Earth

CHAPEL HILL, NC - May 18, 2020 - How do cells move? Why do they move? Why do some cancer cells move slowly while others move quickly, causing a cancerous tumor to metastasize and become much more difficult to treat effectively? The answers are not as simple as we would want. They involve tiny proteins and processes that are very difficult to study in real time and space. The UNC Department of Pharmacology labs of Klaus Hahn, PhD, and John Sondek, PhD, are dedicated to overcoming this difficulty. And now their labs, with researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, have created a way to study and map the intricacies of intercellular signaling - when, where, and how tiny parts of cells communicate - to make cells move.

Published in Nature Chemical Biology, the research provides a much-needed method for studying the precise movement mechanisms in healthy cells in real time and how these mechanisms might change in disease states, such as cancer metastasis.

"Our new tools allowed us to map the flow of signaling information within living cells and measure how much specific proteins contribute to cell behaviors, such as cell migration," said co-first author Daniel Marston, PhD, assistant professor in the UNC Department of Pharmacology at the UNC School of Medicine.

To do this, Marston and colleagues relied on microscopy tools developed in the lab of Klaus Hahn, the Ronald G. Thurman Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology. These microscopy tools, which use fluorescent biosensors, allowed the researchers to visualize the activity of multiple proteins in living cells at the same time. Then, thanks to mathematical analytic methods developed at UT Southwestern Medical Center, the research team quantified how proteins regulate each other.

Together, these tools can provide precise information about how signaling networks are wired together and how they regulate cellular processes, such as cell migration and metastasis. They will allow researchers at UNC and elsewhere to understand how these networks operate in healthy cells. With that information in hand, researchers could compare data from healthy cells to cell movement during various health conditions, such as inflammation - a hallmark of many diseases.

"If we can find out how these movement processes are changed in diseases, such as cancers, then we might be able to design better treatments effective only for that particular disease, while keeping other cells healthy," Marston added.

Summers in Europe will feature more unusually cooler days as well as hotter ones in the future due to climate change, new research has revealed.

While more extreme temperatures, and higher average temperatures, have long been predicted by scientists, a team at the University of Reading have now carried the most sophisticated study yet to fill in the gaps about how global warming will actually influence summer and winter temperatures in the northern hemisphere.

They found that the likelihood of temperatures rising above or falling below average will not be affected in the same way in different seasons and regions.

The study, published today (Monday 18 May) in Nature Geoscience, finds that in addition to the predicted average temperature increase, temperature fluctuations around the average will become more erratic during summer in Europe.

In winter, temperature deviations relative to average will be less pronounced over most of the northern hemisphere, as unusually warm days become relatively less common, and unusually cold days even rarer.

Dr Talia Tamarin-Brodsky, researcher in meteorology at the University of Reading, said: "Previous studies have assumed that hot and cold variations around the warmer future average temperature will be affected equally. However, our research shows this is not the case.

"In Europe, there will be more days in summer that are noticeably hotter or colder than average as temperatures vary more. In winter, colder than average days will become less likely over most of the northern hemisphere, which means that when they do come they will be even further from what we are used to, making it more difficult for human infrastructure, and the natural world, to cope."

Extremely hot days are expected to become even more stark as the average global temperature rises under climate change, but the new study was the first to explore why hot and cold fluctuations will be affected differently in the northern hemisphere, both in summer and winter.

The study was co authored by fellow Reading meteorologists Professor Ted Shepherd, Sir Brian Hoskins (also Chair of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change), and Dr Kevin Hodges. They found that regional warming patterns in Europe expected under climate change would also affect neighbouring regions as hot and cold air masses are carried by atmospheric weather systems. This will cause different temperature deviations in different parts of the world.

Dr Tamarin-Brodsky said: "We may be able to get used to a warmer world, but more apparent temperature fluctuations from the average could present risks to our health, agriculture and infrastructure, as well as to the natural world. It is therefore important to understand how regular and how severe these temperature deviations will be at different regions and times of year to help plan and prepare to climate change."

Is COVID-19 more deadly than the flu?

It's a lot more deadly, concludes a new study by the University of Washington published May 7 in the journal Health Affairs. The study's results also project a grim future if the U.S. doesn't put up a strong fight against the spread of the virus.

The national rate of death among people infected with the novel coronavirus -- SARS-CoV-2 -- that causes COVID-19 and who show symptoms is 1.3%, the study found. The comparable rate of death for the seasonal flu is 0.1%.

"COVID-19 infection is deadlier than flu -- we can put that debate to rest," said study author Anirban Basu, professor of health economics and Stergachis Family Endowed Director of the CHOICE Institute at the UW School of Pharmacy.

The School of Pharmacy and Basu have developed a website that explores the infection and fatality rates by U.S. counties for people with symptoms. For this study, 116 counties in 33 states had COVID-19 data that fit Basu's robust criteria for inclusion in the analysis. The site's projections will be updated as new data becomes available, Basu said.

