CLEVELAND, Ohio (July 31, 2024)—Despite the fact that endometrial cancer is the most common cancer of the female reproductive organs, a significant percentage of women do not know that postmenopausal bleeding is a key warning sign of the disease. Worse, even fewer women report having received any type of counseling on the subject from their healthcare professionals. That’s according to a new study published online today in Menopause, the journal of The Menopause Society. It is estimated that 67,880 new cases of ...

CLEVELAND, Ohio (August 1, 2024)—Because of the aging of the ovaries, a woman’s fertility gradually declines, and she eventually enters menopause. The onset of menopause puts women at a significantly higher risk of various diseases such as cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis. A new study suggests that a shorter reproductive lifespan is linked with a higher risk of multimorbidity. Results of the survey are published online today in Menopause, the journal of The Menopause Society. The effect of reproductive-related factors on women’s health has become a focus of interest and study in recent years. Previous studies have identified the ...

(MEMPHIS, Tenn. – July 31, 2024) Do neurons play a role in brain tumor growth and development? Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine have evidence showing that, for childhood ependymomas, they do. There are no targeted therapies available to treat ependymoma due in large part to a lack of understanding of the tumor microenvironment. By leveraging a recently developed murine model, scientists explored the interaction between ependymoma cells and surrounding neurons. They found that hyperactivation of a specific subset ...

The University of Texas at Austin has embarked on a mission to explore the underwater edges of Greenland’s coastal glaciers to learn more about future sea level rise.  The four-week expedition conducted with international partners will investigate processes that control how these giant glaciers melt and what that means for the future of the Greenland ice sheet, which has about 23 feet (7 meters) of potential sea level rise locked away in its ice.  Joining the researchers is a robotic submersible that will gather measurements of the glaciers’ underwater walls and sediment-laden meltwater, a feat that’s never been ...

Ever wondered if your neighbourhood odour could be impacting your health? University of British Columbia researchers have uncovered surprising insights into the Vancouver region's “smellscape” using data from the Smell Vancouver app. Analyzing 549 reports from one year of app data, they discovered that “rotten” and “chemical” odours dominated, making up about 65 per cent of submissions. These unpleasant smells were linked to self-reported health issues like headaches and anxiety, leading some residents to change their behaviours, like closing windows even in stifling-hot weather. “The ...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The University of Alabama at Birmingham startup TIXiMED, Inc., has obtained clearance from the United States Food and Drug Administration to proceed to clinical trials under an Investigational New Drug for TIX100, its novel oral Type 1 diabetes drug. This represents a major milestone in the development of this new approach to T1D treatment and gives TIXiMED the green light to start human studies with TIX100. The development of TIX100 is based on decades of research by Anath Shalev, M.D., the Nancy R. and Eugene C. Gwaltney Family Endowed Chair in Juvenile Diabetes Research in the UAB Division ...

Recently published research shows a medical device may be beneficial for patients who have previously had a stroke and are planning to undergo a transcatheter aortic valve replacement, a type of heart valve operation.  Neel Butala, MD, an assistant professor in the Division of Cardiology at the University of Colorado Department of Medicine, is the first author of the article, which was presented as a late-breaking clinical trial at the New York Valves 2024 conference and simultaneously published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions, an American Heart Association journal.    The ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA — People use large language models for a huge array of tasks, from translating an article to identifying financial fraud. However, despite the incredible capabilities and versatility of these models, they sometimes generate inaccurate responses. On top of that problem, the models can be overconfident about wrong answers or underconfident about correct ones, making it tough for a user to know when a model can be trusted. Researchers typically calibrate a machine-learning model to ensure its level of confidence lines up with ...

MINNEAPOLIS – Having high blood pressure, specifically high diastolic blood pressure, was linked to a slightly higher odds of ever having migraine in female participants, according to a new study published in the July 31, 2024, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Diastolic pressure is when the heart is resting between beats. However, the study did not find an increased risk between other cardiovascular risk factors and migraine. “Previous research shows that migraine is linked to a higher ...

July 31, 2024, CLEVELAND –  Cleveland Clinic-led research has identified geographic areas in the United States where strategic efforts to promote colorectal cancer screening could help reduce healthcare gaps affecting Hispanic/Latino communities.   The study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, marks a first step toward conducting larger neighborhood-level studies addressing disparities in colorectal cancer screening. The Hispanic /Latino population has the lowest colorectal cancer screening rate among U.S. racial and ethnic groups as defined by ...

A new artificial intelligence (AI) test to determine the risk of bowel cancers coming back could help patients avoid chemotherapy, according to new research led by the University of Leeds.  The test uses an AI algorithm to accurately assess the number of immune cells known as CD3 inside early-stage bowel cancer tumours. Bowel cancer, also known as colorectal cancer, is found anywhere in the large bowel, which includes the colon and rectum. It is one of the most common cancers in the world, with 1.9m cases diagnosed in 2020. *  In the study, the CD3 Score test reliably showed which stage II cancers were most likely to recur within five years of surgery – and this could ...

When 24 different state-of-the-art Large Language Models (LLMs) were administered a battery of different tests designed to reveal political orientation, a significant majority produced responses rated as left-of-center, according to a study published July 31, 2024 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by David Rozado from Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand. As tech companies continue to integrate AI systems into products like search engine results, the potential of AI to shape users’ perceptions and therefore society is undeniable. ...

Sickle cell disease, while rare, is the most common inherited blood disorder and affects over 100,000 people in the United States, more than 90% of whom are Black according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although a medication called hydroxyurea can alleviate pain and lower the number of hospital visits, not all adults respond well to this treatment. Researchers at Boston Medical Center (BMC) discovered a new small molecule that could lead to less sickled red blood cells and improved symptoms. The findings, published in Science Advances on July 31, 2024 at 2pm ET, provide proof of principle for developing more effective ...

