Science
press releases.

Science22 May 2024

Young people are increasingly using Wegovy and Ozempic

Public interest in weight loss drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic is surging, but national data on dispensing patterns in the United States are surprisingly scarce. Now, a national study from Michigan Medicine shows that the use of these weight loss drugs is increasing rapidly in adolescents and young adults 12-25 years, especially females. Using 2020 - 2023 data from a national database representing 92% of pharmacies, the study team found a 594% increase in the monthly number of adolescents and young adults using Wegovy, Ozempic, and other glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists ...

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Science22 May 2024

Zhenhua Tian receives National Science Foundation CAREER award to develop invisible acoustic tweezers

Medical procedures capable of moving cells inside the body without making incisions have unique benefits. From faster recovery times to less trauma impacting the body, the list of reasons to do surgery without scalpels is growing with the technology used to perform noninvasive treatments. A new method that might be available in the future is coming to life through research conducted by Zhenhua Tian’s team. The assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering is using tube-shaped acoustic energy to capture tiny biological ...

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Science22 May 2024

What factors predict when older adults will stop driving?

MINNEAPOLIS – What factors lead older adults to stop driving? A new study followed older adults who had no memory or thinking problems to examine this question. The study is published in the May 22, 2024, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. “Alzheimer’s disease develops over a long time—people may have a 10- to 15-year period where they have no symptoms, but the disease process is developing in the brain,” said study author Ganesh M. Babulal, PhD, OTD, of Washington University School of Medicine in St. ...

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Science22 May 2024

Irina Petrache, MD, ATSF, commences term as President of the American Thoracic Society

May 22, 2024 – Irina Petrache, MD, ATSF, today added president of the American Thoracic Society to her list of accomplishments. The announcement came on the heels of the Plenary Session at the ATS 2024 International Conference. The slate of officers to serve on the Society’s Executive Committee for the 2024-2025 term consists of the following: Irina Petrache, MD, ATSF, Incoming President Dr. Petrache is professor of medicine at National Jewish Health and at the University of Colorado. She also serves as chief of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, associate ...

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Science22 May 2024

Ancient people hunted extinct elephants at Tagua Tagua Lake in Chile 12,000 years ago

Thousands of years ago, early hunter-gatherers returned regularly to Tagua Tagua Lake in Chile to hunt ancient elephants and take advantage of other local resources, according to a study published May 22, 2024 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Rafael Labarca of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and colleagues. Multiple archaeological sites are known from the region of Tagua Tagua Lake in central Chile, representing some of the earliest known human settlements in the Americas. In this study, Labarca and colleagues report ...

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Science22 May 2024

Escaped GMO canola plants persist long-term, but may be losing their extra genes

Populations of canola plants genetically engineered to be resistant to herbicides can survive outside of farms, but may be gradually losing their engineered genes, reports a new study led by Cynthia Sagers of Arizona State University, US, published May 22 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE. The hypothesis has been put forward that if any genetically engineered crop plants escape farm fields, they will be short-lived. This would make them unlikely to take over wild areas or spread their inserted genes, called transgenes, to wild populations ...

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Science22 May 2024

Smoking fentanyl, rising in SF, is a deadly new risk for overdose

Now that smoking has replaced injecting as the most common way to consume fentanyl, UCSF researchers have uncovered an increased risk of fatal overdose from the residue that accumulates in smoking equipment. The researchers found that people both shared fentanyl resin and consumed it accidentally. This may be increasing the risk of overdose, especially among those who use the equipment to smoke other drugs, like methamphetamine, and have not developed tolerance to opioids like fentanyl. “The risk of overdose when sharing smoking devices with fentanyl resin could be seen as analogous to the risk of shared injection ...

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Science22 May 2024

3,500-year-old Mycenaean armor was suitable for extended battle - study

A 3,500-year-old suit of Mycenaean armour may have been used in battle - and not just for ceremonial purposes as previously thought – new research reveals. Researchers worked with a group of Greek military volunteers who wore a replica of the Dendra armour during extended simulations of the rigours of battle. One of the best and most complete examples of Mycenaean-era full-body armour, the bronze panoply was discovered in a tomb in the Greek village of Dendra, by Greek and Swedish archaeologists in the 1960s. But since its discovery, the question has remained ...

