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DETROIT - Patients on immunosuppressive therapy for common skin and rheumatic diseases like psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis are not at increased risk for contracting COVID-19 and should continue taking their medicine as prescribed, say Henry Ford Health System dermatology researchers in a study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Most of these patients are not at any greater risk for COVID-19 than the general population, despite their weakened immune system, says Jesse Veenstra, M.D., Ph.D., a Henry Ford dermatologist and the study's lead author. He says the findings should reassure patients and doctors alike.

"If you require an immune suppressant medication for your condition to be well controlled, you should not be afraid to continue that medication during the pandemic," Dr. Veenstra says.

The study is one of the first to analyze the association between immunosuppressive medications for skin diseases and the risk of COVID-19 infection and outcomes. Until recently, little was known about managing patients on these medications in the pandemic and whether they may be at increased risk for infection with COVID-19 or related complications because of their weakened immune system.

Dr. Veenstra and his research colleagues conducted a retrospective analysis of 213 patients who were taking immunosuppressive medication for an immune-mediated inflammatory disease. The patients were tested for COVID-19 between Feb. 1 and April 18 and had been receiving immunosuppressive medication for at least one month prior to being tested for COVID-19.

Key findings from their analysis:

Of the 213 patients, 36% tested COVID-19 positive and had no greater odds of being hospitalized or placed on a ventilator than the general population.

There was no evidence that any single immunosuppressive medication increased a patient's odds for testing positive or developing serious disease.

Race was a predictor for COVID-19 status, with African Americans having greater odds of testing positive.

Patients prescribed a TNF alpha inhibitor had significantly lower odds for hospitalization. TNF alpha inhibitors are part of a class of immunosuppressive biologics used to stop inflammation.

Conversely, Dr. Veenstra says, patients who were on multidrug therapy regimens were at greater odds of being hospitalized than those taking a single medication. Dr. Veenstra says more research is needed to fully explain this finding, but it may suggest that multiple medications further suppress a patient's immune system, thus rendering them more susceptible to COVID-19.

Generally, patients who are immunosuppressed are predisposed to upper respiratory infections like the common cold, which may cause coughing, a runny nose and a sore throat. To date, however, this patient population has not been reported to be at higher risk for COVID-19. Older adults and people with underlying medical conditions like cancer, COPD and diabetes are considered high risk for contracting the coronavirus.

"Physicians who prescribe these medications should feel comfortable either continuing or resuming their patients on these medications," Dr. Veenstra says. "They can counsel their patients that there's data to support the safety profile of these medications during the COVID-19 pandemic."

Henry Ford dermatologists treat one of the largest patient populations in Michigan for inflammatory skin diseases like psoriasis, eczema and lupus, prompting researchers to examine whether the immunosuppressive medications made patients more susceptible to the new, emerging coronavirus.

"Traditionally, you think of these medications putting you at higher risk for infection," Dr. Veenstra says. "With COVID, this is a new type of pathogen, and no one really knows how these medications affect your immune system's ability to deal with the infection. The question is, do these medications put you at greater risk for contracting COVID, and if you did get it, would you be sicker because of these medicaitons."

An Analysis of High School Mission Statements in Massachusetts from 2001 to 2019, research conducted by team from Boston College and Wesleyan University, found that 95 percent of Mass. high schools altered or changed their mission statement during the timeframe. Examined in the context of local, state, and federal educational reform efforts, these results indicate that schools can fluidly add and expand new themes and competencies in response to community needs; however, the results also suggest that most schools had increased their scope and purpose without relinquishing any of their past objectives. The rare exception observed by the researchers was a 14-percent drop in school mission statements describing student's physical development.

"This study, the first to examine changes to school mission statements over time, provides tangible, empirical evidence that schools are expecting more of our students and our communities are expecting more from our schools," said study co-author Damian Bebell, assistant research professor at Boston College's Lynch School of Education and Human Development.

Wesleyan University's College of Education Studies Co-chair and study co-author Steven E. Stemler noted: "When school mission statements are systematically coded and analyzed, they reveal important differences in school priorities, reinforcing that today's high schools face considerable challenges in their effort to address an ever-increasing set of themes."

In 2019, the average high school exhibited 6.2 unique and different themes in their mission, a statistically significant increase from 5.1 themes in 2001. Common themes and objectives across school missions were categorized and analyzed to explore shifts and patterns in school purpose over the first decades of the 21st century.

Using a coding rubric that examined 12 of the most common mission statement themes, the researchers found the most prevalent themes in 2019 were students' emotional development (91 percent), cognitive development (86 percent), and civic development (67percent) across their random sample of 45 Massachusetts public high schools. Additionally, the researchers saw an increase in career preparation, rising from 19 percent of school in 2001 to 38 percent in 2019. Another notable change during this 18-year period was schools' increased descriptions of their environment as challenging (38 percent in 2001 to 62 percent in 2019).

Falls are the leading cause of fatal injuries in older adults, causing more than 800,000 hospitalizations and about 30,000 deaths in the U.S. every year. Some risk factors are well-known -- advanced age, problems with vision or balance, muscle weakness -- but an under-recognized factor is early Alzheimer's disease. Older people in the earliest stages of Alzheimer's, before cognitive problems arise, are more likely to suffer a fall than people who are not on track to develop dementia.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that, in older people without cognitive problems who experience a fall, the process of neurodegeneration that leads to Alzheimer's dementia already may have begun. The findings, available online in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, suggest that older people who have experienced falls should be screened for Alzheimer's and that new strategies may be needed to reduce the risk of falling for people in the disease's early stages.

