ABSTRACT: 7003 Treatment with luspatercept improved red blood cell counts and erythroid responses compared to treatment with epoetin alfa in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), allowing the majority to no longer require regular blood transfusions. Results from the Phase III COMMANDS trial, led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, were reported at the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting. The study evaluated the efficacy and safety of first-line treatment with luspatercept, which enhances red blood cell maturation, compared with epoetin alfa, a therapy commonly used for low blood cell count, ...

MIAMI, FLORIDA (Strictly EMBARGOED Until May 25, 2023, at 5 P.M. EDT) – Breast cancer treatments that can save a woman’s life can seriously harm her sexual health, says Dr. Kristin E. Rojas, a breast cancer surgeon at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Although doctors have not historically been prepared to help patients manage these toxic side effects, Rojas is leading efforts to turn the tide. Rojas, both a fellowship-trained breast surgical oncologist and a gynecologic surgeon, is a national leader in treating sexual dysfunction in female ...

MIAMI, FLORIDA (EMBARGOED UNTIL MAY 25, 2023, AT 5 P.M. ET) – An early-phase study led by researchers at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine along with other Cancer Centers, suggests that an experimental therapy may have promising results in treating cancers with BRAF gene alterations – including certain mutations not previously targeted by BRAF inhibitors. The Phase 1/2a study looking at safety and dosing enrolled 113 patients and targeted a wide range of cancers, including high-grade glioma, low-grade glioma, colorectal cancer, papillary thyroid cancer, melanoma, pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer, non-small cell ...

CHICAGO ― The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Research Highlights showcases the latest breakthroughs in cancer care, research and prevention. These advances are made possible through seamless collaboration between MD Anderson’s world-leading clinicians and scientists, bringing discoveries from the lab to the clinic and back. This special edition features presentations by MD Anderson researchers at the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting. In addition to these studies, forthcoming press releases will highlight groundbreaking clinical research, including Phase III trial results evaluating ...

CHICAGO –  Researchers from the Abramson Cancer Center and Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania will present data on the latest advances in clinical cancer research at the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting from June 2-6 in Chicago, Illinois. Follow us on Twitter @PennMDForum and @PennCancer for updates. Expert Interviews Experts from the Perelman School of Medicine are available to comment on a wide range of topics in cancer science and medicine during the meeting on site and by video call, telephone, or email. To arrange interviews, please contact Meagan Raeke at Meagan.Raeke@pennmedicine.upenn.edu ...

AUSTIN, Texas – Internal job candidates have an advantage over external candidates, because they tend to work harder shortly before a hiring decision, according to new research from The University of Texas at Austin. This is true even when an internal candidate’s skills are inferior. Eric Chan, assistant professor of accounting at the McCombs School of Business, found that when a new job is on the line, employees will exert more effort to increase their chances of promotion — especially right before the decision. And managers are more likely ...

A new study published in the peer-reviewed OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology identified genes for virulence and antimicrobial resistance in two bacteria that co-occur with C. difficile, suggesting these pathogens as emerging potential threats in planetary health. Click here to read the article now. Thokur Sreepathy Murali, PhD, Ankit Singh Tanwar, Padival Shruptha and colleagues from Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India, and co-author Angela Brand, MD, PhD, MPH from Maastricht University, The Netherlands, performed comparative genome analyses of three Clostridia species, ...

On a sunny springtime stroll through a park, it’s easy to ignore the parts of plants that are hidden from view. Plant biologists see things differently. They look below the surface where plant roots are organized in elaborate systems that are critical to the organism’s development. Intricately organized tree root systems, for example, can span as far underground as the tree grows high above the soil. Applying an advanced imaging technology to plant roots, researchers at the University of California San Diego and Stanford University ...

LA JOLLA, CA—A San Diego team, led by scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI), has won the top prizes in the Nucleate Activator competition. Out of 1,000 initial competitors, the LJI team advanced to the final four teams and swept all the prizes they entered for. Their winning research proposal outlines how scientists could stop dengue virus and Zika virus by developing sophisticated vaccines that activate both B cells and T cells. Nucleate is a student-led, non-profit organization dedicated to empowering early-stage, ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The quest to develop hydrogen as a clean energy source that could curb our dependence on fossil fuels may lead to an unexpected place — coal. A team of Penn State scientists found that coal may represent a potential way to store hydrogen gas, much like batteries store energy for future use, addressing a major hurdle in developing a clean energy supply chain. “We found that coal can be this geological hydrogen battery,” said Shimin Liu, associate professor of energy and mineral engineering at Penn State. “You could inject and store the hydrogen energy and have it there when you need to use it.” Hydrogen ...

In two new studies, North Carolina State University researchers designed and tested a series of textile fibers that can change shape and generate force like a muscle. In the first study, the researchers focused on the materials’ influence on artificial muscles’ strength and contraction length. The findings could help researchers tailor the fibers for different applications. In the second, proof-of-concept study, the researchers tested their fibers as scaffolds for live cells. Their findings suggest the fibers – known as “fiber robots” ...

Twenty startups will present their technologies for a clean energy future at this year’s Lab-Embedded Entrepreneur Program (LEEP) Demo Day, June 7, in Chicago. LEEP connects entrepreneurs with resources and innovation ecosystems at U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national labs.  In addition to demos from companies currently participating in LEEP, the event at the Sheraton Grand Chicago Riverwalk will also feature a panel discussion where program graduates share insights and advice about successful entrepreneurship. The technologies on display span renewable energy, materials for clean energy and water, batteries, ...

