Culture

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) - An international team of researchers, led by UC Davis Health, has developed a new therapeutic approach to treating psoriatic arthritis, a chronic inflammatory disease affecting the joints.

Using a novel chemical blocker targeting chemokine proteins, the researchers were able to significantly reduce skin and joint inflammation in a mouse model with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.

What is psoriatic arthritis?

Psoriatic arthritis affects up to a third of patients with psoriasis, an auto-immune skin inflammation. It creates mobility and functional changes that make it painful for patients to use their hands or walk. Some of these changes are irreversible.

Psoriatic arthritis is tough to treat.

"There is a clear need for better treatments using alternative approaches to joint inflammation," said Sam T. Hwang, professor and chair of dermatology at UC Davis and senior author of the study.

Understanding the mechanism behind joint inflammation

Chemokines are small molecules with a critical role in the body's response to inflammation and infection. They help guide the migration of immune cells to the site of injury or trauma. Chemokines need receptors to function. One specific chemokine receptor is CCR6.

The researchers assessed the role of CCR6 and its binding partner CC chemokine ligand 20 (CCL20) in inflammation linked to psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis. They looked at the potential of the CCR6/CCL20 combo as an effective therapeutic target.

They measured the CCR6 and the CCL20 levels in the joint fluid and tendon tissues of patients with psoriatic arthritis. CCR6 is a critical agent for the migration of T cells - a type of white blood cells - in skin psoriasis. The new study showed that CCR6 plays a similar role in joint inflammation. The team also found that CCL20 is present at very high levels in inflamed joint fluid.

"We observed a significant increase of both CCR6 and CCL20 in the connective tissue of mice with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis," Hwang noted. "This high presence was also confirmed in inflamed human tendon biopsies."

The presence of CCL20 at the site of the inflammation makes it a very attractive target for arthritis therapy.

The connective tissue linking tendons and ligaments with the bones is called the enthesis. It is an important site of inflammation in psoriatic arthritis. The study found that entheses are distinct locations which CCR6+ T cells appear to locate and, therefore, cause inflammation.

"It is critical to identify the specific tissues where inflammation in the joints first occurs before it spreads and damages the cartilage and the bone," Hwang said.

Blocking the function of the CCR6 chemokine

The researchers tested the ability of a novel engineered protein- known as CCL20 locked dimer (CCL20LD)- in blocking the CCR6 function in a mouse model with psoriatic arthritis. The protein profoundly reduced both skin and joint inflammation by shutting the CCR6's power to attract T cells.

"The success of CCL2OLD in blocking CCR6 function in a mouse model shows potential for treating psoriatic arthritis in humans," Hwang said. "Definitely, this requires more testing and clinical trials to explore its effectiveness and safety."

The study was published in the journal Arthritis & Rheumatology.

A recent study by a team of researchers led by Dr Vinod Kumar Saranathan from the Division of Science at Yale-NUS College has discovered a complex, three-dimensional crystal called the single gyroid within feathers of the blue-winged leafbird. Dr Saranathan and his team's breakthrough came from their investigation of the feather colours of leafbirds, an enigmatic group of perching birds endemic to South and Southeast Asia (including Singapore), one species of which has evolved the unique crystals in its plumage.

By comparing the colour-producing nanostructures present in close relatives, the team reported that this species is able to directly synthesise single gyroid photonic crystals, which have highly desirable optical and electronic properties that make them ideal for use in photovoltaic cells to generate solar energy. Use of this crystal - a "crowning achievement" in material science engineering which thus far has been manufactured only with great difficulty - has the potential not only to improve photovoltaic cells, meaning they can be produced more easily and cheaply, but also for use in other industrial applications like catalysis in fuel cells and fibre optics.

Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), this study is particularly relevant as the search for renewable sources of energy and sustainable manufacturing has taken on a fresh urgency.

Dr Saranathan, who holds a concurrent appointment at the National University of Singapore's Department of Biological Sciences, said, "Currently, we cannot industrially manufacture single gyroid photonic crystals to work in the visible light spectrum, via self-assembly, a process that spontaneously brings together nanoscale chemical 'Lego-blocks'. Larger crystals can be manufactured and then heat-shrunk to work with visible light, but so far this can be done only on a small scale and is not defect-free. Thus, our discovery of the first directly self-assembled single gyroid crystals known to science, found in these leafbirds, we think is revolutionary. The way leafbirds manufacture these crystals is much more straightforward than how butterflies (some of which use the same structure in their wing scales) or material scientists are known to do so."

"Our research provides a clear insight on the class of patchy particles like charged proteins that researchers can investigate in the future, to see if they can be coaxed into forming these crystals at visible light scales. Knowing how leafbirds manufacture these exotic structures can spur novel biomimetic eco-friendly self-assembly strategies for large-scale materials synthesis at these highly challenging optical length-scales, given the urgent ecological need for such materials."

BUFFALO, N.Y. - College students who engaged in four or more high-impact practices such as study abroad or internships have a 70% chance of either enrolling in graduate school or finding a full-time job after graduating with a bachelor's degree, finds a new University at Buffalo study.

Each additional high-impact practice increased a student's chance of attaining a bachelor's degree and a full-time job by 17% or enrolling in graduate school by 30%, according to the study. These practices - such as study abroad, internships, undergraduate research, community service, first-year seminars and capstone courses - have the greatest influence on college success, regardless of student or family background, say the researchers.

The results, published in the International Journal of Educational Research Open, may help universities close the learning gap between immigrant and international college students compared to students whose families were born in the United States, ensuring educational equity and inclusion for marginalized students.

