Brain

School districts across the U.S. are increasingly using student test scores to rate the effectiveness of teachers, but a new Portland State University study found that the scores have less to do with individual teachers and more to do with their students and schools.

Dara Shifrer, the study's author and assistant professor of sociology at PSU, said these findings are especially salient now as the public education system is dismantled by a pandemic, fundamentally altering the lives of children and their parents.

The study looked at the value-added scores of 4,500 teachers in a large urban district as they moved between schools between 2007 and 2013. The idea of value-added models is to measure the impact a teacher has on student learning by comparing new test scores to previous ones, and comparing test score gains across teachers. Supporters of the approach say looking at how much a student has progressed in a year, regardless of where they started from, captures the effectiveness of a teacher.

Shifrer said that if that's true, then a teacher's score should remain constant regardless of the school they work in or the type of students they teach.

Instead, when she tracked individual teachers, she found that their scores increased when they switched into high-performing (often low-poverty) schools and decreased when they switched into low-performing (often high-poverty) schools.

"If the teacher moved to a school where there were more poor students, more English language learners, or generally more challenging teaching environments, then their scores dropped," Shifrer said. "The changes in individuals’ teachers’ scores over time were consistent with shifts in the economic status and race of students in their classrooms and schools."

The study focused on scores from the Education Value-Added Assessment System (EVAAS), which is used in a dozen states, including Arkansas, California, Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

Shifrer said the study is more evidence that factors beyond a teacher's control — socioeconomic background, the impact of social inequality, racial segregation — affect students' learning and whether we view teachers and schools as ‘effective.’

For example, the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools nationwide to pivot to online learning, which left behind many students who didn't have computers or home internet access or whose families had to deal with health issues, layoffs and other concerns.

"These value-added scores haven't solved the problem of how to evaluate teacher quality and they limit our ability to understand how students learn and what affects it," she said. "Policymakers need to recognize how powerfully social inequality outside of schools affects what's happening inside of schools."

Shifrer said that educational disparities will be most effectively addressed by targeting inequality in society. The study recommends that teachers who work in high-poverty schools be paid a higher salary and schools should be sufficiently funded to provide the social services that are necessary to support their students. She said the pandemic has only made it more clear how society relies on schools not just for educating children but also for facilitating parents’ ability to work, and by providing children with food and other social supports.

TORONTO (Nov. 12, 2020) - A staggering 3 million deaths occur every year as result from harmful use of alcohol, according to the World Health Organization.

Present in alcoholic drinks, ethanol, normally referred to as 'alcohol', affects every part of the human body. Brain function, circulation and even nail growth are impacted. When a certain level of blood alcohol concentration is reached, the intoxication can damage organs and lead to death.

In a study published today in Scientific Reports, a Nature Research Journal, a team of researchers led by Dr. Joseph Fisher presents a proof of concept of a simple method that could become a game-changer in rescue therapy for severe alcohol intoxication, as well as just "sobering up."

Normally, 90% of the alcohol in the human body is cleared exclusively by the liver at constant rate that can't be increased. Currently there is no other method, short of dialysis, whereby alcohol can be removed from the blood. This leaves as the only options to treat life-threatening alcohol levels supportive measures such as giving oxygen, intravenous fluids, breathing assistance, and treating any heart issues with drugs.

The principle behind UHN team's approach is simply to recruit the lungs to breathe out the alcohol. The harder the breathing, it was reasoned, the more alcohol is eliminated. The team found that indeed, hyperventilation eliminated the alcohol at least three times faster than through the liver alone.

"But you can't just hyperventilate, because in a minute or two you would become light-headed and pass out," explains Dr. Fisher, anesthesiologist and senior scientist at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute (TGHRI).

When hyperventilating - breathing deeper and more rapidly than normal - the body eliminates carbon dioxide from the blood along with the alcohol. The decrease of this gas in the blood is the cause of symptoms such as light-headedness, tingling or numbness on hands and feet, and fainting.

Dr. Fisher and his team used a device that allows the patient to hyperventilate off the alcohol while returning precisely the amount of carbon dioxide to the body to keep it at normal levels in the blood--regardless of the extent of hyperventilation. The equipment is the size of a small briefcase and uses a valve system, some connecting tubes, a mask, and a small tank with compressed carbon dioxide.

"It's very basic, low-tech device that could be made anywhere in the world: no electronics, no computers or filters are required.

"It's almost inexplicable why we didn't try this decades ago," says Dr. Fisher.

This study is the first scientific demonstration that the basic rate of alcohol elimination could be substantially exceeded by using hyperventilation.

This study is a proof of concept performed in the laboratory with volunteers. The authors recommend following up with further validation studies to understand how this technology could be applied in a clinical setting.

Climate change is a major global crisis. Despite international agreements to fight climate change, greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase and global temperatures continue to rise. The potential effects on our lives are drastic: recent wildfires in the US and Australia, floods due to heavier precipitation, and heavy losses of crops are all indicative of this. But simply reducing the production of greenhouse gases, although crucial, is not enough. The CO2 that we've released, and are continuing to release into the atmosphere, remains there indefinitely. Climate change will thus continue to worsen unless atmospheric carbon is removed. Therefore, finding cutting-edge solutions for the active removal of greenhouse gases is crucial.

