A recent randomized clinical trial published in Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology assessed whether injections of botulinumtoxin-A in calf muscles benefit children with cerebral palsy. “We hypothesized that injections with botulinumtoxin-A in the calf muscles would make walking easier, caused by improved ankle joint functioning following spasticity reduction,” the authors wrote. In the trial, one botulinumtoxin-A treatment was not superior to placebo in making walking easier (measured as a reduction in energy cost or improved walking capacity); however, there was some evidence of a delayed improvement in energy cost. Moreover, there was some evidence of a decrease ...

In research published in Global Change Biology, investigators examined DNA within ocean bottom sediment cores to assess changes in living organisms within one of the world’s most productive marine ecosystems: the Atacama Trench in the eastern Pacific Ocean, which is located about 100 miles off the coast of Peru and Chile and lies at a depth of up to 5 miles below the surface. The study is important because ecosystems around the Atacama Trench have been intensively fished and are affected by climate change. Analyses showed a severe drop in biodiversity from 1970 to 1985 that aligns with one of the strongest known El Niño events, as well as extensive fishing efforts in the ...

In individuals who have undergone knee or hip replacement surgery, clinicians are noticing increasing numbers of chronic bone infections linked to a bacterial strain commonly found on the skin. A new study published in the Journal of Orthopaedic Research provides insights into the mechanisms involved. Utilizing mouse models of bone infection and systematic electron microscopy studies, scientists found that the common skin bacteria Cutibacterium acnes can persist as layers of biofilms for weeks on contaminated titanium or stainless-steel implants. It can also invade ...

Surveys conducted in England in 1999, 2004, and 2017 have revealed that children with a psychiatric disorder in 2017 experienced more severe difficulties and greater impacts on functioning at school, home, and in their daily lives, compared with children with a disorder in earlier decades. The findings come from a study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. The study used data from interviews and questionnaires completed by parents, children (if they were aged ≥ 11 years), and teachers across all 3 surveys. The increased difficulties found in the study were ...

A new paper in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, published by Oxford University Press, finds that eliminating the race disparity in colon cancer testing in the United States would reduce colon cancer, and colon cancer death rates, dramatically among Black people. Colorectal cancer rates and deaths from the disease have decreased over time, but racial disparities remain and are significant. Compared to White Americans, Black Americans experience higher rates of colorectal cancer incidence and lower survival rates. Black adults are approximately 23% more likely to receive a colorectal cancer diagnosis than White adults. They are also about 31% more likely to ...

It's hard to know what Neanderthals ate: food preparation, especially when it comes to smaller items like birds, can leave few archaeological traces. But understanding their diets is critical to understanding these incredibly adaptable hominins, who thrived for hundreds of thousands of years in wildly varied environments. To learn what food preparation could look like in the archaeological record, scientists tried cooking like Neanderthals. “Using a flint flake for butchering required significant precision and effort, which we had not fully valued before this experiment,” said Dr Mariana Nabais of the Institut ...

WASHINGTON — A peer-reviewed study published today in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives has found that per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), known as “forever chemicals,” are increasingly being added to U.S. pesticide products, contaminating waterways and posing potential threats to human health.   The study, Forever Pesticides: A Growing Source of PFAS Contamination in the Environment, is the first-ever comprehensive review of the many ways PFAS are introduced into U.S. pesticide products. Pesticides containing PFAS are used throughout the country on staple ...

There’s a lot that goes into an Olympic athlete’s quest for gold – years of training and rigour – but also, an athlete’s age. A team of University of Waterloo students used statistics to figure out when an Olympic track-and-field athletes’ peak performance will be. Track-and-field encompasses running, jumping, throwing, and combined event disciplines. Most athletes’ career performance progressions can typically be visualized as a bell curve, in which they train over several years to reach their best performance, or “peak,” at a ...

The shape of a person’s kneecap could be an indicator of whether they’re more at risk of developing osteoarthritis, according to a new study from The Australian National University (ANU). According to lead author of the study, Associate Professor Laura Wilson, women who develop knee osteoarthritis often experience more severe symptoms than men, but the reason for this is not well understood. Osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis, is a debilitating joint disease that causes pain, stiffness and swelling. The research team set out to investigate whether kneecap shape might be a contributing factor. “We wanted to focus on ...

In recent years, the rapid development and enhancement of image generation technologies and mapping tools driven by generative artificial intelligence (AI) have significantly impacted the traditional landscape design industry. Thus, it is pressing for landscape architects to delineate the relationship between image generation and landscape design and explore potential opportunities of practice and research. Research on masterplan generation primarily focuses on “image-to-image” generative adversarial network (GAN). The application of these tools has developed from the generation of architectural floor ...

Insilico Medicine(“Insilico”), a clinical-stage generative artificial intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery company, recently announces that the company has entered a strategic collaboration with Therasid Bioscience, an innovative biotechnology company founded in South Korea, to utilize advanced AI technology to co-develop novel therapies for the treatment of metabolic dysfunction associated steatohepatitis (MASH).    MASH, previously known as Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), is a severe form of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), characterized by liver inflammation and damage caused by a buildup of fat. Potentially progressing ...

Research shows humans often perceive attractive people as more intelligent, healthier, better leaders and more trustworthy. It turns out this bias extends to the insect world. A new study by scientists at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences reveals that data reported on a popular community science platform is biased. On iNaturalist, butterflies with captivating markings, easily identifiable features or those that are familiar species are reported more frequently than obscure species with no distinct qualities. Why it matters: Online ...