Immigrant students are more likely to be economically disadvantaged, take part in fewer high-impact practices, and lag behind U.S.-born students in graduation rates, graduate school enrollment and job attainment, according to the study.

International students excel in graduation rates and graduate school enrollment but trail in finding full-time employment, despite higher levels of participation in high-impact practices than U.S.-born students. Strict anti-immigration policies that limit employment, internship and research opportunities for international students may contribute to their difficulties in finding employment, says lead investigator Jaekyung Lee, PhD, professor of counseling, school and educational psychology in the UB Graduate School of Education.

"Disadvantaged students are often neglected and stereotyped as not being capable of obtaining success when it is the environments that are at fault," says Lee. "Transforming one's self-trajectory at the individual level is an unfair burden on students whose every day is already fraught with multi-systemic barriers. Intentional, committed action at the institutional level is vital to students' college readiness and success."

"It is important that higher education institutions do not merely state they value inclusion, but provide support services that address key issues such as language difficulties, adjusting to cultural norms, financial concerns and discrimination," says Namsook Kim, PhD, co-author and clinical assistant professor of educational leadership and policy in the UB Graduate School of Education.

The study, funded by the AccessLex Institute, Association for Institutional Research, and UB Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy, sought to compare the performance of immigrant and international college students with U.S.-born students, and understand the factors that improved or impeded their success.

The researchers examined data on student transition from college to career from the National Center for Education Statistics, and interviewed international and immigrant students. Students were considered U.S.-born if their parents were born in the U.S., and regarded as immigrants if their parents were born in another country but reside in the U.S.

Lithium is a vital element in the batteries that power electric vehicles, but soaring lithium demand is expected to exhaust land-based reserves by 2080. KAUST researchers have now developed an economically viable system that can extract high-purity lithium from seawater.

The oceans contain about 5,000 times more lithium than the land but at extremely low concentrations of about 0.2 parts per million (ppm). Larger ions, including sodium, magnesium and potassium, are all present in seawater at much higher concentrations; however, previous research efforts to tease lithium from this mixture have yielded little.

The KAUST team solved this problem with an electrochemical cell containing a ceramic membrane made from lithium lanthanum titanium oxide (LLTO). Its crystal structure contains holes just wide enough to let lithium ions pass through while blocking larger metal ions. "LLTO membranes have never been used to extract and concentrate lithium ions before," says postdoc Zhen Li, who developed the cell.

The cell contains three compartments. Seawater flows into a central feed chamber, where positive lithium ions pass through the LLTO membrane into a side compartment that contains a buffer solution and a copper cathode coated with platinum and ruthenium. Meanwhile, negative ions exit the feed chamber through a standard anion exchange membrane, passing into a third compartment containing a sodium chloride solution and a platinum-ruthenium anode.

The researchers tested the system using seawater from the Red Sea. At a voltage of 3.25V, the cell generates hydrogen gas at the cathode and chlorine gas at the anode. This drives the transport of lithium through the LLTO membrane, where it accumulates in the side-chamber. This lithium-enriched water then becomes the feedstock for four more cycles of processing, eventually reaching a concentration of more than 9,000 ppm. Adjusting the pH of this solution delivers solid lithium phosphate that contains mere traces of other metal ions -- pure enough to meet battery manufacturers' requirements.

The researchers estimate that the cell would need only US$5 of electricity to extract 1 kilogram of lithium from seawater. The value of hydrogen and chlorine produced by the cell would more than offset this cost, and residual seawater could also be used in desalination plants to provide freshwater.

"We will continue optimizing the membrane structure and cell design to improve the process efficiency," says group leader Zhiping Lai. His team also hopes to collaborate with the glass industry to produce the LLTO membrane at large scale and affordable cost.

Regular strength and impact-type training may decrease or even prevent age-related bone deterioration in men, new research at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, shows. The tibial bone properties of middle-aged and older male sprint athletes were followed over 10 years. The study presents novel findings on maintaining the adaptability of the aging skeleton and on the importance of regular intensive training for maintaining bone health.

"Part of the age-related bone loss is probably explained by reduced levels of physical activity. Especially intensive, bone-loading exercise typically decreases with age," says Tuuli Suominen, a doctoral researcher at the Gerontology Research Center, Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences at the University of Jyväskylä.

High-intensity strength, sprint and jumping training have beneficial effects on bone even in old age. However, the ability of such training to prevent or decrease age-related bone deterioration remains unclear, as no longitudinal studies have been conducted on the topic thus far.

Associations of regular strength and sprint training with bone aging were examined in a larger research program by the Gerontology Research Center and Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. A total of 69 men aged 40 to 85 years participated in the follow-up part of the study. At the beginning of the follow-up, all the men were training and competing actively.

Tibial bone properties of the participants were examined by computed tomography at baseline and after 10 years. The associations of the training status with the longitudinal changes in bone were examined in two groups: in athletes who had continued regular strength and sprint training and in athletes who had reduced their training load.

The study showed that regular strength and sprint training was associated with maintained or even improved tibial bone properties while in those athletes who had reduced their training load the bone properties declined over the 10-year follow-up period. The positive effects of the training were most evident in trabecular bone density and in cross-sectional geometry of the tibial shaft, which supports the benefits of both impact-type training and strength training.

"Although the intensive training of the athletes as such is not possible for all aging people, strength and power training is highly recommended at all ages, regardless of the functional status," Suominen says. "In the present study, the benefits of high-impact training were most evident among middle-aged while strength training may be effective in preserving bone in older populations. Muscle strength and power are highly important also in preventing falls and related fractures."

