Science
press releases.

Science8 Feb 2024

How emotions affect word retrieval in people with aphasia

COLUMBUS, Ohio – People with aphasia have more trouble coming up with words they want to use when they’re prompted by images and words that carry negative emotional meaning, new research suggests. The study involved individuals whose language limitations resulted from damage to the brain caused by a stroke – the most common cause of aphasia, affecting at least one-third of stroke survivors. The disorder impairs the expression and understanding of language as well as reading and writing. Researchers from The Ohio State University who led the study said the findings – suggesting that prompts ...

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Science8 Feb 2024

Pregnant women living in states with limited access to abortion face higher levels of intimate partner homicide

Key Takeaways Young women under the age of 30, Black women, and women with lower education levels are disproportionately affected by intimate partner homicide during pregnancy, reflecting the need to better serve and protect these vulnerable populations. Particularly by firearms, increasing rates of intimate partner homicide of women who are pregnant or recently pregnant are occurring in states that have limited access to abortion. Researchers describe a ‘dire ...

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Science8 Feb 2024

Researchers uncover genetic factors for severe Lassa fever

While combing through the human genome in 2007, computational geneticist Pardis Sabeti made a discovery that would transform her research career. As a then postdoctoral fellow at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Sabeti discovered potential evidence that some unknown mutation in a gene called LARGE1 had a beneficial effect in the Nigerian population. Other scientists had discovered that this gene was critical for the Lassa virus to enter cells. Sabeti wondered whether a mutation in LARGE1 ...

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Science8 Feb 2024

16 UTA scholars receive McNair federal research award

A competitive U.S. Department of Education program that prepares undergraduate students interested in careers in academic research has selected 16 undergraduate students from The University of Texas at Arlington to join. The McNair Scholars Program was named for physicist and astronaut Ronald E. McNair, the second Black astronaut in U.S. history and one of several crew members killed when the space shuttle Challenger exploded on Jan. 28, 1986. The program assists qualified first-generation ...

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Science8 Feb 2024

Even with resolution, acute kidney injury in newborns can be life-threatening from very first episode

Our resilient kidneys are invaluable members of the body’s purification system, and they excel at bouncing back after injury. This even holds true for most sick infants in the neonatal intensive care unit. Because of this remarkable ability, dips in kidney function in infants were often overlooked historically in favor of other pressing diseases or symptoms. But physicians and researchers have shown increased interest in understanding kidney health in newborns and young infants within the last decade, leading to the AWAKEN study (Assessment of Worldwide Acute Kidney Epidemiology in Neonates). With initial ...

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Science8 Feb 2024

High-profile incidents of police brutality sway public opinion more than performance of people’s local law enforcement, new study from NYU Tandon reveals

National media coverage of police brutality influences public perceptions of law enforcement more than the performance of people’s local police departments, according to data analysis from NYU Tandon School of Engineering, challenging the assumption that public confidence in police depends mostly on feeling safe from local crime. In a study published in Communications Psychology, a NYU Tandon research team tracked media coverage of police brutality in 18 metropolitan areas in the United States – along with coverage of local crimes – and analyzed tweets from those cities to tease out positive attitudes from negative ...

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Science8 Feb 2024

Visualising multiple sclerosis with a new MRI procedure

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurological disease that usually leads to permanent disabilities. It affects around 2.9 million people worldwide, and around 15,000 in Switzerland alone. One key feature of the disease is that it causes the patient’s own immune system to attack and destroy the myelin sheaths in the central nervous system. These protective sheaths insulate the nerve fibres, much like the plastic coating around a copper wire. Myelin sheaths ensure that electrical impulses travel quickly and efficiently from nerve cell to nerve cell. If they are damaged or become thinner, this can lead to irreversible visual, ...

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Science8 Feb 2024

New study points to supply chain disruptions if the FDA removes ineffective decongestant from the market

PITTSBURGH, Feb. 8, 2024 — In a new study of nasal decongestant purchasing patterns, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine found that phenylephrine remained the most popular choice year after year, despite decades of concerns over a lack of evidence supporting its effectiveness. Published today in JAMA, the research letter points to a coming wave of supplychain disturbances if the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) moves to pull oral phenylephrine from the shelves, as recommended by an FDA advisory panel in 2023 that found the medication ineffective. The researchers ...

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Science8 Feb 2024

Trends in phenylephrine and pseudoephedrine sales

About The Study: Despite a lack of clinical efficacy evidence, phenylephrine was the most common oral decongestant in the U.S. from 2012-2021, with hundreds of millions of units purchased by retail pharmacies annually, and sales remained stable during this time. In contrast to pseudoephedrine, which is often formulated as a stand-alone product, most phenylephrine products were co-formulated with antihistamines or antitussives, which are likely to provide some symptom relief for cough and cold symptoms. Authors: Timothy S. Anderson, M.D., M.A.S., of the University of Pittsburgh, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at ...

