Culture

Two gene variants found in African American women may explain why they are more likely to be diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) than white women of European ancestry, according to Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian investigators. The study findings may have implications for developing better risk assessment tools for TNBC in African American women and for understanding why they have poorer TNBC outcomes.

In a study, published April 29 in Scientific Reports, the investigators found that a version of the ANKLE1 gene that can be protective against TNBC is less likely to be found in African American women than white women of European ancestry. In addition, African American women with a mutation in the Duffy gene, which plays a role in inflammation, have a higher risk of TNBC.

"While more white women are diagnosed with breast cancer, African American women are more likely to die from the disease," said Dr. Melissa B. Davis, who was recruited to Weill Cornell Medicine as an associate professor of cell and developmental biology research in surgery, and is scientific director of the International Center for the Study of Breast Cancer Subtypes (ICSBCS). Moreover, African American women have twice the risk of developing TNBC than white women of European ancestry.

Historically, genetic studies of breast cancer have not included enough information about people of African descent, Dr. Davis said. This lack of data contributes to problems with understanding some of the less common versions of genes, or genetic mutations that are found in populations that are not of European descent.

To help address this problem, Dr. Davis and her research team analyzed genetic information from the ICSBCS cohort. The scientists collected DNA from saliva samples in 120 breast cancer patients from Ghana and Ethiopia. Additional samples were collected from 193 African American and 184 European American women with breast cancer. Dr. Davis's team also collected data from 271 healthy controls in the United States and Ghana. The team then assessed the effect in these patients of different gene versions, known as alleles, that had been previously associated with breast cancer risk.

"We have this African-enriched cohort where we've assessed genetic ancestry, and this includes patients and case controls of African ancestry, which is unlike any other study," said Dr. Davis, acknowledging the work of her research partners in Ghana and Ethiopia over the last 17 years, as part of the ICSBCS. The center was founded by co-author Dr. Lisa Newman, chief of the Section of Breast Surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, who was recruited to Weill Cornell Medicine as a professor of surgery.

The researchers found two risk alleles previously defined by the African American Breast Cancer Epidemiology and Risk (AMBER) Consortium were replicated in the ICSBCS study group of patients. Dr. Davis's team validated that an ANKLE1 variant is protective against TNBC but that African American women are more likely to have a version that may be oncogenic, or cancer causing.

ANKLE1 has not been thoroughly studied in cancer yet. "Part of the reason would be that it's under the radar," Dr. Davis said. "It's a risk allele that was only identified when looking at African-Americans and Africans."

ANKLE1 appears to have DNA repair properties like the BRCA gene. BRCA has enzymatic activity that helps to correct mistakes in DNA leading to cancer. Mutations in the gene increase breast cancer risk and physicians often recommend screening for mutations in BRCA in the Ashkenazi Jewish population in which it appears at higher rates. The researchers' current findings on ANKLE1 should inform breast cancer risk models in African American women, Dr. Davis said.

The researchers also verified that a mutation in the Duffy gene, known for its role in inflammation and tumor biology, was associated with an increased risk of TNBC in African American women. The mutation causes the gene to lose function and is what researchers call a null allele. "I would like women to be more informed about their Duffy-null status," Dr. Davis. "If you have that status, you have a higher likelihood of developing triple negative breast cancer, if you get breast cancer," she said.

A better genetic understanding of breast cancer in African American women can help to inform treatment. "Genetic signature tests can predict whether or not patients have a high risk of recurrence or high risk of having a refractory tumor," Dr. Davis said. "Doctors can then determine whether the current standard of care is going to be effective or if they need to adjust the treatment plan for better outcomes."

Organic residues on ceramic pottery are a valuable resource for understanding medieval cuisines of Islamic-ruled Sicily, according to a study published June 9, 2021 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Jasmine Lundy of the University of York, UK and colleagues.

During the 9th to 12th century AD, Sicily was under Islamic rule. This transition is known to have profoundly impacted the region, and the capital city of Palermo thrived as an economic and cultural center of the Mediterranean Islamic world. But little is known about how the lives of people in the region were impacted during this important time period.