Affecting more than one in a hundred children, autism spectrum disorder is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders. It has a particular impact on social interaction, including difficulties in understanding other people's perspectives, beliefs, desires and emotions, known as 'theory of mind'. Bilingual families with an autistic child often tend - and are sometimes encouraged - to forego the use of one of the home languages, so as not to further complicate the development of their child's communicative skills. A researcher from the University of Geneva (UNIGE, Switzerland), in collaboration with the Universities of Thessaly (Greece) and Cambridge (Great-Britain), has shown that bilingualism allows autistic children to partially compensate for deficits in theory of mind and executive functions, which are at the root of many of their challenges. These results can be read in the journal Autism Research.

Diagnosed in early childhood, autism spectrum disorder has a particular impact on a child's social and communicative abilities. "It is a spectrum, which is why the intensity of the symptoms varies greatly", explains Stéphanie Durrleman, a researcher in the Department of Linguistics at the UNIGE Faculty of Arts and co-author of the study. "But what children with autism have in common is that they have difficulties putting themselves in the place of their interlocutor, focusing on the latter's point of view and thus disengaging their attention from their own perspective." Autism therefore affects not only everything that has to do with the theory of mind - understanding the beliefs, emotions, intentions and desires of others - but also often executive functions, including attentional abilities.

Could benefits of bilingualism be applied to children with autism?

Studies on bilingualism have shown that children without autism who use several languages have increased theory of mind and executive function skills compared to monolingual children. "Bilingualism therefore seems to bring benefits precisely where the autistic child has difficulties", says Stéphanie Durrleman. "We therefore wondered whether bilingual autistic children manage to mitigate the difficulties of their neurodevelopmental disorder by using two languages every day."

To test this hypothesis, the researchers from the universities of Geneva, Thessaly and Cambridge followed 103 autistic children aged 6 to 15, 43 of whom were bilingual. "In order to observe the real effects of bilingualism on their socio-communicative skills, we grouped them according to their age, gender and the intensity of their autistic disorder", explains Eleni Peristeri, researcher at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Thessaly and co-author of the study. The participants then performed various tasks to assess their theory of mind and executive function skills. The bilinguals quickly distinguished themselves by scoring higher than their monolingual peers. "On tasks relating to theory of mind, i.e. their ability to understand another person's behaviour by putting themselves in their place, the bilingual children gave 76% correct answers, compared with 57% for the monolingual children", notes the Greek researcher. The same is true for executive functions: the score for correct responses in bilinguals is twice that of monolinguals. But why are the differences so clear?

"Bilingualism requires the child to work first on skills directly related to theory of mind, i.e. he or she must constantly be concerned with the knowledge of others: Does the person I am speaking to speak Greek or Albanian? In what language should I talk to him or her? Then, in a second phase, the child uses his executive functions by focusing his attention on one language, while inhibiting the second", explains Eleni Peristeri. This is a real gymnastics for the brain, which acts precisely on the deficits linked to the autistic disorder.

Encouraging bilingualism instead of giving it up

"From our evaluations, we can clearly see that bilingualism is very beneficial for children with autism spectrum disorders", enthuses Stéphanie Durrleman. In order to certify that the socio-economic level in which the participants grew up did not play a role in the results, this was also recorded and it turned out that the bilingual children were mostly in a lower socio-economic environment than the monolinguals. "We can therefore affirm that benefits in theory of mind and executive functions emerge in bilinguals, even when there is a socio-economic disadvantage", says the Geneva researcher.

These findings are important for the care of children diagnosed with autism. "Indeed, as this neurodevelopmental disorder often affects language acquisition, bilingual families tend to give up the use of one of the two languages, so as not to exacerbate the learning process. However, it is now clear that far from putting autistic children in difficulty bilingualism can, on the contrary, help these children to overcome several aspects of their disorder, serving as a kind of natural therapy", concludes Stéphanie Durrleman.

Paleo researcher Charlotte Prud'homme, who until recently worked at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and is now a researcher at the Université Lausanne, explains: "The 80-meter-thick sedimentary sequence we found at Charyn Canyon in southeast Kazakhstan provides us with a virtually continuous record of five million years of climate change. This is a very rare occurrence on land!" The alternating dust and soil layers provide the first reliable evidence, in one place, of long-term interactions between major climate systems on the Eurasian continent. "Over the past five million years, the land surfaces of Eurasia appear to have more actively contributed to the land-atmosphere-ocean water-cycle than previously acknowledged. The sediments preserved at Charyn Canyon acted as a litmus test for the influx of freshwater into the Arctic Ocean, stimulating the transport of moist air masses from the North Atlantic back onto land via westerly air flows," corresponding author Prud'homme says. The results of the research have now been published in the scientific journal Communications Earth and Environment.

The researchers focused their investigation on the Pliocene and Pleistocene periods. The Pliocene, five to 2.6 million years ago, represents the best analogue for the climatic conditions of the Anthropocene: this geologic time period was the last time concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was comparable to today, around 400 parts per million (ppm). "That's why our insights from the Charyn Canyon sediments are so essential for understanding future climate," Prud'homme says.

Until now, little has been known about the role Central Asia plays in global climate evolution past and present. Earth's climate evolution over the past five million years has been understood mainly from the perspective of marine mechanisms. In contrast, the significance of climate feedbacks that originated on land - rather than in the oceans, lakes or ice cores - has remained largely unexplored. The international research team has filled this gap with their field research in Charyn Canyon.

