COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study used acoustic sensors that detect the sound of gunfire to show how often children in one Chicago neighborhood are exposed to gunshots while walking to and from school.   Results showed that nearly two-thirds of schools in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago had at least one gun incident within 400 meters (about one-quarter mile) of where children were walking home during the 2021-22 school year.   These findings suggest a need to redefine federal definitions of school gun violence to include indirect forms of violence that take place near schools, not only on school grounds, in order to more appropriately ...

Since the 1950s, scientists have used radio waves to uncover the molecular “fingerprints” of unknown materials, aiding in tasks as varied as scanning the human body with MRI machines and detecting explosives at airports. These methods, however, rely on signals averaged from trillions of atoms, making it impossible to detect tiny variations between individual molecules. Such limitations hinder applications in fields like protein research, where small differences in shape control functionality and can determine the difference between health and disease. Sub-Atomic Insights Now, engineers at the University of Pennsylvania ...

In recent years treatment with powerful biologic and targeted synthetic therapies has changed the landscape for arthritis, but currently finding the right treatment for each person is a matter of trial and error. Only a proportion of patients with inflammatory arthritis respond to each expensive therapy, which results in unnecessary treatment and a long and often frustrating journey for patients, not to mention significant cost to the NHS. University of Birmingham researchers have just been awarded £3.5 million funding from Johnson & Johnson to investigate ...

By Rachel Tompa, Ph.D Your blood is a delicate mixture. Researchers and clinicians often use blood to learn what’s going on inside our bodies, in part because siphoning off a tube of blood is easier and less painful than taking biopsies of an internal organ.  But in some cases, it turns out that blood can be very different outside our bodies. When it comes to certain emerging research techniques, the clock starts ticking as soon as your blood hits the tube. As little as six to eight hours later, some aspects of your blood’s ...

VANCOUVER, Wash. – Some of the most productive apple regions in America are facing big challenges from a changing climate, according to a Washington State University study. Researchers analyzed over 40 years of climate conditions that impact the growth cycle of apple trees from bud break and flowering through fruit development, maturation and color development. While many growing areas are facing increased climate risks, the top three largest apple producing counties in the U.S. were among the most impacted: Yakima in Washington, Kent in Michigan and Wayne ...

An up-close look at how patients respond to the drug at different times and doses adds nuance to a recent finding that Paxlovid does not work for long Covid.   An extended course of Paxlovid appears to help some patients with long Covid, according to a case series by UC San Francisco researchers that suggests this treatment option holds promise for some of those struggling with debilitating symptoms.  These results are at odds with recent research that has failed to show the antiviral can alleviate persistent symptoms of the disease. The authors said more study is needed to find out which patients may benefit from the drug and how long it should be given. The ...

From photographs of decimated buildings to military and civilian casualty counts to narratives of suffering, news media bring information about foreign conflicts to American audiences. But does this coverage actually affect public opinion about whether and how the United States should be involved in a conflict? Does it influence what Americans think about the U.S. providing military, diplomatic, and economic aid to foreign nations? A new paper from researchers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania examines these questions and finds that media coverage of civilian casualties increases public support for U.S. involvement in conflicts by evoking empathy ...

In the Arctic, the old, multiyear ice is increasingly melting, dramatically reducing the frequency and size of pressure ridges. These ridges are created when ice floes press against each other and become stacked, and are a characteristic feature of Arctic sea ice, an obstacle for shipping, but also an essential component of the ecosystem. In a recently released study in the journal Nature Climate Change, experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute report on this trend and analyse observational data from three decades of aerial surveys. Satellite data from the last three decades documents the dramatic changes in Arctic sea ice due to climate change: the area covered in ice in summer ...

Annual health checkups regularly include urine tests that serve several purposes, including checking for symptoms of kidney disease. The presence of albumin in the urine is one indicator as is glomerular filtration rate. In diabetic nephropathy, albuminuria first appears, leading to excessive filtration and eventually a decrease in GFR. In the elderly, however, excessive filtration cannot be detected due to age-related GFR decline. To accurately assess GFR, Osaka Metropolitan University researchers have come up with ...

A new set of guidelines has been developed to assist with the diagnosis and expert management of serious blood cancers in pregnancy. About 12.5 pregnancies per 100,000 are affected by blood cancers such as acute leukaemia and aggressive lymphomas, and their incidence has been rising. Between 1994 and 2013, they increased by 2.7 per cent a year, due to factors including women having children later, improved diagnostic techniques, and increased health system engagement. An Australian working group has now published a new position statement in the latest edition of The Lancet Haematology, based on current evidence and expert consensus. It ...

Biologists at Indiana University Bloomington have shown that the surfaces of plant leaves are coated with a diverse array of RNA molecules. The finding suggests that the RNA present on the leaf surface may play a role in shaping the microbial communities that inhabit them, potentially influencing plant health and interactions within their environment, according to a new study. The study, Diverse plant RNAs coat Arabidopsis leaves and are distinct from apoplastic RNAs, was published Jan. 3, 2025 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The first authors are Lucía ...

Urban sprawl is not just unsightly. It could also be impeding intergenerational mobility for low-income residents and reinforcing racial inequality, according to a series of recent studies led by a University of Utah geographer. One analysis of tract-level Census data co-authored with a former economics graduate student in the U’s College of Social & Behavioral Science found that people who grew up in high-sprawl neighborhoods have less earning potential than those who grew in denser neighborhoods. “For adults, jobs are harder to access in more sprawling neighborhoods,” said Kelsey Carlston, now an assistant professor of economics at Gonzaga University. “If we ...