UW's CHOICE Institute Interactive: Explore the county-by-county and national infection fatality rates

Basu stresses that this website is not a forecasting tool -- it does not predict what will happen in the future. Rather, it uses the estimated death rate among symptomatic COVID-19 cases to project what is happening currently in these communities, such as what are the likely numbers for total infections and symptomatic cases. The tool will also detail how the daily incidence of infections changes.

In the state of Washington, for example, the county-specific fatality estimates ranged from 0.5% to 3.6%. King County at 3.6% is the highest among all 116 U.S. counties studied. Among the state's other counties that could be included in this analysis were Chelan County at 2.3%, Island County at 2.2% and Spokane County at 2%.

The COVID-19 death rate, the study adds, means that if the same number of people in the U.S. are infected by the end of the year as were infected with the influenza virus -- roughly 35.5 million in 2018-2019 -- then nearly 500,000 people will die of COVID-19.

However, the novel coronavirus is more infectious than the influenza virus, Basu noted. So, a conservative estimate of 20% of the U.S. population becoming infected by the end of the year -- with the current trends in social distancing and health care supply continuing, while accounting for those infected who will recover asymptomatically -- could result in the number of deaths climbing to between 350,000 and 1.2 million.

"This is a staggering number, which can only be brought down with sound public health measures," Basu said.

To build county-by-county models that could more accurately show how deadly the pandemic is, Basu used publicly reported data on the total COVID-19 cases and deaths. Realizing that both of these reported quantities likely are undercounts and change over time, Basu looked at the trends in the ratio of these two numbers, or the reported "case fatality rates," to more accurately reflect how deadly the virus is among those who fall sick because of it.

"Our hope is that our study results can help inform local and national policies that will save lives in the future," said Basu. "Ultimately, we want this work to advance the health of people around the world."

Basu also noted that the model should not be viewed as the "last word" on estimating the COVID-19 fatality rate, but as one of several methods used to measure the impact of the virus.

"The infection fatality ratio estimate is itself dynamic in nature," Basu said. "The overall estimate can both increase or decrease in the future, depending on the demographics where the infections will be spreading. It is possible, as the infection spreads to more rural counties of the country, the overall infection fatality rate will increase due to the lack of access to necessary health care delivery."

An analysis of genetic studies covering 266,000 women has revealed 32 new sites on the human genome where variations in DNA appear to alter the risks of getting breast cancer. The study lead and senior authors included researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The findings are thought to be the first to link such risk variants to multiple, detailed subtypes of breast cancer.

The new analysis, published May 18 in Nature Genetics, made use of data gathered by the Cambridge, UK-based Breast Cancer Association Consortium from more than 100 breast cancer studies conducted over the past 15 years, mostly among women of European ancestry. The analysis included new methods allowing the identification of DNA variants that have heterogeneous effects across subtypes, such as Luminal-A and triple negative, which can be defined by various tumor characteristics.

The research was conducted in collaboration with investigators across a large number of institutions, including the National Cancer Institute in the U.S., Harvard University's T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Cambridge University, and Netherlands Cancer Institute.

Prior genetic studies in this field have analyzed only the risks of breast cancer generally, or of relatively simple sets of subtypes such as estrogen receptor-positive versus estrogen receptor-negative breast cancers. Assessing breast cancer subtype risk more comprehensively has long been a goal of cancer researchers, because these subtypes--which include the aggressive triple-negative and BRCA1 subtypes--often vary tremendously in the long-term risks they pose to the life and health of patients.

"The findings from this analysis enhance our understanding of the biology that differentiates subtypes and may improve our ability to predict women's breast cancer risks, even at the level of specific breast cancer subtype," says Nilanjan Chatterjee, PhD, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor in the Department of Biostatistics at the Bloomberg School and the paper's corresponding author.

Each year more than 250,000 women in the United States are diagnosed with breast cancers, and more than 40,000 die of them. Prior to the new analysis, researchers had identified, across the genome, more than 170 gene variants or other DNA variants that appear to raise--or in some cases, lower--the risks of getting these cancers.

"Each one of these variants has a small apparent effect on breast cancer risk, and there may be a substantial effect when a person has a combination of them," Chatterjee says.

Researchers have sought to identify these risk factors as comprehensively as possible, so that women can be informed in advance about their likely chances of developing breast cancer, and can be screened for cancer more frequently should their risk seem high.

To that end, the new analysis reviewed one of the largest-ever sets of data from breast cancer genetic studies. It also involved the application of new tools to link DNA variants to specific breast cancer subtypes, defined for example by the presence of different receptors on the cancer cells' surface, by the cancer "grade"--a low/intermediate/high metric of the tumor's potential to spread--and by common combinations of such factors.

In all, the analysis identified 32 new risk variants for breast cancer generally. Of these, 15 variants were also linked independently to one or more specific breast cancer subtypes. Seven of the 15 were linked to estrogen receptor status, seven to the tumor grade, four to HER2 receptor status and two to progesterone receptor status.

The findings help expand scientific understanding of the genetic architecture of breast cancer, and in principle allow oncologists to now calculate more accurate, potentially subtype-specific, risk scores for women based on the combinations of variants they have.

