People with operable non-small cell lung cancers may fare better over the next few years by receiving immunotherapy treatments before and after surgery instead of only before surgery, according to a new analysis by Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center investigators. For the study, researchers compared health outcomes among 147 participants in the CheckMate 816 study — in which patients received three cycles of the immunotherapy nivolumab plus chemotherapy before surgery (neoadjuvant) — with results of 139 participants in the CheckMate 77T trial, in which patients received up to four cycles of nivolumab plus chemotherapy ...

Young people who vape perform worse than non-vapers in tests designed to measure their capacity for exercise, according to a study presented at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Congress in Vienna, Austria [1]. The research also showed that the performance of young vapers was similar to that of young smokers.   The study adds to growing evidence that long-term use of vaping is harmful and challenges the idea that vaping could be a healthier alternative to smoking.   The research was presented by Dr Azmy Faisal, senior lecturer in cardiorespiratory physiology in the department of sport and exercise sciences at Manchester Metropolitan ...

Spending time with a medical clown can shorten the length of hospital stay for children with pneumonia, according to research presented at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Congress in Vienna, Austria [1]. They can also reduce the duration of intravenous antibiotic use. The study was presented by Dr Karin Yaacoby-Bianu from Carmel Medical Center and the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. She explains: “Medical clowns undergo specific training to work in hospitals. They have been shown to reduce ...

A new research report released today has identified an important shift in how employees choose to engage in the workforce, as they increasingly seek flexibility and opportunities to tailor work schedules and locations to their needs. The ninth report in the Gender Equity Insights Series from the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC) and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) provides an in-depth analysis of the evolving nature of part-time work and implications of this change for the future of work in Australia. Despite Australia having one of the highest shares of part-time employment across OECD countries, ...

Insulin resistance is associated with 31 different diseases and, in women, is also linked to higher odds of an early death, a study of data on hundreds of thousands of people in the UK being presented at the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Madrid, Spain (9-13 September), has found. The conference will hear that there is compelling evidence of links between insulin resistance and conditions as diverse as Parkinson’s diease, gout and sciatica. Insulin resistance, when the body’s cells don’t respond properly to insulin and can’t easily take up glucose from blood, is a key feature ...

French researchers have developed a new drug delivery system that could cut the dosing schedule for the type 2 diabetes and weight control drug semaglutide to just once a month, according to new research to be presented at this year’s annual meeting of The European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), Madrid (9-13 Sept). “Glucagon-like peptide-1 agonist (GLP-1) drugs have transformed type 2 diabetes care, but weekly injections can be burdensome for patients. A single shot a month could make it much easier for people living with diabetes or obesity to stick to their drug regimens, improving quality of life and reducing side effects and diabetes complications,” ...

Weight loss interventions could reduce the risk of severe cases of flu and other infections in people with diabetes, new research being presented at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Madrid, Spain (9-13 September) suggests. The study, from Rhian Hopkins and Ethan de Villiers, of the University of Exeter Medical School, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK, found evidence to suggest that a higher BMI is a cause of severe infections. In contrast, there was no evidence that mild hyperglycamia contributes ...

Long-term exposure to air pollution and a lack of access to green spaces increases the risk of hospitalisation for respiratory conditions, according to a study presented at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Congress in Vienna, Austria [1]. Traffic-related air pollution is also strongly linked to the progression from asthma to asthma-COPD, according to a second study also presented at the ERS Congress [2]. Previous research has linked air pollution to an increase in respiratory conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and ...

Research Highlights: Favorable cardiovascular health in early pregnancy, as measured by the American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8 (LE8) cardiovascular health score, was linked to lower risk of preeclampsia and gestational hypertension, otherwise known as hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.   The lower risk among study participants was consistent across different levels of genetic risk for these disorders. Note: The studies featured in this news release are research abstracts. Abstracts presented at the American Heart Association’s scientific meetings are not peer-reviewed, ...

(San Diego, Calif.--September 7, 2024, 8:30 a.m. PCT) — Research presented today suggests an artificial intelligence tool called DeepGEM may provide an advancement in genomic testing that offers an accurate, cost-effective, and timely method for gene mutation prediction from histopathology slides. The research was presented today at the IASLC 2024 World Conference on Lung Cancer by Professor Wenhua Liang, from the China State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease and National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, China. Accurate ...

(San Diego, Calif.--September 7, 2024, 8:30 a.m. PDT)--The antibody–drug conjugate ifinatamab deruxtecan (I-DXd) showed clinically meaningful responses in pretreated patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC), according to an interim analysis of the Phase 2 IDeate-Lung01 study.  The data was presented today at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) 2024 World Conference on Lung Cancer. Patients with ES-SCLC face poor outcomes and have limited treatment options. B7 homolog 3 (B7-H3 [CD276]) is part of the B7 family, which includes immune checkpoint proteins such as PD-L1. B7-H3 is highly expressed in many solid tumors ...

[San Diego, Calif --September 7, 2024, 8:30 a.m. PCT)– Despite significant improvements in the perception of biomarker testing compared to a 2018 survey, substantial barriers to implementation persist globally, according to results of the 2024 IASLC Global Survey on Biomarker Testing released today at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) World Conference on Lung Cancer 2024. The 2018 survey revealed the adoption of biomarker testing was low due to cost, lack of quality and standards, ...