Raymond Y. Huang, MD, Ph.D., of the Department of Radiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is the corresponding author of a paper published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, “Comparative Analysis of Intracranial Response Assessment Criteria in Patients With Melanoma Brain Metastases Treated With Combination Nivolumab + Ipilimumab in CheckMate 204.” How would you summarize your study for a lay audience? Our study examines how different imaging criteria can be used to assess brain tumor responses ...

Go faster, farther, more efficiently.  That’s the goal driving spacecraft propulsion engineers like Chen Cui, a new assistant professor at the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science. Cui is exploring ways to improve electric propulsion thrusters — a key technology for future space missions. “In order to ensure the technology remains viable for long-term missions, we need to optimize EP integration with spacecraft systems,” Cui said. Working with his former adviser, University of Southern California professor Joseph Wang, ...

A new study from UCLA Health adds to the growing body of evidence on the cognitive benefits of speaking multiple languages, finding that multilingualism not only enhances general cognitive abilities but also may help reduce certain symptoms and bolster control of daily thoughts and actions in children with and without autism.  The study, published in the journal Autism Research, found parents of autistic and non-autistic children in multilingual households reported their children had stronger overall executive ...

Link to full release: https://www.washington.edu/news/2025/01/03/galaxy-carbon-conveyer-belt/   FROM: James Urton University of Washington 206-543-2580 jurton@uw.edu   (Note: researcher contact information at the end)   For immediate release Friday, Jan. 3, 2025   The carbon in our bodies probably left the galaxy and came back on cosmic ‘conveyer belt’   Life on Earth could not exist without carbon. But carbon itself could not exist without stars. Nearly all elements except hydrogen and ...

Since its discovery in the 1990s, “programmed cell death protein 1,” or PD-1, has been regarded as a leading target in cancer treatments. A “checkpoint” receptor that often resides on the surface of immune system cells, the PD-1 molecule works as a type of off switch that keeps immune cells from attacking other cells. After its discovery, which revolutionized oncology and earned a 2018 Nobel Prize, researchers developed new drugs to block PD-1 and unleash the body’s immune system to fight cancer. Yet treatments leveraging PD-1 are only effective in a small fraction of cancer patients, highlighting ...

A NASA X-ray imager is heading to the Moon as part of NASA's Artemis campaign, where it will capture the first global images of the magnetic field that shields Earth from solar radiation. The Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager, or LEXI, instrument is one of 10 payloads aboard the next lunar delivery through NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative, set to launch from the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida no earlier than mid-January, with Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Lander. The instrument will support ...

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) have attracted extensive attention due to their high safety, abundant reserves, and environmental friendliness. Iodine with high abundance in seawater (55 μg L−1) is highly promising to fabricate zinc-iodine batteries due to high theoretical capacity (211 mAh g−1) and appropriate redox potential (0.54 V). However, the low electrical conductivity of iodine hinders the redox conversion for the efficient energy storage process with zinc. Additionally, the formed soluble polyiodides are prone to migirate to Zn anode, leading to capacity degration and ...

The American Meteorological Society continuously publishes research on climate, weather, and water in its 12 journals. Many of these articles are available for early online access–they are peer-reviewed, but not yet in their final published form. Below is a selection of articles published early online recently. Some articles are open-access; to view others, members of the media can contact kpflaumer@ametsoc.org for press login credentials. JOURNAL ARTICLES The Impact of Snowoff Timing and Associated Atmospheric Drivers on the Alaska Wildfire Season Earth Interactions Earlier ...

AURORA, Colo. (Jan. 3, 2025) – A first of its kind study, published today in Pediatrics, has provided full-picture assessment of youth homelessness in Denver, Colorado. The findings reveal that nearly 25% of youth in Denver experienced homelessness or housing insecurity in 2021, with rates increasing almost every year since 2017. Researchers across Colorado, led by Josh Barocas, MD and resident Matthew Westfall, MD of the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, combined multiple data sources for youth aged 14 to 17 in the City of Denver, to estimate the total number ...

The synchronization function of quantum memories can be employed to connect multiple short-distance entanglement into long-distance entanglement, so that to effectively overcome the transmission loss of photons and enable the construction of large-scale quantum networks. The rare-earth ions doped crystals is a candidate system for implementation of quantum memories with excellent performances, and integrated solid-state quantum memories have been successfully demonstrated with various micro- and nano- fabrication techniques. All previous demonstrations of integrated quantum memories for light are limited to the storage ...

University of Arizona researchers have revealed new insights into one of the most common complications faced by Parkinson's disease patients: uncontrollable movements that develop after years of treatment. Parkinson's disease – a neurological disorder of the brain that affects a person's movement – develops when the level of dopamine, a chemical in the brain that's responsible for bodily movements, begins to dwindle. To counter the loss of dopamine, a drug called levodopa is administered and later gets converted into dopamine in the brain. However, long-term treatment with levodopa induces ...

About The Study: In this cohort study, prenatal exposure to glucocorticoids was associated with higher risk of some mental disorders. These data support continued caution in the use of glucocorticoids in pregnant people. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Kristina Laugesen, PhD, email kristina.laugesen@clin.au.dk. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.53245) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions ...

About The Study: In this survey-based cross-sectional study of U.S. physician practices, social risk screening increased substantially from 2017 to 2022, although still less than one-third of practices systematically screened for a set of 5 common social risks (food, housing, utilities, interpersonal violence, and transportation). What remains to be seen is whether practices use these data to help improve patient health by adjusting health care or referring patients for assistance with social needs. As policies and incentives increasingly emphasize social risk screening, it will be important to assess the association of screening and referrals with patient ...