"In the world of fall research, we generally say that you're at risk of falling if you lose strength and balance," said co-senior author Susan Stark, PhD, an associate professor of occupational therapy, of neurology and of social work. "If you lose strength and balance, the recommended treatment is to work on strength and balance. But if someone is falling for another reason, maybe because his or her brain has begun accumulating Alzheimer's-related damage, that person might need a different treatment entirely. We don't yet know what that treatment might be, but we hope we can use this information to come up with new treatment recommendations that will reduce the risk of falls in this population."

In 1987, John C. Morris, MD, then a trainee at Washington University, discovered that older people with Alzheimer's dementia are more than twice as likely to suffer a traumatic fall than people of the same age without dementia. Morris is now the Harvey A. and Dorismae Hacker Friedman Distinguished Professor of Neurology and head of the university's Charles F. and Joanne Knight Alzheimer's Disease Research Center.

Since Morris' discovery more than three decades ago, scientists have learned that the brains of Alzheimer's patients start undergoing changes decades before memory loss and confusion become apparent. First, plaques of amyloid proteins form, then tangles of tau protein. Some brain areas begin to shrink, and communication networks between distant parts of the brain start to decay. Stark and colleagues have shown that the link between Alzheimer's and falling holds true even during the silent phase of the disease: People with so-called preclinical Alzheimer's are at increased risk of falling despite having no apparent cognitive problems.

To better understand why people without cognitive symptoms are at risk of falling, first author Audrey Kelemen, a graduate student in Stark's lab, and colleagues followed 83 people over age 65 for a year. All participants were assessed as cognitively normal by a qualified neurologist at the beginning of the study. Each participant filled out monthly calendars recording any falls and underwent brain scans for amyloid and for signs of atrophy and impaired connectivity.

The researchers discovered that the presence of amyloid in the brain alone did not put people at increased risk of falling but that neurodegeneration did. Participants who fell had smaller hippocampi -- brain regions that are devoted to memory and that shrink in Alzheimer's disease. Their somatomotor networks -- webs of connections that are involved in receiving sensory inputs and controlling movement ­-- also showed signs of decay. The researchers concluded that falling is most likely to occur in the neurodegeneration phase of preclinical Alzheimer's -- the last five years or so before memory loss and confusion arise.

"Since I started working on this project, I've started asking my patients about falls, and I can't tell you how often that has helped me start understanding what is going on with the individual," said co-senior author Beau M. Ances, MD, PhD, the Daniel J. Brennan, MD, Professor of Neurology and a professor of radiology and of biomedical engineering. Ances treats patients who have dementia and other neurological conditions on the Washington University Medical Campus.

"When a person's mobility is being diminished, even though the person looks very normal, that could be a sign that something needs further evaluation," Ances said. "It's actually a really important potential marker that should make us say, 'Wait a minute. Let's dive into this more. Are there other things that go along with it?'"

The researchers have begun further experiments to better understand why brain changes in Alzheimer's put people at risk of falling, so they can develop fall-prevention recommendations. In the meantime, simple changes could go a long way toward protecting older people from devastating falls, Stark said.

"You can prevent a lot of falls just by making the environment safer," Stark said. "Simple changes could help and can't hurt: making sure the tub isn't slippery; making sure you can get up easily off the toilet; balance and strength training; reviewing your prescriptions to see if certain medications or combinations of medications are increasing the risk of falling. Until we have specific fall-prevention treatments for people with preclinical Alzheimer's, there are still plenty of things we can do to make people safer."

HSE University researchers have found microRNA molecules that are potentially capable of repressing the replication of human coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2. It turns out that the virus uses miRNA hsa-miR-21-3p to inhibit growth in the first stages of infection in order to delay the active immune response. The results of the research have been published in the journal PeerJ.

After the virus gets inside the cell, it starts actively interacting with various in-cell molecules. One such molecule class is microRNAs (miRNAs), which are small RNAs whose main function is to regulate gene expression. When a virus enters, miRNAs start binding certain parts of its genome RNA, which leads to the destruction of virus RNAs. Such an attack can stop virus replication completely. However, in cases when miRNAs are not very 'aggressive', such interactions do not destroy the virus but rather slow down its replication. This scenario is beneficial for the virus since it helps avoid a fast immune response in the cell. And some of the viruses purposefully accumulate host miRNA binding sites. This becomes their advantage: viruses with more binding sites survive and reproduce better, which leads to their evolutionary domination.

Researchers from the HSE Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, Stepan Nersisyan and Alexander Tonevitsky, together with first-year students Narek Engibaryan, Aleksandra Gorbonos, Ksenia Kirdey, and Alexey Makhonin, detected cell miRNAs that are able to bind coronavirus genomes.

There are seven types of human coronaviruses in total. Four of them (HCoV-OC43, HCoV-NL63, HCoV-HKU1 and HCoV-229E) are widespread and cause the common cold, while viruses MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 can cause dangerous atypical pneumonia. The researchers found four families of human miRNAs with detected binding sites with all the viruses under consideration.

The image shows miRNA binding sites hsa-miR-21-3p and hsa-miR-421, which are mutual for six out of seven human coronaviruses.

To find out how the virus can interact with the detected miRNAs, the researchers analysed the available data on miRNA sequences in lungs of mice infected with SARS-CoV. They discovered that the infection leads to an 8-fold increase in the expression of the previously detected miRNA hsa-miR-21-3p.

