The search for answers to Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders remains one of the most pressing goals in brain research. Maciej J. Stawikowski, Ph.D., an assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Florida Atlantic University’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, believes the key may lie in understanding how cholesterol and other lipids move through cells and affect their communication. “It’s well known that lipids and Alzheimer’s are linked,” said Stawikowski, a member of the FAU Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute. “Lipid imbalance may ...

Chronic pain is widespread in the United States, particularly among military veterans, affecting between 40 to 70% of this population and serving as a leading cause of disability. Veterans experience chronic pain more often than civilians, with back pain being the most common. Up to 75% of older veterans report chronic pain, while younger veterans and those from recent conflicts face more severe pain. Chronic low back pain in veterans affects not only physical health but also social and occupational functioning, often leading to job ...

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a life-threatening genetic disease affecting multiple organ systems, with pancreatic dysfunction representing a critical and often overlooked complication. A groundbreaking study published in eGastroenterology introduces young rabbits with CF as a novel and accessible model to study CF-related pancreatic endocrine pathology. This model offers an unprecedented opportunity to deepen our understanding of CF-related diabetes (CFRD), a condition affecting up to 50% of adults with CF. CF is caused by mutations in the CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene, ...

Background and Aims Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) remains a significant global health challenge, and effective antiviral therapies are essential for long-term management. This study aimed to evaluate the real-world effectiveness and safety of tenofovir amibufenamide (TMF) in a cohort of patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). Methods In this multicenter, prospective, real-world cohort study, 194 CHB patients were recruited from four hospitals between August 2021 and August 2022. Patients were divided into treatment-naïve (TN, n = 123) and ...

Despite the success cardiac rehabilitation has shown at reducing heart-related deaths and hospital readmissions, higher out-of-pocket costs may prevent patients from participating in the program, a Michigan Medicine study suggests. In a national study of over 40,000 people with Medicare and commercial insurance, 81.6% of patients did not have to pay for their initial cardiac rehabilitation session. The medically supervised program lasts up to 36 sessions, which are often recommended for patients recovering from many conditions and procedures. Among ...

European consortium for Solving the Unsolved Rare Diseases demonstrates the significance of international collaboration to address the unmet medical needs on rare diseases’ diagnosis More than 500 European patients with unknown conditions have received a diagnosis through new genetic research. This includes patients with rare neurological disorders, severe intellectual disabilities, muscle diseases, and hereditary gastrointestinal cancer. These diagnoses were achieved through extensive European collaboration, led by researchers from the University of Tübingen, Radboud university medical center, and the National Center ...

Subtle changes in the brain, detectable through advanced imaging, blood and spinal fluid analysis, happen approximately twenty years before a clinical motor diagnosis in people with Huntington’s disease, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The research, published in Nature Medicine, was in collaboration with experts at the Universities of Glasgow, Gothenburg, Iowa, and Cambridge. The team found that although functions such as movement, thinking or behaviour remained normal for a long time before the onset of symptoms in Huntington’s disease, subtle changes to the brain were taking place up to two decades earlier. These findings pave the way for ...

Active galactic nuclei are supermassive black holes at the center of certain galaxies. As matter falls into these black holes, enormous amounts of energy are released, making active galactic nuclei, or AGN, one of the most energetic phenomena that can be observed in space. University of Arizona astronomers have now produced the highest resolution direct images ever taken of an AGN in the infrared, using the Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer.  Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany were also involved in the study. The findings are published in the journal Nature Astronomy.  "The ...

Astrophysicists led by a team from Trinity College Dublin have – for the first time – imaged a large number of exocomet belts around nearby stars, and the tiny pebbles within them. The crystal-clear images show light being emitted from these millimetre-sized pebbles within the belts that orbit 74 nearby stars of a wide variety of ages – from those that are just emerging from birth to those in more mature systems like our own Solar System. The REASONS (REsolved ALMA and SMA Observations of Nearby Stars) study ...

We have all been told to avoid direct sunlight between 12 noon and 3 p.m., seek out shade and put on sunscreen and a hat. Nevertheless, most of us have been experienced sunburn at least once. The skin turns bright red, feels irritated and needs cooling. You may also have been told that sunburn damages the DNA. But that is not the full truth, the researchers responsible for a new study conducted at the University of Copenhagen and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) explain. “Sunburn damages the DNA, leading to cell death and inflammation. So the textbooks say. But in ...

  UNDER STRICT EMBARGO UNTIL 5:00AM (UK TIME) ON FRIDAY 17TH JANUARY 2025   People who speak with accents perceived as ‘working-class’ including those from Liverpool, Newcastle, Bradford and London risk being stereotyped as more likely to have committed a crime, and becoming victims of injustice, a new study suggests.   Received pronunciation (RP) accent perceived as highest status and less likely to commit crimes with the exception of a sexual offence.  Liverpool’s accent most closely associated with criminal behaviour in general. Welsh, Northern Irish and Scottish accents perceived more positively ...

The way you talk says a lot about you — but what people think it says may not be true. While no accent is better than any other, people use accents as markers for identifying and stereotyping social groups. In the justice system, these accent stereotypes could influence perceptions of guilt, leading to discrimination. Scientists collaborating on the Improving Voice Identification Procedures project explored this by testing participants’ perceptions of ten different accents heard around the UK. They found that speakers with accents considered lower-status were considered more ...

Perhaps you’ve heard the story of Peter Parker, raised by his aunt and uncle after the death of his parents only to see his uncle murdered by the same criminal the radioactive spider-bitten teen neglected to apprehend that very day. His guilt drives him to become Spider-Man.   But childhood trauma doesn’t always inspire super-heroics. Heath Ledger’s psychotic Joker, as seen in 2008 film The Dark Knight, recounts tales of horrific abuse by a father who disfigures him. It’s a stark contrast to his heroic nemesis Batman, who saw his parents gunned down in ...