In this study, researchers examined organic residues of plant and animal products on ceramic pottery to gain insights into the cuisine of the time.

They tested 134 cooking pots and other similar containers, dating between the 9th and 12th century AD, from the urban city of Palermo and the rural town of Casale San Pietro. The results indicate a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, beeswax and animal food products, complementing other archaeological evidence. The authors highlight some notable differences between rural and urban cuisines, including the greater frequency of grapes and dairy products in the rural site.

This study is a profound demonstration of the utility of organic residue analysis for understanding cuisine of Islamic ruled Sicily. The mixture of a diverse assortment of food products is consistent with the colorful dishes noted in Arabic literature, and the differences observed between rural and urban sites suggests there is more to be learned about how cultures differed across Sicilian society. Further studies using similar techniques will expand our understanding of how cuisine preferences and use of ceramics changed while Sicily was under Islamic rule.

The authors add: "Analysis of residues preserved in pottery has, for the first time, revealed important insight into cuisine in medieval Islamic Sicily. We have identified a diverse range of products processed in cooking wares, as well as regional differences in the use of ceramics such as for the processing of dairy and grapevine products."

The moons of planets that have no parent star can possess an atmosphere and retain liquid water. Astrophysicists at LMU have calculated that such systems could harbor sufficient water to make life possible - and sustain it.

Water - in liquid form - is the elixir of life. It made life possible on Earth and is indispensable for the continuing existence of living systems on the planet. This explains why scientists are constantly on the lookout for evidence of water on other solid bodies in the Universe. Up to now, however, the existence of liquid water on planets other than Earth has not been directly proven. However, there are indications that several moons in the outer reaches of our own solar system - more specifically, Saturn's Enceladus and three of Jupiter's moons (Ganymede, Callisto and Europa) may possess subterranean oceans. What then are the prospects for the detection of water on the moons of planets beyond our solar system?

In cooperation with colleagues at the University of Concepción in Chile, LMU physicists Prof. Barbara Ercolano and Dr. Tommaso Grassi (both of whom are members of ORIGINS, a Cluster of Excellence) have now used mathematical methods to model the atmosphere and gas-phase chemistry of a moon in orbit around a free-floating planet (FFP). An FFP is a planet that is not associated with a star.

More than 100 billion planetary nomads

FFPs are of interest mainly because the evidence indicates that there are plenty of them out there. Conservative estimates suggest that our own galaxy hosts at least as many Jupiter-sized orphan planets as there are stars - and the Milky Way itself is home to well over 100 billion stars.

Ercolano and Grassi made use of a computer model to simulate the thermal structure of the atmosphere of an exomoon of the same size as the Earth in orbit around a FFP. Their results suggest that the amount of water present on the moon's surface would be about 10,000 times smaller than the total volume of our planet's oceans, but 100 times larger than that found in Earth's atmosphere. This would be enough to enable life to evolve and thrive.

The model from which this estimate was derived consists of an Earth-sized moon and a Jupiter-sized FFP. Such a system, which has no stellar companion nearby, is expected to be dark and cold. Unlike our solar system, there is no central star that can serve as a reliable source of energy to drive chemical reactions.

Cosmic radiation and tidal forces to the fore!

Rather, in the researchers' model, cosmic rays provide the chemical drive necessary to convert molecular hydrogen and carbon dioxide into water and other products. To keep the system stirred up, the authors invoke the tidal forces exerted by the planet on its moon as a source of heat - and assuming that carbon dioxide accounts for 90% of the moon's atmosphere, the resulting greenhouse effect would effectively retain a large part of the heat generated on the moon. Together, these energy sources would suffice to keep water in the liquid state.

The presence and accumulation of the antioxidant pigment anthocyanin dictates fruit hue in plums, and the synthesis of this compound is known to be regulated by the MYB10 genes. Now, researchers from the Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG) and the Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA) have found the gene that determines Japanese plum skin colour. In a study published at the scientific journal Frontiers in Plant Science, the team reveals that the plum genome contains several copies of the MYB10 genes, and that DNA variations in one of these copies cause plums to have anthocyanins in the skin (showing a blue to red colour) or not (presenting a yellow or green tone).

