Cerebral Palsy has been linked to a condition called cryptorchidism in males—when one or both of the testicles are not present in the scrotum. A new study in Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology found that spasticity in the lower extremities was linked to a higher likelihood of receiving surgery for cryptorchidism in boys with cerebral palsy. The study included 44,561 male patients with cerebral palsy in the Pediatric Health Information System, a comparative administrative database involving multiple US children’s hospitals. In addition to finding an overall association between lower extremity spasticity and cryptorchidism ...

Speech and voice disorders are common in individuals with Parkinson’s disease. New research published in the International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders found that a tele-rehabilitation program that combines conventional speech therapy and singing may help improve patients’ voice problems. For the study, 33 people with Parkinson’s disease were randomly assigned to receive the combination therapy, conventional speech therapy, or a singing intervention. Each patient participated in 12 tele-rehabilitation sessions over four weeks. Voice-related ...

New research reveals that the level of fat within the body’s muscle—or muscle adiposity—may indicate a person’s likelihood of experiencing cognitive decline as they age. In the study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 5-year increase in fat stored in the thigh muscle was a risk factor for cognitive decline. This risk was independent of total weight, other fat deposits, and muscle characteristics (such as muscle strength or mass) and also independent of traditional dementia risk factors. Investigators assessed muscle fat in 1,634 adults 69–79 years of age at years 1 and 6 and evaluated their cognitive function ...

The quality of recovery a person experiences on a given evening after work may impact their mood when they start their job again the next day, according to new research published in the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology. The study, which was based on diary entries by 124 employees on 887 days, found that people who had higher quality recovery during the evening than usual had higher levels of wakefulness, calmness, and pleasantness when they started work the next day. However, people’s wakefulness and calmness tended to decline more strongly during the workday after evenings with higher ...

At least 237,000 people died in organised violence in 2022. A new report from Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) at Uppsala University shows that this is a 97 per cent increase compared with the previous year, and the highest number since the Rwandan genocide in 1994. “We see this increase despite considerable de-escalation in the two deadliest conflicts of 2021; Yemen and Afghanistan. Instead, violence in Ethiopia and Ukraine escalated drastically,” says Shawn Davies, Senior Analyst at UCDP. Together, the wars in Ethiopia and Ukraine resulted in at least 180,000 battle-related deaths in 2022. This is a low estimate as information from these ...

The majority of sustainable development researchers believe that in affluent countries, it is necessary to look beyond economic growth to achieve sustainable development, a recent study from the University of Eastern Finland suggests. The study, published in the scientific journal Ecological Economics, investigated the preferred future paths for countries at different income levels among 461 sustainability scholars. The survey results shed light on the strategic choices necessary for achieving global sustainability. The study focused on green growth and post-growth economic strategies. The green growth strategy aims to enhance both societal and environmental ...

Liking certain things or styles is an important aspect of peoples’ identities and social lives. Tastes can influence the ways humans act and judge. How to best describe musical taste reliably is – due to the ever-changing diversification and transformation of music – difficult and open to debate. Using an approach which also considered sub-genres, researchers in Germany surveyed more than 2,000 people on their musical taste and took a closer look at the fans of five genres: European classical music, electronic dance music (EDM), metal, pop, and rock. “Our ...

The first-ever national study to assess the impact of developing artificial snow shows the pressure the process is putting on the climate, with the equivalent of nearly 17,000 homes’ worth of annual energy needed to produce snow for yearly ski operations in just Canada alone. Publishing their findings in the peer-reviewed journal Current Issues in Tourism, experts from the University of Waterloo, in Canada, and the University of Innsbruck, Austria, found 130,095 tonnes CO2e are needed to produce the estimated 42 million cubic meters of machine-made snow in Canada in an average winter.  For context, this is comparable to 155,141 ...

Deadly coral disease is spreading as global temperatures warm, and it’s likely to become endemic to reefs the world over by the next century, according to new research. The study, published today in Ecology Letters, shows the extent coral health will suffer from climate change, which threatens to wipe out entire reef habitats and devastate coastal communities. For the meta-analysis, researchers from UNSW Sydney analysed 108 studies of coral health where coral reefs were surveyed for disease symptoms. They then linked the disease surveys to ocean sea surface temperature records to understand how climate change – specifically ocean warming ...

College students are often urged to ‘find’ their passion, but such advice could discourage them from exploring other disciplines or developing new skills if they feel their passion or interests have already been ‘found’. A new study by Yale-NUS College and Stanford University found that cultivating a growth mindset about interest in undergraduates who initially professed that they were not a “math or science person,” led to increased interest and better final grades in their mandatory math and science courses. This study built on past research showing that people can hold different beliefs about the ...

High entropy oxides (HEOs) have been tentatively and prospectively applied for catalysis and energy storage. However, it is hard to further enhance its performance due to the difficult regulation of HEOs' physical-chemical properties. Although some optimized strategies, such as the introduction of noble metal, have been taken to improve the properties and performance of HEOs by a simple and effective way, the current methods could not well guide its commercial preparation and industrial application. Recently, a research team led by Prof. Zhong-Shuai Wu from State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian Institute ...

The University of Auckland has maintained a top place (12th) in the Global Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings 2023, with the number of participating universities increasing by some 20 percent from last year and up nearly 400 percent from its inaugural year in 2019. The ranking is perhaps the best-known measure that evaluates universities’ contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It assesses commitment to sustainability across four broad areas: research, stewardship, outreach and teaching covering all 17 of the SDGs. With the top global spot in the first two years of the ranking, the University of Auckland has maintained a strong position given the increased ...

