A system of wearable sensors and machine learning can continuously monitor factory workers for signs of physical fatigue. Factory work can be physically strenuous, and a safe and ethical workplace must ensure that workers do not become overly fatigued, which can increase the risk of injury and accident, cause chronic health problems, and also impair performance. A system designed by Ping Guo, Qi Zhu, and colleagues measures heart rate, heart rate variability, skin temperature, and locomotor patterns ...

A study investigates the evolution of beneficial bacteria that live inside and on the surface of farming ants. Attine ants farm fungi, in one of the natural world’s best-studied mutualistic symbioses. In the 1990s, the picture of this mutualism was expanded to include another partner: an actinobacteria, Pseudonocardia, which lives on the ants’ cuticle—their hard exoskeleton—where its cultures are fed by secretions of subcuticular glands. Pseudonocardia is known to kill the fungal pathogen Escovopsis, that might destroy the ants’ mutualistic fungus. Jacobus J. Boomsma and colleagues sequenced samples ...

A collection of 15 articles from the Polarization and Trust Special Feature explores the complex nature of the emotional divide between political opponents, using approaches from a variety of disciplines, including political science, psychology, sociology, and economics. The articles emerged from a 2023 workshop on “Directions of Polarization, Social Norms, and Trust in Societies,” held at MIT and organized by  Kati Kish Bar-On,  Eugen Dimant,  Yphtach Lelkes and  David Rand. Researchers from a number of teams identified ways in which partisans mistrust and inaccurately perceive their political opponents, and other teams  examined why such inaccurate ...

The silkworm moth (Bombyx mori) is an insect that no longer flies due to domestication. The males use their antennae to detect pheromones emitted by females and respond very acutely, and have been used as model insects for the study of their odor source localization. Flying insects flap their wings when they fly, and silkworm moths are also known to flap their wings (called fanning) when they detect pheromones, even though they do not fly. As pheromone molecules move through space in the air, the air flows ...

Obesity is a widespread public health challenge in the Middle East, maintaining prevalence in 54.2% of women and 31.4% of men in this region. Overweight and obese women have a higher risk of hypertension and cardiovascular risk factors than women with a standard BMI, according to an analysis of the ANCORS-YW STUDY presented at ACC Middle East 2024. The findings highlight the urgent need for targeted interventions that address socioeconomic determinants of health to reduce the cardiovascular risk ...

In a growing and changing world, we need to find ways of putting food on everyone’s table. Pesticides have enabled mass cultivation on an incredible scale, but they can have harmful secondary effects on humans and wildlife, and pests are rapidly evolving to overcome them. To overcome this challenge and develop the sustainable and resilient agriculture of the future, scientists writing in Frontiers in Science explore the potential of induced resistance. Like a vaccination for plants, it deliberately triggers a plant’s immune system, so that when the plant encounters a similar ...

Seven New Frog Species Discovered in Madagascar: Sounds Like Something from Star Trek An international team of researchers have discovered seven new species of tree frogs that make otherworldly calls in the rainforests of Madagascar. Their strange, high-pitched whistling calls sound more like sound effects from the sci-fi series Star Trek. As a result, the researchers have named the new species after seven of the series' most iconic If you think all frogs croak, you’d be wrong. Seven newly discovered species from the tree frog genus Boophis, found across the rainforests of Madagascar, emit special bird-like whistling ...

Two thirds of Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) in tropical forests are experiencing new temperature conditions as our climate changes, research shows. KBAs identify the most important places on Earth for species and their habitats. The new study – by Exeter, Manchester Metropolitan and Cambridge universities – assessed 30 years of temperature conditions below the forest canopy in KBAs in tropical forests worldwide. It found that 66% of KBAs in tropical forests have recently transitioned to new “temperature regimes” (more than 40% of temperature measurements being outside the range previously recorded ...

NEW YORK, NY — How do we distinguish threat from safety? It’s a question important not just in our daily lives, but for human disorders linked with fear of others, such as social anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The microscope image accompanying this press release, from the laboratory of Steven A. Siegelbaum, PhD, at Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute, displays a powerful technique scientists used to help us find an answer. The scientists were investigating the hippocampus, a brain area that plays a key role in memory in humans and mice. Specifically, they focused on the CA2 region, which is ...

In a new study published in Nature Communications Biology, wildlife rangers from the Uganda Wildlife Authority have demonstrated their ability to generate precise and reliable data on lion populations in Uganda’s Nile Delta, a critical stronghold for African lions. The study reveals that wildlife rangers, a critical component of global conservation efforts but often underutilised in scientific research, can play a pivotal role in the conservation science surrounding the world’s most beloved big cat. Rangers are effective at monitoring lions and are an underutilised resource The study showed rangers ...

One of the most notorious mass extinction events in modern times occurred on a hilltop in coastal Ecuador in the 1980s. Ninety species of plants known from nowhere else on Earth—many of them new to science and not yet given a name—went extinct when the last cloud forests of the Centinela range were cleared for agriculture. The cautionary tale of Centinela has long been a driving force in the fight to save the world’s rainforests. But did it really happen? In a new study published in Nature Plants, an international team of botanists reveals that, indeed, it did not happen. The researchers – who spent years of scouring natural history museums, biodiversity databases, ...

About The Study: Among individuals with ulcerative colitis, the allele HLA-DRB1*01:03 was associated with severe ulcerative colitis requiring major operation, hospitalization, and systemic corticosteroid use compared with less severe disease. HLA-DRB1*01:03 has previously been linked to ulcerative colitis incidence. This study supports earlier, targeted genetic studies comparing patients with healthy controls reporting an association with total disease and severe disease requiring colectomy. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Marie Vibeke Vestergaard, MSc, email marievv@dcm.aau.dk. To access the embargoed study: Visit our ...