The research may also lead to new discoveries about the underlying biological pathways that drive cancer. Scientists can follow up the new findings by exploring how each risk-linked DNA variation--some within known genes, others in stretches of DNA that have no known function--affects gene activity and signaling networks in cells.

Of note, five of the newly discovered subtype-specific risk variants are linked to a greater risk of some breast cancer subtypes but a lower risk of others.

"These variants are special and if followed up properly may lead to important insights into the biology of these breast cancer subtypes," Chatterjee says.

He and his colleagues now hope to confirm and expand their findings in future analyses covering larger, more ethnically diverse populations of breast cancer patients.

DALLAS (May 15, 2020) – Researchers at Center for BrainHealth®, part of The University of Texas at Dallas, recently published findings underscoring differences between men and women’s craving or desire to consume cannabis when exposed to a specific situation. By examining differences in neural (physical) and subjective (behavioral) craving responses, and measuring the relative contributions of each as it relates to heavy cannabis use, they found that neural activity primarily underlies response to cannabis cues with no differences between male and female users. This is followed by subjective craving, where there are sex-related differences – female users exhibit more intense subjective craving than male users. The findings imply that both neural and behavioral measures must be considered to understand underlying mechanisms of substance use and determine appropriate treatment interventions.

The study was published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence (April 2020) by researcher Shikha Prashad, PhD, and Francesca Filbey, PhD, professor and director of cognitive neuroscience research of addictive disorders at Center for BrainHealth.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure neural responses, study participants were exposed to their most commonly used cannabis equipment, preferred fruit or neutral objects (such as a pencil) to compare their cravings. Subjective craving was measured before and after the fMRI scan. Sex-related differences in neural and behavioral response to cannabis cues and cannabis use were examined and measured in 112 heavy cannabis users (58 males and 54 females), using principal component analysis to determine the relative contributions of neural and behavioral response and cannabis use measures (e.g., years of cannabis use, grams of cannabis use in the preceding two months, and THC metabolite level).

Researchers also found preliminary evidence that ovarian hormones may modulate this differential response and may be related to different levels of estrogen. Further investigation is needed in this area.

“The greatest contribution of this study was to understand the differences in the effects of cannabis use in men and women on brain activity and subjective response. This research has moved the needle forward in accounting for these individual differences in the development and administration of interventions to help improve clinical outcomes for everyone, particularly women,” said Dr. Prashad.

Addressing sex-related differences in response to substance use is crucial given that, although women in general start using cannabis at a later age than men, they progress more quickly through the milestones of addiction and ultimately enter into treatment programs at a younger age, a phenomenon known as telescoping. Women also report greater withdrawal symptoms and higher negative impact of withdrawal. The study also helped address a historical underrepresentation of women in research studies. These considerations have important clinical relevance as studies report poorer outcomes for women in psychological and pharmacological treatments.

ABOUT THE CENTER FOR BRAINHEALTH®

The Center for BrainHealth®, part of The University of Texas at Dallas, is a research institute committed to enhancing, preserving and restoring brain health across the lifespan. Scientific exploration at the Center for BrainHealth is leading edge, improving lives today and translating groundbreaking discoveries into practical clinical application. By delivering science-based innovations that enhance how people think, work and live, the Center and its Brain Performance Institute™ are empowering people of all ages to unlock their brain potential. Major research areas include the use of functional and structural neuroimaging techniques to better understand the neurobiology supporting cognition and emotion in health and disease.

Journal

Drug and Alcohol Dependence

DOI

10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.107931

Bird wings adapted for long-distance flight are linked to their environment and behaviour, according to new research on an extensive database of wing measurements, led by the University of Bristol.

The Arctic tern flies from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back again each year, while the Inaccessible Island rail - the world's smallest flightless bird - never leaves its five-square-mile island.

The way different organisms vary in how much they move around is a key factor in understanding and conserving biodiversity. Yet since tracking animal movement is difficult and expensive, there are still huge gaps in knowledge about animal movements and dispersal, particularly in more remote parts of the world. The good news is that bird wings offer a clue.

Measurements of wing shape - particularly a metric called the 'hand wing index', which reflects the elongation of the wing - can quantify how well the wing is adapted for long-distance flight and is easily measured from museum specimens.

New research published today in Nature Communications has analysed this index for over 10,000 species of birds, providing the first comprehensive study of a dispersal-linked trait across an entire class of animals.

A global team of researchers, led by the University of Bristol and Imperial College London, measured the wings of 45,801 birds in museums and field sites around the world.

From these, the team created a map of the global variation in wing shape, showing that the best-adapted fliers were primarily found in high latitudes while birds adapted to more sedentary lifestyles were generally found in the tropics.

By analysing these values along the bird family tree, together with detailed information about each species' environment, ecology, and behaviour, the authors found that this geographical gradient is primarily driven by three key variables: temperature variability, territory defence, and migration.

