Lottery-based incentives do not increase COVID-19 vaccination rates
(Boston University School of Medicine) Would you be more willing to get vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus if you could participate in a lottery for cash and prizes? The answer was surprisingly no, according to Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) researchers who found that Ohio's " Vax-a-Million " lottery-based incentive system, intended to increase COVID-19 vaccination rates, was not associated with an increase in COVD-19 vaccinations. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - July 2, 2021 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news
BU receives $2.7M from the AHA to address disparities that intersect heart disease
(Boston University School of Medicine) With a growing need to better understand the many links between heart disease and cancer, the two leading causes of death worldwide, the American Heart Association (AHA), the world's leading voluntary organization dedicated to a world of longer, healthier lives, announced grants focused on this area of scientific research. More than $11 million in research grants has been awarded to create the AHA's newest Strategically Focused Research Network on disparities in cardio-oncology. (Source: EurekAlert! - Cancer)
Source: EurekAlert! - Cancer - June 29, 2021 Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: news
Racism and segregation associated with advanced stage lung cancers among blacks
(Boston University School of Medicine) Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for 80-85% cases of lung cancer and when diagnosed early, has a five-year survival rate of 50-80%. Black patients have lower overall incidence of NSCLC than white patients, but are more likely to be diagnosed at later stages. They also are less likely to receive surgery for early-stage cancer. (Source: EurekAlert! - Cancer)
Source: EurekAlert! - Cancer - June 22, 2021 Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: news
Study reveals recipe for even more powerful COVID-19 vaccines
(Boston University) A new study looking at the way human cells activate the immune system in response to SARS-CoV-2 infection could open the door to even more effective and powerful vaccines against the coronavirus and its rapidly emerging variants. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - June 16, 2021 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news
Many Older Women Not Eligible to Quit Cervical Cancer Screening
TUESDAY, June 15, 2021 -- About two-thirds of older women fail to qualify for discontinuation of cervical cancer screening, according to a study published online June 3 in Gynecologic Oncology.
Jacqueline M. Mills, M.D., from the Boston University... (Source: Drugs.com - Pharma News)
Source: Drugs.com - Pharma News - June 15, 2021 Category: Pharmaceuticals Source Type: news
Microbes in ocean play important role in moderating Earth's temperature
(Harvard University, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology) 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. (Source: EurekAlert! - Biology)
Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - June 14, 2021 Category: Biology Source Type: news
Study finds that inflammatory processes are altered in the brains of people with OUD
(Boston University School of Medicine) Prevalence rates of opioid use disorder (OUD) have increased dramatically, accompanied by a surge of overdose deaths--nearly 50,000 in the U.S. in 2019. While opioid dependence has been extensively studied in preclinical models, an understanding of the biological alterations that occur in the brains of people who chronically use opioids and who are diagnosed with OUD remains limited. (Source: EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science)
Source: EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science - June 11, 2021 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: news
Alcohol companies earned billions from underage drinking in 2016
(Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs) Underage youth consumed $17.5 billion worth, or 8.6 percent, of the alcoholic drinks sold in 2016. Products from three alcohol companies - AB Inbev, MillerCoors and Diageo - accounted for nearly half of youth consumption, according to a new study from researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Johns Hopkins and Boston University. (Source: EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science)
Source: EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science - June 10, 2021 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: news
BU researchers create novel curriculum assessment tool to improve medical education about sexual and gender minority (LGBTQI) populations
(Boston University School of Medicine) Medical education aspires to mitigate bias in future professionals by providing a robust curriculum that includes perspectives and practices for caring for sexual and gender minority (SGM) populations, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTQI) persons. To provide medical schools with a more systematic, uniform approach to teaching these topics in their curriculum, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) in 2014 published 30 SGM competencies and topics that curricula should address. However, implementation of these ideals remains challenging. (Sour...
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - June 10, 2021 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: news
Beyond synthetic biology, synthetic ecology boosts health by engineering the environment
(Boston University) In a new Nature Communications study, researchers from BU's Microbiome Initiative discovered that providing microbial communities with a broader variety of food sources didn't increase the variety of microbial species within their experiments, but more food did fuel more microbial growth. The team's ultimate goal is to learn how to direct microbiome behavior through environmental molecules like food sources. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - June 4, 2021 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: news
Why scientists want to solve an underground mystery about where microbes live
(Boston University) A team of BU biologists revealed, for the first time, that it is possible to accurately predict the abundance of different species of soil microbes in different parts of the world. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - June 4, 2021 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: news
Computer simulations of the brain can predict language recovery in stroke survivors
(Boston University) Speech rehabilitation experts can predict how well a patient will recover from aphasia, a disorder caused by damage to the part of the brain responsible for producing language. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - June 4, 2021 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: news
Boston Globe Investigation Finds Many Boston Hospital CEOs Also Sit on Healthcare Company Boards
Cozy relationships between hospital chief executives and healthcare companies they do business with may raise ethical questions If hospital employees, including pathologists, wonder why their hospital uses a certain company’s products and services it may be because their Chief Executive Officer (CEO) sits on the Board of Directors of the same companies from which the […]
The post Boston Globe Investigation Finds Many Boston Hospital CEOs Also Sit on Healthcare Company Boards appeared first on Dark Daily. (Source: Dark Daily)
Source: Dark Daily - May 26, 2021 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Kristen Noonan Tags: Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice Laboratory News Management & Operations anatomic pathology Betsy Nabel MD Boston Children's Hospital Boston Globe Boston University Brigham and Women’s Hospital Brigham Health Carl Elliott MD PhD Source Type: news
Moderate use of hair relaxers does not increase breast cancer risk among black women
(Boston University School of Medicine) Researchers have now found no association of hair relaxer use with breast cancer risk overall in Black women, but they did find some evidence that heavy use of lye-containing hair relaxers may be associated with increased risk of ER+ breast cancer. (Source: EurekAlert! - Cancer)
Source: EurekAlert! - Cancer - May 24, 2021 Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: news
Total deaths due to COVID-19 underestimated by 20% in US counties
(Boston University School of Medicine) More than 15 months into the pandemic, the U.S. death toll from COVID-19 is nearing 600,000. But COVID-19 deaths may be underestimated by 20%, according to a new, first-of-its-kind study from Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH), the University of Pennsylvania, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - May 20, 2021 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: news
