Curated News: Staff Picks

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Weight loss after gestational diabetes can prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes. Yet finding the most effective way to lose weight and keep it off can be a challenge, especially for mothers with a new baby. Now, new research from the University of South Australia suggests that the popular 5:2 or intermittent fasting diet ¬is just as effective as a conventional energy-restricting diet, enabling women greater choice and flexibility when it comes to weight loss.

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SUNY Geneseo's Jason Ozubko is the first author on a recent paper that looks at a type of memory glitch called a “recognition failure.” It’s when you can come up with a word—like the name of a restaurant you’re struggling to remember—without being sure that the name you just blurted out is the correct name.

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It’s no secret that vitamin D is critical to balancing many areas of health. But from pediatric broken bones to cluster headaches, physicians and scientists at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston) are still learning just how powerful the so-called “sunshine vitamin” is.

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Researchers from Columbia Engineering, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), University of Sheffield, Mary Rose Trust, and University of Copenhagen used a new X-ray technique developed by Columbia and ESRF to discover that there are zinc-containing nanoparticles lodged within the wooden hull of the Mary Rose, Henry VIII’s favorite warship. These nanoparticles are leading to deterioration of the remains of the ship, which sank in battle in 1545 and was raised from the Solent in 1982.

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Scientists have discovered a way to recreate the ice that exists inside planets like Neptune and Uranus, ice which forms at extremely high temperatures and pressures.

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While many animals have adapted to live with wildfires of the past — which were smaller, more frequent and kept ecosystems in balance across the West — it’s unclear to scientists how animals are coping with today’s unprecedented megafires. A team of researchers tracked a population of black-tailed deer before, during and after the 2018 Mendocino Complex Fire and found that most of the deer returned home within hours of the fire, while trees were still smoldering.

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The high-contrast pattern of giant pandas helps them blend in with their natural environment.

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McMaster researcher Edward Mills and his team treated 739 randomly selected Brazilian COVID-19 patients with fluvoxamine, with another 733 receiving a placebo, between Jan. 15 to Aug. 6 of this year. Every patient who received fluvoxamine during the trial was tracked for 28 days to determine their health outcomes and if they still need hospital treatment. Researchers found about a 30 per cent reduction in hospitalizations among those receiving fluvoxamine compared to those receiving the placebo.

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About three-quarters of people were consistently honest, telling between zero and two lies per day. By contrast, a small subset of people averaged more than six lies per day and accounted for a sizable proportion of the lies, says researcher Timothy Levine, Ph.D.

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University of California San Diego researchers, with international colleagues, describe how energy expenditure and heat production are regulated in obesity through a previously unknown cellular pathway.

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Chicken nuggets, burritos and other popular items consumers buy from fast food outlets in the United States contain chemicals that are linked to a long list of serious health problems, according to a first-of-its-kind study published today.

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In its first year of operations, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope will join forces with a global collaborative effort to create an image of the area directly surrounding the supermassive black hole at the heart of our Milky Way galaxy.

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Researchers tested the effectiveness of affordable, interactive robotic pet cats to improve mood, behavior and cognition in older adults with mild to moderate dementia.

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New variety offers superior popping quality and a new type of popped grain

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Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a concept that would make Martian rocket fuel, on Mars, that could be used to launch future astronauts back to Earth.

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Novel obesity treatments such as modulation of the gut microbiome and gene therapy are underutilized and could help fight the obesity epidemic, according to a new manuscript published in the Endocrine Society’s journal, Endocrine Reviews.

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For nurses on the frontline, the COVID-19 pandemic has been especially disparaging, challenging and even life altering. Nurses have worked extremely long hours faced not only with the excessive, increased number of deaths of their patients, who were dying alone, but also grieved the loss of coworkers. Researchers explored the use of spirituality and religion in nurses on the frontline as a way to find purpose and meaning in life, especially during times of heightened stress and uncertainty.

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A new analysis of the South Pole-based telescope’s cosmic microwave background observations has all but ruled out several popular models of inflation.

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To understand how the universe formed, astronomers have created AbacusSummit, more than 160 simulations of how gravity may have shaped the distribution of dark matter.

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A new study led by researchers at UCLA Health has found that women over the age of 50 who had breastfed their babies performed better on cognitive tests compared to women who had never breastfed. The findings, published in Evolution, Medicine and Public Health, suggest that breastfeeding may have a positive impact on postmenopausal women’s cognitive performance and could have long-term benefits for the mother’s brain.

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The 2016 election of former U.S. President Donald Trump was a highly contentious political event fraught with racist and anti-immigrant rhetoric that led to negative changes in mental health across several race/ethnic populations, according to a recent study conducted by University of California, Irvine public health researchers.

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While analyzing some of the world’s oldest coloured gemstones, researchers from the University of Waterloo discovered carbon residue that was once ancient life, encased in a 2.5 billion-year-old ruby.

