COLUMBUS, Ohio - If you count yourself among those who lose themselves in the lives of fictional characters, scientists now have a better idea of how that happens. Researchers found that the more immersed people tend to get into "becoming" a fictional character, the more they use the same part of the brain to think about the character as they do to think about themselves. "When they think about a favorite fictional character, it appears similar in one part of the brain as when they are thinking about themselves," said Timothy Broom, lead author of the study and doctoral student in psychology at The Ohio State University. The study was published ...

Statewide stay-at-home orders put in place as Tennessee fought to control the spread of coronavirus last March were associated with a 14% lower rate of preterm birth, according to a research letter published today in JAMA Pediatrics. Preterm infants have higher morbidity and mortality risks than babies born at term. Senior author Stephen Patrick, MD, director of the Vanderbilt Center for Child Health Policy and a neonatologist at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt and his colleagues had observed in March that there appeared to be fewer infants than usual in the NICU at ...

A home-based parenting programme to prevent childhood behaviour problems, which very unusually focuses on children when they are still toddlers and, in some cases, just 12 months old, has proven highly successful during its first public health trial. The six-session programme involves providing carefully-prepared feedback to parents about how they can build on positive moments when playing and engaging with their child using video clips of everyday interactions, which are filmed by a health professional while visiting their home. It was trialled with 300 families of children who had shown early signs of behaviour problems. Half of the families received the programme alongside routine ...

What The Study Did: Researchers analyzed neurologic manifestations, biological and electroencephalography (EEG, which records the brain's electrical activity) findings plus brain MRI images in a study of 78 adult patients with COVID-19 in France. Authors: Virginie Lambrecq, M.D., Ph.D., of the Sorbonne Université in Paris, 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/jamanetworkopen.2021.1489) Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest ...

What The Study Did: This population-based study of all nursing home residents in Ontario, Canada, found increased prescribing of psychotropic drugs at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic that persisted through September 2020. Although absolute increases in prescribing were small, they were disproportionate to expected secular prescribing trends from April 2018 to February 2020, and they were distinct from observed prescribing changes for other drugs during the pandemic. Authors: Nathan M. Stall, M.D., of Sinai Health and the University Health Network in Toronto, 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/jamainternmed.2021.0224) Editor's ...

What The Study Did: Researchers used Tennessee birth records from 2015 to 2020 to examine the odds of preterm birth in the state during the 2020 COVID-19 stay-at-home order compared with the same periods in 2015 to 2019. Authors: Elizabeth M. Harvey, Ph.D., M.P.H., of the Tennessee Department of Health in Nashville, 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/jamapediatrics.2020.6512) Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions ...

What The Study Did: Researchers examined the screening mammography recommendations regarding starting age and interval for nearly 500 breast cancer centers in the United States. Authors: Jennifer L. Marti, M.D., of Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, 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/jamainternmed.2021.0157) Editor's Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support. INFORMATION: Media advisory: The full study and editorial are linked to this news release. Embed this link to provide your readers free access ...

When SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, infects a human cell, it quickly begins to replicate by seizing the cell's existing metabolic machinery. The infected cells churn out thousands of viral genomes and proteins while halting the production of their own resources. Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and the Broad Institute, studying cultured cells shortly after infecting them with the virus, now have more insight into the metabolic pathways co-opted by the virus. The findings, published in Nature Communications, highlight ...

DURHAM, N.C. - For decades, psychologists' study of emotional health and well-being has involved contrived laboratory experiments and self-report questionnaires to understand the emotional experiences and strategies study participants use to manage stress. But those hundreds of studies may have taken for granted a pretty big complicating factor, argues a new study from Duke University and Dartmouth College. The study, which appears March 12 in PLOS One, says the background level of anxiety a person normally experiences may interfere with how they behave in the lab setting. "The paper is not saying all of this work is wrong," emphasized first author Daisy Burr, a graduate ...

