Latest news with #UC_Davis
The Independent
2 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
Eating this popular fruit daily may support postmenopausal heart and metabolic health
Eating fresh mango every day may help to boost women's postmenopausal heart and metabolic health, researchers said Tuesday. They found that eating about 1.5 cups of the sweet fruit a day for two weeks significantly reduced blood pressure and cholesterol among postmenopausal women living with obesity. Both blood pressure and cholesterol are key indicators of heart health. 'Risk factors like high blood pressure and unhealthy cholesterol are key contributors to cardiovascular disease, but a nutrient-rich diet that includes fresh fruit, like mango, has long been shown to help reduce those risks,' Dr. Roberta Holt, an associate researcher at UC Davis, said in a statement. 'This study shows that even short-term changes — like eating fresh mangos daily — can make a measurable impact on chronic disease risk in certain populations.' Holt was a co-author of the research which was published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Nutrition Association. The study was supported through an unrestricted grant from the National Mango Board, although the board had no influence over the study. To reach these conclusions, they examined the health of 24 women between the ages of 50 to 70 years old who were overweight or obese. Before the study period, the authors instructed them to refrain from eating mangos. Over two weeks, the researchers collected baseline measurements, measurements when consumption began during a second visit to their lab, and then more measurements at the third visit. The women ate mangos in the mornings and the evenings. Two hours after consumption, their resting blood pressure dropped and there was a reduction in average arterial pressure. After consuming mangos every day for two weeks, their total cholesterol was slashed by nearly 13 points and their bad cholesterol dropped by the same amount. A smaller follow-up with just six participants from the initial study examined insulin and sugar levels after eating the same amount of mango with 83 grams of white bread. The researchers found the women's blood sugar levels rose significantly less after eating mango than after eating white bread. Insulin levels also responded more favorably to mango. Although mangos are high in natural sugar compared to other fruits, they also provide crucial vitamins and other nutrients. Additional research is needed to determine the effects of mango consumption of heart and metabolic health, but the benefits could aid the 1.3 million U.S. women undergoing menopause: a period when the risk of heart disease rises significantly. Women spend up to 40 percent of their lives in this life stage, and nearly half of American women are affected by cardiovascular disease. 'Post-menopausal women face distinct metabolic changes that can impact their risk of developing cardiovascular disease,' said Holt. 'These findings help to identify targeted dietary strategies, like eating fresh mangos daily, to aid this at-risk population and support cardiovascular wellness and potential reductions in chronic disease risk.'
CBS News
4 days ago
- General
- CBS News
Davis stabbings suspect Carlos Dominguez expected to take the stand Monday
Davis stabbing suspect to take the stand on Monday Davis stabbing suspect to take the stand on Monday Davis stabbing suspect to take the stand on Monday The former UC Davis student accused of going on a deadly stabbing spree is expected to take the stand this week. Carlos Dominguez is set to testify Monday. He has pleaded not guilty in the 2023 stabbings that left two people dead and a third injured. Legal expert Mark Reichel says putting a defendant on the stand in a high-profile case like this is unique. "Anytime someone takes the stand its unusual. But I'm not saying it's a last stitch effort; it may be a very powerful tool by the defense specifical because the jury gets to hear from him and see him," Reichel said. Previously, the trial was put on pause after Dominguez was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Once the trial resumed earlier in 2025, after he was found competent to stand trial, Dominguez has remained stoic and quiet in the courtroom. "He'll get the opportunity to explain it in his own words and it's much better than your lawyer trying to explain it," Reichel said. The attacks spanned across several days, rocking the community of Davis and leaving David Breaux – known in the community as the "Compassion Guy" – and 20-year-old UC Davis student Karim Abou Najm dead. Kimberlee Guillory survived the attacks. She testified in the trial earlier in May. Among the other people who have testified in the case include a former professor of Dominguez as well as an ex-girlfriend. Prosecutors have said they will not be seeking the death penalty against Dominguez if he is convicted.
