While immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) can provide lifesaving treatment for patients with cancer, they have also been found to cause immune-related adverse events (irAEs) — side effects that can impact almost every organ in the body to varying degrees. The frequency and severity of irAEs in real-world datasets are not well understood, making it difficult to combine cases effectively across institutions and gain insights into the optimal management of these patients.  Since current approaches to investigate irAEs are done manually and are inefficient, researchers from Mass General Brigham have incorporated the use of a prebuilt large language ...

The ISSCR is accepting applications through 25 October 2024 for the next class of Lawrence Goldstein Science Policy Fellows. The three-year program offers fellows advocacy and public policy training, the opportunity to participate in ISSCR advocacy events, engagement with leaders in the field, and an ex officio seat on ISSCR’s Public Policy Committee. Goldstein Policy Fellows also have the opportunity to: Attend ISSCR’s Congressional Advocacy Day in Washington D.C. or a policy- related event in another region of the world. Participate in regularly scheduled Public Policy Committee meetings. Assist the committee and ISSCR policy staff with projects and programs. Contribute ...

Lei Zheng, MD, PhD, alumnus of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio), has been appointed executive director of Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio and vice president for oncology for the health science center, effective Sept. 1, 2024. Zheng will also be named the Mays Family Foundation Distinguished University Presidential Chair of Oncology and appointed as a professor with tenure in the Department of Medicine at UT Health San Antonio’s ...

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- When ChatGPT and other generative artificial intelligence can produce scientific articles that look real — especially to someone outside that field of research — what’s the best way to figure out which ones are fake? Ahmed Abdeen Hamed, a visiting research fellow at Binghamton University, State University of New York, has created a machine-learning algorithm he calls xFakeSci that can detect up to 94% of bogus papers — nearly twice as successfully as more common data-mining techniques. “My ...

NEW YORK, September 3, 2024 — A new study from researchers with the Advanced Science Research Center at the CUNY Graduate Center (CUNY ASRC) sheds light on why certain oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) in the adult brain transform into gliomas, the most common and incurable type of adult brain tumors. Previous work identified OPCs — dividing cells in the adult brain that play a crucial role in the brain's maintenance — as one of the brain cell types that give rise to these tumors.   “OPCs are often described as a double-edged ...

Dr. C. Sue Carter, Distinguished Research Scientist and Director Emerita of the Kinsey Institute, has been awarded the 2024 Bruce McEwen Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology. This prestigious award recognizes Dr. Carter’s lifetime of pioneering research that has significantly advanced our understanding of the biological and social underpinnings of human behavior. A career biologist, Dr. Carter specializes in the endocrinology of love and social bonds. Dr. Carter is renowned for her discovery of the critical role of oxytocin in social bonding, stress management, and emotional ...

The naming of a new species of pāua further highlights the importance of biodiversity research in Aotearoa. Described in a study led by the University of Otago – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, the species, Haliotis pirimoana, is only found at Manawatāwhi Three Kings Islands, off the northern North Island. Lead author Kerry Walton, an invertebrate curator at Te Papa who is undertaking his PhD in the Department of Zoology, says this is one of many species that are only found on Manawatāwhi. “We are facing a biodiversity crisis. Species around the world are going ...

DALLAS, Sept. 3, 2024 — Today at Three Trails Elementary School in Independence, Mo. the American Heart Association, the Kansas City Chiefs and the National Football League (NFL) kicked off two programs rooted in proven American Heart Association science in advance of the 2024 NFL season kickoff. NFL PLAY 60™ supports students’ mental and physical health reducing sedentary behavior and increasing physical activity are key to immediate and long-term health ...

Researchers have discovered an antibody able to neutralize all known variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, as well as distantly related SARS-like coronaviruses that infect other animals. As part of a new study on hybrid immunity to the virus, the large, multi-institution research team led by The University of Texas at Austin discovered and isolated a broadly neutralizing plasma antibody, called SC27, from a single patient. Using technology developed over several years of research ...

Medicaid Accountable Care Organizations May Increase Care Engagement and Quality Among Pregnant and Postpartum Patients A new study found that Medicaid ACOs in Massachusetts were associated with increases in prenatal and postpartum office visits, postpartum depression screenings, and timely postpartum care. Despite recent declines in nationwide maternal mortality, the United States continues to experience a significant maternal health crisis, in part shaped by inequitable access to quality healthcare ...

Researchers at UC Merced used fruit flies to uncover a cellular process common to many organisms that could dramatically impact the understanding of cancer and aging. Department of Molecular and Cell Biology Professor Fred Wolf, then-graduate student Sammy Villa and Genentech Vice President and Senior Fellow in Physiological Chemistry and Research Biology Vishva Dixit, discovered a mechanism that cells use to tune how much protein they make through the process of translating RNA into protein. “This mechanism may be responsible for changes in protein translation in stress, cancer, and aging,” Wolf said. Their work is detailed in the journal Nature ...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced awards totaling $142 million for small businesses in 34 states. The 123 projects to be funded address multiple mission-critical areas important for the nation, including clean energy and decarbonization, cybersecurity and grid reliability, fusion energy, and nuclear nonproliferation.   American small businesses play a critical role in these DOE Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) awards, which transform DOE-supported science and technology breakthroughs into ...

