Orthopedics can play critical role in identifying intimate partner violence

A study by researchers at Mass General Brigham highlights the opportunity for orthopedic surgeons to play a critical role in identifying patients who have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV).

Mass General Brigham

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A study by researchers at Mass General Brigham highlights the opportunity for orthopedic surgeons to play a critical role in identifying patients who have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV). While orthopedic surgeons are experts in musculoskeletal injuries, screening patients to identify IPV is not routine. This is highlighted by the findings that only 0.3% of referrals for IPV from orthopedic surgeons compared to 29% from the emergency department. Correcting misperceptions about the prevalence of IPV, improving education about IPV-related injuries, and strengthening connections with domestic violence programs and resources could help improve referrals and recognition, according to the authors. Findings are published in JB&JS Open Access.

“This study challenges the assumption that orthopedic encounters are not the right place for IPV screening,” said lead author Ophelie Lavoie-Gagne, MD, a resident physician in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Mass General Brigham.

Lavoie-Gagne notes that each member of the orthopedic care team was important in identifying patients experiencing IPV, with patients forming trusting relationships with nurses, surgical trainees, advanced practice providers, and surgeons.

“We have a unique opportunity to educate and empower our patients who otherwise are not presenting for care in other medical sites,” said Lavoie-Gagne. “This study underscores the urgent need for tools that combine our clinical expertise with support to provide timely, life-saving referrals. Identifying risk early could alleviate suffering and could also prevent a patient’s death.”

Investigators analyzed Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs (DAIP) registry data from 2000 to 2024, categorizing IPV referrals by department and provider specialty. They then reviewed electronic health records for patients referred specifically by orthopedics to assess case characteristics. Among the 11,227 patients referred to DAIPs at MGH and BWH, 29.3% were referred from the emergency department, 18.2% from behavioral health, 8.4% from obstetrics and gynecology, and only 0.3% from orthopedic surgery.

Of the patients referred by orthopedics, many patients had not seen specialists in any other areas in the six months before disclosure, indicating orthopedic surgery teams were the only clinical providers with the opportunity to refer them to intervention programs. More than half of the patients presented to orthopedic surgery for elective care, highlighting how IPV appears even in routine encounters and orthopaedic clinics remain high-yield, high-impact sites for IPV detection.

Investigators note that orthopedic surgeons have unique strengths that position them well to screen for IPV, including their expertise in injury patterns, longitudinal patient relationships, and familiarity with pain management. They also highlight that artificial intelligence models may help identify signs of IPV and could be integrated into orthopedic screening protocols.

““This study reinforces why tools like the Automated Intimate Partner Violence Risk Support System are urgently needed,” said senior author Bharti Khurana, MD, MBA, founding director of the Trauma Imaging Research and Innovation Center and an emergency radiologist in the Mass General Brigham Department of Radiology. “Orthopedic encounters often represent missed opportunities to identify patients experiencing IPV. By combining clinicians’ expertise with AI models that detect subtle patterns across imaging and clinical data, we can support surgeons in making timely, life-saving referrals.”

 

Authorship: In addition to Lavoie-Gagne and Khurana, Mass General Brigham authors include Kelsey Brown, Alexander Kwon, Nishant Suneja, Michael J. Weaver, George S. Dyer, and Mitchel B. Harris.

Funding: The study was funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), the Office of the Director, NIH, and the National Academy of Medicine Scholars in Diagnostic Excellence  (PI: Bharti Khurana). 

Paper cited: Lavoie-Gagne, O. et al. “Missed Opportunities in Orthopaedics for Intimate Partner Violence Identification” JBJS Open Access DOI: 10.2106/JBJS.OA.25.00148

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Journal

JBJS Open Access

DOI

10.2106/JBJS.OA.25.00148 

Method of Research

Systematic review

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Missed Opportunities in Orthopaedics for Intimate Partner Violence Identification

Article Publication Date

5-Jan-2026

 

Worms as particle sweepers

Universiteit van Amsterdam

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When observing small worms under a microscope, one might observe something very surprising: the worms appear to make a sweeping motion to clean their own environment. Physicists at the University of Amsterdam, Georgia Tech and Sorbonne Université/CNRS have now discovered the reason for this unexpected behavior.

