Many young girls in low- and middle-income countries become pregnant early, which can be dangerous for them and for their babies. Studies show that girls who stay in school are less likely to get pregnant at a young age. Financial support can encourage girls to stay in school and delay pregnancy and marriage in some settings. However, a new large study from Zambia found that two years of financial support combined with comprehensive sexuality education and community dialogue meetings, moderately reduced ...

Vitamin D, an essential nutrient, is naturally produced through sun exposure and certain foods. However, excessive sunburn prevention measures are causing a severe problem of vitamin D deficiency, particularly among young women in Japan. Since vitamin D deficiency is also related to pregnancy-induced hypertension and low birth weight in children, it is important to quickly identify those at high risk and provide appropriate health guidance. However, the method currently established for measuring serum vitamin D levels is expensive and ...

Cannabis use causes cellular damage that increases the risk of highly cancerous tumours, according to a new paper published in the scientific journal Addiction Biology.  The paper describes cannabis as a “genotoxic” substance because it damages a cell's genetic information, which can lead to DNA mutations, accelerated aging, and cancer.  To make matters worse, this genotoxicity may be transmitted via damaged egg and sperm to the cannabis user’s offspring, making the risk of cannabis ...

Orlando, Fla - For those striving to maintain a healthy lifestyle, holiday celebrations can feel like a minefield of dietary pitfalls, bound to derail the progress you’ve made through diet and exercise the rest of the year. In fact, a new national survey by Orlando Health finds nearly two in five (39%) Americans worry about how much they eat over the holidays. The good news is that dietitians say there’s no need to feel guilty about a few holiday treats. “Holidays come around once a year, and indulging in a few traditional foods and favorite recipes that may have a little extra ...

Fifty years of change on iconic limestone pavements has revealed mixed fortunes for one of the most distinctive landscapes in the UK. The landscapes - which will be familiar to visitors to the Yorkshire Dales and fans of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows film – have, in many places, seen reductions of specialist species and more common less desirable species become more abundant.  However, it is not all bad news as the picture is very mixed across the UK’s areas of limestone pavement with some areas increasing in plant biodiversity. The ...

‘Green flight paths’ between key global locations could help to fast-track fully decarbonised aviation, according to research led by an international team based at Heriot-Watt University in the United Kingdom and the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.  The research, published in the in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s top international journal, Energy and Environmental Science, recommends that a small number of long-haul flights with high passenger volumes, ...

A new paper shows how partnering with the community can lead to more inclusive health care, especially for individuals with autism and other neurodevelopmental disabilities. The article, published this week in Pediatrics, details the success of a unique COVID-19 and flu vaccine clinic at the UC Davis MIND Institute. The clinic team includes developmental-behavioral pediatricians, child life specialists, nurses, psychologists, social workers and staff trained to help families navigate health care. The goal is not only to administer vaccines, but to help patients build skills needed to successfully complete medical procedures for the rest of their lives. Listening to ...

In a significant step towards achieving the "Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality" goals, researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing Institute of Technology, in collaboration with Hohai University, have developed a groundbreaking dual-layer optimization strategy for park-level integrated energy systems (PIES). This strategy, which integrates electricity and heat demand response, significantly boosts the economic efficiency and low-carbon operation ...

Hamilton, ON, Nov. 14, 2024, In a groundbreaking study, researchers at McMaster University have identified a potential treatment for Sandhoff and Tay-Sachs diseases—two rare, often fatal lysosomal storage disorders that cause progressive damage to nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. After years of investigating the diseases’ underlying mechanisms, the research team has identified an existing FDA-approved drug that could significantly improve quality of life for affected patients and their families. “Sandhoff and Tay-Sachs are devastating diseases,” ...

Since 2018, Sino-US economic and trade relations have become increasingly tense. Between 2018 and 2019, the US imposed seven rounds of tariffs on China, to which China responded with retaliatory measures. The simple average tariff rates on US imports from China rose from 4.07% in January 2018 to 24.43% in December 2019, while the simple average tariff rates on Chinese imports from the US increased from 9.32% in January 2018 to 22.53% in December 2019 (see figure 1). Consequently, the share of Chinese goods in US imports declined significantly — ...

We have probably all seen a soybean plant, about 1 meter high with leaves and pods compactly arranged on a main stem with a few short side branches. The wild relative of the domesticated soybean is a long vine with pods widely distributed on many side branches. Plant breeding by farmers thousands of years ago is to thank for this dramatic change. As human population increases and protein demand doubles, modern plant breeders must further optimize soybean plant architecture and per plant yield for modern farming systems. Conventional ...

Lancaster University researchers investigating consumer attitudes and behaviours around plastic food packaging have found UK households are ‘wishcycling’ rather than recycling – and say it’s a problem that everyone - government, food producers, waste management and residents – has to solve. Wishcycling – the act of putting packaging in recycling bins and hoping for the best, rather than knowing it’s recyclable – is something households are doing due to confusing product labels and differing recycling facilities around the country, experts warn. The academics behind Lancaster ...

A small clinical trial shows promising results for patients with triple-negative breast cancer who received an investigational vaccine designed to prevent recurrence of tumors. Conducted at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis with a therapy designed by WashU Medicine researchers, the trial is the first to report results for this type of vaccine — known as a neoantigen DNA vaccine — for breast cancer patients. The study, which found the vaccine to be well-tolerated and to stimulate ...

