SAN ANTONIO — April 8, 2025 – Southwest Research Institute has launched a new markerless motion capture system that simplifies how film and gaming studios capture human movement for 3D animations. SwRI’s Biomechanical Evaluation and Animation Motion Capture (BEAMoCap™) tool converts video into realistic 3D animations without the conventional marker suits worn by actors. BEAMoCap won a 2025 Technology Innovation Award from the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). SwRI staff accepted the award at ...

Xiamen University (XMU) has joined the Bentham Science Institutional Membership Program. This membership enables XMU researchers to publish their articles as Open Access under the CC-BY 4.0 license at concessionary rates in any Bentham Science journal. Through collaborations with institutions and organizations worldwide, Bentham Science is committed to promoting open research and fostering scientific advancements in science, medicine, and technology. Xiamen University (XMU), founded in 1921, is a prestigious comprehensive university ...

Two mixtures of common food additives, including aspartame, sucralose, xanthan & guar gums, modified starches, carrageenan and citric acid, are linked with slightly increased risk of type II diabetes, per French cohort study of more than 100,000 adults   In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available paper in PLOS Medicine: https://plos.io/3RkrNLv   Article title: Food additive mixtures and type 2 diabetes incidence: Results from the NutriNet-Santé prospective cohort Author countries: France Funding: see manuscript END ...

Food additive mixtures are an everyday feature of our diets, especially through ultra-processed foods. Until recently, safety evaluations of these additives have been conducted substance by substance due to a lack of data on the effect of them ingested together. In a new study, researchers from Inserm, INRAE, Sorbonne Paris Nord University, Paris Cité University and Cnam, as part of the Nutritional Epidemiology Research Team (CRESS-EREN), examined the possible links between exposure to mixtures of ...

Though the sense of touch underlies how we and most other animals interact with the world around us, much remains unknown about how this sense is processed in the brain. Researchers from Heidelberg University and Ludwig Maximillan University Munich in Germany measured the neuronal activity differences between active touch and passive touch in mice. As reported April 8th in the open-access journal, PLOS Biology, the researchers find that active and passive touch are processed by different pathways in the brain. Active touch can be thought of as grabbing something with your hand, while passive ...

University of Florida scientists have helped identify a novel drug compound that selectively activates pain-altering receptors in the body, offering a potentially safer alternative to conventional pain medications. In a new study published in Nature Communications, researchers describe how this drug compound provides pain relief without the dangerous side effects commonly associated with opioids administered to patients. The National Institutes of Health funded the study. The human body relies on three kinds of opioid receptors to regulate pain, much like traffic control systems on a busy highway. Understanding these pathways ...

Tuesday, April 8, 2025, Cleveland: A Cleveland Clinic-led clinical trial of tolebrutinib, an investigational oral Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor, a group of drugs originally developed to treat lymphomas and related blood disorders, demonstrated a 31% delay in the onset of six-month confirmed disability progression (CDP) in patients with non-relapsing secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS). The first peer-reviewed results of the Phase 3 HERCULES trial published online today in the New England Journal of Medicine and were simultaneously presented during a clinical trials plenary session at the American Academy of Neurology 2025 ...

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is lauding a Community Review Board after it voted unanimously on Monday to reject a merger between Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), which houses one of seven primate research centers left in the United States, and Legacy Health. “Instead of showing a real focus on patient care and ethical behavior, OHSU has been wasting money on drug, alcohol, and sex experiments on monkeys, and the public knows it,” said Neal Barnard, MD, FACC, ...

Philadelphia, April 8, 2025 – In the first comprehensive, cell-by-cell analysis of brain tissue from individuals with Tourette syndrome, researchers have pinpointed exactly which cells are perturbed and how they malfunction, revealing how different types of brain cells are affected by the condition. Findings from this groundbreaking study in Biological Psychiatry, published by Elsevier, provide unprecedented insights into the interplay of different brain cell types in Tourette syndrome, suggesting new therapeutic directions. What makes this study particularly groundbreaking ...

Experimental drug NU-9 — a small molecule compound approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for clinical trials for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) — improves neuron health in animal models of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new Northwestern University study. Like ALS, Alzheimer’s disease also results from misfolded proteins that damage brain health. Rather than treating symptoms from specific diseases, NU-9 instead addresses the underlying mechanisms of disease. Results from the new study give scientists hope that the drug should demonstrate effectiveness in the common ...

A recent publication in the International Journal of Cardiology, Pulmonary artery denervation in pulmonary hypertension: A comprehensive meta-analysis, has shed light on the potential of pulmonary artery denervation (PADN) as an innovative intervention for pulmonary hypertension (PH), a condition that places patients at risk for right heart failure and death. Co-authored by Dr. James Jenkins, a cardiologist at Ochsner Health, the study analyzed data from multiple clinical trials to assess the therapeutic and clinical impact of PADN ...

CHARLOTTE, April 8, 2025 — The American Heart Association and The David & Nicole Tepper Foundation (DNTF) have teamed up to increase bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) education through the Association’s Nation of Lifesavers™ movement. DNTF’s $600,000 commitment to support training in Charlotte youth sports will help prepare coaches, athletes and sports leagues officials to respond immediately and appropriately in a cardiac emergency situation. DNTF’s gift will also support CPR education within the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Department as well as affordable housing communities. “This ...

New research from Weill Cornell Medicine has uncovered a surprising culprit underlying cardiovascular diseases in obesity and diabetes—not the presence of certain fats, but their suppression. The study, published Feb. 25 in Nature Communications, challenges the conventional belief that a type of fat called ceramides accumulates in blood vessels causing inflammation and health risks. Instead, their findings reveal that when ceramides decrease in endothelial cells lining blood vessels, it can be damaging and cause chronic illnesses. Ironically, the findings ...