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Hubble delivered a ringside seat to a supernova in the very earliest stage of exploding, giving astronomers an unprecedented view of the first moments of a star’s spectacular death.

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Gun violence increased by more than 30% in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study by Penn State College of Medicine researchers.

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The first investigational transplantation of a genetically engineered, nonhuman kidney to a human body was recently completed at NYU Langone Health—marking a major step forward in potentially utilizing an alternative supply of organs for people facing life-threatening disease.

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The first-ever Africa-wide assessment of great apes – gorillas, bonobos and chimpanzees – finds that human factors, including roads, population density and GDP, determine abundance more than ecological factors such as forest cover.

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Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt typically sees a case of functional tics every few months, according to Heather Riordan, MD, associate professor of Child Neurology. Now the team is seeing a few new cases a week.

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Discovery provides new insights into the evolution of crabs and when they spread around the world.

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Depression and anxiety in pregnant women may be connected to the type of delivery they have, new research suggests.

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Older adults who sleep short or long experienced greater cognitive decline than those who sleep a moderate amount, even when the effects of early Alzheimer’s disease were taken into account, according to a study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

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Nearsightedness has risen dramatically over the last 50 years. If nothing is done to help slow the increase, half the world’s population may be nearsighted by the year 2050.

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The study, “U.S. Catholic bishops’ silence and denialism on climate change,” examined more than 12,000 columns published from June 2014 to June 2019 by bishops in official publications for 171 of the 178 U.S. Catholic dioceses.

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Having a good night’s sleep is vital for a child’s well-being. But getting your child to sleep is not always the easiest task. With the stressors of the past almost two years, there has also been an increase in the incidence and severity of hyperactivity, insomnia, anxiety, and depression in children, especially adolescents. Prabhavathi Gummalla, MD, FAAP, pediatric pulmonology and sleep medicine specialist at The Valley Hospital’s Pediatric Sleep Disorders and Apnea Center, in Ridgewood, NJ, discusses how to get your child back to sleep.

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With slot machines producing the bulk of profits in most of the world’s casinos, gaming managers make it their business to keep slot players happy.  So how do they prevent customers who are losing from walking away?  A common strategy is to lower what’s called the “house edge,” which is the casino’s advantage when looking at the long-term difference between how much was wagered versus how much was paid out.

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If Black women begin mammography screening every other year starting at age 40, breast cancer deaths could be reduced by 57 percent compared to starting screening 10 years later — as is currently recommended by some organizations — according to analyses conducted by a modeling team that is part of the Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Network (CISNET), funded by the National Cancer Institute.

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A program offered by UCLA Health’s intensive care units is providing meaningful and compassionate support for dying patients and their families, despite the challenges brought about by COVID-19.

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Pomace – the mashed, leftover pulp from red grapes in the early process of making wine – is considered byproduct rubbish. But maybe not for long. In a new Cornell University-led food science study, researchers now demonstrate how viticultural trash could be a nutritive treasure.

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Laboratory rats have been shown to have genetic consistency and similar responses to drugs with humans, and thus become ideal animal models for research and testing of new drugs. However, due to individual difference, it is still a challenging task to find a method of unified behavior control and evaluation.

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A study by IIASA researchers and Chinese colleagues shows that carefully designed policies across the whole of China’s food system, including international trade, are crucial to ensuring that future demand can be satisfied without destroying the environment.

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Parents in a new national poll report that half of children aged 10-12 years and a third of children ages 7-9 use their devices to engage with others on social media apps.

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Patients who have cardiovascular disease are at increased risk of serious complications from the flu, according to a new study by Houston Methodist physician researchers published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. The study found that not only are traditional flu-related outcomes worse among some patients with CVD, but infection in those patients also is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events and both CV-related mortality and mortality from all causes.

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Sudden burst of evolution 66 million years ago expanded snake diets and put vertebrates on the menu.

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ROCHESTER, Minn. — While people know their health affects their longevity and quality of life, many struggle to do even the small things that will help them live younger longer. Stephen Kopecky, M.D., a preventive cardiologist at Mayo Clinic, shares his insights on protecting overall health and boosting the immune system from his book, "Live Younger Longer: 6 Steps to Prevent Heart Disease, Cancer, Alzheimer's and More." Dr. Kopecky is a two-time cancer survivor.

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Hubble Space Telescope observations of Jupiter's icy moon Europa have revealed the presence of persistent water vapor — but mysteriously, only in one hemisphere.

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Four weeks on a diet of highly processed food led to a strong inflammatory response in the brain and behavioral signs of memory loss in aging rats, a study found. Supplementing the diet with the omega-3 fatty acid DHA prevented memory problems and reduced the inflammatory effects almost entirely.

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When 8-year-old Morgan Deitz, known for her “spunky” and “social” personality, came down with COVID-19 in late July 2021, the symptoms were no more than your average cold. “She was a little fatigued, had a runny nose and her throat was a little sore,” her mom, Lauren Deitz, recalls of the symptoms that lasted about two days.