Portland State University (PSU) has been awarded $1,976,806 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Sea Grant Marine Debris Challenge Award Program to lead an innovative and collaborative three-year project to address microplastic pollution on the Oregon coast. This grant is part of a $27 million project between the U.S. Department of Commerce and NOAA. Portland State will host one of 11 projects that received a total of $25 million in funding across Alabama, California, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas and Wisconsin. These projects ...

ROCKVILLE, Md. – July 29, 2024 – The Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP), the premier global molecular diagnostic professional society, today announced the recipients of this year’s Excellence in Molecular Diagnostics, Jeffrey A. Kant Leadership, and Meritorious Service Awards. These prestigious accolades will be presented to the winners this November during AMP’s 2024 Annual Meeting & Expo in Vancouver, British Columbia. Award for Excellence in Molecular Diagnostics Atul Butte, MD, PhD Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg Distinguished ...

An analysis of pre-treatment tumor specimens from 105 patients with localized muscle-invasive bladder cancer found that the presence of a mutation in any one of three genes, all known to be involved in DNA damage repair, was associated with complete pathologic response to cisplatin-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy as measured by pathological downstaging at the time of bladder surgery. Results are published in the journal European Urology. “The SWOG S8710 randomized trial provided Level 1 evidence supporting ...

In the fight to mitigate climate change and deforestation in the tropics, timber plantations have emerged as a promising strategy for reforesting degraded land and connecting patches of natural forest. Often, these are species with commercial value for landowners but are not native to the region. To evaluate how well non-native tree plantations support native wildlife in heavily human-impacted areas, researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior (MPI-AB), Wageningen University & Research, and the University of California – Davis surveyed over 200 hectares of timber plantations ...

Wang Receives Funding For Experiential Learning Program  Zhengdao Wang, Professor, Cybersecurity Engineering, College of Engineering and Computing (CEC), received $14,000 from Old Dominion Research Foundation for: “CCI—2024 Experiential Learning Program/Water System Infrastructure - Innovative Experiential Learning.”  Wang intends to enhance awareness and understanding of cybersecurity risks associated with public water systems by developing an educational simulation game, "CyberShield H2O."    He will provide ...

Research conducted at the University of Gothenburg shows that the physical activities we do as we go about our lives, at work or in the home, aren’t enough to protect us from having a stroke. However, exercising in our free time and using active modes of transport are associated with a decreased risk of stroke. “Physical activity during leisure time and as transportation is becoming increasingly important now that many jobs and domestic activities are becoming more sedentary,” says lead ...

Hepatic cell carcinoma (HCC), the fifth most prevalent malignancy worldwide and the fourth leading cause of cancer-related mortality, poses significant therapeutic challenges. Despite advancements in medical research, late-stage HCC patients have a dismal five-year survival rate of less than 20%. The complexity of liver cancer development involves an intricate interplay of genetic and environmental factors. Among these, mitochondrial alterations and mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) are increasingly recognized as critical contributors to cancer pathogenesis. These changes not only impair cellular bioenergetics ...

About The Study: By assigning lower atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk predictions, application of the Predicting Risk of cardiovascular disease EVENTs (PREVENT) equations to existing treatment thresholds could reduce eligibility for statin and antihypertensive therapy among 15.8 million U.S. adults.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Arjun K. Manrai, Ph.D., email Arjun_Manrai@hms.harvard.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jama.2024.12537) Editor’s ...

Losing someone close, like a family member, can make you age faster, says a new study from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the Butler Columbia Aging Center. The study found that people who lost a parent, partner, sibling, or child, showed signs of older biological age compared to those who hadn’t experienced such losses. The research was published in JAMA Network Open. Biological aging is the gradual decline in how well your cells, tissues, and organs function, leading to a higher risk of chronic diseases. Scientists measure this type of aging using DNA markers known as epigenetic clocks. “Few studies ...

About The Study: The findings of this study suggest that infants born to mothers with obesity are at increased risk of sudden unexpected infant death (SUID), with a dose-dependent association between increasing maternal body mass index and SUID risk. Maternal obesity should be added to the list of known risk factors for SUID. With maternal obesity rates increasing, research should identify potential causal mechanisms for this association. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Darren Tanner, Ph.D., email darren.tanner@microsoft.com. To access the ...

About The Study: Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) was safe but did not offer clinically meaningful improvements. Further studies—for example, through modified FMT approaches or bowel cleansing—are warranted regarding the specific impact of donor microbiota composition and dysbiosis conversion on motor and nonmotor outcomes as well as medication needs in Parkinson disease. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Filip Scheperjans, M.D., Ph.D., email filip.scheperjans@hus.fi. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2024.2305) Editor’s ...

About The Article: The studies highlighted in this special issue of JAMA Network Open demonstrate important scientific progress in the complex integration of social determinants of health and health disparities with biological pathways and health outcomes to improve understanding of the mechanisms underlying health disparities among various underserved populations. Continued progress remains important in integrating different disciplines to transform the field of health disparities research. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Arielle S. Gillman, Ph.D., M.P.H., email arielle.gillman@nih.gov. To ...

Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, have developed a model that rapidly converts stem cells to brain cells with protein structures characteristic of Parkinson’s disease (PD), enabling the study of the condition’s unique and highly variable disease pathology in a petri dish. The study details how the model can one day be used to develop personalized diagnostic and treatment methods for Parkinson’s disease. Results are published in Neuron. “We sought to assess how quickly we could ...

