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Tag: Newswise

  • Social Anxiety, Depression Linked to More Negative Alcohol-Related Consequences from ‘Pre-Gaming’

    Social Anxiety, Depression Linked to More Negative Alcohol-Related Consequences from ‘Pre-Gaming’

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    Newswise — College students with social anxiety may be driven by social motives to ‘pre-game,’ meaning drink prior to a party or event. Simultaneously, students with co-occurring social anxiety and depression also experience more negative consequences, like blackouts, from their alcohol use, according to a study published in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research. The study authors recommend efforts to help students address mental health issues and their motivations for drinking before social events to prevent the harms associated with pregaming.

    Pregaming, sometimes called frontloading or pre-partying, is common among college students and involves drinking prior to a social event, typically where more drinking will take place. It often leads to heavier drinking on days when students pre-game and puts students at a higher risk of academic and interpersonal problems, injury, sexual or physical assault, driving while intoxicated, and blacking out. 

    For this study, researchers examined how college students’ mental health and motivations for pre-gaming were associated with pre-gaming drinking behaviors and related negative consequences, including blackouts. Five hundred college students completed self-assessments of social anxiety, depression, and motivations for pre-gaming, which included to meet new friends, “hook up,” control the kind of alcohol they drink, and because they may not be able to drink at the subsequent event. Based on their responses, they were grouped into one of four profiles. Fifty-nine percent of participants were categorized as having mild to moderate social anxiety and depression symptoms and moderately motivated to pregame, 13 percent were categorized as having minimal social anxiety and depression symptoms and low pregaming motivations, 16 percent had subclinical/elevated social anxiety and depression symptoms and high pregaming motives, and 12 percent had clinically-elevated social anxiety and depression symptoms with moderate motives.

    The subclinical/elevated social anxiety and depression symptoms profile reported the highest frequency of pregaming and the highest number of past-month drinking-related consequences. They reported an average of three and a half alcohol-induced blackouts in the prior 30 days, significantly more than any other group. This group also reported more motivations for pregaming than any group, particularly for social motivations. The group assessed to have minimal social anxiety and depression symptoms had significantly lower calculated blood alcohol levels and reported the fewest alcohol-related consequences of all the groups. This profile still attained risky blood alcohol levels and reported five drinking-related consequences in the past month. The group with clinically elevated social anxiety and depression symptoms reported the second fewest consequences of the four groups.

    Participants in the mobile phone-based study were full-time undergraduate students at a single, large, private U.S. university who had reported pre-gaming at least once a week for the prior month. The sample was predominantly white, cisgender, and female. Participants reported high levels of alcohol use, were primarily a socially motivated sample, and thus were likely not fully representative of students with clinically high levels of social anxiety and depression.

    The researchers suggest that social anxiety and social motivation put students at greater risk from pregaming and recommend the exploration of mental health and drinking motivations as targets for intervention in heavy drinking populations.

    A latent profile analysis of social anxiety, depression, and pregaming motives among heavy-drinking college students. R. Fitzke, T. Atieh, J. Davis, L. Canning, Liv; D. Tran, K. Buch, J. Hummer, E. Pedersen

    ACER-23-5692.R1

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    Research Society on Alcoholism

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  • About 22 high school age adolescents died each week from overdoses in 2022, driven by fentanyl-laced prescription pills

    About 22 high school age adolescents died each week from overdoses in 2022, driven by fentanyl-laced prescription pills

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    BYLINE: Enrique Rivero

    EMBARGOED FOR USE UNTIL:

    7:30 A.M. (ET) ON JANUARY 6, 2024

     

    About 22 high school age adolescents died each week from overdoses in 2022, driven by fentanyl-laced prescription pills

    Newswise — An average of 22 adolescents 14 to 18 years of age died in the U.S. each week in 2022 from drug overdoses, raising the death rate for this group to 5.2 per 100,000– driven by fentanyl in counterfeit pills, new research finds.

    Adolescent overdoses had more than doubled among this group between 2019 and 2020, and have since intensified to such an extent that the death count equals a high school classroom each week, and is now the third largest cause of pediatric deaths behind firearm-related injuries and motor vehicle collisions. 

    The increase is, however, not due to more illicit drug use – which has in fact fallen over the years; for example, excluding cannabis, the rate of any illicit drug use among just 12th graders had fallen from about 21% to 8% in the 20 years since 2002. Instead, the increase is the result of drugs becoming deadlier due to fentanyl, which is increasingly found in counterfeit oxycodone, benzodiazepines and other prescription pills that fall into the hands of adolescents.

    But educators, physicians, and mental health practitioners can be instrumental in helping to stem this tide through pointed questions and guidance about drug use and the dangers that counterfeit pills present, the researchers write in a paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine. In addition, policymakers can focus on “hotspot” counties, most in western states, with particularly high overdose deaths.

    “Teenagers are likely to be unaware of just how high-risk experimenting with pills has become, given the recent rise in counterfeit tablets” said study co-author Joseph Friedman, a researcher at UCLA. “It’s often impossible to tell the difference with the naked eye between a real prescription medication obtained from a doctor and a counterfeit version with a potentially deadly dose of fentanyl. It’s urgent that teenagers be given accurate information about the real risks, and strategies to keep themselves and their friends safe.” 

    The researchers found that adolescent overdoses were occurring at double the national average in Arizona, Colorado and Washington State between 2020 and 2022. They identified 19 hotspot counties – that is, those with at least 20 overdose deaths and death rates higher than the national average, with Maricopa County in Arizona and Los Angeles County having the most fatal overdoses at 117 and 111, respectively, during this period. 

    The other 17 counties are Orange County, California (61 deaths), Cook County, Illinois (56), San Bernardino County, California (54), King County, Washington (52), Riverside County, California (41), San Diego County, California (36), Tarrant County, Texas (35), Clark County, Nevada (31), Kern County, California (30), Pima County, Arizona (29), Adams County, Colorado (25), Denver County, Colorado (24), Jackson County, Missouri (24), Santa Clara County, California (24), Bernalillo County, New Mexico (23), Davidson County, Tennessee (21), and Marion County, Indiana (21). 

    In addition, American Indian and Alaska Native adolescents had 1.82 times the overdose rates of whites between 2020 and 2022. And adolescents are overall likelier to use the pill form of the drug rather than powder, which was previously the main fentanyl source. For instance, while 0.3% of high school seniors in 2022 reported using heroin, which comes in powder form, 5% reported nonmedical use of prescription pills the same year.

    The researchers provide the following recommendations to combat these trends:

    • Pediatricians, other primary care physicians, and mental health practitioners should ask their adolescent patients if they or their peers were approached either in person or via social media about buying pills, or if they have used them without prescriptions
    • Educators, along with parents, can discuss with adolescents the dangers associated with counterfeit pills; these efforts should be especially prioritized in hotspot locations
    • Clinicians, educators and parents can highlight the Safety First curriculum that emphasizes abstinence from drugs and provides information about risk reduction for those who do experiment with drugs, such as where to find and how to use the overdose-reversal agent naloxone
    • Finally, naloxone should be available in schools, which should also adopt “no-questions-asked” pill-disposal programs as well as provide anonymous mechanisms such messaging services that students can use to ask about counterfeit pills and substance use without risk of punishment or embarrassment.

    “Fentanyl has rapidly become a leading cause of death in American teens,” said Dr. Scott Hadland, chief of adolescent medicine at Mass General for Children and senior author on the paper. “Policymakers, clinicians, families and communities need to partner together to address this worsening public health threat.”

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    University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Health Sciences

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  • Ultrasensitive molecular sensing with synthesize complex-frequencey waves

    Ultrasensitive molecular sensing with synthesize complex-frequencey waves

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    Newswise — Sensors are essential tools for detecting and analyzing trace molecules in a variety of fields, including environmental monitoring, food safety, and public health. However, developing sensors with high enough sensitivity to detect these tiny amounts of molecules remains a challenge.

    One promising approach is surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA), which uses plasmonic nanostructures to amplify the infrared signals of molecules adsorbed on their surface. Graphene is a particularly promising material for SEIRA because of its high sensitivity and tunability. However, the interaction between graphene and molecules is weakened by intrinsic molecular damping.