The study's lead author, Dr Catherine Sheard from the University of Bristol's School of Earth Sciences, said: "This geographic pattern is really striking. Given the role we know dispersal plays in evolutionary processes, from speciation to species interactions, we suspect this relationship between behaviour, the environment, and dispersal may be shaping other aspects of biodiversity."

Examples of fundamental patterns potentially explained by variation in dispersal include the smaller geographical ranges noted in tropical species.

Dr Joseph Tobias, senior author of the study, based at Imperial College London, added: "We hope our measures of wing shape for over 10,000 bird species will have numerous practical applications, particularly in ecology and conservation biology, where so many important processes are regulated by dispersal."

Ocean warming is likely to alter the distribution and lifecycle of ecologically and commercially important Antarctic krill over the rest of this century, according to new IMAS-led research.

Published in the journal Nature Climate Change, the study looked at how krill growth habitat is likely to be affected by changes to ocean temperatures and the concentration of the species' preferred food, phytoplankton.

The research team found there would be a moderate impact across 85 percent of the Southern Ocean, with krill expected to move further south and shifts in the time of year when conditions are most favourable.

The research was led by IMAS PhD student Devi Veytia and included scientists from the Australian Antarctic Division, ACE CRC and the British Antarctic Survey.

Ms Veytia said the study's findings included a projected change in the seasonal distribution of krill habitat, particularly around northerly fishing grounds near the Antarctic Peninsula.

"Understanding how krill will respond to climate change and the ecological impacts of those changes is important to both conservation efforts and the management of the fishery, the largest in the Southern Ocean.

"Our study combined projections of sea surface temperatures and phytoplankton using climate change scenarios with an established krill growth model.

"We found that over the coming decades krill habitat quality can be expected to improve in spring, particularly further south and on the continental shelf.

"In summer, there was little net change, but good habitat redistributed, increasing at high and low latitudes and declining in mid-latitudes.

"Autumn saw the greatest decline in habitat quality and area, mainly in sub-Antarctic regions.

"In response, we expect krill habitat to move south into higher latitudes.

"At the same time there will be a change in the time of year when krill habitat is optimal, improving in spring, but declining in important regions during summer and autumn."

Ms Veytia said the shift in seasonal habitat quality, especially around the Antarctic Peninsula, could disturb the synchronisation between krill and the annual cycle of this important ecosystem.

"Synchronisation usually allows krill to capitalize on seasonally available food sources, allowing growth, reproduction and storing of reserves to survive the winter.

"A temporal shift in habitat quality could create a timing mismatch, potentially affecting krill reproduction and population dynamics.

"The commercial fishery, which is currently centred on the Antarctic Peninsula and south Scotia Sea, could also be affected, leading to shifts in the distribution and timing of the fishing effort.

"The geographical shift of krill habitat towards more southerly waters is also likely to have ecosystem impacts, particularly for land-based predators at sub-Antarctic islands that have limited capacity to follow their preferred food source," she said.

Dendritic cells (DCs) are one of our bodies' first line of defense against invaders, and are stationed like sentinels at all outer and inner surfaces as well as in most of our organs. When they detect something foreign, they become active and migrate into lymph nodes, where they present the foreign substance to B cells and T cells to initiate a protective response. This crucial role in activating immune responses makes DCs an attractive target for immunotherapy, but so far no technology exists that can effectively label, track, and target DCs in the body.

Now, researchers from Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have created a new approach that can successfully label DCs in vivo using an engineered sugar molecule that is taken up by the DCs, processed by their metabolism, and displayed on their surfaces. That same molecule also serves as a target, allowing a wide range of molecules to be delivered right to DCs via "click" chemistry to modulate their behavior. When administered to mice with cancerous tumors, this system dramatically increased their survival time and shrank the size of their tumors. The research is published today in Nature Materials.

"Previous techniques attempting to label DCs required taking them out of the body and manipulating them, which can dramatically change their behavior when they're reintroduced," said Hua Wang, Ph.D., a Technology Development Fellow at the Wyss Institute in the lab of Wyss Core Faculty member David Mooney, Ph.D. "The new system we have developed allows DCs to be easily labeled inside the body, and can also be used to modulate their interactions with T cells, which has great promise for treating cancer and other diseases."

Pour some sugar on me

The technique developed by Wang and his colleagues takes advantage of the fact that living cells are continuously metabolizing different kinds of sugars into molecules that are then displayed on their membranes, where they serve a variety of functions. The team first engineered a synthetic sugar molecule that is not found in nature, called an azido sugar, which DCs readily internalize and process into an azide molecule that they display on their outer surfaces for more than two weeks.

While the azido sugars reliably labeled DCs in vitro, the team needed a way to move that process inside the body. They turned to a technique that has been previously used by the Mooney lab within the Wyss Institute's Immuno-Materials platform to concentrate and tune DCs to treat cancer: biomaterial scaffolds. These biocompatible, porous hydrogels are implanted into the body, where they release a cytokine called granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) that attracts DCs.

The team seeded these scaffolds with nanoparticles made of azido sugar polymers, then implanted them into living mice. After three days - when the concentration of DCs inside the scaffolds reached its peak - the implanted scaffolds were exposed to harmless ultrasound radiation, which loosened the bonds of the hydrogel scaffold and allowed the azido sugar nanoparticles to be released and subsequently taken up and processed by the DCs.