The Japanese plum, highly appreciated for its juiciness, is the most abundant on the market for direct fresh consumption, and Spain is one of its largest producers in the European Union, with plum trees mainly grown in the regions of Extremadura, Andalusia and Murcia. This new study provides a highly efficient tool for early selection of coloured and non-coloured fruits in Japanese plum breeding programmes, an advancement aligned with the goals of the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables (IYFV), designated by the UN General Assembly, to increase efficiency in fruit food systems and to promote healthy nutrition through fruit consumption.

Anthocyanins: more than colour

The red to blue hue of flowers and fruits is due to anthocyanins, a group of antioxidant pigments that enhance flower pollination and provide plants protection from light damage and dehydration. Including these healthy antioxidants in our diet has been linked to anti-carcinogenic and anti-inflammatory effects, and to the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and obesity.

Apples, pears, peaches, apricots, plums, cherries and strawberries, all of which belong to the Rosaceae family, are broadly considered a source of anthocyanins, contained in their skin and flesh. As fruit colour has both an important impact in consumer choice and nutritional quality, it is not surprising that there is considerable interest in breeding these crops to obtain new varieties bearing fruits with diverse colours, hues and patterns while enhancing their health benefits.

Focusing on the Japanese plum

Within the Rosaceae crops, Japanese plum is among those with the highest fruit colour variation both in hue and pattern, going from anthocyanin-less green and yellow to red, purple or blue. &laquoPrevious studies in Rosaceae species show that the synthesis and accumulation of anthocyanins is regulated by the MYB10 genes. Accordingly, the analysis of these genes in several Japanese plum has been proven to be an excellent model to understand how fruit colour is determined», indicates Arnau Fiol, PhD student at CRAG and first author of the article.

&laquoIn this study, we examined the MYB10 genes in a panel of Japanese plum varieties and we found that they are highly variable. Surprisingly, we discovered that some cultivars have three copies of one of the MYB10 genes, which adds up to the already complex analysis of plum colour variation», explains Maria José Aranzana, IRTA researcher at CRAG in charge of this work. &laquoBy studying how these gene variants are inherited, we were able to identify which gene variant combinations are associated with the anthocyanin (red to blue) and anthocyanin-less (green or yellow) fruit skin colorations», she adds.

Boosting the development of new varieties

Imagine we want to develop a new blue plum variety with lots of anthocyanins to benefit from its nutraceutical properties. New fruit tree varieties are obtained in breeding programmes by crossing individuals and examining the hundreds or thousands of descendants looking for those that present the desired trait, say a bluer plum, and that also meet demanding product quality standards. Between 10 and 20 years may pass from the first cross until the registration of a new variety, as it takes a long period for trees to bear fruits (about 3 to 4 years in plum trees) and they must pass several exhaustive evaluations.

&laquoIn our work, we have identified the gene variants that cause anthocyanins to accumulate or not in Japanese plum skin. This means that, by just studying the seedlings' DNA, we can efficiently predict the skin colour of the fruits they will bear as soon as the plants germinate, allowing us to promptly discard all the seedlings that will produce green fruits. Thanks to this early screening, we'd need a smaller growing area and fewer resources (hydric, nutritional, phytosanitary and human) to obtain the desired new anthocyanin-rich plum variety, with the consequent economic and environmental benefits», points out Aranzana.

The reliable molecular marker for early selection of coloured and non-coloured Japanese plums developed in this research can be effectively used in breeding programmes. Anticipating at a seedling level the colour of the fruit that plants will produce in 3-4 years significantly shortens and optimizes the breeding process. Since the mechanism underlying variation in fruit colour is conserved within the Rosaceae family, this tool holds promising prospects for anthocyanin-determined colour selection in other related species of agronomic interest.

To focus on what's new, we disregard what's not. A new study by researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory substantially advances understanding of how a mammalian brain enables this "visual recognition memory."

Dismissing the things in a scene that have proven to be of no consequence is an essential function because it allows animals and people to quickly recognize the new things that need to be assessed, said Mark Bear, Picower Professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and senior author of the study in the Journal of Neuroscience.