With this in mind, a group of scientists from the US and Israel have proposed a CO2 removal strategy that utilizes the powerful methods of synthetic and systems biology (SSB). The further development and deployment of SSB could enable the modification of plants to remove CO2 from the atmosphere irreversibly. At a symposium held in Boston, the scientists discussed their ideas for mitigating the negative effects of climate change, with their findings published in BioDesign Research. Professor Charles DeLisi of Boston University, lead author of this paper, explains this concept using an interesting analogy, "Engineers learned long ago how to design and manufacture circuits to perform desired tasks. In the past two decades, biomedical engineers have begun to learn to design and manipulate the circuitry that enables cells to carry out biological processes with enhanced functions: in this case, CO2 removal . "

In this paper, the scientists began by summarizing a few ways in which these bioengineered, sustainable plant phenotypes can be developed. They suggested targeting and modifying genes that, for instance, change the root-to-shoot ratio to increase the amount of CO2 trapped in the soil. Additionally, genetically altering leaf properties could potentially increase crop productivity: for example, a plant can be modified to process more energy via photosynthesis without needing as much sunlight, or they could become more drought-resistant via leaves that don't allow as much water to evaporate. Improving crop productivity would increase sustainability because fewer crop failures and more yield means less land is needed to grow enough food. Other interesting genetic modifications of plants involve giving them the ability to "fix" nitrogen (converting nitrogen gas into forms that plants can use for growth). Currently, only legumes (beans) with nitrogen-fixing bacteria can do this, but if the ability can be added to major staple crops like wheat, we could draw large amounts of the "nitrous oxide," a major greenhouse gas, out of the atmosphere. Besides plants, various bacteria could also be engineered to use CO2 as their carbon source instead of sugars, potentially becoming a space-saving way of pulling CO2 from the atmosphere.

While these methods are promising, Prof DeLisi and his colleagues acknowledge that their proposals are a step into the unknown. "

Perturbations of the carbon cycle on a global scale will be profound and irreversible in their consequences. Developing a national agenda without a serious and open analysis of risks and mitigation strategies would be a mistake both politically and ethically."

In particular, the scientists warn that applications of SSB require us to think carefully about how to prepare for unintended consequences, who is liable in case of harm, and whether benefits are fairly distributed in society. Having strong answers for these issues will help to generate public acceptance.

Nevertheless, this novel strategy has numerous environmental and economic advantages, and thus, it is definitely worth serious consideration. "It is very important to explain that we could have a win-win climate change strategy using bioengineering to modify and design plants that remove carbon, while being high yield to mitigate climate-related food shortages and stimulate the economy," concludes Prof DeLisi.

A team of researchers from the Universitat Politècnica de València and the Spanish National Research Council has discovered a new method that makes it possible to transform electricity into hydrogen or chemical products by solely using microwaves - without cables and without any type of contact with electrodes. This can represent a disruption in the field of energy research and a key development for the decarbonisation of process industry, as well as for the future of the automotive sector and the chemical industry, among many others. The study has been published in the latest edition of Nature Energy.

The technology developed and patented by the UPV and CSIC is based on the phenomenon of the microwave reduction of solid materials, in this study exemplified by the reduction of Cerium oxide. This method enables to carry out electrochemical processes directly without requiring electrodes, which simplifies and significantly reduce capital costs, as it provides more freedom in the design of the structure of the device and choosing the operation conditions, mainly the electrolysis temperature.

"It is a technology with great practical potential, especially for its use in energy storage and production of synthetic fuels and green chemicals. This aspect has significant importance nowadays, as both transportation and industry are immersed in a transition towards decarbonisation and electrification, meaning they have to meet very challenging targets in 2030 and 2040 in order to decrease the consumption of energy and substances from fossil sources, mainly natural gas and oil," highlights Prof. José Manuel Serra, researcher from the Chemical Technology Institute (ITQ).

Green hydrogen for industrial and transportation uses

The main use of this "disruptive" technology reported by researchers from the Information Technologies and Communications Institute (ITACA) of the UPV and ITQ, joint centre of the UPV and CSIC, is the production of green hydrogen (produced without emitting greenhouse gases) from water, for industrial and transportation uses.

As noted by the ITQ and ITACA team, it is a technology with great potential for the automotive sector, specifically for cars fuelled by fuel cells and hybrids or large vehicles such as trains or ships. But also for the chemical industry, metallurgy, the ceramic sector or the production of fertilisers, among many other sectors. "This method will make it possible to transform renewable electricity, typically of solar or wind origin, into added value products and green fuels. It has countless uses and we hope that new uses will emerge for energy storate and process industry, by tuning materials compositon and operation conditions ," highlights Prof. José Manuel Catalá, researcher at the ITACA institute of the UPV.

In the article published in Nature Energy, the researchers also provide a techno-economic study that reveals that this technology would enable to obtain high energetic efficiency, and that the cost of the facilities (CAPEX) to carry out the hydrogen production process are very competitive compared to conventional technologies for hydrogen production.

Ultra-fast charging of batteries... and space exploration

The UPV and CSIC team is studying other future uses for this technology, and is currently focusing its efforts on the use for the ultra-fast charging of batteries "Our technology could enable a practically instantaneous reduction (electron injection) of the electrode (metallic anode) that stores energy. In other words, we would go from a (2D) layer-based progressive charging process, which can take hours, to a simultaneous recharging process in the entire (3D) volume of the material storing the energy, which would make it possible to charge a battery in a few seconds," says Prof. Catalá.

Another use would be the direct generation of oxygen with microwaves, which opens a broad spectrum of new uses. "One specific use would be the direct production of oxygen with extra-terrestrial rocks (regoliths), which could have a key role in the future exploration and colonisation of the Moon, Mars or other moons in the solar system," concludes Prof. Serra.

A short history of the discovery

The team of researchers observed that when ionic materials were treated with microwaves, the materials displayed unusual changes in their properties, especially in their electronic conductivity, changes that did not happen upon conventional heating. "We were very intrigued about these sudden changes in their electrical properties and wanted to understand what process was going on. For this reason, we keep on designing new experiments, new microwave reactors and utilizing other analytical techniques," explains Prof. Catalá.

