Clinics and hospitals currently defer medication abortion until ultrasound confirms a pregnancy inside the uterus. However, a large international study led by researchers from Karolinska Institutet now indicates that treatment can be equally effective and safe even before the sixth week of pregnancy. The study is published in The New England Journal of Medicine. 35,550 abortions took place in Sweden in 2023, over 60 per cent of them before the end of the seventh week of pregnancy. Often, the procedure is held off until intrauterine pregnancy is confirmed by vaginal ultrasound to rule out the possibility of an ectopic pregnancy, in which the embryo attaches ...

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2024 MINNEAPOLIS – Older people who are sleepy during the day or lack enthusiasm for activities due to sleep issues may be more likely to develop a syndrome that can lead to dementia, according to a study published in the November 6, 2024, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. People with the syndrome have a slow walking speed and say they have some memory issues, although they do not have a mobility disability or dementia. Called motoric cognitive risk ...

Christopher D. Anderson, MD, MSc, chief of the Division of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and associate neurologist in the Department of Neurology and Center for Genomic Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, is the corresponding author and Jonathan Rosand, MD, MSc, co-founder of the McCance Center for Brain Health and neurologist in the Department of Neurology and Center for Genomic Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, is an author of a paper published on November 6, 2024, in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, “Health-related behaviors ...

Sexual orientation—dictated by factors like sexual identity, attraction and behavior—is challenging to measure comprehensively. This is reflected in variations in the number of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people recorded across surveys using different measurement approaches. Most approaches focus on ‘sexual identity’ to understand mental health disparities, but differences in perceived notions of ‘identity’ and ‘attraction/behavior’ are prevalent. For instance, some ...

A study conducted at the Center for Research on Redox Processes in Biomedicine (Redoxoma) helps understand how high blood sugar (hyperglycemia), one of the manifestations of diabetes, can cause thrombosis. The findings, reported in an article published in the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis, can contribute to the development of strategies to prevent cardiovascular dysfunction in diabetics. “The leading causes of death in Brazil and several other Latin American countries ...

Maintaining good health and well-being is crucial for how well patients respond to cancer treatments. Unfortunately, cachexia, or involuntary weight loss, is a major concern for many individuals with advanced cancer. A new study from Japan has revealed that lower cachexia rates, particularly with prevalence less than 40–50%, are linked to shorter overall survival (OS) rates. The study also showed that the diagnostic criteria used for cachexia detection can affect the reported cachexia prevalence. People with advanced heart disease or cancer often face serious health challenges. Cachexia, an involuntary loss ...

Safety is not only for truck drivers, but also the drivers around them. The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute recently received nearly $1 million in two grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to develop and enhance tractor-trailer educational programs. “These two grants will allow us to continue transforming our research into practice,” said Rich Hanowski, director of the institute's division of freight, transit, and heavy vehicle safety. “The outreach initiatives will directly leave an impact on drivers ...

Waterborne diseases affect over 7 million people in the U.S. every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and cost our health care system over $3 billion. But they don’t impact all people equally. A campuswide collaboration is using sewage surveillance as a vital strategy in the fight against diseases that spread through the water such as legionella and shigella. The ones that are most difficult to combat are diseases with antimicrobial resistance, which means they are able to survive against antibiotics that are intended to kill them. A recent paper in Nature Water offers an encouraging insight: Monitoring ...

The natural environment across the globe is deteriorating, leading to crises like climate change, biodiversity loss, and water scarcity. Companies and industries play a major role in this decline, and they are expected to take responsibility for their environmental impact. A recent study by Probal Dutta from the University of Vaasa, Finland, suggests that companies can meet these expectations by openly sharing reliable, credible information about their activities, environmental performance, and effects on nature. Probal Dutta’s doctoral dissertation at the University ...

A groundbreaking study from Queen Mary University of London reveals that the music and soundscapes used in toy commercials are reinforcing rigid gender norms, shaping the way children perceive masculinity and femininity. The research uncovers how gender stereotypes are not only conveyed through visuals and language but are also deeply embedded in the sound and music used in advertisements targeted at children.  For more than 40 years, research has shown how gender polarisation in children’s ...

Wastewater treatment fails to kill several human pathogens when they hide out on microplastics in the water, reports a new study led by Ingun Lund Witsø of the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, published November 6, 2024 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE. Wastewater treatment plants are designed to remove contaminants from wastewater, but microplastics persist and can become colonized by a sticky microbial biofilm. Previous research has suggested that these microbial communities, called plastispheres, include potential pathogens, and thus might pose a risk to human health and the environment when treated wastewater and sludge are released. In the new study, researchers ...

By analyzing all live births in Canada over a six-year period and following children for more than two decades, researchers found that preterm births and the related cognitive, development and physical health impacts of prematurity are associated with lower income, employment and university enrollment Individuals born before 37 weeks of gestation, considered to be preterm infants, have, on average, lower employment income, university enrollment and educational attainment through age 28, according to ...

In a study of salmon samples from Seattle, Washington, grocery stores and sushi restaurants, DNA analysis revealed that 18 percent were mislabeled. Tracie Delgado and colleagues at Seattle Pacific University, WA, U.S., present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on November 6, 2024. Washington State is one of the top suppliers of wild salmon eaten in the United States. The price of salmon depends on the species and whether it is farmed or wild caught. Prior studies have revealed frequent mislabeling of salmon in Washington markets and restaurants. In 2013, the state made it illegal to mislabel salmon, citing negative ...

