25-fold surge in vitamin D supplement prescriptions for kids in UK primary care

The number of vitamin D supplement prescriptions written for children in primary care in the UK has surged 25-fold in under 10 years, reveals an analysis of family doctor (GP) prescribing data, published in the online journal BMJ Open.

Prescribing for self, family, and friends widespread among young Irish doctors, poll shows

Prescribing for self, family, friends and colleagues is widespread among young Irish doctors, suggest the results of a survey, published online in the Journal of Medical Ethics.

Concerns over regulation of oral powders or gels sold as medical devices in Europe

Oral powders or gels, sold as medical devices in the European Union (EU), aren't regulated to the same safety standards as those applied to medicines, reveals research published online in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.

Google co-founders step down as execs of parent Alphabet

Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are stepping down from their roles within the parent company, Alphabet.

Siting cell towers needs careful planning

No one can overengineer like an engineer. So introducing a little more caution into an existing engineering process is nothing much to ruffle feathers. A new paper published in Environmental Research offers insight on how to include simple precautionary approaches to siting cell towers.

Tech startups gravitate toward cities with strong social networks, study finds

The presence of technology startups can drive economic growth for their home cities. So how can cities better appeal to entrepreneurs? A new study from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin shows the connections they can offer matter more than big money.

Women wearing hijabs in news stories may be judged negatively

Women wearing a veil or headscarf in the United States may face harsher social judgement, according to a study by Penn State researchers that found when given the same information in a news story, some people may consider a woman wearing a headscarf to be more likely to have committed a crime.

NASA finds second tropical system develops in Arabian Sea

Tropical Storm 07A has developed in the eastern Arabian Sea, one day after Tropical Storm 06A developed in the western part of the sea. Infrared imagery from an instrument aboard Terra revealed that very high, powerful storms with very cold cloud top temperatures were southwest of the center.

Coral gardeners bring back Jamaica's reefs, piece by piece

Everton Simpson squints at the Caribbean from his motorboat, scanning the dazzling bands of color for hints of what lies beneath. Emerald green indicates sandy bottoms. Sapphire blue lies above seagrass meadows. And deep indigo marks coral reefs. That's where he's headed.

For some corals, meals can come with a side of microplastics

Tiny microplastic particles are about as common in the ocean today as plastic is in our daily lives.

Hepatitis A outbreak tied to berries spreads to one more state

A hepatitis A outbreak tied to blackberries sold in Fresh Thyme grocery stores now includes 16 confirmed cases in six states.

Brazil approves sale of medical cannabis in pharmacies

Brazil's health watchdog on Tuesday approved the sale of cannabis-based products for medical use in pharmacies to people with a prescription.

White Americans far likelier to receive HIV prevention drug than minorities

White Americans who are at risk of HIV are seven times more likely than blacks to receive a daily oral pill shown to be extremely effective at preventing infection, according to official statistics published Tuesday.

Lack of specialists doom rural sick patients

Residents of rural areas are more likely to be hospitalized and to die than those who live in cities primarily because they lack access to specialists, recent research found.

How does protein fit in your holiday diet or New Year's resolutions?

While some diets load up on protein and other diets dictate protein sources, it can be hard to know what to consume while managing weight or during weight loss.

Successful instrument guidance through deep and convulted blood vessel networks

A team led by Professor Sylvain Martel at the Polytechnique Montréal Nanorobotics Laboratory has developed a novel approach to tackling one of the biggest challenges of endovascular surgery: how to reach the most difficult-to-access physiological locations. Their solution is a robotic platform that uses the fringe field generated by the superconducting magnet of a clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner to guide medical instruments through deeper and more complex vascular structures. The approach has been successfully demonstrated in-vivo, and is the subject of an article just published in Science Robotics.

NASA's exoplanet-hunting mission catches a natural comet outburst in unprecedented detail

Using data from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), astronomers at the University of Maryland (UMD), in College Park, Maryland, have captured a clear start-to-finish image sequence of an explosive emission of dust, ice and gases during the close approach of comet 46P/Wirtanen in late 2018. This is the most complete and detailed observation to date of the formation and dissipation of a naturally-occurring comet outburst. The team members reported their results in the November 22 issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Highly sensitive epigenomic technology combats disease

Much remains unknown about diseases and the way our bodies respond to them, in part because the human genome is the complete DNA assembly that makes each person unique. A Virginia Tech professor and his team of researchers have created new technology to help in understanding how the human body battles diseases.

Transition to exhaustion: Clues for cancer immunotherapy

Research on immune cells "exhausted" by chronic viral infection provides clues on how to refine cancer immunotherapy. The results are scheduled for publication in Immunity.

How to help fix the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' hospital rating system

The current hospital star-rating system used by the U.S. government's Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is plagued with numerous flaws, and University of Chicago Booth School of Business Professor Dan Adelman has come up with a new way to address one of its most controversial issues.

Is disability a risk factor for miscarriage?

A new study compared the proportion of women with any cognitive, physical, or independent living disability who experienced a miscarriage during the previous 5-year period to women without disabilities. Regardless of the type of disability, a greater proportion of women with a disability had a miscarriage, according to the study results published in Journal of Women's Health.

Study reveals dynamics of crucial immune system proteins

Of the many marvels of the human immune system, the processing of antigens by the class I proteins of the major histocompatability complex (MHC-I) is among the most mind-boggling. Exactly how these proteins carry out their crucial functions has not been well understood. Now, however, researchers at UC Santa Cruz have worked out the details of key molecular interactions involved in the selection and processing of antigens by MHC-I proteins.