"Everyone's appropriate behavioral response to an unexpected stimulus is to devote attentional resources to that," Bear said. "Maybe it means danger. Maybe it means food. But if you learn that this once-novel stimulus isn't anything of significance, it is super adaptive to no longer pay attention to it. It's absolutely essential for normal brain function that we're able to make a quick determination of whether a stimulus is novel or not."

People with schizophrenia and some autism spectrum disorders appear to struggle with this capability, Bear noted.

In 2006 Bear's lab discovered the first sign of visual recognition memory. Researchers detected a strong pattern of increasing electrical activity in the visual cortex as mice became familiar with an image on a screen. Subsequent research showed that this increase in electrophysiological response, dubbed SRP, or "stimulus selective response plasticity," correlated strongly with "habituation," or the behavioral loss of interest in exploring the increasingly familiar stimulus.

Since then, the lab has been working in mice to understand exactly how these phenomena emerge. Their research has shown that a well-known mechanism of learning and memory called "LTP," a strengthening of neural connections amid frequent activity, is involved but that this mechanism alone cannot produce visual recognition memory. Inhibitory neurons called parvalbumin (PV) expressing neurons also appear to be crucial parts of the circuit. PV neurons are known to produce high frequency gamma rhythms in the cortex.

In the new study led by graduate students Dustin Hayden and Daniel Montgomery, Bear's lab shows that as novel visual patterns become familiar, the transition is marked by stark changes in the visual cortex. Gamma rhythms give way to lower frequency beta rhythms and the activity of PV neurons dies out in favor of a rise in activity by inhibitory somatostatin (SOM) expressing neurons.

The study, Bear said, therefore provides an externally measurable indicator of the transition from novel to familiar - the brain rhythm shift. It also offers a new hypothesis for how visual recognition memory is enforced: PV activity, which initially inhibits the SRP electrical response, eventually itself becomes inhibited by SOM activity.

Bear's lab is working with Boston Children's Hospital researcher Chuck Nelson to determine if aberrations in SRP, such as this frequency transition, can be used as an early biomarker of autism spectrum disorders.

Same old scene

In the new study, the researchers showed mice the same simple image repeatedly over the course of several days. All the while they measured the SRP electrical response in the mice as well as neural rhythms. In parallel experiments, they engineered some mice so that their PV or SOM neurons would flash brightly when active. Then as mice watched the image, the scientists could watch for those flashes using a "two-photon" microscope.

On day one, when the image was novel, the spectrum of rhythms in the visual cortex was dominated by higher frequency gamma readings. As the days went on, gamma power diminished, replaced by a steady increase in low frequency beta power. To ensure this wasn't an unrelated transition, on day seven the scientists presented a new image and the familiar one. When the mice saw the new one, they again exhibited a gamma frequency dominated pattern. When they saw the same old original image, the visual cortex reproduced the pattern of increased beta power.

In a subsequent data analysis, the researchers found that the decline in gamma power and increase in beta power correlated significantly with the SRP growth of electrical activity, suggesting that they are indeed linked.

"These data are compatible with the hypothesis that the same underlying biology is responsible for both manifestations of SRP," the researchers wrote.

The two-photon microscope experiments revealed that underlying biology difference. PV neurons responded strongly to images when they were novel but that activity became replaced by increasing SOM activity over several days as the image became familiar.

SOM neurons are believed to suppress PV neurons, Bear said, but to prove that SOM inhibition of PV accounts for visual recognition memory, the lab still needs to perform more experiments. Using optogenetics, in which they can engineer neurons to be controlled with different colors of light, they can manipulate SOM neurons to see if turning them off causes mice to regard repeated images as forever new, or turning them on causes mice to immediately dismiss novel images as passe.

New research by scientists at Oxford Brookes University has identified specific genes which could provide vital information about the biology of developmental coordination disorder (DCD), also known as dyspraxia. Dyspraxia is a common motor coordination condition which is estimated to affect at least one child in every classroom.

DCD can impact a child's handwriting and coordination skills such as tying a shoelace or catching a ball. The condition can limit school achievement, impact cognitive development, constrain career opportunities and increase children's risk of developing mental health issues.

