Friday, May 23, 2025

National scientists group asks National Institutes of Health to investigate study that resulted in deaths of 100 animals

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

LUBBOCK, Texas — The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine filed a complaint today, May 21, 2025, with the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare requesting an investigation of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center’s study of the effects of ginger root extract on pain in rats. The group also sent a letter to Texas Tech University President Lori Rice- Spearman on April 14, 2025, requesting the shuttering of any additional animal experiments currently underway by the same researchers.

For the experiment, 100 rats were divided into two groups that underwent different surgical procedures. They then received either ginger extract or corn oil as a control. To assess pain, researchers looked at pictures of the animals to determine whether—and to what extent—they were grimacing. The study authors also claimed to assess “emotional pain” by interpreting vocalizations made when the animals’ paws were pinched with forceps. All the rats were killed after five weeks, and blood, brain, and colon tissue samples were collected.

“The intervention in this case, ginger, has been consumed by humans and regarded for its health benefits for thousands of years,” Stephen Farghali, research advocacy coordinator for the Physicians Committee wrote in the complaint. “Human studies … not animal studies, are needed to move the science forward,” he said.

Federal policy requires that “the animals selected for a procedure should be of an appropriate species and quality and the minimum number required to obtain valid results. Methods such as mathematical models, computer simulation, and in vitro biological systems should be considered.”

Furthermore, the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals states that the “use of laboratory animals for biomedical research, testing and education is guided by the principles of the Three Rs” (refinement, reduction, and replacement of animal use wherever possible) and explicitly endorses “consideration of alternatives … to reduce or replace the use of animals” and the “use of appropriate species.”

Alternatives to animal experiments were apparently not considered for the ginger study, Farghali said, since this type of research has already been done in humans. Additionally, he said, animal experimentation does not typically translate to reliable knowledge of human biology because of the differences that exist between species.

The Physicians Committee requested that Texas Tech and NIH investigate the matter and order corrective action, in addition to suspending any animal studies currently underway by the researchers of the ginger study.

Over 85% of more than 2,000 respondents polled in September 2024 in a Physicians Committee/Morning Consult survey agreed that animal-based research should be phased out in support of superior methods that do not use animals.

In contrast to animal experimentation, modern and versatile human-relevant approaches, such as clinical research and observational studies, tissue chips, organoids, computational modeling, and high-throughput screening, have proven effective in drug development and disease modeling.

Founded in 1985, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is a nonprofit organization that promotes preventive medicine, conducts clinical research, and encourages higher standards for ethics and effectiveness in education and research.

Method of Research

Survey

Subject of Research

Animals

Area deprivation index may not accurately measure neighborhood health

Widely used socioeconomic index was a worse predictor of sepsis deaths than the Healthy Places Index

American Thoracic Society

image:
Kathryn Sullivan, MD, pulmonologist at the School of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
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Credit: Kathryn Sullivan, MD

Neighborhood Health Measured by the Healthy Places Index (HPI), but Not by the Area Deprivation Index (ADI), Is Associated with Mortality for Critically Ill Sepsis Patients in the San Francisco Bay Area

Date and Time: Wednesday, May 21, 2025, 8:15 a.m.

Location: Room 25, Hall E (North Building, Exhibition Level), Moscone Center

ATS 2025, San Francisco – Living in a disadvantaged neighborhood is linked to worse health outcomes, but there are significant differences in how socioeconomic determinants of health are measured. Now new research presented at the ATS 2025 International Conference finds that a widely used socioeconomic index may not accurately classify patients who live in areas with a high cost of living.

Researchers found the Area Deprivation Index (ADI) incorrectly classified a struggling San Francisco neighborhood as highly advantaged, while the Healthy Places Index (HPI) provided a more accurate assessment of the neighborhood. They also found that the HPI was a better predictor of mortality risk for patients hospitalized with sepsis.

