Thursday, May 21, 2026

Young Fraser River Chinook salmon swimming in chemical soup, SFU study finds

Juvenile Chinook salmon in the Lower Fraser River estuary are feeding and growing in a slurry of contaminants from pharmaceuticals, personal care products to industrial chemicals, according to a new Simon Fraser University study.

Simon Fraser University

Researchers found more than 200 contaminants in water and fish tissue samples collected from five sites in the Lower Fraser River estuary, including common blood pressure and diabetes medications, antidepressants, caffeine and cocaine.

“We’ve shown there’s a mixture of chemicals in the Lower Fraser, which not only presents potential risks to juvenile Chinook, but also other aquatic life,” says Bonnie Lo, environmental scientist and lead author of the study.

Key findings

Water samples were taken from five sites in the Lower Fraser River estuary
Tissue samples were taken from juvenile Chinook from the Harrison stock
Samples were analyzed for more than 595 contaminants from up to nine chemical classes
Contaminants included flame retardants, pesticides, industrial chemicals, and pharmaceuticals (prescription drugs, cocaine, caffeine)
288 organic contaminants were detected in water samples
368 organic contaminants were detected in juvenile Chinook tissue
16 contaminants exceeded thresholds for aquatic life with potential for adverse effects
23 contaminants worthy of secondary monitoring were detected

Published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, the risk-based screening study focused on juvenile Harrison River Chinook, the largest Chinook stock in the Lower Fraser River.

The findings are concerning other marine animals that rely on Chinook salmon.

“Chinook salmon from the Fraser River account for up to 90 per cent of the West Coast’s Endangered Southern Resident killer whales’ diet during the summer months,” says Tanya Brown, marine ecotoxicologist and senior study author.

Decades of population declines mean more than 85 per cent of Chinook populations are now classified as Endangered or Threatened by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC).

Brown says that of the 595 contaminants measured, 16 were identified as “priority” contaminants and 23 as “watchlist” contaminants.

Priority contaminants are those with the potential for adverse effects to Chinook salmon as well as other aquatic life. These included pharmaceuticals and personal care products, pesticides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, flame retardants, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

The Canadian government has regulated many of the persistent and toxic chemicals that bioaccumulate in food webs. Watchlist contaminants are those that may pose risks and warrant future monitoring.

“Toxicity data is mostly based on single-chemical exposures, but these fish are being exposed to hundreds of chemicals at once. We simply don’t yet understand the additive effects of this chemical cocktail,” says Brown.

Juvenile Chinook in the Fraser River estuary are already contending with multiple stressors, including rising water temperatures and pathogen exposure, says Dave Scott, a salmon biologist at Raincoast Conservation Foundation and study co-author.

“Harrison Chinook in particular arrive at very small sizes and depend heavily on these habitats for growth prior to entering the ocean,” Scott says. “Contaminant exposure is an additional stressor acting on the same fish during the same critical window.”

Researchers say further studies are underway to better understand how exposure to this chemical mix may affect the growth and survival of juvenile Chinook salmon.

This collaborative research by SFU, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), and Raincoast Conservation Foundation, was funded by the Government of Canada’s Whales Initiative, a program addressing key threats to the Endangered Southern Resident killer whales, including prey scarcity, physical and acoustic disturbance, and pollution.

Journal

Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry

DOI

10.1093/etojnl/vgag078

Article Title

A risk-based screening of organic contaminants in juvenile chinook salmon and their habitat in the Lower Fraser River and estuary, British Columbia

How Atlantic herring rewired reproduction to survive a new sea

Genetic study reveals four key adaptations for low-salinity waters, offering a rare window into evolution’s creative solutions.

Texas A&M University

A fish that entered a radically different environment 8,000 years ago didn’t just survive — it rewired how it reproduces.

A new study shows that Atlantic herring adapted to the Baltic Sea’s low-salinity waters through precise genetic changes that affected sperm, eggs and early embryos, offering a rare, detailed look at evolution in action.

The research, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, identifies four key genes that collectively enabled the species to reproduce successfully in brackish conditions — a critical step for long-term survival.

“The highly successful colonization of the Baltic Sea was a game changer for the ecosystem,” said Dr. Leif Andersson, professor in the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences’ Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, who led the study. “Herring also played a critical role in food security throughout Northern Europe until more efficient agricultural systems were developed during the last century.”