For the high-performance computing in a WAN environment, the geographical locations of national supercomputing centers are scattered and the network topology is complex, so it is difficult to form a unified view of resources. To aggregate the widely dispersed storage resources of national supercomputing centers in China, the team led by Zhisheng Huo have previously proposed a global virtual data space named GVDS. However, the GVDS suffers from performance bottlenecks in data migration and access across WANs. To solve the problems, ...

Excessive sugar consumption is linked to several non-communicable diseases, including obesity, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes. Animals naturally crave sugar, and uncontrolled sugar preferences can lead to high sugar intake, raising the risk of hyperglycemia and metabolic diseases. Previous research suggests that food cravings in humans are driven by signals from the gut to the brain, highlighting the gut's crucial role in shaping dietary preferences. However, the regulation of sugar preference is complex, and the specific influence of gut microbes remains unclear. In a study published in Nature Microbiology, ...

Megakaryocytes (MKs), known for their role in platelet production, have emerged as critical players in immune responses, showcasing versatility in both physiological and pathological contexts. Recent advances in technology have unveiled the diverse immune functions of MKs, which express immune sensors and participate in immune activities, thus expanding their traditional role beyond hemostasis and coagulation. This comprehensive review delves into the multifaceted immune roles of MKs, highlighting their distinct immunological roles under ...

A new Cochrane review has found that calorie labelling of food on menus and products leads people to choose slightly fewer calories.  The research team, led by scientists from UCL, Bath Spa University, the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford, examined evidence from 25 studies on the impact of calorie labelling on food selection and consumption. They found that calorie labels in supermarkets, restaurants and other food outlets led to a small reduction in the calories people selected and purchased. The average reduction was 1.8%, which would equate ...

Niigata and Tokyo, Japan - In recent years, advancements in dialysis therapy and the growing number of elderly patients starting dialysis have contributed to the aging of the overall dialysis population. Consequently, malnutrition-related conditions such as sarcopenia, frailty, and protein energy wasting (PEW) have become significant issues for dialysis patients. Nutritional interventions, including nutritional counseling, oral supplements, and intradialytic parenteral nutrition (IDPN), are recommended to address these challenges. On dialysis days, patients tend to consume less ...

New INFORMS Information Systems Research Study Key Takeaways: The AI model achieves approximately 90% classification precision in predicting ICU length of stay, enabling hospitals to more effectively optimize resource management. Clear, evidence-based explanations provided by the model empower ICU doctors to make better-informed decisions regarding patient care. Real-world testing with ICU clinicians demonstrated the model’s potential to enhance care efficiency, reduce hospital costs and improve patient outcomes.   BALTIMORE, MD, January 16, 2025 – Intensive care units (ICUs) face mounting pressure to effectively manage resources while delivering ...

Continental European snakes, geckos and Italian wall lizards are making their way to northern Europe undetected among imports of ornamental olive trees destined for gardens and green spaces.  These hitchhiking intruders can become invasive pests that cause extensive damage to the natural environment - as has happened in previously snake-free islands of the Mediterranean like Majorca. They’re also a red flag for a bigger problem: the range of potentially serious agricultural and environmental pests being unwittingly imported to Britain and ...

Desert lizards are facing a ‘cost-of-living’ squeeze as global temperatures continue to rise, a new study finds.   For a lizard, the 'cost-of-living' is tightly linked to its body temperature, which dictates both how much food it needs and whether it can go outside to feed. Desert lizards are especially challenged because food is sparse, and it is often too hot to forage.   Published today in Science, the study found climate warming can ‘squeeze’ desert lizard energy budgets by increasing the food they need just ...

Stem Cell Reports, the peer-reviewed, open access, online journal of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) is seeking highly motivated and accomplished early career scientists to join the Early Career Scientist Editorial Board (ECEB). This group of distinguished early career scientists will have the opportunity to: Advise on journal content and programming such as special Issues, podcast content, and other initiatives, Receive mentoring from associate editors, Attend the annual editorial board meeting Build their professional network and connections, and Serve as an ambassador ...

Our data-driven world demands more—more capacity, more efficiency, more computing power. To meet society’s insatiable need for electronic speed, physicists have been pushing the burgeoning field of spintronics. Traditional electronics use the charge of electrons to encode, store and transmit information. Spintronic devices utilize both the charge and spin-orientation of electrons. By assigning a value to electron spin (up=0 and down=1), spintronic devices offer ultra-fast, energy-efficient platforms. To develop viable spintronics, physicists must understand the quantum properties ...

The kids and grandkids of immigrants to the United States usually lose the ability to speak their heritage language fluently. Without access to the heritage language, second- and third-generation Americans may use distinct words and pronunciations in the dominant language, English, to assert their ethnic identities and connect to their communities. Sociolinguists have long viewed these shifts as markers of cultural change. Like differences in food, clothing and religion, differences in language are subtle ways that groups distinguish themselves along ethnic boundaries. Recent work has pivoted from asking what are the differences to why are there differences? How are they using language to carve ...

Tufts Unvisity Assistant Professor Elizabeth Setren in the Department of Economics at the School of Arts and Sciences has received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) from President Joe Biden. PECASE recognition is the highest honor given by the U.S. government for outstanding scientists and engineers who are early in their careers This year’s awardees are employed or funded by 14 governmental agencies. In Setren’s case, her recognition comes from the Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences, and ...