UCLA Health researchers, in collaboration with researchers from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, have received $9.5 million award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with support from European funding agencies — The Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and the Public Health Agency Health & Social Care (HSC) — to study the effects of polyphenols on cognitive health and the brain-gut microbiome system. The proposal, named MAEVE, stands for “Microbiota mediated flavonoid metabolites for cognitive health.” In this interdisciplinary and multicenter study funded through the Tripartite US-Ireland Research & Development Partnership Program, ...

A groundbreaking study has revealed that red dwarf stars can produce stellar flares that carry far-ultraviolet (far-UV) radiation levels much higher than previously believed. This discovery suggests that the intense UV radiation from these flares could significantly impact whether planets around red dwarf stars can be habitable. Led by current and former astronomers from the University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy (IfA), the research was recently published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. “Few stars have been thought to generate ...

In a new article for the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, UC Santa Cruz researchers laid out the foundation for their highly-anticipated upcoming study of how lack of affordable housing in urban areas of California may be driving increased development in and near wildlands, leading to more severe climate change impacts.  Since the 1990s, California has led the nation in the growth of Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) development, with more than one in three households in the state now located immediately next to or within ...

BUFFALO, NY- August 5, 2024 – A new research paper was published in Oncotarget's Volume 15 on July 12, 2024, entitled, “INT-1B3, an LNP formulated miR-193a-3p mimic, promotes anti-tumor immunity by enhancing T cell mediated immune responses via modulation of the tumor microenvironment and induction of immunogenic cell death.” In this study, researchers Chantal L. Duurland, Thijs de Gunst, Harm C. den Boer, Marion T.J. van den Bosch, Bryony J. Telford, Rogier M. Vos, Xiaolei Xie, Mingfa Zang, Fang Wang, Yingying Shao, Xiaoyu ...

DETROIT — A Wayne State University professor recently received a three-year, $626,467 grant from the National Science Foundation’s Division of Physics. The project, “Probing Nonadiabatic Strong Field Ionization with Phase-Resolved Attoclock,” will research a quantum mechanical process known as quantum tunneling. Wen Li, Ph.D., professor of chemistry in Wayne State’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and his research team propose a new technique they have developed to study the process of quantum tunneling, a quantum mechanical phenomenon in which an object such as an electron or atom passes through ...

Researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center demonstrated that adding metastasis-directed radiation therapy to standard-of-care chemotherapy improved progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with oligometastatic pancreatic cancer. Findings from the multicenter EXTEND trial, published today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, were first presented at the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium. At a median follow-up of 17.3 months, PFS was 10.3 months in patients who received metastasis-directed therapy (MDT) ...

Researchers at the University of California, Davis have developed a rapid, noninvasive tool to track the neurons and biomolecules activated in the brain by psychedelic drugs. The protein-based tool, which is called Ca2+-activated Split-TurboID, or CaST, is described in research published in Nature Methods.  There has been mounting interest in the value of psychedelic-inspired compounds as treatments for brain disorders including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and substance use disorder. Psychedelic ...

August 4, 2024-- Drug-involved overdose deaths increased by over 500 percent in 2022 according to a study at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, with trends attributed to synthetic opioids. National data shows that fentanyl and heroin in particular attributed substantially to the rise particularly since 2014. However, the study also reports that income protection policies, can have a supportive role in preventing fatal drug overdoses. The findings are reported in the International ...

Could This New Drug Turn Back the Clock on Multiple Sclerosis? Ten years of work, and a little help from the green mamba snake, has resulted in a promising new drug that is already being tested in clinical trials. Multiple sclerosis (MS) degrades the protective insulation around nerve cells, leaving their axons, which carry electrical impulses, exposed like bare wires. This can cause devastating problems with movement, balance and vision; and without treatment, it can lead to paralysis, loss of independence and a shortened lifespan. Now, scientists at UC San Francisco and Contineum Therapeutics have developed a drug that spurs the body to replace the lost insulation, ...

The story of Greenland keeps getting greener—and scarier. A new study provides the first direct evidence that the center—not just the edges—of Greenland’s ice sheet melted away in the recent geological past and the now-ice-covered island was then home to a green, tundra landscape. A team of scientists re-examined a few inches of sediment from the bottom of a two-mile-deep ice core extracted at the very center of Greenland in 1993—and held for 30 years in a Colorado storage facility. They were amazed to discover ...

Northwestern University scientists have developed a new bioactive material that successfully regenerated high-quality cartilage in the knee joints of a large-animal model. Although it looks like a rubbery goo, the material is actually a complex network of molecular components, which work together to mimic cartilage’s natural environment in the body.  In the new study, the researchers applied the material to damaged cartilage in the animals’ knee joints. Within just six months, the researchers observed evidence of enhanced repair, including ...

ITHACA, N.Y. – A study of horses – which share many important similarities with humans in their chromosomes and pregnancies – revealed that 42% of miscarriages and spontaneous abortions in the first two months of pregnancy were due to complications from an extra set of chromosomes, a condition called triploidy. “Over that embryonic period  [up to eight weeks from conception], triploidy had rarely been reported in mammals outside of women,” said Mandi de Mestre, professor of equine medicine at Cornell University. “The study tells us that over the first six weeks ...

