Philadelphia, February 20, 2025 – Researchers from the Mitochondrial Medicine Program at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have better characterized a spectrum of what were classically considered discrete mitochondrial DNA deletion disease syndromes. The findings offer new insights into genetic causes, potential symptoms, and disease progression, and may inform future clinical trial development. The findings were published today in the journal Genetics in Medicine. Mitochondrial disease refers to a group of disorders that affect the mitochondria, which are tiny compartments present in almost every cell of the body that ...

A longer paternity leave after the birth of a child can improve the co-parenting relationship between moms and dads in a key way, a new study finds.   Researchers found that mothers were less likely to discourage fathers’ involvement in parenting if the dads had taken more time off after their child was born.   “When fathers take longer leaves, mothers might take that as a sign that fathers are more interested in being an active parent and be less likely to try to prevent them from participating in child care,” said Reed Donithen, ...

DANVERS, Mass., February 20, 2025 – Johnson & Johnson MedTech, the global leader in heart recovery, is proud to celebrate the inaugural National Heart Recovery Awareness Day today, February 20. Recognized through a U.S. Congressional resolution, this designation will help increase awareness of heart health and how innovative medical technology helps patients return home to their families – with their native heart. There are events taking place across the country where patients are sharing their stories, including heart recovery reunions and sessions to educate healthcare providers, which underscore the impact that heart recovery has ...

An inhalable medicine with the potential to improve lung disease in people with cystic fibrosis, irrespective of their mutation type, is being tested in human trials in the UK and Europe.   Cystic fibrosis (CF) is caused by defects in the CFTR gene, which causes a buildup of thick sticky mucus in the lungs and digestive system. It causes lung infections and gradually affects the ability to breathe. The new lentiviral vector-based gene therapy works by inserting a functioning copy of the CFTR gene in the DNA of the epithelial cells in a patient’s airway.  At ...

Plasma arc cutting (PAC) is a thermal cutting technique widely used in manufacturing applications such as shipbuilding, aerospace, fabrication, nuclear plants decommissioning, construction industry, and the automotive industry. In this process, a jet of plasma or ionized gas is ejected at high speeds, which melts and subsequently removes unwanted parts of materials from electrically conductive workpieces such as metals. The plasma jet is typically produced in two steps: pressuring a gas through a small nozzle hole and generating an electric arc via power supply. Remarkably, the introduced arc ionizes ...

Hypertension (high blood pressure) is a debilitating condition and a major cause of premature death worldwide. Chronic stress plays a significant role, but the underlying mechanism involving biochemical pathways by which stress leads to hypertension has not been well understood. Understanding these pathways could lead to the development of therapeutic agents to combat hypertension. Now, a new study from Juntendo University, Japan, led by Professor Hidefumi Waki, Dr. Keisuke Tomita, and Dr. Ko Yamanaka, published online in the journal Acta Physiologica on January 13, 2025, has shown that voluntary ...

A critically endangered species of shark could be forced to adapt to new habitats – or face extinction – as a result of changes in the ocean predicted to occur as a result of climate change, a new study has suggested. The whitefin swellshark (Cephaloscyllium albipinnum) is a species of catshark found in deeper waters just off Australia’s south and east coasts. Its precise population numbers are uncertain, but the species has been assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as Critically ...

The American Cancer Society (ACS) today released Cancer Statistics for African American and Black People, 2025. According to the report, the cancer mortality rate declined from 1991 to 2022 by 49% and 33% in Black men and women, respectively, in the United States. However, African American and Black people continue to have a disproportionately elevated cancer burden compared to other population groups. According to the study, the risk of cancer death for Black individuals is two-fold that of White individuals for myeloma, prostate, uterine corpus (endometrial), and stomach cancers, and 40%-50% higher for colorectal, ...

