The most endangered plant species in the Mariana Islands, the legume tree Serianthes nelsonii, faces persistent threats in its recovery. These have been identified as a short lifespan of habitat seedlings and rapid death of saplings transplanted from conservation nurseries. The Plant Physiology Laboratory at the University of Guam addressed this conundrum by improving growth and survival of Serianthes seedlings through strategically placed mirrors beneath deeply shaded seedlings to increase available ambient light. The resulting paper has been published ...

About this study: A new review is the first to reveal the extent of human exposure to food contact chemicals (FCC), with 3,601 chemicals used in food packaging and other food contact articles having been found in human bodies. The authors say this review also highlights significant gaps in biomonitoring and toxicity data. --- In a new study, published in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, scientists describe the widespread human exposure to food contact chemicals (FCCs). The research reveals which chemicals ...

Key takeaways The cumulative adversity index for people quantifies numerous measures of hardship, such as poverty and stress to understand health and longevity over the individual’s lifespan. A similar tool could help scientists who study and want to conserve animal populations by identifying the most influential stressors to mitigate. UCLA biologists have created the first cumulative adversity index for yellow-bellied marmots. They found that as in humans, adversity early on had lifelong consequences and reduced their life expectancy. Adversity early in life can have permanent health consequences for people — even if their circumstances improve dramatically later on. ...

In IVF treatment, embryos are traditionally transferred in the uterus three days after fertilization. Due to improvements in laboratory techniques, this is now also possible after five days. It was assumed that this increases the chance of a successful pregnancy. A study by Radboud university medical center and Amsterdam UMC shows that the day of transfer does not influence the success rate of the IVF trajectory. One out of thirty children in the Netherlands is conceived via in vitro fertilization, or IVF for short. In this procedure, ...

Embargoed access to the paper and contact details for authors are available in Notes to Editors at the end of the release. The Lancet: More than 39 million deaths from antibiotic-resistant infections estimated between now and 2050, suggests first global analysis First in-depth analysis of global health impacts of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) over time reveals trends from 1990 to 2021 and estimates potential impacts to 2050 for 204 countries and territories. More than one million people died from AMR globally each year between 1990 and 2021. Over the period, AMR deaths among children aged under five declined by 50% while those among people aged 70 ...

The Arctic Weather Satellite (AWS) of the European Space Agency (ESA) was sent on its journey to a polar orbit 600 km above the Earth on August 16, 2024. On board: four low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) from the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF in Freiburg. They are essential components of the passive microwave radiometer with which the AWS measures temperature and humidity in the Arctic more precisely than ever before. This should contribute to a better understanding of both the Arctic and the climate change that is particularly visible in it. If the mission is successful, ...

Results from a large clinical trial show that treatment with an immunotherapy drug may nearly double the length of time people with high-risk, muscle-invasive bladder cancer are cancer-free following surgical removal of the bladder. Researchers found that postsurgical treatment with pembrolizumab (Keytruda), which is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating at least 18 different cancers, was superior compared with observation. The study, led by researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), ...

COVID-19 cases in the U.S. have shown unexpected oscillating waves every six months between the southern states and the northern states and, to a lesser degree, from east to west, according to new research published today in Scientific Reports.   Public health scientists from the University of Pittsburgh, University of Ottawa and University of Washington conducted the first detailed analysis to demonstrate and characterize the six-month oscillation of cases across space and time. It provides key information ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, September 16, 2024 Contact: Jillian McKoy, jpmckoy@bu.edu Michael Saunders, msaunder@bu.edu ## Lower Neighborhood Opportunity May Increase Risk for Preterm Birth A new study suggests that neighborhoods with fewer educational, health, environmental, and socioeconomic resources may increase one’s risk for preterm birth and contribute to the racial gap in preterm birth in the Commonwealth. Preterm birth, defined as a live birth before 37 weeks of pregnancy, is the second-leading cause of infant mortality in the United States, and one that disproportionately affects Black and ...

Embargoed for release until 5:00 p.m. ET on Monday 16 September 2024  @Annalsofim       Below please find summaries of new articles that will be published in the next issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The summaries are not intended to substitute for the full articles as a source of information. This information is under strict embargo and by taking it into possession, media representatives are committing to the terms of the embargo not only on their own behalf, but also on behalf of the organization they represent.       ----------------------------       1. ...

A pair of physicists with long ties to PPPL are being honored for their foundational work on turbulence in plasma. Understanding why instabilities occur and how to limit them is critical to perfecting fusion as a stable energy source for the electrical grid.  Greg Hammett, a PPPL theoretical and computational principal research physicist, and Bill Dorland, former associate laboratory director for computational sciences and current Lab adviser, have won the 2024 James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics. The American ...

Renewable energy sources like wind and solar are critical to sustaining our planet, but they come with a big challenge: they don't always generate power when it's needed. To make the most of them, we need efficient and affordable ways to store the energy they produce, so we have power even when the wind isn't blowing or the sun isn't shining. Columbia Engineering material scientists have been focused on developing new kinds of batteries to transform how we store renewable energy. In a new study published September 5 by Nature Communications, the team used K-Na/S batteries that combine inexpensive, readily-found elements -- ...

