CAMBRIDGE, MA -- The brain and the digestive tract are in constant communication, relaying signals that help to control feeding and other behaviors. This extensive communication network also influences our mental state and has been implicated in many neurological disorders. MIT engineers have now designed a new technology that can be used to probe those connections. Using fibers embedded with a variety of sensors, as well as light sources for optogenetic stimulation, the researchers have shown that they can control neural circuits connecting the gut and the brain, in mice. In a new study, the researchers demonstrated that they could induce feelings of fullness or reward-seeking ...

About The Study: Parental cancer is associated with greater likelihood of food insecurity, unaffordability of housing and other necessities, and transportation barriers to medical care for minor children. Strategies to identify such children and address their needs are warranted.  Authors: Zhiyuan Zheng, Ph.D., of the American Cancer Society in Atlanta, 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/jamanetworkopen.2023.19359) Editor’s Note: Please ...

About The Study: The results of this study suggest that in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), the burden of suboptimally controlled cardiovascular (CV) risk factors and incident risk of stroke and heart attack are substantial. Modifiable CV risk factors are associated with risk of adverse CV events, and these events are associated with a higher risk of death. These findings identify populations at risk and potentially underscore the importance of modifiable CV risk factor control and motivate strategies to reduce CV risk in HNSCC survivorship care.  Authors: Lova Sun, M.D., ...

Under certain conditions — usually exceedingly cold ones — some materials shift their structure to unlock new, superconducting behavior. This structural shift is known as a “nematic transition,” and physicists suspect that it offers a new way to drive materials into a superconducting state where electrons can flow entirely friction-free. But what exactly drives this transition in the first place? The answer could help scientists improve existing superconductors and discover new ones. Now, MIT physicists have identified the key to how one class of superconductors undergoes a nematic transition, and it’s in surprising contrast to what ...

The herpes simplex virus-1 can sometimes cause a dangerous brain infection. Combining an anti-inflammatory and an antiviral could help in these cases, report scientists with the Rajewsky and Landthaler labs and the Organoid Platform at the Max Delbrück Center in Nature Microbiology. About 3.7 billion people — 67% of us — carry the herpes simplex virus-1 in our nerves cells where it lies quiescent until triggered by stress or injury. When activated, its symptoms are usually mild, limited to cold sores or ulcers in our mouth.  Very rarely, the virus ...

ATLANTA, June 22, 2023 – A new study by researchers at the American Cancer Society (ACS) found children of parents with a cancer history in the United States are more at risk of having unmet needs for housing, food, and other living necessities than their counterparts without a parental cancer history. The findings will be published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network Open. “Cancer is a life-threatening disease and parents with a history of cancer are often saddled with worry about paying for food, the ...

Most stars in the Universe die in predictable ways, depending on their mass. Relatively low-mass stars like our Sun slough off their outer layers in old age and eventually fade to become white dwarf stars. More massive stars burn brighter and die sooner in cataclysmic supernova explosions, creating ultradense objects like neutron stars and black holes. If two such stellar remnants form a binary system, they also can eventually collide. New research, however, points to a long-hypothesized, but never-before-seen, fourth option. While searching for ...

While searching for the origins of a powerful gamma-ray burst (GRB), an international team of astrophysicists may have stumbled upon a new way to destroy a star. Although most GRBs originate from exploding massive stars or neutron-star mergers, the researchers concluded that GRB 191019A instead came from the collision of stars or stellar remnants in the jam-packed environment surrounding a supermassive black hole at the core of an ancient galaxy. The demolition derby-like environment points to a ...

The cosmos is a unique laboratory for testing the laws of physics, in particular those of Euler and Einstein. Euler described the movements of celestial objects, while Einstein described the way in which celestial objects distort the Universe. Since the discovery of dark matter and the acceleration of the Universe’s expansion, the validity of their equations has been put to the test: are they capable of explaining these mysterious phenomena? A team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) has developed the first method to find out. It ...

They published their work on June. 9 in Energy Material Advances.   "The development of high safety and high energy density SIBs is imperative," said paper author Zhongyue Wang, lecture with the College of electronic and optical engineering & college of flexible electronics (future technology), Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications. "Currently, great progress has been made in sodium-ion batteries, but their energy density is still much lower than LIBs limited by the cathode." Wang explained that NASICON-type phosphate (NaxMM’(PO4)3, M, M' =transition metal Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co and Ni) is regarded ...

INDIANAPOLIS - A study of more than three-quarters of a million Indiana COVID-19 cases is one of the first to focus on the disease in the Midwest. The research examines the relationship between the presence of pre-existing disease and COVID-19 outcomes in a region that has some of the highest prevalence of comorbidities, including hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and diabetes. The study, conducted by researchers from Regenstrief Institute, Indiana University and The Ohio State University sourced data through the COVID-19 Research Data Commons. For COVID-19 patients, research demonstrated the pre-existing ...

An emotion recognition tool - developed by University of the West of Scotland (UWS) academics - could help people with neurodiverse conditions including autism.  Traditionally, emotion recognition has been a challenging and complex area of study. However, with recent advancements in vision processing, and low-cost devices, such as wearable electroencephalogram (EEG) and electrocardiogram (ECG) sensors, UWS academics have collaborated to harness the power of these technologies to create artificial intelligence (AI) which can accurately read emotion-related signals from brain and facial analysis. Professor Naeem Ramzan, ...

Older people with health problems often need some form of intermediate level monitoring, care and treatment services. They may not need the resources of a hospital but do require somewhat more advanced help than a nursing home can usually offer. "Intermediate care units" are primarily intended to replace an acute hospital admission, but are occasionally also used following admission. “Intermediate care units are the newest trend in health policy, and Norway is way ahead of the curve in this regard,” says Pål Erling Martinussen, a professor in the Department of Sociology and Political ...

