PHILADELPHIA – Over a third of American adults are worried that they or someone in their family will get the seasonal flu, Covid-19, or RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) in the next three months, according to a new health survey from the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania. Those three viral illnesses made up the “tripledemic” of respiratory illnesses that overwhelmed some health care facilities last winter. Although RSV typically peaks later in the year, this month hospitals in parts of Texas are already seeing emergency ...

Over the past decade, fine dust conditions in Korea have worsened, as perceived by the general public, with an increase in the number of days per year featuring high-concentration fine dust. Additionally, the previous maximum fine-dust concentration level has been surpassed. In response, the Korean government has expanded its financial investment in efforts aimed at addressing fine-dust issues. Fine dust consists of particles that are too small to be seen with the naked eye. When these particles enter the human body through the skin and respiratory system, they can cause various diseases. According to a survey conducted by the Korea Environment Institute, three in ten people ...

When winter comes to Japan, fishermen in the northern regions set out to capture one of the most anticipated seasonal delicacies: the horsehair crab. Known locally as “kegani” and bearing the scientific name Erimacrus isenbeckii, this species of crustacean is highly sought after throughout the country. To protect the horsehair crab population from overfishing, the Japanese and prefectural governments have implemented various restrictions on their capture. For example, in Hokkaido, where kegani is abundant, capturing females for consumption is strictly prohibited. To ...

Gambling addiction can increase the risk of long-term sick leave for several years, according to a new study published in Psychological Medicine. Researchers from Karolinska Institutet behind the study point to the need to detect people with gambling addiction in time to avoid financial and health problems.   Gambling addiction is a psychiatric condition characterized by prolonged and problematic gambling that leads to negative financial, health and social consequences. 1.3 percent of the Swedish population, corresponding to 105,000 Swedes, have gambling problems or an increased risk of gambling problems, but the number ...

Proteins that form clumps occur in many difficult-to-treat diseases, such as ALS, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson's. The mechanisms behind how the proteins interact with each other are difficult to study, but now researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have discovered a new method for capturing many proteins in nano-sized traps. Inside the traps, the proteins can be studied in a way that has not been possible before. "We believe that our method has great potential to increase the understanding of early and dangerous processes in a number of different diseases and eventually lead to ...

PULLMAN, Wash. – A novel surgical implant developed by Washington State University researchers was able to kill 87% of the bacteria that cause staph infections in laboratory tests, while remaining strong and compatible with surrounding tissue like current implants. The work, reported in the International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing, could someday lead to better infection control in many common surgeries, such as hip and knee replacements, that are performed daily around the world.  Bacterial colonization of the implants is one of the leading causes of their failure and bad outcomes after surgery. “Infection ...

CHICAGO – Higher amounts of visceral abdominal fat in midlife are linked to the development of Alzheimer’s disease, according to research being presented next week at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Visceral fat is fat surrounding the internal organs deep in the belly. Researchers found that this hidden abdominal fat is related to changes in the brain up to 15 years before the earliest memory loss symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease occur. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, there are ...

CHICAGO – Using an image-guided minimally invasive procedure, researchers may be able to restore the sense of smell in patients who have suffered with long-COVID, according to research being presented next week at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Parosmia, a condition where the sense of smell no longer works correctly, is a known symptom of COVID-19. Recent research has found that up to 60% of COVID-19 patients have been affected. While most patients do recover their sense of smell over time, some patients with long COVID continue to have these symptoms for months, or even years, after ...

A red wine may pair nicely with the upcoming Thanksgiving meal. But for some people, drinking red wine even in small amounts causes a headache. Typically, a “red wine headache” can occur within 30 minutes to three hours after drinking as little as a small glass of wine. What in wine causes headaches? In a new study, scientists at the University of California, Davis, examined why this happens – even to people who don’t get headaches when drinking small amounts of other alcoholic beverages. Researchers think that a flavanol found naturally in red wines can interfere with the proper metabolism of alcohol and can lead to a headache. The study was published in ...

New research led by Griffith University on Australia’s Gold Coast and Andrés Bello University in Chile, has shown that surfing contributes about US$1 trillion a year to the global economy, by improving the mental health of surfers.    For the Gold Coast alone, the research team estimated the benefits to be valued at ~US$1.0–3.3 billion per year. Mental health benefits from surfing comprise 57–74% of the total economic benefits of surfing. The mental health benefits are 4.4–13.5 times direct expenditure by surfers, and 4–12 times economic effects via property and inbound tourism.   The research ...

Proof of concept of new material for long lasting relief from dry mouth conditions   A novel aqueous lubricant technology designed to help people who suffer from a dry mouth is between four and five times more effective than existing commercially available products, according to laboratory tests.  Developed by scientists at the University of Leeds, the saliva substitute is described as comparable to natural saliva in the way it hydrates the mouth and acts as a lubricant when food is chewed.   Under a powerful microscope, the molecules in the substance - known as a microgel - appear as a lattice-like ...

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE EMBARGOED UNTIL 10:00 LONDON TIME (GMT) ON 20 NOVEMBER, 2023 [Photographs and a copy of the paper are available here]   These long, white saltwater clams are the world’s fastest-growing bivalve and can reach 30cm long in just six months. They do this by burrowing into waste wood and converting it into highly-nutritious protein. The researchers found that the levels of Vitamin B12 in the Naked Clams were higher than in most other bivalves – and almost twice the amount found in blue mussels. And with the addition of an algae-based feed to the system, the Naked Clams can be fortified with omega-3 polyunsaturated ...

