(1332,'New insights into how tumors metabolically adapt to their environment may lead to better cancer therapies','new-insights-into-how-tumors-metabolically-adapt-to-their-environment-may-lead-to-better-cancer-therapies','2022-03-17 02:21:27.236076',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">High-grade serous carcinoma is the most aggressive form of ovarian cancer and accounts for the majority of advanced-stage cases. The poor outcomes associated with the disease underscore the need for more effective treatments. A research team led by Kunle Odunsi, MD, PhD, director of the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center, has discovered novel metabolic mechanisms that contribute to how ovarian cancer escapes from immune attack, and how combination therapies can exploit these pathways to improve ovarian cancer treatment, as reported in a paper published March 16, 2022, in <em>Science Translational Medicine</em>.</p><p>Over the past several years, investigators from the University of Chicago, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and other leading institutions have teamed up to address one of the most pressing questions that stymies breakthroughs in the treatment for ovarian cancer -- why does immunotherapy for ovarian cancer often fail? More specifically, they explored the underlying mechanisms that result in tumors being able to evade destruction by the immune system.</p><p>The researchers focused on targeting an enzyme called indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1), which is responsible for degrading the amino acid tryptophan, to generate break-down products that can suppress cancer-fighting immune cells (T cells) within the tumor environment. Because tumors have realized that T cells are critically dependent on tryptophan for their survival, the tumors make high amounts of IDO1 in order to deprive T cells of tryptophan. Previous studies indicated that targeting the IDO1 pathway with a drug that blocks its action, known as epacadostat (EPA), can switch back on the T cells that the tumor shut off. Paradoxically, IDO1 blockade in combination with immunotherapy has shown limited success in clinical trials, indicating a gap in knowledge of IDO1 biology and the consequences of blocking it.</p><p>To better understand how ovarian cancer escapes from immune attack, the research team wanted to see exactly what goes on in the tumor microenvironment (TME) -- the surrounding normal cells, molecules, and blood vessels that support a tumor\'s growth -- when IDO1 is blocked. Their search began in the clinic, where they collected tissue samples from patients with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer who had not undergone surgery or chemotherapy. They collected samples again after the patients received treatment with a two-week course of EPA and surgery to remove the tumor.</p><p>In the laboratory, they ran experiments to study the effects of EPA on the TME from multiple angles. Their analyses revealed EPA was effective at blocking the IDO1 pathway of tryptophan degradation, but also revealed that this action triggered a separate chain of events. The tumor microenvironment adapted to these new conditions by redirecting the breakdown of tryptophan toward the serotonin pathway and increasing production of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+). The elevated NAD+ was the key culprit in reducing anti-tumor activity by T cells. The finding that NAD+, a component of key metabolism pathways, affects immune responses opens a new window for understanding anti-tumor immune responses.</p><p>The next question was how to use this information to improve therapy for patients with ovarian cancer. The researchers had a hunch. Because NAD+ metabolites could bind to purinergic receptors that communicate with the immune system, they investigated the impact of blocking these receptors on T cell proliferation and function in a mouse model of ovarian cancer.</p><p>The results were fascinating. The combination of IDO inhibition with EPA and an antagonist drug designed to interfere with the purinergic receptors \"rescued\" T cell proliferation and led to improved survival in a preclinical mouse model of ovarian cancer. Together they deliver a one-two punch to increase anti-tumor activity.</p><p>\"These findings highlight the potential downside of IDO1 inhibition and suggest that IDO1 inhibitor therapy will require a combination with NAD+ signaling blockade,\" said Odunsi, lead author of the study.</p><p>The study is a prime example of translational research, which involves taking observations from the clinic and studying them in the lab to uncover vulnerable therapeutic targets. Also, the study illustrates the advantages of the team science approach, whereby a group of diverse researchers working together could lead to more breakthroughs faster than any one researcher working alone.</p><p>\"This work represents a highly collaborative effort spanning a broad range of expertise using cutting-edge technologies, from clinical expertise to statistics, metabolism, gene expression, advanced cell characterization and visualization, and a preclinical model of ovarian cancer,\" he said. \"This body of work encapsulates a tremendous amount of effort, knowledge, and expertise from a total of 36 researchers focused on understanding how we can improve ovarian cancer immunotherapy.\"</p>','2022-03-17 02:21:27.236076','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Chicago Medical Center','A research team has discovered novel metabolic mechanisms that contribute to how ovarian cancer escapes from immune attack, and how combination therapies can exploit these pathways to improve ovarian cancer treatment.\n',1,27,'<li>Kunle Odunsi, Feng Qian, Amit A. Lugade, Han Yu, Melissa A. Geller, Steven P. Fling, Judith C. Kaiser, Andreanne M. Lacroix, Leonard D’Amico, Nirasha Ramchurren, Chihiro Morishima, Mary L. Disis, Lucas Dennis, Patrick Danaher, Sarah Warren, Van Anh Nguyen, Sudharshan Ravi, Takemasa Tsuji, Spencer Rosario, Wenjuan Zha, Alan Hutson, Song Liu, Shashikant Lele, Emese Zsiros, A. J. Robert McGray, Jessie Chiello, Richard Koya, Thinle Chodon, Carl D. Morrison, Vasanta Putluri, Nagireddy Putluri, Donald E. Mager, Rudiyanto Gunawan, Martin A. Cheever, Sebastiano Battaglia, Junko Matsuzaki. <strong>Metabolic adaptation of ovarian tumors in patients treated with an IDO1 inhibitor constrains antitumor immune responses</strong>. <em>Science Translational Medicine</em>, 2022; 14 (636) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.abg8402\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1126/scitranslmed.abg8402</a>\n</li>'),(1333,'Exposure to phthalates — the \'everywhere chemical\' — may increase children’s cancer risk','exposure-to-phthalates-—-the-\'everywhere-chemical\'-—-may-increase-children’s-cancer-risk','2022-03-17 02:21:30.337817',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">In a first-of-its-kind study, research from the University of Vermont Cancer Center has linked phthalates, commonly called the \"everywhere chemical,\" to higher incidence of specific childhood cancers. \\</p><p>Phthalates are chemical additives used to enhance the durability or consistency of plastics and a wide range of consumer products. Humans are routinely exposed to these compounds when they leach out of the products and into the environment. They are also used as inactive ingredients in some medications, especially those that require extended or delayed drug release to work properly, for example, some anti-inflammatory drugs and antibiotics.</p><p>The study, published in the <em>Journal of the National Cancer Institute</em>, suggests that exposure to medication-associated phthalates may contribute to the development of some childhood cancers, and that minimizing exposure to phthalates may help prevent some childhood cancers in the future.</p><p>The study measured the association between gestational and childhood phthalate exposures and childhood cancer incidence. Lead investigator Thomas Ahern, PhD, MPH, an associate professor at the University of Vermont\'s Larner College of Medicine, teamed with colleagues at Aarhus University and Odense University Hospital in Denmark. Using data from the Danish Medical Birth Registry, the Danish Medicines Agency, and the Danish Cancer Registry, all supported by the country\'s universal healthcare system, investigators studied all live births between 1997 and 2017, totaling nearly 1.3 million children.</p><p>Among the 2,027 cases of childhood cancer, researchers measured associations between gestational and childhood phthalate exposure and the incidence of specific cancers.</p><p>Childhood, but not gestational (<em>in utero</em>) phthalate exposure was associated with 20% higher rate of childhood cancer overall, with a nearly three-fold higher rate of osteosarcoma diagnosis, a bone cancer, and a two-fold higher rate of lymphoma diagnosis, cancer of the blood.</p><p>\"These results add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that these ubiquitous chemicals have a negative impact on human health,\" said Ahern.</p><p>\"Our study characterized phthalate exposure based on prescription fills for phthalate-containing medications. While such exposures are typically much higher magnitude than what we would call \'background\' environmental exposure, our findings warrant concern,\" he said.</p><p>Fellow Cancer Center member, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) fellow, and UVM Larner College of Medicine professor Frances Carr, PhD, notes that phthalates are now recognized endocrine disruptors because they interfere with hormonal systems and may affect thyroid function. \"Although more studies are needed, exposure to phthalates has been linked to thyroid, breast, and other solid tumors. Phthalates, like other plasticizers such as bisphenol A (BPA), are ubiquitous in the environment; age of exposure, as well as chronic low dose exposures, are significant risk factors for adverse health effects,\" said Carr.</p><p>\"While no direct correlation has been made between phthalates in our region and increased cancer risk, this study highlights the importance of environmental exposures and their relationship to cancer risk,\" said UVM Cancer Center director Randall Holcombe, MD, MBA. The study\'s authors suggest that future research will explore which specific phthalate (or combination of phthalates) poses the greatest risk, and by what mechanism(s) phthalates might drive risk of osteosarcoma and lymphoma. \"Ultimately, research like this will lead to a better understanding of how to mitigate the risks of environmental phthalates,\" said Holcombe.</p>','2022-03-17 02:21:30.337817','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Vermont','New research has linked phthalates, commonly called the \'everywhere chemical,\' to higher incidence of specific childhood cancers.\n',1,35,'<li>Thomas P Ahern, Logan G Spector, Per Damkier, Buket Öztürk Esen, Sinna P Ulrichsen, Katrine Eriksen, Timothy L Lash, Henrik Toft Sørensen, Deirdre P Cronin-Fenton. <strong>Medication-Associated Phthalate Exposure and Childhood Cancer Incidence</strong>. <em>JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djac045\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1093/jnci/djac045</a>\n</li>'),(1334,'Genomic profiling of pediatric cancer may expand treatment options for patients experiencing a relapse','genomic-profiling-of-pediatric-cancer-may-expand-treatment-options-for-patients-experiencing-a-relapse','2022-03-17 10:52:11.745261',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Genomic sequencing of tumors from pediatric cancer patients experiencing a relapse enabled 107 patients to receive an appropriate matched therapy that is not the standard of care, according to data from the international clinical trial MAPPYACTS.</p><p>Pediatric cancers have a high rate of remission, with 85 percent of patients surviving five years or longer after diagnosis. However, if the cancer returns, treatment options are limited.</p><p>\"The main purpose was to genetically profile the patients\' tumors and use that to suggest a treatment,\" said Birgit Geoerger, MD, PhD, a professor of pediatric clinical research at Gustave Roussy Cancer Center in France. \"Are there molecular alterations that we can target with these newer drugs?\"</p><p>In many cases, pediatric cancers are subjected to gene panel sequencing, in which common cancer driver genes are sequenced to look for mutations. While this information can provide valuable insights about how the tumor operates, it is not often used to guide treatment decisions. \"There are not a lot of trials testing targeted therapies in children,\" Geoerger said.</p><p>Geoerger and colleagues initiated the MAPPYACTS clinical trial to prospectively recruit pediatric patients with relapsed cancers and perform comprehensive whole exome sequencing (WES) and/or RNA sequencing in order to recommend a therapy tailored to each patient. They collected tissue samples from 774 patients, 632 of which were successfully sequenced. A clinical molecular tumor board then reviewed the sequencing data from each patient.</p><p>Mutations were considered \"ready for routine use\" if there was significant clinical evidence that a drug could effectively treat tumors harboring the mutation. Mutations were considered \"potentially actionable\" if any evidence existed that an approved or investigational drug -- a drug being tested in clinical trials -- could target the mutated protein or another member of the affected signaling pathway.</p><p>The clinical molecular tumor board identified 432 patients with potentially actionable alterations, 107 of whom were then treated with a matched targeted therapy, either alone (57 percent), in combination with chemotherapy (37 percent) or in combination with another targeted therapy (11 percent).</p><p>Notably, 42 percent of the \"ready for routine use\" alterations found in this study were previously unknown or had not been identified by previous diagnostics. The majority of cancers with \"ready for routine use\" mutations were tumors of the central nervous system, such as gliomas and medulloblastomas, or anaplastic large cell lymphomas.</p><p>Geoerger said this lack of detection was not because tests for these alterations do not exist, but because they are not always used. \"It didn\'t mean an alteration couldn\'t be found, rather that nobody looked for it,\" she said.</p><p>The overall response rate of patients who received a matched therapy was 17 percent, with a 41 percent disease control rate. Among patients with alterations ready for routine use, all of whom received their treatments as a monotherapy, the objective response rate was 38 percent. Patients with potentially actionable mutations that were not ready for routine use had an overall response rate of 14 percent.</p><p>The researchers also investigated the possibility of using circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) -- fragments of tumor cell DNA that circulate in the blood -- to identify targetable mutations. Though the researchers did not make treatment decisions based on this arm of the study, they successfully performed WES on ctDNA from 128 patients with matched tumor WES and found 94 potentially actionable mutations, 35 of which had not been detected by tumor WES. Sequencing of ctDNA also successfully identified 76 percent of potentially actionable alterations that were found in tumor tissue.</p><p>In addition to accounting for tumor heterogeneity that traditional biopsies may miss, Geoerger hopes that liquid biopsies can spare some children from invasive procedures and allow also for the profiling of tumors that are difficult to biopsy or resect, such as those found in the central nervous system.</p><p>Overall, Geoerger feels that this study provides evidence for widespread genetic sequencing of pediatric cancers and the matching of patients\' tumor genetic profiles with targeted therapies and their combinations, research that she and her colleagues are continuing in the concurrent AcSé-ESMART trial and the upcoming MAPPYACTS 2 trial.</p><p>\"Our recommendation would be to have a sequencing panel for the \'ready for routine use\' mutations and fusions,\" Geoerger said. \"Nearly everybody should have that as part of their diagnostic setup.\"</p><p>Limitations of this study include the fact that changes in treatment recommendations have evolved since the clinical molecular tumor board issued their decisions in 2016. Further, many of these treatment regimens haven\'t been extensively tested in children, which can complicate decisions about dosing and duration.</p>','2022-03-17 10:52:11.745261','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'American Association for Cancer Research','Genomic sequencing of tumors from pediatric cancer patients experiencing a relapse enabled 107 patients to receive an appropriate matched therapy that is not the standard of care, according to new data.\n',1,124,'<li>Pablo Berlanga, Gaelle Pierron, Ludovic Lacroix, Mathieu Chicard, Tiphaine Adam de Beaumais, Antonin Marchais, Anne C. Harttrampf, Yasmine Iddir, Alicia Larive, Aroa Soriano Fernandez, Imene Hezam, Cecile Chevassus, Virginie Bernard, Sophie Cotteret, Jean-Yves Scoazec, Arnaud Gauthier, Samuel Abbou, Nadege Corradini, Nicolas Andre, Isabelle Aerts, Estelle Thebaud, Michela Casanova, Cormac Owens, Raquel Hladun-Alvaro, Stefan Michiels, Olivier Delattre, Gilles Vassal, Gudrun Schleiermacher, Birgit Geoerger. <strong>The European MAPPYACTS trial: Precision Medicine Program in Pediatric and Adolescent Patients with Recurrent Malignancies</strong>. <em>Cancer Discovery</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1158/2159-8290.CD-21-1136\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1158/2159-8290.CD-21-1136</a>\n</li>'),(1335,'Novel \'Trojan horse\' drug delivery system uses protein-based microdroplets','novel-\'trojan-horse\'-drug-delivery-system-uses-protein-based-microdroplets','2022-03-17 10:52:14.558485',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have developed a novel method of delivering drugs into human cells using large biological molecules, by first encasing them in a protein-based microdroplet.</p><p>This discovery promises to be faster, safer, more effective, and better suited for gene therapy, cancer treatment, and vaccine delivery, including mRNA-based vaccines such as those currently used for Covid-19 vaccinations by Pfizer and Moderna.</p><p>These microdroplets, made up of small proteins named peptides, can encase large biomacromolecules that carry drugs inside them. In doing so, they allow these biological molecules to enter cells, something the molecules cannot do by themselves.</p><p>Biomacromolecules are large biological molecules such as nucleic acids (DNA, mRNA), proteins and carbohydrates. They are of great research interest as drug carriers, as they can carry a large amount of drugs, are nontoxic, able to target specific sites, and do not trigger the body\'s immune response. This makes them preferable and advantageous over synthetic carriers currently used in the market.</p><p>However, their large size and inability to pass through the cell membrane have held them back from widespread clinical use.</p><p>Now, the NTU research team, led by Professor Ali Miserez from the School of Materials Science &amp; Engineering and the School of Biological Sciences, showed in lab experiments that their method of first encasing drug-carrying biomacromolecules in protein-based microdroplets lets them reliably and effectively enter cells, overcoming the main challenge of cell entry.</p><p>\"Biomacromolecules are promising therapeutic prospects for the treatment of various diseases as they have high potency, specificity, and are very safe,\" said Prof Miserez. \"Despite this broad potential, biomacromolecules suffer from a major drawback: they are impermeable to the cell membrane and thus cannot penetrate the cell by themselves. They need help, which is where our platform comes into place.\"</p><p>The findings were published in the scientific journal <em>Nature Chemistry</em> in February. The study was funded by a Ministry of Education Tier 3 grant.</p><p>The research team has filed two patents based on their published study and are working to commercialise their drug delivery platform method through NTUitive, the University\'s innovation and enterprise company.</p><p>The development of the team\'s novel drug delivery system is aligned with NTU\'s commitment to innovation in its recently announced 2025 strategic plan, which aims to translate research into products and outcomes that enhance the quality of life.</p><p><strong>New delivery system bypasses cell membrane</strong></p><p>The researchers synthesised a peptide derived from squid beak to form the microdroplet due to its biological origin, high efficiency in storing molecules, and low toxicity. They were then able to entrap biomacromolecules inside it through a process called liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS).</p><p>This LLPS process, similar to how oil and water can mix together yet easily separate into two distinct liquids, forms what is known as a coacervate.</p><p>This coacervate is able to merge into the cell membrane, although the exact reason why is currently unknown. \"Presumably, the liquid-like properties of coacervates achieved via the liquid-liquid phase separation process is critical in their ability to cross the cell membrane, although the precise entry mechanism is still unclear and currently under investigation,\" said the paper\'s first author, NTU PhD student Yue Sun.</p><p>Crucially, this discovery allows biomacromolecules to avoid endocytosis -- the process where cells allow foreign substances to enter by surrounding it with a protective membrane.</p><p>Traditional drug delivery methods cannot cross into the cell membrane without first being caught by the cell and wrapped within a \'bubble\' of cell membrane, or endosome. Therefore, these types of drug packages must also be encoded with further instructions to \'escape\' the endosome in order for them to efficiently release the drugs within the cell.</p><p>The team\'s coacervates are able to smoothly cross the cell membrane without triggering endocytosis. Once inside the cell, the carrier droplets disintegrate and release the biomacromolecules to do their job of treating various illnesses, including cancer and metabolic diseases.</p><p>\"You can think about these droplets as molecular \'Trojan Horses\': they trick the cells into letting them enter, and once inside, they deliver the biomacromolecular \'soldiers\' that target the disease,\" said Prof Miserez.</p><p>Bypassing endocytosis is crucial as it reduces drug efficacy. Since the peptide microdroplets developed by the NTU team can bypass this process to enter the cell unhindered, their drug cargo can operate at full strength, said Prof Miserez.</p><p><strong>A delivery system for a variety of drugs</strong></p><p>In lab experiments, the team was able to successfully deliver fluorescent proteins, which are commonly used to demonstrate the efficiency of drug carriers, as well as the protein drug saporin through this method. By themselves, these proteins cannot enter the cell.</p><p>The protein-based cargo was not only able to successfully enter and be released into the cells, but also maintained its bioactivity and efficacy. The team discovered that the cell entry process had a 99 per cent success rate compared to the 50-70 per cent of current commercially-available synthetic carriers.</p><p>The research team demonstrated that a wide range of biomacromolecules can be loaded into their microdroplets, from small peptides to enzymes to mRNAs. This makes it viable as a universal drug delivery system. All current delivery systems have to be created separately for different types of drugs.</p><p>\"Using our peptide droplets as a drug delivery system does away with the need to fabricate drug carriers that have to escape the endosome in order to deliver their cargo,\" said Prof Miserez. \"Furthermore, the drawback of such drug carriers is that they also have to be tailored to the particular drug that is being used or delivered. Such fabrication methods can be complex, time-consuming, and often contain organic solvents that reduce the bioactivity and efficiency of the drug cargo.\"</p><p>\"However, our peptide droplets can work as a universal delivery system without the need for individual adjustment. One delivery system for a whole range of proteins of various sizes, from big to small, and that can carry both positively- and negatively-charged proteins, is very appealing,\" added Prof Miserez.</p><p>This discovery can lead to better targeted drug delivery systems that are cheaper, safer, and more effective.</p><p><strong>The potential future of drug delivery</strong></p><p>The researchers were also able to deliver mRNA molecules into cells with this method. This opens the potential of using mRNA in gene therapy, a possible treatment for serious diseases such as cancer, genetic disorders, or infectious diseases.</p><p>\"The versatility of drug delivery and subsequent release allows these coacervates to deliver a single or a combination of macromolecular drugs, making this delivery platform very promising for the treatment of variety of illnesses such as cancer, and metabolic and infectious diseases,\" said Prof Miserez.</p><p>Commenting independently on the study, Dr Mahmood Ahmed, Chief Scientific Officer at artificial intelligence drug development firm Biotech Talo Labs, said: \"The exciting findings reported by the NTU scientists provide a path to addressing some key gaps in delivering a range of therapeutic modalities to the site of action. The data reported here demonstrates the potential of these biocompatible coacervates to traverse cell membranes and deliver diverse sets of large molecule entities, with the ability to tune and control the release of payload. Continued development of this discovery will further strengthen the translational utility of these unique coacervates and establish a transformational delivery technology platform.\"</p><p>The team has filed two patents related to the study. The first patent is the team\'s method of preparing the peptides into microdroplets for them to function as drug carriers. The other patent is for the method allowing the microdroplets to enter cells and then disintegrate once inside the cells such as to release the packaged drugs.</p><p>While real-world applications remain at least five years away, the scientists say their research has garnered initial interest from pharmaceutical and drug development companies. The team is looking to further their research by beginning animal studies this year.</p>','2022-03-17 10:52:14.558485','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Nanyang Technological University','Scientists have developed a novel method of delivering drugs into human cells using large biological molecules, by first encasing them in a protein-based microdroplet. This discovery promises to be faster, safer, more effective, and better suited for gene therapy, cancer treatment, and vaccine delivery.\n',1,203,'<li>Yue Sun, Sze Yi Lau, Zhi Wei Lim, Shi Chieh Chang, Farid Ghadessy, Anthony Partridge, Ali Miserez. <strong>Phase-separating peptides for direct cytosolic delivery and redox-activated release of macromolecular therapeutics</strong>. <em>Nature Chemistry</em>, 2022; 14 (3): 274 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41557-021-00854-4\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41557-021-00854-4</a>\n</li>'),(1336,'Alzheimer’s pathology, not cognitive decline, drives neuropsychiatric symptoms','alzheimer’s-pathology,-not-cognitive-decline,-drives-neuropsychiatric-symptoms','2022-03-17 11:39:26.608435',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Alzheimer\'s disease (AD) eventually leads to severe cognitive decline, but most affected individuals also develop distressing neuropsychiatric symptoms. These earlier effects may be more subtle and are not well understood; it remains unclear whether they arise directly from AD pathology or secondarily as psychological reactions due to the cognitive deficits. Now, a new study examines the connections between biomarkers of AD\'s hallmark neuropathology, cognition, and other neuropsychiatric symptoms. The study appears in <em>Biological Psychiatry</em>, published by Elsevier.</p><p>The researchers, led by Oskar Hansson, MD, at Lund University in Sweden, tested cerebrospinal fluid or blood plasma from 356 cognitively unimpaired older adults for levels of the proteins amyloid-beta (Ab) and tau, which are thought to contribute to AD neurotoxicity, as well as markers of neurodegeneration.</p><p>Strikingly, the presence of Ab was associated with increased anxiety and apathy. Higher levels of apathy were also related to a more rapid cognitive decline.</p><p>\"Most importantly, this study signals that certain neuropsychiatric symptoms such as apathy and anxiety develop predominantly due to underlying AD-related pathology and not due to the concomitant cognitive impairment,\" said Maurits Johansson, MD, lead author of the study. \"It seems reasonable that neuropsychiatric symptoms would arise from neuropathology just as cognitive deficits do, especially because AD ultimately affects large areas of the brain,\" he added.</p><p>The study did not exclude a role for cognitive impairment altogether. For example, in one of the statistical analyses, cognitive decline slightly but significantly mediated the effect of amyloid pathology on the development of apathy.</p><p>\"Combined with earlier studies, our findings strengthen the proposed idea that cognitive deficits and neuropsychiatric symptoms can develop independently, yet in parallel to one another. They have a common underlying neuropathology, but to some extent they can also reinforce one another,\" said Professor Hansson.</p><p>\"These findings could ultimately lead to more efficient study design of clinical trials for AD in that they point to neuropsychiatric symptoms as potential alternative outcome measures,\" concluded Professor Hansson.</p><p>John Krystal, MD, Editor of <em>Biological Psychiatry</em>, said of the new findings, \"We are used to thinking about Alzheimer\'s disease from the perspective of memory impairments. This new study highlights that the earliest signs of amyloid-related pathology may be changes in mood and behavior, particularly apathy and anxiety.\"</p>','2022-03-17 11:39:26.608435','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Elsevier','Alzheimer\'s disease (AD) eventually leads to severe cognitive decline, but most affected individuals also develop distressing neuropsychiatric symptoms. These earlier effects may be more subtle and are not well understood; it remains unclear whether they arise directly from AD pathology or secondarily as psychological reactions due to the cognitive deficits. Now, a new study examines the connections between biomarkers of AD\'s hallmark neuropathology, cognition, and other neuropsychiatric symptoms.\n',1,179,'<li>Maurits Johansson, Erik Stomrud, Per Mårten Johansson, Anna Svenningsson, Sebastian Palmqvist, Shorena Janelidze, Danielle van Westen, Niklas Mattsson-Carlgren, Oskar Hansson. <strong>Development of apathy, anxiety, and depression in cognitively unimpaired older adults: effects of Alzheimer’s disease pathology and cognitive decline</strong>. <em>Biological Psychiatry</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2022.01.012\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/j.biopsych.2022.01.012</a>\n</li>'),(1337,'Those with facial scars rate their own appearance more critically than surgeons and strangers','those-with-facial-scars-rate-their-own-appearance-more-critically-than-surgeons-and-strangers','2022-03-17 13:24:53.841646',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Patients who undergo facial surgery think their surgical scars look worse than surgeons and independent observers do, according to a new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Surgeons and those not tied personally to the particular scarring felt similarly about how significant a scar appeared, but those who looked at their own faces had more negative feelings about the condition and appearance of the scar. Researchers say that surgeons should explain to their patients in detail how their scar will likely look post-surgery and explicitly say to their patients that they themselves will likely perceive their scars to be more significant than others will. The study is published in the journal <em>Facial Plastic Surgery &amp; Aesthetic Medicine.</em></p><p>Eighty-one patients who had facial skin cancer and then received Mohs micrographic surgery (a type of precise skin surgery where layers of skin are removed a little at a time) rated their scars a week after surgery and then three months after. While their feelings about their scar improved by roughly 40% from week one to the three-month mark, they still judged their scars more critically than Mohs surgeons and independent observers after three months.</p><p>\"Our research seems to support the saying \'we are our own worst critics,\'\" said senior author Joseph F. Sobanko, MD, director of Dermatologic Surgery Education and an associate professor of Dermatology at Penn. \"Patients are probably going to view scarring on their faces as more severe than their own surgeon will and even someone they walk by on the street.\"</p><p>Armed with that knowledge, surgeons should speak to their patients not just about the process of surgery but also what to expect during the healing process and what their face will look like after the incision is completely healed, Sobanko said.</p><p>\"Our goal as surgeons should be to remove cancer effectively while minimizing scarring,\" Sobanko added. \"Nevertheless, skin cancer surgery will produce highly visible changes early in the healing process and our job as surgeons is to prepare patients for how their skin will look during the healing process. We should also be direct with our patients and tell them that they are going to be the most critical of their appearance.\"</p><p>The Penn researchers made very specific choices when designing the study. The team decided to use facial scarring because of the obviously personal relationship people have with their faces. Previous research from Sobanko and colleagues showed that people are the most sensitive about scars on their faces compared to scars on other parts of their body. The researchers also chose to have participants assess scars at the one-week mark and at three months.</p><p>\"At one week, incisions from surgery are quite visible, and that can be very jarring for patients,\" Sobanko said. \"As weeks progress the incisions heal predictably and our prior research has shown that most patients return to their baseline quality of life approximately 3 months after surgery.\"</p><p>While the advice for providers is to be honest and clear with their patients about scarring, Sobanko and his team are planning to study specific ways that surgeons can help patients feel better about their surgical mark.</p><p>\"One method we have used in our practice is to connect people about to go through Mohs facial surgery with willing individuals who already have been through the surgery,\" said Sobanko. \"Anecdotally, our patients have appreciated the opportunity to ask questions to someone who has experienced what they are about to go through and also see first-hand how someone else\'s face healed. We\'re excited to study whether that and other interventions can ease patients\' minds and help them feel better about the entire surgery experience.\"</p><p>This research supported by funding from the Dermatology Foundation Career Development Award.</p>','2022-03-17 13:24:53.841646','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine','Patients who undergo facial surgery think their surgical scars look worse than surgeons and independent observers do, according to a new study.\n',1,27,'<li>Kimberly Shao, Shannon W. Zullo, William Fix, Lynne Taylor, Junqian Zhang, Christopher J. Miller, Jeremy R. Etzkorn, Thuzar M. Shin, Cerrene N. Giordano, William H. Higgins, Joseph F. Sobanko. <strong>Measuring Stakeholder Assessments of Postsurgical Facial Scars</strong>. <em>Dermatologic Surgery</em>, 2022; Publish Ahead of Print DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/DSS.0000000000003405\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1097/DSS.0000000000003405</a>\n</li>'),(1338,'Complex pathways influence time delay in ionization of molecules','complex-pathways-influence-time-delay-in-ionization-of-molecules','2022-03-17 13:24:55.956188',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">How can researchers use the mechanism of photoionization to gain insight into complex molecular potential? This question has now been answered by a team led by Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Sansone from the Institute of Physics at the University of Freiburg. The researchers from Freiburg, the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg and groups at the Universidad Autonoma in Madrid/Spain and the University of Trieste/Italy have published their results in the journal <em>Nature Communications.</em></p><p>In the origin of photoionization, also called the photoelectric effect, an atom or molecule absorbs one quantum of light, usually indicated as photon, from an external field. The energy absorbed in this process is transferred to an electron, which is freed, leaving behind a singly charged ion. In several aspects and for several applications, the effect can be regarded as instantaneous, meaning that there is no significant time delay between the absorption of the photon and the instant when the electron is emitted. However, several experiments conducted in the last years have evidenced that tiny, but measurable delays lying in the attosecond range (1 as=10-18 s) occur between these two processes.</p><p><strong>Generation of attosecond pulses </strong></p><p>\"Thanks to the advanced laser sources and specially designed spectrometers available in our laboratory, we can generate the shortest bursts of light, lasting only few hundreds of attoseconds,\" Sansone explains. \"Moreover, we can reconstruct the orientation of simple molecules when they absorb a photon from an external laser pulse. We have used such pulses to investigate the motion of the electrons after the absorption of a photon.\"</p><p><strong>Electrons experience paths with potential peaks and valleys </strong></p><p>The researchers found that on its way out from the molecule, the electron experiences a complex landscape characterized by potential peaks and valleys. These are determined by the spatial distribution of the atoms composing the system. The path followed by the electron during its motion can affect the time it takes to be freed.</p><p><strong>Extension to more complex molecular systems possible</strong></p><p>In the experiment, the team measured the time delays accumulated by the electrons emitted from CF4 molecules in different spatial directions were measured using an attosecond pulse train combined with an ultrashort infrared field. \"Combining this information with the characterization of the spatial orientation of the molecule, we can understand how the potential landscape and, in particular, potential peaks affect the time delay\",\" says the Freiburg physicist.</p><p>The work can be extended to more complex molecular systems and to potentials changing on ultrashort timescales. In general, Sansone emphasizes, this approach could give the possibility to map complex potential landscapes from within, with unprecedented temporal resolution.</p>','2022-03-17 13:24:55.956188','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Freiburg','Study shows how the mechanism of photoionization can be used to gain insights into complex molecular potentials.\n',1,68,'<li>H. Ahmadi, E. Plésiat, M. Moioli, F. Frassetto, L. Poletto, P. Decleva, C. D. Schröter, T. Pfeifer, R. Moshammer, A. Palacios, F. Martin, G. Sansone. <strong>Attosecond photoionisation time delays reveal the anisotropy of the molecular potential in the recoil frame</strong>. <em>Nature Communications</em>, 2022; 13 (1) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-28783-x\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41467-022-28783-x</a>\n</li>'),(1339,'Nuclear reactor power levels can be monitored using seismic and acoustic data','nuclear-reactor-power-levels-can-be-monitored-using-seismic-and-acoustic-data','2022-03-17 13:25:04.063659',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Seismic and acoustic data recorded 50 meters away from a research nuclear reactor could predict whether the reactor was in an on or off state with 98% accuracy, according to a new study published in <em>Seismological Research Letters</em>.</p><p>By applying several machine learning models to the data, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory could also predict when the reactor was transitioning between on and off, and estimate its power levels, with about 66% accuracy.</p><p>The findings provide another tool for the international community to cooperatively verify and monitor nuclear reactor operations in a minimally invasive way, said the study\'s lead author Chengping Chai, a geophysicist at Oak Ridge. \"Nuclear reactors can be used for both benign and nefarious activities. Therefore, verifying that a nuclear reactor is operating as declared is of interest to the nuclear nonproliferation community.\"</p><p>Although seismic and acoustic data have long been used to monitor earthquakes and the structural properties of infrastructure such as buildings and bridges, some researchers now use the data to take a closer look at the movements associated with industrial processes. In this case, Chai and colleagues deployed seismic and acoustic sensors around the High Flux Isotope Reactor at Oak Ridge, a research reactor used to produced neutrons for studies in physics, chemistry, biology, engineering and materials science.</p><p>The reactor\'s power status is a thermal process, with a cooling tower that dissipates heat. \"We found that seismo-acoustic sensors can record the mechanical signatures of vibrating equipment such as fans and pumps at the cooling tower at an accuracy enough to shed light into operational questions,\" Chai said.</p><p>The researchers then compared a number of machine learning algorithms to discover which were best at estimating the reactor\'s power state from specific seismo-acoustic signals. The algorithms were trained with seismic-only, acoustic-only and both types of data collected over a year. The combined data produced the best results, they found.</p><p>\"The seismo-acoustic signals associated with different power levels show complicated patterns that are difficult to analyze with traditional techniques,\" Chai explained. \"The machine learning approaches are able to infer the complex relationship between different reactor systems and their seismo-acoustic fingerprint and use it to predict power levels.\"</p><p>Chai and colleagues detected some interesting signals during the course of their study, including the vibrations of a noisy pump in the reactor\'s off state, which disappeared when the pump was replaced.</p><p>Chai said it is a long-term and challenging goal to associate seismic and acoustic signatures with different industrial activities and equipment. For the High Flux Isotope Reactor, preliminary research shows that fans and pumps have different seismo-acoustic fingerprints, and that different fan speeds have their own unique signatures.</p><p>\"Some normal but less frequent activities such as yearly or incidental maintenance need to be distinguished in seismic and acoustic data,\" Chai said. To better understand how these signatures relate to specific operations, \"we need to study both the seismic and acoustic signatures of instruments and the background noise at various industrial facilities.\"</p>','2022-03-17 13:25:04.063659','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Seismological Society of America','Seismic and acoustic data recorded 50 meters away from a research nuclear reactor could predict whether the reactor was in an on or off state with 98% accuracy, according to a new study.\n',1,180,'<li>Chengping Chai, Camila Ramirez, Monica Maceira, Omar Marcillo. <strong>Monitoring Operational States of a Nuclear Reactor Using Seismoacoustic Signatures and Machine Learning</strong>. <em>Seismological Research Letters</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1785/0220210294\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1785/0220210294</a>\n</li>'),(1340,'AI to predict antidepressant outcomes in youth','ai-to-predict-antidepressant-outcomes-in-youth','2022-03-17 13:25:13.451167',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Mayo Clinic researchers have taken the first step in using artificial intelligence (AI) to predict early outcomes with antidepressants in children and adolescents with major depressive disorder, in a study published in <em>The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.</em> This work resulted from a collaborative effort between the departments of Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, and Psychiatry and Psychology, at Mayo Clinic, with support from Mayo Clinic\'s Center for Individualized Medicine.</p><p>\"This preliminary work suggests that AI has promise for assisting clinical decisions by informing physicians on the selection, use and dosing of antidepressants for children and adolescents with major depressive disorder,\" says Paul Croarkin, D.O., a Mayo Clinic psychiatrist and senior author of the study. \"We saw improved predictions of treatment outcomes in samples of children and adolescents across two classes of antidepressants.\"</p><p>In the study, researchers identified variation in six depressive symptoms: difficulty having fun, social withdrawal, excessive fatigue, irritability, low self-esteem and depressed feelings.</p><p>They assessed these symptoms with the Children\'s Depression Rating Scale-Revised to predict outcomes to 10 to 12 weeks of antidepressant pharmacotherapy:</p><p>These outcomes show the potential of AI and patient data to ensure children and adolescents receive treatment that has the highest likelihood of delivering therapeutic benefits with minimized side effects, explains Arjun Athreya, Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic researcher and lead author of the study.</p><p>\"We designed the algorithm to mimic a clinician\'s logic of treatment management at an interim time point based on their estimated guess of whether a patient will likely or not benefit from pharmacotherapy at the current dose,\" says Dr. Athreya. \"Hence, it was essential for me as a computer engineer to embed and observe the practice closely to not only understand the needs of the patient, but also how AI can be consumed and useful to the clinician to benefit the patient.\"</p><p><strong>Next steps</strong></p><p>The research findings are a foundation for future work incorporating physiological information, brain-based measures and pharmacogenomic data for precision medicine approaches in treating youth with depression. This will improve the care of young patients with depression, and help clinicians initiate and dose antidepressants in patients who benefit most.</p><p>\"Technological advances are understudied tools that could enhance treatment approaches,\" says Liewei Wang, M.D., Ph.D., the Bernard and Edith Waterman Director of the Pharmacogenomics Program and Director of the Center for Individualized Medicine at the Mayo Clinic. \"Predicting outcomes in children and adolescents treated for depression is critical in managing what could become a lifelong disease burden.\"</p><p><strong>Acknowledgments</strong></p><p>This work was supported by Mayo Clinic Foundation for Medical Education and Research; the National Science Foundation under award No. 2041339; and the National Institute of Mental Health under awards R01MH113700, R01MH124655 and R01AA027486. The content is solely the authors\' responsibility and does not necessarily represent the official views of the funding agencies. The authors have declared no competing or potential conflicts of interest.</p>','2022-03-17 13:25:13.451167','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Mayo Clinic','Researchers have taken the first step in using artificial intelligence (AI) to predict early outcomes with antidepressants in children and adolescents with major depressive disorder.\n',1,65,'<li>Arjun P. Athreya, Jennifer L. Vande Voort, Julia Shekunov, Sandra J. Rackley, Jarrod M. Leffler, Alastair J. McKean, Magdalena Romanowicz, Betsy D. Kennard, Graham J. Emslie, Taryn Mayes, Madhukar Trivedi, Liewei Wang, Richard M. Weinshilboum, William V. Bobo, Paul E. Croarkin. <strong>Evidence for machine learning guided early prediction of acute outcomes in the treatment of depressed children and adolescents with antidepressants</strong>. <em>Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13580\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1111/jcpp.13580</a>\n</li>'),(1341,'Increased tree cover in savannas provides limited benefit in climate fight','increased-tree-cover-in-savannas-provides-limited-benefit-in-climate-fight','2022-03-17 13:43:15.330339',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">One proposed strategy in the fight against climate change is to increase tree cover in the world\'s savannas, either through the planting of new trees or fire suppression, to increase the uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide. However, a new Yale-led study of African savannas suggests this approach is far less effective than previously estimated.</p><p>\"Increasing tree cover in savannas, whether via afforestation or fire suppression, is unlikely to yield the substantial gains in ecosystem carbon storage that have been advertised,\" said Carla Staver, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology in Yale\'s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, associate director of the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies, and senior author of the new study.</p><p>The study was published March 17 in the journal <em>Nature</em>.</p><p>Savannas cover about a fifth of the Earth\'s land surface. Because they have fewer trees than forests, they have been increasingly targeted for their potential to capture carbon. Some studies projected that afforesting the worlds savannas could capture 280 tons of carbon per hectare, a number that assumes that tropical savannas would store as much carbon as tropical forests.</p><p>A team led by Yong Zhou, a G. E. Hutchinson Environmental Postdoctoral Fellow in Staver\'s lab and lead author of the study, questioned some of the projected climate benefits of afforestation in tropical savannas, which account for more than half of the planet\'s fire-related carbon emissions.</p><p>For the study, the research team used data from a decades-old experiment at Kruger National Park in South Africa -- where for 68 years scientists have studied how fire management affects the landscape -- to better understand whether increased tree cover from fire suppression actually increases carbon sequestration.</p><p>To measure the amount of carbon stored in savannas under different fire regimes, the Yale researchers -- along with scientists from Harvard University, the U.S. Forest Service, and Kruger National Park -- used direct measurements of tree and grass biomass taken from the experiment, combined with remote sensing techniques and chemical analysis of soil samples.</p><p>The good news, they found, is that even frequently burned savannas store more carbon in soil and in roots than previously estimated, even when prescribed burns occur annually. This finding highlights the importance of natural savannas -- which are under widespread threat from land use conversion -- for storing carbon.</p><p>But the study also found that increasing tree cover through fire suppression captured much less carbon than previously estimated. Despite a 78% increase in tree cover, this strategy captured only 35% more carbon overall, corresponding to total gains of about 23 tons per hectare. These new, direct estimates from Kruger National Park suggest that the carbon sequestration potential of savannas is less than 10% of previous estimates.</p><p>\"Previous models relied on sparse data to promise a very large carbon storage benefit to increasing tree cover in savannas,\" Staver said. \"But our direct measures show that these were not good assumptions.\"</p><p>Staver and Zhou stressed that these findings need to be replicated in other savanna areas around the world. \"More measurements from more savanna sites are still needed,\" Zhou said.</p><p>\"But the findings are substantial,\" Staver said. \"We need to recalibrate our assessments of the role savannas play in the global carbon cycle. And we should not be relying on afforestation to save us from accelerating human-driven carbon emissions.\"</p>','2022-03-17 13:43:15.330339','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Yale University','One proposed strategy in the fight against climate change is to increase tree cover in the world\'s savannas, either through the planting of new trees or fire suppression, to increase the uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide. However, a new study of African savannas suggests this approach is far less effective than previously estimated. \"Increasing tree cover in savannas, whether via afforestation or fire suppression, is unlikely to yield the substantial gains in ecosystem carbon storage that have been advertised,\" said Carla Staver, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology in Yale\'s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, associate director of the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies, and senior author of the new study.\n',1,34,'<li>Zhou, Y., Singh, J., Butnor, J.R. et al. <strong>Limited increases in savanna carbon stocks over decades of fire suppression</strong>. <em>Nature</em>, 2022 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04438-1\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41586-022-04438-1</a>\n</li>'),(1342,'Molecular imaging uncovers effects of COVID-19 on the brain','molecular-imaging-uncovers-effects-of-covid-19-on-the-brain','2022-03-17 13:43:41.476997',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">A significant number of COVID-19 neurological complications -- such as fatigue, headache, and cognitive impairment -- are ultimately reversible, according to new research summarized by <em>The Journal of Nuclear Medicine</em>. The comprehensive literature review of molecular imaging findings sheds light on how COVID-19 affects the brain and identifies important implications for other neurological conditions, like Parkinson\'s disease or Alzheimer\'s disease.</p><p>Neurological symptoms are present in roughly two-thirds of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Symptoms include fatigue, loss of smell, attention problems and memory loss. Patients who have more severe COVID-19 cases, are older, or have pre-existing conditions are more likely to experience these neurological issues.</p><p>Molecular imaging with PET or SPECT has been used to determine how COVID-19 affects the brain; however, these scans often show conflicting results. To make sense of the data, researchers conducted a comprehensive, systematic and critical review of molecular imaging studies in neuropsychiatric COVID-19 cases.</p><p>Their report was structured according to neurological symptoms and how they developed over time. The five symptoms included in the report were encephalitis, Parkinsonism and other neurodegenerative diseases, focal symptoms/lesions, encephalopathy, and post-COVID-19 syndrome. This helped the researchers to understand potential underlying (and most likely diverse) causes of the symptoms and to unravel discrepancies in the PET and SPECT literature.</p><p>\"The presented studies are of high importance for patients struggling with neurological or cognitive aftermaths of COVID-19,\" said Philipp T. Meyer, MD, PhD, head of the Department of Nuclear Medicine of the Medical Center-University of Freiburg, in Freiburg, Germany. \"To the best of our knowledge there are no convincing studies clearly demonstrating relevant and irreversible brain damage, except for disease complications like brain infarcts and bleedings. Thus, from our perspective, in the vast majority of cases there is no reason to assume that reported impairments will be permanent and not responsive to treatment.\"</p><p>What are the implications of this research for the future of molecular imaging of COVID-19 neurological symptoms? First, there is a clear need for further well-designed studies. \"These need to be prospective, recruit larger patient cohorts, follow accepted syndrome or stage definitions, and use proper methodology,\" noted Jonas A. Hosp, MD, attending physician of the Department of Neurology and Clinical Neuroscience of the Medical Center-University of Freiburg, in Freiburg, Germany. \"Carefully designed studies of COVID-19 populations will be of great interest moving forward.\"</p><p>Second, there are several potential clinical applications of molecular imaging in COVID-19 patients with cognitive or neurological impairment. \"It may be the case that COVID-19 unmasked or hastened a pre-existing neurodegenerative disease like Parkinson\'s or Alzheimer\'s,\" said Meyer. \"Molecular imaging could be used to identify these patients.\"</p><p>This study was made available online in February 2022.</p><p>The authors of \"Molecular imaging findings on acute and long-term effects of COVID-19 on the brain: A systematic review\" include Philipp T. Meyer and Ganna Blazhenets, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Medical Center-University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; Sabine Hellwig, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Center-University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; and Jonas A. Hosp, Department of Neurology and Clinical Neuroscience, Medical Center-University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.</p>','2022-03-17 13:43:41.476997','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging','A significant number of COVID-19 neurological complications -- such as fatigue, headache, and cognitive impairment--are ultimately reversible, according to new research. The comprehensive literature review of molecular imaging findings sheds light on how COVID-19 affects the brain and identifies important implications for other neurological conditions, like Parkinson\'s disease or Alzheimer\'s disease.\n',1,71,'<li>Philipp T Meyer, Sabine Hellwig, Ganna Blazhenets, Jonas A Hosp. <strong>Molecular imaging findings on acute and long-term effects of COVID-19 on the brain: A systematic review</strong>. <em>Journal of Nuclear Medicine</em>, 2022; jnumed.121.263085 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.2967/jnumed.121.263085\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.2967/jnumed.121.263085</a>\n</li>'),(1343,'What\'s the prevailing opinion on social media? Look at the flocks, says researcher','what\'s-the-prevailing-opinion-on-social-media?-look-at-the-flocks,-says-researcher','2022-03-17 15:01:51.485891',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">A University at Buffalo communication researcher has developed a framework for measuring the slippery concept of social media public opinion.</p><p>These collective views on a topic or issue expressed on social media, distinct from the conclusions determined through survey-based public opinion polling, have never been easy to determine. But the \"murmuration\" framework developed and tested by Yini Zhang, PhD, an assistant professor of communication in the UB College of Arts and Sciences, and her collaborators addresses challenges, like identifying online demographics and factoring for opinion manipulation, that are characteristic on these digital battlegrounds of public discourse.</p><p>Murmuration identifies meaningful groups of social media actors based on the \"who-follows-whom\" relationship. The actors attract like-minded followers to form \"flocks,\" which serve as the units of analysis. As opinions form and shift in response to external events, the flocks\' unfolding opinions move like the fluid murmuration of airborne starlings.</p><p>The framework and the findings from an analysis of social network structure and opinion expression from over 193,000 Twitter accounts, which followed more than 1.3 million other accounts, suggest that flock membership can predict opinion and that the murmuration framework reveals distinct patterns of opinion intensity. The researchers studied Twitter because of the ability to see who is following whom, information that is not publicly accessible on other platforms.</p><p>The results, published in the <em>Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication</em>, further support the echo chamber tendencies prevalent on social media, while adding important nuance to existing knowledge.</p><p>\"By identifying different flocks and examining the intensity, temporal pattern and content of their expression, we can gain deeper insights far beyond where liberals and conservatives stand on a certain issue,\" says Zhang, an expert in social media and political communication. \"These flocks are segments of the population, defined not by demographic variables of questionable salience, like white women aged 18-29, but by their online connections and response to events.</p><p>\"As such, we can observe opinion variations within an ideological camp and opinions of people that might not be typically assumed to have an opinion on certain issues. We see the flocks as naturally occurring, responding to things as they happen, in ways that take a conversational element into consideration.\"</p><p>Zhang says it\'s important not to confuse public opinion, as measured by survey-based polling methods, and social media public opinion.</p><p>\"Arguably, social media public opinion is twice removed from the general public opinion measured by surveys,\" say Zhang. \"First, not everyone uses social media. Second, among those who do, only a subset of them actually express opinions on social media. They tend to be strongly opinionated and thus more willing to express their views publicly.\"</p><p>Murmuration offers insights that can complement information gathered through survey-based polling. It also moves away from mining social media for text from specific tweets. Murmuration takes full advantage of social media\'s dynamic aspect. When text is removed from its context, it becomes difficult to accurately determine questions about what led to the discussion, when it began, and how it evolved over time.</p><p>\"Murmuration can allow for research that makes better use of social media data to study public opinion as a form of social interaction and reveal underlying social dynamics,\" says Zhang.</p>','2022-03-17 15:01:51.485891','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University at Buffalo','A communication researcher has developed a framework for measuring the slippery concept of social media public opinion. Murmuration identifies meaningful groups of social media actors based on the \'who-follows-whom\' relationship. The actors attract like-minded followers to form \'flocks,\' which serve as the units of analysis. As opinions form and shift in response to external events, the flocks\' unfolding opinions move like the fluid murmuration of airborne starlings.\n',1,27,'<li>Yini Zhang, Fan Chen, Karl Rohe. <strong>Social Media Public Opinion as Flocks in a Murmuration: Conceptualizing and Measuring Opinion Expression on Social Media</strong>. <em>Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication</em>, 2022; 27 (1) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jcmc/zmab021\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1093/jcmc/zmab021</a>\n</li>'),(1344,'Researchers may have unlocked the blood-brain barrier','researchers-may-have-unlocked-the-blood-brain-barrier','2022-03-17 15:02:08.804286',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">The brain is composed of billions of neurons -- vulnerable cells that require a protective environment to function properly. This delicate environment is protected by 400 miles of specialized vasculature designed to limit which substances come into contact with the brain. This blood-brain barrier is essential for protecting the organ from toxins and pathogens. But in the context of neurological disease, the barrier \"becomes your worst enemy,\" says Anne Eichmann, PhD, Ensign Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) and professor of cellular and molecular physiology, as it also blocks the passage of therapeutic drugs.</p><p>For years, it has been the goal of neuroscientists and vascular biologists alike to find the magic bullet for temporarily opening and resealing the barrier for drug administration. Now, Eichmann\'s team has developed an antibody as a tool for opening the blood-brain barrier for a couple of hours at a time, allowing for the delivery of drugs to a diseased brain. The team published its findings in <em>Nature Communications</em> on March 4.