URBANA, Ill. – The ivory palm tree, also known as tagua, is endemic to the Chocó-Darien region on the Pacific coast of South America. The local population relies on this unique tree for many uses and the tagua fruit, nuts, and leaves provide materials for a range of products. Two studies from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador (PUCE) explore the ecosystem services provided by tagua in coastal Ecuador. The ivory palm is considered a threatened species as 98% of forest land in western Ecuador has been cleared, although current conservation ...

Kennesaw State University biology professor Brandon Carpenter was inspired to pursue a career in science because of an undergraduate research experience. With a recent grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), he’ll provide a similar experience to his students. Carpenter, an assistant professor of cellular and molecular biology who studies neurodevelopmental  disorders and genetic mutations, received a $432,000 grant to continue research that will help uncover the mechanisms that regulate inheritance of ...

Pythons have huge appetites, but which snake would win an eating contest? Surprisingly, it’s a harmless little African snake that consumes eggs whole like an amuse-bouche. Biologist Bruce Jayne at the University of Cincinnati discovered that this species, Dasypeltis gansi, can consume bigger prey relative to its own length and mass than even Burmese pythons, among the most massive snakes on Earth. “They probably would hold the Guinness world record,” said Jayne, a professor of biological sciences in UC’s College of Arts and Sciences. “It’s spectacular but on a small scale,” he said. ...

Despite reports of families disintegrating under the hardships and constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study suggests that many families may have formed stronger bonds instead. One key difference between families that emerged from the pandemic stronger and unified compared with those that struggled was having a cohesive, family-oriented mindset. Families in which individuals perceived themselves as members of a team who were working for their collective benefit and found personal fulfillment in meeting the wants and needs of the other members were more likely to improve their ...

Key Takeaways Researchers developed a new 3D model of Alzheimer’s Disease that allows them to study the role of immune cells in the disease They found that infiltration of immune cells significantly increases in brains with AD pathology and contributes to neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation The team also identified potential strategies to halt this process, which could lead to the development of new therapies BOSTON – Cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) develops when neurons begin to die, which can be caused by inappropriate immune responses and excessive ...

Spending on mental health services among Americans with private health insurance has surged since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, continuing to rise even as the use of telehealth has plateaued, according to a new study.   Spending on mental health services rose by 53% from March 2020 to August 2022 among a large group of people with employer-provided insurance, according to researchers from the RAND Corporation and Castlight Health. During the same period, use of mental health services increased by 39%.   The researchers say it is uncertain if the trend will continue since some rules that expanded payment for telehealth ...

The experiences of patients hospitalized during the COVID-19 pandemic was significantly worse than in the years before the crisis, with hospitals with higher staffing levels holding on to better scores longer, according to a new RAND Corporation study.   Patients particularly reported worse staff responsiveness and hospital cleanliness, possibly reflecting staffing shortages in the hospital workforce and the effects of protocols needed to limit the spread of COVID-19, according to researchers.   Deficits were largest for hospitals that in the pre-pandemic period were lower-performing and had lower staffing levels. ...

About The Study: The results of this study suggest that higher-staffed and higher-performing hospitals were more resilient to the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic, but by late 2021, patients’ experience of care had declined in all hospitals.  Authors: Marc N. Elliott, Ph.D., of the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, California, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamahealthforum.2023.2766) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions ...

About The Study: This study found that while the pandemic was associated with worse treatment and outcomes in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI; heart attack), race and ethnicity–associated inequities did not increase significantly. These findings suggest the need for additional efforts to mitigate outcomes associated with the COVID-19 pandemic for patients admitted with AMI when the hospital COVID-19 burden is substantially increased.  Authors: Laurent G. Glance, M.D., of the University of Rochester ...

The ice shelves — the marine-terminating glaciers of the Antarctic Ice Sheet — are melting, and it's not just because of rising atmospheric temperatures. In a one-two punch, ice shelves in Antarctica are fighting a losing battle against rising temperatures both at the surface and under their body. Called basal melting, oceanic heat and compression contribute to the phenomenon, but tides may play a bigger role than previously thought, according to a multi-institution research collaboration based in China. Based on observational data in Prydz Bay, which ...

Prof. Zuankai WANG, Associate Vice President (Research and Innovation) and Chair Professor of Nature-Inspired Engineering at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has been bestowed one of the 10 winners of the Falling Walls Science Breakthroughs of the Year 2023 in Engineering and Technology category for his groundbreaking work on resolving the Leidenfrost effect. The Award aims to foster research and innovation across all disciplines by celebrating cutting-edge discoveries. The Falling Walls Foundation, based in Berlin, established the Award to acknowledge the most recent breakthroughs in science and society worldwide.  Prof. WANG’s ...

University of Leeds news  Embargo: 25 August 2023, 12.30pm CEST  Patients living with one of the UK’s most common heart rhythm conditions are 50% less likely to die from a heart attack or stroke than they were at the start of the millennium, new research has found.  Analysis of the health records of more than 70,000 patients newly diagnosed with atrial fibrillation (AF) showed that mortality from related cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases more than halved over the 16-year study period.  AF is associated with an increased risk of stroke.  The research showed that dementia ...

In the spring of 2020, one country after another went into lockdown as Covid-19 spread across the globe. In some places, e.g. China, the civilian population was kept inside by the authorities. Other countries, like Spain, had a curfew in place for weeks, during which only short trips to the supermarket were allowed.  The lockdowns meant there were suddenly much fewer cars on the roads and people in forests and parks. While we were sitting at home watching Netflix, wild animals emerged from the bushes and edges of the forest. They ventured closer to the roads and cities that had suddenly emptied. We know this thanks to data from GPS trackers attached to a large number of terrestrial ...