“On a national level and in statewide studies, the ADI is a well validated measure, but its utility is limited in our cohort,” said first author Kathryn Sullivan, MD, a pulmonologist at the School of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. “Understanding why this is the case can help us improve our measurement tools.”

The ADI is one of the most widely used area-based socioeconomic measures and is used by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services to calculate funding for accountable care organizations. However, a 2023 study in New York suggested that the index may overemphasize home value, raising the concern that in areas with high housing costs, home values could outweigh other components of the index, potentially masking other challenges in the neighborhood.

Sullivan noted that when researchers applied the ADI to San Francisco neighborhoods with a high cost of living where residents struggled with poverty and access to resources, the index classified them as living in one of the most highly advantaged neighborhoods in the country.

For the new study, researchers gathered data from almost 900 critically ill patients with sepsis who were admitted through the emergency departments of two San Francisco hospitals. They used both ADI and HPI to classify each patient’s home address and compared this classification with the patient’s outcomes.

They found a large disparity in how the two indices classified which patients were living in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods. They also found that living in the most disadvantaged neighborhood as measured by the HPI — but not the ADI — was significantly associated with a patient’s risk of dying in the hospital, Dr. Sullivan said.

“Our findings indicate that the ADI is not functioning as intended in our cohort when compared to another measure of neighborhood advantage, which was a better predictor of outcomes in this case,” she said.

The study highlights the need to continue to refine and optimize tools like the ADI and HPI, especially when these indices are used to make decisions about how to allocate health care resources, she said. In addition, while neighborhood disadvantage has previously been associated with negative health outcomes for chronic diseases, the study provides new insights into how these factors can influence health for acute and even critical illnesses, Dr. Sullivan added.

The team hopes to do follow-up research to better understand why the ADI did not perform as expected in this region. They also plan to repeat their analysis in a different region with more rural participants.

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VIEW ABSTRACT

You may also be interested in these abstracts.

CONTACT FOR MEDIA:

Dacia Morris

dmorris@thoracic.org

Suzanne Leigh

suzanne.leigh@ucsf.edu

Computational tool predicts materials for new energy economy

New metal-organic framework has potential to catalyze the energy transition

University of Chicago

The clean energy transition requires new means to transport energy that are less reliant on burning fossil fuels. This requires new materials to catalyze reactions to store and extract energy from chemical energy carriers without combustion.

One promising set of materials to create these catalysts is metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), molecular structures made of metal ions and organic linkers.

Scientists and engineers at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) and the Department of Chemistry have developed a new computational tool that predicts which MOFs will be most stable for a given need.

Created by PhD student Jianming Mao and Prof. Andrew Ferguson, the tool predicted a new iron-sulfur MOF that was then synthesized by postdoctoral researcher Ningxin Jiang and Prof. John Anderson, and characterized by scientists at Stony Brook University.

The work, conducted at UChicago’s Catalyst Design for Decarbonization Center, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy led by Prof. Laura Gagliardi, could help aid in the decarbonization energy transition. The results were published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

“Making new catalyst materials that can help decarbonize the economy is a big priority for this center, and we showed that it’s possible through an interdisciplinary science environment that brings together computational and experimental scientists and engineers,” Ferguson said.

Creating thermodynamically stable materials

Because they are porous and highly tunable, MOFs stand out as good candidates for catalysis, energy storage, and as sensors. But designing and synthesizing MOFs is not easy. More than 500,000 MOFs have been predicted by computational tools, but only a fraction of those have been successfully synthesized.

“Some MOFs are more stable than others, and even if you figure out which design is good, it might not work when you try to create it in the lab,” Mao said.

To change this, Ferguson and his team created a computational screening pipeline that can attach stability predictions to candidate MOF designs. The calculations are conducted using a technique known as thermodynamic integration, where the researchers converted the MOF into a simpler system with a known thermodynamic stability on the computer. By measuring the work done along this pathway, it is possible to calculate the stability of the original MOF.

