Crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica), a widely cherished ornamental plant, boasts a rich history, originating in Southeast Asia to Oceania and flourishing in cultivation centers like China for over 1600 years. Renowned for its unique blooming during the summer peak, it has evolved through extensive hybridization, and now includes more than 200 species. Current research has made strides in understanding the determinants of plant architecture, flower, leaf color, and dwarfism traits through transcriptomics and QTL mapping. However, the absence of a reference genome for L. indica severely limits comprehensive ...

Education saves lives regardless of age, sex, location, and social and demographic backgrounds. That’s according to the latest and largest study of its kind published today in The Lancet Public Health. Researchers have known that those who reach higher levels of schooling live longer than others, but they didn’t know to what extent until now. What they found was that the risk of death drops by two per cent with every additional year of education. That means those who completed six years of primary school had a lower risk of death by an average of 13 per cent. After graduating from secondary school, the risk ...

New research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London, and in partnership with the University of Exeter and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, has found that women with a history of severe mental illness face a lower risk of relapse after giving birth in regions where they have access to a community perinatal mental health team (CPMHT). The research, published in Lancet Psychiatry, is the first of its kind to evaluate the effectiveness of CPMHTs, and suggests that women with access to specialist support have a reduced risk of acute relapse after birth, but also highlights the importance of the need for ...

Non-COVID-19-related deaths among people with diabetes increased during the pandemic, as did the diabetes complication of sight loss, according to a global study review led by a University of Massachusetts Amherst public health researcher that examined the impacts of pandemic-related disruptions on this vulnerable population. The review, commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO) and published Jan. 23 in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, looked at 138 studies comparing pre-pandemic to during pandemic periods in North America (39), Western Europe (39), Asia (17), Eastern Europe (14), South America (four), Egypt (one), Australia ...

New database of 928 species of weeds from Universities of Sheffield and Oxford published to provide free, global resource for plant ecologists and archaeologists The data changes our understanding of the history of agriculture as well as ability to understand the future of our farming practices in a time of climate change The project, based on 30 years of research partnerships, is a testament to how academics of different disciplines can collaborate on globally significant research A new database of weeds that can help scientists understand how ...

A ‘fitness check’ of regulations in five countries meant to protect animals during transportation, has deemed that they all fall short of fully protecting animals during transport. Findings from this interdisciplinary work involving animal welfare scientists and a law lecturer which compared animal transport rules designed to protect the billions of livestock that are transported on lengthy journeys in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, EU (including UK) and US, highlights serious failures. The study, published in Royal Society Open Science today [Wednesday 24 January], and involving researchers from the Universities ...

Color mixing is the process of combining two or more colors: red and green make yellow, blue and red make purple, red and green and blue make white. This process of mixing colors is the basis for the future of solid-state lighting. While currently white light is achieved by phosphor down-conversion, LED color mixing actually has a higher theoretical maximum efficiency, which is needed in order to achieve the 2035 DOE energy efficiency goals. Despite the potential efficiency of color-mixed LED sources, there exists one significant challenge: green. ...

More than 2 billion people, approximately a quarter of the world’s population, lack access to clean drinking water. A new, portable and affordable water filtration solution created by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin aims to change that. The new system collects dirty water with a syringe and injects it into a hydrogel filter that weeds out nearly all tiny particles. This device, the researchers say, offers significant advantages in cost, simplicity, effectiveness and sustainability compared existing commercial options, giving users the ability to easily decontaminate water from nearby streams and ...

The power of gravity is writ large across our visible universe. It can be seen in the lock step of moons as they circle planets; in wandering comets pulled off-course by massive stars; and in the swirl of gigantic galaxies. These awesome displays showcase gravity’s influence at the largest scales of matter. Now, nuclear physicists are discovering that gravity also has much to offer at matter’s smallest scales. New research conducted by nuclear physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility is using a method that connects theories of gravitation to interactions among the smallest ...

Researchers from Cleveland Clinic and IBM have published a strategy for identifying new targets for immunotherapy through artificial intelligence (AI). This is the first peer-reviewed publication from the two organizations’ Discovery Accelerator partnership, designed to advance research in healthcare and life sciences. The team worked together to develop supervised and unsupervised AI to reveal the molecular characteristics of peptide antigens, small pieces of protein molecules immune cells use to recognize threats. Project members ...

Everyone ruminates about the bad things that happen to them. Whether it’s a nasty breakup, an embarrassing failure or simply when someone is mean, it can be hard to stop thinking about what happened and why. For people who ruminate too much, this negative thought pattern can cause lasting problems with mental health. A research team led from the University of California, Davis, Center for Mind and Brain found that adolescent girls who have a stronger tendency to ruminate show different patterns of brain activity when faced with social rejection. The study was ...

Neurons intricately communicate and respond to stimuli within a vast network, orchestrating essential functions from basic bodily processes to complex thoughts. Traditional neuroscience methods, relying on in vivo electrophysiology (within a living organism), often have difficulty addressing the complexity of the brain as a whole. An alternative approach involves extracting cells from the organism and conducting studies on a culture dish instead (in vitro), providing researchers with enhanced control and precision in measuring neural processes. In a new study featured in Advanced Science, researchers unveil a cost-effective, open-source in vitro system ...

While recent therapies have the potential to stall or delay the progression of multiple sclerosis, a new study shows that young Black and Hispanic women fare worse than young white women.  Minority women were more likely to have more advanced disease and faced greater challenges in pregnancy, the researchers reported in their study, publishing in the journal Neurology on Jan. 23, 2024.  Researchers tracked medical records at nine MS centers throughout the country for 294 women whose pregnancies resulted in live births. Approximately half of the patients ...

