CHICAGO – Durable and attractive, engineered stone countertops are a popular feature in modern American kitchens, but the workers who build them are risking their health. A growing number of these countertop workers are developing silicosis, a serious and long-term lung disease, according to a study being presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). “This is a new and emerging epidemic, and we must increase awareness of this disease process so we can avoid delays in diagnosis and treatment for our patients,” ...

Embargoed for release: Monday, December 2, 4:00 AM ET Key points: In a 30-year study of American adults’ diets, those who consumed the highest ratio of plant-based protein to animal-based protein had a 19% lower risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and a 27% lower risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) compared to those who consumed the lowest ratio.  According to the researchers, the findings suggest that a 1:2 ratio of plant to animal protein is effective in preventing CVD—and that an even higher ratio (1:1.3) may be needed to protect against CHD.  While global dietary guidelines recommend higher intake of plant ...

Lung cancer screening with low-dose chest computed tomography (CT) may detect more than just lung cancer. As new research in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.231602 shows, these CTs can identify coronary artery calcium, a strong risk factor for coronary artery disease (CAD), in patients without cardiac symptoms. “Lung cancer screening, although primarily geared towards reducing deaths from lung cancer, also has an opportunity to help tackle the second ...

Consumers are likely to continue making poor fashion choices unless eco-friendly choices become more accessible, according to a leading psychologist. Carolyn Mair says brands must do more to promote sustainable clothing by making it more accessible to all, and by doing more to educate the public about mindful consumption. Meaningful reforms to the current model of fashion production, in which garments are made from raw materials then discarded, have lagged, says Dr Mair who is also a fashion business consultant. Making sustainable choices In Dr Mair’s new book The Psychology of Fashion, she says eco-labels on garments are an important influence ...

About The Article: This narrative review from the International Antiviral Society–USA provides updated 2024 recommendations for HIV treatment and clinical management and HIV prevention. New approaches for treating and preventing HIV offer additional tools to help end the HIV epidemic, but achieving this goal depends on addressing disparities and inequities in access to care.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Rajesh T. Gandhi, MD email RGANDHI@mgh.harvard.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jama.2024.24543) Editor’s ...

Mill Valley, CA – December 1, 2024 – SynGAP Research Fund 501(c)(3), the leading patient advocacy group working to improve the lives of SYNGAP1-Related Disorders (SRD) patients, announces the appointment of Virginie McNamar as President and Chief Operating Officer, effective December 1, 2024. “Virginie was a respected leader in the global SYNGAP1 community before SRF was founded.  Her support and guidance in the early years was critical. Almost six years later, the SRF organization has grown to the point where a full time leader ...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – A major new scientific report charts an urgent course correction for how the world grows food and uses land in order to avoid irretrievably compromising Earth’s capacity to support human and environmental wellbeing.    Produced under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Johan Rockström at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in collaboration with the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the report is launched as nearly 200 UNCCD member states kick off their COP 16 summit ...

A seminal cradle-to-grave analysis of hospital-based radiology services by the Department of Radiology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Royal Philips found the energy consumption from imaging equipment accounted for more than 50% of the department’s greenhouse gas emissions and shed light on areas to focus future evidence-based strategies to decarbonize.   The life cycle assessment (LCA) results, which have been peer-reviewed and published in Radiology, found diagnostic services generate the equivalent of nearly 1,100 gas-powered cars annually, or an estimated 4.6kt carbon dioxide equivalent.   Researchers ...

Tokyo, Japan – Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have used measurements of skin conductance over time to tell emotions apart. Volunteers were shown videos depicting fearful scenes, family bonding, and humor, while their skin conductance trace was recorded. The team’s analysis showed that traces could be used to make good guesses of which emotions were being felt. Advances like this help break down an over-reliance on facial data, bringing emotionally aware technologies closer to home.   A new frontier is being pioneered in consumer electronics: one day, digital devices might be able to offer services depending on your emotional ...

Images/videos of capuchin monkeys ANN ARBOR—The immune performance of wild capuchin monkeys declines when the animals experience higher temperatures, and younger monkeys seem to be particularly vulnerable to heat, according to a University of Michigan study. U-M anthropology doctoral student Jordan Lucore examined how the immune systems of wild monkeys in Costa Rica were impacted by temperature. Lucore and a team of researchers found that when monkeys experienced about two weeks of warmer temperatures—86 degrees Fahrenheit—their generalized immune system performance declined. This is the part of the immune system that ...

Embargoed for release: Friday, November 29, 2:00 PM ET Key points: Exposure to PM2.5 was associated with higher levels of inflammation among pregnant women, potentially leading to adverse birth outcomes. Study examined PM2.5 and maternal and fetal health on a single-cell level, using an innovative technology to detect how pollution modified the DNA within individual cells. Findings provide new understanding of the biological pathways through which air pollution affects pregnancy and birth outcomes, ...

Our bodies are remarkably skilled at adapting to changing environments. For example, whether amid summer heat or a winter freeze, our internal temperature remains steady at 37°C, thanks to a process called homeostasis. This hidden balancing act is vital for survival, enabling animals to maintain stable internal conditions even as the external world shifts. But recent research from the Ikmi Group at EMBL Heidelberg shows that homeostasis can extend beyond internal regulation and actively redefine an organism’s shape. The starlet sea anemone (Nematostella vectensis) possesses remarkable regenerative abilities. Cut off its head ...

Dr. Woohyun Kim's research team from the Hydrogen Research Department at the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) has successfully developed an innovative nickel-cobalt composite catalyst that can accelerate the production and commercialization of turquoise hydrogen.* *Turquoise Hydrogen: A technology that produces hydrogen and carbon by decomposing hydrocarbons such as methane (CH₄) (CH₄ → C + 2H₂). Unlike gray hydrogen, the most widely used hydrogen production technology, ...

