The global production of plastics and the resulting plastic waste has increased to such an extent that plastics have become ubiquitous in our environment. Plastics of various sizes are also found along the German North Sea and Baltic coasts. Previous studies of microplastic pollution on German beaches have often been limited to a few locations. In the citizen science project “Microplastic Detectives”, researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute, together with citizens, have now collected samples from beaches along the entire German coast to be analyzed for microplastics. The resulting dataset is the first to be large enough to ...

Sunlight filters through the canopy of pines, holly, sweet gum, and red maple while bird calls echo in the distance. These coastal forests may seem like others in the Mid-Atlantic, but a hidden challenge looms. Standing tall next to their salt marsh neighbors, where the wind carries the sharp scent of sulfidic seawater, these trees are more than just part of the landscape—they are living monuments to a rapidly changing environment. As sea levels rise, the future of these forests is uncertain. While the adjacent salt marshes can adapt to encroaching waters, the trees, vulnerable to the increasing frequency ...

Noise from aircraft at night is linked with disturbed sleep quality and sleep-wake cycle, a new study using movement trackers has shown. Environmental health experts at the University of Leicester combined measurements from activity monitors and self-reported sleep information for the first time to put together a more detailed picture of how aircraft noise impacts sleep, in the largest such study to date. The results, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, show that people exposed to higher levels of night-time aircraft noise experienced more restlessness during sleep and disruption in daily sleep rhythm, even if they had a full night’s sleep. The team was led from the ...

If you’d stopped monitoring the Adriatic Sea’s marine life in the mid-20th century, the outlook would have been promising. Snails and the clams they hunt for food increased in abundance for several decades during the late 1800s and early 1900s, evidence of a vibrant and healthy ecosystem. Then, a threshold was crossed. Populations of both predator and prey abruptly plummeted and in some cases disappeared entirely. They were replaced by the common corbulid clam (Varicorbula gibba), which has the ability to slow down its metabolism in unfavorable conditions. Whenever paleontologists find an abundance of this species in the marine fossil record, it often means ...

KANEOHE, HI (Sept 24, 2024 1:05 p.m. HST)- In a study published today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, researchers at the UH Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) Toonen- Bowen “ToBo” Lab have identified scenarios under which eight of the most common species of coral found in Hawaiʻi can adapt to and survive ocean warming and acidification. The corals in the study are prevalent throughout the Indo-Pacific, a region that comprises more than two-thirds of the coral reefs on planet Earth, and were found to be capable of surviving a “low ...

Around 1 in 3 children and teens around the world is short (near)-sighted, with the global prevalence of myopia set to top 740 million cases by 2050 in this age group, finds a pooled data analysis of the available evidence, published online in the British Journal of Ophthalmology. Female sex, East Asian or urban area residence, and educational level all seem to be key factors influencing prevalence, the findings indicate. Short (near)-sightedness (myopia), which describes difficulty seeing objects at a distance, typically starts in early childhood and tends to worsen with age, explain the researchers. It has emerged ...

The huge and growing toll bottled water is taking on human and planetary health warrants an urgent rethink of its use as 1 million bottles are bought every minute around the globe, with that figure set to rise further still amid escalating demand, warn population health experts in a commentary published in the open access journal BMJ Global Health. Some 2 billion people around the world with limited or no access to safe drinking water rely on bottled water. But for the rest of us, it’s largely a matter of convenience and the unshaken belief—aided and abetted by industry marketing—that bottled water is safer and often healthier than tap ...

Women in the UK, and elsewhere, are still missing out on vital treatment for their No 1 killer—cardiovascular disease—despite significant progress in the medical management of heart disease and stroke, concludes a consensus statement published online in the journal Heart. They continue to be underdiagnosed, undertreated, and underrepresented in clinical trials in all areas of cardiovascular disease, says the statement. Among other things, it calls for dedicated women’s heart champions and heart hubs, plus a women’s ...

The ongoing war in Gaza will set children and young people’s education back by up to five years and risks creating a lost generation of permanently traumatised Palestinian youth, a new study warns. The report, by a team of academics working in partnership with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), is the first to comprehensively quantify the war’s toll on learning since it began in October 2023. It also details the devastating impact on children, young people and teachers, supported by new accounts from frontline staff and ...

(Wednesday, 25 September 2024, Amsterdam, Netherlands) A pioneering study, presented today at the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) Congress 2024, demonstrates the significant potential of semaglutide in treating hidradenitis suppurative (HS), a common and chronic skin condition, in people with obesity.1 This is the first study to explore the use of semaglutide for HS, marking a critical milestone in the search for effective treatments for this painful and debilitating condition. HS is currently estimated to affect approximately 1 in 100 people, with obesity being a significant risk factor. The condition is characterised ...

GLP1RA agonists have been increasing in popularity for treating obesity and type 2 diabetes.  With this novel treatment proving to be very effective, researchers are curious to know more about what other potential treatments it could also hold. Researchers at the University of Michigan investigated another potential way GLP1RA drugs can be useful in treating type two diabetes associated with a genetic condition that causes high levels of iron, called hereditary hemochromatosis. High iron levels with hereditary hemochromatosis can cause predisposition to liver disease ...

TUCSON, Ariz., Sept. 19, 2024 — Critical Path Institute (C-Path) is thrilled to announce its Polycystic Kidney Disease Outcomes Consortium (PKDOC) has been awarded an Autosomal Dominant Tubulointerstitial Kidney Disease (ADTKD) focused Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) contract from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The overarching objective of the work supported by the BAA award is to leverage collaboration with the Wake Forest Rare Inherited Kidney Disease team and its ADTKD registry, to analyze clinical and laboratory data that will help evaluate prognosis in ADTKD and help set the stage for future clinical trials.  ADTKD only affects ...

