Carbonsphere launches for carbon science and net-zero solutions

Tsinghua University Press

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Tsinghua University Press is pleased to announce the launch of Carbonsphere, a new open-access, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to carbon science, technology, and policy. Sponsored by Qinghai University and Tsinghua University and published by Tsinghua University Press, the journal creates a new interdisciplinary platform for research spanning natural systems, engineered systems, and human systems. Carbonsphere is led by Editor-in-Chief Zhu Liu, with Hans Joachim Schellnhuber serving as Honorary Editor-in-Chief.

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Credit: Carbonsphere, Tsinghua University Press

Tsinghua University Press is pleased to announce the launch of Carbonsphere, a new open-access, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to carbon science, technology, and policy. Sponsored by Qinghai University and Tsinghua University and published by Tsinghua University Press, the journal creates a new interdisciplinary platform for research spanning natural systems, engineered systems, and human systems. Carbonsphere is led by Editor-in-Chief Zhu Liu, with Hans Joachim Schellnhuber serving as Honorary Editor-in-Chief.

Carbonsphere is designed to connect carbon research across scales, from cellular processes to planetary dynamics, and across contexts, from fundamental discovery to real-world implementation. The journal brings together science, engineering, policy, and society, with the goal of fostering evidence, tools, and solutions for a just and sustainable net-zero future. By linking the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities, Carbonsphere opens a new forum for interdisciplinary collaboration in one of the most urgent fields of our time.

“Carbon is the basic element of life,” Zhu Liu writes in the founding editorial of Carbonsphere. He describes the journal as one that “launches to illuminate and steward this micro-to-macro continuum,” and as “a shared platform across science and engineering, and the natural sciences and the humanities/social sciences, to co-create evidence and solutions for a just net-zero future.” This vision positions Carbonsphere as more than a venue for publishing carbon-related studies. It establishes the journal as a platform for connecting discovery, innovation, governance, and societal transition.

The journal welcomes research across the full spectrum of carbon science and its applications, including carbon in nature and technology, Earth system carbon cycle dynamics, climate change and human impacts, carbon accounting and net-zero transitions, carbon materials, carbon in energy systems, carbon policy and governance, and digital and data-driven approaches for carbon research. It also encourages work that moves from mechanisms to models, from prototypes to policy, and from research to practice.

Carbonsphere publishes Original Research, Review Article, Perspectives, Short Communication, and Letter to the Editor, while also prioritizing Data & Software Articles, Design & Prototypes, Methods, and Bench-to-Policy contributions. With an emphasis on rigorous peer review, transparent reporting, reproducibility, and data and code sharing, the journal aims to build an open and trustworthy publishing space for researchers, engineers, practitioners, and policymakers alike.

The launch of Carbonsphere brings together the strengths of three major institutions. Qinghai University has developed into a teaching and research university with strengths in engineering, agriculture, medicine, management, economics, science, and law. Founded in 1911, Tsinghua University is one of China’s leading comprehensive research universities, with broad strengths across science, engineering, humanities, medicine, economics, management, education, and the arts. The journal is published by Tsinghua University Press, a major academic publisher in China and an active participant in the international scholarly publishing community.

About Carbonsphere

Carbonsphere is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to carbon science, technology, and policy across natural, engineered, and socio-economic systems. Sponsored by Qinghai University and Tsinghua University, published by Tsinghua University Press, and distributed through SciOpen, the journal aims to foster interdisciplinary research and actionable solutions for a just and sustainable net-zero future.

About Qinghai University and Tsinghua University

Qinghai University is a teaching and research university in western China with strengths in engineering, agriculture, medicine, management, economics, science, and law. Founded in 1911, Tsinghua University is one of China’s leading comprehensive research universities and is internationally recognized for excellence in education, research, and innovation across a wide range of disciplines.

