TORONTO, May 22, 2024 – Community science volunteers – laypeople with an interest in bees and conservation – significantly contribute to the scientific knowledge of native bumble bees across Canada and the United States, finds a new study by York University. It’s buzz worthy confirmation that community science programs can play an important role in monitoring the changing distributions of bumble bees and more. Community scientists have importantly also detected several at-risk or endangered species in unexpected locations, including the rusty-patched bumble bee and the gypsy cuckoo bumble bee. Trained scientists often haven’t seen some ...

Location, race and insurance status play a significant part in the odds of a patient being diagnosed with early-stage or late-stage cancer, according to a detailed medical records analysis of more than 94,000 patients with cancer by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center. Patients who lived farther away from a facility designated a comprehensive cancer center (CCC) by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and who received only a diagnosis or only treatment at the center had higher than average odds of a late-stage diagnosis, ...

Surgery involving sentinel lymph node biopsy for middle-aged women with estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer may do more harm than good, according to a new study led by University of Pittsburgh and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center researchers. The team used a novel artificial intelligence pipeline developed by Realyze Intelligence, a UPMC Enterprises portfolio company, to analyze electronic health records. The findings, published today in JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics, suggest that clinical guidelines for de-escalating surgery in women aged over 70 years with early-stage ER+ breast cancer may be safely ...

MINNEAPOLIS – People who eat more ultra-processed foods like soft drinks, chips and cookies may have a higher risk of having memory and thinking problems and having a stroke than those who eat fewer processed foods, according to a new study published in the May 22, 2024, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study does not prove that eating ultra-processed foods causes memory and thinking problems and stroke. It only shows an association. Ultra-processed foods are high in added sugar, fat and salt, and low in protein and fiber. They include soft drinks, salty and sugary snacks, ...

MINNEAPOLIS – What factors lead older adults to stop driving? A new study followed older adults who had no memory or thinking problems to examine this question. The study is published in the May 22, 2024, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. “Alzheimer’s disease develops over a long time—people may have a 10- to 15-year period where they have no symptoms, but the disease process is developing in the brain,” said study author Ganesh M. Babulal, PhD, OTD, of Washington University School of Medicine in St. ...

One of the thorniest decisions facing older adults is when to give up their keys and stop driving. A new study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis could provide guidance in helping seniors plan ahead. The researchers found that impaired cognitive function foreshadows the decision for many seniors to stop driving — more so than age or molecular signs of Alzheimer’s disease. Even very slight cognitive changes are a sign that retirement from driving is imminent. Further, women are more likely to stop driving than ...

May 22, 2024 – Irina Petrache, MD, ATSF, today added president of the American Thoracic Society to her list of accomplishments. The announcement came on the heels of the Plenary Session at the ATS 2024 International Conference. The slate of officers to serve on the Society’s Executive Committee for the 2024-2025 term consists of the following:   Irina Petrache, MD, ATSF, Incoming President Dr. Petrache is professor of medicine at National Jewish Health and at the University of Colorado. She also serves as chief of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, associate ...

Contact: Nina Raffio, raffio@usc.edu or (213) 442-8464 Rising sea levels and urban development are accelerating coastal erosion at an alarming rate in Southern California with significant ripple effects on the region’s economy, a USC study reveals. The study, published in Communications Earth & Environment, predicts that Southern California’s coastal living costs will surge fivefold by 2050 as a direct result of beach erosion. This erosion will require more frequent and costly beach nourishment projects to maintain the state’s treasured shorelines, consequently driving up the cost of living along the coast. “Our ...

World renowned pulmonologists and experts in respiratory medicine from the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City will present new research at the American Thoracic Society (ATS) 2024 International Conference in San Diego from May 17–May 22. Please let me know if you would like to coordinate an interview about their work. Mount Sinai doctors and researchers are also available to comment on breaking news and trending topics. Sessions and Symposiums (All abstracts listed below are under embargo until the scheduled start ...

Thousands of years ago, early hunter-gatherers returned regularly to Tagua Tagua Lake in Chile to hunt ancient elephants and take advantage of other local resources, according to a study published May 22, 2024 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Rafael Labarca of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and colleagues. Multiple archaeological sites are known from the region of Tagua Tagua Lake in central Chile, representing some of the earliest known human settlements in the Americas. In this study, Labarca and colleagues report ...

Twitter may be overlooking misinformation "superspreaders" - political pundits, low-credibility media outlets, and influencers who use more toxic language than the typical misinformation spreader ### Article URL:  https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0302201 Article Title: Identifying and characterizing superspreaders of low-credibility content on Twitter Author Countries: USA, UK Funding: This work was supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, and the National Science Foundation (grant ACI-1548562). The funders had no role in study design, data ...

Populations of canola plants genetically engineered to be resistant to herbicides can survive outside of farms, but may be gradually losing their engineered genes, reports a new study led by Cynthia Sagers of Arizona State University, US, published May 22 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE. The hypothesis has been put forward that if any genetically engineered crop plants escape farm fields, they will be short-lived. This would make them unlikely to take over wild areas or spread their inserted genes, called transgenes, to wild populations ...

A famous Mycenaean suit of armor was not just ceremonial, but suitable for extended combat, according to a study published May 22, 2024 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Andreas Flouris of the University of Thessaly, Greece and colleagues. One of the oldest known suits of European armor is a 3500-year-old suit found near the village of Dendra, a few kilometers away from ancient Mycenae. Since its discovery in 1960, it has been unclear if this was a ceremonial suit or if it was suitable for battle. This question has important implications for understanding ...

