Polysiloxane materials, such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based elastomers, exhibit a self-healing capability by the introduction of silanolate (Si–O–) groups. This ability stems from their dynamic siloxane (Si–O–Si) bonds, which can break and reform to repair damage. Their self-healing properties could make them valuable in applications like protective coatings for use in various fields, such as optics, electronics, and aerospace. To improve the properties of PDMS-based materials, they have been combined with inorganic fillers such as nanoparticles or nanosheets. Generally, the introduction of nanosheets into polymers leads to the formation of ...

New York, NY – April 1, 2025-  A study published today in the American Journal of Gastroenterology reveals significant disparities in healthcare utilization among racial and ethnic groups with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in the United States. The research, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), led by investigators from the University of Pennsylvania, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation provides crucial insights into the challenges faced by underrepresented communities ...

DALLAS, April 1, 2025 — Sedentary behavior has become a national health crisis, with 1 in 4 U.S. adults sitting for more than eight hours a day, increasing their risk for heart disease, stroke, and mental health challenges, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To help people move more, the American Heart Association, a global force changing the future of health of all, invites communities nationwide to walk together on Wednesday, April 2. Adopting healthier routines doesn’t have to be intimidating or overwhelming according to Eduardo Sanchez MD, MPH, FAHA, the ...

A pan-Canadian team has developed a new way to quickly find personalized treatments for young cancer patients, by growing their tumours in chicken eggs and analyzing their proteins. The team, led by researchers from the University of British Columbia and BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, is the first in Canada to combine these two techniques to identify and test a drug for a young patient's tumour in time for their treatment. Their success in finding a new drug for the patient, described today in EMBO Molecular Medicine, shows how the study of proteins, known as proteomics, ...

Eye tracking plays a critical role in the latest virtual and augmented reality headsets and is an important technology in the entertainment industry, scientific research, medical and behavioral sciences, automotive driving assistance and industrial engineering. Tracking the movements of the human eye with high accuracy, however, is a daunting challenge. Researchers at the University of Arizona Wyant College of Optical Sciences have now demonstrated an innovative approach that could revolutionize eye-tracking ...

It’s (going to be) electric. But how soon? How quickly our society can maximize the benefit of electrification hinges on finding cheaper, higher performance batteries — a reality closer to hand through new research from Virginia Tech. A team of chemists led by Feng Lin and Louis Madsen found a way to see into battery interfaces, which are tight, tricky spots buried deep inside the cell. The research findings were published on April 1 in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. “There are major, longstanding challenges at the interfaces,” ...

April 1, 2025   AMHERST, Mass. – While the threat that microplastics pose to human and ecological health has been richly documented and is well known, nanoplastics, which are smaller than one micrometer (1/50th the thickness of an average human hair), are far more reactive, far more mobile and vastly more capable of crossing biological membranes. Yet, because they are so tiny and so mobile, researchers don’t yet have an accurate understanding of just how toxic these particles are. The first step to understanding the toxicology of nanoplastics is to build a reliable, ...

Mpox has the potential to become a significant global health threat if taken too lightly, according to scientists at the University of Surrey.  In a letter published in Nature Medicine, researchers highlight how mpox – traditionally spread from animals to humans – is now showing clear signs of sustained human-to-human transmission.  Mpox is a viral infection caused by a virus that belongs to the same family as smallpox. The virus can cause a painful rash, fever, and swollen glands and, in some cases, lead to more serious illness. Mpox usually spreads through ...

A new form of tumor infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy, a form of personalized cancer immunotherapy, dramatically improved the treatment’s effectiveness in patients with metastatic gastrointestinal cancers, according to results of a clinical trial led by researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The findings, published April 1, 2025 in Nature Medicine, offer hope that this therapy could be used to treat a variety of solid tumors, which has so far eluded researchers developing cell-based ...

Real estate is precious. Some creatures defend territories extending over several kilometres, but when Jayne Yack (Carleton University, Canada) encountered miniature newborn warty birch caterpillars (Falcaria bilineata) she wondered if she might have discovered one of the world’s smallest, and youngest, territorial critters. ‘We had noticed that tiny warty birch caterpillars produced vibrations’, says Yack, who first encountered the feisty little creatures in 2008. She also noticed that the tiny caterpillars – 1 to 2 mm long – reside in solitude on birch leaves, making her speculate whether they ...

A new study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a centre supported by the "la Caixa" Foundation, has found that children exposed to higher levels of air pollution in early and mid childhood have weaker connections between key brain regions. The findings, published in Environment International, highlight the potential impact of early exposure to air pollution on brain development. The research showed reduced functional connectivity within and between certain cortical and subcortical brain networks. These networks are systems of interconnected brain structures that work together to perform different cognitive functions, such as thinking, perceiving and controlling ...

LOS ANGELES — Researchers with City of Hope, one of the largest and most advanced cancer research and treatment organizations in the United States, with its National Medical Center in Los Angeles ranked among the nation’s top 5 cancer centers by U.S. News & World Report, and MSK have created a tool that uses machine learning to assess a non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) patient’s likely response to chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy before starting the treatment, according to study results published today in Nature Medicine. CAR T cell therapy ...

New projections by the UNSW Institute for Climate Risk & Response (ICRR) reveal a 4°C rise in global temperatures would cut world GDP by around 40% by 2100 – a stark increase from previous estimates of around 11%.  The recently-published analysis fixes an oversight in the current economic model underpinning global climate policy, toppling previous carbon benchmarks.  The results support limiting global warming to 1.7 °C, which is in line with significantly faster decarbonisation goals like the Paris Agreement, and far lower than the 2.7°C supported ...