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Science8 Feb 2024

The Galapagos comes to life in new RIT Press book

Natural scientist and author Robert Rothman takes readers on a reptillian tour of the Galápagos Islands in his new book, A Paradise for Reptiles: Lizards, Snakes, and Giant Tortoises of the Galápagos Islands Vol. 1: Tortoises, Geckos, and Snakes, published by RIT Press. For more than 30 years, Rothman has led hundreds of Rochester Institute of Technology students on tours to the Galápagos Islands to observe the wildlife and landscape that inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. Rothman’s A Paradise for Reptiles, an homage to the 19th century scientist, is an accessibly written guide for anyone interested in Darwin, the Galápagos, ...

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Science8 Feb 2024

Surprise discovery of tiny insect-killing worm

UC Riverside scientists have discovered a tiny worm species that infects and kills insects. These worms, called nematodes, could control crop pests in warm, humid places where other beneficial nematodes are currently unable to thrive. This new species is a member of a family of nematodes called Steinernema that have long been used in agriculture to control insect parasites without pesticides. Steinernema are not harmful to humans or other mammals and were first discovered in the 1920s. “We spray trillions of them on crops every year, and they’re ...

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Science8 Feb 2024

Protecting the protector boosts plant oil content

UPTON, NY—Biologists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have demonstrated a new way to boost the oil content of plant leaves and seeds. As described in the journal New Phytologist, the scientists identified and successfully altered key portions of a protein that protects newly synthesized oil droplets. The genetic alterations essentially protect the oil-protector protein so more oil can accumulate. “Implementing this strategy in bioenergy or oil crop plants could ...

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Science8 Feb 2024

Study visually captures a hard truth: Walking home at night is not the same for women

An eye-catching new study shows just how different the experience of walking home at night is for women versus men. The study, led by Brigham Young University public health professor Robbie Chaney, provides clear visual evidence of the constant environmental scanning women conduct as they walk in the dark, a safety consideration the study shows is unique to their experience. Chaney and co-authors Alyssa Baer and Ida Tovar showed pictures of campus areas at four Utah universities — Utah Valley University, ...

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Science8 Feb 2024

Breaking through barriers

Researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) overcome scientific roadblocks and develop a model to assess the biology of the human placental barrier Tokyo, Japan – During pregnancy, the human placenta plays multiple essential roles, including hormone production and nutrient/waste processing. It also serves as a barrier to protect the developing fetus from external toxic substances. However, the placental barrier can still be breached by certain drugs. In a recent article published in Nature Communications, a team led by researchers ...

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Science8 Feb 2024

Researchers identify potential way to treat genetic epilepsy by replacing ‘lost’ enzyme

Francis Crick Institute press release Under strict embargo: 01:00hrs GMT Thursday 8 February 2024 Peer reviewed Experimental study Animals and cells Researchers identify potential way to treat genetic epilepsy by replacing ‘lost’ enzyme Scientists at the Francis Crick Institute have found a new treatment target for CDKL5 deficiency disorder (CDD), one of the most common types of genetic epilepsy. CDD causes seizures and impaired development in children, and medications are limited to managing symptoms rather than tackling the root cause of the disease. The disorder involves losing the function of a gene producing the CDKL5 enzyme, which ...

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Science8 Feb 2024

What turned Earth into a giant snowball 700m years ago? Scientists now have an answer

Australian geologists have used plate tectonic modelling to determine what most likely caused an extreme ice-age climate in Earth’s history, more than 700 million years ago. The study, published in Geology, helps our understanding of the functioning of the Earth's built-in thermostat that prevents the Earth from getting stuck in overheating mode. It also shows how sensitive global climate is to atmospheric carbon concentration. “Imagine the Earth almost completely frozen over,” said the study’s lead author, ARC Future Fellow ...

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Science8 Feb 2024

Researchers estimate survival chances during CPR for cardiac arrest

A person’s chance of surviving while receiving cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for cardiac arrest in hospital declines rapidly from 22% after one minute to less than 1% after 39 minutes, finds a US study published by The BMJ today. Similarly, the likelihood of leaving hospital with no major brain damage declines from 15% after one minute of CPR to less than 1% after 32 minutes with no heartbeat. The researchers say the findings provide insights that may help guide hospital teams, patients and their families in deciding how long to continue resuscitation. In-hospital ...

