L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, February 8th, 2024. Once they enter the body, drugs, apart from carrying out their therapeutic function, are biochemically transformed by the action of the metabolic machinery, a process that facilitates their expulsion. This biotransformation results in a gradual disappearance of the drug, which is converted into its metabolites. These, in turn, can reach high concentrations in the body and also show a biological activity that may be different from that of the original drug. That is, the metabolites and the drug coexist ...

Hot water tanks, washing machines, kettles: limescale forms in every domestic appliance that comes into contact with (hot) water – especially in areas where the water is hard, meaning high in calcium. Often the only thing that helps is to use vinegar or a special descaler to dissolve the rock-​hard deposits and restore the appliance’s functionality. This is a nuisance in households – and an expensive problem in thermal power stations, for example those that generate electricity, where the formation of limescale is known as fouling. Heat exchangers are particularly prone to limescale, which greatly reduces the efficiency of the systems: ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – An innovative breast imaging technique provides high sensitivity for detecting cancer while significantly reducing the likelihood of false positive results, according to a study published today in Radiology: Imaging Cancer, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Researchers said the technique has the potential to offer more reliable breast cancer screening for a broader range of patients. Mammography is an effective screening tool for early detection of breast cancer, but its sensitivity ...

Children’s Hospital Colorado (Children’s Colorado) is announcing its recent acceptance into the Pediatric Heart Network (PHN), a collective of leading hospitals working to improve outcomes and quality of life for children – and more recently adults – with heart disease. The hospital’s Heart Institute will become one of nine clinical research centers across North America selected to be a part of this national network.  “We are thrilled to be accepted as a new core site for the Pediatric Heart Network,” said Shelley Miyamoto, MD, professor and Jack Cooper Millisor Chair of Pediatric Cardiology ...

Scientists have developed a new AI tool that maps the function of proteins in a cancerous tumour, enabling clinicians to decide how to target treatment in a more precise way. In cancers such as clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), responses to existing treatments are different for each patient, making it difficult to identify the right drug treatment regime for each patient. For example, cancer therapeutic Belzutifan has recently been approved to treat ccRCC, but only has a response rate of 49% in patients with the most common form of the condition. To understand better why some patients respond better than others, researchers from the Universities of Bath and Nottingham studied ...

Asian Americans are less likely than their white peers to participate in health research involving MRIs and addressing this hesitancy could improve research, according to a Rutgers Health-led study. Findings by the researchers, published in Alzheimer's & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions, a journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, surveyed older adults about their experiences and perceptions of MRI brain imaging scans, their desire to learn results of scans and their attitudes related to dementia and overall research participation. According to the study, South Asian older adults – those 65 and older – are less likely than older white adults ...

Ordinarily, planets in evolved planetary systems, such as the Solar System, follow stable orbits around their central star. However, many indications suggest that some planets might depart from their birthplaces during their early evolution by migrating inward or outward. This planetary migration might also explain an observation that has puzzled researchers for several years: the relatively low number of exoplanets with sizes about twice as large as Earth, known as the radius valley or gap. Conversely, there are many exoplanets smaller and larger than this size. “Six years ago, a reanalysis of data from the Kepler space telescope revealed a shortage of exoplanets with sizes around ...

Fukuoka, Japan – Materials just atoms in thickness, known as two-dimensional (2D) materials, are set to revolutionize future technology, including in the electronics industry. However, commercialization of devices that contain 2D materials has faced challenges due to the difficulty in transferring these extremely thin materials from where they are made onto the device. Now, a research team from Kyushu University, in collaboration with Japanese company Nitto Denko, have developed a tape that can be used to stick 2D materials to many different surfaces, in an ...

Cosmic dust—like dust on Earth—comprises groupings of molecules that have condensed and stuck together in a grain. But the exact nature of dust creation in the universe has long been a mystery. Now, however, an international team of astronomers from China, the United States, Chile, the United Kingdom, Spain, etc., has made a significant discovery by identifying a previously unknown source of dust in the universe: a Type Ia supernova interacting with gas from its surroundings.   The study was published in Nature Astronomy on Feb. 9, and was led by Prof. WANG Lingzhi from the South America Center for Astronomy of the Chinese Academy ...

Nearly 400 exceptionally well-preserved fossils dating back 470 million years have been discovered in the south of France by two amateur paleontologists. This new fossil site of worldwide importance has been analyzed by scientists from the University of Lausanne, in collaboration with the CNRS and international teams. This discovery provides unprecedented information on the polar ecosystems of the Ordovician period. Paleontology enthusiasts have unearthed one of the world's richest and most diverse fossil sites from the Lower Ordovician period (around 470 million ...

For millions of years, a variety of large herbivores, or megafauna, influenced terrestrial ecosystems. Among many others, these included elephants in Europe, giant wombats in Australia, and ground sloths in South America. However, these animals experienced a wave of extinctions coinciding with the worldwide expansion of humans, leading to dramatic but still not fully understood changes in ecosystems. Even the survivors of these extinctions strongly declined, and many are currently threatened with extinction.   While there are many case studies as well as theories about the effects of large animals, formal attempts to quantitatively synthesize their effects and establish ...

The looming threat of climate change has motivated scientists worldwide to look for cleaner alternatives to fossil fuels, and many believe hydrogen is our best bet. As an environmentally friendly energy resource, hydrogen (H2) can be used in vehicles and electric power plants without releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. However, storing and transporting H2 safely and efficiently remains a challenge. Compressed gaseous hydrogen poses a significant risk of explosion and leakage, whereas liquid hydrogen must be maintained at extremely low temperatures, ...