'MiRNA hsa-miR-21-3p has big potential for binding all human coronaviruses. But after infection with SARS-CoV, the concentration of this miRNA in the lungs grows a lot. If we assume that this is a mechanism of immune response, it is unclear why the virus does not eliminate the binding sites with cell miRNAs in the process of mutation. On the contrary, we see that the virus 'accumulates' them in its genome during the evolution - our research demonstrates that such sites are present in all human coronaviruses and do not mutate considerably. We suppose that this way the virus uses this miRNA to slow down its replication in the early stages of infection in order to delay the active immune response,' Stepan Nersisyan said.

The next step of the team's research will be experimental verification of their discoveries. The researchers are also planning to investigate the possibility of medicinal effect on the virus that targets the discovered miRNAs. In particular, they plan to determine whether their artificial introduction or elimination is able to prevent virus reproduction.

A new study comprehensively reveals how civil wars impact wildlife in countries affected by conflict.

Researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA), in the UK, Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB), Brazil, and University of Agostinho Neto (UAN), Angola, found that the main impacts of civil wars on native mammals are often indirect, ultimately arising from institutional and socio-economic changes, rather than from direct military tactics.

Increased access to automatic weapons and suspension of anti-poaching patrols were leading causes of wildlife population collapse, while installation of military bases within core conservation areas, overhunting of large-bodied mammals, and new settlements of displaced refugees also strongly impacted species.

Published today in the journal Nature Scientific Reports, the study suggests that civil wars in low-governance countries can have both positive and negative impacts on native wildlife populations depending on space and time scales, but the overall trend is negative.

The authors warn that even during post-war peace times, wild mammal populations will fail to recover as long as rural people living in war-torn countries remain armed and wildlife management regulations cannot be enforced. They call for robust international policies that can prevent the consequences of warfare, warning that restoring depleted wildlife populations may take many decades and require active intervention efforts.

Civil wars often coincide with global biodiversity hotspots, however little is known about how they affect wildlife. This study drew local ecological knowledge to assess for the first time the main consequences of a prolonged civil war in Southwest Africa on forest and savannah mammals, using Angola as a case study. The country is home to at least 275 species of mammals, many of them historically hunted by the local communities before, during and after the intermittent 27-year Angolan civil war (1975-2002).

In Angola's main protected area, Quiçama National Park and Quiçama Game Reserve, the abundance of 20 out of 26 wild mammal species studied was 77 per cent lower after the war compared to the pre-war baseline, particularly for large-bodied species such as elephants in open-savannah environments. Significantly, this decline was not reversed by the end of the post-war period (2002-2017).

Franciany Braga-Pereira, a Zoology PhD candidate at UFPB, led the study. Ms Braga-Pereira said: "Currently, 36 countries worldwide are experiencing civil wars and most of these conflicts are either fuelled or funded by international interests or began after an external intervention.

"These internationalized conflicts are more prolonged and less likely to find a political resolution. Therefore, considering measures that can reduce the impact of warfare on wildlife, we emphasize the intentional or inadvertent complicity of foreign powers, which should promote policies that mitigate the detrimental environmental impacts of armed conflicts."

Co-author Prof Carlos Peres, from UEA's School of Environmental Sciences, said: "Low-governance developing countries are struggling as it is, even during peacetimes, to protect their wildlife resources, never mind the colossal adverse consequences of breakdown in law-and-order brought about by a civil war. Yet there are no adequate international mechanisms to deploy peace forces to maintain the status quo of vulnerable wildlife populations in troubled parts of the world."

The research involved interviews with expert local hunters, which revealed that large-bodied mammals, such as red buffalo, kudu and red sable, were preferred targets that had been overhunted during the war. As their populations became increasingly depleted, the size structure of prey species gradually shifted towards smaller-bodied species, for example bushpig, bushbuck kewel and blue duilker, during the post-war period. However, once the depletion in forest was lower than in the savannah, hunters operating in forest areas were occasionally able to kill larger species in the post-war period.

In their model of how civil wars impact wildlife, the authors explain that civil war could be a double-edged sword, resulting also in declines in extractive industries such as oil, mining and agribusiness, which can benefit wildlife, and demilitarized and landmine zones, which severely discourage human settlements and game hunters, thereby creating potential game refuges as passive 'no-take' areas.

Research from the University of Kent has found that TRESK, a calcium regulated two-pore potassium channel, regulates the brain's central circadian clock to differentiate behaviour between day and night.

It was previously understood that the brain's circadian clock, otherwise known as the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), depends on multiple mechanisms to ensure rhythmic electrical activity that varies between day and night. Yet, this research has clarified that TRESK plays a crucial role in this system. The mechanism was previously unknown.

The study, led by Dr Gurprit Lall at the Medway School of Pharmacy and colleagues at the University of Oxford, investigated the role of TRESK in the brain's central circadian clock and found that when TRESK levels were reduced the biological rhythm was disrupted.

The brain's circadian clock is usually active during daylight and not during the night. When the absence of TRESK was explored in the study, the clock had lost its day and night association and did not sense light. This further identifies that not only does TRESK affect cell membrane activity, it affects response behaviour and the clock's communication to the body. Humans need this to perform efficiently.

Dr Lall said: 'This research has shown that TRESK is key to SCN function, regulating multiple aspects of SCN neurophysiology. TRESK provides a clear delineation of light responses between the day and night. It maintains the SCN in the appropriate state for nocturnal light-induced behavioural changes. These findings are significant to future research into how the circadian clock responds to environmental stimuli.'

