Although SARS-CoV-2 is no longer a stranger to the immune system, new virus variants still pose a challenge. The working group led by Professor Dr Florian Klein, Director of the Institute of Virology at the University Hospital Cologne and the Faculty of Medicine, has now published two studies investigating how the antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 changes over time and how the immune system is preparing itself for new variants with clever strategies. The work has been published under the title ‘Enhanced ...

Sage has launched a tool to empower researchers to discover the real-world impact of their work on policy. Sage Policy Profiles lets researchers easily see specific citations of their work in policy documents and then illustrate and share that work’s impact graphically. The tool is powered by Overton, which hosts an extensive repository of global policy documents, guidelines, think-tank publications, and working papers. The free-of-charge, browser-based tool shows researchers where their work appears in evidence-based policies, offering insights into how policymakers make use of their research. Sage Policy Profiles presents these results ...

ITHACA, N.Y. – Cornell University researchers have released a new, open-source platform called Cascade that can run artificial intelligence models in a way that slashes expenses and energy costs while dramatically improving performance. Cascade is designed for settings like smart traffic intersections, medical diagnostics, equipment servicing using augmented reality, digital agriculture, smart power grids and automatic product inspection during manufacturing – situations where AI models must react within a fraction of a second. With the rise of AI, many companies are eager to leverage new capabilities but worried about the associated computing ...

Maternal inflammation risk factors may be associated with dysregulation in children, according to a study funded by the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program at the National Institutes of Health. “Dysregulation” in this context refers to children’s attention, anxiety and depression, and aggression being measurably different from what is typically expected at their age.  While inflammation is a normal bodily response to injury or infection, ECHO investigators wanted to learn whether factors linked ...

Around 320,000 new cases of leukaemia, a type of blood cancer that can affect all population groups, are diagnosed every year in Europe. In children, cases of leukaemia make up a third of diagnosed cancers. Chemotherapy is the main treatment for leukaemia. Often, the exact cause cannot be identified and the molecular and cellular mechanisms responsible for leukaemia remain shrouded in mystery. Discovering new detection methods and new treatments to eradicate leukaemia is therefore a major challenge in oncology. Messenger RNA has been in the news in recent months, in connection with COVID-19 vaccinations. In an article published in Molecular Cell, researchers ...

ITHACA, N.Y. – A new study of paper wasps suggests social interactions may make animals smarter. The research offers behavioral evidence of an evolutionary link between the ability to recognize individuals and social cooperation. Furthermore, genomic sequencing revealed that populations of wasps that recognized each other – and cooperated more – showed recent adaptations (positive selection) in areas of the brain associated with cognitive abilities such as learning, memory and vision. The study focused on two distinct populations of paper wasps (Polistes fuscatus): A southern ...

Key to fatty liver disease and its consequences for billions of people The global rise in obesity and diabetes is leading to an epidemic in fatty liver disease affecting 20-30 per cent of the world’s population. Almost a third of people with fatty liver disease go on to develop an advanced form of the disease, known as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) that can progress to cirrhosis and end-stage liver disease, or even liver cancer, and is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Why some people remain relatively healthy with fatty liver disease and some go onto potentially life-threatening illness has been a mystery. Until now. A study ...

From the 1950s to the 1970s, a Colombian priest named Padre Gustavo Huertas collected rocks and fossils near a town called Villa de Levya. Two of the specimens he found were small, round rocks patterned with lines that looked like leaves; he classified them as a type of fossil plant. But in a new study, published in the journal Palaeontologia Electronica, researchers re-examined these “plant” fossils and found that they weren’t plants at all: they were the fossilized remains of baby turtles. “It was truly surprising to find these fossils,” says Héctor Palma-Castro, a paleobotany student at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. The plants in question ...

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), that arises from pancreatic epithelial cells, is the most common form of pancreatic cancer, with a very high mortality rate. This elevated mortality is associated with the unique tumor microenvironment (TME), known for increased resistance to chemotherapy and high metastatic potential. TME is characterized by the presence of a complex stromal structure comprising cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), tumor endothelial cells (TECs), and a variety of immune cells. CAFs are specific cells, primarily involved in the overall aggressiveness and spread of cancer cells. These cells can further be categorized into several types based on their ...