    In a new paper published in eLight, researchers from multiple institutions demonstrated a new approach to improve the sensitivity of SEIRA. This approach employs synthesized complex-frequency waves (CFW) to amplify the molecular signals detected by graphene-based sensors by at least an order of magnitude. It also applies to molecular sensing in different phases.

    SEIRA was first demonstrated using Ag and Au thin films. Still, the advancement of nanofabrication and the development of new plasmonic materials have led to plasmonic nanostructures capable of much greater enhancement of biomolecule signals. Compared to metal-based SEIRA, strong field confinement supported by two-dimensional (2D) Dirac fermion electronic states enables graphene-based SEIRA with excellent performance in molecular characterization for gas and solid phase sensing. Graphene can also enhance molecular IR absorption in aqueous solution.

    Notably, the active tunability of graphene plasmons broadens their detection frequency range for different molecular vibrational modes by changing the doping level via gate voltage. These advantages make graphene-based SEIRA a unique platform for molecular monolayer detection.

    However, intrinsic molecular damping significantly reduces the interaction between the vibrational modes and plasmons. As a result, at very low concentrations, the spectra of plasmon-enhanced molecular signals become very weak and broad, ultimately overshadowed by noise.

    One way to compensate for molecular damping is to add optical gain materials. However, this requires a complex setup which may not be compatible with the detection system. In addition, gain materials usually increase instability and noise.

    Another possibility is to use complex-frequency waves (CFW); theoretical studies have proved that CFW with temporal attenuation can restore information loss due to material losses. However, producing CFW in real optical systems remains a challenging task.

    The researchers propose a new method for synthesizing CFW by combining multiple real-frequency waves. This method has been successfully applied to improve the spatial resolution of superlenses (see Guan et al, Science, Science 381, 766-771, 2023).

    The researchers demonstrate that synthesized CFWs can dramatically enhance the molecular vibrational fingerprints in graphene-based SEIRA. They successfully apply synthesized CFWs to improve the molecular signals in the mid-IR extinction spectrum for biomolecules under different conditions, including direct measurement of multiple vibrational modes of deoxynivalenol (DON) molecules and graphene-based SEIRA of proteins in both solid phase and aqueous solution.

    This new approach to SEIRA using synthesized CFWs is highly scalable to various SEIRA technologies and can generally increase the detection sensitivity of traditional SEIRA technologies. It could be used to develop ultrasensitive sensors for a wide range of applications, such as early disease diagnosis, personalized medicine, and rapid detection of toxic agents. This approach has the potential to revolutionize the field of molecular sensing, enabling the detection of trace molecules that are currently undetectable.

    ###

    References

    DOI

    10.1186/s43593-023-00058-y

    Original Source URL

    https://doi.org/10.1186/s43593-023-00058-y

    Funding information

    This work was supported by the New Cornerstone Science Foundation, the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong AoE/P-701/20, 17309021; National Key Research and Development Program of China grant 2021YFA1201500; National Natural Science Foundation of China (U2032206 and 51925203, 52022025; and 52102160).

    About eLight

    eLight will primarily publish the finest manuscripts, broadly covering all optics, photonics and electromagnetics sub-fields. In particular, we focus on emerging topics and cross-disciplinary research related to optics.

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    Chinese Academy of Sciences

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  • Research volunteers combat Parkinson’s.

    Research volunteers combat Parkinson’s.

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    Newswise — About three years before he retired, David Campbell noticed something weird happening as he typed. Whenever he tried to hit a letter, say “a,” he’d get “aaa,” like the keyboard was jamming or his finger was triple-tapping the key. That wasn’t the only thing that seemed off—his sense of smell was faltering. “Little things,” he says, “that I didn’t think of as being a big deal.”

    A couple of weeks after he retired in fall 2020, Campbell learned the little things weren’t so little—they were life-changing. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. The repeated “a” was caused by a slight tremor as nerve cells in his brain degenerated or died, interrupting the signals controlling his muscles. A tremor is many patients’ first Parkinson’s symptom, followed by a raft of other steadily worsening neurological issues, such as a quieter voice, slower movement, stiffer limbs, and tighter facial expressions. Almost all patients will suffer some loss of smell too.

    Although therapy and medications can bring some relief from the neurodegenerative disorder, there’s no cure. Somewhere between 500,000 and 1 million Americans have Parkinson’s, including actor Michael J. Fox, singer Neil Diamond, and civil rights activist Jesse Jackson.

    For Campbell, it was a pretty shabby retirement gift. As he tried to adjust to his new reality, the former Boston University laboratory engineer joined a support group and decided to volunteer for research studies that aimed to improve treatment—perhaps even plot the route to a cure. “I figured, I have the disease,” he says, “I might as well try to do something good with it.”

    That decision is already having an impact. With the help of volunteers like Campbell, researchers at Boston University’s Center for Neurorehabilitation, a hub for Parkinson’s research, education, and clinical care, have made two important advances that may help people with the disease walk more smoothly, even turn their shuffled steps into confident strides. In one study, they used wearable soft robotic apparel—a series of fabric wraps, cables, actuators, and sensors—to help patients walk farther and faster. A second study used a music-based technology to increase walking duration and distance—controlling a song’s beats per minute to keep the steps up.

    Based at BU Sargent College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences, the center has been at the forefront of research establishing the benefits of exercise and physical therapy in taming Parkinson’s disease’s impact and improving quality of life. And both of the newly tested therapies could find their way into patients’ everyday lives relatively quickly. The robotic device uses technology that’s already commercially available; the musical intervention uses store-bought headphones. But, says Terry Ellis, the Center for Neurorehabilitation’s director, without the volunteers who give up hours of their time to participate in research studies or help her team test ideas and tweak gadgets, none of it would be possible.

    That’s a story told across BU. Volunteers join research studies—as well as classroom discussions and clinical training programs—on a wide range of topics, participating in person or from home. Some even do it over decades, like those who’ve given their time to the long-running Framingham Heart Study and BU’s Black Women’s Health Study.

    “Most of our research is intervention studies, so there’s hypothetically some benefit for them,” says Ellis of her center’s work. Their fitness may improve, they may get to try out some symptom-relieving tools. “But without them, we couldn’t do the work. I’m always saying to [volunteers], the work wouldn’t exist without your participation and contribution.”

    Robotic Apparel Eliminates Freezing of Gait

    Being a research study guinea pig can be rewarding, and might even save or improve lives, but it’s hardly glamorous work. For most of the apparel study, the main volunteer (unnamed in the final paper to protect their privacy) spent his time walking back and forth—again, and again, and again. At first, it was to get a baseline of his walking ability, then to allow the researchers to monitor the robotic tech’s effectiveness at shifting his stride and fine-tune the technology.

    The patient, a 73-year-old male who’d been diagnosed with Parkinson’s 10 years earlier, was struggling with a common Parkinson’s problem known as freezing of gait. During a freezing episode, thought to be caused by a malfunction in the brain’s locomotor circuitry, a patient’s stride shortens, their walking speed tumbles, and their muscle coordination falls out of whack. Then they just stop—it reportedly feels like their feet are glued to the floor. Things had gotten so bad for the patient working with Ellis—more than 10 freezing episodes a day, resulting in multiple falls—he’d taken to getting around on a kick scooter.

    “It’s just devastating,” says Ellis (CAMED’05), a Sargent professor and chair of physical therapy. “There’s really no medicine or surgery that improves this. It interferes tremendously with people’s everyday life.”

    She and her colleagues had tried wearable robotic apparel with people recovering from a stroke—finding it helped some regain their pre-stroke walking speeds—and wondered if similar technology might work for Parkinson’s too. That exosuit, which is now commercially available for stroke rehabilitation from medical device company ReWalk Robotics, was derived from a model developed for the military by Harvard University’s Biodesign Lab to increase service members’ endurance.

    In most iterations, the robotic apparel looks like a highly engineered sports brace, using an algorithm to drive motors and cables that strategically apply forces to supplement muscles and joints. The version the researchers tailored for the Parkinson’s study featured two bands: one around the waist, the other around the thigh, each connected by a spooled cable. When activated, the spool turns, retracting the cable and pulling the thigh up. Ellis calls it a mechanical assist: “It provides a little bit of force—it’s perceptible, but at a very low level.” The algorithm helps time the assistance to the users’ steps and tailor the amount of force needed.