</p><p>\"This is the first time we\'ve figured out how to control the blood-brain barrier with a molecule,\" says Eichmann, who is the senior author of the study.</p><p>The development and maintenance of the blood-brain barrier are dependent on what is called the Wnt signaling pathway, which regulates a number of crucial cellular processes. Eichmann\'s team sought to figure out whether this pathway could be modulated to open the barrier \"on-demand.\"</p><p>When Kevin Boyé, a postdoctoral associate at Yale and first author of the study, joined Eichmann\'s lab in 2017, he chose to study a molecule known as Unc5B, an endothelial membrane receptor expressed in the endothelial cells of capillaries. He found that if he knocked out this receptor in mice, they died early in their embryonic development because their vasculature failed to form properly, indicating that it was an important molecule in vascular development. He also discovered that a protein known as Claudin5 -- which is important for creating the tight junctions between the endothelial cells of the blood-brain barrier -- was also significantly reduced. This made the team realize that the receptor could be important in maintaining this barrier.</p><p>There was previously no known link between Unc5B and the Wnt signaling pathway. Through this new study, the team figured out that the Unc5B receptor controls the pathway, functioning as an upstream regulator.</p><p>Boyé then went a step further and took the receptor out in adult mice with an already established blood-brain barrier, and found that the barrier remained open in the absence of the receptor. Next, he wanted to determine which ligands -- which bind to receptors and send signals between or inside cells -- were responsible for the barrier effect. He discovered that one ligand, Netrin-1, also caused a blood-barrier defect when it was removed.</p><p>Next, the team developed an antibody that could block Netrin-1 from binding to its receptor. Upon injecting the antibody, the team was able disrupt the Wnt signaling pathway, causing the blood-brain barrier to open temporarily on demand.</p><p>\"It was quite a fascinating journey, especially the development of our blocking antibodies,\" says Boyé. \"And to see that we can open the blood-brain barrier in a very time-sensitive fashion to promote drug delivery.\"</p><p>Because the blood-brain barrier blocks entry to all but a tiny subset of small molecules, neurological conditions such as Alzheimer\'s, multiple sclerosis, brain tumors, and depression are exceedingly difficult to treat. Having control over the barrier will be helpful for future drug delivery ventures. The team has not yet identified any potential complications, but plans to evaluate the efficacy and potential toxicity of the antibody in later research.</p><p>\"This paves the way to more interesting basic research around how the body builds such a tight barrier to protect its neurons and how can it be manipulated for drug delivery purposes,\" says Eichmann. \"And then there\'s also potential to use this as a delivery platform for drugs to penetrate into the brain.\"</p><p>In future studies, the team hopes to understand how to apply its findings to chemotherapy delivery for treating brain tumors. They are also currently working to see if they can apply their antibody to other regions of the central nervous system outside of the brain.</p>','2022-03-17 15:02:08.804286','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Yale University','The brain is composed of billions of neurons -- vulnerable cells that require a protective environment to function properly. This delicate environment is protected by 400 miles of specialized vasculature designed to limit which substances come into contact with the brain. This blood-brain barrier is essential for protecting the organ from toxins and pathogens. But it also blocks the passage of therapeutic drugs.\n',1,182,'<li>Kevin Boyé, Luiz Henrique Geraldo, Jessica Furtado, Laurence Pibouin-Fragner, Mathilde Poulet, Doyeun Kim, Bryce Nelson, Yunling Xu, Laurent Jacob, Nawal Maissa, Dritan Agalliu, Lena Claesson-Welsh, Susan L. Ackerman, Anne Eichmann. <strong>Endothelial Unc5B controls blood-brain barrier integrity</strong>. <em>Nature Communications</em>, 2022; 13 (1) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-28785-9\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41467-022-28785-9</a>\n</li>'),(1345,'Inhalable \'aerogel\' triggers immunity to COVID-19 in mice, may block transmission','inhalable-\'aerogel\'-triggers-immunity-to-covid-19-in-mice,-may-block-transmission','2022-03-17 16:33:33.504922',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">An inhalable \'aerogel\' loaded with DNA that encodes for the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein successfully induces an immune response against COVID-19 in the lungs of mice, according to new research conducted at Penn State. The team said its aerogel could be used to create an inhalable vaccine that blocks SARS-CoV-2 transmission by preventing the virus from establishing an infection in the lungs.</p><p>\"There are many potential advantages of an inhalable formulation compared to an injectable vaccine,\" said Atip Lawanprasert, graduate student in biomedical engineering and a lead author of the study, which published recently in the journal <em>Biomacromolecules</em>. \"One is avoidance of needles. Inhalable vaccines might be able to help increase the rate of vaccination because so many people are afraid of injections. No matter how high the efficacy of a vaccine, if people don\'t get it, then it\'s not useful.\"</p><p>Scott Medina, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, Penn State, added that inhalable vaccines may be more shelf stable than traditional vaccines.</p><p>\"Importantly,\" Medina said, \"inhalable vaccines may induce an antibody response locally in the lungs where it can potentially neutralize and clear the virus before it fully infects the host and causes symptoms.\"</p><p>By contrast, Girish Kirimanjeswara, associate professor of veterinary and biomedical sciences, explained that the injectable COVID-19 vaccines induce a systemic immune response, which is effective at fighting infections with SARS-CoV-2, but not as potent as an inhalable vaccine would be in stopping the infection at the location of the virus\'s entry into the body.</p><p>\"The current vaccines are not very good at preventing transmission because they allow the virus to replicate in the body, even for a short period, and then transmit to other individuals,\" said Kirimanjeswara. \"An inhalable vaccine would elicit local immunity at the primary site of infection, where SARS-CoV-2 could be rapidly neutralized and eliminated without the inflammatory response characteristic of systemic vaccination.\"</p><p>Previously, the team had developed and patented a gel-like material, called an \'aerogel,\' as a vehicle for delivering antimicrobials to the lungs to treat bacterial respiratory infections, particularly tuberculosis.</p><p>\"When the pandemic started, we decided to develop an inhalable formulation for COVID-19 by combining our aerogel with a nucleic acid-encoded antigen -- specifically, DNA that encodes the SARS-CoV-2 proteins,\" said Medina.</p><p>The researchers developed their COVID-19 formulation, which they call CoMiP (coronavirus mimetic particle), to target alveolar macrophages -- immune cells in the respiratory tract that ingest foreign particles.</p><p>\"Alveolar macrophages represent attractive targets for inhalable vaccines because they are abundant within the lungs, and previous evidence has suggested that they may be important in early COVID-19 pathogenesis,\" said Medina.</p><p>Specifically, he explained, alveolar macrophages may be one of the first cells to become infected by SARS-CoV-2 when the virus is inhaled.</p><p>\"Alveolar macrophages are one of our key defenders against viral infection because they serve to present antigens to the rest of the immune system,\" said Medina.</p><p>The scientists designed their CoMiPs to be rapidly ingested by alveolar macrophages, after which the macrophages would interpret the viral antigen and begin to express the viral proteins encoded in the DNA.</p><p>\"You are essentially tricking the macrophage into interpreting this DNA and expressing this foreign spike protein,\" said Medina. \"Once it expresses the foreign protein, it shows it to the rest of the immune system so the immune system can learn to recognize the protein in the event of a SARS-CoV-2 infection.\"</p><p>In the laboratory, when the scientists incubated their CoMiPs with cells designed to mimic naive alveolar immune cells, they found that the macrophages readily internalized the CoMiPs. Next, they optimized the formulation of the CoMiPs to identify the maximum safe dose in cells in vitro. They found that &gt;80% of cells remained viable at a dose of ?0.01 mg/mL.</p><p>To test the efficacy of the CoMiP vaccine, the team immunized mice via an intranasal installation of the vaccine, followed by a booster dose two weeks later. Next, they collected serum samples from the animals on days 14 and 28 post vaccination and booster, respectively. They analyzed these samples for systemic immune responses and found no statistically significant change in systemic antibody levels between CoMiP-treated animals and control animals at either sampling time point.</p><p>To explore nose, throat and lung immune responses, the researchers collected samples from immunized mice 30 days after vaccination to assess differences in the total and spike-protein specific lung mucosal IgA antibodies. They found a significant increase in the total IgA for mice vaccinated with CoMiPs, but IgA specifically targeting the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein was lower than expected for the vaccinated animals.</p><p>\"On the benchtop, outside of the animal, we saw pretty good expression of the proteins,\" said Medina. \"And then when the CoMiPs were delivered into the animal, we saw an increase in antibodies in the lung that may provide some protection, but it was not to the extent that we would like. It\'s encouraging data, but there is more optimization to be done.\"</p><p>The team plans to continue to research the use of CoMiPs to protect against COVID-19</p><p>In addition, Kirimanjeswara noted, \"Transmission blocking, inhalable vaccines can also be translated to multiple other viruses, such as flu, so our CoMiP has the potential to be widely applicable.\"</p><p>Other authors on the paper include Andrew W. Simonson, postdoctoral fellow, University of Pittsburgh; Sarah E. Sumner, graduate student in veterinary and biomedical sciences, Penn State; McKayla J. Nicol, graduate student in veterinary and biomedical sciences, Penn State; and Sopida Pimcharoen, undergraduate student in biomedical engineering, Penn State.</p><p>The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences and Materials Research Institute at Penn State supported this research.</p>','2022-03-17 16:33:33.504922','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Penn State','An inhalable \'aerogel\' loaded with DNA that encodes for the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein successfully induces an immune response against COVID-19 in the lungs of mice, according to new research. The team said its aerogel could be used to create an inhalable vaccine that blocks SARS-CoV-2 transmission by preventing the virus from establishing an infection in the lungs.\n',1,74,'<li>Atip Lawanprasert, Andrew W. Simonson, Sarah E. Sumner, McKayla J. Nicol, Sopida Pimcharoen, Girish S. Kirimanjeswara, Scott H. Medina. <strong>Inhalable SARS-CoV-2 Mimetic Particles Induce Pleiotropic Antigen Presentation</strong>. <em>Biomacromolecules</em>, 2022; 23 (3): 1158 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.biomac.1c01447\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1021/acs.biomac.1c01447</a>\n</li>'),(1346,'One bird\'s joy is another bird\'s sorrow','one-bird\'s-joy-is-another-bird\'s-sorrow','2022-03-17 17:22:11.564897',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">A genetic conflict between the sexes promotes intraspecific diversity in ruffs. Ruffs are characterized by three supergene variants that lead to different appearances and courtship behavior in males. Whether these variants affect females was previously unknown. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, in foundation (i.f.), now show that females of the so-called <em>Faeder</em> variant produce less offspring. However, this female handicap helps their males: Disguised as females, Faeder males benefit from their own rarity and obtain more matings. The contrasting effect of the variant in males and females thus contributes to its persistence over time. The study thereby provides important insights into the mechanisms that maintain biodiversity.</p><p>The question of how biodiversity arises and is maintained is not only of central importance to biologists. Biodiversity is most prominently associated with species diversity, but one can also find a substantial amount of diversity within many species. For example, there are various and pronounced differences between males and females.</p><p>Ruffs (<em>Calidris pugnax</em>) are a particularly vivid example of intraspecific diversity that goes beyond typically observed sex differences. In these sandpipers, males will take up one of three morphs that differ in appearance and behavior. Most males are <em>Independents</em> with rather dark plumage ornaments that aggressively defend a small display territory in mating arenas to impress visiting females. The somewhat smaller<em> Satellites</em>, recognizable by their lighter plumage, display more solemnly in an alliance with an Independent host. The rare <em>Faeder</em> males have an entirely different tactic: they resemble females and sneak around the mating arenas unnoticed by the other males.</p><p>Remarkably, which tactic a male ruff will use, is written in his genes. About four million years ago, a \'supergene\' emerged through a genomic accident: a DNA fragment broke out of a chromosome and reinserted itself in the opposite direction. This inversion was the birth of the Faeder morph. The affected DNA region contains about 100 genes and is inherited as a functional unit. A rare recombination between the original and the inverted DNA sequence subsequently gave rise to the Satellites.</p><p>Interestingly, the supergene is not located on a sex chromosome, so the different genetic variants also occur in females. Unlike in males, however, little was known whether and how they affect females. An international team led by Clemens Küpper at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, i.f., and David Lank at Simon Fraser University, now compared the reproductive success of the female morphs. They found that female Faeders have significantly lower reproductive success as they lay fewer and smaller eggs. In addition, their embryos as well, as ruff chicks hatching from smaller eggs, have lower survival rates.</p><p>Nevertheless, the Faeder variant has not gone extinct. To understand how it can persist, the researchers modeled different scenarios. The models showed that an increased reproductive success of Faeder males is necessary to maintain the Faeder variant.</p><p>\"The Faeder supergene brings a big disadvantage for females, but it is an advantage for males,\" explains Lina Giraldo-Deck, lead author of the study. \"We think that exactly this genetic conflict between males and females contributes to the maintenance of the Faeder variant.\" Indeed, the females\' low reproductive success plays into the males\' hands: the less common Faeder males are, the better their stealthy strategy works.</p><p>However, Faeders rely on the Independent ruffs. Faeder and Satellite gene variants are not viable on their own. Hence, each ruff carries at least one Independent supergene variant. In addition, male Faeders exploit the courtship efforts of the Independents, and Faeder chicks are raised primarily by female Independents.</p><p>\"Today\'s male Independents seem rather defenseless against the Faeders\' tactics,\" says Clemens Küpper. \"The extremely high competition among Independents led to the evolution of larger and more aggressive males. Meanwhile, they have become operation-blind and focus in their competition primarily on similar-looking males. This opens up a niche for deception artists like the Faeders, who exploit it very effectively.\" This shows that there is no such thing as \'the fittest\' who can cope with all challenges. \"Diversity prevails even under strong selective pressure. The emergence of new forms is a principle of all life,\" notes Clemens Küpper.</p><p>Next, the scientists plan to investigate the effect of the supergene variants on other life stages and how the genes involved influence the physiology of the growing animals -- this, the researchers emphasize, is the only way to understand the underlying evolutionary mechanisms in their entirety.</p>','2022-03-17 17:22:11.564897','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Max-Planck-Gesellschaft','A genetic conflict between the sexes promotes intraspecific diversity in ruffs. Ruffs are characterized by three supergene variants that lead to different appearances and courtship behavior in males. Whether these variants affect females was previously unknown. Researchers now show that females of the so-called Faeder variant produce less offspring. However, this female handicap helps their males: Disguised as females, Faeder males benefit from their own rarity and obtain more matings. The contrasting effect of the variant in males and females thus contributes to its persistence over time. The study thereby provides important insights into the mechanisms that maintain biodiversity.\n',1,59,'<li>Lina M. Giraldo-Deck, Jasmine L. Loveland, Wolfgang Goymann, Barbara Tschirren, Terry Burke, Bart Kempenaers, David B. Lank, Clemens Küpper. <strong>Intralocus conflicts associated with a supergene</strong>. <em>Nature Communications</em>, 2022; 13 (1) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29033-w\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41467-022-29033-w</a>\n</li>'),(1347,'If blood pressure rises upon standing, so may risk for heart attack','if-blood-pressure-rises-upon-standing,-so-may-risk-for-heart-attack','2022-03-17 17:22:19.766424',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Among young and middle-aged adults with high blood pressure, a substantial rise in blood pressure upon standing may identify those with a higher risk of serious cardiovascular events, such as heart attack and stroke, according to new research published today in the American Heart Association\'s peer-reviewed journal <em>Hypertension.</em></p><p>\"This finding may warrant starting blood-pressure-lowering treatment including medicines earlier in patients with exaggerated blood pressure response to standing,\" said Paolo Palatini, M.D., lead author of the study and a professor of internal medicine at the University of Padova in Padova, Italy.</p><p>Nearly half of Americans and about 40% of people worldwide have high blood pressure, considered to be the world\'s leading preventable cause of death. According to the American Heart Association\'s 2022 heart disease statistics, people with hypertension in mid-life are five times more likely to have impaired cognitive function and twice as likely to experience reduced executive function, dementia and Alzheimer\'s disease.</p><p>Typically, systolic (top number) blood pressure falls slightly upon standing up. In this study, researchers assessed whether the opposite response -- a significant rise in systolic blood pressure upon standing -- is a risk factor for heart attack and other serious cardiovascular events.</p><p>The investigators evaluated 1,207 people who were part of the HARVEST study, a prospective study that began in Italy in 1990 and included adults ages 18-45 years old with untreated stage 1 hypertension. Stage 1 hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure of 140-159 mm Hg and/or diastolic BP 90-100 mm Hg. None had taken blood pressure-lowering medication prior to the study, and all were initially estimated at low risk for major cardiovascular events based on their lifestyle and medical history (no diabetes, renal impairment or other cardiovascular diseases). At enrollment, participants were an average age of 33 years, 72% were men, and all were white.</p><p>At enrollment, six blood pressure measurements for each participant were taken in various physical positions, including when lying down and after standing up. The 120 participants with the highest rise (top 10%) in blood pressure upon standing averaged an 11.4 mm Hg increase; all increases in this group were greater than 6.5 mm Hg. The remaining participants averaged a 3.8 mm Hg fall in systolic blood pressure upon standing.</p><p>The researchers compared heart disease risk factors, laboratory measures and the occurrence of major cardiovascular events (heart attack, heart-related chest pain, stroke, aneurysm of the aortic artery, clogged peripheral arteries) and chronic kidney disease among participants in the two groups. In some analyses, the development of atrial fibrillation, an arrhythmia that is a major risk factor for stroke, was also noted. Results were adjusted for age, gender, parental history of heart disease, and several lifestyle factors and measurements taken during study enrollment.</p><p>During an average 17-year follow-up 105 major cardiovascular events occurred. The most common were heart attack, heart-related chest pain and stroke.</p><p>People in the group with top 10% rise in blood pressure:</p><p>After adjusting for average blood pressure taken over 24 hours, an exaggerated blood pressure response to standing remained an independent predictor of adverse heart events or stroke.</p><p>\"The results of the study confirmed our initial hypothesis -- a pronounced increase in blood pressure from lying to standing could be prognostically important in young people with high blood pressure. We were rather surprised that even a relatively small increase in standing blood pressure (6-7 mm Hg) was predictive of major cardiac events in the long run,\" said Palatini.</p><p>In a subset of 630 participants who had stress hormones measured from 24-hour urine samples, the epinephrine/creatinine ratio was higher in the people with a rise in standing blood pressure compared to those whose standing blood pressure did not rise (118.4 nmol/mol vs. 77.0 nmol/mol, respectively).</p><p>\"Epinephrine levels are an estimate of the global effect of stressful stimuli over the 24 hours. This suggests that those with the highest blood pressure when standing may have an increased sympathetic response [the fight-or-flight response] to stressors,\" said Palatini. \"Overall, this causes an increase in average blood pressure.\"</p><p>\"The findings suggest that blood pressure upon standing should be measured in order to tailor treatment for patients with high blood pressure, and potentially, a more aggressive approach to lifestyle changes and blood-pressure-lowering therapy may be considered for people with an elevated [hyperreactor] blood pressure response to standing,\" he said.</p><p>Results from this study may not be generalizable to people from other ethnic or racial groups since all study participants reported white race/ethnicity. In addition, there were not enough women in the sample to analyze whether the association between rising standing blood pressure and adverse heart events was different among men and women. Because of the relatively small number of major adverse cardiac events in this sample of young people, the results need to be confirmed in larger studies.</p><p>Co-authors are Lucio Mos, M.D.; Francesca Saladini, M.D.; and Marcello Rattazzi, M.D.  </p><p>The study was funded by the Association \"18 Maggio 1370\" in Italy.</p>','2022-03-17 17:22:19.766424','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'American Heart Association','Young and middle-aged adults with high blood pressure whose systolic blood pressure (top-number) rose more than 6.5 mm Hg upon standing were more likely to later have a heart attack, stroke, heart-related chest pain or other major heart disease-related event than those with lower systolic blood pressure in response to standing. The researchers highlight the importance of measuring standing blood pressure in young and middle-aged adults with hypertension, suggesting early treatment for those who have elevated blood pressure upon standing.\n',1,127,'<li>Paolo Palatini, Lucio Mos, Francesca Saladini, Marcello Rattazzi. <strong>Blood Pressure Hyperreactivity to Standing: a Predictor of Adverse Outcome in Young Hypertensive Patients</strong>. <em>Hypertension</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.121.18579\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.121.18579</a>\n</li>'),(1348,'Mother to child transmission of COVID-19 infection, possible but rare, study finds','mother-to-child-transmission-of-covid-19-infection,-possible-but-rare,-study-finds','2022-03-17 17:22:34.268848',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing the COVID-19 infection, can be transmitted from mother to baby before, during and after childbirth -- but such occurrences are rare, a new study reveals.</p><p>Overall, fewer than two per cent of babies born to mothers with SARS-CoV-2 infection also test positive for the virus, but they are more likely to test positive when the women have severe COVID-19 or were diagnosed after childbirth.</p><p>Experts also discovered that vaginal births and breast feeding do not increase the likelihood of babies testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 when their mothers have the infection.</p><p>An international research team, led by the University of Birmingham\'s WHO Collaborating Centre for Global Women\'s Health, published its findings today in <em>BMJ</em> after examining data from around the globe relating to more than 14,000 babies born to mothers with COVID-19.</p><p>Overall, 1.8% of the 14,271 babies born to mothers with SARS-CoV-2 infection tested positive for the virus using PCR tests.</p><p>Study lead Shakila Thangaratinam, Professor of Maternal and Perinatal Health at the University of Birmingham, commented: \"Ours is the first study to use the World Health Organization\'s stringent methods to show that it is possible for the virus to be spread from the mother to baby while in the womb, during childbirth, and after delivery.</p><p>\"However, parents and healthcare professionals can be reassured that only a very small proportion of babies born to mothers with SARS-CoV-2 test positive. This implies that the risks of infection to such babies are rare.</p><p>\"Mothers should also be reassured about the low risk of viral transmission through vaginal birth, skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding -- all of which should be encouraged.\"</p><p>Professor Thangaratinam added that healthcare professionals and policy makers need to be aware of the expected burden of SARS-CoV-2 positivity in babies, and that they can be infected at any time during pregnancy and delivery -- highlights the need for appropriate measures to reduce risk of viral transmission in the postnatal period.</p><p>The research team recommends that, since babies born to mothers with severe SARS-CoV-2 are more likely to test positive, they will need to be tested after birth and monitored closely. Vaccination in pregnancy should be further encouraged to prevent infection and severe disease in mothers.</p><p>The team will analyse new studies as further evidence becomes available and also explore the effects that SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and vaccination have on newborns.</p>','2022-03-17 17:22:34.268848','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Birmingham','SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing the COVID-19 infection, can be transmitted from mother to baby before, during and after childbirth -- but such occurrences are rare, a new study reveals.\n',1,13,'<li>John Allotey, Shaunak Chatterjee, Tania Kew, Andrea Gaetano, Elena Stallings, Silvia Fernández-García, Magnus Yap, Jameela Sheikh, Heidi Lawson, Dyuti Coomar, Anushka Dixit, Dengyi Zhou, Rishab Balaji, Megan Littmoden, Yasmin King, Luke Debenham, Anna Clavé Llavall, Kehkashan Ansari, Gurimaan Sandhu, Adeolu Banjoko, Kate Walker, Keelin O’Donoghue, Madelon van Wely, Elizabeth van Leeuwen, Elena Kostova, Heinke Kunst, Asma Khalil, Vanessa Brizuela, Nathalie Broutet, Edna Kara, Caron Rahn Kim, Anna Thorson, Olufemi T Oladapo, Javier Zamora, Mercedes Bonet, Lynne Mofenson, Shakila Thangaratinam. <strong>SARS-CoV-2 positivity in offspring and timing of mother-to-child transmission: living systematic review and meta-analysis</strong>. <em>BMJ</em>, 2022; e067696 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2021-067696\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1136/bmj-2021-067696</a>\n</li>'),(1349,'Monkeys play to reduce group tension','monkeys-play-to-reduce-group-tension','2022-03-17 17:22:37.954987',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">New research has discovered that adult howler monkeys use play to avoid conflict and reduce group tension, with levels of play increasing when they are faced with scarce resources.</p><p>The study, carried out by a team of researchers from Spain, Brazil and the UK, and published in the journal <em>Animal Behaviour,</em> focuses on the activity of two subspecies of howler monkey: the Mexican howler (<em>Alouatta palliata mexicana</em>) and the golden-mantled howler (<em>Alouatta palliata palliata</em>).</p><p>The researchers examined how play varies with age, and they measured the amount of time adults play with other adults and with juvenile monkeys within their groups.</p><p>Howler monkey play involves individuals hanging from their tails and making facial expressions and signals, such as shaking their heads. However, play is an energy-costly activity for howler monkeys, who generally have an inactive lifestyle due to their mainly leaf-based diet.</p><p>By studying seven different groups of howler monkeys in the rainforests of Mexico and Costa Rica, the researchers found that the amount of adult play is linked to the number of potential playmates, increasing in line with the size of the group. Adults spend more time playing with other adults, rather than juveniles, and adult females spend more time engaged in play than adult males.</p><p>Crucially, the researchers found that play amongst adults increases in line with time spent foraging on fruit. Howler monkeys typically eat leaves, and fruit is a highly prized resource that generates competition amongst the monkeys.</p><p>Howler monkeys do not have a fixed social hierarchy within their groups to navigate competition and conflict, and they do not engage in collective grooming, which is used by some primates for group cohesiveness and tension reduction. Instead, the study authors believe play has a key role in helping howler monkeys regulate relationships within their social group and avoid conflict.</p><p>Co-author Dr Jacob Dunn, Associate Professor in Evolutionary Biology at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), said: \"Despite its appearance and our own perception of what play means, play is not always associated with frivolity or education. Instead, we think it fulfils an important function in howler monkey society by reducing tension when there is competition over scarce resources.</p><p>\"We found that levels of play are at their highest when howler monkeys are feeding on fruit -- which is a valuable and defendable resource -- and female adults play more than males. This is striking, as females would be more vulnerable to food competition than males. Howler monkeys are a particularly energy-conservative species, and we would have assumed females would have played less, as they are also constrained by the energy requirements of reproduction.\"</p><p>Lead author Dr Norberto Asensio, of University of the Basque Country, said: \"One theory for the positive effect of fruit consumption on play is that a fruit-based diet simply provides the howler monkeys with more energy compared to their typical diet of leaves.</p><p>\"However, if this was the case, we should have observed adults engaging in more play with all members of the group during fruit foraging, rather than just with other adults. Because juveniles do not pose a threat or provide competition at fruit trees, we believe that play amongst adults is a mechanism for solving conflicts within the group, in a similar way that grooming is used by some other primate species.\"</p>','2022-03-17 17:22:37.954987','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Anglia Ruskin University','New research has discovered that monkeys use play to avoid conflict and reduce group tension. The study found that adult howler monkeys spend more time playing with other adults, rather than juveniles. And rather than being associated with fun or education, play increases when howler monkeys are foraging for fruit, which is a highly prized resource that generates competition.\n',1,27,'<li>Norberto Asensio, Eugenia Zandonà, Jacob C. Dunn, Jurgi Cristóbal-Azkarate. <strong>Socioecological correlates of social play in adult mantled howler monkeys</strong>. <em>Animal Behaviour</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.01.017\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.01.017</a>\n</li>'),(1350,'New study finds higher rates of newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes after infection with mild COVID-19','new-study-finds-higher-rates-of-newly-diagnosed-type-2-diabetes-after-infection-with-mild-covid-19','2022-03-17 17:22:40.080258',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">New research published in <em>Diabetologia </em>(the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes [EASD]), suggests a possible association between mild COVID-19 cases and subsequently diagnosing type 2 diabetes.</p><p>The analysis of health records from 1,171 general and internal medicine practices across Germany conducted by Professor Wolfgang Rathmann and Professor Oliver Kussfrom the German Diabetes Center at Heinrich Heine University, Dusseldorf, Germany, and Professor Karel Kostev (IQVIA, Frankfurt, Germany) found that adults who recover from mostly mild COVID-19 appear to have a significantly higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes than a matched control group who had other types of respiratory infections, which are also frequently caused by viruses.</p><p>If confirmed, these results indicate that diabetes screening in individuals after recovery from mild forms of COVID-19 should be recommended, researchers say. This potential link between COVID-19 and diabetes is also being investigated in various ongoing studies, including on the CoviDiab registry and other studies connected to so called \'long COVID\'.</p><p>Previous studies have noted that inflammation caused by SARS-CoV?2 may damage insulin-producing beta cells, causing them to die or change how they work, resulting in acute hyperglycaemia (high blood glucose). Tissues becoming less reactive to insulin due to inflammation in the body is also thought to be a possible cause. Sedentary lifestyles brought on by lockdowns could also be playing a role. This may explain why new-onset hyperglycaemia and insulin resistance have been reported in COVID-19 patients with no prior history of diabetes.</p><p>However, it is unclear whether these metabolic changes are temporary or whether individuals with COVID-19 may be at increased risk of developing chronic diabetes. Furthermore, there is a lack of studies investigating the incidence of diabetes after recovery from COVID-19 in mild cases.</p><p>To provide more evidence, the researchers analysed electronic health records from the Disease Analyzer database, which included information on 8.8 million adults who visited 1,171 general and internal medicine practices across Germany between March 2020 and January 2021. This included 35,865 patients who were diagnosed with COVID-19. The incidence of diabetes after COVID-19 was compared with a cohort of individuals (average age 43 years; 46% women) who were diagnosed with an acute upper respiratory tract infection (AURI) (but not COVID-19) within the same timeframe, matched for sex, age, health insurance coverage, index month of COVID-19 or AURI diagnoses and comorbidities (obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart attack, stroke). Regression models were used to calculate incidence rate ratios (IRRs) for type 2 diabetes and other forms of diabetes.</p><p>Individuals with a history of COVID-19 or diabetes, and those using corticosteroids within 30 days after the index dates were excluded. During an average follow-up of 119 days for COVID-19 and 161 days for AURI, the numbers of hospitalisations were similar in both groups (COVID-19: 3.2% vs controls: 3.1%; median number of hospital stays: 1 in both cohorts).</p><p>The researchers found that new cases of type 2 diabetes were more common in patients who tested positive for COVID-19 than those with an AURI (15.8 vs 12.3 per 1000 people per year) giving an incidence rate ratio (IRR) of 1.28. In simple terms, this means that the relative risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the COVID group was 28% higher than in the AURI group. The IRR for the COVID group was not increased in other unspecified forms of diabetes.</p><p>\"COVID-19 infection may lead to diabetes by upregulation of the immune system after remission, which may induce pancreatic beta cell dysfunction and insulin resistance, or patients may have been at risk for developing diabetes due to having obesity or prediabetes, and the stress COVID-19 put on their bodies speeded it up,\" says lead author Professor Wolfgang Rathmann. \"The risk of abnormally high blood sugar in individuals with COVID-19 is most likely a continuum, depending on risk factors such as injury to beta cells, an exaggerated inflammatory response, and changes in pandemic-related weight gain and decreased physical activity,\" adds co-author Professor Oliver Kuss.</p><p>Prof Rathmann adds: \"Since the COVID-19 patients were only followed for about three months, further follow-up is needed to understand whether type 2 diabetes after mild COVID-19 is just temporary and can be reversed after they have fully recovered, or whether it leads to a chronic condition.\"</p><p>Although type 2 diabetes is not likely to be a problem for the vast majority of people who have mild COVID-19, the authors recommend that anyone who has recovered from COVID-19 be aware of the warning signs and symptoms such as fatigue, frequent urination, and increased thirst, and seek treatment right away.</p><p>The authors note some limitations to their study, including that limited information on hospitalisations and individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 outside of general practice (e.g. in hospitals or at COVID-19 test centres) may limit the accuracy of the results. Similarly, they were unable to control for body mass index because the data were not available and the incidence of type 1 diabetes was not investigated due to the small number of cases. Finally, they note that their findings might not be generalisable to other populations.</p>','2022-03-17 17:22:40.080258','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Diabetologia','New research suggests a possible association between mild COVID-19 cases and subsequently diagnosing type 2 diabetes.\n',1,46,'<li>Wolfgang Rathmann, Oliver Kuss, Karel Kostev. <strong>Incidence of newly diagnosed diabetes after Covid-19</strong>. <em>Diabetologia</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00125-022-05670-0\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1007/s00125-022-05670-0</a>\n</li>'),(1351,'Public transport: AI assesses resilience of timetables','public-transport:-ai-assesses-resilience-of-timetables','2022-03-17 17:22:44.101153',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">A brief traffic jam, a stuck door, or many passengers getting on and off at a stop -- even small delays in the timetables of trains and buses can lead to major problems. A new artificial intelligence (AI) could help designing schedules that are less susceptible to those minor disruptions. It was developed by a team from the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM and the University of Kaiserslautern. The study was published in \"<em>Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies.\" </em></p><p>The team was looking for an efficient way to test how well timetables can compensate for minor, unavoidable disruptions and delays. In technical terms, this is called robustness. Until now, such timetable optimisations have required elaborate computer simulations that calculate the routes of a large number of passengers under different scenarios. A single simulation can easily take several minutes of computing time. However, many thousands of such simulations are needed to optimise timetables. \"Our new method enables a timetable\'s robustness to be very accurately estimated within milliseconds,\" says Professor Matthias Müller-Hannemann from the Institute of Computer Science at MLU. The researchers from Halle and Kaiserslautern used numerous methods for evaluating timetables in order to train their artificial intelligence. The team tested the new AI using timetables for Göttingen and part of southern Lower Saxony and achieved very good results.</p><p>\"Delays are unavoidable. They happen, for example, when there is a traffic jam during rush hour, when a door of the train jams, or when a particularly large number of passengers get on or off at a stop,\" Müller-Hannemann says. When transfers are tightly scheduled, even a few minutes of delay can lead to travellers missing their connections. \"In the worst case, they miss the last connection of the day,\" adds co-author Ralf Rückert. Another consequence is that vehicle rotations can be disrupted so that follow-on journeys begin with a delay and the problem continues to grow.</p><p>There are limited ways to counteract such delays ahead of time: Travel times between stops and waiting times at stops could be more generously calculated, and larger time buffers could be planned at terminal stops and between subsequent trips. However, all this comes at the expense of economic efficiency. The new method could now help optimise timetables so that a very good balance can be achieved between passenger needs, such as fast connections and few transfers, timetable robustness against disruptions, and the external economic conditions of the transport companies.</p><p>The study was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) within the framework of the research unit \"Integrated Planning for Public Transport.\"</p>','2022-03-17 17:22:44.101153','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg','A brief traffic jam, a stuck door, or many passengers getting on and off at a stop - even small delays in the timetables of trains and buses can lead to major problems. A new artificial intelligence (AI) could help designing schedules that are less susceptible to those minor disruptions.\n',1,27,'<li>Matthias Müller-Hannemann, Ralf Rückert, Alexander Schiewe, Anita Schöbel. <strong>Estimating the robustness of public transport schedules using machine learning</strong>. <em>Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies</em>, 2022; 137: 103566 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2022.103566\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/j.trc.2022.103566</a>\n</li>'),(1352,'Moon\'s orbit proposed as a gravitational wave detector','moon\'s-orbit-proposed-as-a-gravitational-wave-detector','2022-03-17 17:22:56.011873',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Researchers from the UAB, IFAE and University College London propose using the variations in distance between the Earth and the Moon, which can be measured with a precision of less than a centimeter, as a new gravitational wave detector within a frequency range that current devices cannot detect. The research, which could pave the way for the detection of signals from the early universe, was published recently in <em>Physical Review Letters.</em></p><p>Gravitational waves, predicted by Albert Einstein at the start of the 20th century and detected for the first time in 2015, are the new messengers of the most violent processes taking place in the universe. The gravitational wave detectors scan different frequency ranges, similar to moving a dial when tuning into a radio station. Nevertheless, there are frequencies that are impossible to cover with current devices and which may harbour signals that are fundamental to understanding the cosmos. One particular example can be seen in microhertz waves, which could have been produced at the dawn of our universe, and are practically invisible to even the most advanced technology available today.</p><p>In an article recently published in the journal <em>Physical Review Letters</em>, researchers Diego Blas from the Department of Physics at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and the Institut de Física d\'Altes Energies (IFAE), and Alexander Jenkins from the University College London (UCL), point out that a natural gravitational wave detector exists in our immediate environment: the Earth-Moon System. The gravitational waves constantly hitting this system generate tiny deviations in the Moon\'s orbit. Although these deviations are minute, Blas and Jenkins plan on taking advantage of the fact that the Moon\'s exact position is known with an error of at most one centimeter, thanks to the use of lasers sent from different observatories which are continuously reflected upon mirrors left on the surface of the Moon by the Apollo space mission and others. This incredible precision, with an error of one billionth of a part at most, is what may allow a small disturbance caused by ancient gravitational waves to be detected. The Moon\'s orbit lasts approximately 28 days, which translates into a particularly relevant sensitivity when it comes to microhertz, the frequency range researchers are interested in.</p><p>Similarly, they also propose using the information other binary systems in the universe may provide as gravitational wave detectors. This is the case of pulsar binary systems distributed throughout the galaxy, systems in which the pulsar\'s radiation beam allows obtaining the orbit of these stars with incredible precision (with a precision of one millionth). Given that these orbits last approximately 20 days, the passing of gravitational waves in the microhertz frequency range affect them particularly. Blas and Jenkins concluded that these systems could also be potential detectors of these types of gravitational waves.</p><p>With these \"natural detectors\" in the microhertz frequency range, Blas and Jenkins were able to propose a new form of studying gravitational waves emitted by the distant universe. Specifically, those produced by the possible presence of transitions in highly energetic phases of the early universe, commonly seen in many models.</p><p>\"What is most interesting perhaps is that this method complements future ESA/NASA missions, such as LISA, and observatories participating in the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) project, to reach an almost total coverage of the gravitational waves from the nanohertz (SKA) to the centihertz (LIGO/VIRGO) frequency ranges. This coverage is vital to obtaining a precise image of the evolution of the universe, as well as its composition,\" Diego Blas explains. \"Covering the microhertz frequency range is a challenge, which now may be feasible without the need of building new detectors, and only observing the orbits of systems we already know. This connection between fundamental aspects of the universe and more mundane objects is particularly fascinating and can eventually lead to the detection of the earliest signals we have ever seen, and thus change what we know about the cosmos,\" he concludes.</p>','2022-03-17 17:22:56.011873','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona','Researchers propose using the variations in distance between the Earth and the Moon, which can be measured with a precision of less than a centimeter, as a new gravitational wave detector within a frequency range that current devices cannot detect. The research could pave the way for the detection of signals from the early universe.\n',1,27,'<li>Diego Blas, Alexander C. Jenkins. <strong>Bridging the μHz Gap in the Gravitational-Wave Landscape with Binary Resonances</strong>. <em>Physical Review Letters</em>, 2022; 128 (10) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.101103\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.101103</a>\n</li>'),(1353,'Alzheimer’s: Protective immune cells active decades before symptom onset','alzheimer’s:-protective-immune-cells-active-decades-before-symptom-onset','2022-03-17 17:22:58.497904',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">In individuals with a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer\'s disease, the immune cells of the brain -- the \"microglia\" -- start exerting a protective effect up to two decades before the first symptoms appear. A team from Deutsches Zentrum für Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen (DZNE) and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) München draws this conclusion based on a study of more than 200 volunteers, which they report in the journal <em>The Lancet Neurology</em>. In light of their study data, the scientists consider modulating the activity of microglia to be a promising therapeutic approach. To this end, they aim to develop drugs that target a cellular receptor called TREM2.</p><p>About one percent of all people with Alzheimer\'s develop the disease as a result of gene mutations that can be passed on from generation to generation. As part of the international DIAN (Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network) observational study, DZNE and LMU München are participating in research into this genetic form of Alzheimer\'s disease. The DIAN study cohort includes adults who carry gene mutations that cause Alzheimer\'s as well as their close relatives without mutations.</p><p><strong>Measurements Over Several Years</strong></p><p>For the current research, the team led by molecular biologist Prof. Christian Haass and neurologist Dr. Estrella Morenas-Rodríguez analyzed how signatures of microglial activation were related to the development of certain biomarkers of Alzheimer\'s disease. To this end, cerebrospinal fluid and cognition were assessed over a period of several years in 248 participants of the DIAN study comprising the different stages of Alzheimer\'s disease. The volunteers were also examined by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) to visualize brain shrinkage and amyloid pathology -- both are hallmarks of Alzheimer\'s disease.</p><p>The starting point for the research team was a protein called TREM2. \"This is a receptor on the surface of microglia, but parts of it can detach and are then detectable in the cerebrospinal fluid. It is known from laboratory studies, particularly in mice but also from our earlier human studies, that levels of TREM2 in the cerebrospinal fluid are a good indicator of microglial activity. TREM2 is a kind of activity switch. As TREM2 levels increase, so do microglial protective activities,\" explains Christian Haass, research group leader at DZNE and professor of biochemistry at LMU München. \"For a long time, it was assumed that microglia mainly cause damage in the course of Alzheimer\'s disease, as they can fuel chronic inflammatory processes. However, there is growing evidence from my laboratory and many others that microglia have a protective effect at least at the beginning of the disease. This hypothesis is supported by our current data.\"</p><p>Estrella Morenas-Rodríguez, postdoctoral researcher in the Haass team at the time of the investigation and now junior group leader at Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre in Madrid, Spain adds: \"One of the determinant points which allowed us to make our observations, and that was also a challenge, was to be able to study for the first time the increase of the TREM2 marker longitudinally. That is, we measured the marker in several samples taken from the same individuals every one or two years. With that we could better capture the development of the different processes occurring in Alzheimer´s disease than studying samples at just one time point.\"</p><p><strong>Conspicuous Long in Advance</strong></p><p>People with a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer\'s usually develop the disease at a similar age as their relatives with the same mutation who already experience symptoms of dementia. Based on this experience, the researchers were able to estimate the time until the onset of symptoms for all study participants individually. In doing so, they came across early signs of the disease. \"We found that TREM2 levels in the cerebrospinal fluid rise as early as 21 years before the estimated onset of the disease,\" Haass says. \"We also observed that the faster TREM2 increases over the years, the slower pathological events progress in the brain that are typical of Alzheimer\'s. We can infer this from biomarkers for so-called amyloid proteins and tau proteins.\"</p><p>The brain examinations using MRI and PET pointed in a similar direction: In study participants in whom TREM2 levels rose rapidly, deposits of amyloid proteins that are characteristic of Alzheimer\'s developed more slowly and brain volume declined more slowly. \"Besides the relationship with a slower pathological process, one of our most important and promising findings was to see how strikingly the faster TREM2 increase correlated with a slower cognitive decline in an early stage of Alzheimer´s disease. This has important implications for treatment,\" Morenas-Rodríguez notes.</p><p>\"We see our findings as evidence that TREM2-mediated microglial activity has a protective effect,\" Haass says. \"In our view, microglia become active as soon as the first amyloid proteins are deposited in the brain, a process, which we call seeding. In other words, at a very early stage of Alzheimer\'s and that is what we and our colleagues at the DZNE-Tübingen also observe in animal models.\"</p><p>Approach for New Therapies</p><p>For some time now, Haass and his team have been researching drugs that specifically reinforce the protective effect of microglia. Their target is the TREM2 receptor anchored on the cell surface. \"We are still in the laboratory phase. However, the current results in humans show that modulating TREM2 is a promising strategy to develop new options against Alzheimer\'s. Although in this particular case we studied the genetic form of the disease, we consider that our findings also apply to the so-called sporadic variant of the disease, which is far more common. Certainly, it is crucial that treatment starts as early as possible. Today\'s therapies all come far too late to be really effective,\" says Haass.</p>','2022-03-17 17:22:58.497904','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'DZNE - German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases','In individuals with a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer\'s disease, the immune cells of the brain -- the \'microglia\' -- start exerting a protective effect up to two decades before the first symptoms appear. A team draws this conclusion based on a study of more than 200 volunteers. In light of their study data, the scientists consider modulating the activity of microglia to be a promising therapeutic approach. To this end, they aim to develop drugs that target a cellular receptor called TREM2.\n',1,179,'<li>Estrella Morenas-Rodríguez, Yan Li, Brigitte Nuscher, Nicolai Franzmeier, Chengjie Xiong, Marc Suárez-Calvet, Anne M Fagan, Stephanie Schultz, Brian A Gordon, Tammie L S Benzinger, Jason Hassenstab, Eric McDade, Regina Feederle, Celeste M Karch, Kai Schlepckow, John C Morris, Gernot Kleinberger, Bengt Nellgard, Jonathan Vöglein, Kaj Blennow, Henrik Zetterberg, Michael Ewers, Mathias Jucker, Johannes Levin, Randall J Bateman, Christian Haass, Sarah Adams, Ricardo Allegri, Aki Araki, Nicolas Barthelemy, Jacob Bechara, Sarah Berman, Courtney Bodge, Susan Brandon, William (Bill) Brooks, Jared Brosch, Jill Buck, Virginia Buckles, Kathleen Carter, Lisa Cash, Charlie Chen, Jasmeer Chhatwal, Patricio Chrem, Jasmin Chua, Helena Chui, Carlos Cruchaga, Gregory S Day, Chrismary De La Cruz, Darcy Denner, Anna Diffenbacher, Aylin Dincer, Tamara Donahue, Jane Douglas, Duc Duong, Noelia Egido, Bianca Esposito, Marty Farlow, Becca Feldman, Colleen Fitzpatrick, Shaney Flores, Nick Fox, Erin Franklin, Nelly Friedrichsen, Hisako Fujii, Samantha Gardener, Bernardino Ghetti, Alison Goate, Sarah Goldberg, Jill Goldman, Alyssa Gonzalez, Susanne Gräber-Sultan, Neill Graff-Radford, Morgan Graham, Julia Gray, Emily Gremminger, Miguel Grilo, Alex Groves, Lisa Häsler, Cortaiga Hellm, Elizabeth Herries, Laura Hoechst-Swisher, Anna Hofmann, David Holtzman, Russ Hornbeck, Yakushev Igor, Ryoko Ihara, Takeshi Ikeuchi, Snezana Ikonomovic, Kenji Ishii, Clifford Jack, Gina Jerome, Erik Johnson, Stephan Käser, Kensaku Kasuga, Sarah Keefe, William (Bill) Klunk, Robert Koeppe, Deb Koudelis, Elke Kuder-Buletta, Christoph Laske, Allan Levey, Oscar Lopez, Jacob Marsh, Rita Martinez, Ralph Martins, Neal Scott Mason, Colin Masters, Kwasi Mawuenyega, Austin McCullough, Arlene Mejia, James MountzMD, Cath Mummery, Neelesh Nadkarni, Akemi Nagamatsu, Katie Neimeyer, Yoshiki Niimi, James Noble, Joanne Norton, Brigitte Nuscher, Antoinette O\'Connor, Ulricke Obermüller, Riddhi Patira, Richard Perrin, Lingyan Ping, Oliver Preische, Alan Renton, John Ringman, Stephen Salloway, Peter Schofield, Michio Senda, Nick Seyfried, Kristine Shady, Hiroyuki Shimada, Wendy Sigurdson, Jennifer Smith, Lori Smith, Beth Snitz, Hamid Sohrabi, Sochenda Stephens, Kevin Taddei, Sarah Thompson, Peter Wang, Qing Wang, Elise Weamer, Jinbin Xu, Xiong Xu. <strong>Soluble TREM2 in CSF and its association with other biomarkers and cognition in autosomal-dominant Alzheimer\'s disease: a longitudinal observational study</strong>. <em>The Lancet Neurology</em>, 2022; 21 (4): 329 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1474-4422(22)00027-8\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/S1474-4422(22)00027-8</a>\n</li>'),(1354,'Plasma biomarker screening could improve accuracy, health equity in Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis','plasma-biomarker-screening-could-improve-accuracy,-health-equity-in-alzheimer’s-disease-diagnosis','2022-03-17 18:53:44.313956',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Mayo Clinic researchers have identified a new set of molecular markers in blood plasma. This discovery could lead to the development of improved diagnostic tests for Alzheimer\'s disease. Alzheimer\'s disease is the most common form of dementia, affecting 6.2 million people in the U.S.</p><p>The Mayo Clinic study, published in <em>eBioMedicine</em>, is the first study to focus on RNA molecules in plasma as biomarkers for Alzheimer\'s disease in African Americans -- the population at greatest risk for developing Alzheimer\'s disease. This approach enabled researchers to pinpoint specific molecules in plasma that could serve as biomarkers to confirm a diagnosis of Alzheimer\'s disease in this population.</p><p>The study builds on previous research that identified genetic risk factors for Alzheimer\'s disease and established that RNA molecules in blood plasma could potentially be used as biomarkers.</p><p>In the study, researchers examined blood plasma messenger RNA molecules in 151 African Americans diagnosed with Alzheimer\'s disease and 269 African Americans diagnosed as cognitively unimpaired with Clinical Dementia Rating scale scores of zero. The researchers found that when the plasma levels of six messenger RNA molecules -- encoded by genes <em>CLU, APP, CD14, ABCA7, AKAP9</em> and <em>APOE</em> -- were accounted for in their statistical models, they improved their ability to accurately identify participants with an Alzheimer\'s diagnosis by 8%. Researchers explain this is an improvement, compared to statistical models that account for only the presence of known risk factors, such as age and sex, and whether the person is a carrier of the <em>APOE-e4</em> allele -- a gene known to increase the risk of Alzheimer\'s disease.</p><p>The researchers predict this discovery could lead to more accurate Alzheimer\'s disease screening for everyone, particularly for the people and communities at greatest risk.</p><p>\"Having a comprehensive panel of biomarkers for use in screening will help with early detection of Alzheimer\'s disease, and it will also contribute to intervention strategies that can delay and mitigate the onset of the disease,\" says Joseph Reddy, Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic quantitative health sciences researcher and first author. \"This could be especially relevant for African Americans -- a population underrepresented in Alzheimer\'s disease research -- who were the focus of this study.\"</p><p>The researchers predict that this discovery could contribute to the development of more accessible, minimally invasive screening options, enabling improved disease management.</p><p>\"Many screening tests for Alzheimer\'s disease may not be accessible to all patients due to cost or lack of availability at health care facilities in their area,\" says Minerva Carrasquillo, Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic neurogeneticist and senior author. \"Some tests rely on complex imaging techniques, or on obtaining a sample of cerebrospinal fluid from the patient. Obtaining a plasma sample only requires a blood draw, which is a routine procedure in most clinical settings.\"</p><p>The researchers indicate that future research will focus on identifying additional genetic biomarkers in blood plasma that may improve the accuracy of Alzheimer\'s disease diagnostic tests.</p><p>All study participants who consented to participate in this research are part of the Florida Consortium for African American Alzheimer\'s Disease Studies. This consortium, which was established in 2015 by Nilüfer Ertekin-Taner, M.D., Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic neuroscientist and behavioral neurologist, focuses on improving health equity in Alzheimer\'s disease through genomic research. Dr. Ertekin-Taner, who is director of the Mayo Clinic Genetics of Alzheimer\'s Disease and Endophenotypes Lab, is an author on the paper.</p><p>This research was funded by grants from the National Institute on Aging and the Florida Department of Health Ed and Ethel Moore Alzheimer\'s Disease Research Program. This research also was supported by the Mayo Clinic\'s Memory Disorders Center, Alzheimer\'s Disease Research Center, and Center for Health Equity and Community Engagement Research.</p><p>The researchers declare no conflicts of interest.</p>','2022-03-17 18:53:44.313956','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Mayo Clinic','A new study focuses on RNA molecules in plasma as biomarkers for Alzheimer\'s disease in African Americans -- the population at greatest risk for developing Alzheimer\'s disease. This approach enabled researchers to pinpoint specific molecules in plasma that could serve as biomarkers to confirm a diagnosis of Alzheimer\'s disease in this population.\n',1,179,'<li>Joseph S. Reddy, Jiangli Jin, Sarah J. Lincoln, Charlotte C.G. Ho, Julia E. Crook, Xue Wang, Kimberly G. Malphrus, Thuy Nguyen, Nikoleta Tamvaka, Maria T. Greig-Custo, John A. Lucas, Neill R. Graff-Radford, Nilüfer Ertekin-Taner, Minerva M. Carrasquillo. <strong>Transcript levels in plasma contribute substantial predictive value as potential Alzheimer\'s disease biomarkers in African Americans</strong>. <em>eBioMedicine</em>, 2022; 103929 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2022.103929\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/j.ebiom.2022.103929</a>\n</li>'),(1355,'New PCR test can identify all SARS-CoV-2 variants in a positive patient sample','new-pcr-test-can-identify-all-sars-cov-2-variants-in-a-positive-patient-sample','2022-03-17 18:53:45.908792',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">After the start of the SARS-C0V-2 pandemic, investigators from ResearchPath LLC and their collaborators at Rutgers University quickly dedicated resources to develop accurate and reliable COVID-19 testing. As variants emerged, they developed a PCR test that uses molecular beacons not only to diagnose COVID-19 infection, but also to identify the specific variant causing that infection. Their research appears in <em>The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics</em>, published by Elsevier. Their methodology is openly available so that it can be replicated by any facility that can run a PCR test.