One of the challenges in treating burn victims is the frequency of dressing changes, which can be extremely painful.  To bring relief to this and other problems, University of Waterloo researchers have created a new type of wound dressing material using advanced polymers. This new dressing could enhance the healing process for burn patients and have potential applications for drug delivery in cancer treatment as well as in the cosmetic industry. "To treat burn victims, we can customize the shape using a 3D printer, secondly, the material has fine-tuned surface adhesion, which is a key feature", said Dr. Boxin Zhao, a professor in Waterloo's Department of ...

Chatbots are increasingly becoming a part of health care around the world, but do they encourage bias? That’s what University of Colorado School of Medicine researchers are asking as they dig into patients’ experiences with the artificial intelligence (AI) programs that simulate conversation. “Sometimes overlooked is what a chatbot looks like – its avatar,” the researchers write in a new paper published in Annals of Internal Medicine. “Current chatbot ...

An international research team from Tanzania and Japan created a smartphone app and conducted a pilot study of how the app might be used to improve midwives’ knowledge and skills in Tanzania. Their study focused on the app’s potential effects on the learning outcomes of midwives and birth preparedness of pregnant women in Tanzania. The team’s work is published in the journal PLOS ONE on March 31, 2023. “The smartphone app for midwives showed significant improvements in their learning outcomes, leading to better birth preparations for pregnant women in Tanzania. This study highlights the potential of leveraging technology ...

An international team of astronomers has detected complex organic molecules in the most distant galaxy to date using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. The discovery of the molecules, which are familiar on Earth in smoke, soot and smog, demonstrates the power of Webb to help understand the complex chemistry that goes hand-in-hand with the birth of new stars even in the earliest periods of the universe’s history. At least for galaxies, the new findings cast doubt on the old adage that where there’s smoke, there’s ...

Children who are breastfed for longer appear to be more likely to gain slightly better results in their school GSCEs at age 16 compared with non-breastfed children, suggests a study published online in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood. The evidence of improved educational outcomes is still apparent even when various factors are taken into account such as people’s socio-economic status and their parents’ intelligence. Previous studies have suggested that children breastfed for longer have improved educational outcomes later in life. However these are relatively scarce, and ...

A method of care involving skin-to-skin contact between a mother and her prematurely born or low birth weight baby appears to impact the child’s chances of survival significantly, suggests a study published online in the journal BMJ Global Health. Starting the intervention within 24 hours of birth and carrying it out for at least eight hours a day both appear to make the approach even more effective in reducing mortality and infection, researchers found. The method of care known as ‘Kangaroo mother care’ (KMC) involves an infant being carried, usually by the mother, in a sling with skin-to-skin contact ...

Defibrillators are being used in just one in ten cardiac arrests where the lifesaving devices are available, according to new research presented at the British Cardiovascular Society Conference in Manchester.   The research drew upon data from the East of England Ambulance Service and The Circuit, the national defibrillator network developed by the British Heart Foundation (BHF). The Circuit maps the location of defibrillators across the whole of the UK, so that emergency services can direct bystanders to the nearest defibrillator in the event of ...

Patients with heart disease could benefit from less extensive interventions thanks to cutting-edge technology that creates 3D computer models of blood flow through the heart's arteries, according to research presented at the British Cardiovascular Society in Manchester. When the research team trialled the VIRTUHeartTM technology with doctors treating heart attack patients, they found that using it would have changed the treatment of more than 20 per cent of patients. In many cases, it would have led to fewer patients undergoing an invasive procedure such ...

 The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) today released the ISSCR Standards for Human Stem Cell Use in Research, an international collaboration aimed at enhancing rigor in preclinical research and ultimately strengthening the pipeline of therapies for patients. “This nearly two-year initiative is groundbreaking for the global stem cell research community,” said Haifan Lin, ISSCR president. “The international standards will make a big difference in the quality of science that is performed and published worldwide.” The ISSCR is the preeminent international stem cell research society with a reputation ...

Have you ever wanted to convey a feeling but just couldn’t find the right words? Millions of people struggle with a personality trait known as alexithymia, which means “no words for feelings.” Individuals with alexithymia have difficulty identifying and describing their emotions. This trait can harm their social and intimate relationships. They are likely to miss social cues and thus fail to recognize or understand the feelings of others. Past research has suggested that a history of child maltreatment could play a role in developing adult alexithymia. A new meta-analysis published this month in Psychological Bulletin, led by Stanford ...

Patients infected with beta and delta COVID-19 variants, and those who required hospital stays for COVID-19 infection, were more likely to experience heart issues associated with long COVID, according to a recent Houston Methodist study published in the European Heart Journal – Cardiovascular Imaging. Patients recovering from the omicron variant were least likely to have microvascular involvement. “This new data expands our understanding of myocardial flow reserve as an important prognostic marker in general and specifically in COVID-19,” said Mouaz Al-Mallah, M.D., corresponding author of the study and director of cardiovascular ...

Contact: Clare Leahy clare.leahy@hdruk.ac.uk 07748016062 Event registration for press: https://bit.ly/45rIQBr Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) is launching its Health Data Science Black Internship Programme for the third year running at its Opening Ceremony on Wednesday 21 June from 12-5pm at the Curzon Building in Birmingham City University. The programme, run in partnership with the UK Health Data Research Alliance and 10,000 Black Interns is helping to tackle the underrepresentation of Black people within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics ...