Bacteria modify their ribosomes when exposed to widely used antibiotics, according to research published today in Nature Communications. The subtle changes might be enough to alter the binding site of drug targets and constitute a possible new mechanism of antibiotic resistance. Escherichia coli is a common bacterium which is often harmless but can cause serious infections. The researchers exposed E. coli to streptomycin and kasugamycin, two drugs which treat bacterial infections. Streptomycin has been a staple in treating tuberculosis and other infections since the 1940s, while kasugamycin is less known but crucial in agricultural settings ...

Ghent, 29 November 2024 – We are increasingly confronted with the impacts of climate change, with failed harvests being only one example. Addressing these challenges requires multifaceted approaches, including making plants more resilient. An international research team led by researchers at VIB-UGent has unraveled how the opening and closing of stomata - tiny pores on leaves – is regulated in response to high temperatures and drought. These new insights, published in Nature Plants, pave the way for developing climate change-ready crops. Global climate change affects more and more people, with extreme weather conditions ...

Water can be a catalyst for peace and security with a critical role in preventing conflicts and promoting cooperation among communities and nations - but only if managed equitably and sustainably, a new study reveals.  Experts have devised a blueprint to ensure safe, equitable and sustainable global access to clean water. The seven-point strategy will allow water challenges to be governed effectively so they do not create conflict when access is restricted or usage unfairly shared.  Publishing ...

Ewing sarcoma is a tumour of the bones and soft tissues that occurs in children and young people. A quarter of patients do not respond well to therapy. The group led by Ana Losada, at Spain’s National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), has discovered an alteration in the most aggressive cases that affects genes never previously related to this disease. This finding expands the list of potential prognostic markers and therapeutic targets in the most aggressive cases of Ewing sarcoma. The new research is published in EMBO Reports. Ewing sarcoma is a tumour of the bones and soft tissues that occurs in children and young people. ...

About The Study: The findings of this study suggest the NOTCH3-associated small vessel disease (NOTCH3-SVD) staging system will help to better harmonize NOTCH3-SVD and cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) cohort studies and registries; may improve individualized disease counseling, monitoring, and clinical management; and may facilitate patient stratification in clinical trials. Corresponding Authors: To contact the corresponding ...

A new study led by King’s College London has provided further evidence that the deaths of 350 African elephants in Botswana during 2020 were the result of drinking from water holes where toxic algae populations had exploded due to climate change. The lead author of the report says their analysis shows animals were very likely poisoned by watering holes where toxic blooms of blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, had developed after a very wet year followed a very dry one. Davide Lomeo, a PhD student in the Department of Geography at King’s College London and co-supervised by Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) and ...

Killer whales can feed on marine mammals, turtles, and fish. In the Gulf of California, a pod might have picked up new skills that help them hunt whale sharks – the world’s largest fish, growing up to 18 meters long. Whale sharks feed at aggregation sites in the Gulf of California, sometimes while they are still young and smaller. During this life-stage, they are more vulnerable to predation, and anecdotal evidence suggests orcas could be hunting them. Now, researchers in Mexico have reported four separate hunting events. “We show how orcas displayed a collaboratively hunting technique on whale sharks, characterized by ...

UNDER STRICT EMBARGO UNTIL 6:30 PM November 28, 2024: A recent major review of data published by the Lancet and led by Emory sports cardiologist Jonathan Kim, MD, shows that Black athletes are approximately five times more likely to experience sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) and sudden cardiac death (SCD) compared to White athletes, despite some evidence of a decline in rates of SCD overall. SCA and SCD have historically been a leading cause of mortality among athletes, particularly those involved in high-intensity sports. The disparities in SCA/D rates highlights the need for increased research into the social determinants of health in younger athletes, a topic that remains ...

Researchers at University of California San Diego analyzed the genomes of hundreds of malaria parasites to determine which genetic variants are most likely to confer drug resistance. The findings, published in Science, could help scientists use machine learning to predict antimalarial drug resistance and more effectively prioritize the most promising experimental treatments for further development. The approach could also help predict treatment resistance in other infectious diseases, and even cancer. “A lot of drug resistance research can only look at one chemical agent at a time, but what we’ve been able to do here is create a roadmap ...

Coral adaptation to ocean warming and marine heatwaves will likely be overwhelmed without rapid reductions of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to an international team of scientists. Their study, led by Dr. Liam Lachs of Newcastle University, reveals that coral heat tolerance adaptation via natural selection could keep pace with ocean warming, but only if Paris Agreement commitments are realised, limiting global warming to two degrees Celsius. “The reality is that marine heatwaves are triggering mass coral bleaching mortality events across the world’s shallow tropical reef ecosystems, and the increasing frequency and intensity of these events ...

UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 19:00 GMT / 14:00 ET THURSDAY 28 NOVEMBER 2024 Bioinspired droplet-based systems herald a new era in biocompatible devices Oxford University researchers have developed a set of biocompatible devices, which can replicate or surpass many electronic functions but use ions as the signal carriers. The ‘dropletronic devices’ are made from miniature soft hydrogel droplets and can be combined to produce diodes, transistors, reconfigurable logic gates, and memory storage devices that mimic biological synapses. The research team generated a biocompatible, dropletronic ...

More than a million years ago, on a hot savannah teeming with wildlife near the shore of what would someday become Lake Turkana in Kenya, two completely different species of hominins may have passed each other as they scavenged for food. Scientists know this because they have examined 1.5-million-year-old fossils they unearthed and have concluded they represent the first example of two sets of hominin footprints made about the same time on an ancient lake shore. The discovery will provide more insight into human evolution and how species cooperated and competed with ...