Hot dragonfly summer: species with darker wings have evolved to withstand heat and attract partners

Researchers found that male dragonflies with dark coloration on their wings have evolved to tolerate higher temperatures, possibly a decisive advantage in a warming world

Frontiers

 

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Infrared-spectrum image of an ornamented dragonfly from the genus Tramea. Lighter colors indicate hotter temperatures, ranging from 27 to 35 degrees Celsius across the image. Image: Noah Leith. 

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Credit: Image: Noah Leith

Temperature determines where species can live and if they are threatened by a warming climate. So, for a long time, biologists studied how heat tolerance affects survival. Yet, less is known about how thermal traits influence reproduction, which is directly linked to extinction risk.

Now, researchers in the US have examined if males of dragonfly species that produce sexual signals in the form of dark coloration on their wings are more resistant to heat. They published their results in Frontiers in Ethology.

“We show that dragonfly species that have evolved dark breeding coloration on their wings have also evolved the ability to tolerate high temperatures,” said Dr Noah Leith, a biologist at the University of Pittsburgh. “This finding paves the way for a whole new field of research exploring interactions between thermal traits and sexual signals.”

Dark spots, hot dragonflies

In dragonflies – same as in many animals – sexual signals can help them effectively locate mates, identify the correct species to mate with, and decide when to back out of mating contests.

Producing extensive dark wing coloration, though, comes at a cost. Dark ornaments absorb extra heat, increasing dragonflies’ body temperature. This can cause physiological stress or lead to males abandoning reproductive territories. “We see time and time again that animals will put their lives on the line to reproduce, even if it means encountering potentially lethal temperatures,” Leith said.

The researchers examined the wing coloration of 14 dragonfly species living in tropical climates and five species living in temperate climates. They found that species that possess dark, heat-absorbing wing coloration have evolved to be able to withstand higher heat stress before reaching critical thermal maxima. “This enhanced ability to tolerate high body temperatures is likely crucial for shaping how dragonflies may respond to the changing climates of the future,” Leith explained.

Beat the heat

Dark wing ornaments cause additional heating of 1°C to 2°C, which roughly equals the increased thermal maxima of ornamented species. Of the species studied, the arch-tipped glider (Tauriphila argo), a tropical species with very dark wing color patches near their core body, could tolerate the highest temperatures. Generally, this pattern of co-evolution was even stronger in tropical species.

Previous research showed that due to rising temperatures worldwide, some ornamented dragonfly species are evolving reduced wing coloration. The present results, however, suggest that even if those species lose their coloration, they will still have a leg up on adaptation to climate change because they’ve already evolved to tolerate hotter temperatures, the researchers said.

Preventing extinction

The study is one of the first to test whether thermal tolerance co-evolves with reproductive traits. “Our finding is particularly exciting because dark sexual coloration has evolved over and over across the tree of life and causes a wide variety of other animals to absorb extra heat too—from reptiles, to lions, and fruit flies,” Leith pointed out.

In a rapidly warming world, being able to predict which species are vulnerable to extinction is essential to preserving biodiversity, the researchers said. “Looking at vulnerability in only one aspect of animals’ lives is insufficient. We need a more nuanced understanding of how animals respond to changing environments as whole, complex organisms, in which their reproductive traits might influence their chances of surviving a heat wave, and vice versa,” Leith said.

While the researchers noted that looking at 19 species was plenty for their analysis, they said that there are thousands of dragonfly species. Future research should examine if similar patterns exist in other species, as well as in different types of animals. “It would be fantastic to someday test if heat tolerance co-evolves with sexual traits across life on Earth,” Leith concluded.

Ornamented dragonfly 

Visible-spectrum image of a dragonfly with dark wing coloration form the genus Tramea. Image: Noah Leith.

Credit

Image: Noah Leith.

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Journal

Frontiers in Ethology

DOI

10.3389/fetho.2024.1447637 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Heat-absorbing sexual coloration co-adapts with increased heat tolerance in dragonflies

Article Publication Date

10-Oct-2024

The new fashion: clothes that help combat rising temperatures

University of South Australia

A team of international researchers has developed a natural fabric that urban residents could wear to counter rising temperatures in cities worldwide, caused by buildings, asphalt, and concrete.

As heatwaves become more prominent, cooling textiles that can be incorporated into clothes, hats, shoes and even building surfaces provide a glimpse into a future where greenhouse gas-emitting air conditioners may no longer be needed in our cities.

