Researchers from King’s, with doctors at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, have successfully used a new robot system to improve treatment for debilitating eye disease. The custom-built robot was used to treat wet neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD), administering a one-off, minimally invasive dose of radiation, followed by patients’ routine treatment with injections into their eye. In the landmark trial, published today in The Lancet, it was found that patients then needed fewer injections to effectively control the disease, potentially saving around ...

Over 17 million insects migrate each year through a single mountain pass on the border between France and Spain, new research shows. University of Exeter scientists studied migrating insects in the Pass of Bujaruelo, a 30-metre gap between two high peaks in the Pyrenees. The team visited the pass each autumn for four years, monitoring the vast number and variety of day-flying insects heading south. The findings for this single pass suggest that billions of insects cross the Pyrenees each year, making it a key location for many migrating species.  The migrating insects ...

Researchers from University of Alabama and Vanderbilt University published a new Journal of Marketing study that examines the negative consequences that celebrities and influences incur when they disable social media comments. The study, forthcoming in the Journal of Marketing, is titled “No Comments (From You): Understanding the Interpersonal and Professional Consequences of Disabling Social Media Comments” and is authored by Michelle Daniels and Freeman Wu. Celebrities and influencers like Addison Rae, Hailey Bieber, ...

Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a common cause of pain and joint stiffness. And while physical activity is known to ease symptoms, only one in 10 people regularly exercise.   Understanding what contributes to patients’ inactivity is the focus of a world first study from the University of South Australia. Here, researchers have found that people with knee OA unconsciously believe that activity may be dangerous to their condition, despite medical advice telling them otherwise.   The study found that of those surveyed, 69% of people with knee pain had stronger implicit (unconscious) beliefs that exercise ...

Chestnut Hill, Mass. (6/11/24) –  Emissions of nitrous oxide – a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide or methane – continued unabated between 1980 and 2020, a year when more than 10-million metric tons were released into the atmosphere primarily through farming practices, according to a new report by the Global Carbon Project. Agricultural production accounted for 74 percent of human-driven nitrous oxide emissions in the 2010s – attributed primarily to the use of chemical fertilizers and ...

Emissions of nitrous-oxide (N2O) - a potent greenhouse gas - have continued to rise unabated over the past four decades, according to an international team of scientists.  The new report 'Global nitrous oxide budget (1980–2020)' is published in the journal Earth System Science Data. It is the most comprehensive accounting to date of nitrous-oxide emissions from human activities and natural sources.  It was led by researchers from Boston College in the US and involved an international team of scientists including researchers from the University of East Anglia (UEA), UK, under the umbrella of the Global Carbon Project. ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Virtual reality technology can do more than teach weaponry skills in law enforcement and military personnel, a new study suggests: It can accurately record shooting performance and reliably track individuals’ progress over time. In the study of 30 people with a range of experience levels in handling a rifle, researchers at The Ohio State University found that a ballistic simulator captured data on the shooters’ accuracy, decision-making and reaction time – down to the millimeter in distance ...

The impact of solar radiation on skin has long been understood but what about UV’s effects on our skin's hidden world – its microbiome? An article from American Society for Photobiology’s journal delved into existing knowledge on solar radiation’s impact on the skin microbiome and proposed innovative sun protection methods that safeguard both skin integrity and microbiome balance. Experts offered insights into novel sun protection products designed to shield the skin and mitigate the effects of solar ...

The NEC Society is leading the way toward a world without necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a complex and often deadly intestinal disease affecting the most vulnerable infants. By bringing together families and elected officials, the NEC Society is raising the profile of this devastating neonatal disease. States nationwide have championed NEC Awareness Day Resolutions to recognize May 17.  The NEC Society’s families have partnered with elected officials to declare May 17 NEC Awareness Day in California, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, New York, Pennsylvania, and Utah, bringing much-needed attention to this leading cause ...

Sepsis – the leading cause of mortality in children around the world – can present with a wide range of signs and symptoms, making a one-size-fits-all treatment strategy ineffective. Pursuing a precision medicine approach for pediatric sepsis, researchers used artificial intelligence to analyze a large set of clinical data and find a distinct group of patients who might respond better to targeted treatments. These children share clinical characteristics described as PHES, or persistent hypoxemia (abnormally low oxygen ...

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. (June 11, 2024) – A new position paper from the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI) addresses the safety of administering live vaccines to patients who are currently being treated with dupilumab, a biologic therapy for various allergic conditions. The paper, The Use of Vaccines in Patients Receiving Dupilumab: A Systematic Review and Expert Delphi Consensus Recommendation: A Position Paper of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, is published online in Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, ACAAI’s scientific journal. The panel conducting ...

CHALMETTE, La. – St. Bernard Parish Hospital (SBPH) has been named one of the 100 Great Community Hospitals in 2024 by Becker’s Hospital Review. This marks the second consecutive year St. Bernard Parish Hospital has earned the honor of being named a Great Community Hospital. Many hospitals included on this year’s list have been recognized by rankings and rating organizations for their excellent clinical care, outstanding patient outcomes, and high performance in specialty services. Becker’s ...

Texas A&M has been announced as a recipient of a $1.5 million grant from the Inflation Reduction Act to address climate-damaging hydrofluorocarbons. The grant is among the five projects funded by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) totaling $15 million and includes three other universities: the University of Washington, Drexel University and the University of California- Riverside, along with the Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute. Dr. Faruque Hasan, associate ...