The team from the ITACA and ITQ institutes verified that microwaves interact with these materials by 'accelerating' the electrons and triggering the release of molecules of oxygen from their structure (which is also called reduction). This change became visible to us by sudden alterations to the conductivity at relatively low temperatures (approximately 300ºC). "This non-equilibrium state is maintained while microwaves are applied, but tends to revert back via reoxygenation (reoxidation) when microwaves are switched off. At first sight, we realised the great practical potential of this discovery, especially now that very ambitious goals should be meet in the next two decades to reach an economy with zero net greenhouse gas emissions," concludes Prof. Serra.

The gut-associated lymphoid tissue represents an integral part of the immune system. Among the powerful players of the mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue are isolated lymphoid structures (ILSs). Additionally, in the course of cancer, ectopic lymphoid structures (ELSs; also known as tertiary lymphoid structures, TLSs) were shown to be formed at the tumor site. Both ILSs and ELSs act as multitasking information centers triggering multifaceted immune responses. An in-depth understanding of the complexity and functionality of ILSs and ELSs may lead to new directions in therapeutic interventions and/or provide help in treatment decisions as part of personalized medicine. The study recently published by researchers from MedUni Vienna and collaborative partners nominates ILSs as novel prognostic players orchestrating the pathobiology of metastatic colorectal cancer.

Cumulative data within the rapidly evolving field of immuno-oncology positions tumor infiltrating B cells among powerful contributors to anti-tumor immunity. One essential aspect that links the B-cell biology, the adaptive immunity, and the inflammation process to the tumor microenvironment is based on the unique ability of B cells to form ELSs. Central to this are Germinal Center reactions, which involve the coordinated action of various immune cell types with a central role given to B cells.

Key information that needs to be considered for understanding the ELSs in solid tumors is that there are tissue types where such lymphoid structures are physiologically appearing to fulfil an important balance between effective and protective immune response and self-tolerance. "This holds true for organs with specialized immunity at epithelial barriers. Among those is the gut-associated lymphoid tissue with the ILSs being among the most powerful players." saysDiana Mechtcheriakova, principal investigator and the head of Molecular Systems Biology and Pathophysiology Research Group at the Institute of Pathophysiology and Allergy Research, Medical University of Vienna. "We aimed to investigate whether there is a link between the patient-specific characteristics of pre-formed isolated lymphoid structures in non-tumorous colon tissue and the disease pathobiology for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer."

In this study the multidisciplinary research team implemented newly developed integrative strategy named DIICO/from Digital Immune Imaging to Clinical Outcome. DIICO is based on digital tissue image cytometry which enables to transform encrypted tissue information on immune cells and structures into numerical data for alignment with disease-relevant parameters. Important additive information was obtained by B-cell clonality assessment and a comprehensive analysis of Omics data..

The authors showed that the properties of ILSs in non-tumorous colon tissue predefine the immune phenotype of ELSs at primary and metastatic sites. They discovered that B-cell-enriched and highly proliferative lymphoid structures are prognostic towards an improved clinical outcome for patients with metastatic CRC. The knowledge gained from this study expands our understanding of tumor-immune interactions and draws particular attention to the anti-tumor immune response guided by isolated lymphoid structures outside of tumor tissue.

Narrow-band near infrared (NIR) photodetectors (PDs) capable to simultaneously detect light in multi-spectral bands, e.g., in the NIR I and NIR II regions, are attracting prodigious attention in diverse areas including biological analysis, multicolor bio-imaging/sensing, and encrypted communications. UCNCs, due to their unique two-photons or multi-photons excitation nature as well as their non-toxic characteristics and low preparation cost, have emerged as a superior solution by converting NIR photons into easily detectable visible photons. However, the relatively high pumping threshold to realize detectable upconversion luminescence (UCL), originating from the lower absorption cross section of 4fn-4fn transitions of rare earth (RE) ions and lower luminescent quantum efficiency of UCNCs because of the anti-Stokes nature, poses a fundamental limitation for weak NIR light detection in photoelectric devices.

In a new paper published in Light Science & Applications, a team of scientists, led by Professors Hongwei Song and Wen Xu from State Key Laboratory of Integrated Optoelectronics, College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin University, China, Dr. Haichun Liu from Department of Theoretical Chemistry and Biology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, Department of Applied Physics, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden and co-workers have explored a novel cascade optical field modulation strategy integrating the superlensing effect of polymeric microlens arrays (MLAs) and the plasmonic effect of gold nanorods (Au NRs) to boost UCL. This cascade modulation strategy was found to readily lead to a UCL enhancement by more than four orders of magnitude. They designed and synthesized multi-wavelength responsive core-shell-shell (CSS) structured UCNCs that emit visible light under excitation of 808, 980, or 1540 nm, and constructed NIR PDs on top. Realizing that each UCNC constitutes an information-rich kinetic system, possessing characteristic responses to optical signals in the temporal and frequency domains of different excitation wavelengths, they exploited the possibility of separating the channels of multi-wavelengths photodetection to implement selective detection. They proved that the modulation frequency response can be used to well distinguish the detected wavelengths. In addition, the UCL kinetics of the UCNCs was also optimized by manipulating the concentrations of lanthanide dopants, whereby short response times of 80-120 ms for the final PDs were achieved. These scientists summarize the operational principle of their NIR PDs:

"We have designed and synthesized NaYF4: Yb3+, Er3+@NaYF4@NaYF4: Yb3+, Nd3+, Tm3+ core-shell-shell (CSS) UCNCs, which could be excited by 808, 980 and 1540 nm light and generate visible emissions. By using a novel cascade optical field modulation strategy through integrating the superlensing effect of MLAs and the plasmonic effect of Au NRs, significant UCL enhancements from the UCNCs have been obtained, in concrete terms by factors of 2.4×104, 2.2×104, and 1.6×104 for 808, 980, and 1540 nm excitation, respectively."