Despite the condition affecting five per cent of children, as common as dyslexia or autism, very little is known about why some children struggle with motor coordination.

Genetic data research is first step in understanding causes of DCD

Scientists examined genetic data from over 4,000 participants in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children who had their motor coordination tested when they were seven years old. These data were used to link common genetic variants with motor coordination difficulties, allowing them to better understand the genetic and cellular processes that are involved in DCD.

The researchers say that this is the first step in understanding the causes of DCD.

"If we can identify genes, we can use this information to understand why some children develop DCD," says Dr Hayley Mountford, Research Fellow in the Department of Biological and Medical Sciences at Oxford Brookes University and lead author of the study.

Clear potential to unravel the biology of DCD

Many children with motor coordination difficulties remain undiagnosed and coupled with a lack of research, this has a vast impact on the visibility of DCD in both the public and the medical community.

"Although this is a preliminary study, these findings show a clear potential for genetics studies to unravel the underlying biology of DCD," adds Dr Mountford. "We need to replicate these findings in larger datasets to uncover the reasons why some children are at a higher risk. This will lead to developments in the diagnosis of DCD, improving the lives of affected families."

A new review published in the Journal of Internal Medicine indicates that unmasked speech in confined spaces poses the greatest risk of spreading SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, to others.

The focus of the review is on the interface between physics and medicine, and it describes how different sized respiratory droplets emitted while speaking span a continuum of sizes and can carry different amounts of virus. Most concerning are intermediate-sized droplets that remain suspended in air for minutes and can be transported over considerable distances by convective air currents.

"We've all seen some spit droplets flying when people talk but there are thousands more, too small to be seen by the naked eye. When the water evaporates from such speech-generated, potentially virus-rich droplets, they float in the air for minutes, like smoke, thus putting others at risk," said senior author Adriaan Bax, PhD, of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

New research published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research has linked heavier birth weight with lower bone mineral density and a higher risk of bone fracture later in life.

The research, which relied on data from the UK Biobank, the Early Growth Genetics consortium, and the Genetic Factors for Osteoporosis consortium, also found evidence that differences in genes that affect birth weight can influence a person's osteoporosis risk.

The findings may be helpful for determining individuals' risks of developing osteoporosis as they age.

"This multi-stage study found consistent causal associations between birth weight and osteoporosis risk," said senior author Shu-Feng Lei, PhD, of the Medical College of Soochow University, in China. "Our results may enhance our understanding of the effects of fetal characteristics on outcomes in late adulthood and could provide clues related to early prevention of osteoporosis."

It all started, when Patrice Cani, FNRS researcher at University of Louvain (UCLouvain), and his team repeatedly observed that a bacterium (called Subdoligranulum) is almost absent in obese and diabetic people, while it is systematically present in healthy people. So, they decided to take a closer look at this "family" of bacteria.

There is as yet only one cultivated strain of this family available in the world (the only known member of a large family) and, no luck, it is not the strain that was observed to be decreased in sick people. This is not unusual: nearly 70% of bacteria in the intestine have not yet been identified (this is called the dark matter of the intestine).

In 2015, the team then set out to isolate the bacterium themselves in order to learn about its action on the human body, knowing that it is only present in healthy people. For 2 years, the scientists searched, isolated and cultivated nearly 600 bacteria from the intestine, in an attempt to find a second member of the family. All in vain. Instead, the UCLouvain team uncovered a bacterium of a new kind, still unknown until then. This achievement is already extraordinary in itself: very few scientists have the opportunity in their careers to discover a new genus of bacteria, and name it. The name they chose? Dysosmobacter welbionis. Dysosmo ("which smells bad", in Greek), bacter (bacterium) is the bacterium which stinks (!), "Because, when you grow it, it has a slight odor". Welbionis for WELBIO, the organization in the Walloon region which funded this research.

The peculiarity of this bacterium? To begin with, it produces butyrate. Nothing exceptional so far, many other bacteria produce this molecule that is known to decrease the risk of colon cancer, for example by strengthening the intestinal barrier and boost immunity. But the team also observed that Dysosmobacter welbionis was less present in people with type 2 diabetes.

