A groundbreaking study published in Science Advances has revealed promising strategies to significantly improve crop yields by addressing photorespiration, a metabolic process that can reduce productivity by up to 36% in some crops. Researchers from the University of Groningen and Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, working as part of the GAIN4CROPS project (gain4crops.eu), have evaluated several alternative pathways that could help overcome this major agricultural bottleneck. Photorespiration occurs when the enzyme RuBisCO, essential for photosynthesis, reacts with oxygen instead of carbon dioxide, resulting ...

New research shows how small shifts in the molecular makeup of a virus can profoundly alter its fate. These shifts could turn a deadly pathogen into a harmless bug or supercharge a relatively benign virus, influencing its ability to infect humans and cause dangerous outbreaks. This is the latest finding in a series of studies led by Jonathan Abraham, associate professor of microbiology in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School, and his team that aim to understand the risk of western equine encephalitis virus and related viruses. The work, which was supported ...

Key points: Short-term exposure to fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) from a wildfire may increase the risk of emergency department visits for mental health conditions, especially for women, youth, racial minorities, and Medicaid enrollees. The study is among the first to examine the relationship between wildfire-specific PM2.5 and mental health. According to the researchers, the findings highlight the need for targeted interventions to prevent and address increased mental health distress during wildfire seasons, especially ...

Key Points: C. difficile is one of the most common and contagious hospital-acquired infections. Research has found that C. diff spreads more than three times more than previously thought. C. diff can spread covertly from surface to surface and remain undetected for weeks until it infects a patient. IMPACT: The results could spur more rigorous preventive measures that stop hidden spread of the disease. One of the most common health care-associated infections spreads within intensive care units ...

When today’s older adults were growing up, the only way to get information to your doctor or their clinic was a phone call. And getting more than a simple answer probably meant going in for an appointment. But a new study suggests that people in their 50s and older have embraced the ability to send and receive secure medical messages with their doctors and other providers, through the digital patient portals that most health systems and medical offices now offer. The study also suggests that some older adults – including those with very low incomes – find themselves getting billed for ...

About The Study: Wildfire smoke exposure was associated with significantly increased odds of subsequent emergency department visits for mental health conditions in this cross-sectional study, with varying lag times for different subconditions and demographic groups. Health care professionals and systems should prepare for a possible increase in demand for mental health–related emergency services during wildfire events. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Kari C. Nadeau, MD, PhD, email knadeau@hsph.harvard.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.3326) Editor’s ...

About The Study: This systematic scoping review suggests that even though emphasis has been placed on addressing gender inequities in academic medicine, considerable disparities remain at the leadership level. While certain positions and specialties have been observed to have more female leaders, niches of academic medicine almost or completely exclude women from their leadership ranks. Importantly, even female-dominated specialties, such as obstetrics and gynecology, have substantial inequity in leadership roles. It is past time for organizational and systems-level changes to ensure equitable ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Johns Hopkins Medicine scientists say they have found a pattern of so-called epigenetic “marks” in a transition state between normal and pancreatic cancer cells in mice, and that the normal cells may keep at least a temporary “memory” of those cancer-linked marks.  Epigenetic marks are chemical modifications that help regulate genetic expression without directly altering DNA sequence in the makeup of genes. While the genetic code is like a computer’s hardware, epigenetics involves chemical marks on top of the genetic code that act as software programing in a computer.  The ...

“This case underscores the rare coexistence of serous cystadenofibroma in one ovary and collision features involving serous and mucinous cysts in the contralateral ovary, a combination scarcely reported in the literature.” BUFFALO, NY — April 4, 2025— A new case report was published in Oncoscience’s Volume 12 on March 31, 2025, titled “Cystadenofibroma and contralateral collision lesions: A unique ovarian case report.” Authored by Dr. Naina Kumar and colleagues from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, the report presents a highly unusual case involving two different types of benign ovarian tumors in ...

Embargoed for release until 10:00 a.m. ET on Friday 4 April 2025 Embargoed Content from the Annals of Internal Medicine Breaking News Scientific Plenary at Internal Medicine 2025 Annals of Internal Medicine Tip Sheet      @Annalsofim     Below please find summaries of new articles that will be published in the next issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The summaries are not intended to substitute for the full articles as a source of information. This information is under strict embargo and by taking it into possession, media representatives are committing to the terms of the embargo not only on their own behalf, ...

Do physicians or artificial intelligence (AI) offer better treatment recommendations for patients examined through a virtual urgent care setting? A new Cedars-Sinai study shows physicians and AI models have distinct strengths. The late-breaking study presented at the American College of Physicians Internal Medicine Meeting and published simultaneously in the Annals of Internal Medicine compared initial AI treatment recommendations to final recommendations of physicians who had access to the AI recommendations but may or ...

ACP and Annals of Internal Medicine present breaking scientific news at ACP’s Internal Medicine Meeting 2025    Authors discuss research on AI in the exam room, switching GLP1-RAs for better glucose and weight control, and ACP’s best practice advice for the use of cannabis and cannabinoids for noncancer pain     NEW ORLEANS, April 4, 2025 – Today at the American College of Physicians (ACP) annual meeting, Internal Medicine Meeting 2025, in New Orleans, Annals of Internal Medicine presented three breaking scientific research articles during a live plenary session featuring the authors of those articles. The articles were published in ...

New Study Reveals Polymers with Flawed Fillers Boost Heat Transfer in Plastics The UMass Amherst-led team challenges the conventional wisdom that perfect fillers are better for making thermally conductive polymers AMHERST, Mass. — In the quest to design the next generation of materials for modern devices – ones that are lightweight, flexible and excellent at dissipating heat – a team of researchers led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst made a discovery: imperfection has its upsides. This research, published in Science Advances, ...