Independent Singapore
4 days ago
- Business
- Independent Singapore
Trump's brain drain is America's loss, but could be the world's biggest win
INTERNATIONAL: There was a time when Danielle Beckman viewed the United States as the apex of opportunity for researchers and experts. A neuroscientist from Brazil, Beckman accomplished her ultimate desire in 2017 when she joined the California National Primate Research Centre at UC Davis. 'Coming to the US was always the dream,' Beckman said. 'It was always the place to be, where there's the biggest investment in science.' But just a few years later, according to a recent CNN report, that dream has disintegrated. Amid comprehensive slashes to research subsidies, government meddling in academia, and anti-immigrant pomposity, Beckman is now prepared to leave the U.S. Her laboratory has already lost $2.5 million in revoked endowments, and she's now exploring prospects in Germany and France. 'It's the first time since I moved here that I don't feel so welcome anymore,' she said. Beckman is not alone. A rising migration of academics and field experts is in progress, as top inventors and professors in different disciplines are searching for new homes for their work, and their families in nations where science is still guarded and treasured. Countries rush to recruit U.S. scientists As America's academic setting becomes increasingly antagonistic, other countries are making the most of the opportunity. The European Union has guaranteed €500 million ($562 million) to turn Europe into a centre for banished researchers. France is initiating a 'Safe Place for Science' package in Marseille to admit targeted or repressed researchers. In the meantime, Canada, Norway, Singapore, and Australia all have activated parallel endeavours to entice superior talent from the U.S. 'We know these individuals are highly trained, talented, and have much to offer,' said Anna-Maria Arabia, CEO of the Australian Academy of Science. Her group is one of the many tapping into what she calls a 'global hunger' for scientific proficiency, now bolting away from the U.S. in hordes. These worldwide initiatives mark a dramatic setback to the established brain gain America has relished for a long time. The damage, experts caution, could change the global scenario of innovation and research direction. Funding slashed, freedoms threatened, and the toll of Trump's policies. As he entered his second term, President Donald Trump has overturned the connection between the federal government and America's primary research institutions. Federal backing for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF)—once pillars of worldwide systematic management—has been reduced by billions. Nearly 700 NIH endowments totalling $1.8 billion were lost in just a few weeks earlier this year. The Trump government has also planned a 40% decrease in the NIH's 2026 budget. Simultaneously, leading academies like Harvard are embattled for their refusal to pull apart diversity and inclusion agendas. The administration immobilised billions in federal financing and barred Harvard from registering transnational students, a verdict which was swiftly reversed by a federal judge. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt justified the government's rerouting of resources, saying they will coddle 'trade schools and state programs promoting American values,' while disparaging 'LGBTQ graduate majors from Harvard University.' The message is clear: The U.S. government is becoming increasingly unreceptive and antagonistic to independent science, global students, and the type of academic autonomy that once demarcated its universal standing. The collapse of U.S. scientific leadership? For many decades, the U.S. has long been the world's research steamroller, behind more than 400 Nobel Prizes, many earned by émigrés, and boosted by approximately a trillion dollars in yearly public and private R&D investment. Today, that reputation is now in jeopardy. China, with more than $780 billion in yearly R&D outlay, is quickly closing the innovation gap. The European Union's R&D investments have increased by 50% over the past decade and a half. These nations are now better positioned to engage the world's superior minds. See also Speaker of the House seat up for grabs again The consequence is a flashpoint. Based on a Nature survey from March, 75% of U.S. researchers said they're contemplating exiting the country due to the Trump administration's guidelines. Others, like Yale professors Jason Stanley, Marci Shore, and Timothy Snyder, distinguished academics of fascism, have already transferred to Canada. 'What we are losing is this whole cadre of highly productive, young, energetic, well-trained, knowledgeable, advanced researchers,' cautioned Kenneth Wong, an expert education policy professional at Brown University. 'It's a complete reset of the collaborative relationship between the federal government and our leading research institutions.' For Beckman, whose study centres on how diseases like COVID-19 impact the brain, the choice is now less about politics and more about endurance and survival. 'There is interest in virology everywhere in the world except the U.S. right now,' she said. As the world welcomes U.S.-trained scientists, the question is: will America mend from the impairment, or relinquish its scientific advantage for good?