PITTSBURGH, Sept. 14, 2020 - University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine scientists have isolated the smallest biological molecule to date that completely and specifically neutralizes the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which is the cause of COVID-19. This antibody component, which is 10 times smaller than a full-sized antibody, has been used to construct a drug--known as Ab8--for potential use as a therapeutic and prophylactic against SARS-CoV-2.

The researchers report today in the journal Cell that Ab8 is highly effective in preventing and treating SARS-CoV-2 infection in mice and hamsters. Its tiny size not only increases its potential for diffusion in tissues to better neutralize the virus, but also makes it possible to administer the drug by alternative routes, including inhalation. Importantly, it does not bind to human cells--a good sign that it won't have negative side-effects in people.

Ab8 was evaluated in conjunction with scientists from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) and University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston, as well as the University of British Columbia and University of Saskatchewan.

"Ab8 not only has potential as therapy for COVID-19, but it also could be used to keep people from getting SARS-CoV-2 infections," said co-author John Mellors, M.D., chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at UPMC and Pitt. "Antibodies of larger size have worked against other infectious diseases and have been well tolerated, giving us hope that it could be an effective treatment for patients with COVID-19 and for protection of those who have never had the infection and are not immune."

The tiny antibody component is the variable, heavy chain (VH) domain of an immunoglobulin, which is a type of antibody found in the blood. It was found by "fishing" in a pool of more than 100 billion potential candidates using the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein as bait. Ab8 is created when the VH domain is fused to part of the immunoglobulin tail region, adding the immune functions of a full-size antibody without the bulk.

Abound Bio, a newly formed UPMC-backed company, has licensed Ab8 for worldwide development.

Dimiter Dimitrov, Ph.D., senior author of the Cell publication and director of Pitt's Center for Antibody Therapeutics, was one of the first to discover neutralizing antibodies for the original SARS coronavirus in 2003. In the ensuing years, his team discovered potent antibodies against many other infectious diseases, including those caused by MERS-CoV, dengue, Hendra and Nipah viruses. The antibody against Hendra and Nipah viruses has been evaluated in humans and approved for clinical use on a compassionate basis in Australia.

Clinical trials are testing convalescent plasma--which contains antibodies from people who already had COVID-19--as a treatment for those battling the infection, but there isn't enough plasma for those who might need it, and it isn't proven to work.

That's why Dimitrov and his team set out to isolate the gene for one or more antibodies that block the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which would allow for mass production. In February, Wei Li, Ph.D., assistant director of Pitt's Center for Therapeutic Antibodies and co-lead author of the research, began sifting through large libraries of antibody components made using human blood samples and found multiple therapeutic antibody candidates, including Ab8, in record time.

Then a team at UTMB's Center for Biodefense and Emerging Diseases and Galveston National Laboratory, led by Chien-Te Kent Tseng, Ph.D., tested Ab8 using live SARS-CoV-2 virus. At very low concentrations, Ab8 completely blocked the virus from entering cells. With those results in hand, Ralph Baric, Ph.D., and his UNC colleagues tested Ab8 at varying concentrations in mice using a modified version of SARS-CoV-2 . Even at the lowest dose, Ab8 decreased by 10-fold the amount of infectious virus in those mice compared to their untreated counterparts. Ab8 also was effective in treating and preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection in hamsters, as evaluated by Darryl Falzarano, Ph.D., and colleagues at the University of Saskatchewan. Sriram Subramaniam, Ph.D., and his colleagues at the University of British Columbia uncovered the unique way Ab8 neutralizes the virus so effectively by using sophisticated electron microscopic techniques.

"The COVID-19 pandemic is a global challenge facing humanity, but biomedical science and human ingenuity are likely to overcome it," said Mellors, also Distinguished Professor of Medicine, who holds the Endowed Chair for Global Elimination of HIV and AIDS at Pitt. "We hope that the antibodies we have discovered will contribute to that triumph."

PULLMAN, Wash. - More political candidates may be shifting primarily to social media to advertise rather than TV, according to a study of advertising trends from the 2018 campaign season. The study, published recently in American Political Science Review, also found that Facebook political ads were more partisan, less negative and less issue-focused than those on TV.

"The 2018 race showed that social media can be helpful to candidates who may not have a lot of resources, including challengers and those who are not already well known," said Travis Ridout, Washington state University political science professor and a corresponding author on the study. "It allows them to get their messages out."

Facebook ads are more practical for many down-ballot candidates who cannot afford the high price of TV advertising, Ridout added. A much broader range of candidates also used Facebook ads than TV.

Ridout along with co-authors from Bowdoin College, and Emory, Stanford and Wesleyan universities, analyzed Facebook and TV advertising data for nearly 7,300 candidates in the 2018 federal and state level races. They found that the vast majority, about 6,000, only advertised on the social media platform. A little more than 1,000 candidates used both Facebook and TV advertising. Only 242 relied on TV ads alone. The study focused on advertising by candidates' campaigns as opposed to advertising by political action committees, also known as PACs, and other outside groups.

While Facebook's affordability was an equalizing factor, the researchers also noted that the platform's ability to target ads often limits the audience--which may explain why Facebook political ads tended to be more partisan and contained less information about actual issues. The candidates appeared to be using Facebook to speak to their supporters. They used TV to reach undecided voters.

"TV political advertising is almost always about persuasion. It's 'vote for me' or 'don't vote for the other candidate'," said Ridout. "There's some of that persuasion on Facebook too, but there are more fundraising ads and acquisition ads that urge voters to 'take this survey' or 'provide your email address'. The other purpose is for mobilization: encouraging supporters to register to vote, attend a campaign rally or find their polling place."

