HOUSTON ― The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Research Highlights showcases the latest breakthroughs in cancer care, research and prevention. These advances are made possible through seamless collaboration between MD Anderson’s world-leading clinicians and scientists, bringing discoveries from the lab to the clinic and back. Recent developments at MD Anderson offer insights into a novel targeted therapy for rare cancers, the role of enhancer RNAs in cell differentiation, novel biomarkers for the prognosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer, imaging signatures to stratify ...

Crossing a busy street safely typically is a result of a social exchange. Pedestrians look for cues—a wave, a head nod, a winking flash of the headlights, and, of course, a full vehicle stop—to know it’s safe to cross. But those clues could be absent or different with self-driving vehicles. How will children and adults know when it’s safe to cross the road? In a new study, University of Iowa researchers investigated how pre-teenage children determined when it was safe to cross a residential street with oncoming self-driving cars. The researchers found children made the ...

Mount Sinai researchers have published the first study to use single-cell analysis in identifying several pathophysiological mechanisms of abnormal passageways in the digestive system known as perianal fistulae, a common complication of Crohn’s disease. These findings were published in the journal Med on April 24. Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory bowel disease that causes chronic inflammation at any part of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and impacts more than half a million people in the United States. Perianal fistulae, abnormal connections between the anal canal and perianal skin, are a common complication of Crohn’s disease that often result in ...

HOUSTON – (April 24, 2024) – People say “When pigs fly” to describe the impossible. But even if most mammals are landlubbers, the ability to glide or fly has evolved again and again during mammalian evolution, in species ranging from bats to flying squirrels. How did that come about? In a study published in the journal Nature this week, a team of researchers led by Princeton University and Baylor College of Medicine explains the genomic and developmental basis of the patagium, the thin skin membrane that allows some mammalian species to soar through the air. “We don't quite understand how novel traits and adaptations originate from a molecular ...

About The Study: In this cohort study of pediatric enrollees across three commercial health insurance databases, statistical signals detected for myocarditis or pericarditis after BNT162b2 (ages 12-17 years) were consistent with previous reports, and seizures after BNT162b2 (ages 2-4 years) and mRNA-1273 vaccinations (ages 2-5 years) should be further investigated in a robust epidemiologic study with confounding adjustment. The Food and Drug Administration concludes that the known and potential benefits of COVID-19 vaccination outweigh the known and potential risks of COVID-19 infection.  Authors: Patricia C. Lloyd, Ph.D., Sc.M., of the Food and Drug Administration in Silver ...

About The Study: This analysis shows that declines in heart failure-related mortality from 1999 to 2012 have been entirely undone by reversals from 2012 to 2021, meaning that contemporary heart failure mortality rates are higher than in 1999. The origins of these reversals preceded the COVID-19 pandemic, although the larger increases in 2020 to 2021 indicate that the pandemic may have accelerated them due to limitations to health care access and possible cardiac involvement.  Authors: Marat Fudim, M.D., M.H.S., of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, is the ...

About The Study: In this repeated cross-sectional study, there was no evidence that recreational marijuana laws were associated with encouraging youth marijuana use, based on both the logistic regression and interaction-weighted models.  Authors: D. Mark Anderson, Ph.D., of Montana State University in Bozeman, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2024.0698) Editor’s Note: Please see ...

In a significant development in the field of superconductivity, researchers at The University of Manchester have successfully achieved robust superconductivity in high magnetic fields using a newly created one-dimensional (1D) system. This breakthrough offers a promising pathway to achieving superconductivity in the quantum Hall regime, a longstanding challenge in condensed matter physics. Superconductivity, the ability of certain materials to conduct electricity with zero resistance, holds profound potential for advancements of quantum technologies. However, achieving superconductivity in the quantum Hall regime, characterised by quantised electrical conductance, has proven to be a mighty ...

