COLUMBUS, Ohio – New research points to an economic factor that might be overlooked when considering why drug-related deaths among Black Americans increased significantly after 2010 in U.S. regions reporting heightened fentanyl activity: job losses that followed the Great Recession. Researchers analyzed data on employment, demographics, drug seizures and causes of death for over 200 counties in the United States between 2010 and 2021. They found that overall, one more job per 100 Black workers in a county was associated with .29 fewer overdose deaths per 100,000 Black Americans – a substantial difference when considering that the latest drug mortality rate stands ...

DALLAS, April 25, 2024 — One school in each of the 32 National Football League (NFL) team hometowns has won a $1,000 grant for physical activity equipment as a part of the American Heart Association and the NFL’s NFL PLAY 60 Fitness Tracking Competition. The competition encouraged classrooms to get moving for at least 60 minutes every day and log their movement minutes through the NFL PLAY 60 app. Physical activity positively impacts overall mental and physical wellness which is essential to help children reach their full potential. The number of winning schools corresponds to the number of NFL franchise teams while Rosholt High ...

Eggs and nesting baby birds exposed to moderate levels of anthropogenic traffic noise experience large, direct, and additive adverse effects on long-term development and fitness, according to a new study. The findings underscore the disruptive properties of noise on physiology, development, and reproduction, leading to lifelong fitness reduction, and call for a reassessment of the threat posed by anthropogenic noise and the need for noise mitigation measures. Noise pollution has become a global issue of concern, even in Earth’s ...

Dietary vitamin D modulates the gut microbiome to enhance the response to cancer immunotherapies, according to a new study in mice. The findings illuminate the poorly understood connection between vitamin D and immune responses to cancer via gut bacteria and suggest that vitamin D levels could serve as a potential determinant of cancer immunity and immunotherapy success. Vitamin D plays an important role in immune modulation as well as shaping the gut microbiome. Studies have also investigated the micronutrient’s role in cancer immunity as it’s been linked to both lower incidence of tumors and decreased mortality for several types of cancers and ...

A global meta-analysis of 186 studies reveals that conservation actions – particularly those targeted at species and ecosystems – yield significant positive impacts on biodiversity, according to a new study. Each year, billions of dollars are spent globally on conservation actions designed to halt and/or reverse the loss of biodiversity and degradation of ecosystems. Despite this, many international conservation goals, including those set by the Convention on Biological Diversity, remain unmet. While it could be concluded that current actions are insufficient or ineffective, researchers lack an understanding of how conservation actions ...

In a Policy Forum, Yann Robiou du Pont and colleagues argue that any method to derive company-level emissions targets inherently distorts competition in favor of existing companies and penalizes emerging or growing businesses. According to du Pont et al., despite their growing importance, companies’ emissions targets are not meaningful indicators to assess the ambition of their decarbonization plans and their alignment with the Paris Agreement. To meet international climate goals, it’s well understood that the ...

Francis Crick Institute press release Under strict embargo: 19:00 BST Thursday 25 April 2024 Peer reviewed Experimental study Animals and people Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Aalborg University in Denmark, have found that vitamin D encourages the growth of a type of gut bacteria in mice which improves immunity to cancer. Reported today in Science, the researchers found that mice given a diet rich in vitamin D had better immune resistance to experimentally transplanted cancers and improved ...

Scientists have called for a concerted global effort to stem the tide of disposable electronic technologies – such as vapes – contributing to international waste accumulation and environmental degradation. Writing in the journal Science, researchers from across the UK have highlighted how disposable vape sales quadrupled in the UK between 2022 and 2023, with consumers now throwing away around 5 million devices each week. In the United States, 4.5 disposable vapes are thrown away each second, and it is fast becoming an issue replicated right across the world. One of the main upshots, scientists say, is that vapes and other disposable ...

A new study published online today, April 25, in the scientific journal Science provides the strongest evidence to date that not only is nature conservation successful, but that scaling conservation interventions up would be transformational for halting and reversing biodiversity loss—a crisis that can lead to ecosystem collapses and a planet less able to support life—and reducing the effects of climate change. The findings of this first-ever comprehensive meta-analysis of the impact of conservation action ...

For most human proteins, there are no small molecules known to bind them chemically (so called “ligands”). Ligands frequently represent important starting points for drug development but this knowledge gap critically hampers the development of novel medicines. Researchers at CeMM, in a collaboration with Pfizer, have now leveraged and scaled a method to measure the binding activity of hundreds of small molecules against thousands of human proteins. This large-scale study revealed tens of thousands of ligand-protein interactions that can now be explored for the development of chemical tools and therapeutics. Moreover, ...

What happens in the body when we are hungry and see and smell food? A team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research has now been able to show in mice that adaptations in the liver mitochondria take place after only a few minutes. Stimulated by the activation of a group of nerve cells in the brain, the mitochondria of the liver cells change and prepare the liver for the adaptation of the sugar metabolism. The findings, published in the journal Science, could open up new avenues for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. The researchers ...

Global biodiversity has declined between 2% and 11% during the 20th century due to land-use change alone, according to a large multi-model study published in Science. The projections show that climate change could become the main driver of biodiversity decline by the mid-21st century. Land-use change is considered the largest driver of biodiversity change, according to the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). However, scientists are divided over how much biodiversity has changed in past decades. To better answer this question, an international team of researchers modeled the impacts of land-use change ...

