CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A new look at decades of data from museum collections and surveys of leaf-litter ants in Florida reveals a steady decline in native ants and simultaneous increase in nonnative ants – even in protected natural areas of the state, researchers report. The study tracked leaf-litter ant abundance from 1965 to 2019. Nonnative ants represented 30% of the 177 ground-dwelling species detected in surveys across the state in later years, the team reports. Their dominance grew most notably in southern Florida, where ...

A team of researchers compared the genomes of woolly mammoths with modern day elephants to find out what made woolly mammoths unique, both as individuals and as a species. The investigators report April 7 in the journal Current Biology that many of the woolly mammoth’s trademark features—including their woolly coats and large fat deposits—were already genetically encoded in the earliest woolly mammoths, but these and other traits became more defined over the species’ 700,000+ year existence. They also identified a gene with several mutations that may have been ...

About The Study: In this randomized clinical trial, anakinra did not prevent the need for mechanical ventilation or reduce mortality risk compared with standard of care alone among hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia. Future research should assess anakinra in patients with less severe pneumonia.  Authors: Patricia Fanlo, M.D., Ph.D., of the Hospital Universitario de Navarra in Pamplona, Spain, is the corresponding author.  To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media ...

About The Study: This national-level analysis found substantial adverse maternal outcomes among pregnant patients with COVID-19 infection at delivery during the early pandemic in the U.S. Specifically, the odds of severe respiratory complications were increased among pregnant patients with COVID-19 infection at delivery.  Authors: Koji Matsuo, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, 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/jamanetworkopen.2023.7149) Editor’s ...

Can a school-based sexual health education program that effectively reduces the risk of unintended pregnancy and STIs also decrease homophobia and transphobia? That question drove a collaborative effort by researchers conducting a randomized controlled trial of an inclusive comprehensive sex education program – High School FLASH. The study evaluated not just the impact on students’ sexual behaviors and related outcomes but also on their homophobic and transphobic beliefs (Coyle et al., 2021). With funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, researchers evaluated High School FLASH in 20 schools in two U.S. regions (Midwest and South). ...

Rome (Italy), 7th April 2023 - Terna, the company led by Stefano Donnarumma that manages the national transmission grid, and Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT- Italian Institute of Technology) have signed a five-year collaboration agreement aimed at studying and implementing innovative solutions in the field of robotics to support the company's field activities. The agreement was signed on April 6th in Rome by Massimiliano Garri, Terna's Head of Innovation & Market Solutions, and Giorgio Metta, IIT Scientific Director. "We are proud to start the collaboration with an excellence on the Italian ...

A new chip that holds different cell types in tiny, interconnected chambers could allow scientists to better understand the physiological and disease interactions between organs. The integrated-gut-liver-on-a-chip (iGLC) platform was designed by scientists at Kyoto University’s Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS), to improve understanding of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The researchers, together with colleagues in Japan, published their findings in the journal Communications ...

This study is led by Dr.Ningli Wang and Dr.Yuan Xie (Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University), they provide evidence that retinal microvasculature is a potential biomarker for cerebral microvasculature changes and acute mountain sickness(AMS) development during risk assessment of individuals at high altitudes. Since the retinal and cerebral vasculature share many morphological and physiological characteristics, direct evaluation of the more accessible retinal vasculature should theoretically provide insights into the cerebral circulation. Therefore, the role of retinal imaging ...

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Glioblastoma is the most common type of brain tumor in adults. The disease is 100% fatal and there are no cures, making it the most aggressive type of cancer. Such a poor prognosis has motivated researchers and neurosurgeons to understand the biology of tumors with the goal of creating better therapies. Dominique Higgins, MD, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Neurosurgery, has heeded the call. Higgins and a team of researchers at Columbia University have found ...

INDIANAPOLIS—For centuries, people have suspected a full moon in the sky to cause mysterious changes in people. Now, psychiatrists at Indiana University School of Medicine have found deaths by suicide increase during the full moon. “We wanted to analyze the hypothesis that suicides are increased during the period around full moons and determine if high-risk patients should be followed more closely during those times,” said Alexander Niculescu, MD, PhD. Niculescu and his team looked at data from the Marion County coroner’s ...

Imagine if you could ask a machine to “smell” something for you with just a click of a button. That’s what electronic noses, or e-noses, are for. They are systems that combine chemical gas sensors, signal processing and machine learning algorithms to mimic the sense of smell. E-noses can be used for many purposes, such as checking food quality, monitoring air pollution, diagnosing diseases and detecting explosives. How do they work? What are the challenges and opportunities in this field? A team led by Jingdong Chen of Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xi’an, China and ...

Ionizing radiation from nuclear disasters are known to be harmful to the natural environment. The Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant meltdown that occurred in 2011 is a prominent example of such a disaster in recent memory. Even a decade after the incident, concerns remain about the long-term effects of the radiation. In particular, it is not clear how the residual low-dose radiation might affect living organisms at the genetic level. The brunt of the disaster is usually borne by the floras inhabiting the contaminated areas since they cannot move. This, however, makes them ideal for ...

A team led by Masaya Hagiwara of RIKEN national science institute in Japan has developed an ingenious device, using layers of hydrogels in a cube-like structure, that allows researchers to construct complex 3D organoids without using elaborate techniques. The group also recently demonstrated the ability to use the device to build organoids that faithfully reproduce the asymmetric genetic expression that characterizes the actual development of organisms. The device has the potential to revolutionize the way we test drugs, and could also provide insights into how tissues develop and lead to ...