</p><p>\"It is extraordinary to see that SARS-CoV-2 was not a monolithic infection with a predictable set of clinical features, but rather an ever-evolving disease for which the different strains produce unique clinical features that affect testing, symptoms, and even which organ systems can be attacked,\" explained lead investigator Sanjay Tyagi, PhD, Public Health Research Institute, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, USA.</p><p>Identifying specific strains reveals important information such as the length of incubation period, length of contagious period, transmissibility, pathogenicity, and even changes in the predominant symptoms.</p><p>Information on strain types is generally reported by the international community or a few states with large populations that perform genetic sequencing. The deep sequencing needed to identify SARS-CoV-2 strains is accurate and can identify each mutation present in a sample, but it is costly, slow and requires specialized equipment. Yet knowledge of the strain type provides important information for public health professionals, policymakers, and individuals.</p><p>\"Knowing that a highly contagious and dangerous strain is emerging in a local community could inform policymakers to initiate safety measures to limit spread,\" said co-investigator Ashley Hill, MD, ResourcePath LLC, Sterling, VA, USA. \"It can also serve as an early warning system for healthcare systems that need to plan for surges in ER visits and ICU care. Knowing which strain has infected a person can also help determine which treatments would be most beneficial.\"</p><p>Using real-time PCR probes designed by Rutgers University and already used around the world for many purposes, Rutgers designed the Rutgers-RP RT-PCR assay to detect mutations in SARS-CoV-2 that have been shown to increase immune escape, avoid neutralization, and increase transmissibility. They pioneered the use of molecular beacons to identify specific genetic mutations. Molecular beacons are hairpin-shaped molecules that can be designed to selectively bind to a specific mutant sequence, avoiding wild-type sequences that often differ by a single nucleotide.</p><p>Nine mutations were selected for testing, and the beacon for each has differently colored dyes. Every original variant of concern -- alpha, beta, gamma, delta, and omicron -- has a unique combination of these mutations. and when the beacon binds to its target molecule, its distinct color can be detected by the assay.</p><p>Each beacon was tested individually to confirm its specificity to the assigned mutation. Then, the beacons were combined into a multiplex assay and tested by RT-PCR on 26 SARS-CoV2-positive patient samples that had previously been tested and identified with deep sequencing. Two samples were identified as the alpha variant, two as the epsilon variant, and eight as the delta variant. The multiplex assay was in full agreement with results from deep sequencing, with a sensitivity and specificity of 100%.</p><p>Researchers report that the test is also very adaptable. When omicron emerged, the investigators were able to design a beacon in less than a month to identify a mutation that is unique to omicron and is important for immune evasion. The investigators identified the omicron variant in 17 of 33 additional patient samples that had been previously tested, and the results were 100% in agreement.</p><p>\"The tools we developed to track and identify new variants will be useful for this pandemic and for any unforeseen viruses or pathogens that may arise going forward,\" said lead author Ryan J. Dikdan, BS, Public Health Research Institute, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, USA.</p><p>\"The SARS-CoV-2 virus is not done with us yet. We desperately need a worldwide monitoring system for the inevitable emerging strains that could be even more contagious or deadly,\" the investigators said. \"The Rutgers-RP RT-PCR variant assay could be widely deployed in laboratories around the world right now to monitor all the known variants of concern. The assay will be updated with new primer/probe sets for each new important variant that emerges.\"</p>','2022-03-17 18:53:45.908792','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Elsevier','As SARS-C0V-2 variants emerged, researchers developed a PCR test that uses molecular beacons not only to diagnose COVID-19 infection, but also to identify the specific variant causing that infection.\n',1,65,'<li>Ryan J. Dikdan, Salvatore A.E. Marras, Amanda P. Field, Alicia Brownlee, Alexander Cironi, D. Ashley Hill, Sanjay Tyagi. <strong>Multiplex PCR Assays for Identifying all Major Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Variants</strong>. <em>The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmoldx.2022.01.004\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/j.jmoldx.2022.01.004</a>\n</li>'),(1356,'Rare monkey adapts to fragmented habitat by dieting and reducing activity','rare-monkey-adapts-to-fragmented-habitat-by-dieting-and-reducing-activity','2022-03-17 18:53:55.010573',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">A team of scientists with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and Oxford Brookes University found that a rare species of monkey in Bolivia has adapted to living in a fragmented forest by dieting and moving less during lean times.</p><p>Publishing their results in the <em>International Journal of Primatology</em>, the team say that Olalla\'s titi monkey (<em>Plecturocebus olallae</em>), follows an energy-area minimizing strategy that may enable it to inhabit a forest-savanna landscape in the southwestern portion of the Llanos de Moxos -- the largest wetland in the Amazon.</p><p>The team observed a shift in diet away from fruits during the dry season toward alternative foods such as seeds, lichens, and fungi. In addition, the monkeys reduced movement instead of expanding ranging behavior to look for fruits and other higher quality foods.</p><p>Nevertheless, the authors say that deforestation and further fragmentation in the range of these endemic and Critically Endangered primates must be addressed, as they represent significant threats to the severely range-restricted populations.</p><p>Said Rob Wallace, Director of WCS\'s Greater Madidi-Tambopata Landscape Program, and a co-author of the study: \"The study illustrates the relevance of understanding primate ecological flexibility in response to food reductions to the development of conservation actions, especially in the light of increasing forest degradation and loss in the study region.\"</p><p>In December 2021, WCS Bolivia won the National Biodiversity Science Prize for its work over the last two decades studying and developing conservation actions for the endemic titi monkeys in the Greater Madidi-Tambopata Landscape. In 2020, WCS began a second landscape-scale program in the Llanos de Moxos of Beni.</p>','2022-03-17 18:53:55.010573','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Wildlife Conservation Society','A team of scientists found that a rare species of monkey in Bolivia has adapted to living in a fragmented forest by dieting and moving less during lean times.\n',1,98,'<li>Jesus Martinez, Robert B. Wallace, Enrique Domic, Lesly López, K. Anne-Isola Nekaris. <strong>Seasonal Ecological Flexibility of a Threatened Bolivian Endemic: Olalla\'s Titi Monkey (Plecturocebus olallae)</strong>. <em>International Journal of Primatology</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10764-021-00276-6\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1007/s10764-021-00276-6</a>\n</li>'),(1357,'Aspects of Asian elephants’ social life are related to their amount of stress hormones','aspects-of-asian-elephants’-social-life-are-related-to-their-amount-of-stress-hormones','2022-03-17 18:54:01.007161',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">An international team of scientists found that sociality is linked to stress in Asian elephants. For example, loneliness increased male elephants\' level of stress, whereas having babies present reduced the stress level in female elephants.</p><p>Social behaviours are common in group-living mammals. It is known that humans that have friends or other strong social bonds can experience benefits such as improved health, and increased life span, and a lower disease risk. These relationships can be attributed to the underlying effects of lowered circulating glucocorticoid hormones, also called \"stress hormones.\"</p><p>But how is social behaviour connected to stress in other species? Our understanding of its mechanisms in long-lived animals is largely based on studies in human and non-human primates. Asian elephants, one of the world\'s largest terrestrial mammals, have a very intricate social life.</p><p>\"We investigated four different aspects of the social world of 95 Asian timber elephants living in their natural habitat in Myanmar. These elephants work in the timber industry, where they pull and push logs out of the forest. However, spending much of their time free in their natural habitat allows the timber elephants to express many of their natural behaviours, which is often not the case in fully captive systems, such as zoos. This is a unique research environment and population that allows us to study many elephants living in their natural environment, but at the same time have detailed information about their social lives,\" says Dr Martin Seltmann from the Department of Biology at the University of Turku, the lead author of the study.</p><p><strong>Just as humans, lonely elephants seem more stressed</strong></p><p>Every elephant works together with an elephant handler, and this relationship can last a lifetime. Therefore, a handler knows very well about his elephant\'s behaviours and is able to give detailed information on its social interactions with other elephants.</p><p>From 2014 to 2018, the scientists asked the handlers if their elephants have friends or if they prefer to stay alone. Furthermore, the team assessed the size of the elephants work groups as a measure of social group size, the number of males and females within the work group, and if there were baby elephants present in the group. In addition, the researchers also assessed the concentrations of stress hormones from the elephants\' faecal samples.</p><p>\"We found, that male elephants show higher levels of stress when they have no friends and when they are in social groups with more males than females. Female elephants show lower levels of stress when babies are present in the social group. The size of the social group is not related to levels of stress hormones in males nor females,\" says Martin Seltmann and professor Virpi Lummaa, co-author of the study.</p><p>The team also expected that females would show signs of stress when being solitary, because wild elephant females spend their lives with other female relatives. The researchers think that strong male social bonds might be more important in the semi-captive setting than in purely wild elephants. Compared to male elephants, solitary females might still be able to interact with other individuals without forming strong social bonds and so the lack of those bonds may not be perceived as a stress.</p><p>The findings of this new study highlight the importance of sociality on individual physiological function among elephants, which may have broad implications for the benefits of social interactions among mammals. They can also help to develop applied methods towards maintaining and improving welfare of captive social animals.</p>','2022-03-17 18:54:01.007161','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Turku','An international team of scientists found that sociality is linked to stress in Asian elephants. For example, loneliness increased male elephants\' level of stress, whereas having babies present reduced the stress level in female elephants.\n',1,27,'<li>Martin W. Seltmann, John Jackson, Emily Lynch, Janine L. Brown, Win Htut, Mirkka Lahdenperä, Virpi Lummaa. <strong>Sex-specific links between the social landscape and faecal glucocorticoid metabolites in semi-captive Asian elephants</strong>. <em>General and Comparative Endocrinology</em>, 2022; 319: 113990 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ygcen.2022.113990\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/j.ygcen.2022.113990</a>\n</li>'),(1358,'Black swifts descended rapidly during lunar eclipse','black-swifts-descended-rapidly-during-lunar-eclipse','2022-03-17 18:54:03.445295',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">An international research team led by Lund University in Sweden has managed to study the flight behaviour of the mysterious black swift. They found, among other things, that the black swift rises to extreme heights during a full moon, seemingly catching insects in the moonlight. And, during a lunar eclipse, the birds simultaneously lost altitude. The results are published in <em>Current Biology</em>.</p><p>The black swift is a bird species with a bulky body and long, pointed wings. The plumage is black with some white areas on its head, and its call is a series of high-pitched tweets, with the occasional longer squeak. The black swift is endangered, and has therefore long been of great interest to the world\'s bird researchers.</p><p>Using microdata loggers and advanced technology, the researchers were able to map the movement patterns of black swifts during their migration from the Rocky Mountains in Colorado to the Amazon Basin in Brazil.</p><p>\"We discovered that the black swift does not land a single time during their eight and a half month long migration, so they stay in the air the entire time,\" says Anders Hedenström, biologist at Lund University.</p><p>When the researchers went through the material, they made another discovery that surprised them. It turned out that the black swifts, in connection with a full moon, rose to extreme heights at night. While flying at an altitude of a few hundred meters in daytime, during full moon nights they rose to between 2000 and 4000 meters.</p><p>\"The dynamics of the high-altitude flight in relation to the different phases of the moon came as a total surprise to us,\" says Anders Hedenström.</p><p>The researchers also managed, by chance, to study the birds in connection with a lunar eclipse -- when all the birds reacted instantaneously by diving to much lower altitudes. The moonlight thus has a direct significance for the black swifts\' flight altitude.</p><p>\"Our results are very exciting, and reminiscent of the vertical movements in relation to moonlight found in, for example, zooplankton in the oceans,\" says Anders Hedenström.</p><p><strong>Story Source:</strong></p>','2022-03-17 18:54:03.445295','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Lund University','An international research team has studied the flight behavior of the mysterious black swift. They found, among other things, that the black swift rises to extreme heights during a full moon, seemingly catching insects in the moonlight. And, during a lunar eclipse, the birds simultaneously lost altitude.\n',1,43,'<li>Anders Hedenström, Robert A. Sparks, Gabriel Norevik, Colin Woolley, Greg J. Levandoski, Susanne Åkesson. <strong>Moonlight drives nocturnal vertical flight dynamics in black swifts</strong>. <em>Current Biology</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.03.006\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/j.cub.2022.03.006</a>\n</li>'),(1359,'A gene could prevent Parkinson\'s disease','a-gene-could-prevent-parkinson\'s-disease','2022-03-17 18:54:09.073532',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Parkinson\'s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the destruction of a specific population of neurons: the dopaminergic neurons. The degeneration of these neurons prevents the transmission of signals controlling specific muscle movements and leads to tremors, involuntary muscle contractions or balance problems characteristic of this pathology. A team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) has investigated the destruction of these dopaminergic neurons using the fruit fly as study model. The scientists identified a key protein in flies, and also in mice, which plays a protective role against this disease and could be a new therapeutic target. This work can be read in the journal <em>Nature Communications</em>.</p><p>Apart from rare forms involving a single gene, most Parkinson\'s cases result from an interaction between multiple genetic and environmental risk factors. However, a common element in the onset of the disease is a dysfunction of mitochondria in dopaminergic neurons. These small factories within cells are responsible for energy production, but also for activating the cell\'s self-destruct mechanisms when damaged.</p><p>The laboratory of Emi Nagoshi, Professor in the Department of Genetics and Evolution at the UNIGE Faculty of Science, uses the fruit fly, or Drosophila, to study the mechanisms of dopaminergic neuron degeneration. Her group is particularly interested in the <em>Fer2</em> gene, whose human homolog encodes a protein that controls the expression of many other genes and whose mutation might lead to Parkinson\'s disease via mechanisms that are not yet well understood.</p><p>In a previous study, this scientific team demonstrated that a mutation in the <em>Fer2</em> gene causes Parkinson\'s-like deficiencies in flies, including a delay in the initiation of movement. They had also observed defects in the shape of the mitochondria of dopaminergic neurons, similar to those observed in Parkinson\'s patients.</p><p><strong>Protecting neurons</strong></p><p>Since the absence of <em>Fer2</em> causes Parkinson\'s disease-like conditions, the researchers tested whether -- on the contrary -- an increase in the amount of <em>Fer2</em> in the cells could have a protective effect. When flies are exposed to free radicals, their cells undergo oxidative stress which leads to the degradation of dopaminergic neurons. However, the scientists were able to observe that oxidative stress no longer has any deleterious effect on the flies if they overproduce <em>Fer2</em>, confirming the hypothesis of its protective role.</p><p>\"We have also identified the genes regulated by <em>Fer2</em> and these are mainly involved in mitochondrial functions. This key protein therefore seems to play a crucial role against the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in flies by controlling not only the structure of mitochondria but also their functions,\" explains Federico Miozzo, researcher in the Department of Genetics and Evolution and first author of the study.</p><p><strong>A new therapeutic target</strong></p><p>To find out whether <em>Fer2</em> plays the same role in mammals, the biologists created mutants of the <em>Fer2</em>homolog in mouse dopaminergic neurons. As in the fly, they observed abnormalities in the mitochondria of these neurons as well as defects in locomotion in aged mice. \"We are currently testing the protective role of the <em>Fer2</em> homolog in mice and results similar to those observed in flies would allow us to consider a new therapeutic target for Parkinson\'s disease patients,\" concludes Emi Nagoshi.</p>','2022-03-17 18:54:09.073532','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Université de Genève','Parkinson\'s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the destruction of a specific population of neurons: the dopaminergic neurons. A team has investigated the destruction of these dopaminergic neurons using the fruit fly as study model. The scientists identified a key protein in flies, and also in mice, which plays a protective role against this disease and could be a new therapeutic target.\n',1,154,'<li>Federico Miozzo, Eva P. Valencia-Alarcón, Luca Stickley, Michaëla Majcin Dorcikova, Francesco Petrelli, Damla Tas, Nicolas Loncle, Irina Nikonenko, Peter Bou Dib, Emi Nagoshi. <strong>Maintenance of mitochondrial integrity in midbrain dopaminergic neurons governed by a conserved developmental transcription factor</strong>. <em>Nature Communications</em>, 2022; 13 (1) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29075-0\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41467-022-29075-0</a>\n</li>'),(1360,'Large study on traumatic brain injury highlights global inequality in causes and treatment','large-study-on-traumatic-brain-injury-highlights-global-inequality-in-causes-and-treatment','2022-03-17 18:54:16.183484',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Neurosurgery experts from Cambridge have led the largest ever study examining the surgical management of traumatic brain injuries, highlighting regional inequalities in both major causes and treatment of such injuries.</p><p>The Global Neurotrauma Outcomes Study, funded by the NIHR, is published in <em>The</em> <em>Lancet Neurology</em> and provides data to assist in decision making and improving outcome for patients with traumatic brain injury globally.</p><p>The paper focuses on types of cases, the way they are managed, and death rates, and was compiled using data submitted by 159 hospitals in 57 countries to a central database, which the researchers then analysed. The researchers stratified countries into four tiers (very high, high, medium, low) according to their Human Development Index (HDI), which takes account of factors like life expectancy, education, and income.</p><p>The prospective study determined that patients in the low HDI tier were often young and tended to suffer skull fractures due to assault but were classified as \'mild\' traumatic brain injury (TBI).</p><p>In the medium and high HDI tiers, patients were also young, but most had moderate to severe TBI caused by a road traffic collision and extradural haematoma -- a bleed on the outside of the dura mater, the membrane covering of the brain.</p><p>In the very high tier, patients tended to be older and presented with a moderate or severe TBI associated with a fall and acute subdural haematoma -- a bleed on the inner surface of the dura mater.</p><p>Quality of care was generally less favourable in lower HDI settings, including delays to surgery and a lack of postoperative monitoring equipment and intensive care. The very high HDI tier had the highest proportion of operations in which the most senior surgeon present in the operating theatre was a fully qualified neurosurgeon, while the medium HDI tier had the lowest proportion. The study also found significant variations between hospitals in the outcome of patients.</p><p>Angelos Kolias, Consultant Neurosurgeon at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH) and NIHR Global Neurotrauma Research Group associate director, said: \"The results show that overall mortality is low, reflecting the life-saving nature of surgery for traumatic brain injuries. Many of these patients would have died without an operation. However, we also need to address deficits in pre-hospital management and long-term rehabilitation.\"</p><p>David Clark, a trainee neurosurgeon and University of Cambridge research fellow, said: \"A particularly important finding is that outcome is influenced more by hospital characteristics than country of origin, which raises the possibility that changing the systems and processes of care in individual hospitals might be able to improve mortality. The paper sows the seeds for discussion and change.\"</p><p>The research was funded by the NIHR using UK government aid to support global health research.</p><p>Alexis Joannides, Consultant Neurosurgeon at CUH and NIHR Global Neurotrauma Research Group informatics lead, added: \"The contribution of several clinicians and researchers from several hospitals across the world has been possible due to the infrastructure and collaborations supported by the NIHR.</p><p>\"The database and data management process used in the study have now laid the foundation for a global registry of traumatic brain injuries that we have established to support ongoing quality improvement and research in the field of traumatic brain injury.\"</p><p>Peter Hutchinson, Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Cambridge and Director of the NIHR Global Neurotrauma Research Group, said: \"This is the largest study in the world looking at the surgical management of head injuries and will be of practical value to clinicians and others planning strategies for the future.</p><p>\"The collaboration across such a vast number of hospitals and countries, together with the support of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies and continental neurosurgical societies, has been phenomenal.\"</p><p><strong>Story Source:</strong></p>','2022-03-17 18:54:16.183484','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Cambridge','A large study examining the surgical management of traumatic brain injuries highlights regional inequalities in both major causes and treatment of such injuries.\n',1,27,'<li>David Clark et al. <strong>Casemix, management, and mortality of patients receiving emergency neurosurgery for traumatic brain injury in the Global Neurotrauma Outcomes Study: a prospective observational cohort study</strong>. <em>The Lancet Neurology</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1474-4422(22)00037-0\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/S1474-4422(22)00037-0</a>\n</li>'),(1361,'Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease treatment shows promising early results','creutzfeldt-jakob-disease-treatment-shows-promising-early-results','2022-03-17 18:54:17.652349',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">A world-first treatment for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), developed by scientists at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Prion Unit at UCL, has shown \"very encouraging\" early results following its use in six patients at University College London Hospitals (UCLH) NHS Foundation Trust.</p><p>CJD is a rare but devastating disease that causes brain damage and for which there is currently no licensed treatment. It is always fatal and most patients sadly die within a few months of diagnosis.</p><p>Researchers at the MRC Prion Unit at UCL have developed a monoclonal antibody, called PRN100, which was given to six UCLH patients with CJD between October 2018 and July 2019.</p><p>The results, published in the <em>Lancet Neurology</em>, show the treatment is safe and able to access the brain. In three patients, disease progression appeared to stabilise when dosing levels were in target range.</p><p>Given the small number of patients treated, researchers say the findings should be regarded as preliminary and further studies are needed to draw more comprehensive conclusions.</p><p>None of the six patients experienced side effects while receiving the treatment but all sadly died as a result of their condition.</p><p>Professor John Collinge, Director of the MRC Prion Unit at UCL and UCLH consultant neurologist, who led the development of the PRN100 treatment, said: \"Drugs used to treat other diseases have been tried experimentally in treating CJD in the past but none has had an impact on disease progression or mortality.</p><p>\"This is the first time in the world a drug specifically designed to treat CJD has been used in humans and the results are very encouraging.</p><p>\"While the number of patients we treated was too small to determine whether the drug altered the course of the disease, this is nevertheless an important step forward in targeting prion infections.</p><p>\"It has been a huge challenge to reach this milestone and we still have a long way to go but we have learned a great deal and these results now justify developing a formal clinical trial in a larger number of patients.\"</p><p>Looking further into the future, Professor Collinge added: \"We hope the drug may also have the potential to prevent the onset of symptoms in people at risk of prion disease due to genetic mutations or accidental prion exposure and may contribute to the development of therapies for more common dementias, such as Alzheimer\'s disease.\"</p><p>In a comment piece published alongside the results in the <em>Lancet Neurology</em>, Professor Inga Zerr, from the Department of Neurology at Georg-August University of Gottingen, Germany, also called for further studies in this area.</p><p>\"These outcomes are very encouraging and long awaited but, in light of the limitations, such as the small number of patients included and the use of historical controls, these results must be considered preliminary,\" she said.</p><p>UCLH provided the PRN100 drug to patients under a \"Specials\" exemption, rather than a regulated clinical trial. A \"Specials\" exemption permits a healthcare professional to treat an individual patient with an unlicensed drug when their special clinical needs cannot be met by a licensed product on the market.</p><p>Three of the six patients were able to consent to receiving the PRN100 antibody themselves. The other three did not have the capacity to consent, so with the support of their families, UCLH sought the opinion of a judge in the Court of Protection in order to proceed.</p><p>UCLH created an oversight group, independent of the MRC Prion Unit at UCL and treating clinicians, to consider the numerous and complex clinical, safety, legal and ethical issues arising from the potential use of this unlicensed treatment. The group comprised world-leading experts from a range of disciplines and met regularly with lawyers and patient advocates from the Cure CJD Campaign.</p><p>Professor Bryan Williams, director of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) UCLH Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), said: \"UCLH is a bold healthcare institution which, along with its academic partner UCL, is always seeking to push the frontiers of medicine and science to deliver innovative treatments to patients.</p><p>\"Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a rare and cruel disease which rapidly destroys the brain and for which there is currently no cure or licensed treatment. It was extremely important to us to find a way through the many challenges arising from the potential use of this novel treatment in order to offer it to a small group of patients.</p><p>\"We are encouraged by these results which demonstrate the treatment is safe and there is some signal of benefit. The hope is that this could pave the way for new treatments for other neurodegenerative diseases.\"</p><p><strong>Patient story</strong></p><p>Carole Kiralyfi was one of the six patients to receive the PRN100 antibody.</p><p>Her husband, Laszlo, said a fall during a game of tennis in January 2019 was one of the first signs that something was not right with Carole, who was 70 years old at the time. Her vision then began to deteriorate and she had difficulties managing everyday tasks.</p><p>When Carole was diagnosed with sporadic CJD in March 2019, Laszlo said the whole family was \"absolutely devastated.\"</p><p>\"It was such a shock, everything happened so quickly. Carole had always been so healthy and active -- I had always thought she would outlive me.\"</p><p>With Laszlo\'s support, Carole decided to receive the PRN100 drug after being thoroughly assessed by neurologists at UCLH\'s National Prion Clinic.</p><p>\"Carole came to terms with her diagnosis a lot better than we (her family) did -- she was not afraid. The drug was our only option so we decided to go ahead.\"</p><p>Carole sadly died of her condition in April 2019 before the target level of PRN100 was achieved but Laszlo takes comfort in the fact that she may have contributed to the development of a potential treatment of the future.</p><p>\"Obviously, I wish there could have been a treatment for Carole but if we are one step closer to achieving that now, it means her death was not in vain.</p><p>\"The team that looked after her was so caring and compassionate -- they have dedicated their lives to finding a cure for this terrible disease so I want this for them too.</p><p>\"CJD may be rare but it is devastating and that is why it is so important there is more research in this area.\"</p><p>Paying tribute to his wife of 28 years, Laszlo, who is now 74, added: \"She was an extraordinary person with a big heart; a wonderful wife and fantastic mother. She was very popular and had many friends -- when she walked into a room it lit up and when she left the light remained. She will remain forever in our hearts.\"</p>','2022-03-17 18:54:17.652349','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University College London','A promising new treatment for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) has shown \'very encouraging\' early results following its use in six patients.\n',1,27,'<li>Simon Mead, Azadeh Khalili-Shirazi, Caroline Potter, Tzehow Mok, Akin Nihat, Harpreet Hyare, Stephanie Canning, Christian Schmidt, Tracy Campbell, Lee Darwent, Nicola Muirhead, Nicolette Ebsworth, Patrick Hextall, Madeleine Wakeling, Jacqueline Linehan, Vincenzo Libri, Bryan Williams, Zane Jaunmuktane, Sebastian Brandner, Peter Rudge, John Collinge. <strong>Prion protein monoclonal antibody (PRN100) therapy for Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease: evaluation of a first-in-human treatment programme</strong>. <em>The Lancet Neurology</em>, 2022; 21 (4): 342 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1474-4422(22)00082-5\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/S1474-4422(22)00082-5</a>\n</li>'),(1362,'Delta breakthrough infection generates broad neutralizing antibody response in double vaccinated individuals','delta-breakthrough-infection-generates-broad-neutralizing-antibody-response-in-double-vaccinated-individuals','2022-03-17 18:54:20.854074',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">A delta breakthrough infection generates a potent and broad neutralizing antibody response in double vaccinated individuals, according to new research. The findings were published this week in <em>mBio</em>, an open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.</p><p>In the new study, researchers collected sera from individuals attending St. Thomas\' Hospital in London who tested positive for COVID-19 and had received 2 doses of either the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines. They measured how much antibody the person produced and whether the antibodies were able to prevent infection of cells by different SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern.</p><p>The researchers found that in vaccinated individuals, there was a rapid and robust IgG recall response following breakthrough infection. This antibody response had broad neutralizing activity against current variants of concern, including omicron. The neutralization potency was 4.5-fold reduced against omicron compared to delta whereas it was 28.9-fold reduced for people who were unvaccinated.</p><p>\"Overall, a breakthrough infection effectively boosts the vaccine response, which could provide broad protection against current variants of concern,\" said co-author Katie Doores, Ph.D., Reader in the Department of Infectious Diseases, King\'s College London, in the United Kingdom. \"Recent studies show a third vaccine dose dramatically increases the neutralizing antibody response, particularly against omicron. Our data suggests a delta breakthrough infection can also act as an effective booster. This study provides insights into population immunity in double COVID-19 vaccinated individuals where SARS-CoV-2 transmission levels remain high.\"</p><p>Dr. Doores said they are now studying the immune response in more detail by isolating monoclonal antibodies from individuals experiencing breakthrough infections.</p>','2022-03-17 18:54:20.854074','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'American Society for Microbiology','A delta breakthrough infection generates a potent and broad neutralizing antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 in double vaccinated individuals, according to new research.\n',1,74,'<li>Thomas Lechmere, Luke B. Snell, Carl Graham, Jeffrey Seow, Zayed A. Shalim, Themoula Charalampous, Adela Alcolea-Medina, Rahul Batra, Gaia Nebbia, Jonathan D. Edgeworth, Michael H. Malim, Katie J. Doores. <strong>Broad Neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 Variants, Including Omicron, following Breakthrough Infection with Delta in COVID-19-Vaccinated Individuals</strong>. <em>mBio</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/mbio.03798-21\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1128/mbio.03798-21</a>\n</li>'),(1363,'In U.S., alcohol use disorder linked to 232 million missed workdays annually','in-u.s.,-alcohol-use-disorder-linked-to-232-million-missed-workdays-annually','2022-03-17 18:54:25.226670',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Heavy alcohol use is associated with missing work, but the scope of that relationship has not been well understood. Now, based on survey data from more than 110,000 U.S. adults with full-time jobs, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have quantified the extent of the problem.</p><p>Among U.S. adults working full time, an estimated 9% -- almost 11 million full-time workers -- met the diagnostic criteria for alcohol use disorder, a medical condition characterized by an impaired ability to stop or control alcohol use despite adverse consequences in one\'s social life, work life or health.</p><p>The findings are published online March 17 in the journal <em>JAMA Network Open.</em></p><p>Analyzing the survey data, the researchers found that people with severe alcohol use disorder reported missing 32 days of work each year because of illness, injury or simply skipping work, more than double the number of workdays missed by individuals without alcohol use disorder. In all, workers with alcohol use disorder missed more than 232 million work days annually.</p><p>\"Alcohol use disorder is a major problem in the United States and a big problem in many workplaces, where it contributes to a significant number of workdays missed,\" said senior investigator Laura J. Bierut, MD, the Alumni Endowed Professor of Psychiatry. \"The problem likely has worsened during the pandemic, and we need to try to do more to ensure that people can get the help they need to deal with alcohol use disorder. The new data also point to an economic incentive for employers and policymakers to address the issue.\"</p><p>Bierut and her colleagues analyzed data gathered from 2015 through 2019 via the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. The survey is administered every year by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which asks individuals over age 12 about their use of alcohol and other drugs over the previous 12 months.</p><p>Alcohol use disorder is diagnosed using a series of questions -- such as whether an individual tried to stop drinking but couldn\'t, spent a great deal of time sick from drinking, or continued to drink even after having a memory blackout.</p><p>Those surveyed who did not meet criteria for alcohol use disorder missed about 13 days of work annually, but individuals with mild alcohol use disorder missed an average of almost 18 days. Meanwhile, those with moderate alcohol use disorder missed nearly 24 days, and those with severe alcohol use disorder reported missing 32 days of work each year.</p><p>\"Often, people who miss that much work lose their jobs,\" said Bierut, who also directs the Washington University Health &amp; Behavior Research Center. \"But our hope is that the workplace might be a point of contact where intervention can occur. You\'re there eight hours a day, and when an employer begins seeing these difficulties, perhaps instead of firing a person, they could take action to assist with that individual\'s recovery.\"</p><p>The researchers found that although people with alcohol use disorder represented about 9.3% of the full-time workforce, those with drinking problems accounted for 14.1% of total workplace absences.</p><p>Alcohol use disorder was more common among men, younger people, those who identified as white or Hispanic and those with lower incomes. The analysis included only full-time workers.</p><p>With more people working remotely during the pandemic, problems with excessive absence may be harder for employers to spot. The pandemic changed many things about how people work, and it also changed alcohol consumption patterns. For example, in the early days of the pandemic, from March through September 2020, alcohol sales increased by 20% compared with the same period in 2019. Further, the latest data indicate that sales have remained at about that level ever since.</p><p>\"We specifically chose to stop our data analysis the year before the pandemic began so that we could be more confident in our findings,\" said first author Ian C. Parsley, MD, a psychiatry resident. \"Having more people working at home could change the associations we saw before the pandemic began. The amount of alcohol consumed since people have been working from home more has really just gone through the roof. That\'s not something that\'s just going to resolve itself, even as we slowly come out of this pandemic.\"</p><p>Bierut said it\'s likely that the loss of the routine of going to a job has contributed to problems.</p><p>\"Work has the benefit of giving us structure: You get up in the morning, get dressed, go to work,\" she explained. \"But many people lost their jobs during the pandemic while others worked at home and lost that structure. We\'ve lost our guardrails for certain types of behaviors, so if anything, I think it\'s likely alcohol use disorder is having a greater impact on the population and on the workforce than it did in 2019. And as our findings show, it was having a big impact in 2019.\"</p><p>Parsley IC, Dale AM, Fisher SL, Mintz CM, Hartz SM, Evanoff BA, Bierut LJ. Workplace absenteeism associated with alcohol use disorder from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health 2015-2019. JAMA Network Open, March 17, 2022.</p><p>This work is supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Grant number K12 DA041449, R34 DA050044-01, R25 MH112473 and U10 AA008401. Additional funding comes from a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration grant H79TI082566.</p>','2022-03-17 18:54:25.226670','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Washington University School of Medicine','Researchers have found that people with severe alcohol use disorder miss more than double the number of workdays missed by individuals without alcohol use disorder.\n',1,148,'<li>Ian C. Parsley, Ann Marie Dale, Sherri L. Fisher, Carrie M. Mintz, Sarah M. Hartz, Bradley A. Evanoff, Laura J. Bierut. <strong>Association Between Workplace Absenteeism and Alcohol Use Disorder From the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2015-2019</strong>. <em>JAMA Network Open</em>, 2022; 5 (3): e222954 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.2954\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.2954</a>\n</li>'),(1364,'Blood test may indicate higher risk pregnancies in patients with COVID-19','blood-test-may-indicate-higher-risk-pregnancies-in-patients-with-covid-19','2022-03-17 19:07:57.760035',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">A small preliminary study from Northwestern Medicine has shown that a blood test may identify risk of stillbirth and placentitis in pregnant individuals who have had COVID-19. The finding builds on another study with similar results and could have implications in how physicians screen for and address high-risk pregnancies.</p><p>Research has shown pregnant people with COVID-19 have a higher risk of stillbirths and other pregnancy complications. Anecdotal reports have also reported potentially higher cases of stillbirths caused by certain variants, leading to increased concern in the scientific community. Scientists identified a link between COVID placentitis, in which the virus infects the placenta, and these poor outcomes, but can only diagnose instances of placentitis after delivery by examining the placenta.</p><p>The new paper, published this week in the journal PLACENTA, illuminates a link between placentitis and circulating SARS-CoV-2 virus.</p><p>\"Right now, we don\'t know if there\'s placentitis until after the fact,\" said Northwestern\'s Dr. Leena Mithal, the paper\'s first author. \"We\'re laying groundwork for further studies so that in the future, people who are diagnosed with COVID during pregnancy may be able to get a test that will help identify pregnancies that may be at higher risk of stillbirth or fetal distress.\"</p><p>Mithal is an assistant professor of pediatric infectious diseases at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and an attending physician at Ann &amp; Robert H. Lurie Children\'s Hospital of Chicago. Dr. Jeffery Goldstein, the director of perinatal pathology at Feinberg, led the study and is the corresponding author.</p><p>Placentitis affects between 1% and 2% of pregnant people infected with COVID-19. Unlike many pregnancy complications, the risk of placentitis and stillbirth isn\'t linked to the severity of the virus. Dr. Elisheva Shanes, a co-investigator of the study and assistant professor of perinatal and autopsy pathology at Feinberg, said that makes predicting which placentas are at risk next to impossible, because an asymptomatic infection could just as easily have complications as a very sick person.</p><p>Using a biorepository of blood taken from pregnant people during the pandemic in 2020, the scientists looked at the blood of participants who had tested positive for COVID-19 during pregnancy -- six who were positive for placentitis and 12 controls who were not. Then, scientists at the Center for Pathogen Genomics and Microbial Evolution looked for RNA of the virus in maternal blood using the same PCR-based test usually performed on nasal swabs.</p><p>Of those who had placentitis, two had low levels of viral RNA (called viremia) in their blood; none of the controls did. One of the people with viremia had a stillbirth, and the other had a well infant; all participants who tested negative for the marker delivered healthy babies.</p><p>\"The part of the placenta infected by the virus is also the part that\'s in contact with maternal blood,\" Shanes said. \"So if there\'s infection in these cells, the virus may also be found in the blood. If a pregnant person had COVID and no placentitis, we wouldn\'t expect to find virus in the blood.\"</p><p>Most pregnant patients with COVID-19 will go on to have normal pregnancies. Improved versions of this test and additional studies to validate the finding could help obstetricians develop plans for those who are at a high risk of placentitis and stillbirth, Shanes said. Investigators plan to conduct follow-up studies with larger pools of participants and hope other labs will build on the small body of literature to further validate the findings.</p><p>The best way to protect both the parent and baby is to get vaccinated, the authors said. In their observations, stillbirths have been more common in unvaccinated patients.</p><p>\"We don\'t know why viremia does or doesn\'t affect some people, but the vaccine does seem to protect against severe complications,\" Mithal said.</p><p>The all-Northwestern team also includes Sebastian Otero, Lacy Simons, Judd Hultquist, Emily Miller and Egon Ozer.</p><p>The study, \"Low-level SARS-CoV-2 viremia coincident with COVID placentitis and stillbirth,\" received support from Friends of Prentice, the Stanley Manne Children\'s Research Institute and from institutional resources supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (UL1TR001422). The team is also supported by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (K08EB030120), the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (K23AI139337), and the National Institute of Health (R21 AI163912, U19 AI135964).</p>','2022-03-17 19:07:57.760035','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Northwestern University','A small preliminary study has shown that a blood test may identify risk of stillbirth and placentitis in pregnant individuals who have had COVID-19. The finding builds on another study with similar results and could have implications in how physicians screen for and address high-risk pregnancies.\n',1,13,'<li>Leena B. Mithal, Sebastian Otero, Lacy M. Simons, Judd F. Hultquist, Emily S. Miller, Egon A. Ozer, Elisheva D. Shanes, Jeffery A. Goldstein. <strong>Low-level SARS-CoV-2 viremia coincident with COVID placentitis and stillbirth</strong>. <em>Placenta</em>, 2022; 121: 79 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.placenta.2022.03.003\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/j.placenta.2022.03.003</a>\n</li>'),(1365,'Scientists identify neurons in the brain that drive competition and social behavior within groups','scientists-identify-neurons-in-the-brain-that-drive-competition-and-social-behavior-within-groups','2022-03-17 19:07:59.651688',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">New research in mice has identified neurons in the brain that influence competitive interactions between individuals and that play a critical role in shaping the social behavior of groups. Published in <em>Nature</em> by a team led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), the findings will be useful not only for scientists interested in human interactions but also for those who study neurocognitive conditions such as autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia that are characterized by altered social behavior.</p><p>\"Social interactions in humans and animals occur most commonly in large groups, and these group interactions play a prominent role in sociology, ecology, psychology, economics and political science,\" says lead author S. William Li, an MD/PhD student at MGH. \"What processes in the brain drive the complex dynamic behavior of social groups remains poorly understood, in part because most neuroscience research thus far has focused on the behaviors of pairs of individuals interacting alone. Here, we were able to study the behavior of groups by developing a paradigm in which large cohorts of mice were wirelessly tracked across thousands of unique competitive group interactions.\"</p><p>Li and his colleagues found that the animals\' social ranking in the group was closely linked to the results of competition, and by examining recordings from neurons in the brains of mice in real time, the team discovered that neurons in the anterior cingulate region of the brain store this social ranking information to inform upcoming decisions.</p><p>\"Collectively, these neurons held remarkably detailed representations of the group\'s behavior and their dynamics as the animals competed together for food, in addition to information about the resources available and the outcome of their past interactions,\" explains senior author Ziv M. Williams, MD, a neurosurgical oncologist at MGH. \"Together, these neurons could even predict the animal\'s own future success well before competition onset, meaning that they likely drove the animals\' competitive behavior based on whom they interacted with.\"</p><p>Manipulating the activity of these neurons, on the other hand, could artificially increase or decrease an animal\'s competitive effort and therefore control their ability to successfully compete against others. \"In other words, we could tune up and down the animal\'s competitive drive and do so selectively without affecting other aspects of their behavior such as simple speed or motivation,\" says Williams.</p><p>The findings indicate that competitive success is not simply a product of an animal\'s physical fitness or strength, but rather, is strongly influenced by signals in the brain that affect competitive drive. \"These unique neurons are able to integrate information about the individual\'s environment, social group settings, and reward resources to calculate how to best behave under specific conditions,\" says Li.</p><p>In addition to providing insights into group behavior and competition in different sociologic or economic situations and other settings, identifying the neurons that control these characteristics may help scientists design experiments to better understand scenarios in which the brain is wired differently. \"Many conditions manifest in aberrant social behavior that spans many dimensions, including one\'s ability to understand social norms and to display actions that may fit the dynamical structure of social groups,\" says Williams. \"Developing an understanding of group behavior and competition holds relevance to these neurocognitive disorders, but until now, how this happens in the brain has largely remained unexplored.\"</p><p>Additional co-authors include Omer Zeliger, Leah Strahs, Raymundo Báez-Mendoza, Lance M. Johnson, and Adian McDonald Wojciechowski.</p><p>Funding for this research was provided by the National Institutes of Health, the Autism Science Foundation, an MGH-ECOR Fund for Medical Discovery Fellowship, and a NARSAD Young Investigator Grant from the Brain &amp; Behavior Research Foundation.</p>','2022-03-17 19:07:59.651688','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Massachusetts General Hospital','In mice, social ranking in a group was linked to the results of competition, and certain neurons in the brain stored this social ranking information to inform decisions. Manipulating the activity of these neurons could increase or decrease an animal\'s competitive effort and therefore control their ability to successfully compete against others.\n',1,14,'<li>S. William Li, Omer Zeliger, Leah Strahs, Raymundo Báez-Mendoza, Lance M. Johnson, Aidan McDonald Wojciechowski, Ziv M. Williams. <strong>Frontal neurons driving competitive behaviour and ecology of social groups</strong>. <em>Nature</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04000-5\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41586-021-04000-5</a>\n</li>'),(1366,'Do \'behavioral psychedelics\' help patients make lasting, positive change?','do-\'behavioral-psychedelics\'-help-patients-make-lasting,-positive-change?','2022-03-17 19:08:09.906536',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Despite their reputation as illicit drugs, psychedelics may find new, legitimate roles in treatment for anxiety, depression, stress disorders, addiction, and other mental and behavioral health problems. But ensuring they do requires developing rigorous, standardized methods to study and apply the results, according to a new report.</p><p>In a perspective published in <em>Frontiers in Psychiatry</em><em>,</em> researchers from UCLA Health and Harvard Medical School coin the term \"behavioral psychedelics\" -- \"the study of psychedelics to foster intentional changes in habits and behaviors to improve health and resilience.\"</p><p>\"Changing human behavior may sound simple but is exceedingly difficult, especially for behaviors that arise from years of thinking and acting in relatively rigid, routinized ways,\" write the authors, George Slavich, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at UCLA and research scientist at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, and Edmund Neuhaus, PhD, assistant professor of psychology at Harvard. \"One emerging strategy for accomplishing behavior change involves using psychedelic compounds to make the mind more malleable and open.\"</p><p>According to the authors, \"psychedelics-assisted psychotherapy\" may provide many health benefits and even cost savings, but the current therapeutic approach is poorly targeted.</p><p>\"Looking forward, we believe that further refinement is needed to operationalize and test [the] components to establish a best-practice standard of care for treating psychiatric, addiction, somatic, and behavioral health problems,\" they said.</p><p>The authors say their behavioral psychedelics concept is intended to develop \"targeted approaches for therapeutic change that help people achieve enduring functional improvements in self-care, social connection, and family, school, and community responsibilities to help them live the life they desire.\"</p><p>\"Psychedelic compounds have the potential to turbocharge the process of transforming the mind, and the race to realize their benefits is in full swing. To maximize these benefits, we believe this work should include behavior as a treatment target with measurable treatment metrics to establish best practices and guidelines,\" Slavich and Neuhaus write.</p>','2022-03-17 19:08:09.906536','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences','Psychedelics may find new, legitimate roles in treatment for anxiety, depression, stress disorders, addiction, and other mental and behavioral health problems. But ensuring they do requires developing rigorous, standardized methods to study and apply the results, according to a new report.\n',1,39,'<li>Edmund C. Neuhaus, George M. Slavich. <strong>Behavioral Psychedelics: Integrating Mind and Behavior to Improve Health and Resilience</strong>. <em>Frontiers in Psychiatry</em>, 2022; 13 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.821208\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.3389/fpsyt.2022.821208</a>\n</li>'),(1367,'The oxidation of volcanoes -- a magma opus','the-oxidation-of-volcanoes----a-magma-opus','2022-03-17 19:38:44.524848',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">A new, Yale-led study unlocks the science behind a key ingredient -- namely oxygen -- in some of the world\'s most violent volcanoes.</p><p>The research offers a new model for understanding the oxidation state of arc magmas, the lavas that form some volcanoes, such as the one that erupted dramatically in Tonga earlier this year.</p><p>The plume from Tonga\'s underwater volcanic eruption on Jan. 15 rose 36 miles into the air. Ash from the volcano reached the mesosphere, Earth\'s third layer of atmosphere.</p><p>\"These eruptions occur in volcanic arcs, such as the Aleutian island chain, which are well known in the circum-Pacific region and produce the world\'s most explosive volcanic eruptions,\" said Jay Ague, the Henry Barnard Davis Memorial Professor of Earth &amp; Planetary Sciences at Yale.</p><p>Ague is first author of the new study, published in the journal <em>Nature Geoscience</em>. Ague is also curator-in-charge of mineralogy and meteoritics for the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History.</p><p>Scientists have long known that arc magmas have a higher oxidation state than rocks in most of the Earth\'s mantle (its upper, rocky layer). This is surprising, they say, because arc magmas form in the mantle. There has been no consensus on the origins of the oxidizing signature.</p><p>Ague and his colleagues say the process begins with a layer of sediment that covers tectonic plates beneath the ocean floor. Tectonic plates are large slabs of rock that jockey for position in the Earth\'s crust and upper mantle.</p><p>The sediment covering these ocean plates is largely made up of weathered materials shed from continents or produced as a result of seafloor hydrothermal vent activity. Giant tube worms and other exotic sea creatures commonly thrive near these vents. But regardless of origin, the sediments covering oceanic plates are often highly oxidized.</p><p>Tectonic plates are constantly in motion, moving at about the rate that fingernails grow. Oceanic plates are generated at mid-ocean ridges and sink sharply into Earth\'s interior -- in a process called subduction.</p><p>That\'s where things get interesting for arc volcanism, Ague said.</p><p>When an ocean plate subducts, Ague explained, it heats up, is compressed, and begins to dehydrate. This metamorphism produces hot, water-rich fluids that rise toward the surface.</p><p>As these materials move upward through the oxidized sediment layer on top of slabs, the fluids themselves become oxidized -- setting the stage for an arc magma.</p><p>\"As the fluids continue to rise they leave the slab behind and enter Earth\'s mantle,\" Ague said. \"There, the fluids drive mantle melting, producing oxidized magmas that ascend and can ultimately erupt as lava from volcanoes.\"</p><p>Beyond the dramatic effects of volcanic eruptions, the oxidized character of arc magmas is also geologically significant, Ague said. Oxidation is critical for making certain kinds of ore deposits, particularly copper and gold, such as those found in western South America.</p><p>Also, the injection of highly-oxidized, sulfur-bearing gases into the atmosphere after an eruption can lead to transient global cooling of the troposphere, the lowest level of Earth\'s atmosphere.</p><p>\"This was the case with the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines,\" Ague said. \"It also occurred in a number of famous historical cases, such Mount Tambora in Indonesia in 1815. That was the most powerful volcanic eruption in human history and led to the so-called \'Year Without a Summer\' in 1816.\"</p><p>Santiago Tassara, a Bateman Postdoctoral Associate in Yale\'s Department of Earth &amp; Planetary Sciences, is a co-author of the new study. Other co-authors include researchers from Cornell University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution, Freie Universität Berlin, and the University of Crete.</p>','2022-03-17 19:38:44.524848','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Yale University','A new study unlocks the science behind a key ingredient -- namely oxygen -- in some of the world\'s most violent volcanoes. The research offers a new model for understanding the oxidation state of arc magmas, the lavas that form some volcanoes, such as the one that erupted dramatically in Tonga earlier this year. The plume from Tonga\'s underwater volcanic eruption on Jan. 15 rose 36 miles into the air. Ash from the volcano reached the mesosphere, Earth\'s third layer of atmosphere.\n',1,143,'<li>Ague, J.J., Tassara, S., Holycross, M.E. et al. <strong>Slab-derived devolatilization fluids oxidized by subducted metasedimentary rocks</strong>. <em>Nat. Geosci.</em>, 2022 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00904-7\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41561-022-00904-7</a>\n</li>'),(1368,'Engineering an \'invisible cloak\' for bacteria to deliver drugs to tumors','engineering-an-\'invisible-cloak\'-for-bacteria-to-deliver-drugs-to-tumors','2022-03-17 19:38:48.531637',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Columbia Engineering researchers report that they have developed a \"cloaking\" system that temporarily hides therapeutic bacteria from immune systems, enabling them to more effectively deliver drugs to tumors and kill cancer cells in mice. By manipulating the microbes\' DNA, they programmed gene circuits that control the bacteria surface, building a molecular \"cloak\'\' that encapsulates the bacteria.</p><p>\"What\'s really exciting about this work is that we are able to dynamically control the system,\" said Tal Danino, associate professor of biomedical engineering, who co-led the study in collaboration with Kam Leong, Samuel H. Sheng Professor of Biomedical Engineering. \"We can regulate the time that bacteria survive in human blood, and increase the maximum tolerable dose of bacteria. We also showed our system opens up a new bacteria delivery strategy in which we can inject bacteria to one accessible tumor, and have them controllably migrate to distal tumors such as metastases, cancer cells that spread to other parts of the body.\"</p><p>For the study published today by <em>Nature Biotechnology</em>, the researchers focused on capsular polysaccharides (CAP), sugar polymers that coat bacterial surfaces. In nature, CAP helps many bacteria to protect themselves from attacks including immune systems. \"We hijacked the CAP system of a probiotic <em>E. coli </em>strain Nissle 1917,\" said Tetsuhiro Harimoto, a PhD student in Danino\'s lab who is the study\'s co-lead author. \"With CAP, these bacteria can temporarily evade immune attack; without CAP, they lose their encapsulation protection and can be cleared out in the body. So we decided to try to build an effective on/off switch.\"</p><p><strong>An Effective On/Off Switch</strong></p><p>To do this, the researchers engineered a new CAP system, which they call inducible CAP, or iCAP. They control the iCAP system by giving it an external cue -- a small molecule called IPTG -- that allows for programmable and dynamic alteration of the <em>E. coli </em>cell surface. Because iCAP alters bacterial interactions with immune systems (such as blood clearance and phagocytosis) in a directed manner, the team found that they could control the time to which bacteria can survive in human blood, by tuning how much IPTG they give to the iCAP <em>E. coli</em>.</p><p><strong>Using Bacteria For Therapy</strong></p><p>While using bacteria for therapy is a new, alternative approach to treating a broad array of cancers, there are a number of challenges, in particular, their toxicity. Unlike many traditional drugs, these bacteria are alive and can proliferate within the body. They are also detected by the body\'s immune systems as foreign and dangerous, causing high inflammatory response -- too much bacteria means high toxicity due to over-inflammation -- or rapid bacteria elimination -- too little bacteria means no therapeutic efficacy.