Study finds 'staggering increase' in methamphetamine deaths tied to opioid co-use

Many meth-related deaths are also tied to heroin and/or fentanyl, a new study finds.     
Graphic Credit: Michael B. Vincent

The U.S. methamphetamine mortality rate increased fiftyfold between 1999 and 2021, with most of the added deaths also involving heroin or fentanyl, researchers report in the American Journal of Public Health.

“We looked at trends from 1999 to 2021 and we saw this staggering increase in methamphetamine mortality accompanied by a proportional increase in those deaths that also involved heroin or fentanyl,” said Rachel Hoopsick, a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign professor of kinesiology and community health who led the research.

According to data collected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 608 deaths were attributed to methamphetamine use in 1999.  That number increased to 52,397 in 2021. Hoopsick and R. Andrew Yockey at the University of Texas, Fort Worth, found that 61.2% of the methamphetamine overdose deaths in 2021 co-involved heroin or fentanyl. Much of the increase in methamphetamine-related mortality occurred between 2010 and 2021 and is showing no sign of abating, Hoopsick said.

Astrophysics: Scientists Observe High-Speed Star Formation

Observation of the Cygnus X Region with the flying observatory SOFIA revealed that stars form there more quickly than previously assumed.
Resized Image using AI by SFLORG
Image Credit: NASA Spitzer/IRAC MIPS, USRA/SOFIA (L. Proudfit, L. Bonne) and University of Cologne (N. Schneider

Gas clouds in the Cygnus X Region, a region where stars form, are composed of a dense core of molecular hydrogen (H2) and an atomic shell. These ensembles of clouds interact with each other dynamically in order to quickly form new stars. That is the result of observations conducted by an international team led by scientists at the University of Cologne’s Institute of Astrophysics and at the University of Maryland. Until now, it was unclear how this process precisely unfolds. The Cygnus X region is a vast luminous cloud of gas and dust approximately 5,000 light years from Earth. Using observations of spectral lines of ionized carbon (CII), the scientists showed that the clouds have formed there over several million years, which is a fast process by astronomical standards. The results of the study ‘Ionized carbon as a tracer for the assembly of interstellar clouds’ will appear in the next issue of Nature Astronomy. The paper is already accessible online.

The observations were carried out in an international project led by Dr Nicola Schneider at the University of Cologne and Prof Alexander Tielens at the University of Maryland as part of the FEEDBACK program on board the flying observatory SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy). The new findings modify previous perceptions that this specific process of star formation is quasi-static and quite slow. The dynamic formation process now observed would also explain the formation of particularly massive stars.

Black mosses reveal climate change effects on Antarctic glaciers

As glaciers in Antarctica have melted, previously ice-entombed black mosses have been exposed. A team led by University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa researchers conducted extensive analyses on these mosses discovered in the northern Antarctic Peninsula, which revealed sensitive glacier behavioral responses to the climate over the past 1,500 years.

The findings, published in the Geological Society of America journal Geology, the top-ranked publication in the field of geological sciences, provide a clearer picture of climate and ice history in the region.

The principal investigator on the project is David W. Beilman, professor and undergraduate chair of the Department of Geography and Environment in UH Mānoa’s College of Social Sciences.

“The Antarctic Peninsula is a high-biodiversity coastal ecosystem that is one of the richest breeding grounds for penguins, seals and seabirds in the continent. What happens there has global impact including the influence of sea-level rise as ice melts,” said Beilman. “There are great scientific models of glacial expansion and recession, but much less is known about what happens on the ground at sea level where ice, ocean and sensitive coastal life intersect. Our field research addresses this gap and improves our understanding of these ecosystems and the changes resulting from polar warming.”

Researchers Uncover Mechanisms of Brexanolone and the Role of Inflammation in Post-partum Depression

Post-partum depression (PPD) develops after childbirth
Photo Credit: Iuliia Bondarenko

A research collaboration between clinical and preclinical investigators in the Department of Psychiatry at the UNC School of Medicine, has found that a drug for post-partum depression works by inhibiting systemic inflammatory pathways.

Post-partum depression (PPD) develops after childbirth and affects both the mother’s and the infant’s health by preventing healthy bonding. Women with PPD experience intense anxiety, feelings of depression, sleeplessness, inability to care for their child, and risk for suicide.

Brexanolone, an IV infusion comprised of a derivative of progesterone, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of PPD in 2019. The fast-acting medication significantly reduces depression symptoms and provides effects for up to 90 days. However, exactly how the drug provides these therapeutic effects has remained a mystery – until now.

A research team led by A. Leslie Morrow, PhD, the John Andrews Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Pharmacology in the UNC School of Medicine, has found that brexanolone works within the body by inhibiting the key systemic inflammatory pathways that are associated with depression. The new finding is monumental in that it suggests that PPD is likely caused, at least in part, by inflammation.

Studying ship tracks to inform climate intervention decision-makers

Sandia National Laboratories statistician Lyndsay Shand stands in front of a satellite image of ship tracks. Ship tracks are an unintentional example of one method to reflect some sunlight back to space before its heat is absorbed.
Photo Credit: Craig Fritz

Sandia scientists develop computer tools to study inadvertent marine cloud brightening

To understand how these ship tracks move and dissipate, the scientists created a mathematical model of ship tracks and how long they last, which they shared in a paper recently published in the scientific journal Environmental Data Science.