DALLAS, December 7, 2023 — The Tobacco Endgame — the path to ending tobacco use and nicotine addiction in the U.S. — is within sight, but there has been a sharp increase in electronic cigarette use among high school students, from 1.5% in 2011 to about 27.4% in 2019.[1] The American Heart Association, the world’s leading nonprofit organization focused on heart and brain health for all, is collaborating with the Association for the Treatment of Tobacco Use and Dependence (ATTUD) to change that. New individual certification as a Certified Professional by the American Heart Association – Tobacco Treatment is ...

A multidisciplinary study led by the Institute of Evolutionary Biology in Spain (a joint center of the Spanish National Research Council and Pompeu Fabra University), the University of Belgrade in Serbia, the University of Western Ontario in Canada, and Harvard University in the USA, reconstructs the genomic history of the Balkan Peninsula during the first millennium of the common era, a time and place of profound demographic, cultural and linguistic change. The team has recovered and analyzed whole genome data from 146 ancient people excavated primarily from Serbia and Croatia—more than a third of which came from the ...

Despite the Roman Empire’s extensive military and cultural influence on the nearby Balkan peninsula, a DNA analysis of individuals who lived in the region between 1 and 1000 CE found no genetic evidence of Iron Age Italian ancestry. Instead, a study published December 7 in the journal Cell revealed successive waves of migrations from Western Anatolia, central and northern Europe, and the Pontic-Kazakh Steppe during the Empire’s reign. From the 7th century CE onwards (coincident with the fall of the Western Roman Empire), large numbers of people emigrated from Eastern Europe, likely related to the arrival of Slavic-speaking populations, which ...

Chemotherapy becomes less effective because healthy cells push cancer cells to grow more slowly, according to two studies from researchers at UCL and Yale. In the two studies, supported by Cancer Research UK and published in Cell, researchers used ‘mini-tumours’ and the latest single-cell analysis technologies to begin to solve the puzzle of why healthy cells in a patient’s bowel cancer tumour might lead to poor outcomes. Bowel cancer kills over 900,000 people a year and is the second highest cause of cancer mortality worldwide. In the UK, it accounts for 10% of all cancer deaths. In the first study, UCL researchers used the latest single-cell analysis ...

WHO: Mass General Brigham researchers, Dr. Chirag Vyas and Dr. Olivia I. Okereke at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Dr. Howard Sesso and Dr. JoAnn Manson at Brigham and Women’s Hospital WHAT: Cocoa extract has shown a potential protective effect on cognition but randomized clinical trials in older adults have had inconsistent results. A new study of cognition in a randomized trial, known as the Cocoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study (COSMOS), suggests that taking cocoa extract supplements containing 500 mg per day of cocoa flavanols had cognitive benefits for older adults who had lower habitual ...

CLEVELAND—A groundbreaking study by researchers at Case Western Reserve University suggests a class of medications used to treat type 2 diabetes may also reduce the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC). The findings, published today (Dec. 7) in the journal JAMA Oncology, support the need for clinical trials to determine whether these medications could prevent one of the deadliest types of cancers. Eventually, the medications may also show promise in warding off other types of cancer associated with obesity and diabetes. “Our results clearly demonstrate ...

Rising global temperatures could lead to an increase in the nesting range of green turtles in the Mediterranean Sea, according to a modelling study published in Scientific Reports. Under the worst-case climate scenario, the nesting range could increase by over 60 percentage points, spreading west from the current area to include much of the North African, Italian, and Greek coastlines. Human-caused climate change has caused sea surface temperatures to increase globally, with severe impacts on some marine life. Sea turtles are potentially particularly susceptible, as the sex of their offspring is dependent on incubation temperature. Although previous research ...