Through the analysis of 12,000 fecal samples (microbiota) from around the world (i.e. a very representative population sample), the UCLouvain scientists observed that the bacteria is present in 70% of the population (which is huge). A surprising discovery. With such a presence, how come it has never been discovered before? Part of the answer probably lies in the improved cultivation techniques developed by the UCLouvain team.

The UCLouvain team including Emilie Moens de Hase (doctoral student) and Tiphaine Le Roy (post-doctoral fellow) then tested the action of Dysosmobacter welbionis in mice. The Results? The bacteria increased the number of mitochondria (a kind of power plants within cells that burns fat), thereby lowering sugar levels and weight, in addition to having strong anti-inflammatory effects. All these effects are very promising for type 2 diabetic and obese subjects and resemble those of Akkermansia, a beneficial bacterium that is at the heart of the research in Patrice Cani's lab.

Another observation? The bacteria's effects are not limited to the gut: Scientists have found that certain molecules produced by Dysosmobacter migrate around the body and have distant actions as well. This is promising and probably explains the effects of the bacteria on the fat tissues, but also opens the doors for a possible impact on other diseases such as inflammation and cancer. This is currently being investigated by the team.

The next step? To test the action of Dysosmobacter welbionis coupled with that of Akkermansia, in order to see if their association allows to cumulate their effects on health, while always keeping in mind the fight against type 2 diabetes, inflammatory diseases, obesity and cancer. "That's the fun of research: you dig for dinosaur bones and you end up finding a treasure," enthuses Patrice Cani.

The originality of these discoveries? Identifying a new bacterium and giving it a name that will then be used around the world: the number of times this was achieved in Belgium can be counted on the fingers of both hands. But that's not all, the same research team also identified the effects of this bacterium on the body and its potential interest in the fight against certain diseases. This is an additional, extremely rare step that very few scientists have taken in Belgium. In fact, this is a first, led by a team from UCLouvain, and published in the prestigious scientific journal Gut!

It's incumbent upon counselors to initiate or respond to clients' concerns about racial, ethnic, and cultural issues, but guidelines lack specific instructions. An article published in the Journal of Counseling & Development provides counselors with strategies for broaching and discussing topics of race, ethnicity, and culture with clients.

The article describes a model for broaching these issues and explains a series of steps--joining, assessment, preparation, and delivery--involved in using it.

"This and other articles serve as the foundation for the next phase in our research on counselor implementation of broaching and its impact on client mental health outcomes," the authors wrote.

A study published in Career Development Quarterly has looked at whether beliefs and attitudes influence career aspirations of college students with different genders and sexual orientations.

Among 1,129 college students at a midwestern urban university, stronger self-efficacy beliefs--or perceptions about whether a person has the ability to achieve a desired outcome--led both male and lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, intersex, and questioning (LGBQIQ) students to seek out leadership positions within their chosen career field. Stronger feminist attitudes were associated with an increase in achievement efforts for LGBQIQ college students, but not for heterosexual students.

"The results of the study not only demonstrate that beliefs and attitudes influence college students' career aspirations, but also underscore the moderating effects of gender and sexual orientation on these relationships", said lead author Darrick Tovar-Murray, PhD, of DePaul University. "Career counselors and other professionals might consider using these findings to support college students in their occupational goals and also encourage them to accomplish their vocational dreams."

New research published in Acta Paediatrica suggests that a pregnant woman's mental health may impact the touch behavior of twins and singletons during pregnancy, and in the case of twins, how frequently they touch themselves and each other. Such touch behavior might be a soothing mechanism for fetuses when mothers are stressed or depressed during their pregnancy.

The study, which was based on ultrasound scans in 30 pregnant women, also found that maternal depression and stress affected the touch and movement behaviors of both singletons and twins, but with differences between the two.

"We already know that maternal mental health, specifically stress and depression, has an effect on fetal development. The findings from this pilot study offer a fascinating insight into the prenatal experience," said lead author Nadja Reissland, DPhil, of Durham University, in the UK. "More research needs to be done to create a toolkit of resources that will allow obstetricians, midwifes, and mental health professionals to better support women throughout their pregnancies with care targeted at their healthcare needs."

