Researchers from the Research Area on Neurological Diseases, Neuroscience, and Mental Health at the Sant Pau Research Institute, led by Dr. Juan Fortea, Director of the Memory Unit of the Neurology Service at the same hospital, have found that over 95% of individuals over 65 years old who have two copies of the APOE4 gene -APOE4 homozygotes- show biological characteristics of Alzheimer's pathology in the brain or biomarkers of this disease in cerebrospinal fluid and PET scans. The study, published today in Nature Medicine, also concludes that those individuals homozygous for APOE4 also develop ...

  NEW YORK, May 6, 2024 – New research, published online today in the American Journal of Psychiatry, examined a broad range of potential predictors of substance use among adolescents and found sociodemographic variables were the most robust predictors of substance use initiation. The study is part of a special issue of the journal highlighting advances in understanding the neurobiology and sociodemographic underpinnings of substance use disorders and how this understanding has advanced recognition and treatment. Several authors discussed this work today at a special briefing during the 2024 Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric ...

About The Study: In this cohort study of Medicare patients with atrial fibrillation, Black and Hispanic patients were less likely to initiate direct oral anticoagulants for atrial fibrillation, although these differences diminished over time. Identifying the factors behind these early disparities is crucial for ensuring equitable access to novel therapies as they emerge for Black and Hispanic populations.  Corresponding Authors: To contact the corresponding authors, email Kamika R. Reynolds, M.S., Ph.D. (kreynolds@ifh.rutgers.edu) and Chintan ...

About The Study: These findings show that text messaging women after initial breast cancer screening outreach via either electronic portal or mailings, as well as bulk ordering with or without text messaging, can increase mammogram completion rates.   Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author Shivan J. Mehta, M.D., M.B.A., M.S.H.P., email shivan.mehta@pennmedicine.upenn.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2024.0507) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions ...

Planetary scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder have discovered how Venus, Earth’s scalding and uninhabitable neighbor, became so dry. The new study fills in a big gap in what the researchers call “the water story on Venus.” Using computer simulations, the team found that hydrogen atoms in the planet’s atmosphere go whizzing into space through a process known as “dissociative recombination”—causing Venus to lose roughly twice as much water every day compared to previous estimates. The team will publish their findings May 6 in ...

In the 1940s and 1950s, the ocean off the coast of Los Angeles was a dumping ground for the nation’s largest manufacturer of the pesticide DDT – a chemical now known to harm humans and wildlife. Due to the stubborn chemistry of DDT and its toxic breakdown products, this pollution continues to plague L.A.’s coastal waters more than half a century later. While legal at the time, details of this industrial-scale pollution of the marine environment at a dump site some 15 miles offshore near Catalina Island ...

Turbid waters keep the coast healthy To preserve the important intertidal areas and salt marshes off our coasts for the future, we need more turbid water. That is one of the striking conclusions from a new study conducted by a Dutch-Chinese team of researchers and published today in Nature Geoscience."These natural areas outside our dikes are essential for nature and coastal defense. But because how we are now building in the Delta and the hinterland, coastal defense is endangered in the long term," warns NIOZ researcher Tim Grandjean.   Satellite measurements For his research, Grandjean linked decades of satellite measurements ...

A new imaging technique tested in patients could improve the evaluation of cardiac conditions and undiagnosed chest pain. Researchers from Imperial College London’s Department of Bioengineering and Faculty of Medicine worked alongside academics from UCL to produce sub-millimetre resolution images of cardiac micro-vessels. The non-invasive new imaging technique was tested on four human patients. Existing imaging technologies can visualise large vessels on the heart’s surface. However, this new technique could allow scientists to study the physiology of the heart in more detail by imaging smaller micro-vessels within the heart muscle. This research, ...

BOSTON–Eleven million U.S. adults use e-cigarettes to vape nicotine, and about half of them say that they want to stop, but many have trouble doing so because nicotine is an addictive drug. A plant-based medication called cytisinicline may be an effective therapy to help them stop vaping, according to the results of a new clinical trial co-led by an investigator from Massachusetts General Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system. The trial’s findings are published in JAMA Internal Medicine. In the double-blind randomized clinical trial, 160 adults who vaped nicotine ...

– By Alison Hatt In the ongoing quest to make electronic devices ever smaller and more energy efficient, researchers want to bring energy storage directly onto microchips, reducing the losses incurred when power is transported between various device components. To be effective, on-chip energy storage must be able to store a large amount of energy in a very small space and deliver it quickly when needed – requirements that can’t be met with existing technologies.  Addressing this challenge, scientists ...

Norman, OK – Talayeh Razzaghi, an assistant professor of industrial and systems engineering at the University of Oklahoma, has been awarded a Faculty Early Career Development Program award from the National Science Foundation for her work titled “Personalized Maternal Care Decision Support System for Underserved Populations.” Known as a CAREER award, Razzaghi was awarded $496,732 to research machine learning-based clinical decision support tools for early preeclampsia detection in maternal ...

New research on desert isopods' dietary preferences is the revelation of the complex factors influencing their food choices. By understanding how these animals meticulously regulate their nutrient intake and prefer biological soil crusts over plant litter, the study highlights the intricate dynamics of trophic interactions. Understanding the dietary preferences of desert isopods sheds light on the intricate interplay between organisms and their environment, informing ecosystem management and conservation strategies. New study sheds light on the intricate nutritional and functional ...

(Toronto, May 6, 2024) A new study published in JMIR Mental Health sheds light on the promising role of virtual reality (VR) in treating major depressive disorder (MDD). Titled "Examining the Efficacy of Extended Reality–Enhanced Behavioral Activation for Adults With Major Depressive Disorder: Randomized Controlled Trial," the research, led by Dr Margot Paul and team from Stanford University, unveiled the effectiveness of extended reality (XR)–enhanced behavioral activation (XR-BA) in easing symptoms of depression. MDD affects millions worldwide, and access to evidence-based psychotherapies remains a challenge for many. Traditional treatments ...