    As the study progressed, the researchers put their volunteer through his paces with a range of different tasks, including timed walking tests in the lab and outside in the community, adjusting the force provided by the suit—and its timing—and assessing the biomechanics of his walking.

    The results were striking: when the suit was on, the volunteer strolled easily down the corridor, arms and legs swinging with a natural confidence; when it was powered down, the change was almost instant—he staggered, stumbled, shuffled, and grabbed at the wall for balance.

    When switched on, the robotic apparel eliminated his freezing of gait—the first time any study has shown a potential way to overcome the debilitating symptom. The findings were published in Nature Medicine.

    “It’s pretty amazing,” says Ellis, who collaborated with researchers from BU and Harvard University. “We think we’re driving an increase in step length and that’s preventing the shortening of the steps that leads to freezing. In future, we envision you could wear this like underclothes.” Her coauthors include Conor Walsh, a Harvard University professor of engineering and applied sciences; Franchino Porciuncula, a Sargent research scientist; and Jinsoo Kim, a Stanford University postdoctoral scholar and recent Harvard PhD student.

    The researchers even did an informal test outside the study, letting the volunteer take the apparel for a spin at home. “And he did pretty well,” says Ellis. “There were certain tight spots where it didn’t work as well as we would want, so we talked about playing with the algorithm to make it work better.”

    This was just a small study with one patient, so the next stage would be scaling the project up with more volunteers. But Ellis says because the base technology is already commercially available through ReWalk, there aren’t many barriers to getting the suit into clinics. She pictures a near future where a patient visits a physical therapist, their walking is assessed, and they get robotic apparel tailored for their needs. Even without the tech, the team’s findings on the biomechanics of freezing gait may help therapists better target treatments to combat it.

    Walking to the Beat Improves Quality of Life with Parkinson’s

    Another volunteer being helped to hit her stride is Ann Greehy. A former school guidance counselor, she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2015 and began volunteering at BU three years later. Her most recent contribution was as a volunteer on a project examining the use of music as a walking aid.

    In a new study published in the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease, Ellis and Porciuncula found they could use a song’s beats per minute to help people increase their gait speed and stride length, and cut out variability in their walking patterns. Greehy was one of those who’d helped them assess the technology.

    During the study, researchers placed sensors in subjects’ shoes to monitor their gait and gave them an Android device loaded with a music software app. The proprietary system, which uses a technique known as rhythmic auditory stimulation, plays music with beats per minute tailored to a patients’ natural walking cadence, helping them gradually increase their pace session by session; all the participants were asked to plug in their headphones and walk for 30 minutes, five days a week.

    “It was amazing when the beats started—it was a whole new experience,” says Greehy. “You put your shoulders back and you’re up walking.”

    After four weeks of using the system, which was developed by neurorehab company MedRhythms, the 23 study participants had a similar experience to Greehy. The researchers found that, compared to baseline, they had higher rates of daily moderate intensity walking (up by an average of 21.44 minutes) and more steps (up by 3,384 steps). In the paper, they noted “quality of life, disease severity, walking endurance, and functional mobility were improved after four weeks.”

    “People with Parkinson’s can’t move automatically—they have to think about the movement,” says Ellis, who collaborated on the study with researchers from the University of New England, Johns Hopkins University, and MedRhythms. The part of the brain, the basal ganglia, that sends the signals that help people walk without deliberate thought is dysfunctional. “You can’t possibly keep that level of attention to the task of walking, so we were trying to figure out how to provide an external signal if the internal signal is not working.”

    The music provided that signal—in the same way your workout playlist gets your feet moving on the gym treadmill. “You’re not thinking, ‘Oh, I want to run to the beat of the music,’” says Ellis. “It just happens, and so it takes a lot less cognitive energy.”

    Making Sense of Life with Parkinson’s

    One of Greehy’s highlights of the music study was making Ellis’ students laugh by sharing her favorite track: rapper Flo Rida’s “Club Can’t Handle Me.” They were “on the floor laughing at this old lady who likes Flo Rida,” she says. Like Greehy, many of the volunteers also come into BU to work with students, sitting in on classes and panels, talking to them about living with Parkinson’s disease, answering their questions, and giving them a chance to practice their care skills. Some volunteers also attend the Center for Neurorehabilitation as a patient, receiving physical therapy services.

    “Our research and clinic are one and the same,” says Ellis. “That chasm that can exist between research and clinical practice doesn’t exist here. The questions we try to answer with research come from our interactions with patients in the clinic—it’s their challenges and problems that they bring to us that make us curious about how to solve them.” And when they find a solution, they take it straight into the clinic.

    Another of the music study volunteers and clinic patients, retired psychologist Ed Hattauer, appreciates that focus on making lives better—including his own. “As an old-time PhD researcher, I really relish in the importance of doing research, but research that’s very practically oriented toward helping people do things.” Hattauer says that when he comes to the center, there’s “really a sense of personal caring that gets communicated. And I think what I carry away is a sense of hope. It helps sustain my hope and my feeling of emotional connection.”

    Greehy says there are a whole bunch of factors that keep her coming back: “I’ve gotten so much out of this it’s not even funny.” She loves working with students, she gets great tips from the therapists about maintaining her hobbies, like gardening, and she feels good being part of the push for a solution to the disease. Most importantly, volunteering has helped her make sense of life after her diagnosis.

    “What are you going to do with this disease?” says Greehy. “Are you just going to sit back or are we going to jump in? I want us to do more to wipe this thing out. I think it’s time.”

    Like other volunteers, Greehy knows the disease probably won’t be cured in her lifetime, but it won’t stop her trying.

    “I don’t know if they’ll find a cure for me necessarily,” says Campbell, “but I’ve been around research and development my whole life and it feels good to contribute in whatever way possible. I could just sit at home and wallow in pity and do nothing, but it feels proactive to go out and make an effort to advance the science.”

     

    Republishers are kindly reminded to uphold journalistic integrity by providing proper crediting, including a direct link back to the original source URL here.

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    Boston University

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  • Weekly Recap | Cleveland Clinic Health Stories Available for Broadcast and Web

    Weekly Recap | Cleveland Clinic Health Stories Available for Broadcast and Web

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    BYLINE: Weekly Recap | Cleveland Clinic Health Stories Available for Broadcast and Web

    Weekly Recap of Health Stories from Cleveland Clinic:

    The stories below are available for broadcast and digital use. They include scripts, web copy, soundbites and b-roll.

    Download password is CLEclinic1921.

    Click here to view other recent CCNS stories available.

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    Cleveland Clinic

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  • Without brain inhibition, could we possess psi abilities?

    Without brain inhibition, could we possess psi abilities?

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    Research tests a novel neurobiological model of how the brain acts as a psi (e.g. telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, or mind-matter interactions) inhibitor and concludes that the frontal lobes of the brain act as a filter to inhibit humans’ innate psi abilities.

    Newswise — Psi is a phenomenon that includes telepathy (mind-mind connections), clairvoyance (perception of distant objects or events), precognition (perception of future events), and mind-matter interactions (psychokinesis). There are several studies that discuss the empirical evidence for psi, including arguments against their existence as their effects are small and hard to replicate under controlled experimental conditions.

    To address this phenomenon, Dr. Morris Freedman’s team, supported by the BIAL Foundation, has developed a novel neurobiological model based upon the concept that the brain may act as a psi-inhibitory filter. In other words, humans may have innate psi abilities that are suppressed by this frontal lobe filter. To test this hypothesis, he and his colleagues, Dr. Malcolm Binns, Dr. Jed Meltzer, Rohila Hashimi, and Dr. Robert Chen used repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to induce reversible brain lesions in the left medial middle frontal region in healthy participants.

    In an article that was published online ahead of print in the scientific journal Cortex, called Enhanced mind-matter interactions following rTMS induced frontal lobe inhibition, Dr. Freedman and the researchers found a significant psi effect following rTMS inhibition of the left medial middle frontal lobe. Healthy participants with reversible rTMS induced lesions affecting the left medial middle frontal region of the brain showed larger effects on a mind-matter interaction task compared to healthy participants without rTMS induced lesions.

    These findings support the concept that the brain serves as a filter to block psi effects and may help explain why these effects are so small and hard to replicate in healthy participants.