Research has brought clarity to the longstanding question of how starch granules form in the seeds of Triticeae crops – wheat, barley, and rye - unlocking diverse potential benefits for numerous industries and for human health. Starch in wheat, maize, rice and potatoes is a vital energy-giving part of our diet and a key ingredient in many industrial applications from brewing and baking to the production of paper, glue, textiles, and construction materials. Starch granules of different crops vary greatly in size and shape. Wheat starch (and those of other Triticeae) uniquely have two distinct types of granules: large A-type granules and smaller B-type granules. The ratio ...

Against the background of global warming, the temperature seasonality has changed obviously at global and regional scales, which has exerted significant ecological and societal impacts. As a populous country highly sensitive to climate change, China experienced an overall decreasing trend of the amplitude of the annual temperature cycle during 1961–2007. This national-scale average downward trend is likely to continue throughout the rest of the 21st century according to future projections, with a spatially robust decrease in most regions but increases at more local scales. ...

Water diversion projects, though meant to correct unequal water distribution, unintentionally promote the growth of invasive aquatic species like the golden mussel. This fast-reproducing, substrate-clinging mussel causes biofouling, damaging structures and water quality, and leading to socio-economic and ecological issues. Yet, how environmental factors aid this colonization remains largely unclear, necessitating further research. In a ground-breaking study published on 24 July 2023 in the journal Environmental Science and Ecotechnology, researchers from Tsinghua University, utilized logistic ...

East Hanover, NJ. August 25, 2023. Scientists at Kessler Foundation reported results from a randomized controlled trial examining the influence of processing speed on treatment benefits of the Kessler Foundation modified Story Memory Technique (KF-mSMT®) in individuals with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). They found that processing speed played a role in benefit from the KF-mSMT on a list learning task, but not on a prose memory task. Their article, “The influence of information processing speed on benefit from learning and memory rehabilitation in TBI: a sub-analysis of the TBI-MEM trial,” (do: 10.1080/02699052.2023.2216024) ...

Drexel University’s School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems, in collaboration with Drexel’s College of Medicine, has received grants from the pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb, to support the education and training of diverse and talented students looking to pursue careers in cell and gene therapy.    The funding provided close to $1 million to support the creation of a new Cell and Gene Therapy Technology, Engineering, Analytics, Manufacturing, & Science academic program, known as CGT-TEAMS, that launched this summer ...

By Alistair Jones SMU Office of Research – American economist Milton Friedman cast a long shadow with his 1970 article, 'A Friedman Doctrine: The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits'. For decades, it became a touchstone for free-market economies, interpreted as the sole purpose of a firm was to make money for its shareholders. But there's an alternative dynamic, an awareness that companies also have a responsibility to stakeholders – such as employees, customers, suppliers, communities and government. This stakeholder capitalism has a corporate purpose beyond profit maximisation, aiming ...

By Stuart Pallister SMU Office of Research – Two Singapore Management University researchers have embarked on a three-year project, funded by Singapore’s Ministry of Education, to ‘de-bias’ digital food recognition and develop a more robust machine learning system capable of correctly identifying Singapore’s multiracial food. The two researchers from SMU’s School of Computing and Information Sciences, Professor Ngo Chong Wah and Associate Professor Rajesh Balan, already have extensive ...

AUGUSTA, Ga. (August 24, 2023) – In 2021, Arni S.R. Srinivasa Rao, PhD, presented a critique on the formula of net population replacement levels at the International Population Conference 2021 in Hyderabad, India. It was one of the first times he had publicly shared his latest research on population replacement commonly calculated through net reproduction rate (NRR). A blog on the same topic written by him also appeared in Population Association of America’s PAA Affairs. Rao, the director at the Laboratory for Theory and Mathematical Modeling in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, has published ...

At a pivotal time for Medicaid health coverage for Americans with low incomes, a report on the impacts of Michigan’s Medicaid expansion shows very positive effects, as well as opportunities for continued improvements. The report was produced by the University of Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation as part of its evaluation of the Healthy Michigan Plan, Michigan’s Medicaid expansion program. The program currently has about 1 million enrollees and was signed into law 10 years ago this September. On the whole, the report shows that the Healthy Michigan Plan has been effective at: reducing uninsurance,  supporting ...

Amsterdam, Netherlands – 25 Aug 2023: Researchers urge governments to raise the legal age to purchase cigarettes to 22 years or higher as study finds it becomes less addictive and easier to quit as people get older. The research is presented at ESC Congress 2023.1 In 2020, more than one in five people worldwide used tobacco.2 Tobacco kills up to half of its users.2 Smokers below the age of 50 years have a five-fold higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease compared with their non-smoking peers.3 The legal age to purchase tobacco is 18 years old in many ...

Amsterdam, Netherlands – 25 Aug 2023: Middle-aged adults with three or more unhealthy traits including slightly high waist circumference, blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose have heart attacks and strokes two years earlier than their peers, according to research presented at ESC Congress 2023.1 “Many people in their 40s and 50s have a bit of fat around the middle and marginally elevated blood pressure, cholesterol or glucose but feel generally well, are unaware of the risks and do not seek medical advice,” said study author Dr. Lena Lönnberg of Västmanland  County ...

Reefs, whether natural or man-made, are hotspots of marine biodiversity. But especially in soft-bottomed seas, reefs have now become scarce because many hard substrates have been removed due to overfishing of shellfish, dredging, trawling, and deep-sea mining. How can we restore this lost biodiversity, as encouraged by the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030) and the EU Biodiversity Strategy? Now, researchers have shown that culled fruit trees sunk into the sea are a cheap and effective way to recreate reefs and boost the local diversity and abundance of marine life. The study, published ...