CLEVELAND, Ohio – Jonathan Stamler, MD, has been named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Dr. Stamler is the co-founder and president of Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals (UH), and the Robert S. and Sylvia K. Reitman Family Foundation Distinguished Professor of Cardiovascular Innovation at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Election as an Academy Fellow is the highest professional distinction awarded solely to inventors and the 2023 Class of Fellows ...

Suzanne Lenhart, Chancellor’s Professor in the Department of Mathematics, will join a storied list of honored speakers to deliver the Josiah Willard Gibbs Lecture at the world’s largest annual math gathering, the American Mathematics Society (AMS) Joint Mathematics Meetings (JMM2024), taking place January 3–6, 2024, in San Francisco. JMM2024 brings researchers from 20 national and international partner associations to share the latest developments in mathematical thought and application. Lenhart is the ...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The blood-brain barrier blocks the entry of antibodies into the brain. This limits the potential use of antibody therapeutics to treat brain diseases, such as brain tumors. Elsewhere in the body, more than 100 United States Food and Drug Administration-approved therapeutic antibodies are used by medical teams to treat cancers and autoimmune, infectious and metabolic diseases. Finding ways to transport therapeutic antibodies across the blood-brain barrier — from the peripheral blood stream into the central nervous system — could create effective treatments that act in the brain. In a study published in the journal Frontiers in Cell and Developmental ...

Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the issuance of a Request for Proposals (RFPs) for the competitive selection of a management and operating contractor for Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL). FNAL is a single-purpose laboratory that leads the nation in the construction and operation of world-leading accelerator and detector facilities and in the development of the underlying technology for particle physics research. Its mission is centered on delivering breakthrough science and technology ...

For nearly 20 years, Stephen Ball has been a man on a mission: helping older Missourians stay healthy and get stronger through physical activity. In 2005, the professor in the University of Missouri College of Health Sciences helped created a program called Stay Strong Stay Healthy (SSSH). Since then, the eight-week strength training program has helped more than 20,000 older adults across five states. Participants aged 60 and up are taught how to safely complete exercises — including squats, bicep curls and lunges — in a comfortable, friendly environment. “One thing I always ...

Researchers from Rutgers and other institutions have uncovered significant variations in how inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) affects people of different races, sexes and places of birth. The study, published in Gastro Hep Advances, may assist caregivers and help shed light on how diet, lifestyle and genetics can affect the development and disease course of IBD, a term for two conditions – Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis – that cause chronic inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract. “IBD has historically been a disease of Caucasian populations in Europe and North America, but now we’re seeing it among all races and in people all over the ...

Pregnancy weight and biochemical markers measured in blood from women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) were related to increased risk of poor pregnancy outcomes, suggesting a new direction for precision diagnostics, according to researchers. The study led by Ellen C. Francis, an assistant professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at Rutgers School of Public Health, and published in Communications Medicine, evaluated the diagnostic value of these markers before or at the time of screening ...

MINNEAPOLIS – Radon, a naturally occurring radioactive gas produced when metals like uranium or radium break down in rocks and soil, is a known cause of lung cancer. Now new research has found exposure to high levels of this indoor air pollutant is associated with an increased risk of another condition in middle age to older female participants with ischemic stroke. The study is published in the January 3, 2024, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Ischemic ...

MINNEAPOLIS – People who have more disrupted sleep in their 30s and 40s may be more likely to have memory and thinking problems a decade later, according to new research published in the January 3, 2024, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study does not prove that sleep quality causes cognitive decline. It only shows an association. “Given that signs of Alzheimer’s disease start to accumulate in the brain several decades before symptoms begin, understanding the connection ...

We have two copies of each chromosome in every cell in our bodies except in our reproductive cells. Sperm and egg cells contain a single copy of each chromosome with a unique mix of genes from our parents, an evolutionary trick to give our offspring genetic variability. The sperm and egg are made during meiosis, the process by which cells with two chromosome copies reduce their chromosome numbers to one. For meiosis to work, the two chromosomes must align perfectly and exchange the correct amount of genetic information. Any deviation puts fertility at risk.  Enter the synaptonemal complex (SC), a zipper-like protein structure that lines up and anchors ...

CHICAGO --- How does a pregnant person’s environment, diet, stress, medications and social wellbeing affect their pregnancy and — down the road — their child’s health?  That will be the focus of a new two-year study from scientists at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, which will examine how environmental factors affect children, including those with a variety of disabilities. The scientists recently were awarded $5 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to join a national consortium — theEnvironmental ...

Glenview, IL– Effective January 1, Jack D. Buckley, MD, MPH, FCCP, is the new President of the American College of Chest Physicians® (CHEST). John Howington, MD, MBA, FCCP, steps into the role of President-Elect, Neil S. Freedman, MD, FCCP, is the new President-Designate and Doreen Addrizzo-Harris, MD, FCCP, completes her term as President to become Immediate Past President of CHEST. Jack D. Buckley, MD, MPH, FCCP, is a pulmonologist and critical care physician with an extensive background in education. Dr. Buckley is a Professor of Medical Education at Western Michigan University Homer Stryker MD School of Medicine. ...

Key Takeaways Researchers have revealed the mechanisms behind mutations that cause a congenital condition called aplasia cutis congenita, in which babies are born without skin along the midline of the scalp The mutations lead to the impairment of cells that normally express growth factors that induce skin formation over the skull BOSTON – Children with the condition aplasia cutis congenita (ACC) are born with the absence of skin along the midline of the scalp. Depending on whether mutations are in the KCTD1 or KCTD15 genes, additional characteristics beyond the scalp—such as kidney or heart problems—are also present. When investigators led by a team ...

