An international team led by researchers at the University of Toronto has found a family of natural compounds with potential as new and more effective treatments for parasitic worms. The compounds stall the unique metabolic process that worms use to survive in the human gut. Parasitic worms transmitted through soil wreak havoc in developing countries in the tropics. Infection by these parasites leads to malaise, weakness, malnutrition and other debilitating symptoms, and can cause developmental defects in children and impair their growth. “Soil-transmitted parasitic worms infect over one billion people around the world, typically in low-income communities of developing countries ...

Freshwater resources are limited, accounting for only 3.5% of Earth’s water, with just 0.25% accessible on the surface. Nevertheless, freshwater lakes are essential for ecosystem functioning and global carbon cycling due to their high biological productivity and microbial activity. They are critical to human survival, providing drinking water, supporting agriculture, fisheries, and recreation. However, climate change – particularly rising temperatures – threatens these habitats by disrupting microbial communities that are essential for nutrient cycling and water quality maintenance. Challenging established evolutionary paradigms “Considering ...

A gene previously linked to intellectual disability has been found to regulate learning and memory in mice. The gene, called KDM5B has previously been linked to some intellectual disability disorders and autism. In the general population, some variants are also associated with reduced brain function, although not sufficient to cause an overt disability or behavioural symptoms. Now, researchers at King’s College London, the University of Exeter and the University of California Irvine have found that reduced function of the gene in the brain results in loss of learning ability and memory and a reduction in the brain’s ability to strengthen connections between neurons, ...

COLUMBUS, OHIO – Is the status of “perfect parent” attainable? Researchers leading a national dialogue about parental burnout from The Ohio State University College of Nursing and the university’s Office of the Chief Wellness Officer say “no,” and a new study finds that pressure to try to be “perfect” leads to unhealthy impacts on both parents and their children. The survey of more than 700 parents nationwide from June 15 – July 28, 2023 is summarized in the new report, “The Power of Positive Parenting: Evidence to Help Parents and Their Children Thrive.” The data shows that: Fifty-seven ...

The study was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), the research arm of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), and was led by Professor Christina Vogel, Director of the Centre for Food Policy at City, University of London. DHSC commissioned this work to evaluate the Healthy Start scheme in England and understand how the scheme can be improved to reach more eligible families. The Healthy Start scheme was launched in 2006. It offers financial support and free vitamins for pregnant ...

A new study highlighting the risks encountered by food delivery couriers reveals a majority feel ‘unsafe’ when at work with every woman surveyed having experienced sexual harassment or abuse. Led by Dr Pedro Mendonca from the Centre for Employment, Work and the Professions (CREWs) at Heriot-Watt University’s Edinburgh Business School, the two-year project gathered feedback from 207 workers, including 33 women, employed in the food delivery industry in cities across Scotland.   It reveals more than 81% felt unsafe in their job yet continued due to financial necessity while 78% believed their ...

URBANA, Ill. – COVID-19 vaccination rates remain low in many African countries, often because providing access to vaccines is difficult in remote areas. A new international research project showed that intervention with mobile vaccination teams in Sierra Leone is an effective way of reaching rural populations to increase vaccination uptake. Madison Levine, a doctoral student in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics (ACE), part of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, participated in the project as a field research assistant. She is a co-author ...

A new study from the Kinsey Institute reveals that only 50.5% of women who were targets of sexual harassment during online gaming identified qualifying incidents as such. This figure dropped further to only 42.2% for women who witnessed sexual harassment of other women while gaming.    The study included 182 women from North America who played online video games at least once a week. Researchers examined a variety of sexual harassment behaviors, from unwanted sexual remarks to explicit images to sexual threats. In line with ...

DETROIT — Fu-Shin Yu, Ph.D., professor of ophthalmology, visual and anatomical sciences in the Wayne State University School of Medicine, received an award from the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health for his study aiming to reverse the adverse effects of diabetes on eyesight. The five-year grant for $2,167,882 will benefit Yu’s research “Role of Programmed Cell Death Pathways in Bacterial Keratitis,” Which will investigate biological processes that ...

Firefighters may have an increased risk of prostate cancer due to on-the-job chemical exposures, according to new research from the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and University of Michigan in collaboration with fire service partners and researchers around the country through the Fire Fighter Cancer Cohort Study. Prostate cancer is the leading incident cancer among U.S. males. Firefighters are diagnosed with prostate cancer at a rate 1.21 times higher than the general population, possibly because of chemical exposures including smoke and firefighting foam during firefighting. Some of those chemicals ...

A collection of seven technologies for lithium recovery developed by scientists from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been licensed to Element3, a Texas-based company focused on extracting lithium from wastewater produced by oil and gas production.  The technologies were developed through the Critical Materials Innovation Hub, a DOE Energy Innovation Hub led by Ames National Laboratory that is dedicated to accelerating scientific and technological solutions to ensure secure domestic supply chains for ...

At a glance: How well a newly minted doctor scores on their medical board exam appears linked to patients’ odds of dying or being readmitted to the hospital. Doctors’ performance on ratings of knowledge and skill taken periodically during residency training is not linked to patient outcomes. Findings offer reassurance that certification exams, which aim to demonstrate the competence of physicians, capture critical knowledge and clinical judgment skills for physicians.   How do we know whether newly minted doctors have what it takes to ...

“[...] this study is an initial examination of the associations between epigenetic and transcriptomic aging biomarkers and novel NMR lipoprotein biomarkers.” BUFFALO, NY- May 7, 2024 – A new research paper was published in Aging (listed by MEDLINE/PubMed as "Aging (Albany NY)" and "Aging-US" by Web of Science) Volume 16, Issue 8, entitled, “Associations among NMR-measured inflammatory and metabolic biomarkers and accelerated aging in cardiac catheterization patients.” Research ...

