Culture
Researchers from the Max-Planck-Institute for the Science of Human History and the University of Helsinki have analyzed the first ancient DNA from mainland Finland. As described in Nature Communications, ancient DNA was extracted from bones and teeth from a 3,500 year-old burial on the Kola Peninsula, Russia, and a 1,500 year-old water burial in Finland. The results reveal the possible path along which ancient people from Siberia spread to Finland and Northwestern Russia.
Boston, Mass - Physicians at Massachusetts Eye and Ear have, for the first time, induced a sense of smell in humans by using electrodes in the nose to stimulate nerves in the olfactory bulb, a structure in the brain where smell information from the nose is processed and sent to deeper regions of brain. Reporting online today in International Forum of Allergy & Rhinology, the research team describes their results, which provide a proof of concept for efforts to develop implant technology to return the sense of smell to those who have lost it.
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center's latest findings on cancer immunotherapies, CRISPR for blood disorders, stem cell transplantation and insights on the immune system and cancer will be featured at the 60th annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology, which will be held Dec. 1-4 in San Diego. See highlights below.
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A new paper published by McGill University researchers in JAMA Internal Medicine suggests that some clinical trials may promote the use of ineffective and costly treatments. That's the opposite of what clinical trials are aimed at, namely preventing ineffective and costly treatments from being taken up by physicians and patients.
The livestock sector could use almost half of the 1.5 degree C greenhouse gas emission budget allowed by 2030, so addressing this should be a key part of the strategy to hit climate targets, according to a new study published in Climate Policy.
Dr Helen Harwatt, farmed animal law and policy fellow at Harvard Law School, advises that getting protein from plant sources instead of animal sources would drastically help in meeting climate targets and reduce the risk of overshooting temperature goals.
A new specialist programme at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) has been shown to significantly reduce the rate of hospital readmissions for people with bipolar disorder, in an early-stage audit funded by the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre. The findings have been published in BJPsych Bulletin today.
A new national survey by the American Dairy Association Mideast finds 94 percent of Americans admit to throwing food away at home. In fact, the average family wastes nearly a third of the food they buy, with the average American tossing 250 pounds of food each year.
As physicians attempt to decrease antipsychotic use in seniors with dementia, they need to be aware that trazadone, frequently used as an alternative, is associated with a similar risk of falls and major fractures as atypical antipsychotics, according to new research in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).
A new analysis in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) http://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.180897 outlines the potential government cost of a national Canadian pharmacare program and sets out approaches to shifting the funding for drugs in Canada to realize billions in savings.
CHICAGO - Left gastric artery embolization, a novel interventional procedure used to treat obesity, leads to the loss of both fat and muscle, according to a new study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Researchers said the loss of muscle mass is concerning and underscores the importance of proper nutritional counseling after the procedure.
In the wake of recent high-profile successes catching criminals using publicly-accessible genomic data, results that build momentum for this approach, James Hazel and colleagues argue for the establishment of a universal forensic DNA database for law enforcement purposes. It could be more productive, less discriminatory and more private, they explain in a Policy Forum.
During the Triassic period (252-201 million years ago) mammal-like reptiles called therapsids co-existed with ancestors to dinosaurs, crocodiles, mammals, pterosaurs, turtles, frogs, and lizards. One group of therapsids are the dicynodonts. Researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden, together with colleagues in Poland, have discovered fossils from a new genus of gigantic dicynodont. The new species Lisowicia bojani is described in the journal Science.
Strains of the bacterium Enterobacter, similar to newly found opportunistic infectious organisms seen in a few hospital settings, have been identified on the International Space Station (ISS). The strains found in space were not pathogenic to humans, but researchers believe they should be studied for potential health implications for future missions, according to a study published in the open access journal BMC Microbiology.
Patients in the UK who have survived critical illnesses requiring care in an intensive care unit (ICU) frequently report symptoms of anxiety, PTSD and/or depression, according to a study published in open access journal Critical Care. Those reporting symptoms of depression after critical illness appear to be at a greater risk of death.
A new global field size data set collected as part of a crowdsourcing citizen science project by IIASA researchers has shown that the proportion of smallholder farms may be much larger than previously thought, contributing much more to global food production.