Engineers from Zhengzhou University and the University of South Australia say the wearable fabric is designed to reflect sunlight and allow heat to escape, while blocking the sun’s rays and lowering the temperature. They have described the textiles in the latest issue of Science Bulletin.

The fabric promises to bring relief to millions of city dwellers experiencing warmer and more uncomfortable temperatures caused by global climate change and fewer green spaces.

UniSA visiting researcher Yangzhe Hou says the fabric leverages the principle of radiative cooling, a natural process where materials emit heat into the atmosphere, and ultimately into space.

“Unlike conventional fabrics that retain heat, these textiles are made of three layers that are engineered to optimise cooling,” Hou says.

The upper layer, made of polymethyl pentene fibres, allows heat to radiate effectively. The middle layer, composed of silver nanowires, enhances the fabric’s reflectivity, preventing additional heat from reaching the body. The bottom layer, made of wool, directs heat away from the skin, ensuring that wearers remain cool, even in the hottest urban environments.

“In our experiment, when placed vertically, the fabric was found to be 2.3°C cooler than traditional textiles, and up to 6.2°C cooler than the surrounding environment when used as a horizontal surface covering.

“The fabric’s ability to passively reduce temperatures offers a sustainable alternative to conventional air conditioning, providing energy savings and reducing the strain on power grids during heatwaves.”

Zhengzhou University researchers Jingna Zhang and Professor Xianhu Liu say the technology not only addresses the immediate problem of urban heat islands, but also contributes to broader efforts to mitigate climate change and move towards more sustainable urban living.

It is hoped the technology could be adapted for even broader applications, including construction material, outdoor furniture and urban planning.

While the fabric holds significant promise, researchers say the current production process is costly, and the long-term durability of the textiles needs further investigation and government support before it can be commercialised.

“Whether consumers are willing to pay more for wearable fabrics depend on the cooling effect, durability, comfort and their environmental awareness,” the researchers say.

 

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Journal

Science Bulletin

DOI

10.1016/j.scib.2024.09.008 

Article Title

Radiation cooling textiles countering urban heat islands

 

Inspired by Spider-Man, a lab recreates web-slinging technology

The stream of liquid silk quickly turns to a strong fiber that sticks to and lifts objects (although not yet villains)

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Tufts University

 

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Liquid stream of silk solution solidifies to a fiber, adheres to and lifts a glass laboratory beaker

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Credit: Marco Lo Presti, Tufts University

Every kid who has read a comic book or watched a Spider-Man movie has tried to imagine what it would be like to shoot a web from their wrist, fly over streets, and pin down villains. Researchers at Tufts University took those imaginary scenes seriously and created the first web-slinging technology in which a fluid material can shoot from a needle, immediately solidify as a string, and adhere to and lift objects.

These sticky fibers, created at the Tufts University Silklab, come from silk moth cocoons, which are boiled in solution and broken down into their building block proteins called fibroin. The silk fibroin solution can be extruded through narrow bore needles to form a stream that, with the right additives, solidifies into a fiber when exposed to air.

Of course, nature is the original inspiration for deploying fibers of silk into tethers, webs, and cocoons. Spiders, ants, wasps, bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, and even flies can produce silk at some point in their lifecycle. Nature also inspired the Silklab to pioneer the use of silk fibroin to make powerful glues that can work underwater, printable sensors that can be applied to virtually any surface, edible coatings that can extend the shelf life of produce, a light collecting material that could significantly enhance the efficiency of solar cells, and more sustainable microchip manufacturing methods

However, while they made significant progress with silk-based materials, the researchers had yet to replicate the mastery of spiders, which can control the stiffness, elasticity, and adhesive properties of the threads they spin. 

A breakthrough came about purely by accident. “I was working on a project making extremely strong adhesives using silk fibroin, and while I was cleaning my glassware with acetone, I noticed a web-like material forming on the bottom of the glass,” said Marco Lo Presti, research assistant professor at Tufts.

The accidental discovery overcame several engineering challenges to replicating spider threads. Silk fibroin solutions can slowly form a semi-solid hydrogel over a period of hours when exposed to organic solvents like ethanol or acetone, but the presence of dopamine, which is used in making the adhesives, allowed the solidification process to occur almost immediately. When the organic solvent wash was mixed in quickly, the silk solution rapidly created fibers with high tensile strength and stickiness. Dopamine and its polymers employ the same chemistry used by barnacles to form fibers that stick tenaciously to surfaces. 