Interactions between mid- and high-latitude climatic systems

The geographical location of the study site in the middle of Central Asia was of key importance to the team: "We needed to find a place that was inland and as far away from the ocean as possible," Kathryn Fitzsimmons, Group Leader of the Terrestrial Paleoclimate Reconstruction Research Group at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, explains. "We could hardly find a more continental situation than at Charyn Canyon in southeastern Kazakhstan." The semi-arid climate of the canyon, and its landscape, was shaped by the interaction between the mid-latitude westerlies and the high-latitude polar fronts, and by sediment transported from the nearby Tien Shan mountains. Charyn Canyon is ideal, according to Kathryn Fitzsimmons, for studying long-term land-climate feedback mechanisms.

The researchers examined the 80-meter-thick sedimentary succession and sampled by abseil to ensure continuous coverage of the record. By measuring the relative concentrations of isotopes within soil carbonates, they reconstructed the changing availability of moisture in the soil through time. A combination of paleomagnetic analyses and absolute uranium-lead dating of soil carbonates established the age and accumulation rates of the sediment record. The soil samples revealed a region characterized by ever-increasing aridity over the last five million years. In the early Pliocene, the soil was significantly wetter than in subsequent epochs or than today's climate. This process of aridification was not linear, however; it was interrupted by short-term climate fluctuations which provide insights into the interaction between the mid-latitude westerly winds and the Siberian high-pressure system.

Interaction between the Siberian high and rain-bringing westerlies

The research at Charyn Canyon enabled the scientists to investigate the long-term interaction of the Siberian high with the rain-bringing westerlies. Kathryn Fitzsimmons says: "We're confident that the changes in soil moisture we found at our site can also be used as a proxy for Siberian river activity further north." The hydroclimate at Charyn Canyon reflects that of the steppe to the north, from where a number of large Siberian rivers, such as the Irtysh and Ob, flow, she says. These are similarly influenced by the dynamics of the Siberian high and westerly air masses. One particular phase where this link is important stands out: a sustained period of wet conditions at Charyn Canyon just prior to the first major global glaciation around 3.3 million years ago. It is likely that these wet conditions extended to the Siberian rivers to the north, whose outflow of fresh water to the Arctic ocean may have breached a tipping point for widespread increased sea ice formation.

The information from this most complete terrestrial climate archive for the past five million years provides a very valuable basis for future climate models. Charlotte Prud'homme literally says, "We have opened a door."

The so-called 'bullshit jobs theory' - which argues that a large and rapidly increasing number of workers are undertaking jobs that they themselves recognise as being useless and of no social value - contains several major flaws, argue researchers from the universities of Cambridge and Birmingham.

Even so, writing in Work, Employment and Society, the academics applaud its proponent, American anthropologist David Graeber, who died in September 2020, for highlighting the link between a sense of purpose in one's job and psychological wellbeing.

Graeber initially put forward the concept of 'bullshit jobs' - jobs that even those who do them view as worthless - in his 2013 essay The Democracy Project. He further expanded this theory in his 2018 book Bullshit Jobs: A Theory, looking at possible reasons for the existence of such jobs.

Jobs that Graeber described as bullshit (BS) jobs range from doormen and receptionists to lobbyists and public relations specialists through to those in the legal profession, particularly corporate lawyers and legal consultants.

Dr Magdalena Soffia from the University of Cambridge and the What Works Centre for Wellbeing, one of the authors of the article, said: "There's something appealing about the bullshit jobs theory. The fact that many people have worked in such jobs at some point may explain why Graeber's work resonates with so many people who can relate to the accounts he gives. But his theory is not based on any reliable empirical data, even though he puts forward several propositions, all of which are testable."

To test Graeber's propositions, the researchers turned to the 2005-2015 European Working Conditions Surveys (EWCS), examining reasons that led to respondents answering 'rarely' or 'never' to the statement: 'I have the feeling of doing useful work'. The surveys - taken in 2005, 2010 and 2015 - gather measures on the usefulness of the job, workers' wellbeing and objective data on the quality of work. The number of respondents grew from over 21,000 in 2005 to almost 30,000 in 2015.

According to Graeber, somewhere between 20% and 50% of the workforce - possibly as many as 60% - are employed in BS jobs. Yet the EWCS found that just 4.8% of EU workers said they did not feel they were doing useful work. The figure was slightly higher in the UK and Ireland, but still only 5.6% of workers.

Graeber also claimed that the number of BS jobs has been 'increasing rapidly in recent years', despite presenting no empirical evidence. Again the researchers found no evidence to support this conjecture - in fact, the percentage of people in BS jobs fell from 7.8% in 2005 to just 4.8% in 2015 - exactly the opposite of Graeber's prediction.

His next hypothesis was that BS jobs are concentrated in particular professions, such as finance, law, administration and marketing, and largely absent in others, such as those linked to public services and manual labour. "Many service workers hate their jobs; but even those who do are aware that what they do does make some sort of meaningful difference in the world . . . [Whereas] we can only assume that any office worker who one might suspect secretly believes themselves to have a bullshit job does, indeed, believe this," he wrote.

When the researchers ranked the occupations by the proportion of people who rated their job as rarely or never useful, they found no evidence for the existence of occupations in which the majority of workers feel their work is not useful.

The authors found that workers in some occupations, such as teachers and nurses, generally see themselves as doing useful jobs, while sales workers are above average in the proportion rating their job as not useful (7.7%). Even so, most of the results contradict Graeber's assertion. For example, legal professionals and administration professionals are all low on this ranking, and jobs that Graeber rates as being examples of essential non-BS jobs, such as refuse collectors (9.7%) and cleaners and helpers (8.1%), are high on this scale.