DARIEN, IL – Sleep researcher Dayna A. Johnson is the recipient of the 2023 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Leadership Award from the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, a joint initiative of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society. The award recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to sleep medicine or sleep and circadian science through their work to increase the diversity, equity, and inclusion of sleep medicine providers, or to develop educational programs, research, or clinical work aimed at reducing disparities. The award presentation occurred Monday, June 5, during the plenary session of the ...

Patents from the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) are a measure of novel inventions, but each also tells a story of a relevant idea with warfighting impact. NPS Department of Physics Associate Professor Ray Gamache and his former graduate student, NPS alumnus U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Chris Phifer, developed and recently patented a new polymer-based, self-sealing fuel line capable of withstanding a .50 caliber bullet without losing so much as a single drop. “We’re not just a physics department, we’re the applied physics department,” Gamache said. “While ...

1. A supervised hospital walking program may reduce nursing facility admissions for older adults Abstract: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M22-3679 URL goes live when the embargo lifts A randomized trial of older veterans found that hospitalized persons enrolled in a supervised walking program known as STRIDE (AssiSTed EaRly MobIlity for HospitalizeD VEterans) were less likely to be discharged to a skilled nursing facility. However, the authors noted that participation in the program was low and there was no change associated with length of hospital stay or inpatient falls. The study is ...

Tirzepatide is a recently approved treatment for type-2 diabetes. Treatment with tirzepatide decreases body weight while improving glucose metabolism in patients with obesity and type-2 diabetes. Although the drug is designed to activate receptors for glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP), the contribution of activating the GIP receptor in the overall efficacy of tirzepatide is not fully understood. A team of researchers demonstrated for the first time that tirzepatide stimulates insulin secretion in the human pancreas via the GIP receptor. These results contrast with findings in ...

Tinnitus, the ringing, buzzing or hissing sound of silence, varies from slightly annoying in some to utterly debilitating in others. Up to 15% of adults in the United States have tinnitus, where nearly 40% of sufferers have the condition chronically and actively seek relief. A recent study from researchers at the University of Michigan’s Kresge Hearing Research Institute suggests relief may be possible. Susan Shore, Ph.D., Professor Emerita in Michigan Medicine’s Department of Otolaryngology and U-M’s Departments of Physiology and Biomedical Engineering, led research on how the brain processes bi-sensory ...

“The current study analyzed the correlation between BORIS mutations and the expression of the protein in breast cancer cases.” BUFFALO, NY- June 5, 2023 – A new research paper was published in Oncotarget's Volume 14 on May 26, 2023, entitled, “Association of mutation and expression of the brother of the regulator of imprinted sites (BORIS) gene with breast cancer progression.” The brother of the regulator of imprinted sites (BORIS), 11 zinc-finger transcription factors, ...

The research, published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia, is further evidence that the menopause transition is a particularly important time for women and their doctors to pay attention to heart health, in turn protecting their brain health. “It is shocking to know that two-thirds of Americans with Alzheimer’s disease are women,” said Meiyuzhen (Chimey) Qi, first author and Ph.D. candidate in epidemiology at Pitt Public Health. “The most common modifiable risk factor for dementia is cardiovascular disease, and, interestingly, a woman’s ...

About The Study: Among patients diagnosed with cancer in California and Georgia between 2013 and 2019, only 6.8% underwent germline genetic testing. Compared with non-Hispanic white patients, rates of testing were lower among Asian, Black, and Hispanic patients.  Authors: Allison W. Kurian, M.D., M.Sc., of Stanford University in Stanford, California, 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/jama.2023.9526) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, ...

Glut1 deficiency syndrome is a rare and disabling neurological disease still relatively unknown to the medical community. A mutation in the SLC2A1 gene in affected patients causes the glucose transporter GLUT1 to malfunction. Since this transporter is responsible for the glucose entering glial cells, the brain is deprived of some of the sugar it needs to function correctly, leading to seizures, bouts of abnormal movement, and developmental delays. These symptoms can be improved by managing the metabolic disorder that causes the disease via a high-fat ...

The use of mobile technologies to collect and analyze individuals’ location information has produced massive amounts of consumer location data, giving rise to an elaborate multi-billion-dollar system in which consumers can share personal data in exchange for economic benefits. But privacy risks prevail. In a new study, researchers used machine learning to create and test a framework that quantifies personalized privacy risks; performs personalized data obfuscation; and accommodates a variety of risks, utilities, and acceptable levels of risk-utility tradeoff. The framework ...

Among the most fundamental questions in astronomy is: How did the first stars and galaxies form? NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is already providing new insights into this question. One of the largest programs in Webb’s first year of science is the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey, or JADES, which will devote about 32 days of telescope time to uncover and characterize faint, distant galaxies. While the data is still coming in, JADES already has discovered hundreds of galaxies that existed when the universe was less than 600 million years old. The team also has identified galaxies sparkling with a multitude of young, hot ...

A delicate tracery of dust and bright star clusters threads across this image from the James Webb Space Telescope. The bright tendrils of gas and stars belong to the barred spiral galaxy NGC 5068, whose bright central bar is visible in the upper left of this image – a composite from two of Webb’s instruments. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson revealed the image Friday during an event with students at the Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw, Poland.   NGC 5068 lies around 20 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo. This image of the central, bright star-forming regions ...

A new ‘digital decision support tool’ enabling the transition towards more diversified and sustainable agricultural systems has been developed by an international team of researchers from Germany, France, and Czech Republic.   The research led by Dr Ioanna Mouratiadou from the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research, and published in Environmental Science and Ecotechnology, presents the ‘Digital Agricultural Knowledge and Information System (DAKIS)’ as a data integration ...