Research on virtual reality is expanding as the technology grows, but too much of that research is being conducted with participants who don’t reflect the general population. The Virtual Experience Research Accelerator (VERA), a $5 million National Science Foundation-funded project, is creating a system to provide researchers with access to large, reliable, diverse groups of participants for an array of research projects on and using VR. “A lot of research in this area suffers from using participant samples ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — While age-related brain disorders like Alzheimer’s disease often develop slowly across an individual’s lifetime, they usually aren’t detected until symptoms have already started. With that in mind, teams of biomedical researchers led by Brown University scientists have been exploring for years whether devastating neurodegenerative diseases could be caught decades earlier — perhaps through something as simple as a routine eye exam instead of a battery of diagnostic tests. In a new study, one of the Brown-led ...

Researchers at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology used deep learning to develop a new framework for super-resolution ultrasound. Traditional super-resolution ultrasound techniques use microbubbles: tiny spheres of gas encased in a protein or lipid shell. Microbubbles are considered to be a contrast agent, which means they can be injected into a blood vessel to increase the clarity of an ultrasound image. Conventional ultrasound has been commonplace for over 50 years. The development of super-resolution technology in the last decade has introduced new challenges. Super-resolution ultrasound provides a much clearer picture than the traditional method. ...

Responding to a growing need for training in automation systems in Canada and globally, Siemens and Simon Fraser University (SFU) have announced that SFU is the first and only training facility for instructors delivering the globally recognized Level 3 Siemens Mechatronic Systems Certification program (SMSCP). Instructors, upon completion of the two-week long training will be qualified to deliver the Level 3 certification mechatronics training, vital for providing students with real-world technical skills, and helping prepare them to thrive in a high-tech world of work. Level 1 and Level 2 ...

Dr. Shuiwang Ji, a professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University, is part of a collaborative research community that recently had its paper titled “BigNeuron: a resource to benchmark and predict performance of algorithms for automated tracing of neurons in light microscopy datasets” published in the April issue of the journal Nature Methods. Initiated in 2015 and led by the Allen Institute for Brain Science, BigNeuron is an international initiative that brings together computer scientists and neuroscientists from a dozen institutions. ...

Word choice matters—a lot— when it comes to research. That’s the main takeaway from a new article co-authored by Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation Assistant Professor Angel Algarin and published in Health Communication. “Researchers in any field should be cognizant of the language they’re using to describe the people they study so they don’t inadvertently add to the use of stigmatizing language,” said Algarin. For the article, Algarin and his co-authors performed a content ...

WASHINGTON — Researchers have developed a quantum key distribution (QKD) system based on integrated photonics that can transmit secure keys at unprecedented speeds. The proof-of-principle experiments represent an important step toward real-world application of this highly secure communication method. QKD is a well-established method of providing secret keys for secure communication between distant parties. By using the quantum properties of light to generate secure random keys for encrypting and ...

Darwin’s theory of evolution highlighted the importance of adaption and diversity in the natural world. Inside a biological cell, can proteins also perform new functions in new contexts? The answer seems to be yes for the brain’s primary protein-degradation machine, especially when it is placed at synapses, revealing a hitherto unknown mechanism that allows synapses to change in response to different circumstances. The role of the regulatory (19S) proteasome particle has always been exclusively linked to its functioning in the proteasome complex, where it collaborates with the catalytic (20S) particle to recognize ...

Polar fish experience lower mortality than tropical fish, allowing them to delay reproduction until later in life when they are larger and can produce more eggs, according to a study by Mariana Álvarez-Noriega at Monash University in Australia and colleagues, publishing May 25th in the open access journal PLOS Biology. This may have implications for the effects of climate change on the sustainability of fish populations. Organisms face a trade-off around when is the best time to reproduce. Fish continue to grow throughout life and larger fish tend to produce disproportionately more eggs than smaller fish, so it ...

Arctic ground squirrels are unique among mammals. Their ability to keep from freezing even when body temperatures dip below that mark on the thermometer enables them to survive extreme winter climates. New research published in Science analyzes more than 25 years of climate and biological data. The findings include shorter hibernation periods and differences between male and female hibernation periods. Spoiler alert - the girls “rise and shine” a little earlier in response to warming, which could have both positive and negative ripple effects throughout the food web in these ecosystems.    Senior ...

As Alaskan permafrost warms, hibernating arctic ground squirrels generate less heat, causing females to emerge from hibernation up to 10 days before their male counterparts – a mismatch that could have large, cascading ecological impacts. The findings of the related study reveal both direct and indirect impacts of a warming world. Winter temperatures play a fundamental role in fitness and population dynamics for many species that live in higher latitudes. However, in the Arctic, where warming is occurring more rapidly than most other places on ...

Soil microbiota transplanted from more stressful environmental conditions – drought or excessive heat or cold, for example – can enhance tree tolerance to changing climates, researchers report. The findings suggest that management of soil microbiota, especially during forest restorations, could be a valuable strategy for increasing forest resilience to climate change. Climate change is forcing many species outside of their evolved range of environmental tolerances, forcing them to acclimate, adapt, or migrate to avoid extinction. For long-lived ...

Combining a comprehensive dataset – including marriage documents – compiled from more than 4 million Catholic parish records with genotype data for more than 22,000 French and French Canadian individuals, researchers have conducted a novel analysis of French Canadian ancestry in Quebec, Canada, since the 17th Century. While most other population genetic models provide only coarse representations of a region’s real-world ancestry, this new approach reveals detailed insights into historic European colonization, migration, and settlement patterns, reflecting intricate French Canadian population structures within geographic constraints. ...