Rice and spinach are staples for babies’ and young children’s diets, but toxic metals and metalloids found in those foods can cause severe health impacts.  In particular, heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, mercury, and metalloid arsenic could delay brain development in babies and young children. In new research published in the academic journal Environmental Geochemistry and Health, University of Delaware scientists have found that flooded rice fields tend to contain higher amounts of arsenic and lower amounts of cadmium. The drier those rice fields are, the lower the amounts of arsenic and the higher the amounts of cadmium. However, the higher cadmium is lower ...

Using hypertonic saline nasal drops can reduce the length of the common cold in children by two days, according to a study that will be presented at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Congress in Vienna, Austria [1]. They can also reduce the onward transmission of colds to family members. The results of the ELVIS-Kids randomised controlled trial were presented by Professor Steve Cunningham from Child Life and Health, University of Edinburgh, UK. He said: “Children have up to 10 to 12 upper respiratory tract infections, what we refer to as colds, per year, which ...

Vaccination against respiratory syncytial virus for adults over 60 is likely cost-effective by preventing illness, hospitalizations, lost quality of life and deaths, according to new research.   The study conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and published in the journal Vaccine, evaluated newly approved RSV vaccines: Arexvy, manufactured by GSK, and Abrysvo, manufactured by Pfizer. The study did not include a third approved vaccine, Moderna's mRESVIA.   The vaccines are now available to adults 60 and older. The CDC recommends a single ...

The Ecological Society of America (ESA) presents a roundup of seven research articles recently published across its esteemed journals. Widely recognized for fostering innovation and advancing ecological knowledge, ESA’s journals consistently feature illuminating and impactful studies. This compilation of papers explores the impact of rising temperatures on pathogens, dynamics of predatory seabirds and their penguin prey in Antarctica, factors determining the speed of coral reef recovery from disturbance and more.   From Ecology: Some pathogens can’t ...

Researchers at Auburn University, in collaboration with scientists from the University of Basel and ETH Zurich, have made a groundbreaking advance in the fight against cancer. The team, led by Dr. Rafael Bernardi, Associate Professor of Biophysics in the Department of Physics, has developed a novel approach integrating artificial intelligence (AI) with molecular dynamics simulations and network analysis to enhance the prediction of binding sites on the PD-L1 protein. This breakthrough promises to accelerate the development ...

ResearchGate, the professional network for researchers, and Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., a global media company dedicated to creating, curating, and delivering impactful peer-reviewed research and authoritative content services, are pleased to announce a new partnership through ResearchGate’s innovative Journal Home offering. The partnership covers five Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. open access journals spanning the health and medical sciences. All backfile content and all new articles published with ...

Dallas, September 5, 2024 – The growing legal use of recreational and medical cannabis has generated an increased concern for potential side effects from long-term use, particularly regarding problems with memory and sleep. Until now, the effect of cannabis use on sleep and on memory have only been studied separately. Research led by Francesca Filbey, PhD, from the Laboratory of Neuroimaging of Reward Dynamics at The University of Texas at Dallas’ Center for BrainHealth®, in collaboration with a team from the University of Amsterdam, aimed to fill this gap by testing how sleep impacts memory among cannabis users. The study, “The ...

Plant scientists have long known that phosphorus is a crucial component in plant growth. A major discovery by a K-State biologist and her lab is leading to a better understanding of how plants detect and use that resource — potentially leading to more efficient production of crops for food, fiber and fuel. A team of researchers led by Kathrin Schrick, associate professor of biology, recently published this research in New Phytologist, a high-impact journal in the plant sciences. Schrick's lab focused on a specific transcription factor that regulates gene expression during development. They discovered a new kind of molecular interaction between the ...

Over-the-counter blood pressure measuring devices offer a simple, affordable way for people to track hypertension at home, but the standard arm-size ranges for these devices won’t appropriately fit millions of U.S. consumers, according to a new study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The researchers compared standard arm cuff size ranges for popular retail automatic blood pressure measuring devices to arm circumference data from U.S. government-sponsored national ...

Pain is a complex, multifaceted experience shaped by various factors beyond physical sensation, such as a person’s mindset and their expectations of pain. The placebo effect, the tendency for a person’s symptoms to improve in response to inactive treatment, is a well-known example of how expectations can significantly alter a person’s experience. Mindfulness meditation, which has been used for pain management in various cultures for centuries, has long been thought to work by activating the placebo response. However, scientists have now ...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – September 5, 2024 — The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) is honored to announce its selection for a pioneering cancer research project that will take place aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The project, one of only five chosen through a competitive solicitation by the ISS National Lab in partnership with NASA, aims to explore the effects of microgravity on cancer development and treatment. The project, led by Dr. Shay Soker, focuses on the use of organoids—miniature, simplified versions of organs grown in the lab from cells recovered from colorectal cancer patients. ...

How would you summarize your study for a lay audience? Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are a class of immunotherapy that have revolutionized the treatment of cancer. However, they can cause a wide variety of autoimmune toxicities, including immune checkpoint inhibitor-associated acute kidney injury (ICI-AKI). Differentiating ICI-AKI from acute kidney injury (AKI) due to alternative causes, which are common in cancer patients, is challenging without a kidney biopsy due to the risk of bleeding for some patients.  In this study, we ...

Researchers at Rice University are working to understand how a single cell evolves into the complex network of specialized cells that form the human body. Funded by a $1.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, the research team’s new study could advance our knowledge of developmental disorders and contribute to the future of regenerative medicine. Led byAryeh Warmflash, an associate professor of biosciences and Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas Scholar in cancer ...

