Galaxy clusters are some of the most massive structures in the cosmos, but despite being millions of lightyears across, they can still be hard to spot. Researchers at Lancaster University have turned to artificial intelligence for assistance, developing “Deep-CEE” (Deep Learning for Galaxy Cluster Extraction and Evaluation), a novel deep learning technique to speed up the process of finding them. Matthew Chan, a PhD student at Lancaster University, is presenting this work at the Royal Astronomical Society’s National Astronomy meeting on 4 July at 3:45pm in the Machine Learning in Astrophysics session.

“It’s made a huge difference in my life,” says one patient who can now live independently.

People who drink alcohol don’t only put themselves at risk, they’re also endangering family and friends.

A new study finds the effects of “secondhand” alcohol harms are widespread, with nearly one in five Americans – 53 million people – reporting having been harmed by someone else’s drinking during the past year.

Secondhand harms

Those harms include threats or harassment, damaged property, vandalism, physical aggression, financial problems, relationship issues and issues related to driving.

“Heavy drinkers should be aware of how they might be impacting the lives of people around them,” said study co-author Katherine Karriker-Jaffe, a senior scientist with the Alcohol Research Group at the Public Health Institute in Emeryville, California.

If people know more about the secondhand harms from alcohol, that knowledge “may change the norms about what’s considered acceptable,” she said. And that may affect public policies, such as proposals to allow bars to stay open later or to lower taxes on alcohol.

The study findings were published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

In an accompanying editorial, Dr Sven Andreasson of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden noted that “alcohol generates health problems on a massive scale”.

He pointed out that more than 5% of deaths worldwide are attributed to alcohol.

Different kinds of harm

“What is striking about alcohol is its global toxic impact: on virtually all organs of the body as well as on most sectors of society. Health, education, transportation, agriculture, trade and so on – all need to address the impact of alcohol,” Andreasson wrote.

The new study included data from two nationwide US surveys conducted in 2015. They included almost 9 000 adults.

Researchers found that 21% of women and 23% of men were harmed by someone else’s drinking in the past year. Although men and women reported similar levels of harm, the harms they experienced were different.

Women were more likely to have money troubles or family problems due to someone else’s drinking. For men, secondhand alcohol harms often included ruined property, vandalism and physical aggression. They were more likely to report harm due to a stranger’s alcohol use.

People who were heavy drinkers themselves were most likely to report harm from someone else’s drinking, the study found. Almost half of heavy drinkers said they had been harmed by someone else’s alcohol use. (Heavy drinking is five or more drinks at a time for men and four or more for women, the researchers said.)

Younger people were more apt to have experienced secondhand alcohol harms, the study found.

Karriker-Jaffe said screening for risk factors in primary care settings could be a way to help. “We should make sure people are getting help for alcohol harms to others,” she said.

‘One snapshot in time’

Dr Lawrence Brown Jr. is CEO of START Treatment and Recovery Centers in Brooklyn, New York. He said it’s important to alert the public to signs of unhealthy alcohol use, but added that it’s hard to recommend interventions based on one study.

Brown said some groups may be under- or overrepresented in this study.

“From a policy standpoint, it would be difficult to say what would be appropriate,” he said. “The study authors acknowledge that this was one snapshot in time. We don’t know the extent of the harm. Did it occur monthly? Weekly? It helps to know where you should commit money to interventions.”

The author of a second editorial, Dr Timothy Naimi of Boston Medical Center, said population-based strategies are needed. He noted that taxes on alcohol have been effective, yet federal alcohol taxes have recently been cut.

“The freedom to drink alcohol must be counterbalanced by the freedom from being affected by others’ drinking in ways manifested as homicide, alcohol-related sexual assault, car crashes, domestic abuse, lost household wages and child neglect,” Naimi wrote.

He likened policies to protect people from alcohol harms to strategies implemented to safeguard people from secondhand tobacco smoke.

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A diabetic teenager has been refusing treatment and says she wants to die.

Noel Conway lost his appeal for the right to die at the UK’s highest court last year.

The BBC found examples of app users logging harmful habits or punishing themselves for over-eating.

A urinary tract infection might be more than just a painful nuisance for some, with new research suggesting it could raise the risk of stroke in vulnerable people.

The study of over 190 000 stroke patients found that the risk of suffering a stroke was heightened in the weeks and months following any infection that required a trip to the hospital. But urinary tract infections (UTIs) showed the strongest link.

Ischaemic stroke

People were over five times more likely to suffer an ischaemic stroke in the week following a UTI, versus the year before the infection, the findings showed.

Ischaemic strokes – the most common type of stroke – are caused by a blood clot that diminishes blood flow to the brain.

The researchers said the findings do not implicate milder infections that people manage at home.

“We’re probably capturing more-severe infections with this study,” said senior researcher Dr Mandip Dhamoon, an associate professor of neurology at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine, in New York City.