Montpellier, France – 15 October 2024. In a captivating Genomic Press Interview published on October 15, 2024, in the peer-reviewed journal Genomic Psychiatry (Genomic Press), Professor Philippe Courtet shares groundbreaking perspectives on suicide prevention and mental health care. As an influential PU-PH (Professeur des Universités-Praticien Hospitalier), he is a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Montpellier, France, and head of emergency psychiatry at the University Hospital of, Professor Courtet stands at the forefront of ...

Miscarriage, or early pregnancy loss, can have devastating emotional effects, but it is poorly managed in Canada. A review published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.231489 provides guidance to physicians on how to diagnose and manage this condition and calls for referral to outpatient early pregnancy assessment clinics (EPACs) as well as a compassionate approach. October 15 is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. Data suggest that 15%–20% of all confirmed pregnancies result in miscarriage, with ...

A joint research group led by Jonghyun Kim and Jun Ohashi of the University of Tokyo has demonstrated that the majority of immigration to the Japanese Archipelago in the Yayoi and Kofun periods (between 3000 BCE and 538 CE) came from the Korean Peninsula. The researchers analyzed the complete genome of a “Yayoi” individual and found that, among the non-Japanese populations, the results bore the most similarity to Korean populations. Although it is widely accepted that modern Japanese populations have a dual ancestry, the discovery provides insight into the details of immigration patterns to the ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- Since 1970, 37 countries have cut the probability of their citizens dying before they reach age 70 in half, a milestone that signals the remarkable progress many countries have made in preventing and treating disease. But a new report argues that this goal isn’t out of reach for any country that chooses to cut its premature mortality, even those afflicted by war or poverty. The report, published Oct. 14 by The Lancet Commission on Investing in Health, lays out a roadmap for every nation that chooses to do so to cut ...

A team of 50 leading international experts, the Lancet Commission on Investing in Health (CIH), explored this question, resulting in clear, actionable, and achievable measures for achieving this ambitious goal worldwide. Six of the 50 commission members are affiliated with the Bergen Centre for Ethics and Priority Setting in Health (BCEPS), a Norwegian Centre of Excellence based at the University of Bergen, Norway, including BCEPS Director and Professor Ole Frithjof Norheim, BCEPS PhD Research Fellow Sarah Bolongaita, and BCEPS-affiliated researchers Angela Chang (University ...

Copenhagen, Denmark: Wearing a helmet can prevent brain injury and deaths in cyclists, yet many do not wear a helmet. New research presented at the European Emergency Medicine Congress today (Tuesday) suggests that this is largely due to issues of convenience and comfort. [1]   The study also suggests that more adult cyclists would wear helmets if they were encouraged and incentivised to do so, for example if they were provided with a free helmet, education, and periodic reminders.   The research was presented by Dr Steven Friedman, an emergency doctor at Toronto General Hospital and associate professor at the University ...

Copenhagen, Denmark: Half of all patients with sepsis admitted to an emergency medical department died within two years, according to Danish researchers investigating factors that could predict outcomes for these patients.   Dr Finn E. Nielsen, a senior scientist in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology at Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark, told the European Emergency Medicine Congress today (Tuesday) [1] that he and his colleagues examined deaths over a long follow-up period in a prospective study of 714 adult patients admitted to the emergency department with sepsis. Their findings ...

Embargoed for release until 5:00 p.m. ET on Monday 14 October 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.     ...

St. Louis, MO (October 14, 2024) According to the Centers for Disease Control, nearly 20% of children and teens are considered obese. Research shows it can have a dramatic impact on a variety of health conditions, including arthritis, heart conditions and other metabolic problems, and the American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends early and intensive treatment to combat obesity. Over the last four years, Shriners Children’s St. Louis researchers have been working to develop a new way to prevent the effects of childhood obesity.    Using gene therapy, Shriners Children’s St. Louis Director of Research Dr. Farshid Guilak and Senior Scientist Dr. Ruhang Tang ...

About The Study: Mpox is a viral infection transmitted primarily through close skin to skin contact that typically causes a self-resolving illness but can result in severe illness and death in immunocompromised individuals. First-line therapy is supportive care, although patients with severe mpox infection may be treated with advanced therapeutics. Mpox vaccination is effective and, if available, should be offered to individuals at risk of exposure to mpox. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Jason Zucker, MD, MS, email Jz2700@cumc.columbia.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media ...

About The Study: Preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use increased between 2013 and 2023, with generic tenofovir disoproxil fumarate/emtricitabine (TDF/FTC) being the most frequently prescribed medication since 2021. Injectable PrEP use was low likely because of barriers such as the high cost of stocking this expensive medication in clinics. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Laura M. Mann, PhD, MPH, email lmann@cdc.gov. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jama.2024.21493) Editor’s ...

About The Study: Most U.S. hospital websites explicitly included sexual and gender minority (SGM) populations in their nondiscrimination policies, but only a quarter of adult hospitals had an SGM-friendly clinician directory and provided information about SGM-related resources or hospital-based services. Pediatric hospitals more frequently posted SGM-related information than adult hospitals. Hospitals in states with more discriminatory policies were less likely to provide SGM-related information online. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Alex S. Keuroghlian, MD, MPH, email akeuroghlian@mgb.org. To ...

Study finds use of naloxone by Good Samaritans is up, but not nearly enough Ohio State and National Registry of EMTs research highlights importance of public’s help in opioid overdose response COLUMBUS, Ohio – Use of a lifesaving drug to reverse opioid drug overdoses is growing, but not fast enough. That’s according to new research in JAMA Network Open from The Ohio State University College of Medicine, College of Public Health and the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians. In the first study of its kind, the research team looked at national use of naloxone by people without medical training to treat an opioid drug overdose.  “Naloxone ...