The economic situation of 24,894 people from refugee backgrounds who came to New Zealand between 1997 and 2020 is the focus of the first paper in an ongoing study from the Centre for Asia Pacific Refugee Studies (CAPRS) at the University of Auckland. The study asked three broad questions: What are refugee access rates to education and state housing, who remains on benefits, as opposed to in employment over time and what factors contribute to income over time? Findings reveal the importance of the first five years in terms of successful ...

There’s fresh hope for sleep-deprived parents, with a study into whether kūmara boosts babies’ microbiome, potentially helping them sleep soundly and ward off viruses. The Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland trial explores whether kūmara acts as a prebiotic, fostering healthy bacteria in baby’s microbiome, and supporting immune development and sleep. “One of the really critical periods in pregnancy is very early on in the first trimester, and the other is between when a baby's born till about five or six months of age,” says Professor Clare Wall, principle investigator in the SUN study. “What babies first eat and what they're ...

The University of Warwick is excited to announce the launch of "#DocTok," a new initiative that harnesses the expertise of medical doctor Dr James Gill to address and communicate possible medical concerns to the younger generation. #DocTok videos will appear on the official University of Warwick TikTok page @UniOfWarwick the popular social media platform to provide accessible and accurate information on a wide range of health issues, from chlamydia to tonsillitis, anxiety, and depression.   With the rising prevalence of health-related concerns ...

Family and loved ones may be conspiring to sabotage your weight loss journey, according to a new study from the University of Surrey. The study is part of a growing body of evidence which suggests that not all social support results in positive health outcomes.   Reviewing literature in this area, researchers found the negative side of social support in the form of sabotage, feeding behaviour and collusion, which all undermine the attempts of those trying to lose weight. The Surrey team found acts of sabotage, discouraging healthy eating, and putting up barriers to attending support groups, often undermined an individual's ...

-With pictures/video-   Young chimpanzees combine different gestures, vocalisations and facial expressions in a way which echoes the development of communication in human infants, according to new research.  Psychologists at Durham University found that young chimpanzees combine different communication signals, which may help them be better understood by other chimpanzees in different situations such as playing or fighting.   The researchers found that this ability develops throughout infancy and adolescence.  Such ...

Masturbation is common across the animal kingdom but is especially prevalent amongst primates, including humans. Historically, this behaviour was considered to be either pathological or a by-product of sexual arousal, and recorded observations were too fragmented to understand its distribution, evolutionary history, or adaptive significance. New research published in Proceedings of The Royal Society B finds that, perhaps surprisingly, this behaviour seems to serve an evolutionary purpose. The findings indicate that masturbation is an ancient trait in primates, and that – at least in males – it increases reproductive ...

A new virtual ward to safely treat atrial fibrillation patients could prevent thousands of hospital admissions per year, easing NHS pressure, according to new research from the University of Leicester presented at the British Cardiovascular Society (BCS) conference in Manchester.  In the year-long study, patients with a fast heart rate due to atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter that met the necessary safety criteria(1) were sent home with the heart rate-lowering medication they would usually get in hospital, and told to submit daily information using a smartphone app.   Their data, including ECG recordings, blood pressure, oxygen ...

Drinking beetroot juice every day for six months after having a stent fitted reduced the chance of angina patients having a heart attack or needing a repeat procedure, according to new research presented at the British Cardiovascular Society conference. The finding on the benefits of the vegetable juice comes from a trial funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research and the British Heart Foundation (BHF), presented at the conference in Manchester. The researchers, based at St Bartholomew’s Hospital and Queen Mary University ...

A new publication from a team of scientists at USGS, Point Blue Conservation Science, and Conservation Biology Institute shows how knowledge coproduction - the collaborative creation of actionable information by scientists, resource managers, and policy makers - can help identify viable conservation options for a dynamic ecosystem with a complex web of stressors. The wetland habitats of California’s Central Valley support millions of migratory birds each year and are an important part of the Pacific Flyway, a bird migration route that ...

More than 100,000 Master of Business Administration students graduate each year in the United States, and all of them take at least one strategy course. Even so, little is known about the effects of the degree’s most popular course offering. Strategy courses typically focus on frameworks and cases that develop decision-making abilities for eventual MBA graduates, who make up most associates and partners at leading consulting firms, as well as 40% of the chief executive officers of publicly traded firms in the U.S. A new University of Washington study, published online June 5 ...

ITHACA, N.Y. – Shallow lakes and ponds emit significant amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, but emissions from these systems vary considerably and are not well understood. Now, a new Cornell University-led study measures methane and carbon dioxide emissions from 30 small lakes and ponds (one acre or less) in temperate areas of Europe and North America, revealing that the smallest and shallowest bodies of water exhibit the greatest variability over time. The paper marks an important step toward calibrating climate models so they better predict emissions from inland waterbodies, and it points to the need to study small waterbodies more closely. “This ...

Contributed by Laura Fattaruso, GSA Science Communication Fellow Boulder, Colo., USA: A new study published in Geology evaluates the potential for cobalt extraction from the Idaho Cobalt Belt (ICB) of east-central Idaho, using a detailed study of the Iron Creek deposit. The ICB hosts the second largest known domestic resource of the critical mineral cobalt, one of the key ingredients in many rechargeable batteries needed for the green energy transition. Demand for cobalt is projected to increase more than 500% by 2050. Roughly 70% of the cobalt mined globally is from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where mining practices have been criticized for human rights violations including ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Feral swine are considered one of the top invasive species of concern in North America because of the damage they do to agricultural and natural systems. To best manage them, resource management agencies need to know more precisely where and when to implement control methods. A new study by a Penn State-led research team developed a method to help guide control efforts in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Descended from wild European boars imported centuries ago that bred with escaped domestic pigs, feral swine cause widespread damage to ecosystems by wallowing ...