The percentage of children under 19 months who received all recommended vaccines on-time steadily improved from 22.5% in 2011 to 34.9% in 2020, according to a new national study. The research will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2023 Meeting, held April 27-May 1 in Washington, D.C.  Researchers examined 161,187 child vaccination records over a 10-year period for the combined seven-vaccine series of diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, poliovirus, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenzae type b, varicella, and pneumococcal infections. The records came from ...

Asthma care reminders for clinicians improve patients’ use of preventive medication and reduce caregiver’s concerns about these medications, according to a new study. The findings will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2023 Meeting, held April 27-May 1 in Washington, D.C. Researchers conducted a trial of 530 children with persistent or uncontrolled asthma at 18 pediatric and family medicine clinics in the Bronx, New York, to determine how the inclusion of clinician reminders about asthma severity and care guidelines in electronic ...

According to a new national study, most children visiting hospital emergency departments with anaphylaxis, a severe and potentially life-threatening allergic reaction, could be discharged after two hours or less—which is half the time of current minimum guidelines. This research will be presented at the 2023 Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) Meeting, held April 27-May 1 in Washington, D.C. Researchers conducted a study of 4,735 children aged 6 months to 18 years who had anaphylaxis and received at least one dose of epinephrine in the pre-emergency department or emergency department setting between 2015 and 2019. The study suggests ...

The majority of pediatric firearm injuries in Los Angeles County occur in neighborhoods with limited social, health and educational opportunity, according to a new study exploring incidents from 2010 to 2021. The research will be presented during the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2023 Meeting taking place April 27-May 1 in Washington, D.C. Researchers from Children’s Hospital Los Angeles analyzed firearm injuries in 1,383 children under 18 years old using records from the Trauma and Emergency Medicine ...

Gone are the days of dictatorial leaders in sport, screaming from the side-lines and insulting their players, and instead we are seeing an era of emotionally intelligent leaders who demonstrate an understanding of other people while getting effective results. The question is, how do you become an empathic leader in elite sports and will it really drive success? Psychologist Peter Sear PhD has carried out in-depth interviews with coaches of nine different elite sports across the world to gather a series ...

Low-income immigrant children in sanctuary states were nearly 10% more likely to be enrolled in Medicaid in the years following the 2018 announcement of the revised “public charge” rule, according to a new national study. Researchers examined trends in children’s Medicaid enrollment in sanctuary states—states that limit collaboration with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel. The research will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2023 Meeting, held April 27-May 1 in Washington, D.C.  Researchers explored Medicaid enrollment rates among low-income immigrant children following a 2018 federal rule denying ...

Substance use among older drivers increases the probability of them being at-fault two to four times during a crash, a new study, analyzing nine years’ worth of US nationwide highway traffic data, shows.   Although older drivers are less likely to report using substances, this research found that out of a sample of 87,060 drivers involved in two moving vehicle crashes, more than one-third were motorists over the age of 70 who tested positive for substances.   Findings are published today in the peer-reviewed journal Traffic Injury Prevention.   “In general older drivers are at an elevated risk for ...

An international research team led by investigators at Virginia Commonwealth University has identified for the first time markers that may indicate early in life if a person has susceptibility to schizophrenia.  The ability to predict the risk of developing schizophrenia later in life may allow early detection and intervention, which the researchers hope can reduce the impact of the disease on individuals, families and communities. Their results have been published in Molecular Psychiatry. Schizophrenia is a serious psychiatric disorder that is most often detected in young adulthood. It ...

ITHACA, N.Y. – A Cornell University-led project has added a new chapter to the story of Balto – the most famous sled dog in history – by using ancient DNA extraction and analysis to reconstruct his phenotype and identify his genetic connections to modern dog breeds. The research reveals Balto’s lineage was genetically healthier and less inbred than modern breeds, with characteristics adapted to the extreme environment of 1920s Alaska. The team’s paper, “Comparative Genomics of Balto, a Famous Historic Dog, Captures Lost Diversity of 1920s Sled Dogs,” published April 27 in Science. Heather Huson, associate professor of animal science ...

New York, NY—April 27, 2023—Think about what you do with your hands when you’re home at night pushing buttons on your TV’s remote control, or at a restaurant using all kinds of cutlery and glassware. These skills are all based on touch, while you’re watching a TV program or choosing something from the menu. Our hands and fingers are incredibly skilled mechanisms, and highly sensitive to boot. Robotics researchers have long been trying to create “true” dexterity in robot ...

Why was Balto, a famous sled dog from the 1920s, able to survive the unforgiving conditions of Alaska? It was one of many findings uncovered through the Zoonomia Project, which involved researchers from Texas Tech University. More than a dozen researchers from the Department of Biological Sciences were among the major collaborators in the Zoonomia Project who will publish their multi-year comparative genomic analysis of mammals and the influence of genetic change on health and disease in the April 28 issue of Science magazine. The laboratory of David Ray, professor and associate chair of the department, studies transposable elements ...

The American beech, Fagus grandifolia, is a North American staple and the dominant species in many northeastern forests. In 2012, a new disease was first spotted, infecting trees in northeastern Ohio. The worst afflicted had dark banding on their leaves, which emerged crumpled and leathery in the spring. Not until 2018 would experts discover the nematode pest, Litylenchus crenatae mccannii, overwintering in the buds of infected trees.  As it marches across the continent, researchers are still ...

In a recent publication released by PubMed, American scientists led by Dr. Dufault at the Food Ingredient and Health Research Institute, reported alarming increases in the numbers of children requiring special education services. While student enrollment in US schools remained stable from 2006-2021, the percentage of children receiving special education services increased 10.4%.  Of the three disability categories under which children with autism may receive services, autism caseload percentages tripled jumping from 4% to 11% while developmental delay caseload ...