The study cannot prove that infections actually triggered strokes. But based on past research, Dhamoon said, it is biologically plausible: Infections can increase body-wide inflammation and may contribute to blood clots.

There are a lot of unknowns, though – including whether certain treatments can not only clear a patient’s infection, but also reduce the risk of a subsequent stroke. That’s a question for future studies, Dhamoon said.

Stroke risk factors

For now, people with risk factors for a stroke can focus on things they can control, according to Daniel Lackland, a professor of neurology at the Medical University of South Carolina.

“If you’ve recently been in the hospital for an infection, be even more cognisant of controlling your stroke risk factors, like high blood pressure and diabetes,” said Lackland, who is also a spokesperson for the American Stroke Association.

The findings, published online June 27 in the journal Stroke, are based on more than 190 000 people who were treated for a stroke at New York State hospitals.

Most often, it was an ischaemic stroke, but close to 40 000 patients had suffered a haemorrhagic stroke – which occurs when a blood vessel ruptures and bleeds into the brain.

The researchers looked at each patient’s risk of stroke in the week to four months after a hospital visit for an infection, and compared it with the risk in the previous year.

The risk gradually went down, but was still increased by twofold four months out, the investigators found.

Low absolute risk

At this point, Dhamoon said, it’s not clear why UTIs would show the strongest association with stroke.

Respiratory infections, blood infections and UTIs were also tied to a heightened risk of intracerebral haemorrhage – a type of haemorrhagic stroke. Why might infections contribute to brain bleeding? Effects on blood vessel function could potentially play a role, Dhamoon said. But that can’t be discerned from this study, he added.

Another point: The study looked at people’s stroke risk at a particular time in relation to another time period. So even though the risk was relatively elevated after an infection, that doesn’t mean it was high.

“The absolute risk to any one patient is still probably low,” Dhamoon said.

Past studies, Lackland said, have implicated certain infections as a possible stroke trigger – including herpes zoster, which causes shingles.

“But this study suggests that a range of infections, if severe, are associated with stroke,” Lackland said. That’s important, he added, because it may help researchers figure out the “why.”

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If you often feel bloated after a meal, don’t be too quick to blame high-fibre foods. The real culprit might surprise you.

Your gut may be rebelling because you’re eating too much salt, a new study suggests.

“Sodium reduction is an important dietary intervention to reduce bloating symptoms and could be used to enhance compliance with healthful high-fibre diets,” said study researcher Noel Mueller, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.

He and his research colleagues looked at data from a large clinical trial conducted in the late 1990s known as Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension-Sodium, or DASH-Sodium for short.

Their conclusion: Consuming a lot of salt increases bloating, as does a healthy, high-fibre diet.

Although it’s not clear exactly how salt contributes, Mueller suspects fluid retention may be the key. Eating more salt can promote water retention and make digestion less efficient, which can lead to gas and bloating, he said.

Studies in mice have shown that dietary salt can alter the makeup of gut bacteria. And that, in turn, can affect gas production in the colon, Mueller said.

“Our study suggests that selecting foods with lower sodium content, such as those that are not ultra-processed, may help relieve bloating in some people,” he said.

Bloating affects as many as a third of Americans, including more than 90% of those with irritable bowel syndrome. It’s a painful buildup of excess gas created as gut bacteria break down fibre during digestion.

For the current study, the researchers used findings from a 1998-1999 trial. In that trial, the DASH diet – one low in fat and high in fibre, fruits, nuts and veggies – was compared with a low-fibre eating regimen. The trial’s goal was to learn how salt and other factors affected high blood pressure.

The new review found that about 41% on the high-fibre diet reported bloating, and men had a bigger problem with it than women. And diets high in salt increased the odds of bloating by 27%.

“We found that in both diets, reducing sodium intake reduced bloating symptoms,” Mueller said.

The upshot is that reducing sodium can be an effective way to prevent gas – and may help people maintain a healthy, high-fibre eating regimen.

Many things can cause bloating — lactose intolerance, coeliac disease, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, infection or other conditions, said Samantha Heller, a senior clinical nutritionist at New York University Langone Health.

“If someone is experiencing gastrointestinal symptoms such as bloating on an ongoing basis, they should see their health care practitioner to see if the cause can be pinned down,” said Heller, who wasn’t involved with the study. “This way they will know how to manage the issue.”

Occasional bloating is not uncommon, she added.

To help you avoid excess gas and bloating, Heller offered these tips:

• Increase physical activity.
• Limit highly processed foods, such as fast food, frozen meals, junk food and fried food.
• Increase your fluid intake, and make peppermint tea part of it. Avoid carbonated beverages.
• Eat more foods that are rich in fibre, such as vegetables, legumes and whole grains. Increase these slowly and in small portions, and be sure to increase your fluid intake at the same time.
• Have smaller meals.

The report was published recently in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

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The figures are 10 times higher than the general population, making support vital, a study says.

One in four patients faces delays getting treatment for sepsis, putting lives at risk, experts say.