Science
press releases.

Science14 Feb 2024

New study finds Black birthing people prefer Black obstetric providers due to experiences of discrimination and fear of dying during pregnancy or childbirth

UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL: Feb. 14, 2024, 11:45 AM EST Media Contacts: Karen Addis, APR, karen@addispr.com, +1 (301) 787-2394; Kerri Wade, MPA, kwade@smfm.org, +1 (202) 236-1780 National Harbor, Md. -- Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention demonstrate that Black women in the United States are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than are white women. Health disparities among people of color are the result of broader social and economic inequities rooted in racism and discrimination. In a new study to be presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine’s (SMFM) annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting™, researchers ...

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Science14 Feb 2024

Is the Amazon forest approaching a tipping point?

Global warming may be interacting with regional rainfall and deforestation to accelerate forest loss in the Amazon, pushing it towards partial or total collapse. Research published today [14 February 2024] in Nature, has identified the potential thresholds of these stressors, showing where their combined effects could produce a ‘tipping point’ - in which the forest is so fragile that just a small disturbance could cause an abrupt shift in the state of the ecosystem. The study was led by the Federal University ...

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Science14 Feb 2024

Prescription opioid exposure during pregnancy and risk of spontaneous preterm delivery

About The Study: In this study of 251,000 pregnant patients with Tennessee Medicaid and without opioid use disorder, a positive association was found between total prescription opioid dose dispensed and the odds of spontaneous preterm birth. These findings support guidance to minimize opioid exposure during pregnancy and prescribe the lowest dose necessary. Authors: Sarah S. Osmundson, M.D., M.S., of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media ...

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Science14 Feb 2024

Researchers uncover mechanisms behind enigmatic shapes of nuclei

Nearly 150 years ago, scientists discovered that specialized blood cells serve a vital role in immune system protection against infection and illness. Certain groups of these white blood cells, now known as neutrophils, feature a nucleus that is structured strikingly different than most nuclei. The majority of cells feature round- or oval-shaped nuclei that are rigid, but neutrophils differ in that their nuclei adopt multiple lobular structures akin to that of flower petal arrangements. These unique nuclear shapes permit neutrophils to travel all over the body to identify and combat invading ...

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Science14 Feb 2024

Online images may be turning back the clock on gender bias

A picture is worth a thousand words, as the saying goes, and research has shown that the human brain does indeed better retain information from images than from text. These days, we are taking in more visual content than ever as we peruse picture-packed news sites and social media platforms. And much of that visual content, according to new Berkeley Haas research published in the journal Nature, is reinforcing powerful gender stereotypes. Through a series of experiments, observations, and the help of large language models, professors Douglas Guilbeault and Solène Delecourt found that female and male gender associations are more extreme among Google Images than within text ...

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Science14 Feb 2024

Male fertility gene discovery reveals path to success for sperm

Discovery of a pair of genes that work in perfect harmony to protect male fertility, could provide new insights into some unexplained cases of the most severe form of infertility, research suggests. Genetic analysis of cases of male infertility revealed that rare mutations in a gene, known as SPOCD1, disrupts the formation of healthy sperm during the earliest stages of their development. The gene was also found to work in partnership with a previously unknown gene, C19orf84, to protect the early-stage precursors to sperm, known as germ cells, from damage. The discovery of the essential role of these ...

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Science14 Feb 2024

HHMI opens National Competition for Freeman Hrabowski Scholars Program

Today, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) opened a national competition to select up to 30 early career faculty in science to join the 2025 cohort of the Freeman Hrabowski Scholars Program. Freeman Hrabowski Scholars are outstanding basic researchers, including physician-scientists, who have strong potential to become leaders in their fields. Scholars are committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion through their mentoring efforts and understanding of systemic exclusion and marginalization in science of trainees from different backgrounds. While pursuing excellence in their own research, Scholars work to create an inclusive lab climate ...

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Science14 Feb 2024

Love songs lead scientists to new populations of skywalker gibbons in Myanmar

Skywalker gibbon couples wake up each morning and sing to each other, their voices echoing across the forest canopy of their home. The primate’s endearing love song helped scientists confirm what was formerly a strong hunch: Myanmar has the largest population of endangered Skywalker gibbons on Earth. When Star Wars-loving scientists identified Skywalker gibbons as a distinct species in 2017, fewer than 200 individuals were known to exist, all in southwestern China. A study published today in the International Journal of Primatology is the first in the past century to confirm living Skywalker gibbons in ...

