Political violence is eroding the overall health of democracy in the United States, according to more than 100 global scholars surveyed for a new report. The report, released today by Johns Hopkins University’s SNF Agora Institute and Protect Democracy, identifies how and to what extent experts believe violence is interfering with American democracy. Those surveyed were most concerned about elections, with more than half suggesting that U.S. electoral processes have a high potential of breaking down in the future.­­­­­­­­­ “Political violence is occurring, and it comes in waves,” said co-author Lilliana Mason, an associate ...

Food allergies can quickly turn a casual meal into a life-threatening situation. Anaphylaxis – a severe allergic reaction that may include a skin rash, nausea, vomiting, difficulty breathing, and shock – from a food allergy sends 200,000 people to the emergency room annually in the United States. Because pinpointing a food allergy could mean life or death, an accurate diagnosis is critical. Oral food challenges – when a patient ingests increasing doses up to a full serving of the suspected food allergen under ...

A study involving the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) has found that the use of applications for depression can have a significant effect on treating the symptoms of this increasingly prevalent mental illness, especially when used in hybrid treatments, i.e. those that combine technology with the involvement of a professional. That is one of the main conclusions from the research done by the team led by Carme Carrion, principal investigator at the eHealth Lab, based on their compilation and analysis of the most painstaking scientific research in this field in recent years. The members of this research group, which is affiliated ...

Boston (Nov. 7, 2023) — Teens from low-income families experiencing food insecurity are developing the most common form of liver disease twice as often as those who have easier access to food, likely because they rely on low-cost, ultra-processed foods, according to a study scheduled for presentation at The Liver Meeting, held by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. Participation in the food assistance program Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, seems to protect young people against liver disease. “The ...

Boston (Nov. 7, 2023) — The most common form of chronic liver disease is expected to steadily rise over the next 25 years, adding significant burden to the medical system as a new model predicts nearly twice as many liver cancers and almost triple the need for liver transplantation by 2050, according to a study scheduled for presentation at The Liver Meeting, held by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. Rising rates of obesity and diabetes are blamed for the anticipated increase ...

Bethesda, MD (Nov. 7, 2023) — The American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) has released a rapid clinical practice update addressing the management of patients taking glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) prior to endoscopy. Published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, AGA finds no data to support all patients stopping GLP-1 RAs prior to elective endoscopy procedures. This guidance is in response to American Society of Anesthesiologists’ call for patients to stop taking GLP-1 RAs prior to elective procedures ...

Most organizations and companies have two main goals — fulfill a purpose and generate profit. In some cases, profit is prioritized over purpose. However, for researchers at Texas A&M University and their partners with the Southwest-Midwest Pediatric Device Innovation Consortium (SWPDC), the purpose transcends profit. The SWPDC was established in 2018 with $6.75 million in funding from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to address the pediatric device development and innovation deficit. Following five ...

NASA’s short-form, narrative podcast, NASA’s Curious Universe, returns for its sixth season Nov. 7. This season will bring listeners on new “wild and wonderful” adventures from the farthest reaches of the cosmos to right here on planet Earth.  In season six, listeners will meet researchers who are using sounds from the Sun to learn crucial details about our star, explore the “dark side” of the universe with scientists who study dark matter and dark energy, and get a behind-the-scenes look at the first NASA mission to deliver an asteroid sample to Earth.  Listen to the ...

Bronchiectasis, a condition defined by widened lung airways, cough and sputum production, and frequent infections, often presents along with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This overlap is associated with airflow obstruction and higher mortality in adults. As healthcare systems now provide access to lung image data more commonly than before, bronchiectasis can be detected incidentally on radiological scans of patients with mild or no symptoms. A team led by researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, studied the association ...

Princeton University has launched a new Ph.D. program in Quantum Science and Engineering (QSE), providing graduate training in an emerging discipline at the intersection of quantum physics and information theory. This new field of quantum information science has broad implications and may enable fundamentally new technology, including new types of computers that can solve currently intractable problems, communication channels guaranteed secure by the laws of physics, and sensors that offer unprecedented sensitivity and spatial resolution. Applications from prospective students are due December 15 for an incoming ...

The innovation by chemists, resulting in the creation of a long polyethylene chain out of the small chemical monomer ethylene, has been a ground-breaking discovery, awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1963. This remarkable discovery paved the way for highly useful industrial processes and set the stage for widespread use of plastics, which transformed our world in once unimaginable manners. Today, exactly six decades later, the extensive use of plastics and their products is posing a threat to human health and the environment ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Microfossils from Western Australia may capture a jump in the complexity of life that coincided with the rise of oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere and oceans, according to an international team of scientists. The findings, published in the journal Geobiology, provide a rare window into the Great Oxidation Event, a time roughly 2.4 billion years ago when the oxygen concentration increased on Earth, fundamentally changing the planet’s surface. The event is thought to have triggered a mass extinction and opened the door for the development ...