DETROIT (January 3, 2024) – Findings from a published case series research letter by the Henry Ford Health Structural Heart Disease team show that severe mitral stenosis, due to a build-up of calcium deposits in the mitral valve common in elderly patients, can be safely and successfully treated using Intravascular lithotripsy (IVL)-enabled percutaneous balloon mitral valvuloplasty. However, larger prospective studies in high-risk population are needed to confirm the findings. These key takeaways from the research letter on IVL-facilitated valvuloplasty for severely calcified mitral valve stenosis are published ...

“[...] recent significant advances in understanding [...] CSC-Exos have revealed numerous potential applications for diagnosis and treatment.” BUFFALO, NY- January 3, 2024 – A new editorial paper was published in Oncotarget's Volume 14 on December 20, 2023, entitled, “Therapeutically harnessing cancer stem cell-derived exosomes.” In this editorial, researcher Yong Teng from Emory University discusses cancer stem cell-derived exosomes. Cancer stem cells (CSCs), a small population of cancer cells capable of self-renewal, are thought to serve ...

Waltham — January 3, 2024 — Chronic pain affects approximately 60% of people living with traumatic brain injury (TBI), even up to 30 years after injury, according to new research published in The Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation (JHTR), the official journal of the Brain Injury Association of America. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.  "This is the first study to examine the experience of chronic pain in a large TBI sample this far post-injury," explain Cynthia Harrison-Felix, PhD, FACRM, Co-Project Director of the TBI Model System ...

A groundbreaking study published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine provides new insights into the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and its associated health impacts. Researchers at the University of Missouri School of Medicine and the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine led by David Gozal, M.D., M.B.A., Ph.D. (Hon), vice president of health affairs at Marshall University and dean of the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, explored innovative therapeutic strategies that could greatly advance the understanding and management of OSA-related ...

Seismic events that coincided with sudden drops in pressure within the Nord Stream 1 and 2 natural gas pipelines in September 2022 alerted the world to the rupture of pipelines in the western Baltic Sea. The suspected act of sabotage, which reportedly used explosive charges to rupture the pipelines, is still under investigation by multiple countries. A new study published in The Seismic Record provides further evidence that the Nord Stream seismic signals came from a complex source. The signals lasted longer than would be expected from a single explosive source, the ...

For children, the world is full of surprises. Adults, on the other hand, are much more difficult to surprise. And there are complex processes behind this apparently straightforward state of affairs. Researchers at the University of Basel have been using mice to decode how reactions to the unexpected develop in the growing brain. Babies love playing peekaboo, continuing to react even on the tenth sudden appearance of their partner in the game. Recognizing the unexpected is an important cognitive ability. After all, new can also mean dangerous. The exact way in which surprises are processed in the brain changes as we grow, however: unusual ...

ANN ARBOR—Because same-sex sexual behavior does not result in offspring, evolutionary biologists have long wondered how the genes associated with this behavior have persisted in the human genome, and whether they will remain in the future. A new University of Michigan-led study, scheduled for publication Jan. 3 in the journal Science Advances, suggests that part of the explanation—specifically for male bisexuals—has to do with risk-taking behavior. The U-M researchers analyzed data from more than 450,000 participants of European ancestry in the United Kingdom's Biobank database of genetic and health information. Participants responded to a questionnaire ...

Researchers have created a new brain imaging method that allows mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBIs) to be diagnosed, even when existing imaging techniques like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) don’t show any structural abnormalities. The technique involves loading gadolinium, a standard MRI contrast agent, into hydrogel-based micropatches that are attached to immune cells called macrophages. mTBIs cause inflammation in the brain, which produces signals that attract macrophages to migrate there. Coupling the gadolinium contrast agent to these cells enables MRI to reveal ...

Weill Cornell Medicine researchers received a $2.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program to validate a new blood test for the early detection of breast cancer. Researchers are evaluating Syantra DX Breast Cancer (Syantra Inc.), an experimental diagnostic test that detects specific biomarkers in blood associated with breast cancer. The test uses an artificial intelligence algorithm to determine whether a patient is positive for cancer as soon as detectable by mammogram or possibly earlier, and before symptoms arise. “This new liquid biopsy, ...

Scientists have created a new treatment for traumatic brain injury (TBI) that shrank brain lesions by 56% and significantly reduced local inflammation levels in pigs. The new approach leverages macrophages, a type of white blood cell that can dial inflammation up or down in the body in response to infection and injury. The team created disc-shaped microparticles called “backpacks” containing anti-inflammatory molecules, then attached them directly to the macrophages. These molecules kept the cells in an anti-inflammatory state ...

MADISON – Like mail carriers who manage to deliver their parcels through snow, rain, heat and gloom, a critical group of mammalian proteins helps cells function properly even under less-than-ideal conditions. Using state-of-the-art cell imaging and genome editing technology, University of Wisconsin–Madison scientists have begun to unravel how this collection of proteins performs its essential service. The discovery could eventually help researchers better understand and develop new treatments for diseases like cancer, diabetes and those that cause immune dysfunction. Led by Anjon Audhya, a professor in the Department of Biomolecular Chemistry, the research team sought ...

“[...] we were able to confirm the functional role of three genes (MANBA, TNFRSF13B and EEF1A1) in the IgG galactosylation pathway [...]” BUFFALO, NY- January 3, 2024 – A new research paper was published in Aging (listed by MEDLINE/PubMed as "Aging (Albany NY)" and "Aging-US" by Web of Science) Volume 15, Issue 24, entitled, “Mapping of the gene network that regulates glycan clock of ageing.” Glycans are an essential structural component of immunoglobulin G (IgG) that modulate its structure and function. However, regulatory mechanisms behind this complex posttranslational ...