-thirds were already married or "in a relationship." In fact, the psychological motivations behind people's use of the app varied widely and had a strong influence on their satisfaction with the app and the dates it led to, according to the study published June 23 ...
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University of Illinois study finds turning food waste into bioenergy can become a profitable industry
Environment 2023-07-11

University of Illinois study finds turning food waste into bioenergy can become a profitable industry

URBANA, Ill. — Food waste is a major problem around the world. In the United States, an estimated 30 to 40% of edible food is lost or wasted, costing billions of dollars each year. One potential solution is to divert food waste from landfills to renewable energy production, but this isn’t done on a large scale anywhere. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign investigates the feasibility of implementing energy production from food waste in the state of Illinois. “We have a large amount of organic waste in the U.S., which eventually enters landfills and emits greenhouse gasses. However, this material ...
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Hepatic hydrogen sulfide levels are reduced in mouse model of progeria
Energy 2023-07-11

Hepatic hydrogen sulfide levels are reduced in mouse model of progeria

“To date, no studies have directly measured [hydrogen sulfide] production in Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome [...]” BUFFALO, NY- July 11, 2023 – A new research paper was published in Aging (listed by MEDLINE/PubMed as "Aging (Albany NY)" and "Aging-US" by Web of Science) Volume 15, Issue 12, entitled, “Hepatic hydrogen sulfide levels are reduced in mouse model of Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome.” Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) is a rare ...
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Missing a rare cause of hereditary cancer
Medicine 2023-07-11

Missing a rare cause of hereditary cancer

New research from Cedars-Sinai Cancer investigators could warrant reconsideration of current screening guidelines to include a poorly recognized cause of Lynch syndrome, the most common cause of hereditary colorectal and endometrial cancers. Their study, published today in the JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, concluded that the guidelines leave a significant number of patients undiagnosed. “When patients with Lynch syndrome—whose first cancers generally appear at an early age—aren’t diagnosed promptly, they don’t get appropriate follow-up or surveillance,” said Megan Hitchins, ...
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Medicine 2023-07-11

U of M Medical School receives DARPA award to develop detection tools for early symptoms of depression, psychosis and suicidality

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (07/11/2023) — Researchers at the University of Minnesota Medical School recently received a four-year award from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA’s) Neural Evidence Aggregation Tool program. The goal of their project— titled Fast, Reliable Electrical Unconscious Detection (FREUD)—is to develop tools to better detect early symptoms of depression, psychosis and suicidality, with the intent that treatment can be started as early in a condition’s trajectory as possible. “It’s exactly those early moments when getting someone therapy or mental health services could save their life or ...
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Medicine 2023-07-11

Research aims to identify better COPD diagnosis in African American patients

DENVER — Recently published research suggests that despite showing clear symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), many African Americans are not officially diagnosed with the disease due to flaws in diagnosis methods.  The Research was led by National Jewish Health and recently published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine from the COPDGene study.  Fixed-ratio spirometry, a standard method of measuring respiratory capacity, has long been used as a method of detecting COPD. ...
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Medicine 2023-07-11

With a comfort promise, new clinic aims to eliminate pain in kids

Each year, too many kids in the East Bay suffer needlessly from pain related to long-term serious illness, including migraines, joint and abdominal pain, sickle cell anemia and more. A new UCSF Health pain clinic in Walnut Creek is opening to provide relief. The new clinic extends the reach of the Stad Center for Pediatric Pain, Palliative & Integrative Medicine beyond UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals in San Francisco and Oakland. The Center is one of the nation’s most innovative and comprehensive integrative ...
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Potential targets to delay motor aging revealed by C. elegans genome-wide screen
Medicine 2023-07-11

Potential targets to delay motor aging revealed by C. elegans genome-wide screen

Genome-wide screen in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans reveals potential targets to delay motor aging, including the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase VPS-34; genetic and pharmacological partial inhibition of VPS-34 improves neurotransmission and muscle integrity through increased PI(3)P-PI-PI(4)P conversion, ameliorating motor aging in both worms and mice. ##### In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available paper in PLOS Biology:   http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3002165 Article ...
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Medicine 2023-07-11

Scientists build a healthy dietary pattern using ultra-processed foods

GRAND FORKS, N.D., July 11, 2023   ̶  Scientists at the USDA Agricultural Research Service’s (ARS) Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center led a study that demonstrates it is possible to build a healthy diet with 91 percent of the calories coming from ultra-processed foods (as classified using the NOVA scale) while still following the recommendations from the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA). The study highlights the versatility of using DGA recommendations in constructing healthy menus. “The study is a proof-of-concept that shows a more balanced view of healthy ...
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Medicine 2023-07-11

Low-glucose sensor in the brain promotes blood glucose balance

The body’s blood glucose level needs to be maintained in a relatively narrow range. It cannot be too high, as it can lead to diabetes, and it cannot be too low because it can cause fainting or even death. “There are many glucose-sensing neurons in the brain that are thought to actively participate in detecting small changes of glucose levels in the body and then trigger responses accordingly to return the level to a healthy range,” said Dr. Yong Xu, professor of pediatrics – nutrition, ...
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Medicine 2023-07-11

New study is first to find exposure to neurotoxic rodenticide bromethalin in birds of prey