Brainless sweeping

When centimeter-long aquatic worms, such as T. tubifex or Lumbriculus variegatus, are placed in a Petri dish filled with sub-millimeter sized sand particles, something surprising happens. Over time, the worms begin to spontaneously clean up their surroundings. They sweep particles into compact clusters, gradually reshaping and organizing their environment.

In a study that was published in Physical Review X this week, a team of researchers show that this remarkable sweeping behavior does not require a brain, or any kind of complex interaction between the worms and the particles. Instead, it emerges from the natural undulating motion and flexibility that the worms possess.

Antoine Deblais at the University of Amsterdam and Saad Bhamla at Georgia Tech led the study. Deblais says: “It is fascinating to see how living worms can organize their surroundings just by moving.” Bhamla adds: “Their activity and flexibility alone are enough to collect particles and reshape their environment.”

By building simple robotic and computer models that mimic the living worms, the researchers discovered that only these two ingredients – activity and flexibility – are sufficient to reproduce the sweeping and collecting effects. The result is a self-organized, dynamic form of environmental restructuring driven purely by motion and shape.

Rosa Sinaasappel conducted the robot experiments at the University of Amsterdam. She explains: “By mimicking the worms’ motion with simple brainless robots connected by flexible rubber links, we could pinpoint the two ingredients that are essential for the sweeping mechanism.”

Order emerges

The results do not just teach us a surprising lesson about worms. Understanding how these organisms spontaneously collect particles has much broader implications. On the technological side, what the researchers have learned could inspire the design of soft robots that clean or sort materials without needing sensors or pre-programmed intelligence. Such robots, like the worms, would simply move and let order emerge from motion. “Brainless” machines of this sort could perhaps one day help remove microplastics or sediments from aquatic environments, or perform complex tasks in unpredictable terrains.

From a biological perspective, the results also offer insights into how elongated living organisms – not just worms, but also filamentous bacteria, or cytoskeletal filaments – can structure and modify their own habitats through simple physical interactions. Understanding this structuring and modifying behaviour has been a central question for, e.g., earthworms in their role in soil aeration.

Team effort

This project grew out of curiosity about how living systems shape their environment without centralized control. Initial experiments with worms, conducted by Harry Tuazon at Georgia Tech, showed the unexpected particle collection patterns. This led the team to attempt to reproduce the behavior using robotic and simulated counterparts – something that worked surprisingly well. In the project, experimentalists and theorists worked side by side, allowing the team to uncover the physical principles behind this seemingly purposeful behavior.

K. R. Prathyusha at Georgia Tech performed the computer simulations of the behavior. She explains: “Our computational model, built on simple ingredients like propulsion and flexibility, shows that this principle works across different scales and can be adapted for new designs, as demonstrated by a soft robotic sweeper that autonomously ‘cleans’ and reorganizes particles without programmed intelligence.”

The researchers will continue to investigate this type of behaviour in the future. While a mathematical model of active sweeping is now presented in a simple form, many challenging questions raised by this complex system remain open for theoreticians.

Multiple groups of students helped greatly with the robot experiments, doing projects in the lab. Their efforts ranged from performing the experiments to replacing the in total about 200 batteries, after perhaps one of the most difficult tasks: wrestling them free from the child-proof packaging.

Publication

Particle Sweeping and Collection by Active and Living Filaments, Sinaasappel, R., Prathyusha, K. R., Tuazon, Harry, Mirzahossein, E., Illien, P., Bhamla, Saad, and A. Deblais. Phys. Rev. X 16 (2026) 011003.

 

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Journal

Physical Review

DOI

10.1103/yxp1-t43g 

Article Title

Particle Sweeping and Collection by Active and Living Filaments

 

Second spider-parasitic mite described in Brazil

The parasitic mites were found on juvenile arachnids in the Butantan Institute collection. The larvae of Araneothrombium brasiliensis were collected in Rio de Janeiro. Previously, the genus had only one known species in Costa Rica.

