"Coffee" was the most tweeted food in the continental U.S. between mid-2014 to mid-2015 followed by "beer" then "pizza". Besides hinting at which foods are popular, scientists at the University of Utah are finding that tweets reveal something about our health. Communities that tweeted more often about physical activities, or expressed positive sentiments about healthy foods, had better overall health.
A study conducted by Canadian and Australian researchers shows that nearly everywhere in Canada, the provinces and territories impose obstacles to reimbursement of new direct-acting antivirals (DAA) to treat hepatitis C by because of their cost.
This is the first study to demonstrate beneficial placebo effect for lower back pain sufferers who knew they were taking 'fake pills.' Patients who knowingly took placebos reported 30 percent less pain and 29 percent reduction in disability compared to control group. 'Open-labeling' addresses longtime ethical dilemma, allowing patients to choose placebo treatments with informed consent.
Each dollar spent repairing abandoned buildings and vacant lots reduces neighborhood gun violence by as much as 39 percent and yields, respectively, a $5 and $26 return on investment (ROI) to taxpayers, and a $79 and $333 ROI to society at large through steps like installing working windows and doors in abandoned buildings, as well as removing trash and debris, and planting grass and trees.
Case Western Reserve University Maternal-Fetal medicine doctor warns that the obesity epidemic is leading to a rise in high-risk pregnancies.
A team led by Wayne State University School of Medicine researcher Mark Greenwald, Ph.D., will use a four-year, $2,279,723 competitively renewed grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) of the National Institutes of Health to explore whether the opioid addiction treatment medication buprenorphine can decrease the magnitude and/or duration of responses to stressors faced by recovering addicts. The results of the study could reveal a new therapeutic feature of the drug, possibly helping drug-abstinent individuals avoid relapse.
Androgen Deprivation Therapy, a common hormone therapy to treat prostate cancer, may double a man’s risk of dementia, regardless of his age, Penn Medicine researchers reported.
Pediatric critical care specialists at Johns Hopkins report that a test of their pilot program to reduce sedation and boost early mobility for children in an intensive care unit proves it is both safe and effective.
A team of researchers led by Richard Slatcher, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Wayne State University, has been awarded $2.74 million from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health for a project that aims to improve asthma management in youth.
The visual cortex – a region of the brain known to process sensory information – plays a key role in promoting the plasticity of innate, spontaneous eye movements, according to a study funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health.
HOUSTON-(Oct. 11, 2016)–Scientists at Houston Methodist received support from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to reprogram immune cells to attack triple negative breast cancer, the most lethal form of the disease. The DoD awarded Rongfu Wang, Ph.D., director of the Center for Inflammation & Epigenetics at Houston Methodist Research Institute, $3 million to create a personalized vaccine that retrains cancer patients’ immune systems to safely target and eliminate breast tumors and spare normal tissue.
After analyzing 10 years of medical tests on more than 2,700 people in a federally funded heart disease study, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine and elsewhere conclude that taking calcium in the form of supplements may raise the risk of plaque buildup in arteries and heart damage, although a diet high in calcium-rich foods appears be protective.
Benjamin Gaston, MD, a pediatric pulmonologist and researcher at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, has received a five-year, $13.3 million federal grant to develop optimized, personalized combinations of medications tailored to the unique needs of children with cystic fibrosis and severe asthma.
A study by a multidisciplinary team of researchers from Children’s Hospital Los Angeles sheds further light on the role of the cytokine TGFβ1 in the growth of neuroblastoma, and suggests the possibility for a small molecule drug/antibody combinatorial therapy to treat this cancer.
Growing up in a warm family environment in childhood is associated with feeling more secure in romantic relationships in one's 80s, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The findings show that men who grew up in caring homes were more adept at managing stressful emotions when assessed as middle-aged adults, which helps to explain why they had more secure marriages late in life.
Indiana University researchers have reported the first definitive evidence for a chemical bond between two negatively charged molecules of bisulfate, or HSO4, a new molecular structure with potential applications to the safe storage of nuclear waste and reduction of chemicals that contaminate water and trigger large fish kills. The study, led by Amar Flood, appears in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition.
