Focus on employability boosts universities' success in the Teaching Excellence Framework

Universities' Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) grades—designed to help students choose where to study—are being boosted for the institutions that highlight employability post-university and student outcomes in their TEF submission reports, according to a new study published in Educational Review.

New evidence on the mistreatment of women during childbirth

New evidence from a World Health Organization (WHO)-led study in four countries shows more than one-third of women experience mistreatment during childbirth in health facilities.

Rat poison eyed in 2 California mountain lion deaths

Two Southern California mountain lions that were part of a National Park Service study have been found dead and rodent poison has been confirmed as the cause in one case and is suspected in the other.

Facebook extends fact-checking programme to 10 new African states

Facebook on Tuesday announced the expansion of its third-party fact-checking programme to 10 new African countries in partnership with Agence France-Presse and other media.

Online patient portal usage linked to higher rates of flu shots, blood pressure checks

Patients who use online patient portals are 50 percent more likely to get a flu shot and twice as likely to have their blood pressure checked as compared to patients who do not interact with these portals. A new Penn Medicine study, published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, also showed that patients using portals were 50 percent more likely to have their cholesterol checked, adding to the list of preventive health behaviors linked to portal use.

Research supports expanding insurance coverage of non-invasive prenatal testing

Research conducted by the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences provides evidence to support expansion of insurance plan coverage of noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT), a simple maternal blood draw which screens for fetal chromosomal disorders including trisomy 13 (Patau syndrome), trisomy 18 (Edwards syndrome), and trisomy 21 (Down syndrome), to women under the age of 35.

Research shows drug can extend survival rates for heart failure patients

Researchers at the University of Arizona College of Medicine—Phoenix have shown for the first time in preclinical studies that Aliskiren, a drug that inhibits the enzyme that regulates blood pressure, can delay the progression of congestive heart failure and lengthen survival rates.

Southwest pilots sue Boeing over 737 MAX

Pilots from Texas-based Southwest Airlines said Monday they had filed a lawsuit against Boeing, accusing it of "deliberately misleading" them over the 737 MAX, which has been grounded after two deadly crashes.

Lions kill cattle, so people kill lions. Can the cycle end?

Saitoti Petro scans a dirt road in northern Tanzania for recent signs of the top predator on the African savannah. "If you see a lion," he warns, "stop and look it straight in the eyes—you must never run."

Adobe cuts off Venezuela clients, citing US sanctions

The software company Adobe says it is cutting off its accounts in Venezuela, the latest repercussions of U.S. financial sanctions targeting President Nicolás Maduro.

India on the frontline of the fight against tuberculosis

All the symptoms were there but it still took four doctors and several months of waiting before Bharti Kapar's cough and stomach pains were diagnosed as tuberculosis.

US official: Research finds uranium in Navajo women, babies

About a quarter of Navajo women and some infants who were part of a federally funded study on uranium exposure had high levels of the radioactive metal in their systems, decades after mining for Cold War weaponry ended on their reservation, a U.S. health official Monday.

Our Amazon: Brazilians who live in the world's biggest rainforest

Cattle breeders, indigenous teachers and loggers are among the more than 20 million people living in the Amazon in northern Brazil, carving out a living from the world's largest rainforest.

Samsung Electronics flags 56% fall in Q3 operating profit

Samsung Electronics said on Tuesday it expected operating profits to drop more than 50 percent in the third quarter as it struggles with a long-running slump in the global chip market.

Daring to dream: Nobel winner's nervous night

When US scientist William Kaelin's phone began ringing at 5:00 am, he wasn't sure whether he was dreaming: Winning the Nobel Medicine Prize had long been a goal, but he also thought it was a long shot.