Hot carrier solar cells, a concept introduced several decades ago, have long been seen as a potential breakthrough in solar energy technology. These cells could surpass the Shockley–Queisser efficiency limit, which is a theoretical maximum efficiency for single-junction solar cells. Despite their promise, practical implementation has faced significant challenges, particularly in managing the rapid extraction of hot electrons across material interfaces. Recent research has focused on using satellite valleys in the conduction band to temporarily store hot electrons before collection. However, ...

(MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Sept. 24, 2024) – Clinical trial results from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital demonstrate benefits to using genomics and early treatment response to guide risk classification of children with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). Traditionally, the intensity of a patient’s chemotherapy regime is guided by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) risk classification, which is largely determined by clinical characteristics such as age and white blood cell count at presentation. Through the flagship St. Jude ...

Researchers at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology demonstrated that emotion enhances memory for contextual details, challenging the view that emotion impairs the ability to remember such information. The report was led by doctoral student Paul Bogdan, currently a postdoc at Duke University, and Florin and Sanda Dolcos, professors of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Their research appears in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: ...

In a review of previous studies, a Johns Hopkins Children’s Center team concludes that some video games created as mental health interventions can be helpful – if modest – tools in improving the mental well-being of children and teens with anxiety, depression and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). A report on the review of studies from peer-reviewed journals between 2011 and March 20, 2024, was published Sept. 23, 2024, in JAMA Pediatrics. An estimated 20% of children and teenagers between the ages of three and 17 in the U.S. have a mental, emotional, developmental or behavioral ...

Following Barack Obama’s reelection as U.S. president in 2012, the mental health of college-educated Black men improved significantly, while those who didn’t attend college reported worse mental health, according to new research from Rice University sociologists.  “Four More Years! Or So What? The Mental Health Significance of Barack Obama’s 2012 Presidential Re-Election among Black Adults” will appear in an upcoming edition of Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race.  Lead researcher Tony Brown, distinguished professor of sociology at Rice, said he and his co-authors were interested in following up ...

Toronto -- Modern crowdfunding has grown from relatively modest beginnings in the late 1990s to a multi-billion-dollar financing market for all kinds of early-stage innovations. The platform Kickstarter alone went from $276 million pledged in 2012 to $7.8 billion in 2024. There are even professional project designers to help craft that winning proposal. With stakes like those, getting the pitch right is everything. Enter machine learning to assist. Researchers from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management put four different types of this artificial intelligence application to the test, including Deep Learning. Machine learning proved not only superior ...

Pharmacists now have more guidance in combatting the opioid crisis and providing treatment to patients thanks to new national guidelines developed at the University of Houston College of Pharmacy. The Pharmacy Access to Resources and Medication for Opioid Use Disorder Guideline, released today, addresses critical barriers in the treatment of Opioid Use Disorder across the nation’s community pharmacies.   With approximately 2.7 million individuals in the U.S. affected by OUD, the need for effective management strategies has never been more urgent. The PhARM-OUD Guideline marks a significant advancement as ...

A new analysis of satellite data finds that the record surge in atmospheric methane emissions from 2020 to 2022 was driven by increased inundation and water storage in wetlands, combined with a slight decrease in atmospheric hydroxide (OH). The results have implications for efforts to decrease atmospheric methane and mitigate its impact on climate change. “From 2010 to 2019, we saw regular increases – with slight accelerations – in atmospheric methane concentrations, but the increases that occurred from ...

Saskatchewan education sector workers are experiencing disturbing levels of workplace violence and harassment, says a new report spotlighting a situation that has reached “a breaking point,” according to its authors. Testimonies catalogued by University of Ottawa researchers found Saskatchewan schools are far from offering a safe and violence-free environment as workplace violence becomes increasingly normalized. “I’ve been punched in the face, had push pins held to my eyeballs, and scissors held to my throat,” the report quotes one ...

Spintronics – devices that use microscopic magnetism in conjunction with electric current – could lead to computing technology as fast as conventional electronics but much more energy efficient. As such devices are developed and studied, an important unresolved question is how device operation is affected by heating. A new experimental technique, reported by researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the journal APL Materials, directly measures heating in spintronic devices, allowing direct comparison to other effects. The researchers say that this technique can be used to select spintronic materials whose magnetic behavior is minimally impacted by heating, ...

September 24, 2024-- The rate of e-bike and powered scooter injuries surged between 2019 and 2022-- by 293 percent and 88 percent, respectively, according to a new study at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. The research adds to the existing information and gap in knowledge on the sociodemographic and risk factor variables that might be contributing to micromobility vehicle–related injuries. The findings are published in the American Journal of Public Health. Micromobility generally refers to any small, low-speed, human- or electric-powered transportation device. Between 2019 and 2022, e-bike sales increased by 269 ...

September 24, 2024-- New research conducted at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health and Mount Sinai School of Medicine shows a link between prediabetes among young people and adverse pregnancy outcomes later in life. The findings could alter how doctors routinely screen or counsel youth on blood glucose levels, and subsequently, minimize potential maternal and neonatal risks. The results are published in JAMA Network Open.   “This study is an important step in tying lifecourse cardiometabolic health to optimal pregnancy outcomes,” said Teresa Janevic, PhD, associate professor of Epidemiology at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and senior author. ...

The eye is an immune-privileged tissue because of the need to keep blood vessels away from the central pathway of light and to restrict entry of inflammatory cells that could cause damage. This has prompted questions about how the eye manages inflammation when it occurs. A new study led by Thomas Jefferson University researchers has revealed insights into how the eye handles inflammation, particularly in autoimmune uveitis, an inflammatory disease that bypasses the eye’s immune privilege and can damage healthy eye tissue. Previous studies by Jefferson researcher Sue Menko, PhD, revealed that immune cells ...