“This technique is commonly known as ‘computational alchemy’ because it performs a chemical transmutation of one chemical system into another, similar to how the ancient alchemists sought to convert lead into gold,” Ferguson said. “It sounds fantastical, but the method is based in sound mathematical and statistical mechanical theory and is a cornerstone of computational chemistry that is prevalently used in computational drug design.”

While these materials are governed by quantum mechanics, conducting quantum-mechanical calculations for each potential compound is extremely computationally expensive and not feasible. Doing so would require centuries of computing time.

So the team used classical physics approximations of the quantum mechanics of how the atoms would interact. That cut the computing time down to one day.

“It wasn’t clear if the classical mechanical approximations were going to be accurate enough to do the job,” Ferguson said. “It was a bit of a gamble for us. Fortunately, it worked out, and they were accurate enough.” To ensure their approach worked, the team showed the screening pipeline could retrospectively predict MOFs that had been previously reported and were in agreement with quantum mechanical calculations on a small number of systems conducted by Andrea Darù, a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Prof. Laura Gagliardi.

The calculations were supported by UChicago’s Research Computing Center.

Tool could be used to predict other new materials

The screening pipeline then ultimately predicted a new iron-sulfur MOF, known as Fe4S4-BDT—TPP, that would be stable and synthesizable.

The MOF was synthesized in Anderson’s lab, then characterized through powder X-ray diffraction by Karena Chapman and her team at Stony Brook University and Brookhaven National Laboratory and Alex Filatov, director of X-ray Research Facilities at UChicago. It proved to be thermodynamically stable and possess the structure predicted by the computational models.

“This model is a step in the right direction of being able to predict materials rather than try to synthesize them and figure out what they are,” Anderson said. “It accelerates the discovery process very rapidly.”

Next, the team will continue to synthesize this new MOF and study it to see just how well it performs as a catalyst.

In the meantime, Ferguson and Mao have made their virtual screening pipeline publicly available to help other research teams discover stable MOFs. “This tool will allow scientists to screen a large number of chemical compounds to find the right one for their need,” he said.

Other authors on the paper include Jianming Mao, Ningxin Jiang, Alexander S. Filatov, Jessica E. Burch, Jan Hofmann, Simon M. Vornholt, and Karena W. Chapman.

CITATION: “Structure and Synthesizability of Iron-Sulfur Metal-Organic Frameworks,” Mao et al, Journal of the American Chemical Society. May 16, 2025 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.4c16341

FUNDING: Department of Energy

Journal

Journal of the American Chemical Society

DOI

10.1021/jacs.4c16341

Article Title

Structure and Synthesizability of Iron–Sulfur Metal–Organic Frameworks

Global virus network statement in support of the WHO Pandemic Preparedness Accord

Global Virus Network

Tampa, FL, USA, May 21, 2025: The Global Virus Network (GVN) strongly supports the World Health Organization’s (WHO) newly adopted Pandemic Preparedness Accord. This agreement represents a vital and timely step toward establishing a more coordinated, transparent, and equitable global framework for pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response.

GVN, an international coalition of leading virologists and research centers in over 40 countries, has consistently advocated for the critical components reflected in the Accord. Our recent statement on pandemic preparedness underscored the urgent need for sustained investment in global surveillance, rapid data sharing, robust public health infrastructure, and equitable access to diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics. The WHO Accord affirms these priorities and reinforces the essential role of science and international collaboration in protecting global health.

In a recent publication in The Lancet Regional Health – Americas addressing the growing threat of H5N1 avian influenza, GVN experts warned of the increasing risk posed by zoonotic pathogens and the necessity of strengthening pandemic intelligence systems. This emerging threat further emphasizes the importance of proactive, science-based policy frameworks like the WHO Accord.

GVN looks forward to working closely with the WHO and its member states to help implement and advance the Accord's goals. Through our global network of experts, we stand ready to contribute technical expertise, research capabilities, and public health partnerships that can support practical and equitable implementation worldwide.

While we commend the Accord’s adoption, we strongly hope that all countries will ultimately vote in support of this critical agreement. A truly global commitment is the only way to ensure that no country is left vulnerable in the face of future pandemics.

