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Melanoma of the eye: Preclinical tests show path toward treatment

Eurekalert - Jul 14 2021 - 00:07
A preclinical study offers hope for treatment of uveal melanoma, a rare and deadly cancer of the eye. A small molecule inhibitor has been identified that dampens the potent drivers of this tumor. In mouse models, the inhibitor strongly limited primary disease in the eye and metastatic tumor dissemination to the liver, and animals survived longer, without overt side effects.
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The hidden culprit killing lithium-metal batteries from the inside

Eurekalert - Jul 14 2021 - 00:07
The first nanoscale images ever taken inside intact, lithium-metal coin batteries (also called button cells or watch batteries) challenge prevailing theories and could help make future high-performance batteries, such as for electric vehicles, safer, more powerful and longer lasting.
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Small molecule plays outsize role in controlling nanoparticle

Eurekalert - Jul 14 2021 - 00:07
A breakthrough imaging technique has enabled Cornell University researchers to gain new insights into how tiny ligands bind to the surface of nanoparticles and change a particle's shape.
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Detecting wildlife illness and death with new early alert system

Eurekalert - Jul 14 2021 - 00:07
A new early detection surveillance system for wildlife helps identify unusual patterns of illness and death in near real-time by tapping into data from wildlife rehabilitation organizations across California, explains a study from UC Davis.
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Integration of social care into health care: Our collective path ahead

Eurekalert - Jul 14 2021 - 00:07
Drs. Alicia Cohen and Emilia De Marchis provide commentary on three articles in this issue of Annals of Family Medicine, specifically Greenwood-Ericksen et al's research on Michigan's Federally Qualified Health Centers; Hoeft et al's special report about translating lessons learned from behavioral health integration into the social care realm; and Fessler et al's narrative about how they as medical students stepped away from their medical clerkships to act as community volunteers for people experiencing homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Minority physicians experience more diversity, less burnout in family medicine practice

Eurekalert - Jul 14 2021 - 00:07
More than 40% of physicians in the United States reported at least one symptom of burnout, which is particularly high among family physicians. This study examined a nationally-representative sample of family physicians to determine whether physician race-ethnicity was associated with burnout among a nationally-representative sample of family physicians.
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Primary care practice characteristics make little impact on unplanned hospital admissions

Eurekalert - Jul 14 2021 - 00:07
Given the aging world population, there is international interest in helping older people live longer and healthier lives. Avoiding unplanned hospital admissions is an important aspect of care for older people. Palapar et al focused on the way primary care practice characteristics influence outcomes such as unplanned hospitalizations, function and well-being.
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Floating into summer with more buoyant, liquid-proof life jackets, swimsuits (video)

Eurekalert - Jul 14 2021 - 00:07
Summertime is here, and that often means long, lazy days at the beach, water skiing and swimming. Life jackets and swimsuits are essential gear for these activities, but if not dried thoroughly, they can develop a gross, musty smell. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces have developed a one-step method to create a buoyant cotton fabric for these applications that is also oil- and water-repellant.
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Chinese health insurance achieves success decreasing diabetes medication usage, costs

Eurekalert - Jul 14 2021 - 00:07
Approximately 642 million people are expected to be diagnosed with diabetes by 2040, with Asians representing more than 55% of cases. Researchers conducted the first large-scale study since the implementation of medical insurance in China to evaluate the complexity and cost of drug therapy for Asian people with diabetes.
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New spray could someday help heal damage after a heart attack

Eurekalert - Jul 14 2021 - 00:07
Heart attack, or myocardial infarction, is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Although modern surgical techniques, diagnostics and medications have greatly improved early survival from these events, many patients struggle with the long-term effects of permanently damaged tissue, and the 5-year mortality rate remains high. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Nano have developed a minimally invasive exosome spray that helped repair rat hearts after myocardial infarction.
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Behavioral health integration helps practices address patients' socioeconomic needs

Eurekalert - Jul 14 2021 - 00:07
Lessons from primary care and behavioral health integration should inform health care practices to identify and address patients' social, economic needs
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Off-cycle elections result in less representative local governments

Eurekalert - Jul 14 2021 - 00:07
As places like Utah, Arizona, Michigan and Maryland gear up to hold local elections this summer and fall, history predicts that they will see an average of 29-37% fewer voters than they would were their elections held "on cycle," in tandem with state and
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No more cone? Psychology researchers offer better tool for visualizing hurricane danger

Eurekalert - Jul 14 2021 - 00:07
Researchers in Colorado State University's Department of Psychology are working on an easily understood, science-backed way to visually represent hurricane danger to the general public. They contend that the cone of uncertainty creates a false sense of security for people who live outside the boundary of the cone and that there are better ways to signal likely impacts.
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MD Anderson research highlights for July 14, 2021

Eurekalert - Jul 14 2021 - 00:07
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center's Research Highlights provides a glimpse into recently published studies in basic, translational and clinical cancer research from MD Anderson experts. Current advances include a promising combination therapy for acute myeloid leukemia, understanding mechanisms driving resistance to PARP inhibitors, a therapeutic neoantigen vaccine to treat lung cancer, a novel treatment for triple-negative breast cancer and a new understanding of how telomeres may drive inflammatory bowel disease.
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Trust me, I'm a chatbot

Eurekalert - Jul 14 2021 - 00:07
More and more companies are using chatbots in customer services. Due to advances in artificial intelligence and natural language processing, chatbots are often indistinguishable from humans when it comes to communication. But should companies tell customers they are communicating with machines and not with humans? Researchers at the Göttingen University investigated. Their research found that consumers tend to react negatively when they learn that the person they are talking to is, in fact, a chatbot.
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Early perceptions of COVID-19 in Pennsylvania

Eurekalert - Jul 14 2021 - 00:07
A survey conducted in March 2020 reports that early concern for COVID-19 outmatched concern for influenza, but respondents may have been less focused on their perceived likelihood of contracting COVID-19 and more concerned with its severe impact on their health.
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Virtual care: Choosing the right tool, at the right time

Eurekalert - Jul 14 2021 - 00:07
Kumara Raja Sundar, MD, a family physician at Kaiser Permanente of Washington, uses two media synchronicity theory principles - conveyance and convergence - as a framework for choosing the right medium of care for his patients. In this essay, Sundar discusses how operating within this framework changed his own practice and decision making during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly with the use of telemedicine versus in-person clinic visits.
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Seven degrees from one trillion species of microbes

Eurekalert - Jul 14 2021 - 00:07
An international team led by researchers from Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) built a scale-free, fully connected search-based network to explore the connectedness of microbiomes across the world.
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A new sensitive tool for the efficient quantification of plant disease susceptibility

Eurekalert - Jul 14 2021 - 00:07
While several biology techniques have undergone significant technical advances that have allowed their high-throughput implementation, assessing the resistance levels of plant varieties to microbial pathogens remains an arduous and time-consuming task. In response to this, Pujara and collaborators took advantage of the naturally occurring luminescence of a deep-sea shrimp to engineer a light-producing bacterial reporter that allows the quantification of plant resistance levels through imaging.
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Community health workers identify health-related social needs in patients

Eurekalert - Jul 14 2021 - 00:07
Addressing patients' health-related social needs, like housing and food security, is integral to patient care. Federally Qualified Health Centers are leaders in screening for and addressing patients' health-related social needs. However, screening practices vary. This variation is relatively unexplored, particularly with regards to organizational and state policy influences.
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