The American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) has released its highly anticipated 2023 update to the recommended minimum gene list for the reporting of secondary findings (SF): “ACMG SF v3.2 List for Reporting of Secondary Findings in Clinical Exome and Genome Sequencing: A Policy Statement of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG).” In 2021, the ACMG Board of Directors and Secondary Findings Working Group (SFWG) stated that the College would update the list annually. Today’s update (SF v3.2) is being published in ACMG’s flagship journal, Genetics ...

NEW YORK, NY – June 22, 2023 – The Lupus Research Alliance awarded its 2023 Lupus Insight Prize to Carola Vinuesa, MD, PhD, of The Francis Crick Institute, for her seminal discovery that a mutation in a specific human gene causes systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), uncovering an important target for the development of novel treatment. The Lupus Insight Prize is awarded each year to an outstanding investigator who has made a significant discovery that will advance our understanding of the pathogenesis, diagnosis, or treatment of lupus. Dr. Vinuesa ...

In the United States, sickle cell disease affects about 100,000 people and about 2 million Americans carry this genetic mutation. The most common and serious problems caused by sickle cell disease are anemia, pain and organ failure – stroke affects about 10 out of 100 children who have this disease. The national median life expectancy for people who have sickle cell disease can reach up to age 50.  This inherited, lifelong blood disorder is characterized by rigid and sickle-shaped red blood cells due to a dramatic change in their morphology. They stick to blood vessels, blocking ...

Washington, D.C. – Investigators in Israel and Italy have developed a model of the blood-brain barrier, studies of which may lead to prevention of meningitis in newborns. The research is published in Microbiology Spectrum, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.  The investigators further developed a platform called organs-on-a-chip—invented during the 2000s—to construct the model. These devices, which are modeled after microchips, contain tiny channels lined with living human ...

Leishmaniasis is a tropical disease caused by parasites known as Leishmania, which are transmitted to humans and animals through the bites of more than 90 species of sand flies. Considered a neglected tropical disease, leishmaniasis is found in approximately 88 countries primarily located in South and Central America, the Middle East and western Asia. As many as 1 million new cases are diagnosed each year and more than 350 million people are at risk of infection. Some forms of the disease ...

The UK is to launch a clinical trial of a ‘poo transplant’ that researchers believe could treat advanced liver disease and fight antimicrobial resistance. The trial’s investigators also provide evidence for the first time that a faecal transplant can dramatically improve gut health. The PROMISE trial is led by King’s College London and funded by a National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and Medical Research Council (MRC) partnership. It will recruit patients with cirrhosis from across the UK to test whether oral Faecal Microbiota Transplant (FMT) capsules from freeze-dried stool from healthy volunteers reduces the likelihood of getting an ...

Alexandria, VA, USA – A study that introduces a new strategy to promote customized, oral health self-care by using an online platform to connect dental professionals and patients will be presented at the 101st General Session of the IADR, which will be held in conjunction with the 9th Meeting of the Latin American Region and the 12th World Congress on Preventive Dentistry on June 21-24, 2023, in Bogotá, Colombia. The Interactive Talk presentation, “An Online Platform to Promote Customized Self Oral Healthcare,” will take place on Thursday, ...

Alexandria, VA, USA – A study examining the effect of COVID-19 lockdowns on Bolivian dental school graduates will be presented at the 101st General Session of the IADR, which will be held in conjunction with the 9th Meeting of the Latin American Region and the 12th World Congress on Preventive Dentistry on June 21-24, 2023, in Bogotá, Colombia. The Interactive Talk presentation, “Covid–19 Pandemic Effects on Graduates’ Self Confidence to Execute Dental Clinical Procedures,” will take place on Thursday, June 22, 2023, at 2 p.m. Colombia Time (UTC-05:00) during the “Attitude ...

Patients with a rare genetic bone marrow disorder which puts them at increased risk of blood cancers could benefit from a discovery that may lead to new treatments to slow or reverse the disease.   In a new study published in Cell Reports, scientists from the University of Birmingham and University of Warwick have found that affected blood stem cells that are produced in bone marrow produce much fewer immune cells used to fight infection. The mutation in the GATA2 gene in these blood stem cells results in impaired ability to repair ongoing damage to their DNA and puts patients at risk of developing blood cancers.  The median age for patients developing Acute Myeloid Leukaemia who ...

PULLMAN, Wash. – Taking a cue from the structural complexity of trees and bones, Washington State University engineers have created a way to 3D-print two types of steel in the same circular layer using two welding machines. The resulting bimetallic material proved 33% to 42% stronger than either metal alone, thanks in part to pressure caused between the metals as they cool together. The new method uses commonplace, relatively inexpensive tools, so manufacturers and repair shops could use it in the ...

Butterflies are being hit hardest by urban growth. Shrinking habitats and food availability are causing their populations to decline. The same applies to many wild bees that fly early in spring. According to a new study by the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences in "Ecology Letters", pollination has not yet been impacted by this because honeybees, for example, can compensate for the reduction of urban pollinators. The study is the first comprehensive analysis of the subject and includes data from 133 studies. The results underline the importance ...

About The Study: This systematic review and meta-analysis including 52 studies found children, adolescent, and young adult patients with cancer experience an increased risk of depression, anxiety, and psychotic disorders after cancer remission compared with siblings and noncancer-matched controls. Timely identification, preventive efforts, and psycho-oncological intervention for psychological comorbidity are recommended.  Authors: Ainsley Ryan Yan Bin Lee, M.B.B.S. (Hons.), and Cyrus Su Hui Ho, Ph.D., of the National University of Singapore, are the corresponding authors. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media ...