Following federal approval for over the counter emergency contraception in 2006, emergency departments across the U.S. saw dramatic decreases in related visits and medical charges, a new study suggests. Emergency room visits related to emergency contraception fell by 96 %, from 17,019 to 659, while total related hospital expenses decreased by $7.2 million – from $7.6 million to $385,946 – between 2006 and 2020. The most notable decrease was between 2006-2007 for people primarily seen for emergency contraception. The Michigan Medicine led findings appear in JAMA Network ...

About The Study: The results of this study of approximately 18 million health care industry employees suggest a substantial and persistent increase in health care workforce turnover after the pandemic, which may have long-lasting implications for workers’ willingness to remain in health care jobs. Policymakers and health care organizations may need to act to prevent further losses of experienced staff.  Authors: Karen Shen, Ph.D., of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, is the corresponding ...

About The Study: In this study of 824 N95s used by 412 emergency department health care workers practicing N95 reuse, fit failure occurred in 38.7% of masks after one shift. Trifold N95s had higher incidence of fit failure compared with dome N95s. These results may inform pandemic preparedness, specifically policies related to N95 selection and reuse practices. Authors: Ralph C. Wang, M.D., M.A.S., of the University of California, San Francisco, 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.2023.53631) Editor’s ...

About The Study: In this study of patients enrolled in Medicare in 2022, those at the highest risk for severe COVID-19 infection received COVID-19 therapy less often than those with the least risk. Disparities in therapy access were found by patient age, race and ethnicity, Medicaid eligibility, and nursing home residence.  Authors: Michael L. Barnett, M.D., of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, 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/jamahealthforum.2023.5044) Editor’s ...

In a groundbreaking study published in Nature, South Korean researchers led by Director KOH Gou Young of the Center for Vascular Research within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) have uncovered a distinctive network of lymphatic vessels at the back of the nose that plays a critical role in draining cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from the brain. The study, sheds light on a previously unknown route for CSF outflow, potentially unlocking new avenues for understanding and treating neurodegenerative conditions. In our brains, ...

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and ischemic stroke are major public health concerns and leading causes of death and disability worldwide. A research team led by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) neuroscientists recently discovered that low-dose ionizing radiation (LDIR), such as X-ray irradiation, can reduce lesion size and reverse motor deficits in TBI and ischemic stroke mice, demonstrating that LDIR may be a promising therapeutic strategy for TBI and stroke patients.  Nearly half of TBI and stroke survivors experience lifelong motor impairment and disability. “Usually, secondary brain damage worsens over time after primary ...

Patients with muscle-invasive urothelial cancer and a high risk of recurrence after surgery may have a new treatment option. The Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology today announced positive results from the phase III AMBASSADOR (A031501) trial for the adjuvant treatment of patients with localized muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma (MIUC) and locally advanced urothelial carcinoma. Late-breaking data from the trial are being presented during an oral abstract session at the 2024 American Society of Clinical ...

Waltham — January 25, 2024 — A newly developed neural network is highly accurate in identifying key landmarks important in breast surgery – opening the potential for objective assessment of breast symmetry, suggests a study in the February issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.  "Neural networks and machine learning have the potential to improve evaluation of breast symmetry in reconstructive ...

This study is led by Prof. Yuliang Cao and Prof. Yongjin Fang (College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, Wuhan University). The experiments were performed by using ammonia etching on highly crystalline Na2NiFe(CN)6 (denoted as NaNiHCF) to activate the sodium storage sites and accelerate the Na+ transport. Fe(CN)6 vacancies and the water molecules in the lattice, which are concomitant during the synthesis, however, lead to poor electrochemical performance. Hence, optimizing the crystal structures of PBAs to boost their electrochemical performance is currently a hot spot in the research ...

This study is led by Prof. Xianqun Fan (Department of Ophthalmology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine Affiliated Ninth People’s Hospital). Gene editing ushers in a new era of disease treatment since many genetic diseases are caused by base-pair mutations in genomic DNA. With the rapid development of genome editing technology, novel editing tools such as base editing and prime editing have attracted public attention, heralding a great leap forward in this field. Prime editing (PE) was proposed by David Liu’s team in 2019, which is characterized ...

In the realm of clean energy, metal halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have emerged as a groundbreaking focus, capturing significant attention for their extraordinary advancements. In just over a decade, their certified power conversion efficiency (PCE) has skyrocketed to 26.1%, approaching the upper limits seen in traditional crystalline silicon cells. What sets PSCs apart is their potential to surpass the 30% PCE threshold [1]. The key to optimizing solar devices lies in the deposition of high-quality perovskite films. Achieving minimal defect density and exceptional homogeneity becomes crucial for enhancing device performance. One commonly employed strategy involves introducing ...

This study, led by Prof. Jiuhui Qu, Dr. Qinghua Ji, and Dr. Wei Zhang from Tsinghua University, focuses on addressing water scarcity by exploring atmospheric water harvesting. The water in the air originates from both natural and forced evaporation, with condensation being the final and crucial step in water harvesting. Condensation involves nucleation, growth, and shedding of water droplets, which are then collected. However, uncontrollable growth of condensed droplets leading to surface flooding is a pressing challenge due to insufficient driving forces, posing a threat to sustainable condensation. To expedite this process and achieve orderly ...

To improve the care coordination competency of nurses involved in the management of critically ill patients on life support, an electronic app—NCCCS—was developed by Associate Professor　Chie Takiguchi of Toho University and Professor Tomoko Inoue of International University of Health and Welfare. The NCCCS app utilizes the scoring system referred to as the Nurses' Care Coordinate Competency Scale (NCCCS), developed by Dr. Takiguchi et al. in 2017, and it is currently being translated into Chinese, Italian, Polish, and Persian. This app offers immediate feedback to nurses caring for critically ill patients on life ...