In 2020, Tufts Wildlife Clinic Director Maureen Murray, V03, published a study that showed 100% of red-tailed hawks tested at the clinic were positive for exposure to anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs). Such exposure occurs when these chemicals are used to kill mice or rats, which eat the poison, and the birds eat the poisoned prey. Now, Murray is expanding that research with a new study published recently in the journal Environmental Pollution, which found that another type of rodenticide—a neurotoxicant called bromethalin—also ...
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Changing the way we deliver immune-based cancer drugs could reduce costs by 14%
Medicine 2023-07-11

Changing the way we deliver immune-based cancer drugs could reduce costs by 14%

ANN ARBOR, Michigan — A new analysis finds that up to millions of dollars could be saved annually on cancer immunotherapy treatments across the Veterans Health Administration by reconsidering how those drugs are delivered.   It’s a concept that could be applied to all cancer centers nationwide. Immune checkpoint inhibitors were initially tested and approved at weight-based dosages but then moved to one-size-fits-all flat doses, in part to reduce drug waste. But researchers from the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center found that if vials intended for a single ...
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Medicine 2023-07-11

Damage to gut bacteria linked with chemo-induced weight gain in breast cancer patients

EDMONTON — Researchers have found a link between chemotherapy-induced changes to gut bacteria and the unhealthy weight gain seen in breast cancer patients, pointing the way to potentially help survivors avoid obesity-related illness later in their lives.  In newly published research, a team at the University of Alberta found that the patients treated with chemotherapy lost muscle mass and gained abdominal fat, which has been linked to heart disease, diabetes and even cancer recurrence. The chemo patients also exhibited signs of inflammation and significant changes to the number and variety of bacteria in their guts. “Changes in the bacterial populations ...
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Medicine 2023-07-11

Nurse researcher casts new light on bruise detection in patients with darker skin tones

July 11, 2023 – A leading forensic nurse researcher has developed new approaches to detecting bruises in patients with darker skin tones – thus helping to overcome barriers to diagnosing injuries in patients of color, according to a special article on nurse innovators in the July issue  of the American Journal of Nursing (AJN). The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer. The article highlights the work of Katherine Scafide, PhD, RN, of George Mason University, Fairfax, Va., whose "nonconventional program ...
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Warmer weather makes venomous snake bites more likely, especially in spring
Science 2023-07-11

Warmer weather makes venomous snake bites more likely, especially in spring

American Geophysical Union Press Release No. 23-27 For Immediate Release 11 July 2023 This press release is available online at: https://news.agu.org/press-release/warmer-weather-makes-venomous-snake-bites-more-likely-especially-in-spring AGU press contact: Rebecca Dzombak, news@agu.org, +1 (202) 777-7492 (UTC-4 hours) Emory University press contact: Rob Spahr, rob.spahr@emory.edu (UTC-4 hours) Interview requests should be sent to Rob. WASHINGTON — Climate change is not only making Georgia hotter but also increasing the likelihood of snake bite, according to a new study. Every degree Celsius of daily temperature increase corresponds with about ...
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Aston University researcher turns one of the basic rules of construction upside down
Engineering 2023-07-11

Aston University researcher turns one of the basic rules of construction upside down

1675 theory states a hanging chain mirrors shape of an upstanding rigid arch Research from Aston University shows that this common-held belief is incorrect Explained using transition from Newtonian to Lagrangian mechanics and mathematical rigour.     Monday 10 July 2023 | Birmingham, UK   An Aston University researcher has turned one of the basic rules of construction on its head.   For centuries a hanging chain has been used as an example to explain how masonry arches stand.   Structural engineers are familiar ...
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Technology 2023-07-11

Software creates entirely new views from existing video

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Filmmakers may soon be able to stabilize shaky video, change viewpoints and create freeze-frame, zoom and slow-motion effects – without shooting any new footage – thanks to an algorithm developed by researchers at Cornell University and Google Research. The software, called DynIBar, synthesizes new views using pixel information from the original video, and even works with moving objects and unstable camerawork. The work is a major advance over previous efforts, which ...
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Working to make steel greener, cleaner
Environment 2023-07-11

Working to make steel greener, cleaner

CLEVELAND–Case Western Reserve University chemical engineer Rohan Akolkar is leading a research team working to develop a new zero-carbon, electrochemical process to produce iron metal from ore.   If successful, the project could be a first step toward eliminating harmful greenhouse gas emissions by eventually replacing century-old, blast-furnace ironmaking with a new electrolytic-iron production process.   Reducing iron ore to metal is carbon- and energy-intensive, leading to significant carbon-dioxide emissions that drive global warming.   “We don’t use carbon at all in our process, so ...
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Crawford Lake chosen as the primary marker to identify the start of the Anthropocene epoch
Science 2023-07-11

Crawford Lake chosen as the primary marker to identify the start of the Anthropocene epoch

EMBARGOED: Not for Release Until 18:00 BST 11 July 2023. Crawford Lake chosen as the primary marker to identify the start of the Anthropocene epoch Anthropocene proposes human activity has become a dominant influence on the planet, especially since the mid-twentieth century Nuclear bomb tests have left a ‘stark plutonium fingerprint’ of this change in human activity Evidence from Crawford Lake in Canada and 12 secondary locations will be assessed by International Commission on Stratigraphy to decide if we have entered a new geological era Today [11 July 2023] an international team of researchers has chosen the location ...
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