Not everything that Graeber suggested was wrong, however. He argued, for example, that BS jobs are a form of 'spiritual violence' that lead to anxiety, depression and misery among workers. The team found strong evidence between the perception of one's job as useless and an individual's psychological wellbeing, albeit a correlation rather than necessarily a causal link. In the UK in 2015, workers who felt their job was not useful scored significantly lower on the World Health Organisation Well-Being Index than those who felt they were doing useful work (a mean average of 49.3 compared with 64.5). There was a similar gap across other EU nations.

Dr Alex Wood from the University of Birmingham said: "When we looked at readily-available data from a large cohort of people across Europe, it quickly became apparent to us that very few of the key propositions in Graeber's theory can be sustained - and this is the case in every country we looked at, to varying degrees. But one of his most important propositions - that BS jobs are a form of 'spiritual violence' - does seem to be supported by the data."

Given that, in absolute terms, a substantial number of people do not view their jobs as useful, what then leads to this feeling? The team found that those individuals who felt respected and encouraged by management were less likely to report their work as useless. Conversely, when employees experience management that is disrespectful, inefficient or poor at giving feedback, they were less likely to perceive their work as useful.

Similarly, individuals who saw their job as useful tended to be able to use their own ideas at work - an important element for feeling that your job provides you with the ability to make the most of your skills - was correlated with a perception of usefulness. There was a clear relationship between the extent to which people felt that they had enough time to do their job well and their rating of the usefulness of their job, suggesting that one source of feeling a job to be useless is the pace at which one is working, affecting the ability to realise one's potential and capabilities. Other factors correlated with feeling that a job was worthwhile included support by managers and colleagues and the ability to influence important decisions and the direction of an organization.

Professor Brendan Burchell from the University of Cambridge said: "Although the data doesn't always support David Graeber's claims, his insightful and imaginative work played an important role in raising awareness of the harms of useless jobs. He may have been way off the mark with regards how common BS jobs are, but he was right to link people's attitudes towards their jobs to their psychological wellbeing, and this is something that employers - and society as a whole - should take seriously.

"Most importantly, employees need to be respected and valued if they in turn are to value - and benefit psychologically as well as financially from - their jobs."

RUDN University mathematician and his colleagues from France and Hungary developed an algorithm for parallel computing, which allows solving applied problems, such as electrodynamics or hydrodynamics. The gain in time is up to 50%. The results are published in the Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics.

Parallel computing methods are often used to process practical problems in physics, engineering, biology, and other fields. It involves several processors joined in a net to simultaneously solve a single problem -- each has its own small part. The way to distribute the work between the processors and make them "communicate" with each other is a choice based on the specifics of a particular problem. One possible method is domain decomposition. The study domain is divided into separate parts -- subdomains -- according to the number of processors. When that number is very high, especially in heterogeneous high-performance computing (HPC) environments, asynchronous processes constitute a valuable ingredient. Usually, Schwarz methods are used, in which the subdomains overlap each other. This provides accurate results but does not suit when overlap is not straightforward. RUDN University Mathematician and his colleagues from France and Hungary proposed a new algorithm that makes the asynchronous decomposition easier in many structural cases -- the subdomains do not overlap; the result remains accurate with less time needed for computation.

"Until now, almost all investigations of asynchronous iterations within domain decomposition frameworks targeted methods of the parallel Schwarz type. A first, and sole, attempt to deal with primal nonoverlapping decomposition resulted in simultaneously iterating on the subdomains and on the interface between them. That means that computation scheme is defined on the whole global domain", Guillaume Gbikpi-Benissan, Engineering Academy of RUDN University.

Mathematicians proposed an algorithm based on the Gauss-Seidel method. The essence of the innovation is that the calculation algorithm is not run simultaneously on the entire domain, but alternately on the subdomains and the boundaries between them. As a result, the values obtained during each iteration within the subdomain can be immediately used for calculations on the boundary at no additional cost.

Mathematicians tested the new algorithm on the Poisson equation and the linear elasticity problem. The first one is used, for example, to describe the electrostatic field, the second one is used in hydrodynamics, to describe the motion of liquids. The new method was faster than the original one for both equations. A gain of up to 50% was indeed achieved -- with 720 subdomains, the computation of the Poisson equation took 84 seconds while the original algorithm spent 170 seconds. Moreover, the number of synchronous alternating iterations decreases with an increase in the number of subdomains.

"It is a quite interesting behavior which can be explained by the fact that the ratio of alternation increases as the subdomains sizes are reduced and more of interface appears. This work therefore encourages for further possibilities and new promising investigations of the asynchronous computing paradigm", Guillaume Gbikpi-Benissan, Engineering Academy of RUDN University.

"Ornaments composed of elk teeth suspended from or sown on to clothing emit a loud rattling noise when moving," says auditory archaeologist and Academy of Finland Research Fellow Riitta Rainio from the University of Helsinki. "Wearing such rattlers while dancing makes it easier to immerse yourself in the soundscape, eventually letting the sound and rhythm take control of your movements. It is as if the dancer is led in the dance by someone."

Rainio is well versed in the topic, as she danced, for research purposes, for six consecutive hours, wearing elk tooth ornaments produced according to the Stone Age model. Rainio and artist Juha Valkeapää held a performance to find out what kind of wear marks are formed in the teeth when they bang against each other and move in all directions. The sound of a tooth rattler can be clear and bright or loud and pounding, depending on the number and quality of the teeth, as well as the intensity of movement.