MYC family genes are essential for the human organism. According to current knowledge, they regulate the expression of most cellular genes. Misregulation of MYC proteins significantly contributes to the development of many types of cancer. Unsurprisingly, MYC proteins are in the focus of cancer research worldwide. From a scientific point of view, they could be the ideal anti-cancer targets. Indeed, the importance of MYC for the development of cancer cells has been known for a long time. However, the structure of MYC proteins and their molecular function ...

The Horizon Europe funded TIER2 project (enhancing Trust, Integrity and Efficiency in Research through next-level Reproducibility) has announced the two consortia which will receive a €5000 monetary award to hold a kick-off meeting for a national Reproducibility Network in their respective countries. The Georgian and Ukrainian awardees were selected among multiple applicants of the TIER2 Open Call which opened in July 2023 (read more here). After a round of reviews, carried out by Thomas Klebel (TIER2), Luka Ursic ...

A new article in the peer-reviewed OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology examines the ethical, equity, and societal/relational implications of digital health technologies for precision medicine in end-of-life care. Click here to read the article now.  John Noel Viana, PhD, from The Australian National University, and coauthors specifically assess the implications of two precision health modalities: (1) integrated systems biology/multi-omics analysis for disease prognostication; and (2) digital health technologies for health status monitoring and communication. The investigators provide ...

Hundreds of clinics may be using false and misleading statements in online advertising campaigns by offering off-label and unapproved ketamine to treat a variety of mental health and pain conditions, according to researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and Johns Hopkins University. The study was published in JAMA Network Open. “These are expensive treatments for which patients generally must pay out of pocket and the evidence base is often not robust for many of the advertised uses,” said Michael DiStefano, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy at the CU Skaggs School of Pharmacy ...

Bottom Line: The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) concludes that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of routine screening performed by primary care clinicians for oral health conditions, including dental caries, in children and adolescents ages 5 to 17. The USPSTF also concludes that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of preventive interventions performed by primary care clinicians for oral health conditions, including dental caries, in children and adolescents ages 5 to 17. Untreated oral health conditions in children can lead to serious infections ...

Bottom Line: The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) concludes that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of routine screening performed by primary care clinicians for oral health conditions, including dental caries or periodontal-related disease, in adults. The USPSTF also concludes that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of preventive interventions performed by primary care clinicians for oral health conditions, ...

The largest floating ice shelves in the polar ice sheet have lost more than a third of their volume since 1978. In a study to be published on 7 November in Nature Communications, scientists from the CNRS1, alongside their Danish and American colleagues, have established that most of this thinning is due to the rise in surrounding ocean temperatures, which causes the glaciers’ floating extensions to melt. Until now, the glaciers in this region were considered to be stable, unlike more sensitive areas of the polar ice cap, which began to weaken in the mid-1980s. Located ...

About The Study: The findings of this study suggest that maintenance immunosuppressive drugs are associated with an increased risk of COVID-19 hospitalization in solid organ transplant recipients. These results should be considered by clinicians treating transplant recipients and may help inform epidemic-related decisions for this population in the future. Authors: Epiphane Kolla, M.D., M.P.H., of French National Health Insurance in Saint-Denis, France, 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.2023.42006) Editor’s ...

About The Study: In a population-based study of 6,790 adult patients with emergency medical services–treated out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) from a U.S. metropolitan system, the incidence of overdose related out-of-hospital cardiac arrest increased significantly from 2015 to 2021. The greatest increase was observed among patients with a combined stimulant-opioid OHCA. Presentation and outcome differed according to the drug-specific profile. The combination of increasing incidence and lower survival among patients with an opioid-stimulant OHCA supports prevention and treatment initiatives ...

A new report in Nature Geoscience has brought to light the challenge of air pollution levels in Africa and why international action is needed to combat it.    Over the last 50 years African nations have suffered from rapidly deteriorating air quality, making their cities some of the most polluted in the world. Particulate matter concentration levels are now five to ten levels greater than that recommended by the World Health Organisation, with the situation predicted to worsen as populations grow and industrialization accelerates.   However, far too little has been ...

Francis Crick Institute press release Under strict embargo: 16:00hrs GMT Tuesday 7 November 2023 Peer reviewed Observational study People Body changes up to eight years before inflammatory bowel disease diagnosis Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute and Aalborg University in Copenhagen have shown that changes can be detected in blood tests up to eight years before a diagnosis of Crohn’s disease and up to three years before a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis. This means the beginnings of inflammatory bowel diseases start a long time before symptoms occur, and in the future may provide an opportunity for doctors to take preventative ...

Many parents experience stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms throughout their lives, particularly during times of transition, such as pregnancy and children’s entry into school. Studies have generally found that high levels of anxiety and depression in parents are linked to poorer behavioural and cognitive outcomes in children. A team of researchers led by Tina Montreuil, Associate Professor in McGill’s Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and Scientist in the Child Health and Human ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – Diagnosing early-stage lung cancer with low-dose CT screening dramatically improves the long-term survival rate of cancer patients, according to a large-scale, 20-year international study published today in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). The results show that patients diagnosed with lung cancer by low-dose CT screening have a 20-year survival rate of 81%. If diagnosed in the earliest Stage I, long-term survival was 95%. “It is the first time that 20-year survival rates ...