MINNEAPOLIS – The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) has named a new editor-in-chief of Brain & Life®, its free patient and caregiver magazine, website and podcast. Sarah Song, MD, MPH, FAAN, an associate professor in the department of neurological sciences at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, will succeed Editor-in-Chief Orly Avitzur, MD, MBA, FAAN, who will complete her 10-year term on December 31, 2024. Song, a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, will be the third editor-in-chief of Brain & Life since the publication began in ...

University of Cincinnati researchers have pioneered an animal model that sheds light on the role an understudied organ in the brain has in repairing damage caused by stroke. The research was published July 2 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and sought to learn more about how the adult brain generates new neurons to repair damaged tissue. The research team focused on the choroid plexus, a small organ within brain ventricles that produces the brain’s cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). CSF circulates throughout ...

Vaccines provide a front-line defense against dangerous viruses, training adaptive immune cells to identify and fight specific pathogens. But innate immune cells — the first responders to any bodily invader — have no such specific long-term memory. Still, scientists have found that they can reprogram these cells to be even better at their jobs, potentially fighting off seasonal scourges like the common cold or even new viral diseases for which vaccines have not yet been developed. A University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME) team has found several small molecule candidates that induce this trained immunity without the ...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Common treatments for Parkinson’s disease can address short-term symptoms but can also cause extensive problems for patients in the long run. Namely, treatments can cause dyskinesia, a form of uncontrollable movements and postures. In a recent study published in The Journal of Neuroscience, researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham took a different approach to dyskinesia and treated it like a “bad motor memory.” They found that blocking a protein called Activin A could halt dyskinesia symptoms ...

In the campaign to restore Chesapeake Bay, oyster sanctuaries rank among the most hotly contested strategies. But new research suggests these no-harvest areas are working, and not only for the oysters. In a new study published July 4 in Marine Ecology Progress Series, Smithsonian biologists discovered oyster sanctuaries contain more abundant populations of oysters and other animal life—and the presence of two common parasites is not preventing that. Oysters form the backbone of Chesapeake Bay. Besides injecting millions of dollars into the regional economy each year, they also act as vital habitat and filter feeders that clean the water. But their populations ...

Ronen Rozenblum, PhD, MPH, director of the Unit for Innovative Healthcare Practice & Technology and director of Business Development of the Center for Patient Safety Research and Practice at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, is the principal investigator and senior author of a new study published in JMIR Medical Informatics, “A Machine Learning Application to Classify Patients at Differing Levels of Risk of Opioid Use Disorder: Clinician Based ...

DETROIT — Gen Sheng Wu, Ph.D., professor of oncology in the Wayne State University School of Medicine and the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, recently received a grant from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs. This four-year, $924,000 grant will benefit Wu’s study, “Targeting Dual-Specificity Phosphatase 1 in Platinum Resistance in Ovarian Cancer,” which aims to discover improved treatments for ovarian cancer. “Ovarian cancer ...

Embargoed for release until 5:00 p.m. ET on Monday 8 July 2024     Annals of Internal Medicine Tip Sheet      @Annalsofim     Below please find summaries of new articles that will be published in the next issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The summaries are not intended to substitute for the full articles as a source of information. This information is under strict embargo and by taking it into possession, media representatives are committing to the terms of ...

Scientists at the University of Florida have identified a novel compound aimed at improving the treatment of opioid overdoses, which claimed the lives of more than 81,000 Americans last year. The discovery could combat the devastating epidemic of opioid-related deaths, driven predominantly by the proliferation of fentanyl. The highly potent synthetic opioid is a pain reliever and among the nation’s most abused substances. “Fentanyl is driving the need to find better treatments for opioid overdoses,” said Jay McLaughlin, Ph.D., a professor of pharmacodynamics in the UF College of Pharmacy. “Every opioid death is preventable, highlighting ...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – July 8, 2024 – Researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine have been awarded a five-year, $27 million grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to renew funding for MESA-MIND, an ancillary study to the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). In 2018, researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine received more than $18 million from the NIA to launch MESA-MIND to study the connections between heart health and brain health. “In MESA-MIND, we are studying how heart health contributes to brain health in diverse groups of people,” said Timothy Hughes, Ph.D., ...

As a leader in innovative health solutions, George Mason University’s College of Public Health received a National Institutes of Health (NIH) AIM-AHEAD program grant to pilot an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot for Black and African Americans with depression. Health Informatics Professor Farrokh Alemi will enhance his first-of-its-kind, evidence-based artificial intelligence tool to address the medication needs of African Americans with depression.   The existing AI tool recommends antidepressants for 16,775 general-population patient subgroups, each representing a unique combination of medical history. For each of ...

The latest Annual Meeting convened by the Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR) National Coordinating Center, held in Arlington, Virginia, from June 26 to 28, centered on the theme of transforming diverse aging research through inspiring and mentoring scientists. Current and former RCMAR scientists presented research findings from completed pilot studies and progress updates for ongoing research. The meeting included several professional development sessions for the scientists and members of RCMAR ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – While distress is well-documented in patients with sickle cell disease, sources of distress and how patients manage distress have not been well explored. “Our study found that the most profound source of distress for patient with sickle cell disease in a home visit program was anticipating and going to acute care centers to manage their acute pain,” said senior study author Maryanna Klatt, PhD, director of the Center for Integrative Health at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Study findings are published ...

