Curated News: PLOS

Filters close
Newswise: Classic rock music can be recreated from recorded brain activity
8-Aug-2023 11:30 AM EDT
Classic rock music can be recreated from recorded brain activity
PLOS

Researchers led by Ludovic Bellier at the University of California, Berkeley, US, demonstrate that recognizable versions of classic Pink Floyd rock music can be reconstructed from brain activity that was recorded while patients listened to the song.

Released: 15-Aug-2023 1:55 PM EDT
A new way to evaluate the impact of medical research
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Scientific journals and research papers are evaluated by a metric known as their “impact factor,” which is based on how many times a given paper is cited by other papers. However, a new study from MIT and other institutions suggests that this measure does not accurately capture the impact of medical papers on health outcomes for all patients, particularly those in low- or middle-income countries.

   
Released: 14-Aug-2023 5:30 PM EDT
How did South African healthcare workers cope during the pandemic?
University of California, Berkeley

A new study by UC Berkeley Anthropology Professor Andrew Wooyoung Kim reveals resilient coping mechanisms used by healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in metro Johannesburg, South Africa.

Newswise: UCI researchers find attention is required for a popular brain signature of prediction error
Released: 11-Aug-2023 3:25 PM EDT
UCI researchers find attention is required for a popular brain signature of prediction error
University of California, Irvine

New research shows that popular brain signatures of prediction error are only generated in the presence of attention to the visual stimuli, despite early brain encoding of those stimuli.

   
Released: 7-Aug-2023 5:10 PM EDT
How the hospital pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii quickly adapts to new environmental conditions
Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main

Each year, over 670,000 people in Europe fall ill because of antibiotic-resistant pathogens, and 33,000 die from the infections.

   
Released: 4-Aug-2023 3:10 PM EDT
A new, long-term study finds nitrogen fixation hotspots in Atlantic seaweed
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

A new study by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill examined nitrogen fixation among diazotrophs—microorganisms that can convert nitrogen into usable form for other plants and animals—living among sargassum.

Released: 4-Aug-2023 12:55 PM EDT
Researchers prefer same-gender co-authors, study confirms
Cornell University

Researchers are more likely to pen scientific papers with co-authors of the same gender, a pattern that cannot be simply explained by the varying gender representation across scientific disciplines and time, according to joint research from Cornell University and the University of Washington.

Newswise: Organoids revolutionize research on respiratory infections
Released: 1-Aug-2023 3:05 PM EDT
Organoids revolutionize research on respiratory infections
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)

Biofilms are highly resistant communities of bacteria that pose a major challenge in the treatment of infections.

Newswise:Video Embedded lead-exposure-in-early-life-linked-to-higher-risk-of-criminal-behavior-in-adulthood
VIDEO
Released: 1-Aug-2023 2:55 PM EDT
Lead Exposure in Early Life Linked to Higher Risk of Criminal Behavior in Adulthood
George Washington University

New analysis from researchers at the George Washington University links lead exposure either in utero or during childhood with an increased risk of engaging in criminal behavior in adulthood. While prior research has found an association between lead exposure and criminal behavior at the ​​aggregated population level, this is the first review to bring together the existing data at the individual-level of exposure and effects.

   
27-Jul-2023 3:05 PM EDT
The Key to Battling a Pathogen Hides in Its Genome
Northern Arizona University

The availability, speed and effectiveness of genomic sequencing increased dramatically during the pandemic, as scientists worldwide rushed to find ways to track and predict the virus’s movement and evolution. It also was critical in the development of effective vaccines. In an essay published today, two NAU biologists argue that building on this momentum is critical in society’s response to future pandemics, but it requires significant collaboration and investment now, before the next pathogen is threatening society.

   
Released: 1-Aug-2023 8:00 AM EDT
GI symptoms persist in older female colorectal cancer survivors
Ohio State University

More than 4 out of 5 older women survivors of colorectal cancer may be experiencing a range of gastrointestinal symptoms many years after being diagnosed and treated, a new study suggests.

Newswise: Nematode resurrected from Siberian permafrost laid dormant for 46,000 years
25-Jul-2023 12:35 PM EDT
Nematode resurrected from Siberian permafrost laid dormant for 46,000 years
PLOS

A soil nematode reanimated from Siberian permafrost had laid dormant for approximately 46,000 years, according to a study.

