A simple and convenient method to collect drug use data from the surface of a smartphone is revealed for the first time in a new study published in De Gruyter’s Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine. By helping clinicians understand what drugs people are taking in certain contexts, the research could protect public health and improve the treatment of patients suspected of overdosing.  Understanding the most common drugs in a particular area, who uses them, when they use them and in what contexts can help inform life-saving treatment decisions but given the illegal nature ...

Researchers at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology developed a new technique to make ultrasound localization microscopy, an emerging diagnostic tool used for high-resolution microvascular imaging, more practical for clinical settings. Their method uses deep learning to advance in the post-processing pipeline of ULM. Their technique, called LOcalization with Context Awareness Ultrasound Localization microscopy, or LOCA-ULM, appears in the journal Nature Communications.  “I’m really excited about making ULM faster and better so that more people will be able to use this technology. I think deep learning-based computational ...

A new study shows community pharmacies may play a key role in helping people quit smoking. The findings came out in the article Closing the Tobacco Treatment Gap, published in the 10th anniversary special issue of Pharmacy. The results provide valuable insights into the implementation of tobacco cessation services within community pharmacies while identifying barriers to further improvements. Tobacco use remains a leading preventable cause of death. Although two thirds of people who smoke would like to quit, many individuals trying to quit on their own are not successful. To address this gap, the study explored how ...

April 22, 2024 Book Aims to Re-Design the Up-Skilling Game. Rotman School Author Says We Need a Re-Set in the Way We Think About Human Skill in the GenAI era Toronto – Although communicative and relational skills are currently in the greatest demand in organizations large and small, we are as educators, executives, and talent developers very far away from the kind of precision in identifying, measuring, selecting, and developing these skills that we have achieved with cognitive and technical skills. At the same time, the automation ...

April 22, 2024 Contact: Lori Atherton, SEAS, lorather@umich.edu                Jim Erickson, Michigan News, ericksn@umich.edu   A new University of Michigan study finds that automation and electrification of long-haul trucking can reduce urban health impacts and environmental damages.  For long-haul routes below 300 miles, electrification can reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas damages by 13%, or $587 million annually, according to the study. ...

April 22, 2024 European Union Should Adopt a Research-Based Approach to Ensure the Quality and Safety of Substances of Human Origin London/Toronto – Substances of human origin (SoHOs) such as blood, plasma, skin, corneas, and embryos play an increasing role in life-saving medical procedures. Governments around the world are reevaluating their healthcare policies to ensure of a supply of SoHOs for their population, while also considering the best-interests of both donors and patients. A ...

Repeated exposure to explosive blasts has the potential to cause brain injuries, but there is currently no diagnostic test for these injuries In a study of 30 active-duty United States SOF personnel, researchers found that increased blast exposure was associated with structural, functional, and neuroimmune changes to the brain and a decline in health-related quality of life The researchers are now designing a larger study to develop a diagnostic test for repeated blast brain injury United States (US) Special Operations Forces (SOF) personnel are frequently exposed to explosive blasts during training and combat.  However, ...

New York, NY (April 22, 2024) – In a scientific breakthrough, Mount Sinai researchers have revealed the biological mechanisms by which a family of proteins known as histone deacetylases (HDACs) activate immune system cells linked to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and other inflammatory diseases. This discovery, reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), could potentially lead to the development of selective HDAC inhibitors designed to treat types of IBD such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. “Our understanding of the specific function of class II HDACs in different cell types has been limited, impeding ...

Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) is an extremely rare genetic disease that affects just 1 in every 20 million people; it is estimated that fewer than 400 children in the world have the disease. HGPS is characterized by accelerated aging, severe atherosclerosis, and premature death at an average age of about 15 years. Although people with HGPS do not normally have conventional cardiovascular risk factors (hypercholesterolemia, obesity, smoking, etc.), most patients die from the complications of atherosclerosis: myocardial ...

Dilated cardiomyopathy is the most frequent cause of heart failure in young people and is the leading cause of heart transplantation. In this disease, the heart enlarges and reduces its capacity to pump blood. People with dilated cardiomyopathy are at high risk for arrhythmias and sudden death.    In approximately 30%–40% of people with dilated cardiomyopathy, the disease is caused by a genetic mutation. When a genetic cause is identified, the patient’s family members can be studied to determine if they have also inherited the altered gene. Family members who are carriers of the genetic mutation are at risk for developing the disease in ...

As the World Health Organization (WHO) pushes for countries to seal the Pandemic Treaty by May this year, researchers at the University of Warwick and Kings College London stress the need for fair negotiations. The opinion piece, featured in PLOS Global Public Health journal, is led by Professor Sharifah Sekalala . The team highlights the importance of considering "Time Equity" in these talks, urging caution on setting deadlines and sharing the burden when time is tight. Since COVID-19 hit, demands for health equity ...

The International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) will hold its 2024 Annual Meeting – the organization’s 23rd – from Wednesday, May 15 through Saturday, May 18, 2024, bringing together a global, multidisciplinary group of more than 1,200 autism researchers, clinicians, advocates, self-advocates, and students from 20 countries to exchange the latest scientific learnings and discoveries that are advancing the expanding understanding of autism and its complexities. This year’s ...

