Culture
CHICAGO--August 12, 2020--Excessive opioid prescriptions following childbirth may lead to higher rates of addiction within communities, according to a new report in The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association. A significant correlation exists between the number of pills supplied and the continued use or abuse of opioids.
New Rochelle, NY, August 11, 2020--A single intravenous dose of MRG-110, an anti-microRNA drug, significantly reduced miR-92a levels in the blood of healthy humans. Inhibition of miR-92a has shown beneficial effects in animal models, including improved vascularization after myocardial infarction, and accelerated wound healing, according to the peer-reviewed journal Nucleic Acid Therapeutics. Click here http://doi.org/10.1089/nat.2020.0871) to read the article for free through September 12, 2020.
ITHACA, N.Y. - In flood-prone areas of the Hudson River valley in New York state, census areas with more white and affluent home owners tend to file a higher percentage of flood insurance claims than lower-income, minority residents, raising the issue of developing more nuanced, need-based federal flood insurance subsidies in these floodplains, according to a new study.
"Are we taxing America so that people with second homes on the water don't have to pay as much?" asked Brian Rahm, director of the New York State Water Resources Institute at Cornell University.
Humans are not the only social animal struggling with new infectious diseases. When Hamilton College Associate Professor of Biology Andrea Townsend began studying the social behavior of American crows, her work was complicated by West Nile virus, an emerging disease with devastating effects on crow populations. Her research pivoted to investigating the effects of disease on crow social behavior. "It made me wonder how social animals should, in general, respond to novel diseases," Townsend said.
Some physicians are ordering thyroid tests for unsupported reasons
While most thyroid ultrasound orders are warranted, researchers say guidelines could be clearer to help reduce overdiagnosis of thyroid cancer
ANN ARBOR, Michigan -- Up to one-third of physicians reported sending patients for a thyroid ultrasound for reasons not supported by clinical care guidelines, a new study led by University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center researchers finds.
New research using the most comprehensive study of feathered dinosaurs and early birds has revised the evolutionary relationships of dinosaurs at the origin of birds. An international team of researchers, led by Professors Michael Pittman and Rui Pei, at Hong Kong University, from five different countries, including McGill University Professor Hans Larsson published their findings in the journal Current Biology.
TORONTO, ON - A new study by a team of researchers from the University of Toronto (U of T) has identified the region of the brain's hippocampus that links low income with decreased memory and language ability in children.
Previous research has shown that children from lower income families on average score lower in memory and language abilities than their higher income peers.
HOUSTON - (Aug. 12, 2020) - Rice University chemist Han Xiao and his team have successfully expanded the genetic code of Escherichia coli bacteria to produce a synthetic building block, a "noncanonical amino acid." The result is a living indicator for oxidative stress.
The work, they say, is a step toward technologies that will allow the generation of novel proteins and organisms with a variety of useful functions.
Their study appears in the Cell Press journal Chem.
HOUSTON - A combination regimen of venetoclax and azacitidine was safe and improved overall survival (OS) over azacitidine alone in certain patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), according to the Phase III VIALE-A trial led by The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
The results were presented in the virtual 25th European Hematology Association (EHA) Annual Congress and were published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.
RIVERSIDE, Calif -- A research team led by scientists at the University of California, Riverside, has outlined how the Zika virus, which constituted an epidemic threat in 2016, suppresses the immune system of its host.
The Zika virus, or ZIKV, spreads through mosquito bites and sexual intercourse. Currently, no approved vaccine or antivirals against ZIKV exist.
At the start of her 2008 field season at El Parque El Piñalito in the Misiones province in northeastern Argentina, Ilaria Agostini knew something was terribly wrong. Agostini has studied Misiones' two howler monkey species since 2005--brown (Alouatta guariba clamitans) and black and gold (A. caraya) howlers. Both lived at relatively low densities in the park, but still existed in one of the most continuous, well-preserved remnants of habitat known as the Atlantic Forest. She knows them better than anyone in the world.
AMES, Iowa - Scientists searching the most ancient corners of the genome of a reptile native to New Zealand found patterns that help explain how the genomes of all vertebrates took shape, according to a recently published study.
Electric fish generate electric pulses to communicate with other fish and sense their surroundings. Some species broadcast shorter electric pulses, while others send out long ones. But all that zip-zapping in the water can get confusing. The fish need to filter out their own pulses so they can identify external messages and only respond to those signals.
A solution to this problem is a brain function called a corollary discharge. It's sort of like a negative copy of the original message -- something that tells the fish: Ignore this.
Women are more likely than men to suffer adverse side effects of medications because drug dosages have historically been based on clinical trials conducted on men, suggests new research from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Chicago.
Researchers analyzed data from several thousand medical journal articles and found clear evidence of a drug dose gender gap for 86 different medications approved by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), including antidepressants, cardiovascular and anti-seizure drugs and analgesics, among others.
Eric Ross and Sean Cascarina, biochemistry and molecular biology researchers at Colorado State University, have released a research paper identifying a protein encoded by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, that may be associated with the quick spread of the virus through cells in the human body.
Through powerful application of the foundational sciences and bioinformatic analysis their research highlights key characteristics of the virus that could one day be important in the development of a treatment for COVID-19.