Statement Highlights: Although people with cardiovascular abnormalities have previously been considered ineligible for competitive sports participation, new evidence indicates that athletes of all ages who have certain heart abnormalities or diseases may often safely participate in competitive sports. A new joint scientific statement from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology emphasizes the need for shared decision-making between athletes and their clinicians, and provides guidance for health care professionals about how to assess risk when considering competitive sports participation for people with various cardiovascular conditions. More ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- RNA splicing is a cellular process that is critical for gene expression. After genes are copied from DNA into messenger RNA, portions of the RNA that don’t code for proteins, called introns, are cut out and the coding portions are spliced back together.  This process is controlled by a large protein-RNA complex called the spliceosome. MIT biologists have now discovered a new layer of regulation that helps to determine which sites on the messenger RNA molecule the spliceosome will target.  The research team discovered ...

Acid reducing medicines from the group of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are best-selling drugs that prevent and alleviate stomach problems. PPIs are activated in the acid-producing cells of the stomach, where they block acid production. Researchers at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) made the surprising discovery that zinc-carrying proteins, which are found in all cells, can also activate PPIs – without the presence of gastric acid. The result could be a key to understanding the side effects of PPIs. Excessive gastric acid can cause not only heartburn, but also chronic complaints such as gastritis or even a stomach ...

A new paper updates an EMBL technology advance even further.  More details about the original technology can be found in our initial reporting here.  EMBL tech developers have made an important leap forward with a novel methodology that adds an important microscopy capability to life scientists’ toolbox. The advance represents a 1,000-fold improvement in speed and throughput in Brillouin microscopy and provides a way to view light-sensitive organisms more efficiently. “We were on a quest to speed up image acquisition,” said Carlo Bevilacqua, lead author on ...

Researchers including those from the University of Tokyo developed Deep Nanometry, an analytical technique combining advanced optical equipment with a noise removal algorithm based on unsupervised deep learning. Deep Nanometry can analyze nanoparticles in medical samples at high speed, making it possible to accurately detect even trace amounts of rare particles. This has proven its potential for detecting extracellular vesicles indicating early signs of colon cancer, and it is hoped that it can be applied to other medical and industrial fields. Did you know your ...

Toronto, ON - Preteens who spend more time on screens are more likely to develop manic symptoms years two-years later, according to a new study published in Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. The findings reveal that 10- to 11-year-olds who engage heavily with social media, video games, texting, and videos show a greater risk of symptoms such as inflated self-esteem, decreased need for sleep, distractibility, rapid speech, racing thoughts, and impulsivity — behaviors characteristic of manic episodes, a key feature of bipolar-spectrum disorders. “Adolescence is a particularly ...

Fukuoka, Japan—How are stars born, and has it always been this way? Stars form in regions of space known as stellar nurseries, where high concentrations of gas and dust coalesce to form a baby star. Also called molecular clouds, these regions of space can be massive, spanning hundreds of light-years and forming thousands of stars. And while we know much about the life cycle of a star thanks to advances in technology and observational tools, precise details remain obscure. For example, did stars form this way in the early universe? Publishing in The Astrophysical Journal, researchers from Kyushu University, in collaboration with Osaka Metropolitan ...

Blood pressure drug could be a safer alternative for treating ADHD symptoms, finds study    Repurposing amlodipine, a commonly used blood pressure medicine, could help manage attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, according to an international study involving the University of Surrey.    In a study published in Neuropsychopharmacology, researchers tested five potential drugs in rats bred to exhibit ADHD-like symptoms. Among them, only amlodipine, a common blood pressure medication, significantly reduced hyperactivity.    To ...

WASHINGTON (Feb. 20, 2025)--A new study analyzes the disease burden and the risk factors for severity among people who suffer from a condition called cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome. Researchers at the George Washington University say the condition occurs in people who are long-term regular consumers of cannabis and causes nausea, uncontrollable vomiting and excruciating pain in a cyclical pattern that often leads to repeated trips to the hospital.   “This is one of the first large studies to examine the burden of disease associated with this cannabis-linked syndrome,” says Andrew Meltzer, professor of emergency medicine ...