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Science22 May 2024

SwRI highlights NEXTCAR II project innovations at 2024 ARPA-E Innovation Summit

SAN ANTONIO — May 22, 2024 — Southwest Research Institute will share the latest developments from its ongoing NEXTCAR Phase II project at the 2024 ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit in Dallas (May 22-24). The Institute’s NEXTCAR Program aims to reduce vehicular energy consumption by more than 30% using next generation connected and automated vehicle (CAV) technology. “We are demonstrating real-world next-generation automated driving technology that puts SwRI’s ongoing NEXTCAR energy efficiency research into practice,” said SwRI’s Scott R. Hotz, P.E., director of the Powertrain ...

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Science22 May 2024

Sewage overflows linked to increase in gastrointestinal illnesses

EMBARGOED UNTIL 12:01 a.m. EST Wednesday, May 22, 2024 Contact: Jillian McKoy, jpmckoy@bu.edu Michael Saunders, msaunder@bu.edu ## During extreme rain or rapid snowmelt, the high volume of water that enters sewer systems can cause untreated sewage to flow into waterways in US cities that have combined wastewater and stormwater sewer systems, including the Merrimack River in Massachusetts. A new study led by Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) researchers has found that residents living in the downstream communities that ...

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Science22 May 2024

Promethium bound: Rare earth element’s secrets exposed

Scientists have uncovered the properties of a rare earth element that was first discovered 80 years ago at the very same laboratory, opening a new pathway for the exploration of elements critical in modern technology, from medicine to space travel. Promethium was discovered in 1945 at Clinton Laboratories, now the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and continues to be produced at ORNL in minute quantities. Some of its properties have remained elusive despite the rare earth element’s ...

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Science22 May 2024

Study: Under extreme impacts, metals get stronger when heated

Metals get softer when they are heated, which is how blacksmiths can form iron into complex shapes by heating it red hot. And anyone who compares a copper wire with a steel coat hanger will quickly discern that copper is much more pliable than steel. But scientists at MIT have discovered that when metal is struck by an object moving at a super high velocity, the opposite happens: The hotter the metal, the stronger it is. Under those conditions, which put extreme stress on the metal, copper can actually be just ...

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Science22 May 2024

Transitioning gender identities is not linked with depression

A landmark longitudinal study of LGBTQ+ youths has found that transitioning gender identities is not associated with depression and that about 1 in 3 gender-minority youths change their gender identity more than once. In fact, the study found higher rates of depression among transgender youths are more closely associated with bullying and victimization. The findings from a team of researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and in Brazil are outlined in a paper in JAMA Network Open. The study followed 366 LGBTQ+ young people ages 15-21 in two U.S. cities from 2011 to 2015 and measured depressive symptoms ...

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Science22 May 2024

IPK research team uncovers mechanism for spikelet development in barley

The inflorescence architecture of crop plants like barley is predominantly regulated by meristem activity and fate, which play a critical role in determining the number of floral structures for grain production. Spikelets are the basic reproductive unit of grass inflorescences. The identity and determinacy of many grass meristems are partially determined by a group of genes expressed specifically at organ boundaries, which can form local signalling centres that regulate adjacent meristem fate and activity. These genes are critical for establishing and ...

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Science22 May 2024

Sweet move: a modified sugar enhances antisense oligonucleotide safety and efficacy

Researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) and Osaka University find that a newly developed modified sugar increases the efficacy and safety of antisense oligonucleotides designed to treat central nervous system disease Tokyo, Japan – Diseases that affect the brain and spinal cord can be particularly devastating, and finding new and more effective ways to treat these conditions is an important goal for researchers and clinicians alike. Now, a research group from Japan reports that slightly modifying an existing treatment for central nervous system (CNS) disease dramatically increases its ...

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Science22 May 2024

New study highlights significant increases in cannabis use in United States

Many countries around the world are considering revising cannabis policies. A new study by a researcher at Carnegie Mellon University assessed cannabis use in the United States between 1979 and 2022, finding that a growing share of cannabis consumers report daily or near-daily use and that their numbers now exceed those of daily and near-daily alcohol drinkers. The study concludes that long-term trends in cannabis use parallel corresponding changes in policy over the same period. The study appears in Addiction. “The data come from survey self-reports, but the enormous changes in ...

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Science22 May 2024

Mitochondrial phosphate carrier plays an important role in virulence of Candida albicans

This study is led by Professor Yan Wang (School of Pharmacy, Second Military Medical University (Naval Medical University), Shanghai, China). Her team found that the lack of MIR1 gene, which encodes mitochondrial phosphate carrier, can lead to severe virulence defects in Candida albicans. In the Caenorhabditis elegans candidiasis model, the survival rate of the wild-type strain infected group dropped to about 20% at 120 h, while the survival rate of the mir1Δ/Δ-infected group remained about 90% at 120 h. Similar results were obtained in the murine model. None of the mice infected with mir1Δ/Δ mutant died during 21 days of ...

