27 April 2025, Boston—A study on donor lungs preserved outside the body before transplantation demonstrated that the hypothermic oxygenated machine perfusion (HOPE) technique is a safe and effective lung preservation method, even with total out-of-body times approaching 20 hours.   Jitte Jennekens, MSc, organ perfusionist/transplant coordinator at the UMC Utrecht in the Netherlands, presented the study results at today’s Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions of the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) in Boston.   “This technique is being used to preserve donor livers and ...

Embargoed until 2:00 PM EST, Sunday, 27 April, 2025   EXPERTS AT ISHLT REPORT URGENT NEED FOR PEDIATRIC HEART SUPPORT DEVICES 27 April 2025, Boston—At today’s Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) in Boston, Angela Lorts, MD, MBA, issued an urgent call for improved mechanical circulatory support (MCS) devices for children with life-threatening heart conditions. “Advances in pediatric cardiac disease are underfunded and understudied. Therapies are rarely developed for children. We modify adult therapies to use in pediatrics,” ...

27 April 2025, Boston—Researchers at the Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions of the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) marked the 10-year anniversary of modern heart donation after circulatory death (DCD), a technique that has significantly increased transplant volumes around the world. Sarah Scheuer, MD, PhD, said that most centers that have started a DCD program experience an approximately 30 percent increase in their transplant volume. “It’s arguably the biggest shift in heart transplantation ...

Immunotherapy before and after surgery improves outcomes in head and neck cancer   Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center-led phase 3 clinical trial shows that pembrolizumab before and after standard-of-care surgery significantly extends event-free survival, representing the first advance for these patients in over 20 years BOSTON, April 27, 2025 — Patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer who received the immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab before, during and after standard-of-care surgery had longer event-free survival without the cancer coming back and higher rates of substantial tumor shrinkage prior to surgery, according to the first interim ...

Embargoed until 10:30 AM EST, Sunday, 27 April, 2025   DONOR HEARTS ARE TRAVELING LONGER DISTANCES WITH MACHINE PERFUSION Technology Could Pave the Way to International Heart Exchange  27 April 2025, Boston—In places like Australia, where metropolitan areas are separated by an entire continent, donor hearts used to go unused simply because transplant teams couldn’t get the organ to a recipient in time. “If there isn’t a recipient for an available heart in Perth but there’s a match in Sydney, that's nearly 2,000 miles of travel, or a five-hour flight,” said Emily Granger, MBBS, cardiothoracic and heart and lung transplant ...

Six Leading Organizations Unite to Launch the Pediatric Heart Transplant Alliance Chicago, Illinois – 27 April, 2025 – A groundbreaking collaboration among leading organizations in pediatric heart transplantation has led to the formation of Pediatric Heart Transplant Alliance. Founding partners include Enduring Hearts, the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT), Pediatric Heart Transplant Society (PHTS), Transplant Families, Advanced Cardiac Therapies Improving Outcomes Network (ACTION), and Additional Ventures. The mission of the Alliance is to serve as a powerful coalition spotlighting the need for advancements in pediatric heart transplantation ...

A research paper by scientists at Beijing Institute of Technology presented a CFD simulation method based on biological experimental data to analyze the aerodynamic performance of pigeons during takeoff, leveling flight, and landing in free flight. The research paper, published on Mar. 11, 2025 in the journal Cyborg and Bionic Systems. Birds achieve remarkable maneuverability in takeoff, steady flight, and landing by continuously and adaptively morphing their wing shape, yet existing bio-inspired flapping-wing ...

A research paper by scientists at Beijing Institute of Technology presented a steering control strategy for cyborg insects in operant learning training of cockroaches in a T-maze. Cockroaches developed a preference for specific maze channels after only five consecutive sessions of unilateral cercus electrical stimulation and steering behavior induction, achieving a memory score of 83.5%, outperforming traditional punishing training schemes. The research paper, published on Mar. 7, 2025 in the journal Cyborg and Bionic Systems. Cyborg insects are highly adaptable for detection and recognition assignments, achieved through the electrical stimulation of multiple organs ...

26 April 2025, Boston—Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) often goes undiagnosed for years, is frequently caught late, and primarily affects young, otherwise healthy individuals. Even when diagnosed, finding the right treatment can be challenging.   At this year’s Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT), a day-long CTEPH conference—co-sponsored by ISHLT and the International CTEPH Association (ICA) —brought together ...

26 April 2025, Boston—Healthcare practitioners from around the world received hands-on training for treating patients in cardiogenic shock (CS) during a first-ever simulation lab at today’s Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions of the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) in Boston. The simulation lab was part of ISHLT’s inaugural Cardiogenic Shock Academy, a day-long session featuring a case-based forum and discussion of hot topics and anticipated developments ...

Tokyo, Japan – A scientist from Tokyo Metropolitan University has solved the longstanding problem of a “dissonance” in gravitational waves emitted by a black hole. Using high precision computing and a new theoretical physics framework, it was discovered that it was caused by a resonance between a pair of distinctive “modes” i.e. different ways in which a black hole can “ring.” The phenomenon offers new insights into the nascent field of black hole spectroscopy.   Black holes are astrophysical objects so dense that even light cannot escape their gravitational pull. Despite their awesome presence ...

The less intensively you manage the soil, the better the soil can function. Such as not ploughing as often or using more grass-clover mixtures as cover crops. These are the conclusions from a research team led by the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW). Surprisingly, it applies to both conventional and organic farming. These important insights for making agriculture more sustainable are published in the scientific journal Science today. ‘It offers clear evidence to help farmers manage soils better.’ Growing food more sustainably: what's the best way to do this? It is ...