Immigrants living with dementia were more likely to present with agitation and aggression compared with their non-immigrant counterparts, a new study by Edith Cowan University (ECU) in collaboration with The Dementia Centre, HammondCare, found.    Researchers from ECU’s Centre for Research in Aged Care and HammondCare’s The Dementia Centre noted that behaviours and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD), such as agitation and aggression, are common; however, its presentation may be influenced by the cultural background of the person.     A study investigated differences in clinical and demographics characteristics ...

Engineers at the University of Cincinnati created a more efficient way of converting carbon dioxide into valuable products while simultaneously addressing climate change. In his chemical engineering lab in UC’s College of Engineering and Applied Science, Associate Professor Jingjie Wu and his team found that a modified copper catalyst improves the electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide into ethylene, the key ingredient in plastic and a myriad of other uses. Ethylene has been called ...

The onset of psychosis can be predicted before it occurs, using a machine-learning tool which can classify MRI brain scans into those who are healthy and those at risk of a psychotic episode. An international consortium including researchers from the University of Tokyo, used the classifier to compare scans from over 2,000 people from 21 global locations. About half of the participants had been identified as being clinically at high risk of developing psychosis. Using training data, the classifier was 85% accurate at differentiating between people ...

Students’ knowledge and perceptions of active learning declined significantly during COVID-induced remote teaching and have not recovered to pre-pandemic levels, according to new research from Chapman University Assistant Professor Jeremy Hsu.  Hsu says the benefits of active learning – exercises like group projects, problem-solving and class discussions – are well documented, but he emphasizes that students’ understanding and perceptions of the practice can affect their level of engagement and investment. If students have limited exposure or are hesitant to participate in active learning practices, resistance could ...

A new study evaluates an artificial intelligence (AI)-based algorithm for autocontouring prior to radiotherapy in head and neck cancer. Manual contouring to pinpoint the area of treatment requires significant time, and an AI algorithm to enable autocontouring has been introduced.  The study is published in the peer-reviewed journal AI in Precision Oncology. Click here to read the article now.  Nikhil Thaker, from Capital Health and Bayta Systems, and coauthors, evaluated the performance of various LLMs, including OpenAI’s GPT-3.5-turbo, GPT-4, GPT-4-turbo, ...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — One of Sandia National Laboratories’ core missions is to help the world through innovation. However, transferring some of that innovation from the Labs to industry isn’t always an easy process. Through hard work and ingenuity, some Sandia employees are excelling at moving technology to market, a feat that is now being honored by the Federal Laboratory Consortium. The consortium, composed of more than 300 members nationwide, provides a forum to develop strategies and opportunities for linking laboratory technologies and expertise in the marketplace. Regional Technology Transfer Award: Disinfectant ...

A new study evaluates an artificial intelligence (AI)-based algorithm for autocontouring prior to radiotherapy in head and neck cancer. Manual contouring to pinpoint the area of treatment requires significant time, and an AI algorithm to enable autocontouring has been introduced.  The study is published in the peer-reviewed journal AI in Precision Oncology. Click here to read the article now.  Sushil Beriwal, from Allegheny Health Network, and Varian, and coauthors, analyzed 108 patients ...

Analysis of racial disparities in US homicide rates indicates Black women were on average six times more likely to die by homicide than White women between 1999 and 2020. Homicide rates among Black women were significantly higher than for White women in all 30 states analysed, with some evidence suggesting the biggest differences are in states with the highest racial inequities. The greatest disparity in homicide rates was in Wisconsin in 2019-2020, when Black women were 20 times more likely to be ...

A research paper published today (8 February 2024) in The Lancet Oncology demonstrates that the drug enobosarm, a selective androgen receptor modulator which stimulates the male sex hormone receptor has anti-tumour effects in oestrogen receptor positive breast cancer patients. Lead author Professor Carlo Palmieri from the University of Liverpool and The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust, said: “These results are very encouraging – we have shown that in advanced/metastatic breast cancer ...

A single test to speed up diagnosis of a serious disease in pregnant women does not need to be repeated, new research has found. Results from the PARROT-2 trial, published today in the Lancet by researchers from King’s College London and funded by Jon Moulton Charitable Trust, Tommy’s Charity and the National Institute for Health and Care Research, has ruled out the need for routine repeat placental growth factor-based testing (PIGF) for all women with suspected pre-eclampsia. PARROT-2 is a large, multi-centre UK trial in 1,252 women ...

UCL Press Release Under embargo until Friday 9 February, 00:01 UK time Industrial pollution leaves its mark in Mediterranean corals For the first time, pollutants from burning fossil fuels have been found embedded in corals, offering scientists a potential new tool to track the history of pollution, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The study, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, identified carbon particles emitted by burning fossil fuels embedded in the corals of Illa Grossa Bay, off the Columbretes Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. Finding this type of pollution – known as fly-ash or spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCPs) ...

Recent breakthroughs in spatial biology technology have transformed biomedical research; however, legal disputes are preventing small, innovative companies from advancing new technologies and ideas. Ongoing litigation poses a threat to the progress of even the most promising scientific technologies and the potential discoveries they could enable, according to the authors of the exclusive article titled “Sounding an Alarm Over Spatial Biology,” in Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News (GEN). Click here to read the article ...

SAN ANTONIO, Feb. 8, 2024 – More than one out of three people have pre-diabetes, characterized by abnormal blood sugar levels not yet in the diabetes range – and yet associated with significant increases in eye, kidney and neuropathic diseases, and risk of cardiovascular death. Moreover, the number of people with the condition is expected to double by 2030, with prevalence substantially higher in minority populations, including Hispanics. Both pre-diabetes and diabetes are considered global epidemics. As pre-diabetes largely is underdiagnosed and undertreated, ...