The next step was to spin the fibers in air. The researchers added dopamine to the silk fibroin solution, which appears to accelerate the transition from liquid to solid by pulling water away from the silk. When shot through a coaxial needle, a thin stream of the silk solution is surrounded by a layer of acetone which triggers the solidification. The acetone evaporates in mid-air, leaving a fiber attached to any object it contacted. The researchers enhanced the silk fibroin-dopamine solution with chitosan, a derivative of insect exoskeletons that gave the fibers up to 200 times greater tensile strength, and borate buffer, which increased their adhesiveness about 18-fold.

The diameter of the fibers could be varied between that of a human hair to about half a millimeter, depending on the bore of the needle.

The device can shoot fibers that can pick up objects over 80 times their own weight under various conditions. The researchers demonstrated this by picking up a cocoon, a steel bolt, a laboratory tube floating on water, a scalpel partially buried in sand, and a wood block from a distance of about 12 centimeters.

Lo Presti noted that “if you look at nature, you will find that spiders cannot shoot their web. They usually spin the silk out of their gland, physically contact a surface, and draw out the lines to construct their webs. We are demonstrating a way to shoot a fiber from a device, then adhere to and pick up an object from a distance. Rather than presenting this work as a bio-inspired material, it’s really a superhero-inspired material.”

Natural spider silk is still about 1000 times stronger than the man-made fibers in this study. But with a little added imagination and engineering, the innovation will continue to improve and pave the way for a variety of technological applications.

“As scientists and engineers, we navigate the boundary between imagination and practice. That’s where all the magic happens,” said Fiorenzo Omenetto, Frank C. Doble Professor of Engineering at Tufts University and director of the Silklab. “We can be inspired by nature. We can be inspired by comics and science fiction. In this case, we wanted to reverse engineer our silk material to behave the way nature originally designed it, and comic book writers imagined it.”

Liquid stream of silk solidifies to a fiber, adheres to and lifts glass laboratory beaker

Liquid stream of silk solution solidifies to a fiber, adheres to and lifts several steel bolts from a petri dish filled with sand

When injected into acetone, a solution of silk fibroin with dopamine and other additives spontaneously forms a web-like material

Journal

Advanced Functional Materials

DOI

10.1002/adfm.202414219 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Dynamic Adhesive Fibers for Remote Capturing of Objects

Article Publication Date

9-Oct-2024

 

Wind blade composite project from ORNL wins green design innovation award

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

 

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From left, Dexter Nelson, Vipin Kumar, Gary Vance, Josh Crabtree and Subhabrata Saha were part of a team that won an ACE award for innovation in green composites design for their fully-recyclable wind turbine blade tip incorporating low-cost carbon fiber. 

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Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Researchers from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory were recently honored with a prestigious ACE Award for Composites Excellence by the American Composites Manufacturers Association. The team won the “innovation in green composites design” prize for creating a fully recyclable, lightweight wind turbine blade tip that incorporates low-cost carbon fiber and conductive coating for enhanced protection against lightning strikes. 

The award recognizes a composite product that demonstrates the greatest innovation for reducing its environmental footprint or extending its life cycle. ACE Winners were announced at the tenth annual Composites and Advanced Materials Expo, or CAMX, in San Diego.

“This one award encompassed three different technologies from ORNL: We made the blade with ORNL’s low-cost carbon fiber, treated it with a conductive coating we developed and designed it to be 100% recyclable,” said ORNL researcher Vipin Kumar, who led the project. 

The wind blade tip and its low-cost carbon fiber were created in DOE’s Carbon Fiber Technology Facility. Incorporating a recyclable thermoset epoxy resin with multiple layers of carbon and glass fiber, the blade tip is 41% lighter for greater efficiency at capturing energy to generate electricity. After the turbine blade’s normal life cycle, the fabrics within can be fully recovered, leaving only a polymer residue which can be used in new products. 

“This project is another fantastic example of the innovative thinking coming from our composites research,” said Yarom Polsky, director of the Manufacturing Science Division at ORNL. “The relatively simple approach for breaking down and collecting the resin for reuse, while keeping the fiber largely intact, addresses many of the current challenges to recycling blades that are conventionally manufactured.”

To easily integrate the technology with existing manufacturing processes, researchers used industry-standard equipment and methods, demonstrating a path toward even greater sustainability for the wind industry. Researchers developed a final conductive coating added to the blade exterior, which makes the blade surface more resistant to lightning strike damage. 