When people think of a concussion or a traumatic brain injury caused by intimate partner violence (IPV), they might picture people in a heterosexual relationship, or a man hurting a woman. But a UBC Okanagan researcher points out that IPV, and its repercussions, is an issue in all relationships. Doctoral student Tori Stranges recently published a paper examining the prevalence and damage done by violence in Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer (or Questioning), Intersex and Asexual (2SLGBTQIA+) relationships. “It’s very common for people to think that violence doesn’t ...

New research from scientists at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography finds a tiny freshwater parasite known to cause health problems in humans defends its colonies with a class of soldiers that cannot reproduce. The discovery, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and funded by the National Institutes of Health, vaults this species of parasitic flatworm into the ranks of complex animal societies such as ants, bees and termites, which also have distinct classes of workers and soldiers that have given up reproduction to serve their colony. When it gets into humans, usually via the consumption of raw or undercooked fish, this species ...

For decades, insecticide-treated bed nets and indoor insecticide spraying regimens have been important – and widely successful – treatments against mosquitoes that transmit malaria, a dangerous global disease. Yet these treatments also – for a time – suppressed undesirable household insects like bed bugs, cockroaches and flies. Now, a new North Carolina State University study reviewing the academic literature on indoor pest control shows that as the household insects developed resistance ...

A new study, led by palaeontologists at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is helping resolve the evolution and ecology of Odaraia, a taco-shaped marine animal that lived during the Cambrian period. Fossils collected by ROM reveal Odaraia had mandibles. Palaeontologists are finally able to place it as belonging to the mandibulates, ending its long enigmatic classification among the arthropods since it was first discovered in the Burgess Shale over 100 years ago and revealing more about early evolution and diversification. The study The Cambrian Odaraia alata and the colonization of nektonic suspension-feeding niches by early mandibulates was published ...

Butterflies and moths collect so much static electricity whilst in flight, that pollen grains from flowers can be pulled by static electricity across air gaps of several millimetres or centimetres. The finding, published today in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, suggests that this likely increases their efficiency and effectiveness as pollinators. The University of Bristol team also observed that the amount of static electricity carried by butterflies and moths varies between different species, and that these variations correlate with differences in their ecology, such as whether they visit flowers, are ...

Chestnut Hill, Mass (07/24/2024) – A small but ferocious predator, the male dragonfish will apparently do anything for love. Or at least to find a mate. A new study by researchers at Boston College found the eyes of the male dragonfish grow larger for mate-seeking purposes, making the dragonfish an anomaly in vertebrate evolution, the team reported today in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters. Like many creatures that inhabit the dark depths of the sea, dragonfishes survive thanks to numerous ...

RICHLAND, Wash.—Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have been awarded more than 3 million node hours on the nation’s most powerful computers to explore questions around pathogens, climate and energy-efficient microelectronics.   Access to the nation’s supercomputers, granted to Margaret Cheung, Daniel Mejia Rodriguez and Po-Lun Ma, is a coveted prize among scientists. The node hours represent an investment of several million dollars in computing time awarded to PNNL scientists to explore important science questions.   The awards are among 44 projects awarded through ...

New guidance on peri-operative care of transgender and gender-diverse individuals is today published in Anaesthesia (the journal of the Association of Anaesthetists) to guide best practice to ensure the safety and dignity of transgender and gender-diverse people in the peri-operative period. The guidance has been produced by a working group of experts including Dr Stuart Edwardson, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK, and Dr Luke Flower, Victor Philip Dahdaleh Heart and Lung Research Institute, Cambridge, UK, and colleagues. The number of people openly identifying ...

RIVERISDE, Calif. -- We all have some social anxiety. The nervousness we might feel before giving a speech is one example. Some people, however, have more social anxiety than others, and limit their social engagement due to excessive chronic fears of being embarrassed or humiliated. Although such social anxiety is common in both adolescents and adults, it is rarely diagnosed and treated. In a new book titled “Social Anxiety: Hidden Fears and Shame in Teens and Adults,” Thomas E. Brown, a clinical professor of psychiatry and neuroscience in the University of California, Riverside's School of Medicine , explains ...

An international collaboration seeks to innovate the future of how a mechanical man’s best friend interacts with its owner, using a combination of AI and edge computing called edge intelligence. The project is sponsored through a one-year seed grant from the Institute for Future Technologies (IFT), a partnership between New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU).  Assistant Professor Kasthuri Jayarajah in NJIT’s Ying Wu College of Computing is researching how to design a socially assistive model ...

Earth’s atmosphere holds an ocean of water, enough liquid to fill Utah’s Great Salt Lake 800 times. Extracting some of that moisture is seen as a potential way to provide clean drinking water to billions of people globally who face chronic shortages. Existing technologies for atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) are saddled with numerous downsides associated with size, cost and efficiency. But new research from University of Utah engineering researchers has yielded insights that could improve efficiencies and bring the world one step closer to tapping the air as a culinary water source in arid places. The study unveils the first-of-its-kind ...

Quantum information systems offer faster, more powerful computing methods than standard computers to help solve many of the world’s toughest problems. Yet fulfilling this ultimate promise will require bigger and more interconnected quantum computers than scientists have yet built. Scaling quantum systems up to larger sizes, and connecting multiple systems, has proved challenging. Now, researchers at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME) have discovered how to combine two powerful technologies—trapped atom arrays and photonic devices—to ...

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) are credited in the discovery of 16 of the 118 known elements. Now they’ve completed the crucial first step to potentially create yet another: element 120.  Today, an international team of researchers led by Berkeley Lab’s Heavy Element Group announced that they have made known superheavy element 116 using a titanium beam, a breakthrough that is a key stepping stone towards making element 120. The result was presented today at the Nuclear Structure 2024 conference; the science paper will be posted on the online repository ...