A harsh environment for marine life

The Baltic Sea presents a major challenge for marine species. Formed after the last glaciation — the process where glaciers form, advance, or alter landscapes — about 11,700 years ago, its salinity drops as low as 2–3 parts per thousand, a fraction of the 34–35 parts per thousand found in the open ocean.

For most marine fish, those conditions make reproduction nearly impossible.

“Adult fish have physiological mechanisms, such as kidneys, that help them handle variations in salinity,” Andersson said. “Sperm, eggs, and early embryos do not have those same mechanisms, so successful reproduction in low-salinity conditions required genetic adaptations to these new environmental conditions.”

Yet, Atlantic herring — which traditionally live in the North Atlantic Ocean — not only colonized the region but have become a keystone species, linking plankton production to larger fish, birds and marine mammals. The species also supports one of the most economically important fisheries in the surrounding countries.

Evolution at the earliest stages of life

To understand how this adaptation occurred, researchers sequenced and compared the genomes of Atlantic and Baltic herring.

What they found points to a critical vulnerability — and opportunity — in species that reproduce externally.

According to Andersson, because herring sperm, eggs and embryos develop outside the body, they are directly exposed to environmental conditions, making successful reproduction highly dependent on the ability to function in local water chemistry.

The study shows that natural selection targeted this life stage, driving genetic changes that allow reproduction to succeed despite low salinity.

Four genetic changes that made it possible

The researchers also identified four major adaptations working together to support reproduction in brackish water.

One affects a sperm-specific ion channel, helping maintain sperm function under low-salinity conditions.

Two others alter proteins that form the egg’s protective outer layer, reinforcing it to prevent swelling when exposed to low-salinity water — but that added protection, however, creates a new challenge when it comes time for the larvae to hatch.

To solve it, Baltic herring evolved roughly 20 extra copies of a gene that produces an enzyme capable of breaking down the egg envelope, allowing larvae to emerge successfully.

The researchers found that all herring spawning in the Baltic Sea share these genetic traits, regardless of location, highlighting how essential they are for survival.

According to Andersson, the scale of the genetic differences that allowed Baltic herring to be a keystone species in the Baltic Sea may even justify reclassifying Baltic herring as a distinct species rather than a subspecies of Atlantic herring.

Implications for ecosystems and evolution

Beyond its evolutionary significance, the study has important implications for conservation and fisheries management.

As a keystone species, Baltic herring plays a central role in maintaining ecosystem balance while also supporting regional food systems and economies.

“Herring represents by far the largest fish biomass in the Baltic Sea, and our study shows that Baltic herring possess unique genetic adaptations that allow them to thrive in this low-salinity environment,” Andersson said. “These findings provide a strong argument for less aggressive industrial fishing practices to reduce the risk of losing important genetic diversity in this species.”

More broadly, the findings provide a clear example of how natural selection can drive rapid, targeted genetic change, offering insight into how other species may adapt to new or changing environments.

By Camryn Haines, Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2601861123

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Sperm, egg, and embryo proteins critical for genetic adaptation of herring to low salinity in the Baltic Sea

Private equity acquisition can expand primary care use by expanding workforce, study finds

Brown University researchers used Medicare claims to track results of primary care practices after private equity acquisition, revealing surprising upshots.

Brown University

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — When health policy researchers at the Brown University School of Public Health tracked data from primary care practices that had been acquired by private equity firms, they found something surprising: not all of the changes were detrimental.

Primary care practices acquired by private equity tended to see more patients, provide more services to patients, complete more annual wellness visits and expand their staff, according to the study published in Health Affairs.

“Our prior work has highlighted specific harms from private equity firms acquiring and consolidating physician practices, including higher prices for patients and insurers,” said lead study author Yashaswini Singh, an assistant professor of health services, policy and practice at Brown’s School of Public Health. “This study is a reminder that the relationship between private equity and patient care is more complicated than it first appears, and financial incentives shaped by payment policy play an outsized role in how private equity operates.”

Singh and the team from Brown’s Center for Advancing Health Policy through Research used national Medicare claims to track what happened at 225 primary care practices after they were acquired by private equity firms between 2016 and 2022.

