According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 22 percent of older adults in the United States suffer from a functional impairment, defined as difficulties performing daily activities, such as bathing or getting dressed, or problems with concentration or decision-making affected by physical, mental or emotional conditions. In a new study published in the May 20, 2021 online edition of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine found that functional impairments among adults aged 50 and older are associated with a higher risk of medical cannabis use; and prescription opioid and tranquilizer/sedative use and misuse. "Our ...

A team of Spanish researchers have developed, at the laboratory level, a prototype of a new biosensor to help detect breast cancer in its earliest stages. One of the team coordinators has been Ramón Martínez Máñez, a professor at the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) and the scientific director of the Networking Biomedical Research Centre in Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER BBN). The other one has been Ana Lluch, a Valencian oncologist, co-coordinator of the Breast Cancer Biology Research Group ...

Leave voters in Cornwall wanted to exit the EU to "take back control" and express concern about immigration - even though most said the movement of people across the continent had not caused issues for them, a new survey suggests. A total of 56.5 per cent of people in Cornwall voted to Leave the EU in 2016, yet the area has received some of the highest levels of EU structural funding in England. There have long been campaigns for Cornwall to have more political autonomy, but hardly anyone who took part in the research said they voted to Leave said they do so to get more power for politicians in the county. The most frequent reason given, found in 79 responses to the survey, was the UK had lost control to ...

Untreated hepatitis C can lead to serious and life-threatening health problems like cirrhosis and liver cancer. Direct-acting antiviral therapies introduced in recent years are highly effective, with cure rates above 95%. But most Medicaid beneficiaries with hepatitis C don't get these drugs, which cost $20,000-$30,000, due to state budget constraints. Now, a new USC study finds that a Medicaid-Medicare partnership could cover the lifesaving medications -- and still save $1 to $1.1 billion over 25 years. Medicaid is a joint federal and state program that provides health coverage for low-income families and others. Medicare is the federal health insurance program for people 65 and older. The study was published today in the American Journal of Managed Care. Researchers ...

For coffee drinkers, a common scenario might involve drinking an extra cup only to end up with a racing heart and a subtle reminder to themselves to cut down the caffeine. But for those who have a different thinking pattern, one that includes heart-focused anxiety, the racing heart might conclude with the fear of a heart attack and a trip to the emergency room. It turns out young Latinx adults who experience heart-focused anxiety could be at greater risk for mental health disorders. "We have empirical evidence that individual differences in heart-focused anxiety are related to more severe co-occurring anxiety and depressive symptomatology among a ...

MSU researcher is studying, raising awareness about the role of sex in the efficacy of vaccines that make use of nanomedicine. If there's one take-home message for the general public about the coronavirus vaccines approved in the U.S., it's that they are remarkably effective. But Michigan State University's Morteza Mahmoudi is raising awareness about an important subtlety: The vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech appear to work slightly better for men than for women. Both vaccines use tiny orbs, or nanoparticles, to deliver their active ingredients to cells in our immune systems. For years, Mahmoudi has been studying how and why nanomedicines -- therapies that use nanoparticles -- can affect patients differently based on their sex and ...

A team of researchers at the University of Ottawa has found a way to use visible light to transform carbon dioxide gas, or CO2, into solid carbon forms that emit light. This development creates a new, low-energy CO2 reduction pathway to solid carbon that will have implications across many fields. We talked to lead author Dr. Jaspreet Walia, Post-Doctoral Fellow in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Ottawa, and research lead Dr. Pierre Berini, uOttawa Distinguished Professor and University Research Chair in Surface Plasmon Photonics, to learn more. Please tell us about your team's discovery. Pierre ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Passports are a tangible way of showing where one has traveled, as the stamps provide a chronological order that traces an individual's journey across international borders. When an object's origins are not readily apparent, a variety of sources can be relied upon to learn more, which might include labels, sales receipts, foreign translations, oral histories, GPS coordinates and itemized personal possessions. That documentation is an example of provenance, or the origins of an object and where it has traveled throughout history. Sarah Buchanan, an assistant professor in the University of Missouri's College of Education, is an archivist, a professional who assesses, collects and preserves various artifacts and archives them ...

