Press release: Under embargo until Wednesday 21 June 2023, 01.00 BST New research led by the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London has found that community mental health patients who were prescribed antidepressants were significantly less likely to test positive for COVID-19 when admitted to inpatient care. The research, published in BMC Medicine, suggests that antidepressants – particularly the most commonly prescribed class called selective serotonin ...

ROCKVILLE, MD - The American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) is pleased to welcome Jennifer Covington as the Society’s Vice President of Membership and Meetings, an exciting and critical role for the Society as it looks ahead to an evolving landscape for scientific meetings and society membership. As Vice President of Membership and Meetings, Ms. Covington will oversee the development of revenue and results-oriented products and services in the membership, conference, and educational areas. Her responsibilities include the development of online and in-person conferences, workshops, and webinars; digital ...

The American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2023 awards, which honor distinction in service, outreach, education, and research. ASPB Innovation Prize for Agricultural Technology Renata Bolognesi, Stanislaw Flasinski, Sergey Ivashuta, Daniel Kendrick, Curtis Scherder, Gerrit Segers Bayer, Chesterfield, Missouri Charles Albert Shull Award José Dinneny Stanford University, Stanford, California Charles Reid Barnes Life Membership Award John Browse Washington State University, Pullman Natasha Raikhel University of California, Riverside Early Career Award Moisés Expósito-Alonso Carnegie Institute ...

The rate of eating disorder diagnoses among girls aged 13–16-years-old in the UK during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic (from March 2020–March 2022) was 42% higher than the expected rate based on previous trends, suggests a study published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health journal. The rate of self-harm diagnoses in the same cohort was 38% higher than the expected rate for the two-year period. As the largest and most targeted nationwide study in the adolescent population, and the first to cover two years of the pandemic, these findings are the best available evidence on eating disorder and self-harm diagnoses among young ...

Introducing widespread screening of newborns for a deadly disease called severe combined immunodeficiency, or SCID, followed by early treatment boosted the five-year survival rate of children with the disorder from 73% before the advent of screening to 87% since, researchers report. Among children whose disease was suspected because of newborn screening rather than illness or family history, 92.5% survived five years or more after treatment. These findings demonstrate for the first time that newborn screening facilitated the early identification of infants with SCID, leading to prompt ...

The sustainability and scalability of limited duration interventions in low- and middle-income countries remain unclear. A study published in The Lancet Global Health aimed to investigate the sustainability in reduction of blood pressure (BP) through a 12-month lifestyle intervention by community health workers (CHWs) to reduce BP in Nepal four years after the intervention ceased. During the 12-month intervention, female community health volunteers (FCHVs) visited participants in the intervention groups and provided lifestyle counselling and BP measurement every 4 months. At the end of the 12-month intervention, ...

Exposure to air pollution meant an average of around four extra days in hospital for Covid-19 patients, further increasing the burden on health care systems, according to a study published today (Wednesday) in the European Respiratory Journal [1].   The researchers say the effect of pollution on patients’ time in hospital was equivalent to being a decade older. Conversely, the effect of reducing exposure to pollution was 40 to 80% as effective in reducing patients’ time in hospital as some of the best available treatments.   In ...

The distant ancestors of modern horses had hooved toes instead of a single hoof, which vanished over time, according to researchers. The animals, such as the Eocene Hyracotherium, had feet like those of a modern tapir: four toes in front and three behind, each individually hooved with an underlying foot pad. In contrast, modern equids such as horses, asses, and zebras, have only a single toe, the left over original third toe on each foot, encased in a thick-walled keratinous hoof, with an underlying triangular frog on the sole that acts as a shock absorber.  An international ...

Critical insights into why airborne viruses lose their infectivity have been uncovered by scientists at the University of Bristol. The findings, published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface today [21 June], reveal how cleaner air kills the virus significantly quicker and why opening a window may be more important than originally thought. The research could shape future mitigation strategies for new viruses.    In the first study to measure differences in airborne stability of different variants of SARS-CoV-2 in inhalable particles, ...

Pupils in the UK are not learning about potentially life-changing issues such as endometriosis, infertility, and miscarriage, according to a new study of curricula in science and in relationships and sex education. Researchers from University College London (UCL) looked at what schools are expected to teach 14–18-year-olds across the UK, using curriculum requirements and specifications set by exam boards. Findings, published today in the peer-reviewed journal Human Fertility, demonstrate significant gaps and variations in what pupils are taught ...

Hidden beneath the waves of coastal waters lies an important member of the marine food chain – seagrasses. These marine meadows are in many ways the unsung heroes of the ocean, benefiting humans and the planet by producing oxygen, removing carbon dioxide from the air, and providing food and habitat for marine life. But these submerged savannahs may be in danger of disappearing, according to a new Stanford study that modeled the distribution of seagrass species around the world at two different timepoints in the future. Climate change is expected to hit marine species hard, in part because oceans absorb an estimated ...

Growing up, Brian Kisida always enjoyed going to school. He especially enjoyed the broad spectrum of subjects he was able to explore, including the arts. Now, as an assistant professor in the Truman School of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Missouri, he is researching the relationship between arts education and student success. Over the years, Kisida, an expert on education policy, has seen the culture of education shift dramatically. “I saw the impact that the test obsessed culture had on schooling, students’ mental health and enjoyment of learning,” Kisida said. “I wanted to know why we were seeing these changes that seem to not be in line ...

“The development of Precious1GPT [...] has demonstrated the potential of our approach in deciphering the molecular mechanisms of aging.” BUFFALO, NY- June 20, 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 11, entitled, “Precious1GPT: multimodal transformer-based transfer learning for aging clock development and feature importance analysis for aging and age-related disease target discovery.” Aging is a complex ...

