SMC Spain

SMC Spain

SMC Spain
Position
Topics

Incidence of colon cancer continues to rise in young people in many high-income countries, although not in Spain

A team of researchers has analyzed data from the World Health Organization to estimate the incidence of colorectal cancer in 50 countries around the world. Their conclusions, based on records up to 2017, are that in most high-income countries its incidence continues to increase in young people (under 50 years of age). This increase, however, is not observed in Spain. The results are published in the journal The Lancet Oncology.   

0

More than half of researchers who communicate science in the media in Spain say they suffered attacks, according to a SMC survey

The report 'Experiences of researchers who interact with the media and social networks in Spain', carried out by FECYT’s Science Media Centre Spain (SMC) in collaboration with the research group Gureiker, from the University of the Basque Country, analyses data from a survey, the first of its kind in Spain, on the relationship with the media and social networks of the expert sources contacted by the SMC Spain from March 2022 to July 2024. The results show that scientists have a positive or very positive perception of their participation in the media (83.12%). However, 51.05% of respondents admit to having suffered an attack after communicating science. Women receive significantly more attacks than men: 56.86% of female scientists report attacks compared to 46.21% of male scientists. The social network X (formerly Twitter) is the most common avenue for this type of attack. 

0

Clinical trial demonstrates efficacy of RH5.1/Matrix-M malaria vaccine in babies in Burkina Faso

The RH5.1/Matrix-M vaccine is effective and safe against malaria, according to a phase 2b clinical trial in infants in Burkina Faso published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. Two other vaccines are already approved against malaria, a disease caused by the Plasmodium falciparum parasitebut this one acts at a different stage of the disease: when the malaria parasite is present in the blood. The other two vaccines attack the parasite when reaches the liver.

0

Study identifies proteins linked to brain ageing

Researchers in China have analysed data from more than 4,500 people and identified 13 proteins linked to brain ageing. In addition, changes in protein concentrations in the blood tend to peak at ages 57, 70 and 78. According to the authors, who publish the results in the journal Nature Aging, these ages may reflect transitions in human brain health at specific ages, and could therefore be important for designing possible interventions in the brain ageing process.

0

Population in drylands could double by 2100 under worst-case climate change scenario

More than three-quarters of the earth's land surface experienced drier climates between 1990 and 2020 compared to the previous three decades, according to a new report by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. Over the past 30 years, 40.6 percent of the global landmass, excluding Antarctica, is classified as drylands, three percentage points more than the previous three decades. The report, which is being presented at the COP16 on desertification being held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, also shows that 2.3 billion people were living in drylands in 2020, a population that could rise to 5 billion by 2100 under a worst-case climate change scenario.

0

Prenatal cell-free DNA testing can incidentally detect maternal cancer

Cell-free DNA (cfDNA) sequencing analysis for fetal aneuploidies - chromosomal abnormalities - can incidentally detect maternal cancer, according to a study published in NEJM. Researchers screened 107 pregnant and postpartum mothers with no symptoms of cancer, but who had received unusual clinical cfDNA sequencing results, for cancer. In this sample, cancer was present in 48% of the women.

0

A study in Nature led by Spanish researchers achieves a breakthrough in explaining autism

Most cases of autism have no known cause. Now, a study led at IRB Barcelona has discovered a mechanism that could explain a good part of these situations. The loss of a few amino acids in a crucial protein would affect the activity of hundreds of genes and the development of neurons. To explain the study, which is published in the journal Nature and which could open the door to future treatments, the Science Media Centre Spain organized an informative session with Raúl Méndez and Xavier Salvatella, the two scientists who have led the research. 

0