An international research team deployed the unmanned submarine ‘Ran’ from the University of Gothenburg underneath thick ice in Antarctica. They got back the very first detailed maps of the underside of a glacier, revealing clues to future sea level rise. The autonomous underwater vehicle, Ran, was programmed to dive into the cavity of Dotson ice shelf in West Antarctica, and scan the ice above it with an advanced sonar system. For 27 days, the submarine travelled a total of over 1.000 kilometres back and forth under the glacier, reaching 17 kilometres into the cavity. An ice shelf is a mass of glacial ice, fed from land by tributary glaciers, that floats ...

New research models the rapid and expansive spread of suicidal behaviors following the suicides of Robin Williams in 2014, and of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, which occurred three days apart in 2018. Columbia University researchers developed a computer model to examine the dynamics underlying suicide contagion. They found that both the 2014 and 2018 events led to large increases in suicidal thought and behavior. The findings, which appear in the journal Science Advances, provide a framework for quantifying suicidal contagion to better understand, prevent, and contain its spread. “The model we developed ...

ANN ARBOR—Shortly after an asteroid slammed into Earth 66 million years ago, life for non-avian dinosaurs ended, but the evolutionary story for the early ancestors of birds began. The fossil record tells us that the early ancestors of living birds began their evolutionary journey just after the mass extinction event caused by the asteroid, but researchers weren't sure how they would see that story reflected in bird genomes. Now, a University of Michigan study has identified important changes in birds' genomes sparked by the mass extinction, called the end-Cretaceous mass extinction event, ultimately contributing to ...

An international research team led by the University of Vienna has succeeded in developing a new version of RNA building blocks with higher chemical reactivity and photosensitivity. This can significantly reduce the production time of RNA chips used in biotechnological and medical research. The chemical synthesis of these chips is now twice as fast and seven times more efficient. The results of the research were recently published in the prestigious journal Science Advances. The emergence and approval of RNA-based medical products, such as mRNA vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic, has brought the RNA molecule ...

In a new study, marine biologists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and Arizona State University are providing a first-of-its-kind glimpse into coral “bleaching” responses to stress, using imaging technology to pinpoint coral survival rates following multiple bleaching events off the island of Maui. Their findings were published July 31 in the journal PLOS ONE. Using a time series of coral reef 3D models from Maui, a team of researchers led by Scripps Oceanography’s Smith Lab tracked the bleaching response of 1,832 coral colonies from 2014 to ...

White Western women have lower body appreciation and experience greater pressure from the media to be thin compared to Black Nigerian and Chinese women across all ages, according to new research. The study, carried out by psychologists at Durham University (UK), and published in PLOS ONE, explored the impacts of age and sociocultural pressures on body appreciation (feelings of positivity and pride about one’s body) amongst White Western, Black Nigerian and Chinese women. Whilst all three groups had relatively stable body appreciation across ages, there were significant cultural differences. White ...

Clues to future sea level rise have been revealed by the first detailed maps of the underside of a floating ice shelf in Antarctica. An international research team - including scientists from the University of East Anglia (UEA) - deployed an unmanned submersible beneath the Dotson Ice Shelf in West Antarctica. The underwater vehicle, ‘Ran’, was programmed to dive into the cavity of the 350metre-thick ice shelf and scan the ice above it with an advanced sonar. Over 27 days, the submarine travelled more than 1000 kilometres back and forth under the shelf, reaching 17 kilometres into the cavity. An ice shelf is a mass of glacial ice, fed from land by tributary glaciers, that ...

An artificial intelligence program created explanations of heart test results that were in most cases accurate, relevant, and easy to understand by patients, a new study finds. The study addressed the echocardiogram (echo), which uses sound waves to create pictures of blood flowing through the heart’s chambers and valves. Echo reports include machine-generated numerical measures of function, as well as comments from the interpreting cardiologist on the heart’s size, the pressure in its vessels, and tissue thickness, which can signal the presence of disease. In the form typically generated by doctors, the reports are difficult for ...

The lightning-fast development of COVID-19 vaccines just months after the virus appeared was a triumph of modern science and saved millions of lives. But for all the good they did in reducing illnesses and deaths, the shots were unable to end the pandemic because of one notable weakness: They couldn’t stop the spread of the virus. A new study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis indicates that next-generation vaccines that target the virus’s points of entry — the nose and mouth — may be able to do what traditional shots cannot: contain the spread of respiratory infections and prevent transmission. ...

A recent Supreme Court decision to block a federal rule curbing interstate air pollution further complicates efforts to reduce emissions and adds to an already disproportionate burden on “downwind” states, according to researchers at the University of Notre Dame. “Toxic air pollution is really not as well known by the general public as you would hope, given its impact on human health,” said Paola Crippa, assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences. ...

As Earth continues to warm, sea levels have risen at an accelerating rate – from 1.4 millimeters a year to 3.6 millimeters a year between 2000 and 2015. Flooding will inevitably worsen, particularly in low-lying coastal regions, where more than a billion people are estimated to live. Solutions are needed to protect homes, property and groundwater from flooding and the intrusion of saltwater. Seawalls and similar infrastructure are obvious options to protect against flooding. In fact, cities such as New York and San Franciso have already thrashed out potential plans with the Army Corps of Engineers that will heavily rely ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – People who both vape and smoke are four times more likely to develop lung cancer than people who just smoke, according to new study published by The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) and College of Public Health. These findings were consistent across gender and race. This is the first study to provide evidence that smoking in combination with vaping increases the risk for cancer compared to smoking alone. Researchers ...