A new study from Reichman University, published in the prestigious journal JAMA Network Open, has found that an AI-based conversational support platform can significantly reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, form a meaningful therapeutic alliance with users, and provide round-the-clock emotional support.

​For the first time, scientists have directly measured how smoking changes the mechanical behavior of human lung tissue. The researchers found that smoking substantially stiffens this tissue in ways resembling fibrosis, a disease that scars and toughens the lungs.

Giving whole blood or the component parts of blood are equally effective options for paramedics and emergency medical technicians to use in treating patients with severe, traumatic bleeding before arriving at the hospital, according to a large, nationwide trial directed by University of Pittsburgh and UPMC clinicians and scientists.

Pennington Biomedical Research Center, in collaboration with Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has launched a research study, the COACH trial, to test different ways to help children and their families improve their health through lifestyle changes delivered by primary care clinics in communities in Louisiana and Tennessee.

The COACH trial is enrolling 900 children ages 5 to 17 with obesity, which is classified as a BMI at or above the 95th percentile for their age and sex. Patients and their parents are being recruited through urban, suburban and rural doctor’s offices in Tennessee and Louisiana.