    “This study confirmed our hypothesis”, says Dr. Freedman, head of the Division of Neurology at Baycrest, adding that “individuals with neurological or reversible rTMS induced frontal lesions may represent a useful group for detection and replication of this phenomenon”.

    For Dr. Freedman, these findings “are potentially transformative for the way we view interactions between the brain and seemingly random events” and may “significantly advance research in the area of psi, helping to bring this phenomenon into the realm of mainstream science”.

    Learn more about the project “210/18 – Mind-matter Interactions and the Frontal Lobes of the Brain” here.

    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010945223002733

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    BIAL Foundation

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  • Patients Less Likely to Experience Death at Academic and High-Volume Hospitals When Treated with Immunotherapy for Metastatic Cancers

    Patients Less Likely to Experience Death at Academic and High-Volume Hospitals When Treated with Immunotherapy for Metastatic Cancers

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    Newswise — A new study led by Yale Cancer Center researchers at Yale School of Medicine revealed a significant increase in patients starting immunotherapy within one month of death. Using a national clinical database, the researchers focused on patients with metastatic melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and renal cell carcinoma (RCC). They were treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors from the point of FDA approval, through to 2019. The melanoma cohort began treatment in 2012 and the RCC and NSCLC cohorts in 2016.

    The findings were published in JAMA Oncology on January 4.

    “Immunotherapy has revolutionized the field of oncology over the last decade,” said Sajid Khan, MD, senior author of the study and section chief of Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary (HPB) and Mixed Tumors at Yale School of Medicine. “Because survival is substantially improved for many patients treated with these drugs, it’s application has increased across the United States. In our study, we focused on immunotherapy initiation at the end of a patient’s life with cancer metastasis.”

    Because the therapy is relatively new, the study aimed to “offer insights into national prescribing patterns and serve as a harbinger of shifts in the clinical approach to patients with advanced cancer.”

    The study included 20,415 stage IV melanoma patients, 197,331 stage IV NSCLC patients, and 24,625 stage IV RCC patients. Researchers considered each patient’s age, sex, race, and ethnicity as well as the location of metastases and the medical facility where treatment was given.

    “We were interested in gauging how frequently immunotherapy is initiated within the last 30 days of life,” said Khan, a member of Yale Cancer Center and the co-director of Team Science at Yale Center for Clinical Investigation. “Our study found that the initiation of immunotherapy in the last month of a patient’s life has significantly increased in the last 10 years, accounting for one in 14 immunotherapy treatments overall.”

    For patients with metastatic melanoma, the increase was from 0.8% to 4.3%, for NSCLC 0.9% to 3.2%, and for RCC 0.5% to 2.6%. In 2019, these end-of-life-initiated (EOL-I) treatments represented 7.3% of all immunotherapy treatments, indicating a growing application of EOL-I immunotherapy.

    Where patients were treated with immunotherapy mattered. “There were improved survival outcomes when the therapy was administered at academic and high-volume facilities,” said Khan. While patients treated at non-academic or low-volume hospitals had higher odds of receiving EOL-I immunotherapy, patients were less likely to experience death at academic and high-volume hospitals when given immunotherapy for metastatic cancers.

    “Another noteworthy finding was that the outcome for patients receiving immunotherapy towards the end of their life was different depending on the burden of metastasis. Patients with more than three sites of distant metastases are more likely to die within one month of immunotherapy initiation than those with only distant lymph node metastasis.”

    The researchers note that immunotherapy provides a strong overall survival benefit and can salvage patients with metastasis, even those in high-risk sub-groups. The study findings highlight the need for further investigation into the implications of EOL-I immunotherapy with the hope of refining treatment guidelines for the benefit of patients facing metastatic cancer.

    Daniel Kerekes from Yale School of Medicine and Yale Department of Surgery was the study’s first author. Alexander Frey, Elizabeth Prsic, Thuy Tran, James Clune, Mario Sznol, Harriet Kluger, Howard Forman, Robert Becher, and Kelly Olino were Yale co-authors.

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    Yale Cancer Center/Smilow Cancer Hospital

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  • New Study: Is There a Link Between COVID-19 Vaccination and POTS?

    New Study: Is There a Link Between COVID-19 Vaccination and POTS?

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    Newswise — LOS ANGELES (Jan. 4, 2024) — A new research study from the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai aimed to understand the possible connection between COVID-19 vaccination and a difficult-to-diagnose heart condition called postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or POTS. The study validated that patients who were immunized with a COVID-19 mRNA vaccination and then went on to have new or exacerbated POTS all had preexisting conditions that can lead to a POTS diagnosis.

    POTS is associated with nervous system dysfunction and causes an abnormal increase in heart rate after standing or sitting up. It used to affect primarily women of childbearing age. However, for POTS cases that developed during the COVID-19 pandemic, men were equally affected.

    “We were surprised when all the patients in our small cohort already had conditions that could make them more likely to develop POTS even without vaccination, such as palpitations, fast heart rates, orthostatic intolerance, hypermobile joints, asthma, systemic lupus, fainting and chronic abdominal pain,” said Peng-Sheng Chen, MD, the corresponding author of the study and an international expert on the condition who leads one of only a few specialty clinics on the syndrome in the nation.

    “These findings suggest it may be helpful to keep an eye on patients with underlying health issues after COVID-19 vaccination to monitor for post-vaccine POTS,” said Chen, who also holds the Burns and Allen Chair in Cardiology Research at Cedars-Sinai.

    The observational study, recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Heart Rhythm and presented during the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, analyzed data from 10 patients treated at the Cedars-Sinai multidisciplinary POTS clinic between July 2021 and June 2022. When provided guideline-directed care, all study participants reported an improvement in their POTS condition.

    Although there is an association between POTS and COVID-19 vaccination, a previous study of patient data across the Cedars-Sinai Health System found that patients diagnosed with COVID-19 were five times more likely to develop the cardiac condition after infection than after vaccination.

    “COVID-19 infection itself seems to be either causing or unmasking a startling amount of POTS or POTS-like conditions globally,” said Debbie L. Teodorescu, MD, a cardiology fellow at the Smidt Heart Institute and first author of the study. “In our cohort, most patients responded well to treatment, but a subsequent COVID-19 infection tended to bring significant setbacks in recovery. That is why we urge all patients to be meticulous about avoiding COVID-19.”

    Read more from the Cedars-Sinai Blog: Long COVID: What to Know

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  • Molecular Diagnostics Research That Could Transform Healthcare Featured in the January Issue of ADLM’s The Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicine

    Molecular Diagnostics Research That Could Transform Healthcare Featured in the January Issue of ADLM’s The Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicine

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    Newswise — WASHINGTON – Molecular diagnostics is a powerful branch of laboratory medicine that examines the fundamental genetic and biochemical components of life to provide invaluable insights into health and disease. This special issue of the Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine’s (formerly AACC’s) The Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicine highlights the latest research in this field that could advance care for conditions ranging from infectious diseases to inherited disorders. 

    View the full issue here: https://academic.oup.com/jalm/issue/9/1

    While laboratory medicine experts have used molecular diagnostic methods for years to diagnose and monitor disease, this field continues to evolve rapidly, and has become more relevant than ever in the face of modern healthcare challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic is the most striking recent example of the central role of molecular diagnostics in global health. PCR tests are a type of molecular diagnostic test and, as is well known, have been crucial to controlling the spread of SARS-CoV-2. And pandemic management isn’t the only area of infectious disease testing that molecular diagnostic technology is revolutionizing. Sequencing cell-free DNA in blood samples has the potential to improve infectious disease evaluation and treatment, and is explored in a study published in this special issue.

    Broadening access to personalized medicine is another goal of modern healthcare that wouldn’t be possible without molecular diagnostics. The ability of molecular diagnostics to help tailor treatment to each patient’s unique biological makeup is most evident in the field of pharmacogenomics. Lab experts use molecular diagnostic methods to identify genetic markers that affect drug metabolism and efficacy—information that providers then use in turn to prescribe medication that has the highest likelihood of benefiting patients. Technologies such as next-generation sequencing (NGS) have the potential to increase the availability of pharmacogenomic information, and a review in this special issue of The Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicine discusses how clinical laboratories can implement NGS for this purpose.