Newswise: Bees and wasps use the same architectural solutions to join large hexagons to small hexagons
20-Jul-2023 11:45 AM EDT
Bees and wasps use the same architectural solutions to join large hexagons to small hexagons
PLOS

Bees and wasps have converged on the same architectural solutions to nest-building problems, according to a study.

Released: 26-Jul-2023 5:30 PM EDT
NIH spent $950M for basic or applied research leading to patents providing market exclusivity for drugs approved 2010-19
Bentley University

A new demonstrates that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) spent $950 million on basic or applied research associated with patents that provided manufacturers with market exclusivity.

   

Not for public release

This news release is embargoed until 26-Jul-2023 2:00 PM EDT Released to reporters: 24-Jul-2023 2:05 PM EDT

A reporter's PressPass is required to access this story until the embargo expires on 26-Jul-2023 2:00 PM EDT The Newswise PressPass gives verified journalists access to embargoed stories. Please log in to complete a presspass application. If you have not yet registered, please Register. When you fill out the registration form, please identify yourself as a reporter in order to advance to the presspass application form.

Newswise: Climate change threatens 771 endangered plant and lichen species
24-Jul-2023 9:35 AM EDT
Climate change threatens 771 endangered plant and lichen species
PLOS

All plants and lichens listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act are sensitive to climate change but there are few plans in place to address this threat directly, according to a new study.

Released: 25-Jul-2023 3:05 PM EDT
Menstrual cups can help prevent infection, improve vaginal health
University of Illinois Chicago

Kenyan teenage girls who were given menstrual cups were less likely to acquire certain kinds of vaginal infections and were more likely to have a healthy vaginal microbiome, found a study by University of Illinois Chicago researchers.

Released: 21-Jul-2023 1:20 PM EDT
Are shared medical appointments the key to solving global healthcare shortages?
ESMT Berlin

This research was conducted by Nazlı Sönmez, ESMT Berlin; Kavitha Srinivasan and Rengaraj Venkatesh, Aravind Eye Hospital (India); Ryan W. Buell, Harvard Business School; and Kamalini Ramdas, London Business School.

   
Newswise: Father’s Psychiatric Diagnosis Increases Risk of Preterm Birth, Study Reports
Released: 21-Jul-2023 12:40 PM EDT
Father’s Psychiatric Diagnosis Increases Risk of Preterm Birth, Study Reports
Mount Sinai Health System

Babies are more likely to be born prematurely when either their father or mother has had a psychiatric diagnosis, according to a study.

Newswise: Chula Faculty of Medicine Released Research Results that “Wang Nam Yen” Thai Herbal Tea Can Stimulate Lactation in Mothers after Childbirth Similar to Modern Medicine
Released: 21-Jul-2023 8:55 AM EDT
Chula Faculty of Medicine Released Research Results that “Wang Nam Yen” Thai Herbal Tea Can Stimulate Lactation in Mothers after Childbirth Similar to Modern Medicine
Chulalongkorn University

Chula Faculty of Medicine, in collaboration with the Department of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine, has released the results of their research on “Wang Nam Yen” herbal tea formula to stimulate lactation in mothers after childbirth, especially those who have had a caesarean delivery, to solve their problem of scarce breast milk. The herbal tea yielded as good results as modern medicine.  The team aims at expanding to commercial production and export. 

Newswise: Fathers’ psychiatric diagnosis increases risk of preterm birth
13-Jul-2023 12:55 PM EDT
Fathers’ psychiatric diagnosis increases risk of preterm birth
PLOS

Fathers’ as well as mothers’ psychiatric history is associated with preterm birth, according to a study published July 20th in the open access journal PLOS Medicine. The research shows for the first time that the risk of preterm birth is higher in infants whose fathers or mothers have psychiatric diagnoses, compared with those who do not, and where both parents have diagnoses, the risk is increased again.

Newswise: Early humans were weapon woodwork experts, study finds
Released: 19-Jul-2023 6:15 PM EDT
Early humans were weapon woodwork experts, study finds
University of Reading

A 300,000-year-old hunting weapon has shone a new light on early humans as woodworking masters, according to a new study.

Released: 18-Jul-2023 2:30 PM EDT
Study Offers Guidance for Improving Access to Oncology Drug Treatments in Sub-Saharan Africa
Rutgers University-New Brunswick

Botswana-Rutgers Partnership for Health researchers review treatments that could improve outcomes for patients in a region where cancer rates are rising significantly.

Newswise: The cost of being a non-native English speaker in science
11-Jul-2023 1:45 PM EDT
The cost of being a non-native English speaker in science
PLOS

English serves as a convenient, common language for science. However, this practice poses insurmountable barriers to those whose first language is not English — the majority of people around the world. According to research published on July 18th in the open access journal PLOS Biology.