"In comparison, the employment of the LSPR effect can typically enhance UCL by one order of magnitude, while the usage of the superlensing effect can lead to UCL enhancement by two or three orders of magnitude, when using the same routine and easily obtained nano-/micro-structures."

"The PDs were built based on the synthesized CSS UCNCs adopting the cascade optical field modulation strategy for UCL, which have achieved selective detection to three narrow spectral bands in the NIR region. The PDs possess extremely high responsivity of 30.73, 23.15, and 12.20A/W, and detectivity of 5.36×1011, 3.45×1011, and 1.92×1011 Jones for the 808, 980, and 1540 nm light detection, comparable or well beyond those of other types of NIR PDs such as commercial Ge-based ones, along with short response times in the range of 80-100 ms. "

"Importantly, the incident light wavelength can be well distinguished by a proposed novel approach, i.e., examining the response to the excitation modulation frequency. Our work highlights new concepts to conquer the relatively high pumping threshold of UCNCs, enabling to build high-photoresponsivity and -detectivity multi-band responsive and distinguishable photodetectors on top of them, and can also stimulate other applications of upconversion nanotechnology."

The development of laser frequency combs has revolutionized optical communication, photonic sensing, precision spectroscopy, and astronomical observation. Stable frequency combs could be achieved via mode locking in rare-earth doped fiber lasers, generating Kerr solitons in parametric oscillators, or opto-electrically modulating lithium niobate microresonators with strong second-order nonlinearity. For many out-of-lab applications, people desire a compact comb devices with multiple advances, such as all-in-fiber integration, low driven power but high efficiency, full stabilization, and diverse comb outputs with fast and convenient tunability.

In a recently published paper in Light: Science & Applications, scientists from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Nanjing University, Hunan University and University of Colorado, Bouder, demonstrated a graphene heterogeneous fiber micro resonator. Leveraging the electrical tunability of the graphene semiconductor incorporated in a fiber F-P microcavity, they demonstrate dissipative soliton mode-locked laser combs generation, and the capability to control comb dynamics in situ. Taking advantage of the tunneling diode effect, the researchers realize a remarkable graphene Dirac Fermion tuning from 0 to 0.45 eV. This leads to modulation depth controllable in range of 0.1% to 1.4 %. In consequence, mode locked laser frequency combs with unprecedentedly dynamic tunability are demonstrated, in both fundamental and harmonic states. Moreover, the graphene integrated microlaser device provides a powerful way to opto-electrically stabilize the comb lines after 1/2 octave supercontinuum amplification, the phase noise reaches the instrument-limited floor of -130 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset, suggesting timing jitter less than 2.5×10-15 s per roundtrip. Such realization of the microcomb's dynamic control and stabilization, in a graphene heterogeneous fiber microcavity, would provide a new platform at the interface of single atomic layer optoelectronics and ultrafast photonics, lighting versatile applications for arbitrary waveform generation, fiber communication, signal processing, and spectroscopic metrology.

(Philadelphia, PA) - Winding and twisting like a labyrinth, the brain consists of an elaborate network of passages through which information flows at high speeds, rapidly generating thoughts, emotions, and physical responses. Much of this information is relayed by chemical messengers, or neurotransmitters - like dopamine and serotonin.

Although fine-tuned and evolved for complex processing, the brain and its neurotransmitters are vulnerable to hijacking by chemical substances, including opioid drugs such as oxycodone, psychostimulants such as cocaine, and alcohol. Chronic use of any of these substances enhances the activity of a molecule known as the kappa opioid receptor (KOR), which is active in the brain's reward circuitry. KOR activation produces dysphoria and an inability to feel pleasure. Its enhanced activity following chronic drug or alcohol use plays a crucial role in substance abuse.

KORs have been known to exist in certain brain regions, particularly those involved in pain processing, reward, and stress responses, but new work at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University (LKSOM) shows that these receptors actually are distributed widely throughout the brain. The Temple researchers made this discovery after lighting up the brains of mice using a technique called CLARITY followed by three-dimensional (3D) fluorescent imaging. The study is the first to apply the imaging technique to better understand opioid receptor localization across the whole brain in 3D images.

"Typically, we look at the brain in sections, thus yielding two-dimensional (2D) images, in which case we are not really able to see get a big picture view of protein distribution," explained Lee-Yuan Liu-Chen, PhD, Professor in the Center for Substance Abuse Research and Department of Pharmacology at LKSOM and senior investigator on the new study. "But with CLARITY we are able to produce 3D images of the entire brain, as a whole organ, and this allowed us to expose the full extent of KOR distribution."

The study was published online in the journal eNeuro.

The CLARITY technique renders brain tissue transparent, enabling researchers to visualize fluorescent probes linked to a protein of interest, in this case KOR. Fluorescence emitted from the probes is then detected via confocal imaging methods to yield highly detailed 3D images of the specific protein's distribution in the whole brain.

Seeking to gain a deeper understanding of KOR localization in the brain, Dr. Liu-Chen and colleagues applied CLARITY to preserved brains from mice that had been engineered to express a fluorescent tag known as tdTomato on KOR proteins. Upon imaging, very specific regions of the KOR-tdTomato mouse brain lit up a bright shade of red, revealing the 3D distribution of KOR throughout the brain. The researchers then examined 2D sections of brain tissue to gain detailed information on the spatial localization of KOR at the cellular level.

The 3D analyses and observations from brain sectioning enabled the researchers to map out the specific places of KOR expression. They identified extensive tracts related to pain and reward, building on existing knowledge of KOR's relevance to these pathways, and they discovered many neural tracts not previously known to express KOR.

