EMBARGOED by Nature Cell Biology until 5 p.m. ET, June 16, 2025 Contacts: BU: Gina DiGravio, 617-358-7838, ginad@bu.edu MGH/Harvard: Marcela Quintanilla Dieck, 617-480-6501, MQuintanillaDieck@MGH.HARVARD.EDU Researchers Identify Previously Uncharacterized Gene Necessary for DNA Repair Study establishes for the first time that defective DNA repair may be the major driver of several clinical features associated with a subset of patients with 22q11.2 distal deletion syndrome (Boston)—Cells are constantly subjected to ...

Removing information from memories may help people retain what they want to remember. Studies focus on how the brain removes information by subconsciously not paying attention to these details, but sometimes there is a need to consciously remove unneeded details from memories. This is especially true when details in a memory are perceptibly harmful and lead to, for example, people combating rumination, intrusive negative thoughts, or hallucinations. In a new JNeurosci paper, Jiangang Shan and Bradley Postle, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, explored how the brain actively removes unneeded memory content.  The researchers recorded the brain activity of nearly 30 ...

A new study led by researchers at University of Iowa Health Care has revealed a significant association between high blood pressure during pregnancy (gestational hypertension) and an increased risk of seizures in children.  The study, published June 16 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, used extensive clinical databases and innovative animal models to uncover this critical link. The findings also suggest that inflammation in the brain may play a role in connecting gestational hypertension to seizure risk and could potentially be targeted to prevent seizures in children exposed to hypertension in the womb.   Clinical data links seizure risk in children ...

SAN ANTONIO — June 16, 2025 — The Women’s Global Leadership Conference (WGLC) in Energy has selected Southwest Research Institute’s Angel Wileman for 2025’s Women in Hydrogen 50. This list recognizes 50 women, nominated by their colleagues and peers, as the current and future leaders of the hydrogen economy. This distinction honors Wileman as one of the most accomplished figures in her industry, with the potential to affect real change. “I am deeply honored to be recognized as a leader in the hydrogen community. Society has the ...

The XXIX Brazilian Congress of Nutrology – CBN 2025 (link: https://abran.org.br/cbn2025/) promises to be a milestone in the health sector, being the main event dedicated to Nutrology in all of Latin America. This exceptional meeting will bring together renowned national and international experts, providing an environment conducive to the exchange of cutting-edge knowledge, the promotion of scientific innovation and the stimulation of integration among nutrology professionals. Scheduled for September 25, 26 and 27, CBN 2025 will take ...

About The Study: This longitudinal cohort study found that large life expectancy differences between American Indian and Alaska Native individuals and other U.S. residents have been underestimated due to racial misclassification on death certificates, resulting in the statistical erasure of Indigenous people in routine vital statistics.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Jacob Bor, SD, email jbor@bu.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website ...

A new study in JAMA reveals the “statistical erasure” of Indigenous Americans, finding that the gap between AI/AN life expectancy and the national average was 2.9 times greater than official vital statistics indicate. Death rates for American Indians’ and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) are far higher than reported in official vital statistics, according to a new study led by a Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) researcher.  Published in JAMA, the nationally representative study found that death certificates for at least 41 percent of AI/AN decedents failed to identify them as AI/AN, in most cases misreporting ...

Experts from Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago affirm the need to screen new fathers for mental distress, recognizing the mounting research that underscores the importance of fathers in child development. Their invited commentary, published in JAMA Pediatrics, accompanies a systematic review, which found that paternal depression, anxiety and stress in the perinatal period are associated with poorer child development in social, emotional, cognitive and language domains. “Birth of a child can be highly stressful for both parents,” said lead author Craig Garfield, MD, MAPP, pediatrician and founder of the Family & Child Health Innovations ...

About The Study: In this cohort study of birthing parent–infant dyads across the U.S., arsenic measured in public water systems was associated with birth outcomes at levels below the current U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s maximum contaminant level. The findings suggest that further reducing the maximum contaminant level for arsenic may decrease the number of infants with low birth weight in the U.S.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Anne E. Nigra, ScM, PhD, email aen2136@cumc.columbia.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at ...

About The Study: Evidence from this systematic review and meta-analysis indicates that paternal mental distress is a potentially modifiable predictor of child development. Reducing mental distress in fathers perinatally is thus an important target for preventative interventions aiming to support fathers during the transition to parenthood and promote the health and well-being of next-generation offspring.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Delyse Hutchinson, PhD, email delyse.hutchinson@deakin.edu.au. To access the embargoed study: ...

Babies born to mothers potentially exposed to low levels of arsenic in public drinking water—even at levels below the federal safety standard—were more likely to be born preterm, with lower birthweight, or be smaller than expected, according to a study at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and funded by the National Institutes of Health’s Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program. The findings are published in JAMA Network Open. While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sets a maximum contaminant level of 10 micrograms per liter for arsenic in public water systems, this study examines ...

Italian medical geneticist Andrea Ballabio, M.D., an internationally recognized scientist who has devoted his career to elucidating the mechanisms underlying genetic diseases, has been named the recipient of the 2025 Beth Levine, M.D. Prize in Autophagy Research from UT Southwestern Medical Center. The $20,000 prize and lecture, established in honor of the late Dr. Levine, who was Director of UT Southwestern’s Center for Autophagy Research, is awarded biennially to exceptional scientists who have made significant contributions to the field of autophagy, ...

Thousands of bacterial and other microbial species live in the human gut, supporting healthy digestion, immunity, metabolism and other functions. Precisely how these microbes are protected from immune attack has been unclear, but now a study led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators has found that this immune “tolerance” to gut microbes depends on an ancient bacterial-sensing protein called STING—normally considered a trigger for inflammation. The surprising result could lead to new treatments for inflammatory bowel disease and other conditions involving gut inflammation. In their ...