A new publication from Opto-Electronic Advances; DOI  10.29026/oea.2024.240029 , discusses super-resolution machining of single crystalline sapphire by GHz burst mode femtosecond laser-induced plasma assisted ablation.   GHz burst-mode femtosecond (fs) laser, which emits a series of pulse trains (burst pulse) with extremely short intervals of several hundred ps, offers distinct characteristics in materials processing as compared with conventional fs laser (single-pulse mode). The authors of this article have demonstrated that the GHz burst mode fs laser greatly improves ablation efficiency, quality and speed. GHz burst mode fs laser was further applied ...

A new publication from Opto-Electronic Advances; DOI  10.29026/oes.2024.240002 , discusses boosting UV Light Absorption in 2D Semiconductor with quantum dot hybrids for enhanced light emission. Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have emerged as a promising class of materials due to their remarkable properties. These materials, such as monolayer tungsten disulfide (1L-WS2), are just a few atoms thick, yet they possess intriguing electronic and optical characteristics that make them highly attractive for various applications, from flexible electronics ...

A new publication from Opto-Electronic Advances; DOI  10.29026/oes.2024.230053 , discusses forbidden propagation of hyperbolic phonon polaritons and applications in near-field energy transport.   Manipulating photons on the nanoscale to develop integrated and miniaturized optoelectronic devices as well as photonic chips has been a strong pursuit of the nanophotonics community. Among them, phonon polaritons supported by two-dimensional layered van der Waals (vdW) materials, which have emerged in recent years, have attracted much attention by virtue of their ultra-long lifetimes, ultr-low losses, and strong confinement capabilities, ...

For more information, contact: Nicole Fawcett, nfawcett@umich.edu 734-764-2220   For immediate release   ANN ARBOR, Michigan — To understand why some cancers successfully circumvent the immune system to grow unchecked, researchers turned to pregnancy. “In pregnancy, the immune system does not reject the growing fetus, so we know there must be mechanisms active in the placenta. In cancer, it’s the same thing: the growing tumor is not rejected by the immune system. It means the cancer cells have developed strategies to suppress immune rejection, same as in pregnancy,” said Weiping ...

UC San Diego Health is the first health system in San Diego County to offer a new bladder-saving gene therapy to treat localized bladder cancer.  The novel treatment is the first and only FDA-approved gene therapy delivered directly into the bladder for non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). Called nadofaragene firadenovec (Adstiladrin), the gene therapy addresses an unmet need for patients who are no longer responding to the longstanding first line of defense — bacillus calmette-guerin (BCG), a bacteria-based immunotherapy for cancer management. While BCG is a common first therapy, it can eventually stop working, ultimately leading to complete bladder removal. The American ...

July 8, 2024, Mountain View, CA – Today, the SETI Institute announced the first projects it will fund with a new program to Support Technology, Research, Innovation, Development, and Education programs – or STRIDE. The SETI Institute established the $500K STRIDE fund for SETI Institute researchers and EOC (Education, Outreach, and Communications) professionals to develop innovative research and education proposals. The first five grants awarded will support projects that:  analyze Earth’s colors and climate to create detectors for studying exoplanets  develop a multi-backend capability for ...

The human body’s inability to break down sucralose, an artificial sweetener found in many zero-calorie food and drink products, is well established by scientific research. The compound is so stable that it escapes wastewater treatment processing and is in drinking water and aquatic environments. “We can't break down sucralose, and a lot of microorganisms can't break it down, either, because it's a really tough molecule that doesn't degrade easily. So there are a lot of questions about how it is affecting the environment ...

DNA from fossilised dingo remains going back 2746 years compared with modern dingoes’ Dingos arrived in Australia more than 3000 years ago K’gari dingoes have no domestic dog ancestry – they are pure dingo Co-lead author, paleogeneticist Dr Sally Wasef, from QUT’s School of Biomedical Sciences said this dataset gave a rare glimpse into the pre-colonial genetic landscape of dingoes, free from any mixing with modern dog breeds. “Consequently, are behaviourally, genetically, and anatomically distinct from domestic dogs,” Dr Wasef said. “Modern-day dingoes’ ancestors arrived in Australia more than 3000 years ...

NEWPORT NEWS, VA – Jefferson Science Associates, LLC, today announced that Kim Sawyer will become the new director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, effective Aug. 2. Sawyer will serve as the lab’s fifth director in its 40-year history. In this role, Sawyer will be responsible for leading all activities in support of the world’s premiere research institution for exploring the nature of matter. “We are pleased that Kim has been selected to lead Jefferson Lab,” said ...

Disparities in cardiovascular disease outcomes between urban and rural areas continue to widen, yet nearly half of U.S. counties do not have a practicing cardiologist. According to a new analysis published in JACC, the flagship journal of the American College of Cardiology, these counties tend to be more rural and socioeconomically disadvantaged, with a greater burden of cardiovascular disease, thus highlighting deep geographic disparity in access to cardiovascular care. “While cardiologists are not the only determinants of cardiovascular outcomes, the lack of access to cardiologists in areas with ...

Hospital-level care provided in a patient’s own home is appealing to a majority of people for its convenience, comfort and effectiveness, according to a USC Schaeffer Center study. The study, published in JAMA, found that most survey respondents felt they would recover faster if cared for at home, rather than in the hospital, and that they felt safe being treated at home. Researchers say their study provides important insights about patient and family preferences as policymakers weigh whether to extend ...

KEY TAKEAWAYS In a study involving 50,000+ individuals from around the world, higher gut levels of Blastocystis, a single-celled organism commonly found in the digestive system, were linked to more favorable indicators of health. People with a healthy diet had higher levels of Blastocystis. The study, which was conducted by an international team led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital, suggests that Blastocystis may play a beneficial role in how diet impacts health. In an analysis of more than 50,000 individuals from around the world, carriers of gut Blastocystis, a single-celled organism that has been ...