    One other compelling use for molecular diagnostics that is showcased in this special issue is genomic population screening, which has the potential to shift the healthcare paradigm from reactive to proactive. In many countries, programs are already being piloted at population scale that detect genetic diseases prior to symptom onset, thereby enabling preventive treatment. A review article in this special issue examines important practical considerations that must be taken into account as such programs expand, such as their economic benefit and the development of policies to guide them.

    “In the grand tapestry of modern healthcare and precision medicine, molecular diagnostics stands as a vibrant thread, woven with the promise of better patient outcomes, cost savings, and a deeper understanding of the molecular underpinnings of health and disease,” wrote issue editors and molecular diagnostic experts Drs. Nikoletta Sidiropoulos, Eric Vail, Erin H. Graf, Ann M. Moyer, Jillian G. Buchan, and Valentina Nardi in the preamble to the special issue. “It is our hope that the content of this issue will conjure professional reflection and spark collegial discussion in the community to embrace current practices and address and overcome current and future challenges so that the field may continue to improve human health and well-being.”

     

    About the Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine (ADLM)

    Dedicated to achieving better health through laboratory medicine, ADLM (formerly AACC) brings together more than 70,000 clinical laboratory professionals, physicians, research scientists, and business leaders from around the world focused on clinical chemistry, molecular diagnostics, mass spectrometry, translational medicine, lab management, and other areas of progressing laboratory science. Since 1948, ADLM has worked to advance the common interests of the field, providing programs that advance scientific collaboration, knowledge, expertise, and innovation. For more information, visit www.myadlm.org.

    The Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicine (academic.oup.com/jalm) is published online by ADLM. This international, peer-reviewed publication showcases applied research on clinically relevant laboratory topics as well as commentary on the practice of clinical chemistry and laboratory medicine. 

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  • Local lens, global impact: Mini park tackles big climate worries

    Local lens, global impact: Mini park tackles big climate worries

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    Newswise — Palm Springs Downtown Park is an inviting 1.5-acre urban oasis for residents and visitors to Palm Springs, a design-forward desert destination nestled along the base of the San Jacinto Mountains along the southwestern boundary of the Coachella Valley in California’s Sonoran Desert of the USA. The site lies in the ancestral homeland of the Agua Caliente band of the Cahuilla people who seasonally migrated between the shady palm groves and meltwater creeks of mountain canyons in summer and the hot springs and temperate climate of the valley floor in winter. The park is also located on the historic site of the Desert Inn, Palm Springs’ first wellness resort. Nellie Coffman, the Desert Inn’s founder, famously promoted the “space, stillness, solitude, and simplicity” of Palm Springs, and the park is imbued with her spirit. Drawing inspiration from local natural features such as the oases of endemic California fan palms (Washingtonia filifera) in Palm Canyon and the striated geology of nearby Tahquitz Canyon, the park design creates hospitable, comfortable spaces for the community in the extreme heat of the desert. The park features dense palm grove planting with ample shaded areas for seating, two picnicking and event lawns, rock outcrop-like amphitheater seating for community events, shade structures inspired by palm fronds, and a grotto-like interactive water feature for play and cooling. Locally sourced stone, native desert plantings, and creature comforts create a common ground rooted in a hyperlocal use of materials to create a sense of place for the diverse, growing community of Palm Springs and its visitors

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  • Researchers receive USDA grant to study changing food spending patterns

    Researchers receive USDA grant to study changing food spending patterns

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    Newswise — After a long day, there’s the age-old question of do we eat out or stay in?

    Over the last decade, that answer has increasingly shifted to eating out.

    In that timeframe, households have increasingly spent more money on food outside of the home than what’s spent on eating at home. In that same time, the farmer’s share of the food dollar eaten outside of the home has declined while the share of food eaten at home has increased.

    With a more than $550,000 grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, researchers George Davis and Anubhab Gupta, in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics in Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, are studying the effects of the changing food spending patterns on the profitability and welfare of farmers, food processors, and consumers, or welfare through the United States’ food supply chain.

    “Our project aims to look at the changing profitability and welfare effects in the food supply chain while recognizing that the effects will depend on the underlying market structure and consumer socioeconomic, demographic, and environmental factors,” said George Davis, professor in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics and project lead.

    The research team has four objectives:

    • Look at how the difference between retail food prices and farm prices have changed over time as spending on food at home and food away from home has changed
    • Determine to what extent consumers have benefitted from the change in eating food at home versus food away from home.
    • Consider what role the degree of competition within the food supply chain has affected profitability and welfare for the farmer, processors, and consumers as food spending patterns have changed.
    • Consider how alternative policies affecting food at home and food away from home spending will affect profitability and welfare throughout the food supply chain.

    The project will combine well-established research areas that have not been joined before to understand important policy-relevant questions regarding price and quantity relationships, market structure, and welfare distribution throughout the associated market.

    To achieve the objectives, the team will utilize public-use consumer expenditure survey microdata from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, NBER-CES Manufacturing Industry Database, and estimates from the literature.

    “Our integrated framework will answer important policy and scenario questions related to socioeconomic and demographic profile of consumers, COVID-19, Ukraine war, etc. on welfare distribution throughout the food supply chain, while extending our knowledge on the four strands of literature and a unique way of integrating them,” Davis said.

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  • Urology of Virginia Announces New Chief Executive Officer

    Urology of Virginia Announces New Chief Executive Officer

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    Newswise — VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., Jan. 1, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Urology of Virginia announces that Dr. Joshua Langston has been elected Managing Partner and Chief Executive Officer, as of January 1, 2024. He will continue the legacy of excellent organizational guidance, innovation and service of his predecessor, Dr. Jennifer Miles-Thomas. Dr. Miles-Thomas commented on the transition, “Dr. Langston has a long history with our organization and is well-equipped to lead us into an even brighter future. I have complete confidence that under his guidance, we will continue to excel and make a positive impact on the lives of our patients. It has been an honor to serve as President and CEO, and I look forward to witnessing the continued growth and success of Urology of Virginia from a different vantage point.”

    Dr. Langston completed medical school at UT Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. He went on to residency training at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and completed a fellowship in Andrology & Male Reconstructive Urology at the Institute of Urology in London, England. He serves as medical director of Men’s Health Virginia, a division of Urology of Virginia, where his team focuses on health needs of aging men. Dr. Langston has a strong interest in health policy and advocacy on behalf of patients, and currently serves as Chair of the Political Affairs Committee for the Large Urology Group Practice Association (LUGPA). He was previously selected as the American Urological Association (AUA) Holtgrewe Legislative Fellow, spending time away from his practice as a health policy legislative advisor in the U.S. Senate. He is Chair of the Health Policy Committee of the Mid-Atlantic AUA, serves on the Public Policy Council and Legislative Affairs Committees of the AUA, and the Board of Directors for the American Society for Men’s Health, amongst many other roles.

    Regarding his appointment, Dr Langston said: ‘It is truly an honor to be selected by my partners for this role. Urology of Virginia has a 100-year history of being a national leader in innovative, patient-centered care and research. I look forward to working together with my colleagues to cast a vision for growth and evolution in the face of a changing national healthcare paradigm that will allow us to continue to serve our community for another 100 years.”

    About Urology of Virginia

    Urology of Virginia (UVA) has a 100+-year history of providing comprehensive and quality care to the entire Hampton Roads region, including northeastern North Carolina.

    The clinical care team consists of over 30 board certified Urologists, most of whom are fellowship trained, nationally recognized, awarded and published. More importantly, they provide superior care and individualized attention to their patients. Included in the team of urologists – with subspecialties such as oncology, urologic reconstruction, stone disease, and andrology – are a specialty trained GU Pathologist, Physician Assistants, Nurse Practitioners, RN’s, x-ray and ultrasound technicians, and a vast array of other health care professionals. Our providers also comprise the Department of Urology at Eastern Virginia Medical School, training the next generation of urologists. The Urology of Virginia Research Division maintains participation in cutting edges trials, and has been responsible for many landmark studies over the years. The Schellhammer Urological Research Foundation (SURF), the organization’s charitable arm, provides funding for research and community care.

    To learn more about Urology of Virginia and its service offerings, please visit urologyofva.net.

