When doctors dismiss symptoms, patients suffer lasting harm

Rutgers University

Facebook

XLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsApp\Email

A review by Rutgers Health researchers reveals the psychological damage and health care avoidance that may occur when doctors dismiss, minimize or ignore patients' symptoms, a phenomenon medical scientists call "symptom invalidation” and patients often call “medical gaslighting.”

The paper in Psychological Bulletin examined 151 qualitative studies representing more than 11,000 individuals with conditions, including fibromyalgia, long COVID, endometriosis, lupus and other difficult-to-diagnose illnesses.

“We found that patients can question reality,” said Allyson Bontempo, a postdoctoral fellow at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and lead author of the review. “They ask, ‘Am I making this up? Is this all in my head?’ We also found symptom invalidation is associated with depression, suicidality and health care-related anxiety that actually can rise to the level of trauma responses.”

The research identified four broad categories of harm: emotional states such as self-doubt and shame; health care-specific emotional responses including loss of trust in clinicians; behavioral changes such as avoiding medical care; and diagnostic delays that can worsen conditions.

Bontempo said many patients alter their behaviors with clinicians after experiencing invalidation. 

“Patients reported downplaying their symptoms to doctors so they wouldn't appear dramatic or like they're exaggerating,” she said.

Some patients avoid health care entirely, even for unrelated conditions.

“One patient had said that they refuse to go in even if it's not related to endometriosis,” Bontempo said.

Encounters in which no clear diagnosis exists are now the fastest‑rising category of medical visit, propelled by conditions such as long COVID and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, which causes lightheadedness and other symptoms upon standing, according to the paper. ​

Members of Bontempo’s team argued that symptom invalidation is so common because medical training hasn’t kept pace with increasing uncertainty. Algorithm‑driven workflows leave little room for listening to complex stories that don’t fit neatly into test panels or insurance codes.

The study offers guidance for health care providers facing diagnostic uncertainty. Bontempo recommends clinicians validate patients' experiences regardless of whether they can diagnose them.

“I don't recommend reassurance about it ‘probably being nothing serious’ to patients who have a lot of distress about their symptoms,” Bontempo said. “Patients appreciate clinicians communicating their uncertainty and admitting they don’t know something.”

The researchers said they hope the findings will lead to interventions that prevent symptom invalidation and improve psychological and physical health outcomes.

For patients experiencing symptom invalidation, the research suggests self-advocacy may help, though Bontempo said this is often challenging. 

“Patients can do research and see if they can find ratings of the clinicians online,” she said. “But it's hard for patients to be in a situation like this where they must advocate for themselves so aggressively. One good strategy is to bring a partner, an adult child, a friend or anyone else who can support their statements about symptoms when talking to clinicians.”

---

Journal

Psychological Bulletin

DOI

10.1037/bul0000473 

Method of Research

Meta-analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Ignored, Dismissed, and Minimized: Understanding the Harmful Consequences of Invalidation in Health Care—A Systematic Meta-Synthesis of Qualitative Research

Article Publication Date

15-Apr-2025

 

The Antarctic water puzzle – how flooding contributes to ice melt

ETH Zurich

Facebook

XLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

 

image: 

An international research team is surveying a water conduit beneath the surface of the ice shelf in Antarctica. The conduit forms as the ice melts. The melting is accelerated by the upwelling water beneath the ice sheet.

view more 

Credit: Huw Horgan / ETH Zurich

In the autumn of 2021, an international team of researchers from New Zealand’s Antarctic Science Platform set off towards the South Pole. Their destination was the Ross Ice Shelf in West Antarctica, a floating ice sheet about ten times the size of Switzerland. New Zealand has been operating the Scott research station on the coast since 1957. From there, the expedition team continued south. Two weeks and 1,200 kilometres later, they reached their destination on the Kamb Ice Stream, a glacier, 350 km long, 100 km wide and many hundreds of metres deep that runs from the interior of Antarctica towards the sea, meeting the Ross Ice Shelf on the coast.

