Could taking statins benefit your mouth in addition to your arteries? A new study conducted in cell cultures showed that cholesterol-lowering drugs help to dampen the inflammation associated with periodontal disease by altering the behavior of macrophages, a type of immune cell.   Statins are the most common type of prescription medication in the United States today, taken by over 40 million Americans to lower cholesterol. The study suggests these drugs improve gum health and reduce the risk of heart disease.   Subramanya Pandruvada, an assistant professor in the College ...

A newly discovered feedback loop involving estrogen may explain why women might become dependent on nicotine more quickly and with less nicotine exposure than men. The research could lead to new treatments for women who are having trouble quitting nicotine-containing products such as cigarettes.   Sally Pauss is a doctoral student at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine in Lexington. She led the project.   “Studies show that women have a higher propensity to develop addiction to nicotine than men and are less successful at quitting,” said Pauss, ...

Many individuals eligible for lung cancer screening (LCS) also suffer from multiple health issues at the same time, known as comorbid conditions. This study explores how primary care physicians (PCPs) factor comorbidities into their shared decision-making conversations with patients to discuss the harms and benefits of lung cancer screening. Researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 PCPs affiliated with the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City between October 2020 and February 2021. PCPs were asked questions to examine their understanding of how comorbidities ...

Large language models (LLMs) are neural network–based computer programs that use a detailed statistical understanding of written language to perform many tasks, including text generation, summarization, software development, and prediction. However, LLMs can produce text that, while may seem correct, is not fact-based. This study investigates whether a popular LLM, ChatGPT-3.5, could produce high-quality, accurate, and bias-free summaries of medical research abstracts and determine the relevance of various journals and their articles to different medical specialties. Ten articles ...

This study explores the extent to which pediatric health care was interrupted during and as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was measured based on three primary outcomes of interest: foregone care, foregone well-child or vaccination-related visits, and complete absence of well-child or vaccination-related visits. Researchers extracted data from a nationwide longitudinal survey known as CovEx (COVID Experiences Survey) that had been administered in two “waves'' to a cohort of parents of children between five and 12 years of age. Wave 1 took place October 8-November 13, 2020, and Wave 2 took place March 24-May 7, 2021, with an 82% retention rate of participants. Data was ...

The purpose of this study was to delve deeper into the link between fathers’ perceptions of their adolescent sons’ preparedness to engage in sexual intercourse, and how likely they were to provide their sons with guidance on using condoms correctly and consistently. Researchers recruited 191 father-son pairs from among Black and Latino residents of the South Bronx in New York City; adolescent participants ranged in age from 15 to 19 years old. Using a sequential mixed-methods explanatory design, all participants completed a confidential survey, after which a random ...

Genital tucking is the practice of hiding or minimizing the appearance of one’s genitals and gonads. It is practiced by transgender women and gender diverse individuals who were assigned male at birth. In this study, researchers designed a 27-question survey related to such factors as the length of time individuals spent tucked; how commonly and frequently; and understandings of, concerns for, and positive/negative history of potential adverse effects. Only 23% of the 98 respondents reported discussing ...

Embargoed for release until 5:00 p.m. ET on Monday 25 March 2024    Annals of Internal Medicine Tip Sheet     @Annalsofim    Below please find summaries of new articles that will be published in the next issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The summaries are not intended to substitute for the full articles as a source of information. This information is under strict embargo and by taking it into possession, media representatives are committing to the terms of the embargo not only on their own behalf, but also on behalf of the organization they represent.    ----------------------------    1. Annual vaccination campaign with ...

There's a growing awareness of the role medicine as an institution has played in creating and perpetuating health inequities facing historically marginalized groups, yet systemic racism and implicit biases continue to shape aspects of clinical practice such as care management decisions and patient communication.  Addressing medical racism has become an essential part of the medical education curriculum, though most published curricula treat health equity as a lecture topic separate from clinical practice. In this report, authors from the Emory University School of Medicine present a new approach to threading (cohesively incorporating) diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and ...

In 2015, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) launched EvidenceNOW: Advancing Heart Health. This three-year initiative, AHRQ’s largest-ever investment in primary care research, was designed to provide external quality improvement support to help small and medium-size primary care practices implement the latest evidence and improve their delivery of cardiovascular care.  AHRQ awarded grants to primary care practices in seven regions across the U.S. to implement this initiative and to evaluate their own experiences with it, thereby accounting for regional differences in needs and existing resources. Additionally, ...

Collaboration Between Medical Department Staff and Their IT Colleagues on an EHR Optimization Project Leads to Improved Productivity Between June and October 2021, members of Marshall University’s Department of Family and Community Health collaborated with their school’s Information Technology (IT) team to conduct a four-month, department-wide optimization project to improve their usage of the Electronic Health Record (EHR) software. The software was implemented across their institution ...

Providence, R.I. -- A new study from Annals of Family Medicine reveals that a father's understanding of his son's readiness for sexual relationships plays a crucial role in the timing and effectiveness of discussions regarding condom use guidance. The findings offer valuable insights for family-focused health care providers, guiding them to encourage fathers to initiate conversations about sexual readiness and the importance of correct and consistent condom use with their adolescent sons. In 2021, 47% of adolescent males in the 12th grade reported engaging in sexual activity, yet condom use has declined. These trends contribute to negative sexual health outcomes among ...