Previous studies conducted in hospitals reported that COVID-19 patients presented with unusual skin rashes. This study, which is published in the British Journal of Dermatology, analyzed information provided by 336,847 individuals in the community who used the COVID Symptom Study app. Skin rashes were more common in adults with a positive COVID-19 test result than in those who tested negative. Strikingly, among respondents of an online survey, 17% of SARS-CoV-2-positive cases reported skin rashes as the first presentation, and 21% as the only COVID-19 clinical sign. Together with the British Association of Dermatologists, the study's investigators compiled a catalogue of images of the most common skin ...

An atmosphere is what makes life on Earth's surface possible, regulating our climate and sheltering us from damaging cosmic rays. But although telescopes have counted a growing number of rocky planets, scientists had thought most of their atmospheres long lost. However, a new study by University of Chicago and Stanford University researchers suggests a mechanism whereby these planets could not only develop atmospheres full of water vapor, but keep them for long stretches. Published March 15 in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, the research expands our picture of planetary formation and could help direct the search for habitable worlds in other star systems. "Our model is saying that these ...

CABI has led the first study to explore the income and food security effects of the fall armyworm invasion on a country - revealing that in Zimbabwe smallholder maize-growing households blighted by the pest are 12% more likely to experience hunger. Dr Justice Tambo, lead researcher of the study published in Food and Energy Security, sought to investigate the impact of the fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) on household income and food security as well as the extent to which a control strategy can help mitigate the negative impacts of the pest. He, along with CABI colleagues from its centres in Kenya and Zambia as well as in collaboration with Zimbabwe's Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Settlement, also found ...

More often than ever before, water available in rivers is at the mercy of climate change, international researchers collaborating on a worldwide study with Michigan State University have revealed. The finding could profoundly affect future water and food security around the world. Yadu Pokhrel, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering in the MSU College of Engineering and a co-author of the study, said climate is the key driver in the current changes to global river flow. "It's a noteworthy finding because as climate change impacts extreme flows, it could be worsening flooding or increasing water scarcity during dry seasons," Pokhrel explained. Details of the new ...

The NANOGrav Collaboration recently captured the first signs of very low-frequency gravitational waves. Prof. Pedro Schwaller and Wolfram Ratzinger analyzed the data and, in particular, considered the possibility of whether this may point towards new physics beyond the Standard Model. In an article published in the journal SciPost Physics, they report that the signal is consistent with both a phase transition in the early universe and the presence of a field of extremely light axion-like particles (ALPs). The latter are considered as promising candidates for dark matter. Gravitational waves open a window into ...

Researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have now presented results that may change our basic view of how type 2 diabetes occurs. Their study indicates that free fatty acids (FFAs) in the blood trigger insulin release even at a normal blood-sugar level, without an overt uncompensated insulin resistance in fat cells. What is more, the researchers demonstrate the connection with obesity: the amount of FFAs largely depends on how many extra kilos of adipose tissue a person carries, but also on how the body adapt to the increased adiposity. Worldwide, extensive research is underway to clarify exactly what happens in the body as type 2 diabetes progresses, and why obesity is such a huge risk factor for the disease. For almost 50 years, ...

Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have discovered that heparanase, HPSE, a poorly understood protein, is a key regulator of cells' innate defense mechanisms. Innate defense responses are programmed cellular mechanisms that are triggered by various danger signals, which have been conserved in many species throughout evolution. These systems can be set into action by pathogens, such as viruses, bacteria and parasites, as well as by environmental toxins and dysfunctional cells that can accumulate in the body over time. A more thorough understanding ...

The U.S. criminal legal system has expanded at a rapid pace, even as crime rates have declined since the 1990s. As a result, individuals' interactions with and surveillance by law enforcement are now commonplace. But citizens experience different interactions, with people of color who live in impoverished urban communities having the most frequent encounters. A new study interviewed young Philadelphia men to determine their perceptions of and reactions to this phenomenon. Nearly all of the men of color said they stayed at home and avoided public spaces out of concern over the potential interactions with others that might draw police ...