Companies’ emissions reduction targets should not be the sole measure of corporate climate ambition, according to a new perspective paper. Relying on emissions can favour more established companies and hinder innovation, say the authors, who suggest updating regulations to improve corporate climate action. The paper, published today in Science, is by an international team led by Utrecht University, which includes Imperial College London researchers. Lead author of the study Dr Yann Robiou Du Pont, from the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development at Utrecht ...

Exploratory behavior is one of the fundamental personality traits of animals – and these traits influence their probability of survival, among other things. For example, curious individuals can inhabit different areas in their habitats compared to more cautious conspecifics. At the same time, however, they expose themselves to a greater risk of being discovered and eaten. Exploratory behavior as a factor in evolution The cichlids of Africa’s Lake Tanganyika exhibit extraordinary diversity in terms ...

Climate change is a global phenomenon, but its impacts are felt at a very local level. Take, for example, dust. Dust can have a huge impact on local air quality, food security, energy supply and public health. Yet, little is known about how global climate change is impacting dust levels. Previous studies have found that dust levels are actually decreasing across India, particularly northern India, the Persian Gulf Coast and much of the Middle East, but the reason has remained unclear. Researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) are working to understand how ...

MSU has a satellite uplink/LTN TV studio and Comrex line for radio interviews upon request. EAST LANSING, Mich. – Child maltreatment is a serious public health issue in the United States, particularly affecting young children who are most vulnerable due to their dependence on caregivers. Infants under two years old account for over one-quarter, or 28.1%, of all maltreatment cases in the U.S., and infants under one year of age experience the highest rate of victimization, according to the U.S. Department of Health and ...

WASHINGTON—The Endocrine Society has appointed Zane B. Andrews, Ph.D., of Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, as Editor-in-Chief of its flagship basic science journal, Endocrinology. Andrews has been Deputy Editor of the journal since 2020 and will be taking on this role as previous Editor-in-Chief Carol Lange, Ph.D., of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minn., transitions into her new position as the Society’s President-Elect. “I am thrilled that Dr. Andrews is taking on this opportunity to lead Endocrinology. He has already provided immense value as the Deputy Editor. I very recently met with ...

Key Takeaways  Frailty and procedure risk are both associated with increased postoperative complications and odds of death. However, certain patients are at increased risk of postoperative complications and death in comparison to the same patients who are assessed solely on their level of frailty.   Compared to frailty alone, procedure risk had a stronger association with adverse outcomes among elderly patients undergoing emergency surgery. For example, high-risk procedures resulted in an 8-fold increase in the odds of death following surgery, ...

The National Center to Reframe Aging — the leading organization for proven communication strategies and tools to effectively frame aging issues — is partnering with the Maryland Department of Aging in development of its multisector plan on aging, the Longevity Ready Maryland Initiative. The National Center will be a strategic partner providing guidance in Maryland’s statewide campaign to advance an equitable and complete story about aging and promote proven communication strategies to frame aging issues. Key leaders and staff of the Maryland Department of Aging will participate in educational opportunities and receive resources to consistently apply ...

At the height of the pandemic, timely access to COVID-19 testing was crucial for curbing the spread of the disease and informing treatment decisions. Studies have unveiled racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 infection rates, clinical outcomes, and access to treatment and testing. However, until now, there has been a gap in research specifically examining the connection between race, ethnicity, and delayed COVID-19 testing amongst health care personnel. Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Extracting natural gas from shale formations can provide an abundant, lower-carbon footprint fossil fuel, but also creates concerns over increased methane emissions. A team led by Penn State researchers has developed a new tool that can estimate the emission potential of shale wells after they are no longer active. The findings, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, revealed that methane begins diffusing from the shale formation after a well is decommissioned  and that this represents a notable source of methane ...

MADISON — A newly developed nanomaterial that mimics the behavior of proteins could be an effective tool for treating Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases. The nanomaterial alters the interaction between two key proteins in brain cells — with a potentially powerful therapeutic effect. The innovative findings, recently published in the journal Advanced Materials, were made possible thanks to a collaboration between University of Wisconsin–Madison scientists and nanomaterial engineers at Northwestern ...

In recent years, the scientific community has increasingly turned its attention to sustainable agriculture, aiming to maximize crop yield while minimizing environmental impact. A crucial aspect of this research involves understanding the fundamental processes of plant photosynthesis and how they can be monitored at scale. One promising method for assessing photosynthetic activity is through the measurement of sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence, a byproduct of photosynthesis that can be detected ...

RESEARCH SUMMARY   Study Title:  Positive selection CRISPR screens reveal a druggable pocket in an oligosaccharyltransferase required for inflammatory signaling to NF-κB   Publication:  Cell (4/25/24)   Dana-Farber Cancer Institute authors include: William Kaelin, Jr, MD, senior author; Benjamin Lampson, MD, PhD, first author; Lixia He, PhD; Jamie Pfaff, MD; Nitin Shirole, PhD; and Yanfeng He, PhD   Summary: A new paper by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute ...

Oil is an important natural resource for many industries, but it can lead to serious environmental damage when accidentally spilled. While large oil spills are highly publicized, every year there are many smaller-scale spills into lakes, rivers and oceans. And, according to research published in ACS’ Energy & Fuels, the longer that oil remains in freshwater, the more chemical changes it undergoes, creating products that can persist in the environment. Approximately 600,000 gallons of oil were accidentally spilled into the environment ...