Hot water borehole through the Antarctic ice

At this remote location on the permanent ice, the support team built a temporary research station with its own airstrip and tent accommodation for 26 people. The scientists used the favourable conditions of the Antarctic summer for their research work, with temperatures of -10°C, light winds and 24-hour daylight. Drilling 500 metres through the ice sheet to the Antarctic mainland beneath, they encountered water and sedimentary rock. For the hot water drilling, they used a high-pressure nozzle and water at 80°C. With a diameter of 30 cm, the borehole was large enough to lower a camera and various measuring equipment down into the depths to explore the conditions at the base of the ice flow.

“We struck water at the end of the borehole and with the help of our camera, we even discovered a school of lobster-like creatures, 400 kilometres from the open ocean,” reports expedition leader Huw Horgan who has been working as a researcher at ETH Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL under Professor Daniel Farinotti for two years. The borehole is a scientific milestone: researchers have long suspected that water flows from under the ice sheet. The water exists due to geothermal heat and other factors, and scientists had already discovered several hundred lakes under the ice caps of West and East Antarctica using satellites. But the watercourses in the depths of the ice caps still hold many secrets. The borehole through the Kamb Ice Stream is the first ever successful attempt to observe such a watercourse meeting the sub-ice-shelf ocean cavity up close.

Veritable floods beneath the ice

The researchers used their measuring equipment to analyse the properties of the watercourse, including the temperature, salinity and sediment content. Using an echo sounder, they were able to estimate the cross-section of the water-carrying ice channel to be around 100 by 200 metres. The subglacial flow should not be thought of as a fast-flowing river. It is actually a reasonably calm body of water, and most of the water comes from the sea. Only a small amount – less than one cubic metre per second – is fresh water, i.e. water that flows towards the sea below the Kamb Ice Stream. “This amount of water is much smaller than what the existing models had predicted,” notes Huw Horgan, summarising a key finding of the study.

No less important for the research team is a second result: the subglacial watercourse does not flow continuously, instead its course fluctuates greatly over time. “We suspect that the water comes from subglacial lakes upstream. These lakes fill and empty in certain cycles. When they empty, a flood of water rushes towards the sea,” says Horgan. The researchers proved that such flood events do in fact occur by analysing sediment samples from the ground beneath the ice stream. According to these findings, large flood events occur approximately every ten years. In addition, there may be smaller flood events that the researchers cannot prove using current methods.

Important foundations for climate research

The study by the international team of researchers is a stepping stone towards better understanding the watercourses beneath the Antarctic ice sheet. At the same time, it will help the consequences of global warming to be assessed more reliably in the coming decades. The melting processes in the Antarctic ice shelf are an important cause of the anticipated rise in sea levels. This is because the Ross Ice Shelf and other ice shelf formations act as a barrier, holding back the ice streams on the Antarctic mainland and preventing them from melting as they flow into the sea.

“The subglacial watercourses play a central role in the melting of the ice shelf,” emphasises Huw Horgan. “Our findings are therefore a prerequisite for developing new models that describe the melting of the ice shelf and predict sea level rise even more accurately.”

Consequences of global warming

The changes in the ice cover at the Earth’s South Pole remain a key issue in global climate research. Polar researcher Horgan will return to the Antarctic in the southern summer of 2025/2026. During that expedition, the research team hope to collect data that documents the long-term behaviour of the West Antarctic ice sheet. In particular, the focus will be on warmer periods, such as those that the Earth will experience in the coming decades and centuries.

 

---

Journal

Nature Geoscience

DOI

10.1038/s41561-025-01687-3 

Article Title

A West Antarctic grounding-zone environment shaped by episodic water flow

Article Publication Date

12-May-2025

Yang to study state & popular voices in China-Arab solidarity building from 1949-1969

George Mason University

Facebook

WeChat
WhatsAppEmail

Peiyu Yang, Assistant Professor, Modern and Classical Languages, College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS), is set to receive funding for the project: “State and Popular Voices in China-Arab Solidarity Building from 1949 to 1969: A Digital Humanities Project.” 