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Science14 Feb 2024

Discovery of a subset of human short introns that are spliced out by a novel mechanism

In humans, the length of pre-mRNA varies extensively (from 30 to 1,160,411 nucleotides by recent studies). The fundamental mechanism of splicing has been studied with model pre-mRNAs including 158- and 231-nt introns, for historical instance, that are spliced very efficiently in vitro and in vivo. Such an ideal pre-mRNA contains good splicing signal sequences, i.e., the 5′ splice site, the branch-site (BS) sequence, and the polypyrimidine tract (PPT) followed by the 3′ splice site that are recognized by U1 snRNP, U2 snRNP and U2AF2–U2AF1, respectively. Prof. Mayeda says, “Given the diverse lengths ...

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Science14 Feb 2024

Cold-water coral traps itself on mountains in the deep sea

Corals searching for food in the cold and dark waters of the deep sea are building higher and higher mountains to get closer to the source of their food. But in doing so, they may find themselves trapped when the climate changes. That is shown in the thesis that theoretical ecologist Anna van der Kaaden of NIOZ in Yerseke and the Copernicus Institute for Sustainable Development in Utrecht will defend on Feb. 20 at the University of Groningen. “When the water gets warmer, these creatures prefer to be deeper, but a coral doesn’t just walk down the mountain,” Van der Kaaden said. Deep and dark Unlike the famous, colorful tropical corals, cold-water corals live ...

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Science14 Feb 2024

Cost-effective to routinely change surgical gloves and instruments as well as being safer

Surgeons who routinely change surgical gloves and instruments are incurring similar costs to those using the same equipment, a new study has found. The economic evaluation funded by the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) follows a clinical trial conducted at 80 hospitals in Benin, Ghana, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Rwanda, and South Africa which established that routine change of gloves and instruments reduces surgical site infections (SSIs) by 13%. The evaluation, published by the Lancet Global ...

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Science14 Feb 2024

Scientists discover hidden army of lung flu fighters

Scientists have long thought of the fluid-filled sac around our lungs merely as a cushion from external damage. Turns out, it also houses potent virus-eating cells that rush into the lungs during flu infections. Not to be confused with phages, which are viruses that infect bacteria, these cells are macrophages, immune cells produced in the body. “The name macrophage means ‘big eater.’ They gobble up bacteria, viruses, cancer cells, and dying cells. Really, anything that looks foreign, they take it up and destroy it,” said UC Riverside virologist Juliet Morrison, who led the discovery team. “We were surprised to find them in the lungs ...

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Science14 Feb 2024

Red nets signal “stop” to insect pests, reduce need for insecticides

Red nets are better at keeping away a common agricultural insect pest than typical black or white nets, according to a new study. Researchers experimented with the effect of red, white, black and combination-colored nets on deterring onion thrips from eating Kujo leeks, also called Welsh onions. In both lab and field tests, red nets were significantly better at deterring the insect than other colors. Also, in field tests, onion crops which were either partially or fully covered by red netting required 25-50% less insecticide than was needed for a totally uncovered field. Changing agricultural nets from black or white to red could help reduce pesticide ...

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Science14 Feb 2024

It's award season: let's celebrate microbes in movies

Elche (Spain), January 22, 2024. Usually, show business depicts viruses, bacteria, and other microorganisms as one of the worst menaces to humankind. Entertainment movies influence the way audiences understand and perceive these topics. Yet, few films accurately portray the science of microbiology and its social implications. Movies and TV series often feature outbreaks of deadly diseases and the efforts of scientists and medical professionals to contain them. However, entertainment movies can also educate the public about the importance and the impact ...

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Science14 Feb 2024

Menopause and migraines: New findings point to power of prevention

For middle-aged women plagued by migraines, or hot flashes and night sweats, another worry may linger in the backs of their minds: whether these experiences have set them up for a heart attack, a stroke or another cardiovascular crisis. After all, past research suggesting such a link during and after menopause has gotten a lot of attention. But a pair of new studies in the journal Menopause suggest that most of them don’t need to worry as much, especially if they don’t have both migraines and long-term hot flashes and night sweats. Instead, they should focus on tackling the ...

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Science14 Feb 2024

The combination of migraine and persistent hot flashes could prove deadly

CLEVELAND, Ohio (Feb 14, 2024)—Hot flashes and migraine (particularly with aura) have been shown to be individual risk factors for cardiovascular disease because of associated poorer heart disease riskfactor profiles. A new study, however, is the first to examine the joint influences of migraine and hot flashes/night sweats (vasomotor symptoms) independent of traditional heart disease risk factors and estrogen use. Research results are published online today in Menopause, the journal of The Menopause Society. Specifically, ...

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Science14 Feb 2024

Acupuncture may curb heightened risk of stroke associated with rheumatoid arthritis

A course of acupuncture may curb the heightened risk of stroke associated with rheumatoid arthritis, finds a comparative study published in the open access journal BMJ Open. The effects seem to be independent of sex, age, medication use, and co-existing conditions, the findings indicate, prompting the researchers to suggest that the procedure may reduce levels of pro-inflammatory proteins (cytokines) in the body that are linked to cardiovascular disease. The principal cause of death in people with rheumatoid arthritis is cardiovascular disease. And they are more likely to have a stroke than ...