“[...] we found no impact of the addition of metformin to [androgen deprivation] therapy on risk of metabolic syndrome associated with castration therapy and no additional anti-tumor effects.” BUFFALO, NY- June 20, 2023 – A new research paper was published in Oncotarget's Volume 14 on June 19, 2023, entitled, “Utilizing metformin to prevent metabolic syndrome due to androgen deprivation therapy (ADT): a randomized phase II study of metformin in non-diabetic men initiating ADT for advanced prostate cancer.” Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) can lead to metabolic syndrome (MS) and is implicated in ADT-resistance. Metformin showed antineoplastic ...

Recent U.S. elections have raised the question of whether “microtargeting,” the use of extensive online data to tailor persuasive messages to voters, has altered the playing field of politics. Now, a newly-published study led by MIT scholars finds that while targeting is effective in some political contexts, the “micro” part of things may not be the game-changing tool some have assumed. “In a traditional messaging context where you have one issue you’re trying ...

The missing link has just been found between the earliest dinosaurs, whose size ranged from a few centimeters to at most 3 meters in length, and more recent giants that could be more than twice the length of a bus and have so much appeal to the popular imagination.  Macrocollum itaquii, buried 225 million years ago in what is now Agudo, a town in Rio Grande do Sul state, South Brazil, is the oldest dinosaur studied hitherto with structures called air sacs. These bone cavities, which persist in present-day ...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- Alternative splicing, a clever way a cell generates many different variations of messenger RNAs — single-stranded RNAs involved in protein synthesis — and proteins from the same stretch of DNA, plays an important role in molecular biology. Progressing rapidly, the field of alternative splicing is a complex topic and the scientific literature on it is already extensive.  David Nikom, a student in the UC Riverside Neuroscience Graduate Program, and his advisor, Sika Zheng, an associate professor of biomedical sciences in the UCR School of Medicine and director of the Center ...

American Geophysical Union Release No. 23-26 20 June 2023 For Immediate Release This press release and accompanying multimedia are available here: https://news.agu.org/press-release/tongas-hunga-eruption-produced-the-most-intense-lightning-ever-recorded/ Additional study highlights: The 15 January eruption lasted at least 11 hours, several hours longer than previously known The plume produced the highest-altitude lightning flashes ever measured, 20 to 30 kilometers (12 to 19 miles) above sea level Lightning “surfed” giant waves that rippled through volcanic plume Lightning data ...

It is a scary fact that one in two women and one in three men in the United States will develop some form of cancer in their lifetime. One of the hallmarks of many cancers is the occurrence of errors during the cell division process called mitosis. Therefore, critical to enhancing treatments or perhaps even finding a cure for cancer and other diseases, is developing a better understanding of how mitosis works in both healthy and diseased cells. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Scott Forth, Ph.D., assistant professor of biological sciences ...

During the pandemic, contact tracing apps kept Americans informed of potential exposure risk with the goal of reducing infections. But did apps like this help reduce the spread of COVID and how might we improve these apps for use in future outbreaks? Contact tracing is a pivotal part of pandemic preparedness. Evidence-based research on best practices for contact tracing is important because when employed inefficiently contact tracing drains resources. Used effectively, contact tracing slows the spread of disease and saves lives. In the past, contact tracing was done through health ...

Prevention Strategies received a grant from the National Institutes of Health to pursue the study and develop a commercially viable intervention tool based on prevention science. Known as WorkWell, it is a tailored mobile health app that represents the next generation of evidence-based, technology-aided intervention programs. The initial pilot program to test the WorkWell app will focus on construction trade workers and nurses, as well as nursing assistants and technicians. These occupations have been disproportionately impacted by the opioid crisis and have high mortality ratios. “Opioid-involved overdoses are among the leading causes of death in the United States despite extensive ...

A combination strategy of endoscopic ultrasound-guided radiofrequency ablation (EUS-RFA) with chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer will be studied at UTHealth Houston through a $3.3 million grant from the National Cancer Institute by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The survival rate of pancreatic adenocarcinoma, or pancreatic cancer, remains low, around 10%, because of its poor response to current chemotherapies. The five-year grant will continue the established six-year clinical and translational research collaboration between Jennifer Bailey-Lundberg, ...

UTHSC researchers working to find new treatments to combat breast cancer metastasis recently pulled in a major national award. Wei Li, PhD, distinguished professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences and director of the Drug Discovery Center in the College of Pharmacy, and Tiffany Seagroves, PhD, professor of Pathology in the College of Medicine, are principal investigators on a $3.07 million grant from the National Cancer Institute for a project to develop a new series of drugs targeting microtubules to stop the spread of breast cancer to the brain and bone. Duane Miller, PhD, professor emeritus, and Zhongzhi Wu, PhD, assistant professor, both in ...

A total solar eclipse will darken a swath of North America as the Moon blocks the light of the Sun for a few minutes on April 8, 2024. In addition to casting a breathtaking, passing shadow over the heads of millions of people, this total solar eclipse gives scientists a unique opportunity to study the Sun, Earth, and their interactions. NASA will fund five interdisciplinary science projects for the 2024 eclipse to make the most of this opportunity. The projects, which are led by researchers at different academic institutions, will study the Sun and its influence on Earth with a variety of instruments, including cameras aboard high-altitude research planes, ham radios, and ...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients with type 2 inflammation saw rapid and sustained improvements in their disease after treatment with the monoclonal antibody dupilumab, according to a yearlong, Phase 3 clinical trial reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. These improvements — as measured by a significantly lower annualized rate of acute exacerbations, significantly better lung function and quality of life, and significantly less severe symptoms than placebo-treated adults with COPD — were observed within two to four weeks after the initiation of dupilumab and were sustained throughout the 52-week trial period. This monoclonal antibody ...