Tumors actively prevent the formation of immune responses by so-called cytotoxic T cells, which are essential in combating cancer. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) Hospital have now uncovered for the first time how this exactly happens. The study in the journal Nature provides rationales for new cancer immunotherapies and could make existing treatments more effective. A second paper in Nature confirms the findings. In cancer, tumors often impair the body's immune response. For example, they can prevent immune cells from perceiving cancer cells as a threat or render them inactive. Immunotherapies aim ...

  ·  73% of children with skin disease experience stigma and poor quality of life ·  ‘Chronic skin conditions can be tremendously life-altering’ ·  Shame during childhood can affect them throughout their lives, dermatologist says CHICAGO --- The majority of children and teens with chronic skin diseases such as acne, eczema, psoriasis, alopecia areata (hair loss) and vitiligo (pigment loss) feel stigmatized by peers for their condition and are sometimes bullied, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study. As a result, these children have a ...

Electrons inside solid materials can only take certain values of energy. The allowed energy ranges are called “bands” and the space between them, the forbidden energies, are known as “band-gaps”. Both of them together constitute the “band structure” of the material, which is a unique characteristic of each specific material. When physicists plot the band structure, they usually see that the resulting curves resemble mountains and valleys. In fact, the technical term for a local energy maximum or minimum in the bands is called a “valley”, and the field which studies and exploits how electrons in the material ...

Images The most up-to-date understanding of the flowering plant tree of life is presented in a new study published today in the journal Nature by an international team of 279 scientists, including three University of Michigan biologists.   Using 1.8 billion letters of genetic code from more than 9,500 species covering almost 8,000 known flowering plant genera (ca. 60%), this achievement sheds new light on the evolutionary history of flowering plants and their rise to ecological dominance on Earth.   Led by scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the research team believes ...

As our battle against cancer rages on, the quest for more sophisticated and realistic models to study tumor development has never been more critical. Until now, research has relied on animal models and simplified cell culture methods, which are valuable but cannot fully capture the complex interplay of factors involved in tumor development. Even newer, more advanced models for studying cancer, such as organoids – tiny, lab-grown versions of organs – do not faithfully replicate the cell behaviors and tissue architectures seen in actual tumors. This gap has significantly hindered our understanding ...

Much like how electric circuits use components to control electronic signals, quantum networks rely on special components and nodes to transfer quantum information between different points, forming the foundation for building quantum systems. In the case of quantum networks, color centers in diamond, which are defects intentionally added to a diamond crystal, are crucial for generating and maintaining stable quantum states over long distances. When stimulated by external light, these color centers in diamond emit photons carrying information about their internal electronic states, especially the spin states. The interaction between the emitted photons and the ...

JMIR Publications invites submissions to a new theme issue titled “Incorporating Participatory Methods in Developing, Implementing, and Evaluating Rehab Interventions and Assistive Technologies” in its premier, open access journal JMIR Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies (JRAT).    JRAT is a peer-reviewed journal indexed in PubMed and PubMed Central, SCOPUS, DOAJ, Web of Science, Sherpa Romeo, and EBSCO and EBSCO Essentials. This theme issue aims to showcase research that actively engages patients, caregivers, and other stakeholders (knowledge users) ...

SAN ANTONIO — April 24, 2024 — Southwest Research Institute’s Dr. Marc Janssens was named a “DiNenno Prize Laureate” for his role in the widespread adoption of the cone calorimeter, a fire-testing tool that accurately measures heat release and material flammability. The National Fire Protection Association® recognized the cone calorimeter with the 2024 Philip J. DiNenno Prize for its lasting impact on fire safety. Dr. Vytenis Babrauskas, a co-recipient of the prize, developed the cone ...

As wildfires in Siberia become more common, global climate modeling estimates significant impacts on climate, air quality, health, and economies in East Asia and across the northern hemisphere. The global effects of increasing wildfires in Siberia have been modeled by researchers at Hokkaido University and colleagues at the University of Tokyo and Kyushu University. The results, published in the journal Earth’s Future, suggest significant and widespread effects on air quality, climate, health, and economics under the most extreme wildfire scenarios. The authors performed global numerical simulation experiments to evaluate how the increased intensity of wildfires ...

