About The Study: In this repeated cross-sectional study of 149,000 children in a large central Ohio primary care network during the 20 months after outbreak onset, all measures of measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) coverage remained well below the 93% herd immunity threshold. These persistent, population-wide immunity gaps suggest the need for sustained, equity-focused public health strategies to maintain measles elimination. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Rosemary A. Martoma, ...

About The Study: This cross-sectional study found that considerable variation in price markup exists across hospitals and that high-markup hospitals demonstrated both lower quality and value of care. These findings underscore that high-markup hospitals represent a key initial target for national policy efforts targeting pricing regulation, transparency, and quality improvement.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Peyman Benharash, MD, email pbenharash@mednet.ucla.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit ...

Researchers at the University of Exeter have created a detailed temporal map of chemical changes to DNA through development and aging of the human brain, offering new insights into how conditions such as autism and schizophrenia may arise. The team studied epigenetic changes - chemical tags on our DNA that control how genes are switched on or off. These changes are crucial in regulating the expression of genes, guiding brain cells to develop and specialise correctly. One important mechanism, called DNA methylation, ...

Researchers from Mass General Brigham and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have identified genetic modifications that can improve the efficacy of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell treatment — an immunotherapy that uses modified patient T cells to target cancer. The study used CRISPR screening to pinpoint genes that influenced T cell function and survival in culture and in a preclinical model of multiple myeloma. Their results and technique, published in Nature, could lead to T cell-based immunotherapies for cancer. “We ...

Recent studies suggest that the steady rise in life expectancy observed over the past 200 years has now stagnated. Data indicate that a limit has been reached, and that medical and healthcare advances no longer affect longevity in developed countries as they did in previous decades. Today, ageing itself, rather than disease, is the real frontier of human longevity. But what exactly is ageing? And can it be addressed in the same way as a disease? A team led by Dr Manel Esteller, Head of the Cancer Epigenetics group at the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute, has just ...

Embargoed for release: Wednesday, September 24, 2025, 11:00 AM ET Key points: By their 18th birthday, 61% of U.S. children have relied on Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and 42% have experienced gaps in coverage, according to estimates from a microsimulation model. Disruptions to insurance coverage were more common among children covered by Medicaid or CHIP at birth in states that did not expand their Medicaid adult programs. States that set the most restrictive income eligibility thresholds for children under Medicaid and CHIP saw the highest share of coverage disruptions. The ...

Hospitals with the widest difference between the cost of their services and what they charge patients and their insurance carriers are mostly for-profit, investor owned and located in large metropolitan areas. They also have significantly worse patient outcomes compared with lower-cost hospitals, new UCLA research finds. These “high-markup hospitals” (HMH), which comprised about 10% of the total the researchers examined, charged up to 17 times the true cost of care. By contrast, markups at other hospitals were an average of three times the cost of care. The findings will be published September ...

The research team conducted an in-depth study of the evolution and domestication of barley (Hordeum vulgare). They focused on so-called haplotypes - sections of DNA that are inherited together and act like genetic “building blocks.” To trace barley’s history, the scientists analysed the genetic material of 682 barley accessions from the IPK genebank and 23 archaeological barley finds, including ancient charred grains up to 6,000 years old. The team specifically studied 380 wild barley samples from regions across western and central Asia, and compared them with 302 samples ...

During the course of evolution, the mammalian cranio-mandibular secondary joint—formed by the dentary condyle and the squamosal glenoid fossa, which replaced the reptilian articular–quadrate joint—represents an innovative structure in vertebrate evolution. By CT-scanning two classic fossils, Chinese researchers found previously unknown jaw joints and proposed a clear, four-step sequence showing how chewing and hearing functions were gradually split between jaw and ear. The research was led by Prof. MAO Fangyuan from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of ...

UNSW Sydney nano-tech startup Diraq has shown its quantum chips aren’t just lab-perfect prototypes – they also hold up in real-world production, maintaining the 99% accuracy needed to make quantum computers viable. Diraq, a pioneer of silicon-based quantum computing, achieved this feat by teaming up with European nanoelectronics institute Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (imec). Together they demonstrated the chips worked just as reliably coming off a semiconductor chip fabrication line as they do in the experimental conditions of a research ...

Traditionally, chemical reactions have been described as one-line “equations” in which substrates, say A and B, convert purposefully but rigidly into a desired product, say C. Naturally, it has been recognized that byproducts may also form, but these have been generally considered undesirable and unproductive. The current research demonstrates that this view is very fragmentary and insufficient: in reality, chemical reactions – even those studied since the 19th century – are complex reactivity networks that, depending on the concentrations of ...

A team of researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China and the Zhongguancun Institute of Artificial Intelligence has developed SciGuard, an agent-based safeguard designed to control the misuse risks of AI in chemical science. By combining large language models with principles and guidelines, external knowledge databases, relevant laws and regulations, and scientific tools and models, SciGuard ensures that AI systems remain both powerful and safe, achieving state-of-the-art defense against malicious use ...

“These results highlight potential mechanisms by which loss of p53 function contributes to an immunosuppressive microenvironment in HGSC, and provide insight into the role of ovarian and peritoneal microenvironments in regulating HGSC cell-intrinsic inflammatory signaling.” BUFFALO, NY – September 24, 2025 – A new research paper was published in Volume 16 of Oncotarget on September 22, 2025, titled “Loss of Trp53 results in a hypoactive T cell phenotype accompanied by reduced pro-inflammatory signaling in a syngeneic orthotopic ...