"Seeing KOR in 3D space led to the realization that the receptor is expressed in areas of the brain beyond those that had been described before," Dr. Liu-Chen said. "The function of KOR in these additional neural circuits is unknown." A major goal for the team now is to figure out what KOR does in these newly identified circuits.

The success of the team's approach in itself is significant and could open doors to the study of other neurotransmitter receptors in the brain. KOR and other opioid receptors are types of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). "No one has done a 3D study of GPCR distribution in the brain before," Dr. Liu-Chen said. "The approach we used is a very useful tool and could be applied to study many different types of GPCRs and other proteins across neural tracts."

A tiny fish is helping scientists understand how the human brain processes sound, while also giving insight to autism spectrum disorder.

Queensland Brain Institute’s Associate Professor Ethan Scott and Dr Lena Constantin used zebrafish that carry the same genetic mutations as humans with Fragile X syndrome and autism, and discovered the neural networks and pathways that produce the hypersensitivities to sound in both species.

“Loud noises often cause sensory overload and anxiety in people with autism and Fragile X syndrome – sensitivity to sound is common to both conditions,” Dr Constantin said.

“We think the brain is transmitting more auditory information because it is being filtered and adjusted differently.

“Half of males and one fifth of females with Fragile X syndrome also meet the diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder.”

Dr Gilles Vanwalleghem and Rebecca Poulsen were part of the team that studied how zebrafish make sense of their world, in order to explore how neurons work together to process information.

“Fragile X syndrome is caused by the disruption of one gene, so we can disrupt that single gene in zebrafish and see the effects,” Dr Vanwalleghem said.

“We are able to study the whole brain of the zebrafish larvae under the microscope and see the activity of each brain cell individually.”

Dr Constantin said the team recorded the brain activity of zebrafish larvae whilst showing them movies or exposing them to bursts of sound.

“The movies simulate movement or predators —the reaction to these visual stimuli was the same for fish with Fragile X mutations, and those without,” Dr Constantin said.

“But when we gave the fish a burst of white noise, there was a dramatic difference in the brain activity in Fragile X model fish.”

After seeing how the noise radically affected the fish brain, the team designed a range of 12 different volumes of sound and found the Fragile X model fish could hear much quieter volumes than the control fish.

“The fish with Fragile X mutations had more connections between different regions of their brain and their responses to the sounds were more plentiful in the hindbrain and thalamus,” Dr Constantin said.

She said the thalamus worked as a control centre, relaying sensory information from around the body to different parts of the brain, while the hindbrain co-ordinated behavioural responses.

“How our neural pathways develop and respond to the stimulation of our senses gives us insights into which parts of the brain are used and how sensory information is processed,” Dr Constantin said.

“Using the zebrafish, we’ve been able to see a lot more detail and for the first time, seen more activity in the hindbrain which we’re keen to explore further.

“We hope that by discovering fundamental information about how the brain processes sound, we will gain further insights into the sensory challenges faced by people with Fragile X syndrome and autism.”

Palaeontologists have made a surprising discovery while searching through 100-year-old fossil collections from the UK - a new mystery species of pterosaur, unlike anything seen before.

Lead author of the project, University of Portsmouth PhD student Roy Smith, discovered the mystery creature amongst fossil collections housed in the Sedgwick Museum of Cambridge and the Booth Museum at Brighton that were assembled when phosphate mining was at its peak in the English Fens between 1851 and 1900. These fossils found while workmen were digging phosphate nodules were frequently sold to earn a little bit of extra money.

It was while Smith was examining the fossils of shark spines that he made the amazing discovery. The fossils were actually fragments of jaws of toothless pterosaurs, which do indeed resemble shark fin spines, but there are many subtle differences that allow them to be distinguished.

Smith says: "One such feature are tiny little holes where nerves come to the surface and are used for sensitive feeding by the pterosaurs. Shark fin spines do not have these, but the early palaeontologists clearly missed these features. Two of the specimens discovered can be identified as a pterosaur called Ornithostoma, but one additional specimen is clearly distinct and represents a new species. It is a palaeontological mystery.

"Unfortunately, this specimen is too fragmentary to be the basis for naming the new species. Sadly, it is doubtful if any more remains of this pterosaur will be discovered, as there are no longer any exposures of the rock from which the fossils came. But I'm hopeful that other museum collections may contain more examples, and as soon as the Covid restrictions are lifted I will continue my search".

Smith's supervisor, Professor Dave Martill, University of Portsmouth, says: "The little bit of beak is tantalising in that it is small, and simply differs from Ornithostoma in subtle ways, perhaps in the way that a great white egret might differ from a heron. Likely the differences in life would have been more to do with colour, call and behaviour than in the skeleton".

"Pterosaurs with these types of beaks are better known at the time period from North Africa, so it would be reasonable to assume a likeness to the North African Alanqa (pictured below). This is extremely exciting to have discovered this mystery pterosaur right here in the UK.

"This find is significant because it adds to our knowledge of these ancient and fascinating flying prehistoric reptiles, but also demonstrates that such discoveries can be made, simply by re-examining material in old collections."

St Petersburg University researchers, led by Professor Raul R. Gainetdinov, Director of the Institute of Translational Biomedicine and Academic Supervisor of the St Petersburg University Hospital, have found a new role for recently discovered neurotransmitter system that uses the trace amine-associated receptor 5 (TAAR5) for neurotransmission. It has been observed that lack of TAAR5 in mice leads to a higher number of dopamine neurons and an increase in adult neurogenesis, i.e. the process by which new neurons are formed in the brain. This may provide a new treatment opportunity for neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease.