</p><p>Jaeseung Hahn, a postdoctoral research scientist in Danino and Leong\'s labs who co-led the project, noted, \"In clinical trials, these toxicities have been shown to be the critical problem, limiting the amount we can dose bacteria and compromising efficacy. Some trials had to be terminated due to severe toxicity.\"</p><p><strong>The Ideal Bacteria</strong></p><p>The ideal bacteria should be able to evade the immune system upon entry to the body, and efficiently get to the tumor. And once they are in the tumor, they need to be eliminated in other parts of the body to minimize toxicity. The team used mouse tumor models to demonstrate that, through iCAP, they could increase the maximum tolerable dose of bacteria 10 times. They encapsulated the <em>E. coli</em> strain to enable it to evade the immune system and get to the tumor. Because they did not give IPTG in the body, the <em>E. coli</em> iCAP lost its encapsulation over time, and was easier to be eliminated in other parts of the body, thus minimizing toxicity.</p><p>To test efficacy, the researchers then engineered <em>E. coli</em> iCAP to produce an antitumor toxin and were able to shrink tumor growth in colorectal and breast cancer mouse models more so than in the control group without the iCAP system.</p><p>The team also demonstrated controllable bacterial migration within the body. Past studies have shown that low levels of bacteria leak out from tumors upon tumor growth. For this new study, the Columbia team used iCAP to show that they can control bacterial leakage from a tumor, as well as their translocation to other tumors. They injected <em>E. coli</em> iCAP into one tumor, fed the mice with water containing IPTG, activated iCAP within a tumor, and saw <em>E. coli</em> iCAP leak out and migrate to uninjected tumors.</p><p><strong>Next Steps</strong></p><p>The group is exploring a range of research areas. There are more than 80 different types of CAP that exist just for <em>E. coli</em> and even more for other bacteria species that could be engineered using similar approaches. In addition, CAP is not the only molecule that bacteria have on their surface, and other surface molecules could be controlled in a similar fashion. Additionally, while iCAP is controlled by an externally provided IPTG in this example, other control systems such as biosensors could be used to autonomously control surface properties of therapeutic bacteria.</p><p>The team, also affiliated with Columbia\'s Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center and Data Science Institute, notes that clinical translation is the next major challenge they would like to tackle. \"While there is a good deal of laboratory research showing various ways to engineer microbes, it is very difficult to apply these powerful therapies to a complex animal or human body. We\'ve shown proof of concept in mouse models, but given that humans are 250 times more sensitive to bacterial endotoxins than mice, we expect our results may have an even bigger effect on human patients than on mice,\" said Harimoto.</p><p>Leong added, \"Bacterial cancer therapy holds unique advantages over conventional drug therapy, such as efficient targeting of the tumor tissue and programmable drug release. Potential toxicity has been limiting its full potential. The cloaking approach presented in this study may address this critical issue.\"</p>','2022-03-17 19:38:48.531637','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science','Researchers have genetically engineered a microbial encapsulation system for therapeutic bacteria that can hide them from immune systems, enabling them to reach tumors more effectively and kill cancer cells in mice.\n',1,124,'<li>Tetsuhiro Harimoto, Jaeseung Hahn, Yu-Yu Chen, Jongwon Im, Joanna Zhang, Nicholas Hou, Fangda Li, Courtney Coker, Kelsey Gray, Nicole Harr, Sreyan Chowdhury, Kelly Pu, Clare Nimura, Nicholas Arpaia, Kam W. Leong, Tal Danino. <strong>A programmable encapsulation system improves delivery of therapeutic bacteria in mice</strong>. <em>Nature Biotechnology</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41587-022-01244-y\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41587-022-01244-y</a>\n</li>'),(1369,'Researchers put a spotlight on aggressive cancer cells','researchers-put-a-spotlight-on-aggressive-cancer-cells','2022-03-17 19:38:55.480703',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Metastases in cancer are often caused by a few abnormal cells. These behave more aggressively than the other cancer cells in a tumour. Miao-Ping Chien and Daan Brinks are working together, from two different universities, on a method to detect these cells. Their research has now been published in <em>Nature</em>.</p><p>A patient diagnosed with cancer has increasingly better prospects nowadays, because the medicines are becoming more effective. However, one risk remains. Even after the tumour has shrunk, it can start growing again after a while and spread to other organs. This aggressive spread through the body is usually caused by a small group of cells. \"These cancer stem cells behave differently from other cells and therefore have a significant impact on cancer recurrence,\" says Miao-Ping Chien of Erasmus MC, who works closely with Daan Brinks of TU Delft. Their collaboration is a cross-pollination between two multidisciplinary labs located just fifteen kilometres apart. Brinks: \"It\'s easy to just jump on the bike or in the car to get to the other lab to do a few more tests at the end of the day.\" What is special about their story is that they are not just colleagues but also partners. The couple came to the Netherlands together to join forces in cancer research.</p><p>Detecting a few cells that behave differently in a tumour has been a major challenge in the field of cancer research for many years. Chien: \"We\'ve known that they\'re there for a long time, but the Holy Grail is to be able to sequence precisely those cells, to find out their DNA and RNA content. Merely examining the outside of the cell is not enough for these special cells. Although certain characteristic substances can be found there, the so-called biomarkers, these are quite changeable in such an aggressive cell.\" To know how those cells really work, Chien and Brinks need to decipher the genetic sequence. This makes it easier to determine how these cells work and also how they can be destroyed. Determining the genetic profile of cells has been possible for some time now, but determining the profile of individual cells has only been possible since a few years.</p><p><strong>Deviant behaviour</strong></p><p>Chien and Brinks had to combine a whole range of techniques to be sure they had got the right cells. By working with two labs to piece together and fine-tune a complicated process, it is now possible to detect aggressive cancer cells, light them up, separate them from the other cells and then determine the RNA sequence. \"The first question was: how do these aggressive cells behave? For example, we know that they move around more than other cells. And that they don\'t split up into two cells, as in normal cell division, but into three or four cells,\" explains Chien. So she had to look for such cells in a biopsy specimen, that is, a piece of cancer tissue.</p><p><strong>Imaging, lighting up and analysing</strong></p><p>The two researchers needed a microscope that could image a very large number of cells simultaneously as well as software to analyse the images. Together with the people working in their labs, they developed a microscope that continuously studies the images and \'sees\' which cells are exhibiting abnormal behaviour. This behaviour of aggressive cancer cells unfolds within a time scale of minutes to hours, but analysing this behaviour needs to be done much faster. \"After all, you don\'t want the detected cells to have already moved again,\" Brinks explains. The microscope directs a light beam onto the detected aggressive cancer cells. The cells light up because the tissue has been treated with a special substance in advance. Next, the lit-up cells are selected and these are now ready for RNA sequencing and analysis. They only need a few to a few hundred cells.</p><p><strong>Medicines</strong></p><p>\"We can now determine the genetic profile of the aggressive cancer cells. This was not so easy to do at first, because you have to deal with all the challenges of imaging, selecting and determining the RNA sequence in one go. Everything in the process has to work properly,\" says Chien. \"And if you know what\'s going on in those cells, you can develop medicines based on that. We\'ve succeeded in discovering a mechanism within a few months, whereas others needed quite a few years with the existing techniques. We just happened to come out with it at about the same time. Maybe, with our method, it can eventually be done within a few weeks.\" The two are now setting up a company called UFO Biosciences, so that researchers from all over the world can send in cell samples or pieces of cancer tissue for analysis. According to them, there is already a great deal of interest from other universities and research institutes.</p>','2022-03-17 19:38:55.480703','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Delft University of Technology','Metastases in cancer are often caused by a few abnormal cells. These behave more aggressively than the other cancer cells in a tumor. Researchers are now on a method to detect these cells.\n',1,152,'<li>You, L., Su, PR., Betjes, M. et al. <strong>Linking the genotypes and phenotypes of cancer cells in heterogenous populations via real-time optical tagging and image analysis</strong>. <em>Nat Biomed Eng</em>, 2022 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41551-022-00853-x\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41551-022-00853-x</a>\n</li>'),(1370,'Mathematical paradoxes demonstrate the limits of AI','mathematical-paradoxes-demonstrate-the-limits-of-ai','2022-03-17 19:38:56.340750',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Humans are usually pretty good at recognising when they get things wrong, but artificial intelligence systems are not. According to a new study, AI generally suffers from inherent limitations due to a century-old mathematical paradox.</p><p>Like some people, AI systems often have a degree of confidence that far exceeds their actual abilities. And like an overconfident person, many AI systems don\'t know when they\'re making mistakes. Sometimes it\'s even more difficult for an AI system to realise when it\'s making a mistake than to produce a correct result.</p><p>Researchers from the University of Cambridge and the University of Oslo say that instability is the Achilles\' heel of modern AI and that a mathematical paradox shows AI\'s limitations. Neural networks, the state of the art tool in AI, roughly mimic the links between neurons in the brain. The researchers show that there are problems where stable and accurate neural networks exist, yet no algorithm can produce such a network. Only in specific cases can algorithms compute stable and accurate neural networks.</p><p>The researchers propose a classification theory describing when neural networks can be trained to provide a trustworthy AI system under certain specific conditions. Their results are reported in the <em>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</em>.</p><p>Deep learning, the leading AI technology for pattern recognition, has been the subject of numerous breathless headlines. Examples include diagnosing disease more accurately than physicians or preventing road accidents through autonomous driving. However, many deep learning systems are untrustworthy and easy to fool.</p><p>\"Many AI systems are unstable, and it\'s becoming a major liability, especially as they are increasingly used in high-risk areas such as disease diagnosis or autonomous vehicles,\" said co-author Professor Anders Hansen from Cambridge\'s Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics. \"If AI systems are used in areas where they can do real harm if they go wrong, trust in those systems has got to be the top priority.\"</p><p>The paradox identified by the researchers traces back to two 20th century mathematical giants: Alan Turing and Kurt Gödel. At the beginning of the 20th century, mathematicians attempted to justify mathematics as the ultimate consistent language of science. However, Turing and Gödel showed a paradox at the heart of mathematics: it is impossible to prove whether certain mathematical statements are true or false, and some computational problems cannot be tackled with algorithms. And, whenever a mathematical system is rich enough to describe the arithmetic we learn at school, it cannot prove its own consistency.</p><p>Decades later, the mathematician Steve Smale proposed a list of 18 unsolved mathematical problems for the 21<sup>st</sup> century. The 18<sup>th</sup> problem concerned the limits of intelligence for both humans and machines.</p><p>\"The paradox first identified by Turing and Gödel has now been brought forward into the world of AI by Smale and others,\" said co-author Dr Matthew Colbrook from the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics. \"There are fundamental limits inherent in mathematics and, similarly, AI algorithms can\'t exist for certain problems.\"</p><p>The researchers say that, because of this paradox, there are cases where good neural networks can exist, yet an inherently trustworthy one cannot be built. \"No matter how accurate your data is, you can never get the perfect information to build the required neural network,\" said co-author Dr Vegard Antun from the University of Oslo.</p><p>The impossibility of computing the good existing neural network is also true regardless of the amount of training data. No matter how much data an algorithm can access, it will not produce the desired network. \"This is similar to Turing\'s argument: there are computational problems that cannot be solved regardless of computing power and runtime,\" said Hansen.</p><p>The researchers say that not all AI is inherently flawed, but it\'s only reliable in specific areas, using specific methods. \"The issue is with areas where you need a guarantee, because many AI systems are a black box,\" said Colbrook. \"It\'s completely fine in some situations for an AI to make mistakes, but it needs to be honest about it. And that\'s not what we\'re seeing for many systems -- there\'s no way of knowing when they\'re more confident or less confident about a decision.\"</p><p>\"Currently, AI systems can sometimes have a touch of guesswork to them,\" said Hansen.\"You try something, and if it doesn\'t work, you add more stuff, hoping it works. At some point, you\'ll get tired of not getting what you want, and you\'ll try a different method. It\'s important to understand the limitations of different approaches. We are at the stage where the practical successes of AI are far ahead of theory and understanding. A program on understanding the foundations of AI computing is needed to bridge this gap.\"</p><p>\"When 20th-century mathematicians identified different paradoxes, they didn\'t stop studying mathematics. They just had to find new paths, because they understood the limitations,\" said Colbrook. \"For AI, it may be a case of changing paths or developing new ones to build systems that can solve problems in a trustworthy and transparent way, while understanding their limitations.\"</p><p>The next stage for the researchers is to combine approximation theory, numerical analysis and foundations of computations to determine which neural networks can be computed by algorithms, and which can be made stable and trustworthy. Just as the paradoxes on the limitations of mathematics and computers identified by Gödel and Turing led to rich foundation theories -- describing both the limitations and the possibilities of mathematics and computations -- perhaps a similar foundations theory may blossom in AI.</p><p>Matthew Colbrook is a Junior Research Fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge. Anders Hansen is a Fellow at Peterhouse, Cambridge. The research was supported in part by the Royal Society.</p>','2022-03-17 19:38:56.340750','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Cambridge','Humans are usually pretty good at recognizing when they get things wrong, but artificial intelligence systems are not. According to a new study, AI generally suffers from inherent limitations due to a century-old mathematical paradox.\n',1,27,'<li>Matthew J. Colbrook, Vegard Antun, Anders C. Hansen. <strong>The difficulty of computing stable and accurate neural networks: On the barriers of deep learning and Smale’s 18th problem</strong>. <em>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</em>, 2022; 119 (12) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2107151119\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1073/pnas.2107151119</a>\n</li>'),(1371,'AI provides accurate breast density classification','ai-provides-accurate-breast-density-classification','2022-03-17 19:39:00.307793',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">An artificial intelligence (AI) tool can accurately and consistently classify breast density on mammograms, according to a study in <em>Radiology: Artificial Intelligence</em>.</p><p>Breast density reflects the amount of fibroglandular tissue in the breast commonly seen on mammograms. High breast density is an independent breast cancer risk factor, and its masking effect of underlying lesions reduces the sensitivity of mammography. Consequently, many U.S. states have laws requiring that women with dense breasts be notified after a mammogram, so that they can choose to undergo supplementary tests to improve cancer detection.</p><p>In clinical practice, breast density is visually assessed on two-view mammograms, most commonly with the American College of Radiology Breast Imaging-Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) four-category scale, ranging from Category A for almost entirely fatty breasts to Category D for extremely dense. The system has limitations, as visual classification is prone to inter-observer variability, or the differences in assessments between two or more people, and intra-observer variability, or the differences that appear in repeated assessments by the same person.</p><p>To overcome this variability, researchers in Italy developed software for breast density classification based on a sophisticated type of AI called deep learning with convolutional neural networks, a sophisticated type of AI that is capable of discerning subtle patterns in images beyond the capabilities of the human eye. The researchers trained the software, known as TRACE4BDensity, under the supervision of seven experienced radiologists who independently visually assessed 760 mammographic images.</p><p>External validation of the tool was performed by the three radiologists closest to the consensus on a dataset of 384 mammographic images obtained from a different center.</p><p>TRACE4BDensity showed 89% accuracy in distinguishing between low density (BI-RADS categories A and B) and high density (BI-RADS categories C and D) breast tissue, with an agreement of 90% between the tool and the three readers. All disagreements were in adjacent BI-RADS categories.</p><p>\"The particular value of this tool is the possibility to overcome the suboptimal reproducibility of visual human density classification that limits its practical usability,\" said study co-author Sergio Papa, M.D., from the Centro Diagnostico Italiano in Milan, Italy. \"To have a robust tool that proposes the density assignment in a standardized fashion may help a lot in decision-making.\"</p><p>Such a tool would be particularly valuable, the researchers said, as breast cancer screening becomes more personalized, with density assessment accounting for one important factor in risk stratification.</p><p>\"A tool such as TRACE4BDensity can help us advise women with dense breasts to have, after a negative mammogram, supplemental screening with ultrasound, MRI or contrast-enhanced mammography,\" said study co-author Francesco Sardanelli, M.D., from the IRCCS Policlinico San Donato in San Donato, Italy.</p><p>The researchers plan additional studies to better understand the full capabilities of the software.</p><p>\"We would like to further assess the AI tool TRACE4BDensity, particularly in countries where regulations on women density is not active, by evaluating the usefulness of such tool for radiologists and patients,\" said study co-author Christian Salvatore, Ph.D., senior researcher, University School for Advanced Studies IUSS Pavia and co-founder and chief executive officer of DeepTrace Technologies.</p><p>\"Development and Validation of an AI-driven Mammographic Breast Density Classification Tool Based on Radiologist Consensus.\" Collaborating with Drs. Papa, Sardanelli and Salvatore were Veronica Magni, M.D., Matteo Interlenghi, M.Sc., Andrea Cozzi, M.D., Marco Alì, Ph.D., Alcide A. Azzena, M.D., Davide Capra, M.D., Serena Carriero, M.D., Gianmarco Della Pepa, M.D., Deborah Fazzini, M.D., Giuseppe Granata, M.D., Caterina B. Monti, M.D., Ph.D., Giulia Muscogiuri, M.D., Giuseppe Pellegrino, M.D., Simone Schiaffino, M.D., and Isabella Castiglioni, M.Sc., M.B.A.</p>','2022-03-17 19:39:00.307793','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Radiological Society of North America','An artificial intelligence (AI) tool can accurately and consistently classify breast density on mammograms, according to a new study.\n',1,35,'<li>Veronica Magni, Matteo Interlenghi, Andrea Cozzi, Marco Alì, Christian Salvatore, Alcide A. Azzena, Davide Capra, Serena Carriero, Gianmarco Della Pepa, Deborah Fazzini, Giuseppe Granata, Caterina B. Monti, Giulia Muscogiuri, Giuseppe Pellegrino, Simone Schiaffino, Isabella Castiglioni, Sergio Papa, Francesco Sardanelli. <strong>Development and Validation of an AI-driven Mammographic Breast                     Density Classification Tool Based on Radiologist Consensus</strong>. <em>Radiology: Artificial Intelligence</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1148/ryai.210199\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1148/ryai.210199</a>\n</li>'),(1372,'Scientists discover why women are more resistant to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease than men','scientists-discover-why-women-are-more-resistant-to-nonalcoholic-fatty-liver-disease-than-men','2022-03-17 19:39:05.799320',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">One of the most common disorders globally, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a leading cause of death worldwide. Its progressive form, called \"nonalcoholic steatohepatitis\" (NASH), affects about 30% of all NAFLD patients, and can lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer. Despite many research efforts, we still do not understand the underlying mechanisms of NAFLD/NASH and, consequently, lack an effective treatment.</p><p>One thing we do know, however, is that it seems to be more frequent among men than women, especially premenopausal women. Why this is so is not entirely clear, but current evidence suggests that the sex hormone estrogen plays a protective role. On the other hand, the protein formyl peptide receptor 2 (FPR2) is known to play an important role in mediating inflammatory responses in multiple organs. However, no study so far has determined its role in the liver. Could FPR2 be involved in the sex-related differences regarding NAFLD prevalence and severity?</p><p>Addressing this question, a research team led by Professor Youngmi Jung of Pusan National University, Korea, recently conducted a study using mice model, shedding light on the role of FPR2 in NAFLD/NASH and its relationship to the observed sex-based differences. This work is among the very few studies on NAFLD that relies on sex-balanced animal experiments rather than the more common male-only designs. This paper was made available online on 31 January 2022 and was published in Volume 13, Issue 578, of the journal <em>Nature Communications</em> on 31 January 2022.</p><p>The researchers first found that Fpr2 was highly expressed in healthy livers of female mice. Furthermore, it was expressed differently in the livers of male and female mice that were fed a special NAFLD-inducing diet. Silencing the <em>Fpr2</em> gene made the male and female mice equally vulnerable to NAFLD, suggesting that FPR2 has a protective effect on the liver.</p><p>Interestingly, the researchers also found that FPR2 production in the liver is mediated by estrogen. Males supplemented with external estrogen produced more Fpr2 and were more resistant to NAFLD, whereas females that had their ovaries removed exhibited reduced liver Fpr2 levels. \"Taken together, our findings suggest that FPR2 is a potential therapeutic target for developing pharmacological agents to treat NAFLD/NASH,\" says Prof. Jung. \"In addition, our results could help in the development of gender-based therapies for NASH.\"</p><p>This unprecedented discovery of the female-specific production of FPR2 in the liver and its role in providing resistance against NAFLD/NASH will hopefully pave the way not only for novel treatments but also a more comprehensive and sex-aware approach when doing science. In this regard, Prof. Jung remarks, \"Our research highlights the pressing need for designing and developing better sex-balanced animal experiments, considering that the sex-specific expression of FPR2 in the liver had been completely overlooked in previous studies.\"</p><p>Let us hope this marks the beginning of a deeper understanding of NAFLD/NASH and the first steps towards effective sex-based therapies.</p>','2022-03-17 19:39:05.799320','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Pusan National University','Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. However, why premenopausal women are more resistant to NAFLD than men is currently unknown. Now, scientists demonstrate, through sex-balanced experiments on mice, that the female liver produces higher levels of a protein that has a protective effect against NAFLD. Their findings could lead to new therapeutic strategies for treating NAFLD.\n',1,146,'<li>Chanbin Lee, Jieun Kim, Jinsol Han, Dayoung Oh, Minju Kim, Hayeong Jeong, Tae-Jin Kim, Sang-Woo Kim, Jeong Nam Kim, Young-Su Seo, Ayako Suzuki, Jae Ho Kim, Youngmi Jung. <strong>Formyl peptide receptor 2 determines sex-specific differences in the progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and steatohepatitis</strong>. <em>Nature Communications</em>, 2022; 13 (1) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-28138-6\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41467-022-28138-6</a>\n</li>'),(1373,'Long-suspected turbocharger for memory found in brain cells of mice','long-suspected-turbocharger-for-memory-found-in-brain-cells-of-mice','2022-03-17 22:07:28.830257',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Scientists have long known that learning requires the flow of calcium into and out of brain cells. But researchers at Columbia\'s Zuckerman Institute have now discovered that floods of calcium originating from within neurons can also boost learning. The finding emerged from studies of how mice remember new places they explore.</p><p>Published today in <em>Science,</em> the new research doesn\'t suggest that you should drink more calcium-rich milk to pass that math class. It provides a better understanding of the mechanisms that underlie learning and memory: knowledge that could help shed light on disorders such as Alzheimer\'s disease.</p><p>\"The cells we studied in this new work are in the hippocampus, the first area of the brain affected by Alzheimer\'s disease,\" said Franck Polleux, PhD, a principal investigator at Columbia\'s Zuckerman Institute. \"Understanding the basic principles of what allows these brain cells to encode memory will provide tremendous insights into what goes wrong in this disease.\"</p><p>The brain\'s ability to learn and remember -- everything from our first words and steps to where we parked our car or left our keys -- depends on the gaps where neurons connect to each other, called synapses. Synapses, through which cells exchange information, can be modified over time. This malleability to experience, known as plasticity, relies on how calcium ions flow within the brain.</p><p>Nearly all research into the part that calcium plays in plasticity has focused on how it can rush into and out of a synapse through channels on the surfaces of neurons. For more than two decades, scientists have suspected that stockpiles of calcium within neurons might also play a major role in shaping plasticity. But until now, scientists had no way to investigate the effects that calcium discharged from these internal reservoirs had within the mammalian brain.</p><p>\"For a long time, there were no good tools out there to really probe this intracellular calcium release in a living animal as it learned,\" said postdoctoral researcher and first author Justin O\'Hare, PhD, in the Polleux lab and the lab of Attila Losonczy, MD, PhD, at Columbia\'s Zuckerman Institute.</p><p>In the new study of mice, the Polleux lab and the Losonczy lab focused on the hippocampus, a seahorse-shaped region of the brain central to memory. Specifically, the scientists analyzed pyramid-shaped neurons that can encode memories of locations, called place cells, in the hippocampal region known as CA1.</p><p>\"Place cells are one of the key tools with which we not only create maps of the world but also associate a place with something, such as a reward, a color, a smell, anything,\" said Dr. Polleux, who is also a professor of neuroscience at Columbia\'s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. \"The big question is, \'How are these cells doing this?\'\"</p><p>To answer this question, the researchers had mice run on treadmills with belts made of three different kinds of fabric and decorated with sequins, furry pompoms and other ornaments. These decorations provided visual and tactile sensory cues about specific places on the belts. Place cells in the brains of those mice had been genetically modified to switch on in response to laser light, a technique known as optogenetics. This allowed the researchers to tune those place cells to specific spots on the belts.</p><p>Inside place cells, the researchers focused on a gene called Pdzd8. It encodes a protein that normally helps limit the amount of calcium released from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), an elaborate network of tubes within the cells.</p><p>\"The ER stores a huge amount of calcium,\" Dr. Polleux said. \"It\'s like a calcium bomb inside all cells.\"</p><p>The researchers deleted Pdzd8. This deletion removed the brakes on calcium release from the ER. The scientists next looked for changes in the activity of the place cells in both the cells\' central bodies and their dendrites, the treelike branches with which cells receive signals from other cells.</p><p>\"Any one of the technologies we used to perform these experiments is difficult on its own. Combining them is just nuts,\" Dr. Polleux said. \"This is probably one of the most challenging sets of experiments that has come out of my lab, and it would have never happened without a deep collaboration with the Losonczy lab and the incredible experimental and analytical talents of Dr Justin O\'Hare.\"</p><p>The scientists found that increasing the amount of calcium released within a place cell significantly widened the area to which it was attuned, increasing the size of the location it helped a mouse remember. Boosting intracellular calcium release also dramatically increased the duration that a place cell was attuned to a specific location.</p><p>\"Intracellular calcium release can act like a turbocharger for plasticity,\" Dr. Polleux said. \"We found that it also makes place cells perhaps even too stable if left uncontrolled.\"</p><p>The scientists also found the dendrites at the apex of each pyramid-shaped neuron in CA1 are normally all tuned to different places. Increasing the amount of calcium released within these neurons helped attune many of the dendrites at their apexes to a single place during learning but had less of an effect on dendrites at the base of the neurons. Discovering the ways in which all the components of these extraordinarily complex neurons change during learning could help researchers decipher how these cells work.</p><p>\"Dendrites have long been suspected to function as \'cells-within-cells\' that can work independently or, when needed, together to enhance the computational power of single neurons,\" Dr. Losonczy said. \"Our study not only shows that this is indeed the case, but it also provides a molecular mechanism for how this dendritic cooperation is regulated in the behaving brain.\"</p><p>\"Each potential place cell probably receives tens of thousands of inputs carrying information about a space,\" Dr. O\'Hare said. \"If you think about all this complexity, you can appreciate that even a single neuron in the brain is basically like a supercomputer.\"</p><p>Future research can explore what effects deleting Pdzd8 has on behavior in general. \"Recently a paper came out that for the first time identified mutations in Pdzd8 in humans,\" Dr. Polleux said. \"The individuals that carry those mutations have severe learning and memory deficits, showing how important it is for the brain.\"</p><p>Dr. O\'Hare and his colleagues are now investigating what happens to CA1 in a mouse model of Alzheimer\'s disease.</p><p>\"What\'s happening to place cells as this disease progresses? It\'s still not known,\" Dr. O\'Hare said. \"Understanding the basic principles endowing place cells with the ability to encode memories in the hippocampus could have enormous consequences for our understanding of what goes wrong in this disease. Then we can think about how that might translate into new therapies.\"</p><p>The work was supported by National Institutes of Health grants R01MH100631, R01NS094668, U19NS104590, R01NS067557, R01NS094668, F32MH118716, K00NS105187, F31MH117892, K99NS115984 and T32NS064928, JST PRESTO grant JPMJPR16F7, the Zegar Family Foundation and the Foundation Roger De Spoelberch. The authors declare no competing interests.</p>','2022-03-17 22:07:28.830257','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Columbia University','Scientists have long known that learning requires the flow of calcium into and out of brain cells. But researchers have now discovered that floods of calcium originating from within neurons can also boost learning. The finding emerged from studies of how mice remember new places they explore.\n',1,14,'<li>Justin K. O’Hare, Kevin C. Gonzalez, Stephanie A. Herrlinger, Yusuke Hirabayashi, Victoria L. Hewitt, Heike Blockus, Miklos Szoboszlay, Sebi V. Rolotti, Tristan C. Geiller, Adrian Negrean, Vikas Chelur, Franck Polleux, Attila Losonczy. <strong>Compartment-specific tuning of dendritic feature selectivity by intracellular Ca            2             release</strong>. <em>Science</em>, 2022; 375 (6586) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abm1670\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1126/science.abm1670</a>\n</li>'),(1374,'Lithium may decrease risk of developing dementia','lithium-may-decrease-risk-of-developing-dementia','2022-03-17 22:12:10.397378',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Researchers have identified a link suggesting that lithium could decrease the risk of developing dementia, which affects nearly one million people in the UK.</p><p>The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, conducted a retrospective analysis of the health records of nearly 30,000 patients from Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust. The patients were all over the age of 50 and accessed NHS mental health services between 2005 and 2019.</p><p>The analysis suggested that patients who received lithium were less likely to develop dementia than those who did not, although the overall number of patients who received lithium was small.</p><p>Their findings, reported in the journal <em>PLoS Medicine</em>, support the possibility that lithium could be a preventative treatment for dementia, and could be progressed to large randomised controlled trials.</p><p>Dementia is the leading cause of death in elderly Western populations, but no preventative treatments are currently available: more than 55 million people worldwide have dementia, with Alzheimer\'s disease the most common form.</p><p>\"The number of people with dementia continues to grow, which puts huge pressure on healthcare systems,\" said Dr Shanquan Chen from Cambridge\'s Department of Psychiatry, the paper\'s first author. \"It\'s been estimated that delaying the onset of dementia by just five years could reduce its prevalence and economic impact by as much as 40 percent.\"</p><p>Previous studies have proposed lithium as a potential treatment for those who have already been diagnosed with dementia or early cognitive impairment, but it is unclear whether it can delay or even prevent the development of dementia altogether, as these studies have been limited in size.</p><p>Lithium is a mood stabiliser usually prescribed for conditions such as bipolar affective disorder and depression. \"Bipolar disorder and depression are considered to put people at increased risk of dementia, so we had to make sure to account for this in our analysis,\" said Chen.</p><p>Chen and his colleagues analysed data from patients who accessed mental health services from Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust between 2005 and 2019. Patients were all over 50 years of age, received at least a one-year follow-up appointment, and had not been previously diagnosed with either mild cognitive impairment or dementia.</p><p>Of the 29,618 patients in the study cohort, 548 patients had been treated with lithium and 29,070 had not. Their mean age was just under 74 years, and approximately 40% of patients were male.</p><p>For the group that had received lithium, 53, or 9.7%, were diagnosed with dementia. For the group that had not received lithium, 3,244, or 11.2%, were diagnosed with dementia.</p><p>After controlling for factors such as smoking, other medications, and other physical and mental illnesses, lithium use was associated with a lower risk of dementia, both for short and long-term users. However, since the overall number of patients receiving lithium was small and this was an observational study, larger clinical trials would be needed to establish lithium as a potential treatment for dementia.</p><p>Another limitation of the study was the number of patients who had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which is normally associated with an increased risk of dementia. \"We expected to find that patients with bipolar disorder were more likely to develop dementia, since that is the most common reason to be prescribed lithium, but our analysis suggested the opposite,\" said Chen. \"It\'s far too early to say for sure, but it\'s possible that lithium might reduce the risk of dementia in people with bipolar disorder.\"</p><p>This paper supports others which have suggested lithium might be helpful in dementia. Further experimental medicine and clinical studies are now needed to see if lithium really is helpful in these conditions.</p><p>The research was supported in part by the UK Medical Research Council and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre.</p>','2022-03-17 22:12:10.397378','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Cambridge','Researchers have identified a link suggesting that lithium could decrease the risk of developing dementia, which affects nearly one million people in the UK.\n',1,179,'<li>Shanquan Chen, Benjamin R. Underwood, Peter B. Jones, Jonathan R. Lewis, Rudolf N. Cardinal. <strong>Association between lithium use and the incidence of dementia and its subtypes: A retrospective cohort study</strong>. <em>PLOS Medicine</em>, 2022; 19 (3): e1003941 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003941\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1371/journal.pmed.1003941</a>\n</li>'),(1375,'Methane-eating bacteria convert greenhouse gas to fuel','methane-eating-bacteria-convert-greenhouse-gas-to-fuel','2022-03-17 22:12:13.271912',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Methanotrophic bacteria consume 30 million metric tons of methane per year and have captivated researchers for their natural ability to convert the potent greenhouse gas into usable fuel. Yet we know very little about how the complex reaction occurs, limiting our ability to use the double benefit to our advantage.</p><p>By studying the enzyme the bacteria use to catalyze the reaction, a team at Northwestern University now has discovered key structures that may drive the process.</p><p>Their findings, to be published Friday (March 18) in the journal <em>Science</em>, ultimately could lead to the development of human-made biological catalysts that convert methane gas into methanol.</p><p>\"Methane has a very strong bond, so it\'s pretty remarkable there\'s an enzyme that can do this,\" said Northwestern\'s Amy Rosenzweig, senior author of the paper. \"If we don\'t understand exactly how the enzyme performs this difficult chemistry, we\'re not going to be able to engineer and optimize it for biotechnological applications.\"</p><p>Rosenzweig is the Weinberg Family Distinguished Professor of Life Sciences in Northwestern\'s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, where she holds appointments in both molecular biosciences and chemistry.</p><p>The enzyme, called particulate methane monooxygenase (pMMO), is a particularly difficult protein to study because it\'s embedded in the cell membrane of the bacteria.</p><p>Typically, when researchers study these methanotrophic bacteria, they use a harsh process in which the proteins are ripped out of the cell membranes using a detergent solution. While this procedure effectively isolates the enzyme, it also kills all enzyme activity and limits how much information researchers can gather -- like monitoring a heart without the heartbeat.</p><p>In this study, the team used a new technique entirely. Christopher Koo, the first author and a Ph.D. candidate in Rosenzweig\'s lab, wondered if by putting the enzyme back into a membrane that resembles its native environment, they could learn something new. Koo used lipids from the bacteria to form a membrane within a protective particle called a nanodisc, and then embedded the enzyme into that membrane.</p><p>\"By recreating the enzyme\'s native environment within the nanodisc, we were able to restore activity to the enzyme,\" Koo said. \"Then, we were able to use structural techniques to determine at the atomic level how the lipid bilayer restored activity. In doing so, we discovered the full arrangement of the copper site in the enzyme where methane oxidation likely occurs.\"</p><p>The researchers used cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), a technique well-suited to membrane proteins because the lipid membrane environment is undisturbed throughout the experiment. This allowed them to visualize the atomic structure of the active enzyme at high resolution for the first time.</p><p>\"As a consequence of the recent \'resolution revolution\' in cryo-EM, we were able to see the structure in atomic detail,\" Rosenzweig said. \"What we saw completely changed the way we were thinking about the active site of this enzyme.\"</p><p>Rosenzweig said that the cryo-EM structures provide a new starting point to answer the questions that continue to pile on. How does methane travel to the enzyme active site? Or methanol travel out of the enzyme? How does the copper in the active site do the chemical reaction? Next, the team plans to study the enzyme directly within the bacterial cell using a forefront imaging technique called cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET).</p><p>If successful, the researchers will be able to see exactly how the enzyme is arranged in the cell membrane, determine how it operates in its truly native environment and learn whether other proteins around the enzyme interact with it. These discoveries would provide a key missing link to engineers.</p><p>\"If you want to optimize the enzyme to plug it into biomanufacturing pathways or to consume pollutants other than methane, then we need to know what it looks like in its native environment and where the methane binds,\" Rosenzweig said. \"You could use bacteria with an engineered enzyme to harvest methane from fracking sites or to clean up oil spills.\"</p><p>The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grant numbers R35GM118035, T32GM008382, T32GM105538 and R01GM135651).</p>','2022-03-17 22:12:13.271912','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Northwestern University','Methanotrophic bacteria consume 30 million metric tons of methane per year and have captivated researchers for their natural ability to convert the potent greenhouse gas into usable fuel. Yet we know very little about how the complex reaction occurs, limiting our ability to use the double benefit to our advantage.\n',1,27,'<li>Christopher W. Koo, Frank J. Tucci, Yuan He, Amy C. Rosenzweig. <strong>Recovery of particulate methane monooxygenase structure and activity in a lipid bilayer</strong>. <em>Science</em>, 2022; 375 (6586): 1287 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abm3282\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1126/science.abm3282</a>\n</li>'),(1376,'Forest restoration must navigate trade-offs between environmental and wood production goals','forest-restoration-must-navigate-trade-offs-between-environmental-and-wood-production-goals','2022-03-17 22:12:15.453672',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Forest restoration schemes should prioritise restoring native forests for greatest climate and environmental benefits, but these benefits incur a trade-off with wood production in comparison with tree plantations.</p><p>Diverse native forests store more above-ground carbon, provide more water to nearby streams, and better support biodiversity and prevent soil erosion than simple tree plantations, a major new study published today in the journal <em>Science</em> has found -- but plantations have an advantage in wood production.</p><p>The study looked at the relative benefits of restoring native forests versus establishing a range of simple tree plantations in terms of biodiversity conservation and four key functions of value to humans -- or \'ecosystem services\' -- provided by a forest: carbon storage, soil erosion control, water provisioning, and wood production.</p><p>Forest restoration is gathering pace worldwide, in part as a way to tackle climate change: deforestation is a major source of carbon emissions, and forest restoration can be a \'nature-based climate solution\' to counter global warming. In many cases, forest restoration is also conducted for the water provisioning and flood regulation functions of forests, and as a means to prevent soil erosion and produce wood products.</p><p>\"Establishing a tree plantation is useful for producing wood -- but not so good for restoring biodiversity. This is a huge missed opportunity for conservation,\" said Dr Fangyuan Hua, a researcher previously based in the University of Cambridge\'s Department of Zoology, and first author of the paper. Hua now works at Peking University\'s Institute of Ecology in China.</p><p>She added: \"When the goal of a forest restoration scheme includes wood production, then there\'s a trade-off to be made between environmental and production outcomes.\"</p><p>Forest restoration schemes aimed at providing ecosystem services tend to involve tree plantations of just one or a small number of tree species, rather than the restoration of diverse native forests, based on an implicit assumption that tree plantations are just as effective in delivering these services. But the authors say there is no robust scientific evidence for this.</p><p>The current synthesis involved an international, cross-disciplinary team of researchers from seven countries, and it is based on an unprecedentedly large database consisting of almost 26,000 records from 264 studies conducted in 53 countries.</p><p>\"This is the first time that the relative performance of different forest restoration approaches in delivering forests\' most salient services has been assessed simultaneously. We can now begin to understand the synergies and trade-offs across different restoration goals, and so help inform decision-making,\" said Professor Andrew Balmford in the University of Cambridge\'s Department of Zoology, senior author of the paper.</p><p>The study found that as with biodiversity, all three environment-oriented ecosystem services -- aboveground carbon storage, soil erosion control, and water provisioning -- are delivered better by native forests than by tree plantations. Soil erosion control in particular has the most to lose from plantation-style forest restoration, and the shortfall of plantations in water provisioning is more serious in drier climates -- precisely where water is scarcer.</p><p>\"When restoration goals are about environmental benefits, even if not specifically for the sake of biodiversity conservation, we should aim to restore native forests -- and biodiversity will gain as a co-benefit,\" said Hua.</p><p>However, for wood production, the limited evidence available showed that tree plantations can outperform native forests, highlighting a critical trade-off.</p><p>Tree plantations worldwide typically use fast-growing species like pines, firs, and <em>Eucalyptus</em>. These trees tend to grow tall and straight, and in actively managed plantations their growth is often enhanced by fertilisers and weeding to prevent other plants competing for nutrition and light.</p><p>In contrast, native forests contain a mix of different tree, shrub, and herbaceous species, and they tend not to be managed for growth. This provides a more suitable habitat with diverse food and other resources for a range of plants and animals to thrive, but also means that wood production may be less efficient.</p><p>\"The trade-off between the environmental and production benefits a forest can provide has not been discussed much before. Restoration probably cannot meet all goals at once,\" said Professor David Edwards at the University of Sheffield\'s School of Biosciences and another senior author of the study.</p><p>In addition to a need to weigh competing goals, this finding also means that plantations might indirectly provide environmental benefits, by allowing other, higher-biodiversity forests to be \'spared\' from being cut down for wood production.</p><p>\"Plantations need to be integrated into a coherent land-use plan, so that their better performance at producing wood gets translated into improved conservation of environmentally valuable forests elsewhere,\" Balmford added.</p><p>The study also found that for many old or abandoned plantations across the world that seem no longer used for wood production, their environmental performance falls short of native forests. Given that these plantations seem to be common, there are probably significant environmental benefits to be gained from restoring them to native forests.</p>','2022-03-17 22:12:15.453672','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Cambridge','Forest restoration schemes should prioritize restoring native forests for greatest climate and environmental benefits, but these benefits incur a trade-off with wood production in comparison with tree plantations.\n',1,42,'<li>Fangyuan Hua, L. Adrian Bruijnzeel, Paula Meli, Phillip A. Martin, Jun Zhang, Shinichi Nakagawa, Xinran Miao, Weiyi Wang, Christopher McEvoy, Jorge Luis Peña-Arancibia, Pedro H. S. Brancalion, Pete Smith, David P. Edwards, Andrew Balmford. <strong>The biodiversity and ecosystem service contributions and trade-offs of forest restoration approaches</strong>. <em>Science</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abl4649\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1126/science.abl4649</a>\n</li>'),(1377,'Lighting the way to healthier daily rhythms','lighting-the-way-to-healthier-daily-rhythms','2022-03-17 22:12:19.301882',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">The light we experience across our daily lives has a major influence on our body rhythms. Modern lifestyles, with 24-hour access to electric light and reduced exposure to natural daylight, can disrupt sleep and negatively impact health, well-being, and productivity. A new report publishing March 17 in the open access journal <em>PLOS Biology</em> addresses the issue of exactly how bright lighting should be during the day and in the evening to support healthy body rhythms, restful sleep, and daytime alertness.</p><p>Professors Timothy Brown from the University of Manchester, UK, and Kenneth Wright from the University of Colorado Boulder, US brought together an international body of leading scientific experts to agree the first evidence-based, consensus recommendations for healthy daytime, evening, and nighttime light exposure. These recommendations provide much needed guidance to the lighting and electronics industries to aid the design of healthier environments and to improve how we light our workplaces, public buildings, and homes.</p><p>A key question tackled by the new report was how to properly measure the extent to which different types of lighting might influence our body rhythms and daily patterns of sleep and wakefulness. Light affects these patterns via a specialized type of cell in the eye that uses a light sensitive protein, melanopsin, that is distinct from the proteins in the rods and cones that support vision (and upon which traditional ways of measuring \"brightness\" are based). Since melanopsin is most sensitive to light in a specific part of the visual spectrum (blue-cyan light), the new recommendations used a newly-developed light measurement standard tailored to this unique property, melanopic equivalent daylight illuminance. Analysis of data across a range of laboratory and field studies proved that this new measurement approach could provide a reliable way of predicting the effects of light on human physiology and body rhythms and could therefore form the basis of widely applicable and meaningful recommendations.</p><p>An important next step will be integration of the recommendations into formal lighting guidelines, which currently focus on visual requirements rather than effects on health and well-being. Additionally, increasing sophistication in LED lighting technology and the availability of low-cost light sensors are expected to increase the ease with which individuals can optimize their personal light exposure to best support their own body rhythms in line with the new recommendations.</p><p>Brown adds, \"These recommendations provide the first scientific consensus, quantitative, guidance for appropriate daily patterns of light exposure to support healthy body rhythms, nighttime sleep and daytime alertness. This now provides a clear framework to inform how we light any interior space ranging from workplaces, educational establishments and healthcare facilities to our own homes.\"</p>','2022-03-17 22:12:19.301882','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'PLOS','A new report addresses the issue of exactly how bright lighting should be during the day and in the evening to support healthy body rhythms, restful sleep, and daytime alertness.\n',1,27,'<li>Timothy M. Brown, George C. Brainard, Christian Cajochen, Charles A. Czeisler, John P. Hanifin, Steven W. Lockley, Robert J. Lucas, Mirjam Münch, John B. O’Hagan, Stuart N. Peirson, Luke L. A. Price, Till Roenneberg, Luc J. M. Schlangen, Debra J. Skene, Manuel Spitschan, Céline Vetter, Phyllis C. Zee, Kenneth P. Wright. <strong>Recommendations for daytime, evening, and nighttime indoor light exposure to best support physiology, sleep, and wakefulness in healthy adults</strong>. <em>PLOS Biology</em>, 2022; 20 (3): e3001571 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001571\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1371/journal.pbio.3001571</a>\n</li>'),(1378,'Rapid adaptation in fruit flies','rapid-adaptation-in-fruit-flies','2022-03-17 22:12:23.110513',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Think evolution is a slow, gradual process? Tell that to fruit flies. In a new report in <em>Science</em>, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania used a controlled field experiment to show that flies rapidly adapted to shifting environmental conditions with alterations throughout their genome and in a suite of physical characteristics.</p><p>Over the course of the experiment, which lasted just four months, the researchers documented changes to 60% of the flies\' genome. With this direct observation of swift and continuous adaptation in response to the environment -- a phenomenon known as adaptive tracking -- the biologists have established a new paradigm for how to think about the timescale of evolution.</p><p>\"It was an interesting idea but thought unlikely, until we showed it,\" says Paul Schmidt, a biology professor in Penn\'s School of Arts &amp; Sciences and senior author on the paper.</p><p>\"What makes this so exciting is the temporal resolution with which we\'re seeing evolutionary processes in real time,\" says Seth Rudman, a co-lead author on the publication who performed the work as a postdoctoral fellow at Penn and is now an assistant professor at Washington State University.</p><p><strong>Just how fast</strong></p><p>It\'s long been known that evolution can progress quickly in short-lived and fast-reproducing fruit flies. But exactly how fast has remained in question, specifically whether multiple traits could evolve together, continuously, in response to short-term environmental changes.</p><p>In earlier studies at Philadelphia-area orchards, Schmidt and colleagues had seen that the fruit flies present at the beginning of the growing season were quite different from those buzzing about in the late fall in measures of stress tolerance, reproductive fitness, and even pigmentation. But that research couldn\'t rule out the possibility that new flies were entering the population, causing the dramatic shifts.</p><p>To more tightly control the circumstances of their studies, the team developed an experimental orchard, located on a tract of land at Pennovation Works, a short distance from Penn\'s main campus. There, multiple enclosures allow Schmidt\'s lab members to study flies in real-life environmental conditions -- cold, heat, rain, and all -- while preventing flies from entering or escaping. Thus, the insects in the enclosures at the end of an experiment are known to be the direct descendants of those released into the enclosure at the study\'s beginning.</p><p><strong>Checking in on evolution</strong></p><p>The researchers began the current investigation by releasing 1,000 <em>Drosophila melanogaster </em>fruit flies in each of 10 enclosures in July of 2014. The flies were then fed the same diets, but otherwise left to their own devices. At the experiment\'s peak, each population had grown to roughly 100,000 in number.</p><p>Once a month, the team removed individual flies and 2,500 eggs from each enclosure, raised them separately, then analyzed them for six different physical characteristics known to be governed by multiple genes, such as reproductive success and cold tolerance.</p><p>In addition, during each of those monthly check-ins, the researchers randomly selected 100 flies from each enclosure\'s population and sequenced their genomes as a pooled group. In doing so, they could get a snapshot of the changing allele frequencies -- the variations in different points in the genome -- over time.</p><p>The evidence from both the physical and genome data was clear: The flies were evolving, adapting to their environment, and they were doing so faster than anyone had ever measured before.</p><p>\"We see that the populations are able to track differences in the environment,\" says Schmidt. \"This was not a response to a single, selective event, such as a drought. The populations were constantly evolving and shifting throughout the entire experiment.\"</p><p><strong>Fluctuating adaptation</strong></p><p>Because flies are short-lived, the time period of a handful of weeks between each analysis translated to one to four generations of flies, or roughly ten generations over the course of the whole experiment.</p><p>Even so, the magnitude of adaptation was unexpected, with more than 60% of the flies\' genome evolving directly or indirectly during the experiment. Schmidt and Rudman note that this doesn\'t mean evolutionary selection is acting on more than half of the genome -- some DNA gets pulled along when other parts change in a process known as \"genetic draft.\"</p><p>But what made the findings particularly compelling was that the direction of adaptation changed multiple times, swinging like a pendulum as environmental conditions changed.</p><p>\"To think that a trait could evolve over a certain number of weeks, and then reverse direction the following month, that was very surprising,\" Rudman says. \"This paints a picture of adaption and selection being really dynamic. The direction of natural selection is changing, the targets are changing, and they\'re changing really quickly.\"</p><p>Previous studies, the researchers explain, may well have underestimated the rate of adaptation, because they were looking only at genomic changes between two fairly distant points at time, say, A and B. By looking repeatedly and often at the same population, this experiment was designed to reveal what happened in between -- a winding route of adaptation from A to B to C and back to B -- fluctuations that would have been otherwise invisible.</p><p>Though fruit flies reproduce on a much more compressed time scale than humans, the researchers say their findings have relevance to longer-lived and slower-regenerating species, like humans.</p><p>\"I would argue that these processes are taking place in a lot of different organisms, but they\'re harder to measure over the appropriate time scales,\" says Schmidt. \"So, for the fruit flies, the pressures to adapt could come with the seasons, but for humans it could be climate change, agriculture, utilization of milk as a food source. This could be a general phenomenon. The burden is now on us to determine the time scale on which it is occurring.\"</p><p><em>Rudman and Schmidt coauthored the paper with Penn\'s Subhash Rajpurohit, Nicolas J. Betancourt, and Jinjoo Hanna and Stanford University\'s Sharon I. Greenblum, Susanne Tilk, Tuya Yokoyama, and Dmitri A. Petrov. Rudman, Greenblum, and Rajpurohit shared first authorship.</em></p><p><em>Paul Schmidt is professor and undergraduate chair in the Department of Biology in the University of Pennsylvania School of Arts &amp; Sciences.</em></p><p><em>Seth Rudman is an assistant professor in the School of Biological Sciences at Washington State University. Previously he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.</em></p><p><em>The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grants GM100366, GM137430, and GM118165)</em></p>','2022-03-17 22:12:23.110513','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Pennsylvania','Evolution is normally considered to be a gradual process, unfolding over long timescales. But new findings show that widespread physical and genomic adaptation to the environment can occur within just weeks.\n',1,64,'<li>Seth M. Rudman, Sharon I. Greenblum, Subhash Rajpurohit, Nicolas J. Betancourt, Jinjoo Hanna, Susanne Tilk, Tuya Yokoyama, Dmitri A. Petrov, Paul Schmidt. <strong>Direct observation of adaptive tracking on ecological time scales in            Drosophila</strong>. <em>Science</em>, 2022; 375 (6586) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abj7484\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1126/science.abj7484</a>\n</li>'),(1379,'Pioneering technique could unlock targeted treatments for cancer','pioneering-technique-could-unlock-targeted-treatments-for-cancer','2022-03-17 22:12:33.153264',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Leicester researchers have described application of a pioneering chemical technique which could unlock ground-breaking new treatments for cancer and other diseases.</p><p>Members of the Leicester Institute of Structural and Chemical Biology, based at the University of Leicester, used proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs) as a \'bridge\' to degrade proteins implicated in cancer.</p><p>Scientists can manipulate the effectiveness of treatments by making changes to elements of this PROTAC bridge.</p><p>This new study, published in the <em>Journal of Medicinal Chemistry</em>, describes how Leicester researchers applied a previously-described protein degradation technique known as PROTACs to degrade histone deacetylation enzymes (HDACs) in a more targeted way than ever before.</p><p>HDACs play an important role in gene regulation, in which genes are switched \'on\' and \'off\', and are associated with a range of diseases, including cancer as well as various neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer\'s disease.