Researchers led by Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists report they have developed a free web-based app that could take some of the guesswork out of decisions to order an additional and costly molecular test for assessing risk for recurrence in women with early-stage breast cancer.
Drugs called PARP inhibitors, which sabotage cancer cells' ability to repair damage to their DNA, have shown some promise in treating human breast cancers that contain BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations. Now, a new study in lab-grown cancer cells and mice suggests that their effectiveness could be strengthened and expanded to other forms of breast cancer and leukemia not linked to BRCA mutations by adding a so-called epigenetic drug.
The liver reacts to chronic injury by walling it off with scar tissue and calling in immune cells with inflammatory signals. If cancer arises, the resulting inflammation then stokes tumor progression. Scientists at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) have discovered that a key signaling protein helps suppress inflammation and scarring. The results, published today in Cancer Cell, represent another foundational step towards better treatments for liver cancer.
A little goo will do to get RNA and DNA to progress toward self-replication. Could some abundant ingredient have helped the precursors of genes become life molecules? Another indicator that little drama may have been necessary in chemical evolution.
A new study suggests that a specialized area of the mosquito brain mixes tastes with smells to create unique and preferred flavors. The findings advance the possibility of identifying a substance that makes “human flavor” repulsive to the malaria-bearing species of the mosquitoes, so instead of feasting on us, they keep the disease to themselves, potentially saving an estimated 450,000 lives a year worldwide.
The researchers want to find out how and why local residents choose to evacuate. They also will study the many variables that can explain the uncertainty in making those decisions.
The Milky Way Project is a crowd-sourced research effort that allows citizen scientists to identity nebulae, stars and more in imagery taken by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope.
Despite their different triggers, the same molecular chain of events appears to be responsible for brain cell death from strokes, injuries and even such neurodegenerative diseases as Alzheimer’s. Now, researchers at Johns Hopkins say they have pinpointed the protein at the end of that chain of events, one that delivers the fatal strike by carving up a cell’s DNA. The find, they say, potentially opens up a new avenue for the development of drugs to prevent, stop or weaken the process.
Tarsiers – tiny, carnivorous primates – are our distant cousins, according to scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis who sequenced and analyzed the tarsier genome. Their findings place tarsiers on the evolutionary branch that leads to monkeys, great apes and humans.
Some species of seabirds plunge-dive at speeds greater than 50 miles per hour to surprise their prey. In the first study on the biomechanics of this diving behavior, researchers show how the birds pull of this feat safely.
A study published online today in Nature by Albert Einstein College of Medicine scientists suggests that it may not be possible to extend the human life span beyond the ages already attained by the oldest people on record.
Using an unbiased screen in yeast, a team of Whitehead Institute and Stanford University scientists have identified dozens of prion-like proteins that could change the defining characteristics of these unusual proteins.
Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have received a grant of nearly $1.9 million from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences and a grant of $640,000 from the National Science Foundation for two new projects that take advantage of "click chemistry."
Northwestern University scientists have discovered a new pathway in the brain that can be manipulated to alleviate depression. The pathway offers a promising new target for developing a drug that could be effective in individuals for whom other antidepressants have failed.
Houston Methodist received $9 million from the National Cancer Institute to establish the Center for Immunotherapeutic Transport Oncophysics (CITO). CITO combines the studies of cancer immunology, nanotechnology and the physics of cancer biology. CITO will focus on using research information to design immunotherapies for breast and pancreatic cancers.
Researchers have discovered a gene region that raises the risk a child will have a middle ear infection, known to doctors as acute otitis media—and known to parents as one reason for a screaming, unhappy preschooler. The finding may offer an early clue to helping doctors develop more effective treatments to prevent one of the most common childhood illnesses.
In a paper published Sept. 22 in Scientific Reports, engineers at the University of Washington unveil peptides that could help bridge the gap where artificial meets biological — harnessing biological rules to exchange information between the biochemistry of our bodies and the chemistry of our devices.
A new study by a team of Johns Hopkins researchers found that most survivors of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) decline physically in the five years after hospital discharge, and those at higher levels of risk of decline are older and had greater medical problems prior to hospitalization for ARDS.