“This project demonstrates the versatility and potential of our low-cost carbon fiber to support the circular economy, in this case helping connect enhanced turbine blade performance with the environmental benefits of wind energy,” said Merlin Theodore, who leads the Advanced Fiber Manufacturing group at ORNL, which was integral to the project.

Theodore added that the innovative ideas could only be carried out because of the combined expertise and effort of technicians, post-doctoral researchers and skilled research professionals. Subhabrata Saha acted as technical lead for the ORNL project team, which also included Vlastimil Kunc, Ahmed Arabi Hassen, Josh Crabtree, Gary Vance, Jake Helton, Dexter Nelson and Julian Charron. The project was funded by the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office within DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

This was the seventh CAMX award for Kumar, who led ORNL researchers to win the headlining Combined Strength Award in 2022 for an additive manufacturing compression molding technology that has since been licensed by Orbital Composites. Kumar was also a member of a team led by Halil Tekinalp which won an “Outstanding Technical Paper” award at this year’s expo for “Multiplexing Extrusion System Development for Increased throughput, Flow Accuracy and Improved Microstructure.”

UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.

 

Gonzalez receives award to study causes of racial disparities in amputation rates in Indiana

Regenstrief Institute

INDIANAPOLIS --More than 8 million people, ages 40 and older, living in the U.S. are affected by peripheral arterial disease, a lifelong medical condition and the most common cause of limb amputation in the country. A data scientist, health services researcher and vascular surgeon who studies health equity, Andrew A. Gonzalez, M.D., J.D., MPH, of the Regenstrief Institute and the Indiana University School of Medicine, has received a 2024 Ralph W. and Grace M. Showalter Research Trust award to conduct a new study, Exploring Causes of Racial Disparities in Amputation Rates in Indiana.

Dr. Gonzalez will analyze statewide clinical data from the Indiana Network for Patient Care (INPC) to explore racial disparities in vascular care leading to peripheral arterial disease associated amputation in Indiana, including whether minority patients have lower rates of adherence to best practices associated with better outcomes in both the pre-operative and post-operative phases of care for peripheral arterial disease.

He will also identify upstream drivers of racial disparities in peripheral arterial disease.

The INPC, created by the Regenstrief Institute and now managed by the Indiana Health Information Exchange, is the nation’s largest inter-organizational clinical and claims data repository, containing more than 16 billion clinical data items from throughout the state. 

Black individuals have a significantly higher lifetime risk of peripheral arterial disease than Whites or Hispanics but are less likely to be diagnosed and treated. Treatment of peripheral arterial disease may reduce the risk of amputation, heart attack or stroke.

Dr. Gonzalez notes, “The Showalter award supports work that will enable our ability to conduct more sophisticated future studies that will involve injecting context such as geographic specificity. We will also develop empirical data to support interventional studies targeting particular upstream drivers of racial disparities in amputation rates that we identify.”

The Ralph W. and Grace M. Showalter Research Trust was established in 1975 to support medical and scientific research at Indiana University and Purdue University. Priority for support is given to projects that have a high potential to compete for or leverage federal funding and to create programs with a life span longer than the Showalter award.

Andrew Gonzalez, M.D., J.D., MPH

In addition to his role as a research scientist and associate director for data science with the William M. Tierney Center for Health Services Research at Regenstrief Institute, Andrew Gonzalez, M.D., J.D., MPH, is a practicing vascular surgeon and an assistant professor of surgery at the Indiana University School of Medicine. Dr. Gonzalez is also a faculty affiliate with the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering at Purdue University.

 

"islands" of regularity discovered in the famously chaotic three-body problem

University of Copenhagen - Faculty of Science

 

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Millions of simulations form a rough map of all conceivable outcomes when three objects meet, like a vast tapestry woven from the threads of initial configurations. This is where the isles of regularity appear.

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Credit: Image by Alessandro Alberto Trani

When three massive objects meet in space, they influence each other through gravity in ways that evolve unpredictably. In a word: Chaos. That is the conventional understanding. Now, a researcher from the University of Copenhagen has discovered that such encounters often avoid chaos and instead follow regular patterns, where one of the objects is quickly expelled from the system. This new insight may prove vital for our understanding of gravitational waves and many other aspects of the universe.

 

The most popular show on Netflix at the moment is the science fiction series 3-Body Problem. Based on a Chinese novel series by Liu Cixin, the series involves a menagerie of characters, time periods and even extraterrestrial visitors. But the central premise is concerned with a star system in which three stars gravitate around one another.

