Author: sarah Jonas

The cold-start dilemma

sarah JonasResearch Results

With hybrid cars and plug-in hybrids, cold starts occur more frequently when the internal combustion engine stops and the electric motor pushes the car through town. How quickly can the catalytic converter be preheated so that it can still clean exhaust gases well? What would be the method of choice? A team of Empa researchers is investigating.

Observing mothers’ negative experiences with drink may normalize alcohol risks for adolescent children

sarah JonasResearch Results

Adolescents’ expectations of drinking – whether they anticipate having positive or negative experiences with alcohol – are an important influence on their drinking behavior. For example, those with stronger ‘positive expectancies’ are more likely to start drinking at a young age and to have problems with alcohol. Parental drinking can be an important factor in shaping alcohol expectancies in early adolescence, before a young person starts using alcohol. Studies indicate that children of parents with high levels of alcohol use, and/or an alcohol use disorder (AUD), tend to have stronger positive expectancies of alcohol. However, some evidence suggests that observing the undesirable effects of their parents’ high-risk drinking could lead to ‘negative expectancies’, although this link is uncertain. Researchers from Arizona State University have conducted a new study, published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, assessing whether the observable negative effects

CHOP Researchers Develop Novel Approach to Capture Hard-to-View Portion of Colon in 3-D for the First Time

sarah JonasResearch Results

In a groundbreaking discovery, researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) developed a new imaging method that allows scientists to view the enteric nervous system (ENS) – a key part of the human colon – in three dimensions by making other colon cells that normally block it invisible. The ENS has previously only been visible in thin tissue slices that provide limited clinical information.

Drug used for breast, kidney cancers may also extend survival for patients with advanced head and neck cancer

sarah JonasResearch Results

A targeted therapy drug used for breast and kidney cancers may also extend progression-free survival for patients with advanced head and neck cancer who are at high risk for recurrence after standard treatment. Patients enrolled in a randomized phase II trial who received the mTOR inhibitor everolimus were more likely to be cancer-free a year after therapy than those who took a placebo drug, and the benefit persisted for those with mutations in their TP53 gene.

Radiation/immunotherapy combo shows promise for recurrent/metastatic head and neck cancers

sarah JonasResearch Results

A new phase II trial finds that a combination of radiation therapy and immunotherapy led to encouraging survival outcomes and acceptable toxicity for patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The combination of radiation and pembrolizumab may offer a new treatment option for patients who are ineligible for cisplatin chemotherapy, part of standard treatment for the disease. Findings will be presented at the 2020 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancers Symposium.

Pre-operative immunotherapy triggers encouraging response in oral cancers

sarah JonasResearch Results

A new clinical trial suggests that immunotherapy given before other treatments for oral cavity cancers can elicit an immune response that shrinks tumors, which could provide long-term benefit for patients. In the randomized trial, two neoadjuvant doses of nivolumab given with or without ipilimumab led to complete or partial tumor shrinkage in most cases and did not delay any patients from continuing on to standard treatment. Findings will be presented at the 2020 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancers Symposium.

NCCN 2020 Annual Conference to Examine Advances in Cancer Care and Emerging Issues in Oncology

sarah JonasAnnouncement

Cancer care providers will gather in Orlando on March 20-22 for the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) 2020 Annual Conference: Celebrating 25 Years of NCCN. The three-day, in-person conference features more than 30 educational sessions on state-of-the-art practices in cancer care.

Monogamous Female Sea Turtles? Yes, Thanks to Sperm Storage

sarah JonasResearch Results

Female sea turtles mate multiply to ensure fertilization. A study of nesting loggerhead female sea turtles in southwestern Florida used genotyping to uncover how many fathers were represented in their nests. Surprisingly, scientists found that 75 percent of the female sea turtles had mated singly. No male was represented in more than one female’s clutches. Findings provide insights into the relative numbers of males present in the breeding population, which are hard to get because males never come ashore.

University of Utah law professor challenges South Carolina statute that prohibits discussion of LGBTQ relationships in schools

sarah JonasPolicy

Today, University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law Professor Clifford Rosky, along with the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Lambda Legal, and private counsel Womble Bond Dickinson and Brazil & Burke, filed a federal lawsuit challenging a South Carolina statute that prohibits public school health education from including any discussion of same-sex relationships except in the context of sexually transmitted diseases. The lawsuit is filed on behalf of the student organization Gender and Sexuality Alliance, as well as the Campaign for Southern Equality and South Carolina Equality Coalition, including their members who are public school students in the state.

Click here to learn more and read the complaint.

The lawsuit, Gender and Sexuality Alliance v. Spearman, alleges that S.C. Code § 59-32-30(A)(5), a provision of the South Carolina’s 1988 Comprehensive Health Education Act, violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by discrimi

University of Toledo engineering students as future STEM leaders

sarah JonasFeature

On Monday, January 13, engineering students from the University of Toledo’s Roy and Marcia Armes Engineering Leaderships Institute (ELI) visited Argonne National Laboratory to prepare themselves for the leadership challenges facing engineers.

University of Texas at Dallas Computer Scientists’ New Tool Fools Hackers into Sharing Keys for Better Cybersecurity

sarah JonasResearch Results

Instead of blocking hackers, a new cybersecurity defense approach developed by University of Texas at Dallas computer scientists actually welcomes them.

The method, called DEEP-Dig (DEcEPtion DIGging), ushers intruders into a decoy site so the computer can learn from hackers’ tactics. The information is then used to train the computer to recognize and stop future attacks.

A common gut microbe secretes a carcinogen

sarah JonasUncategorized

Cancer mutations can be caused by common gut bacteria carried by many people. This was demonstrated by researchers from the Hubrecht Institute (KNAW) and Princess Máxima Center in Utrecht, the Netherlands. By exposing cultured human mini-guts to a particular strain…

Revving habits up and down, new insight into how the brain forms habits

sarah JonasUncategorized

Each day, humans and animals rely on habits to complete routine tasks such as eating and sleeping. As new habits are formed, this enables us to do things automatically without thinking. As the brain starts to develop a new habit,…

A new strategy to prevent the most aggressive tumors from generating resistance to chemotherapy

sarah JonasUncategorized

This strategy can open new avenues to improve the effectiveness of therapies in thousands of patients who are currently being treated with classical radiotherapy or chemotherapy; the authors intend to test this approach in clinical trials

How do zebrafish get their stripes? New data analysis tool could provide an answer

sarah JonasUncategorized

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — The iconic stripes of zebrafish are a classic example of natural self-organization. As zebrafish embryos develop, three types of pigment cells move around the skin, eventually jostling into positions that form body-length yellow and blue…