15,800-year-old engraved plaquettes from modern-day Germany depict fishing techniques, including the use of nets, not previously known in the Upper Paleolithic ### Article URL:  https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0311302 Article Title: Upper Palaeolithic fishing techniques: Insights from the engraved plaquettes of the Magdalenian site of Gönnersdorf, Germany Author Countries: Germany, U.K. Funding: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG (Germany) - AHRC (UK) Memorandum of Understanding Grant DFG-Projekt GZ: GA 683/13-1 (AOBJ: 647648); AHRC (UK) AH/V002899/1) Kunst und Haushalt im Paläolithikum: ...

Biologists at Washington University in St. Louis have discovered the origin of a curious duplication that gives plants multiple ways to override instructions that are coded into their DNA. This research could help scientists exploit a plant’s existing systems to favor traits that make it more resilient to environmental changes, like heat or drought stress. The study led by Xuehua Zhong, a professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, was published Nov. 6 in Science Advances. Zhong’s new research focuses on DNA methylation, a normal biological process in living cells wherein small chemical groups called methyl ...

A wide variety of COVID-19 symptoms exist, ranging from mild to severe, and while current strains of the virus generally cause milder symptoms, those with co-morbidities are still at an exponentially greater risk of severe disease. Now, new research from Emory University is providing a more precise prediction of COVID-19 severity that can be found by looking at autoantibodies in the nasal cavity, leading to more personalized treatment plans. For high-risk individuals, this could provide critical information to inform immediate treatment options, including ...

University of Michigan researchers have added a new dimension to the mathematics used to predict the outcomes of all manner of competitions, including sports, games and social hierarchies in both humans and animals. This dimension, which they call "depth of competition," can be integrated into a variety of important and lucrative fields. It could, for instance, help project winners of match-ups in sports, forecast consumer preferences, rank universities and evaluate hiring practices. But it also ...

AMHERST, Mass. — University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers have discovered a new way to detect per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in water. This marks an important step forward in creating testing devices that are simpler, more cost-effective, faster and generally more accessible than existing methods. PFAS, the so-called forever chemicals, have been recognized as a concerning pollutant. These chemicals persist in the environment because they resist breaking down and pose significant health threats. Exposure to these chemicals is linked to various cancers ...

Tiny grains from a distant asteroid are revealing clues to the magnetic forces that shaped the far reaches of the solar system over 4.6 billion years ago.  Scientists at MIT and elsewhere have analyzed particles of the asteroid Ryugu, which were collected by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Hayabusa2 mission and brought back to Earth in 2020. Scientists believe Ryugu formed on the outskirts of the early solar system before migrating in toward the asteroid belt, eventually settling into an orbit between Earth and Mars.  The team analyzed Ryugu’s particles for signs of any ancient magnetic field that might have been present ...

The human brain is an astonishing organ, as any neuroscientist can attest. And its ability to collect, store, analyze and use information is intriguing to physicists, engineers and computer scientists, too. Benjamin Jungfleisch, associate professor of physics at the University of Delaware, is among them. Jungfleisch, who joined UD’s faculty in 2018, is an expert in magnon spintronics. He uses lasers to explore the dynamics of magnetic nanostructures — tiny magnets that can be used to ...

A new study from the University of Georgia suggests people posting in Reddit’s r/selfharm community are likely seeking support for negative emotions. While sharing traumatic events online can be cathartic, the researchers caution that subreddits can’t provide the same type of mental health help and support face-to-face interactions and professional help can. “We don’t know the accuracy of the information that’s being shared in these communities about nonsuicidal self-injury,” ...

Chromosphaera perkinsii is a single-celled species discovered in 2017 in marine sediments around Hawaii. The first signs of its presence on Earth have been dated at over a billion years, well before the appearance of the first animals. A team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) has observed that this species forms multicellular structures that bear striking similarities to animal embryos. These observations suggest that the genetic programmes responsible for embryonic development were already present before the emergence of animal life, ...

OXFORD, Miss. – For parents of children with disabilities, finding time to focus on themselves may be difficult. However, a new study finds that the right coping strategies and resilience can significantly help manage the challenges of raising children with special needs.  That is the key finding from research published in the International Journal of Developmental Disabilities that studied families with neurodevelopmentally disabled children in Ghana to see what helps parents cultivate healthy, happy lives for themselves and their children.   “Our main interest ...

New York, NY. November 6, 2024. The Lupus Research Alliance (LRA) is excited to announce the first-ever recipients of the Translational Bridge Award (TBA), established this year to accelerate the translation of groundbreaking research into potential treatments and diagnostics for lupus. The award aims to propel high-potential projects from LRA-funded foundational discoveries with strong commercialization potential or an opportunity for clinical evaluation. Five exceptional researchers have been awarded the 2024 Translational Bridge Award to tackle pressing ...

A study published in Nature by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine changes the way we understand memory. Until now, memories have been explained by the activity of brain cells called neurons that respond to learning events and control memory recall. The Baylor team expanded this theory by showing that non-neuronal cell types in the brain called astrocytes – star-shaped cells – also store memories and work in concert with groups of neurons called engrams to regulate storage and retrieval of memories. “The prevailing idea is that the formation and recall of memories only involves neuronal engrams that are activated by certain ...