Associative learning was always thought to be regulated by the cortex of the cerebellum, often referred to as the “little brain". However, new research from a collaboration between the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Erasmus MC, and Champalimaud Center for the Unknown reveals that actually the nuclei of the cerebellum make a surprising contribution to this learning process. If a teacup is steaming, you’ll wait a bit longer before drinking from it. And if your fingers get caught in the door, you'll be more careful next time. These are forms of associative ...

New research reveals that with each subsequent generation of Mexican Americans, the risk of developing liver cancer has climbed. Although Mexican Americans have experienced a growing trend in modifiable risk factors—such as increased alcohol consumption, higher smoking rates, and elevated body mass index—these factors alone do not entirely account for the increased risk of liver cancer as generations progress. The findings are published by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. US-born Latinos have a higher incidence of liver cancer than foreign-born Latinos, and a possible ...

In the United States, liver cancer rates have more than tripled since 1980. Some groups, including Latinos, face an even higher risk than the general population—but researchers do not fully understand why. A study from the Keck School of Medicine of USC, funded by the National Cancer Institute, has shed new light on those disparities. Researchers found that among Mexican Americans, liver cancer risk rises the longer a person’s family has lived in the U.S. That increased risk primarily affected men. The ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. –   Potty training, getting kids to sleep and toddler tantrums are just some of the challenges parents of young children face. And four in five parents in a new national poll say they go to the same place to discuss such parenting issues: social media. Nearly half of parents rate social media as very useful for getting new ideas to try, according to the University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health. “Many parents turn to online communities ...

Cyberattacks targeting health information systems can cause considerable damage and stress, but there are ways to reduce the risk of these events, write authors in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.230436. "With respect to cybersecurity, a bit of prevention is worth a terabyte of cure," writes Vinyas Harish, MD/PhD candidate at the University of Toronto's Temerty Faculty of Medicine, with coauthors, in an article outlining the impact of cyberattacks on Canadian health information ...

Transgender adults aged 50 or older in the United States face a significantly elevated risk of contemplating suicide due to the compounding impact of various challenges in different areas of their lives, according to a population-wide study.    More than one-fourth (25.8%) of this large pool of older transgender people acknowledged having thought about ending their lives at least once the previous year.   That is a much greater prevalence than the 4.7% figure currently estimated for the adult population-at-large and substantially ...

EMBARGOED UNTIL MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20 AT 12:01 A.M. EST COLUMBUS, Ohio – The season of comfort and joy is upon us, but a new survey finds that for many Americans, it’s the season of stress and worry. A new survey commissioned by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine finds Americans are feeling the strain from inflation and world affairs this year, in addition to other stressors that often come with the holidays. Of the 1,007 survey respondents, 81% said that national issues and world affairs are causing them stress. In addition, 75% of respondents are ...

When we point at an object, the toddler focuses on the object, while the dog usually takes the gesture as a directional cue. In a recent study, researchers from the Department of Ethology at Eötvös Loránd University find explanations for this phenomenon. It appears that the discrepancy is not only due to how dogs see, but may, in fact, reflect how they think. For "smarter" dogs, the appearance of an object matters as much as its location, suggesting that their information processing is more similar to that of humans. Spatial bias is the phenomenon of interpreting information in relation to space, location ...

“In this ESCA study, the possibility of an immune response that selected for tumor cells lacking the DDX53 CTA is discussed.” BUFFALO, NY- November 17, 2023 – A new research paper was published in Oncoscience (Volume 10) on November 10, 2023, entitled, “An immunoinformatics assessment of the cancer testis antigen, DDX53, as a potential early esophageal cancer antigen.” T-lymphocytes have been implicated in facilitating a pro-inflammatory, pro-tumorigenic microenvironment that worsens prognosis for esophageal carcinoma (ESCA). In their new study, researchers ...

To reduce the side effects associated with chemotherapy treatments, researchers have investigated the use of delivery systems that can take more drugs directly to the tumor. Ninh (Irene) La-Beck, Pharm.D., from the Department of Immunotherapeutics and Biotechnology at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy is one of those researchers. La-Beck recently received a five-year, $2.49 million grant (“Cholesterol Metabolism in the Pharmacology of Liposomal ...

Earth science researcher Dr. Antonia Gambacorta earned the 2023 Goddard IRAD Technology Leadership award for pioneering new ways to measure lower layers of Earth’s atmosphere from space. The award from the chief technologist of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, recognizes Gambacorta’s work demonstrating how hyperspectral microwave sounding, the measurement of hundreds of thousands of wavelengths of microwave light, could dissect Earth’s atmospheric planetary boundary layer (PBL). She also ...

BOSTON – Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide, and vision loss, due to the loss of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), cannot currently be reversed with any treatment. Some studies have looked at replacing RGCs through cell transplants, but this process is still in the research and development stage and fraught with limitations that highlight a need for a more precise manner of effectively repopulating these cells in the retina. Now, a multidisciplinary team led by researchers at the Schepens Eye Research Institute of Mass Eye and Ear has ...

Rochester Institute of Technology’s Emiliano Brini, assistant professor in the School of Chemistry and Materials Science, has received an award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support his research on building the next generation of drugs. Brini and his team of students will develop computational tools that can predict the strength of the interaction between two proteins and how drugs will modify this interaction. Physics-based methodologies will quickly and accurately provide such predictions. Designing a new ...