(San Diego, Calif.---September 7, 2024, 8:30 a.m. PCT) —  A study presented today at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer 2024 World Conference on Lung Cancer demonstrated a promising pathway toward developing predictive biomarkers for immune checkpoint inhibitors. In non-small cell lung cancer, immune checkpoint inhibitors offer significant promise, yet their efficacy is limited to a subset of patients. Identifying reliable predictive biomarkers is crucial for optimizing ...

As Utah’s Great Salt Lake shrinks, exposing more of its playa, concerns grow about the dust the dry lakebed emits. But scientists lack the data to fully understand what pollutants are present in these airborne sediments. Researchers from the University of Utah are attempting to get a handle on this question and the latest findings are concerning. Sediments in the lake’s exposed playa are potentially more harmful than other major dust sources affecting the Wasatch Front’s air quality, according to a study published online recently in the journal Atmospheric Environment. These sediments, when ...

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has appointed Vasileios Maroulas associate vice chancellor and director of the AI Tennessee Initiative. AI Tennessee was established in 2022 to strengthen UT’s research in AI, expand the number of UT students developing AI skills and competencies, and position the state of Tennessee as a national and global leader in the data-intensive knowledge economy. “I look forward to advancing UT into a leader for AI research, innovation, and education,” said Maroulas. “By harnessing the power of transdisciplinary research, pioneering new learning ...

New chickadee research finds cognitive skills impact lifespan Working ‘smarter’ not harder important to natural selection and survival rates While there is no denying ‘survival of the fittest’ still reigns supreme in the animal kingdom, a new study shows being smartest – or at least smarter – is pretty important, too.   Western University animal behaviour and cognition researcher Carrie Branch and her collaborators at the University of Nevada, Reno and the University of Oklahoma tracked the spatial cognition and ...

Cognitive behavioral therapy, one of the most common treatments for depression, can teach skills for coping with everyday troubles, reinforce healthy behaviors and counter negative thoughts. But can altering thoughts and behaviors lead to lasting changes in the brain? New research led by Stanford Medicine has found that it can — if a therapy is matched with the right patients. In a study of adults with both depression and obesity — a difficult-to-treat combination — cognitive behavioral therapy that focused on problem ...

September 6, 2024 —Researchers at the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation have been awarded a multi-million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to advance research in organ transplantation and antibody-mediated rejection. This funding will facilitate the development of an innovative multi-organs-on-a-chip platform aimed at transforming our understanding of transplant rejection and immune tolerance. Organ transplantation is widely recognized as the most effective treatment for organ failure. However, the need for lifelong immunosuppressive ...

Typically, electrons are free agents that can move through most metals in any direction. When they encounter an obstacle, the charged particles experience friction and scatter randomly like colliding billiard balls.  But in certain exotic materials, electrons can appear to flow with single-minded purpose. In these materials, electrons may become locked to the material’s edge and flow in one direction, like ants marching single-file along a blanket’s boundary. In this rare “edge state,” electrons can flow without ...

NEWPORT NEWS, VA – When Debaditya Biswas was a high school student in India, his math teacher, Dr. Satyabrata Das, sparked his interest in physics. “Before I joined his class, I was really not sure what I was going to do in life,” said Biswas, a postdoctoral research associate at Virginia Tech. “He revealed the beauty of science to me.” Now, as the 2024 Jefferson Science Associates (JSA) Postdoctoral Prize winner, Biswas hopes to reveal a new method for the U.S. Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility to detect muons. By themselves, muons aren’t actually that difficult for physicists to detect. They are a type ...

As a rule, GPS indicates our location with an accuracy of just a few meters. But we have all experienced situations where the possible error increases to a few hundred meters or the indicated location is simply wrong. One reason for this can be the small number of satellites with line-of-sight contact to the navigation device or unfavorable relative alignment of the satellites. How does GPS work? GPS satellites are equipped with an extremely accurate atomic clock and know their positions at all times. They continually transmit the time and their location using radio waves. A mobile phone ...

Researchers have demonstrated a new multi-functional device that could help advance the scalability of solid-state color centers, enabling them to be used in larger and more complex quantum computers and networks. As efficient photon-spin interfaces, solid-state color centers are promising candidates for qubit nodes — essential units for storing and processing quantum information. Solid-state color centers are point defects that can absorb and emit light at specific wavelengths. To be useful in real-world quantum applications, they must be optically addressable in a fast and controllable manner while also allowing ...

Older adults who are more vulnerable to financial scams may have brain changes linked to a higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a first-of-its-kind study led by researchers at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. Nearly 7 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease, the fifth leading cause of death among those 65 and older. The disease will carry an estimated $360 billion in health care costs this year alone, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.  Researchers led by Duke Han, professor ...

In a new study, researchers compared the orientations of nerve fibers in a human brainstem using two advanced imaging techniques: diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI)-based tractography and polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT). The findings could aid in combining these techniques, which each offer unique advantages, to advance our understanding of the brain’s microstructure and help inform new techniques for early diagnosis of various brain disorders. Isabella Aguilera-Cuenca from ...

With recent advances in neuroimaging, moving from qualitative to quantitative outputs, an understanding is needed of what normal data look like to be able to apply these advances to diagnosis and outcomes prediction in traumatic brain injury (TBI). A new article in the peer-reviewed Journal of Neurotrauma introduces the large Normative Neuroimaging Library (NLL) to the research community. Click here to read the article now. The American College of Radiology and Cohen Veterans Bioscience created a reference ...