The Facebook ads also tended to avoid the double-edged sword of negative advertising. According to Ridout, negative ads can make people who might have supported an opponent decide to stay home on election day, but they can also make some of those same voters angry, encouraging them to go to the polls. These types of ads still appeared more often on TV than social media in 2018.

Given the "emotional gut punch" TV is able to deliver more effectively than Facebook, and the many older avid voters who still watch television, Ridout doesn't expect TV political ads to go away any time soon. Still, during the 2020 campaign and in the future, the political scientist expects to see campaigns put more money put into social media, and that comes with its own set of problems.

"As more of us are getting messages from politicians online, as opposed to through television, it portrays a world for us in which things are more partisan," Ridout said. "Misinformation policies on social media also don't seem to be equally enforced. Sometimes they are enforced for small fry, but for rich candidates, they will just rewrite the rules. We may be handing a lot of power to Google and to Facebook in particular, to make really big decisions about how Americans are informed prior to election day."

Hydroxylated polychlorinated biphenyls (OH-PCBs) are metabolites of PCBs and known endocrine disruptors in humans. Of particular concern regarding this kind of effect has been the disruption of the thyroid hormone homeostasis by OH-PCBs. Some OH-PCB congeners are involved in disrupting TH transport by competitive binding to the thyroid hormone transport protein, transthyretin (TTR) in mammalian blood. Prenatal OH-PCBs exposure may disrupt fetal brain development during the critical period of thyroid hormone action. Congenital hypothyroidism causes cretinism and mental retardation, and an insufficient thyroid hormone signaling has been suggested as one of the causes of attention deficit/hyper activity disorder (ADHD). However, there have been limited studies on the OH-PCBs transfer to the fetal brain, particularly in primates.

In this study, we selected the Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata) as a model animal for the fetal transfer of OH-PCBs in humans, and revealed OH-PCB concentrations and their relationships in maternal and fetal blood, liver, and brain. L-thyroxine (T4)-like OH-PCBs, including 4OH-CB187 as a major congener in humans, were found in high proportions in the blood, liver, brain, and placenta of pregnant Japanese macaques. OH-PCBs were detected in the fetal brain (7.2 ~ 32 pg/g wet wt.), indicating their transfer to the brain in early pregnancy. 4OH-CB187 and 4OH-CB202 of OH-PCB congeners were the major congeners found in the fetal brain, indicating that these T4-like OH-PCBs are transported from maternal blood to the fetal brain via the placenta. These results are important as a potential model for further assessing and understanding of the ability of OH-PCBs to alter neurodevelopment in the human fetus.

In this study, OH-PCBs concentrations in the fetal brains of the Japanese macaques were comparable to the levels that suppressed the T3-induced transcriptional activation of the thyroid hormone receptor and caused neurodevelopmental abnormalities in cerebellar Purkinje cells of mice in a previous study. The brain of the human fetus may be exposed to higher PCB contamination levels than the Japanese macaque fetus; OH-PCB concentrations may thus exceed the levels that induce adverse effects on neurodevelopment. Considering the chronic exposure to PCBs in humans, further studies on the effects of their long-term exposure on fetal brain function are needed.

Colorectal cancer is the third most common cause of cancer deaths in the United States and advanced colorectal polyps are a major risk factor. These high-risk patients have a three-fold higher risk of developing colorectal cancer and therefor a three-year follow up interval of colonoscopy is generally recommended. Many clinicians rely on self-reports from their high-risk patients about their need and proper interval for repeat surveillance colonoscopy.

In a study published in the Journal of Gastroenterology and Digestive Systems, researchers from Florida Atlantic University's Schmidt College of Medicine analyzed data over a period of four years from 2013 to 2017 to explore the knowledge of these high-risk patients. They analyzed data from structured interviews on 84 subjects between ages 40 to 91 years old with biopsy proven advanced colorectal polyps.

Results showed that 28.6 percent were unaware of either the need for a repeat colonoscopy or the proper surveillance interval. Of these, 16.6 percent were unaware of the proper three-year interval to obtain a follow-up surveillance colonoscopy. In addition, 12 percent were not even aware that they required a follow-up surveillance colonoscopy.

Screening modalities for colorectal cancer include fecal immune testing, multi-targeted stool DNA testing, flexible sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy.

"Our data demonstrate a lack of knowledge of patients with biopsy proven advanced colorectal polyps about their need for repeat colonoscopy as well as the proper surveillance interval," said Lawrence Fiedler, M.D., co-author, a gastroenterologist and an affiliate associate professor in FAU's Schmidt College of Medicine. "For patients with biopsy proven advanced colorectal polyps, the interval for colonoscopy is about three years. Our data raise a challenge for us to rely on more objective data than self-reports. Clinicians should have the ability and willingness to share their objective findings with all clinical colleagues involved in the care of the patient. These efforts should also include younger patients such as Chadwick Boseman who recently died of colon cancer at age 43."

The incidence of colorectal cancer is increasing in younger people. According to the American Cancer Society, from 2007 to 2016, incidence rates of colorectal cancer in people 55 years or older dropped by 3.6 percent each year, but increased by 2 percent each year in those younger than 55.

"Data from our study pose clinical and public health challenges to reduce the rates of recurrences of colorectal polyps as well as subsequent risks of colorectal cancer in these high-risk patients," said Charles H. Hennekens, M.D., Dr.P.H., senior author, first Sir Richard Doll Professor and senior academic advisor in FAU's Schmidt College of Medicine. "More than 90 percent of patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer are 50 years or older. The major risk factors for colorectal cancer are similar to those for heart attacks and stroke and include overweight and obesity, type 2 diabetes, as well as physical inactivity."