Dan Răzvan Popoviciu new book New Worlds: Colonizing Planets, Moons and Beyond (published by Bentham Science) explores the possibilities of transforming humanity into a multi-planetary species, while also sounding an alarm about our long-term future. It emphasizes the importance of efficiently using Earth's resources and expanding beyond the planet's borders. In the book, Popoviciu discusses how various planets, moons, and asteroids in the Solar System can provide important resources and become potential new home worlds for humans. The author goes beyond simple colonization and discusses solutions for terraforming ...

In the history of Major League Baseball, first came the low-scoring dead-ball era, followed by the modern live-ball era characterized by power hitters such as Babe Ruth and Henry "Hank" Aaron. Then, regrettably, was the steroid era of the 1990s and early 2000s. Now, could baseball be on the cusp of a "climate-ball" era where higher temperatures due to global warming increasingly determine the outcome of a game? A new Dartmouth College study suggests it may be. A report in the Bulletin of the ...

To uncover attitudes and the biggest challenges facing colorectal cancer (CRC) awareness and screening, BGI Genomics today released its State of Colorectal Cancer Awareness Report, marking the first-ever global survey report on the world's third most common cancer. This report is released on World Health Day, April 07, 2023, in line with achieving Health For All, and seeks to motivate action to tackle the health challenges of today and tomorrow.                                                                                                            This ...

Two Smidt Heart Institute experts have been honored for their contributions to medical research by being inducted into select medical societies, while a third expert has been selected for a leadership position. Cardiologist, echocardiographer and clinician-scientist Susan Cheng, MD, director of Cardiovascular Population Sciences in the Smidt Heart Institute and the Erika J. Glazer Chair in Women’s Cardiovascular Health and Population Science, has been elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) Council. ASCI is regarded as the most prestigious ...

People around the globe are so dependent on the internet to exercise socio-economic human rights such as education, healthcare, work, and housing that online access must now be considered a basic human right, a new study reveals. Particularly in developing countries, internet access can make the difference between people receiving an education, staying healthy, finding a home, and securing employment – or not. Even if people have offline opportunities, such as accessing social security schemes or finding housing, they are at a comparative ...

UPTON, NY— Researchers at Binghamton University led research partnering with the Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN)—a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility at Brookhaven National Laboratory—to get a better look at how peroxides on the surface of copper oxide promote the oxidation of hydrogen but inhibit the oxidation of carbon monoxide, allowing them to steer oxidation reactions. They were able to observe these quick changes with two complimentary spectroscopy ...

New research led by the University of East Anglia (UEA) suggests a way to greatly improve the outcomes of biodiversity conservation efforts globally. Scientists from UEA, the RSPB and Natural England, propose that biodiversity auditing should be integral to the ongoing development of regionally-targeted conservation plans, such as the Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS) established by the UK Environment Act 2021. It follows work conducted with two conservation projects in the East of England - one in North Norfolk and another in the Brecks - using this approach to guide conservation locally. A biodiversity ...

All prominent migrant groups in the Netherlands are suffering more from long-covid than the native Dutch population, research from Amsterdam UMC has found. The study, published today, in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe, shows that in some groups the rates of long-covid are up to 50% larger than in the Dutch population. Resulting in many migrant groups “suffering in silence,” in the words of senior author Professor Charles Agyemang.  COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on vulnerable communities, particularly people from ethnic minorities and migrant backgrounds. Research from Amsterdam UMC already found that these populations ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — People often complain about the occasional misfires of automated features, such as autocorrect, but users generally enjoy interacting with the tools, according to researchers. They added that focusing on certain benefits of automated features may help developers build automated tools that people use more and complain about less. In a study, researchers said that users appreciate the convenience and control of automated features, which also include YouTube’s autoplay and Google Gmail’s smart compose. People listed the technology’s ...

The risk of life-threatening maternal complications from childbirth may be higher depending on where you live, a new study finds. For Medicaid enrollees in Utah, the rate of “near miss” instances that could have led to the death of a birthing person during pregnancy or delivery was the lowest in the U.S., occurring among 80 per 10,000 live births. Meanwhile, on the other side of the country in Washington D.C., the rate of such cases was nearly three times higher – 210 per 10,000 deliveries. The drivers for these unexpected maternal outcomes, referred to as ...

Alexandria, VA – The American Association for Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR) announced the 2023 AADOCR Fellows during the Opening Ceremonies of the 52nd Annual Meeting of the AADOCR, which was held in conjunction with the 47th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research (CADR), that took place on March 15, 2023. The AADOCR Fellows Program recognizes leaders of AADOCR and individuals who have served the organization in various ways throughout their careers. Through this program, AADOCR strengthens its mission to drive dental, oral, and craniofacial research to advance health and well-being. All nominees must pass ...

The oral antibiotic doxycycline prevented the acquisition of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) when tested among men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women who took the medication within 72 hours of having condomless sex, according to findings published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. Specifically, the post-exposure approach, termed doxy-PEP, resulted in a two-thirds reduction in the incidence of syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia among the study participants, all of whom reported having an STI within the previous year. However, the research also revealed a slight increase in antibacterial resistance that requires further ...