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

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Mites form a “string of pearls” on a spider of the Sparassidae family

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Credit: Ricardo Bassini-Silva

When researchers studying spiders and scorpions at the Zoological Collections Laboratory of the Butantan Institute in São Paulo, Brazil, came across a few-millimeter-long spider wearing something resembling a pearl necklace, they knocked on the door of a colleague specializing in mites.

Ricardo Bassini-Silva, a researcher and curator of the Acarological Collection at the same laboratory, quickly identified the “necklace” as mite larvae. Previously, there had only been one record of spider-parasitic mites in Brazil, and even then, they were from a different family.

Examining the animal’s morphological characteristics using microscopy, scanning, and light techniques resulted in the description of the second spider-parasitic mite in Brazil and the first of its family in the country. 

Supported by FAPESP, the study was published in the International Journal of Acarology.

The study integrates two projects supported by FAPESP. One is coordinated by Bassini-Silva, and the other is coordinated by Fernando de Castro Jacinavicius, co-author of the article and a professor at the Institute of Biology at the University of São Paulo (IB-USP).

The spider, named Araneothrombium brasiliensis, belongs to a genus that was first described in Costa Rica in 2017. Its discovery in Brazil suggests that the genus may be present in other neotropical countries. 

The individuals are about 500 micrometers, or half a millimeter, in size. The parasitized spiders are a few millimeters long. Currently, only the larvae are known; they were found parasitizing three families of juvenile spiders. All specimens were engorged, meaning they had fed to the point of greatly increasing their size.

“For this group of mites, it isn’t uncommon to know many parasitic species only through their larvae, since in adulthood they become free-living predators, living in the soil and feeding on small insects and even other mites, which makes them very difficult to find,” says Bassini-Silva.

The spiders parasitized by the new species of mites were collected in Pinheiral, a municipality in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The environment was close to caves and grottos, similar to that of the first Brazilian species of spider-parasitic mite, Charletonia rocciai.

In a paper published in 2022, the researchers redescribed the species first described in 1979. They added new morphological characteristics, biological data, locations of occurrence, and hosts, including spiders. 

Pearl necklace

Spider mites feed on lymph, a fluid that circulates through the bodies of certain arthropods. They suck the fluid through the pedicel, which is the region between the cephalothorax (where the spider’s eyes and mouth are located) and the abdomen. 

“This is the spider’s most vulnerable region since other parts have a lot of chitin, which forms an exoskeleton difficult for the mites‘ fangs to penetrate,” the researcher explains. 

Their presence on juvenile spiders may indicate opportunistic behavior, as young individuals are more vulnerable to parasites and predators. Additionally, the species could potentially parasitize other arthropods, such as insects. This is the case with Charletonia rocciai, which parasitizes at least two orders of insects.

“With more than 3,000 species of spiders alone, Brazil has immense potential for discovering new parasitic mites,” says Bassini-Silva.

The study also highlights the importance of zoological collections in studying biodiversity. The spiders had been stored for years, and no one had noticed the mites until now. 

Through partnerships with researchers and environmental consulting companies that work in the field, Bassini-Silva hopes to soon receive more mites associated with other animals and describe new species.

About São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)
The São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) is a public institution with the mission of supporting scientific research in all fields of knowledge by awarding scholarships, fellowships and grants to investigators linked with higher education and research institutions in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. FAPESP is aware that the very best research can only be done by working with the best researchers internationally. Therefore, it has established partnerships with funding agencies, higher education, private companies, and research organizations in other countries known for the quality of their research and has been encouraging scientists funded by its grants to further develop their international collaboration. You can learn more about FAPESP at www.fapesp.br/en and visit FAPESP news agency at www.agencia.fapesp.br/en to keep updated with the latest scientific breakthroughs FAPESP helps achieve through its many programs, awards and research centers. You may also subscribe to FAPESP news agency at http://agencia.fapesp.br/subscribe.