Microanalysis demonstrates that tooth wear marks are the result of dancing

The teeth worn out by dancing were analysed for any microscopic marks before and after the dancing. These marks were then compared to the findings made in the Yuzhniy Oleniy Ostrov graves by Evgeny Girya, an archaeologist specialised in micro-marks at the Russian Academy of Sciences. Girya documented and analysed the wear marks in the elk teeth found in four graves chosen for the experiment. Comparing the chips, hollows, cuts and smoothened surfaces of the teeth, he observed a clear resemblance between teeth worn out by dancing and the Stone Age teeth. However, the marks in the Stone Age teeth were deeper and more extensive. According to Girya, the results show that the marks are the result of similar activity.

"As the Stone Age teeth were worn for years or even decades, it's no surprise that their marks are so distinctive," Girya says.

Associate Professor of Archaeology Kristiina Mannermaa from the University of Helsinki is excited by the research findings.

"Elk tooth rattlers are fascinating, since they transport modern people to a soundscape that is thousands of years old and to its emotional rhythms that guide the body. You can close your eyes, listen to the sound of the rattlers and drift on the soundwaves to a lakeside campfire in the world of Stone Age hunter-gatherers."

A total of 177 graves of women, men and children have been found in the Yuzhniy Oleniy Ostrov burial site, of which more than half contain several elk tooth ornaments, some of them composed of as many as over 300 individual teeth.

Physiologically, milk contains biocomponents that are highly protective against infections. In light of this, the AGR-149-Infectious Diseases group at the University of Cordoba's Department of Animal Health is doing research that focuses on cow's milk as a possible source of Covid-19 control. The results have been published, partially, in the journal Frontiers in Immunology.

This is possible due to "crossed immunity", and there is already evidence of the protection it provides, explained one of the principal investigators, Mari Carmen Borge. "It has been shown that the immune cells that the vaccinated animal generates against bovine coronavirus are capable of controlling other coronaviruses as well, such as SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19".

Antonio Arenas, principal investigator on the project, spoke of the similarity that exists between Bovine Coronavirus (BCoV) and SARS-CoV-2 to explain the effectiveness of this technique. "There are a number of highly conserved structures of the virus that are similar in both viruses. In fact, both belong to the genus Betacoronavirus. Thus, cow's milk could have a total or partial blocking action against SARS-CoV-2".

In this way, these bovine antibodies could neutralize the virus in people who are already infected, or help prevent the disease in those who have not been vaccinated, or who have been, but have not developed immunity.

Thus, the aim is to come up with a supplement that would boost the immune system through a dairy preparation with a high level of antibodies, helping the system control infection through different immune pathways.

The animals from which the milk is extracted have been previously vaccinated with commercial BCoV vaccines, thus generating high levels of antibodies. However, the time when milk is most effective is just after a birth: "then the level of immunoglobulin in the milk increases - what is called colostrum - but it has a certain duration," Arenas added.

Now the scientific challenge is to be able to extend the colostrum period, and also to study how to always ensure the same level of antibodies in the final product. Plans call for it to be marketed in single-dose format as of September. "For this, we have to readjust the reproduction cycles of bovine farms in order to always maintain a set of animals with high antibodies", the researcher explained.

This dairy preparation, which anyone can consume, has already been tested on more than 300 people. Amongst them, no serious Covid-19 process has been detected. As soon as it goes on the market an observational test will be carried out. In any case, it will not be harmful to health, and it could become a natural resource providing people with a certain level of immunity.

There are other technological challenges: herd management, hygiene processes, conservation, packaging, marketing, medical, etc., that make this a holistic and complex project.

Researchers have re-animated specimens of a fungus that causes coffee wilt to discover how the disease evolved and how its spread can be prevented.

Coffee Wilt Disease is caused by a fungus that has led to devastating outbreaks since the 1920s in sub-Saharan Africa, and currently affects two of Africa's most popular coffee varieties: Arabica and Robusta.

The new research shows that the fungus likely boosted its ability to infect coffee plants by acquiring genes from a closely related fungus, which causes wilt disease on a wide range of crops, including Panama disease in bananas.

The researchers say this knowledge could help farmers reduce the risk of new disease strains emerging, for example by not planting coffee together with other crops or by preventing the build-up of plant debris that could harbour the related fungus.

The research team, from Imperial College London, the University of Oxford, and the agricultural not-for-profit CABI, also say that studying historical samples in CABI's culture collection could provide a wealth of insights into how crop diseases evolve and find new, sustainable ways to fight them. The study is published today in BMC Genomics.

First author of the study Lily Peck is studying on the Science and Solutions for a Changing Planet Doctoral Training Partnership at the Grantham Institute and the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial. She said: "Using ever-higher volumes of chemicals and fungicides to fight emerging crop diseases is neither sustainable nor affordable for many growers.

"If we can instead understand how new types of diseases evolve, we can give growers the knowledge they need to reduce the risk of new diseases emerging in the first place."

The team re-animated cryogenically frozen samples of the fungus that causes Coffee Wilt Disease. There have been two serious outbreaks of the disease, in the 1920s-1950s and between the 1990s-2000s, and it still causes damage. For example, in 2011, 55,000 Robusta coffee trees were killed by wilt in Tanzania, destroying 160T of coffee in the process - equivalent to over 22 million cups of coffee.

In the outbreak beginning in the 1920s, Coffee Wilt Disease infected a wide range of coffee varieties, and was eventually brought under control in the 1950s by management practices such as burning infected trees, seeking natural resistance in coffee, and breeding programs that selected for more resistant plant varieties.

However, the disease re-emerged in the 1970s and spread extensively through the 1990s-2000s. Two separate disease populations have been identified with each only infecting specific types of coffee: one infecting Arabica coffee in Ethiopia, and the other infecting Robusta coffee in east and central Africa. The team wanted to investigate how the two strains had emerged.