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  • Fasting Before Cardiac Catheterization May Be Unnecessary

    Fasting Before Cardiac Catheterization May Be Unnecessary

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    Newswise — The days of prolonged fasting prior to cardiac catheterization may be numbered, as the body of evidence grows to allow patients to eat before the procedure.

    Patients undergoing coronary artery catheterization are typically required to take nothing by mouth after midnight prior to their procedure, but there is no evidence to support this long-standing practice.

    Building on evidence from several studies that found prolonged fasting may be unnecessary, a randomized, controlled trial at a Midwest heart hospital determined that allowing patients to eat a heart-healthy diet before elective cardiac catheterization posed no safety risk, while improving patient satisfaction and overall care.

    A new study, “Fasting Versus a Heart-Healthy Diet Before Cardiac Catheterization: A Randomized Controlled Trial,” compared consumption of a heart-healthy, low-acid diet with standard fasting guidelines for patients in an inpatient cardiac unit undergoing elective coronary artery catheterization. The study is published in American Journal of Critical Care (AJCC).

    The study was conducted at Parkview Heart Institute, Fort Wayne, Indiana, an 82-bed specialty hospital on the campus of Parkview Regional Medical Center.

    “Requiring all patients to fast for six hours or longer has remained an anesthesia guideline for procedures requiring conscious sedation for decades,” said co-author Carri Woods, MBA, MSN, RN, a nursing manager at the hospital. “Our findings demonstrate that fasting isn’t necessary for every patient, and patient satisfaction and comfort can safely be put at the forefront of care.”

     The convenience sample included 197 adult patients scheduled for elective cardiac catheterization with conscious sedation and analgesia. Patients were randomly assigned to one of two protocol groups, with 100 patients allowed to eat a specified diet of solid food low in fat, cholesterol, sodium and acidity until the scheduled procedure. The 97 patients in the fasting group were restricted to nothing by mouth, except for sips of water with medications, from midnight until the procedure, which was the hospital’s standard practice.

    Data were collected before and after sedation and throughout postprocedural assessments. Patients also completed a satisfaction survey at discharge.

    In the heart-healthy diet group, satisfaction with the preprocedural diet was significantly higher while thirst and hunger were lower.

    No patients in either group experienced postprocedural pneumonia, aspiration, intubation or hypoglycemia. Fatigue, glucose level, gastrointestinal issues and use of loading dose of antiplatelet medication did not differ between the groups.

    As a result of the study, the hospital has updated its protocols for inpatient and outpatient cardiology procedures to allow patients to eat prior to sedation.

    The study encourages future research with larger, more diverse patient populations and with patients receiving other forms of anesthesia. The growing body of evidence may also lead to professional societies, such as the American Society of Anesthesiologists, reviewing recommendations and guidelines for possible changes.

    To access the article and full-text PDF, visit the AJCC website at www.ajcconline.org.

    About the American Journal of Critical Care: The American Journal of Critical Care (AJCC), a bimonthly scientific journal published by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, provides leading-edge clinical research that focuses on evidence-based-practice applications. Established in 1992, the award-winning journal includes clinical and research studies, case reports, editorials and commentaries. AJCC enjoys a circulation of about 130,000 acute and critical care nurses and can be accessed at www.ajcconline.org.

    About the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses: For more than 50 years, the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) has been dedicated to acute and critical care nursing excellence. The organization’s vision is to create a healthcare system driven by the needs of patients and families in which acute and critical care nurses make their optimal contribution. AACN is the world’s largest specialty nursing organization, with about 130,000 members and nearly 200 chapters in the United States.

    American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, 27071 Aliso Creek Road, Aliso Viejo, CA 92656; 949-362-2000; www.aacn.org; facebook.com/aacnface; twitter.com/aacnme

     

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  • Resolutions for a new mentally healthier you

    Resolutions for a new mentally healthier you

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    A 2023 poll from the American Psychiatric Association found that 29 percent of Americans planned to focus their mental health resolutions on:

    • 65 percent said they would exercise more
    • 45 percent said they would meditate
    • 38 percent would see a therapist
    • 37 percent would focus on spirituality
    • 28 percent would journal
    • 23 percent would use a mental health app
    • 6 percent would try something else

    Our mental health experts with Texas Tech Physicians of El Paso can speak on what the public can do to set realistic resolutions that can improve a person’s mental health.

    • Don’t set sweeping resolutions – focus on setting obtainable goals
    • Think of habits you can change
    • Move every day, walk, cycle on a stationary bike, do water aerobics or simply stretch.
    • Make gratitude a daily practice
    • Establish a strong circle of friends and family and even co-workers
    • And definitely, schedule time for fun activities

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  • Study Charts Possibilities for a Better Way to Diagnose Gestational Diabetes

    Study Charts Possibilities for a Better Way to Diagnose Gestational Diabetes

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    BYLINE: Nakaysha Gonzalez

    Newswise — Pregnancy weight and biochemical markers measured in blood from women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) were related to increased risk of poor pregnancy outcomes, suggesting a new direction for precision diagnostics, according to researchers.

    The study led by Ellen C. Francis, an assistant professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at Rutgers School of Public Health, and published in Nature Communications Medicine, evaluated the diagnostic value of these markers before or at the time of screening for GDM, a type of diabetes that can develop during pregnancy.

    “Although we found that obesity is a risk factor for offspring born larger for their gestational age, evidence suggests that the metabolic alterations that accompany obesity increase the risk of adverse outcomes,” said Francis. GDM, characterized by elevated blood sugar (glucose) levels during pregnancy, is the most common metabolic condition among pregnant women and poses risks to both mother and child. While standard treatments are applied, clinical outcomes can differ among individuals.

    Francis said the research demonstrates the need for a more nuanced approach to diagnose GDM, which may help improve outcomes. It is the first systematic review of the literature to assess the potential of subtypes in GDM and to examine whether nonglycemic markers could refine risk stratification. Francis said some of the literature suggested insulin profiles and triglyceride levels may serve as promising non-glucose indicators of risk.

    “To really assess the clinical implications of precision diagnostics in GDM, we first need to understand if insulin resistance or higher triglycerides are causally linked to adverse outcomes, and whether we can safely target them in pregnancy,” Francis said.

    Overall, researchers found a critical gap in the existing literature in which most studies hadn’t focused on comparing clinical, biochemical or sociocultural differences among women who develop GDM.

    “In our full text screening of 775 studies, we found that only recently has there been a focus on clinical, biochemical, or sociocultural markers that could improve who is at greatest risk of poor outcomes, and on comparing clinical outcomes between different subtypes of GDM,” said Francis. “The data from these studies indicate that in the future, we may be able to refine how we diagnose GDM by using anthropometric or biochemical information in combination with current diagnostic approaches.”

    Future research should delve into mechanistic studies on precision biomarkers, large diverse population studies for replication, and multinational studies focusing on environmental and behavioral factors, Francis said. It should also explore potential insights on casual pathways of heterogeneity within GDM and its outcomes from genetic and multi-omics data using advanced analytical approaches.

    Study co-authors include researchers from collaborating institutions in the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore, South Korea and Australia.

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  • ‘The Human Element’

    ‘The Human Element’

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    Newswise — Sometimes, the best way to see what you’re made of is facing a challenge. Andrew Broadbent, an accomplished project manager at the at the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II), a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility located at DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, took on such a challenge earlier this year though DOE’s Project Leadership Institute (PLI) and emerged from the yearlong endeavor with his team victorious.

    Cultivating Leadership

    Every year, PLI selects around 25 experienced project leaders endorsed by DOE national laboratories, program offices, and site offices to participate in their intensive, yearlong leadership development program. This program is designed to cultivate the necessary skills to effectively take on and execute high-risk projects. The cohort is split into five teams that work together over the course of the year to conduct a case study analysis of a recent DOE project. Throughout the program, the cohort travels to different national labs across the country to attend events and participates in self-paced learning during the summer. These modules cover important concepts, like leading innovative teams, that often highlight real-life success stories.

    “Everyone on the team has extensive project management experience,” said Broadbent, “so we were all, largely, in the same boat here, and we learned a lot from each other along the way. Each event provided something useful to take away, making it a really valuable program for anyone in the DOE involved with project management.”

