AMA passes ACR-led resolution opposing paying patients to switch treatments

ATLANTA – The American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates passed a resolution developed by the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) to oppose insurance companies providing financial incentives for patients to switch from their prescribed treatment to a payer-preferred treatment during its recent June 2021 Special Meeting. The ACR drafted the resolution after learning Cigna…

‘On/off’ switches for self-assembling hydrogels could advance wound healing and more

BROOKLYN, New York, Wednesday, June 23, 2021 — Owing to their tunable properties, hydrogels comprising stimuli-sensitive polymers are among the most appealing molecular scaffolds because their versatility allows for applications in tissue engineering, drug delivery and other biomedical fields. Peptides and proteins are increasingly popular as building blocks because they can be stimulated to self-assemble…

Study finds abnormal response to cellular stress is associated with Huntington’s disease

IMAGE: Shown is a surface rendering of G3BP1 granules (in green) detected by immunofluorescence in the HD mouse model cortex. view more  Credit: UCI School of Medicine Irvine, CA – June 23, 2021 – A new University of California, Irvine-led study finds that the persistence of a marker of chronic cellular stress, previously associated with neurodegenerative…

Coral offspring physiology impacted by parental exposure to intense environmental stresses

IMAGE: A recent publication in the journal Global Change Biology documents the results of two years of experiments conducted at BIOS by a team of researchers including Kevin Wong (shown here),… view more  Credit: Kevin Wong Adult corals that survive high-intensity environmental stresses, such as bleaching events, can produce offspring that are better suited to survive…

Smoother silicone breast implants may reduce severity of immune system reactions

IMAGE: Scanning electron microscope image of a silicone breast implant. view more  Credit: Josh Doloff FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE STUDY SUGGESTS THAT SMOOTHER SILICONE BREAST IMPLANTS REDUCE SEVERITY OF IMMUNE SYSTEM REACTIONS According to researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Rice University in Houston, silicone breast implants with a smoother surface…

Food protein can eliminate pungency and bitterness of extra virgin olive oil

PHILADELPHIA – Researchers have been investigating the potential health-promoting qualities of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) for decades, including its possible medicinal value for preventing cancer, Alzheimer’s, and cardiovascular disease, as part of the well-known Mediterranean diet. However, consumers in the U.S. have been slow to embrace it as a staple in their diet. This…

Covid’s Delta Variant: What We Know

The super-contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus is now responsible for about one in every five Covid-19 cases in the United States, and its prevalence has doubled in the last two weeks, health officials said on Tuesday. First identified in India, Delta is one of several “variants of concern,” as designated by the Centers for…