OTTAWA, Ontario, May 13, 2024 – Ultrasound imaging offers a valuable and noninvasive way to find and monitor cancerous tumors. However, much of the most crucial information about a cancer, such as specific cell types and mutations, cannot be learned from imaging and requires invasive and damaging biopsies. One research group developed a way to employ ultrasound to extract this genetic information in a gentler way. At the University of Alberta, a team led by Roger Zemp explored how intense ultrasound can release biological indicators of disease, or biomarkers, from cells. These biomarkers, ...

Lisbon, Portugal – 13 May 2024:  Semaglutide reduces the need for loop diuretic use and dose, and has positive effects on symptoms, physical limitations, and body weight in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) regardless of diuretic use, according to late breaking research presented today at Heart Failure 2024, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).1 HFpEF is a condition in which the heart pumps normally but is too stiff to fill properly, rendering the heart unable to support the body’s need for oxygen-rich blood. The condition is becoming more common as populations ...

Civilized political debates may seem increasingly out of reach as democracies across the world face rising polarization, but people still want to discuss issues with people they disagree with – especially those who present themselves as balanced and willing to seek solutions that work for everyone or open to learning new information, according to two studies published by the American Psychological Association.  One study, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, examined how U.S. politicians and ordinary Americans with opposing political beliefs could share their ideas on divisive issues in a way that improved respect regardless of political ...

Electronic vapor products (EVPs), also known as e-cigarettes or vaping devices, have an allure because of their marketed image as a safer alternative to traditional cigarette smoking and for their variety of appealing flavors.  Yet, they contain many substances beyond nicotine, including propylene glycol, glycerin, flavorings and potentially harmful chemicals such as formaldehyde and metals, which could pose significant health risks such as respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Vaping also is strongly linked with a serious medical condition that damages the lungs due to the vitamin E acetate, an additive used ...

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- 53% of Americans give impulsively to charities at the checkout, and certain demographics tend to give more, according to a new survey conducted by faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York.  From supermarkets to retail, Americans are used to being asked for donations while making in-person or online purchases –  whether by rounding up, donating a set amount or purchasing a token. Industry reports reveal how money is being raised – checkout charity campaigns brought in almost $750 million in 2022, with campaigns through ...

Eye diseases are becoming more prevalent worldwide, partly because of the aging population, but also because of our greatly increased screen time compared to previous generations. Considering our use of displays will most likely keep rising due to technologies such as virtual and augmented reality, we must improve our diagnostic techniques for the early detection and monitoring of ocular diseases. Among the arsenal of tools ophthalmologist have at their disposal, electroretinography (ERG) still holds much-untapped potential. Simply put, ERG consists of taking measurements of the electrical ...

Coal phase-out is necessary to solve climate change, but can have negative impacts on workers and local communities dependent on coal for their livelihoods. Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden and Central European University in Austria have studied government plans for coal phase-out around the world and discovered that more than half of such plans include monetary compensation to affected parties. This planned compensation globally amounts to USD 200 billion, but it excludes ...

The number of illicit fentanyl seizures by law enforcement in the United States grew by more than 1,700 percent between 2017 and 2023, according to a new analysis. Further, the share of total fentanyl seizures that involved pills quadrupled over the same period–with the 115.6 million pills seized in 2023 representing 49 percent of total seizures. This is the first time that such up-to-date seizure data has been published differentiating between fentanyl powder and pills, says the research team led by experts at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and the University of Florida. Law enforcement drug seizures are used as a proxy for drug availability ...

New Haven, Conn. — The human brain filters through a flood of experiences to create specific memories. Why do some of the experiences in this deluge of sensory information become “memorable,” while most are discarded by the brain?   A computational model and behavioral study developed by Yale scientists suggests a new clue to this age-old question, they report in the journal Nature Human Behavior.    “The mind prioritizes remembering things that it is not able to explain very well,” said Ilker Yildirim, an ...

Law enforcement seizures of illicit fentanyl increased dramatically in number and size between 2017 to 2023 in the U.S., especially in pill form, according to a new study funded by the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The number of individual pills containing fentanyl seized by law enforcement was 2,300 times greater in 2023 compared to 2017, with 115,562,603 pills seized in 2023 vs. 49,657 in 2017. The proportion of fentanyl pill seizures to the total number of fentanyl seizures more than quadrupled, ...

A new interdisciplinary study led by molecular biologist Florian Raible from the Max Perutz Labs at the University of Vienna provides exciting insights into the bristles of the marine annelid worm Platynereis dumerilii. Specialized cells, so-called chaetoblasts, control the formation of the bristles. Their mode of operation is astonishingly similar to that of a technical 3D printer. The project is a collaboration with researchers from the University of Helsinki, Vienna University of Technology and Masaryk University in Brno. The study was recently published in the renowned journal Nature Communications.  Chitin is ...

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute and King’s College London have discovered that how soft or rigid proteins are in certain regions can dictate how fast or slow they enter the nucleus. Proteins need to come in and out of the nucleus, the control centre of the cell, to give different functions, such as telling the nucleus to switch on or off certain genes. These proteins cross using a channel on the edge of the nucleus called the ‘nuclear pore complex’. Previous research has shown that the size and composition of these proteins change how easily they can cross, but now this research, published today in Nature Physics, has shown that mechanical properties can also ...

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE EMBARGOED UNTIL 10:00 LONDON TIME (BST)/ 05:00 US ET ON MONDAY 13 MAY 2024 A copy of the paper and photographs are available at: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Rfv2ywq7jhHLPuhKZ_ihs6TinuLHCJmU?usp=sharing Peer-reviewed / Meta-analysis / People A study by the University of Cambridge, UK, and Fudan University, China, has found that a single dose of the measles jab is up to 2.6 times more likely to be completely ineffective in children born by C-section, compared to those born naturally. Failure of the vaccine means that the child’s immune system does not produce antibodies to fight ...

