Osaka, Japan—Achieving a sustainable society requires the development of advanced degradable plastics, or polymers, which are molecules composed of long chains of repeating units. The goal of a resource-circulating society is now one step closer thanks to the efforts of a team from Osaka University that has developed tough biodegradable plastics by including movable crosslinking groups. In a study published this month in Chem, the researchers have revealed that developing polymers with movable crosslinks not only increases their strength but also promotes degradation by enzymes under mild conditions. Plastics and polymers need to achieve both desirable performance ...

A new study by UCLA Health reveals that hospital emergency departments may be missing signs of suicidal thoughts and behaviors in children, boys and Black and Hispanic youth.  The research, published in the journal JAMA Open Network, analyzed electronic health records of nearly 3,000 children and teenagers presenting to two emergency departments in southern California for mental health reasons. Using machine learning algorithms, the researchers determined standard medical record surveillance methods miss youth with suicide-related emergencies. These methods disproportionately missed suicide-related visits among Black, Hispanic, male, and preteen youths, compared with ...

Background and objectives Shufeng Jiedu Capsules (SFJD), a traditional Chinese medicine preparation, are widely used in the clinical treatment of influenza, yet their mechanism of action remains unclear. This study aimed to systematically explore the molecular mechanism of SFJD in the treatment of influenza using network pharmacology and bioinformatics techniques. Methods The active ingredients of SFJD were retrieved from traditional Chinese medicine databases, and their targets were identified using the Swiss Target Prediction and TCMSP databases. Influenza disease genes were obtained from the GEO, GeneCards, and DisGeNET ...

Routine use of an orbital atherectomy device to remove calcium from severely blocked coronary arteries before patients undergo cardiac stenting procedures does not improve outcomes, a Mount Sinai-led study has found. The results of the ECLIPSE study were announced during a late-breaking trial presentation at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics Annual Meeting on Tuesday, October 29. This is the first large-scale study to study this specific device in severely calcified lesions, and the results support reserving its use for extreme cases. “Operators across the United States currently have different thresholds ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – Knowing a patient’s symptoms helps radiologists in lumbar spine MRI interpretation and diagnosis, according to a study published today in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). MRI is the most important imaging exam in patients with back pain or sciatica because it shows nearly all degenerative and structural abnormalities of the spine. However, MRI often shows spinal abnormalities in individuals who do not have symptoms. Because the same abnormalities can ...

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men, and almost 300,000 individuals are diagnosed with it each year in the U.S. To develop a consistent method of estimating prostate cancer size, which can help clinicians more accurately make informed treatment decisions, Mass General Brigham researchers trained and validated an AI model based on MRI scans from more than 700 prostate cancer patients. The model was able to identify and demarcate the edges of 85% of the most radiologically aggressive prostate lesions. Tumors with a larger volume, as estimated by the AI model, ...

A new synthesis of global evidence highlights a strong connection between family violence and long-term health consequences, significantly impacting the psychological and physical well-being of millions worldwide. This comprehensive review, the first of its kind, synthesises the findings from the most rigorous studies on child maltreatment and intimate partner violence, uncovering alarming patterns in the long-term effects of family violence. According to the study, led by Matthias Burghart of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security, and Law, and Sophia ...

Leading ethics experts and researchers have co-authored a breakthrough paper calling for new governance and legal rules to guide application of emerging technology to preserve organs for transplant. Current law and guidance are inadequate for emerging biopreservation technologies that will allow long-term storage of human organs for transplantation. The technology is much needed to address the severe time constraints that currently limit  the viability of donor organs. Those constraints have contributed to a severe organ shortage, which affects patients throughout ...

Background and objectives Fuzi, the processed product of daughter roots of Aconitum carmichaelii Debx., is a well-known Chinese medicine for the treatment of heart failure (HF) and related cardiac diseases. This study aimed to investigate the molecular mechanism of the cardioprotective effects of Fuzi water decoction (FWD) and Fuzi water-soluble alkaloids (FWA) on the model of HF. Methods The HF model of rats was prepared through intravenous injection of propafenone hydrochloride. The normal group, model group, FWD-treated groups (1.25 g/kg, 2.5 g/kg, 5 g/kg) and positive group (Shenfu Injection, 3.3 mL/kg) were set up. Heart rate, LV+dp/dtmax, and ...