</p><p>Using this pioneering technique to target specific structures within cancerous cells could increase the potency and selectivity of new and existing drugs, meaning patients would require lower systemic exposure to drug treatments leading to a reduction in harmful side-effects to patients.</p><p>The group have been granted a patent by the European Patent Office for the pioneering technique.</p><p>Dr James Hodgkinson is an Associate Professor in Organic Chemistry and Chemical Biology at the University of Leicester and one of the corresponding authors for the study. He said:</p><p>\"We are really excited about what these new molecules are capable of in cancer cells and their potential future development into medicines.</p><p>\"Our next steps will involve optimising their chemical structure and biological properties so that one day they could be used to improve the lives of cancer patients.\"</p><p>John Schwabe is Professor of Structural Biology and Director of the Leicester Institute of Structural and Chemical Biology, and also a corresponding author on the study. Professor Schwabe added:</p><p>\"The potential of using specific degraders of therapeutic targets is very powerful.</p><p>\"This work has been the result of a productive three-way collaboration between chemists, biologists and biophysicists -- an exciting combination to deliver interdisciplinary research.\"</p><p>The Leicester Institute of Structural and Chemical Biology leads interdisciplinary research across 22 separate research groups at the University of Leicester.</p><p>Other work includes innovative research to create a potential vaccine against Alzheimer\'s disease.</p>','2022-03-17 22:12:33.153264','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Leicester','Researchers have described application of a pioneering chemical technique which could unlock ground-breaking new treatments for cancer and other diseases.\n',1,89,'<li>Joshua P. Smalley, India M. Baker, Wiktoria A. Pytel, Li-Ying Lin, Karen J. Bowman, John W. R. Schwabe, Shaun M. Cowley, James T. Hodgkinson. <strong>Optimization of Class I Histone Deacetylase PROTACs Reveals that HDAC1/2 Degradation is Critical to Induce Apoptosis and Cell Arrest in Cancer Cells</strong>. <em>Journal of Medicinal Chemistry</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.1c02179\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1021/acs.jmedchem.1c02179</a>\n</li>'),(1380,'Smoke from major wildfires destroys the ozone layer','smoke-from-major-wildfires-destroys-the-ozone-layer','2022-03-17 22:12:49.967665',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">A new study shows that smoke from wildfires destroys the ozone layer. Researchers caution that if major fires become more frequent with a changing climate, more damaging ultraviolet radiation from the sun will reach the ground.</p><p>Atmospheric chemists from the University of Waterloo found that smoke from the Australian wildfires of 2019 and 2020 destroyed atmospheric ozone in the Southern Hemisphere for months. The ozone shield is a part of the stratosphere layer of the Earth\'s atmosphere that absorbs UV rays from the sun.</p><p>The researchers used data from the Canadian Space Agency\'s Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE) satellite to measure the effects of smoke particles in the stratosphere. The results appear in the journal <em>Science</em>.</p><p>\"The Australian fires injected acidic smoke particles into the stratosphere, disrupting the chlorine, hydrogen and nitrogen chemistry that regulate ozone,\" said Peter Bernath, research professor in Waterloo\'s Department of Chemistry and lead author of this study. \"This is the first large measurement of the smoke, which shows it converting these ozone-regulating compounds into more reactive compounds that destroy ozone.\"</p><p>Similar to the holes over polar regions, this damage is a temporary effect, and the ozone levels returned to pre-wildfire levels once the smoke disappeared from the stratosphere. But an increase in the prevalence of wildfires would mean the destruction happens more often.</p><p>\"The ACE satellite is a unique mission with over 18 continuous years of data on atmospheric composition. ACE measures a large collection of molecules to give a better, more complete picture of what is happening in our atmosphere,\" Bernath said. \"Models can\'t reproduce atmospheric smoke chemistry yet, so our measurements provide a unique look at chemistry not seen before.\"</p>','2022-03-17 22:12:49.967665','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Waterloo','A new study shows that smoke from wildfires destroys the ozone layer. Researchers caution that if major fires become more frequent with a changing climate, more damaging ultraviolet radiation from the sun will reach the ground.\n',1,53,'<li>Peter Bernath, Chris Boone, Jeff Crouse. <strong>Wildfire smoke destroys stratospheric ozone</strong>. <em>Science</em>, 2022; 375 (6586): 1292 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abm5611\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1126/science.abm5611</a>\n</li>'),(1381,'As oceans warm, marine cold spells are disappearing','as-oceans-warm,-marine-cold-spells-are-disappearing','2022-03-18 00:09:03.181483',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Marine cold spells are cold versions of heat waves: periods of exceptionally cold water, able to hurt or help the ecosystems they hit. As the atmosphere and oceans warm, marine cold spells are becoming less intense and less frequent overall, according to a new study.</p><p>Today, the oceans experience just 25% of the number of cold spell days they did in the 1980s, and cold spells are about 15% less intense, researchers found. Weaker cold spells could mean they\'re less likely to cause mass die-off events, but having fewer cold spells also means refuges and recovery periods from marine heat waves are disappearing.</p><p>The study was published in the AGU journal <em>Geophysical Research Letters</em>, which publishes short-format, high-impact research with implications spanning the Earth and space sciences. It is the first study to quantify and compare the changing nature of marine heat waves and cold spells over several recent decades on an oceanwide, global scale.</p><p>\"Recently, studies have focused on heat waves and warm ocean temperature events, less so the cold events,\" said lead author Yuxin Wang, an ocean and climate scientist at the University of Tasmania. Because marine cold spells have both positive and negative impacts, Wang said, understanding when, where and why these spells occur is critical for predicting their presence in the future. Predicting cold spells could be important for fisheries\' long-term planning and for ensuring catch limits are sustainable.</p><p>\"Extreme events, either warm or cold, can bring an ecosystem to the edge,\" said Sofia Darmaraki, a physical oceanographer at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens who was not involved in the study. \"Establishing the oceans\' baseline climatology and sensitivity of heat waves and cold spells to temperature changes, like they did in this study, is a burning question for the community.\"</p><p>Marine heat waves, like heat waves over land, are natural phenomena becoming more frequent and intense in some places as a result of anthropogenic climate change. Similarly, marine cold spells are natural, but their rates are changing around the world. Over the past decade, cold spells have occurred roughly 10 days per year globally, a notable drop from about 40 days per year in 1985.</p><p>To understand when and where marine cold spells occur and how those patterns have changed over time, Wang and her colleagues analyzed sea surface temperature data from 1982 to 2020, checking for periods of either extremely hot or cold temperatures. They found the oceans are warming, corresponding to global warming trends, and sea surface temperatures are becoming variable over time. That variability leads marine heat wave and cold spell intensities to change at different rates, complicating scientists\' attempts to predict each.</p><p>Establishing global trends in marine cold spells and their relationship to global warming is an important step, but further studies are needed to constrain regional and local effects, Wang said. Those local effects include impacts on fisheries, which can be positive or negative.</p><p>\"Marine cold spells play dual roles in influencing ecosystems,\" Wang said. \"They can cause devastating impacts, like coral bleaching and mass mortality events. But cold spells can offset the impacts of heat waves.\"</p><p>\"Extreme events affect coastal communities and economies, but members of the public might not be aware of how they\'re going to intensify in the future. We need to get the word out,\" said Darmaraki. \"Information about the underlying physical causes of these extreme events can help improve forecasting, which can lead to the development of early warning systems. That information can be provided to fisheries and other stakeholders, and they can collaborate on the best adaptations, the best path forward.\" The better communities know what to expect, the better they can prepare.</p>','2022-03-18 00:09:03.181483','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'American Geophysical Union','Marine cold spells are cold versions of heat waves: periods of exceptionally cold water, able to hurt or help the ecosystems they hit. Today, the oceans experience just 25% of the number of cold spell days they did in the 1980s, and cold spells are about 15% less intense, researchers found. Weaker cold spells could mean they\'re less likely to cause mass die-off events, but having fewer cold spells also means refuges and recovery periods from marine heat waves are disappearing.\n',1,116,'<li>Yuxin Wang, Jules B. Kajtar, Lisa V. Alexander, Gabriela S. Pilo, Neil J. Holbrook. <strong>Understanding the Changing Nature of Marine Cold‐Spells</strong>. <em>Geophysical Research Letters</em>, 2022; 49 (6) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2021GL097002\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1029/2021GL097002</a>\n</li>'),(1382,'How cattle ranchers in Brazil could help reduce carbon emissions','how-cattle-ranchers-in-brazil-could-help-reduce-carbon-emissions','2022-03-18 00:11:20.411357',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Providing customized training to Brazilian ranchers can not only help keep carbon in the ground, but improve their livelihoods and mitigate climate change, according to new research from the University of Colorado Boulder and the Climate Policy Initiative / PUC-Rio.</p><p>Published today in the <em>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</em>, the new study analyzes the results of a randomized control trial that examined whether agricultural extension services can help to restore cattle pastures in Brazil. The experiment found that customized assistance, in addition to educational training, successfully supported ranchers in sustainably increasing their cattle production and paid for itself in the process.</p><p>In addition, the net impact of the program on greenhouse gas emissions was equivalent to reducing carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere by 1.19 million tons -- the same amount as the neighboring country of Paraguay emits in a given year.</p><p>\"It\'s an important piece of the puzzle to reach climate goals,\" said Barbara Farinelli, co-author of the study and senior agricultural economist at The World Bank. \"What\'s behind this success is that farmers become the transformational agent for climate goals.\"</p><p>Brazil is the world\'s leading exporter of beef, making it a significant part of the country\'s economy and an important livelihood for many rural communities. But cattle ranching has a climate problem: Livestock supply chains are responsible for 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions and account for as much as one third of total emissions in Latin America, totaling hundreds of millions of tons of carbon dioxide each year.</p><p>Mid-sized ranches, like the ones analyzed in this research, are responsible for one third of Brazil\'s cattle production. But unlike the cattle industry in the United States, which is dominated by feedlots, almost 90% of Brazilian beef is pasture- or grass-raised.</p><p>\"What that means is a huge demand for pastureland. And a lot of that in the last few decades has come at the expense of the Amazon and Cerrado biomes,\" said Peter Newton, co-author of the study and associate professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado Boulder.</p><p>The study comes at a time when Brazil\'s beef industry is encouraging farmers to return to the Amazon, based on claims by major figures in Amazonian agribusiness that intensive cattle ranching will enable more beef to be produced on less land and therefore reduce deforestation. A main critique of this argument is that most smaller producers in Brazil lack the technical and financial resources to invest in practices that support producing more cattle on less land.</p><p>The new study joins a growing body of research demonstrating the importance of customized assistance in helping farmers adopt sustainable practices and increase productivity, and provides sound scientific evidence that can inform policy discussions in Brazil and beyond.</p><p>\"We found that training plus technical assistance had significant impacts on the rate at which farmers restored pasture, on profits, and on carbon sequestration and emissions,\" said Newton.</p><p><strong>Benefits of one-on-one assistance</strong></p><p>Since many Brazilian farmers are not in a financial position to implement new sustainability practices, Brazil has a nationwide policy that gives credit to ranchers and farmers to do so. But researchers found that the barrier to making sustainable changes is not money, but knowledge.</p><p>\"In this setting in particular, it\'s not that the main constraint for improving the operation of the ranch was money, it was really information,\" said Arthur Bragança, lead author of the paper and Head of Policy Evaluation, Sustainable Agriculture and Infrastructure, at the Climate Policy Initiative / PUC-Rio.</p><p>The aim of the ABC Cerrado program, financed by the World Bank through a grant from the Forest Investment Program (FIP) and implemented by the National Service of Rural Learning (SENAR), is to help farmers get access to the specific information and skills needed to adopt sustainable changes in their cattle production. Since its creation in 2012, the program has trained 7,800 farmers.</p><p>For this research project, they set up a robust, randomized controlled trial and recruited 1,369 producers from across the highlands of central Brazil, known as the Cerrado, many of whom had never received previous trainings on sustainable practices. Some 706 of these ranchers attended a 56-hour course in one of the four practices promoted by the program, such as the restoration of pastures, rotational grazing or the use of no-till agriculture.</p><p>311 of those 706 producers also received technical assistance, consisting of 24 visits (one visit per month over two years) from field technicians to their property, where they received one-on-one advice. What the researchers found is that while training alone did not improve any of the measured outcomes, producers who also received technical assistance showed statistically significant increases in all measured outcomes.</p><p>\"The before and after was amazing,\" said Farinelli, who visited several ranches during the two-year project. \"You could see with your eyes the pasture with applied- and non-applied technologies.\"</p><p>Ranchers who received one-on-one help also increased their productivity rapidly within a short period of time. Within just two years, these ranchers increased their revenues by 39% -- surprising the researchers. In the process of adopting more sustainable technologies, the researchers documented that many farmers also changed different aspects of their operations and adopted better management practices.</p><p>\"That\'s the value of working with this type of primary data in which you go to the field,\" said Bragança. \"You learn about the behavior of actual people.\"</p><p><strong>The climate cost of cattle </strong></p><p>The cost-benefit analysis of the program was also impressive. Incorporating the cost of carbon, the program generated a climate benefit of $47.6 million per year, making the program cost effective even if the benefits only lasted for one year.</p><p>It\'s these climate and environmental benefits, which are 10 times higher than the economic benefits to the farmer, that stood out to Bragança, an economist.</p><p>\"If you increase productivity, yes, the ranchers are going to gain something,\" Bragança said. \"But the gains for the rest of the society in terms of lower emissions, they\'re really higher.\"</p><p>While this specific program will not continue, similar low-carbon agricultural programs in Brazil have received funding and will continue to explore the benefits of tailored assistance to farmers and ranchers.</p><p>\"There\'s broad agreement among global food system scientists that we collectively need to dramatically reduce our consumption of beef,\" Newton said. \"But it seems extremely unlikely that beef consumption is going to end in any near-term future. So, it\'s also important to be grazing cattle in ways that have a lower environmental impact. If there are ways of producing meat and animal products in ways that reduce their climate impact, then that\'s also a part of the picture, in addition to reducing consumption.\"</p><p><em>Additional authors on this publication include: Avery Cohn, ClimateWorks Foundation; Juliano Assunção, Climate Policy Initiative / PUC-Rio and Department of Economics, PUC-Rio; Cristiane Camboim, Mateus Tavares and Janei Resende, SENAR, Edifício Antônio Ernesto de Salvo; Diego de Faveri, FGV EBAPE, Brazilian School of Business and Public Administration (EBAPE), Getulio Vargas Foundation; Viviana M.E. Perego, World Bank, Washington, D.C.; Sidney de Medeiros, Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento (MAPA), Esplanada dos Ministérios; Timothy D. Searchinger, School of Public &amp; International Affairs, Princeton University. </em></p>','2022-03-18 00:11:20.411357','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Colorado at Boulder','Providing customized training to Brazilian ranchers can not only help keep carbon in the ground, but improve their livelihoods and mitigate climate change, according to new research.\n',1,70,'<li>Arthur Bragança, Peter Newton, Avery Cohn, Juliano Assunção, Cristiane Camboim, Diego de Faveri, Barbara Farinelli, Viviana M.E. Perego, Mateus Tavares, Janei Resende, Sidney de Medeiros, Timothy D. Searchinger. <strong>Extension services can promote pasture restoration: Evidence from Brazil’s low carbon agriculture plan</strong>. <em>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</em>, 2022; 119 (12) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2114913119\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1073/pnas.2114913119</a>\n</li>'),(1383,'New computer predictive model useful in identifying ancient hunter-gatherer sites','new-computer-predictive-model-useful-in-identifying-ancient-hunter-gatherer-sites','2022-03-18 00:11:25.337908',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Researchers looking to identify some of the most difficult \'finds\' in archaeology -- including sites used by nomadic hunter-gatherer communities -- are tapping technology to help in the search.</p><p>Archaeologists at the Max Planck Institute and Simon Fraser University are gaining new insights from a computer predictive model that can assess the likelihood that landscapes contain such well-sought sites. Their work is newly published in the journal <em>PLOS One</em>.</p><p>\"Preserving archaeological sites from destruction ensures that history is not lost and is especially important for communities that did not use written records; but before sites can be protected and studied, they must first be found,\" says SFU archaeology PhD student Rob Rondeau and interim director of SFU\'s Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.</p><p>Chris Carleton, now of the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology developed the Locally-Adaptive Model of Archaeological Potential (LAMAP) -- a predictive model that considers distributions of values for landscape variables around known sites.</p><p>LAMAP uses information from the landscape data to estimate the archaeological potential of land that has not been examined by archaeologists. Carleton successfully demonstrated the method on large, permanently occupied sites in Belize and Turkey.</p><p>Rondeau, an experienced underwater archaeologist, connected with Carleton at the suggestion of SFU archaeology professor Mark Collard, who supervised Carleton while he was a PhD student and SFU post-doctoral fellow.</p><p>Rondeau\'s interest is finding ancient sites on submerged landscapes off the B.C. coast -- those occupied when sea levels were much lower than today. Their collaboration will play a major role in helping him to identify underwater the campsites of hunter-gatherers in the distant past.</p><p>Carleton and Rondeau tested LAMAP on the Tanana Valley in Alaska -- with its rich record of hunter-gatherer sites stretching back to the last Ice Age, 14,500 years ago. They \"trained\" the model with data about the landscape around 90 known sites, randomly selected from the State of Alaska\'s Heritage Database.</p><p>The pair predicted which parts of the landscape had the highest potential for producing more sites, and then returned to the database to evaluate their predictions. Areas that LAMAP identified as high potential proved to contain many of the remaining sites in the database, confirming that LAMAP was able to predict preferred campsite areas that may have been occupied by hunter-gatherers only for a few days or weeks.</p><p>Significant computing power was needed to undertake the systematic comparison of millions of data points from the 7,000-square-kilometrere study area. Rondeau travelled to Alaska in 2019 to experience the landscape and will next apply what has been learned to the deep waters off the B.C. coast.</p>','2022-03-18 00:11:25.337908','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Simon Fraser University','Researchers looking to identify some of the most difficult \'finds\' in archaeology --including sites used by nomadic hunter-gatherer communities--are tapping technology to help in the search.\n',1,170,'<li>Rob Rondeau, W. Christopher Carleton, Mark Collard, Jonathan Driver. <strong>Does the Locally-Adaptive Model of Archaeological Potential (LAMAP) work for hunter-gatherer sites? A test using data from the Tanana Valley, Alaska</strong>. <em>PLOS ONE</em>, 2022; 17 (3): e0265597 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265597\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1371/journal.pone.0265597</a>\n</li>'),(1384,'Massive study shows urbanization drives adaptive evolution','massive-study-shows-urbanization-drives-adaptive-evolution','2022-03-18 00:11:30.145392',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Rochester Institute of Technology contributed to a massive study on a tiny roadside weed that shows urbanization is leading to adaptive evolution at a global scale. As part of the Global Urban Evolution Project (GLUE) project, scientists from 160 cities across six continents collected more than 110,000 samples of white clover plants in urban, suburban, and rural areas to study urbanization\'s effects on the plants. It is the largest environmental evolution study ever and the results are published in the journal <em>Science</em>.</p><p>Scientists in each city used the same process to collect white clover samples and test them for a particular chemical anti-herbivore defense compound that also affects their stress tolerance for factors such as extreme heat and weather. Assistant Professor Kaitlin Stack Whitney from RIT\'s Department of Science, Technology, and Society led a team of five environmental science students working on a senior capstone project to participate on Rochester\'s behalf. In October 2018, they collected 650 samples at 41 sites along a straight path from downtown Rochester to Black Creek Park in North Chili along New York State Route 33A.</p><p>\"We were picking through this tiny roadside weed, but it\'s fascinating how you can unpack these global issues about urbanization and climate change by looking at this very overlooked plant,\" said Stack Whitney. \"There are these big global forces that are affecting how those plants are growing, what they\'re doing, and whether or not they can respond to stresses in that very localized environment.\"</p><p>The GLUE project was an opportunity for the RIT students to get hands-on, impactful research early in their scientific careers. Environmental science alumna Kristina Chomiak \'19, \'21 MS, who will begin pursuing her Ph.D. in sustainability in the fall, said the collaborative experiment helped solidify her interest in research.</p><p>\"For me at that point personally I hadn\'t had a ton of research experience,\" said Chomiak. \"It was exciting to be able to follow a protocol and actually conduct this wet lab research. And it was even better that it would be published and would be meaningful to the scientific community.\"</p><p>Chomiak said she is excited to see the full results of the study and learn how the data they collected in Rochester compares to that found from other cities. She said that locally the team did not find a significant difference in adaptation between the urban and rural areas, but they hypothesize that is because Rochester has more snowfall than other cities involved in the study, meaning the white clover plants are less under attack here.</p><p>Participants in the first GLUE study, led by the University of Toronto Mississauga, are now discussing additional ways to leverage the data and organize follow-up studies. Stack Whitney plans to participate in at least five follow-up studies.</p>','2022-03-18 00:11:30.145392','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Rochester Institute of Technology','A massive study on a tiny roadside weed shows urbanization is leading to adaptive evolution at a global scale. Scientists from 160 cities across six continents collected more than 110,000 samples of white clover plants in urban, suburban, and rural areas to study urbanization\'s effects on the plants.\n',1,34,'<li>James S. Santangelo et al. <strong>Global urban environmental change drives adaptation in white clover</strong>. <em>Science</em>, 2022; 375 (6586): 1275 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abk0989\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1126/science.abk0989</a>\n</li>'),(1385,'Physicists find direct evidence of strong electron correlation in a 2D material','physicists-find-direct-evidence-of-strong-electron-correlation-in-a-2d-material','2022-03-18 00:11:36.343262',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">In recent years, physicists have discovered materials that are able to switch their electrical character from a metal to an insulator, and even to a superconductor, which is a material in a friction-free state that allows electrons to flow with zero resistance. These materials, which include \"magic-angle\" graphene and other synthesized two-dimensional materials, can shift electrical states depending on the voltage, or current of electrons, that is applied.</p><p>The underlying physics driving these switchable materials is a mystery, though physicists suspect it has something to do with \"electron correlations,\" or effects from the interaction felt between two negatively charged electrons. These particle repulsions have little to no effect in shaping the properties in most materials. But in two-dimensional materials, these quantum interactions can be a dominating influence. Understanding how electron correlations drive electrical states can help scientists engineer exotic functional materials, such as unconventional superconductors.</p><p>Now, physicists at MIT and elsewhere have taken a significant step toward understanding electron correlations. In a paper appearing today in <em>Science</em>, the researchers reveal direct evidence of electron correlations in a two-dimensional material called ABC trilayer graphene. This material has previously been shown to switch from a metal to an insulator to a superconductor.</p><p>For the first time, the researchers directly detected electron correlations in a special insulating state of the material. They also quantified the energy scales of these correlations, or the strength of the interactions between electrons. The results demonstrate that ABC trilayer graphene can be an ideal platform to explore and possibly engineer other electron correlations, such as those that drive superconductivity.</p><p>\"Better understanding of the underlying physics of superconductivity will allow us to engineer devices that could change our world, from zero-loss energy transmission to magnetically levitating trains,\" says lead author Long Ju, assistant professor of physics at MIT. \"This material is now a very rich playground to explore electron correlations and build even more robust phenomena and devices.\"</p><p><strong>Superlattice</strong></p><p>An ABC trilayer graphene, stacked atop a layer of hexagonal boron nitride, is similar to the more well-studied magic-angle bilayer graphene, in that both materials involve layers of graphene -- a material that is found naturally in graphite and can exhibit exceptional properties when isolated in its pure form. Graphene is made from a lattice of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal pattern, similar to chicken wire. Hexagonal boron nitride, or hBN, has a similar, slightly larger hexagonal pattern.</p><p>In ABC trilayer graphene, three graphene sheets are stacked at the same angle and slightly offset from each other, like layered slices of cheese. When ABC trilayer graphene sits on hBN at a zero-degree twist angle, the resulting structure is a moiré pattern, or \"superlattice,\" made up of periodic energy wells, the configuration of which determines how electrons flow through the material.</p><p>\"This lattice structure forces electrons to localize, and sets the stage for electron correlations to have a huge impact on the material\'s macroscopic property,\" Ju says.</p><p>He and his colleagues sought to probe ABC trilayer graphene for direct evidence of electron correlations and to measure their strength. They first synthesized a sample of the material, creating a superlattice with energy wells, each of which can normally hold two electrons. They applied just enough voltage to fill each well in the lattice.</p><p><strong>Electron boost</strong></p><p>They then looked for signs that the material was in an ideal state for electron correlations to dominate and affect the material\'s properties. They specifically looked for signs of a \"flat band\" structure, where all electrons have almost the same energy. The team reasoned that an environment hosting electrons with a wide range of energies would be too noisy for the tiny energy of electron correlations to have an effect. A flatter, quieter environment would allow for these effects to come through.</p><p>The team used a unique optical technique they developed to confirm that the material indeed has a flat band. They then tuned down the voltage slightly, so that only one electron occupied each well in the lattice. In this \"half-filled\" state, the material is considered a Mott insulator -- a curious electrical state that should be able to conduct electricity like metal, but instead, due to electron correlations, the material behaves as an insulator.</p><p>Ju and his colleagues wanted to see if they could detect the effect of these electron correlations in a half-filled, Mott insulating state. They looked to see what would happen if they disturbed the state by moving electrons around. If electron correlations have any effect, such perturbations of electron configurations would meet resistance, since electrons naturally repel each other. For example, an electron that attempts to move to a neighboring well would be pushed back by the electron already occupying that well, even if that well can technically accommodate an additional electron.</p><p>In order to overcome this resistance, it would require an extra boost of energy -- just enough to overcome the electron\'s natural repulsion. The team reasoned that the magnitude of this boost would be a direct measure of the electron correlation\'s strength.</p><p>The researchers supplied the extra boost using light. They shone light of different colors, or wavelengths, onto the material, and looked for a peak, or a single specific wavelength that the material absorbed. This wavelength corresponded to a photon with just enough energy to kick an electron into a neighboring half-filled well.</p><p>In their experiment, the team indeed observed a peak -- the first direct detection of electron correlations in this specific moiré superlattice material. They then measured this peak to quantify the correlation energy, or the strength of the electron\'s repulsive force. They determined this to be about 20 millielectronvolts, or 1/50 of an electronvolt.</p><p>The results show that strong electron correlations underlie the physics of this particular 2D material. Ju says the Mott insulating state is particularly important, as it is the parent state of unconventional superconductivity, the physics of which remains illusive. With this new study, the team has demonstrated that ABC trilayer graphen/hBN moiré superlattice is an ideal platform to explore and engineer the more exotic electrical states, including the unconventional superconductivity.</p><p>\"Today, superconductivity happens only at very low temperatures in a realistic setting,\" notes Ju, who says the team\'s optical technique can be applied to other 2D materials to reveal similar exotic states. \"If we can understand the mechanism of unconventional superconductivity, maybe we can boost that effect to higher temperatures. This material forms a foundation to understand and engineer even more robust electrical states and devices.\"</p><p>This research was supported, in part, by the National Science Foundation, the Simons Foundation, and the MIT Skoltech program.</p><p><strong>Story Source:</strong></p>','2022-03-18 00:11:36.343262','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Massachusetts Institute of Technology','MIT physicists have detected electron correlations in a 2D material called ABC trilayer graphene. Understanding how electron correlations drive electrical states can help scientists engineer exotic functional materials, such as unconventional superconductors.\n',1,123,'<li>Jixiang Yang, Guorui Chen, Tianyi Han, Qihang Zhang, Ya-Hui Zhang, Lili Jiang, Bosai Lyu, Hongyuan Li, Kenji Watanabe, Takashi Taniguchi, Zhiwen Shi, Todadri Senthil, Yuanbo Zhang, Feng Wang, Long Ju. <strong>Spectroscopy signatures of electron correlations in a trilayer graphene/hBN moiré superlattice</strong>. <em>Science</em>, 2022; 375 (6586): 1295 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abg3036\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1126/science.abg3036</a>\n</li>'),(1386,'Bone marrow cancer: Potential drug targets','bone-marrow-cancer:-potential-drug-targets','2022-03-18 00:59:51.244532',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">New research from Mayo Clinic\'s Center for Individualized Medicine finds that patients with ASXL1-mutant chronic myelomonocytic leukemia -- an uncommon type of cancer of the bone marrow -- have distinctive epigenetic changes that can activate harmful genes and cause the cancer to grow faster. The ASXL1 genetic mutation also can transform the disease into the more aggressive acute myeloid leukemia.</p><p>The study, published in <em>Nature Communications</em>, helps to clarify a potential therapeutic strategy and adds to the knowledge of ASXL1 gene expression.</p><p>Epigenetics refers to chemical modifications of a cell\'s genetic material that control how genes are expressed and affect the interpretation of the DNA code. Research shows epigenetics play a critical role in the development and progression of many diseases, including cancer.</p><p>\"The epigenome in patients with these ASXL1 gene mutations is changed in a way that allows the cancer cells to switch on genes that are detrimental to the patients,\" says Moritz Binder M.D., a Mayo Clinic hematologist and scientist, and the lead author of the study. Dr. Binder is a 2021 Gerstner Family Career Development awardee.</p><p>\"These epigenetic changes don\'t affect the DNA blueprint itself,\" Dr. Binder explains. \"It affects how to the blueprint is read -- which pages to read and which pages not to read.\"</p><p>Chronic myelomonocytic leukemia is a cancer that typically affects people 60 and older. It starts in blood-forming cells of the bone marrow and invades the blood. Nearly 40% of patients with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia have a mutation in the ASXL1 gene.</p><p>\"Unfortunately, patients with ASXL1 mutations do not fare well and do not respond as well to the treatments currently available,\" Dr. Binder says.</p><p>For the study, Dr. Binder and his team conducted a comprehensive multi-omics interrogation using a variety of high-throughput sequencing methods. Multi-omics offers the opportunity to understand the flow of information that underlies disease.</p><p>The researchers compared samples from patients with and without ASXL1 mutations and analyzed the activity of genes along with molecules around the DNA. The investigation included gene expression and several modifications affecting the packaging of the DNA.</p><p>\"This allowed us to perform modeling to draw inference about the effect of epigenetic changes in isolation and in concert on leukemogenic gene expression in ASXL1-mutant chronic myelomonocytic leukemia,\" Dr. Binder says.</p><p>Overall, they found that ASXL1 mutations are associated with the overexpression of key genes that drive leukemia.</p><p>\"Our study supports the notion that several important leukemogenic driver genes are under the control of regulatory elements in the genome,\" Dr. Binder says.</p><p>The data suggest that these regulatory elements are only functional in patients with ASXL1-mutant chronic myelomonocytic leukemia and may therefore represent new individualized therapeutic targets. Dr. Binder is planning to translate these findings into early phase clinical trials soon.</p><p>\"Our study is the basis for ongoing work to further explore ways to target these patient-specific regulatory elements with novel small-molecule drugs, \"Dr. Binder says. \"With this approach, we hope to restore normal gene expression, or at least treat the cancer cells in a new way to overcome the detrimental effect of ASXL1 mutations.\"</p>','2022-03-18 00:59:51.244532','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Mayo Clinic','New research finds that patients with ASXL1-mutant chronic myelomonocytic leukemia -- an uncommon type of cancer of the bone marrow -- have distinctive epigenetic changes that can activate harmful genes and cause the cancer to grow faster. The ASXL1 genetic mutation also can transform the disease into the more aggressive acute myeloid leukemia.\n',1,69,'<li>Moritz Binder, Ryan M. Carr, Terra L. Lasho, Christy M. Finke, Abhishek A. Mangaonkar, Christopher L. Pin, Kurt R. Berger, Amelia Mazzone, Sandeep Potluri, Tamas Ordog, Keith D. Robertson, David L. Marks, Martin E. Fernandez-Zapico, Alexandre Gaspar-Maia, Mrinal M. Patnaik. <strong>Oncogenic gene expression and epigenetic remodeling of cis-regulatory elements in ASXL1-mutant chronic myelomonocytic leukemia</strong>. <em>Nature Communications</em>, 2022; 13 (1) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29142-6\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41467-022-29142-6</a>\n</li>'),(1387,'Chemists find a quick way to synthesize novel neuroactive compounds found in rainforest tree','chemists-find-a-quick-way-to-synthesize-novel-neuroactive-compounds-found-in-rainforest-tree','2022-03-18 02:00:51.635016',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">A potential cornucopia of neuroactive compounds, which might yield clues to the design of future psychiatric and neurological drugs, has become more accessible to synthetic chemists, thanks to new work from Scripps Research.</p><p>The discovery, reported March 17, 2022, in <em>Science</em>, concerns compounds contained in the rainforest tree <em>Galbulimima belgraveana</em> and its close cousin <em>Galbulimima baccata, </em>which are native to Papua New Guinea, tropical northern Australia, and Malaysia.</p><p>Potions made from the bark of these trees have long been known to have hallucinogenic and other neuroactive effects, but the precise compounds involved, and their biological targets, have largely been a mystery. The Scripps Research chemists found what is essentially the first streamlined, practical method for synthesizing many of these compounds.</p><p>\"We\'re very interested in learning how these <em>Galbulimima</em> compounds affect the brain, and hope to derive useful new therapeutics from them. Now with this improved approach to making these molecules, we can start to do just that,\" says Ryan Shenvi, PhD, the professor of chemistry at Scripps Research who led the study.</p><p>The co-first authors of the study were Eleanor Landwehr, Meghan Baker PhD, and Takuya Oguma PhD, who worked in the Shenvi lab during the study.</p><p>The neuroactive effects of compounds found in <em>Galbulimima </em>bark were first highlighted just after World War II in surveys by the pharma company Smith, Kline &amp; French and the Australian national research organization CSIRO. Until now, though, the dense structural complexity of these compounds, their variable mix within <em>Galbulimima </em>bark, and the difficulty of obtaining that bark in quantity, have prevented their close study. Indeed, chemists had devised a concise and practical synthesis for only one of these compounds, himbacine.</p><p>In the new study, Shenvi and his team targeted another <em>Galbulimima </em>compound called himgaline, which, like himbacine, appears to have antispasmodic properties, though it is likely to act in a different way. Whereas the best prior method to synthesize himgaline requires 19 steps -- too many for routine use -- the new method took only 7 steps, enabling easy synthesis at the scale needed to study the compound in detail.</p><p>Shenvi says the new method is more efficient in part because it starts with a broad approach to the chemical \"space\" or \"neighborhood\" around himgaline, allowing that specific compound -- or other related compounds -- to be made relatively easily from there. Using this approach, the team demonstrated syntheses of himgaline and two other <em>Galbulimima </em>compounds, GB22 and GB13.</p><p>\"Our approach is somewhat analogous to distant space travel -- we first try to get to the target star system, so to speak, and from there it\'s relatively easy to get to specific planets within that system,\" Shenvi says.</p><p>Shenvi and his team are now following up with studies of the biological properties of himgaline, GB22 and GB13, and are also using their broad synthesis strategy to make and study other <em>Galbulimima </em>compounds.</p><p>\"Concise syntheses of GB22, GB13, and himgaline by cross-coupling and complete reduction\" was co-authored by Eleanor Landwehr, Meghan Baker, Takuya Oguma, Hannah Burdge, Takahiro Kawajiri and Ryan Shenvi, who were all at Scripps Research during the study.</p><p>The work was funded in part by the National Institutes of Health (GM122606) and the National Science Foundation (CHE1856747).</p><p><strong>Story Source:</strong></p>','2022-03-18 02:00:51.635016','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Scripps Research Institute','A potential cornucopia of neuroactive compounds, which might yield clues to the design of future psychiatric and neurological drugs, has become more accessible to synthetic chemists.\n',1,203,'<li>Eleanor M. Landwehr, Meghan A. Baker, Takuya Oguma, Hannah E. Burdge, Takahiro Kawajiri, Ryan A. Shenvi. <strong>Concise syntheses of GB22, GB13, and himgaline by cross-coupling and complete reduction</strong>. <em>Science</em>, 2022; 375 (6586): 1270 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abn8343\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1126/science.abn8343</a>\n</li>'),(1388,'New strategy for designing thermoelectric materials','new-strategy-for-designing-thermoelectric-materials','2022-03-18 02:00:54.887454',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">The National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) has succeeded in developing a new approach to the design of thermoelectric materials by constructing a database of electronic structure parameters correlated with materials\' thermoelectric conversion properties and by a comprehensive analysis of the database. This approach can be used to develop higher performance thermoelectric materials.</p><p>Thermoelectric conversion is a viable means of harvesting energy to help achieve a low carbon economy and supply electricity to IoT devices -- a key digital transformation technology. For these purposes, more efficient thermoelectric materials need to be developed. Thermoelectric conversion is a long-known physical phenomenon: electricity is generated in a solid material with a temperature gradient across it. Extensive efforts have been made to discover highly efficient thermoelectric materials. The conventional approach to developing high-performance thermoelectric materials has been to analyze the electronic structures of materials that exhibit highly efficient thermoelectric conversion and investigate the mechanisms responsible. These studies have so far focused on the mechanisms of individual materials rather than trying to find commonalities among them. This research group discovered electronic structure properties common to high-performance thermoelectric materials and succeeded in developing a versatile materials design approach.</p><p>The research group first constructed a database of two electronic structure parameters known to be correlated with materials\' thermoelectric conversion properties: charge transfer energy (?) and onsite Coulomb repulsion energy (U). Data was collected from various materials containing transition metal ions -- a material group in which promising thermoelectric materials have been found in the past. Multiple materials were then simultaneously analyzed using this database, revealing the relationship between various chemical elements and the parameters. Finally, the group applied these relationships to thermoelectric materials and discovered that materials with desirable thermoelectric conversion properties occur in particular areas along the plotted ? and U values.</p><p>These results represent a new approach to designing high-performance thermoelectric materials. In addition, the database developed in this project is expected to be useful in research on a wide range of materials (e.g., lithium-ion batteries, catalysts, superconductors and magnetic and ion conducting materials) in addition to thermoelectric materials.</p>','2022-03-18 02:00:54.887454','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'National Institute for Materials Science, Japan','Scientists have developed a new approach to the design of thermoelectric materials by constructing a database of electronic structure parameters correlated with materials\' thermoelectric conversion properties and by a comprehensive analysis of the database. This approach can be used to develop higher performance thermoelectric materials.\n',1,25,'<li>Isao Ohkubo, Takao Mori. <strong>Rational Design of 3d Transition-Metal Compounds for Thermoelectric Properties by Using Periodic Trends in Electron-Correlation Modulation</strong>. <em>Journal of the American Chemical Society</em>, 2022; 144 (8): 3590 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.1c12520\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1021/jacs.1c12520</a>\n</li>'),(1389,'Extended napping in seniors may signal dementia','extended-napping-in-seniors-may-signal-dementia','2022-03-18 12:53:49.070913',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Daytime napping among older people is a normal part of aging -- but it may also foreshadow Alzheimer\'s disease and other dementias. And once dementia or its usual precursor, mild cognitive impairment, are diagnosed, the frequency and/or duration of napping accelerates rapidly, according to a new study.</p><p>The study, led by UC San Francisco and Harvard Medical School together with Brigham and Women\'s Hospital, its teaching affiliate, departs from the theory that daytime napping in older people serves merely to compensate for poor nighttime sleep. Instead, it points to work by other UCSF researchers suggesting that dementia may affect the wake-promoting neurons in key areas of the brain, the researchers state in their paper publishing March 17, 2022, in <em>Alzheimer\'s and Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer\'s Association</em>.</p><p>\"We found the association between excessive daytime napping and dementia remained after adjusting for nighttime quantity and quality of sleep,\" said co-senior author Yue Leng, MD, PhD, of the UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.</p><p>\"This suggested that the role of daytime napping is important itself and is independent of nighttime sleep,\" said Leng, who partnered with Kun Hu, PhD, of Harvard Medical School, in senior-authoring the paper.</p><p><strong>Watch-Like Devices, Annual Evaluations Used to Measure Naps, Cognition</strong></p><p>In the study, the researchers tracked data from 1,401 seniors, who had been followed for up to 14 years by the Rush Memory and Aging Project at the Rush Alzheimer\'s Disease Center in Chicago. The participants, whose average age was 81 and of whom approximately three-quarters were female, wore a watch-like device that tracked mobility. Each prolonged period of non-activity from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. was interpreted as a nap.</p><p>The device was worn every year continuously for up to 14 days, and once a year each participant underwent a battery of neuropsychological tests to evaluate cognition. At the start of the study 75.7% of participants had no cognitive impairment, while 19.5% had mild cognitive impairment and 4.1% had Alzheimer\'s disease.</p><p>For participants who did not develop cognitive impairment, daily daytime napping increased by an average 11 minutes per year. The rate of increase doubled after a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment to a total of 24 minutes and nearly tripled to a total of 68 minutes after a diagnosis of Alzheimer\'s disease.</p><p>When the researchers looked at the 24% of participants who had normal cognition at the start of the study but developed Alzheimer\'s six years later, and compared them with those whose cognition remained stable, they found differences in napping habits. Participants who napped more than an hour a day had a 40% higher risk of developing Alzheimer\'s than those who napped less than an hour a day; and participants who napped at least once a day had a 40% higher risk of developing Alzheimer\'s than those who napped less than once a day.</p><p>The research confirms the results of a 2019 study, of which Leng was the first author, that found older men who napped two hours a day had higher odds of developing cognitive impairment that those who napped less than 30 minutes a day. The current study builds on these findings by evaluating both daytime napping and cognition each year, hence addressing directionality, Leng notes.</p><p><strong>Loss of Wake-Promoting Neurons May Account for Longer Naps </strong></p><p>According to the researchers, increase in napping may be explained by a further 2019 study, by other UCSF researchers, comparing the postmortem brains of people with Alzheimer\'s disease to those without cognitive impairment. Those with Alzheimer\'s disease were found to have fewer wake-promoting neurons in three brain regions. These neuronal changes appear to be linked to tau tangles -- a hallmark of Alzheimer\'s, characterized by increased activity of enzymes causing the protein to misfold and clump.</p><p>\"It is plausible that our observed associations of excessive daytime napping at baseline, and increased risk for Alzheimer\'s disease during follow-up, may reflect the effect of Alzheimer\'s disease pathology at preclinical stages,\" the authors noted.</p><p>The study shows for the first time that napping and Alzheimer\'s disease \"seem to be driving each other\'s changes in a bi-directional way,\" said Leng, who is also affiliated with the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences. \"I don\'t think we have enough evidence to draw conclusions about a causal relationship, that it\'s the napping itself that caused cognitive aging, but excessive daytime napping might be a signal of accelerated aging or cognitive aging process,\" she said.</p><p>\"It would be very interesting for future studies to explore whether intervention of naps may help slow down age-related cognitive decline.\"</p><p>First authors are Peng Li, PhD, and Lei Gao, MBBS, of Brigham and Women\'s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Co-authors are Xi Zheng, Ma Cherrysse Ulsa, Hui-Wen Yang, PhD, and Arlen Gaba of Brigham and Women\'s Hospital; Kristine Yaffe, MD, of UCSF; Lei Yu, PhD, David A. Bennett, MD, and Aron S. Buchman, MD, of Rush University Medical Center.</p><p>Research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (RF1AG064312, RF1AG059867, R01AG56352, R01AG17917, T32GM007592, R03AG067985 and R00AG056598), and the BrightFocus Foundation Alzheimer\'s Research Program (A2020886S).</p>','2022-03-18 12:53:49.070913','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of California - San Francisco','Daytime napping among older people is a normal part of aging -- but it may also foreshadow Alzheimer\'s disease and other dementias. And once dementia or its usual precursor, mild cognitive impairment, are diagnosed, the frequency and/or duration of napping accelerates rapidly, according to a new study.\n',1,179,'<li>Peng Li, Lei Gao, Lei Yu, Xi Zheng, Ma Cherrysse Ulsa, Hui‐Wen Yang, Arlen Gaba, Kristine Yaffe, David A. Bennett, Aron S. Buchman, Kun Hu, Yue Leng. <strong>Daytime napping and Alzheimer\'s dementia: A potential bidirectional relationship</strong>. <em>Alzheimer\'s &amp; Dementia</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/alz.12636\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1002/alz.12636</a>\n</li>'),(1390,'Radical increase in the effectiveness of breast cancer immunotherapy','radical-increase-in-the-effectiveness-of-breast-cancer-immunotherapy','2022-03-18 13:38:51.423248',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">A study published in the journal <em>Nature Cancer</em>, carried out within the Cancer Programme at the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM-Hospital del Mar) by the Cancer Stem Cells and Metastasis Dynamics Laboratory, led by Dr. Toni Celià-Terrassa, and the Laboratory of Molecular Cancer Therapy, coordinated by Dr. Joan Albanell, with the participation of international centres, has discovered an approach that radically increases the success of immunotherapy in one of the most aggressive types of tumours, triple-negative breast cancer. This subtype, although accounting for only 15% of cases, is one of the most rapidly progressing and affects younger patients. In this work, researchers found that tumour stem cells are the main cause of immunotherapy resistance in this subtype of breast cancer. The reason is that these cells are invisible to the immune system, making immunotherapy ineffective. In addition, the study offers a promising solution to this situation by using a new therapeutic approach in preclinical models that makes cancer stem cells visible to the immune system so that it can then eliminate the tumour.</p><p>This subpopulation of more aggressive cells may represent between 5% and 50% of the entire tumour population in triple-negative breast cancer. They have low levels of LCOR factor, which plays a key but previously unknown role in allowing cells to present antigens on their surface, molecules that enable the immune system to differentiate normal cells from tumour cells and attack the latter. Consequently, in the case of tumour stem cells, the low presence of this LCOR factor makes them invisible to the body\'s defences. As a result, these cells are resistant to breast cancer immunotherapy, which has a relatively low success rate in current clinical practice.</p><p><strong>A mechanism that provokes treatment resistance </strong></p><p>This ability of tumour stem cells to remain invisible to the immune system allows them to withstand immunotherapy treatment. As Dr. Toni Celià-Terrassa explains, \"We have seen how, despite immunotherapy treatment, these cells survive and have the ability to generate resistance, which is linked to their ability to hide from the immune system, allowing them to evade immunotherapy.\"</p><p>Using mouse models, the researchers have demonstrated how this situation is reversed when the LCOR gene is activated in this type of cell, setting in motion the machinery that allows the immune system to detect the tumour. \"It involves reconfiguring the tumour to make it completely visible and, therefore, sensitive to immunotherapy, transforming it from invisible to visible,\" says Iván Pérez-Núñez, a pre-doctoral researcher in the Cancer Stem Cells and Metastasis Dynamics Laboratory and first author of the study. The researchers were able to see how, by combining this approach with immunotherapy, the treatment response rate was total, and all tumours were eliminated, curing the mice in the long term. This prevents both the recurrence of cancer and the generation of resistance.</p><p><strong>Pioneering study on the use of messenger-RNA therapy in cancer and immunotherapy</strong></p><p>Inspired by the technology used in the design of messenger-RNA vaccines for COVID-19, the researchers decided to use a similar strategy to transport and deliver LCOR gene RNA into tumour cells and trigger its function. Biological nanovesicles, small bag-like structures formed in the cells, were developed to carry this information and were shown to do so successfully, preventing the tumour stem cells from remaining invisible.</p><p>\"What we are doing is making the immune system see the tumour cell better. Unlike healthy cells, malignant cells have a much higher load of recognised \'foreign\' antigens, which are not inherent to the immune system. In this way, the body\'s natural defences will recognise, attack and eliminate the malignant cells,\" explains Dr. Celià-Terrassa. In this sense, he points out that \"We have discovered how to make this type of breast cancer respond to immunotherapy in preclinical models, making these cells visible thanks to the use of the antigen-presenting mechanism, thereby boosting the immunotherapy response and its efficiency.\"</p><p>This strategy may be applicable to other types of breast cancer tumours and other tumour types, although safety studies and clinical trials in humans are needed first. Even so, according to Dr. Joan Albanell, co-leader of the study, director of the Cancer Research Programme at IMIM-Hospital del Mar and head of the Oncology Department at Hospital del Mar, this approach does open up new possibilities. \"What is important is that the experimental results demonstrate an unprecedented sensitisation of triple-negative breast cancer to immunotherapy, making resistant tumours virtually curable,\" says Dr Albanell, also a professor at the UPF. \"This unequivocally motivates us to investigate therapeutic strategies that may culminate in clinical trials, and to explore whether it could be applicable to other tumours,\" he concludes.</p><p>The use of LCOR in combination with immunotherapy has generated a patent and a spin-off company will be created to develop this. \"The project led by Dr. Celià-Terrassa and Dr. Albanell is a paradigmatic example of research in immune therapies that will be boosted in the near future by the new Immuno-oncology Division that we are creating at the IMIM,\" explains Dr. Joaquín Arribas, director of the IMIM-Hospital del Mar and author of the study.</p><p>The study was made possible thanks to a CLIP grant from the US Cancer Research Institute and funding from the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII). Thanks also go to the Spanish Association Against Cancer (Asociación Española contra el Cáncer; AECC), the Fero Foundation and CIBERONC, a centre to which the two researchers who led the study also belong.</p>','2022-03-18 13:38:51.423248','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute)','Researchers have discovered the essential role of a new factor, LCOR, in enabling cancer cells to present tumor antigens on their surfaces. These antigens allow the immune system to recognize the tumor, an essential step if immunotherapy treatment is to succeed. On the other hand, they have shown that cancer stem cells have very low levels of LCOR, making them invisible to the immune system and therefore resistant to treatment.\n',1,35,'<li>Iván Pérez-Núñez, Catalina Rozalén, José Ángel Palomeque, Irene Sangrador, Mariona Dalmau, Laura Comerma, Anna Hernández-Prat, David Casadevall, Silvia Menendez, Daniel Dan Liu, Minhong Shen, Jordi Berenguer, Irene Rius Ruiz, Raul Peña, José Carlos Montañés, M. Mar Albà, Sarah Bonnin, Julia Ponomarenko, Roger R. Gomis, Juan Miguel Cejalvo, Sonia Servitja, Diego M. Marzese, Lluis Morey, Leonie Voorwerk, Joaquín Arribas, Begoña Bermejo, Marleen Kok, Lajos Pusztai, Yibin Kang, Joan Albanell, Toni Celià-Terrassa. <strong>LCOR mediates interferon-independent tumor immunogenicity and responsiveness to immune-checkpoint blockade in triple-negative breast cancer</strong>. <em>Nature Cancer</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43018-022-00339-4\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s43018-022-00339-4</a>\n</li>'),(1391,'New insight into the possible origins of life','new-insight-into-the-possible-origins-of-life','2022-03-18 15:37:44.465097',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Researchers at the University of Tokyo have for the first time been able to create an RNA molecule that replicates, diversifies and develops complexity, following Darwinian evolution. This has provided the first empirical evidence that simple biological molecules can lead to the emergence of complex lifelike systems.</p><p>Life has many big questions, not least being where did we come from? Maybe you\'ve seen the T-shirts with pictures going from ape to human (to tired office worker). But how about from simple molecule to complex cell to ape? For several decades, one hypothesis has been that RNA molecules (which are vital for cell functions) existed on primitive Earth, possibly with proteins and other biological molecules. Then around 4 billion years ago, they started to self-replicate and develop from a simple single molecule into diverse complex molecules. This step-by-step change possibly eventually led to the emergence of life as we know it -- a beautiful array of animals, plants, and everything in between.</p><p>Although there have been many discussions about this theory, it has been difficult to physically create such RNA replication systems. However, in a study published in <em>Nature Communications</em>, Project Assistant Professor Ryo Mizuuchi and Professor Norikazu Ichihashi at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Tokyo, and their team, explain how they carried out a long-term RNA replication experiment in which they witnessed the transition from a chemical system towards biological complexity.</p><p>The team was truly excited by what it saw. \"We found that the single RNA species evolved into a complex replication system: a replicator network comprising five types of RNAs with diverse interactions, supporting the plausibility of a long-envisioned evolutionary transition scenario,\" said Mizuuchi.</p><p>Compared to previous empirical studies, this new result is novel because the team used a unique RNA replication system that can undergo Darwinian evolution, i.e., a self-perpetuating process of continuous change based on mutations and natural selection, which enabled different characteristics to emerge, and the ones that were adapted to the environment to survive.</p><p>\"Honestly, we initially doubted that such diverse RNAs could evolve and coexist,\" commented Mizuuchi. \"In evolutionary biology, the \'competitive exclusion principle\' states that more than one species cannot coexist if they are competing for the same resources. This means that the molecules must establish a way to use different resources one after another for sustained diversification. They are just molecules, so we wondered if it were possible for nonliving chemical species to spontaneously develop such innovation.