In the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) randomized trial, a low-fat diet reduced breast cancer mortality, especially in women with more metabolic syndrome (MetS) components (obesity, high blood pressure, elevated blood sugar, and abnormal cholesterol). A recent analysis of WHI findings indicates that MetS and obesity each have different associations with breast cancer subtypes and mortality risk. The findings are published by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. The analysis ...

The joint research team, led by Dr. Chanwoo Yang and Researcher Seong Ju Park from Korea Institute of Industrial Technology(KITECH), along with Prof. Jin Kon Kim and Dr. Keon-Woo Kim from POSTECH, has successfully developed a compact energy storage device with excellent elasticity. This research was published in the world-renowned journal in the field of electronic engineering, 'npj Flexible Electronics'. Beyond foldable and rollable devices, the era of stretchable IT devices is arriving. For these devices, the development of small, elastic energy storage devices is essential. In this respect, micro supercapacitors ...

Many programs ‘deeply entrenched in school culture’ are harmful to children and can cause potentially lasting damage, psychologists have warned. They say these practices, from abstinence-only sex education to zero tolerance policies, can direct considerable funds away from evidence-based strategies, as well as giving pupils misleading information. In new book Investigating School Psychology, researchers have carried out an exhaustive review of current literature to look at practices that continue to exist with little to no scientific ...

The number of cancer cases and deaths in Canada is expected to increase because of a growing and aging population, but the overall rates of people being diagnosed with and dying from cancer will continue to decline, according to the latest cancer trends research in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.240095. The study is the result of a collaboration between the Canadian Cancer Society, Statistics Canada, and the Public Health Agency of Canada. It provides estimates of the number ...

Prices paid to hospitals during 2022 by employers and private insurers for both inpatient and outpatient services averaged 254% of what Medicare would have paid, with wide variation in prices among states, according to a new RAND report.   Some states (Arkansas, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi) had relative prices under 200% of Medicare, while other states (California, Florida, Georgia, New York, South Carolina, West Virginia, Wisconsin) had relative prices that were above 300% of Medicare.   Even as the number of hospitals and insurance claims analyzed has grown across multiple rounds of the RAND Hospital ...

Pioneering measures to tackle sedentary behaviour among children in China have proved effective, according to new research. The study, led by the University of Bristol, reveals regulations recently introduced by the Chinese government to reduce school children’s sedentary behaviour by restricting online gaming companies catering for this age group, limiting the amount of homework schoolteachers can assign, and curtailing when private tuition businesses can provide lessons, significantly reduced total sedentary time as well as how long they spent on different sedentary activities. The measures were associated with a 13.8% daily sedentary drop overall, ...

New research being presented at this year’s European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Venice, Italy (12-15 May), reveals the anti-inflammatory power of moderate-to-vigorous aerobic exercise in adults living with the low-grade inflammation of obesity, shedding light on its potential to help prevent multiple metabolic diseases including type 2 diabetes and atherosclerosis (clogged arteries). Excessive fat accumulation in adipose tissue (fat cells) leads to chronic low-grade inflammation, characterised by chronically elevated levels of ...

New research being presented at this year’s European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Venice, Italy (12-15 May), suggests that smokers tend to eat less and have less healthy eating habits than non-smokers, which could help explain why smokers often gain weight when they quit. The study, involving over 80,000 UK adults, underscores the importance of providing nutritional and weight management support to smokers, particularly those who are attempting to quit smoking. People who smoke typically have a lower body weight and body mass index (BMI) than their non-smoking counterparts, ...

New research being presented at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Venice, Italy (12-15 May) suggests that the source of sugar is more important than the amount of sugar when it comes to the development of obesity in children. The study found that the total amount of sugar consumed when very young was not associated with weight at age 10 or 11.  However, children who got a higher proportion of their sugar from unsweetened liquid dairy products (milk and buttermilk) were less likely to go on to live with overweight or obesity. Similarly, getting more sugar from fruit was associated with less weight gain.  However, getting a lot of sugar ...

Lisbon, Portugal – 12 May 2024:  Yoga focused on breathing, meditation, and relaxation is linked with symptom improvement in patients with heart failure, according to research presented today at Heart Failure 2024, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).1 “Patients who practised yoga on top of taking their medications felt better, were able to do more, and had stronger hearts than those who only took drugs for their heart failure,” said study author Dr. Ajit Singh of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India. “The findings suggest that yoga can be ...

Professors Yiqiang Wu and Caichao Wan, along with their team from Central South University of Forestry and Technology (CSUFT), have pioneered a groundbreaking transparent material derived from natural bamboo. This innovative material features a three-layered flame-retardant barrier, effectively reducing heat release, slowing flame spread, and restraining the emission of combustible volatiles, toxic smoke, and CO. Their findings have been documented in the journal Research. Silica glass, a widely used transparent material in the construction industry, ...

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is one of the most common congenital anomalies worldwide, which brings a heavy health and financial burden to patients. Early CHD screening and treatment can significantly improve children’s prognosis and quality of life. However, inexperienced sonographers often face difficulties in recognizing CHD through transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) images. An auxiliary CHD screening system that allows inexperienced sonographers and general practitioners to perform TTE in a simple and easy-to-use way, thereby improving the CHD screening rate and scope, is urgently needed. An Anhui Medical University, National Center for Children's Health and National Research ...