Such a system, with three objects influencing each other's gravity, has fascinated scientists ever since the “father of gravity”, Isaac Newton, first described it. While the interaction between two objects meeting in space is predictable, the introduction of a third massive object makes the triadic encounter not just complex, but chaotic.

"The Three-Body Problem is one of the most famous unsolvable problems in mathematics and theoretical physics. The theory states that when three objects meet, their interaction evolves chaotically, without regularity and completely detached from the starting point. But our millions of simulations demonstrate that there are gaps in this chaos – ‘isles of regularity’ – which directly depend on how the three objects are positioned relative to each other when they meet, as well as their speed and angle of approach," explains Alessandro Alberto Trani of the University of Copenhagen’s Niels Bohr Institute.

Trani hopes that the discovery will pave the way for improved astrophysics models, as the Three-Body Problem is not just a theoretical challenge. The encounter of three objects in the universe is a common occurrence and its understanding is crucial.

"If we are to understand gravitational waves, which are emitted from black holes and other massive objects in motion, the interactions of black holes as they meet and merge are essential. Immense forces are at play, particularly when three of them meet. Therefore, our understanding of such encounters could be a key to comprehending phenomena such as gravitational waves, gravity itself and many other fundamental mysteries of the universe," says the researcher.

A Tsunami of Simulations

To investigate the phenomenon, Trani coded his own software program, Tsunami, which can calculate the movements of astronomical objects based on the knowledge we have about the laws of nature, such as Newton’s gravity and Einstein’s general relativity. Trani set it to run millions of simulations of three-body encounters within certain defined parameters.

The initial parameters for the simulations were the positions of two of the objects in their mutual orbit – i.e., their phase along a 360-degree axis. Then, the angle of approach of the third object – varying by 90 degrees.

The millions of simulations were spread across the various possible combinations within this framework. As a whole, the results form a rough map of all conceivable outcomes like a vast tapestry woven from the threads of initial configurations. This is where the isles of regularity appear.

The colours represent the object that is eventually ejected from the system after the encounter. In most cases, this is the object with the lowest mass.

“If the three-body problem were purely chaotic, we would see only a chaotic mix of indistinguishable dots, with all three outcomes blending together without any discernible order. Instead, regular “isles” emerge from this chaotic sea, where the system behaves predictably, leading to uniform outcomes—and therefore, uniform colours,” Trani explains.

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

This discovery holds great promises for a deeper understanding of an otherwise impossible phenomenon. In the short term, however, it represents a challenge for researchers. Pure chaos is something they already know how to calculate using statistical methods, but when chaos is interrupted by regularities, the calculations become more complex.

"When some regions in this map of possible outcomes suddenly become regular, it throws off statistical probability calculations, leading to inaccurate predictions. Our challenge now is to learn how to blend statistical methods with the so-called numerical calculations, which offer high precision when the system behaves regularly," says Alessandro Alberto Trani.

"In that sense, my results have set us back to square one, but at the same time, they offer hope for an entirely new level of understanding in the long run," he says.

 

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Extra info: 4-Body Problem

During the pandemic, Alessandro Alberto Trani started a side project to investigate fractal universes within the Three-Body Problem. It was then that he came up with the idea of mapping the outcomes in search of regularities.

He knew the famous problem from his studies, but hadn’t delved into the works of fiction – the recent Netflix show or the novel behind it: “The Three-Body Problem” by Liu Cixin. Nevertheless, out of curiosity, he familiarized himself with the plot enough to conclude that it actually deals with a "4-Body Problem."

"As I understand it, it involves a star system with three stars and one planet, which is regularly thrown into chaotic developments. Such a system is actually best defined as a Four-Body Problem. However you define it though, according to my simulations, the most likely outcome is that the planet would quickly be destroyed by one of the three stars. So it would soon become a Three-Body-Problem," the researcher grins.

Behind the research

The following researchers contributed to the project:

Alessandro Alberto Trani

Niels Bohr International Academy at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen

Research Center for the Early Universe, University of Tokyo

Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology

 

Nathan W. C. Leigh

Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de Concepción, Chile

Department of Astrophysics, American Museum of Natural History

 

Tjarda C. N. Boekholt

NASA Ames Research Center

 

Simon Portegies Zwart

Leiden Observatory, Leiden University

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Journal

Astronomy and Astrophysics

DOI

10.1051/0004-6361/202449862 

Article Title

Isles of regularity in a sea of chaos amid the gravitational three-body problem

 AMERIKA

Study suggests spike in emergency visits for life threatening pregnancy complication

PRE-DOBBS

Findings suggest significant increase in emergency department utilization for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy over 14 year span

Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan

Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, the second leading cause of maternal deaths worldwide, may be sending a significantly higher number of pregnant people to the emergency department.