An eccentric enzyme known so far only to exist in a single type of bacterium breaks down a toxin related to TNT and pesticides with counterintuitive moves.
A Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine researcher has received a three-year “big data” grant from the National Science Foundation that will help researchers more effectively gather, use, and share neuroscience-related data, ultimately leading to better treatments.
Researchers have discovered that an enzyme called uracil-DNA glycosylase (UNG) protects the ends of B cell chromosomes to facilitate the proliferation of these antibody-producing cells in response to infection. The study “UNG protects B cells from AID-induced telomere loss,” which will be published online October 3 ahead of issue in The Journal of Experimental Medicine, also suggests that targeting this enzyme may help treat certain types of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
In animal models of human breast cancer, inhibiting a single protein restores sensitivity to tamoxifen, a commonly used drug for treatment of some breast cancers.
he National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded the University of Pennsylvania a $24 Million, five-year grant to establish a Science and Technology Center (STC) focused on engineering mechanobiology, or the way cells exert and are influenced by the physical forces in their environment.
Scientists say they are one step closer to understanding the genetic mechanism of a rare, complex, multiple-gene disorder called Hirschsprung’s disease. Their results suggest that many patients develop the disease when multiple mutations in gene regulatory sequences of a specific gene combine to destroy the normal cooperative function of a whole network of genes.
Researchers from the U.S. and India have begun a new collaborative project to identify genetic risk factors and traits related to glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness worldwide. Funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and India’s Department of Biotechnology (DBT), the researchers’ goal is to help develop effective screening, prevention, and treatment strategies for glaucoma. Grants from the two agencies stem from a bilateral initiative, the U.S.-India Collaborative Vision Research Program, designed to advance knowledge in the biological mechanisms of ocular disease.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins report they have identified a protein that enables a toxic natural aggregate to spread from cell to cell in a mammal’s brain — and a way to block that protein’s action. Their study in mice and cultured cells suggests that an immunotherapy already in clinical trials as a cancer therapy should also be tested as a way to slow the progress of Parkinson’s disease, the researchers say.
A new scientific study conducted by a team of leading geneticists has characterized how cells know when to stop translating DNA into proteins, a critical step in maintaining healthy protein levels and cell function.
Using a national network and gene mapping tools, Duke Health researchers led a study identifying a new genetic disorder, which still has no name. It shares similarities to two other rare genetic disorders arising from related genes.
Researchers from North Carolina State University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have created an efficient, semi-printed plastic solar cell without the use of environmentally hazardous halogen solvents.
A safe, noninvasive weak electrical current delivery called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) will be investigated for its potential in treating schizophrenia patients in a study led by Raymond Cho, M.D., M.Sc., at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth.
The change of practice in C-section delivery improves the health of mom and baby.
Researchers at the University of Utah School of Medicine and ARUP Laboratories in Salt Lake City unravel the mystery behind a rare Zika-related death in an adult, and unconventional transmission to a second patient in a correspondence published online on September 28 in the New England Journal of Medicine. Details point to an unusually high concentration of virus in the first patient’s blood as being responsible for his death. The phenomenon may also explain how the second patient may have contracted the virus by casual contact with the primary patient, the first such documented case.
A team of researchers led by Wayne State University has been awarded funding as a part of the Adolescent Medicine Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions, a research network devoted to the health and well-being of adolescents and young adults with HIV or at risk for HIV infection. The Wayne State team, led by Sylvie Naar, Ph.D., professor and division director of behavioral sciences in the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences at the Wayne State School of Medicine and associate director of the Pediatric Prevention Research Center, has been awarded an anticipated total of $15.7 million dollars over five years from the National Institute of Child and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health, for the project, Scale it Up.
GUIDE-Seq technology observes DNA damages and speeds the detection of DNA repair. "Without DNA repairing, we wouldn't be able to survive," says Guiliang Tang, a professor of biological sciences at Michigan Tech who helped lead a new study exploring how the technology could improve the detection of DNA damage and repair processes in plants.
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