HAMILTON, ON (May 19, 2021) - Researchers have found that the inclusion of a third drug to commonly used dual-drug inhalers can reduce asthma exacerbations and improve control over the disease in children, adolescents, and adults with moderate-to-severe asthma. A team from McMaster University and The Research Institute of St. Joe's Hamilton announced their findings from a systematic review and meta-analysis. Data from 20 randomized controlled trials, which included a total of almost 12,000 patients, were analyzed in the study. Dual-drug inhalers used to treat asthma typically contain an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) to reduce inflammation, as well as a long-acting beta-adrenoceptor agonist (LABA) that acts as a bronchodilator. High-certainty evidence showed that the inclusion of a third ...

Leesburg, VA, May 19, 2021--According to an open-access article in ARRS' American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR), increased axillary lymph node or ipsilateral deltoid uptake is occasionally observed on FDG or 11C-choline PET performed after Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccination. "Recognition of occasional abnormal axillary lymph node or deltoid uptake on PET examinations performed after COVID-19 vaccination will aid interpreting physicians and reduce unnecessary biopsies," wrote corresponding author Jason R. Young from the department of radiology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. Young and colleagues' retrospective study included ...

For the first time, geological records have been used to reconstruct the history of Larsen C Ice Shelf in Antarctica. The ice shelf is the largest remaining remnant of a much more extensive area of ice on the Antarctic Peninsula that began to break up during the 1990s (Larsen A), and saw a huge collapse in 2002 (Larsen B). This new reconstruction enables scientists to better understand if and when the remaining ice shelf could collapse in the future. Publishing this month in the journal Geology an international team describes how the largest remaining ice shelf on the Antarctic ...

By mapping its genetic underpinnings, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have identified a predictive causal role for specific cell types in type 1 diabetes, a condition that affects more than 1.6 million Americans. The findings are published in the May 19, 2021 online issue of Nature. Type 1 diabetes is a complex autoimmune disease characterized by the impairment and loss of insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells and subsequent hyperglycemia (high blood sugar), which is damaging to the body and can cause other serious health problems, such as heart disease and vision loss. Type 1 is less common than type 2 diabetes, but its prevalence is growing. The U.S. Centers for Disease ...

Boulder, Colo., USA: Deep pools below waterfalls are popular recreational swimming spots, but sometimes they can be partially or completely filled with sediment. New research showed how and why pools at the base of waterfalls, known as plunge pools, go through natural cycles of sediment fill and evacuation. Beyond impacting your favorite swimming hole, plunge pools also serve important ecologic and geologic functions. Deep pools are refuges for fish and other aquatic animals in summer months when water temperatures in shallow rivers can reach lethal levels. Waterfalls also can liquefy sediment within the pool, potentially triggering debris flows that can damage property and threaten ...

Florida State University researchers have more insight into a strange sea creature found in oceans around the world and what their presence means for the health of a marine ecosystem. Scientists have thought that salps -- small marine organisms that look like clear, gelatinous blobs -- competed for resources with krill, shrimp-like creatures that are an important food source for many marine animals. But new research published in Limnology and Oceanography suggests that salps are actually competing for food with an organism known as a protist. An image of a salp taken during research. New research published in Limnology and Oceanography suggests that salps are actually competing for food with an organism known as a protist. (Courtesy of ...

A heart surgeon doesn't need to grasp quantum mechanics to perform successful operations. Even chemists don't always need to know these fundamental principles to study chemical reactions. But for Kang-Kuen Ni, the Morris Kahn associate professor of chemistry and chemical biology and of physics, quantum spelunking is, like space exploration, a quest to discover a vast and mysterious new realm. Today, much of quantum mechanics is explained by Schrödinger's equation, a kind of master theory that governs the properties of everything on Earth. "Even though ...

The amount of nutrients people get from the crops that they eat is a type of 'postcode lottery', according to new research that has analysed thousands of cereal grains and soils as part of a project to tackle hidden hunger in Malawi and Ethiopia. A global team led by the University of Nottingham and its Future Food Beacon including academics and researchers from Addis Ababa University (AAU) in Ethiopia and Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) in Malawi, working on the GeoNutrition project, have discovered more about the relation between soils, crops and micronutrient deficiencies among people living there. Their ...

HERSHEY, Pa. -- Parkinson's disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disease and affects more than 10 million people around the world. To better understand the origins of the disease, researchers from Penn State College of Medicine and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem have developed an integrative approach, combining experimental and computational methods, to understand how individual proteins may form harmful aggregates, or groupings, that are known to contribute to the development of the disease. They said their findings could guide the development of new therapeutics to delay or even halt the progression of neurodegenerative diseases. Alpha-synuclein ...

A new study by a Belgian team using data from the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT) has shown that iron and nickel exist in the atmospheres of comets throughout our Solar System, even those far from the Sun. A separate study by a Polish team, who also used ESO data, reported that nickel vapour is also present in the icy interstellar comet 2I/Borisov. This is the first time heavy metals, usually associated with hot environments, have been found in the cold atmospheres of distant comets. "It was a big surprise to detect iron and nickel atoms in the atmosphere of all the comets ...

Where you live may predict your long-term survival after experiencing a first heart attack. Socioeconomic factors -- such as income, education, employment, community safety and more -- have long been associated with cardiovascular health, but less is known about how neighborhood factors impact outcomes after myocardial infarction (MI), particularly among younger individuals. In an article published in JAMA Cardiology, researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital and colleagues studied the health records of 2,002 patients who experienced an MI at or before age 50. They found that even after adjusting ...