“Ship exhaust is an example of aerosol injections into the lower atmosphere, impacting the local environment, and is a daily occurrence,” said Lyndsay Shand, a Sandia statistician and the project lead. “We’ve been developing analytical tools to understand exhaust impacts on clouds from observational data collected by satellites. For example, we can locate a newly formed ship track and follow its evolution to better understand how it affects the local marine environment over time. We have found ship tracks to persist for more than 24 hours, longer than previously documented.”

Researchers aim to bring humans back into the loop, as AI use and misuse rises

U-M researchers aim to bring humans back into the loop, as AI use and misuse rises
Image Credit: Gerd Altmann

Artificial intelligence is dominating headlines—enabling new innovations that drive business performance—yet the negative implications for society are an afterthought.

How can humans get back into the loop in the quest toward a better society for all?

A trans-Atlantic team of researchers, including two from the University of Michigan, has reviewed information systems research on what’s known as the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” and found an overwhelming focus on technology-enabled business benefits.

The focus means far less attention is being paid to societal implications—what the researchers refer to as “the increasing risk and damage to humans.”

“We’re talking about AI the wrong way—focusing on technology not people—moving us away from the things we want, such as better medications, elder care and safety regulations, and toward the things we don’t, like harmful deepfakes, job losses and biased decision making,” said Nigel Melville, associate professor of technology and operations at U-M’s Ross School of Business and design science program director.

Experts have discovered how zebra stripes work

Horse with black and white patterned blanket
Photo Credit: Martin How

Researchers at the University of Bristol have found why zebra fur is thinly striped and sharply outlined.

Their findings, published today in the Journal of Experimental Biology, reveal that stark black-white distinctions and small dark patches are particularly effective in thwarting horsefly attack. These characteristics specifically eliminate the outline of large monochrome dark patches that are attractive to horseflies at close distances.

The team theorizes that the thin back stripes serve to minimize the size of local features on a zebra that are appealing to the biting flies.

The research was led by Professor Tim Caro and Dr Martin How both from the University of Bristol’s School of Biological Sciences.

 Prof Caro explained: “We knew that horseflies are averse to landing on striped objects - a number of studies have now shown this, but it is not clear which aspects of stripes they find aversive.

Stealth surveillance system uses radio astronomy technology to detect artificial objects in space

Photo Credit: ICRAR Curtin

Researchers from the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) have developed a low cost, portable sensor system which can be used to detect space junk, satellites, and aircraft.

The portable Space Domain Awareness (SDA) project is part of a Collaborative Research Grant funded by the Government of Western Australia’s Defense Science Centre.   Developed by researchers from ICRAR’s Curtin University node, the SDA project translates the technologies used in radio astronomy to create an inexpensive, flexible, and portable passive radar system.

Unlike conventional radar systems, which deliberately transmit a known signal, a passive radar system makes use of third-party transmissions such as broadcast radio and TV signals to detect objects without revealing its own existence.

Associate Professor Randall Wayth from ICRAR-Curtin is the project’s lead researcher and says the 32-antenna system could be configured for several different applications.

“Our system is highly portable, sensitive, and invisible to many typical or commercial detection systems, making it ideal for deployment in remote environments and Defense scenarios,” said Associate Professor Wayth.

Geckos know their own odor

Objects of the study of the researchers of the University of Bern were Tokay geckos (Gekko gecko).
Photo Credit: © Francesca Angiolani

Geckos can use their tongue to differentiate their own odor from that of other members of their species, as researchers from the University of Bern have shown in a new experimental study. The findings show that geckos are able to communicate socially, meaning that they are more intelligent than was previously assumed.

Self-recognition is the ability to detect stimuli which come from oneself. We as people, and also some animals, can identify ourselves visually when we look in the mirror. However, not all animals rely on their sense of sight, first and foremost. Geckos, and also other lizards and snakes, use their tongues to perceive chemicals, so-called pheromones, from other individuals. For instance, when climbing a wall, geckos pause every so often to dart their tongues around. This enables them to detect potential partners or rivals. But can geckos also detect their own odor and recognize themselves by smell?

In a study recently published in the journal Animal Cognition, researchers at the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the University of Bern focused on whether Tokay geckos can detect skin chemicals that they themselves produce, and whether they can discriminate between these chemicals and those of other geckos of the same sex. The experiments confirmed that geckos are capable of this. During the tests, the animals were more interested in the skin chemicals of other geckos than in their own. This shows that geckos use pheromones for social communication.

New antioxidants found in beef, chicken, and pork!

Establishment of a highly sensitive detection method for imidazole dipeptide oxidation derivatives
Illustration Credit: Hideshi Ihara, Osaka Metropolitan University

Antioxidants discovered in meat! Osaka Metropolitan University researchers developed a new protocol for selective and highly sensitive detection, discovering five types of 2-oxo-imidazole-containing dipeptides(2-oxo-IDPs) using mass spectrometry. The 2-oxo-IDPs, present in living organisms, exhibit very high antioxidant activity, and were found to be abundant in meat including beef, pork, and chicken.

Osaka, Japan – Imidazole dipeptides (IDPs), which are abundant in meat and fish, are substances produced in the bodies of various animals, including humans, and have been reported to be effective in relieving fatigue and preventing dementia. However, the physiological mechanism by which IDPs exhibit these activities had not been determined previously.

A research team, led by Professor Hideshi Ihara from the Osaka Metropolitan University Graduate School of Science, was the first to discover 2-oxo-imidazole-containing dipeptides (2-oxo-IDPs)—which have one more oxygen atom than normal IDPs—and found that they are the most common variety of IDPs derivatives in the body. The researchers also found that they have remarkably high antioxidant activity.