Key takeaways Feasible for small and large hospitals: Pilot institutions in the study included community hospitals and academic medical centers representing every region of the United States. Geriatric surgical patients are a growing population: American College of Surgeons standards for geriatric surgery address a growing population that most hospitals serve. Standards help address barriers to implementation: ACS geriatric surgery standards help hospitals identify and address challenges to providing optimal care, including staffing, manpower, and lack of geriatricians in many hospitals.   CHICAGO: ...

LA JOLLA, CA—The insomnia drug suvorexant (Belsomra®) might be an effective treatment for opioid use disorder, according to a preclinical study from Scripps Research. In the study, published April 27, 2023, in Frontiers in Pharmacology, the Scripps Research scientists found that suvorexant reduced prescription opioid intake and helped protect against relapse in rats modeling opioid use disorder (OUD). If the results translate to humans in clinical trials, the insomnia drug could offer a promising approach for the millions of people who have OUD. “Our results suggest that repurposing suvorexant could be a good strategy for reducing drug intake and blocking relapse in cases ...

From New York to North Carolina and as far west as Illinois, the invasive spotted lanternfly is causing chaos in many states where agricultural and forestry industries are essential to the economy. It has been estimated that crops and forest production losses caused by insects and pathogens are close to $40 billion a year. Spotted laternflies, native to mainland China, prey upon 70-plus host plant species, stealing their nutrients with their piercing snouts, called stylets. They are often characterized as “hitchhikers” for their ability to move ...

New York (April 27, 2023) – The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) annually honors researchers, clinicians, educators, and emerging health professionals who have made outstanding contributions to high-quality, person-centered care for older adults. This year’s award recipients include 19 leaders representing the breadth of medical disciplines championing care for us all as we age.  Clinical Student Research Award Matthew Ryan Cosmai  Clinician of the Year Award Shelley R. McDonald, DO, PhD David H. Solomon Memorial Public Service Award Alan Lazaroff, ...

Amid rising evidence that additives designed to improve plastics also disrupt sex hormones, a Rutgers laboratory trial shows that plastic itself can do likewise when inhaled at moderate levels. Previous studies focused on chemicals such as bisphenol-A (BPA) that make plastics stiffer or more flexible. These findings spurred ongoing efforts to find safer plastic additives. The Rutgers study showed that microscale and nanoscale particles (MNPs) of polyamide, a common plastic better known as nylon, produced endocrine-disrupting ...

April 27, 2023 – One of the most highly-anticipated events at the ATS 2023 International Conference, which  kicks off May 19, is the “Breaking News: Clinical Trial Results in Pulmonary Medicine.” Taking place on Monday, May 22, the series of presentations will focus on the latest regarding COPD and asthma treatment. Register now to hear these presentations live. A question-and-answer period will follow all presentations: Seralutinib Treatment in Adult Subjects with Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: Results from the TORREY Study Effect of Ensifentrine, a Novel PDE3 and PDE4 Inhibitor, on Lung Function, Symptoms and Exacerbations in Patients with COPD: ...

Engineering a synthetic oscillator that cycles between the two deterioration pathways that lead to cell death can slow aging in yeast cells, increasing their longevity by more than 80%, a new study reports. The findings represent a proof-of-concept example of using synthetic biology to reprogram the cellular aging process. Given that the underlying aging pathways are conserved, the findings may one day enable the design of synthetic gene circuits that promote longevity in more complex organisms. Cellular aging is a fundamental and complex biological process ...

Neural networks made from photonic chips can be trained using on-chip backpropagation – the most widely used approach to training neural networks, according to a new study. The findings pave the way toward developing optically driven and energy-efficient machine learning technologies that reduce both the carbon footprint and costs of AI computation. Neural networks (NNs) are an approach to machine learning conceptually inspired by the biology of the brain and have become a mainstay in various modern scientific and commercial AI technologies, including the widely discussed ChatGPT architectures. ...

Ever since scientists first read the complete genetic codes of creatures like fruit flies and humans more than two decades ago, the field of genomics has promised major leaps forward in understanding basic questions in biology. And now comes a major installment of that promise. In what Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and HHMI Professor Beth Shapiro calls a treasure trove of research, more than 150 researchers from 50 institutions are publishing 11 different papers in the April 28, 2023, issue of Science. The research brings new insights from the Zoonomia Project, an unprecedented collaborative effort led by Elinor Karlsson, director of the Vertebrate Genomics ...

CRISPR claimed scientific fame for its ability to quickly and accurately edit genes. But, at the core, CRISPR systems are immune systems that help bacteria protect themselves from viruses by targeting and destroying viral DNA and RNA. A new study published in Science reveals a previously unrecognized player in one such system – a membrane protein that enhances anti-viral defense – simultaneously broadening our understanding of and raising more questions related to the complexities of CRISPR. Uncovering New Clues about CRISPR CRISPR systems consist of two major components – a guide RNA that targets a specific viral DNA or RNA sequence and a Cas enzyme ...

For millennia, humans have used knots for all kinds of reasons — to tie rope, braid hair, or weave fabrics. But there are organisms that are better at tying knots and far superior — and faster — at untangling them. Tiny California blackworms intricately tangle themselves by the thousands to form ball-shaped blobs that allow them to execute a wide range of biological functions. But, most striking of all, while the worms tangle over a period of several minutes, they can untangle in mere milliseconds, escaping at the first sign of a threat from a predator. Saad Bhamla, assistant ...

New Haven, Conn. — What the human genome is lacking compared with the genomes of other primates might have been as crucial to the development of humankind as what has been added during our evolutionary history, according to a new study led by researchers at Yale and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. The new findings, published April 28 in the journal Science, fill an important gap in what is known about historical changes to the human genome. While a revolution in the capacity to collect data from genomes ...