What The Study Did: Researchers evaluated racial and ethnic diversity among obstetrics and gynecology, surgical and nonsurgical residents in the United States from 2014 to 2019. Authors: Claudia L. Lopez, M.D., of the University of California, Davis, 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.2021.9219) Editor's Note: The article includes funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support. #  ...

What The Study Did: Registry data were used to examine the association between living in a socioeconomically disadvantaged area and long-term survival among patients who had their first heart attack at or before age 50. Authors: Ron Blankstein, M.D., of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, 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/jamacardio.2021.0487) Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest disclosures. Please see the articles for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflicts of interest and financial ...

What The Study Did: This study looked at the use of consumer digital information for COVID-19 control U.S. adults consider to be acceptable and the factors associated with higher or lower approval of using this information. Authors: David Grande, M.D., M.P.A., of the University of Pennsylvania, 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.2021.10918) Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support. #  #  # Media advisory: ...

What The Study Did: SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity wasn't associated with low levels of vitamin D independently of other risk factors. Authors: Yonghong Li, Ph.D., of Quest Diagnostics in San Juan Capistrano, California, 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.2021.11634) Editor's Note: The article includes funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, ...

What The Study Did: Clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with multisystem inflammatory syndrome among adults with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection at a single U.S. medical center are described in this study. Authors: Giovanni E. Davogustto, M.D., of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, 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.2021.10323) Editor's Note: The article includes conflicts of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, ...

What The Study Did: Racial and ethnic representation among departmental chairs and faculty in academic medicine in the United States from 1980 to 2019 was examined in this study. Authors: Darrion Mitchell, M.D., Ph.D., of the Ohio State University James Cancer Center in Columbus, 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.2021.10726) Editor's Note: The article includes conflicts of interest disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and ...

Philadelphia, May 19, 2021 - A multidisciplinary team of researchers from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) showed how the "batteries" of cells are highly implicated in whether patients with the chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome develop schizophrenia. The results of the study may eventually lead to targeted prevention and treatment strategies for patients with the condition. The findings were published today in JAMA Psychiatry. 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q) is ...

The common skin disease atopic eczema (AE) impacts heavily on the life quality and general health of sufferers. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have now evaluated its treatment with internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy (iCBT). The study suggests that patients feel better after iCBT compared with a control group who received only traditional treatment. The results, which are published in JAMA Dermatology, might eventually make important care available to a large patient group. "We've carried out a promising pilot study but were still surprised at how effective internet-delivered CBT ...

A pioneering new study led by UCL scientists has revealed, for the first time, a layer of genetic material involved in controlling the production of tau; a protein which plays a critical role in serious degenerative conditions, such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease. The international research, conducted in mice and cells, also revealed this material is part of a larger family of non-coding genes* which control and regulate other similar brain proteins, such as beta-amyloid associated with Alzheimer's and alpha-synuclein implicated in Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia. Researchers say the breakthrough findings, ...

Base editing is a novel gene editing approach that can precisely change individual building blocks in a DNA sequence. By installing such a point mutation in a specific gene, an international research team led by the University of Zurich has succeeded in sustainably lowering high LDL cholesterol levels in the blood of mice and macaques. This opens up the possibility of curing patients with inherited metabolic liver diseases. Lipoproteins are complex particles that deliver fat molecules to all tissues of the body through the blood system, supplying energy to the cells. One such lipoprotein, the low-density lipoprotein (LDL), can transport thousands of fat molecules, such as cholesterol, per particle. High levels of LDL in the blood are clinically associated with an ...

Wednesday 19 May 2021 - New research published today sheds important light on how the production of a key protein in the brain is controlled, which could pave the way for new treatments for a wide range of neurological conditions. In a study part-funded by Parkinson's UK, researchers investigated a section of genetic material known as antisense long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), which helps fine-tune the production of the protein tau inside brain cells. This precision in tau regulation is crucial for smooth functioning of the nerve cells. Understanding the mechanism ...

Unbound nickel atoms and other heavy elements have been observed in very hot cosmic environments, including the atmospheres of ultra-hot exoplanets and evaporating comets that ventured too close to our Sun or other stars. A new study conducted by JU researchers reveals the presence of nickel atoms in the cold gasses surrounding the interstellar comet 2I/Borisov. The team's finding is being published in Nature on 19 May 2021. Interstellar comets and asteroids are precious to science because, unlike millions of minor bodies that formed in our Solar System, they originate from distant planetary systems. Until very recently, the existence of such cosmic vagabonds has merely ...

HOUSTON - (May 19, 2021) - A new study from researchers at Rice University has found that bodily inflammation after the death of a spouse can predict future depression. "Inflammation and future depressive symptoms among recently bereaved spouses" will appear in the June 2021 edition of the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology. Lead author Lydia Wu, a Rice psychology graduate student, and Christopher Fagundes, associate professor of psychology and principal investigator for the Biobehavioral Mechanisms Explaining Disparities (BMED) lab at Rice, led the study. The research team evaluated 99 people who lost their spouses within 2-3 months of the study on a number of factors, including physical ...

PITTSBURGH, May 19, 2021 - Specialized immune cells that accumulate in the brain in the days and weeks after a stroke promote neural functions in mice, pointing to a potential immunotherapy that may boost recovery after the acute injury is over, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine neurologists found. The study, published today in the journal Immunity, demonstrated that a population of specialized immune cells, called regulatory T (Treg) cells, serve as tissue repair engineers to promote functional recovery after stroke. Boosting Treg cells using an antibody complex treatment, ...