In recent years, the U.S. government has invested substantially in Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), which have become synonymous in policy discussions with primary care for the socially vulnerable. Conversely, no such investment has been made in independent practices serving socially vulnerable patients. As independent practices become less financially viable, this disparity could severely limit primary care options for socially vulnerable patients. This mixed-methods study considers the extent to which independent family physicians ...

Diabetes affects more than 1 in 10 — or more than 38 million — Americans. People with diabetes who keep their blood sugar levels in the near-normal range generally have a much lower risk of developing diabetes complications such as heart, kidney, and eye diseases. The challenge is that most people with diabetes require more than one medication to control blood sugar levels over time.  The Glycemia Reduction Approaches in Diabetes: A Comparative Effectiveness, or GRADE, Study was designed to compare ...

As cities around the world continue to draw young people for work, education, and social opportunities, a new study identifies characteristics that would support young urban dwellers’ mental health. The findings, based on survey responses from a global panel that included adolescents and young adults, provide a set of priorities that city planners can adopt to build urban environments that are safe, equitable, and inclusive.  To determine city characteristics that could bolster youth mental health, researchers administered an initial survey to a panel of more than 400, including young people ...

TUCSON, Ariz., March 25, 2024 — Critical Path Institute (C-Path) today announced the formation of a new task force under its Rare Disease Cures Accelerator-Data and Analytics Platform (RDCA-DAP®), dedicated to advancing therapeutic development for Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP). This initiative brings together leading organizations and experts in a concerted effort to tackle the challenges associated with PSP drug development. PSP is a brain disorder that affects movement, control of walking and balance, speech, swallowing, vision, mood, behavior and thought. The confirmed members of the task force ...

A Simon Fraser University professor is helping make strides towards a “sustainable, intelligent world” by propelling printable sensor technologies. Vincenzo Pecunia, from SFU’s School of Sustainable Energy Engineering, led a team of more than 100 experts from 57 research institutions worldwide in developing a comprehensive roadmap for next-generation printable sensor technologies. By paving the way for everyday objects and environments to acquire sensing capabilities, these technologies could be a game changer in advancing sustainability and enhancing our quality ...

The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory is providing national leadership in a new collaboration among five national laboratories to accelerate U.S. production of clean hydrogen fuel cells and electrolyzers.   Hydrogen fuel cells provide power to electric vehicles and buildings using an electrochemical reaction that converts hydrogen and oxygen into heat, water and electricity. The Roll-to-Roll, or R2R, Consortium aims to scale up, speed up and reduce the cost of producing key components ...

The Ecological Society of America (ESA) presents a roundup of five research articles recently published across its six esteemed journals. Widely recognized for fostering innovation and advancing ecological knowledge, ESA’s journals consistently feature innovative and impactful studies. This compilation of papers explores invasive possum management in New Zealand, afforestation on global rangelands, population regulation in large herbivores and more, showcasing the Society’s commitment to promoting cutting-edge research that furthers ...

The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) has announced the induction of Regents Professor Petra Fromme, director of the Biodesign Center for Applied Structural Discovery at Arizona State University, to its College of Fellows. Election to the AIMBE College of Fellows is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to medical and biological engineers, an honor reserved only for the top 2% of researchers in these fields. "We welcome Petra's well-earned induction into ...

Each year, bacterial infections claim several million lives worldwide. That is why detecting harmful microorganisms is crucial – not only in the diagnosis of diseases but also, for example, in food production. However, the methods available so far are often time-consuming, require expensive equipment or can only be used by specialists. Moreover, they are often unable to distinguish between active bacteria and their decay products. By contrast, the newly developed method detects only intact bacteria. It makes use of the fact that ...

EMBARGOED UNTIL MARCH 25, 2024 AT 3:00 PM US EST What could cancer teach us about tuberculosis? That’s a question Meenal Datta has been chasing since she was a graduate student. Once the body’s immune system is infected with tuberculosis, it forms granulomas — tight clusters of white blood cells — in an attempt to wall off the infection-causing bacteria in the lungs. But more often than not, granulomas do more harm than good.  Charged with analyzing the similarities between granulomas and tumors, Datta discovered that both are structurally and functionally abnormal. ...

Should you run to the bathroom now? Or can you hold it until you get home? A new implant and associated smartphone app may someday remove the guess work from the equation. Northwestern University researchers have developed a new soft, flexible, battery-free implant that attaches to the bladder wall to sense filling. Then, it wirelessly — and simultaneously — transmits data to a smartphone app, so users can monitor their bladder fullness in real time. The study will be published next week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). It ...

When scientists and policymakers make tough calls on which areas to prioritize for conservation, biodiversity is often their top consideration. Environments with more diversity support a greater number of species and provide more ecosystem services, making them the obvious choice. There’s just one problem. There are several ways to measure diversity, and each reveals a slightly different, and sometimes conflicting, view of how life interacts in a forest or other ecosystem. In a new study published ...

ITHACA, N.Y. – Pairing cryptocurrency mining – notable for its outsize consumption of carbon-based fuel – with green hydrogen could provide the foundation for wider deployment of renewable energy, such as solar and wind power, according to a new Cornell University study. “Since current cryptocurrency operations now contribute heavily to worldwide carbon emissions, it becomes vital to explore opportunities for harnessing the widespread enthusiasm for cryptocurrency as we move toward a sustainable and a climate-friendly future,” said Fengqi You, professor of energy systems engineering at Cornell. You and doctoral ...