Oak Brook, IL (USA) – The Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS) is pleased to announce Vasumitra “Vasu” Rao, M.S., Ph.D. candidate in the Biomedical Engineering program at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA), as the 2025 SLAS Graduate Education Fellowship Grant recipient. Rao’s innovative work at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI), laboratory automation and microbiology exemplifies SLAS’s mission to support emerging leaders in quantitative biosciences through the grant. The awarded funding will enable Rao to continue his research under advisor Paul Jensen, Ph.D. (Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering) ...

  WORLD’S LARGEST STUDY REVEALS THE LONG-TERM HEALTH IMPACTS OF FLOODING The world’s largest and most comprehensive study of the long-term health impacts of flooding – via analysis of over 300 million hospitalizations records in eight countries prone to flooding events – has found an increased risk of 26 per cent of all diseases serious enough to require hospitalization. This impact on the health of communities lasts up to seven months post event. The study, led by Monash University researchers, and published in the journal, Nature Water, found that flooding events – which are increasing globally due to climate change ...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories is helping a tech company test a bright new idea for cooling computers. Minnesota-based startup Maxwell Labs has entered into a cooperative research and development agreement with Sandia and the University of New Mexico to demonstrate laser-based photonic cooling for computer chips. The company is pioneering the new technology to regulate the temperature of chips, significantly lower the power consumption and increase the efficiency of conventional air and water-based systems. “About 30 to 40 percent of the energy data centers use is spent on cooling,” said Raktim Sarma, the ...

Bottom Line: The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends providing interventions or referrals, during pregnancy and after birth, to support breastfeeding. The association between breastfeeding and health benefits in children has been previously well established; health benefits have also been found for women who breastfeed. However, breastfeeding rates in the U.S. are relatively modest; as of 2021, 59.8% of infants at age 6 months are breastfed and 27.2% of infants at that age are exclusively breastfed. The USPSTF routinely makes recommendations about the ...

CHICAGO – The 2025 AACR-Margaret Foti Award for Leadership and Extraordinary Achievements in Cancer Research will be presented to William N. Hait, MD, PhD, Fellow of the AACR Academy, during the AACR Annual Meeting 2025, to be held April 25-30 at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago, Illinois. Hait served as the global head of Janssen Research and Development and was the executive vice president, chief of external innovation, and medical safety and global public health officer at Johnson & Johnson prior to his retirement in 2024. He is being recognized with this award for his extensive ...

The idea that dinosaurs were already in decline before an asteroid wiped most of them out 66 million years ago may be explained by a worsening fossil record from that time rather than a genuine dwindling of dinosaur species, suggests a new study led by UCL researchers. The study, published in Current Biology, analysed the fossil record of North America in the 18 million years up to the asteroid impact at the end of the Cretaceous period (between 66 and 84 million years ago). Taken at face value, these fossils - more than 8,000 of them - suggest the number of dinosaur species peaked about 75 million years ago and then declined in the nine million years leading up to the ...

WASHINGTON, April 8, 2025 – Tens of billions of kilograms of coffee are consumed around the world each year. However, due to its very specific agricultural needs, coffee can be difficult to cultivate, and ongoing climate change threatens its growth. To efficiently meet the high demand for coffee grounds, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania worked to optimize their use in pour-over coffee. They presented their suggestions in Physics of Fluids, by AIP Publishing. “What we recommend is making the pour height as high as possible, while still maintaining a laminar ...

About The Study: In this mixed-methods qualitative study of hospital patients discharged to rehabilitation centers, significant disparities in denials for admission were observed among survivors of violence, who were disproportionally Black or Hispanic. Stigmatizing language found in medical records suggested that bias within the referral process may have contributed to these disparities. These findings underscore the need for reformed clinical documentation practices and enhanced oversight of ...

About The Study: In the PREDIMED-Plus trial, an energy-reduced Mediterranean diet and physical activity lifestyle intervention mitigated weight loss– and age-related bone mineral density decline among older women with metabolic syndrome compared with conventional ad libitum Mediterranean diet recommendations. Weight-loss lifestyle interventions with longer follow-up are warranted in the future to confirm these results in relation to bone health. Corresponding author: To contact the corresponding authors, email Jesús F. García-Gavilán, Ph.D. (jesusfrancisco.garcia@urv.cat), and Jordi Salas-Salvadó, ...

April 8, 2025  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Every day, millions of Americans make health care decisions without enough information to fully understand the trade-offs between approaches to care and make informed choices for themselves or their families. To help address these information gaps, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) has announced funding for new patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) studies across a range of conditions. These studies will help provide patients and caregivers with the evidence needed to make more informed health and health care decisions and more effectively manage their health. Research ...

PULLMAN, Wash. – A new way to watch catalytic reactions happen at the molecular level in real time could lead to better fundamental understanding and planning of the important reactions used in countless manufacturing processes every day. A team of researchers from Washington State University and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) used a new probing technique to look at the surface of iron as it was exposed to oxygen to find out what makes one catalyst work better than another. The work is reported in the journal, Angewandte Chemie. It could eventually help engineers tune reactions better and develop new catalysts ...

“These advancements, by providing more reliable and efficient diagnostic tools, may significantly impact clinical practice by addressing the ever-growing clinical demand and work pressure, while maintaining interpretability and clinical relevance.” BUFFALO, NY – April 8, 2025 – A new editorial was published in Oncotarget, Volume 16, on April 4, 2025, titled “Deep learning-based uncertainty quantification for quality assurance in hepatobiliary imaging-based techniques.” Dr. ...