Seeing what’s going on inside a body is never easy. While technologies like CT scans, X-rays, MRIs, and microscopy can provide insights, the images are rarely completely clear and can come with side effects like radiation exposure.  But what if you could apply a substance on the skin, much like a moisturizing cream, and make it transparent, without harming the tissue?  That’s what Stanford scientists have done using an FDA-approved dye that is commonly found in food, among several other light-absorbing molecules that exhibit similar effects. Published in Science on ...

Drought is a widespread concern in the Western U.S., and water managers across the region are developing groundwater management plans to conserve the essential resource. Groundwater is often pumped to the surface to irrigate crops, and meters that measure the flow of pumped water have historically offered the best information on groundwater use. These meters are rare, however, so DRI scientists set out to determine whether OpenET, a platform that measures evapotranspiration using satellite data, could help fill this information gap. The new study, published August 8th in a special issue of Agricultural Water Management, compared groundwater meter ...

SAN FRANCISCO—As antibiotic resistance becomes an increasingly serious threat to our health, the scientific and medical communities are searching for new medicines to fight infections. Researchers at Gladstone Institutes have just moved closer to that goal with a novel technique for harnessing the power of bacteriophages. Bacteriophages, or phages for short, are viruses that naturally take over and kill bacteria. Thousands of phages exist, but using them as treatments to fight specific bacteria has so far proven to be challenging. To optimize phage therapy and make it scalable to human disease, scientists need ways to engineer phages into efficient bacteria-killing machines. This would ...

A new study published in Conservation Science and Practice uncovers how breeding populations of queen conch (Aliger gigas) within a protected marine reserve, where fishing is prohibited, sustain populations beyond the borders of the reserve. This research, based on surveys conducted in The Bahamas by Shedd Aquarium and Bahamian partners, identifies where additional protections could help to ensure the survival of future queen conch generations.  In The Bahamas, queen conch is an economic and cultural ...

Worcester, MA – September 5, 2024—Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has launched a groundbreaking Master of Science in Explosion Protection Engineering, the first program of its kind in the United States. Designed amid growing concerns about fire and explosion risk posed by manufacturing facilities and advancing technologies like electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cells, the new program builds on WPI’s esteemed legacy in Fire Protection Engineering, which has been at the forefront of fire safety education and research since its inception in 1978. “The demand ...

Irvine, Calif., Sept. 5, 2024 — With newly awarded funding from the National Science Foundation, researchers at the University of California, Irvine and the Keck School of Medicine of USC will seek to revolutionize the treatment of neurological diseases through intelligent biocomputing. The four-year, $2 million grant is part of NSF’s Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation program, which funds cutting-edge science pushing the boundaries of human knowledge.   The premise of the UC Irvine-USC project is to combine engineering principles with stem cell research to treat damaged brain regions. The team’s long-term goal is to restore motor functions to patients ...

A new study reveals that young patients treated with psychiatric medications receive potentially dangerous combinations with concerning frequency. Researchers from Rutgers Health and other institutions analyzed New York State Medicaid records for more than 141,000 patients receiving any psychiatric medication.  Nearly 400 of them received at least one potentially dangerous combination t for one month or longer. Doctors refer to these as severe drug-drug interactions, and their use is typically considered "contraindicated" or recommended ...

Images, animations, and video available in our NSF portal: https://nsf.widencollective.com/portals/ematkiby/TheInvisibleMouseEmbargoed Access Code: Le9ANH7tYTdr   Researchers have developed a new way to see organs within a body by rendering overlying tissues transparent to visible light.   The counterintuitive process—a topical application of food-safe dye—was reversible in tests with animal subjects, and may ultimately apply to a wide range of medical diagnostics, from locating injuries to monitoring digestive disorders to identifying cancers.   Stanford University researchers published the research ″Achieving optical ...

The simple act of observing others cope with a traumatic experience can increase our capacity for resilience and prevent the pathological states that can result from it, notably depression. Neuroscientists at UNIL have demonstrated the presence of this “emotional contagion” in mice, and successfully deciphered its mechanism. The neurotransmitter serotonin, released in a brain structure called the habenula, has been shown to be the key to resilience. This discovery, published in Science, revisits the role of serotonin ...

In a pioneering new study, researchers made the skin on the skulls and abdomens of live mice transparent by applying to the areas a mixture of water and a common yellow food coloring called tartrazine. Dr. Zihao Ou, assistant professor of physics at The University of Texas at Dallas, is lead author of the study, published in the Sept. 6 print issue of the journal Science. Living skin is a scattering medium. Like fog, it scatters light, which is why it cannot be seen through. “We combined the yellow dye, which is a molecule that absorbs most light, ...

Bats are considered a natural pesticide, widely relied on by farmers as an alternative to chemical pesticides to protect their crops from insects. But since 2006, many bat populations have collapsed in counties in North America due to an invasive fungus found in the caves bats use during the day and throughout winter that causes what is known as White-Nose Syndrome. A new study in Science uses their sudden collapse to explore whether farmers turned to chemical pesticides, and whether doing so impacts human health. It finds that farmers did increase their pesticide use, leading to more than 1,000 infant deaths. “Bats ...

“Bystander” mice that briefly watched other mice be harmed show fewer signs of behavioral despair when faced with their own harmful event, compared to mice who do not observe their fellow mice being harmed. The negative emotional contagion experienced by the bystander mice appears to build resilience against a depressive-like state, according to new research by Sarah Mondoloni and colleagues. Mondoloni et al. demonstrate that resilience in these mice requires an increase in serotonin release in a part of the brain called the lateral habenula. “These findings support the notion that, as is the case in humans, graded trauma can be resilience-promoting, enabling ...