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Journal

International Journal of Acarology

DOI

10.1080/01647954.2025.2566344 

Article Title

First species description of Araneothrombium Mąkol, Felska and Król, 2017 (Trombidiformes: Microtrombidiidae) parasitizing spiders in Brazil

 

Expensive food makes children fat

Lessons for the present from a previous crisis

University of Bonn

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Crises often lead to rising food prices, making healthy and sufficient nutrition more difficult. Rice farming in Indonesia (in large parts of Asia, rice is the main staple food).

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Credit: Photo: M. Qaim

When food prices skyrocket during an economic crisis, it is primarily urban populations and people with low levels of education who are affected. This can have lifelong negative health consequences – such as stunted growth in children. A research team at the University of Bonn has now demonstrated such long-term effects using the example of the "Asian financial crisis" in the 1990s. At that time, turmoil on the financial markets led to a drastic increase in the price of rice, Indonesia's most important staple food, which left measurable traces in the development of children. The study was published in the journal "Global Food Security."

For their study, researchers from the Center for Development Research (ZEF) at the University of Bonn evaluated the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS), which has been tracking households over many years. They used regional differences in rice price inflation between 1997 and 2000 and linked these to the body measurements of individuals during childhood and later as young adults. "We see that a massive price shock not only has a short-term impact, but can also affect the long-term physical development of children," says Elza S. Elmira, the study's lead author. "The crisis-induced price rise increased chronic malnutrition and was associated with a 3.5 percentage point increase in child stunting. Children severely affected will not only remain shorter than their unaffected peers later in life, they will also be significantly more prone to obesity."  

This correlation surprised the researchers. Elmira sees a possible explanation: "In times of crisis, families save less on calories than on more expensive, nutrient-rich foods. This results in a 'hidden deficiency' of important micronutrients, which slows down height growth without necessarily reducing body weight to the same extent." The study monitored the same children until 2014, when they were between 17 and 23 years old. For the group that was between three and five years old during the crisis, there were significant correlations with the body mass index (BMI) and the likelihood of obesity.  

Protecting children in sensitive developmental stages

"Deprivation in early childhood can have lifelong effects – growth disorders are easier to measure but are often accompanied by mental development impairments and an increased risk of obesity and chronic diseases," says Prof. Dr. Matin Qaim, co-author of the study. "In the same crisis, undernutrition and obesity can both increase. This underscores the importance of nutrition-sensitive crisis policy: it must specifically protect children in sensitive development stages. If food policy is only concerned about calories, it can miss the real problem." The agricultural economist is member of the Transdisciplinary Research Area "Sustainable Futures" at the University of Bonn and the Cluster of Excellence "PhenoRob – Robotics and Phenotyping for Sustainable Crop Production."

Stronger effect in cities and among people with lower levels of education  
 
The effects are particularly pronounced in urban areas, where households are more dependent on purchasing food, while families in rural areas sometimes produce their own rice. Educational background also plays a role: children of mothers with low levels of education are significantly more affected than children of better-educated mothers. "The results suggest that crisis aid should not be based solely on poverty lines," emphasize Elmira and Qaim. "Especially in cities and in places with low knowledge about balanced diets, a price shock can worsen the quality of nutrition such that the consequences are long term and irreversible."  

Why this is relevant today

The Bonn researchers point out that harvest, income, and price shocks are increasing worldwide— due to conflicts, pandemics, and extreme weather events. The analysis from Indonesia thus provides empirical evidence on how economic turmoil can translate into long-term health risks via food prices.  

The results in this study are interpreted as statistical correlations; over long periods of time, not all potentially confounding influences can be ruled out with certainty.  

Study: Elmira E.S., Qaim M. (2026): Macroeconomic shocks and long-term nutritional outcomes: Insights from the Asian financial crisis. Global Food Security, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2025.100900  (open access)

Media contact: 
Prof. Dr. Matin Qaim 
Center for Development Research (ZEF)
University of Bonn 
Tel. +49 228 731847
Email: mqaim@uni-bonn.de

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Journal

Global Food Security

DOI

10.1016/j.gfs.2025.100900 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Macroeconomic shocks and long-term nutritional outcomes: Insights from the Asian financial crisis