Healthy cells respond appropriately to changes in their environment. They do this by sensing what’s happening outside and relaying a command to the precise biomolecule in the precise domain that can carry out the necessary response. When the message gets to the right domain at the right time, your body stays healthy. When it ends up at the wrong place at the wrong time, you can get diseases such as diabetes or cancer.  The routes that messages take inside a cell are called signaling pathways. Cells use only a few signaling pathways to respond simultaneously to hundreds of external signals, so those pathways need to be tightly ...

COS Mason Researchers Translating Research Into Practice To Create Climate-Ready Communities Across Virginia Four Mason researchers received funding for: “ART: Translating Research into Practice to Create Climate-Ready Communities Across Virginia.” Leah Nichols, Executive Director, Institute for a Sustainable Earth, Research and Innovation Initiatives; James Kinter, Professor, Climate Dynamics, Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences (AOES); Director, Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies (COLA); Luis Ortiz, Assistant Professor, AOES; and Celso Ferreira, Associate Professor, Sid and Reva Dewberry Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering, are ...

Hao Receives Funding for NOAA AMSU-A CDR Products Support                                                                                                                                                           ...

“Where is my life going?” “Who do I want to be?”   As future-thinkers, adolescents spend significant time contemplating these types of questions about their life goals. A new study from the University of Houston shows that as people grow from teenagers to young adults, they tend to change the importance they place on certain life goals, but one thing is certain: The existence of high prestige and education goals, as well as their positive development, can drive success.  “Adolescents who endorsed higher levels of prestige and education goals tended to have higher educational attainment, income, ...

Researchers have unveiled a technology that propels the field of wireless communication forward. This cutting-edge design, termed a reconfigurable transmissive metasurface, utilizes a synergistic blend of scissor and rotation actuators to independently manage beam scanning and polarization conversion. This introduces an innovative approach to boosting signal strength and efficiency within wireless networks. Reconfigurable metasurfaces are transforming wireless communication by adjusting electromagnetic (EM) wave characteristics such as amplitude, phase, and polarization. These planar arrays enhance wave control, boosting functionalities ...

Background and Aims Disease progression of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is driven by the interactions between viral replication and the host immune response against the infection. This study aimed to clarify the relationship between HBV replication and hepatic inflammation during disease progression.   Methods Two cross-sectional, one validation cohort, and meta-analyses were used to explore the relationship between HBV replication and liver inflammation. Spearman analysis, multiple linear regression, and logistic regression were used to explore the relationship between variables.   Results In ...

Nathan Sleeter, Research Assistant Professor, History and Art History, Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media (RRCHNM), is set to receive funding for: “American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) at 50 website.” RRCHNM researchers will develop a website that will tell the story of AISES’s first 50 years, its founding mission, its growth, and the individuals who have been part of its work supporting American Indians in STEM. Sleeter will serve as project director. The researchers will also conduct and record oral history ...

Farhang Alem, Interim Director of the Biomedical Research Laboratory, Institute for Biohealth Innovation, received funding for: “PRNT Analysis of Samples from Athari BioSciences.” Researchers with the Biomedical Research Laboratory will perform Plaque Reduction Neutralization Tests (PRNTs) on Athari patient serum samples with parameters defined by Athari. They will also produce and deliver a report containing all patient serum sample titer results for SARS-CoV-2. PRNT analysis is a serological test that utilizes the ability of a specific antibody to neutralize a virus, and in turn, prevent the virus ...

Clarifying the cause of a skin disease led to the discovery of a new disease-causing gene, a new category of diseases, and new perspectives for both counseling and therapy. The Kobe University discovery is the first time that epigenetic silencing, the “switching off” of an otherwise intact gene, has been recognized as the cause for a skin disease. Porokeratosis is a skin disease that leads to the development of annular or circular, red and itchy lesions. In some individuals, these develop all over the body, in some localized in lines, and in some only in one or very few spots. Kobe University dermatologist KUBO Akiharu previously ...

About The Study: Preoperative use of glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) in patients undergoing emergency surgery was not associated with a higher risk of postoperative respiratory complications compared with patients not using GLP-1 RAs. The results of this study suggest that liberalizing withholding guidelines for GLP-1 RAs preoperatively should be considered.  Authors: Anjali A. Dixit, M.D., M.P.H., of the Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, California, ...

In a world with rapidly aging societies, there’s a need for a detailed understanding of the cause and progression of diseases associated with aging. Skeletal muscle is the key motor system in the human body and plays a pivotal role in body metabolic regulation. With increased age, particularly in individuals over 80 years old, skeletal muscles suffer from sarcopenia, a progressive loss of muscle mass and function. Sarcopenia not only increases the individual’s disability but also plays a role in the rapid decline of general functions in the elderly, making them frailer. The underlying ...

About The Study: Modest decreases in developmental screening scores suggest reason for cautious optimism about the development of a generation of U.S. children exposed to the COVID-19 pandemic in this study including 50,000 children. Continued attention to developmental surveillance is critical since the long-term population- and individual-level implications of these changes are unclear.  Authors: Sara B. Johnson, Ph.D., M.P.H., of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed ...

About The Study: The findings of this study indicated that initiation of antihypertensive medication was associated with elevated risks of fractures and falls among older long-term care nursing home residents in the Veterans Health Administration. These risks were numerically higher among residents with dementia, higher baseline blood pressures values, and no recent antihypertensive medication use. Caution and additional monitoring are advised when initiating antihypertensive medication in this vulnerable population.  Authors: Chintan V. Dave, Pharm.D., Ph.D., of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, ...