The researchers say that if such strategies were adopted for all patients it would have major clinical and public health implications. Specifically, it also would avoid the overutilization of colonoscopies for lower risk patients and increase both the benefit-to-risk and benefit-to-cost ratio from a public health perspective.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, additional risk factors include inflammatory bowel disease such as Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis; a personal or family history of colorectal cancer or colorectal polyps; and a genetic syndrome such as familial adenomatous polyposis or hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer (Lynch syndrome).

Lugano, Switzerland, 14 September 2020 - Delays and cancellation of cancer treatments and other safety measures undertaken to minimise the risk of exposure to the coronavirus (COVID-19) have generated a huge backlog in oncology care and research. The threat of delayed diagnoses looms while oncology professionals face burnout, according to new studies discussed at the ESMO Virtual Congress 2020.

But is only COVID-19 to blame?

"Whether the risk for dark statistics is real or not will only become evident in the future when more robust results from real-world studies and registries are available," said Dr Stefan Zimmermann, ESMO Press Officer, at the congress opening press conference. "For now, it is legitimate to ask ourselves if there are other factors beyond COVID-19 that currently put strain on oncology as the pandemic has also revealed some weaknesses in how cancer care is resourced and organised," he added.

Prior to the pandemic, Europe's cancer burden was estimated by the ECIS - European Cancer Information System (1) to reach 2.7 million new cases and 1.3 million deaths in 2020. However, the COVID-19 outbreak has placed unprecedented pressures on healthcare systems around the world.

A study (2) to be presented at the ESMO Virtual Congress 2020 highlights the extent to which COVID-19 has challenged the organisation and delivery of cancer care. Responses were obtained from oncology centres in 18 countries. Overall, 60.9% reported that clinical activity was reduced at the peak of the pandemic, while nearly two-thirds (64.2%) cited under-treatment as a major concern and 37% expected to see significant reductions in clinical trials this year.

Study author Dr Guy Jerusalem, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sart Tilman, Belgium, said: "COVID-19 has had a major impact on the organisation of patient care, on the wellbeing of caregivers and clinical trial activities. There is a risk that the diagnosis of new cancer cases will be delayed and that more patients will be diagnosed at a later stage of their disease."

The data also revealed that the cancer treatments most likely to have been cancelled or delayed were surgery (in 44.1% of centres), chemotherapy (25.7%) and radiotherapy (13.7%), while an earlier end to palliative care was observed in 32.1% of centres.

The impact of COVID-19 on patient care worldwide is also highlighted in another study (3) which gathered data from 356 cancer centres across 54 countries during April 2020. The vast majority (88%) reported facing challenges in providing care during the pandemic, with 54% and 45% reporting cases of coronavirus among their patients and staff, respectively. And while half (55%) reduced services pre-emptively, others were forced to do so after being overwhelmed by the situation (20%) or following a shortage of personal protective equipment (19%), staff (18%) and medicines (9.8%).

As a result, 46% of centres reported that more than one in 10 patients missed at least one cycle of treatment, with some estimating that up to 80% of patients were exposed to some harm.

To continue providing treatment to patients throughout the pandemic, most centres (83.6%) adapted, by implementing virtual clinics and virtual tumour boards (93%), with more than half of respondents suggesting that both will continue beyond the pandemic (55.5% and 60%, respectively). Centres also performed routine tests in laboratories close to patients' homes (76%) and shipped medication to patients (68%) so that treatment could continue.

Study author Dr Abdul-Rahman Jazieh, King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, said: "The detrimental impact of COVID-19 on cancer care is widespread, with varying magnitude among centres worldwide. The pandemic has impacted healthcare systems globally, interrupting care and exposing cancer patients to significant risks of being harmed."

"Even before the pandemic, pressure on healthcare professionals and systems was mounting as a result of the growing cancer burden in Europe and globally," said Dr Rosa Giuliani, ESMO Director of Public Policy. "A harmonised EU action that provides comparable cancer burden indicators across European countries is extremely important. In this context, the JRC-IARC scientific collaboration has resulted in the computation of up-to-date figures for 2020 new cancer occurrences and cancer deaths. These numbers help to support the development of national policies, tackling the rising burden of cancer with prevention measures as well as with the provision of the necessary resources."

Cancer patients are not the only ones at risk. The results of two online surveys undertaken by the ESMO Resilience Task Force in May 2020 (4) - the largest ever COVID-19 survey of the oncology workforce - reveals the impact of the pandemic on oncology professionals. The first survey showed that more than one-third (38%) experienced feelings of burnout and 25% were at risk of distress, while two-thirds (66%) said they were unable to perform their duties as well as they could prior to the pandemic.

This survey, involving 1,520 participants from 101 countries, also found that levels of wellbeing and job performance declined as national COVID-19 mortality rates rose. A follow-up online survey undertaken in July-August 2020 showed that while job performance had improved compared to the first study, indicating early signals of taking control of the emergency, both wellbeing and burnout rates had worsened.

The main factors associated with distress and burnout were increased working hours, feeling worried about wellbeing, less resilience and oncologists' concerns about training and career.

"The ESMO Resilience Task Force surveys indicate that COVID-19 is having an impact on wellbeing, burnout and job performance," said Dr Susana Banerjee, ESMO Director of Membership, lead author of the surveys. "As an oncology community, we must work collaboratively, individuals and organisations, to ensure that resources are used in the best way possible to support oncology professionals and make sure that ?distress and burnout do not increase. The ESMO Resilience Task Force will look into developing more specific interventions so that we can further help and support oncology professionals during and beyond the pandemic."

