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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Electroconvulsive therapy, which may be effective at lowering long-term risks of suicide and death among patients with certain mood disorders, may result in longer hospital stays and increased health care costs, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers. They said delivering the therapy in outpatient settings may make the treatment more cost-effective.

Research team created new glasses for protection against X-ray and gamma radiation. Scientists could select new components that improved the characteristics of the samples and allowed to reduce the amount of lead in the glass composition.

SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, is highly transmissible, with nasal passages being the target of original infection. The nasal passage also shows the highest expression of ACE2, a protein that has been widely linked with increased susceptibility to COVID-19. Now, scientists from Japan have found that nasal inflammation can influence susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2. They also identified the use of short chain fatty acids as a potential COVID-19 management strategy.

Annals of Family Medicine is a peer-reviewed, indexed research journal that provides a cross-disciplinary forum for new, evidence-based information affecting the primary care disciplines.

Frugal individuals -- like their less frugal counterparts -- can be triggered to make unplanned or impulse purchases. The researchers found that spendthrifts are not motivated by deep discounts or deals in the same way. It's like a switch that goes off in frugal individuals ---it allows them to let go of restraint and convince themselves they are meeting frugal goals by getting a "good" deal for an item they would have "needed" anyway.

Primary care physicians have played a crucial role in vaccination delivery to the U.S. population, including the elderly. They are well positioned to help with administering COVID-19 vaccinations. They are also equipped to provide clinical guidance to help patients interpret results from COVID-19 testing and immunity determinations and can answer vaccine questions

Skoltech researchers and their colleagues from the U.S. and Singapore have created a neural network that can help tweak semiconductor crystals in a controlled fashion to achieve superior properties for electronics. This enables a new direction of development of next-generation chips and solar cells by exploiting a controllable deformation that may change the properties of a material on the fly.

As temperatures rise, the risk of devastating forest fires is increasing. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) are using artificial intelligence to estimate the long-term impact that an increased number of forest fires will have on forest ecosystems. Their simulations show how Yellowstone National Park in the USA could change by the end of the century.

The Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation (JVR) announces publication of an openly available special issue that provides free access to key presentations from the 2020 Virtual Conference of the Association of People Supporting Employment First (APSE). These contributions advocate for and help facilitate the full inclusion of people with disabilities in the workplace and community.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have shown in a brain organoid study that exposure to a common pesticide synergizes with a frequent autism-linked gene mutation.

People with diabetes and depression who take antidepressants may have a lower risk of death and of serious diabetes complications, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Depression is the most frequently diagnosed psychiatric disorder among older adults, with 8% to 16% of older patients presenting with clinically significant depressive symptoms. Researchers in Spain conducted a randomized clinical trial of 347 older adults with mild to moderate depression, comparing the effectiveness of physical exercise and antidepressants as treatment methods.

The physical interactions between coral and algal cells as they join together in symbiosis have been observed for the first time. Within minutes of being introduced, the coral cells had started to engulf the algae, either digesting them or protecting them within a 'bubble' inside the cell. This new study will form the basis of further research that will expand our understanding of their symbiotic relationship, leading to improved methods of coral conservation.