Psychosocial stress during pregnancy could lead to higher blood pressure during the first year postpartum according to research from Keck School of Medicine of USC. The study, published in Hypertension and supported by the National Institutes of Health, investigated whether mothers who reported higher perceived stress and depressive symptoms during pregnancy, developed higher blood pressure in the four-year period after birth. The findings showed higher stress and depressive symptoms during pregnancy were associated with greater blood pressure during the first year postpartum, but associations diminished thereafter. “Pregnancy ...

Resistance or muscle strengthening exercise, using weights or the body itself, may be the best type of exercise for tackling insomnia in older age, suggests a pooled data analysis of the available research, published in the open access journal Family Medicine and Community Health. Aerobic exercise or a mix of strength, aerobic, balance, and flexibility exercises also seem to be effective, the analysis indicates. Sleep quality tends to decline with age. And up to 1 in five older adults has insomnia, ...

The global number of cases of osteoarthritis, as well the disability associated with the condition, have risen by more than 130% over the past 3 decades among women who have gone through the menopause, indicates a data analysis spanning 1990 to 2021, and published in the open access journal BMJ Global Health. During this period, East Asia and high income Asia Pacific countries experienced the fastest growth in the condition while excess weight accounted for 20% of the total years lived with the resulting disability, the analysis indicates. Osteoarthritis is primarily characterised by the deterioration and damage ...

OKLAHOMA CITY – The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences has achieved its highest ranking ever in National Institutes of Health funding awarded for research. NIH funding increased to $75.2 million in the previous federal fiscal year, improving the campus’s ranking to 102 out of 2,838 institutions and other entities that receive NIH funding. OU Health Sciences’ previous ranking was 122. Of the total amount of funding, $65.3 million was awarded to the OU College of Medicine, whose faculty members cross 23 academic departments ...

We don’t just have sex to reproduce - new research suggests that using sex to manage social tension could be a trait that existed in the common ancestor of humans and apes six million years ago. Humans share this behavioural strategy with our closest living ape relatives – bonobos and chimpanzees. Now researchers, led by Durham University, UK, have undertaken what is thought to be one of the first direct comparisons of sexual behaviour amongst bonobos and chimpanzees during periods of social stress. Their findings, published ...

Diminished trust in public education in crisis-hit Lebanon is worsening inequality in the country and forcing parents to make difficult decisions, a new study warns.  The country’s dual education system, reinforced by religious and political policies, continues to favour the upper classes, exacerbating educational disparities between social groups.  Lebanon’s sectarian government and weak state has led parents to perceive the academic and non-academic outcomes of most private schools as better than those of public schools.   Many said this perception has intensified recently due to declining government funding, ...

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) — UC Santa Barbara researchers are working to move cold atom quantum experiments and applications from the laboratory tabletop to chip-based systems, opening new possibilities for sensing, precision timekeeping, quantum computing and fundamental science measurements.  “We’re at the tipping point,” said electrical and computer engineering professor Daniel Blumenthal. In an invited article that was also selected for the cover of Optica Quantum, Blumenthal, along with graduate student researcher Andrei Isichenko and postdoctoral researcher Nitesh Chauhan, lays out the latest developments ...

Researchers at Rice University have uncovered a critical link between rising temperatures and declines in a species’ population, shedding new light on how global warming threatens natural ecosystems. The study, published in Ecology and led by Volker Rudolf, revealed that rising temperatures exacerbate competition within populations, ultimately leading to population crashes at higher temperatures. It offers one of the first clear experimental confirmations that rising temperatures alter the forces that control population dynamics in nature. “Our research provides an essential ...

Adults with disabilities are nearly twice as likely to misuse prescription drugs as adults without disabilities, according to West Virginia University research.  Jeanette Garcia, associate professor at the WVU College of Applied Human Sciences, said the findings point to the urgency of curbing prescription misuse among adults with disabilities. “Almost 10% of the individuals with disabilities in our sample reported misusing prescription drugs within the past year, compared to 4.4% of individuals without disabilities,” Garcia said. “We saw the highest ...

UF/IFAS researchers are investigating the economic potential of growing vanilla in Florida with the aim of establishing an alternative – and potentially lucrative – crop to oranges. “With citrus in decline, we’re searching for crops that can generate profits for producers,” said Jaclyn Kropp, a professor in the food and resource economics department. “Vanilla is a high-value crop, so there’s immense revenue potential.” No large-scale, commercial production ...

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 P.M. ET, TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 2025 Media Contacts: Renee Tessman, rtessman@aan.com, (612) 928-6137 Natalie Conrad, nconrad@aan.com, (612) 928-6164 Are higher doses of folic acid in pregnancy safe? MINNEAPOLIS – Taking a higher dose of folic acid during the first trimester of pregnancy was safe and associated with improved verbal abilities in children at age six as well as improved behavior skills, according to a preliminary study released today, March 4, 2025, that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 77th Annual Meeting taking ...

WASHINGTON—A survey conducted by the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) highlights ongoing radiation and orthopedic hazards faced by interventional cardiologists and cardiac catheterization laboratory (“cath lab” or CCL) staff. The survey revealed that despite technological advancements, significant risks often remain unaddressed despite advances in protective equipment. “Occupational Health Hazards in the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory: Results of the 2023 SCAI Survey” highlights alarming trends in radiation exposure and orthopedic ...

