Adding the nutrient selenium to diets protects against obesity and provides metabolic benefits to mice, according to a study published today in eLife. The results could lead to interventions that reproduce many of the anti-aging effects associated with dietary restriction while also allowing people to eat as normal. Several types of diet have been shown…
Boston – For decades, the power of the placebo effect was thought to lie in patients’ belief that they were — or at least, could be — receiving a pharmacologically active treatment. A new study by physician-researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) suggests that patients don’t need to be deceived to receive benefit…
People are adept at discerning most of the different emotions that underlie screams, such as anger, frustration, pain, surprise or fear, finds a new study by psychologists at Emory University. Screams of happiness, however, are more often interpreted as fear when heard without any additional context, the results show. PeerJ published the research, the first…
Scientists at UC San Francisco, UC Berkeley and UCLA have received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to jointly launch an early phase, first-in-human clinical trial of a CRISPR gene correction therapy in patients with sickle cell disease using the patient’s own blood-forming stem cells. The trial will combine CRISPR technology developed at Innovative Genomics…
BOSTON – (March 25, 2021) – A mechanism has been identified that explains how physical exercise in pregnancy confers metabolic health benefits in offspring. According to researchers, the key lies with a protein called SOD3, vitamin D and adequate exercise, with the outcomes possibly forming the first steps to designing rational diet and exercise programs…
LOWELL, Mass. – Too often, contends UMass Lowell faculty researcher Brenna Morse, children with complex chronic medical conditions spend days in the hospital undergoing tests for what could be a simple diagnosis. The challenges include, she says, some children with medical complexities, such as severe neurological conditions and functional impairments, cannot easily signal that they…
SAN ANTONIO – March 30, 2021 – Southwest Research Institute, in collaboration with Vanderbilt University, is developing machine learning algorithms to help the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) coordinate traffic management and incident response along portions of Interstate 24 in the rapidly growing Nashville region. The project will use artificial intelligence to enhance an integrated…
WASHINGTON — President Biden, facing a rise in coronavirus cases around the country, called on Monday for governors and mayors to reinstate mask mandates as the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned of “impending doom” from a potential fourth surge of the pandemic. The president’s comments came only hours after the…
For 27 days, they searched for clues in Wuhan, visiting hospitals, live animal markets and government laboratories, conducting interviews and pressing Chinese officials for data, but an international team of experts departed the country still far from understanding the origins of the coronavirus pandemic that has killed nearly 2.8 million people worldwide. The 124-page report…
BERKELEY, England — It has been called the birthplace of modern vaccination. More than 220 years ago, the residents of an English village lined up outside a small wooden hut to have their arms scratched with a lancet as they were given the first vaccine for smallpox. The pioneering local doctor administering the vaccine, Edward…