   
Newswise: New study shows anti-inflammatory drugs as a promising target for Alzheimer’s disease
Released: 17-Jul-2023 9:55 AM EDT
New study shows anti-inflammatory drugs as a promising target for Alzheimer’s disease
University of Kentucky

A recent study from the lab of the University of Kentucky’s Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Director Linda Van Eldik, Ph.D., has been published in PLOS ONE. The work centers around the idea that various anti-inflammatory drugs could be effective treatments for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This study focused on a protein known as p38.

Released: 14-Jul-2023 5:05 PM EDT
Chagas Disease is also underdiagnosed in Spain
Barcelona Institute for Global Health, ISGlobal

A high percentage of people from Latin America are infected with the parasite that causes Chagas disease.

Newswise: Your neighborhood may increase risk of hospitalization from respiratory diseases like COVID-19
Released: 13-Jul-2023 3:05 PM EDT
Your neighborhood may increase risk of hospitalization from respiratory diseases like COVID-19
University of Utah

In a first-of-its-kind study that controlled for individuals’ biological factors, researchers found that people who lived in multi-family housing, or in areas with higher levels of air pollution and access to public transit, were at a higher risk of hospitalization from COVID-19 in the Denver Metro Area in 2020.

   
Newswise: Hidden details of Egyptian paintings revealed by chemical imaging
6-Jul-2023 1:05 PM EDT
Hidden details of Egyptian paintings revealed by chemical imaging
PLOS

On-site analysis of paint layering identifies history of alterations in ancient paintings.

   
Newswise: Genetic changes have decreased maize’s tolerance to severe heat stress and increased resilience to moderate heat stress
29-Jun-2023 1:15 PM EDT
Genetic changes have decreased maize’s tolerance to severe heat stress and increased resilience to moderate heat stress
PLOS

The ability of crops to withstand heat is critical to our food system’s resilience to climate change.

Newswise:  Study supports “catch up” HPV test in older women
29-Jun-2023 11:50 AM EDT
Study supports “catch up” HPV test in older women
PLOS

For women over the age of 65 who have never had a high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) test, a “catch up” HPV screening intervention may improve cervical cancer prevention by detecting more cervical pre-cancer lesions as compared to women not offered screening.

Newswise: No increase in mortality for most overweight people, study finds
28-Jun-2023 1:15 PM EDT
No increase in mortality for most overweight people, study finds
PLOS

Body mass index (BMI) may not increase mortality independently of other risk factors in adults, according to a new study published this week in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Aayush Visaria and Soko Setoguchi of Rutgers University, US.

Newswise: Getting adults on board with messy nature play
Released: 29-Jun-2023 9:40 PM EDT
Getting adults on board with messy nature play
University of South Australia

Climbing trees, making mud pies, or simply playing outside, parents and educators know that being in nature is an important part of every childhood. But when it comes to messy or risky play, it’s a whole different story according to new research from the University of South Australia.

Released: 29-Jun-2023 3:05 PM EDT
How the cat nose knows what it’s smelling
Ohio State University

Scientists have found the secret to felines’ finesse at sniffing out food, friends and foes. A complex collection of tightly coiled bony airway structures gets the credit, according to the first detailed analysis of the domestic cat’s nasal airway.

Released: 28-Jun-2023 5:15 PM EDT
Skin disease in endangered killer whales concerns scientists
University of California, Davis

Scientists studying endangered southern resident killer whales have observed a strong increase in the prevalence of skin disease in this population.

Released: 28-Jun-2023 5:00 PM EDT
Benzodiazepine use associated with brain injury, job loss and suicide
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

Benzodiazepine use and discontinuation is associated with nervous system injury and negative life effects that continue after discontinuation, according to a new study.

Released: 28-Jun-2023 11:45 AM EDT
Vague language impacts perceptions of vaping risks, study finds
Cornell University

When it comes to e-cigarette warning labels, respondents in focus groups organized by Cornell researchers were clear: Give it to me straight.

Newswise: Deaf Mice Have Nearly Normal Inner Ear Function Until Ear Canal Opens
26-Jun-2023 12:05 PM EDT
Deaf Mice Have Nearly Normal Inner Ear Function Until Ear Canal Opens
Johns Hopkins Medicine

For the first two weeks of life, mice with a hereditary form of deafness have nearly normal neural activity in the auditory system, according to a new study by Johns Hopkins Medicine scientists. Their previous studies indicate that this early auditory activity — before the onset of hearing — provides a kind of training to prepare the brain to process sound when hearing begins.