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Science14 Feb 2024

Age when periods first start and early menopause linked to heightened COPD risk

A range of reproductive factors, including age when periods first start and an early menopause, are all linked to a heightened risk of COPD—the umbrella term for progressive lung conditions that cause breathing difficulties—finds research published online in the journal Thorax. Miscarriage, stillbirth, infertility, and having 3 or more children are also associated with a heightened risk of COPD, which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis, the findings show. Recent evidence indicates substantial gender differences in susceptibility ...

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Science14 Feb 2024

Do apes have humor?

Babies playfully tease others as young as eight months of age. Since language is not required for this behavior, similar kinds of playful teasing might be present in non-human animals. Now cognitive biologists and primatologists from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA, US), the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior (MPI-AB, Germany), Indiana University (IU, US), and the University of California San Diego (UCSD, US) have documented playful teasing in four species of great apes. Like joking behavior in humans, ape teasing is provocative, persistent, and includes elements of surprise and play. Because all four great ape species used playful teasing, it is likely that the ...

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Science13 Feb 2024

Trail cameras track ‘critically low’ New York bobcat population

CORNELL UNIVERSITY MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE FOR RELEASE: Feb. 13, 2024 Kaitlyn Serrao 607-882-1140 kms465@cornell.edu Trail cameras track ‘critically low’ New York bobcat population ITHACA, N.Y. – With thousands of strategically placed cameras covering more than 27,000 square miles in central and western New York, biologists have evidence that bobcat populations remain critically low in central and western New York state. Despite reports of recent recoveries elsewhere, bobcat populations in New York State displayed low occupancy, ...

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Science13 Feb 2024

Virginia Tech researchers discover that blocking an essential nutrient inhibits malaria parasite growth

Living organisms often create what is needed for life from scratch. For humans, this process means the creation of most essential compounds needed to survive. But not every living thing has this capability, such as the parasite that causes malaria, which affected an estimated 249 million people in 2022. Virginia Tech researchers in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences found that by preventing the malaria parasite from scavenging fatty acids, a type of required nutrient, it could no longer grow. “The key to this breakthrough is that we were able to develop a screening method for the malaria ...

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Science13 Feb 2024

A century of reforestation helped keep the eastern US cool

American Geophysical Union 13 February 2024 AGU Release No. 24-5 For Immediate Release This press release and accompanying multimedia are available online at: https://news.agu.org/press-release/a-century-of-reforestation-helped-keep-the-eastern-us-cool/ A century of reforestation helped keep the eastern US cool Much of the U.S. warmed during the 20th century, but the eastern part of the country remained mysteriously cool. The recovery of forests could explain why AGU press contact: Liza Lester, +1 (202) 777-7494, news@agu.org (UTC-5 hours) Contact information for the researchers: Kim ...

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Science13 Feb 2024

IL-17 promotes IL-18 production in osteoarthritis synovial fibroblasts via…

“This study provides novel insights into the pathogenesis of OA and suggests a potential therapeutic target in OA treatment.” BUFFALO, NY- February 13, 2024 – A new research paper was published in Aging (listed by MEDLINE/PubMed as "Aging (Albany NY)" and "Aging-US" by Web of Science) Volume 16, Issue 2, entitled, “IL-17 promotes IL-18 production via the MEK/ERK/miR-4492 axis in osteoarthritis synovial fibroblasts.” The concept of osteoarthritis (OA) as a low-grade inflammatory ...

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Science13 Feb 2024

UBCO researchers get to the bottom of non-invasive gut tests

New research from UBC Okanagan could make monitoring gut health easier and less painful by tapping into a common—yet often overlooked—source of information: the mucus in our digestive system that eventually becomes part of fecal matter. Correct, what’s in our poop. Researcher Dr. Kirk Bergstrom and post-graduate student Noah Fancy of UBCO's Biology department discovered a non-invasive technique to study MUC2, a critical gut protein, from what we leave behind in the bathroom. “MUC2 is like the silent star in our guts. It’s constantly working ...

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Science13 Feb 2024

First-of-its-kind ACC registry tracks cardiac procedures performed in ambulatory surgical settings

The American College of Cardiology’s newest registry offers data-driven insights on cardiac procedures performed in the ambulatory surgery setting through its first-of-its-kind dashboard. The number of cardiac procedures being performed in ambulatory surgery centers has grown significantly in the last decade, leading ACC’s NCDR to create the CV ASC Registry Suite to fit into the established workflow and allow these facilities to measure and compare their patient care and outcomes to similar procedures performed in the hospital outpatient setting. Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) are health care facilities that provide same-day surgical care, ...

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