CNN
5 days ago
- Business
- CNN
The US has long been a research powerhouse. After Trump's cuts, other countries are stepping in
Growing up in Brazil, neuroscientist Danielle Beckman always dreamed of moving to the US for work. So, in 2017, when Beckman got the opportunity to work at the California National Primate Research Center at UC Davis, she jumped on it. 'I was so excited,' she recalled. 'Coming to the US was always the dream. It was always the place to be, where there's the biggest investment in science.' But months into President Donald Trump's second term, as his administration wages an unprecedented war on the country's top universities and research institutions, Beckman no longer sees the US as a welcome home for her or her research, which focuses on how viral infections like Covid-19 affect the brain. She told CNN she now plans to move and is looking at opportunities in Germany and France. Beckman is part of a growing wave of academics, scientists and researchers leaving the US in what many are warning could be the biggest brain drain the country has seen in decades. But America's loss could be the rest of the world's gain. As the Trump administration freezes and slashes billions of dollars in research funding, meddles with curricula, and threatens international students' ability to study in the US, governments, universities and research institutions in Canada, Europe and Asia are racing to attract fleeing talent. The European Union pledged €500 million ($562 million) over the next three years 'to make Europe a magnet for researchers.' A university in Marseille, France, is wooing persecuted academics under a new program called a 'Safe Place for Science.' Canada's largest health research organization is investing 30 million Canadian dollars ($21.8 million) to attract 100 scientists early in their careers from the US and elsewhere. The Research Council of Norway launched a 100 million kroner ($9.8 million) fund to lure new researchers. The president of Singapore's Nanyang Technological University recently told a crowd at a higher education summit the school is identifying 'superstar' US researchers and making them offers as soon as the next day. The Australian Academy of Science also launched a new talent program to recruit disillusioned US-based scientists and lure Australians back home. 'We know these individuals are highly trained, talented, and have much to offer,' said Anna-Maria Arabia, chief executive of the academy, noting the program has received 'encouraging interest' so far. Arabia told CNN the flood of institutions rushing to fill the void left by US funding cuts reflects a 'global hunger' for science and technology professionals. 'It's vitally important that science can continue without ideological interference,' Arabia said. The US has long been a powerhouse when it comes to research and development, attracting talent from far afield with its big budgets, high salaries and swanky labs. Since the 1960s, US government expenditure in research and development (R&D) has more than doubled from $58 billion in 1961 to almost $160 billion in 2024 (in inflation-adjusted dollars), according to federal data. When incorporating R&D funding from the private sector, that number balloons to more than an estimated $900 billion in 2023. The US's enormous investment in R&D has led to an outsized influence on the world stage. The US has racked up more than 400 Nobel Prizes, more than double the amount of the next country, the United Kingdom. More than a third of the US's prizes were won by immigrants. 'We have been respected worldwide for decades because we have trained succeeding generations of researchers who are pushing into new territories,' said Kenneth Wong, a professor of education policy at Brown University. But Trump's second term has upended the relationship between higher education and the federal government. Trump's gutting of federal health and science agencies has led to sweeping job losses and funding cuts, including at the National Institutes of Health, which funds nearly $50 billion in medical research each year at universities, hospitals and scientific institutions. Between the end of February and the beginning of April, the administration cancelled almost 700 NIH grants totaling $1.8 billion, according to an analysis in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The Trump administration has proposed reducing the NIH's budget in 2026 by 40%. The National Science Foundation has also slashed nearly $1.4 billion worth of grants. On Wednesday, 16 US states sued the Trump administration over the NSF cuts, which they argue will impede 'groundbreaking scientific research' and '(jeopardize) national security, the economy and public health.' Trump has also targeted elite universities and is in the middle of a legal battle with Harvard University over its refusal to bow to his administration's directives to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs, resulting in billions in frozen federal funding. That battle significantly escalated this month when Trump banned Harvard's ability to enroll international students – a decision swiftly halted by a federal judge hours after Harvard filed suit. This week, the White House directed federal agencies to cancel all remaining contracts with Harvard. 'The president is more interested in giving that taxpayer money to trade schools and programs and state schools where they are promoting American values, but most importantly, educating the next generation based on skills that we need in our economy and our society: apprenticeships, electricians, plumbers,' White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News this week. 