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Science7 Feb 2024

Pregnant women should avoid ultraprocessed, fast foods

If you’re pregnant, you may want to think twice before making a hamburger run or reaching for a prepackaged pastry, according to research published last month in the journal Environmental International. Oddly enough it’s not the food that the report targets — not the fries, burgers or even the shakes and cakes — but what touches the food before you eat it. Research shows that phthalates, a class of chemicals associated with plastics, can shed from the wrapping, packaging and even from plastic gloves worn by food handlers into food. Once consumed during pregnancy, the chemicals can get into the bloodstream, through ...

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Science7 Feb 2024

Africa could grow more rice -- new study shows how

Africa’s rice sector has major opportunities to increase its yield gains through improved agronomic practices while avoiding massive land conversion, a study by international scientists including a Husker co-investigator finds. The production advances can be important in meeting Africa’s projected food needs and reducing dependence on imports, the researchers concluded. Rice demand in Africa is projected to more than double over the next 25 years due to population growth and increased rice consumption. At present, Africa imports nearly 40% of its rice. “Nearly 15 million hectares of rice are waiting for yield improvement in Africa, ...

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Science7 Feb 2024

ORNL's Jason DeGraw named ASHRAE Fellow

The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers, or ASHRAE, selected Jason DeGraw, a researcher with the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, as one of 23 members elevated to Fellow during its 2024 winter conference. A thermal-fluid scientist and mechanical engineer in the Thermal Energy Storage group, DeGraw was recognized for making substantial contributions in heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and refrigeration, and the built environment. He contributes education, research, engineering design and consultation, publications, presentations and mentoring to ASHRAE. At ORNL, DeGraw works with the Building Technologies ...

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Science7 Feb 2024

Evaluation of ruxolitinib, a Janus Kinase inhibitor, in multiple myeloma

“[...] the results of the studies presented in this review will hopefully provide the impetus for conducting additional preclinical and clinical studies to evaluate RUX in the setting of MM as well as other types of cancer.” BUFFALO, NY- February 7, 2024 – A new research perspective was published in Oncotarget's Volume 15 on February 5, 2024, entitled, “Preclinical and clinical evaluation of the Janus Kinase inhibitor ruxolitinib in multiple myeloma.” In this new paper, researchers Ashley Del Dosso, Elizabeth Tadevosyan, and James ...

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Science7 Feb 2024

Non-white victims of lethal violence and suicide in the US die significantly younger than their white counterparts

In the US, people of color who are killed by violence or die by suicide lose more potential years of life than white victims, according to a new study, which also explored factors that may contribute to these disparities. Gregory Zimmerman of Northeastern University in Boston, US, and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on February 7, 2024. Mounting evidence suggests that, among victims of violence in the US, the average number of potential years of life lost—how much longer the victim would have lived if they survived—is greater for people of color than for white people. To deepen understanding, Zimmerman ...

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Science7 Feb 2024

Scientists reveal why blueberries are blue

Tiny external structures in the wax coating of blueberries give them their blue colour, researchers at the University of Bristol can reveal. This applies to lots of fruits that are the same colour including damsons, sloes and juniper berries. In the study, published today in Science Advances, researchers show why blueberries are blue despite the dark red colour of the pigments in the fruit skin. Their blue colour is instead provided by a layer of wax that surrounds the fruit which is made up of miniature structures that scatter blue and UV light. This gives blueberries their blue appearance to humans and blue-UV to birds. The chromatic blue-UV reflectance ...

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Science7 Feb 2024

England’s oldest became frailer during austerity, study suggests

The speed at which England’s oldest adults became frailer accelerated during the UK Government’s era of austerity politics, according to a new study. Researchers say that the rate of frailty in people aged 85 and over in England increased 50 per cent faster per year between 2012 and 2018 compared with the preceding eight years. The impact of frailty – a decline in a person’s mental and physical resilience to illness and injury – on the oldest in society must be considered should any new austerity measures be introduced, experts warn. The study, led by researchers from the University of Edinburgh’s ...

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Science7 Feb 2024

Exceptionally rapid tooth development and ontogenetic changes in the feeding apparatus of the Komodo dragon

Tea Maho and Robert R. Reisz University of Toronto Mississauga Kilat, the largest living lizard at the Toronto Metro Zoo, like other members of his species (Varanus komodoensis), truly deserves to be called the Komodo Dragon! Its impressive size and the way it looks at you and tracks your every move makes you realize that it is an apex predator, not unlike a ferocious theropod dinosaur. So, it is not surprising when you look around at his enclosure to find that there are shed teeth sparkling on the ground, a common find when ...

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