To test how reliably their azido sugar molecules allowed labeled DCs to be tracked, the researchers counted the number of azide-positive DCs present in the mice's lymph nodes, which is where DCs naturally congregate after surveilling the body. They found large numbers of azide-positive DCs in lymph nodes of mice that had received the sugar-loaded hydrogel scaffold and ultrasound treatment, compared with mice that had received a scaffold without ultrasound or a blank scaffold. The azide label persisted on the surfaces of DCs in the lymph nodes for up to 21 days, indicating that they could be used for longer-term tracking and study of DC activity.

"Cancer vaccines like the one developed in our lab depend on the migration of activated DCs from a biomaterial scaffold into the body's lymph nodes so they can prime T cells against a given antigen, but previously there was no way to see that step happening. Now, we have a way to track and quantify DCs so we can ensure they are getting to where they need to go," said Wang.

Delivering directly to DCs

Being able to label and track DCs in vivo was an achievement all its own, but the team's aspirations went one step further - could they use those same labels to control the DCs' behavior? To answer that question, they turned to click chemistry, which refers to pairs of small biocompatible molecules that bind quickly, irreversibly, and specifically to each other. Azido groups' click chemistry partner is a molecule called dibenzocyclooctyne (DBCO), so the researchers hypothesized that they could deliver molecular "cargoes" directly to DCs in lymph nodes by attaching them to DBCO.

The team first conjugated DBCO to a fluorescent molecule called Cy5 and injected it into mice that had been given the scaffold+ultrasound treatment, and saw a marked increase in fluorescence in the animals' lymph nodes, indicating that DBCO-Cy5 had indeed homed to the DCs that had congregated there.

Based on this positive result, the researchers then tried attaching DBCO to a variety of cytokines, which are proteins that carry signals between cells and are known to drive and influence immune responses. One cytokine called IL-15/IL-15Rα, once presented on the surface of DCs, can initiate the proliferation of CD8+ T cells and natural killer cells, which target and kill pathogens. When the team injected DBCO-bound IL-15/IL-15Rα into mice that had received the scaffold+ultrasound treatment, their azide-labeled DCs successfully captured the cytokine via click chemistry.

To test the ability of the captured cytokine to effectively activate a T-cell response, the researchers primed untreated mice's immune systems with two peptides that are recognized as "foreign" by the body, and generated DCs that display both peptides and azide molecules on their surfaces. Then they injected DBCO-bound IL-15/IL-15Rα to induce the DCs to present the peptides to T cells. The mice that received the targeted cytokine generated a stronger T-cell response against the peptides and, importantly, displayed no negative side effects, as this approach requires a dose of cytokine 100 times lower than that used in past studies.

Chemistry that clicks to fight cancer

For the pièce de résistance, the team tested their DC-labeling system's performance against cancer in living mice. After receiving the scaffold+ultrasound treatment, mice with azide-labeled DCs in their lymph nodes were injected with DBCO bound to a peptide called E7, which is expressed in human papilloma virus (HPV)-associated cancers, as well as DBCO bound to CpG, a short, single-stranded DNA molecule that stimulates the immune system. These mice displayed significantly higher numbers of CD8+ T cells that were active against E7 compared with mice that received "free" E7 and CpG, indicating that the DBCO had successfully delivered its cargoes to the DCs, which had primed the T cells. This T-cell response provided full protection against cancer when the mice were later injected with E7-expressing lung cancer cells. The system also effectively treated mice with established lung cancer tumors -- those that received it had slower tumor growth and longer tumor-free survival than mice that received either an empty hydrogel scaffold or no treatment at all.

"Fundamentally, this is a technology that allows us to tag cells and target them in a really precise manner in the body. In this study, we demonstrated that it has efficacy for cancer immunotherapy, but it also has the potential to be used in other contexts where you want to be able to control how cells interact with each other," said Mooney, who is also the Robert P. Pinkas Family Professor of Bioengineering at SEAS.

The Mooney lab is continuing to explore different types of molecules that can be delivered to DCs via this system, and plans to apply it to studying and mediating other immune cell interactions.

"This effort shows how immune-modulating biomaterial scaffolds offer an entirely new and powerful approach for treating diseases, including various types of cancer, by targeting dendritic cells. It also opens an entirely new window into studying how our immune system functions, which could led to interventions for a wide range of disorders," said the Wyss Institute's Founding Director Donald Ingber, M.D., Ph.D., who is also the Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology at HMS and the Vascular Biology Program at Boston Children's Hospital, as well as Professor of Bioengineering at SEAS.

Research by anthropologists at the University of Kent has identified hand use behaviour in fossil human relatives that is consistent with modern humans.

The human lineage can be defined by a transition in hand use. Early human ancestors used their hands to move around in the trees, like living primates do today, whereas modern human hands have evolved to primarily perform precision grips.