The lessons of COVID-19, the even more devastating HIV/AIDS pandemic, and looming threats like H5N1 make clear that global solidarity, scientific leadership, and sustained preparedness are not optional; they are essential. The WHO Pandemic Preparedness Accord provides a foundation for a safer and more resilient future, and GVN is committed to helping make that future a reality.

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About the Global Virus Network

The Global Virus Network (GVN) is a worldwide coalition comprising 80+ Virology Centers of Excellence and Affiliates across 40+ countries, whose mission is to facilitate pandemic preparedness against viral pathogens and diseases that threaten public health globally. GVN advances knowledge of viruses through (i) data-driven research and solutions, (ii) fostering the next generation of virology leaders, and (iii) enhancing global resources for readiness and response to emerging viral threats. GVN provides the essential expertise required to discover and diagnose viruses that threaten public health, understand how such viruses spread illnesses, and facilitate the development of diagnostics, therapies, and treatments to combat them. GVN coordinates and collaborates with local, national, and international scientific institutions and government agencies to provide real-time virus informatics, surveillance, and response resources and strategies. GVN's pandemic preparedness mission is achieved by focusing on Education & Training, Qualitative & Quantitative Research, and Global Health Strategies & Solutions. The GVN is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. For more information, please visit www.gvn.org

Re-creating the sounds of an underground city #ASA188

Simulating the soundscape of an ancient city can provide useful historical information for scholars.

Acoustical Society of America

Collection of images from the underground tunnels of Derinkuyu — image:
A collection of images from the underground tunnels of Derinkuyu.
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Credit: Sezin Nas

NEW ORLEANS, May 21, 2025 – Have you ever walked through the ruins of an ancient city and wondered what life sounded like back then? So has Sezin Nas, a researcher of interior architecture and acoustics at Istanbul Galata University.

The ancient, underground city of Derinkuyu caught Nas’s eye early on. Located in modern-day Turkey, Derinkuyu was built underground to defend against invasion, protect its citizens from harsh weather, and safely store agricultural products. At its peak, it could hold up to 20,000 people. The city spanned seven levels underground, with four main ventilation channels and over 50,000 other smaller shafts.

“There is a notable gap in the literature regarding the acoustic environment and soundscape of underground cities,” Nas said. “Studying the Derinkuyu underground city aimed to contribute both to the preservation of cultural heritage and to provide data that could inform the design of future underground urban spaces.”

“The integration of ventilation and communication functions within the same architectural elements is considered one of Derinkuyu's most unique features,” Nas said. “This multifunctional use of the ventilation system strongly highlights the exceptional construction process of the site and plays a central role in shaping its soundscape.”

To re-create the ancient soundscape, Nas studied both the history of the city as well as its architecture. She analyzed three types of spaces — a church, a living area, and a kitchen. The room functions, sources of sounds, and even reverberations were considered when creating a 3D virtual soundscape that will eventually allow a listener to experience the sounds of the city.

Nas will present work on the soundscape of the ancient city of Derinkuyu on Wednesday, May 21, at 11:20 a.m. CT as part of the joint 188th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America and 25th International Congress on Acoustics, running May 18-23.

“Derinkuyu underground city is considered an interior environment on an urban scale, which distinguishes it from the open-space urban soundscapes,” Nas said. “Listening to the reconstructed soundscape provides insights into how sound influenced spatial experience, communication practices, and social organization within the underground city.”

Nas saidys Derinkuyu’s soundscape can inspire the design of future underground urban spaces. She hopes that, in general, soundscapes will be used in the future as systematic tools for studying history.

“This research also highlights the role of historical sound environments as an important and often overlooked component of cultural heritage,” Nas said.

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----------------------- MORE MEETING INFORMATION -----------------------

ASA PRESS ROOM

In the coming weeks, ASA’s Press Room will be updated with newsworthy stories and the press conference schedule at https://acoustics.org/asa-press-room/.

