Interim analysis from phase 3 trial of nearly 20,000 participants suggests efficacy of two-dose regimen of the adenovirus-based vaccine is 91.6% against symptomatic COVID-19 - trial reports 16 COVID-19 cases in the vaccine group (0.1% [16/14,964) and 62 cases (1.3% [62/4,902]) in the placebo group. No serious adverse events were deemed to be associated with vaccination, and most reported adverse events were mild, including flu-like symptoms, pain at injection site and weakness or low energy. Sub-analysis of 2,000 adults older than 60 years suggests the vaccine is similarly effective and well tolerated in this group. Trial is ongoing ...

JUPITER, FL - A collaboration led by Scripps Research has developed a way to separate the beneficial anti-inflammatory properties of a group of steroids called glucocorticoids from some of their unwanted side-effects, through an optimization process they named "ligand class analysis." Their process enabled them to engineer two new, drug-like compounds that show steroidal anti-inflammatory action and other specific traits. One boosts muscle and energy supply, while the other reduces risk of muscle-wasting and bone loss typical of such drugs. Their report, titled, "Chemical systems biology ...

TAMPA, Fla. -- Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, or CAR T, has been a breakthrough in the treatment of blood cancers such as acute lymphoblastic leukemia and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Clinical studies have shown overall response rates of more than 80% with an ongoing response of nearly 40% more than two years after therapy. However, the cellular immunotherapy doesn't work for every patient. Moffitt Cancer Center, one of the leading centers for cellular immunotherapy, is researching why some patients have a better CAR T response than others and what can be done to improve the treatment's effectiveness. In a new study ...

The many different sensations our bodies experience are accompanied by deeply complex exchanges of information within the brain, and the feeling of pain is no exception. So far, research has shown how pain intensity can be directly related to specific patterns of oscillation in brain activity, which are altered by the activation and deactivation of the 'interneurons' connecting different regions of the brain. However, it remains unclear how the process is affected by 'inhibitory' interneurons, which prevent chemical messages from passing between these regions. Through new research published in EPJ ...

Researchers developing renewable plastics and exploring new processes for plastics upcycling and recycling technologies will now be able to easily baseline their efforts to current manufacturing practices to understand if their efforts will save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Benchmark data calculated and compiled at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) provide a measurement--at the supply chain level--of how much energy is required and the amount of greenhouse gases emitted from the production of a variety of plastics in the United States. "Today, we employ a predominantly linear economy for many of the materials we use, including plastics," said Gregg Beckham, a senior research fellow at NREL. "Many people ...

A soft, flexible sensor system created with electrically conductive yarns could help map problematic pressure points in the socket of an amputee's prosthetic limb, researchers from North Carolina State University report in a new study. In IEEE Sensors Journal, researchers from North Carolina State University reported on the lightweight, soft textile-based sensor prototype patch. The device incorporates a lattice of conductive yarns and is connected to a tiny computer. They tested the system on a prosthetic limb and in walking experiments with two human volunteers, finding the system could ...

An international research team from the Photobiotechnology Research Group at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) led by Professor Thomas Happe and the Laboratoire de Bioénergétique et Ingénierie des Protéines (CNRS) in Marseille has been able to get to the bottom of this unique feature. They describe the molecular mechanism in Nature Communications on 2 February 2021. Enzyme repeatedly survives the attack unharmed Representatives of the [FeFe]-hydrogenase enzyme group combine protons and electrons to form molecular hydrogen at particularly high turnover rates. Some of them even use sunlight as a primary energy source ...

DANVILLE, Pa. and GAITHERSBURG, Md. - Researchers have discovered a strong link between genetic changes known to cause neurodevelopmental disabilities and cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy affects movement and posture and often co-occurs with other neurodevelopmental disorders, including intellectual disability, epilepsy and autism spectrum disorder. Individual cases of cerebral palsy are often attributed to birth asphyxia, although recent studies indicate that asphyxia accounts for less than 10% of cases. A growing body of research indicates that cerebral palsy may be caused by genetic changes, ...

BOSTON -- Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have typically excluded diverse and minority individuals in the search for gene variants that confer risk of disease. Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and other institutions around the world have now developed a free-access software package called Tractor that increases the discovery power of genomics in understudied populations. A study of Tractor's performance and accuracy was published in END ...

New research has found that men who have the Western world's most common genetic disorder are more likely to develop dementia, compared to those without the faulty genes. Researchers at the University of Exeter and the University of Connecticut have previously found that men with two faulty genes that cause the iron overload condition haemochromatosis are more likely to develop liver cancer, arthritis and frailty, compared to those without the faulty genes. Now, the team's new analysis of more than 335,000 people of European ancestry in UK Biobank, ...

WASHINGTON, February 2, 2021 -- Scientists are hoping advances in cancer research could lead to a day when a patient's own immune system could be used to fight and destroy a wide range of tumors. Cancer immunotherapy has some remarkable successes, but its effectiveness has been limited to a relatively small handful of cancers. In APL Bioengineering, by AIP Publishing, a team from Stanford University and Genentech describes how advances in engineering models of tumors can greatly expand cancer immunotherapy's effectiveness to a wider range of cancers. "One of the biggest breakthroughs we've had in cancer research in decades is that we can modify the cells in your own immune system to make them kill cancer cells," said author Joanna Lee. Using ...