In a secure lab at CABI, they re-awakened two strains from the original outbreak, collected in the 1950s and deposited into CABI's collection, and two strains each from the two coffee-specific fungal strains, with the most recent from 2003. They then sequenced the genomes of the fungi and examined their DNA for evidence of changes that could have helped them infect these specific coffee varieties.

They discovered the newer, variety-specific fungi have larger genomes than the earlier strains, and they identified genes that could have helped the fungi overcome plants' defences and survive within the plants to trigger disease.

These genes were also found to be highly similar to those found in a different, closely related fungus that affects over 120 different crops, including bananas in sub-Saharan Africa, causing Panama disease, which is currently devastating today's most popular variety, the Cavendish banana.

While strains of this banana-infecting fungus are known to be able to swap genes, conferring the ability to infect new varieties, the potential transfer of their genes to a different species of fungi has not been seen before. However, the team note that the two species sometimes live in close proximity on the roots of coffee and banana plants, and so it is possible that the coffee fungus gained these advantageous genes from its normally banana-based neighbour.

Coffee and bananas are often grown together, as coffee plants like the shade provided by the taller banana plants. The researchers say their study could suggest not growing crops with closely related diseases together, like banana and coffee, could reduce the possibility of new strains of coffee-killing fungi evolving.

The researchers are now using the re-animated strains to infect coffee plants in the lab, in order to study exactly how the fungus infects the plant, potentially providing other ways to prevent the disease taking hold.

The insights could also be applied to different crop plants, where other closely related plant pathogens could make similar leaps, causing new diseases to emerge. Having shown the value of examining historical specimens of plant disease, the team plan to replicate the study with other diseases stored in CABI's collection, which hosts 30,000 specimens collected from around the world over the past 100 years.

Lead researcher Professor Timothy Barraclough, from the Department of Zoology at Oxford and the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial, said: "The historical approach shows us what happens to a plant pathogen before and after a new outbreak of disease occurs. We can then study the mechanisms of evolution and improve predictions of how similar outbreaks could occur in the future.

"Our aim is to replicate this study for many plant pathogens, eventually drawing up a 'rule book' of how pathogenicity evolves, helping us to prevent future outbreaks where possible."

Concerns about side effects and whether vaccines have been through enough testing are holding people back from getting vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a new report.

Data from an international survey of 15 countries* which ran between March and May this year showed that these were the most commonly cited reasons for not having had a coronavirus vaccine yet, in addition to not being eligible for one. Respondents' other commonly reported reasons included concerns about not getting the vaccine they would prefer, and worries over whether the vaccines are effective enough.

Led by Imperial College London's Institute of Global Health Innovation in collaboration with YouGov, the survey also looked at trust in COVID-19 vaccines. Findings from over 68,000 people showed that there is variation across the world but overall, confidence is high with greater than 50% of respondents saying they trust coronavirus vaccines, except in South Korea and Japan (47%). People in the UK are most trusting with almost 9 in 10 saying they trust the vaccines (87%), followed by Israel (83%).

People's trust in different vaccine brands was also found to vary. Among respondents who hadn't yet been vaccinated, Pfizer was the most trusted across all age groups in 9 of the 15 countries, and also in the under 65s in three additional countries (Canada, Singapore and Sweden).

The most notable exceptions to this trend were found in countries with high rates of vaccination, namely the UK, US and Israel. People in Israel showed little preference with most under 65s saying they would trust any of the brands listed (AstraZeneca/Oxford, Pfizer, Moderna, Sputnik V and Sinopharm), while the biggest share of over 65s said they wouldn't trust any of them. Respondents in the US showed the least trust in the different brands, with the largest share of people across all ages saying they don't trust any of them.

In the UK, Oxford/AstraZeneca was the most trusted vaccine in the under 65s back in March but confidence has declined over time across all age groups. In most other countries, trust in Oxford/AstraZeneca is low, as with Sputnik V and Sinopharm.

Professor Ara Darzi, co-director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation, said: "Effective COVID-19 vaccination programmes are about demand as much as supply, and this global survey reveals important insight into why people might not put themselves forward to take one if offered. It's vital that leaders listen to these concerns and address them with urgency so that more people will be willing to accept these life-saving vaccines."

The report is part of a major ongoing effort to monitor changing patterns of health-related behaviours and attitudes during the pandemic. Since April 2020 the researchers have surveyed more than half a million global citizens so that leaders can plan public health responses based on their country's needs.

The most recent survey, carried out with contribution from the WHO working group on measuring behavioural and social drivers of COVID-19 vaccination, shows that confidence in health authorities varies. People in the UK had the most confidence, with 70% believing their government would provide an effective coronavirus vaccine, while South Korea had the least confidence (42%). In five countries, under half said they believe their governments will do so.

Sarah Jones, co-project lead from the Institute of Global Health Innovation, said: "Our programme has been tracking people's attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines since November and it's encouraging to see that trust has steadily been climbing. However our findings show that there is still much work to be done to reassure the public of the safety and effectiveness of coronavirus vaccines. We hope that sharing the concerns people have raised will spur timely and targeted responses from governments that will inform and educate the public about the importance of vaccination."

Melanie Leis, co-project lead from the Institute of Global Health Innovation, said: "From our data we can see that people trust different COVID-19 vaccines to different extents. This is an opportunity for leaders to respond and help boost confidence in all approved vaccine brands, enabling vaccination programmes to reach more people and more effectively curb the pandemic."