Chemical engineering professor Dr. Jeetain Mittal has received a National Institutes of Health grant to support his work on phase separation. Mittal’s research focuses on developing a multiscale computational framework to investigate the role of phase separation in biology, particularly in the formation of heterochromatin. Heterochromatin condensates are membraneless organelles that help control gene expression. A key aspect of the proposal is the role of phase separation in chromatin organization, highlighting the need for new models in this area. Mittal’s ...

Clouds of gas in a distant galaxy are being pushed faster and faster — at more than 10,000 miles per second — out among neighboring stars by blasts of radiation from the supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s center. It’s a discovery that helps illuminate the way active black holes can continuously shape their galaxies by spurring on or snuffing out the development of new stars. A team of researchers led by University of Wisconsin–Madison astronomy professor Catherine Grier and recent graduate Robert Wheatley revealed the accelerating gas using years of data collected from a quasar, a particularly ...

Impact Journals is thrilled to sponsor Team Open Access again in the annual cycling event to end cancer, The Ride for Roswell, on June 22, 2024.  BUFFALO, NY- June 11, 2024 – The Ride for Roswell is one of the nation’s largest cycling events—hosted by Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center—to raise awareness and funds for cancer research and patient care. This charity bike ride, based out of Buffalo, New York, has brought people together for 28 years to celebrate cancer survivors, pay tribute to lives that have been lost, and to work together to support research and find a cure. THE ORIGIN OF THE RIDE The Ride for Roswell started ...

  · Weakened virus helps eliminate melanoma and colon cancer in mice · Therapy is effective in treating and even preventing cancer · Virus raises ‘red flag’ on tumors so immune cells know to attack it CHICAGO --- Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered that an attenuated (weakened) virus can help eliminate cancer in mice. In addition, mice that were treated with this virus were more resistant to developing tumors later in life. The attenuated virus — lymphocytic ...

University of Missouri scientists are peering into the past and uncovering new clues about the early universe. Since light takes a long time to travel through space, they are now able to see how galaxies looked billions of years ago.  In a new study, the Mizzou researchers have discovered that spiral galaxies were more common in the early universe than previously thought.  “Scientists formerly believed most spiral galaxies developed around 6 to 7 billion years after the universe formed,” said Yicheng Guo, an associate professor in Mizzou’s ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — By combining forefront X-ray observations with state-of-the-art supercomputer simulations of the buildup of galaxies over cosmic history, researchers have provided the best modeling to date of the growth of the supermassive black holes found in the centers of galaxies. Using this hybrid approach, a research team led by Penn State astronomers derived a complete picture of black-hole growth over 12 billion years, from the Universe’s infancy at around 1.8 billion years old to now at 13.8 billion years old. The research comprises two papers, ...

PLYMOUTH MEETING, PA [June 11, 2024] — New research in the June 2024 issue of JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network highlights a promising approach for alleviating distress, enhancing quality of life, improving physical function, and reducing fatigue in patients with blood cancers who undergo hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). The study used a randomized clinical trial to evaluate the feasibility of a nine-week, phone-delivered, positive psychology program called Positive Affect for the Transplantation of ...

An awkward beat doesn't help on the dance floor, but it could help people who are recovering from mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Publishing online today (June 11, 2024) in the Journal of Neurotrauma, Virginia Tech scientists with the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC show that specifying the timing pattern of neurostimulation – impulses used to activate the brain’s own electrical signaling mechanisms – can rebalance the strength of synaptic connections between nerve cells, selectively up- or down-regulating those connections. While the timing pattern of electrical signaling is important in the normal brain, ...

UPTON, N.Y. — Efforts to achieve net-zero carbon emissions from transportation fuels are increasing demand for oil produced by nonfood crops. These plants use sunlight to power the conversion of atmospheric carbon dioxide into oil, which accumulates in seeds. Crop breeders interested in selecting plants that produce a lot of oil look for yellow seeds. In oilseed crops like canola, yellow-seeded varieties generally produce more oil than their brown-seeded counterparts. The reason: The protein responsible for brown seed color — which yellow-seeded plants lack — also plays a key role in oil production. Now, plant biochemists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven ...

URBANA, Ill. -- Following decades of decline, even fewer birds will darken North American skies by the end of the century, according to a new analysis by scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Their study is the first to examine the long-term effects of climate change on the abundance and diversity of bird groups across the continent as a whole while accounting for additional factors that put birds at risk, such as pesticides, pollution, land use change, and habitat loss.   “Many studies try to attribute causes like climate ...

As space travel becomes more frequent, a new biomarker tool was developed by an international team of researchers to help improve the growing field of aerospace medicine and the health of astronauts. Dr. Guy Trudel (Professor in the Faculty of Medicine), Odette Laneuville (Associate Professor, Faculty of Science, and Director of the Biomedical Sciences) and Dr. Martin Pelchat (Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology) are among the contributors to an international ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Haiku poems have reflected humans’ experiences in nature for hundreds of years, including observations of bugs and other wildlife. Recently, Penn State researchers analyzed which insects were mentioned the most in haiku — with butterflies, fireflies and singing insects such as crickets topping the list. Haiku are three-line poems with five syllables in the first and third lines, and seven syllables in the second line. In their study of nearly 4,000 haiku, recently published in the journal PLOS ONE, the researchers also found that aquatic arthropods — such as caddisflies, stoneflies and fishflies — were mentioned the ...