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Science22 May 2024

The effect of measurement depth and technical considerations in performing liver attenuation imaging

Background and Aims Clinical unmet need in managing nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a common liver disorder affecting 25–30% of American adults is to develop noninvasive and robust biomarkers. Methods We re-measured liver AC by placing a region of interest (ROI, 3 cm tall and 3 cm wide) at 4.5 cm, 6 cm, and 7.5 cm from the skin and a large ROI (6.0 cm tall and 7.3 cm wide) on pre-recorded ATI images from 117 participants screened for NAFLD. The difference in AC value at variable ROI depths was tested using one-way ANOVA (analysis of variance). Diagnostic ...

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Science22 May 2024

Flexible film senses nearby movements — featured in blink-tracking glasses

I’m not touching you! When another person’s finger hovers over your skin, you may get the sense that they’re touching you, feeling not necessarily contact, but their proximity. Similarly, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces have designed a soft, flexible film that senses the presence of nearby objects without physically touching them. The study features the new sensor technology to detect eyelash proximity in blink-tracking glasses. Noncontact sensors can identify or measure an object without directly touching it. Examples of these devices include ...

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Science22 May 2024

Atypia of undetermined significance in thyroid fine needle aspiration cytology revisited

Background and objectives Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is a cost-efficient technique for the management of thyroid nodules. Changes in the World Health Organization classification of thyroid tumors can influence reliability of cytology. The 2023 Bethesda System for Reporting Thyroid Cytopathology has adapted cytological nomenclature to these changes. The aim of this paper was to review the management of atypia of undetermined significance (AUS) in our institution. https://www.xiahepublishing.com/2771-165X/JCTP-2023-00062 Methods Retrospective review of thyroid FNAC diagnosed with AUS in a single hospital between 2014 and 2022. We analyzed the management ...

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Science22 May 2024

Extreme temperatures may increase risk of stroke mortality, especially in low-income countries

Embargoed for release: Wednesday, May 22, 2024, 5:00 AM ET Key points: In a large, multinational investigation of the link between extreme temperatures and stroke mortality, researchers found that of every 1,000 ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke deaths, about 11 were attributable to extreme cold and hot days. The study also found that low-income countries bore a higher burden of heat-related hemorrhagic stroke mortality than high-income countries. The researchers foresee an increase in fatal strokes, as well as a widening disparity ...

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Science22 May 2024

25-year longitudinal study shows mothers’ empathy for teens may predict teens’ empathy for friends and future parenting

A new Child Development study from researchers at the University of Virginia provides the first long-term, longitudinal evidence for the transmission of empathic care across three generations: from mother to teen to child. The findings suggest that interactions with close friends in adolescence may provide a “training ground” in which teens can practice providing care in their peer relationships and pay forward the empathy they experience from their mothers, which may help strengthen their future parenting skills. For families and service providers, ...

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Science22 May 2024

One in two children with ADHD experience emotional problems, study finds

Cambridge scientists have shown that problems regulating emotions – which can manifest as depression, anxiety and explosive outbursts – may be a core symptom of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In research published in Nature Mental Health, the team found that as many as one in two children with ADHD show signs of emotional dysregulation, and that Ritalin – the commonly-prescribed drug to help the condition – appears to be less effective at treating this symptom. ADHD affects around ...

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Science22 May 2024

Dermatologists find ultraviolet irradiation increases appetite but prevents body weight gain

Philadelphia, May 22, 2024 – Obesity and metabolic disorders are increasingly significant global public health issues. In a novel study, a team of dermatologists evaluated the effect of ultraviolet (UV) exposure on appetite and weight regulation. They found that UV exposure raises norepinephrine levels, decreases leptin levels, and induces the browning of subcutaneous fat, thereby increasing energy expenditure. These results potentially pave the way for new approaches to prevent and treat obesity and metabolic disorders. Their findings appear in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, published by Elsevier. UV ...

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Science22 May 2024

Babies in the womb exposed to two languages hear speech differently when born

It’s well established that babies in the womb hear and learn about speech, at least in the third trimester. For example, newborns have been shown to already prefer the voice of their mother, recognize a story that had been repeatedly told to them while in the womb, and tell apart their mother’s native language. What wasn’t known until now was how developing fetuses learn about speech when their mother speaks to them in a mix of languages. Yet this is common: there are 3.3 billion bilingual people (43% of the population) worldwide, and in many countries, bilingualism or multilingualism is the norm. “Here we show that exposure to monolingual or a bilingual speech ...

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