Oncotarget published "[18F]FDG and [18F]FES positron emission tomography for disease monitoring and assessment of anti-hormonal treatment eligibility in granulosa cell tumors of the ovary" which reported that the authors evaluated 22 PET/CTs from recurrent Anti-hormonal granulosa cell tumors (AGCT) patients to determine tumor FDG and FES uptake by qualitative and quantitative analysis.

They included all consecutive patients from two tertiary hospitals between 2003-2020.

Expression of ERα and ERβ and mitoses per 2 mm2 were determined by immunohistochemistry and compared to FES and FDG uptake, respectively.

Qualitative assessment showed low-to-moderate FDG uptake in most patients, and intense uptake in 2/16. One patient with intense tumor FDG uptake had a high mitotic rate two out of six patients showed FES uptake on PET/CT at qualitative analysis.

Within patients, expression of ERα and ERβ varied and did not seem to correspond with FES uptake.

In one FES positive patient, tumor locations with FES uptake remained stable or decreased in size during anti-hormonal treatment, while all FES negative locations progressed.

Dr. Joline F. Roze from The Utrecht University said, "Granulosa cell tumors are a well-defined ovarian cancer subtype, responsible for 2-5% of ovarian malignancies with an annual incidence of 0.6–1.0 per 100.000 women worldwide."

Granulosa cell tumors are a well-defined ovarian cancer subtype, responsible for 2-5% of ovarian malignancies with an annual incidence of 0.6–1.0 per 100.000 women worldwide.

Surgery is the mainstay of treatment throughout the disease course, due to generally limited effects of systemic treatments such as chemotherapy and hormone therapy.

These studies found no FDG uptake in two patients, moderate uptake in two patients and intense FDG uptake in one patient with a bone metastasis.

A previous study showed that anti-estrogen treatment can decrease tumor load in a subset of 22 AGCT patients.

Nevertheless, it remains difficult to determine the treatment of choice and to identify patients that may benefit from this treatment.

This study investigates the value of FDG-PET/CT for disease monitoring and FES-PET/CT for indicating anti-hormonal treatment eligibility in AGCT patients.

The Roze Research Team concluded in their Oncotarget Research Output that it remains a clinical challenge to establish the optimal timing of treatment for AGCT recurrences.

Besides PET-CT, other diagnostics such as detection of circulating tumor DNA in plasma, are currently being investigated for disease monitoring and estimation of disease activity.

Given the low incidence of this disease, performing prospective trials in AGCT is difficult.

Future prospective research on FES-PET/CT could elucidate whether this imaging tool can be used to predict the response to hormonal treatment in AGCT patients.

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- Women's mental health likely has a higher association with dietary factors than men's, according to new research from Binghamton University, State University of New York.

Lina Begdache, assistant professor of health and wellness studies at Binghamton University, had previously published research on diet and mood that suggests that a high-quality diet improves mental health. She wanted to test whether customization of diet improves mood among men and women ages 30 or older.

Along with research assistant Cara M. Patrissy, Begdache dissected the different food groups that are associated with mental distress in men and women ages 30 years and older, as well as studied the different dietary patterns in relation to exercise frequency and mental distress. The results suggest that women's mental health has a higher association with dietary factors than that of men. Mental distress and exercise frequency were associated with different dietary and lifestyle patterns, which support the concept of customizing diet and lifestyle factors to improve mental wellbeing.

"We found a general relationship between eating healthy, following healthy dietary practices, exercise and mental well-being," said Begdache. "Interestingly, we found that for unhealthy dietary patterns, the level of mental distress was higher in women than in men, which confirmed that women are more susceptible to unhealthy eating than men."

Based on this study and others, diet and exercise may be the first line of defense against mental distress in mature women, said Begdache.

"Fast food, skipping breakfast, caffeine and high-glycemic (HG) food are all associated with mental distress in mature women," said Begdache. "Fruits and dark green leafy vegetables (DGLV) are associated with mental well-being. The extra information we learned from this study is that exercise significantly reduced the negative association of HG food and fast food with mental distress," said Begadache.