About SciOpen

SciOpen is the platform through which Carbonsphere is distributed and accessed by readers and authors worldwide. The platform supports journal hosting, article discovery, and submission services to enhance the visibility and accessibility of scholarly content. Carbonsphere is published by Tsinghua University Press, a major academic publisher in China and an active participant in the international scholarly publishing community.

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DOI

10.26599/CS.2025.9510004 

Surgeons sponsored for H-1B visas in the US

JAMA Surgery

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About The Study: 

The number of surgeons sponsored for H-1B visas increased over the past decade, reaching more than 650 in a single year in FY2024. Although H-1B–sponsored surgeons represent a small fraction of the national surgical workforce, they are overrepresented in underserved communities. For example, the percentage of H-1B–sponsored surgeons was more than twice as high in rural compared with urban counties and more than 4 times as high in the most vs least impoverished counties. 

Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Thomas C. Tsai, MD, MPH, email ttsai@bwh.harvard.edu.

 

(doi:10.1001/jamasurg.2026.0484)

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.

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

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

 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamasurgery/fullarticle/10.1001/jamasurg.2026.0484?guestAccessKey=f2d2b019-c0b6-48dc-b1a3-6faf77bd897a&utm_source=for_the_media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=032526

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Journal

JAMA Surgery

(BARBER) SURGEONS ARE SADISTS!

Surgery residents fall short in key areas of pain knowledge, Concordia study finds

Concordia University

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Nicole Alberts

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Credit: Concordia University

A new Concordia-led study has found that many Canadian surgery residents scored below the threshold of adequate pain knowledge on a validated, widely used measure.

Researchers surveyed 110 general and orthopedic surgery residents from 27 residency programs across Canada. Residents are licensed physicians who practice under the supervision of an attending physician while completing their medical training.

The study revealed that many respondents felt unprepared to treat pain in both adults and children. Residents were also shown to have a limited grasp of the biopsychosocial model, an established, evidence-based framework used to understand and manage pain. The model accounts for the interplay of biological, psychological, and social factors in both acute and chronic pain.

“Chronic pain can be a common problem following routine surgeries like joint replacements or thoracotomies [open chest surgeries] and can affect between 30 to 80 per cent of patients, so it is important for surgeons and surgery trainees to know about pain,” says Nicole Alberts, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Psychology and the paper’s corresponding author.

“Surgeons often play a primary role in managing pain, even in hospitals with dedicated pain teams following patients post-op. Their involvement is especially critical in rural and remote areas, where they are typically responsible for overseeing pain management and prescribing medications after surgery,” she says.

The study was published in the journal Pain Reports.

Personal experience provides better understanding

The researchers used online surveys to measure pain training, perceptions and experience. Residents were also asked to fill out a validated 41-item measure of provider pain knowledge called the Knowledge and Attitudes Survey Regarding Pain (KASRP).

The percentage of correct answers assessed residents’ pain knowledge and attitudes. Additional survey items captured sources of pain knowledge and training, perceived preparedness, personal pain experiences and knowledge of the biopsychosocial model, as well as demographic information such as medical specialty and sex.

Residents scored an average 75.1 per cent on the KASRP, below the 80 per cent considered a passing grade. Scores ranged from 44 per cent to more than 95 per cent, indicating substantial variability in knowledge among residents.

More than 70 per cent of respondents answered three questions on opioid tolerance and administration incorrectly. However, all respondents correctly answered the three questions related to pain assessment, patient-centred care and pediatric pain.

Sixty-one per cent of residents said they felt their medical school curriculum prepared them to treat pain in adults, but 59 per cent felt unprepared to treat pain in children.

The study also found that although 85 per cent of residents had heard of the biopsychosocial model, 44 per cent said they were uncomfortable or extremely uncomfortable with their level of understanding. Nearly 60 per cent said they would be unable to properly explain the model to others.

No resident demographic factors explained these differences, except one: prior experience with postsurgical pain, either personally or through someone close to them. Sex, years of training or area of specialization had no strong links to pain knowledge.

