HOUSTON – (May 8, 2023) – Many birth defects and spontaneous abortions occur during the embryonic development stage known as neurulation, yet we have very little insight into how this critical developmental process unfolds in humans. The Rice University lab of Aryeh Warmflash has received a five-year, $1.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to optimize and develop experimental cell models that can shed light on the self-organizing processes by which ectodermal ...

University of Minnesota Twin Cities researchers have developed a groundbreaking new diagnostic technique that will allow for faster and more accurate detection of neurodegenerative diseases. The method will likely open a door for earlier treatment and mitigation of various diseases that affect humans, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, and similar diseases that affect animals, such as chronic wasting disease (CWD). Their new study is published in Nano Letters, a premier journal in the field of nanotechnology published by the American Chemical Society. “This paper mainly ...

HOUSTON – (May 8, 2023) – For newborns with congenital hypothyroidism, early diagnosis spells the difference between a normal, healthy life and lifelong disability. After learning about the heavy toll the disease takes on children born in parts of the world where testing is limited or absent, a team of Rice University students came together to develop a low-cost screening tool that can detect abnormally high thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels indicative of dysfunction. The point-of-care, paper-based test developed ...

Statement Highlights: Health research that considers Asian Americans as a single race and ethnic group may result in over- or under-estimating the risk of Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease among people of diverse Asian American subgroups, by geographic region of descent. Together, cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes are the leading causes of death and disease in Asian American adults, however, rates vary widely among subgroups. For example, the latest data on the prevalence of Type 2 diabetes in Asian American adults, ages 45-84, reveals a range of Type ...

Humans inherited genetic material from Neanderthals that affects the shape of our noses, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The new Communications Biology study finds that a particular gene, which leads to a taller nose (from top to bottom), may have been the product of natural selection as ancient humans adapted to colder climates after leaving Africa. Co-corresponding author Dr Kaustubh Adhikari (UCL Genetics, Evolution & Environment and The Open University) said: “In the last 15 years, since the Neanderthal genome ...

A recent clinical trial showed that the drug combination of cemiplimab plus platinum chemotherapy can prolong survival in patients with advanced lung cancer when compared with placebo plus platinum chemotherapy. Now an analysis published by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, indicates that cemiplimab plus platinum chemotherapy also affects quality of life compared to chemotherapy alone. The multinational phase 3 EMPOWER-Lung 3 trial had shown that the addition ...

Chicago (May 2, 2023) — Researchers created organoids from cancer cells to reduce the need for trial and error in identifying effective cancer treatments in one of many cancer studies scheduled for presentation this week at Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) 2023. Below are summaries of three studies scheduled for DDW, their embargo times and presentation times at the meeting in Chicago May 6-9. Personalized drug screening in patient-derived organoids of biliary tract cancer and its clinical application Chemotherapy is often the only treatment option for biliary tract cancer, which is usually found at a late stage, making it one of the most lethal ...

Those with post-viral fatigue after suffering from COVID-19 benefit from cognitive behavioural therapy, resulting in less fatigue and concentration problems. Lead researcher, Hans Knoop, Professor of Medical Psychology at Amsterdam UMC found that “After behavioural therapy, patients not only had less symptoms but also functioned better both physically and socially. Those improvements were still present even after six months.” Today, research from Amsterdam UMC, RadboudUMC and three other hospitals is published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. After a COVID-19 infection, a substantial number of patients report persisting symptoms. This is often known as long-COVID or ...

The biofilm-forming bacteria E. coli adheres firmly to hydrophobic and hydrophilic protein-adsorbing self-assembling monolayers (SAMs) and weakly to hydrophilic protein-resisting SAMs, uncovered a recent study by Tokyo Tech researchers. These findings on how surface chemistry can influence the adhesion of bacterial cells and, in turn, biofilm formation could open doors to bacteria-resistant surfaces and antibiofouling coatings for biomedical and industrial devices. Bacterial biofilms are like a double-edged sword. On one hand, they have proven valuable ...

Should healthy people be screened to help reduce their risk of fragility fractures? A new interactive online Fragility Fracture Decision Aid for shared decision-making can help clinicians and patients visualize their individual risk of fracture and the potential benefits and harms of preventive treatment. The decision aid is part of a new guideline https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.221219 from the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care on screening to prevent fragility fractures. The guideline, ...

CHICAGO (May 7, 2023) — Children and adolescents face greater risk of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) when exposed to antibiotics or a Western diet at early ages, or when their family has higher socioeconomic status, according to a study being presented today at Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) 2023. “Pediatric IBD cases are rising globally, and approximately 1 in 4 of all IBD cases are now diagnosed before age 21,” said Nisha Thacker, the study’s lead author and a gastrointestinal dietitian. A unique concern about pediatric IBD is the impact that the inflammation has on a child’s growth and the progression of puberty, ...

Women who have suffered domestic abuse may have a higher risk of developing atopic diseases including asthma, new research has found.   Published today in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice, the research led by the University of Birmingham found that in analysis of patient records, there were a significantly larger percentage of women who had atopic diseases and had a history of being exposed to domestic abuse and violence compared to those who hadn’t.   Dr Joht Singh Chandan from the University of Birmingham and corresponding author of the study said:   “After adjusting for possible cofounders, ...