This research provides the framework needed for healthcare professionals for customizing dietary plans to promote exercise and improve mental well-being in mature adults, said Begdache. It could also provide a new perspective for the research community when assessing the role of diet on mental distress.

The researchers are conducting a parallel study with young men and women, looking at diet quality in addition to sleep and seasonal change variables from a longitudinal perspective.

The paper, "Customization of Diet May Promote Exercise and Improve Mental Wellbeing in Mature Adults: The Role of Exercise as a Mediator," was published in the Journal of Personalized Medicine.

Microphones are perhaps the most common electronic sensor in the world, with an estimated 320 million listening for our commands in the world's smart speakers. The trouble is that they're capable of hearing everything else, too.

But now, a team of University of Michigan researchers has developed a system that can inform a smart home--or listen for the signal that would turn on a smart speaker--without eavesdropping on audible sound.

The key to the device, called PrivacyMic, is ultrasonic sound at frequencies above the range of human hearing. Running dishwashers, computer monitors, even finger snaps, all generate ultrasonic sounds, which have a frequency of 20 kilohertz or higher. We can't hear them--but dogs, cats and PrivacyMic can.

The system pieces together the ultrasonic information that's all around us to identify when its services are needed, and sense what's going on around it. Researchers have demonstrated that it can identify household and office activities with greater than 95% accuracy.

"There are a lot of situations where we want our home automation system or our smart speaker to understand what's going on in our home, but we don't necessarily want it listening to our conversations," said Alanson Sample, U-M associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science. "And what we've found is that you can have a system that understands what's going on and a hard guarantee that it will never record any audible information."

Ubiquitous computing + privacy

PrivacyMic can filter out audible information right on the device. That makes it more secure than encryption or other security measures that take steps to secure audio data after it's recorded or limit who has access to it. Those measures could all leave sensitive information vulnerable to hackers, but with PrivacyMic, the information simply doesn't exist.

While smart speakers are an obvious application, the research team envisions many others that, while less common, may be more important. In-home ultrasonic devices, for example, could monitor the homes of the elderly for signs that they need help, monitor lung function in respiratory patients or listen to clinical trial participants for sonic signatures that could reveal medication side effects or other problems.

"A conventional microphone placed in somebody's home for months at a time could give doctors richer information than they've ever had before, but patients just aren't willing to do that with today's technology," Sample said. "But an ultrasonic device could give doctors and medical schools unprecedented insight into what their patients' lives are really like in a way that the patients are much more likely to accept."

The idea behind PrivacyMic began when the team was classifying previously recorded audio. Looking at a visual graph of the data, they realized that audible sound was only a small piece of what was available.

"We realized that we were sitting on a lot of interesting information that was being ignored. We could actually get a picture of what was going on in a home or office without using any audio at all," said Yasha Iravantchi, a graduate student in electrical engineering and computer science and first author on a new paper on the research.

Listening for ultrasonic sound

Armed with this insight, a laptop and an ultrasonic microphone, the team then went to work capturing audio from tooth brushing, toilet flushing, vacuuming, running dishwashers, using computer monitors and hundreds of other common activities. They then compressed the ultrasonic signatures into smaller files that included key bits of information while stripping out noise within the range of human hearing--a bit like an ultrasonic MP3--and built a Raspberry Pi-based device to listen for them.

The device, which can be set to filter out speech or to strip out all audible content, accurately identified common activities more than 95% of the time. The team also conducted a trial where study participants listened to the audio collected by the device and found that not a single participant could make out human speech.

While the device is a proof of concept at this stage, Sample says that implementing similar technology in a device like a smart speaker would require only minor modifications--software that listens for ultrasonic sound and a microphone capable of picking it up, which are inexpensive and readily available. While such a device is likely several years off, the team has applied for patent protection through the U-M Office of Technology Transfer.

"Smart technology today is an all-or-nothing proposition. You can either have nothing or you can have a device that's capable of constant audio recording," Sample said. "PrivacyMic offers another layer of privacy--you can interact with your device using audio if you choose or you can have another setting where the device can glean information without picking up audio."