“The 75 per cent score indicates that residents did not quite meet the bar for adequate pain knowledge, but it did indicate a solid knowledge base with room to improve,” says Alberts, Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Behavioural Health Intervention and director of the Behavioural Health Innovations Lab.

Adam Burcheri helped lead the paper as a part of his Psychology honours thesis during his undergraduate studies at Concordia. Additional research and expertise were provided by PhD candidate Claire Galvin, as well as doctors Nelson Piché at CHU Sainte-Justine and l’Université de Montréal, Michael Frett at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN, and Kevin Alschuler at the University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA.

Read the cited paper: “Surgery resident pain knowledge and perceptions: gaps and implications for medical training in Canada”

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Journal

PAIN Reports

DOI

10.1097/PR9.0000000000001392 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Surgery resident pain knowledge and perceptions: gaps and implications for medical training in Canada

 

ADHD medication in childhood may reduce later psychosis risk, landmark study finds

One of the largest studies of its kind challenges long standing fears about stimulant treatment

University College Dublin

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A major new study, led by scientists at University College Dublin and the University of Edinburgh and funded by the St John of God Research Foundation, has found that commonly prescribed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication in childhood may lower the long‑term risk of developing serious psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia.

Treatment with methylphenidate, the most commonly prescribed ADHD medication for children, before the age of 13 was shown to be associated with a reduced risk of psychosis in adulthood.

At a time when diagnoses of ADHD are rising rapidly worldwide, concerns about whether stimulant medications might increase the risk of psychosis have fuelled public anxiety among parents, clinicians and policymakers. This new evidence directly challenges that narrative.

No increased risk — and a possible protective effect

Focusing on nearly 4,000 young people diagnosed with ADHD, the researchers found no evidence that treatment with methylphenidate, the most commonly prescribed ADHD medication for children, increased the likelihood of developing a psychotic disorder later in life.

“We know that when children with ADHD are followed into adulthood, a small but significant minority develop psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia,” said Professor Ian Kelleher, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Edinburgh and the study’s lead researcher, “A critical question has been whether ADHD medication causes that risk, or whether this is a case where correlation does not equal causation. Our findings suggest the medication itself is not driving that risk.”

Reassurance for families and clinicians

The researchers found no evidence that treatment with methylphenidate increased the likelihood of developing a psychotic disorder later in life.

The results are likely to offer reassurance to families weighing up treatment decisions and to clinicians concerned about long term safety.

The study, published in JAMA Psychiatry, used advanced statistical methods to examine how natural differences in ADHD prescribing practices across Finnish hospital districts influenced later psychosis risk.

Analysing health data from almost 700,000 people born in Finland, the scale of the study makes it one of the most comprehensive investigations to date into the long term mental health outcomes associated with ADHD treatment.

“Overall, these findings are reassuring,” Professor Kelleher added.

“The fact that early treatment was associated with a lower long term risk of psychosis suggests these medications may do more than manage symptoms in childhood - they may also have longer term protective effects against severe mental illness, though this requires further research.”

The authors stress that the apparent protective effect was seen only in those treated during childhood.

The same benefit was not observed among individuals diagnosed and treated during adolescence or adulthood.

Growing urgency as adult ADHD diagnoses surge

Dr Colm Healy, Research Fellow at University College Dublin and lead author of the study, said the findings highlight the need for age‑specific research as adult ADHD diagnoses continue to increase.

“There are important developmental differences between the childhood brain and the teenage or adult brain. “We can’t assume that the effects of stimulant medication will be the same across different stages of life. Given the rapid rise in adult ADHD treatment, understanding these differences is now an urgent priority.”

The researchers say the findings underline the importance of early diagnosis, careful clinical assessment and evidence‑based treatment, and provide a timely counterpoint to fears surrounding ADHD medication.

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Journal

JAMA Psychiatry

Subject of Research

People

Article Publication Date

25-Mar-2026