Stanford researchers have developed an artificial intelligence-based tool – dubbed SandAI – that can reveal the history of quartz sand grains going back hundreds of millions of years. With SandAI, researchers can tell with high accuracy if wind, rivers, waves, or glacial movements shaped and deposited motes of sand. The tool gives researchers a unique window into the past for geological and archeological studies, especially for eras and environments where few other clues, such as fossils, are preserved ...

Scientists have discovered that certain plants can survive stressful, dry conditions by controlling water loss through their leaves without relying on their usual mechanism - tiny pores known as ‘stomata’.    Nonstomatal control of transpiration in maize, sorghum, and proso millet – all C4 crops which are critical for global food security – gives these plants an advantage in maintaining a beneficial microclimate for photosynthesis within their leaves.   This allows the plants to absorb carbon dioxide ...

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (09/16/2024) — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Healthy People 2030 plan sets a national objective to increase youth sports participation from 50% to 63% over the next five years. For adolescents, staying active offers benefits to their overall health and their social and academic lives. However, the number of youths participating in physical activity and sports is on the decline. While participation gaps based on single social identities ...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Researchers in Purdue University’s College of Engineering have developed a patent-pending optical counterfeit detection method for chips used in semiconductor devices. The Purdue method is called RAPTOR, or residual attention-based processing of tampered optical responses. It leverages deep learning to identify tampering. It improves upon traditional methods, which face challenges in scalability and discriminating between natural degradation and adversarial tampering. Alexander Kildishev, professor in the Elmore ...

A new systematic review of pharmacogenomics clinical decision support systems used in clinical practice in the peer-reviewed OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology suggests that these e-health tools can help accelerate pharmacogenomics, precision/personalized medicine, and digital health emergence in everyday clinical practice worldwide. Click here to read the article now.  Anastasia Farmaki, MSc, from the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, Thessaloniki, and coauthors in Greece, conducted a systematic review that examined and mapped the pharmacogenomics-clinical decision support ...

A University of Houston engineering team has developed wearable sensors to examine eye movement to assess brain disorders or damage to the brain. Many brain diseases and problems show up as eye symptoms, often before other symptoms appear.  You see, eyes are not merely a window into the soul, as poets would have it. These incredibly precious organs are also an extension of the brain and can provide early warning signs of brain-related disorders and information on what causes them. Examining the eyes can also help track the progression and symptoms of physical and mental shocks to the brain.  Researchers say ...

Hebrew University of Jerusalem is proud to announce that Professor Haitham Amal is among a large $17M grant consortium for pioneering autism research. This grant is part of an American funding initiative awarded by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), aimed at advancing cutting-edge autism studies. A world-renowned expert in nitric oxide and brain disorders, Professor Amal has made groundbreaking discoveries in autism research. His team was the first to identify a direct link between nitric oxide levels in the brain and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a finding with profound implications for the ...

Those mesmerizing blue and orange hues in the sky at the start and end of a sunny day might have an essential role in setting humans’ internal clocks. In new research from the University of Washington in Seattle, a novel LED light that emits alternating wavelengths of orange and blue outpaced two other light devices in advancing melatonin levels in a small group of study participants.  Published in the Journal of Biological Rhythms, the finding appears to establish a new benchmark in humans’ ability to influence their circadian rhythms, and reflects an effective new approach to counteract seasonal affective disorder (SAD).  A ...

Embargoed until Monday, September 16, noon EDT          Contact: development@sfn.org   CHICAGO – The Society of Neuroscience (SfN) will honor leading researchers whose groundbreaking work has transformed neuroscience — including the understanding of pain, addiction, stress, synaptic transport, vision, and sleep — with this year’s Outstanding Career and Research Achievement Awards. The awards will be presented during SfN’s annual ...

Embargoed until Monday, September 16, noon EDT               Contact: development@sfn.org     CHICAGO – The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) will honor nine early career researchers whose work will be presented during Neuroscience 2024, SfN's annual meeting. “Early career researchers are often the ones who bring fresh ideas and perspectives to the field,” said SfN President Marina Picciotto. “These awardees and their novel approaches to microscopy, machine learning, circuits and behavior ...

Embargoed until Monday, September 16, noon EDT          Contact: development@sfn.org   CHICAGO – The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) will present six neuroscientists with this year’s Science Education and Outreach Awards, comprising the Award for Education in Neuroscience, the Science Educator Award, and the Next Generation Awards. The awards will be presented during SfN’s annual meeting. “The Society is honored to recognize these passionate neuroscientists ...

Embargoed until Monday, September 16, noon EDT               Contact: development@sfn.org   CHICAGO — The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) will honor seven researchers who have made significant contributions to the advancement of women in neuroscience. The awards will be presented during Neuroscience 2024, SfN's annual meeting. “Neuroscience is both a field of research and a community of researchers,” said SfN President Marina Picciotto. “These awardees not only advance our field’s understanding of the brain through their own research, they strengthen and support ...

Baek Conducting Air Quality Monitoring & Simulation Analysis B.H. Baek, Research Associate Professor, Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems, College of Science, received funding for: “EPA Air Quality Modeling and Simulation Analysis (AQM- Office of Air Quality, Planning Standards (OAQPS) Program.” Baek will perform work in support of the U.S. EPA Office of Air Quality Policy and Standards (OAQPS) Air Quality Modeling and Simulation Analysis. Baek received $27,316 from General ...