Adverse events affect more than a third (38%) of adults undergoing surgery, finds a study of admissions to 11 hospitals in the US state of Massachusetts, published by The BMJ today. Of the 1009 admissions analysed, nearly half were classified as major (resulting in serious, life threatening or fatal harm) and the majority were considered as potentially preventable. Although this study may not fully represent hospitals at large, the findings show that “adverse events remain widespread in contemporary ...

Outsourcing adult social care services in England to the private sector since the 1980s has led to worse care and should be rolled back, argue experts in The BMJ today. Benjamin Goodair at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford and colleagues suggest that removing the profit motive would help improve quality and reduce inequities. Social care, sometimes referred to as community, residential, or personalised care, for older people and people with physical and mental disabilities is facing record demand but performing worse than any time in recent history, they explain. One contributor to this, they say, is the outsourcing of care provision from the ...

**Correction** A subheading in the press release sent yesterday was incorrect - the line 'Global rates of diabetes doubled over the last two decades' should be ''Global rates of diabetes doubled over the last three decades'. The subheading and two further occurrences of the same mistake have been corrected in the copy below (in yellow). The rest of the press release remains unchanged. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused,  The Lancet press office (pressoffice@lancet.com).   The ...

A new clinical study shows that an inhibitor of Fas ligand (FasL), also called CD95 ligand (CD95L), led to a faster recovery of COVID-19 patients and reduced mortality. On average, it took eight days to recover for patients who received asunercept, a biotherapeutic FasL inhibitor, compared to 13 days in the control group. In addition, mortality was decreased by about 20 per cent. The study ‘Efficacy and safety of asunercept, a CD95L-selective inhibitor, in hospitalised patients with moderate-to-severe COVID-19: ASUNCTIS, a multicentre, randomised, open-label, controlled, phase 2 trial’ ...

Wastewater injection resulting from oil and gas production in Oklahoma caused a dramatic rise in seismic activity in the state between 2009 and 2015. But regulatory efforts to backfill some injection wells with cement and reduce injection volumes have been effective in lowering the state’s induced earthquake rate, according to a new study in The Seismic Record. The study by Robert Skoumal of the U.S. Geological Survey and colleagues lends further support to the idea that reducing the depth of wastewater injection can decrease seismic activity—a finding that ...

Frank Yin, agronomy researcher in the University of Tennessee Department of Plant Sciences, has been selected as a 2024 American Society of Agronomy (ASA) Fellow. The honor was awarded as a result of Yin’s more than 35 years of research contributions to institutions across the world, including 16 years at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture (UTIA). Yin was recognized for the Fellowship at the national meeting of ASA in San Antonio, Texas in November. “I am humbled and honored to receive this distinction, but above all I am ...

Working days lost to long Covid could be costing the economy billions of pounds every year as patients struggle to cope with symptoms and return to work, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The research, published in BMJ Open and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), examined the impact of long Covid on 4,087 patients who were referred to a long Covid clinic and registered in the Living With Covid Recovery (LWCR) programme between August 2020 and August 2022. As part of their NHS treatment for the condition, the patients ...

Mobile phones could be the key to a cheaper and more reliable way of tracking animals for ecology and conservation research, according to a new study from The Australian National University (ANU).  Traditional animal tracking methods are often expensive and require the tagged animals to be close to the tracking technology.  Now, ANU researchers have developed a cheap, lightweight Bluetooth beacon that can provide regular updates through our network of mobile phones in areas used by people carrying phones or smartwatches.  Study lead author and ANU ecologist, ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Suzanne.Leigh@ucsf.edu, (415) 680-5133 Subscribe to UCSF News This Nifty AI Tool Helps Neurosurgeons Find Sneaky Cancer Cells  Technique offers new hope for increased survival in patients with brain tumors.  What’s New:   An AI-based diagnostic system reveals cancerous tissue that may not otherwise be visible during brain tumor surgery. This enables neurosurgeons to remove it while the patient is still under anesthesia – or treat it afterwards with targeted therapies.  Why it Matters:  Brain tumors can ...

CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina — Recent advances in bladder cancer treatments may offer hope of curative care to more patients, including those with high-risk localized, muscle-invasive disease, according to an editorial published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Matthew Milowsky, MD, FASCO, a bladder cancer expert at UNC School of Medicine and UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, wrote that the promise of incorporating new treatments and predictive biomarkers to select the right patient for the right treatment every time offers a bright future for bladder cancer patients. Platinum-based chemotherapy has long been the standard treatment for metastatic bladder cancer and for ...

New York City's 2019 ride-hailing surcharge cut overall taxi and ride-share trips by 11 percent in Manhattan but failed to reduce traffic congestion, a key goal of the policy, according to a new NYU Tandon School of Engineering study published in Transportation Research Part A. “While this surcharge differs from the MTA's proposed congestion pricing plan, the study's findings can contribute to the current discourse,” said Daniel Vignon – assistant professor of Civil and Urban Engineering (CUE) and member of C2SMARTER, a U.S. Department of Transportation Tier 1 University Transportation Center – who led the research with CUE PhD student Yanchao ...

An asteroid struck Mars 11 million years ago and sent pieces of the red planet hurtling through space. One of these chunks of Mars eventually crashed into the Earth somewhere near Purdue and is one of the few meteorites that can be traced directly to Mars. This meteorite was rediscovered in a drawer at Purdue University in 1931 and therefore named the Lafayette Meteorite.  During early investigations of the Lafayette Meteorite, scientists discovered that it had interacted with liquid water while on Mars. Scientists have long wondered when that interaction with liquid water took place.  ...