Dr Giuseppe Curigliano, ESMO Guidelines Committee Chair, added: "ESMO has responded quickly to the crisis brought by the pandemic, developing a series of specific recommendations across different diseases, to guide oncologists in providing cancer care under unprecedented circumstances. (5) It is now crucial to avoid delays to any treatment which could impact survival by re-allocating resources to cancer patients and continuing to deliver the best possible treatment."

A drug used to treat cirrhosis of the liver may be an effective treatment for a form of Dementia and motorneuron disease, scientists have discovered.

The research, led by the University of York in collaboration with the University of Sheffield, used brain cells from fruit flies and rats to model the neurodegeneration process which occurs in patients with Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD).

The researchers identified new proteins involved in protecting neurons and discovered that Ursodeoxycholic Acid - an already approved drug, with very low toxicity - increases these proteins and protects neurons from death.

The authors of the study will now embark on further research to discover exactly how the drug works to protect neurons and whether more targeted drugs to treat FTD and a range of other neurodegenerative conditions could be developed.

FTD impacts the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. Unlike other forms of dementia which primarily affect people over 65, FTD tends to start at a younger age with most cases diagnosed in people aged 45-65.

Senior author of the study, Dr Sean Sweeney, from the Department of Biology at the University of York, said: "We are on the cusp of being able to 'repurpose' a drug used for a liver complaint, that has very little toxicity in humans".

"The mechanism of action for this drug is currently unknown and the work we will now do to increase our understanding of how it works may help us lengthen and improve the lives of patients with FTD and potentially other neurodegenerative conditions too."

Up to 50% of cases of FTD have a genetic history of the disease in the family and previous research has identified nine genes that may have a role in its development.

Lead authors of the study, Dr. Ryan West and Dr. Chris Ugbode, used one of these genes to develop their unique genetic models of the disease in fruit flies and rat neurons. In these models, they found Ursodeoxycholic Acid keeps neurons in better health, but the drug is not a potential cure for the disease.

Dr West from the University of Sheffield, said: "In our lab models the drug was effective for treating Frontotemporal Dementia and motorneuron disease, but it does not rectify the underlying deficits, suggesting that the drug is neuroprotective but not a cure."

Fiona Carragher, Director of Research and Influencing at Alzheimer's Society added: "Currently, there's no way to slow down or cure frontotemporal dementia, one of the most common forms of dementia in people under 65, so we're excited to see an existing drug stopping brain cells from dying. While this is in the early stages, it's a valuable first step on the road to finding a way to improve the lives of people with FTD and help them live longer. We need help to continue funding studies like this, so we're asking the Government to honour their commitment to double dementia research funds - while finding new drugs from scratch costs billions and takes decades, we must make every penny count by grasping opportunities to repurpose drugs already approved for other conditions."

Immune reactions caused by vaccination can help protect the organism, or sometimes may aggravate the condition. It is especially important now when multiple vaccines against COVID-19 are being developed. The top immunologists analyse types of immune response to predict what kind of vaccine would be the best.

The COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing, and it is a major challenge for healthcare professionals worldwide. Currently, there are several strategies of preventing the spread of the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, including confinement or quarantine measures, social distancing, use of face masks, and good hygiene -- with frequent hand washing and application of antiseptics. However, it is clear that such restrictions affect our personal and professional lives. This is why vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 are being developed across the globe, as vaccination could help stop the pandemic. But these vaccines can be designed in a number of ways, and immune responses may be different. The recent keynote paper by Sechenov University scientists and their Swiss colleagues analyses which type of immune reaction would be more favourable so the vaccine could be effective. The study has been published in International Archives of Allergy and Immunology.

The vaccine, as expected, should efficiently induce high-affinity neutralising antibodies which would target SARS-CoV-2. At the same time, there are concerns that infection after vaccination might lead to eosinophilic lung disease and eosinophil associated Th2 immunopotentiation. Eosinophils are white blood cells involved in conditions such as bronchial asthma, eosinophilic oesophagitis, and hypereosinophilic syndromes. Currently, despite the limited available data, there is no indication that eosinophils play a protective or pathogenic role in COVID-19 infection.

However, eosinophils might still get involved when a person is vaccinated. For example, the research on potential vaccines against SARS-CoV-1, a closely related virus which caused an epidemic in 2002-2004, showed that pulmonary eosinophilia was induced in ferrets, monkeys, and mice after viral challenge. This fact suggests that vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 could also cause a similar immunopathology. Another source of complications might be the induced antibodies that promote viral uptake via Fc receptors.

According to the authors of the study, the most advantageous strategy should focus on vaccines that would induce the production of high-affinity virus-neutralising antibodies. These antibodies should block the interaction of SARS-CoV-2 with its cellular receptor -- angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). Successful vaccines are expected to polarise the T-cell response towards type 1 immunity and prevent the stimulation of cytokines which induce T-helper 2 immunity.

'From our experience with the SARS-1 vaccine, we know that mice which received the whole spike protein (responsible for ACE2 binding) exhibited some eosinophilic complications due to the Th-2 polarisation of the immune response', says Alexander Karaulov, Head of the Department of Clinical Immunology and Allergology at Sechenov University and one of the authors of the paper. 'At the same time, if the injected vaccine contained not the whole spike protein, but rather its receptor-binding domain which is directly involved in interactions with ACE2, immune-mediated pathologies (hypereosinophilic syndrome) could be avoided because of the high immunogenicity and high antibody titre. I believe this to be an important aspect, which remains poorly investigated'.