WOODS HOLE, Mass. -- The Frontiers Planet Prize, the world’s largest science competition to enhance planetary health by fast-tracking innovative research, has announced National Champions from 19 different countries who now advance to the International competition, which will award three winners $1M each to scale up their research. Suzanne Tank and co-authors from the Arctic Great Rivers Observatory (ArcticGRO), a multinational project founded at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), were recognized for their publication, “Recent trends in the chemistry of major northern rivers signal widespread Arctic change,” published ...

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a disease that destroys the nerves necessary for movement. About 30,000 people in the United States are affected, and doctors still don’t know what causes it. To lay the groundwork for better tests, Thomas Jefferson University researchers Phillipe Loher, Eric Londin, PhD, and Isidore Rigoutsos, PhD are taking a computational biology approach to see how ALS affects molecules in the blood. In a study published in Molecular Neurobiology, the team analyzed blood samples from about 300 people with and without ALS. The research focused on small non-coding ...

As the opioid crisis continues, the number of babies born with neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS) – a condition that affects infants whose mothers used opioids during pregnancy – has risen 5-fold over the past 20 years. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), there are 20,000 infants a year in the United States born with signs of NOWS. These infants often require extended hospital stays and, in some cases, treatment with medications like morphine to relieve withdrawal symptoms. A new study from Walter Kraft, MD, an internist and clinical pharmacologist at Thomas Jefferson University, ...

Leadership from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Volkswagen Group of America and Oak Ridge National Laboratory celebrated more than a decade of collaboration and the fifth anniversary of the Volkswagen Innovation Hub Knoxville on April 24. Since 2011, UT and Volkswagen have partnered on strategic research projects that have accelerated the discovery and commercialization of new technology, including battery performance, materials science, power electronics and mobility ...

PHILADELPHIA – Even for patients covered by Medicare, annual out-of-pocket costs for lifesaving cancer treatments taken in pill form have often exceeded $10,000—until recently. Thanks to changes in Medicare Part D introduced by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that took effect in 2025, annual out-of-pocket drug costs for all beneficiaries are now capped at $2,000. However, an overlooked voluntary program that’s part of the IRA could be the key to improving affordability for Medicare patients needing expensive oral cancer drugs, according to a new study from researchers ...

Senescent skin cells, often referred to as zombie cells because they have outlived their usefulness without ever quite dying, have existed in the human body as a seeming paradox, causing inflammation and promoting diseases while also helping the immune system to heal wounds.  New findings may explain why: Not all senescent skin cells are the same. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University have identified three subtypes of senescent skin cells with distinct shapes, biomarkers, and functions—an advance that could equip scientists with the ability to target and kill the harmful types while leaving the helpful ones intact.  The findings were published today ...

University of Cincinnati Cancer Center researchers will present abstracts at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2025 in Chicago. Study finds contrasting effects of protein on head and neck cancer A small protein called IL-9 has been shown to either contribute to or counteract tumor growth depending on the type of cancer, but its role in head and neck cancer has not been studied. Abstract lead author Sam Nusbaum and her colleagues found IL-9 levels are increased in patients with head and neck cancer compared to healthy controls.  “High ...

BOSTON, April 25, 2025 – Numerous studies conducted by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute report progress for cancers including head and neck cancer, metastatic breast cancer and lung cancer. The results of these studies, along with dozens of others led by Dana-Farber faculty, will be presented at this year’s American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting held April 25-30, 2025, in Chicago. The institute’s leading experts and researchers will present findings across a spectrum of diseases, underscoring ...

ABSTRACTS: CT012, CT132, CT265   CHICAGO, APRIL 25, 2025 ― Researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center will present promising results from clinical trials in three minisymposia abstracts at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2025. Findings include a personalized vaccine combination therapy for colorectal cancer, the use of radiotherapy to avoid the toxicities of systemic treatments for kidney cancer, and engineered exosomes to silence mutant KRAS in pancreatic cancer. In addition to these trials, forthcoming ...

LOS ANGELES — It’s no secret that our waistlines often expand in middle-age, but the problem isn’t strictly cosmetic. Belly fat accelerates aging and slows down metabolism, increasing our risk for developing diabetes, heart problems and other chronic diseases. Exactly how age transforms a six pack into a softer stomach, however, is murky. Now preclinical research by City of Hope®, one of the largest and most advanced cancer research and treatment organizations in the United States and a leading research center for diabetes and other life-threatening illnesses, has uncovered the cellular culprit behind age-related abdominal fat, providing new insights into why ...

Researchers from SYSU and IHEP have developed a unique muon veto detector system for TAO, a satellite experiment of the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO). This system features a top veto tracker system with remarkable characteristics such as high light yield, distinct signal-background differentiation and high detection efficiency even at high thresholds, provides the TAO experiment with a robust capability to suppress cosmic muon induced fast neutron and radioisotope events which are significant correlated backgrounds for the neutrino signal. This scalable solution establishes a transferable ...

Using a 3D printer to create organic tissue models that function like living organs may sound like science fiction — but engineers at the University of Pittsburgh are making it reality.  Central to their breakthrough is a simple yet powerful idea: when provided with the right environment, cells instinctively know how to organize and function. The key lies in designing scaffolds that mimic the body’s natural structures, giving cells the cues they need to grow, interact, and form tissues. Daniel Shiwarski, assistant professor of bioengineering at the Swanson School of Engineering with a joint appointment at the School of Medicine’s Vascular ...

Background and objectives Atypical trigeminal neuralgia (ATN) is a chronic pain condition characterized by persistent facial pain that does not respond well to conventional medical treatments, often leading to significant impairment in quality of life. This study examined the clinical characteristics and surgical outcomes of microvascular decompression combined with nerve combing in patients with ATN. Methods We conducted a retrospective analysis of surgical techniques, clinical data, and treatment outcomes in 40 patients from January 2009 to January 2018. Pain levels ...