We are living in a very noisy world. From the hum of traffic outside your window to the next-door neighbor’s blaring TV to sounds from a co-worker’s cubicle, unwanted noise remains a resounding problem. To cut through the din, an interdisciplinary collaboration of researchers from MIT and elsewhere developed a sound-suppressing silk fabric that could be used to create quiet spaces.  The fabric, which is barely thicker than a human hair, contains a special fiber that vibrates when a voltage is applied to it. The researchers leveraged those vibrations to suppress ...

NEW YORK, May 7, 2024 — A team of researchers from the CUNY Graduate Center, the CUNY Advanced Science Research Center (CUNY ASRC), Brooklyn College, and Lehman College has been selected to receive a highly competitive cooperative agreement award aimed at expanding and innovating NASA’s Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) program. The five-year, $11.1-million project awarded to the CUNY Graduate Center will help advance GLOBE’s mission to create a worldwide community of students, educators, scientists, and members of the public who work together to better understand, ...

Reston, VA—A novel investigational PET imaging agent can rapidly and accurately visualize lesions in clear cell renal cell cancer (ccRCC) patients according to new research published in the May issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. The results of the study suggest that the agent 68Ga-DPI-4452 (Debio 0328) is superior to standard CT imaging in the context of ccRCC. It also allows for significantly faster imaging and, in the future, could be utilized as part of a theranostic pair. ccRCC accounts for 70-80 percent of renal cell carcinoma ...

UCLA Health is set to host a unique symposium this week to explore the evolving research in psychedelic therapies and how combining it with reconnection to natural world could help to amplify their mental health benefits. The all-day symposium on May 10 at the UCLA campus will bring together the expertise and insights of researchers from UCLA Health’s Psychedelic Studies Initiative and the Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behaviors as well as filmmakers, psychiatrists, urban planners, indigenous health experts, writers and environmental leaders from throughout the world. “Promising ...

In a fast-paced digital age where patients can open their test results as soon as they are available, what happens when a patient reads through complicated results without a physician there to help them understand what it all means? And what happens when a patient misinterprets bad news as good news, or vice versa? It’s a scenario Benjamin Vipler, MD, confronted after his mom received her colonoscopy results on her health system’s patient portal. Like many patients, she opened up her results before meeting with her clinician and tried to decipher the medical jargon. Thinking the results showed she ...

As people have more difficulty distinguishing fact from fiction in the United States, they are more likely to feel news fatigue and avoid news altogether, according to a University of Michigan study.   More than an unintentional avoidance because of lack of media exposure, the researchers say people actively avoid news.    The researchers also find that people who identify as strong Democrats begin relying more on nonpartisan news media when feeling misinformed, while people who identify as strong Republicans report using less news media overall, including less conservative news media. Their results are published in Journalism Studies.   "The more confusing ...

NEW ORLEANS, La. – Ochsner Health, a leader in patient care, research and education, has been named one of America’s Greatest Workplaces for Mental Wellbeing 2024 by Newsweek and Plant-A Insights Group. The ranking survey conducted included responses from more than 250,000 young professionals and more than 1.5 million company reviews. Ochsner Health is committed to fostering an environment that prioritizes the mental well-being of each employee through innovative health initiatives, comprehensive support services and a culture ...

LA JOLLA, CA—Scripps Research professor emeritus John Johnson, PhD, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences—one of the highest honors given to scientists. According to the Academy, members are selected “in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.” “Becoming a member of the Academy is a great honor for me and the 70 graduate students and post docs that have worked in my lab since 1978, as well as numerous collaborators at Scripps and around the world,” says Johnson, who is also the Eldon R. Strahm Professor of Structural Virology in the Department of Integrative Structural ...

Construction of the National Center for Resilient and Regenerative Precision Agriculture at Nebraska Innovation Campus launched with a ceremonial turning of dirt on May 6. The state-of-the-art research center is a partnership between the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service, University of Nebraska–Lincoln and Nebraska Innovation Campus. The center will focus on the challenges and opportunities in agricultural innovation for the 21st century. “There is a long history of scientific innovation and collaboration between ARS and UNL, typical of the USDA-land-grant ...

UPTON, N.Y. — The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has recognized two staff scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory with the distinction of Fellow: Deputy Associate Laboratory Director for High Energy Physics Dmitri Denisov and Senior Chemist Anatoly Frenkel. Each year, AAAS bestows this honor on select members whose “efforts on behalf of the advancement of science, or its applications, are scientifically or socially distinguished.” Marking the 150th anniversary of the program, new fellows ...

Chimpanzees continue to learn and hone their skills well into adulthood, a capacity that might be essential for the evolution of complex and varied tool use, according to a study publishing May 7th in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Mathieu Malherbe of the Institute of Cognitive Sciences, France and colleagues. Humans have the capacity to continue learning throughout our entire lifespan. It has been hypothesized that this ability is responsible for the extraordinary flexibility with which humans use tools, a key factor in the evolution of human cognition and culture. ...

MAY 7, 2024, NEW YORK – Using artificial intelligence, Ludwig Cancer Research scientists have developed a powerful predictive model for identifying the most potent cancer killing immune cells for use in cancer immunotherapies. Combined with additional algorithms, the predictive model, described in the current issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology, can be applied to personalized cancer treatments that tailor therapy to the unique cellular makeup of each patient's tumors. “The implementation of artificial intelligence in cellular therapy is new and may be a game-changer, offering new clinical options to patients,” said Ludwig Lausanne’s Alexandre ...