However, new research led by Dr Christopher Dunmore, Dr Matthew Skinner and Professor Tracy Kivell from Kent's School of Anthropology and Conservation has revealed that the hand of an ancient human relative was used for both human-like manipulation as well as climbing.

Their discovery came from analysing and comparing the internal bony structures of fossil knuckle and thumb joints from the hands of several fossil species from South Africa, eastern Africa and Europe. These included: Australopithecus sediba, Australopithecus africanus, Australopithecus afarensis, Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens dated between 12 thousand and three million years old.

The knuckles at the base of Australopithecus sediba's fingers were found to have an internal trabecular structure consistent with branch grasping, but that of their thumb joints is consistent with human-like manipulation. This unique combination is different to that found in the other Australopithecus species studied and provides direct evidence that ape-like features of this species were actually used, probably during in climbing. Furthermore, it supports the idea that the transition to walking on two legs was gradual in this late surviving member of the Australopithecus genus.

Dr Dunmore said: 'Internal bone structures are shaped by frequent behaviours during life. Therefore, our findings can support further research into the internal structure of hands in relation to stone tool use and production. This approach may also be used to investigate how other fossil hominin species moved around and to what degree climbing might have remained an important part of their lifestyle.'

Professor Kivell said: 'The internal bone structure can reveal hidden evidence that gives us insight into how our fossil human relatives behaved. We were really excited to see this particular hand-use pattern in Australopithecus sediba as it was so different from other australopiths. The fossil record is revealing more and more diversity in the ways our ancestors moved around, and interacted with, their environments - the human evolutionary story is even more complex and interesting than we previously thought.'

A dominant body posture may help children to feel more confident in school. These are the findings of a new study by psychologists from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and the Otto Friedrich University of Bamberg. The study was recently published in the journal "School Psychology International" and provides initial evidence that simple poses can help students feel better at school.

Some body poses don't need further explanation: When a person sits with their arms crossed behind their head, resting their feet casually on a table, they are probably feeling very self-confident. Arms folded in front of one's body and a hunched back, on the other hand, typically indicates insecurity. "Body language is not just about expressing feelings, it can also shape how a person feels," explains Robert Körner from the Institute of Psychology at MLU. Research on so-called power posing investigates, among other things, the extent to which a certain body posture might influence a person's feelings and self-esteem. "Power posing is the nonverbal expression of power. It involves making very bold gestures and changes in body posture," says Körner. Up to now, most of the research has revolved around studying the effects on adults. Körner and colleagues' study is the first to examine children. "Children from the age of five are able to recognize and interpret the body posture of others," the psychologist adds.

The researchers conducted their experiment with 108 fourth graders. One group was to assume two open and expansive postures for one minute each. The other group posed with their arms folded in front of them and their heads down. The children then completed a series of psychological tests. The children who had previously assumed an open posture indicated better mood and reported higher self-esteem than the children in the other group. The effects were particularly striking when it came to questions concerning school. "Here, power posing had the strongest effect on the children's self-esteem," concludes Körner. "Teachers could try and see whether this method helps their students." However, Körner states that the results of the new study should not be blown out of proportion and that expectations about this technique should be tempered. The effects observed were only short-term. Serious problems or mental illness must be treated by trained professionals.

The new study is consistent with earlier findings on power posing; however, the concept is controversial in the field of psychological research. Some of the findings, which indicated effects on hormones or behaviour, for example, could not be replicated. However, this is also the case for other studies in psychology and other scientific disciplines. "To make our study even more objective and transparent, we pre-registered it and all of the methodology. This means that we specified everything in advance and could not change anything afterwards," explains Körner.

Roughly 3 to 5% of children with an aunt or uncle with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can also be expected to have ASD, compared to about 1.5% of children in the general population, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. Researchers also found that a child whose mother has a sibling with ASD is not significantly more likely to be affected by ASD, compared to a child whose father has a sibling with ASD. The findings call into question the female protective effect, a theory that females have a lower rate of ASD than males because they have greater tolerance of ASD risk factors.

The results, derived from records of nearly 850,000 Swedish children and their families, appear in Biological Psychiatry. The study was conducted by John N. Constantino, M.D., at Washington University in St. Louis, and colleagues in the United States and Sweden.

"The results offer important new information for counseling people who have a sibling with ASD," said Alice Kau, Ph.D., of the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Branch of NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), which funded the study. "The findings also suggest that the greater prevalence of ASD in males is likely not due to a female protective effect."

Additional NIH funding was provided by the National Institute of Mental Health.

ASD is a complex neurological and developmental disorder that begins early in life and affects how a person interacts with others, communicates, and learns. Previous studies have found that roughly 3 times more males than females have ASD. Reasons for the difference are unknown.

One possible explanation is that females have a built-in resistance to the genetic factors leading to autism. With such a female protective effect, the theory holds that many women could carry such risk factors and be unaffected, but could transmit them to their sons, who lack the protective effect and may develop ASD.