English learners are, on average, less likely to graduate high school in four years than students who never needed to learn English in school. But social identities like race and gender make a difference, and some groups of English learners are actually more likely to graduate, according to a new study by a team of education researchers at NYU and the University of Houston. For instance, young women who ever learned English in school are more likely to graduate in four years than young men who did not. Similarly, Black English learners tend to have better four-year graduation rates than Black peers who never needed to learn English ...

SAN ANTONIO — May 6, 2024 —The American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) has named Southwest Research Institute’s Matthew Herron, M.S., P.E., CSP, CPE, its 2024 Safety Professional of the Year. The award is presented annually to an ASSP member who demonstrates outstanding achievement in the occupational safety and health (OSH) field while also advancing the OSH profession overall. “It’s a great honor to be recognized by the ASSP as Safety Professional of the Year,” said Herron, a lead safety engineer in SwRI’s Mechanical Engineering Division. “I firmly ...

About The Study: Children diagnosed with hypertension had a higher associated long-term risk of major adverse cardiac events compared with controls without hypertension. Improved detection, follow-up, and control of pediatric hypertension may reduce the risk of adult cardiovascular disease.  Authors: Rahul Chanchlani, M.B.B.S., M.D., M.Sc., of McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2024.1543) Editor’s ...

KEY TAKEAWAYS BRILLIANCE trial results showed 11 out of 14 treated participants experienced some improvements in vision and quality of life measures. CRISPR-based therapy was found safe with no dose-limiting toxicities reported. Mass Eye and Ear researchers say their findings support continued research and clinical trials of CRISPR therapies for inherited retinal disorders.   BOSTON- (MAY 6, 2024) Results from a groundbreaking clinical trial of CRISPR gene editing in 14 individuals ...

PORTLAND, Oregon – About 79% of clinical trial participants experienced measurable improvement after receiving experimental, CRISPR-based gene editing that is designed to fix a rare form of blindness, according to a paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine. “This trial shows CRISPR gene editing has exciting potential to treat inherited retinal degeneration,” said Mark Pennesi, M.D., Ph.D., a corresponding author on the paper, an ophthalmologist and Oregon Health & Science University’s lead scientist for the Phase ...

PULLMAN, Wash. -- Cybersecurity programs vary dramatically across the country, a review has found. The authors argue that program leaders should work with professional societies to make sure graduates are well trained to meet industry needs in a fast-changing field.  In the review, published in the Proceedings of the Association for Computing Machinery’s Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, a Washington State University-led research team found a shortage of research in evaluating the instructional approaches being used to teach cybersecurity. The authors also contend that programs ...

Researchers have developed a new vaccine technology that has been shown in mice to provide protection against a broad range of coronaviruses with potential for future disease outbreaks - including ones we don’t even know about. This is a new approach to vaccine development called ‘proactive vaccinology’, where scientists build a vaccine before the disease-causing pathogen even emerges. The new vaccine works by training the body’s immune system to recognise specific regions of eight different coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-1, SARS-CoV-2, and several that are ...

Scientists at UC San Diego have developed a machine learning algorithm to simulate the time-consuming chemistry involved in the earliest phases of drug discovery, which could significantly streamline the process and open doors for never-before-seen treatments. Identifying candidate drugs for further optimization typically involves thousands of individual experiments, but the new artificial intelligence (AI) platform could potentially give the same results in a fraction of the time. The researchers used the new tool, described in Nature Communications, to synthesize 32 new drug candidates for cancer. The technology is part of a new but growing trend ...

A pattern of brain activity that helps prevent us from getting lost has been identified in a new study, published in Nature Human Behaviour.  Researchers at the University of Birmingham and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich have for the first time been able to pinpoint the location of an internal neural compass which the human brain uses to orientate itself in space and navigate through the environment.   The research identifies finely tuned head direction signals within the brain. The results are comparable to neural codes identified in ...

Research Highlights: A personalized screening algorithm for preeclampsia in the first trimester of pregnancy may help clinicians better predict who is at risk for developing the condition and who may benefit from treatment with a daily, low-dose aspirin. In this study of more than 7,000 women, the new screening method, which combined maternal history, biomarker tests and ultrasound tests, was better at identifying preeclampsia risk in than current risk factor-based guidelines. Embargoed until 4 a.m. CT/5 a.m. ET Monday, May 6, 2024 DALLAS, May 6, 2024 — A new screening algorithm for preeclampsia combining maternal history, ...

Expanding a lymph node, boosting a vaccine A biomaterial vaccine enhances and sustains lymph node expansion following vaccination, boosting anti-tumor immunity in an animal model. By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — Each one of us has around 600 lymph nodes (LNs) – small, bean-shaped organs that house various types of blood cells and filter lymph fluid – scattered throughout our bodies. Many of us have also experienced some of our LNs to temporarily swelling during infections with viruses or other pathogens. This LN expansion and subsequent contraction can also result from vaccines injected nearby, and in fact ...

In sports training, practice is the key, but being able to emulate the techniques of professional athletes can take a player’s performance to the next level. AI-based personalized sports coaching assistants can make this a reality by utilizing published datasets. With cameras and sensors strategically placed on the athlete's body, these systems can track everything, including joint movement patterns, muscle activation levels, and gaze movements. Using this data, personalized feedback is provided on player technique, along with improvement recommendations. Athletes can access this feedback anytime, and anywhere, making these systems versatile for athletes at ...