\"</p><p>So what next? According to Mizuuchi, \"The simplicity of our molecular replication system, compared with biological organisms, allows us to examine evolutionary phenomena with unprecedented resolution. The evolution of complexity seen in our experiment is just the beginning. Many more events should occur towards the emergence of living systems.\"</p><p>Of course, there are still many questions left to answer, but this research has provided further empirically based insight into a possible evolutionary route that an early RNA replicator may have taken on primitive Earth. As Mizuuchi said, \"The results could be a clue to solving the ultimate question that human beings have been asking for thousands of years -- what are the origins of life?\"</p>','2022-03-18 15:37:44.465097','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Tokyo','Researchers have for the first time been able to create an RNA molecule that replicates, diversifies and develops complexity, following Darwinian evolution. This has provided empirical evidence that simple biological molecules can lead to the emergence of complex lifelike systems.\n',1,64,'<li>Mizuuchi, R., Furubayashi, T. &amp; Ichihashi, N. <strong>Evolutionary transition from a single RNA replicator to a multiple replicator network</strong>. <em>Nat Commun</em>, 2022 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29113-x\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41467-022-29113-x</a>\n</li>'),(1392,'Higher exposure to bisphenol A in the womb associated with increased risk for asthma and wheezing in school-age girls','higher-exposure-to-bisphenol-a-in-the-womb-associated-with-increased-risk-for-asthma-and-wheezing-in-school-age-girls','2022-03-18 15:37:53.137744',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">An analysis of data from more than 3,000 mother-child pairs from six European countries indicates that prenatal exposure to bisphenol A may have negative effects on respiratory health in school-age girls. The results of a study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), an entity supported by the \"la Caixa\" Foundation, have just been published in the journal <em>Environment International</em>.</p><p>Bisphenols are chemical substances used in the manufacture of plastics and resins found in many consumer products, such as food cans, reusable bottles and toys. The most well-known is bisphenol A (BPA), a known endocrine disruptor used widely in the manufacture of food containers and the interior coatings of such recipients. The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) included BPA on its list of substances of \"very high concern\" in 2017. Since then, some countries have limited its use, leading some manufacturers to replace BPA with other bisphenols.</p><p>Since it is known that bisphenols are present in maternal milk and that they can cross the placental barrier, the aim of the authors of the study published today was to discover whether prenatal exposure to these chemical compounds is associated with respiratory health problems in later years. The authors studied urine samples taken during pregnancy from more than 3,000 women from six European countries (Spain, France, Greece, Norway, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom) collected between 1999 and 2010 and data on the respiratory health of their offspring collected years later through questionnaires and spirometry.</p><p>Analysis of the urine samples revealed a high prevalence of BPA, which was found in 90% of the samples. The other bisphenols studied were, however, less prevalent at the time these samples were collected: the Netherlands was the only country where a notable presence of other bisphenols was detected among the study participants (bisphenol F in 40% of the samples and bisphenol S in 70%). This finding was probably due to the early switch to replacements for bisphenol A in that country.</p><p>The results of this study revealed an association in girls between concentrations of bisphenol A in maternal urine during pregnancy and an increased risk of asthma and wheezing at school age (a twofold increase in the concentration of bisphenol A was linked to a 13% higher risk of respiratory symptoms). This association was not, however, observed in boys or in the case of the other two bisphenols studied. Neither were any associations observed between prenatal bisphenol A exposure and lung function at school age.</p><p>\"Our results are in line with those of earlier studies, which have also reported that bisphenol A has a negative impact on respiratory health in childhood. We believe that the effect may be due the fact that bisphenols can cross the placental barrier and interfere with the child\'s respiratory and immune systems during the developmental phase,\" explains Alicia Abellán, ISGlobal researcher and first author of the study.</p><p>Talking about the differences observed between girls and boys, Maribel Casas, ISGlobal researcher and last author of the study, makes the point that \"bisphenols are endocrine disruptors and can interfere with sex hormones. As our findings suggest, this may give rise to differences in the effects they have depending on the sex of the person exposed.\"</p><p>The study included data from eight birth cohorts: BiB (United Kingdom), EDEN (France), Generation R (The Netherlands); INMA Guipuzkoa, INMA Sabadell and INMA Valencia (Spain); MoBa (Norway) and RHEA (Greece).</p>','2022-03-18 15:37:53.137744','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal)','An analysis of data from more than 3,000 mother-child pairs from six European countries indicates that prenatal exposure to bisphenol A may have negative effects on respiratory health in school-age girls.\n',1,84,'<li>Alicia Abellan, Sara M. Mensink-Bout, Raquel Garcia-Esteban, Andrea Beneito, Leda Chatzi, Talita Duarte-Salles, Mariana F. Fernandez, Judith Garcia-Aymerich, Berit Granum, Carmen Iñiguez, Vincent W.V. Jaddoe, Kurunthachalam Kannan, Aitana Lertxundi, Maria-Jose Lopez-Espinosa, Claire Philippat, Amrit K. Sakhi, Susana Santos, Valérie Siroux, Jordi Sunyer, Leonardo Trasande, Marina Vafeiadi, Fernando Vela-Soria, Tiffany C. Yang, Carlos Zabaleta, Martine Vrijheid, Liesbeth Duijts, Maribel Casas. <strong>In utero exposure to bisphenols and asthma, wheeze, and lung function in school-age children: a prospective meta-analysis of 8 European birth cohorts</strong>. <em>Environment International</em>, 2022; 107178 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2022.107178\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/j.envint.2022.107178</a>\n</li>'),(1393,'Making memory serve correctly: Fixing an inherent problem in next-generation magnetic RAM','making-memory-serve-correctly:-fixing-an-inherent-problem-in-next-generation-magnetic-ram','2022-03-18 16:12:47.019996',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">With the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) era, many researchers are focused on making most of the technologies involved more sustainable. To reach this target of \'green IoT,\' some of the building blocks of conventional electronics will have to be improved or radically changed to make them not only faster, but also more energy efficient. In line with this reasoning, many scientists worldwide are currently trying to develop and commercialize a new type of random-access memory (RAM) that will enable ultra-low-power electronics: magnetic RAMs.</p><p>Each memory cell in a magnetic RAM stores either a \'1\' or a \'0\' depending on whether the magnetic orientation of two magnetic layers are equal or opposite to each other. Various types of magnetic RAM exist, and they mainly differ in how they modify the magnetic orientation of the magnetic layers when writing to a memory cell. In particular, spin injection torque RAM, or STT-RAM, is one type of magnetic memory that is already being commercialized. However, to achieve even lower write currents and higher reliability, a new type of magnetic memory called spin orbit torque RAM (SOT-RAM), is being actively researched.</p><p>In SOT-RAM, by leveraging spin-orbit interactions, the write current can be immensely reduced, which lowers power consumption. Moreover, since the memory readout and write current paths are different, researchers initially thought that the potential disturbances on the stored values would also be small when either reading or writing. Unfortunately, this turned out not to be the case.</p><p>In 2017, in a study led by Professor Takayuki Kawahara of Tokyo University of Science, Japan, researchers reported that SOT-RAMs face an additional source of disturbance when reading a stored value. In conventional SOT-RAMs, the readout current actually shares part of the path of the write current. When reading a value, the readout operation generates unbalanced spin currents due to the Spin Hall effect. This can unintentionally flip the stored bit if the effect is large enough, making reading in SOT-RAMs less reliable.</p><p>To address this problem, Prof. Kawahara and colleagues conducted another study, which was recently published in <em>IEEE Transactions on Magnetics</em>. The team came up with a new reading method for SOT-RAMs that can nullify this new source of readout disturbance. In short, their idea is to alter the original SOT-RAM structure to create a bi-directional read path. When reading a value, the read current flows out of the magnetic layers in two opposite directions simultaneously. In turn, the disturbances produced by the spin currents generated on each side end up cancelling each other out. An explainer video on the same topic can be watched here: <a href=\"https://youtu.be/Gbz4rDOs4yQ\">https://youtu.be/Gbz4rDOs4yQ</a>.</p><p>In addition to cementing the theory behind this new source of readout disturbance, the researchers conducted a series of simulations to verify the effectiveness of their proposed method. They tested three different types of ferromagnetic materials for the magnetic layers and various device shapes. The results were very favorable, as Prof. Kawahara remarks: \"<em>We confirmed that the proposed method reduces the readout disturbance by at least 10 times for all material parameters and device geometries compared with the conventional read path in SOT-RAM.</em>\"</p><p>To top things off, the research team checked the performance of their method in the type of realistic array structure that would be used in an actual SOT-RAM. This test is important because the read paths in an array structure would not be perfectly balanced depending on each memory cell\'s position. The results show that a sufficient readout disturbance reduction is possible even when connecting about 1,000 memory cells together. The team is now working towards improving their method to reach a higher number of integrated cells.</p><p>This study could pave the way toward a new era in low-power electronics, from personal computers and portable devices to large-scale servers. Satisfied with what they have achieved, Prof. Kawahara remarks: \"We expect next-generation SOT-RAMs to employ write currents an order of magnitude lower than current STT-RAMs, resulting in significant power savings. The results of our work will help solve one of the inherent problems of SOT-RAMs, which will be essential for their commercialization.\"  </p>','2022-03-18 16:12:47.019996','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Tokyo University of Science','SOT-RAM, a promising type of next-generation magnetic memory, could pave the way to ultra-low-power electronics. However, scientists have identified a source of disturbance during the read operation in SOT-RAMs that compromises their reliability. Fortunately, they also found a method to greatly reduce this disturbance by slightly modifying the SOT-RAM structure. Their findings will help make this type of memory faster and more reliable, helping its commercialization for sustainable IoT applications.\n',1,61,'<li>Yuwa Kishi, Akihiro Yamada, Mengnan Ke, Takayuki Kawahara. <strong>Examination of Magnetization Switching Behavior by Bi-directional Read of Spin-orbit-torque MRAM</strong>. <em>IEEE Transactions on Magnetics</em>, 2022; 1 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TMAG.2022.3154025\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1109/TMAG.2022.3154025</a>\n</li>'),(1394,'How gene expression changes in the brain in Alzheimer\'s disease','how-gene-expression-changes-in-the-brain-in-alzheimer\'s-disease','2022-03-18 16:56:18.077603',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">An international group of researchers led by the UAB analyzed the genes that are expressed in neurons and astrocytes based on data from 800 individuals and compared what happens in Alzheimer\'s patients and in people without diagnosed dementia. The study, published in Neurobiology of disease, highlights the need to analyze molecular markers, such as genetic sequences or brain proteins, to obtain more accurate assays, diagnoses and therapies. The results also show changes in astrocytes in an attempt to adapt to the toxic environment derived from the disease, worsening its progression.</p><p>Although Alzheimer\'s disease is one of the most studied pathologies due to its high prevalence, the molecular changes that cause astrocytes, a type of brain cell, to become reactive astrocytes, manifesting a very pronounced morphological change in response to a stressful situation, are still unknown. Neither is it known why neurons in diseased brains have difficulty communicating with each other or with the astrocytes themselves.</p><p>Now, in an article published in <em>Neurobiology of Disease</em>, an international group of researchers with expertise in these cells and the study of neurodegenerative diseases analyzed genetic data from <em>post-mortem</em> brain samples from nearly 800 individuals, to determine the differences between gene expression in astrocytes and neurons from brains with the disease and in cells from brains of people without a diagnosis of dementia, the control group. The samples came from the <em>Alzheimer Disease Knowledge</em> portal and were generated by three American clinics: Mount Sinai Hospital, the Mayo Clinic and the Religious Order Study/Memory and Aging Project.</p><p>Researchers studied the set of RNA molecules, or cellular transcriptome, which is used to determine which of all the genes are being expressed and to what extent. \"By studying the transcriptome, we can see if there are silenced or overexpressed genes, and we can understand what is happening inside neurons and astrocytes,\" explains Elena Galea, researcher at the Institut de Neurociències (INc-UAB) and first author of the article.</p><p>The results have shown a high genetic heterogeneity among people with the same clinical diagnosis and, also, that more than half of the control individuals have a molecular profile of Alzheimer\'s disease, which is characterized by decreased expression of synaptic genes due to neuronal damage and death. \"This could indicate that these people were at a very early stage of the disease (still without symptoms) and would reinforce the idea that clinical diagnosis has to be complemented with the search for molecular markers, such as neuronal synapse proteins, to determine the phase in which the patient is,\" explains Lydia Giménez-Llort, author of the article and researcher at the Department of Psychiatry and Legal Medicine of the UAB and the INc-UAB. \"In this sense, we are working together with the Pasqual Maragall Foundation to detect astrocyte proteins in the blood of patients with preclinical Alzheimer\'s disease,\" adds Dr. Galea.</p><p>The study also shows how, as the disease progresses, astrocytes decrease the expression of genes that code for mitochondrial proteins, which prevents the mitochondria of these cells (basic organelles for cellular energy) from functioning well. This effect could be an adaptation of the astrocytes to compensate for the toxicity of the amyloid protein and would be impairing communication between astrocytes and neurons. \"We believe that this adaptation by astrocytes contributes to the worsening of the disease and could therefore be a key point in preventing its progression,\" explains Dr. Galea.</p><p>The study is the most complete transcriptomic analysis of human astrocytes in Alzheimer\'s disease to date and is of great relevance due to the number of samples analyzed. The results highlight the need to use molecular data to stratify patients into more genetically homogeneous groups for clinical trials and to obtain a more accurate diagnosis and treatment of the disease. Also, they open the door to developing targeted therapies to protect the function of astrocyte mitochondria.</p>','2022-03-18 16:56:18.077603','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona','An international group of researchers analyzed the genes that are expressed in neurons and astrocytes based on data from 800 individuals and compared what happens in Alzheimer\'s patients and in people without diagnosed dementia. The study highlights the need to analyze molecular markers, such as genetic sequences or brain proteins, to obtain more accurate assays, diagnoses and therapies. The results also show changes in astrocytes in an attempt to adapt to the toxic environment derived from the disease, worsening its progression.\n',1,179,'<li>Elena Galea, Laura D. Weinstock, Raquel Larramona-Arcas, Alyssa F. Pybus, Lydia Giménez-Llort, Carole Escartin, Levi B. Wood. <strong>Multi-transcriptomic analysis points to early organelle dysfunction in human astrocytes in Alzheimer\'s disease</strong>. <em>Neurobiology of Disease</em>, 2022; 166: 105655 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nbd.2022.105655\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/j.nbd.2022.105655</a>\n</li>'),(1395,'Visible ocean plastics just the tip of the iceberg','visible-ocean-plastics-just-the-tip-of-the-iceberg','2022-03-18 16:56:29.062952',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">While the billions of tons of plastic products produced in the \"Plastic Age\" of the last half-century have drastically changed the way we live for the better, the plastic waste that has made it into the environment is posing new challenges for nature.</p><p>Seeking to simulate the fate of plastics that have made it into our oceans, a new study led by Kyushu University estimates that 25.3 million metric tons of plastic waste has entered our oceans and nearly two-thirds of that cannot be monitored.</p><p>Even more alarmingly, the analysis suggests that this may only be the tip of the plastic-waste iceberg, with another 540 million metric tons of mismanaged plastic waste -- nearly 10% of all plastic produced so far -- still trapped on land.</p><p>While scientists have been surveying the oceans\' surfaces and beaches to determine how much plastic waste has made it into the oceans, copious amounts of ocean plastics are thought to be well below the surface or on the seafloor, hidden from the reach of scientific observation using common sampling gear.</p><p>\"To assess the amount and whereabouts of plastic waste in Earth\'s oceans, we have to consider the whole process from their birth to burial, starting with emission from rivers into the ocean and continuing with their transportation and fragmentation into pieces,\" says Atsuhiko Isobe, professor at Kyushu University\'s Research Institute for Applied Mechanics and leader of the study.</p><p>In the new work, Isobe\'s team attempted to estimate the amount of these hidden ocean plastics by creating models that simulate these processes. They drew on existing studies to derive parameters that describe how plastics breakdown and age, and used satellite-derived wind data to incorporate movement of the particles.</p><p>As sources of plastic waste for the simulations, they adjusted recent estimates of plastic-debris emission in rivers by either the country\'s gross domestic product going back to 1961 or predictions of mismanaged plastic waste generation after 2010. They also added an ocean-based component from the worldwide fisheries industry, which is said to produce 20% of river plastic emissions.</p><p>Their results estimate that large plastics and smaller pieces of so-called microplastics floating on the ocean surface each account for only about 3% of all ocean plastics. While a similar amount of microplastics -- plastic fragments less than five millimeters in size -- was estimated to be on beaches, 23% of the ocean plastic waste was larger plastic litter on the world\'s shores.</p><p>However, the simulations suggest that the remaining two-thirds of ocean plastic may be in locations that make it impossible to monitor. A little over half of this is heavy plastics that settled on the seafloor because they are denser than seawater. Half of plastic products today are made from these heavy plastics, which include polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).</p><p>The remainder are old microplastics emitted years and decades earlier that have since been removed from the ocean surface and beaches and stored in the ocean floor and elsewhere in the world\'s oceans.</p><p>But compared to ocean plastics, the amount of mismanaged plastic waste on land that could find its way into ecosystems and the ocean in the future may be twenty times larger.</p><p>The researchers arrived at their figure for total mismanaged plastic waste -- which is one tenth of the 5.7 billion metric tons of plastics produced to date -- by combining their estimates for the yearly emission of plastic waste into the oceans with recent estimates for the total amount of plastic waste that was not recycled, incinerated, or otherwise properly contained.</p><p>Being indecomposable in nature, this half a billion metric tons of mismanaged plastics will most likely outlive humans on this planet.</p><p>\"We were able to estimate the budget of ocean plastics, but they are only the tip of plastic-waste iceberg on Earth,\" says Isobe. His next task is to assess the whereabouts of the nearly half a billion metric tons of mismanaged plastics trapped on land.</p><p>\"That\'s going to be a Herculean task. Few advancements have been made so far in the field of \'terrestrial plastics\' due to the lack of observation methods.\"</p><p>Undeterred, Isobe recently launched a citizen science program using crowdsourced photos and AI to assess the mass of plastic waste dumped in cities and on beaches. At the same time, he is continuing to monitor and develop our understanding of what is happening to the plastics that make it to our oceans.</p><p><strong>Story Source:</strong></p>','2022-03-18 16:56:29.062952','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Kyushu University','Simulating a half century of movement and degradation of plastic waste in the ocean, a new study estimates that nearly two-thirds of ocean plastics are outside the reach of current monitoring methods. Furthermore, the study suggests that the estimated 25.3 million metric tons of total ocean plastics may represent only 5% of all mismanaged plastic waste to date, with the rest still on land.\n',1,27,'<li>Atsuhiko Isobe, Shinsuke Iwasaki. <strong>The fate of missing ocean plastics: Are they just a marine environmental problem?</strong> <em>Science of The Total Environment</em>, 2022; 825: 153935 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153935\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153935</a>\n</li>'),(1396,'Industrial discharge is the dominant mercury source in Korea’s west coast','industrial-discharge-is-the-dominant-mercury-source-in-korea’s-west-coast','2022-03-18 16:56:31.933555',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\"><em>Minamata</em>, a British film released in 2021, is a drama based on the true story of an American photographer documenting how the citizens of Minamata, Japan, became ill due to the industrial discharge dumped into the river by a Japanese corporation. The Minamata disease, mentioned in the movie, is a neuromuscular disorder resulting from mercury poisoning. To prevent further human health impacts from mercury pollution, the UNEP Minamata Convention on Mercury, a multilateral agreement to mitigate anthropogenic mercury emissions and releases, was initiated in 2017.</p><p>In contrast to the Minamata disaster, it is often difficult to locate precisely the specific sources of mercury leading to the ecosystem and human health impacts in the natural environment. At the moment, it is widely accepted that mercury found in the water column and sediments of global coastal oceans is introduced via riverine transport, unlike the case of the Minamata disaster.</p><p>Recently, a POSTECH research team led by Professor Sae Yun Kwon and Ph.D. candidate Saebom Jung used mercury (Hg) stable isotopes to quantify the relative importance of various mercury sources in the sediment along the entire west coast of Korea. The findings from the study were published in <em>Science of the Total Environment.</em></p><p>The research team has used the end-members of mercury stable isotopes reflecting atmospherically deposited mercury, mercury discharged in the form of industrial effluent, and mercury transported via riverine systems to calculate the contribution of each source in the sediment. Analyzing this dataset showed that the Korean west coast sediments are most affected by anthropogenic mercury discharged directly into the coastal zones in the form of wastewater from industrial activities. This is also the case in many nearshore systems of the East Asian countries, including China.</p><p>There are already monitoring programs funded by the Korean government to screen mercury levels in coastal and marine sediments and fisheries products. However, analyses of mercury concentration alone do not provide sufficient information regarding the sources of mercury responsible for the contamination. In the case of Korea, many industries are located along the nearshore regions rather than along the riverine systems. The west coast also shares the Yellow Sea with China -- the world\'s largest emitter of mercury. This calls for further investigation on the contribution of various mercury sources into the Yellow Sea from both countries.</p><p>Stable isotopes have widely been used to characterize sources of various heavy metals (lead, zinc, chromium, mercury) in globally recognized contaminated sites such as the Minamata Bay. The utility is spreading quickly to the field of environmental forensics to screen sources at sites where the issues of contamination is just beginning to receive public attention. Stable isotopes are also applied to understand natural processes in the environment, which enhance the exposure of contaminants to wildlife and humans. The unique properties of the stable isotopes, indicating the same element with different numbers of neutrons depending on their origin, enable them to be used to characterize the source of the pollutants.</p><p>The results of this study are noteworthy for the nearshore management in East Asian countries. The conflicting results from the conventional concentration-based and modeling studies, which have attributed the riverine transport as the major mercury source to the global coastal oceans, also merit further investigation and utility of mercury stable isotopes.</p><p>\"The information on the mercury sources along the Korean sediments and fish should be directed to formulating targeted management strategies and policies to mitigate industrial mercury releases. This should be an important objective since Korea is one of the signatory countries under the Minamata Convention,\" remarked Professor Sae Yun Kwon who led the study.</p><p>She added, \"The regulation of industrial mercury releases to coastal oceans would also have a direct effect on improving the marine environment and safe consumption of seafood.\"</p><p>This study was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean government (MSIT).</p>','2022-03-18 16:56:31.933555','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Pohang University of Science & Technology (POSTECH)','Researchers have used mercury (Hg) stable isotopes to verify the Hg sources in the sediment and fish along the west coast of Korea.\n',1,116,'<li>Saebom Jung, Sae Yun Kwon, Mi-Ling Li, Runsheng Yin, Jaeseon Park. <strong>Elucidating sources of mercury in the west coast of Korea and the Chinese marginal seas using mercury stable isotopes</strong>. <em>Science of The Total Environment</em>, 2022; 814: 152598 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.152598\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.152598</a>\n</li>'),(1397,'Electron powers a weak but significant bond for building complex structures','electron-powers-a-weak-but-significant-bond-for-building-complex-structures','2022-03-18 16:56:36.102360',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">How do you bring together two molecules that positively repel each other? A Northwestern University-led research team has developed a simple and versatile solution: Introduce an electron with a jolt of electricity, and resistance between the two is reduced and a bond formed.</p><p>The bond between molecules is admittedly a weak one, of the noncovalent form, but an important one. This kind of bond powers molecular self-assembly, a process used by biology and now scientists to build highly structured, stable and functional arrangements of molecules from the bottom up.</p><p>This fundamentally new type of catalysis will offer chemists and biologists a tool for promoting and controlling molecular recognition. New strategies can be designed to fine-tune noncovalent events, control assembly at different length scales and ultimately create new forms of complex matter for use in fields ranging from regenerative medicine to electronics.</p><p>\"This work represents a major breakthrough in both supramolecular chemistry and catalytic science,\" said Northwestern\'s Sir Fraser Stoddart, an expert in molecular recognition and self-assembly processes. \"It facilitates the coming together of molecules in a highly organized way, which is critical in building complex structures.\"</p><p>Although widely used in synthetic covalent chemistry,electron catalysis of molecular recognition and self-assembly processes is rare. Now Stoddart and an international team of theoretical physicists and supramolecular, physical and computational chemists have extended that concept to noncovalent chemistry. They are the first to use an electron as a catalyst beyond the molecule.</p><p>The study was published recently by the journal <em>Nature</em>.</p><p>Stoddart, a 2016 Nobel laureate in chemistry and creator of the mechanical bond, is a corresponding author of the paper. He is the Board of Trustees Professor of Chemistry in Northwestern\'s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. William A. Goddard III of the California Institute of Technology also is a corresponding author.</p><p>Co-first authors are Yang Jiao, a postdoctoral fellow, and Yunyan Qiu, a research assistant professor of chemistry, both in Stoddart\'s lab.</p><p>\"This work is about using the electron, an elemental particle, to catalyze the molecular recognition process,\" Jiao said. \"Molecular recognition and self-assembly are the foundation of many valuable functions and materials. We have figured out a way to promote and control these processes at the most fundamental of levels. Areas such as nanotechnology, chemical biology and materials science stand to benefit from our catalysis.\"</p><p>A covalent bond is a type of chemical bond that forms when two atoms share an electron pair between them. A noncovalent interaction does not involve the sharing of electrons but instead depends on electromagnetic interactions between molecules or within a molecule. In supramolecular chemistry, molecules are brought together to create superstructures.</p><p>In the paper, the researchers describe how they have taken electron catalysis beyond the molecule and into the realm of noncovalent and supramolecular chemistry. The formation of a complex between the two positively charged molecules used in the study (one a large ring-shaped molecule, the other a dumbbell shaped molecule) is kinetically forbidden. How to overcome the fact that like charges repel?</p><p>The researchers\' solution is to inject one electron. The electron lowers the resistance between the two molecules, and the two get together to form a new complex. Having done its job, the electron is released and, in typical catalyst behavior, moves on to catalyze another process of molecular recognition. It does this over and over again.</p><p>\"Previously people cared about thermodynamics, and now we care more about kinetics,\" Qiusaid. \"The best way to control kinetics is by catalysis, and here we use the smallest particle, the electron.\"</p><p>Electrons can be supplied by an electric current or reductant compounds.</p><p>In addition to its simplicity, there are advantages to the electron catalysis approach, the researchers report. The method is not limited to a specific reducing agent; it can be carried out with a variety of different reagents. Also, the electrochemical reduction eliminates the need for reagents altogether and provides the ability to control the concentration distribution of the components in the solution over time.</p><p>Stoddart is a member of the International Institute for Nanotechnology and the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.</p>','2022-03-18 16:56:36.102360','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Northwestern University','How do you bring together two molecules that positively repel each other? A research team has developed a simple and versatile solution: Introduce an electron with a jolt of electricity, and resistance between the two is reduced and a bond formed. This fundamentally new type of catalysis will offer chemists and biologists a tool for promoting and controlling molecular recognition and self-assembly, enabling them to build complex structures.\n',1,30,'<li>Yang Jiao, Yunyan Qiu, Long Zhang, Wei-Guang Liu, Haochuan Mao, Hongliang Chen, Yuanning Feng, Kang Cai, Dengke Shen, Bo Song, Xiao-Yang Chen, Xuesong Li, Xingang Zhao, Ryan M. Young, Charlotte L. Stern, Michael R. Wasielewski, R. Dean Astumian, William A. Goddard, J. Fraser Stoddart. <strong>Electron-catalysed molecular recognition</strong>. <em>Nature</em>, 2022; 603 (7900): 265 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04377-3\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41586-021-04377-3</a>\n</li>'),(1398,'How coronavirus triggers immune response in brain','how-coronavirus-triggers-immune-response-in-brain','2022-03-18 18:11:28.586467',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Huddersfield researchers were among the first to demonstrate how the induction of brain inflammation accounts for neurological damage in COVID19 patients and now, their findings have been published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.</p><p>The study, published in the journal <em>Molecular Neurobiology</em> led by the University of Huddersfield\'s Dr Mayo Olajide, describes how the spike protein used by the coronavirus to enter human cells can have a similar effect on the brain\'s immune cells as it does with the rest of the body.</p><p>Dr Olajide, who\'s previous research discovered how the onset of Alzheimer\'s disease can be slowed and some of its symptoms curbed by a natural compound that is found in pomegranate, conducted the potential impact of the Spike Glycoprotein S1 using immune cell lines obtained from mice and is now applying for funding to develop the research further using brain cells from humans.</p><p>\"Following our hypothesis,\" said Dr Olajide, \"we are now questioning when the coronavirus has affected the brain, could this pose a risk for neurodegenerative disorders further down the line, like Alzheimer\'s or Parkinson\'s?\"</p><p><strong>How the coronavirus activate the brain\'s own immune response</strong></p><p>According to Dr Olajide, whilst other research demonstrated the mechanism of <em>why</em> the virus was able to gain access into the brain through the nose, theirs was among the first to demonstrate <em>how</em> the coronavirus activated the brain\'s own immune response.</p><p>\"It may not be multiplying in the brain, but when it gets into the brain, it can actually induce immune responses and this explains some of the trends people have reported when they have been infected such as continued brain fog and memory loss,\" he said.</p><p>Dr Olajide believes if adequate funding can be achieved the research could prove significant.</p><p>\"The thing with COVID research is so many researchers speculate but less actually carry out the experiments needed to prove their research because it takes such a long time to complete.\"</p><p>Dr Olajide is a Reader within the University\'s Department of Pharmacy in the School of Applied Sciences. His academic career includes a post as a Humboldt Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Drug Research at the University of Munich. His PhD was awarded from the University of Ibadan in his native Nigeria, after an investigation of the anti-inflammatory properties of natural products.</p>','2022-03-18 18:11:28.586467','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Huddersfield','A new study describes how the spike protein used by the coronavirus to enter human cells can have a similar effect on the brain\'s immune cells as it does with the rest of the body.\n',1,91,'<li>Olumayokun A. Olajide, Victoria U. Iwuanyanwu, Oyinkansola D. Adegbola, Alaa A. Al-Hindawi. <strong>SARS-CoV-2 Spike Glycoprotein S1 Induces Neuroinflammation in BV-2 Microglia</strong>. <em>Molecular Neurobiology</em>, 2021; 59 (1): 445 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12035-021-02593-6\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1007/s12035-021-02593-6</a>\n</li>'),(1399,'A unified theory of electrochemical energy storage: Bridging batteries and supercapacitors','a-unified-theory-of-electrochemical-energy-storage:-bridging-batteries-and-supercapacitors','2022-03-18 18:24:10.201028',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">For decades researchers and technologists have regarded batteries and capacitors as two distinct energy storage devices -- batteries, known for storing more energy but releasing it slowly; capacitors, for quickly discharging it in smaller spurts. Each new energy storage device has therefore been categorized as one or the other, or as some relation to one of the two, depending on the electrochemical mechanism enabling it. But an international team of researchers, who are leaders in developing and studying energy storage technology, has now suggested that these mechanisms actually exist on a smooth spectrum, and trying to categorize a device as \"more than\" or \"less than\" a battery or a capacitor could be hampering progress in the field.</p><p>In a perspective paper, recently published in the journal <em>Nature Energy</em>, researchers from Drexel University, North Carolina State University, the University of California, Vanderbilt University, Saarland University in Germany and Université Paul Sabatier in France, suggest that all electrochemical energy storage mechanisms exist somewhere on a continuum between those at work in batteries and those that enable capacitors.</p><p>\"We propose a unified approach that involves a transition from the \'binary\' view of electrochemical charge storage in nanoconfined spaces as either a purely electrostatic phenomenon, or a purely Faradic phenomenon,\" they write. \"It should rather be regarded as a continuous transition between the two determined by the extent of ion solvation and ion-host interaction.\"</p><p>In simple terms, one end of the spectrum is a chemical bond -- the basic mechanism of connection, a physical link at the atomic level. The other end is an electrostatic attraction that temporarily entraps ions within and on the surface of a material.</p><p>The former phenomenon, called a Faradic reaction, gives batteries their excellent energy storage capacity and allows them to release charge gradually. But it\'s also the reason it takes them so long to charge. The latter, more of a fleeting attraction than a true bond, enables the rapid bursts of energy that power camera flashes and the short-term uptake of energy from hybrid and electric car braking.</p><p>With each new development in energy storage technology, whether it\'s a new combination of electrode materials and electrolyte solutions, or physical or chemical additives to curtail or enable the transfer of ions, researchers strive to observe and accurately characterize the electrochemical storage mechanism at hand.</p><p>But the authors say that in many cases, these narrow definitions are neither accurate, nor helpful when it comes to tailoring the devices to the very specific energy storage needs of new technology.</p><p>\"What happens in-between classic batteries and supercapacitors has been a controversial topic for a long time,\" said Yury Gogotsi, PhD, Distinguished University and Bach professor in Drexel\'s College of Engineering, who was a co-author of the paper. \"So-called \'pseudocapacitors\' and hybrid energy storage devices have been studied for at least 30 years, but some scientists have attempted to reject pseudocapacitance completely, claiming that there are only these two extreme cases and everything else is a superposition of two mechanisms acting in parallel.\"</p><p>The authors point out that in many of these hybrid devices, ions are nearly absorbed between the layers of electrode materials. In others, where porous nanomaterials in electrodes have been designed to maximize the full chemical intake, or adsorption, of ions, researchers have seen much faster energy discharges, likely due to the persistence of the electrolyte substance preventing the ions from fully intercalating.</p><p>Both instances fall outside of the ideal, but their properties are proving to be a valuable combination when it comes to powering new technology.</p><p>\"We expect that understanding the ion desolvation (stripping ions of solvent molecules) and its role in determining the energy storage mechanism will allow us to reach the point when we combine high energy and high power in a single energy storage device,\" Gogotsi said. \"Think of batteries charging within a few minutes -- you plug your cell phone in, unplug it a few minutes later, and can use it at least for a few hours. In case of 2D materials, like MXene or graphene, we can make flexible batteries for flexible and wearable electronics.\"</p><p>The researchers recognize the importance of the standard-bearers for electrochemical energy storage, both for their role as the pillars of our theoretical understanding of the field and as the enablers of modern technology. But they argue that moving forward means operating somewhere in the middle, with the understanding that a right-fit energy storage device could be more effective than a better battery or a supercapacitor.</p><p>\"We acknowledge that there are two \'ideal situations\' -- batteries and supercapacitors. There are equations derived for those cases. And there are commercial devices with billion-dollar industries producing them. But now we also know how to predict, design and manufacture devices that have properties <em>between</em> conventional extreme cases,\" said Volker Presser, PhD a co-author from Saarland University in Germany, and former research fellow in Gogotsi\'s group at Drexel. \"New industries that require flexible, transparent, conformal, wearable energy storage, devices combined with energy harvesting, and other unconventional electrical energy supplies will benefit greatly from the new agile energy storage. And we are moving toward an electrical energy-driven economy, Internet of Things and other new, advanced technologies for sustainable applications. So, it will be very important to acknowledge and work to characterize these new devices as existing within a spectrum, rather than falling somewhere short of either end of it.\"</p><p><em>In addition to Gogotsi, Simon Fleischmann and Veronica Augustyn, from North Carolina State University; Yuan Zhang, from Saarland University; Xuepeng Wang, from the University of California; Peter T. Cummings, from Vanderbilt University; Jianzhong Wu, from the University of California; Patrice Simon, from the Université Paul Sabatier; and Volker Presser, from Saarland University, contributed to this research. </em></p>','2022-03-18 18:24:10.201028','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Drexel University','An international team of researchers suggests that all electrochemical energy storage mechanisms exist on a spectrum between physical and chemical retention of ions.\n',1,27,'<li>Simon Fleischmann, Yuan Zhang, Xuepeng Wang, Peter T. Cummings, Jianzhong Wu, Patrice Simon, Yury Gogotsi, Volker Presser, Veronica Augustyn. <strong>Continuous transition from double-layer to Faradaic charge storage in confined electrolytes</strong>. <em>Nature Energy</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41560-022-00993-z\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41560-022-00993-z</a>\n</li>'),(1400,'Turning any camera into a polarization camera','turning-any-camera-into-a-polarization-camera','2022-03-18 18:24:23.451082',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Polarization, the direction in which light vibrates, provides a lot of information about the objects with which it interacts, from aerosols in the atmosphere to the magnetic field of stars. However, because this quality of light is invisible to human eyes, researchers and engineers have relied on specialized, expensive, and bulky cameras to capture it. Until now.</p><p>Researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have developed a metasurface attachment that can turn just about any camera or imaging system, even off-the-shelf systems, into polarization cameras. The attachment uses a metasurface of subwavelength nanopillars to direct light based on its polarization and compiles an image that captures polarization at every pixel.</p><p>The research is published in <em>Optics Express. </em></p><p>\"The addition of polarization sensitivity to practically any camera will reveal details and features that ordinary cameras can\'t see, benefiting a wide range of applications from face recognition and self-driving cars to remote sensing and machine vision, \"said Federico Capasso, the Robert L. Wallace Professor of Applied Physics and Vinton Hayes Senior Research Fellow in Electrical Engineering at SEAS and senior author of the study.</p><p>In 2019, Capasso and his team developed a compact, portable camera that used a metasurface to image polarization in a single shot. In this research, the team explored how to generalize the concept of a polarization camera.</p><p>\"After building the specialized polarization camera, we wanted to go more in depth and investigate the design rules and trade-offs that govern pairing a special polarization component with a conventional camera system,\" said Noah Rubin, a graduate student at SEAS and co-first author of the study.</p><p>To demonstrate those design rules, the researchers attached the polarization metasurface to an off-the-shelf machine vision camera, simply screwing it on in front of the objective lens, in a small tube that also housed a color filter and field stop. From there, all they needed to do was point and click to get polarization information.</p><p>The nanopillars direct light based on polarization, which forms four images, each showing a different aspect of the polarization. The images are then put together, giving a full snapshot of polarization at every pixel.</p><p>The attachment could be used to improve machine vision in vehicles or in biometric sensors for security applications.</p><p>\"This metasurface attachment is incredibly versatile,\" said Paul Chevalier, a postdoctoral research fellow at SEAS and co-first author of the study. \"It is a component that could live in a variety of optical systems, from room-size telescopes to tiny spy cameras, expanding the application space for polarization cameras.\"</p><p>The research was co-authored by Michael Juhl, Michele Tamagnone and Russell Chipman. It was supported by the Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research under grant no. FA9550-18-P-0024. It was performed in part at the Center for Nanoscale Systems (CNS), a member of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI), which is supported by the National Science Foundation under NSF award no. 1541959.</p>','2022-03-18 18:24:23.451082','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences','Researchers have developed a metasurface attachment that can turn just about any camera or imaging system, even off-the-shelf systems, into polarization cameras. The attachment uses a metasurface of subwavelength nanopillars to direct light based on its polarization and compiles an image that captures polarization at every pixel.\n',1,97,'<li>Noah A. Rubin, Paul Chevalier, Michael Juhl, Michele Tamagnone, Russell Chipman, Federico Capasso. <strong>Imaging polarimetry through metasurface polarization gratings</strong>. <em>Optics Express</em>, 2022; 30 (6): 9389 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OE.450941\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1364/OE.450941</a>\n</li>'),(1401,'Wildfires devastate the land they burn, and they are also warming the planet','wildfires-devastate-the-land-they-burn,-and-they-are-also-warming-the-planet','2022-03-18 18:37:47.529445',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">The 2021 wildfire season broke records globally, leaving land charred from California to Siberia. The risk of fire is growing, and a report published by the UN last month warned that wildfires are on track to increase 50% by 2050. These fires destroy homes, plant life, and animals as they burn, but the risk doesn\'t stop there. In the journal <em>One Earth </em>on March 18, researchersdetail how the brown carbon released by burning biomass in the northern hemisphere is accelerating warming in the Arctic and warn that this could lead to even more wildfires in the future.</p><p>Blazing wildfires are accompanied by vast plumes of brown smoke, made up of particles of brown carbon suspended in the air. This smoke poses health hazards, and can even block out the summer sun, and researchers suspected that it might also be contributing to global warming.</p><p>In 2017, the Chinese icebreaker vessel <em>Xue Long </em>headed for the Arctic Ocean to examine which aerosols were floating around in the pristine Arctic air and identify their sources. The scientists on the vessel were particularly curious about how brown carbon released by wildfires was affecting the climate and how its warming effects compared to those of denser black carbon from high-temperature fossil fuel burning, the second most powerful warming agent after carbon dioxide.</p><p>Their results showed that brown carbon was contributing to warming more than previously thought. \"To our surprise, observational analyses and numerical simulations show that the warming effect of brown carbon aerosols over the Arctic is up to about 30% of that of black carbon,\" says senior author Pingqing Fu, an atmospheric chemist at Tianjin University.</p><p>In the last 50 years, the Arctic has been warming at a rate three times that of the rest of the planet, and it appears that wildfires are helping to drive this discrepancy. The researchers found that brown carbon from burning biomass was responsible for at least twice as much warming as brown carbon from fossil fuel burning.</p><p>Like black carbon and carbon dioxide, brown carbon warms the planet by absorbing solar radiation. Since warming temperatures have been linked to the rise in wildfires in recent years, this leads to a positive feedback loop. \"The increase in brown carbon aerosols will lead to global or regional warming, which increases the probability and frequency of wildfires,\" says Fu. \"Increased wildfire events will emit more brown carbon aerosols, further heating the earth, thus making wildfires more frequent.\"</p><p>For future research, Fu and his colleagues plan to investigate how wildfires are changing aerosol composition from sources other than brown carbon. Specifically, they are interested in the effect of fires on bioaerosols, which originate from plants and animals and can contain living organisms, including pathogens. In the meantime, Fu urges that attention be focused on wildfire mitigation. \"Our findings highlight just how important it is to control wildfires,\" he says.</p><p>This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.</p>','2022-03-18 18:37:47.529445','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Cell Press','The 2021 wildfire season broke records globally, leaving land charred from California to Siberia. The risk of fire is growing, and a recent report warned that wildfires are on track to increase 50% by 2050. These fires destroy homes, plant life, and animals as they burn, but the risk doesn\'t stop there. Researchers detail how the brown carbon released by burning biomass in the northern hemisphere is accelerating warming in the Arctic and warn that this could lead to even more wildfires in the future.\n',1,163,'<li>Siyao Yue, Jialei Zhu, Shuang Chen, Qiaorong Xie, Wei Li, Linjie Li, Hong Ren, Sihui Su, Ping Li, Hao Ma, Yanbing Fan, Borong Cheng, Libin Wu, Junjun Deng, Wei Hu, Lujie Ren, Lianfang Wei, Wanyu Zhao, Yu Tian, Xiaole Pan, Yele Sun, Zifa Wang, Fengchang Wu, Cong-Qiang Liu, Hang Su, Joyce E. Penner, Ulrich Pöschl, Meinrat O. Andreae, Yafang Cheng, Pingqing Fu. <strong>Brown carbon from biomass burning imposes strong circum-Arctic warming</strong>. <em>One Earth</em>, 2022; 5 (3): 293 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2022.02.006\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/j.oneear.2022.02.006</a>\n</li>'),(1402,'New, possibly arboreal rice rat species discovered in Ecuador','new,-possibly-arboreal-rice-rat-species-discovered-in-ecuador','2022-03-18 18:37:52.510954',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">\"In total, the expeditions to the Kutukú region in southeastern Ecuador involved 1,200 trap nights, but only one specimen of the new species <em>Mindomys kutuku</em> was found,\" says Dr. Claudia Koch, curator of herpetology at the LIB, Museum Koenig Bonn, explaining the effort that went into locating the rare animal. From the collected specimen, the dry skin, skeleton and tissue were preserved for the collections. Preservation will allow future research to detect environmental changes, learn more about the ecology of the animals and plants -- and securely document the new species description, which was published in late February in the journal <em>Evolutionary Systematics. </em>The rice rat genus <em>Mindomys</em> was previously considered monotypic and included only the type species <em>Mindomys hammondi.</em> This species is known from only a few specimens, all of which were collected in the foothill forests of the Andes in northwestern Ecuador.</p><p>Using computed tomography images obtained for the new species at LIB and for the holotype (specimen from which a species was described) of <em>M. hammondi</em> at the Natural History Museum in London, the researchers Jorge Brito of the Instituto Nacional de la Biodiversidad (INABIO), Claudia Koch, Nicolás Tinoco from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador (PUCE) and Ulyses Pardiñas from the Instituto de Diversidad y Evolución del Sur (IDEAus-CONICET) were able to compare the skulls of the two species in great detail in a 3D model and distinguish between the two species.</p><p>The adult male of <em>M. kutuku</em> measures just under 35 cm from snout to tip of tail, of which the tail makes up about 20 cm. It has a dark reddish-brown dorsal coloration and a pale yellow ventral fur.</p><p>Since the only specimen found was captured with the help of a ground trap set, it could not be observed in its habitat. Thus, as with its sister species <em>M. hammondi</em>, which was described in 1913, virtually nothing is known about the natural history of the new species. The scientists suspect that both of them could be arboreal species. A tail that is significantly longer than the body length and also covered with long hairs could be two features that indicate an arboreal lifestyle. However, aboreality is the least studied way of life within the New World mice and a reliable study of the anatomical aspects typical of this way of life is still lacking.</p><p>Previously, <em>Mindomys</em> records were restricted to the western Andean foothills of Ecuador. The Kutukú material now shows that the genus also occurs on the Amazonian side of the Andes and underscores the valuable biological importance of the isolated mountain ranges in eastern Ecuador.</p>','2022-03-18 18:37:52.510954','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Pensoft Publishers','Three expeditions led an international research to the Cordillera de Kutukú, an isolated mountain range in Ecuador, to find just one specimen of the previously unknown species. The find in the Amazonian side of the Andes underlines the valuable biological role of this mountainous region.\n',1,132,'<li>Jorge Brito, Claudia Koch, Nicolás Tinoco, Ulyses F. J. Pardiñas. <strong>﻿A new species of Mindomys (Rodentia, Cricetidae) with remarks on external traits as indicators of arboreality in sigmodontine rodents</strong>. <em>Evolutionary Systematics</em>, 2022; 6 (1): 35 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/evolsyst.6.76879\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.3897/evolsyst.6.76879</a>\n</li>'),(1403,'The colored skeletons of Çatalhöyük, Turkey, from 9,000 years ago','the-colored-skeletons-of-çatalhöyük,-turkey,-from-9,000-years-ago','2022-03-18 18:37:55.320903',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">An international team with participation of the University of Bern provides new insights about how the inhabitants of the \"oldest city in the world\" in Çatalhöyük (Turkey) buried their dead. Their bones were partially painted, excavated several times and reburied. The findings provide insight into the burial rituals of a fascinating society that lived 9000 years ago.</p><p>Çatalhöyük (Central Anatolia, Turkey) is one of the most important archaeological sites in the Near East, with an occupation that dates back to 9000 years ago. This Neolithic settlement, known as the world\'s oldest city, covers an area of 13?ha and features densely aggregated mudbrick buildings. The houses of Çatalhöyük present the archaeological traces of ritual activities including intramural burials with some skeletons bearing traces of colorants, and wall paintings.</p><p>The association between the use of colorants and symbolic activities is documented among many past and present human societies. In the Near East, the use of pigments in architectural and funerary contexts becomes especially frequent starting from the second half of the 9th and the 8th millennium BC. Near Eastern archaeological sites dating back to the Neolithic have returned a large body of evidence of complex, often mysterious, symbolic activities. These include secondary funerary treatments, retrieval and circulation of skeletal parts, such as skulls, and the use of pigments in both architectural spaces and funerary contexts.</p><p>A study recently published in the journal <em>Scientific Reports</em> by an international research team with Bern participation provides the first analysis of the pigments use in funerary and architectural contexts from this essential Neolithic site. According to senior author of the study Marco Milella (Department of Physical Anthropology, Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Bern): \"These results reveal exciting insights about the association between the use of colorants, funerary rituals and living spaces in this fascinating society.\"</p><p><strong>A time travel into a world of colors, houses, and dead</strong></p><p>Marco Milella was part of the anthropological team who excavated and studied the human remains from Çatalhöyük. His work involves trying to make ancient and modern skeletons \"speak.\" Establishing the age and sex, investigating violent injuries or special treatment of the corpse, and solving skeletal puzzles are routine activities at the Department of Physical Anthropology.</p><p>The study shows that red ochre was most commonly used at Çatalhöyük, present on some adults of both sexes and children, and that cinnabar and blue/green were associated with males and females, respectively. Intriguingly, the number of burials in a building appears associated with the number of subsequent layers of architectural paintings. This suggests a contextual association between funerary deposition and application of colorants in the domestic space. \"This means: when they buried someone, they also painted on the walls of the house,\" Milella says. Furthermore, at Çatalhöyük, some individuals \"stayed\" in the community: their skeletal elements were retrieved and circulated for some time, before they were buried again. This second burial of skeletal elements was also accompanied by wall paintings.</p><p><strong>Neolithic mysteries</strong></p><p>Only a selection of individuals was buried with colourants, and only a part of the individuals remained in the community with their circulating bones. According to Marco Milella, \"the criteria guiding the selection of these individuals escape our understanding for now, which makes these findings even more interesting. Our study shows that this selection was not related to age or sex.\" What is clear, however, is that visual expression, ritual performance and symbolic associations were elements of shared long-term socio-cultural practices in this Neolithic society.</p><p><strong>Story Source:</strong></p>','2022-03-18 18:37:55.320903','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Bern','An international team provides new insights about how the inhabitants of the \'oldest city in the world\' in Çatalhöyük (Turkey) buried their dead. Their bones were partially painted, excavated several times and reburied. The findings provide insight into the burial rituals of a fascinating society that lived 9000 years ago.\n',1,27,'<li>E. M. J. Schotsmans, G. Busacca, S. C. Lin, M. Vasić, A. M. Lingle, R. Veropoulidou, C. Mazzucato, B. Tibbetts, S. D. Haddow, M. Somel, F. Toksoy-Köksal, C. J. Knüsel, M. Milella. <strong>New insights on commemoration of the dead through mortuary and architectural use of pigments at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey</strong>. <em>Scientific Reports</em>, 2022; 12 (1) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-07284-3\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41598-022-07284-3</a>\n</li>'),(1404,'Researchers develop the world\'s first power-free frequency tuner using nanomaterials','researchers-develop-the-world\'s-first-power-free-frequency-tuner-using-nanomaterials','2022-03-18 20:51:34.223244',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">In a paper published today in <em>Nature Communications,</em> researchers at the University of Oxford and the University of Pennsylvania have found a power-free and ultra-fast way of frequency tuning using functional nanowires.</p><p>Think of an orchestra warming up before the performance. The oboe starts to play a perfect A note at a frequency of 440 Hz while all the other instruments adjust themselves to that frequency. Telecommunications technology relies on this very concept of matching the frequencies of transmitters and receivers. In practice, this is achieved when both ends of the communication link tune into the same frequency channel.</p><p>In today\'s colossal communications networks, the ability to reliably synthesise as many frequencies as possible and to rapidly switch from one to another is paramount for seamless connectivity.</p><p>Researchers at the University of Oxford and the University of Pennsylvania have fabricated vibrating nanostrings of a chalcogenide glass (germanium telluride) that resonate at predetermined frequencies, just like guitar strings. To tune the frequency of these resonators, the researchers switch the atomic structure of the material, which in turn changes the mechanical stiffness of the material itself.</p><p>This differs from existing approaches that apply mechanical stress on the nanostrings similar to tuning a guitar using the tuning pegs. This directly translates into higher power consumption because the pegs are not permanent and require a voltage to hold the tension.</p><p>Utku Emre Ali, at the University of Oxford who completed the research as part of his doctoral work said:</p><p>\'By changing how atoms bond with each other in these glasses, we are able to change the Young\'s modulus within a few nanoseconds. Young\'s modulus is a measure of stiffness, and it directly affects the frequency at which the nanostrings vibrate.\'</p><p>Professor Ritesh Agarwal, School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Pennsylvania who collaborated on the study first discovered a unique mechanism that changed the atomic structure of novel nanomaterials back in 2012.