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (Feb. 2, 2021) -- What does bile acid production in the digestive tract have to do with Parkinson's disease? Quite a lot, according to a sweeping new analysis published in the journal Metabolites. The findings reveal that changes in the gut microbiome -- the rich population of helpful microbes that call the digestive tract home -- may in turn alter bile acid production by favoring synthesis of toxic forms of the acids. These shifts were seen only in people with Parkinson's and not in healthy controls, a critical difference that suggests bile acids may be a viable biomarker for diagnosing Parkinson's early and tracking its progression. The insights also may provide new avenues for developing therapies ...

Colorectal cancer is the second most common cause of cancer-related mortality among men and women in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. At-home tests, which measure blood in stool as a potential marker for colon cancer, are often used for colorectal cancer screening. Usage of these tests has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic as people try to avoid clinical visits. However, effectiveness of these screening tools, along with all colon cancer screenings, requires a follow-up colonoscopy if an abnormal test result occurs. The problem is ...

Researchers at the George Washington University and University of California, Los Angeles, have developed and demonstrated for the first time a photonic digital to analog converter without leaving the optical domain. Such novel converters can advance next-generation data processing hardware with high relevance for data centers, 6G networks, artificial intelligence and more. Current optical networks, through which most of the world's data is transmitted, as well as many sensors, require a digital-to-analog conversion, which links digital systems synergistically to analog components. Using a silicon photonic chip platform, Volker J. Sorger, an associate professor of electrical and computer ...

DeKalb, Ill. -- If you build it, they might not come. That's the key finding of a END ...

DENVER (Feb. 2, 2021) - Jongeun You, a researcher at the University of Colorado Denver, recently END ...

Amsterdam, February 2, 2021 - The Canadian Neuromuscular Disease Registry (CNDR) was launched in 2010 to increase efficient patient access to cutting-edge research and clinical trials, to increase understanding of the natural history and epidemiology of neuromuscular disease across Canada, and to facilitate research collaboration. An assessment of CNDR's accomplishments, published in the Journal of Neuromuscular Diseases, found that it has been successful in securing funding and engaging the community over the past 10 years. With more than 4,000 enrolled patients, data from the registry have been used in over 125 research projects as of 2019, including clinical trial and research notifications, patient questionnaires, and data analyses around ...

The mesmerizing flow of a sidewinder moving obliquely across desert sands has captivated biologists for centuries and has been variously studied over the years, but questions remained about how the snakes produce their unique motion. Sidewinders are pit vipers, specifically rattlesnakes, native to the deserts of the southwestern United State and adjacent Mexico. Scientists had already described the microstructure of the skin on the ventral, or belly, surface of snakes. Many of the snakes studied, including all viper species, had distinctive rearward facing "microspicules" (micron-sized protrusions on scales) that had been interpreted in the context of reducing ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- Studies have shown that nearly half of all medical students in the U.S. report symptoms of burnout, a long-term reaction to stress characterized by emotional exhaustion, cynicism and feelings of decreased personal accomplishment. Beyond the personal toll, the implications for aspiring and practicing physicians can be severe, from reduced quality of care to increased risk of patient safety incidents. According to a new study published on Tuesday, Feb. 2, in JAMA Network Open, students who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual ...

Period poverty, a lack of access to menstrual hygiene products, and other unmet menstrual health needs can have far-reaching consequences for women and girls in the United States and globally. New research led by George Mason University's College of Health and Human Services found that more than 14% of college women experienced period poverty in the past year, and 10% experienced period poverty every month. Women who experienced period poverty every month (68%) or in the past year (61.2%) were more likely to experience moderate or severe depression than those who did not experience period poverty (43%). Dr. Jhumka Gupta, an associate professor at George Mason University was senior author of the study published in BMC Women's Health. ...

MINNEAPOLIS- February 2, 2021 - In Minnesota, there are currently about END ...

BOSTON - Amyloid-beta and tau are the two key abnormal protein deposits that accumulate in the brain during the development of Alzheimer's disease, and detecting their buildup at an early stage may allow clinicians to intervene before the condition has a chance to take hold. A team led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has now developed an automated method that can identify and track the development of harmful tau deposits in a patient's brain. The research, which is published in END ...

Nearly 11 percent of people admitted to an intensive care unit in Sweden between 2010 and 2018 received opioid prescriptions on a regular basis for at least six months and up to two years after discharge. That is according to a study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet published in Critical Care Medicine. The findings suggest some may become chronic opioid users despite a lack of evidence of the drugs' long-term effectiveness and risks linked to increased mortality. "We know that the sharp rise in opioid prescriptions in the U.S. has contributed to a deadly opioid crisis there," says first author Erik von Oelreich, PhD student in the Department of Physiology and ...

A decision-support tool that could be accessed via mobile devices may help clinicians in lower-resource settings avoid unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions for children with diarrhoea, a study published today in eLife shows. The preliminary findings suggest that incorporating real-time environmental, epidemiologic, and clinical data into an easy-to-access, electronic tool could help clinicians appropriately treat children with diarrhoea even when testing is not available. This could help avoid the overuse of antibiotics, which contributes to the emergence of drug-resistant bacteria. "Diarrhoea is a common condition among children ...

FRANKFURT. Chronic liver disease and even cirrhosis can go unnoticed for a long time because many patients have no symptoms: the liver suffers silently. When the body is no longer able to compensate for the liver's declining performance, the condition deteriorates dramatically in a very short time: tissue fluid collects in the abdomen (ascites), internal bleeding occurs in the oesophagus and elsewhere, and the brain is at risk of being poisoned by metabolic products. This acute decompensation of liver cirrhosis can develop into acute-on-chronic liver failure with inflammatory reactions throughout the body and failure of several organs. In the PREDICT study, led ...