Body

In a study appearing in the August 2 issue of JAMA, David M. Levine, M.D., M.A., of Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, and colleagues examined trends in seniors' use of digital health technology in the U.S. from 2011-2014.

WASHINGTON, DC - August 2, 2016 - Adjuvants - ingredients added to vaccinations for influenza and other viruses to help boost their effectiveness - can increase a host's immune response but not enough to protect the obese against the ill effects of the flu, according to a mouse study published this week in mBio®, an online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

A study led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital found that obese mice are not protected against influenza infections by vaccines that include adjuvants, raising concerns about vaccine effectiveness in obese humans who are known to be at an increased risk for severe flu. The findings appear today in the scientific journal mBio.

A new study, led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), reveals a surprising twist in immune biology.

The research in animal models suggests that members of a cluster of microRNAs (miRNAs)--small non-coding RNA molecules that play a role in regulating gene expression--work together throughout the different stages of immune cell generation.

Cancer immunotherapy drugs that block the inhibitory PD-1 pathway have shown success in clinical trials and are now FDA-approved for melanoma, lung cancer and bladder cancer. Yet many patients' tumors do not respond to these drugs.

Scientists from Emory Vaccine Center have now shown what molecular features distinguish the subset of T cells that wake up when re-energized by PD-1-blocking agents.

A study of the impact of "boomerang fathers" -- those who cycle in and out of their children's lives -- yielded surprising results for researchers. "Boomerang fathering" provided a type of stability in a daughter's life that staved off her depressive symptoms compared to those adolescent girls whose fathers were completely absent.

The study, "Boomerang Fathers in Adolescent Female Depression," was published in the National Council on Family Relations, Journal of Marriage and Family.

AIM, within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), published an intriguing paper in Scientific Reports, on August 2, detailing a novel explanation to a problem known to immunologists for decades: What causes the decline in immunity in old individuals? As soon as we are born we are destined to age, it's a natural law which everyone adheres to. As we grow older our immunity gradually declines to a point where it is no longer able to effectively orchestrate an immune response to fight and extinguish pathogens.

In higher plants, meristems are responsible for the generation of all plant tissues and organs. While the shoot apical meristem (SAM) gives rise to all of the above-ground plant parts for the entire life of the plant through the continuous production of new organ primordial, the floral meristem (FM) will be terminated after the generation of all floral organs, known as FM determinacy, which helps ensure reproductive success, seed development, and, in applied cases, the yield of agricultural crops.

Chondroitin sulfate (CS) plus glucosamine sulfate (GS) was no better than placebo for reducing pain and function impairment in a multicenter, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study of 164 patients with knee osteoarthritis.

Although the use of CS and GS has been recognized since the 1970s, there has been limited data concerning their efficacy for treating knee osteoarthritis. Additional research may provide valuable insights on what role CS+GS therapy might play in the management of osteoarthritis.

In a recent study, combat exposure among Army enlisted women was associated with an increased likelihood of developing behavioral health problems post-deployment, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and at-risk drinking.

HOUSTON - (Aug. 1, 2016) - Brighter Bites, a school-based program that combines the distribution of donated produce with nutritional education and a fun food experience for low-income families in food desert areas, was successful in improving the intake of fruits and vegetables in first-grade children and their parents, according to a new study by The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). Food desert areas are defined as neighborhoods with limited access to fresh produce.

Oxford researchers are developing a tool to make it much easier and cheaper to diagnose pneumonia -- the number one killer of children under 5. Their latest research is published in Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

Currently, correctly diagnosing pneumonia and understanding how severe it is requires specialist doctors and expensive equipment like X-ray machines. Neither is available to community health workers in developing nations, where 99% of the annual 1.1 million childhood pneumonia deaths happen.

PIPELINES that carry capsules containing almost any type of freight over long distances have the potential to become an important, cost-effective and environmentally friendly form of transportation. Now, research by a University of Huddersfield scientist has led to the development of mathematical models that can ensure new pipeline systems are designed to be as economic and efficient as possible.

A new article discusses the evidentiary support for the recent changes made by the American Cancer Society in its recommendations for breast cancer screening. In addition to modifying the suggested ages for annual and biannual mammography, the new recommendations also focus on patient preference in decision making.

Data traffic is growing worldwide. Glass-fiber cables transmit information over long distances at the speed of light. Once they have reached their destination, however, these optical signals have to be converted into electrical signals for subsequent processing in the computer. KIT researchers have now developed a novel type of photodetector that needs far less space than conventional ones. The component has a base area of less than one millionth of a square millimeter without the data transmission rate being affected adversely. The corresponding article is published in the Optica journal.