    As the program concludes, each team creates a final report and presentation capturing the successes and failures of the project, analyzes the lessons to be learned, and submits them for judging. The judges confer on the analysis they found to be the most impactful and present the winning team with a shared plaque that travels to each teammate’s home institution. Broadbent’s contributions ensured that the plaque would make its final stop at Brookhaven later next year.

    Transforming cUlture Through inclusiOn (TUTO)

    Broadbent’s team, dubbed TUTO, consisted of members from different national laboratories—Jessica Bentley (Sandia National Laboratory), Lisa Ehlers (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), Vincente Guiseppe (Oak Ridge National Laboratory), and Hiro Tanaka (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory). Each member strengthened the team with their diverse backgrounds, talents, and project experiences. Broadbent drew plenty of inspiration from the projects he has helped manage. For 16 years at NSLS-II, he has been instrumental in the design, installation, and commissioning of several beamlines that are currently serving users who are performing cutting-edge research, as well as future beamlines that will offer the facility new capabilities.

    For their project, the team explored the execution of DOE’s Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) project at Michigan State University (MSU). FRIB’s mission is to produce and research rare isotopes for advancing knowledge in nuclear physics, material science, medicine, defense, and industry. The project was completed in June 2022.

    “FRIB is a unique project not only for its one-of-a-kind mission and technological success but also for its leadership. They successfully navigated an unusual funding and regulatory framework to project completion within budget and five months ahead of schedule,” remarked Broadbent.

    While they explored the project through PLI’s core concepts, they also sought out the values employed by the FRIB team that made their project so successful. In their analysis, they narrowed it down to four main concepts: curation, fluidity, character, and engagement.

    “Curation” was reflected in several aspects of project management, from making a team of diverse people with diverse talents to only selecting processes within the project that are predicted to add value.

    “Fluidity” goes hand in hand with curation. As much as one can try to control a project, unexpected changes are bound to happen at any stage. Things that were carefully curated can suddenly take a different shape. Fluidity is about having that expectation and being able to adapt strategically without compromising on core needs, like safety.

    “Character” fueled these concepts, as it described how respectful relationships from effective and empathetic leaders fostered trust, good communication, and conflict solutions that allow work to be performed smoothly and safely.

    Lastly, there was the concept of “engagement,” teams taking pride and ownership in their work, creating a positive safety culture, sparking community and stakeholder involvement, and promoting inclusivity. All of these concepts link together in such a way that each reinforces the others.

     

    While the presentation covered a lot of ground and sparked some productive discussions, the competition was formidable. There was one more Brookhaven employee in 2023’s cohort: Angelika Drees, collider group leader for the Collider-Accelerator Department. While she was working with another team, she enjoyed comparing and contrasting her experiences with Broadbent as the program concluded and brought back a lot of insight to her current role.

    “I have never looked at another DOE project that closely before and I feel like I learned so much just from making comparisons,” recalled Drees. “It made me think about the new Electron-Ion Collider project in a different way. In some sense, there are a lot of similarities; it’s an accelerator and it has complex physics. And though it may not be the same in terms of scale and scope, there were general concepts that translate from one project to the other. Looking at this project so closely taught us a lot.”

    The scoring between teams was reported to be closer than it had ever been in the past. Regardless of the outcome, the exercise was valuable to all involved and provided a lot to think about for future projects.

    “We really enjoyed doing this,” remarked Broadbent. “Even though writing reports like this tends to be a lot of work, we worked together very well as a team and managed to have fun. It was a very different kind of experience and really made us think. The human side is something everyone can understand, and something everyone can improve upon. That thought came to mind very early on in the project and never went away. Each attribute we uncovered was very human-focused.”

    Brookhaven National Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit science.energy.gov.

    Follow @BrookhavenLab on social media. Find us on Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and Facebook.

     

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  • C2QA, a Year in Review

    C2QA, a Year in Review

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    Newswise — The Co-design Center for Quantum Advantage (C2QA), led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, spans over 27 different partner and affiliate institutions ranging from research and academia to industry. C2QA’s primary focus is building the tools necessary to create scalable, distributed, and fault-tolerant quantum computer systems, and the center has been growing, building, and working hard every year to support that mission. 2023 has gone by quickly, with several memorable milestones to mark the way. Here are some highlights from the last year.

    Science and Technology

    Qubits, basic quantum systems that store information, are fussy things. The smallest fluctuations in their environment can cause them to break down. Heat, ambient radiation, magnetic fields, and even other surrounding qubits can cause the information stored in a qubit to leak into the environment and change its state, making it no longer viable. This is known as “decoherence,” and it’s one of the biggest challenges in making the quantum revolution a reality.

    The materials thrust has made significant progress in extending the lifetime of these finicky bits. Scientists from the Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN) and the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) at Brookhaven Lab and C2QA partner Princeton University investigated the fundamental reasons that tantalum qubits perform better by decoding this material’s chemical profile. The results of this work, which were recently published in the journal Advanced Science, will provide key knowledge for designing even better qubits in the future. CFN and NSLS-II are DOE Office of Science User Facilities at Brookhaven Lab.

    The Devoret Research Group at Yale University was also hard at work extending the lifetime and performance of qubits. Led by Michel Devoret, devices subthrust leader at C2QA, the team was able to double the life of a tantalum-based qubit through a process called error correction. Error correction is a special type of coding that will, theoretically, protect the information in a qubit. Researchers employed several methods that have built upon years of research to get to this groundbreaking result, which was published in Nature earlier this year.

    This year, Nathan Wiebe, leader of the Center’s software thrust, and his team worked on a quantum algorithm that simulated classical harmonic oscillators with significant advantage. While other simulations have achieved similar results, they have mostly investigated representations of systems that are already quantum mechanical in nature. This research demonstrated that, in the right conditions, a quantum computer could solve a classical problem in significantly less time.

    Community Outreach

    The quantum information science (QIS) community is growing as research accelerates, and C2QA is leaving no stone unturned to recruit outstanding talent and ensure that opportunities within the field are accessible to all communities and institutions. Some of this starts with reaching out to students as early as high school, introducing them to this budding field, and giving them a chance to connect with experts and learn more about it.

    This past summer, C2QA hosted QIS 101, a virtual quantum computing summer school. In its third year, QIS 101 built off its successes and learned from its challenges to optimize the course even more. The in-depth coursework, including 50 hands-on projects, was spread out over a six-week period this year. In its short three years, 12 alumni of the class obtained follow-on undergraduate or graduate internships at Brookhaven Lab, other DOE labs, or STEM-focused businesses; seven students were accepted into a master’s program in STEM fields; and two were accepted into Ph.D. programs in STEM fields. These accomplishments are a bright reflection of the talented pool of applicants that are accepted into QIS 101 and what they will bring to this growing field.

    The C2QA-led Quantum Information Science Virtual Career Fair continues to grow in both attendees and offerings. This year, the number of exhibitors more than doubled, reaching 42 booths that represented research, academia, and industry. The event drew in over 1,300 registrants, 39% more than the previous year, and 780 attendees—an encouraging 59% more than the previous year. About three-quarters of the attendees were students (23% undergrads and 44% graduate students) and postdocs (13%). There were 2,100 clicks on the job website, where jobseekers could apply instantly, and over 10,000 booths visited!

    The virtual Quantum Thursdays lecture series is still going strong. C2QA hosted 13 Quantum Thursdays on a variety of topics this year. While undergraduate students are the target audience for these beginner sessions, approximately 40% of attendees identified as undergraduate or graduate students. The series was expanded to include speakers and involvement from all five of the DOE Office of Science National Quantum Information Science Research Centers, setting the stage for a bigger picture of the quantum landscape in the coming year. Previous lectures can be viewed in C2QA’s video archive.

    Another important facet of growing the center is to ensure there is a place for everyone in quantum. The diverse talent brought in through programs that highlight otherwise underrepresented people and institutions benefits the entire QIS landscape.2023 saw the launch of the Faculty Outreach for Quantum-Interested UniversitieS (FOQUS) program. This collective program leveraged the resources and expertise of Brookhaven Lab, including the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the Office of Educational Programs, C2QA, the DOE Office of Science’s Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists, and the IBM-HBCU Quantum Center. This ambitious program encouraged university faculty to combine and expand their networks and leverage programs offered by DOE to engage students and teachers. By breaking down barriers and fostering networking, faculty can prepare and develop underrepresented students from all STEM disciplines to enter the world of QIS.