A recently unveiled cardiovascular disease risk calculator that measures a patient’s risk for heart attack and stroke is better calibrated and more precise than its previous version, but if current treatment guidelines for cholesterol and blood pressure therapy remain unchanged, the new calculator may have unintended consequences, according to research from Harvard Medical School. The analysis, published July 29 in JAMA, estimates that the new risk calculator would render nearly 16 million people newly ineligible under current treatment thresholds that guide clinical decisions about who should get cholesterol ...

Previous research has found that over 80 percent of people with opioid use disorder (OUD) do not receive evidence-based lifesaving medications. While access to these medications is better in New York City than elsewhere in the United States, numerous structural and social barriers impede access to treatment, and more than 100,000 people in the U.S. continue to die from drug overdoses each year. To help close this alarming treatment gap, researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine partnered with the New York ...

Researchers at UC San Francisco have found a link between following a diet that is rich in vitamins and minerals, especially one without much added sugar, and having a younger biological age at the cellular level.     They looked at how three different measures of healthy eating affected an “epigenetic clock” – a biochemical test that can approximate both health and lifespan – and found that the better people ate, the younger their cells looked. Even when people ate healthy diets, ...

A team of biologists from the University of Delhi and Zoological Survey of India, Harvard University, and the University of Minnesota has discovered a unique breeding behavior in a species of frog endemic to the Andaman Islands of India. In a new study published in the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology’s journal Breviora, scientists describe a combination of traits that makes reproduction in this frog unique. The Andamanese Charles Darwin’s frog, Minervarya charlesdarwini, belongs to the family Dicroglossidae, a large radiation of Asian frogs that comprises over ...

PHILADELPHIA – With bird flu virus detected in cow’s milk, U.S. health authorities have warned the public against potential sources of exposure, including drinking raw or unpasteurized milk, and have reiterated a general warning that consuming uncooked or undercooked poultry or beef products can make you sick. Relatively few people say they drink raw milk. Only 3% of U.S. adults report having consumed raw milk in the past 12 months, while 4% were not sure whether they had, according to a new nationally representative Annenberg Public Policy Center health survey of nearly 1,500 empaneled U.S. adults conducted in July.* But many more people say they do ...

In a healthy human body, tissue growth and development are coordinated by many different mechanisms. Within our bodies, these mechanisms regulate the healthy growth of cells, limit their size and number, and control the timing of cell death through apoptosis. However, when these regulatory pathways are altered, or break down, cell growth and proliferation may increase beyond what is safe and this can lead to cancer. One critical cell growth regulatory mechanism is the Hippo signaling pathway. This pathway regulates the expression of several genes that control cell proliferation ...

Asbestos, a group of naturally occurring fibrous minerals, has been historically used for its durability and resistance to heat. Despite its advantageous properties, asbestos is a well-documented carcinogen, linked to diseases such as lung cancer (LC) and malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). The controversy surrounding the degree of carcinogenicity of different asbestos types, especially chrysotile versus amphibole asbestos, continues to influence scientific and regulatory discussions. This review delves into the various aspects of asbestos-related research, focusing on historical context, risk assessment, environmental ...

NCSA Director Bill Gropp and two former Center directors were chosen for the first-ever HPCwire “35 Legends” list in celebration of the publication’s 35th anniversary. Thirty-five honorees will be announced each year, selected by HPCwire editors and advisors based on their contributions to the high-performance computing community over the past 35 years and celebrated for the different ways they’ve helped move HPC forward. Gropp, NCSA’s Founding Director Larry Smarr and Former Director Daniel Reed were among the first 17 honorees announced in July. The remaining HPCwire 35 Legends will be ...

A study led by the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC) and Fundación SHE, supported by “la Caixa” Foundation, demonstrates that teaching healthy habits through classroom activities helps to prevent the accumulation of abdominal fat during the first school years. The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), is one of the largest contemporary school-based health promotion studies and has one of the most extensive participant follow-up schedules. The conclusions are clear: early intervention to promote healthy habits in elementary school children can be more ...

β-Thalassemia is a genetic disorder characterized by reduced or absent synthesis of the beta chains of hemoglobin, leading to ineffective erythropoiesis and severe anemia. Patients with transfusion-dependent β-thalassemia (TDT) require regular blood transfusions to maintain adequate hemoglobin levels. Non-transfusion-dependent thalassemia (NTDT) patients manage their anemia without regular transfusions but still experience significant health complications. Iron overload is a common and severe complication in both TDT and NTDT patients ...

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects learning capability and social behavior of people. Over the past few decades, awareness regarding ASD has increased, especially regarding its prevalence and effect on the lives of people diagnosed with ASD. However, several aspects related to ASD are not well understood, leaving much to be explored.   Although the exact causes of ASD are unclear, currently available evidence points to neuroinflammation as a major factor. Several studies in mouse models of ASD have hinted at the importance of polyunsaturated ...

Patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) having a compromised blood supply, are at greater risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD). With an estimated incidence as high as 22% among these patients, current clinical guidelines recommend using implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) to help mitigate the risk of SCD. Although the application of ICDs in patients with CHF is backed by substantial evidence, these studies did not include people with chronic kidney disease (CKD), who are an important clinical population. In other ...