Between 2006 and 2020, researchers found a surge in emergency visits and admissions for the condition that causes serious maternal and neonatal complications and accounts for 6.3% of all pregnancy-related deaths in the United States.

The study, which appears in JAMA Network Open, also suggests greater emergency utilization for the disease among underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. 

“Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy often develop suddenly, even in healthy women, and symptoms may appear without warning and progress rapidly,” said senior author Erica Marsh, M.D., professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Michigan Medical School and chief of the division of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at U-M Health Von Voigtlander Women's Hospital, of Michigan Medicine.

“Ideally, this risk would be detected during prenatal care and lead to early intervention. Our study indicates more people turning to the emergency department, which may reflect a higher prevalence of the condition or an increased awareness for prompt assessment and treatment.”

Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, which could include preeclampsia, gestational hypertension, and eclampsia, are serious complications that involve elevated blood pressure. 

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends management of severe blood pressure in pregnancy within 30 to 60 minutes of diagnosis to prevent complications such as stroke, myocardial ischemia, seizure, placental abruption, and maternal and neonatal mortality.

Disparities in ED reliance, disease severity

Researchers analyzed nationally representative data, finding a 76% increase in emergency encounters related to the condition over the 14-year span, up from 31, 623 to 55, 893, and nearly 1.5 times as many ED admissions – up from 17,338 to 43,563.

Concerns about costs, time constraints, misconceptions about the necessity of early care or barriers to accessing prenatal care may be possible factors for the increase, authors say.

“The disparities in reliance on emergency rooms for this disease may imply limited access to timely outpatient care or other health system barriers,” said lead author Courtney Townsel, M.D., M.Sc., who was at Michigan Medicine at the time of the study and is now at the University of Maryland.

Black, Hispanic, and Asian or Pacific Islander groups were also more likely to both utilize emergency care and be admitted to the hospital for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.

“The disproportionate rate of admissions among certain racial and ethnic groups suggests worse disease severity by the time people seek care,” Townsel said.

“Racial differences in emergency care utilization for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy underscore the ongoing racial disparities in U.S. maternal morbidity and mortality and highlight a critical need for accessible, culturally competent community-level interventions for all.”

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Journal

JAMA Network Open

 

Ferments du Futur, a unique European public-private partnership for R&D on the food of the future

INRAE - National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment

 

image: 

From left to right:

Antoine Baule, President of Ferments du Futur and vice-president for innovation of ANIA

Philippe Mauguin, CEO of INRAE

Bruno Bonnell, Secretary general for investment in charge of France 2030

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Credit: INRAE

The cutting-edge centre is open to all and will help accelerate research and innovation in one of the most promising fields for the future of food. The project was made possible by the work of dozens of resolutely action-oriented public and private partners who believe in the value of cooperation. 

Focus groups, multi-year meetings and much informal discussion all contributed to creating a powerful momentum for action that established key areas in which to accelerate innovation and enable scientific and technological breakthroughs. Initial and ongoing training was identified as fundamental to supporting the development of careers in fermentation. The team has promoted the potential of fermentation through regular public speaking opportunities, events and publications. All of this has created a climate of trust and mutual respect conducive to cooperation between researchers, industry stakeholders and start-ups.

The ball is now rolling, and the coming years will see the appearance of new, safe, healthy and sustainable products and processes.

What I find most remarkable about Ferments du Futur is how much people from different backgrounds, with different areas of interest, enjoy coming together to discuss their visions, challenges and instincts, making this joint tool a major asset for their respective research and innovation strategies while reconciling cooperation and competition!”
Damien Paineau, Executive Director of Ferments du Futur

 CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M BUSINESS AS USUAL

Payments by drug and medical device manufacturers to US peer reviewers of major medical journals

JAMA

Peer-Reviewed Publication

JAMA Network

About The Study: 

More than half of the 1,962 U.S. physicians included in this study who peer reviewed for the most influential medical journals received industry payments in 2020-2022, with most payments for research. Research payments, especially those provided to an institution, may have different implications than general payments for conflicts of interest.

Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Christopher J. D. Wallis, MD, PhD, email wallis.cjd@gmail.com.

To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/

(doi:10.1001/jama.2024.17681)

Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

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Embed this link to provide your readers free access to the full-text article 

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Journal

JAMA