Background and objectives Albumin is a major prognostic factor for patients with advanced liver disease, dependent on its concentration and biological activity. This study aimed to improve the method of active albumin detection and elucidate its predictive validity of albumin activity across hepatic disease progression and etiology. Methods This study synthesized a novel ratiometric fluorescent probe with an improved structure of 2′-FBPBN. The technique was used to detect native human albumin (HA) activity in 244 patients with hepatitis B cirrhosis (LC) and 66 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Clinical and laboratory data were also collected. Results Patients ...

A groundbreaking study led by Prof. Dr. Hitoshi Yamamoto (Rissho University) and his collaborators from, Soka University, Koriyama Women’s College, and the RINRI Institute has made significant strides in the field of indirect reciprocity: a key mechanism for sustaining cooperation in human societies. Their research unveils new insights into the social norms that protect cooperative behaviour from defector invasion and reputation costs, thereby deepening our understanding of how large-scale societies maintain stability. The results of the study were published in Scientific Reports.   Indirect reciprocity is characterised by cooperative ...

An international coalition of researchers from the United States and Italy has discovered a novel strain of cyanobacteria, or algae, isolated from volcanic ocean vents that is especially adept at growing rapidly in the presence of CO2  and readily sinks in water, making it a prime candidate for biologically-based carbon sequestration projects and bioproduction of valuable commodities. This strain, nicknamed “Chonkus,” was found off the coast of the island of Vulcano in Sicily, Italy — an environment in which marine CO2 is abundant due to shallow volcanic vents. The discovery is described in a paper published ...

Today, people increasingly seek non-alcoholic versions of beer or wine. Despite boasting different flavors, these two drinks share many aromas, which makes it difficult to produce alcohol-free versions that mimic the real thing. Researchers in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry report on a literature analysis and experiment to characterize the chemical compounds that give beer and wine their unique fragrances. They say their findings could aid the development of flavorful, non-alcoholic substitutes. Food and beverage researchers are working to recreate the enjoyable aromas and flavors of beer and wine in alcohol-free substitutes. However, because both beer and ...

Imagine harnessing the power of ocean currents to generate clean, renewable energy right off the coast of Southeast Florida. Florida Atlantic University’s Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center (SNMREC) has been awarded an $800,000 grant from the United States Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office to enable the commercial readiness of ocean energy technologies. SNMREC, in collaboration with a team of experts including The City of Lake Worth Beach Electric Utility, 3U Technologies, 48 North Solutions, IDOM Incorporated, Braid Theory, and the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), ...

About this study: Plastics contain a vast number of chemicals, some of which greatly impact the environment and human health. However, information on the presence of individual substances in plastic products is oftentimes not publicly available. In a peer-reviewed study, set to be published on 29 October 2024, in Environmental Science and Technology Letters, a new publicly accessible database on chemicals measured in plastics is presented - LitChemPlast. The database contains over 3’500 substances measured in over 47'000 samples of plastic products across 372 studies.   Key findings: • Contamination of recycled plastics:  The database shows that, due to ...

Complaining about your allergies online might provide valuable data to researchers. Over 25% of Americans experience seasonal allergies, but how the prevalence of seasonal allergies varies across space and time remains obscure, in part because allergies seldom warrant visits to healthcare providers. Elias Stallard-Olivera and Noah Fierer mined Twitter (now X) posts and Google searches from 2016–2020 to extrapolate spatial and temporal allergy patterns. A natural language processing model sorted posts that indicated symptoms (e.g., “My allergies are really bad today!!”) from posts that include key words but did not indicate the presence of symptoms (e.g., “Gluten ...

