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A genetic signature in newborns can predict neonatal sepsis before symptoms even start to show, according to a new study. The study, led by UBC and SFU researchers in collaboration with the Medical Research Council (MRC) Unit The Gambia, has the potential to help healthcare workers diagnose babies earlier, including in lowerand middle-income countries (LMICs) where neonatal sepsis is of particular concern.

What is the "most Canadian" animal' Spoiler: it's not the beaver, or the moose. Published today in the journal The Canadian Field-Naturalist , the study from a team of Simon Fraser researchers ranks, for the first time ever, species of terrestrial vertebrates in Canada by their level of Canadian evolutionary distinctness: the amount of time animals have evolved independently from other Canadian species.

People with opioid use disorder in British Columbia who received methadone had a 37-40 per cent lower rate of treatment discontinuation compared with those who received buprenorphine/naloxone. The new research, published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association , evaluated the risk of treatment discontinuation and mortality in people prescribed opioid agonist treatment (OAT) over a 10-year period.

New research gives another reason to take folic acid supplements while pregnant. A new study by Simon Fraser researchers has found that folate may weaken the link between blood-lead levels in pregnant women and autistic-like behaviours in their children. Researchers from SFU's Faculty of Health Sciences, led by PhD candidate Joshua Alampi, published the study in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

Mammoths, the massive pre-historic ice age cousins of the modern-day elephant, have always been understood to have inhabited parts of British Columbia, but the question of when has always been a bit woolly. Now, a new study from Simon Fraser University has given scientists the clearest picture yet when the giant mammals roamed Vancouver Island.

Sometimes you just can't win, and that goes double for people navigating the increasingly polarized political landscape in the United States. Having nuanced opinions of politics in the U.S. turns out to be a very lonely, and unpopular, road, according to a recent study from a research team that includes assistant professor Aviva Philipp-Muller from Simon Fraser University's Beedie School of Business.

A new study finds sexual minorities still experience a greater burden of mental health and substance use conditions than heterosexual people despite legislative and policy advances and improvements in social attitudes in recent decades. Led by SFU health sciences assistant professor Travis Salway, the study, published in SSM - Population Health , found that inequalities in mental health and substance use conditions between sexual minority and heterosexual populations have not improved since 2003.

Researchers at Simon Fraser University in collaboration with a group from Baylor College of Medicine in Texas have identified a gene that appears to reverse Parkinson's disease symptoms in fruit flies. SFU's Verheyen lab discovered that increasing the amount of the fruit fly Cdk8 gene in flies with Parkinson's causes the disease's symptoms to reverse.

Women are more likely than men to avoid jogging in the woods due to fear of attack or spotty cell service, according to a new study published by researchers at Simon Fraser University (SFU). Many studies have shown the health benefits of running, for both physical and psychological wellbeing. The researchers hope that, by identifying the features that are attractive to runners, they can help policymakers create environments that will promote an active and healthy lifestyle.

Rapid increases in housing costs have taken a toll on people, including their health, according to Simon Fraser University (SFU) health sciences researchers. A new systematic review of 23 studies, published in BMC Public Health, on the impact of housing prices on health finds that such changes can both positively and negatively impact people's health.

Listening to music benefits older adults' cognitive health, even if it's music they haven't heard before or don't enjoy very much, according to a study by Simon Fraser University and Health Research BC researchers. Led by SFU neuroscientist Sarah Faber, the study published in Network Neuroscience discovered that listening to music activates brain regions linked to reward in older adults, regardless of their familiarity with the music.

Robotics engineers have worked for decades and invested many millions of research dollars in attempts to create a robot that can walk or run as well as an animal. And yet, it remains the case that many animals are capable of feats that would be impossible for robots that exist today.

People are as hesitant to reach out to an old friend as they are to strike up a conversation with a stranger, even when they have the capacity and desire to do so, according to a new joint study by researchers at Simon Fraser University (SFU) and the University of Sussex. Published this morning in Nature Communications Psychology , a paper by co-authors SFU Professor Lara Aknin and Gillian Sandstrom at the University of Sussex in Brighton (U.K.), looks at whether and why people are reluctant to reach out to rekindle old relationships.

A study by Simon Fraser University psychologists that examined different facets of mindfulness in Canadians has found that youth and adolescents are more likely to display traits of self-judgment and have worse mental health, including anxiety, depression and stress. By contrast, older participants were found to be more likely to be mindful and focus their attention on the present moment, observing themselves and others without judgment.

Former prisoners with substance use and co-occurring disorders are at an alarmingly high risk of reincarceration, according to a new Simon Fraser University-led study. The study found that 72 per cent of people with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders, and 70 per cent of people with substance use disorders alone, returned to prison within three years of release.

It's not quite the fountain of youth, but researchers from Simon Fraser University and BC Cancer have pinpointed the specific physiological traits that can help people live longer, healthier lives. According to a study published in the journal GeroScience , the very healthiest of older adults in Canada fell within a "sweet spot", or optimal value, for more than 100 different physiological traits, compared to less healthy people of the same age.

There is an urgent need for mental health supports and interventions for youth in British Columbia, according to the results of a new report led by Simon Fraser University. The recently released report , which surveyed nearly 15,000 youth in the province, found half of 15- to 17-year-olds indicated that their mental health was fair or poor and nearly 40 per cent screened positive for depression (38 per cent) and generalized anxiety (39 per cent).

A new study from Simon Fraser researchers examines the Canadian military's efforts to reduce the impacts of underwater noise pollution on species during training exercises in the Pacific Ocean but caveat that more can still be done. The paper, published today in Marine Policy , takes aim at a report commissioned by the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND) to reduce the effects of noise pollution from military small-arms munitions training within "Whiskey Hotel", a 330-square-kilometre area in the Strait of Juan de Fuca off the British Columbia coast.

Simon Fraser researchers studying the evolutionary history of flu viruses have found that a new quantitative analysis of how they evolved may help predict future strains. The research draws on a field known as phylogenetics, which focuses on how groups of organisms are evolutionarily related, and is published in the journal Science Advances.

Simon Fraser researchers are learning more about how the scenarios for head impacts in hockey-from player clashes to contact with the boards or glass-affect impact severity. Their findings, reported in the journal Scientific Reports , should help to inform improvements in injury prevention. In a follow-up to their previous study on how hockey head impacts occur, researchers returned to a Burnaby rink to follow 43 university men's hockey players over another three seasons (2016-2019).