Our reliance on fossil fuels as a primary energy source has pushed air pollution to an all-time high, resulting in several environmental and health concerns. Among the major pollutants, nitrogen oxide (NOx) accumulation can cause severe respiratory diseases and imbalance in the Earth's nitrogen cycle. Reducing NOx accumulation is, therefore, an issue of utmost importance. Recently, the conversion of NOx into harmless or even useful nitrogen products has emerged as a promising strategy. Particularly appealing to scientists is the reduction of NOx to hydroxylamine (NH2OH), which can be utilized ...

A large-scale research project at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute has revealed insight into the relationship between surface debris on glaciers and the rate at which they melt. The work is the first global assessment of Earth's 92,033 debris-covered glaciers and shows that debris, taken as a whole, substantially reduces glacier mass loss. The results will affect sea level rise calculations and allow for improved assessment of hazards faced by nearby communities. "This is the first step to enable us to start projecting how these debris-covered glaciers are going to evolve in the future and how they're going to affect glacial runoff and sea level rise," said glaciologist ...

May 20, 2021 - Comets that circle the Sun in very elongated orbits spread their debris so thin along their orbit or eject it out of the solar system altogether that their meteor showers are hard to detect. From a new meteor shower survey published in the journal Icarus, researchers now report that they can detect showers from the debris in the path of comets that pass close to Earth orbit and are known to return as infrequent as once every 4,000 years. "This creates a situational awareness for potentially hazardous comets that were last near-Earth orbit as far back as 2,000 BC," said meteor astronomer and lead author Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute. Jenniskens is the ...

Building more homes and buildings with wood has been on the radar for years as a way to offset carbon emissions, though construction companies have been hesitant to take the material in broader use. A study at Aalto University in Finland is now the first to show that building with wood can be a sound investment. The team analysed statistical data from real estate sales in the Finnish capital of Helsinki and two suburbs, from 1999 to 2018. Of these, timber-built homes made up 2.23% of cases. The findings show that multi-storied buildings made out of wood sold for an average of 8.85% more than those made from other materials. Previous research has pointed to perceptions of higher costs in wood construction, ...

Biologist Sasha Mendjan at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna and his team have used human pluripotent stem cells to grow sesame-seed-sized heart models, called cardioids, that spontaneously self-organize to develop a hollow chamber without the need of experimental scaffolds. This advance, which allows for the creation of some of the most realistic heart organoids to date, appears on May 20th in the journal Cell. Previously, scientists have built 3D cardiac organoids via tissue engineering, an approach that generally involves assembling cells and scaffolds like building a house out of brick and mortar. But these engineered organoids do not have the same physiological responses to damages as human ...

Swifts aren't called "swifts" for nothing. They're known for being among the fastest migrating small birds around. When they aren't breeding, common swifts stay in the air most of the time--up to 10 months of the year. Scientists had thought they travel about 500 kilometers per day on average. Now, new evidence reported in the journal iScience on May 20 shows that's a conservative estimate. According to new tracking data, common swifts travel 570 kilometers (more than 350 miles) on an average day--but they are capable of going much farther and faster. The maximum recorded distance in the study was more than 830 kilometers (more than 500 miles) per day over nine days. "We have discovered that common swifts breeding in the most northern part of the European ...

A common factor called "decision acuity" underpins diverse decision-making abilities in adolescents and young adults, suggests a study appearing May 20th in the journal Neuron. A large set of behavioral and neuroimaging data revealed that decision acuity is stable over time, distinct from IQ, and reduced in individuals with low general social functioning. "We describe a new cognitive construct that captures global decision-making ability across multiple domains," says senior study author Raymond Dolan of University College London. "This construct may be important for understanding mental health, particularly regarding poor social function and aberrant thought patterns." Decision-making is ...

DALLAS, May 20, 2021 — While death rates from cardiovascular disease (CVD) nationwide have steadily declined over the past few decades, the overall trend masks significant disparities between high- and low-mortality counties, according to preliminary research to be presented at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology, Prevention, Lifestyle & Cardiometabolic Health Conference 2021. The meeting is virtual, May 20-21, and offers the latest science on population-based health and wellness and implications for lifestyle. The researchers examined mortality data from the National Center for Health Statistics collected from 1980 to 2014 from all 3,133 ...

DALLAS, May 20, 2021 — Women who are menopausal by the age of 40 had a 40% increased risk of developing coronary heart disease over their lifetime compared to women who did not go through early menopause, according to preliminary research to be presented at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology, Prevention, Lifestyle & Cardiometabolic Health Conference 2021. The meeting is virtual, May 20-21 and offers the latest science on population-based health and wellness and implications for lifestyle. Coronary heart disease is a very common type of heart disease in which arteries around the heart become blocked due to a buildup of plaque, which develops over time. Left undetected and untreated, women can suffer ...