Today, many clinically used drugs affect neurotransmission, that is the process of how the neurons communicate between each other or pass signals to other cells via chemicals. Among the well-studied neurotransmitters, i.e. chemical messengers which transmit signals across nerve endings in the body, are dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, histamine, and glutamate to name but a few. Earlier this year, the same group of researchers reported the discovery of a new neurotransmitter system that transmits signals from nerve cells to target cells via trace amine-associated receptor 5 (TAAR5).

'Trace amine-associated receptors (TAARs) are a class of receptors that detect biogenic amines, which are the products of decarboxylation of amino acids. In other words, each amino acid has its amine,' says Professor Gainetdinov. 'As a rule, the acid part is removed by the enzymes (decarboxylases) that catalyze decarboxylation. They are found in our body or in certain bacteria that metabolize amino acids, for example, when bacteria break down tissues. Little wonder, the trace amines are abundant in fermented foods, such as cheese, wine, beer, and cured meats.'

The majority of TAARs have been described mainly in the olfactory epithelium in the nose and considered to be olfactory receptors sensing innate odours (decaying tissue, pheromones, predators). Yet TAARs are also found in certain brain areas and involved in the regulation of our emotions, as discovered by scientists from the Institute of Translational Biomedicine at the University. The experiments revealed that TAAR5 'knockout' mice with a 'switched off' gene that encodes the TAAR5 protein demonstrate antidepressant- and antianxiety-like behaviours and alterations in brain serotonin transmission.

Further detailed investigations focused on how TAAR5 can influence dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra of the brain. Certain neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson's disease, are associated with the loss of dopamine neurons. The research findings were quite unexpected, scientists say.

'The number of dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra and dopamine content increased by 30% in mice lacking TAAR5 compared to wild type animals. Such an increase in the number of dopamine neurons can occur either during development or via alterations in adult neurogenesis. Some neurons are known to form in the neurogenic areas of the brain such as the subventricular zone (SVZ) and the subgranular zone (SGZ) in adult mammals. The analysis showed that TAAR5 is present in these canonical neurogenic areas as well as in potentially neurogenic zone surrounding the 3rd ventricle. It is known also that adult neurogenesis can be regulated via serotonin receptors, dopamine receptors, and adrenoreceptors and it can be increased during antidepressant treatment. In fact, we found out that TAAR5 knockout mice show increased adult neurogenesis,' says Professor Gainetdinov.

TAARs may serve as intra-brain 'olfactory' sensors to detect decarboxylated amino acids and thereby provide a neurotransmitter mechanism for triggering a neurogenic reaction in response to various pathological processes in the brain. Thus, TAARs may not only modulate emotional behaviours but also regulate adult neurogenesis. Targeting TAAR5 can provide a new treatment opportunity for neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.

Yet much is to be done. Scientists are striving to evaluate future selective TAAR5 antagonists on adult neurogenesis. Further detailed investigations are necessary to clarify the molecular mechanism leading to an increased number of dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra of TAAR5 knockout mice.

An international team of scientists have unveiled the world's first production of a purified beam of neutron-rich, radioactive tantalum ions. This development could now allow for lab-based experiments on exploding stars helping scientists to answer long-held questions such as "where does gold come from?"

In a paper published in Physical Review Letters, the University of Surrey together with its partners detail how they used a new isotope-separation facility, called KISS, which is developed and operated by the Wako Nuclear Science Centre (WNSC) in the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Japan, to make beams of heavy tantalum isotopes.

The chemical element of tantalum is extremely difficult to vaporise, so the team had to capture radioactive tantalum atoms in high-pressure argon gas, ionising the atoms with precisely tuned lasers. A single isotope of radioactive tantalum could then be selected for detailed investigation.

In the study, the team found that when produced in a metastable state, tantalum-187's nucleus fleetingly rotated in an irregular manner. The team discovered that tantalum-187's gamma-ray "fingerprint" was characteristic of a prolate (American football) shape but simultaneously with a hint of an oblate (pancake) shape.

The team believe their results hint at the possibility of tantalum's more dramatic shape-change to a full oblate rotation which they aim to explore in detail in future experiments.

Philip Walker, Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Surrey, said: "Theory suggests that just two more neutrons could tip the shape of tantalum-187 from prolate to oblate, so tantalum-189 is an objective for future investigation. However, it now seems to be a real possibility to go further and reach uncharted tantalum-199, with 126 neutrons, to test the exploding-star mechanism."

Yoshikazu Hirayama, Associate Professor of WNSC in KEK, said: "Our KISS is a unique facility which can provide unexplored heavy nuclei, such as tantalum-187, 189, and 199, for the studies of exotic nuclear structures. We have started to delve into the mechanism of the synthesis of elements in the universe through the nuclear studies at KISS."

A team at Aalto University has used bacteria to produce intricately designed three-dimensional objects made of nanocellulose. With their technique, the researchers are able to guide the growth of bacterial colonies through the use of strongly water repellent - or superhydrophobic - surfaces. The objects show tremendous potential for medical use, including supporting tissue regeneration or as scaffolds to replace damaged organs. The results have been published in the journal ACS Nano.

Unlike fibrous objects made through current 3D printing methods, the new technique allows fibres, with a diameter a thousand times thinner than a human hair, to be aligned in any orientation, even across layers, and various gradients of thickness and topography, opening up new possibilities for application in tissue regeneration. These kinds of physical characteristics are crucial for support materials in the growth and regeneration of certain types of tissues found in muscles as well as in the brain.

'It's like having billions of tiny 3D printers that fit inside a bottle,' explains Luiz Greca, a doctoral student at Aalto University. 'We can think of the bacteria as natural microrobots that take the building blocks provided to them and, with the right input, create complex shapes and structures.'