They compared that data with similar primary care practices that remained independently owned to understand how private equity buyouts can change the day-to-day practice of primary care medicine, including physician workload, how many patients doctors see and the services those patients receive.

The team found that while private equity ownership does seem to increase productivity pressures on practices — with physicians billing for about 30% more services — practices saw about 11% more patients overall.

At a time when primary care is increasingly difficult to access nationwide, connecting more patients to primary care is generally viewed as a positive outcome, they said.

That context also applies to the roughly 13% more services received by individual patients in private equity owned practices compared to independent practices. The increase was largely driven by more preventative care, including lab tests and screenings, that can identify problems such as diabetes or high cholesterol before they become serious.

One notable finding was that the Medicare annual wellness visit drove much of the increase in services received. The visit is a comprehensive preventive checkup, which Medicare has long recommended but which independent practices have historically struggled to complete because of documentation requirements. Acquisitions prompted an increase in annual wellness visits by more than 20%.

The study also found that in contrast to other private equity–owned health care settings where staffing cuts are common, primary care practices instead expanded their workforces under private firms.

Compared to independent practices, they hired about 17% more physicians and 40% more nurse practitioners and physician assistants, suggesting the extra work of providing additional services and seeing more patients is likely being spread across larger teams rather than falling on individual doctors.

“Research has documented real harm from staffing cuts following private equity involvement in other settings, as in the case of hospitals and nursing homes, but we must resist a one-size-fits all takeaway,” Singh said. “What we see in primary care is more nuanced: practices grew their teams and drew on both physicians and advanced practice providers in the short term.”

Total Medicare spending per doctor increased by about 15% after private equity firms came in, but spending per patient stayed roughly the same. That means doctors were seeing more patients and billing for more services, researchers said, but individual patients weren't receiving more expensive care.

For private equity firms, however, that increased volume meant more revenue because of Medicare's fee-for-service system, where doctors are paid for each service they deliver.

The researchers note a number of limitations to the study, including that it only looked at Medicare patients, followed practices for a relatively short period, and cannot determine whether the changes actually improved patient health. There could also be unexamined harms to patients and doctors that the study does not capture, including reduced clinician autonomy and burnout.

According to the researchers, the biggest takeaway of the study and recent work from the team is that private equity may not operate the same way in every sector of health care.

"In many other settings, my colleagues and I have documented clear harms from private equity," Singh said. “This study posits a different question: Under what market conditions and incentives can private equity actually deliver on the promises it makes around expanding access and improving care — and how do we create more of those conditions?”

Journal

Health Affairs

DOI

10.1377/hlthaff.2025.01703

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Article Title

Private Equity Acquisitions In Primary Care: Changes In Utilization, Spending, And Workforce

Article Publication Date

20-May-2026

ISSCR Consortium urges FDA to maintain flexible, science-driven framework for new approach methodologies in drug development

International Society for Stem Cell Research

The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) Consortium on Advanced Stem Cell-Based Models in Drug Discovery and Development has submitted comments to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in response to the agency’s draft guidance, General Considerations for the Use of New Approach Methodologies in Drug Development Guidance for Industry.

The consortium, a global collaboration of academic scientists, industry leaders, and regulatory experts convened by the ISSCR, welcomed the FDA’s efforts to advance the integration of new approach methodologies (NAMs) into drug development while emphasizing the importance of maintaining a flexible, fit-for-purpose regulatory framework that can adapt to rapidly evolving technologies. ‍

“NAMs, including stem cell-derived models such as organoids, engineered tissues, and computational systems, have tremendous potential to improve the predictive power, efficiency, and human relevance of preclinical drug development,” said Shuibing Chen, co-chair of the consortium. “The FDA’s draft guidance is an important step forward in supporting innovation while helping to establish needed framework for the use of NAMs in drug development.”

In its comments, the consortium commended the FDA for developing a clear, principle-based framework centered on context of use, human biological relevance, technical characterization, and fit-for-purpose evaluation. The consortium also offered recommendations intended to strengthen the guidance and ensure it remains adaptable across a wide range of NAM technologies and applications.