[11:00 GMT - 29 Oct 2024]  A groundbreaking, nine-year study has revealed that elephants approaching small-scale farms in Kenya avoid beehive fences housing live honey bees up to 86% of the time during peak crop seasons, helping to reduce human-elephant conflict for local farmers and boost income. Link to images and video of the project available  Key findings include: Beehive fences are a proven success in reducing human-elephant conflict in Africa. Savannah elephants avoid beehive fences housing live honey bees up to 86% of the time during peak crop seasons. Across all seasons and the entire study period, the fences deterred an annual average of 76% of 3,999 ...

In the fight against antibiotic resistance, a new technology developed at Chalmers University of Technology, in Sweden, can be of great importance when, for example, hip and knee implants are surgically inserted. By heating up small nanorods of gold with near-infrared light (NIR), the bacteria are killed, and the surface of the implant becomes sterile. The researchers are now presenting a new study that increases the understanding of how the gold rods are affected by light and how the temperature in them can be measured. Infections can occur during surgical procedures, with the risk increasing significantly when foreign materials, ...

29 October 2024. Doha, Qatar – The World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), an initiative of Qatar Foundation, has shortlisted 12 innovators for two awards within the 2024 WISH Global Healthcare Innovation Competition. Selected from more than 150 applications, the 12 will showcase their groundbreaking innovations to global policymakers and healthcare leaders at this year’s summit in Doha, 13-14 November.  In addition to the chance to receive one of two investment awards of US$10,000, shortlisted innovators will have access to mentoring sessions with industry experts to learn ...

Discovery of cancer risk associations for six novel genes Scientists at deCODE genetics/Amgen, and their collaborators have discovered six novel genes with rare germline variants that associate with cancer risk. The findings are published today in Nature Genetics under the title “Gene-based burden tests of rare germline variants identify six cancer susceptibility genes”. A subset of cancers arises in individuals who are born with rare sequence variants that significantly alter their cancer risk. The discovery of such variants, like those in the BRCA1- and BRCA2 genes, has led to improved early cancer detection ...

The unprecedented temperatures in the summer of 2022 caused more than 68,000 deaths on the continent, according to a study by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a centre supported by the 'la Caixa' Foundation. A new study has now found that more than half - 56% - of the heat-related deaths in the summer of 2022 were related to human-induced climate change. According to the research, 38,154 of the 68,593 heat-related deaths in the summer of 2022 would not have occurred without anthropogenic warming. The ...

WASHINGTON (October 29, 2024) – A new study published today details the ways in which the 2020 U.S. election not only incited new hate content in online communities but also how it brought those communities closer together around online hate speech. The research has wider implications for better understanding how the online hate universe multiplies and hardens around local and national events such as elections, and how smaller, less regulated platforms like Telegram play a key role in that universe by creating and sustaining hate content. The study – published in the journal npj Complexity, part of the Nature portfolio of journals – ...

A research team led by Professor Takahiro Nemoto at Toho University, in collaboration with Associate Professor Naoki Hashimoto and Assistant Professor Ryo Okubo at Hokkaido University, and Dr. Satoru Ikezawa at the National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry explored the agreement or discrepancy between subjective social cognitive difficulties and actual cognitive impairment. The study aimed to identify clinical subtypes in patients with schizophrenia, the results of which were published in Springer-Nature’s journal Schizophrenia on October 29, 2024. Key Points In patients with schizophrenia, a decline in social cognition—a fundamental skill for interpersonal ...

A pitiful sound from tinny speakers, sad virtual eyes, trembling robot arms: it doesn’t take much to feel sorry for a robot. This is the conclusion of a study by Marieke Wieringa, who will be defending her PhD thesis at Radboud University on 5 November. But she warns that our human compassion could also be exploited: just wait until companies find a revenue model for emotional manipulation by robots. Objectively, we know that a robot cannot experience pain. Still, under certain circumstances, ...

There is power in numbers, or so the saying goes. But in the ocean, scientists are finding that fish that group together don’t necessarily survive together. In some cases, the more fish there are, the larger a target they make for predators.  This is what MIT and Norwegian oceanographers observed recently when they explored a wide swath of ocean off the coast of Norway during the height of spawning season for capelin — a small Arctic fish about the size of an anchovy. Billions of capelin migrate each February from the edge of the Arctic ...