The Pyramid of Djoser, the oldest of Egypt’s iconic pyramids, may have been built with the help of a unique hydraulic lift system, according to a study published August 5, 2024, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Xavier Landreau from CEA Paleotechnic Institute, France, and colleagues. The new study suggests that water may have been able to flow into two shafts located inside the pyramid itself, where that water could have been used to help raise and lower a float used to carry the building stones. The Pyramid of Djoser, also known as the Step Pyramid, is believed ...

URBANA, Ill. – If you enjoy a bowl of plain yogurt in the morning, adding a spoonful of honey is a delicious way to sweeten your favorite breakfast food. It also supports the probiotic cultures in the popular fermented dairy product, according to two new studies from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. “We were interested in the culinary pairing of yogurt and honey, which is common in the Mediterranean diet, and how it impacts the gastrointestinal microbiome,” said Hannah Holscher, associate professor in the Department of Food ...

Few communities reveal both the challenges and opportunities presented by cultural globalism more than Maasai communities in northern Tanzania. Traditionally pastoralists, the Maasai ethnic group’s social structure is historically patriarchal, with a man’s prestige measured by the size of his family and by the livestock he owns. The shrinking world has brought change: Urban centers and the promise of jobs are luring young Maasai from communities, and new technologies such as mobile phones are shifting social patterns and structures that ...

NEW ORLEANS, La. – Ochsner Health proudly announces that 21 Ochsner nurses have been named to the 2024 Great 100 Nurses of Louisiana list by the Great 100 Nurses Foundation. This recognition highlights the contributions and commitment to excellence demonstrated by Ochsner’s nursing staff.  The Great 100 Nurses Foundation was established to honor nurses in Louisiana, North Carolina, Texas and Oklahoma. Each year, the foundation selects 100 nurses throughout Louisiana based on their concern for humanity, ...

(MEMPHIS, Tenn. – August 5, 2024) Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T–cell immunotherapy re-engineers a patient’s immune cells to target cancer cells. While successful in some types of leukemia, the approach has yet to realize its potential against pediatric solid tumors. Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have identified a way to improve CAR T–cell homing – a T cell’s ability to navigate effectively to a tumor – for osteosarcoma. Improved homing is a necessary step in designing more successful CAR T–cell therapies. The results were published today in Clinical Cancer ...

In Brazil, climate and other human-made environmental changes threaten decades-long efforts to fight a widespread and debilitating parasitic disease. Now, a partnership between researchers from Stanford and Brazil is helping to proactively predict these impacts.  Schistosomiasis, spread by freshwater snails, affects more than 200 million people in many tropical regions of the world. It can cause stomach pain and irreversible consequences such as enlarged liver and cancer. Public health officials worry that deforestation, rapid urban sprawl, and changing rainfall patterns – such as ...

Since the first immunotherapy drug to boost the body’s immune response against advanced lung cancer was introduced in the United States in 2015, survival rates of patients with the disease have improved significantly. That’s the conclusion of a recent real-world study published by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. For the research, a team led by Dipesh Uprety, MD, FACP, of the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and the Wayne State University School of Medicine, analyzed data from the National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database, which compiles cancer-related data ...

The failure to co-ordinate legal, policy and scientific thinking risks “a squandering of opportunity” to improve air quality, concludes new environmental law research, co-led by a UCL academic.  In their Science paper, ‘Harnessing science, policy and law to deliver clean air’, Professors Eloise Scotford (UCL Faculty of Laws), Alastair Lewis (University of York) and Delphine Misonne  (UCLouvain Saint-Louis, Brussels) review recent research and highlight significant risks to achieving clean air globally. Despite significant achievements in air quality law and policy in some parts of the world ...

AMES, Iowa – Researchers have been studying the industrial production of ammonia for a century. But they’ve struggled to find ways to improve the low-yield, low-efficiency process.   Atmospheric nitrogen, with the aid of an iron catalyst, reacts with hydrogen to produce ammonia. That reaction produces lots of ammonia – worldwide production is 160 million tons every year. Most is used in agriculture, especially as nitrogen fertilizer. It’s also used in many industries, including refrigeration ...

Improving outcomes for students with disabilities as they transition from high school to postsecondary education and employment starts with effective training and development opportunities for the secondary educators who support them. Portland State University (PSU) has received a $1.9 million grant to redesign, implement and test a professional development model that aims to provide essential training for secondary educators. The grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Education’s prestigious Institute of Education Sciences, will fund a four-year project titled "Transition Coalition Self-Study Plus (TCSS+): A ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study is the first to shed light on the high prevalence of head injuries, and related mental health symptoms, in a previously overlooked population when it comes to concussion surveillance: law enforcement officers. The survey of Ohio law enforcement officers found that 74% reported a lifetime history of one or more head injuries, and 30% had a head injury that happened on the job. Many more of these injuries went unreported than were treated by a health care professional. And further analysis showed post-traumatic stress disorder and depressive symptoms were higher in those who had experienced one or more head injuries. “This ...

A new national multicenter study offers hope for women who have undergone allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT). The results of the study, recently published in the renowned journal Blood, show that successful pregnancies are possible under certain conditions, especially in younger women, patients with non-malignant diseases, and those who received no or only low doses of total body irradiation (TBI). For many benign hematologic disorders, allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT) is the only ...

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 2, 2024) – The University of Kentucky’s Sanders-Brown Center on Aging has introduced a groundbreaking initiative, Brain Health Activities, aimed at supporting individuals with dementia and their caregivers. The program was developed with extensive collaboration across the UK campus, offering a variety of resources designed to enhance brain health and quality of life for those affected by dementia and their caregivers.  The idea for ...