DALLAS, May 20, 2021 — Taking more steps per day, either all at once or in shorter spurts, may help you live longer, according to preliminary research to be presented at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology, Prevention, Lifestyle & Cardiometabolic Health Conference 2021. The meeting is virtual, May 20-21, and offers the latest science on population-based health and wellness and implications for lifestyle. Walking is one of the safest and easiest ways to improve fitness and health including heart health. The American Heart Association’s fitness guidelines for adults recommend at least 150 minutes per week of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity, or a combination of both. Popular fitness ...

DALLAS, May 20, 2021 — Black adults in the U.S. who consumed significant amounts of ultra-processed foods were at 55% increased risk for high blood pressure compared to white adults who ate a similar amount of ultra-processed foods, according to according to preliminary research to be presented at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology, Prevention, Lifestyle & Cardiometabolic Health Conference 2021. The meeting is virtual, May 20-21 and offers the latest science on population-based health and wellness and implications for lifestyle. Ultra-processed foods (UPF) are ready-to-eat formulations of industrially formulated products, ...

DALLAS, May 20, 2021 — Adopting healthy lifestyle behaviors can lower dementia risk among people who are at higher risk due to a family history of dementia, according to preliminary research to be presented at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology, Prevention, Lifestyle & Cardiometabolic Health Conference 2021. The meeting is virtual, May 20-21, and offers the latest science on population-based health and wellness and implications for lifestyle. Familial dementia is a strong risk factor for dementia. Having a first-degree relative such as a parent or sibling with the disease ...

DALLAS, May 20, 2021 — Social isolation and loneliness were each associated with a higher risk for cardiovascular disease in post-menopausal women, according to preliminary research to be presented at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology, Prevention, Lifestyle & Cardiometabolic Health Conference 2021. The meeting is virtual, May 20-21 and offers the latest science on population-based health and wellness and implications for lifestyle. Social isolation is the quantifiable measure of social interactions in relationships. Loneliness is ...

DALLAS, May 20, 2021 — The prevalence of physical inactivity and obesity in adults were linked to violent crime rates in Chicago’s urban Black and Hispanic communities, according to research to be presented at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology, Prevention, Lifestyle & Cardiometabolic Health Conference 2021. The meeting is virtual, May 20-21 and offers the latest science on population-based health and wellness and implications for lifestyle. In the U.S., violence is a major threat to public health in communities with people from diverse racial and ethnic groups in large urban areas. These communities also have disproportionately higher rates of murder, armed robbery, aggravated ...

DALLAS, May 20, 2021 — Transgender adolescents are more likely to have at least one cardiovascular disease risk factor compared to cisgender (same gender as at birth) adolescents, according to preliminary research to be presented at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology, Prevention, Lifestyle & Cardiometabolic Health Conference 2021. The meeting is virtual, May 20-21 and offers the latest science on population-based health and wellness and implications for lifestyle. The United States has a growing population of transgender adolescents ages 12-21 who seek medical transition gender-affirming hormone therapy. Gender-affirming hormone therapy involves taking estrogen or testosterone ...

DALLAS, May 20, 2021 — Spending moderate to high amounts of time watching television throughout midlife was linked to greater cognitive decline and lower gray matter volumes in the brain later in life, according to preliminary research from three studies (P149, MP24 and MP67) to be presented at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology, Prevention, Lifestyle & Cardiometabolic Health Conference 2021 (EPI). The meeting is virtual, May 20-21, and offers the latest science on population-based health and wellness and implications for lifestyle. “While studies have shown the benefits of exercise to support brain health, less is known about the potential consequences of prolonged sedentary behavior such as television viewing ...

DALLAS, May 20, 2021 -- Notable for high levels of stress and anger, the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign and election may have increased the risk of potentially life-threatening heart rhythms and worsened high blood pressure in people with underlying cardiovascular disease who already had a history of these conditions, according to a new study published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association and in a separate preliminary study to be presented at the American Heart Association's Epidemiology, Prevention, Lifestyle & Cardiometabolic Health Conference 2021. The meeting is virtual, May 20-21, and offers the latest science on population-based health and wellness and implications ...