TORONTO (16 January 2024) – As part of its pioneering approach to drug discovery, the Canadian nonprofit Conscience announced today that its first open science competition has resulted in the identification of seven promising molecules, or “hits,” that show potential for new, more effective drugs for familial Parkinson’s disease.  This first competition in Conscience’s CACHE (Critical Assessment of Computational Hit-Finding Experiments) Challenge series was funded by The ...

From inside an operating room in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, electrophysiologist Maria Milagros Arends, M.D., threads wires from a pacemaker through the veins and into the heart muscle of a patient.  This pacemaker, which regulates the heartbeat and can be lifesaving, was once in the body of another person. It has been recycled, or “reconditioned”— donated, tested, sterilized and shipped from the United States to the South American country for implantation.  “We have a waiting list of around 300 people who could potentially lose their lives in less than a month,” ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A new study links increased use of acetaminophen during pregnancy – particularly in the second trimester – to modest but noticeable increases in problems with attention and behavior in 2-, 3- and 4-year-olds. The study adds to a growing body of evidence linking the frequent use of acetaminophen in pregnancy to developmental problems in offspring. The findings are detailed in the journal Neurotoxicology and Teratology. The research is part of the Illinois Kids Development Study at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, which explores how environmental ...

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are laboratory-designed proteins that mimic the immune system's antibodies. To date, many therapeutic mAbs belonging to the immunoglobulin G (IgG) class of antibodies, have been approved for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. Cell lines such as the Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells are generally used to produce mAbs. Notably, the production and manufacture of mAbs are regulated by critical quality attributes (CQAs) to ensure their safety and efficacy in treatment. An important CQA for mAbs is the N-linked glycosylation present at a specific position (Asn297). N-linked glycans consist of N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc), mannose (Man), fucose ...

DALLAS, JANUARY 16, 2024 — A patient’s oral health can be an indicator of overall health and well-being. Research shows that chronic gum inflammation may be associated with other chronic diseases including coronary artery disease and diabetes.[1] In addition, certain bacteria that live in the mouth can travel through the bloodstream to other parts of the body, including the heart and lungs. Oral bacteria, including viridans group streptococcal (VGS), can cause infective endocarditis, an infection of the inner ...

PULLMAN, Wash. – While it is well known that cannabis can cause the munchies, researchers have now revealed a mechanism in the brain that promotes appetite in a set of animal studies at Washington State University. The discovery, detailed in the journal Scientific Reports, could pave the way for refined therapeutics to treat appetite disorders faced by cancer patients as well as anorexia and potentially obesity. After exposing mice to vaporized cannabis sativa, researchers used calcium imaging technology, which is similar to a brain MRI, to determine how their brain cells responded. They observed that cannabis activated a set of cells in the hypothalamus when the rodents anticipated ...

Osaka, Japan – Imagine stoplights and cars communicating with each other to optimize the flow of traffic. This isn’t science fiction – it’s the Internet of Things (IoT), i.e., objects that sense their surroundings and respond via the internet. As the global population rises and such technologies continue to develop, you might wonder – what will power this digital world of tomorrow? Wind, solar, yes. Something all around us might not immediately come to mind though – heat. Now, in a study recently published in Nature Communications, a multi-institutional research team including Osaka University has unveiled a ...

The ocean is the world’s largest habitat, yet much of its biodiversity is still unknown. A study published in Frontiers in Science marks a significant breakthrough, reporting the largest and most comprehensive database of marine microbes to date – matched with biological function, location, and habitat type.   “The KMAP Global Ocean Gene Catalog 1.0 is a leap toward understanding the ocean’s full diversity, containing more than 317 million gene groups from marine organisms around ...

Highlights: Research teams share findings and progress on projects aimed at harnessing digital solutions — including text messaging, smartphone apps, wearable devices and artificial intelligence — to improve health, reduce health care disparities, empower people to better manage their health and wellness and enhance patient/clinician connectivity in a special issue of the Journal of the American Heart Association. Topics in this issue include: the effectiveness of an “EyePhone” smartphone application to diagnose ...

In the US, approximately 37.9 million people, or 11.4% of the population, lived below the poverty line in 2022. It has been well demonstrated that poverty negatively affects physical and mental health. For example, people living in poverty run a greater risk of mental illness, heart disease, hypertension, and stroke, and have a higher mortality and lower life expectancy. The mechanisms by which poverty impacts on health outcomes are manifold: for example, people experiencing poverty have reduced access to healthy food, clean water, safe housing, education, and healthcare. Now, researchers have shown for the first time that the effects of poverty may combine in ...

A new study led by a University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions researcher finds that people with chronic inflammation living in poverty have more than double the risk of dying from heart disease and nearly triple the risk of dying from cancer within the next 15 years. The findings are based on data representing 95 million Americans ages 40 and over. While chronic inflammation and poverty are each known to increase mortality risk, when combined, the two factors appear ...

Despite major disruptions to health care systems during the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no significant increase in preventable conditions or deaths in children according to a large study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.221726. To understand the effect of the pandemic on pediatric health care use and children's health, researchers looked at data on emergency visits, hospital admissions and deaths for children aged 0–17 years ...