For over 100 years, teddy bears have been a hallmark of childhood nurseries, ubiquitously embedded in our early memories and rarely the object of deep scrutiny. However, according a recent article in BioScience by Dr. Nicolas Mouquet (CRNS) and colleagues, the humble teddy bear is much more than a mere plaything. Instead, the authors suggest that the beloved plushes play a pivotal role in our early conception of nature, potentially shaping the ways we interact with the natural world throughout our lives.             ...

Steve Jobs berated his teams. Jack Welch laid off a quarter of his workforce. Still, both are seen as visionary leaders and continue to serve as role models for many. A recent study takes a closer look at the logic and conditions of such leadership approaches. It shows that such radical leadership styles only work under specific circumstances and in some cases do more harm than good.  The study Annealing as an Alternative Mechanism for Management was authored by Matthew S. Bothner, professor of strategy ...

The 12th Heidelberg Laureate Forum (HLF) has come to a close. This year’s HLF took place from September 14 to 19 and brought together 28 Laureates of the most prestigious prizes in mathematics and computer science as well as 200 of those disciplines’ brightest Young Researchers of the next generation. The week featured a host of fascinating talks, panels and interactive formats where some of the timeliest issues relating to mathematics and computer science were discussed, with a particular attention paid to the effects of AI on a host of issues. The program included a talk by Richard S. Sutton (2024 ACM A.M. Turing Award), pondering “The Future of Artificial Intelligence,” ...

Scientists at Université de Montréal’s affiliated hospital research centre (CRCHUM) are testing out a mobile application to help young adults who have a first episode of psychosis to support safer cannabis consumption. The nationwide clinical trial, a first in Canada, is led by Université de Montréal psychiatry and addictology professor Didier Jutras-Aswad, a researcher at CRCHUM. Called CHAMPS (Cannabis Harm-reducing App to Manage Practices Safely), the pilot study is described in an article published in the August issue of Psychiatry Research. The new study is backed by $800,000 in funding ...

New York, 24 September 2025 – The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) – the United Nations agency for digital technologies – Google, and musician, tech founder and philanthropist will.i.am have launched an initiative to bring artificial intelligence and robotics training to students across Africa. Announced during the Digital@UNGA Anchor Event at the UN General Assembly, the programme combines hands-on AI and robotics training for young people in underserved communities, including in those countries where the ...

Researchers at University of California San Diego, part of the national HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study Consortium, have announced the first data release from this landmark study, providing scientists around the world with new ways to answer critical questions about human brain development in early childhood. This inaugural data release includes comprehensive biomedical and behavioral data from more than 1,400 pregnant women and their children, collected across three early developmental stages from birth through nine months of age. "This ...

What causes us to sleep? The answer may lie not only in our brains, but in their complex interplay with the micro-organisms spawned in our intestines. New research from Washington State University suggests a new paradigm in understanding sleep, demonstrating that a substance in the mesh-like walls of bacteria, known as peptidoglycan, is naturally present in the brains of mice and closely aligned with the sleep cycle. Those findings serve to update a broader hypothesis that has been in development at WSU for years—proposing that sleep arises from communication between the body’s sleep regulatory systems and the multitude of microbes living inside us. “This ...

About 12 million adults in the United States are affected by PTSD, impacting between 4% and 8% of the adult population – and up to 30% of military personnel and veterans. Strikingly, 63% of veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder also suffer from alcohol use disorder (AUD) and/or chronic pain. These conditions frequently overlap, with individuals who have AUD or chronic pain often also experiencing PTSD. When these disorders co-occur, they tend to worsen one another, making effective treatment significantly more challenging. Currently, no approved ...

Researchers from University of California San Diego School of Medicine have found that testing for lipoprotein(a) — a genetic risk factor for heart disease — remains uncommon in the United States, despite modest increases over the past decade. The findings were published on Sept. 26, 2025 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Advances. Lipoprotein(a) — or Lp(a) — is a type of cholesterol particle in the blood. Elevated levels are strongly linked to a higher risk of heart attack, stroke and aortic valve disease. Roughly 20% of the U.S. population has elevated Lp(a), yet testing rates have historically been low. In the ...

WASHINGTON (September 24, 2025) — Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) remain the leading cause of disease burden , causing one in three deaths worldwide as a result of population growth, population aging and exposure to a broad range of risks, including increasing rates of obesity and diabetes, according to the latest Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study special report published today in JACC, the flagship journal of the American College of Cardiology. “This research provides countries with ...

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (09/24/2025) — Researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities have successfully 3D printed lifelike human tissue structures that can be used for medical training for surgeons and doctors. The study was recently published in Science Advances, a peer-reviewed scientific journal. Previous methods have made stiff, simple tissues, but this new technique can mimic the complex, directional strength and stretchiness found in real tissues like skin or other organs. In this paper, the researchers discovered a method to control the shape and size of the tiny ...

Leishmaniasis, a neglected tropical disease prevalent across 90 countries, affects approximately 12 million people worldwide, with 350 million more at risk of infection. Caused by unicellular parasites known as Leishmania protozoa, the disease commonly manifests as skin sores that can develop into deep ulcers. Beyond the physical damage to the skin, leishmaniasis can leave permanent scars on patients’ faces, hands, and feet, often leading to social stigma and psychological trauma. Unfortunately, the disease predominantly strikes poor communities, where medical care is often out of reach. While various treatments for leishmaniasis do exist, they face severe limitations. Current drugs, ...