Newswise: Neanderthal cave engravings are oldest known – over 57,000 years old
15-Jun-2023 10:10 AM EDT
Neanderthal cave engravings are oldest known – over 57,000 years old
PLOS

Markings on a cave wall in France are the oldest known engravings made by Neanderthals, according to a study published June 21, 2023 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Jean-Claude Marquet of the University of Tours, France and colleagues.

Released: 15-Jun-2023 2:50 PM EDT
Access to financial services linked to lower COVID mortality rates
Lehigh University

New research shows that some of the best tools to decrease COVID-19 mortality rates weren’t found in the ER, but rather at the bank.

   
Newswise: When local economic inequality is high, the rich tend to be more generous
7-Jun-2023 12:10 PM EDT
When local economic inequality is high, the rich tend to be more generous
PLOS

Rich individuals living in communities with greater levels of economic inequality tend to be more generous with charitable giving and prosocial behaviors, according to a study published June 14, 2023 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Joel H. Suss from the London School of Economics & Political Science and Bank of England, UK.

6-Jun-2023 11:50 AM EDT
Men and women with migraine both carry an increased risk of ischemic stroke
PLOS

Women and men who experience migraine headaches also carry an elevated risk of having an ischemic stroke, but women alone may carry an additional risk of heart attack and hemorrhagic stroke, according to a new study led by Cecilia Hvitfeldt Fuglsang of Aarhus University, Denmark publishing June 13th in the open access journal PLOS Medicine.

Released: 9-Jun-2023 6:15 PM EDT
“You (might) have cancer” – on certainty and probability
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (Munich)

An LMU study reveals: Whether patients are able to correctly assess risks depends partly on how physicians convey statistical information to them.

1-Jun-2023 11:15 AM EDT
CARD8 helps human immune system respond to some viruses, including COVID-19
PLOS

Molecular sensors that form the so-called “inflammasome” help activate inflammatory responses to pathogens.

Newswise: Researchers Find an Immune System ‘Trip Wire’ That Detects COVID-19
6-Jun-2023 7:05 PM EDT
Researchers Find an Immune System ‘Trip Wire’ That Detects COVID-19
University of California San Diego

Biologists have identified a previously unknown way that our immune system detects viruses. The immune protein CARD8 acts as a trip wire to detect a range of viruses, including the virus that causes COVID. They also found that CARD8 functions differently among species and varies between humans.

Newswise: New Dino, ‘Iani,’ Was Face of a Changing Planet
Released: 7-Jun-2023 2:35 PM EDT
New Dino, ‘Iani,’ Was Face of a Changing Planet
North Carolina State University

A newly discovered plant-eating dinosaur may have been a species’ “last gasp” during a period when Earth’s warming climate forced massive changes to global dinosaur populations.

Newswise: Childhood cognitive ability has complex links with later financial wellbeing
31-May-2023 10:05 AM EDT
Childhood cognitive ability has complex links with later financial wellbeing
PLOS

The relationship between cognitive ability in childhood and financial wellbeing in adulthood varies for different financial measures—such as savings levels versus having debt—per a new analysis of nearly 6,000 people.

Released: 6-Jun-2023 3:40 PM EDT
Team develops smartphone app to enhance midwifery care in Tanzania
Hiroshima University

An international research team from Tanzania and Japan created a smartphone app and conducted a pilot study of how the app might be used to improve midwives’ knowledge and skills in Tanzania. Their study focused on the app’s potential effects on the learning outcomes of midwives and birth preparedness of pregnant women in Tanzania.

Newswise: Does multimorbidity impact chronic disease treatment?
30-May-2023 1:30 PM EDT
Does multimorbidity impact chronic disease treatment?
PLOS

Treatment efficacy for a broad range of chronic diseases does not differ depending on patients’ comorbidities, according to a new study publishing June 6th in the open access journal PLOS Medicine by David McAllister of the University of Glasgow, UK, and colleagues.

24-May-2023 1:35 PM EDT
Romantic relationships between coworkers may deteriorate workplace culture
PLOS

Workplace ostracism refers to an employee’s perception of being excluded, ignored, or rejected in the workplace. A study published in PLOS ONE suggests that romantic relationships between coworkers are associated with perceived ostracism and knowledge sabotage by other colleagues.

   


close
2.14604