A University of Birmingham-led study funded by the UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium has found that many patients with COVID-19 produce immune responses against their body's own tissues or organs.

COVID-19 has been associated with a variety of unexpected symptoms, both at the time of infection and for many months afterwards. It is not fully understand what causes these symptoms, but one of the possibilities is that COVID-19 is triggering an autoimmune process where the immune system is misdirected to attack itself.

The study, published today (June 4) in the journal Clinical & Experimental Immunology, investigated the frequency and types of common autoantibodies produced in 84 individuals who either had severe COVID-19 at the time of testing or in the recovery period following both severe COVID-19 and those with milder disease that did not need to attend hospital. These results were compared to a control group of 32 patients who were in intensive care for another reason other than COVID-19.

An autoantibody is an antibody (a type of protein) produced by the immune system that is directed against one or more of the individual's own proteins and can cause autoimmune diseases. Infection can, in some circumstances, lead to autoimmune disease. Early data suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infection can trigger long-term autoimmune complications and there are reports of SARS-CoV-2 infection being associated with a number of autoimmune disorders including Guillain-Barre Syndrome.

Supported by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), the study found higher numbers of autoantibodies in the COVID-19 patients than the control group and that these antibodies lasted up to six months.

Non-COVID patients displayed a diverse pattern of autoantibodies; in contrast, the COVID-19 groups had a more restricted panel of autoantibodies including skin, skeletal muscle and cardiac antibodies.

The authors also find that those with more severe COVID-19 were more likely to have an autoantibody in their blood.

First author Professor Alex Richter, of the University of Birmingham, explained: "The antibodies we identified are similar to those that cause a number of skin, muscle and heart autoimmune diseases.

"We don't yet know whether these autoantibodies are definitely causing symptoms in patients and whether this is a common phenomenon after lots of infections or just following COVID-19. These questions will be addressed in the next part of our study."

Senior Author Professor David Wraith, of the University of Birmingham, adds: "In this detailed study of a range of different tissues, we showed for the first time that COVID-19 infection is linked to production of selective autoantibodies. More work is needed to define whether these antibodies contribute to the long-term consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection and hence could be targeted for treatment."

Professor Paul Moss, Principal Investigator of the UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium and Professor of Haematology at the University of Birmingham added: "This is an interesting study that reveals new insights into a potential autoimmune component to the effects of COVID-19. Research like this has been made possible by the huge collaborative efforts made by those that are a part of the UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium. This study is another important step towards delivering real improvements in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of COVID-19 to patients."

The study participants were separated into four cohorts:

Group one: 32 individuals sampled during their stay in intensive care for reasons other than COVID-19. 41% of individuals had autoantibodies. In this group, there were many different causes of their illness (over half was pneumonia) and autoantibodies were found against nearly all of the different autoantigens examined, indicating a more random distribution.

Group two: 25 individuals who were sampled during their stay in intensive care following a diagnosis of severe COVID-19. 60% had autoantibodies. Of those who tested positive for autoantibodies, 41% had epidermal (skin) antibodies, while 17% had skeletal antibodies.

Group three: 35 individuals who had been admitted to intensive care with COVID-19, survived and were sampled three to six months later during routine outpatient follow up. 77% of individuals had autoantibodies. Of those who tested positive for autoantibodies, 19% had epidermal (skin) antibodies, 19% had skeletal antibodies, 28% had cardiac muscle antibodies; and 31% had smooth muscle antibodies.

Group four: 24 healthcare workers sampled one to three months after mild to moderate COVID-19 that did not require hospitalisation. 54% of individuals had autoantibodies. In those who tested positive for autoantibodies, it was against only four autoantigens: 25% had epidermal (skin) antibodies; 17% had smooth muscle antibodies; 8% had anti-neutrophil cytoplasm (ANCA) antibodies that target a type of human white blood cells; and 4% had gastric parietal antibodies which are associated with autoimmune gastritis and anaemia.

There has been concern at how the pandemic has not only hit physical health and the economy but has also impacted our mental health with the possibility of increased rates of suicide.

Now a new study - a collaboration between Swansea University, Cardiff University, and the NHS in Wales - has investigated exactly which Covid-related stressors are most likely to trigger suicidal thoughts and behaviours.

The researchers also discovered the important role that hope for the future can play - along with individuals' levels resilience - when it comes to coping with these stressors.

More than 12,000 people responded to the Wales Wellbeing survey which asked volunteers to share their experiences during the first UK lockdown.

The results, which have just been published by journal the Archives of Suicide Research, show that several stressors such as social isolation, domestic abuse, relationship problems, redundancy, and financial problems were strongly linked to suicidal thoughts and behaviours.

However, not everyone enduring these issues reported having suicidal thoughts. Those individuals with high levels of resilience and hope for the future were less affected by these pressures.

Professor Nicola Gray, from Swansea University, said: "We can use these findings to target which stressors are the most toxic in terms of driving people towards thoughts of suicide. While some of these may ease as we come out of lockdown, others may persist well into the future."

Professor Robert Snowden, from Cardiff University, added: "Many of these stressors are difficult to avoid, so we also need to instil hope for the future in our communities to help people get through these difficult times."

The survey was conducted at the time of the first UK lockdown (June-July 2020) and the paper's lead author, James Knowles, from Swansea University, is continuing to monitor the situation.

He said: "People's responses to a traumatic crisis do not follow a simple path of depression then recovery. It is currently unclear as to whether people simply have got worse as the crisis has continued or whether they are becoming more immune to the situation and are developing increased resilience. Only by understanding this can we be in a position to make an effective response and help people who might be suffering."