Barcelona, Spain: A new drug called WNTinib can delay the growth of tumours and improve survival in hepatoblastoma, a type of liver cancer that occurs in young children. This effect was seen in cancer cells taken from patients and implanted into mice.   The researchers are now working on strategies to identify children who may benefit from the treatment, according to Ms Ugne Balaseviciute, a pre-doctoral researcher in the Translational Research in the Hepatic Oncology Group led by Professor Josep M, Llovet at Institut D'Investigacions Biomediques ...

TUCSON, Arizona — A study published in Clinical Cancer Research confirmed that tissue stiffening in the most common types of breast cancer, HER2-negative, can directly cause disease progression and metastasis, leading to detrimental outcomes for patients. The work was a collaboration between researchers at the University of Arizona Health Sciences and clinicians in Spain.  Researchers led by Miguel Quintela-Fandino, MD, at the Spanish National Cancer Research Center evaluated the MeCo Score™, a diagnostic test invented at ...

Right now across the country, tens of millions of older adults and people with serious disabilities have a choice to make: whether to stick with their current Medicare option, or change during Open Enrollment. One of the biggest decisions they face is whether to go with a Medicare Advantage plan offered by an insurance company, or traditional Medicare coverage offered directly by the federal government. If they change from one to the other, a new University of Michigan study finds, they may be entering a revolving door and find themselves changing again in the future. On average, the study shows, 3% of people with traditional Medicare switch over to ...

COVID-19 is here to stay. As restrictions and human testing have waned, new research is tackling the challenge of how we can monitor, predict, and prevent cases and outbreaks of COVID-19, especially among vulnerable groups like hospitalized patients. One approach is environmental surveillance. The most well-known incarnation is wastewater surveillance, which rose in prominence following the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. But the Coronavirus in the Urban Built Environment research team, also known as CUBE, is exploring an alternative—swabbing the floors. In a recent study at two hospitals in Ontario, CUBE researchers swabbed the floors ...

Polar bears in some parts of the high Arctic are developing ice buildup and related injuries to their feet, apparently due to changing sea ice conditions in a warming Arctic. While surveying the health of two polar bear populations, researchers found lacerations, hair loss, ice buildup and skin ulcerations primarily affecting the feet of adult bears as well as other parts of the body. Two bears had ice blocks up to 1 foot (30 centimeters) in diameter stuck to their foot pads, which caused deep, bleeding cuts and made it difficult for them to walk. The study led by the University of Washington was published Oct. 22 in the journal Ecology. It’s ...

DURHAM, N.H.—(October 22, 2024)—Political affiliation may not make a difference on everyday purchases for individuals, but it can play a role when buying for friends, family and co-workers, new research from the University of New Hampshire has found. This may have implications for gift buying this holiday season and beyond. “We performed five different studies, each looking at buying different products, and asked people to make a choice for themselves and then a gift for someone they knew really well and found that politics played a bigger role when people were purchasing gifts, because that's a case where people are making a decision based ...

Note to Editors: Video clips available at: https://duke.box.com/s/wtq3ofu3kf84ayw3qr6jajxdizt0rwxc DURHAM, N.C. – Imagine sitting in a dark movie theater wondering just how much soda is left in your oversized cup. Rather than prying off the cap and looking, you pick up and shake the cup a bit to hear how much ice is inside rattling around, giving you a decent indication of if you’ll need to get a free refill. Setting the drink back down, you wonder absent-mindedly if the armrest is made of real wood. After ...

A world-renowned West Virginia University physician and researcher has received one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine. Dr. Sally Hodder, director of the West Virginia Clinical and Translational Science Institute, associate vice president for clinical and translational science at WVU and Chancellor’s Preeminent Scholar Chair, was elected to the National Academy of Medicine for her accomplishments as an infectious diseases physician and researcher. Hodder, the first person from WVU to be chosen for the National Academy of Medicine, is one of only 100 new members from around the world announced at the Oct. 21 NAM ...

New study reveals that in arid ecosystems, larger arthropods such as termites and beetles play a crucial role in decomposition, challenging the traditional view that microbial activity dominates this process in dry environments. By demonstrating that macro-decomposition can peak during the summer in arid sites and that overall decomposition rates in these regions can be similar to or even exceed those in wetter climates, the research provides new insights into how decomposition functions in drylands and its implications for global carbon ...

NASA has revealed the first look at a full-scale prototype for six telescopes that will enable, in the next decade, the space-based detection of gravitational waves — ripples in space-time caused by merging black holes and other cosmic sources. The LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) mission is led by ESA (European Space Agency) in partnership with NASA to detect gravitational waves by using lasers to measure precise distances — down to picometers, or trillionths of a meter — between a trio of spacecraft distributed in a vast configuration larger than the Sun. Each side of the triangular array ...

A majority of Americans worry this year’s general election will be tainted by fraud, according to a recent NPR/PBS News/Marist poll released earlier this month—an ominous indication of the state of democracy in the U.S.  “When citizens lose trust in the electoral process, they may question the legitimacy of elected officials and the institutions they represent, which undermines the foundational principle that government authority is derived from the will of the people,” ...

A study of patients with metastatic lung cancer by researchers based in Brazil and the United States has found that their performance in simple physical tests such as sitting down, standing and walking can help physicians arrive at a prognosis and approach to treatment. An article on the study is published in the European Journal of Clinical Investigation.  The findings also included identification in the volunteers’ blood plasma of two substances – serine and M22G – with the potential to become biomarkers capable of indicating which patients are most likely to respond to chemotherapy. The study was supported by FAPESP (projects 16/20187-6 and 19/17009-7), ...