UTICA, NY -- Brown fat, also known as brown adipose tissue (BAT), is a special type of fat that helps maintain body temperature. Importantly, brown fat is a biological fuel linked to metabolic rate and fat storage. In a recent publication, Dr. Zhiqiang Lin, Assistant Professor at the Masonic Medical Research Institute (MMRI) and senior author of the manuscript, successfully developed a new way to enrich isolation of brown fat cells for use in his biochemistry studies. "When faced with a scientific setback, we simply start tackling potential hurdles," said Dr. Lin. One of these was having a need to develop a better way to isolate these fat cells. BAT is comprised of multiple cell types, which makes it difficult to ...

Between 2015 and 2017, Seattle, Washington, became the first U.S. city to increase its hourly minimum wage to $15, more than double the federal minimum wage and 60 percent higher than Seattle's previous minimum wage. A new study examined the impact of this change on public safety. The study was motivated by the idea that since crime is sometimes the result of material deprivation, changes in the minimum wage might have implications for criminal activity: Boosting the minimum wage could raise workers' salaries (which could be associated with reduced crime). But if higher minimum wages spur employers to substitute capital for labor, this could ...

Increases in the use of telehealth during the coronavirus pandemic among people with private insurance has occurred mostly among those who are more affluent and those who live in metropolitan areas, according to a new RAND Corporation study. Researchers say the findings raise concerns that the pandemic may be worsening existing disparities in overall health care utilization. Overall, the study found there was a 20-fold increase in the rate of telemedicine utilization following the outset of the pandemic in March 2020. At the same time, the rate of office-based medical encounters declined by nearly 50% and was not fully offset by the increase in telemedicine. The findings are published online by the American Journal of Preventive ...

Robotics researchers are developing exoskeletons and prosthetic legs capable of thinking and making control decisions on their own using sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The system combines computer vision and deep-learning AI to mimic how able-bodied people walk by seeing their surroundings and adjusting their movements. "We're giving robotic exoskeletons vision so they can control themselves," said Brokoslaw Laschowski, a PhD candidate in systems design engineering who leads a University of Waterloo research project called ExoNet. Exoskeletons ...

In the first all-sky survey by the eROSITA X-ray telescope onboard SRG, astronomers at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics have identified a previously unknown supernova remnant, dubbed "Hoinga". The finding was confirmed in archival radio data and marks the first discovery of a joint Australian-eROSITA partnership established to explore our Galaxy using multiple wavelengths, from low-frequency radio waves to energetic X-rays. The Hoinga supernova remnant is very large and located far from the galactic plane - a surprising first finding - implying that the next years might bring many more ...

During pandemics, protective behaviors need to be motivated by effective communication. A critical factor in understanding a population's response to such a threat is the fear it elicits, since fear both contributes to motivating protective responses, but can also lead to panic-driven behaviors. Furthermore, lockdown measures affect well-being, making it important to identify protective factors that help to maintain high perceived levels of health during restrictions. An international team of researchers led by scientists from the University of Vienna has now identified psychological predictors of fear and health during the lockdowns. The result of the study, published in PLOS ONE: Individual psychological variables have a much better predictive power than environmental variables. The ...

We all have a clear picture in mind when we think of metals: We think of solid, unbreakable objects that conduct electricity and exhibit a typical metallic sheen. The behaviour of classical metals, for example their electrical conductivity, can be explained with well-known, well-tested physical theories. But there are also more exotic metallic compounds that pose riddles: Some alloys are hard and brittle, special metal oxides can be transparent. There are even materials right at the border between metal and insulator: tiny changes in chemical composition turn the metal into an insulator - or vice versa. ...

Cryoprotectants are used to protect biological material during frozen storage They have to be removed when defrosting, and how much to use and how exactly they inhibit ice recrystallisation is poorly understood The polymer poly(vinyl)alcohol (PVA) is arguably the most potent ice recrystallisation inhibitor and researchers from the University of Warwick have unravelled how exactly it works. This newly acquired knowledge base provides novel guidelines to design the next generation of cryoprotectants When biological material (cells, blood, tissues) is frozen, cryoprotectants are used to prevent the damage associated with the formation of ...