</p><p>\'The idea that our fundamental work could have consequences in such an interesting demonstration more than 10 years down the line is humbling. It\'s fascinating to see how this concept extends to mechanical properties and how well it works,\' said Professor Agarwal.</p><p>Professor Harish Bhaskaran, Department of Materials, University of Oxford who led the work said:</p><p>\'This study creates a new framework that uses functional materials whose fundamental mechanical property can be changed using an electrical pulse. This is exciting and our hope is that it inspires further development of new materials that are optimized for such applications.\'</p><p>The engineers further estimate that their approach could operate a million times more efficiently than commercial frequency synthesisers while offering 10-100 times faster tuning. Although improving the cyclability rates and the readout techniques is a necessity for commercialisation, these initial results might mean higher data rates with longer-lasting batteries in the future.</p><p>Video: <a href=\"https://youtu.be/z69YosvkJjM\">https://youtu.be/z69YosvkJjM</a></p>','2022-03-18 20:51:34.223244','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Oxford','Phase-change nanowires could serve as the ultimate tunable frequency synthesizers and filters for the future of IoT and 5G networks.\n',1,25,'<li>Utku Emre Ali, Gaurav Modi, Ritesh Agarwal, Harish Bhaskaran. <strong>Real-time nanomechanical property modulation as a framework for tunable NEMS</strong>. <em>Nature Communications</em>, 2022; 13 (1) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29117-7\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41467-022-29117-7</a>\n</li>'),(1405,'New strategy reduces brain damage in Alzheimer’s and related disorders, in mice','new-strategy-reduces-brain-damage-in-alzheimer’s-and-related-disorders,-in-mice','2022-03-18 20:51:46.938705',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Alzheimer\'s disease is the most common and best known of the tauopathies, a set of neurodegenerative brain diseases caused by toxic tangles of the protein tau. A study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has shown that targeting astrocytes -- an inflammatory cell in the brain -- reduces tau-related brain damage and inflammation in mice.</p><p>The findings, available online in <em>Science Translational Medicine, </em>highlight the pivotal role of astrocytes in driving brain damage in tauopathies, and open up new avenues toward better therapies for the group of devastating and difficult to treat conditions.</p><p>\"Brain inflammation is emerging as a contributor to the development of Alzheimer\'s disease, and that inflammation is driven by non-neuronal cells in the brain, including astrocytes,\" said senior author Gilbert Gallardo, PhD, an assistant professor of neurology. \"Our study highlights that inflamed astrocytes are contributing to tau-associated pathologies and suggests that suppressing their reactivity may be beneficial in reducing brain inflammation and delaying Alzheimer\'s progression.\"</p><p>Tau, normally found inside neurons in the brain, helps form internal scaffolding that gives neurons their shape. When tau gets tangled, though, it leads to brain inflammation, tissue damage and cognitive decline. Tau forms tangles in people who carry mutations in the tau gene or who have experienced assaults on the brain such as repeated concussions or exposure to neurotoxic chemicals. In Alzheimer\'s, tau tangles take shape relatively late in the disease process, apparently triggered by earlier disease-related brain changes such as the buildup of plaques of the protein amyloid beta.</p><p>In many neurodegenerative conditions, so-called reactive astrocytes -- astrocytes activated in such a way that they cause harm to, rather than protect, brain tissue  -- are plentiful at sites of neuronal damage. In previous work on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a neurodegenerative disease but not a tauopathy, Gallardo and colleagues identified an astrocyte protein that encouraged the cells to take on toxic characteristics and exacerbate brain inflammation. Gallardo suspected that the protein, named alpha2-Na+/K+ adenosine triphosphatase (alpha2-NKA), also may drive the toxicity of astrocytes in Alzheimer\'s disease and other tauopathies.</p><p>Gallardo, first author Carolyn Mann, then a technician in Gallardo\'s lab, and co-author Celeste Karch, PhD, an associate professor of psychiatry, obtained data on the expression level of the gene that codes for alpha2-NKA. They studied brain samples from 80 people who had died of Alzheimer\'s; 82 who had of died of a tauopathy called progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP); and 76 who had died of causes unrelated to neurodegeneration. The researchers found that alpha2-NKA was highly expressed in people who had died of Alzheimer\'s or PSP compared with those who had died of other causes, suggesting that the protein could be a contributor to brain damage in both conditions.</p><p>To further investigate the role of alpha2-NKA, the researchers turned to mice genetically engineered to start developing tau tangles by about 6 months of age. By 9 ½ months of age, such animals\' brains are damaged, atrophied and inflamed, and they have lost the ability to properly perform everyday tasks of rodent life such as building a nest. The researchers found that, like people with tauopathies, the genetically modified mice also had elevated levels of alpha2-NKA in their brains. The levels rose as the mice got older and the inflammation and brain damage worsened.</p><p>Digoxin, a drug used to treat heart conditions, interferes with the activity of alpha2-NKA. The researchers tested whether treating mice with digoxin could reduce tau tangles, brain shrinkage and inflammation, and behavioral changes. The drug worked, and moreover, it worked whether they gave the compound to mice under 6 months old, when the animals were just beginning to develop tau tangles, or at 8 months, when the tangles and damage already were established.</p><p>\"The take-home message here is that suppressing the inflamed astrocytic state halts disease progression,\" Mann said. \"This is important because experimental therapeutics for Alzheimer\'s and related tauopathies have focused largely on clearing pathological proteins that have been implicated in neuronal dysfunction and death. But our study gives evidence that targeting inflamed astrocytes and brain inflammation may be the key to successfully treating such conditions.\"</p><p>While digoxin has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for certain heart conditions, its effects on the brain must be studied more thoroughly before it can be evaluated as a potential therapy for Alzheimer\'s and related tauopathies, Gallardo said.</p>','2022-03-18 20:51:46.938705','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Washington University School of Medicine','Alzheimer\'s disease is the most common and best known of the tauopathies, a set of neurodegenerative brain diseases caused by toxic tangles of the protein tau. A study has now shown that targeting astrocytes -- an inflammatory cell in the brain -- reduces tau-related brain damage and inflammation in mice.\n',1,124,'<li>Carolyn N. Mann, Shamulailatpam Shreedarshanee Devi, Corey T. Kersting, Amber V. Bleem, Celeste M. Karch, David M. Holtzman, Gilbert Gallardo. <strong>Astrocytic α2-Na                         /K                         ATPase inhibition suppresses astrocyte reactivity and reduces neurodegeneration in a tauopathy mouse model</strong>. <em>Science Translational Medicine</em>, 2022; 14 (632) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.abm4107\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1126/scitranslmed.abm4107</a>\n</li>'),(1406,'Lung tissue from the lab','lung-tissue-from-the-lab','2022-03-18 23:49:25.296564',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">An international research team has found a simple method for growing lung tissue in the lab. These organoids could be used in diagnosis, drug development, and fundamental research.</p><p>Laboratory studies of lung tissue usually require the removal of large amounts of human or animal tissue. Now scientists from the University of Freiburg\'s Faculty of Medicine have succeeded in collaboration with American researchers in generating tiny quantities of lung tissue, so-called organoids, from just a few body cells in the lab. The tissue forms a three-dimensional structure as it develops, complete with the tiny hairs on the surface typical of lung tissue. These organoids can play an important part in future research on lung diseases, drug development, or personalized medicine. The researchers published their method in the online version of the <em>American Journal of Physiology</em>.</p><p>\"The method we developed for growing lung tissue is simple and inexpensive and is very good at reproducing important biological aspects,\" says the Freiburg lead investigator Dr. Peter Walentek, Emmy Noether research group leader at the University of Freiburg\'s Faculty of Medicine and scientist at the Medical Center -- University of Freiburg. In addition, he is a member of the University of Freiburg\'s Cluster of Excellence Centre for Integrative Biological Signalling Studies. The study was headed by scientists at the University of California in San Francisco, USA, in close collaboration with the Freiburg researchers. They combined lung cells with two messengers after two weeks of cultivation in the laboratory, whereupon the stem cells were positively influenced and the organoids formed. Until now, this process involved many steps. For example, cells that had been removed first had to be brought into an embryo-like state by means of complicated methods. Furthermore, until now the outside of the tissue in such organoids was always directed inward and was much less like the natural model.</p><p><strong>Organoids enable individual planning of therapies</strong></p><p>Cells from patients with the lung disease cystic fibrosis led to the development of characteristically altered organoids in the lab. \"In the future, this uncomplicated method might even allow us to grow the tissue of individual lung patients in the lab, in order to hopefully test in advance whether a therapy is effective or not,\" says Walentek. In addition, the scientists can use the organoid to study how healthy lung tissue develops and precisely how genetic changes affect, for example, the formation of the tiny hair-like structures known as cilia. \"The malformation of these cilia leads not only to lung diseases but also, among other things, to genetic kidney diseases, which we are investigating at the Collaborative Research Center NephGen (SFB1453),\" says Walentek.</p><p><strong>Method offers alternative to animal models</strong></p><p>Until now, the healthy development of lung tissue and genetic lung diseases were often studied in animal models. The newly established method should be able to replace some of these studies: \"Growing tissue in its natural three-dimensional form in the lab is an important way to reduce the use of animals in research. This is another reason why this research is so important,\" says Prof. Dr. Lutz Hein, Dean of the University of Freiburg Faculty of Medicine.</p>','2022-03-18 23:49:25.296564','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Freiburg','An international research team has found a simple method for growing lung tissue in the lab. These organoids could be used in diagnosis, drug development, and fundamental research. Laboratory studies of lung tissue usually require the removal of large amounts of human or animal tissue. Now scientists have generated tiny quantities of lung tissue, so-called organoids, from just a few body cells in the lab. The tissue forms a three-dimensional structure as it develops, complete with the tiny hairs on the surface typical of lung tissue. These organoids can play an important part in future research on lung diseases, drug development, or personalized medicine.\n',1,211,'<li>Carolin A. Boecking, Peter Walentek, Lorna T. Zlock, Dingyuan I. Sun, Paul J. Wolters, Hiroaki Ishikawa, Byung-Ju Jin, Peter M. Haggie, Wallace F. Marshall, Alan S. Verkman, Walter E. Finkbeiner. <strong>A simple method to generate human airway epithelial organoids with externally orientated apical membranes</strong>. <em>American Journal of Physiology-Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology</em>, 2022; 322 (3): L420 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1152/ajplung.00536.2020\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1152/ajplung.00536.2020</a>\n</li>'),(1407,'Youngest brain tumor patients have significantly poorer outcomes than older pediatric patients','youngest-brain-tumor-patients-have-significantly-poorer-outcomes-than-older-pediatric-patients','2022-03-18 23:49:27.531917',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">A University of Colorado (CU) Cancer Center researcher has found, through extensive data analysis, that the youngest patients with brain tumors -- those ages birth to 3 months -- have about half the five-year survival rate as children ages 1 to 19.</p><p>In research findings recently published in the <em>Journal of Neuro-Oncology</em>, Adam Green, MD, an associate professor of pediatric hematology/oncology in the CU School of Medicine, and his co-researchers analyzed population-based data for almost 14,500 children ages 0 to 19 who were diagnosed with brain tumors. They found significantly poorer outcomes among the youngest patients.</p><p>\"It\'s unusual to see infants or babies with brain tumors, but we do see them,\" Green explains. \"We generally just don\'t have the same standards of treatment that we do for older children. We also know that infants can\'t report their own symptoms like older kids often can.\"</p><p><strong>Analyzing nationwide cancer data</strong></p><p>Green and his co-researchers used data from the National Cancer Institute\'s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program, a national cancer registry that covers more than a quarter of the U.S. population and represents the extensive diversity of the country.</p><p>The researchers extracted SEER data relating to childhood brain tumors and divided it into three age groups -- 0 to 3 months, 3 to 6 months, and 6 to 12 months. They compared data in these three groups with brain tumor data in people ages 1 to 19.</p><p>What they discovered, Green says, is that \"the types of brain tumors that babies get are different than in older patients, and that\'s an important finding in and of itself. The most important findings we had were that the survival that babies have from brain tumors is worse than older kids for almost all of the types of brain tumors we study.\"</p><p>Further data analysis showed that five-year survival in the 0 to 3 months age group is between 30 and 35%, whereas five-year survival in the 1 to 19 age group is about 70 percent. Five-year survival in the 3 to 6 month and 6 to 12 month age groups was also significantly lower than in older children.</p><p><strong>Decreased survival rates for youngest brain tumor patients</strong></p><p>This stark contrast in five-year survival rates \"suggests that there may be just a lot of confusion and concern and reluctance in the pediatric neuro-oncology community to give these infants treatment or to perform surgery,\" Green says. \"That may be a major cause of why these kids don\'t do as well. Also, they\'re more likely to present with metastatic disease when they do present with cancer, partly because they can\'t report their own symptoms so their diagnosis may be delayed.\"</p><p>The youngest patients\' tumors show a different biology than tumors in older children and are often diagnosed in prenatal ultrasounds. Symptoms are different between age groups as well. Older children may present with headaches or vomiting, whereas \"babies obviously aren\'t reporting headaches, but they may be inconsolably fussy over long periods of time or have a rapidly expanding head circumference that\'s off the growth charts,\" Green says. \"They may not be meeting developmental milestones or may have abnormalities in the way their eyes move. The symptoms may be more subtle and not typical of the usual brain tumor symptoms in older children.\"</p><p>A particular challenge in treating the youngest patients with brain tumors is that though there are established standards of care and treatment for pediatric brain tumors, health care providers may be reluctant to use them on very young babies.</p><p>\"We have radiation-sparing regimens that we use for children under 5, and we know those work well, but when it gets down to patients this young, it may be coming from the parents or from parents and medical teams thinking that it\'s going to be too toxic,\" Green explains. \"There may be concern that patients this young are not going to tolerate surgery.\"</p><p><strong>A goal of increased awareness</strong></p><p>Green says he hopes an immediate effect of the study is to inform the health care community of the decreased five-year survival rates for children younger than 1 who develop brain tumors. In turn, he hopes this awareness will lead to an increased willingness to apply standard-of-care therapies to the youngest patients with brain tumors.</p><p>\"Taking the longer view, we still need to understand the biology of these tumors better,\" Green says. \"We have some understanding now of how a certain type of brain tumor in an infant is different than that same type of brain tumor in an older child and we may need dedicated, specialized treatment protocols for these youngest children.\"</p><p>Also, because many brain tumors in the youngest patients already are metastatic at diagnosis, \"hopefully it will drive home the message in the general pediatrics community that there needs to be vigilance for this possibility,\" Green says. \"These tumors are rare, but primary care pediatricians and other folks in primary care need to be aware that these tumors can occur in infants. The biggest take-away is that these patients just aren\'t getting the treatment that would be considered standard in older kids.\"</p>','2022-03-18 23:49:27.531917','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus','A researcher has found, through extensive data analysis, that the youngest patients with brain tumors -- those ages birth to 3 months -- have about half the five-year survival rate as children ages 1 to 19.\n',1,124,'<li>Muriel Hart, Amy Anderson-Mellies, Alina Beltrami, Ahmed Gilani, Adam L. Green. <strong>Population-based analysis of CNS tumor diagnoses, treatment, and survival in congenital and infant age groups</strong>. <em>Journal of Neuro-Oncology</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11060-022-03967-z\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1007/s11060-022-03967-z</a>\n</li>'),(1408,'When the brain sees a familiar face','when-the-brain-sees-a-familiar-face','2022-03-18 23:49:29.202630',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">In a study led by Cedars-Sinai, researchers have uncovered new information about how the area of the brain responsible for memory is triggered when the eyes come to rest on a face versus another object or image. Their findings, published in the peer-reviewed journal <em>Science Advances,</em> add to scientific understanding of how memory works, and to evidence supporting a future treatment target for memory disorders.</p><p>While vision feels continuous, people move their eyes from one distinct spot to another three to four times per second. In this study, investigators found that when the eyes land on a face, certain cells in the amygdala, a part of the brain that processes social information, react and trigger memory-making activity.</p><p>\"You could easily argue that faces are one of the most important objects we look at,\" said Ueli Rutishauser, PhD, director of the Center for Neural Science and Medicine at Cedars-Sinai and senior author of the study. \"We make a lot of highly significant decisions based on looking at faces, including whether we trust somebody, whether the other person is happy or angry, or whether we have seen this person before.\"</p><p>To conduct their experiments, the investigators worked with 13 epilepsy patients who had electrodes implanted in their brains to help determine the focus of their seizures. The electrodes also allowed investigators to record the activity of individual neurons within the patients\' brains. While doing so, the researchers tracked the position of the subjects\' eyes using a camera to determine where on the screen they were looking.</p><p>The researchers also recorded the study participants\' theta wave activity. Theta waves, a distinct type of electrical brain wave, are created in the hippocampus and are key in processing information and forming memories.</p><p>Investigators first showed study participants groups of images that included human and primate faces and other objects, such as flowers, cars and geometric shapes. They next showed participants a series of images of human faces, some of which they had seen during the first activity, and asked whether or not they remembered them.</p><p>The investigators found that each time participants\' eyes were about to land on a human face -- but not on any other type of image -- certain cells in the amygdala fired. And every time these \"face cells\" fired, the pattern of theta waves in the hippocampus reset or restarted.</p><p>\"We think that this is a reflection of the amygdala preparing the hippocampus to receive new socially relevant information that will be important to remember,\" said Rutishauser, the Board of Governors Chair in Neurosciences and a professor of Neurosurgery and Biomedical Sciences.</p><p>\"Studies in primates have shown that theta waves restart or reset every time they make an eye movement,\" said Juri Minxha, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar in neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai and co-first author of the study. \"In this study, we show that this also happens in humans, and that it is particularly strong when we look at faces of other humans.\"</p><p>Importantly, the researchers showed that the more quickly a subject\'s face cells fired when their eyes fixed on a face, the more likely the subject was to remember that face. When a subject\'s face cells fired more slowly, the face they had fixed on was likely to be forgotten.</p><p>Subjects\' face cells also fired more slowly when they were shown faces they had seen before, suggesting those faces were already stored in memory and the hippocampus didn\'t need to be prompted.</p><p>Rutishauser said these results suggest that people who struggle to remember faces could have a dysfunction in their amygdala, noting that this type of dysfunction has been implicated in disorders related to social cognition, such as autism.</p><p>The results also indicate the importance of both eye movements and theta waves in the memory process, Rutishauser said.</p><p>\"If theta waves in the brain are deficient, this process triggered by the amygdala in response to faces might not take place,\" Rutishauser said. \"So restoring theta waves could prove to be an effective treatment target.\"</p><p><em>The study was funded by National Institute of Mental Health Grant number R01MH110831 and P50MH100023, National Science Foundation Grant number 1554105, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Grant number U01NS117839, a Center for Neural Science and Medicine Fellowship and European Research Council Grant number 802681. </em></p>','2022-03-18 23:49:29.202630','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Cedars-Sinai Medical Center','Researchers have uncovered new information about how the area of the brain responsible for memory is triggered when the eyes come to rest on a face versus another object or image.\n',1,126,'<li>Tobias Staudigl, Juri Minxha, Adam N. Mamelak, Katalin M. Gothard and Ueli Rutishauser. <strong>Saccade-related neural communication in the human medial temporal lobe is modulated by the social relevance of stimuli</strong>. <em>Science Advances</em>, 2022 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abl6037\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1126/sciadv.abl6037</a>\n</li>'),(1409,'Piezo1 possible key to supporting muscle regeneration in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy','piezo1-possible-key-to-supporting-muscle-regeneration-in-duchenne-muscular-dystrophy','2022-03-18 23:49:32.138711',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">One protein, Piezo1, is key to marshalling muscle stem cells\' unique shapes and response to injuries, but it is in low supply in those with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, according to a team at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. However, when they re-activated Piezo1, it allowed muscle stem cells in mice to return to their normal, distinctly-shaped states so that they could repair broken down, dystrophic muscles. These findings, published in <em>Science Advances</em>, open the door to potential molecular-level treatments that may slow or even halt the progression of muscular dystrophy.</p><p>\"We showed that muscle stem cells have a variety of extensions that are used to sense their environment to respond to injuries, all of which is controlled by the protein Piezo1,\" said the study\'s lead author, Foteini Mourkioti, PhD, an assistant professor of Orthopaedic Surgery. \"This is in contrast to previous belief, which considered muscle stem cells to be simply round and dormant in undamaged muscles.\"</p><p>The Piezo1 protein was identified just about a decade ago -- and netted a Nobel Prize last year for those who uncovered it -- but its function in skeletal muscles has been largely unknown. However, when Penn researchers examined it in muscle stem cells, they found that it governed how the cells formed and coordinated their response to muscle damage.</p><p>Typically, muscle stem cells are called in by the body to repair muscle tissue damage. Little has been known about how they actually do that because most research on them has been done through point-in-time observations in the lab. But Mourkioti and her team were able to observe mice and discovered that their muscle stem cells have protrusions they use to communicate with each other that make them look similar to neurons (nerve cells).</p><p>Muscle stem cells also were found by Mourkioti\'s team to exist in a balance of three different categories: responsive (or active) cells, intermediate cells, and sensory cells (which are closer to unassigned stem cells). The more active the cell, the less protrusions they were likely to have, while the sensory stem cells had more protrusions, typically. Amid an injury, the researchers observed that muscle stem cells focus on a rapid reaction from their responsive cells. If an injury is big enough or takes enough time, intermediate cells and, eventually, sensory cells are brought in to address the damage and adjust their form accordingly.</p><p>In effect, if muscle stem cells were organized like an army, the responsive cells with fewer (or no) protrusions would be the shock troops and the sensory cells with four or more protrusions are equivalent to the reserves a general might call in if the front-line troops were being overwhelmed. As these reserve cells are called up, they shift form to have fewer protrusions.</p><p>In the army scenario, Piezo1 proteins would act as the general. These proteins appeared to have the ability to dictate the form of the protrusions on each cell.</p><p>Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a genetic disorder that is characterized by the persistent breakdown of muscles and, thus, a constant need for repair. The study found that mice with dystrophic muscles had markedly lower levels of Piezo1 in their stem cells than those without the condition. When the researchers observed muscle stem cell responses to injuries in the dystrophic mice, they noticed significant delays in moving from the sensory state to the active state. Cells also had protrusions that were thicker and longer, indicating that they weren\'t being controlled properly.</p><p>Effectively, without an able general leading them, the muscle stem cells\' army falls into disarray, and it\'s overwhelmed by the volume of response needed to repair the damage inflicted by Duchenne muscular dystrophy.</p><p>However, through these observations, Mourkioti and her team believe they discovered a key to turning the tide.</p><p>Through a small molecule treatment known as Yoda1, the channels for Piezo1 were reopened in the animals with dystrophic muscles. Through that, they noticed the muscle stem cells returned to their normal structure and function, with muscle regeneration appearing stronger than it had been before.</p><p>\"Even though progress has been made over the last decade on treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, current strategies still do not take muscle stem cells into consideration,\" Mourkioti said. \"But if we focus on minimizing stem cell exhaustion and maintaining the regenerative ability of muscle stem cells, our work suggests that reactivating Piezo1 could be key to that and used alone or in combination with other therapies.\"</p><p>Not only does this work have specific implications for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, but it could also benefit others with weak muscles resulting from compromised stem cell abilities, including from natural aging.</p><p>Mourkioti and her team hope to study whether additional injected treatments will be needed to sustain muscle stem cell activity. They also hope to further examine Piezo1\'s functions in the body and do more tests in pre-clinical dystrophic animal models with body masses comparable to humans.</p><p>\"Understanding the way that Piezo1 works better could be useful in designing more accurate therapies,\" Mourkioti said.</p><p><em>This study was supported in part by grants from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NSSC19K1602) and the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (R01HL146662)</em>.</p>','2022-03-18 23:49:32.138711','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine','Tracing the impact of a single protein, Piezo1, researchers found that restoring it in muscles affected by Duchenne muscular dystrophy could improve their ability to heal efficiently.\n',1,29,'<li>Nuoying Ma, Delia Chen, Ji-Hyung LeePaola Kuri, Edward Blake Hernandez, Jacob Kocan , Hamd Mahmood, Elisia D. Tichy, Panteleimon Rompolas and Foteini Mourkioti. <strong>Piezo1 regulates the regenerative capacity of skeletal muscles via orchestration of stem cell morphological states</strong>. <em>Science Advances</em>, 2022 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abn0485\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1126/sciadv.abn0485</a>\n</li>'),(1410,'Could we make cars out of petroleum residue?','could-we-make-cars-out-of-petroleum-residue?','2022-03-18 23:49:34.607806',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">As the world struggles to improve the efficiency of cars and other vehicles in order to curb greenhouse gas emissions and improve the range of electric vehicles, the search is on for ever-lighter materials that are strong enough to be used in the bodies of cars.</p><p>Lightweight materials made from carbon fiber, similar to the material used for some tennis rackets and bicycles, combine exceptional strength with low weight, but these have been more expensive to produce than comparable structural elements made of steel or aluminum. Now, researchers at MIT and elsewhere have come up with a way of making these lightweight fibers out of an ultracheap feedstock: the heavy, gloppy waste material left over from the refining of petroleum, material that refineries today supply for low-value applications such as asphalt, or eventually treat as waste.</p><p>Not only is the new carbon fiber cheap to make, but it offers advantages over the traditional carbon fiber materials because it can have compressional strength, meaning it could be used for load-bearing applications. The new process is described in the journal <em>Science Advances</em>, in a paper by graduate student Asmita Jana, research scientist Nicola Ferralis, professor Jeffrey Grossman, and five others at MIT, Western Research Institute in Wyoming, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.</p><p>The research began about four years ago in response to a request from the Department of Energy, which was seeking ways to make cars more efficient and reduce fuel consumption by lowering their overall weight. \"If you look at the same model car now, compared to 30 years ago, it\'s significantly heavier,\" Ferralis says. \"The weight of cars has increased more than 15 percent within the same category.\"</p><p>A heavier car requires a bigger engine, stronger brakes, and so on, so the reducing the weight of the body or other components has a ripple effect that produces additional weight savings. The DOE is pushing for the development of lightweight structural materials that match the safety of today\'s conventional steel panels but also can be made cheaply enough to potentially replace steel altogether in standard vehicles.</p><p>Composites made from carbon fibers are not a new idea, but so far in the automotive world they have only been used in a few very expensive models. The new research aims to turn that around by providing a low-cost starting material and relatively simple processing methods.</p><p>Carbon fibers of the quality needed for automotive use cost at least $10 to $12 per pound currently, Ferralis says, and \"can be way more,\" up to hundreds of dollars a pound for specialized application like spacecraft components. That compares to about 75 cents a pound for steel, or $2 for aluminum, though these prices fluctuate widely, and the materials often rely on foreign sources. At those prices, he says, making a pickup truck out of carbon fiber instead of steel would roughly double the cost.</p><p>These fibers are typically made from polymers (such as polyacrilonitrile) derived petroleum, but using a costly intermediate step of polymerizing the carbon compounds. The cost of the polymer can account for more than 60 percent of the total cost of the final fiber, Ferralis says. Instead of using a refined and processed petroleum product to start with, the team\'s new approach uses what is essentially the dregs left after the refining process, a material known as petroleum pitch. \"It\'s what we sometimes call the bottom of the barrel,\" Ferralis says.</p><p>\"Pitch is incredibly messy,\" he says. It\'s a hodgepodge of mixed heavy hydrocarbons, and \"that\'s actually what makes it beautiful in a way, because there\'s so much chemistry that can be exploited. That makes it a fascinating material to start with.\"</p><p>It\'s useless for combustion -- although it can burn, it\'s too dirty a fuel be practical, and this is especially true with tightening environmental regulations. \"There\'s so much of it,\" he says, \"the inherent value of these products is very low, so then it is often landfilled.\" An alternative source of pitch, which the team also tested, is coal pitch, a similar material that is a byproduct of coking coal, used for example for steel production. That process yields about 80 percent coke and 20 percent coal pitch, \"which is basically a waste,\" he says.</p><p>Working in collaboration with researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, who had the expertise in manufacturing carbon fibers under a variety of conditions, from lab scale all the way up to pilot-plant scale, the team set about finding ways to predict the performance in order to guide the choice of conditions for those fabrication experiments.</p><p>\"The process that you need to actually make a carbon fiber [from pitch] is actually extremely minimal, both in terms of energy requirements and in terms of actual processing that you need to do,\" Ferralis says.</p><p>Jana explains that pitch is \"made of these heterogeneous set of molecules, where you would expect that if you change the shape or size you would expect the properties to change dramatically,\" whereas an industrial material needs to have very consistent properties.</p><p>By carefully modeling the ways bonds form and crosslink between the constituent molecules, Jana was able to develop a way of predicting how a given set of processing conditions would affect the resulting fiber properties. \"We were able to reproduce the results with such startling accuracy,\" she says, \"to the point where companies could take those graphs and be able to predict\" characteristics such as density and elastic modulus of the fibers.</p><p>The work produced results showing by adjusting the starting conditions, carbon fibers could be made that were not only strong in tension, as most such fibers are, but also strong in compression, meaning they could potentially be used in load-bearing applications. This opens up entirely new possibilities for the usefulness of these materials, they say.</p><p>DOE\'s call was for projects to bring the cost of lightweight materials down below $5 a pound, but the MIT team estimates that their method can to do better than that, reaching something like $3 a pound, though they haven\'t yet done a detailed economic analysis.</p><p>\"The new route we\'re developing is not just a cost effect,\" Ferralis says. \"It might open up new applications, and it doesn\'t have to be vehicles.\" Part of the complication of making conventional fiber composites is that the fibers have to be made into a cloth and laid out in precise, detailed patterns. The reason for that, he says, \"is to compensate for the lack of compressive strength.\" It\'s a matter of engineering to overcome the deficiencies of the material, he says, but with the new process all that extra complexity would not be needed.</p><p>The research team included Taishan Zhu and Yanming Wang at MIT, Jeramie Adams at Western Reserve University, and Logan Kearney and Amit Naskar at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy.</p>','2022-03-18 23:49:34.607806','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Massachusetts Institute of Technology','Researchers have developed a way to make lightweight fibers, for possible use in the bodies of cars, out of an ultracheap feedstock: the waste material from the refining of petroleum.\n',1,25,'<li>Asmita Jana, Taishan Zhu, Yanming Wang, Jeramie J. Adams, Logan T. Kearney, Amit K. Naskar, Jeffrey C. Grossman and Nicola Ferralis. <strong>Atoms to fibers: Identifying novel processing methods in the synthesis of pitch-based carbon fibers</strong>. <em>Science Advances</em>, 2022 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abn1905\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1126/sciadv.abn1905</a>\n</li>'),(1411,'Ancient ancestors evolved to be strong and snappy','ancient-ancestors-evolved-to-be-strong-and-snappy','2022-03-18 23:49:37.277363',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Researchers led by the University of Bristol show that the earliest jaws in the fossil record were caught in a trade-off between maximising their strength and their speed.</p><p>Almost all vertebrates are jawed vertebrates, including humans, first evolving more than 400 million years ago and distinguished by their teeth-bearing jaws. Humans owe their evolutionary success to the evolution of jaws, which allowed animals to process a wider variety of foods.</p><p>Jaws evolved from the gill arches, a series of structures in fish that support their gills. A new study, published in the journal <em>Science Advances</em>today<em>, </em>explores how a breathing structure came to be a biting structure. To do this, researchers based at Bristol\'s School of Earth Sciences collected data on the shapes of fossil jaws during their early evolution and mathematical models to characterise them. These models allowed the team to extrapolate a wide range of theoretical jaw shapes that could have been explored by the first evolving jaws. These theoretical jaws were tested for their strength -- how likely they were to break during a bite, and their speed -- how efficiently they could be opened and closed. These two functions are in a trade-off -- meaning that increasing the strength usually means decreasing the speed or vice versa.</p><p>Comparing the real and theoretical jaw shapes revealed that jaw evolution has been constrained to shapes that have the highest possible speed and strength. Specifically, the earliest jaws in the dataset were extremely optimal, and some groups evolved away from this optimum over time. These results suggest that the evolution of biting was very quick.</p><p>William Deakin, PhD student at the University of Bristol and lead author, said: \"Jaws are an extremely important feature to gnathostomes -- or jaw-mouths. They are not only extremely widespread, but almost all creatures that have them, use them in the same way -- to grab food and process it. That\'s more than can be said for an arm or a foot or a tail, which can be used for all sorts of things.</p><p>\"This makes jaws extremely useful to anyone studying the evolution of function. Very different jaws from very different animals can be tested in similar ways. Here we have shown that studies on a large variety of jaws, using theoretical morphology and adaptive landscapes to capture their variety in function, can help shed some light on evolutionary questions.\"</p><p>Philip Donoghue, Professor of Palaeobiology at Bristol and co-author of the study, said: \"The earliest jawed vertebrates have jaws in all shapes and sizes, long thought to reflect adaptation to different functions. Our study shows that most of this variation was equally optimal for strength and speed, making for fearsome predators.\"</p><p>Emily Rayfield, also a Professor of Palaeobiology at Bristol and co-author of the study, added: \"The new software that Will developed to analyse the evolution of jawed vertebrates, is unique. It allows us to map the design space of key anatomical innovations, like jaws, and determine their functional properties. We plan to use it uncover many more of the secrets of evolutionary history.\"</p><p><strong>Story Source:</strong></p>','2022-03-18 23:49:37.277363','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Bristol','Researchers show that the earliest jaws in the fossil record were caught in a trade-off between maximizing their strength and their speed.\n',1,64,'<li>William J. Deakin, Philip S. L. Anderson, Wendy den Boer, Thomas J. Smith, Jennifer J. Hill, Martin Rücklin, Philip C. J. Donoghue and Emily J. Rayfield. <strong>Increasing morphological disparity and decreasing optimality for jaw speed and strength during the radiation of jawed vertebrates</strong>. <em>Science Advances</em>, 2022 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abl3644\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1126/sciadv.abl3644</a>\n</li>'),(1412,'Antabuse may help revive vision in people with progressive blinding disorders','antabuse-may-help-revive-vision-in-people-with-progressive-blinding-disorders','2022-03-18 23:49:40.102244',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have found that a drug once widely used to wean alcoholics off of drinking helps to improve sight in mice with retinal degeneration.</p><p>The drug may revive sight in humans with the inherited disease retinitis pigmentosa (RP), and perhaps in other vision disorders, including age-related macular degeneration.</p><p>A group of scientists led by Richard Kramer, UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology, had previously shown that a chemical -- retinoic acid -- is produced when light-sensing cells in the retina, called rods and cones, gradually die off. This chemical causes hyperactivity in retinal ganglion cells, which ordinarily send visual information to the brain. The hyperactivity interferes with their encoding and transfer of information, obscuring vision.</p><p>He realized, however, that the drug disulfiram -- also called Antabuse -- inhibits not only enzymes involved in the body\'s ability to degrade alcohol, but also enzymes that make retinoic acid. In new experiments, Kramer and collaborator Michael Goard, who directs a lab at UC Santa Barbara (UCSB), discovered that treatment with disulfiram decreased the production of retinoic acid and made nearly-blind mice much better at detecting images displayed on a computer screen.</p><p>Kramer suspects that retinoic acid plays an identical role in people with vision loss. But experiments measuring retinoic acid in the eye have not been done on humans because they would be too invasive.</p><p>Disulfiram -- which is already approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) -- could establish that link.The researchers are planning to partner with ophthalmologists to conduct a clinical trial of disulfiram on patients with RP<strong>. </strong>The trial would be carried out on a small set of people with advanced, but not yet complete, retinal degeneration.</p><p>\"There may be a long window of opportunity in which suppressing retinoic acid with drugs like disulfiram could substantially improve low vision and make a real difference in people\'s quality of life,\" said Kramer, the CH and Annie Li Chair in Molecular Biology of Diseases at UC Berkeley and a member of the campus\'s Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute. \"Because the drug is already FDA-approved, the regulatory hurdles are low. It wouldn\'t be a permanent cure, but right now there are no available treatments that even temporarily improve vision.\"</p><p>Kramer, Goard and their colleagues -- Michael Telias, a former UC Berkeley postdoctoral fellow now at the University of Rochester Medical Center, and Kevin Sit of UCSB -- will publish their findings March 18 in the journal <em>Science Advances</em>.</p><p>Kramer acknowledged that disulfiram may not be for everyone. When combined with alcohol consumption, the drug can have severe side effects, including headache, nausea, muscle cramps and flushing.</p><p>\"If you\'re on the drug, and you backslide and take a drink, you will immediately get the worst hangover of your life,\" he said, \"and that is what makes it a strong deterrent for drinking alcohol.\"</p><p>But if disulfiram can improve vision, more targeted therapies could be sought that don\'t interfere with alcohol breakdown or other metabolic functions. The researchers have already tested an experimental drug named BMS 493 that inhibits the receptor for retinoic acid, and they have also used an RNA interference technique -- a type of gene therapy -- to knock down the receptor. Both of these procedures also dramatically improved vision in mice with RP.</p><p><strong>Photoreceptor breakdown</strong></p><p>Three years ago, Kramer and his colleagues reported that retinoic acid generated sensory noise that interfered with remaining vision in mice with RP in the same way that ringing in the ears, known as tinnitus, can interfere with hearing in people who are losing vibration-sensitive cells in the inner ear. They showed that inhibiting the retinoic acid receptor reduced the noise and increased simple light avoidance behaviors in those mice.</p><p>But do mice treated with the drugs actually see better?</p><p>The new study provides evidence that they do. First, when the mice were young and had healthy retinas, they were trained to recognize and respond to a simple image of black and white stripes displayed on a computer screen. A month later, after most of the rods and cones had degenerated, the image was shown once again. The investigators found that mice treated with disulfiram or BMS 493 responded quite well, even if the image was blurry. By contrast, mice receiving a placebo failed to respond, even if the image was crisp and clear.</p><p>In a second type of study, the scientists used a special microscope and a fluorescent protein indicator to light up and examine the responses of thousands of cells in the brain to much more complex visual scenes -- a Hollywood movie clip, replayed many times. Individual cells in the brains of vision-impaired mice with RP responded preferentially to particular frames in the movie, and their responses were much stronger and more reliable than those of mice that had been treated with disulfiram or BMS 493.</p><p>The responses were so reliable, Kramer said, that the investigators could deduce which specific scene had triggered the cell\'s response, but only in the mice that had been treated with one of the drugs.</p><p>Both the behavioral results and the brain imaging results suggest that the drugs improve vision and not just light detection.</p><p>\"Treated mice really see better than mice without the drugs. These particular mice could barely detect images at all at this late stage of degeneration. I think that that\'s quite dramatic,\" Kramer said.</p><p>In 2019, Kramer and his team laid out the mechanism behind hyperactivity caused by degeneration. They found that retinoic acid, which is well-known as a signal for growth and development in embryos, floods the retina when photoreceptors -- the rods, sensitive to dim light, and the cones, needed for color vision -- die. That\'s because photoreceptors are packed with light-sensitive proteins called rhodopsin, which contain retinaldehyde. When the retinaldehyde can no longer be absorbed by rods and cones, it is converted to retinoic acid by an enzyme called retinaldehyde dehydrogenase.</p><p>The retinoic acid, in turn, stimulates the retinal ganglion cells by adhering to retinoic acid receptors. It\'s these receptors that make ganglion cells hyperactive, creating a constant buzz of activity that submerges the visual scene and prevents the brain from picking out the signal from noise. Drug developers could seek to prevent this by developing chemicals to stop production of retinoic acid by retinaldehyde dehydrogenase, or chemicals that interfere with the retinoic acid receptor.</p><p>\"If a vision impaired human were given disulfiram, and their vision got better, even a little bit, that would be a great outcome in itself. But it would also strongly implicate the retinoic acid pathway in vision loss,\" Kramer said. \"And that would be an important proof of concept that could drive new drug development and a whole new strategy for helping to improve vision.\"</p><p>The work was supported by grants awarded to Kramer from the National Institutes of Health (R01EY024334, P30EY003176) and the Foundation for Fighting Blindness and to Goard from the National Institutes of Health (R01NS121919) and National Science Foundation (NeuroNex #1707287). Co-authors of the study are Telias, Daniel Frozenfar, Benjamin Smith and Arjit Misra of UC Berkeley and Sit of UC Santa Barbara. Telias and Sit are co-first authors; Goard and Kramer are co-senior authors.</p>','2022-03-18 23:49:40.102244','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of California - Berkeley','Animal and cell studies show that as retinal cells die in degenerative eye diseases, they make other cells hyperactive, creating noise that further obscures vision. Tests to prove this in humans are hard to conduct, however. Antabuse, an approved drug used to wean people off alcohol, should tamp down this hyperactivity and conclusively show whether hyperactivity plays a role in humans, potentially driving work to find better drugs to help those with progressive vision loss.\n',1,27,'<li>Michael Telias, Kevin K. Sit, Daniel Frozenfar, Benjamin Smith, Arjit Misra, Michael J. Goard and Richard H. Kramer. <strong>Retinoic acid inhibitors mitigate vision loss in a mouse model of retinal degeneration</strong>. <em>Science Advances</em>, 2022 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abm4643\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1126/sciadv.abm4643</a>\n</li>'),(1413,'Artificial intelligence paves the way to discovering new rare-earth compounds','artificial-intelligence-paves-the-way-to-discovering-new-rare-earth-compounds','2022-03-18 23:49:44.274076',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Artificial intelligence advances how scientists explore materials. Researchers from Ames Laboratory and Texas A&amp;M University trained a machine-learning (ML) model to assess the stability of rare-earth compounds. This work was supported by Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program (LDRD) program at Ames Laboratory. The framework they developed builds on current state-of-the-art methods for experimenting with compounds and understanding chemical instabilities.</p><p>Ames Lab has been a leader in rare-earths research since the middle of the 20<sup>th</sup> century. Rare earth elements have a wide range of uses including clean energy technologies, energy storage, and permanent magnets. Discovery of new rare-earth compounds is part of a larger effort by scientists to expand access to these materials.</p><p>The present approach is based on machine learning (ML), a form of artificial intelligence (AI), which is driven by computer algorithms that improve through data usage and experience. Researchers used the upgraded Ames Laboratory Rare Earth database (RIC 2.0) and high-throughput density-functional theory (DFT) to build the foundation for their ML model.</p><p>High-throughput screening is a computational scheme that allows a researcher to test hundreds of models quickly. DFT is a quantum mechanical method used to investigate thermodynamic and electronic properties of many body systems. Based on this collection of information, the developed ML model uses regression learning to assess phase stability of compounds.</p><p>Tyler Del Rose, an Iowa State University graduate student, conducted much of the foundational research needed for the database by writing algorithms to search the web for information to supplement the database and DFT calculations. He also worked on experimental validation of the AI predictions and helped to improve the ML based models by ensuring they are representative of reality.</p><p>\"Machine learning is really important here because when we are talking about new compositions, ordered materials are all very well known to everyone in the rare earth community,\" said Ames Laboratory Scientist Prashant Singh, who led the DFT plus machine learning effort with Guillermo Vazquez and Raymundo Arroyave. \"However, when you add disorder to known materials, it\'s very different. The number of compositions becomes significantly larger, often thousands or millions, and you cannot investigate all the possible combinations using theory or experiments.\"</p><p>Singh explained that the material analysis is based on a discrete feedback loop in which the AI/ML model is updated using new DFT database based on real-time structural and phase information obtained from our experiments. This process ensures that information is carried from one step to the next and reduces the chance of making mistakes.</p><p>Yaroslav Mudryk, the project supervisor, said that the framework was designed to explore rare earth compounds because of their technological importance, but its application is not limited to rare-earths research. The same approach can be used to train an ML model to predict magnetic properties of compounds, process controls for transformative manufacturing, and optimize mechanical behaviors.</p><p>\"It\'s not really meant to discover a particular compound,\" Mudryk said. \"It was, how do we design a new approach or a new tool for discovery and prediction of rare earth compounds? And that\'s what we did.\"</p><p>Mudryk emphasized that this work is just the beginning. The team is exploring the full potential of this method, but they are optimistic that there will be a wide range of applications for the framework in the future.</p>','2022-03-18 23:49:44.274076','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'DOE/Ames Laboratory','Artificial intelligence advances how scientists explore materials. Researchers trained a machine-learning (ML) model to assess the stability of rare-earth compounds. The framework they developed builds on current state-of-the-art methods for experimenting with compounds and understanding chemical instabilities.\n',1,37,'<li>Prashant Singh, Tyler Del Rose, Guillermo Vazquez, Raymundo Arroyave, Yaroslav Mudryk. <strong>Machine-learning enabled thermodynamic model for the design of new rare-earth compounds</strong>. <em>Acta Materialia</em>, 2022; 229: 117759 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2022.117759\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/j.actamat.2022.117759</a>\n</li>'),(1414,'Exploring the therapeutic uses of ketamine','exploring-the-therapeutic-uses-of-ketamine','2022-03-18 23:49:46.055139',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">First manufactured more than 50 years ago, ketamine is a fast-acting dissociative anesthetic often used in veterinary and emergency medicine. Ketamine also has a history of being an illicit party drug.</p><p>Now, ketamine is getting a closer look.</p><p>Researchers from UBC Okanagan and the University of Exeter have identified ketamine as a potentially powerful tool in the fight against mental illness.</p><p>In a recent study published in the <em>British Journal of Psychiatry</em>, the research team found ketamine to have significant anti-depressant and anti-suicidal effects. They also found evidence that suggests its benefits don\'t stop there.</p><p>Led by Psychology Professor Dr. Zach Walsh and doctoral student Joey Rootman -- both based in the Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences -- the research team arrived at this conclusion after analyzing more than 150 worldwide studies on the effects of sub-anesthetic ketamine doses for the treatment of mental illness. The study was co-led by Professor Celia Morgan and doctoral student Merve Mollaahmetoglu from the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom.</p><p>\"We found strong evidence that indicates ketamine provides rapid and robust anti-depressant and anti-suicidal effects, but the effects were relatively short-lived,\" explains Rootman. \"However, repeated dosing appeared to have the potential to increase the duration of positive effects.\"</p><p>Beyond these results, the study provides evidence that suggests ketamine may be helpful in the treatment of other disorders, including eating disorders, problematic substance use, post-traumatic stress and anxiety -- though the evidence in these areas is scarce.</p><p>\"What our research provides is an up-to-date overview and synthesis of where the knowledge on ketamine is at right now,\" explains Rootman. \"Our results signal that ketamine may indeed have a broader spectrum of potential applications in psychiatric treatment -- and that tells us that more investigation is needed.\"</p><p>This study serves as a foundation for fellow researchers looking to design ketamine-related projects and offers valuable data for clinicians considering using ketamine with their patients.</p><p>The results also help to satisfy the public\'s appetite for information on innovative and emerging psychiatric treatments, says Dr. Walsh, explaining the review provides a relatively compact document with evidence regarding which ketamine treatments may be helpful for diverse diagnoses.</p><p>\"As many as one in five Canadians will experience a mental illness this year, and the reality is that existing treatments don\'t work for everyone,\" he says. \"As a result, many Canadians are curious about new approaches to help with these serious conditions.\"</p><p>Overall, while Dr. Walsh acknowledges research into other treatment areas is just beginning, he finds the preliminary evidence encouraging.</p><p>\"We need a lot more information on how these interventions could work -- for example, administering the drug is only a part of treatment. We need to figure out what amount and type of psychotherapy would best compliment the drug intervention to really maximize potential benefits,\" he explains. \"With that being said, it is a truly exciting time for ketamine research. If it can deliver the relief that early evidence suggests it can, this could be among the most significant developments in mental health treatment in decades.\"</p>','2022-03-18 23:49:46.055139','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of British Columbia Okanagan campus','First manufactured more than 50 years ago, ketamine is a fast-acting dissociative anesthetic often used in veterinary and emergency medicine. Ketamine also has a history of being an illicit party drug. Now, ketamine is getting a closer look.\n',1,39,'<li>Zach Walsh, Ozden Merve Mollaahmetoglu, Joseph Rootman, Shannon Golsof, Johanna Keeler, Beth Marsh, David J. Nutt, Celia J. A. Morgan. <strong>Ketamine for the treatment of mental health and substance use disorders: comprehensive systematic review</strong>. <em>BJPsych Open</em>, 2021; 8 (1) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2021.1061\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1192/bjo.2021.1061</a>\n</li>'),(1415,'Researchers use unique ingredient to strengthen bamboo','researchers-use-unique-ingredient-to-strengthen-bamboo','2022-03-18 23:49:49.054943',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">UBC Okanagan researchers have adapted a technique -- originally designed to embalm human remains -- to strengthen the properties of biocomposites and make them stronger.</p><p>With the innovation of new materials and green composites, it is easy to overlook materials like bamboo and other natural fibres, explains UBCO Professor of Mechanical Engineering Dr. Abbas Milani. These fibres are now used in many applications such as clothing, the automotive industry, packaging and construction.</p><p>His research team has now found a way not only to strengthen these fibres, but reduce their tendency to degrade over time, making them even more environmentally friendly.</p><p>\"Bamboo has nearly the same strength as a mild steel while exhibiting more flexibility,\" says Dr. Milani, the founding director of the Materials and Manufacturing Research Institute. \"With its low weight, cost and abundant availability, bamboo is a material that has great promise but until now had one big drawback.\"</p><p>Bamboo is one of the world\'s most harvested and used natural fibres with more than 30-million tonnes produced annually. However, its natural fibres can absorb water and degrade and weaken over time due to moisture uptake and weathering.</p><p>Using a process called plastination to dehydrate the bamboo, the research team then use it as a reinforcement with other fibres and materials. Then they cure it into a new high-performance hybrid biocomposite.</p><p>First developed by Gunther von Hagens in 1977, plastination has been extensively used for the long-term preservation of animal, human and fungal remains, and now has found its way to advanced materials applications. Plastination ensures durability of the composite material for both short- and long-term use, says Daanvir Dhir, the report\'s co-author and recent UBC Okanagan graduate.</p><p>\"The plastinated-bamboo composite was mixed with glass and polymer fibres to create a material that is lighter and yet more durable than comparable composites,\" says Dhir. \"This work is unique as there are no earlier studies investigating the use of such plastinated natural fibres in synthetic fibre reinforced polymer composites.\"</p><p>Dhir says this new durable hybrid bamboo/woven glass fibre/polypropylene composite, treated with the plastination technique has a promising future.</p><p>Supported by industrial partner NetZero Enterprises Inc., the research shows that adding only a small amount of plastinated materials to the bamboo can increase the impact absorption capacity of the composite -- without losing its elastic properties. This also lowers the material\'s degradation rate.</p><p>More work needs to be done on the optimization of this process as Dhir says plastination is currently time-consuming. But he notes the benefit of discovering the right composition of plastinated natural fibres will result in a sizable reduction of non-degradable waste in many industries, with a lower environmental footprint.</p><p>Future studies are underway to optimize and investigate the effect of plastinating other natural fibres, such as flax and hemp. The researchers also suggest a life cycle analysis of the materials should be conducted under different applications and compared to non-plastinated samples. This will provide a better picture of the corresponding trade-off between the environmental footprint and mechanical durability effects.</p><p>\"Biocomposites continue to find new applications under the circular economy paradigm,\" adds Dr. Milani. \"The innovations in the methods used to develop these composites will ensure benefits well into the future.