Eurekalert

In patients with mild cognitive impairment, taking lipophilic statins more than doubles their risk of developing dementia compared to those who do not take statins. According to research presented at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging 2021 Annual Meeting, positron emission tomography (PET) scans of lipophilic statin users revealed a highly significant decline in metabolism in the area of the brain that is first impacted by Alzheimer's disease.

A novel PET radiotracer has been shown to effectively measure increases in brain tau--a distinguishing characteristic of Alzheimer's disease--before any symptoms of the disease are observed. With the potential to measure increases in tau over a long period of time, this tracer offers an important tool to assess the effectiveness of Alzheimer's disease treatments in clinical trials. This research was presented at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging 2021 Annual Meeting.

A protein that is critical in cancer cell metabolism has been imaged for the first time with a newly developed radiopharmaceutical, 18F-DASA-23. Imaging with this novel agent has the potential to improve the assessment of treatment response for patients, specifically those with brain tumors. This study was presented at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging 2021 Annual Meeting.

The use of 'ice' flavoured e-cigarettes may be common and positively associated with conventional smoking and nicotine dependence among young adults, suggests research published online in the journal Tobacco Control.

A study by University of Rhode Island researchers using a seldom-used methodology turned up many more Eastern spadefoots, an endangered primitive frog, than they expected.

A case series published in Annals of Internal Medicine found that a third dose of vaccine increased antibody levels in organ transplant recipients who had suboptimal response to standard vaccination. These findings suggest that clinical trials are warranted to determine whether booster doses should be incorporated into clinical practice for transplant patients, just as they have been for hepatitis B and influenza vaccinations. This is the first study to report on response to a third vaccine dose.

To understand just how COVID-19 affected human movement on a global scale, researchers in the University of Miami College of Arts and Sciences Department of Geography and Sustainable Development developed COVID-19 vs. Human Mobility, an innovative and interactive web application that shows the connections between human mobility, government policies, and cases of COVID-19.

Through a pre-clinical study conducted in his former role at Moffitt Cancer Center and published in Clinical Cancer Research, Said Sebti, Ph.D., associate director for basic research at VCU Massey Cancer Center, identified a novel drug that effectively thwarts pancreatic tumors that are addicted to the cancer-causing mutant KRAS gene.

By combining wind speed data with the measured accelerations of a golden eagle outfitted with GPS tracking instruments, researchers suggest that, rather than hindering flight, turbulence is a source of energy that birds may use to their advantage.

Researchers used charcoal found in lake sediment records to assemble the fire history across the Rocky Mountains. They discovered that, since 2000, wildfires are burning nearly twice as much area, on average, compared to the last 2,000 years.

In places on the front lines of climate change, these disease-spreading insects may become a year-round problem.

Public health measures designed to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus may have fostered a substantial side benefit: A 53 percent drop in hospital admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), likely due to a drop in circulating seasonal respiratory viruses such as influenza.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflammatory autoimmune disease that causes pain, swelling and stiffness in the joints. It can also cause fatigue, and the underlying inflammation may affect other body systems. In people with RA, low empowerment is associated with worse health. Interventions to improve empowerment may include helping people to master their pain, increase physical function, and improve physical activity. Remote technologies to support patient-reported self-assessment may help improve patient empowerment and disease management.

According to a study of data from more than 163,000 Fitbit users, sleep duration increased slightly in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with a similar timeframe in 2019.

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have identified a protein signaling mechanism driving join dysfunction in OI and find that inhibiting this signaling pathway can prevent onset of tendinopathy problems in mouse models.

Researchers at the Human Genome Sequencing Center at Baylor College of Medicine have identified genetic variant discrepancies between the hg19 and hg28 reference genomes, creating guidance for laboratories to take advantage of an improved human reference genome.

A new study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences uncovers where much of the carbonate consumption in the deep sea is happening - a process that prevents its escape into Earth's atmosphere. Researchers from Harvard and Boston University collected and examined methane-eating microbes from seven geologically diverse seafloor seeps and found that the carbonate rocks from all sites host methane-oxidizing microbial communities with the highest rates of methane consumption.

Red seaweeds have been prevalent in the diets of Asian communities for thousands of years. In a new study, published in Marine Drugs, researchers have shown how these algae confer health benefits.

More veterans are receiving important sleep care, especially those living in rural areas where access to sleep medicine specialists can be difficult. The Veterans Health Administration's TeleSleep Program launched telehealth services in 2017 to support the testing, diagnosis, and treatment of obstructive sleep apnea and other sleep disorders. More than one million veterans who received care from VHA in 2020 have sleep apnea.

While the United States faces a nationwide nursing shortage, a recent study at the University of Missouri found rural Missouri counties experience nursing shortages at a greater rate than the state's metropolitan counties.