Latest News Releases 2 December

MIT Professor Kerry Emanuel has used climate modeling, rather than storm records, to reconstruct the history of hurricanes and tropical cyclones around the world. His study finds that North Atlantic hurricanes have indeed increased in frequency over the last 150 years, similar to what historical records have shown.

Plans to restore Indonesian peatlands are a cost-effective strategy for reducing the impacts of peatland fires to the environment, climate and human health, says a new study. The study, led by the University of Leeds, uses satellite data and models to estimate that peatland restoration could have resulted in economic savings of US$8.4 billion for 2004–2015.

An international team of researchers, in a biometric survey of college students that started before the COVID-19 pandemic, found marked declines in both physical and emotional health one year into the pandemic (spring 2021) — students sustained a 35% decline in their number of daily steps and a 36% increase in the number at risk of clinical depression, or roughly half of the total students surveyed. This after the introduction of vaccines (almost 9 of 10 were fully vaccinated) and the easing of social distancing methods, let alone a return to campuses in many instances

With more than 10% of the world’s population obese and 40% overweight, obesity constitutes one of the most crucial health challenges. However, existing therapeutic options remain scarce and poorly efficient. Few years ago, scientists from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, discovered that the absorptive surface and function of the gut change due to certain external stimuli, such as exposure to cold. Today, by using different mouse models combined with human intestinal biopsies, they decipher the molecular mechanisms that govern this surprising organ plasticity, and uncover that increasing the food amount elevates the intestinal absorptive surface and function. Mechanistically, this is due to the enhanced expression of PPARα, a regulating protein necessary for the overeating-induced increase in the capacity of the gut to absorb calories. Furthermore, if high amounts of food increase the gut absorptive surface, food restriction can reverse the process and return it close to normal. This phenomenon could be reproduced using pharmacological and genetic approaches, thereby suggesting potential avenues to limit obesity. These results can be read in the journal Nature Communications.

More attention must be paid to improving perceptions of emerging technologies like AI-powered symptom checkers, which could ease the strain on health-care systems, according to a recent study.

New data published today suggest that personnel who process reusable medical instruments and equipment may be frequently exposed to tissue, blood, and patient fluids even when wearing recommended personal protective equipment (PPE). The findings, which appear in the American Journal of Infection Control (AJIC), the journal of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), detail the results of a pilot project evaluating splash generation during processing activities in equipment decontamination areas.