\"</p>','2022-03-18 23:49:49.054943','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of British Columbia Okanagan campus','Researchers have adapted a technique -- originally designed to embalm human remains -- to strengthen the properties of biocomposites and make them stronger. With the innovation of new materials and green composites, it is easy to overlook materials like bamboo and other natural fibers, explains one of the researchers. These fibers are now used in many applications such as clothing, the automotive industry, packaging and construction.\n',1,27,'<li>Daanvir K. Dhir, Reeghan Osmond, Kevin Golovin, Abbas S. Milani. <strong>A high-performance hybrid green composite using plastinated bamboo fillers, with reduced environmental degradation effect</strong>. <em>Composite Structures</em>, 2022; 282: 115123 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2021.115123\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/j.compstruct.2021.115123</a>\n</li>'),(1416,'Conversion process turns pollution into cash','conversion-process-turns-pollution-into-cash','2022-03-18 23:49:51.344289',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Engineers at the University of Cincinnati have developed a promising electrochemical system to convert emissions from chemical and power plants into useful products while addressing climate change.</p><p>UC College of Engineering and Applied Science assistant professor Jingjie Wu and his students used a two-step cascade reaction to convert carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide and then into ethylene, a chemical used in everything from food packaging to tires.</p><p>The study was published in the journal <em>Nature Catalysis</em> in collaboration with the University of California Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.</p><p>UC College of Engineering and Applied Science graduate Tianyu Zhang, one of the study\'s lead authors, led a similar study last year that examined ways to convert carbon dioxide into methane that could be used as rocket fuel for Martian exploration.</p><p>\"The significance of the two-stage conversion is that we can increase the ethylene selectivity and productivity at the same time with the low-cost strategy,\" Zhang said. \"This process can be applied to various reactions because the electrode structure is general and simple.\"</p><p>Selectivity means isolating the desired compounds. Productivity is the amount of ethylene the reactor can produce.</p><p>\"We\'re selectively reducing carbon emissions into something considered valuable because of its many downstream applications,\" Zhang said.</p><p>Applications include a variety of industries from steel and cement plants to the oil and gas industry, he said.</p><p>\"In the future, we can use this technique to reduce carbon emissions and make a profit from it. So, reducing carbon emissions will not be a costly process anymore,\" he said.</p><p>Ethylene has been called \"the world\'s most important chemical.\" It\'s used in a range of plastics from water bottles to PVC pipe, textiles and rubber found in tires and insulation.</p><p>Professor Wu said the chemical they produce is known as \"green ethylene,\" because it is created from renewable sources.</p><p>\"Ideally we can remove greenhouse gas from the environment while simultaneously making fuels and chemicals,\" Wu said. \"Power plants and ethylene plants emit a lot of carbon dioxide. Our goal is to capture the carbon dioxide and convert it to ethylene using electrochemical conversion.\"</p><p>So far, the process requires more energy than it produces in ethylene. By using tandem electrodes, UC engineers were able to boost productivity and selectivity, both of which are key indicators toward making the process commercially attractive to industry, Wu said.</p><p>There are huge environmental advantages to containing and converting greenhouse gases, Wu said.</p><p>\"It\'s being pushed by the government. In the future, we\'ll need sustainable development so we\'ll need to convert carbon dioxide,\" he said.</p><p>And Wu said copper isn\'t necessarily the best catalyst for this reaction, so industry experts have likely alternatives that could boost productivity and efficiency even more.</p><p>\"Our system is very general, but you can use preferred catalysts,\" Wu said. \"But even with commercial copper we were able to more than double the performance. With an even better catalyst, we could solve the economic issue.\"</p><p>Wu last year applied for patents for their design.</p><p>Zhang said the system will take some time to become economical. But already they have made tremendous strides, he said.</p><p>\"The technology has improved a lot in 10 years. So in the next 10 years, I\'m optimistic we\'ll see similar advances. This is a game changer,\" Zhang said.</p>','2022-03-18 23:49:51.344289','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Cincinnati','Engineers have developed a promising electrochemical system to convert emissions from chemical and power plants into useful products while addressing climate change.\n',1,131,'<li>Tianyu Zhang, Justin C. Bui, Zhengyuan Li, Alexis T. Bell, Adam Z. Weber, Jingjie Wu. <strong>Highly selective and productive reduction of carbon dioxide to multicarbon products via in situ CO management using segmented tandem electrodes</strong>. <em>Nature Catalysis</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41929-022-00751-0\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41929-022-00751-0</a>\n</li>'),(1417,'New form of ice discovered','new-form-of-ice-discovered','2022-03-19 00:40:14.527907',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">UNLV researchers have discovered a new form of ice, redefining the properties of water at high pressures.</p><p>Solid water, or ice, is like many other materials in that it can form different solid materials based on variable temperature and pressure conditions, like carbon forming diamond or graphite. However, water is exceptional in this aspect as there are at least 20 solid forms of ice known to us.</p><p>A team of scientists working in UNLV\'s Nevada Extreme Conditions Lab pioneered a new method for measuring the properties of water under high pressure. The water sample was first squeezed between the tips of two opposite-facing diamonds -- freezing into several jumbled ice crystals. The ice was then subjected to a laser-heating technique that temporarily melted it before it quickly re-formed into a powder-like collection of tiny crystals.</p><p>By incrementally raising the pressure, and periodically blasting it with the laser beam, the team observed the water ice make the transition from a known cubic phase, Ice-VII, to the newly discovered intermediate, and tetragonal, phase, Ice-VIIt, before settling into another known phase, Ice-X.</p><p>Zach Grande, a UNLV Ph.D. student, led the work which also demonstrated that the transition to Ice-X, when water stiffens aggressively, occurs at much lower pressures than previously thought.</p><p>While it\'s unlikely we\'ll find this new phase of ice anywhere on the surface of Earth, it is likely a common ingredient within the mantle of Earth as well as in large moons and water-rich planets outside of our solar system.</p><p>The team\'s findings were reported in the March 17 issue of the journal <em>Physical Review B</em>.</p><p><strong>Takeaways</strong></p><p>The research team had been working to understand the behavior of high-pressure water that may be present in the interior of distant planets.</p><p>To do so, Grande and UNLV physicist Ashkan Salamat placed a sample of water between the tips of two round-cut diamonds known as diamond anvil cells, a standard feature in the field of high pressure physics. Applying a little bit of force to the diamonds enabled the researchers to recreate pressures as high as those found at the center of the Earth.</p><p>By squeezing the water sample between these diamonds, scientists drove the oxygen and hydrogen atoms into a variety of different arrangements, including the newly discovered arrangement, Ice-VIIt.</p><p>Not only did the first-of-its-kind laser-heating technique allow scientists to observe a new phase of water ice, but the team also found that the transition to Ice-X occurred at pressures nearly three times lower than previously thought -- at 300,000 atmospheres instead of 1 million. This transition has been a highly debated topic in the community for several decades.</p><p>\"Zach\'s work has demonstrated that this transformation to an ionic state occurs at much, much lower pressures than ever thought before,\" Salamat said. \"It\'s the missing piece, and the most precise measurements ever on water at these conditions.\"</p><p>The work also recalibrates our understanding of the composition of exoplanets, Salamat added. Researchers hypothesize that the Ice-VIIt phase of ice could exist in abundance in the crust and upper mantle of expected water-rich planets outside of our solar system, meaning they could have conditions habitable for life.</p>','2022-03-19 00:40:14.527907','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Nevada, Las Vegas','Researchers have discovered a new form of ice, redefining the properties of water at high pressures.\n',1,45,'<li>Zachary M. Grande, C. Huy Pham, Dean Smith, John H. Boisvert, Chenliang Huang, Jesse S. Smith, Nir Goldman, Jonathan L. Belof, Oliver Tschauner, Jason H. Steffen, Ashkan Salamat. <strong>Pressure-driven symmetry transitions in dense H2O ice</strong>. <em>Physical Review B</em>, 2022; 105 (10) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.105.104109\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1103/PhysRevB.105.104109</a>\n</li>'),(1418,'Researchers map human sensory neurons, pursue chronic pain cure','researchers-map-human-sensory-neurons,-pursue-chronic-pain-cure','2022-03-19 00:40:16.561680',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">An investigation into how human nerve cells differ from animal cells has provided researchers from The University of Texas at Dallas\' Center for Advanced Pain Studies (CAPS) with important clues in the pursuit of more effective treatments for chronic pain.</p><p>Dr. Ted Price BS\'97, Ashbel Smith Professor of neuroscience in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS) and CAPS director, leads a team that is analyzing the origins of how pain is generated by nociceptors -- pain-sensing nerve cells -- in human dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons. Price is co-corresponding author of a study, featured on the cover of the Feb. 16 issue of <em>Science Translational Medicine, </em>that charts the full range of messenger RNA (mRNA) strands -- a grouping called the transcriptome -- produced in these cells.</p><p>Because mRNA is a single-stranded copy of a gene that can be translated into protein, the findings provide neuroscientists with a much better understanding of which genes are expressed in DRG neurons. The study also reinforces the value of studying human tissue -- as opposed to animal cells -- in the search for pain treatments.</p><p>DRG neurons are specialized nerve cells clustered near the base of the spine. Very little work has been done previously with these cells from humans due to the scarcity of their availability for research.</p><p>\"We\'re one of the few groups in the country with access to human donor DRG tissue acquired specifically for research,\" said Stephanie Shiers PhD\'19, neuroscience research scientist and a joint first author of the paper.</p><p>Shiers\' prior research made the case in broad terms that significant differences exist between the nociceptors in mice and humans. That work explained why proposed pain treatments that succeed in mice fail in humans.</p><p>\"This paper is the next step, clearly demonstrating the profound scale of those differences,\" Price said. \"An entire set of nociceptors that many people study in mice just aren\'t found in humans. There are subtypes in humans that don\'t exist even in nonhuman primates.</p><p>\"It\'s not that we should abandon all existing nonhuman models of pain. But some are really good, while others aren\'t, depending on what you want to study. When it comes to this aspect of pain, our work shows which is which.\"</p><p>To profile all the gene activity in a DRG tissue sample, the research team used an advanced technique called spatial transcriptomics, which has enhanced capabilities compared with single-cell RNA sequencing.</p><p>\"It\'s rare to have access to both the human tissue we used and to the technology,\" said Dr. Diana Tavares-Ferreira, also a co-first and co-corresponding author of the study and a CAPS fellow. \"Spatial transcriptomics allows us to overcome the large size of these neurons and to see with a degree of certainty where and how a gene is expressed in human nociceptors.</p><p>\"Our main goal was to fully characterize the whole transcriptome of human DRG neurons because so much of the work that\'s been done to find new pain therapeutic targets has been in mice. Our results help clarify why those efforts struggle to produce results.\"</p><p>By describing the neuron types present in human DRG and detailing their gene expression, the team has a much better picture of what the physiological functions are for each gene, Price said.</p><p>\"With that knowledge, not only can anybody use our data to seek drug targets that they couldn\'t have sought before, but in some cases we also don\'t need to use the mice at all now. We can use the human information,\" he said.</p><p>Price called removing that reliance on animal models \"a fundamental change,\" because it allows scientists to explore how any cell type might interact with any neuron in the human peripheral nervous system.</p><p>\"We\'re now able to approach developing pain therapeutics in a more specific way and to think about how chronic pain happens in people in a different way,\" Price said. \"My hope is that our findings can change the way people do research in our field. It\'s a road map that we will use, and others are welcome to follow.\"</p>','2022-03-19 00:40:16.561680','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Texas at Dallas','An investigation into how human sensory neurons differ from animal neurons has provided researchers with important clues in the pursuit of more effective treatments for chronic pain. Researchers are analyzing the origins of how pain is generated by nociceptors in human dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons, charting the full transcriptome of messenger RNA strands produced in these cells.\n',1,48,'<li>Diana Tavares-Ferreira, Stephanie Shiers, Pradipta R. Ray, Andi Wangzhou, Vivekanand Jeevakumar, Ishwarya Sankaranarayanan, Anna M. Cervantes, Jeffrey C. Reese, Alexander Chamessian, Bryan A. Copits, Patrick M. Dougherty, Robert W. Gereau, Michael D. Burton, Gregory Dussor, Theodore J. Price. <strong>Spatial transcriptomics of dorsal root ganglia identifies molecular signatures of human nociceptors</strong>. <em>Science Translational Medicine</em>, 2022; 14 (632) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.abj8186\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1126/scitranslmed.abj8186</a>\n</li>'),(1419,'Regrown tropical forests may have short lifespans, says new study','regrown-tropical-forests-may-have-short-lifespans,-says-new-study','2022-03-19 12:24:16.054875',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Preventing the re-clearing of second-growth forests is a major challenge for restoration efforts in tropical regions, according to a new study led by researchers from Columbia University, University of São Paulo and the Federal University of ABC in Brazil. The study found that a third of regenerating areas in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest were cut down again, most after just 4 to 8 years of regeneration.</p><p>Natural forest regeneration is regarded as a cost-effective strategy for countries to meet their ecological restoration and carbon sequestration goals. While reports of forest recovery in tropical regions generate optimism, recent research by the study authors and others has suggested that restored forests have a high probability of being cleared within a few years.</p><p>The new study, published in <em>Environmental Research Letters</em>, quantifies forest regeneration in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest and identifies factors that influence how long the regenerated forest survives.</p><p>The Brazilian Atlantic Forest is a rich natural area that originally occupied 150 million hectares along the Atlantic coast. Only about 32 million hectares remain today. The highly fragmented and threatened ecosystem is now considered a regeneration hotspot.</p><p>The authors used detailed land use cover data from 1985 to 2019 to map and track the fate of over 4.5 million hectares of regenerated forests in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. They found that only 3.1 million hectares persisted until 2019.</p><p>\"While the persistence of two-thirds of regenerated forest in the region casts a positive outlook for the biome\'s conservation, the short life span of regenerated forests emerges as a new challenge for restoration efforts in the region,\" said Pedro Ribeiro Piffer, a PhD candidate at Columbia and the lead author of the study.</p><p>The ephemeral nature of these regrown forests limits the biodiversity and carbon storage benefits of regeneration, he said.</p><p>\"Carbon sequestration through tropical reforestation and natural regeneration can make an important contribution to climate change mitigation, given that forest cover in many tropical regions increased during the early part of the 21st century,\" said senior author María Uriarte, a professor at Columbia\'s Earth Institute who studies tropical forest dynamics. \"However, the size of this carbon sink will depend on the degree to which these forests are permanent and protected from re-clearing.\"</p><p>In a previous paper, Piffer and Uriarte found that without these reversals in reforestation, forests in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest region could have sequestered 1.75 billion tons of carbon -- more than three times the estimated actual sequestration of 0.52 billion tons.</p><p>\"Our results underline a double challenge for forest conservation in tropical regions, where not only do we need to restore degraded areas, but we also need to ensure the persistence of these young regenerating forests,\" said Jean Paul Metzger, an ecology professor at the University of São Paulo and a co-author on the new study.</p><p>The researchers note that ensuring the persistence of tropical forest regeneration is crucial for nations to achieve their restoration and carbon sequestration commitments under the Paris Agreement.</p><p>They also identified factors that may help to protect regrown forests. They found that regenerated forests had greater chances of surviving on steeper slopes, close to rivers and existing forests, and near permanent agriculture. The forests were less likely to persist in more rural areas. Also, while regeneration occurred predominantly in pasturelands and areas of shifting agriculture, it was also less likely to persist within these dynamic landscapes.</p><p>\"Regenerated forests can take decades to recover pre-disturbance species richness and biomass levels, so identifying the conditions that allow for a greater persistence of these young forests is vital for developing effective public policies targeted at increasing forest cover in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest,\" said Piffer.</p>','2022-03-19 12:24:16.054875','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Columbia Climate School','Preventing the re-clearing of second-growth forests is a major challenge for restoration efforts in tropical regions, according to a new study. The study found that a third of regenerating areas in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest were cut down again, most after just 4 to 8 years of regeneration.\n',1,98,'<li>Pedro Ribeiro Piffer, Marcos Reis Rosa, Leandro Reverberi Tambosi, Jean Paul Metzger, María Uriarte. <strong>Turnover rates of regenerated forests challenge restoration efforts in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest</strong>. <em>Environmental Research Letters</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac5ae1\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1088/1748-9326/ac5ae1</a>\n</li>'),(1420,'Early English lessons have lasting effects','early-english-lessons-have-lasting-effects','2022-03-19 12:24:21.066529',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">An international research team has examined how English lessons in primary school affect language proficiency in this subject in secondary school. Children who started learning English in the first grade of primary school performed significantly better in listening and reading comprehension in grade nine than children who started in grade three. The study was a continuation of an earlier paper that had only covered the period up to the seventh grade and couldn\'t find any such learning advantage.</p><p>The team headed by Professor Markus Ritter from Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) and Dr. Nils Jäkel from the University of Oulu, Finland, in cooperation with Dr. Michael Schurig from the Technical University of Dortmund, describes their findings in the journal <em>System</em>. The study will be published in the June 2022 edition, but is already freely accessible online. The researchers are collaborating within the university consortium UNIC: European University of Post-Industrial Cities.</p><p><strong>Data from North Rhine-Westphalia</strong></p><p>The study included data from around 3,000 students who participated in a longitudinal study conducted in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, between 2010 and 2014. The same data had also been used in the previous study, the results of which the researchers had published in 2017. At that time, they had compared two cohorts, one of which had started English lessons in grade one, the other in grade three. In grades five and seven, they had compared both cohorts in terms of English reading and listening comprehension. The new analysis incorporated another set of data collected in 2016 to measure the English performance of the same children in grade nine.</p><p>The previous study had found: Children who had started English lessons earlier in primary school performed worse in reading and listening comprehension in grade seven than children who had not started English lessons until grade three. However, the new analysis showed: In grade nine, the early starters in English performed better than the late starters in English.</p><p>Additional background variables such as gender, language of origin or cognitive abilities could not account for the difference between the poorer performance in the seventh grade and the late learning gains in the ninth grade.</p><p><strong>Transition between school types decisive</strong></p><p>\"We believe the most plausible explanation is that lessons following the transition period in secondary school have been increasingly adapted to the needs of children who start to take English lessons at an early stage,\" concludes Nils Jäkel, formerly at RUB, now at the University of Oulu. \"This explanation is in line with research that considers the transition between school types to play a key role in the long-term success of English language education across school boundaries.\" With this in mind, it is crucial to optimise the didactic coordination and alignment of English classes at the intersection of school types. In addition, it may be that pupils benefit in the long run from more implicit language lessons in primary school.</p><p>\"We see a high need for research to elaborate factors for successful language education, and we recommend well-coordinated, evidence-based measures in educational policy overall,\" say the researchers.</p>','2022-03-19 12:24:21.066529','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Ruhr-University Bochum','An earlier study had raised doubts about the effectiveness of learning English in the first grade. Now, researchers have observed that it improves language performance over an extended period of time.\n',1,27,'<li>Nils Jaekel, Michael Schurig, Isabelle van Ackern, Markus Ritter. <strong>The impact of early foreign language learning on language proficiency development from middle to high school</strong>. <em>System</em>, 2022; 106: 102763 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2022.102763\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/j.system.2022.102763</a>\n</li>'),(1421,'Little evidence on how psilocybin therapy interacts with existing psychiatric treatments, review finds','little-evidence-on-how-psilocybin-therapy-interacts-with-existing-psychiatric-treatments,-review-finds','2022-03-19 14:51:32.197569',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">As Oregon embarks on a voter-approved initiative to permit psychoactive mushrooms in clinical use, a new systematic evidence review from Oregon Health &amp; Science University reveals a lack of scientific research describing the interactions between widely used psychiatric medications and psychedelics like psilocybin and MDMA.</p><p>The scarcity of data is problematic for people believed to benefit most from psychedelics: those with mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.</p><p>The review was published last week in the journal <em>Psychopharmacology</em>.</p><p>\"There\'s a huge deficit in the scientific literature,\" said lead author Aryan Sarparast, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry in the OHSU School of Medicine. \"There\'s a major incongruence between the public enthusiasm and exuberance with psychedelic substances for mental health issues -- and what happens when they combine with the existing mental health treatments that we have now.\"</p><p>The researchers decided to conduct the evidence review because they wanted to learn more about interactions between widely prescribed medications such as antidepressants and psychedelics, including MDMA and psilocybin, known colloquially as magic mushrooms.</p><p>They found a total of 40 studies dating back to 1958, including 26 from randomized controlled studies, 11 case reports and three epidemiologic studies.</p><p>Researchers found only one study that examined how psilocybin interacts with antidepressant medications. Further, Sarparast noted that all of the clinical trials were conducted with healthy volunteers who were administered a psychiatric medication and a psychedelic at the same time -- a clear sign of the need for further research on the clinical outcomes of combining pharmaceutical medications with psilocybin.</p><p>Sarparast said he is concerned that the lack of evidence will lead many providers to direct patients to taper off existing medications before being offered clinical psilocybin therapy. Oregon regulators are currently in the process of developing rules to permit the clinical use of psilocybin products and services beginning Jan. 2, 2023.</p><p>Patients with mental health conditions may well benefit from psilocybin therapy, but Sarparast said he worries about the implications of stopping existing psychiatric treatment in order to receive psilocybin services. This may force vulnerable people into choosing between their existing medical treatment or psilocybin services.</p><p>\"That\'s a very, very tough place to be,\" Sarparast said.</p><p>There\'s a considerable amount of important data not captured in a literature review related to real-world use, noted co-author Christopher Stauffer, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry in the OHSU School of Medicine and a physician-scientist at the VA Portland Health Care System.</p><p>\"Psilocybin has been around in Western society since the late 1950s, before many of our psychiatric medications have existed,\" Stauffer said. \"Nonetheless, people attempting to navigate Oregon\'s psilocybin services in the context of ongoing psychiatric treatment should work closely with knowledgeable professionals.\"</p><p>In addition to Sarparast and Stauffer, co-authors include Kelan Thomas, Pharm.D., associate professor of clinical sciences at Touro University California, and Benjamin Malcolm, Pharm.D., M.P.H., a psychiatric pharmacist with Awake Movement LLC.</p>','2022-03-19 14:51:32.197569','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Oregon Health & Science University','As Oregon embarks on a voter-approved initiative to permit psychoactive mushrooms in clinical use, a new systematic evidence review reveals a lack of scientific research describing the interactions between widely used psychiatric medications and psychedelics like psilocybin and MDMA.\n',1,39,'<li>Aryan Sarparast, Kelan Thomas, Benjamin Malcolm, Christopher S. Stauffer. <strong>Drug-drug interactions between psychiatric medications and MDMA or psilocybin: a systematic review</strong>. <em>Psychopharmacology</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00213-022-06083-y\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1007/s00213-022-06083-y</a>\n</li>'),(1422,'Natural COVID-19 antibodies lasts seven months for children, according to new study','natural-covid-19-antibodies-lasts-seven-months-for-children,-according-to-new-study','2022-03-19 14:51:40.491622',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Children previously infected with COVID-19 develop natural circulating antibodies that last for at least seven months, according to a new study led by researchers at UTHealth Houston.</p><p>The study was published today in <em>Pediatrics. </em></p><p>Researchers examined data from 218 children across the state of Texas between the ages of 5 and 19 who were enrolled in the Texas CARES survey, which began in October of 2020 with the goal of assessing COVID-19 antibody status over time among a population of adults and children in Texas.</p><p>Volunteers who enrolled in the study provided researchers with three separate blood draws. Samples were collected before the vaccine rollout and during the Delta and Omicron variants. To date, investigators have completed three different phases of the study.</p><p>\"This is the first study from the Texas CARES survey that includes data from all three time points in the survey,\" said Sarah Messiah, PhD, MPH, corresponding author of the study and professor of epidemiology, human genetics, and environmental sciences at UTHealth School of Public Health Dallas campus. \"These findings are important because the information we collected from children infected with COVID-19 didn\'t differ at all by whether a child was asymptomatic, severity of symptoms, when they had the virus, were at a healthy weight or had obesity, or by gender. It was the same for everyone.\"</p><p>While 96% of those infected with COVID-19 continued to have antibodies up to seven months later, well over half (58%) of the sample were negative for infection-induced antibodies at their third and final measurement. The findings do not include the impact of vaccine protection.</p><p>The results of Texas CARES, Messiah said, are just a step in understanding the virus\'s impact on children. To date, 14 million kids in the U.S. have tested positive for the virus, she said.</p><p>\"Adult literature shows us that natural infection, plus the vaccine-induced protection, gives you the best defense against COVID-19. There has been a misunderstanding from some parents who think just because their child has had COVID-19, they are now protected and don\'t need to get the vaccine. While our study is encouraging in that some amount natural antibodies last at least six months in children, we still don\'t know the absolute protection threshold. We have a great tool available to give children additional protection by getting their vaccine, so if your child is eligible, take advantage of it,\" Messiah said.</p><p>The Texas CARES study is ongoing. To learn more about how to get involved visit: <a href=\"https://sph.uth.edu/projects/texascares/\">https://sph.uth.edu/projects/texascares/</a></p><p>Additional UTHealth Houston authors included Stacia DeSantis, PhD; Luis Leon-Novelo, PhD; Yashar Talebi, MS; Frances Brito, MSc; Harold W. Kohl, III, PhD, MS; Melissa Valerio-Shewmaker, PhD; Jessica Ross, BS; Michael D. Swartz, PhD; Ashraf Yaseen, PhD; Steven H. Kelder, PhD, MPH; Shiming Zhang, MS; Onyinye S. Omega-Njemnobi, MD, PhD; Michael O. Gonzalez, MPH; Leqing Wu, MS; and Eric Boerwinkle, PhD. Other authors included David Lakey, MD, with The University of Texas System; and Jennifer A. Shuford, MD, MPH and Stephen J. Pont, MD, MPH, with the Texas Department of State Health Services.</p><p>The study was funded and supported by the Texas Department of State Health Services (#HHS000866600001) and the University of Texas System.</p>','2022-03-19 14:51:40.491622','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston','Children previously infected with COVID-19 develop natural circulating antibodies that last for at least seven months, according to a new study.\n',1,105,'<li>Sarah E. Messiah, Stacia DeSantis, Luis Leon-Novelo, Yashar Talebi, Frances Brito, Harold W. Kohl, III, Melissa Valerio-Shewmaker, Jessica Ross, Michael D. Swartz, Ashraf Yaseen, Steven H. Kelder, Shiming Zhang, Onyinye S. Omega-Njemnobi, Michael O. Gonzalez, Leqing Wu, Eric Boerwinkle, David Lakey, Jennifer A. Shuford, Stephen J. Pont. <strong>Durability of SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies From Natural Infection in Children and Adolescents</strong>. <em>Pediatrics</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1542/peds.2021-055505\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1542/peds.2021-055505</a>\n</li>'),(1423,'Astronomers closer to unlocking origin of mysterious fast radio bursts','astronomers-closer-to-unlocking-origin-of-mysterious-fast-radio-bursts','2022-03-19 15:51:45.570774',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Nearly 15 years after the discovery of fast radio bursts (FRBs), the origin of the millisecond-long, deep-space cosmic explosions remains a mystery.</p><p>That may soon change, thanks to the work of an international team of scientists -- including UNLV astrophysicist Bing Zhang -- which tracked hundreds of the bursts from five different sources and found clues in FRB polarization patterns that may reveal their origin. The team\'s findings were reported in the March 17 issue of the journal <em>Science</em>.</p><p>FRBs produce electromagnetic radio waves, which are essentially oscillations of electric and magnetic fields in space and time. The direction of the oscillating electric field is described as the direction of polarization. By analyzing the frequency of polarization in FRBs observed from various sources, scientists revealed similarities in repeating FRBs that point to a complex environment near the source of the bursts.</p><p>\"This is a major step towards understanding the physical origin of FRBs,\" said Zhang, a UNLV distinguished professor of astrophysics who coauthored the paper and contributed to the theoretical interpretation of the phenomena.</p><p>To make the connection between the bursts, an international research team, led by Yi Feng and Di Li of the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, analyzed the polarization properties of five repeating FRB sources using the massive Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) and the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT). Since FRBs were first discovered in 2007, astronomers worldwide have turned to powerful radio telescopes like FAST and GBT to trace the bursts and to look for clues on where they come from and how they\'re produced.</p><p>Though still considered mysterious, the source of most FRBs is widely believed to be magnetars, incredibly dense, city-sized neutron stars that possess the strongest magnetic fields in the universe. They typically have nearly 100% polarization. Conversely, in many astrophysical sources that involve hot randomized plasmas, such as the Sun and other stars, the observed emission is unpolarized because the oscillating electric fields have random orientations.</p><p>That\'s where the cosmic detective work kicks in.</p><p>In a study the team originally published last year in <em>Nature</em>, FAST detected 1,652 pulses from the active repeater FRB 121102. Even though the bursts from the source were discovered to be highly polarized with other telescopes using higher frequencies -- consistent with magnetars -- none of the bursts detected with FAST in its frequency band were polarized, despite FAST being the largest single-dish radio telescope in the world.</p><p>\"We were very puzzled by the lack of polarization,\" said Feng, first author on the newly released <em>Science</em> paper. \"Later, when we systematically looked into other repeating FRBs with other telescopes in different frequency bands -- particularly those higher than that of FAST, a unified picture emerged.\"</p><p>According to Zhang, the unified picture is that every repeating FRB source is surrounded by a highly magnetized dense plasma. This plasma produces different rotation of the polarization angle as a function of frequency, and the received radio waves come from multiple paths due to scattering of the waves by the plasma.</p><p>When the team accounted for just a single adjustable parameter, Zhang says, the multiple observations revealed a systematic frequency evolution, namely depolarization toward lower frequencies.</p><p>\"Such a simple explanation, with only one free parameter, could represent a major step toward a physical understanding of the origin of repeating FRBs,\" he says.</p><p>Di Li, a corresponding author of the study, agrees that the analysis could represent a corner piece in completing the cosmic puzzle of FRBs. \"For example, the extremely active FRBs could be a distinct population,\" he says. \"Alternatively, we\'re starting to see the evolutionary trend in FRBs, with more active sources in more complex environments being younger explosions.\"</p><p>The study, \"Frequency-dependent polarization of repeating fast radio bursts -- implications for their origin,\" appeared March 17 in the journal <em>Science</em>. It includes 25 co-authors from 11 institutions and is part of long-running collaboration among institutions. In addition to UNLV and NAOC, collaborating institutions also include Yunnan University, Princeton University, Western Sidney University, Peking University and Green Bank Observatory, USA.</p>','2022-03-19 15:51:45.570774','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Nevada, Las Vegas','Nearly 15 years after the discovery of fast radio bursts (FRBs), the origin of the millisecond-long, deep-space cosmic explosions remains a mystery.  That may soon change, thanks to the work of an international team of scientists which tracked hundreds of the bursts from five different sources and found clues in FRB polarization patterns that may reveal their origin.\n',1,27,'<li>Yi Feng, Di Li, Yuan-Pei Yang, Yongkun Zhang, Weiwei Zhu, Bing Zhang, Wenbin Lu, Pei Wang, Shi Dai, Ryan S. Lynch, Jumei Yao, Jinchen Jiang, Jiarui Niu, Dejiang Zhou, Heng Xu, Chenchen Miao, Chenhui Niu, Lingqi Meng, Lei Qian, Chao-Wei Tsai, Bojun Wang, Mengyao Xue, Youling Yue, Mao Yuan, Songbo Zhang, Lei Zhang. <strong>Frequency-dependent polarization of repeating fast radio bursts—implications for their origin</strong>. <em>Science</em>, 2022; 375 (6586): 1266 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abl7759\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1126/science.abl7759</a>\n</li>'),(1424,'Effectiveness of antibiotics significantly reduced when multiple bugs present','effectiveness-of-antibiotics-significantly-reduced-when-multiple-bugs-present','2022-03-19 15:51:52.120353',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">A study has found that much higher doses of antibiotics are needed to eliminate a bacterial infection of the airways when other microbes are present. It helps explain why respiratory infections often persist in people with lung diseases such as cystic fibrosis despite treatment.</p><p>In the study, published today in <em>The ISME Journal</em>, researchers say that even a low level of one type of microbe in the airways can have a profound effect on the way other microbes respond to antibiotics.</p><p>The results highlight the need to consider the interaction between different species of microbe when treating infections with antibiotics -- and to adjust dosage accordingly.</p><p>\"People with chronic infections often have co-infection with several pathogens, but the problem is we don\'t take that into account in deciding how much of a particular antibiotic to treat them with. Our results might help explain why, in these people, the antibiotics just don\'t work as well as they should,\" said Thomas O\'Brien, who carried out the research for his PhD in the University of Cambridge\'s Department of Biochemistry and is joint first author of the paper.</p><p>Chronic bacterial infections such as those in the human airways are very difficult to cure using antibiotics. Although these types of infection are often associated with a single pathogenic species, the infection site is frequently co-colonised by a number of other microbes, most of which are not usually pathogenic in their own right.</p><p>Treatment options usually revolve around targeting the pathogen, and take little account of the co-habiting species. However, these treatments often fail to resolve the infection. Until now scientists have had little insight into why this is.</p><p>To get their results the team developed a simplified model of the human airways, containing artificial sputum (\'phlegm\') designed to chemically resemble the real phlegm coughed up during an infection, packed with bacteria.</p><p>The model allowed them to grow a mixture of different microbes, including pathogens, in a stable way for weeks at a time. This is novel, because usually one pathogen will outgrow the others very quickly and spoil the experiment. It enabled the researchers to replicate and study infections with multiple species of microbe, called \'poly-microbial infections\', in the laboratory.</p><p>The three microbes used in the experiment were the bacteria <em>Pseudomonas aeruginosa </em>and<em> Staphylococcus aureus, </em>and the fungus <em>Candida albicans</em> -- a combination commonly present in the airways of people with cystic fibrosis.</p><p>The researchers treated this microbial mix with an antibiotic called colistin, which is very effective in killing <em>Pseudomonas aeruginosa. </em>But when the other pathogens were present alongside <em>Pseudomonas aeruginosa, </em>the antibiotic didn\'t work.</p><p>\"We were surprised to find that an antibiotic that we know should clear an infection of <em>Pseudomonas </em>effectively just didn\'t work in our lab model when other bugs were present,\" said Wendy Figueroa-Chavez in the University of Cambridge\'s Department of Biochemistry, joint first author of the paper.</p><p>The same effect happened when the microbial mix was treated with fusidic acid -- an antibiotic that specifically targets <em>Staphylococcus aureus, </em>and with fluconazole -an antibiotic that specifically targets<em> Candida albicans.</em></p><p>The researchers found that significantly higher doses of each antibiotic were needed to kill bacteria when it was part of poly-microbial infection, compared to when no other pathogens were present.</p><p>\"All three species-specific antibiotics were less effective against their target when three pathogens were present together,\" said Martin Welch, Professor of Microbial Physiology and Metabolism in the University of Cambridge\'s Department of Biochemistry and senior author of the paper.</p><p>At present antibiotics are usually only laboratory tested against the main pathogen they are designed to target, to determine the lowest effective dose. But when the same dose is used to treat infection in a person it often doesn\'t work, and this study helps to explain why. The new model system will enable the effectiveness of potential new antibiotics to be tested against a mixture of microbe species together.</p><p>Poly-microbial infections are common in the airways of people with cystic fibrosis. Despite treatment with strong doses of antibiotics, these infections often persist long-term. Chronic infections of the airways in people with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) are also often poly-microbial.</p><p>By looking at the genetic code of the <em>Pseudomonas </em>bacteria in their lab-grown mix, the researchers were able to pinpoint specific mutations that give rise to this antibiotic resistance. The mutations were found to arise more frequently when other pathogens were also present.</p><p>Comparison with the genetic code of 800 samples of<em> Pseudomonas </em>from around the world revealed that these mutations have also occurred in human patients who had been infected with <em>Pseudomonas</em> and treated with colistin.</p><p>\"The problem is that as soon as you use an antibiotic to treat a microbial infection, the microbe will start to evolve resistance to that antibiotic. That\'s what has happened since colistin started to be used in the early 1990\'s. This is another reminder of the vital need to find new antibiotics to treat human infections,\" said Welch.</p>','2022-03-19 15:51:52.120353','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Cambridge','A study has found that much higher doses of antibiotics are needed to eliminate a bacterial infection of the airways when other microbes are present. It helps explain why respiratory infections often persist in people with lung diseases such as cystic fibrosis despite treatment.\n',1,52,'<li>Thomas James O’Brien, Wendy Figueroa, Martin Welch. <strong>Decreased efficacy of antimicrobial agents in a polymicrobial environment</strong>. <em>The ISME Journal</em>, 2022; DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41396-022-01218-7\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41396-022-01218-7</a>\n</li>'),(1425,'MRI innovation makes cancerous tissue light up and easier to see','mri-innovation-makes-cancerous-tissue-light-up-and-easier-to-see','2022-03-21 16:54:14.776094',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">A new form of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that makes cancerous tissue glow in medical images could help doctors more accurately detect and track the progression of cancer over time.</p><p>The innovation, developed by researchers at the University of Waterloo, creates images in which cancerous tissue appears to light up compared to healthy tissue, making it easier to see.</p><p>\"Our studies show this new technology has promising potential to improve cancer screening, prognosis and treatment planning,\" said Alexander Wong, Canada Research Chair in Artificial Intelligence and Medical Imaging and a professor of systems design engineering at Waterloo.</p><p>Irregular packing of cells leads to differences in the way water molecules move in cancerous tissue compared to healthy tissue. The new technology, called synthetic correlated diffusion imaging, highlights these differences by capturing, synthesizing and mixing MRI signals at different gradient pulse strengths and timings.</p><p>In the largest study of its kind, the researchers collaborated with medical experts at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, several Toronto hospitals and the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research to apply the technology to a cohort of 200 patients with prostate cancer.</p><p>Compared to standard MRI techniques, synthetic correlated diffusion imaging was better at delineating significant cancerous tissue, making it a potentially powerful tool for doctors and radiologists.</p><p>\"Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men worldwide and the most frequently diagnosed cancer among men in more developed countries,\" said Wong, also a director of the Vision and Image Processing (VIP) Lab at Waterloo. \"That\'s why we targeted it first in our research.</p><p>\"We also have very promising results for breast cancer screening, detection, and treatment planning. This could be a game-changer for many kinds of cancer imaging and clinical decision support.\"</p><p>The core research team also included Hayden Gunraj and Vignesh Sivan, engineering graduate students at Waterloo, and Dr. Masoom Haider of the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute.</p>','2022-03-21 16:54:14.776094','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Waterloo','A new form of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that makes cancerous tissue glow in medical images could help doctors more accurately detect and track the progression of cancer over time.\n',1,71,'<li>Alexander Wong, Hayden Gunraj, Vignesh Sivan, Masoom A. Haider. <strong>Synthetic correlated diffusion imaging hyperintensity delineates clinically significant prostate cancer</strong>. <em>Scientific Reports</em>, 2022; 12 (1) DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-06872-7\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1038/s41598-022-06872-7</a>\n</li>'),(1426,'New ways to improve urban wetlands','new-ways-to-improve-urban-wetlands','2022-03-21 16:54:24.757432',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Ahead of World Water Day (22 March 2022), new studies at Flinders University provide valuable insights into removing toxins from polluted waterways and improving filtration at urban wetlands.</p><p>One study found a wetland plant capable of reducing PFAS in soil and water, and another looked for better urban wetland water flow management during summer.</p><p>In a glasshouse experiment, the first study found a common Australian native wetland plant capable of tolerating and reducing major contaminant Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).</p><p>\"We found the wetland plant <em>Juncus sarophorus</em> has a high tolerance to PFAS and capable of overall PFAS removal rates between 9% and 11% at a time, which could be increased with floating reed beds in the water column. It also is effective at accumulating and transferring PFOA and PFHxS from the soil to an above-ground vegetation biomass,\" says Flinders University hydrogeologist Dr Ilka Wallis, from the National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training whose research covers pollutants and recharge of aquifers.</p><p>\"Together with its high growth rate, this plant appears to be a suitable candidate for phyto-extraction of short-chained PFAS compounds, but less effective at removing PFOS owing to this compound\'s long chain-lengths and ability to be absorbed by soils.\"</p><p>PFAS has been detected globally in a wide range of environments, there is an urgent need for effective remedial treatment solutions at the field scale.</p><p>\"Phyto-remediation presents a potential remediation strategy for PFAS that would allow efficient and cost-effective remediation at large scales,\" says co-author and environmental health researcher Flinders University Professor Howard Fallowfield.</p><p>In another article in<em> Science of the Total Environment</em>, Flinders University researchers returned to a popular suburban constructed wetland to conduct indepth studies of water filtration efficiency by existing aquatic plants (macrophytes) and contaminant accumulation at various locations during hotter, drier summer months.</p><p>\"The spatial assessment of the Oaklands Park wetland was one of the first studies of nutrients and contaminants in constructed wetlands macrophytes as a performance indicator for wetland functionality and management,\" Professor Fallowfield says.</p><p>The reed beds and water were analysed for nutrient and contaminant accumulation in-situ at the stormwater-fed wetland and water remediation site in the southern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. Macrophytes were sampled at 36 sites and water at 46 sites selected by a systematic grid according to their location from inflow for each site. A total of 144 stem and root samples were checked for carbon, nitrogen and trace elements and 183 water samples for the same elements, ammonia and total suspended solids.</p><p>Results showed higher concentrations of water chemistry but reduction in macrophyte health and suspended solids from reed filtration with distance from the inflow as water flow slowed down during summer.</p><p>\"Our study highlights the need for wetland managers to adjust design, water flow and vegetation control to better manage nutrients and contaminants with distance from inflow, particularly during the drier months,\" says PhD candidate Nick Wilkins.</p><p>\"These issues with flow regimes obviously affect macrophyte water filtration performance, which can be further investigated to improve constructed wetland health and performance elsewhere in the world,\" he says.</p><p>Efficient filtration and removal of nitrogen, carbon, phosphorus and contaminants from stormwater, agricultural runoff and industrial wastewater will reduce the range of potentially damaging pollutants discharged into the surrounding environments and improve water quality remediation techniques at vital constructed wetlands in urban and other recreational settings.</p>','2022-03-21 16:54:24.757432','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Flinders University','New studies provide valuable insights into removing toxins from polluted waterways and improving filtration at urban wetlands. One study found a wetland plant capable of reducing PFAS in soil and water, and another looked for better urban wetland water flow management during summer.\n',1,18,'<li>Jiawen Zhu, Ilka Wallis, Huade Guan, Kirstin Ross, Harriet Whiley, Howard Fallowfield. <strong>Juncus sarophorus, a native Australian species, tolerates and accumulates PFOS, PFOA and PFHxS in a glasshouse experiment</strong>. <em>Science of The Total Environment</em>, 2022; 826: 154184 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154184\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154184</a>\n</li>'),(1427,'Soil erosion and wildfire another nail in coffin for Triassic era','soil-erosion-and-wildfire-another-nail-in-coffin-for-triassic-era','2022-03-21 18:12:42.763878',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Curtin research has revealed that soil erosion and wildfires contributed to a mass extinction event 201 million years ago that ended the Triassic era and paved the way for the rise of dinosaurs in the Jurassic period.</p><p>Lead author Curtin PhD graduate Dr Calum Peter Fox, from the WA-Organic and Isotope Geochemistry Centre (WA-OIGC) in Curtin\'s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said the research identified the other factors that contributed to a combination of stresses that killed off Triassic life and allowed the ecological expansion of dinosaurs.</p><p>\"This new study adds soil erosion and wildfire activity to the list of factors that drove this mass extinction to end the Triassic era, building on our previous research that found a rise in levels of acid and hydrogen sulfide in the ocean caused by rapid increases in carbon dioxide due to a surge in volcanic activity,\" Dr Fox said.</p><p>\"Similar to modern large-scale fire events that are driven by climate change, periods of wildfire activity have significant impacts for land-dwelling fauna and flora and drive environmental and ecosystem stress that can lead to mass extinctions.\"</p><p>Dr Fox said the team investigated fire events 201 million years ago during the end-Triassic mass extinction event, which featured similar increases to carbon dioxide to those witnessed in the modern-day conditions due to greenhouse gas emissions.</p><p>\"By studying polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which can be formed during the incomplete combustion of organic matter, we found that soil erosion was a more prominent terrestrial ecological stress than intensive wildfire activity during the end-Triassic mass extinction event in the Bristol Channel of the south-west United Kingdom.</p><p>\"This tells us land and marine ecosystem and environmental stresses occurred at the same time and were likely exacerbated by soil erosion, with fire activity likely to be more localised in other areas rather than widespread across Europe.\"</p><p>Co-author John Curtin Distinguished Professor Kliti Grice, also from WA-OIGC in Curtin\'s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said modern-day soil erosion was a major cause of land degradation as it removed fertilised soil and promoted the deoxygenation of water columns, much like the mass extinction events of the past.</p><p>\"These processes certainly have implications in the modern day due to the introduction of pollutants and pesticides,\" Professor Grice said. \"Observing that soil erosion had major impacts in our history and in comparing and contrasting a global record of the past, we can anticipate the scale and duration of currently-occurring and future soil erosion events.\"</p><p>Further research will aim to determine the global extent of soil erosion to better understand terrestrial ecosystem stresses in the past and to see if this is a common feature across all mass extinction events.</p>','2022-03-21 18:12:42.763878','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'Curtin University','New research has revealed that soil erosion and wildfires contributed to a mass extinction event 201 million years ago that ended the Triassic era and paved the way for the rise of dinosaurs in the Jurassic period.\n',1,55,'<li>C.P. Fox, J.H. Whiteside, P.E. Olsen, K. Grice. <strong>Flame out! End-Triassic mass extinction polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons reflect more than just fire</strong>. <em>Earth and Planetary Science Letters</em>, 2022; 584: 117418 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2022.117418\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/j.epsl.2022.117418</a>\n</li>'),(1428,'A novel painless and reliable allergy test','a-novel-painless-and-reliable-allergy-test','2022-03-21 18:12:49.790997',' <p class=\"lead\" id=\"first\">Although allergies are widespread, their diagnosis is complex and, depending on the type of allergy, the prospects of success with therapy are not always clear. Skin tests so far have been unpleasant, time-consuming and associated with a certain risk of triggering an allergic overreaction. Researchers at the University of Bern and Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, have now developed a novel test that massively simplifies the diagnosis of allergies and can reliably predict the success of a therapy.</p><p>Approximately one third of the world\'s population suffers from one or more allergies, with the trend increasing every year. By far the most widespread form of allergy is the so-called type I allergy, also known as immediate-type allergy. This includes, for example, allergic rhinitis (hay fever), allergic asthma, food allergies, or allergies against insect venoms, pollen, grasses or house dust mites. It is an overreaction of the immune system to actually harmless foreign components (allergens), which typically occurs within seconds or minutes of contact with the allergen. Allergic symptoms can range from redness and swelling of the skin, itching or shortness of breath to anaphylactic shock and death.</p><p>Diagnosing an allergy is complex: In addition to the medical history (anamnesis), test parameters of often unclear diagnostic value are taken into account and patients undergo skin tests. Such skin tests are unpleasant, at times painful, time-consuming and associated with a certain risk of triggering an allergic overreaction. Allergies are treated with symptom control, in severe cases also with immunotherapy. This involves injecting doses of an allergen in increasing concentrations under the patient\'s skin over a period of up to five years, with the aim of desensitizing the patient to the allergen. Immunotherapy is not always successful: At present, there is no reliable method for predicting the chances of success before concluding such therapy.</p><p>A research group led by Alexander Eggel from the Department for BioMedical Research (DBMR) at the University of Bern and the Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, together with Thomas Kaufmann from the Institute of Pharmacology at the University of Bern, has now developed an allergy test that, on the one hand, greatly simplifies diagnosis and, on the other hand, can reliably predict the success of immunotherapy. The test was recently presented in a publication of the <em>Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.</em></p><p><strong>In vitro mast cells provide unprecedented reliability</strong></p><p>Type I allergy occurs when the body produces immunoglobulin E (IgE) class antibodies in response to allergens. The IgE antibodies are bound by IgE receptors on the surface of specialized immune cells in the body called mast cells. Subsequent contact with the same allergens then leads to activation of the mast cells and therefore to the release of inflammatory mediators such as histamine or leukotrienes, which are responsible for the allergic symptoms.</p><p>For their novel allergy test, the researchers led by Alexander Eggel and Thomas Kaufmann have developed a new in vitro cell culture which, with the help of a few molecular biological techniques, can generate almost any desired number of mature mast cells -- and this within a few days. These mast cells contain IgE receptors on their surface and behave very similarly to mast cells in the human body when they are exposed to IgE and allergens. In the test, these mast cells are brought into contact with blood serum from allergic individuals -- thereby binding the IgE antibodies from the serum to the cells -- and then stimulated with the allergens to be tested. At this point, the activation of the cells can be quantified very easily and quickly using so-called flow cytometry.</p><p>\"We were surprised and delighted to see that our mast cells could be activated at almost 100 percent. To our knowledge, there are no comparable cell lines that can be activated so well,\" explains Alexander Eggel. He adds: \"Another important advantage is that the test works with serum, which is very stable and can be stored frozen for a long time, which also allows retrospective tests and studies. In contrast, other comparable tests use whole blood, which cannot be stored and must be processed within hours.\"</p><p><strong>High-throughput approach enables application on a larger scale</strong></p><p>In order to be able to perform a large number of tests, the researchers have developed a high-throughput approach in which up to 36 conditions can be measured in a single test tube. This makes possible the testing of either multiple allergens with one blood serum or multiple sera together for the same allergen. \"A trained person can already perform about 200 tests per day using this procedure, and the process will be further optimized,\" clarifies DBMR\'s Noemi Zbären, lead author of the study.</p><p><strong>Great potential for various applications</strong></p><p>In addition to the initial diagnosis of allergies, the researchers hope the test will have other major applications. \"We are confident that with our test we will be able to measure within a few months after the start of an immunotherapy whether the therapy is effective and to what extent,\" says Thomas Kaufmann. \"This would be an important aid in the decision-making process for the allergologist treating the patient, whether it makes sense to continue the therapy or not.\" According to the researchers, the test also has great potential for monitoring therapeutic success and the duration of action for new allergy medications in clinical trials, as well as for determining possible allergic reactions and for quality control of food products.</p><p>And academic research should not be neglected either. \"The new cell line -- and already planned modifications to the same -- will enable us to address many of the still unanswered questions in allergy research,\" explains Alexander Eggel.</p><p><em>This study was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation SNSF and a grant from the Swiss Innovation Agency Innosuisse.</em></p>','2022-03-21 18:12:49.790997','uploads/news/logo.jpg',1,'University of Bern','Although allergies are widespread, their diagnosis is complex and, depending on the type of allergy, the prospects of success with therapy are not always clear. Skin tests so far have been unpleasant, time-consuming and associated with a certain risk of triggering an allergic overreaction. Researchers have now developed a novel test that massively simplifies the diagnosis of allergies and can reliably predict the success of a therapy.\n',1,144,'<li>Noemi Zbären, Daniel Brigger, Daniel Bachmann, Arthur Helbling, Lukas Jörg, Michael P. Horn, Johannes M. Schmid, Hans Jürgen Hoffmann, Jean-Pierre Kinet, Thomas Kaufmann, Alexander Eggel. <strong>A novel functional mast cell assay for the detection of allergies</strong>. <em>Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology</em>, 2022; 149 (3): 1018 DOI: <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2021.08.006\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">10.1016/j.jaci.2021.08.006</a>\n</li>'),