LAWRENCE — A fascinating new book chronicling transformation on the plains of Kansas and western Colorado uses repeat photography — contemporary re-creations of 1870s photos — to reveal startling changes to the landscape. Its author isn’t just a photographer and veteran of years of “Kansas-ing” — his term for searching off-the-beaten-path curiosities across the Sunflower State — but also a University Distinguished Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at ...

HOUSTON – (Sept. 3, 2024) – As far as water gear goes, floaties are not exactly high tech. But the tiny air-filled bubbles some microorganisms use as flotation devices when they compete for light on the water surface are a different story. Known as gas vesicles (GVs), the micrometer-sized bubbles hold great promise for a host of biomedical applications, including imaging, sensing, cellular manipulation and tracking and more. The problem is researchers do not yet know how to make medically useful GV varieties in the lab. Rice University ...

ATLANTA — Starting antiviral treatment as late as 14 days after infection with SARS-CoV-2 may still be beneficial in hosts with compromised immune systems, who are at greatest risk of developing severe COVID-19, according to researchers in the Center for Translational Antiviral Research at Georgia State University’s Institute for Biomedical Sciences.  While best to begin treatment earlier, in immunocompromised hosts, drugs like paxlovid and molnupiravir appear to inhibit replication of the virus even if initiated up to 14 days after infection.  The ...

Assorted, distinctive behavior of molten uranium salt revealed by neutrons   The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a world leader in molten salt reactor technology development — and its researchers additionally perform the fundamental science necessary to enable a future where nuclear energy becomes more efficient. In a recent paper published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, researchers have documented for the first time the unique chemistry dynamics and structure of high-temperature liquid uranium trichloride ...

The shoebox-sized BurstCube satellite has observed its first gamma-ray burst, the most powerful kind of explosion in the universe, according to a recent analysis of observations collected over the last several months. “We’re excited to collect science data,” said Sean Semper, BurstCube’s lead engineer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “It’s an important milestone for the team and for the many early career engineers and scientists that have been part of the mission.” The ...

Lugano, Switzerland, 3 September 2024 – The ESMO Congress 2024 will take place from September 13-17 in Barcelona, bringing together participants from all over the world. Press representatives eager to grasp cutting-edge data and hearing expert perspectives on the latest research, as well as on the current and emerging hot topics in oncology, are invited to attend the event, which will be held both onsite and remotely.  The full congress program is available online to help press representatives browse regular and late-breaking abstract ...

We all have lived through a pandemic, its uncertainties, challenges, losses and scientific breakthroughs. A prestigious award from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is advancing the work of a team of researchers at the University of Kentucky to help society be better prepared for potential future pandemics. Scott Berry, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in the UK Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering, is the principal investigator ...

The National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has awarded grants for 10 projects to improve diagnostic tools for congenital and adult syphilis—conditions currently diagnosed with a sequence of tests, each with limited precision. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that adult and congenital syphilis cases increased by 80% and 183% respectively between 2018 and 2022—a crisis that prompted the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish a national taskforce to respond to the epidemic.   “Syphilis ...

New findings provide quantitative criteria for classifying social organizations in human history, together with potential explanatory variables that can be empirically measured for anthropology, history, and archaeology, according to a study published September 3, 2024 in the open-access journal PLOS Complex Systems by Kenji Itao and Kunihiko Kaneko from the University of Tokyo, Japan and Copenhagen University, Denmark (Kaneko) and the RIKEN Center for Brain Science, Japan (Itao). Human societies have experienced transitions between different types of organizations, including bands, tribes, chiefdoms, and kingdoms. However, quantitative characterizations of the types and mechanisms of ...

The more centrally connected someone is within their social media network, the more likely that new words they use will become adopted into mainstream language, according to a new study published this week in PLOS Complex Systems by Louise Tarrade of École Normale Supérieure, France, and colleagues. Language evolves within a social context and variations in a language are always in competition with each other. In everyday language, words are constantly being created, but not all these words persist. In the new study, researchers analyzed more than 650 million tweets written in French between 2012 and 2014 to identify ...

In US community efforts to prevent childhood obesity, women leaders with more experience and connections have the greatest impact. #### In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS Complex Systems: https://journals.plos.org/complexsystems/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcsy.0000004   Article Title: Determinants and facilitators of community coalition diffusion of prevention efforts Author Countries: United States Funding: TM, MP, and CE received funding from the ...

After four years, a guidebook for the future of autonomous trucking has driven across the finish line. In 2020, the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) and 17 partners were awarded a $7.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to develop a concept of operations. The final report, published in July, includes best practices for the implementation of automated driving systems (ADS) in large trucks and policy issues for fleets to consider across eight topic areas. “We’re excited that the Federal Motor Carrier ...

A patient dozes off in a dental chair despite the anxiety of an impending procedure. A seemingly unremarkable act but — for dentists versed in the latest sleep research — this red flag hints at a life-threatening condition. In a research review published in the Journal of the American Dental Association, Rutgers Health researchers identified dentists as an unexpected player in the battle against life-threatening sleep disorders. The review suggests dental professionals have unique opportunities to screen for conditions such as obstructive sleep apnea, a disorder that affects millions of Americans and is linked to serious health risks, including cardiovascular ...