In the current study, researchers analyzed data from Swedish national registers of births and family relationships. The children were born from 2003 to 2012. Roughly 13,000 children were diagnosed with ASD, about 1.5% of the total. Offspring of mothers with one or more siblings with ASD were about three times more likely than children in the general population to have ASD. Children of fathers with one or more siblings with ASD were twice as likely as children in the general population to have ASD, a rate that did not differ significantly than that of children whose mothers have a sibling with ASD. According to the study authors, the results provide the first population-wide estimate of ASD risk to children of parents who have a sibling with ASD.

China's implementation of a national carbon trading market to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions requires reliable and timely information on GHG sources and impacts. Recent GHG monitoring and modeling studies provide new GHG emission estimates to help policymakers guide progress toward emission reductions.

"Atmospheric Greenhouse Gas Measurement and Application in China," a joint special issue of three journals--Advances in Atmospheric Sciences (AAS), Atmospheric and Ocean Science Letters, and Advances in Climate Change Research-- details the latest observations and findings presented by researchers at the First China Greenhouse Gas Monitoring Conference, held in Beijing between May 30 to 31 in 2019.

Reporting on carbo dioxide distribution in Xi'an City, ozone flux over a maize field, hydrofluorocarbon emissions in the Yangtze river delta and stratosphere-troposphere exchanges of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide above China, these and other studies presented in this comprehensive AAS issue reflect China's improved atmospheric GHG measurement techniques.

"As a nation heavily impacted by climate change, China has implemented many actions to respond to this global challenge," said Dr. Pengfei Han, State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modelling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics of Institute of Atmospheric Physics at Chinese Academy of Sciences. Han is one of the organizers of the joint special issue. "These efforts provide scientific understanding, technical support and solutions for major issues such as energy conservation and emissions reduction, carbon market transactions and low-carbon development."

Highlights from the issue cover all of the 2019 conference topics:

CO2 background monitoring. Mai et al. measured background atmospheric CO2 and potential regional sources in the Pearl River Delta region.

CO2 city area (emission sources) monitoring. Xiong et al. report on CO2 spatial distribution in Xi'an City using carbon-14 data. Bao et al. used a low-cost, non-dispersive infrared sensor to observe vertical CO2 distribution in Shijiazhuang. Zhang et al. analyzed CO2 variation and transmission in Taiyuan.

Non-CO2 GHG monitoring. Pu et al. estimated 2012-2016 hydrofluorocarbon emissions in the Yangtze River Delta region.

GHG flux measurement. Zhu et al. compared ozone flux above a maize field using gradient and eddy covariance methods.

New technologies and applications for GHG measurement. Ji et al. document methane distribution in Xianghe derived from ground-based measurements. Yi et al. used the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's AirCore method to directly observe atmospheric transport and stratosphere-troposphere exchange based on CO2 profile measurements in Inner Mongolia.

Applications of observational data. Fu et al. studied the sensitivity of simulated CO2 concentrations to interannual variations over East Asia.

Along with this special issue, the China Carbon Monitoring Alliance has started, while a data resources platform was established to provide opportunities for collaborations.

Co-authors Daria Hanolainen and Elena Semenova created and tested an experimental method of graphical vignettes - a set of incomplete comic strips which kids are asked to complete using their own creative vision. The paper discusses possible applications for the method.

To assess potential bullying episodes, the researchers tried to represent the most widespread types of bullying in graphical form.

13 girls and 6 boys aged 15 - 16 were asked to pass the comic strip test; thus, bullying could be studied as a group phenomenon.

Each of the respondents was given a set of four vignettes and asked to complete them in 20 minutes. They could write or draw whatever they wished. In the interview, the researchers avoided the term "bullying" and some associated words of Russian language to give the young people the freedom to assess the school atmosphere without loaded questions.

This new methodology adds to the existing number of instruments to research sensitive topics. The results show that graphical vignettes indeed provide an outlet for schoolchildren to formulate what's important for them personally.

The co-authors note, "We made an effort to make this experiment friendly for the kids and to explain to them who we are and what we do as scientists, while emphasizing how important their contribution is for us. Seeing the transparency of our approach and the value of our work, they showed readiness to cooperate. Thanks to their creative work with vignettes, the teenagers could relay important opinions. Some kids emphasized their inability to speak with teachers or adults about aggressors in their classes because of the fear to be misunderstood and to trigger an escalation of bullying."

The authors conclude that kids can openly discuss their problems and traumatic experiences with the use of the proposed methodology. Peer reviews note the uniqueness of their work.

This research will be presented during the forthcoming International Forum on Teacher Education at Kazan Federal University (27th May - 9th June 2020).

In order to mitigate climate change impacts and achieve a more sustainable society, it is necessary to transform the current energy system based on fossil fuels into a model based on renewable energies, and to change society's lifestyles, accepting less mobility, low-carbon diets and smaller-sized dwellings. These are the main conclusions reached by the more than 400 scientists who met virtually last week at the International Conference on Low-Carbon Lifestyles, organized by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB).

