Philadelphia, June 8, 2023 – The US Department of Agriculture Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed) provides nutrition programming to individuals with low income, including students and their families, through a network of community partners who implement the programs. Findings of a new study in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, published by Elsevier, suggest SNAP-Ed implementers could develop a school’s readiness for programming by concentrating efforts on cultivating relationships, program-specific capacity, and motivation at schools. Lead author Erin McCrossan, PhD, Office of ...

A new study that sheds light on how B cells react to skin cancer cells could pave the way for innovative therapy design.  The study, published today in Nature Communications and led by researchers from King’s College London, reveals that antibody-producing B cells in patients may be defective in responding to the most aggressive skin cancer, melanoma. Antibodies are produced by B cells, a type of white blood cell, and are made to prevent and help fight infections. However, there is limited understanding about how B cells are prompted to respond to melanoma and why the antibodies they make are not effective. Researchers ...

A novel collaboration between the University of Southern California (USC), the University of Arizona (UA), and the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), has resulted in the Water Reuse Consortium. This groundbreaking partnership has been awarded a $12.3 million cooperative agreement for phase one of a three-phase $38 million program with ERDC-CERL to tackle pressing water challenges through innovative research, education, communication, and unprecedented collaborative efforts between government, local communities, industry, and academia. The Water Reuse Consortium brings together ...

DETROIT (June 8, 2023) – Researchers in the Hermelin Brain Tumor Center at Henry Ford Health are leading a Phase I clinical trial studying the maximum tolerated dose of an oncolytic adenovirus, a mutated virus engineered to selectively replicate in and destroy cancer tissue, in combination with fractionated stereotactic radiosurgery among patients who are undergoing resection of a recurrent high-grade astrocytoma brain tumor.   “The participants in this study have progressive high-grade astrocytoma as well as glioblastoma, and are scheduled to undergo repeat surgery,” said Tobias ...

It is well known that early resuscitation with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and an automated external defibrillator (AED) saves lives, and in most sports-related sudden cardiac arrest events, trainers or medical personnel respond and initiate protocols to resuscitate a player while other athletes standby. However, time to treatment is critical, so the ability for a fellow athlete to recognize sports-related sudden cardiac arrest and initiate resuscitation while medical personnel arrive is crucial in a life-threatening event where seconds matter. However, in a new study presented at the American ...

About The Study: The results of this study suggest that state palliative care laws are associated with an increase in the likelihood of dying at home or in hospice among decedents from cancer. Passage of state palliative care legislation may be an effective policy intervention to increase the number of seriously ill patients who experience their death in such locations.  Authors: May Hua, M.D, M.S., of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, is the corresponding author.  To access the embargoed study: Visit our For ...

About The Study: The findings of this study suggest that outcomes from Supreme Court decisions in 2022 that invalidated COVID-19 workplace protections, voided state laws on handgun-carry restrictions, and revoked the constitutional right to abortion could lead to substantial harms to public health, including nearly 3,000 excess deaths (and possibly many more) over a decade. Authors: Adam Gaffney, M.D., M.P.H., of Harvard Medical School in Boston, is the corresponding author.  To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this ...

About The Study: The results of this investigation suggest artificial intelligence (AI) can estimate best-corrected visual acuity directly from fundus photographs in patients with diabetic macular edema, without refraction or subjective visual acuity measurements, often within one to two lines on an Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study chart, supporting this AI concept if additional improvements in estimates can be achieved. Authors: Neil M. Bressler, M.D., of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, and Editor, JAMA Ophthalmology, is the corresponding author. To access the ...

An international team of researchers has unlocked a large-scale genomic analysis of Setaria or foxtail millet, an important cereal crop. The study, led by researchers at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and including scientists at NYU, advances our understanding of the domestication and evolution of foxtail millet, as well as the genetic basis for important agricultural traits.   “Foxtail millet is considered to be the foundation for early Chinese civilization,” said Michael Purugganan, the ...

New York, NY—June 8, 2023—Energy storage plays a crucial role in our transition to cleaner and more sustainable energy sources. It enables us to store excess energy when it’s available, from renewable sources like wind and solar, and use it when demand is high or supply is limited. This helps stabilize the grid, reduces reliance on fossil fuels, and mitigates the impact of intermittent energy sources. Balancing consumer demands with power system capacities In many parts of the ...

A study of the DNA of more than 55,000 people worldwide has shed light on how we maintain healthy blood sugar levels after we have eaten, with implications for our understanding of how the process goes wrong in type 2 diabetes. The findings, published today in Nature Genetics, could help inform future treatments of type 2 diabetes, which affects around 4 million people in the UK and over 460 million people worldwide. Several factors contribute to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, such as older age, being overweight or having obesity, physical inactivity, and genetic predisposition. If untreated, type 2 diabetes can lead to complications, including eye and foot problems, ...

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are considered ideal electrochemical energy storage materials due to their high electrical conductivity, large theoretical surface area, and good chemical stability. However, CNTs tend to aggregate due to strong van der Waals forces, which reduces their electrochemically active area. This problem is even worse for single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) due to their high length-to-diameter ratio. Recently, a joint research team led by Dr. WANG Xiao from the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of the Chinese ...