About The Study: Clinical trial enrollment was lower among certain minoritized racial and ethnic groups in this study of 562,000 women with endometrial, ovarian, or cervical cancer. Continued efforts are needed to address disparate clinical trial enrollment among underrepresented groups.  Authors: Ashley S. Felix, Ph.D., of Ohio State University in Columbus, is the corresponding author.  To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/  (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.46494) Editor’s ...

About The Study: This study found that during 2016 to 2022, the rate and size of opioid prescriptions from U.S. surgeons declined, but these declines were slower after mid-2020 compared with before 2020. During the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the opioid dispensing rate declined, potentially owing to decreased surgical volume, while opioid prescription size increased, potentially because surgeons wrote larger discharge prescriptions owing to barriers to obtaining refills. However, these changes were transient.  Authors: Kao-Ping ...

While regular screenings may decrease the chance of diagnosis of advanced breast cancer in some women and lead to a 20% reduction in breast cancer mortality, other women will be diagnosed with advanced breast cancer despite screening at regular intervals. The chances of being diagnosed with advanced breast cancer are higher among women who are Black or Hispanic/Latinx as well as women who are overweight and obese. In a study publishing December 7, 2023 in JAMA Oncology, UC San Francisco researchers found that regular screening is not always sufficient to prevent an advanced breast cancer diagnosis. To reduce the number of advanced cancer diagnoses, ...

Post-surgery pain relief has shifted away from opioid-containing medications over the past seven years, but the downward trend has slowed since 2020, a new study shows. Overall, the rate of surgery-related opioid prescriptions dropped by 36% from 2016 to the end of 2022, and the average amount of opioids in those prescriptions dropped by 46%, the study of pharmacy data finds. That combination of declines means that the total amount of opioids dispensed to surgical patients in late 2022 was 66% lower compared with early 2016, according to the findings published in JAMA Network Open by a team from the University of Michigan. But the rate of decline was much faster before the pandemic, ...

In June, temperatures in North China hit record breaking heights, with temperatures in Beijing reaching or exceeding 40℃ for three consecutive days. The intensity of such events has increased by at least 1.0℃ due to human-induced climate change.  Heatwaves like these will occur twice as likely even under proposed carbon neutral targets and will be 0.5℃ more intense.  Current emissions scenario will increase the probability of reoccurrence to over five times this century with a 2.9℃ rise in intensity.  A record-breaking heatwave occurred in North China in June, marking the ...

(Boston)—Depression and anxiety among people living with a cancer diagnosis is a growing clinical and research priority. However, the prevalence of mood disorders in those living with cancer varies due to a multitude of variables such as stage and type of cancer, treatment, age, race and ethnicity.   A new study by researchers at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine has found that Spanish-speaking patients undergoing radiotherapy for breast cancer experienced higher distress levels at baseline compared to English-speakers and that this distress increased over ...

SPOKANE, Wash. – Families that participated in the WIC program—also known as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children—were much less likely to use potentially unsafe infant feeding practices during the 2022 U.S. infant formula shortage than income-eligible families that did not participate. Both WIC participants and non-participants reported being affected by the shortage at similar rates, according to a Washington State University study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and ...

Research reveals that around 20 per cent of all cases of the most severe form of breast cancer may arise from the small group of normal tissue cells carrying an epimutation of a specific gene.Research reveals that around 20 per cent of all cases of the most severe form of breast cancer may arise from the small group of normal tissue cells carrying an epimutation of a specific gene. Cancer is a major health challenge worldwide, affecting many lives. Despite progress in understanding its causes, most cancer forms, including breast cancer, continues to increase in ...

In a groundbreaking review titled "The Mechanism of Ferroptosis and its Related Diseases," Feng and his colleagues from the Department of Urology and the Institute of Urology, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, and Cancer Center at West China Hospital, Sichuan University, have undertaken a comprehensive investigation of ferroptosis and its intricate relationships with various diseases. This review not only discusses the mechanisms of ferroptosis and its associations with diseases but also underscores the pivotal role of compounds in targeting this regulated cell death process for therapeutic applications. Ferroptosis, initially identified by Dr. Brent R. Stockwell in 2012, gained ...