The conference discussed the social changes needed to ensure a less polluting economy and lifestyles that contribute to climate change mitigation. After three days of intense debates, the main conclusions highlight that, to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement, it is critical to consider scenarios in which technological solutions and new low-carbon lifestyles share the spotlight. "Low-carbon lifestyles must stop playing a marginal role to become mainstream," conferees said.

However, this is not an easy task since lifestyles are defined by situational, behavioral and cognitive circumstances, which means that policies and social practices can strongly shape their evolution. "The goal is to reduce citizens' resistance to change by showing them that lifestyles coherent with climate targets are possible and necessary", they stated. It is therefore necessary to insist on the "co-benefits" of these new ways of life, and not only on climate objectives.

For instance, reducing the use of cars is not only positive in a climate change perspective, but also for health issues (air pollution, physical activity, etc.). Framing the message around issues that almost everyone agree upon (such as health) allows to bypass traditional political divisions", the text indicates.

However, the population must be motivated and made aware that sustainability depends on collective rather than individual efforts. In this regard, they stressed that the climate impact of "small gestures" (recycling, turning off the tap, etc.) tends to be overestimated, leading people to think that implementing them is sufficient to fight climate change. These low-impact behaviors continue to be promoted, perhaps because they are considered less "threatening" to individuals.

Changes can lead to a significant reduction in carbon use, but citizens must be informed on how this is possible. "In the field of mobility, it is necessary not only to introduce technological changes but also to minimize the number of passengers, the kilometers and the need for travelling", the conclusions state, in which other industrial sectors are highlighted. "We must reduce energy in all phases of the food system, and change current behaviors and diets for more sustainable ones, eating less meat or reducing it completely," they indicate.

Air travel, with recent social movements around the world in favor of reducing flights, and fashion, with proposals advocating for clothes exchanges or personal manufacturing of garments over other proposals such as sustainable fashion or the recycling of vintage clothing, are other sectors where changes should take place.

How is it possible to translate the objectives and proposals of new sustainable lifestyles into political measures? In the face of general disinformation about climate policies among the population, experts advocate information as the main measure for its acceptance. "Citizens know very little about their carbon footprint, and this information could contribute to better decision-making," says the text, recalling that it is not only necessary to "apply climate policies to reduce emissions, but also to reduce inequality or poverty". They also explain that the communication-based policies implemented in countries around the world have a greater acceptance than legal measures. Scientists believe that advertising can contribute to lifestyle changes, and recall that the scientific community must influence and guide society. "We must be coherent and consistent to influence others, and demonstrate in practice our own scientific beliefs", they indicate in the document. "To achieve significant lifestyle changes, we must gather support for collective measures to be taken", they insist.

Life after COVID-19
Regarding the exceptional situation generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, they stress that the crisis offers us the opportunity to break with our habits and reconsider our lifestyles. In this sense, the first weeks after the quarantine will be very important to build new habits, coherent with low-carbon lifestyles. Furthermore, economic recovery policies should take into account climate objectives, avoiding actions such as subsidizing polluting sectors.

This scientific conference itself is an example of these new lifestyles. The meeting was converted into a virtual format, avoiding travel and logistical expenses, which meant less environmental impacts. They stress that the health crisis highlights the high cost of acting too late, as well as the need for swift and radical action. These are valuable lessons that should be applied to the climate crisis.

Algorithms and deep learning has enabled Flinders University sleep researchers to dive deep into one of the mysteries of sleep health.

They have used machine learning and artificial intelligence to develop a free online tool being used by sleep experts and researchers around the world to work out the role of the so-called K-complex, a prominent, brief up-down-up pattern of brain electro-encephalogram (EEG) electrical activity lasting around half a second during sleep.

When displayed on an EEG screen, it looks a bit like a 'K', says Bastien Lechat, lead author on a new Flinders University paper published in Sleep journal (pre-press).

"We hope this algorithm will help to fast forward new discoveries regarding the mysterious K-complex waveform and its associated health outcomes."

"A lack of K-complexes has been linked to various clinical problems, such as Alzheimer's disease and insomnia, suggesting that K-complexes are an important part of normal sleep and health."

"While the meaning and role of K-complexes is rather unclear, one of the leading theories is that they reflect low-level decision processing to either wake up or stay asleep in response to sensory input during sleep," says Mr Lechat, from the Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health at Flinders University.

K-complexes occur roughly every two minutes during sleep, so are too labour-intensive for routine sleep scoring.

If K-complexes were considered, it would take an expert sleep technician approximately 0.5 to 1.5 hours longer to score one sleep study.

Manual scoring also comes with a lot of variability, with agreement between expert scorers as low as 50%. The deep learning algorithm to automatically score K-complexes during overnight sleep studies is much faster and more reliable than with manual scoring.

The algorithm takes around 3 minutes to score an entire night of sleep and out-performs all currently available automated methods," says co-author Dr Branko Zajamsek.

"In addition to its enhanced detection speed and accuracy, the algorithm also gives a 'confidence' or probability rating, allowing for more useful comparisons between clear versus ambiguous K-complex signals - as defined by human scoring.

"This makes the sleep scoring output comprehensive, yet very easy to understand compared to other automated methods."