Milan, Italy – 4 April 2025. Recognising and detecting the signs that commonly precede sudden arrhythmic death syndrome (SADS) may help to prevent premature deaths, according to research presented today at ESC Preventive Cardiology 2025,1 a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).  “SADS has not been well evaluated despite being one of the most common underlying causes of sudden cardiac death in young people, including young athletes,” said study author Dr. Matilda Frisk Torell of Sahlgrenska Academy - University of Gothenburg, Sweden. “We conducted an analysis of a large cohort of cases of sudden cardiac death in Sweden to ...

Antibiotic resistance is a global health challenge that could overtake cancer mortality within a few decades. In a new study, researchers at Umeå University, Sweden, show that the emergence of resistance can be understood in the mechanism of how bacteria build up defences against being infected by viruses. It is about genes in the bacterium that interfere with the attacking virus's ability to multiply. "A key to antibiotic resistance might be the use of viruses to kill bacteria, however, the systems that bacteria employ to defence themselves against viruses are unknown. Understanding these ...

Milan, Italy – 4 April 2025. Women who have experienced pre-eclampsia have accelerated accumulation of cardiovascular (CV) risk factors compared with women who had pregnancies without pre-eclampsia according to research presented today at ESC Preventive Cardiology 2025,1 a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).  Pre-eclampsia typically affects 2−5% of pregnant women and is broadly defined as the development of hypertension and high protein levels in the urine of a woman with previously normal blood pressure.2 ...

University of Warwick astronomers have discovered an extremely rare, high mass, compact binary star system only ~150 light years away. These two stars are on a collision course to explode as a type 1a supernova, appearing 10 times brighter than the moon in the night sky.   Type 1a supernovae are a special class of cosmic explosion, famously used as ‘standard candles’ to measure distances between Earth and their host galaxies. They occur when a white dwarf (the dense remnant core of a star) accumulates too much mass, is unable to withstand its own ...

Storm forecasting is traditionally based on studying atmospheric conditions but ground-breaking research that also looks at land surface conditions is set to transform early warning systems in tropical regions. This will enable communities to better adapt to the destructive impacts of climate change. The new study led by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) has shown that a large contrast in soil moisture levels over a range of hundreds of kilometres results in atmospheric changes that increase rainfall area and amount in several megastorm hotspots globally. This increase ranges from 10 to 30% depending on the region and size ...

A novel cell therapy approach using cord blood-derived natural killer (NK) cells pre-complexed with AFM13, or acimtamig, a CD30/CD16A bispecific antibody, was safe and generated strong response rates for patients with refractory CD30-positive lymphomas, according to a new study from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Results from the Phase I trial, published today in Nature Medicine, demonstrated an overall response rate of 92.9% and a complete response of 66.7% in 42 heavily pretreated patients. These findings ...

Milan, Italy – 4 April 2025. Two plant-based diets were associated with similar survival benefits and low environmental impact, according to research presented today at ESC Preventive Cardiology 2025,1 a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).  Diet contributes significantly to cardiovascular disease mortality, with estimates indicating that across the European region, one in every five premature deaths could be prevented by an optimised diet.2   “In 2019, the Planetary Health Diet (PHD) was developed to optimise global dietary quality while keeping the environmental impacts of food production within sustainable planetary ...

SS 705 provides a first-of-its-kind Singapore-developed assessment to test the effectiveness of antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral potency, as well as durability of surface disinfectants and coatings. Enables manufacturers to verify claims, regulators to set baselines and consumers to make safer, more informed choices. Singapore, 4 April 2025—As public awareness of hygiene and infection control grows in a post-pandemic world, Singapore has launched a strategic national standard to strengthen public health and industry accountability in the rapidly expanding disinfectant market. Jointly ...

The Xpert MTB/Ultra molecular diagnostic test for stool samples, until now recommended only for children, could be established as an additional test for diagnosing tuberculosis in adults living with HIV. This is the main conclusion of the Stool4TB Alliance study, led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), an institution supported by the ”la Caixa” Foundation, in collaboration with the Manhiça Health Research Centre (CISM), the Research Center Borstel, the Makerere University, the Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation – Eswatini, ...

An 11-year-old neutered male Asian small-clawed otter fell down the stairs while sleeping, after which it developed left-sided paralysis. Initial treatment involved once daily administration of prednisolone at 0.5 mg/kg. Despite slight clinical sign improvements by day 10, paralysis persisted. MRI (T2WI) identified a well-defined, hyper-intense lesion on the left side within the spinal cord at the C2-3 intervertebral level. Based on CT and MRI findings, fibrocartilaginous embolus (FCE) was suspected. Prednisolone was then tapered and by day 23 of illness, the otter was able to walk ...

Fluids play a crucial role in industrial processes like cooling, heating, and mixing. Traditionally, most industries would utilize Newtonian fluids—which have a constant viscosity—for such processes. However, many are now adopting viscoelastic fluids, which can behave as both liquids and elastic materials. These fluids can suppress turbulence in simple flows like straight pipes or channels, leading to reduced wall friction. This “drag reduction effect” has attracted significant interest due to its potential to enhance energy efficiency. To advance the industrial applications ...

Retired people who habitually exercise are more able to fight the impacts of mental fatigue, new research suggests.   In a paper published in the Journal of Aging and Physical Activity, a team of researchers from the University of Birmingham and the University of Extremadura in Spain worked with groups of adults to find out whether age would increase, and regular exercise would decrease the impact of mental fatigue on a series of cognitive and physical performance tests.   In the first study, sedentary men between 65 and 79 performed worse in cognitive and physical tests compared to 52-64 year olds, with these ...