Once in a superhydrophobic mould with water and nutrients --sugar, proteins and air -- the aerobic bacteria produce nanocellulose. The superhydrophobic surface essentially traps a thin layer of air, which invites the bacteria to create a fibrous biofilm replicating the surface and shape of the mould. With time, the biofilm grows thicker and the objects become stronger.

Using the technique, the team has created 3D objects with pre-designed features, measuring from one-tenth the diameter of a single hair all the way up to 15-20 centimetres. The nano-sized fibres do not cause adverse reactions when placed in contact to human tissues. The method could also be used to grow realistic models of organs for training surgeons or improving the accuracy of in-vitro testing.

'It's really exciting to expand this area of biofabrication that takes advantage of strong cellulose nanofibres and the networks they form. We're exploring applications for age-related tissue degeneration, with this method being a step forward in this and other directions,' says research group leader Professor Orlando Rojas. He adds that the strain of bacteria used by the team, Komagataeibacter medellinensis, was discovered in a local market in the city of Medellin, Colombia, by previous collaborators from Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana.
In both nature and engineering, superhydrophobic surfaces are designed to minimise the adhesion of dust particles as well as microorganisms. This work is expected to open new possibilities for using superhydrophobic surfaces to precisely produce naturally manufactured materials.

As the bacteria can be removed or left in the final material, the 3D objects can also evolve as a living organism over time. The findings provide an important step towards harnessing full control over bacterially fabricated materials.

'Our research really shows the need to understand both the fine details of bacteria interaction at interfaces and their ability to make sustainable materials. We hope that these results will also inspire scientists working on both bacteria-repelling surfaces and those making materials from bacteria,' says Dr. Blaise Tardy.

The journal CrystEngComm has published a special issue to mark the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) reaching 1 million structures, with 33 papers that highlight the breadth of applications made possible with this data.

CrystEngComm has published new research on all aspects in the design and understanding of solid-state and crystalline materials since 1999. They publish work covering a wide range of chemistries, but all involve the use of a design or optimisation strategy to develop a deeper understanding of the structures.

"The breadth of applications of the CSD is incredible, and this special issue of CrystEngComm really celebrates that." says Suzanna Ward, Head of Database at the CCDC who curate the CSD. "We have groups investigating the nature of bonds, or ways to enhance the discovery of new MOFs, right through to optimizing the selection of co-formers for pharmaceuticals. What these papers have in common is the Cambridge Structural Database and it is wonderful to see how authors have gained new insights from the data we help the community to share."

Since 1965 the CSD has been the world's repository for small-molecule organic and metal-organic crystal structures. The data is derived from x-ray and neutron diffraction analyses, with each structure automatically checked and manually curated to enrich the entries with information such as chemical representations, physical properties, or key uses of the molecule. It is used by tens of thousands of scientists around the world to understand, discover, develop, and teach structural science.

To date, the CSD is comprised of 43% organic structures, including drugs, agrochemicals, pigments, explosives and protein ligands, and 57% metal organic structures, including MOFs, catalysts and porous frameworks for gas storage. It is used by top pharma companies, start-ups and academic institutions, and retains links to other key datasets including the PDB, Drugbank, PubChem and more. And the CSD continues to grow and evolve; it is expected to reach 1.1 million structures by the end of the year, and the CCDC are investing heavily in a database evolution project which will ensure the CSD is flexible and extensible to deal with the growing volume, types and uses of structural chemistry data.

"The CSD continues to be a key resource for solid-state scientists everywhere," says Dr Andrew Shore, Executive Editor of CrystEngComm. "As the database reached 1 million structures we wanted to highlight the amazing variety of research that is possible with this resource. We look forward to seeing what new discoveries are made with the CSD next."

Read the editorial for this special issue here: https://doi.org/10.1039/D0CE90154G

Having surgery means placing complete trust in a team of professionals, and counting on them to fix what's wrong while keeping surgical risks as low as possible.

But one of those risks, surgery experts have begun to realize, has nothing to do with what happens in the operating room. Instead, it has to do with treating post-surgery pain without raising the chance that the patient will get hooked, or more dependent, on opioids.

It's a risk that affects a minority of patients - maybe 1% to 10% at most, depending on the operation. But it's not easy to tell in advance which patients will continue to seek opioid painkiller refills months after their surgery pain should have subsided.

Meanwhile, patients who already took opioids for pain before their operation face other risks from increased doses taken after surgery.

A wave of new studies led by surgeons and trainees at Michigan Medicine, the University of Michigan's academic medical center, add to the understanding of these risks. They also show what happens when surgical teams work together to reduce the emphasis on, and supply of, opioid painkillers while still seeking to ease surgery patients' pain.

Sustained success

It's already been several years since a U-M team published some of the first evidence about the risks of long-term post-surgical opioid use. The team also took the novel step of contacting patients to find out how many opioid pills they had actually taken for their surgical pain, compared with what they'd been prescribed.

That led them to develop prescribing guidelines for sharp reduction in opioid prescribing, and use of other pain medications and patient education. They formed the Michigan Opioid Prescribing and Engagement Network, or Michigan OPEN, to help spread the word about the guidelines and about the need for proper disposal of leftover pain medicines to keep them from being diverted to recreational use.

A trial of the guidelines at Michigan Medicine's hospitals showed opioid prescribing declined without increasing patients' pain. That was enough to convince dozens of hospitals across the state of Michigan to adopt the guidelines, and work together to refine them, through the Michigan Surgical Quality Collaborative funded by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.

Now, a new paper published in BMJ Quality & Safety shows the long-term effects of that statewide effort. It includes data from 36,022 patients who received a prescription for an opioid painkiller to help them with the pain associated with one of 9 operations between February 2017 and May 2019 in 69 hospitals across Michigan.