'We need more of those in our country, and less LGBTQ graduate majors from Harvard University.' Foreign institutions have already jumped on the chance to welcome Harvard students now caught in legal limbo. On Monday, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology said it will accept any Harvard students that wish to transfer, as well as prospective students with a current offer from Harvard. 'I see this as the most significant crisis that universities are facing since World War Two,' Wong said. 'We are seeing a complete reset of this collaborative relationship between the federal government and leading research institutions.' Once the beacon of scientific research, the US has now become an increasingly hostile place to study, teach, and do research. Three quarters of US scientists surveyed by the journal Nature in March said they were considering leaving because of the Trump administration's policies. Some have already jumped ship. Yale professors Jason Stanley, Marci Shore and Timothy Snyder, preeminent fascism scholars, announced in March they were leaving for the University of Toronto across the border in Canada because of Trump's affronts to academic freedom. Beckman, the Brazilian neuroscientist, said her lab has seen $2.5 million in grant funding cancelled in recent months. On top of these funding woes, Beckman said the Trump administration's crackdown on immigrants, and shifting attitudes towards foreigners in the US, has also pushed her to look for work elsewhere. 'It's the first time since I moved here that I don't feel so welcome anymore,' she said. As the US research ecosystem responds to shrinking budgets and intrusions on academic freedom, early-career scientists are going to be hardest hit, Wong said. But younger researchers are also more mobile, and institutions around the world are welcoming them with open arms. 'What we are losing is this whole cadre of highly productive, young, energetic, well-trained, knowledgeable, advanced researchers who are primed to take off,' Wong said. Other countries have long deprioritized investment in scientific research as the US absorbed the R&D needs of the world, Wong said. But that trend is shifting. R&D spending in China has surged in recent decades, and the country is close to narrowing the gap with the US. China spent more than $780 billion on R&D in 2023, according to OECD data. The European Union is also spending more on R&D. R&D investment in the bloc has increased from about $336 billion in 2007 to $504 billion in 2023, according to the OECD. For a couple of months, Beckman said she considered stepping away from her Covid-19 research, which has become increasingly politicized under the Trump administration. But then she started getting interviews at institutions in other countries. 'There is interest in virology everywhere in the world except the US right now.'
CNN
5 days ago
- Business
- CNN
The US has long been a research powerhouse. After Trump's cuts, other countries are stepping in
Growing up in Brazil, neuroscientist Danielle Beckman always dreamed of moving to the US for work. So, in 2017, when Beckman got the opportunity to work at the California National Primate Research Center at UC Davis, she jumped on it. 'I was so excited,' she recalled. 'Coming to the US was always the dream. It was always the place to be, where there's the biggest investment in science.' But months into President Donald Trump's second term, as his administration wages an unprecedented war on the country's top universities and research institutions, Beckman no longer sees the US as a welcome home for her or her research, which focuses on how viral infections like Covid-19 affect the brain. She told CNN she now plans to move and is looking at opportunities in Germany and France. Beckman is part of a growing wave of academics, scientists and researchers leaving the US in what many are warning could be the biggest brain drain the country has seen in decades. But America's loss could be the rest of the world's gain. As the Trump administration freezes and slashes billions of dollars in research funding, meddles with curricula, and threatens international students' ability to study in the US, governments, universities and research institutions in Canada, Europe and Asia are racing to attract fleeing talent. The European Union pledged €500 million ($562 million) over the next three years 'to make Europe a magnet for researchers.' A university in Marseille, France, is wooing persecuted academics under a new program called a 'Safe Place for Science.' Canada's largest health research organization is investing 30 million Canadian dollars ($21.8 million) to attract 100 scientists early in their careers from the US and elsewhere. The Research Council of Norway launched a 100 million kroner ($9.8 million) fund to lure new researchers. The president of Singapore's Nanyang Technological University recently told a crowd at a higher education summit the school is identifying 'superstar' US researchers and making them offers as soon as the next day. The Australian Academy of Science also launched a new talent program to recruit disillusioned US-based scientists and lure Australians back home. 'We know these individuals are highly trained, talented, and have much to offer,' said Anna-Maria Arabia, chief executive of the academy, noting the program has received 'encouraging interest' so far. Arabia told CNN the flood of institutions rushing to fill the void left by US funding cuts reflects a 'global hunger' for science and technology professionals. 