She will focus specifically on how a solidarity between China and the Arab world was framed and championed in both state-sponsored/official publications and popular/unofficial publications in Arabic, Chinese, and European languages.

Yang will receive $45,000 from the American Council of Learned Societies for this project. Funding will begin in Aug. 2025 and will end in May 2026.

                                                                                                                                           ###

 

A plant you’ve never heard of can do what scientists once thought impossible

Florida Museum of Natural History

Facebook

XLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

 

image: 

A new study shows that an unassuming plant has some very unusual family dynamics.

view more 

Credit: University of Florida herbarium

About 3.7 billion years ago, a string of naturally occurring amino — the same kind that astronomers have found in meteorites and just recently in a stellar nursery near the center of the Milky Way Galaxy— reacted with a naturally occurring catalyst and began the fateful process of self-assembled replication. One of the most fascinating questions in biology is how these simple rogue molecules resulted in the endless pageantry of bizarre creatures that exist today. Charles Darwin did a lot of the legwork when he refined the idea that life changes over time. He reasoned that if you take two groups from the same species and keep them separated long enough (on the order of thousands to millions of years), they eventually evolve into distinct species of their own.

For the impatient, there’s a faster way to make new species. Hybridization, for example, often does the trick, but this can get messy because of something called introgression and can still take hundreds of years to occur naturally.

Many plants, and a few other organisms, can expedite diversification even further by doubling their number of chromosomes. This process is called autopolyploidy, and under the right conditions, it can generate new diversity instantaneously.

There are numerous ways that autopolyploidy can take place, but the general idea is straightforward. Through one mechanism or another, the reproductive cells in a plant make an extra copy of their DNA. Both of these copies then get passed down to the plant’s offspring, giving it two identical sets of chromosomes. The new plant can still reproduce with other plants that have the normal chromosome complement, but their offspring aren’t likely to survive.

Biologists used to think this was merely an interesting aberration, that autopolyploids were rare in nature, and those that did exist had little chance of establishing a viable population. This later turned out to be false; autopolyploids are common and have a high rate of survival. Biologists also reasoned that autopolyploids would not be able to coexist with their parent species. The number of chromosomes being the only difference between them, the old and new species would be competing for the same resources, and one of them would eventually win out. If both were to exist, they’d have to do so in different places. They were wrong about that, too.

That’s the subject of a new theoretical study on a humble plant called beetleweed (Galax urceolata), which has not two but three different chromosome complements, called cytotypes, throughout parts of its range in the Appalachian Mountains.

“Through my fieldwork, I discovered that a single population could have a mishmash of cytotypes, which fascinated me,” said the study’s lead author, Shelly Gaynor, who completed the work as part of her doctoral dissertation at the University of Florida. “With this study, I set out to understand if these populations could persist over time. Would one cytotype eventually outcompete the others, or could all three cytotypes persist?”

Visit the American Naturalist website to find out the answer, or get into the nuts and bolts by accessing the study directly.

Nicholas Kortessis and José Miguel Ponciano of the University of Florida and Douglas and Pamela Soltis of the Florida Museum of Natural History are also coauthors of the study.

---

Journal

The American Naturalist

DOI

10.1086/734411 

Article Title

Dynamics of Mixed-Ploidy Populations under Demographic and Environmental Stochasticities

 

Oyster fossils shatter myth of weak seasonality in greenhouse climate

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters

Facebook

XMessageWhatsAppEmail

An international research team studying fossilized oyster shells has revealed substantial annual temperature variation in sea water during the Early Cretaceous. The finding overturns the assumption that Earth's greenhouse periods are marked by universally warmer and uniformly stable temperatures.  

The team, led by Prof. DING Lin from the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), in collaboration with researchers from the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre in Germany, the University of Bristol in the UK, and the University of Antananarivo in Madagascar, used oyster shell fossils from the Neo-Tethys Ocean along with high-resolution climate models to reconstruct seasonal fluctuations in sea surface temperatures during the greenhouse Earth period of the Early Cretaceous Valanginian stage, which lasted from 139.8 to 132.9 million years ago.