What: Twelve people with persistent neurological symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection were intensely studied at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and were found to have differences in their immune cell profiles and autonomic dysfunction. These data inform future studies to help explain persistent neurological symptoms in Long COVID. The findings, published in Neurology: Neuroimmunology & Neuroinflammation, may lead to better diagnoses and new treatments. People with post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC), which includes Long COVID, have a wide range of symptoms, including fatigue, ...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The immune system has a biological telecommunications system — small proteins known as interleukins that send signals among the leukocyte white blood cells to control their defense against infections or nascent cancer. Interleukin-6, or IL-6, is one of these key mediators of inflammation, and it can, as needed, provoke the immune system into attack against pathogens. However, imbalances of IL-6 — too much or too little — can cause disease, even in the absence of infection. Excess IL-6 is central to the pathogenesis of inflammatory reactions like ...

Tokyo, Japan – Scientists from Tokyo Metropolitan University have proposed a hypothesis for why insects are so rare in marine environments. They previously showed that insects evolved a unique chemical mechanism to harden their shells which uses molecular oxygen and an enzyme called multicopper oxidase-2 (MCO2). Now, they argue that this gives them a disadvantage in the sea, while it confers advantages that help them on land, placing MCO2 at the heart of insect eco-evolution. Insects are some of the most successful organisms on the planet. ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Newly developed “smart” coatings for surgical orthopedic implants can monitor strain on the devices to provide early warning of implant failures while killing infection-causing bacteria, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers report. The coatings integrate flexible sensors with a nanostructured antibacterial surface inspired by the wings of dragonflies and cicadas. In a new study in the journal Science Advances, a multidisciplinary team of researchers found the coatings prevented infection in live mice and mapped strain in commercial implants applied to sheep spines to warn of various implant or healing failures.  “This ...

SAN CARLOS, California – A new publication in the May issue of Nature Aging by researchers from Integrated Biosciences, a biotechnology company combining synthetic biology and machine learning to target aging, demonstrates the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to discover novel senolytic compounds, a class of small molecules under intense study for their ability to suppress age-related processes such as fibrosis, inflammation and cancer. The paper, “Discovering small-molecule senolytics with deep neural networks,” authored in collaboration with ...

Finding a full-time faculty job can be a daunting challenge for doctoral graduates. University of Cincinnati anthropologist Kathleen Grogan says postdoctoral researchers can benefit from having peers review their applications. She learned this herself while working as a postdoctoral researcher. She realized that she and other postdocs routinely solicited feedback in an online messaging app dedicated to aspiring scientists. “I was on the job market and wanted people with broad scientific expertise to look at my stuff,” said Grogan, an assistant professor in UC’s College ...

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 5, 2023) — The University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center has been recognized by the National Pancreas Foundation (NPF) as an approved NPF Center of Excellence. The designation is awarded after a rigorous audit review to determine that an institution's focus is on multidisciplinary treatment of pancreatic cancer, treating the “whole patient” with a focus on the best possible outcomes and an improved quality of life. “We are honored to receive the NPF designation, which highlight’s Markey’s commitment to multidisciplinary ...

Researchers at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory captured one of the fastest movements of a molecule called ferricyanide for the first time by combining two ultrafast X-ray spectroscopy techniques. They think their approach could help map more complex chemical reactions like oxygen transportation in blood cells or hydrogen production using artificial photosynthesis. The research team from SLAC, Stanford and other institutions started with what is now a fairly standard technique: They zapped a mixture of ferricyanide and water with an ultraviolet laser and bright X-rays generated by the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray free-electron laser. ...

Providing defendants with legal counsel during their initial bail hearing decreases use of monetary bail and pretrial detention, without increasing the likelihood that defendants fail to appear at the subsequent preliminary hearing, according to a new RAND Corporation study.   Researchers found that having legal counsel at bail hearings increased the probability of being released without monetary bail by 21% and reduced the probability that an individual was in jail three days after their bail hearing by 10%.   The analysis, based on a field experiment in Pittsburgh where public defenders were assigned to a limited number of initial bail hearings, is ...

New Haven, Conn. — When new COVID-19 vaccines were first administered two years ago, public health officials found an increase in cases of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, particularly among young males who had been vaccinated with mRNA vaccines. It was unclear, however, what exactly was causing this reaction. In a new study, Yale scientists have identified the immune signature of these heart inflammation cases. These findings, published May 5 in the journal Science Immunology, rule out some of the theorized causes of the heart inflammation and suggest potential ways to further ...

East Hanover, NJ – May 5, 2023 –Declines in the April job numbers for people with disabilities raise concerns about the future of the job market, according to today’s National Trends in Disability Employment – semi-monthly update (nTIDE), issued by Kessler Foundation and the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability (UNH-IOD). To assess whether this change signals a slowing of job gains for people with disabilities, nTIDE experts will look closely at the direction of next month’s employment indicators.                                                                                                                        Month-to-Month ...

“AL amyloidosis is a fatal disease and systemic therapy is required to prevent deposition of amyloid in other organs and prevent progressive organ failure.” BUFFALO, NY- May 5, 2023 – A new review paper was published in Oncotarget's Volume 14 on April 26, 2023, entitled, “Systemic AL amyloidosis: current approach and future direction.” In this review, researchers Maroun Bou Zerdan, Lewis Nasr, Farhan Khalid, Sabine Allam, Youssef Bouferraa, Saba Batool, Muhammad Tayyeb, Shubham Adroja, Mahinbanu Mammadii, Faiz Anwer, Shahzad Raza, and Chakra P. Chaulagain from SUNY Upstate Medical University, University of Texas MD Anderson ...

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools can drive cars, monitor and adjust the temperature in your home, and chat with you online. AI could help public health officials, community workers, and clinics efficiently direct and allocate resources and better target interventions to improve health outcomes during disasters and public health emergencies.  “The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted a need for new approaches to resource allocation during public health crises—approaches that simultaneously serve our society’s most vulnerable communities, improve our overall health and well-being, and maximize impact,” ...