Cephalopods are a large family of marine animals that includes octopuses, cuttlefish and squid. They live in every ocean, from warm, shallow tropical waters to near-freezing, abyssal depths. More remarkably, report two scientists at University of California San Diego in a new study, at least some cephalopods possess the ability to recode protein motors within cells to adapt “on the fly” to different water temperatures.     Writing in the June 8, 2023 edition of Cell, first author Kavita J. Rangan, ...

Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer in men worldwide. According to international estimates about one in six men will get prostate cancer during their lifetime and worldwide, over 375’000 patients will die from it each year. Tumor resistance to current therapies plays an essential role in this and new approaches are therefore urgently needed. Now an international research team from the University of Bern, Inselspital Bern and the University of Connecticut (USA) has identified a previously unknown weak spot in prostate cancer ...

June 8, 2023 — Showing people how their behavior compares to their peers is a commonly used method to improve behavior. But in the wake of a global pandemic that exacerbated health care providers’ job dissatisfaction and burnout, questions remain about the potentially negative effects of peer comparison on the well-being of clinicians. A new study from the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics reveals fresh insights into the relationship between peer comparison and job satisfaction among clinicians. Published in JAMA Network Open, the study challenges prior findings that such feedback increases job dissatisfaction and burnout.   Researchers ...

Researchers led by CHEN Yuhang and ZHOU Jianmin from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have shown how plants resist clubroot, a major root disease that threatens the productivity of Brassica crops such as rape. The study, which uncovers novel mechanisms underlying plant immunity and promises a new avenue for crop breeding, was published in Cell. Clubroot, a soil-borne disease, is the most devastating disease of Brassica crops. In China, approximately 3.2–4 million hm2 of agricultural land is affected by clubroot each year, resulting in a 20%–30% yield ...

A team of researchers from IRB Barcelona and CNAG identifies the IL-17 protein as a determining factor in skin ageing. Blocking the function of IL-17 reduces the pro-inflammatory state and delays the appearance of age-related features in the skin. Published in the journal Nature Aging, the work opens up new perspectives in the development of therapies to improve skin ageing health.   A team of scientists from the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) in collaboration with the National ...

Each year, about 200,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with a bulge in the lower part of the aorta, the main artery in the body, called an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). New research from the University of Cincinnati examines the role a particular metabolite plays in the development of AAA and could lead to the first treatment of the condition. The research was published in the journal Circulation. “We started the study by examining whether AAA patients themselves had an increase in trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO).  We examined an American and Swedish ...

Actin filaments — protein structures critical to living movement from single cells to animals — have long been known to have polarity associated with their physical characteristics, with growing “barbed” and shrinking “pointed” ends. The ends of the filament are also different in the way they interact with other proteins in cells. However, the mechanism that determines these differences has never been entirely clear to scientists. Now, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have revealed key atomic structures of ...

Nutrition is an important part of any top athlete’s training program. And now, a new study by researchers from the University of Georgia proposes that supplementing the diet of athletes with colorful fruits and vegetables could improve their visual range. The paper, which was published in Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews, examines how a group of plant compounds that build up in the retina, known as macular pigments, work to improve eye health and functional vision. Previous studies done by UGA researchers Billy R. Hammond and ...

A new framework for making better and more transparent decisions about the use of our land could help to balance society’s demands upon it with protecting and enhancing the environment. Researchers led by the University of Leicester have proposed a framework for decisions on land use, from nationwide policymaking to building happening at street level, that would involve the most representative range of stakeholders, from those with financial interests in the land to the local communities who use it and more besides. Now published in the journal People and Nature, it encourages decisionmakers ...

Patients suffering from the “most horrible” rare brain tumour are falling through the cracks of mental health provision, University of Essex researchers have found.   A recent study which interviewed patients and clinicians discovered survivors struggle to access therapy available for other serious illnesses, such as cancer, and there was a lack of specialised support.   For the first time, the mental health of British rare brain tumour patients was examined by psychologists and now researchers are calling for urgent changes to the health service.   Dr Katie Daughters hopes her findings –published in ...

PHILADELPHIA— Historically, scientists have studied how cells develop and give rise to specialized cells, such as heart, liver, or skin cells, by examining specific proteins. However, it remains unclear how many of these proteins influence the activity of hundreds of genes at the same time to turn one cell type into another cell type. For example, as the heart develops, stem cells and other specialized cells will give rise to heart muscle cells, endothelial cells (lining of blood vessels), smooth muscle cells, and cardiac fibroblasts. But the details of this process remain mysterious. As a result of a $6 million, seven-year ...

Philadelphia — Collaborating researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine and the Adams School of Dentistry and Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina have discovered that a bacterial species called Selenomonas sputigena can have a major role in causing tooth decay. Scientists have long considered another bacterial species, the plaque-forming, acid-making Streptococcus mutans, as the principal cause of tooth decay—also known as dental caries. However, in the study, which appeared 22 May in Nature Communications, the Penn Dental Medicine and UNC researchers showed that S. sputigena, previously associated ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Like many ecological scientists, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign plant biology professor James O’Dwyer has spent much of his career searching for ways to measure and predict how specific plant communities will fare over time. Which species in a diverse population will persist and coexist? Which will decline? What factors might contribute to continuing biodiversity? In a new study reported in the journal Nature, O’Dwyer and his colleague, U. of I. graduate student Kenneth Jops, report the development of a method for determining ...