Cardiac arrhythmias affect millions across the world and are responsible for a fifth of all deaths in the Netherlands. Currently there are multiple treatment options, ranging from life-long medication to invasive surgical procedures. Research from Amsterdam UMC and Johns Hopkins University, published today in the European Heart Journal, sets another important step in the hunt for a one-off gene therapy that could improve heart function and protect against arrhythmias. "Arrhythmias often occur due to slowing of conduction of the electrical impulse through the heart. Rapid impulse conduction is needed for ...

With less annual rainfall than 1 mm per year, Chile’s Atacama Desert is one of the driest places in the world. The main water source of cities in the region are underground rock layers that contain water-filled pore spaces which last recharged between 17,000 and 10,000 years ago. Now, local researchers have assessed if ‘fog harvesting,’ a method where fog water is collected and saved, is a feasible way to provide the residents of informal settlements with much needed water. “This research represents a notable shift in the ...

Oxysterols are a class of molecules derived from cholesterol via oxidation or as byproducts of cholesterol synthesis. Despite their relatively low concentration within our bodies, oxysterols are known to play many important biological roles, acting as transcriptional regulators, precursors for bile acid, and key players in brain development. On the flip side, some pathologies are associated with imbalances in oxysterols. In particular, 25-hydroxycholesterol (25-OHC) has been shown to contribute to arteriosclerosis, cancer development, central nervous system ...

Growing plants can be a joyous, yet frustrating process as plants require a delicate balance of nutrients, sun, and water to be productive.  Phosphorus and nitrogen, which are essential for plant growth, are often supplemented by chemical fertilizers to assure proper balance and output of produce. However, the amount of these nutrients on the planet is increasing due to excessive use, which in turn is causing various environmental problems. For this reason, there is a growing movement to promote sustainable agriculture through the recycling of phosphorus and nitrogen. In Japan, a target has been ...

Studying the social behavior of animals in their natural environments is necessary for advancing our understanding of neurological processes. To achieve this, tracking multiple individuals simultaneously and accurately as they interact in shared spaces is crucial. Traditional multi-animal tracking systems, such as multi-animal DeepLabCut (maDLC) and Social LEAP Estimates Animal Poses (SLEAP), use frame-by-frame identification to predict movements without the need for markers. While these tools effectively track poses, such as head direction, in simple scenarios, ...

Air pollution is a global environmental problem with serious impacts on human health, climate change, and ecological systems. In China, rapid development in the last several decades has led to a drastic increase in coal consumption and the number of vehicles. As a result, air pollution in China is complicated by the coexistence of high concentrations of primary and secondary trace gases and aerosol particles from multiple sources.   Air pollution complex is a term used to characterize the formation mechanisms of air pollution, and was first proposed by Professor Xiaoyan Tang in 1997. A better understanding of these complex mechanisms is critical for meeting the urgent societal ...

This study is led by Dr. Lianyong Han and Dr. Tobias Stoeger in Germany (Institute of Lung Health and Immunity (LHI), Comprehensive Pneumology Center (CPC), Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health). By analyzing multiple emphysema and COPD patient datasets, SPP1 is significantly upregulated in the lungs of patients, compared to healthy individuals. “These findings pointed out the clinical relevance of SPP1 induction during COPD development and has motivated us to understand their contributions ...

With New Year resolutions in full swing and health tracking apps at our fingertips, new research reveals concerning links between health and fitness apps and disordered eating, body image concerns and excessive exercise. “Diet and fitness apps are marketed as tools to improve health, however they may also have unintended negative consequences, such as creating pressure to meet goals, concerns about body image as well as provoking feelings of guilt if goals aren’t achieved,” says Ms Isabella Anderberg in the College of Education, Psychology and Social Work. “Whilst there is evidence that these tools can be effective in increasing physical activity, we’re ...