Among the key recommendations were:‍ ‍

Clarifying that the level of biological complexity in a NAM should align with its intended context of use, supporting both high-throughput reductionist systems and more complex models.
Encouraging evaluation of NAMs based not only on comparison to traditional animal models, but also on their ability to generate human-relevant insights in areas where conventional methods may be limited.
Expanding recognition of computational modeling, artificial intelligence, and hybrid in vitro–in silico approaches as increasingly important components of modern drug development.
Recognizing the distinct characterization needs of stem cell-derived NAMs, particularly induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-based systems, and encouraging future FDA guidance or workshops specific to these technologies.

The consortium emphasized that stem cell-derived NAMs offer unique opportunities to model human biology and disease , helping improve translational relevance while supporting broader efforts to modernize preclinical testing strategies.

Supported by founding members Bayer and Burroughs Wellcome Fund, learn more about the consortium’s aims and scope.‍ ‍

‍About ISSCR
Across more than 80 countries, the International Society for Stem Cell Research is the preeminent global, cross-disciplinary, science-based organization dedicated to advancing stem cell research and its translation to medicine. ‍

Cities change storms, but the impacts depend on the storm itself

New findings could help reduce urban flood risks and improve planning for extreme weather

Texas A&M University

Cities don’t just change the landscape, they change the weather. According to a new study analyzing tens of thousands of rain events in Texas, whether urban areas make rain worse, lighter or simply different depends strongly on the type of storm.

The research, published in Nature, examines more than 40,000 warm‑season storms that passed over or near Dallas–Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio and Houston between 1995 and 2017. By sorting storms into distinct categories and tracking their three‑dimensional structure using weather radar, scientists found that the four urban areas strengthen some storms while weakening others.

The findings help explain why previous research on urban rainfall has often produced conflicting results — and why blanket statements about cities being “wetter” or “drier” miss the nuance of how storms actually work.

“Different storms are driven by different physical processes,” said Dr. John Nielsen‑Gammon, a Texas A&M University atmospheric scientist and a co-author of the study. “Once you separate storms by type, the patterns became much clearer.”

Looking at storms one by one

Rather than focusing on long‑term rainfall averages, the researchers took an event‑by‑event approach, tracking individual storms as they formed, moved and dissipated. Using detailed radar data, they grouped storms into five common types:

single‑cell thunderstorms
larger isolated storms
cold frontal storms
warm frontal storms
tropical systems, including hurricanes

Cities boost pop‑up storms

The strongest and most consistent urban effect appeared in small‑scale thunderstorms, the kind that can pop up quickly on hot summer days.

Across all four cities, these local storms occurred 7% to 31% more often over urban areas than over nearby rural land. Radar data also showed that these storms tended to grow taller and more intense over cities, a sign of stronger upward motion in the atmosphere.

The effect was especially noticeable at night, when cities remain warmer than their surroundings.

“Urban areas hold heat after sunset,” said Nielsen‑Gammon, who is also the Texas State Climatologist. “That retained warmth can continue to fuel storms overnight, when similar storms over rural areas are more likely to weaken.”

The researchers found similar urban effects for larger isolated storms, which last longer and cover more area than single‑cell thunderstorms. These storms were also more frequent over cities and showed stronger rainfall signatures, making them a significant contributor to urban flooding risk.

While these storms are usually short‑lived, they can produce intense rainfall over small areas, increasing the risk of flash flooding in cities, where a lot of the rain can't just soak into the ground.

Cold fronts weaken as they cross cities

The study found a different response for cold frontal storms, which are large, organized rain systems driven by temperature differences between air masses.

Cities did not change how often cold fronts occurred, but they did change their strength. When cold frontal storms passed directly over urban areas, their rainfall intensity declined by roughly 16% to 28% compared with rural surroundings.

The researchers suggest that urban heat and roughness (the disruption buildings and other structures create in wind flow) disrupt the lower part of the storm system as it moves across the city.

“Cold front rainfall is driven by sharp temperature and wind differences,” Nielsen‑Gammon said. “As they move into the warmer and more turbulent urban environment, those contrasts can weaken, reducing rainfall intensity.”

Interestingly, the study found hints that cold fronts sometimes intensify slightly just before reaching a city, likely because the warmer urban air can sharpen the temperature contrast ahead of the front.

Warm fronts and tropical storms respond differently

Warm frontal storms showed modest signs of intensification over cities, though the changes were smaller and less certain than for other storm types.