While the Middle Paleolithic period is viewed as a dynamic time in European and African history, it is commonly considered a static period in East Asia. New research from the University of Washington challenges that perception. Researchers discovered a complete Quina technological system — a method for making a set of tools — in the Longtan site in southwest China, which has been dated to about 50,000 to 60,000 years ago. Quina technology was found in Europe decades ago but has never before been found in East Asia. The team published its findings March ...

Whales and dolphins sleep by turning off one half of their brains at a time; scientists discover more about the genes and pathways that enable this phenomenon.  #### Article URL: https://plos.io/4c9g5gm Article Title: Evolution of canonical circadian clock genes underlies unique sleep strategies of marine mammals for secondary aquatic adaptation Author Countries: China Funding: This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development (R&D) Program of China (grant no. 2022YFF1301600) to G.Y. & S.X., the Key Project ...

Life emerged on Earth some 3.8 billion years ago. The “primordial soup theory” proposes that chemicals floating in pools of water, in the presence of sunlight and electrical discharge, spontaneously formed organic molecules. These building blocks of life underwent chemical reactions, likely driven by RNA, eventually leading to the formation of single cells. But what sparked single cells to assemble into more complex, multicellular life forms? Nature Physics published a new insight about a possible driver of this key step in evolution — the fluid ...

ALL ALS Consortium Launches Website to Advance ALS Research The Access for All in ALS (ALL ALS) Consortium announced the launch of its official website, creating a central hub for information about its initiatives and clinical research studies. ALL-ALS.org is designed to inform and engage researchers, clinicians, and current and prospective study participants. The ALL ALS Consortium formed in fall 2023 with funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The consortium consists of 35 clinical sites in the United States and Puerto Rico, led by researchers at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona and Massachusetts ...

EMBARGOED UNTIL 6:30 P.M. EST on Monday, March 31, 2025 Contact: Jillian McKoy, jpmckoy@bu.edu  Michael Saunders, msaunder@bu.edu  ##  Many TB Cases May Have Gone Undetected in Prisons in Europe and the Americas During COVID-19 A new study found that reported diagnoses for tuberculosis were consistently lower than expected throughout the pandemic, even though incarceration rates remained largely consistent and TB detection among the general population managed to reverse after an early-pandemic decline.  Incarcerated populations have a high risk of developing tuberculosis ...

UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 00.01 AM BST ON TUESDAY 1 APRIL The new Electronic Frailty Index 2 (eFI2) is now available to 60% of England’s GPs thanks to research funded by the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) and conducted by researchers at the University of Leeds and UCL  GP data on 36 health problems such as dementia, falls and fractures will help medical professionals to more accurately identify older people’s frailty and intervene earlier  Interventions may include a holistic assessment and treatment plan, falls prevention, targeted medicines review, and resistance exercise ...

A study from the University of Ottawa’s Human and Environmental Physiology Research Unit (HEPRU) has confirmed that the limits for human thermoregulation—our ability to maintain a stable body temperature in extreme heat—are lower than previously thought. This research, led by Dr. Robert D. Meade, former Senior Postdoctoral Fellow and Dr. Glen Kenny, Director of HEPRU and professor of physiology at uOttawa's Faculty of Health Sciences, highlights the urgent need to address the impacts of climate change on human health. The study found that many regions may soon experience heat and humidity levels that exceed the safe limits ...

Texas has the most rural residents of any state, with nearly 3 million people spread across a vast landscape. If rural Texas were its own state, it would rank as the 36th most populous. Yet, rural Texans face significant barriers to health care that their urban counterparts do not. More than a quarter of the state’s 172 rural counties lack a hospital, and those with at least one hospital often struggle with a shortage of qualified health care personnel, such as nurses and first responders. To address these growing challenges, The University of Texas at Arlington introduced its new Mobile Simulation Lab on Friday. It’s the first in Texas dedicated ...

Post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA) is a condition that affects joints after an injury. Current treatments focus on relieving symptoms but do not prevent or stop the progression of the condition. Although emerging therapies have shown promise in preclinical studies, a major obstacle is delivering these therapies effectively into the joint, a highly dynamic environment subjected to constant mechanical stress. Researchers at Mass General Brigham have created a new hydrogel to improve drug delivery for treating PTOA. The hydrogel, ...

ROCKVILLE, Md. – March 31, 2025 – The Association for Molecular Pathology, the premier global molecular diagnostic professional society, and pathologist Michael Laposata​, M.D.​​​​, Ph.D., today​​ announced a favorable ruling in their lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration over the regulation of laboratory-developed test procedures. The ruling by Judge Sean D. Jordan of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas granted AMP’s motion for summary judgment ...

Christopher M. Kramer, MD, FACC, today assumed the role of president of the American College of Cardiology, an almost 60,000-member global cardiovascular organization working to transform cardiovascular care and improve heart health for all. “I see significant challenges and opportunities for the field of cardiology in the coming years, including workforce issues, health equity, diversity and inclusion, and AI-driven solutions, that need to be addressed to achieve ACC’s mission of transforming cardiovascular care for all,” ...

Effective today, David E. Winchester, MD, MS, FACC, will serve as chair of the American College of Cardiology Board of Governors (BOG) and secretary of the Board of Trustees. His term will run one year from 2025-2026. Winchester will lead governors from chapters representing all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico and representatives from the U.S. health services. The BOG serves as the grassroots governing body of the ACC, a leading cardiovascular organization representing over 56,000 cardiovascular care team members around the world. “Being Chair of the Board ...