Published studies may exaggerate the effect of burnout on quality of patient care

Published studies have shown an association between burnout among health care professionals and quality of patient care, but those studies may exaggerate the magnitude of the effect. A systematic review is published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Scientists use machine-learning algorithms to help automate plant studies

Father of genetics Gregor Mendel spent years tediously observing and measuring pea plant traits by hand in the 1800s to uncover the basics of genetic inheritance. Today, botanists can track the traits, or phenotypes, of hundreds or thousands of plants much more quickly, with automated camera systems. Now, Salk researchers have helped speed up plant phenotyping even more, with machine-learning algorithms that teach a computer system to analyze three-dimensional shapes of the branches and leaves of a plant. The study, published in Plant Physiology on October 7, 2019, may help scientists better quantify how plants respond to climate change, genetic mutations or other factors.

Initiating breastfeeding in vulnerable infants

The benefits of breastfeeding for both mother and child are well-recognized, including for late preterm infants (LPI). But because LPI do not have fully developed brains, they may experience difficulties latching and/or sustaining a latch on the breast to have milk transfer occur. This means that these infants are at high risk for formula supplementation and/or discontinuation of breastfeeding. Without human milk, these infants lose a critical component for protection and optimal development of their brains.

Heat waves could increase substantially in size by mid-century, says new study

Our planet has been baking under the sun this summer as temperatures reached the hottest ever recorded and heat waves spread across the globe. While the climate continues to warm, scientists expect the frequency and intensity of heat waves to increase. However, a commonly overlooked aspect is the spatial size of heat waves, despite its important implications.

Weight stigma affects gay men on dating apps

Weight stigma is an issue for queer men using dating apps, says a new University of Waterloo study.

Engineers develop thin, lightweight lens that could produce slimmer camera phones, longer-flying drones

The new wave of smartphones to hit the market all come with incredible cameras that produce brilliant photos. There's only one complaint—the thick camera lenses on the back that jet out like ugly bumps on a sheet of glass.

New research furthers understanding about what shapes human gut microbiome

A new Northwestern University study finds that despite human's close genetic relationship to apes, the human gut microbiome is more similar to that of Old World monkeys like baboons than to that of apes like chimpanzees.

Study shows Housing First program significantly reduces homelessness over long term

The longest running study of its kind on the "Housing First" model has found that it significantly reduces homelessness over the long term compared to treatment as usual, according to a study published in The Lancet Psychiatry by scientists at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and St. Michael's Hospital.

Urban, home gardens could help curb food insecurity, health problems

Food deserts are an increasingly recognized problem in the United States, but a new study from the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior indicates urban and home gardens—combined with nutrition education—could be a path toward correcting that disadvantage.

Modified quantum dots capture more energy from light and lose less to heat

Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists have synthesized magnetically-doped quantum dots that capture the kinetic energy of electrons created by ultraviolet light before it's wasted as heat.

Meningioma molecular profile reliably predicts tumor recurrence

Although typically benign, about one-fifth of meningiomas, the most common primary brain tumors, recur despite complete surgical removal. The current meningioma classification does not consistently predict whether the tumor will recur, but researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children's Hospital report today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that using molecular profiles that might better predict meningioma recurrence.

Violence linked to social isolation, hypervigilance and chronic health problems

Exposure to violence can negatively impact a person's physical and psychosocial health, according to two new studies co-authored by University of Chicago Medicine social epidemiologist Elizabeth L. Tung, MD.

The effectiveness of electrical stimulation in producing spinal fusion

Researchers from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of published data on the effect of electrical stimulation therapies on spinal fusion. They found significant improvement overall in the rates of bone fusion following a course of electrical stimulation in both preclinical (animal) and clinical (human) studies.

In two states, legalization of recreational marijuana found to have little effect on crime

Eleven states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana. A new study funded by a grant from the National Institute of Justice sought to determine the effect of this legal change on crimes rates. The study, which looked at legalization and sales of recreational cannabis in Colorado and Washington, found minimal to no effect on rates of violent and property crimes in those states.

Regular exercise is good for your heart, no matter how old you are: study

Regular exercise is highly beneficial for all patients with cardiovascular disease regardless of age, report investigators in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology. Their results showed that the patients who benefited most from cardiac rehabilitation were those who started out with the greatest physical impairment.