Tropical systems, including hurricanes, did not show consistent changes in how often they occurred or how intense they were over cities. However, the structure of rainfall shifted slightly, with heavy rain forming lower in the atmosphere over urban areas — a detail that could influence flooding behavior on the ground.

“These larger systems are driven mainly by ocean heat and larger-scale wind patterns,” Nielsen‑Gammon said. “Urban effects don’t disappear, but they’re secondary compared to those factors.”

Why this matters for growing cities

The study’s results suggest that storm type matters for how cities experience extreme weather and for how they should prepare.

Urban planners often rely on averaged rainfall statistics to design drainage systems and flood controls. That approach may miss the fact that the storms most enhanced by cities are short‑duration, high‑intensity events, which are particularly dangerous in urban landscapes.

“If you design only for region-wide averages, you can underestimate the kinds of rainfall that actually cause the most damage,” Nielsen‑Gammon said. “Understanding which storms cities amplify helps planners target the real risks.”

The researchers say storm‑specific insights could improve flood resilience, emergency planning and weather forecasting in urban areas.

“Asking whether cities get more or less rain is the wrong question,” Nielsen‑Gammon said. “The right question is which storms are affected, because that’s what determines the risk people actually face on the ground.”

This research was funded by NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy.

By Lesley Henton, Texas A&M University Division of Marketing and Communications

###

Journal

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-026-10479-7

Article Title

Divergent Urban Storm Response to Convective, Frontal, and Tropical Systems

Article Publication Date

20-May-2026

Healthcare is facing a moral emergency, argue experts

Time to restore kindness and compassion in healthcare to improve patient and staff well-being

BMJ Group

Healthcare has lost its human, moral, and relational foundations and must reconnect with its core values to improve both patient and staff well-being, argue experts in The BMJ today.

Despite unprecedented advances in diagnostic precision, therapeutic capability, and computational power, a deep paradox exists, say authors Don Berwick, Maureen Bisognano and Bob Klaber. Patients increasingly feel processed rather than cared for, staff report moral distress and loss of meaning, and the workforce is haemorrhaging people at an unsustainable rate.

The core problem, they write, is that we have accumulated extraordinary technical power while quietly losing the human, moral, and relational foundations of care on which its effectiveness ultimately depends.

Several powerful forces have helped create this imbalance, they explain. For instance, in some countries the pursuit of profit has choked healthcare's moral purpose, while across the globe modern healthcare has become an industrialised system that processes patients through standardised protocols in ways that risk disregarding the unique texture of individual lives.

This has happened through an imbalanced emphasis on a "rational" lexicon (focused on measurement, targets and efficiency) over a "relational" one (concerned with feelings, kindness and human connection).

Yet re-establishing the relational balance is not a sentimental or "soft" approach; it is vital for quality and safety, they argue.

They point to research on NHS culture and behaviour that found organisations where staff felt supported and valued had consistently lower patient death rates, while the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) framework shows that the conditions for increasing joy in work - clarity of purpose, psychological safety, and feeling that what matters to you is actually valued - are both achievable and measurable.

Kindness - linked empirically to better staff retention, higher teamworking scores, and improved patient outcomes - should also be repositioned at the business end of delivering high quality care, they add.

The "What matters to you?" movement, inspired by an article in the New England Journal of Medicine, exemplifies this shift, changing the clinical encounter from a diagnostic focus to a partnership based on the patient's lived reality.

While the forces pulling healthcare away from its human dimension are structural and powerful, they are not irreversible, they say. Every ward round, clinical consultation, and leadership conversation is a small but powerful opportunity for all of us working in healthcare to balance relational practice with rational systems and processes.

The evidence is clear: patients do better and staff thrive when healthcare systems invest in joy, kindness, and compassionate leadership, they write. “We do not need to wait for system reform. We can begin now on our collective leadership challenge to reconnect healthcare with its mission and purpose.”

Journal

The BMJ

DOI

10.1136/bmj.s969

Method of Research

Commentary/editorial

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Healthcare's moral emergency: reconnecting healthcare with its mission and purpose

Article Publication Date

20-May-2026

COI Statement

RK is on the International Editorial Advisory Board for BMJ Leader and is a member of the BMJ Commission on the Future of the NHS. RK is also professor of practice at the School of Public Health, Imperial College London. MB and DB have no competing interests.