Scientists from Hiroshima University undertook a study of dragonfly wings in order to better understand the relationship between a corrugated wing structure and vortex motions. They discovered that corrugated wings exhibit larger lift than flat wings. Their work was published in the journal Physical Review Fluids on December 7, 2023. The researchers set out to determine if the corrugation of a dragonfly's wing is a secret ingredient for boosting lift. While past research has largely zoomed in ...

Amylases are among the most important biotechnological and industrial enzymes that can be applied in various sectors, such as food, pharmaceuticals, textiles, chemicals, paper, and detergents.   The enzymes’ costs come from a range of factors including the quantity produced, the production process, the expense of its recovery, and the degree of purity at which it will be marketed, etc. The use of agro-industrial substrates and microorganisms brings the potential to low-cost enzyme production. Meanwhile, due to the ability to improve physical and chemical resistance to industrial environmental extremes, such as high temperature and pH, as well ...

Staying hydrated and consuming appropriate amounts of salt is essential for the survival of terrestrial animals, including humans. The human brain has several regions constituting neural circuits that regulate thirst and salt appetite, in intriguing ways. Previous studies suggested that water or salt ingestion quickly suppresses thirst and salt appetite before the digestive system absorbs the ingested substances, indicating the presence of sensing and feedback mechanisms in digestive organs that help real-time thirst and salt appetite modulation in response to drinking ...

Early in the pandemic, clinicians noticed that certain immunocompromised patients were experiencing persistent SARS-CoV-2 infections, some lasting weeks to months at a time. This raised concerns that one of these cases could be the source of an emerging viral variant that has benefited from an extended battle with the immune system. A prospective study published in the journal Lancet Microbe provides more clarity on which patient populations are at higher risk for prolonged infections —and hints that this fear is likely unwarranted. The ...

A new statistical tool developed by researchers at the University of Chicago improves the ability to find genetic variants that cause disease. The tool, described in a new paper published January 26, 2024, in Nature Genetics, combines data from genome wide association studies (GWAS) and predictions of genetic expression to limit the number of false positives and more accurately identify causal genes and variants for a disease. GWAS is a commonly used approach to try to identify genes associated with a range of human traits, including most common diseases. Researchers compare genome sequences ...

As part of the Ice Memory initiative, PSI researchers, with colleagues from the University of Fribourg and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice as well as the Institute of Polar Sciences of the Italian National Research Council (CNR), analysed ice cores drilled in 2018 and 2020 from the Corbassière glacier at Grand Combin in the canton of Valais. A comparison of the two sets of ice cores published in Nature Geoscience shows: Global warming has made at least this glacier unusable as a climate archive. Reliable information about the past climate and air pollution can no longer be obtained from ...

A valuable molecule sourced from the soapbark tree and used as a key ingredient in vaccines, has been replicated in an alternative plant host for the first time, opening unprecedented opportunities for the vaccine industry.  A research collaboration led by the John Innes Centre used the recently published genome sequence of the Chilean soapbark tree (Quillaja saponaria) to track down and map the elusive genes and enzymes in the complicated sequence of steps needed to produce the molecule QS-21.  Using transient expression techniques developed at the John Innes Centre, the team reconstituted the ...

As digital devices progressively replace pen and paper, taking notes by hand is becoming increasingly uncommon in schools and universities. Using a keyboard is recommended because it’s often faster than writing by hand. However, the latter has been found to improve spelling accuracy and memory recall. To find out if the process of forming letters by hand resulted in greater brain connectivity, researchers in Norway now investigated the underlying neural networks involved in both modes of writing. “We ...

Computers can count seals from aerial photographs with lightning speed and reliability. Based on their spatial patterns, the tiny dots on the aerial images can even be assigned to one of the two major species of seals in the Wadden Sea. That is shown in the thesis that marine biologist Jeroen Hoekendijk will defend on January 26 in Wageningen. "To better understand if and how marine mammals like seals are affected by climate change and the disappearance of sea ice, this help from artificial intelligence (AI) in observations is crucial," Hoekendijk said. Hoekendijk carried out his research at the Royal Netherlands Institute ...

Where freshwater rivers meet seas and oceans lies a scientifically intriguing and ecologically important type of ecosystem. As estuarine ecosystems provide various and diverse services to humanity and the planet at large, including food security and natural buffers and filters in the events of storms and water pollution, there has been an increasing need to facilitate and support the exchange of research findings and ideas related to their conservation and sustainable management by means of new-age technology and novel approaches. This is how a team of renowned and passionate ...

Sulfate-nitrate-ammonium (SNA) and other atmospheric aerosols play a significant role in influencing both atmospheric and environmental conditions. These aerosols impact climate directly through scattering and absorbing solar radiation, thus influencing the Earth's radiative balance. The presence of high concentrations of aerosols can lead to the formation of haze and reduce air quality, affecting human health and transportation. Furthermore, the fine particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) within aerosols poses health risks ...

“From nature to nature” is the major goal of landscape design. The former is the idea of nature, i.e., landscape architects regard nature as the archetype of design; the latter is the experience of nature, i.e., landscape architects hope people can perceive the natural atmosphere through designed landscape. In this sense, the transformation from idea to experience of nature refers to the process of landscape design, which materializes landscape. According to this, this article focuses on the following topics: 1) what role does nature play as the origin of the landscape design theory; 2) how does nature as an idea promote ...