Visuospatial training exercises can train the brain to reduce motion sickness, providing a potential remedy for future passengers riding in autonomous vehicles. Researchers at WMG, University of Warwick reduced motion sickness by over 50% using the training tool and it was found to be effective in both a driving simulator and on-road experimentation.WMG's 3xD simulator at the University of Warwick

Everyone can experience motion sickness, with 1 in 3 of us being highly susceptible to motion sickness. Motion sickness, sometimes referred to as travel sickness usually can occur during travel in cars and boats, but also when using virtual reality headsets or in a simulator.

With the concept of autonomous vehicles coming closer to our roads, the need to reduce motion sickness is more apparent than ever. It is expected that due to potential vehicle designs and people's desire to engage in non-driving related tasks such as reading or watching films, motion sickness will be a significant factor for vehicle occupants.

In fact, if we were able to reduce motion sickness so much that people could read and work in future cars, it's predicted that this productivity boost could be worth as much as US$508billion per year according to Morgan Stanley.

Considering the number of people affected, relatively little research has been done into motion sickness, especially not into motion sickness and autonomous vehicles.

However, in the paper 'A Novel Method for Reducing Motion Sickness Susceptibility through Training Visuospatial Ability - A Two-Part Study', published in the journal Applied Ergonomics, researchers from WMG, University of Warwick have been successful in reducing motion sickness.

In the project, researchers have found by using visuospatial training you can essentially train the brain to reduce motion sickness by over 50%.

Participants in the study went in either the WMG 3xD simulator for a driving simulator trial, or on an on-road trial where they were driven around as passengers, imitating what it would be like to be in an autonomous vehicle.

Baseline motion sickness was first measured during their initial ride, using a verity of pre-validated questionnaires, to report severity of the symptoms. A 'fast motion sickness scale', was also used to capture 'real-time' symptoms as participants were asked to rate their sickness every minute on a scale of 0-20 considering nausea, discomfort, and stomach problems.Example of a visuospatial exercise part of the Vandenberg and Kuse mental rotations test

After their first run, participants completed various pen-and-paper visuospatial training tasks, once per day for 15 minutes per day, for 2 weeks. This included exercises such as a looking at a pattern of boxes that and having to identify which image out of three is the original just rotated, paper folding tasks and understand spatial patterns.

After the training period, participants took part in another motion sickness assessment and it was recorded that motion sickness reduced by 51% in the driving simulator, and 58% in the on-road trial.On-road experimentation

Dr Joseph Smyth, from WMG, University of Warwick comments:

"Being able to reduce an individual's personal susceptibility to motion-sickness using simple 'brain training style' tasks training is a massive step-forward in the development of future transport systems, including autonomous vehicles. Human factors research is all about how we can design products and services that are pleasurable. Motion sickness has, for a long time, been a significant limitation to many peoples transport options and this research has shown a new method for how we can address this.

"I hope that in the future we can optimise the training into a short, highly impactful method. Imagine if when someone is waiting for a test-drive in a new autonomous vehicle they could sit in the showroom and do some 'brain training puzzles' on a tablet before going out in the car, therefore reducing their risk of sickness. It's also very likely this method can be used in other domains such as sea-sickness for navy staff or cruise passengers. We are particularly excited about applying this new finding to Virtual Reality headset use."

Pete Bennett, from Jaguar Land Rover comments:

"Making our future autonomous vehicles as user friendly as possible is key, and motion sickness is something we knew we needed to research as so many people experience it even now as a passenger.

"The research done by WMG has shown that motion sickness can be reduced, and we can incorporate the research into our future vehicle design process."

Have you ever wondered whether the brains of right-handed people work differently from those of left-handers? Is it possible to distinguish between them by observing their brain activity in response to stimuli or tasks? These are important questions from the perspectives of both basic sciences and application-based fields such as brain-computer interfaces, rehabilitation robotics, and augmented reality.

Since the past few years, a team of scientists at Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST), Korea, has been actively conducting fundamental research to answer these questions. Led by Principal Scientist Dr Jinung An, their initial focus was on finding a method to objectively evaluate haptic devices, which provide tactile feedback simulating textures and surfaces, based on user responses at the brain level.

In a previous study, they had found that the brains of right-handers responded differently from those of left-handers when performing complicated manipulation tasks. In short, when a right-hander uses their preferred hand, specific areas within the left-brain hemisphere are activated. In contrast, when they use their left hand, a much larger area spanning both brain hemispheres is used. Surprisingly, this asymmetry was significantly more pronounced in right-handers than in left-handers.

In their latest study published in Scientific Reports, Dr An and his colleagues show that this asymmetry in right-handers was also evident during passive tactile stimulation of the fingers. They used a technique called functional near-infrared spectroscopy to noninvasively monitor changes in the oxygenation of red blood cells in the brain, which reflect its local activation patterns. Excited about the results, Dr An remarks, "We present the possibility of distinguishing left-handed and right-handed people using passive touch alone, which reveals functional cortical differences. Our outcomes can be immediately used to quantitatively evaluate hand preference and may also be useful for brain-computer interfaces that connect tactile displays to brain signals in augmented reality."

These findings are also relevant for developing cognitive enhancement treatments for autism and brain-mimicking artificial intelligence. Additionally, this approach could be a turning point in haptics--the study of sensing through touch. "Although existing haptic research has mainly focused on the peripheral nervous system, I hope that our study will serve as the starting point for a paradigm shift involving central nervous system-oriented research," concludes Dr An.

The outcomes of this study may truly have consequences left and right!