'It's vitally important that science can continue without ideological interference,' Arabia said. The US has long been a powerhouse when it comes to research and development, attracting talent from far afield with its big budgets, high salaries and swanky labs. Since the 1960s, US government expenditure in research and development (R&D) has more than doubled from $58 billion in 1961 to almost $160 billion in 2024 (in inflation-adjusted dollars), according to federal data. When incorporating R&D funding from the private sector, that number balloons to more than an estimated $900 billion in 2023. The US's enormous investment in R&D has led to an outsized influence on the world stage. The US has racked up more than 400 Nobel Prizes, more than double the amount of the next country, the United Kingdom. More than a third of the US's prizes were won by immigrants. 'We have been respected worldwide for decades because we have trained succeeding generations of researchers who are pushing into new territories,' said Kenneth Wong, a professor of education policy at Brown University. But Trump's second term has upended the relationship between higher education and the federal government. Trump's gutting of federal health and science agencies has led to sweeping job losses and funding cuts, including at the National Institutes of Health, which funds nearly $50 billion in medical research each year at universities, hospitals and scientific institutions. Between the end of February and the beginning of April, the administration cancelled almost 700 NIH grants totaling $1.8 billion, according to an analysis in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The Trump administration has proposed reducing the NIH's budget in 2026 by 40%. The National Science Foundation has also slashed nearly $1.4 billion worth of grants. On Wednesday, 16 US states sued the Trump administration over the NSF cuts, which they argue will impede 'groundbreaking scientific research' and '(jeopardize) national security, the economy and public health.' Trump has also targeted elite universities and is in the middle of a legal battle with Harvard University over its refusal to bow to his administration's directives to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs, resulting in billions in frozen federal funding. That battle significantly escalated this month when Trump banned Harvard's ability to enroll international students – a decision swiftly halted by a federal judge hours after Harvard filed suit. This week, the White House directed federal agencies to cancel all remaining contracts with Harvard. 'The president is more interested in giving that taxpayer money to trade schools and programs and state schools where they are promoting American values, but most importantly, educating the next generation based on skills that we need in our economy and our society: apprenticeships, electricians, plumbers,' White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News this week. 'We need more of those in our country, and less LGBTQ graduate majors from Harvard University.' Foreign institutions have already jumped on the chance to welcome Harvard students now caught in legal limbo. On Monday, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology said it will accept any Harvard students that wish to transfer, as well as prospective students with a current offer from Harvard. 'I see this as the most significant crisis that universities are facing since World War Two,' Wong said. 'We are seeing a complete reset of this collaborative relationship between the federal government and leading research institutions.' Once the beacon of scientific research, the US has now become an increasingly hostile place to study, teach, and do research. Three quarters of US scientists surveyed by the journal Nature in March said they were considering leaving because of the Trump administration's policies. Some have already jumped ship. Yale professors Jason Stanley, Marci Shore and Timothy Snyder, preeminent fascism scholars, announced in March they were leaving for the University of Toronto across the border in Canada because of Trump's affronts to academic freedom. Beckman, the Brazilian neuroscientist, said her lab has seen $2.5 million in grant funding cancelled in recent months. On top of these funding woes, Beckman said the Trump administration's crackdown on immigrants, and shifting attitudes towards foreigners in the US, has also pushed her to look for work elsewhere. 'It's the first time since I moved here that I don't feel so welcome anymore,' she said. As the US research ecosystem responds to shrinking budgets and intrusions on academic freedom, early-career scientists are going to be hardest hit, Wong said. But younger researchers are also more mobile, and institutions around the world are welcoming them with open arms. 'What we are losing is this whole cadre of highly productive, young, energetic, well-trained, knowledgeable, advanced researchers who are primed to take off,' Wong said. Other countries have long deprioritized investment in scientific research as the US absorbed the R&D needs of the world, Wong said. But that trend is shifting. R&D spending in China has surged in recent decades, and the country is close to narrowing the gap with the US. China spent more than $780 billion on R&D in 2023, according to OECD data. The European Union is also spending more on R&D. R&D investment in the bloc has increased from about $336 billion in 2007 to $504 billion in 2023, according to the OECD. For a couple of months, Beckman said she considered stepping away from her Covid-19 research, which has become increasingly politicized under the Trump administration. But then she started getting interviews at institutions in other countries. 'There is interest in virology everywhere in the world except the US right now.'