Aristotle praised the political organization of ant colonies while ancient Chinese Daoists appreciated ants as illustrative symbols showing how ephemeral human ambitions and power are. Throughout historical and pre-historic times, ant-workers are likely to be the first insects that toddlers relate to when they crawl around on all four. Similar to so much else in biology, the first scientific understanding of ants goes back to Darwin, who spent many pages of the Origin of Species (1859) on these conspicuous social insects. Their very existence seemed to fly ...

Exercising is healthy, but it also puts strain on the heart. During physical exertion, the protein troponin is released—a biomarker indicative of cardiac damage. New research from Radboudumc involving a thousand athletes shows that elevated troponin levels after exercise are not due to coronary atherosclerosis. This suggests that the cause of elevated troponin levels after exertion lies elsewhere. It’s a paradox: regular exercise is healthy and reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, yet it also ...

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — June 16, 2025 — The first patient enrolled in a planned international clinical trial has been treated at HonorHealth Research Institute with a new type of immune therapy for those with a rare muscle-weakness disease known as Myasthenia Gravis. In an odd medical twist, this auto-immune disease — in which antibodies interfere with the connection between nerves and muscles — most often strikes young women in their 20s and 30s, and older men in their 60s and 70s, though it can affect others.  The disease affects fewer than 200 in every 1 million people. Symptoms range from droopy eyelids, problems ...

New York, NY | June 16, 2025 – On May 28, the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH) unveiled “Trace,” an interactive art installation memorializing essential workers who lost their lives to COVID-19 in the early months of the pandemic. The launch event took place at the CUNY Center in Harlem, on the ground floor of the CUNY SPH campus at 55 West 125th street where the installation is housed, and invited community members to experience “Trace” in its new home. Community partners, elected officials, local businesses owners, and CUNY ...

The brain is constantly mapping the external world like a GPS, even when we don't know about it. This activity comes in the form of tiny electrical signals sents between neurons -- specialized cells that communicate with one another to help us think, move, remember and feel. These signals often follow rhythmic patterns known as brain waves, such as slower theta waves and faster gamma waves, which help organize how the brain processes information. Understanding how individual neurons respond to these rhythms is key to unlocking how the brain functions related to navigation in real time – and how it may be affected in disease. A ...

Certain bacteria isolated from soil could knock out “eternal pollutants”, substances that, once dispersed in the environment, do not degrade and threaten human and planetary health: per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), present in a wide range of products, from cosmetics to food packaging, from kitchen utensils to detergents. in fact, a research group from the Catholic University, Piacenza, has isolated about 20 species of bacteria from PFAS-contaminated soil in Veneto that are capable of degrading them, i.e. using them as a source of energy ...

Background and objectives Tumors are complex systems characterized by variations across genetic, transcriptomic, phenotypic, and microenvironmental levels. This study introduced a novel framework for quantifying cancer cell heterogeneity using single-cell RNA sequencing data. The framework comprised several scores aimed at uncovering the complexities of key cancer traits, such as metastasis, tumor progression, and recurrence. Methods This study leveraged publicly available single-cell transcriptomic data from three human breast cancer subtypes: estrogen receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive, and triple-negative. We employed ...

An eight-year study highlights Biscayne Bay as a vital nursery and seasonal refuge for great hammerhead sharks, underscoring its importance across life stages and for long-term shark conservation. A new study from the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science finds that juvenile great hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna mokarran), a critically endangered species, rely heavily on the resources of Florida’s Biscayne Bay as a nursery habitat during their earliest and most vulnerable years. Nestled within the heart of the Miami metropolitan area, Biscayne Bay is a shallow, subtropical estuary known for its clear ...

New York, NY and Aspen, CO [June 16, 2025] — From the biology of aging to the future of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven medicine, Mount Sinai Health System will participate at the 2025 Aspen Ideas: Health (Sunday, June 22-Wednesday, June 25) and Aspen Ideas Festival (June 25-Tuesday, July 1) in Aspen, Colorado. Mount Sinai is proud to be a presenting underwriter of both festivals, where Mount Sinai thought leaders will lead discussions and the Health System will provide complimentary dermatologic screenings for attendees. “We return to Aspen ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A new study offers insight into the health and lifestyle indicators — including diet, physical activity and weight — that align most closely with healthy brain function across the lifespan. The study used machine learning to determine which variables best predicted a person’s ability to quickly complete a task without becoming distracted. Reported in The Journal of Nutrition, the study found that age, blood pressure and body mass index were the strongest predictors of success on a test called the flanker task, which requires participants to focus ...

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (06/16/2024) — In a new study, researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities discovered surprising magnetic behavior in one of the thinnest metallic oxide materials ever made. This could pave the way for the next generation of faster and smarter spintronic and quantum computing devices.  The research is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), a peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary, high-impact scientific journal. Using an advanced materials growth technique—hybrid molecular beam epitaxy—the researchers created ultra-thin layers of RuO2, a compound typically known for ...

Organic chemistry features a wide array of reactions for creating complex molecules, among which the Diels–Alder reaction stands out for its versatility and precision. This reaction enables the construction of intricate polycyclic compounds—structures often found in natural products and pharmaceuticals—by joining dienes and dienophiles with high regio- and stereoselectivity.  One particularly valuable diene for this purpose is ortho-quinodimethane (oQDM), known for its ability to form fused-ring systems. However, synthesizing this reactive intermediate ...