Cannabis is not an effective treatment for opioid addiction, a new peer-reviewed study of thousands of people being treated for opioid use disorder suggests.    Experts, publishing their results today in The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, have found that cannabis is having no significant effect on peoples’ use of opioids, taken outside of medical guidance.    The findings have substantial implications for U.S treatment programmes, some of which still require patients to abstain from cannabis before they qualify for potentially life-saving treatment. This is based on ...

Philadelphia, January 16, 2024 – Vaccination against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, reduces the risk of serious acute illness in children and adolescents. However, its role in protecting against persistent health problems in the months after COVID-19, or “long COVID,” was less clear. Now, researchers from 17 health systems in the U.S., in work led by investigators at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), have found that vaccination provides moderate protection against ...

The first research study of the entire UK population highlights gaps in COVID-19 vaccine coverage. Between a third and a half of the populations of the four UK nations had not had the recommended number of COVID vaccinations and boosters by summer 2022. Findings suggest that more than 7,000 hospitalisations and deaths might have been averted in summer 2022 if the UK had had better vaccine coverage, according to the paper, published today in The Lancet. With COVID-19 cases on the rise and a new variant strain recently identified, this research provides a timely insight into vaccine ...

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. Trazadone and CBT ...

Climate change is reshaping forests differently across the United States, according to a new analysis of U.S. Forest Service data. With rising temperatures, escalating droughts, wildfires, and disease outbreaks taking a toll on trees, researchers warn that forests across the American West are bearing the brunt of the consequences. The study, led by UF Biology researchers J. Aaron Hogan and Jeremy W. Lichstein was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study reveals a pronounced regional imbalance in forest productivity, a key barometer of ...

The unique underwater kelp forests that line the Pacific Coast support a varied ecosystem that was thought to have evolved along with the kelp over the past 14 million years. But a new study shows that kelp flourished off the Northwest Coast more than 32 million years ago, long before the appearance of modern groups of marine mammals, sea urchins, birds and bivalves that today call the forests home. The much greater age of these coastal kelp forests, which today are a rich ecosystem supporting otters, sea lions, seals, and many birds, fish and crustaceans, means that they likely were a ...

Phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (PDE5i)—an erectile dysfunction drug sold under the names Viagra, Levitra, Cialis, and others—are a common medical treatment for erectile dysfunction (ED) in men with cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, a new Swedish study published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology suggests that patients are at higher risk for morbidity and mortality over time when PDE5is and nitrate medication are both prescribed. Erectile dysfunction is a common condition in middle-aged and older men and is a strong predictor of coronary ...

Curtin-led research has for the first time precisely dated some of the oldest fossils of complex multicellular life in the world, helping to track a pivotal moment in the history of Earth when the seas began teeming with new lifeforms - after four billion years of containing only single-celled microbes.   Lead author PhD student Anthony Clarke, from the Timescales of Mineral Systems Group within Curtin’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said to determine the age of the fossils, researchers used volcanic ash layers like bookmarks in the geological sequence.   “Located ...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The Arctic, Earth’s icy crown, is experiencing a climate crisis like no other. It’s heating up at a furious pace — four times faster than the rest of our planet. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories are pulling back the curtain on the reduction of sunlight reflectivity, or albedo, which is supercharging the Arctic’s warming. The scientists are not armed with parkas and shovels. Instead, they have tapped into data from GPS satellite radiometers, capturing the sunlight bouncing off the Arctic. This ...

The equations that describe physical systems often assume that measurable features of the system — temperature or chemical potential, for example — can be known exactly. But the real world is messier than that, and uncertainty is unavoidable. Temperatures fluctuate, instruments malfunction, the environment interferes, and systems evolve over time. The rules of statistical physics address the uncertainty about the state of a system that arises when that system interacts with its environment. But they’ve ...

East Hanover, NJ – January 15, 2024 – Kessler Foundation received a $39,994 grant from the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers to investigate the impact of a unique combination of a single bout of aerobic cycling and virtual reality (VR) on processing speed in persons with multiple sclerosis (MS) and mobility disability. Processing speed is the most common cognitive problem in persons with MS and may actually contribute to broader cognitive difficulties, according to the grant recipient, Carly Wender, PhD, research scientist in the Center for Neuropsychology ...

Organic optoelectronic devices, such as organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), use molecules with specific structures arranged on thin films. Additionally, the arrangement of these molecules on any surface is crucial for various processes that occur within these devices. This arrangement is guided by two primary factors: the deposition rate (how fast the molecules are placed) and the surface temperature. Slower deposition rates and higher temperatures facilitate the proper arrangement, resulting in more stable structures. Finding the right time scale for this process is also critical, and ...

Synthetic, non-biodegradable plastics are major sources of environmental pollution and have prompted a rising interest in sustainable, biodegradable alternatives derived from natural polymers. “Tara gum,” derived from the seeds of the tara tree (Caesalpinia spinosa), stands out as a promising solution. This natural, water-soluble substance contains polysaccharides (complex carbohydrates), including the widely used “galactomannan,” which is employed in coatings, edible films, and as a stabilizer and thickener. The biocompatibility, biodegradability, and safety of tara gum also make it valuable in industries like food and drug delivery. ...