While the traditional view of greenhouse climates supports "weak seasonality and rare glacial activity," this study challenges that perspective by revealing significant seasonal temperature variations and periodic glacial melt events.

These findings were published in the journal Science Advances.

"Accretionary organisms like oysters act as spatiotemporal bridges between Earth's spheres, meticulously recording the interaction between climatic rhythms and ecological shifts. They inspire us to seek the future of our civilization in the depths of deep time," said Prof. DING, the corresponding author of the study.

Similar to tree rings, the shells of accretionary organisms such as oysters develop alternating light and dark growth bands annually. In summer, rapid growth under warmer temperatures results in porous "light bands," while slower, denser growth in winter creates "dark bands." Building on this principle, the researchers pioneered a method in 2014 that used seasonal oxygen isotope signals in ostracod shells to recalibrate paleoaltimetry, revealing that the Gangdese Mountains predate the Himalayas.

In this new study, the researchers precisely identified growth bands in large Rastellum oyster shells and conducted high-resolution micro-sampling. Through petrographic analyses (including scanning electron microscopy and cathodoluminescence microscopy) and geochemical tests (such as those analyzing strontium isotopes, manganese, and iron content), they confirmed the shells' pristine preservation, free from diagenetic alteration, and extracted high-resolution seasonal climate signals.

Using the global climate model HadCM3, the researchers simulated sea surface temperatures, seawater δ18O, and salinity under different CO2 levels to validate data obtained from the carbonate clumped isotope thermometer. Results showed that during the Weissert Event cooling phase, mid-latitude winter sea temperatures in the Southern Hemisphere were 10–15 °C lower than summer temperatures—similar to modern seasonal variations at comparable latitudes. Fluctuations in seawater δ18O indicated seasonal freshwater influx from glacial melt, akin to the dynamics of the contemporary Greenland ice sheet.

While current global warming is often simplified as merely "rising temperatures," this study underscores the nonlinearity and complexity of Earth's climate system. Elevated greenhouse gas concentrations may amplify seasonal extremes rather than lead to uniform warming. The team hypothesizes that Valanginian glacial pulses were driven by feedback from Paraná-Etendeka volcanism and orbital cycles.

"Even in today's warming world, regional geological events coupled with human activities could trigger unexpected cooling," noted co-corresponding author Dr. WANG Tianyang.

This study builds upon the team's prior work on continental ice sheet evolution, which estimated that Valanginian ice volume reached half of today's Antarctic ice sheet (approximately 16.5 million km³). The new findings deepen the understanding of greenhouse climate dynamics and land–ocean interactions.

"This research opens a new window into Earth's ancient climate, shattering the monolithic narrative of greenhouse stability to reveal the planet's hidden seasonal rhythms and icy echoes," remarked co-author Prof. Andreas Mulch from the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre.

The study was supported by the Excellent Research Group Program for the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Earth System and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

---

Journal

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.adr9417 

 

NASA taps UTA for wildfire smoke warning system

Project will enhance air quality forecasting, providing real-time smoke alerts and health information

University of Texas at Arlington

Facebook

X
BlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

 

image: 

University of Texas at Arlington researcher Yunyao Li has been selected by NASA to develop a system that gives communities early warning when wildfire smoke may make the air unsafe to breathe.

“Our project aims to enhance wildfire air quality forecasting capabilities and develop tools that advance decision-making processes related to wildfire air quality and health management,” said Dr. Li, assistant professor in UT Arlington’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and co-principal investigator of the grant from NASA’s Science Mission Directorate Earth Science Division.

view more 

Credit: UTA

University of Texas at Arlington researcher Yunyao Li has been selected by NASA to develop a system that gives communities early warning when wildfire smoke may make the air unsafe to breathe.

“Our project aims to enhance wildfire air quality forecasting capabilities and develop tools that advance decision-making processes related to wildfire air quality and health management,” said Dr. Li, assistant professor in UT Arlington’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and co-principal investigator of the grant from NASA’s Science Mission Directorate Earth Science Division.