    Looking to the Future 

    “In 2023, we’ve seen so many promising developments across each thrust in the Center,” remarked C2QA director Andrew Houck. “We’re not just uncovering answers, we’re finding new questions to ask in the year ahead. I think we are at this cusp, and we are about to see—in the next five or 10 years—these machines start to do things that are useful and better than any other technology.”

    Teaming up with other NQISRCs in the future can help remove some of the limitations on rapidly growing programs. QIS 101, for example, received 424 applications when the program can only support up to 40 students due to budget limitations. Joining forces with the other centers could allow a larger number of participants to take advantage of these opportunities in the future.

    Brookhaven National Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit science.energy.gov.

    Follow @BrookhavenLab on social media. Find us on Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and Facebook.

     

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  • Endocrine Society applauds Ohio governor veto of state ban on gender-affirming care for minors

    Endocrine Society applauds Ohio governor veto of state ban on gender-affirming care for minors

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    Newswise — WASHINGTON—The Endocrine Society, the world’s oldest and largest professional medical society devoted to the study and treatment of hormone-related conditions, applauds Governor Mike Dewine’s veto of a proposed Ohio law that would have banned gender-affirming care for minors. The bill he vetoed contradicts mainstream medical practice and scientific evidence and would have taken medical decision-making out of the hands of families and their physicians and instead relied upon government officials. 

    More than 2,000 scientific studies have examined aspects of gender-affirming care since 1975, including more than 260 studies cited in the Endocrine Society’s Clinical Practice Guideline.

    Major medical and scientific organizations including the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics are in alignment with the Endocrine Society on the importance of gender-affirming care.

    In June, the Endocrine Society worked with other medical societies in American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates to pass a resolution with overwhelming support to protect access to evidence-based gender-affirming care for transgender and gender-diverse individuals. In the resolution, the AMA committed to opposing any criminal and legal penalties against patients seeking gender-affirming care, family members or guardians who support them in seeking medical care, and health care facilities and clinicians who provide gender-affirming care.

    Pediatric gender-affirming care is designed to take a conservative approach. When young children experience feelings that their gender identity does not match the sex recorded at birth, the first course of action is to support the child in exploring their gender identity and to provide mental health support, as needed.

    Medical intervention is reserved for older adolescents and adults, with treatment plans tailored to the individual and designed to maximize the time teenagers and their families have to make decisions about their transitions.

    As Governor DeWine noted, only a small number of Ohio’s children would be impacted by the proposed legislation, but it would have profound and even life-threatening consequences for those affected by gender dysphoria. Around 300,000 teenagers ages 13-17 in the United States, or 1.4% of the population, identify as transgender, according to the Williams Institute. An estimated 4,780 adolescents with a diagnosis of gender dysphoria started puberty-delaying medication between 2017 and 2021, according to an analysis performed by Komodo Health Inc for Reuters.

    Gender-affirming care can be life saving for a population with high suicide rates. For example, a 2020 study analyzed survey data from 89 transgender adults who had access to puberty-delaying medication while adolescents and data from more than 3,400 transgender adults who did not. The study found that those who received puberty-delaying hormone treatment had lower likelihood of lifetime suicidal ideation than those who wanted puberty-delaying treatment but did not receive it, even after adjusting for demographic variables and level of family support. Approximately nine in ten transgender adults who wanted puberty-delaying treatment, but did not receive it, reported lifetime suicidal ideation.

    Medical decisions should be made by patients, their relatives and health care providers, not politicians.

    For more information, please see the Endocrine Society’s Transgender Health fact sheet or our Transgender Health Minors fact sheet.

    # # #

    Endocrinologists are at the core of solving the most pressing health problems of our time, from diabetes and obesity to infertility, bone health, and hormone-related cancers. The Endocrine Society is the world’s oldest and largest organization of scientists devoted to hormone research and physicians who care for people with hormone-related conditions.

    The Society has more than 18,000 members, including scientists, physicians, educators, nurses and students in 122 countries. To learn more about the Society and the field of endocrinology, visit our site at www.endocrine.org. Follow us on Twitter at @TheEndoSociety and @EndoMedia.

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  • Abstract Submission Opening Soon for 2024 AANEM Annual Meeting

    Abstract Submission Opening Soon for 2024 AANEM Annual Meeting

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    Newswise — Rochester, Minn. (Dec. 29, 2023)- The American Association of Neuromuscular &Electrodiagnostic Medicine (AANEM), is excited to share that the Abstract Submission Application opens January 1, 2024, for the upcoming AANEM Annual Meeting.

    The deadline for abstract submissions is March 15 and all abstracts that are accepted will be notified on June 1. Accepted abstract presenters are required to attend the 2024 AANEM Annual Meeting to present their poster. Those who submit a qualifying abstract will be considered for the following awards: President’s Research Initiative Award, Golseth Young Investigator Award, Residency & Fellowship Member Award, Technologist Best Abstract Award, Medical Student Research Award, and Surinderjit Singh Young Lectureship Award.

    The 2024 AANEM Annual Meeting plenary topic, selected by AANEM President, Dianna Quan, MD, will be The Confluence of Two Pipelines. The topic is about the pipeline of discovery and innovation that has been providing truly groundbreaking treatments for NMDs, and the delivery and workforce pipeline that is under pressure to realize the promise of these treatments for all NM patients who need them. “The meeting will have scientific sessions showcasing new ideas in neuromuscular disease pathophysiology and therapeutic developments. We are also going to talk about solutions in workforce education and development, artificial intelligence, interdisciplinary care, and medical ethics and economics,” said Quan.

    The 2024 AANEM Annual Meeting will take place virtually and in-person Tuesday, Oct. 15 –Friday, Oct. 18, in Savannah, Georgia, at the Savannah Convention Center. For more information regarding the abstraction submission process, reference the AANEM AbstractSubmission Information form.

    About American Association of Neuromuscular & Electrodiagnostic Medicine (AANEM)

    Based in Rochester, MN, AANEM is the premier nonprofit membership association dedicated to the advancement of neuromuscular (NM), musculoskeletal, and electrodiagnostic (EDX) medicine. The organization and its members work to improve the quality of patient care and advance the science of NM diseases and EDX medicine by serving physicians and allied health professionals who care for those with muscle and nerve disorders. For more information about AANEM, visit aanem.org or Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

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  • Zymo Research Receives Top Workplaces Awards 2023

    Zymo Research Receives Top Workplaces Awards 2023

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    Newswise — IRVINE, Calif., Dec. 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Zymo Research, a leading provider of innovative life science technologies, has been honored with the Top Workplaces USA 2023 and Culture Excellence 2023 awards. These accolades underscore the company’s commitment to cultivating an exceptional work environment and prioritizing employee engagement.

    The foundation of Zymo Research’s achievements lies with its dedicated team. Their contributions have shaped a collaborative and innovative work culture that emphasizes mutual respect and growth.

    Dr. Larry Jia, Founder and CEO of Zymo Research, stated, “These awards are a testament to our incredible team. Being named the top workplace for consecutive years by our own employees is the highest honor we can receive. Our success is a reflection of our employees’ passion and commitment to our shared vision and values at Zymo Research.”

    The Culture Excellence 2023 awards highlight Zymo Research’s exemplary achievements in eight key areas:

    • Innovation
    • Purpose & Values
    • Leadership
    • Professional Development
    • Compensation & Benefit
    • Work-life Flexibility
    • Employee Well-being
    • Employee Appreciation

    These awards affirm Zymo Research’s comprehensive approach to employee satisfaction, emphasizing not only professional advancement but also the overall well-being and fulfillment of its workforce.

    For those interested in joining Zymo Research, please visit our Careers Page to explore available opportunities.

    For more information on Zymo Research, visit https://www.zymoresearch.com.

    About Zymo Research Corp.

    Zymo Research is a privately owned company that has been serving the scientific and diagnostics community with state-of-the-art molecular biology tools since 1994. “The Beauty of Science is to Make Things Simple” is their motto, which is reflected in all of their products, from epigenetics to DNA/RNA purification technologies. Historically recognized as the leader in epigenetics, Zymo Research is breaking boundaries with novel solutions for sample collection, microbiomic measurements, diagnostic devices, and NGS technologies that are high quality and simple to use.

    Follow Zymo Research on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

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