New Haven, Conn. — Expanding access to new, highly effective weight-loss medications could prevent more than 40,000 deaths a year in the United States, according to a new study led by researchers at Yale School of Public Health and the University of Florida. The findings highlight the critical need to remove existing barriers that are hindering people’s access to effective weight loss treatments and impeding public health efforts to address the national obesity crisis, the researchers said. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 74% of Americans are considered overweight, with about 43% of those individuals ...

In a paper published in PLOS Sustainability and Transformation, an international team of researchers looked at how science could play a more active role in managing crises. The paper builds on the outcomes of the international conference “What Role for Science in Crisis Times? Outlook in the Health, Environment, and Agriculture Interconnected Areas”, held in Montpellier in 2022.   To enhance science’s contribution to crisis management, the paper emphasises the need for interdisciplinarity, where science is integrated across disciplines, and transdisciplinarity, which incorporates various societal actors and stakeholders. By co-designing and co-producing ...

Caltech scientists have developed a method driven by machine learning that allows them to accurately measure the mass of individual particles and molecules using complex nanoscale devices. The new technique opens the possibility of using a variety of devices for the measurement of mass and, therefore, the identification of proteins, and could pave the way to determining the sequence of the complete proteome, the collection of all the proteins in an organism. Proteins are the engines of living systems. Which proteins are made, ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Flathead catfish — native to the Mississippi River basin — were first detected in the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania in 2002, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. In the two decades since then, the invasive species has spread throughout the river basin. The impact of the large predator on the waterway’s food webs and ecology was unknown, but now a research team is beginning to understand what Susquehanna flatheads are eating and how their presence is affecting native aquatic species in the river. The findings, which the team said state ...

NORMAN, OKLA. – Alisa Javadi, Ph.D., professor at the University of Oklahoma School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy, has received funding from the U.S. Department of Energy Early Career Research Program for research that offers the potential for advancing quantum technology development. Javadi’s research will test the use of cerium oxide as a host for quantum bits, or qubits. Qubits, the building blocks of quantum computing, need an environment free ...

Obesity Medicine Fellowship Created at Pennington Biomedical  Fellowship product of collaboration between Pennington Biomedical Research Center’s Metamor Clinic and Louisiana State University Health New Orleans School of Medicine   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  Oct. 22, 2024  BATON ROUGE – A new Obesity Medicine Fellowship at Pennington Biomedical Research Center is now open for candidate applications. The one-year program is the result of a collaboration between Pennington Biomedical and Louisiana State University Health ...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The viruses that infect bacteria are the most abundant biological entities on the planet. For example, a recent simple study of 92 showerheads and 36 toothbrushes from American bathrooms found more than 600 types of bacterial viruses, commonly called bacteriophages or phages. A teaspoon of coastal seawater has about 50 million phages. While largely unnoticed, phages do not harm humans. On the contrary, these viruses are gaining increasing popularity as biomedicines to eradicate pathogenic ...

A Ukrainian researcher has developed a new digital tool for detecting autism and developmental delay in children. Her research has been published in Cambridge University Press journal Cambridge Prisms: Global Mental Health. The tool incorporates the basic principles of the Kids’ Development Diagnosis and Determining the Risk of Autism (KiDD) methodology, for children aged 1.5 to 6 years old, into mobile app form. It has the potential to help diagnose children more swiftly and efficiently, which could have major positive ...

Texas Accounting Chair Steven Kachelmeier Garners Coveted Award for Scholarship AUSTIN, Texas — The American Accounting Association (AAA) presented its Lifetime Achievement Award for Behavioral Accounting Research to Steven Kachelmeier, a professor and chair of the Department of Accounting at The University of Texas McCombs School of Business. Kachelmeier, the Thomas O. Hicks Endowed Chair in Business, accepted this prestigious award during the weekend at the association’s 2024 Accounting ...

TORONTO, Oct. 22, 2024 – Today, the Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI), powered by Baycrest launched Ignite, its new funding program to support Canadian innovators designing solutions for older persons. As Canada’s aging population rapidly grows – with nearly 20 per cent of people above the age of 65 – so too will the need for innovations that enhance the lives of older persons, including those impacted by dementia. Canadian early-stage innovators – including researchers, point-of-care staff, and companies – are developing ...

A new artificial intelligence-based system can accurately assess the chromosomal status of in vitro-fertilized (IVF) embryos using only time-lapse video images of the embryos and maternal age, according to a study from investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine. The new system, called "BELA,” and described in a paper published Sept. 5 in Nature Communications, is the team’s latest AI-based platform for assessing whether an embryo has a normal (euploid) or abnormal (aneuploid) number of chromosomes—a key determinant of IVF success. Unlike prior AI-based approaches, BELA does not need to  consider embryologists' subjective assessments of embryos. ...

“This study represents one of the first to evaluate the impact of senolytic agents D+Q on the clinical development of pelvic organ prolapse and expression of proteins associated with cellular senescence in a mouse model.” BUFFALO, NY- October 22, 2024 – A new research paper was published in Aging (listed by MEDLINE/PubMed as "Aging (Albany NY)" and "Aging-US" by Web of Science), Volume 16, Issue 19 on September 26, 2024, entitled, “Use of the senolytics dasatinib and quercetin for prevention of pelvic organ prolapse in a mouse animal model.” Pelvic organ prolapse is a common condition among women ...

The UCLA Urology department has been awarded $6 million from the California Department of Health Care Services to continue providing vital care and critical services to underinsured and uninsured Californians diagnosed with prostate cancer. For the next two years, the additional funding will support the 23-year-old IMPACT program—which stands for Improving Access, Counseling, and Treatment for Californians with Prostate Cancer—and extend the program’s reach and duration, ensuring continued support for California’s most vulnerable populations. Led ...