Combining testosterone-blocking drugs in patients with prostate cancer relapse prevents the spread of cancer better than treatment with a single drug, a multi-institution, Phase 3 clinical trial led by UC San Francisco researchers has found.  The approach can extend the time between debilitating drug treatments without prolonging the time it takes to recover from each treatment.   Prostate cancer affects 1 in 8 men and causes 34,000 deaths each year in the United States. It is usually treated with one of several testosterone-lowering drugs for a set period of ...

MEDIA CONTACT: Cate Douglass; cdouglass@gwu.edu   More than 50 countries are set to hold national elections this year and analysts have long sounded the alarm on the threat of bad actors using artificial intelligence (AI) to disseminate and amplify disinformation during the election season across the globe. Now, a new study led by researchers at the George Washington University predicts that daily, bad-actor AI activity is going to escalate by mid-2024, increasing the threat that it could affect election results. The research, published today in the journal PNAS Nexus, is the first quantitative scientific ...

First study to examine the impact of tissue contamination on AI models ‘If it’s paying attention to the tissue contaminants, it’s paying less attention to the patient’s tissue that is being examined’ ‘Pathologists fear — and AI companies hope — that the computers are coming for our jobs. Not yet.’   Human pathologists are extensively trained to detect when tissue samples from one patient mistakenly end up on another patient’s microscope slides ...

“[...] we identified LTBR as a potential target for cancer immunotherapy and a marker of immune infiltration and poor prognosis.”   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 1, entitled, “Systematic analysis of the prognostic value and immunological function of LTBR in human cancer.” Lymphotoxin beta receptor (LTBR) is a positive T cell proliferation regulator gene. It is closely associated with the tumor immune microenvironment. However, its role in cancer and ...

The CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH) has announced an expansion and endowment of the Molina Health Equity Scholarship Fund as a groundbreaking and permanent source of support for students dedicated to advancing health equity in underserved Hispanic and Latino communities. Established by Dr. Marilyn Aguirre-Molina, CUNY SPH professor emerita and CUNY SPH Foundation Board member, and distinguished academician Dr. Carlos W. Molina, the Molina Health Equity Scholarship Fund now becomes the first named and endowed master’s degree scholarship in the school’s ...

A recent study from researchers at University Hospitals (UH) Connor Whole Health examined variables associated with engagement in (1) integrative health and medicine (IHM) and (2) nonpharmacologic modalities rather than opioids among United States adults with chronic pain. The study, published in the Journal of Pain Research, uncovered disparities in access to these modalities, particularly among older adults, Black/African American individuals, and those with higher depressive symptoms and lower education and income levels, who are more likely to have chronic pain. The researchers used data ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — More than 25% of the young adults surveyed in a recent study mistakenly believed that sexual activity increases older adults’ risk of heart attack and that disinterest in sex is a normal and inevitable part of aging. While most of those in the study had permissive views about sexual activity in later life, the findings also shed light on the misconceptions and ageist views that can infringe on older adults’ rights to sexual expression. More than 270 young adults ages 18-35 participated in the study, which assessed their level of knowledge about sexuality in older adulthood, their general attitudes toward ...

Marine heat waves appear to trigger earlier reproduction, high mortality in early life stages and fewer surviving juvenile Pacific cod in the Gulf of Alaska, a new study shows. These changes in the hatch cycle and early growth patterns persisted in years following the marine heat waves, which could have implications for the future of Gulf of Alaska Pacific cod, an economically and culturally significant species,     END ...

The Seismological Society of America (SSA) will present its highest honor, the 2024 Harry Fielding Reid Medal, to Norman A. Abrahamson, adjunct professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Berkeley and University of California, Davis, and former engineering seismologist at Pacific Gas & Electric Co. Abrahamson, who will receive the Reid Medal at the 2024 SSA Annual Meeting, is recognized as a global leader in the field of probabilistic seismic hazard assessment (PSHA). Within the seismic hazard community, he is known for developing new methodologies as well as refining state-of-the-art practices ...

Doyeon Kim (DK) has been honored with the Seismological Society of America’s (SSA) 2024 Charles F. Richter Early Career Award for his scientific productivity across a variety of topics, including recent work on Martian seismology and his pioneering approaches to seismic imaging. Kim, a lecturer in planetary science in the Faculty of Engineering at Imperial College London, will receive the Richter Award at the 2024 SSA Annual Meeting. “I am sincerely grateful for this award, which I humbly attribute to the collective efforts of those who have played a pivotal role in shaping my academic career. This recognition fuels my dedication to furthering ...

For his work leading to profound improvements in how earthquake science is communicated to students, the media and decision makers, the Seismological Society of America (SSA) honors Harley M. Benz with the 2024 Frank Press Public Service Award. Benz, a former U.S. Geological Survey technical coordinator for the Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS) and the director of the USGS National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC), will receive the Press Award at the 2024 SSA Annual Meeting. In his nomination of Benz for the award, Gavin Hayes, senior science advisor for earthquake ...

For his outstanding contributions as chair of the SSA Publications Committee, the Seismological Society of America (SSA) will present Douglas Scott Dreger with its 2024 Distinguished Service Award (DSA). Dreger will receive the award at the 2024 SSA Annual Meeting. Dreger, a professor of geophysics at the University of California, Berkeley, served as Publications Committee chair between 2016 and 2022. Dreger “instigated a broad range of initiatives intended to reinforce the reputation and financial performance ...