Agencies

Survivor Assistance Available at Several Locations

Published: 30 May 2025
Categories: FEMA News

RSS feed source: Federal Emergency Management Agency

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The state of Arkansas, FEMA and the U.S. Small Business Administration have added four new sites that offer face-to-face help for residents affected by the March 14-15 and April 2-22 severe storms, tornadoes and flooding. Hours are also extended at some sites.

Homeowners and renters in the impacted counties may be eligible for FEMA disaster assistance for losses not covered by insurance. Specialists are available to help you apply for FEMA assistance, review your existing application and submit documents needed to move your application forward.

The new locations and extended hours include:

CRITTENDEN COUNTY

Roberta Jackson Neighborhood Center

1300 Polk Avenue, West Memphis, AR 72301

Regular Hours: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. May 30 and June 2 to June 4; closed Saturday and Sunday

West Memphis City Hall

205 South Redding, West Memphis, AR 72301

Regular Hours: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. May 31 only 

Earle City Hall                                                                                       

1005 2nd Street, Earle, AR 72331 

Regular Hours: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. June 2 to June 4

CRAIGHEAD COUNTY

Lake City – City Hall

406 Court Street; Lake City, AR 72437 

Regular Hours: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. June 2 to June 4

DESHA COUNTY

McGhee Municipal Complex

901 Holly Street, McGhee, AR 71654

Regular Hours: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. May 30 to May 31 and June 2 to June 4

SHARP COUNTY

Hardy Fire Station

203 Church Street, Hardy, AR 72542

Days: May 30 to May 31 and June 2 to June 7 

Hours: 9 a.m. to 6

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NSF advanced computing accelerates preeclampsia research and potential treatments

Published: 30 May 2025
Categories: National Science Foundation

RSS feed source: Federal Emergency Management Agency

Each year, preeclampsia—a life-threatening pregnancy complication—affects nearly 1 in 25 expectant mothers in the United States. Emerging suddenly after 20 weeks of pregnancy, it can lead to dangerously high blood pressure, premature birth, and long-term health issues for both mother and baby. Despite its severity, the root causes of preeclampsia remain poorly understood, and treatment options are limited.

Currently, the only effective treatment for preeclampsia is early delivery of the placenta, which often leads to premature birth and associated health risks for the baby. While researchers know the placenta plays a central role in the disease, the exact causes of its dysfunction remain unclear. This lack of understanding makes preeclampsia difficult to predict, prevent, or treat effectively.

Researchers at UC San Diego are tackling these challenges with help from NSF-supported computational resources. The team leveraged advanced computing systems like the San Diego Supercomputer Center’s Expanse to conduct large-scale RNA sequencing analysis to compare placental tissue from healthy and preeclamptic pregnancies—processing terabytes of next-generation sequencing data to identify genes that behave differently in the disease.

Expanse also enabled the team to develop a model system of preeclampsia using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which allows scientists to recreate the disease in the lab and observe how stress conditions like low oxygen affect placental development. By replicating these abnormal conditions, the team identified biological pathways—like inflammation and

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Learning occurs quicker than thought, according to brain imaging

Published: 29 May 2025
Categories: National Science Foundation

RSS feed source: Federal Emergency Management Agency

Researchers supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation have provided a new understanding of how and where learning occurs in the brain. The two-part finding has implications for understanding and treating neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and other dementias, which impact more than 7 million people in the United States and account for $384 billion in health and long-term care costs, as well as for enhancing neural networks.

“Identifying how the brain actually forms new connections and learns is a question at the frontier of neuroscience,” said Paul Forlano, program officer in the NSF Directorate for Biological Sciences. “Knowing that influences our understanding of how we interact with our environment and pick up on and respond to cues, which opens the door to a range of new fundamental and applied research.”

The researchers, led by Kishore Kuchibhotla, assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University, used brain imaging to determine when mice learned a new skill. The imaging reinforced previous work, showing that mice learned quickly and that those that continued to make errors weren’t still learning; they were experimenting. The difference between mistakes and testing the rules was evident in changes in the neural activity that the researchers saw in the mice.

Kuchibhotla said the distinction between the brain dynamics in learning and the dynamics involved in using that skill could be mimicked in having a memory

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