Wildfires are a major source of hazardous air pollution. Research shows that exposure to wildfire smoke can lead to long-term respiratory problems and even death—and the health risks aren’t confined to areas near the fire. Smoke can drift hundreds of miles, affecting communities far from the source. In June 2023, wildfires in Quebec caused severe air pollution as far away as New York City and Washington, D.C.

Large wildfires are becoming more frequent across the United States, exposing millions to unhealthy air. While air quality forecasting can reduce the harm caused by wildfire smoke, it remains a challenge due to unpredictable emission rates, shifting smoke patterns and changing weather conditions.

Related: NASA taps UTA to shape future of autonomous aviation

“Wildfires are becoming more and more of a threat in many parts of the U.S. and abroad, and accurate air quality forecasting is critical to protecting the health of people who might feel the effects of these fires far from their origin,” said Arne Winguth, professor and chair of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. “This study will help provide valuable tools to enhance these forecasting capabilities.”

Li is working with co-investigators from New York University, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research, with additional collaborators from NASA, NOAA, the EPA and the U.S. Forest Service.

Related: UTA to lead NASA wildfire grant

“This system will leverage Earth observations to develop a sophisticated model-weighting technique, thereby enhancing current air quality forecast capabilities,” Li said.

Next, the team will use the forecasting system to collaborate with key stakeholders in developing products and solutions that support informed decisions about air quality and public health.

Among the tangible benefits are a fire smoke visualization tool and patient-centric messaging system to improve real-time communication of air quality risks. The tool will also contribute forecasts to the EPA’s AirNow program, enhancing the agency’s ability to deliver accurate and timely information to the public.

— Greg Pederson, College of Science

New report provides critical support for Arizona wildfire and post-fire flood response

Northern Arizona University

Facebook

Bluesky
Email

Knowing where to turn for help in the wake of a wildfire can feel overwhelming. With wildfires affecting an increasing number of communities throughout Arizona, residents need clear guidance and actionable steps to recover. The good news? There is a new resource for the Arizonans—"After Wildfire: A Guide for Arizona Communities”—designed to support individuals and communities as they navigate the aftermath of these devastating events.  

This comprehensive guidebook on community disaster recovery was produced through a combined effort by NAU’s School of Forestry, the Southwest Fire Science Consortium, Arizona Wildfire Initiative, Forest Stewards Guild and Eliza Kretzmann Consulting. It’s available to view and download for free on the Southwest Fire Science Consortium website. 

With insights from fire and emergency management leaders, utility administrators and municipal officials across the state, “After Wildfire: A Guide for Arizona Communities” is an essential resource for anyone impacted by wildland fire. 

“We developed this guide in response to a clear need in Arizona,” said Andi Thode, director of the Arizona Wildfire Initiative in the School of Forestry at NAU, which funded the project. “Other states have similar resources that serve as vital clearinghouses of information before, during and after wildfire events.” 

Whether you are a homeowner, volunteer, local official or someone directly impacted by a fire or post-fire flooding, this guide contains a comprehensive set of resources from financial assistance to safety advice for people and animals in addition to emotional support for individuals and families navigating recovery. 

“‘After Wildfire: A Guide for Arizona Communities’ fills a critical gap in post-wildfire recovery by providing communities with a centralized, easy-to-navigate resource that brings clarity during a time of chaos,” said Gabe Lavine, director of the Arizona Division of Emergency Management. “We’ll recommend the guide to local governments, emergency managers and other officials as they navigate recovery, funding and long-term resilience efforts after a wildfire. It’s a valuable tool that empowers Arizonans to take informed action during some of their most difficult days.” 

Holger Durre, chief of the Prescott Fire Department, said one of the guide’s greatest strengths is its emphasis on preparing residents before disaster strikes rather than waiting until a wildfire or emergency is already underway. 

“In the post-fire phase, this guide will be crucial—offering clear, actionable information at a time when individuals and families need it most,” Durre said. “Its immense value lies in how it brings together multiple complex topics—insurance, erosion control, emotional recovery, financial aid and more—into one easy-to-use, accessible resource.”