Breastmilk can promote equitable child health and save healthcare costs by reducing childhood illnesses and healthcare utilization in the early years, according to a new study published this week in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Tomi Ajetunmobi of the Glasgow Centre for Population Health, Scotland, and colleagues. Breastfeeding has previously been found to promote development and prevent disease among infants. In Scotland – as well as other developed countries – low rates of breastfeeding in more economically deprived areas are thought to contribute to inequalities in early childhood health. However, government policies ...

An interview-based study in San Francisco, CA, highlights individual experiences and local trends around fentanyl smoking, deepening understanding of this growing practice. Daniel Ciccarone of the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues present their findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on May 22, 2024. Use of illicitly manufactured fentanyl is associated with high risk of addiction, health issues, and exceptionally high overdose risk. Fentanyl significantly contributes to the escalating rate of drug ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA – For people with paralysis or amputation, neuroprosthetic systems that artificially stimulate muscle contraction with electrical current can help them regain limb function. However, despite many years of research, this type of prosthesis is not widely used because it leads to rapid muscle fatigue and poor control. MIT researchers have developed a new approach that they hope could someday offer better muscle control with less fatigue. Instead of using electricity to stimulate muscles, they used ...

Now that smoking has replaced injecting as the most common way to consume fentanyl, UCSF researchers have uncovered an increased risk of fatal overdose from the residue that accumulates in smoking equipment. The researchers found that people both shared fentanyl resin and consumed it accidentally. This may be increasing the risk of overdose, especially among those who use the equipment to smoke other drugs, like methamphetamine, and have not developed tolerance to opioids like fentanyl. “The risk of overdose when sharing smoking devices with fentanyl resin could be seen as analogous to the risk of shared injection ...

A 3,500-year-old suit of Mycenaean armour may have been used in battle - and not just for ceremonial purposes as previously thought – new research reveals. Researchers worked with a group of Greek military volunteers who wore a replica of the Dendra armour during extended simulations of the rigours of battle. One of the best and most complete examples of Mycenaean-era full-body armour, the bronze panoply was discovered in a tomb in the Greek village of Dendra, by Greek and Swedish archaeologists in the 1960s. But since its discovery, the question has remained ...

Having extra chromosomes is typically an issue for an organism and can disrupt development or cause disease. But some cells benefit instead: For example, cancer cells or pathogenic yeasts can use extra chromosomes to escape treatment and become drug-resistant. A team of researchers from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin has now deciphered how yeasts manage to compensate for the genetic imbalance. Their findings, published in the journal Nature,* could yield new approaches to dealing ...

SAN ANTONIO — May 22, 2024 — Southwest Research Institute will share the latest developments from its ongoing NEXTCAR Phase II project at the 2024 ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit in Dallas (May 22-24). The Institute’s NEXTCAR Program aims to reduce vehicular energy consumption by more than 30% using next generation connected and automated vehicle (CAV) technology. “We are demonstrating real-world next-generation automated driving technology that puts SwRI’s ongoing NEXTCAR energy efficiency research into practice,” said SwRI’s Scott R. Hotz, P.E., director of the Powertrain ...

Background and Aims Three-dimensional power Doppler (3DPD) ultrasound has been used for assessing adnexal masses, and in this study, we aimed to perform a meta-analysis to evaluate its role in the differential diagnosis of adnexal masses.   Methods A search for primary studies assessing the diagnostic performance of 3DPD in discriminating benign from malignant masses carried out between January 1990 and May 2023 was performed in Medline (PubMed), Scopus, and Web of Science databases with study quality evaluated ...

EMBARGOED UNTIL 12:01 a.m. EST Wednesday, May 22, 2024 Contact: Jillian McKoy, jpmckoy@bu.edu Michael Saunders, msaunder@bu.edu ## During extreme rain or rapid snowmelt, the high volume of water that enters sewer systems can cause untreated sewage to flow into waterways in US cities that have combined wastewater and stormwater sewer systems, including the Merrimack River in Massachusetts. A new study led by Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) researchers has found that residents living in the downstream communities that ...

Scientists have uncovered the properties of a rare earth element that was first discovered 80 years ago at the very same laboratory, opening a new pathway for the exploration of elements critical in modern technology, from medicine to space travel. Promethium was discovered in 1945 at Clinton Laboratories, now the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and continues to be produced at ORNL in minute quantities. Some of its properties have remained elusive despite the rare earth element’s ...

We’ve been told, “The eyes are the window to the soul.” Well, windows work two ways. Our eyes are also our windows to the world. What we see and how we see it help determine how we move through the world. In other words, our vision helps guide our actions, including social behaviors. Now, a young Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) scientist has uncovered a major clue into how this works. He did it by building a special AI model of the common fruit fly brain. CSHL Assistant Professor Benjamin Cowley and his team honed their AI model through a technique they developed called “knockout training.” ...

Metals get softer when they are heated, which is how blacksmiths can form iron into complex shapes by heating it red hot. And anyone who compares a copper wire with a steel coat hanger will quickly discern that copper is much more pliable than steel.  But scientists at MIT have discovered that when metal is struck by an object moving at a super high velocity, the opposite happens: The hotter the metal, the stronger it is. Under those conditions, which put extreme stress on the metal, copper can actually be just ...