A new study, led by the University of Oxford and MIT, has recovered a 3.7-billion-year-old record of Earth’s magnetic field, and found that it appears remarkably similar to the field surrounding Earth today. The findings have been published today in the Journal of Geophysical Research. Without its magnetic field, life on Earth would not be possible since this shields us from harmful cosmic radiation and charged particles emitted by the Sun (the ‘solar wind’). But up to now, there has been no reliable date for when the modern magnetic field was first established.    In the new study, the researchers examined ...

Eric and Wendy Schmidt Announce 2024 Schmidt Science Fellows    32 exceptional early career researchers will tackle ambitious interdisciplinary science projects   The seventh cohort of the interdisciplinary program, an initiative of Schmidt Sciences, will advance research in areas ranging from healthcare and the environment to advanced materials and robotics   The 2024 Fellows, representing 17 nationalities from 26 nominating institutions across North America, Europe, and Asia, will also benefit from bespoke ...

Background and Aims Hepatitis B virus (HBV) reactivation is commonly observed in individuals with chronic HBV infection undergoing antineoplastic drug therapy. Paclitaxel (PTX) treatment has been identified as a potential trigger for HBV reactivation. This study aimed to uncover the mechanisms of PTX-induced HBV reactivation in vitro and in vivo, which may inform new strategies for HBV antiviral treatment.   Methods The impact of PTX on HBV replication was assessed through various methods including enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, dual-luciferase reporter assay, quantitative ...

Dr. Han Joong Tark and student researcher Lee Do Geun at the Nano Hybrid Technology Research Center of Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute(KERI) have developed a new manufacturing technique for "silicon/nitrogen-doped carbon composite anode materials." These materials aim to enhance the capacity and stability of lithium-ion battery anodes. Silicon, despite offering significantly higher energy density compared to graphite (a common anode material), suffers from a major drawback: it expands 3-4 times during charging and discharging, leading to performance degradation. To address this issue, researchers are blending ...

As urban areas continue to grow, the demand for innovative solutions to alleviate traffic congestion and improve transportation efficiency has never been more urgent. A recent breakthrough study presented by researchers from the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory as well as international research team introduces a cutting-edge approach to managing traffic at urban intersections using the spatiotemporal-restricted A* algorithm. This advanced method promises to transform how traffic is handled by optimizing the flow of both connected automated vehicles (CAVs) and human-driven vehicles (HVs) ...

NEW YORK, NY, APRIL 24, 2024— Surgeons at NYU Langone Health performed the first-ever combined mechanical heart pump and gene-edited pig kidney transplant surgery in a 54-year-old woman with heart and kidney failure—a confluence of advances that showcase the possibility and hope of modern medicine. Doctors performed this feat in two stages: first surgically implanting the heart pump days before embarking on the landmark transplant, which included a gene-edited pig kidney and the pig’s thymus gland to aid against rejection. Before the procedure, patient Lisa Pisano, a New Jersey ...

Florida Atlantic University Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing’s Canines Providing Assistance to Wounded Warriors (C-P.A.W.W.) has received a new grant from the Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI) for research that investigates the contribution of pet dog ownership to resilience and well-being in adolescent children of military families. The grant was awarded to a team of researchers led by Laurie Martinez, Ph.D., an assistant professor, FAU College of Nursing; and co-led by Cheryl A. Krause-Parello, Ph.D., associate vice president for research, FAU Division of Research and a research professor in the College of Nursing.     This important study will provide ...

DURHAM, N.C. – The unique circumstances arising from the COVID-19 pandemic altered a long-held convention that doctors provide care regardless of personal risk. In a study assessing doctors’ tolerance for refusing care to COVID-19 patients, Duke Health researchers identified a growing acceptance to withhold care because of safety concerns.  “All the papers throughout history have shown that physicians broadly believed they should treat infectious disease patients,” said the study’s lead author, Braylee Grisel, a fourth-year student at Duke University ...