(Boston) — Technology is changing how physicians think about assessing patients and, in turn, how patients expect to be able to measure their own health. Apps designed for smartphones and wearable devices can provide unique insights into users’ brain health.   It is estimated that 55 million individuals worldwide suffer from some form of dementia. Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias being the leading causes, with numbers expected to triple by 2050. Early education and detection of cognitive changes empower individuals to enact lifestyle modifications and initiate pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic approaches to slow or prevent decline. In fact, up to 45% of ...

In their study, University of Delaware Associate Research Professor Leigh McLean and co-author Nathan Jones of Boston University, found that teachers displayed far more positive emotions than negative ones. But they also found that some teachers showed high levels of negative emotions. In these cases, teachers’ expressions of negative emotions were associated with reduced student enjoyment of learning and engagement. These findings add to a compelling body of research highlighting the importance of teachers’ and students’ emotional experiences within ...

One limitation of producing biofuel is that the alcohol created by fermentation is toxic to the microbes that produce it. Now scientists are closer to overcoming this obstacle. Researchers from the University of Cincinnati and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory achieved a breakthrough in understanding the vulnerability of microbes to the alcohols they produce during fermentation of plant biomass. With the national lab’s neutron scattering and simulation equipment, the team ...

A vivid new image is taking shape in the world of cell biology: Imagine bacteria adhering to the surface of a cell, perhaps at the site of an injury or wound. In response, a white blood cell arrives at the scene. This cell encircles the pathogen with its membrane, forming a tight, constricting ring. With remarkable force, the white blood cell yanks the pathogen off the wound’s surface. The white blood cell then engulfs the pathogen in a process called phagocytosis, in which it “eats” the foreign invader to neutralize it. This dramatic process might sound like something out of a science fiction story.  “But it’s precisely what ...

Millions of Americans undergo surgery each year. After surgery, preventing complications like pneumonia, blood clots and infections can be the difference between a successful recovery and a prolonged, painful hospital stay – or worse. More than 10% of surgical patients experience such complications, which can lead to longer stays in the intensive care unit (ICU), higher mortality rates and increased health care costs. Early identification of at-risk patients is crucial, but predicting these risks accurately remains ...

March 4, 2025 — For patients undergoing nerve transfer surgery for facial palsy, Botox injections can improve facial symmetry by reducing overactivity of the muscles on the unaffected side, suggests a study in the March issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer. The added benefit of Botox reflects modifications ...

By Shawn Ballard Ever seen an image of an animal and wondered, “What is that?” TaxaBind, a new tool developed by computer scientists in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, can sate that curiosity and more. TaxaBind addresses the need for more robust and unified approaches to ecological problems by combining multiple models to perform species classification (what kind of bear is this?), distribution mapping (where are the cardinals?), and other tasks related to ecology. The tool can also be used as a starting point for larger studies related to ecological modeling, which scientists might use to predict shifts in plant and animal populations, ...

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (3/04/2025) — Making decisions in uncertain situations is part of daily life. New research from the University of Minnesota Medical School has uncovered that anxiety and apathy — two common but distinct emotional states — lead to fundamentally different patterns in how people learn and make decisions.  The findings were recently published in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging. The study investigated how anxiety and apathy — or a lack of interest and ...

Fred Hutch Cancer Center announced 10 recipients of the annual Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award, which recognizes the exceptional achievements of graduate studies in the biological sciences.  This year’s recipients represent both national and international research institutions, with a variety of thesis topics including the structural organization of neural networks, a hereditary basis for metastatic breast cancer, gene editing tools for neurodegenerative diseases and the brain’s ability to control the tongue.   “We congratulate the impressive group of domestic and international applicants this year ...

Summary The worldwide network of telecommunications cables lying on the bottom of the world's oceans offers unique potential for scientific use if the fibre-optic cables themselves are used as or equipped with sensors. Based on this, the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam and the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel are now setting up the research infrastructure SAFAtor (SMART Cables And Fiber-optic Sensing Amphibious Demonstrator), that can be used to monitor the world's oceans. It will be included in the portfolio of the major Helmholtz infrastructures and funded by ...

A current study involving the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) has investigated which treatment strategy offers the best chances of survival in high-risk acute pulmonary embolism. The results, now published in the renowned journal "Intensive Care Medicine", provide crucial information for the future treatment of this life-threatening disease. High-risk acute pulmonary embolism affects around five percent of all pulmonary embolisms and can take a dramatic course even in young people. Acute obstruction of the pulmonary circulation by a blood clot can lead to circulatory failure with a high mortality rate. The study, which was carried out in collaboration with 34 European centers ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – While the human papillomavirus (HPV) is most associated with cervical cancer risk and women, a new survey commissioned by The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) shows that the majority of people are unaware that the virus is actually more common among men than women and is associated with rising rates of other cancers that directly impact men. The consumer survey sought to understand the public’s knowledge of the lesser known but common virus – specifically how it is spread and its impact on cancer risk.  Survey ...

Seoul National University College of Engineering announced that Professor Jungwon Park’s research team from the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering has developed a groundbreaking technology to observe atomic structural changes of nanoparticles in three dimensions.   This study, recognized as a revolutionary achievement that resolves a long-standing challenge even past Nobel laureates could not solve, was published online in Nature Communications, one of the most prestigious international journals, on January 29.   Recently, nanoparticles have garnered significant attention as they are widely used in developing functional materials for cutting-edge industries ...