LAY LANGUAGE PAPERS

ASA will also share dozens of lay language papers about topics covered at the conference. Lay language papers are summaries (300-500 words) of presentations written by scientists for a general audience. They will be accompanied by photos, audio, and video. Learn more at https://acoustics.org/lay-language-papers/.

PRESS REGISTRATION

ASA will grant free registration to credentialed and professional freelance journalists. If you are a reporter and would like to attend the in-person meeting or virtual press conferences, contact AIP Media Services at media@aip.org. For urgent requests, AIP staff can also help with setting up interviews and obtaining images, sound clips, or background information.

ABOUT THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA

The Acoustical Society of America is the premier international scientific society in acoustics devoted to the science and technology of sound. Its 7,000 members worldwide represent a broad spectrum of the study of acoustics. ASA publications include The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (the world’s leading journal on acoustics), JASA Express Letters, Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, Acoustics Today magazine, books, and standards on acoustics. The society also holds two major scientific meetings each year. See https://acousticalsociety.org/.

ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION FOR ACOUSTICS

The purpose of the International Commission for Acoustics (ICA) is to promote international development and collaboration in all fields of acoustics including research, development, education, and standardization. ICA’s mission is to be the reference point for the acoustic community, becoming more inclusive and proactive in our global outreach, increasing coordination and support for the growing international interest and activity in acoustics. Learn more at https://www.icacommission.org/.

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Can social and economic welfare policies influence depression risk?

New systemic literature review concludes that policies such as parental leave can reduce individuals’ risk of depression, while policies that cut social welfare or lead to insecurity increase depression risk

PLOS

Preventing depression in high-income countries—A systematic review of studies evaluating change in social determinants — image:
New systemic literature review concludes that policies such as parental leave can reduce individuals’ risk of depression, while policies that cut social welfare or lead to insecurity increase depression risk.
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Credit: Damir Samatkulov, Unsplash, CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)

Policies that impact social determinants of health may influence an individual’s risk of depression, according to a new study published May 21, 2025 in the open-access journal PLOS One by Mary Nicolaou of the Amsterdam UMC, The Netherlands, and colleagues.

Globally, depression is one of the leading causes of burden of disease worldwide. Interventions focused on individual behaviors, while effective, reduce depression incidence by only about 20%, meaning that most risk factors are left unaddressed. In the new study, researchers took a new look at existing data on the social and economic drivers of depression in high-income countries. The authors analyzed 135 studies that tracked depression rates, mental health symptoms, and antidepressant use in relation to policy changes.

The study found consistent evidence that policies improving paid parental leave, employment access, housing stability, and income support are linked to lower rates of depression and psychological distress. On the flip side, cuts to social welfare such as unemployment benefits, and financial insecurity were associated with worsening mental health, particularly among single parents and low-income households. In the U.S., expanding Medicaid or health coverage led to measurable drops in mental distress, especially after job loss.

While few of the included studies tested underlying causal mechanisms, and only data through 2022 was available, the authors conclude that positive intervention on social determinants of health may be a powerful tool for preventing depression at the population level.

The authors add: “Instinctively we know that the wider set of conditions and systems in which people are born, live, work and age can influence their mental health. However, when it comes down to it we often target the individual, assuming that they are able to overcome structural barriers such as poverty.

This study provides consistent, high-quality evidence that policies that promote paid employment can improve mental health. Conversely, we find that reduced entitlements to social welfare, loss of income, poverty, instability of housing and financial crises are likely to reduce population-level mental health.

Overall, a spectrum of actions is needed to address mental health, demanding comprehensive approaches across policy domains.”

In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS One: https://plos.io/3Z6p90g

Citation: Nicolaou M, Shields-Zeeman LS, van der Wal JM, Stronks K (2025) Preventing depression in high-income countries—A systematic review of studies evaluating change in social determinants. PLoS One 20(5): e0323378. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0323378

Author countries: The Netherlands

Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.

Journal

PLOS One

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0323378