Liquid biopsy for colorectal cancer could guide therapy for tumors

A new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis demonstrates that a liquid biopsy examining blood or urine can help gauge the effectiveness of therapy for colorectal cancer that has just begun to spread beyond the original tumor. Such a biopsy can detect lingering disease and could serve as a guide for deciding whether a patient should undergo further treatments.

New skin patch brings us closer to wearable, all-in-one health monitor

Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a soft, stretchy skin patch that can be worn on the neck to continuously track blood pressure and heart rate while measuring the wearer’s levels of glucose as well as lactate, alcohol or caffeine. This one patch performs as well as commercial monitoring devices such as a blood pressure cuff, blood lactate meter, glucometer and breathalyzer.

Study contradicts belief that whales learn songs from one another.

A new study by a University at Buffalo researcher is directly contradicting the widely accepted cultural transmission hypothesis suggesting that whales learn their songs from other whales.
“It seems like that is not correct,” says Eduardo Mercado, a professor of psychology in UB’s College of Arts and Sciences. “Our findings indicate that neither cultural transmission nor social learning contributes significantly to how humpback whales change their songs over time.

Random twists of place: How quiet is quantum space-time at the Planck scale?

Fermilab scientist and University of Chicago professor of astronomy and astrophysics Craig Hogan gives perspective on how the Holometer program aimed at a tiny scale — the Planck length — to help answer one of the universe’s most basic questions: Why does everything appear to happen at definite times and places? He contextualizes the results and offers optimism for future researchers.

Studies highlight ‘unprecedented and unique dangers’ for children during COVID-19

Two new studies investigating child maltreatment during the COVID-19 pandemic reveal “concerning results” that confirm warning signs seen early in the pandemic, according to researchers at UAB and the University of Michigan.

Death by suicide? Drug overdoses muddy waters for investigators, amplify national mental health crisis

Broadening the definition of self-inflicted mortality to encompass most drug overdose deaths, WVU emeritus professor Ian Rockett led a study finding that the entire nation is afflicted by a mental health crisis. In recent years, western states have reported more suicides but Rockett’s research revealed that many drug overdose deaths in non-western states should have been classified as suicides.

Applying Quantum Computing to a Particle Process

A team of researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) used a quantum computer to successfully simulate an aspect of particle collisions that is typically neglected in high-energy physics experiments, such as those that occur at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider.

Mexico’s poor have little luck obtaining opioids intended for palliative care

Despite a Mexican government initiative launched in 2015 to improve access to prescription opioids among palliative care patients, the country has seen only a marginal increase in dispensing levels, and inequities in dispensing have left many of the nation’s poorest residents without comfort in their final days

New machine learning theory that can be applied to fusion energy raises questions about the very nature of science

A novel computer algorithm, or set of rules, that accurately predicts the orbits of planets in the solar system could be adapted to better predict and control the behavior of the plasma that fuels fusion facilities designed to harvest on Earth the fusion energy that powers the sun and stars.

Johns Hopkins Scientists Find Mammals Share Gene Pathways That Allow Zebrafish To Grow New Eyes

Working with fish, birds and mice, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers report new evidence that some animals’ natural capacity to regrow neurons is not missing, but is instead inactivated in mammals. Specifically, the researchers found that some genetic pathways that allow many fish and other cold-blooded animals to repair specialized eye neurons after injury remain present in mammals as well, but are turned off, blocking regeneration and healing.

Southern California COVID-19 Strain Rapidly Expands Global Reach

A new strain of the coronavirus in Southern California, first reported last month by Cedars-Sinai, is rapidly spreading across the country and around the world as travelers apparently carry the virus with them to a growing list of global destinations, according to new research published today in the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The strain now accounts for nearly half of current COVID-19 cases in Southern California.

Study: reparations for slavery could have reduced COVID-19 infections and deaths in U.S.

New study suggests monetary reparations for Black descendants of people enslaved in the United States could have cut SARS-CoV-2 transmission and COVID-19 rates both among Black individuals and the population at large.

Researchers modeled the impact of structural racism on viral transmission and disease impact in the state of Louisiana.
The higher burden of SARS-CoV-2 infection among Black people also amplified the virus’s spread in the wider population.

Reparations could have reduced SARS-CoV-2 transmission in the overall population by as much as 68 percent.

Compared with white people, Black individuals in the United States are more likely to be infected with SARS-CoV-2, more likely to end up in the hospital with COVID-19, and more likely to die from the disease.

Heart Health Problems in Your 20s May Affect Brain Health Decades Later

Having health issues such as smoking, high cholesterol or a high body mass index (BMI) in your 20s may make you more likely to have problems with thinking and memory skills and even the brain’s ability to properly regulate its blood flow, according to a preliminary study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 72nd Annual Meeting in Toronto, Canada, April 25 to May 1, 2020.

At least 50% of COVID-19 infections come from people who aren’t showing symptoms

A new study out of the University of Chicago has found that during the initial wave of the COVID-19 outbreak in New York City, only 1 in 5 to 1 in 7 cases of the virus was symptomatic. The research team found that non-symptomatic cases substantially contribute to community transmission, making up at least 50% of the driving force of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Hope For Children With Bow Hunter Syndrome

DALLAS – Feb. 11, 2021 – Fusing the neck’s top two vertebrae can prevent repeat strokes in children with bow hunter syndrome, a rare condition that affects a handful of U.S. pediatric patients each year, UT Southwestern researchers suggest in a recent study. The finding, published online in Child’s Nervous System, offers a new way to treat these children and protect them from potentially lifelong neurological consequences.

Vanderbilt, Zambia Researchers Find Delirium in Hospitalized Patients Linked to Mortality, Disability in Sub-Saharan Africa

Delirium, a form of acute brain dysfunction, is widespread in critically ill patients in lower resourced hospitals, and the duration of delirium predicted both mortality and disability at six months after discharge, according to a study published in PLOS ONE.

Giant lasers compress iron oxide, revealing the secret interior structure of rocky exoplanets

Advances in astronomical observations have resulted in the discovery of an extraordinary number of extrasolar planets, some of which are believed to have a rocky composition similar to Earth. Learning more about their interior structure could provide important clues about their potential habitability. Led by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), a team of researchers aims to unlock some of these secrets by understanding the properties of iron oxide – one of the constituents of Earth’s mantle – at the extreme pressures and temperatures that are likely found in the interiors of these large rocky extrasolar planets.