In all, the average surgical opioid prescription size was cut in half over this time, from an average of 30 tablets to about 15. The amount of opioids patient took from those prescriptions also dropped, from an average of 13 tablets to an average of 6, and the percentage of patients who sought a refill for their opioid prescription went down.

Despite the reduction in prescribing and consumption, there was no increase in the amount of pain patients reported in follow-up surveys, or decrease in their satisfaction with their surgery experience. These follow-up data are available for more than 15,000 of the patients.

Prescribing was more in line with guidelines instead of varying greatly by surgeon and procedure, especially for less commonly performed operations that had previously varied widely.

"This project illustrates the power of engaging and empowering physicians, nurses, and other healthcare workers across the state to help improve care for all of our patients," says Craig Brown, M.D., the general surgery resident who is the first author of the new paper. "There's still room to improve opioid prescribing, but teamwork like that exhibited through this MSQC and M-OPEN partnership has made a lasting impact on post-operative prescribing and made a huge difference in our communities."

Surgery professor Michael Englesbe, M.D., who co-leads Michigan OPEN and leads MSQC, is the study's senior author. "We are fortunate in Michigan that our physicians, nurses, state policy makers, and major private payer are able to partner, coordinate efforts and rapidly improve care for patients in our State," he says.

Opioids and hernia surgery

Every year, nearly 800,000 Americans - most of them men - have surgery for the most common kind of hernia, called an inguinal hernia. And according to results of a new study, about 12,000 of them might end up using opioid painkillers long-term, months after the pain from their operation should have subsided.

The study led by U-M surgery resident Ryan Howard, M.D., and surgery associate professor Dana Telem, M.D., M.P.H., is published ahead of print in the Annals of Surgery. It looked at national data on hernia operations done from 2008 to 2016, on patients who got their insurance through a major private insurer including through jobs and Medicare Advantage plans. It only included patients who were "opioid-naïve," meaning they were not already using opioid at the time of surgery.

The team found that of all the patients who received an opioid prescription around the time of surgery, 1.5% of these patients continued refilling opioid prescriptions for at least 3 months after their hernia repair. This means that these patients are continuing to use opioids - medications that carry many risks -long after the surgical pain should have subsided. While this is a lower percentage than those seen in other studies of post-surgery chronic opioid use, it's still concerning because the operation is so common, the authors say.

A critical finding of this study was that patients who filled an opioid prescription in the month before their operation were four times more likely to become persistent opioid users after surgery. Importantly, over half of these preoperative prescriptions were provided by surgeons. The study team believes this may reflect the practice of "convenience prescribing," where a provider makes sure a patient has their prescription filled and ready before they even have their operation. Given that this dramatically increases the risk of persistent opioid use, it may be time for surgeons to abandon this practice.

Additionally, patients who had a major complication of their operation, or who had anxiety, disruptive mood disorder, alcohol or substance abuse disorders or pain disorders were more likely to go on to become chronic opioid users.

Opioids after cancer surgery

One of the key goals of surgical opioid prescribing research is to "right size" the painkiller prescriptions that patients receive before or immediately after their operations so that they have the pills they need to control their pain once they get home, but don't have so many that leftovers pose a risk to them or someone in their household.

A new study in the Journal of Surgical Oncology by a team led by U-M medical student Nicholas Eyrich, M.S., and general surgery chief resident Jay S. Lee, M.D., shows what breast cancer and melanoma surgery patients at a major medical center actually reported receiving and using.

They interviewed 439 patients within a few months of their operation, and found that on average patients took just two of the opioid tablets they were prescribed, no matter what operation they had or whether they received a prescription of 5, 10 or 20 tablets.

While the vast majority of patients said they received instructions for taking opioids, less than half said a member of the care team had talked with them about using non-opioids first or about the risk of addiction to opioids. Less than a third said they were told about the risks of having unused opioids in the home, and only a quarter said they had discussed safe disposal of unused opioids with a member of the care team.

Persistent use leads to higher costs

Another new paper, led by Lee and Michigan OPEN co-leader and plastic surgeon Jennifer Waljee, M.D., M.P.H., M.S., shows that patients who become persistent opioid users for the first time after surgery cost the health system more.

Writing in the Annals of Surgery, they report data from more than 133,000 people nationwide who did not take opioids before they had surgery, of whom 8,100 continued refilling opioid prescriptions for months after their operations.

The average health care bills for each of those patients were $2,700 higher than for those who didn't develop persistent use. The increased spending kept going for at least six months after surgery, at an average rate of $200 a month.

Outpatient surgery risks for those already taking opioids

Older patients who take high doses of opioids, and then go on to have outpatient operations, are more likely to die within a few months of surgery than those who weren't taking opioids, according to a recent study published in JAMA Surgery.

The team, led by Katherine Santosa, M.D., M.S., U-M chief resident in plastic surgery, and Waljee, looked at data from Medicare enrollees over 65 who had common outpatient procedures between 2009 and 2015. They included people who had gallbladder, thyroid, hernia, carpal tunnel, hemorrhoid, varicose vein and prostate surgery, among others.

The team did the study because opioid use is known to be associated with falls, fractures and breathing issues in older adults, especially those who also take medications called benzodiazepines for anxiety or sleep issues.

Although only a small percentage of patients died within 90 days of their outpatient operation - just 471 of the more than 99,000 studied, or 0.5% - the researchers were able to see a difference based on opioid use. It was visible even after adjusting the results for differences in age, sex, race, type of surgery, and multiple measures of health.

The authors call for more attention to be paid to the risks of surgery for people who take opioids on a long-term basis, especially those taking higher doses. Helping them reduce their opioid use before their operation could reduce their risk, and also help them respond better to any opioids prescribed for pain control after surgery. The authors also note that prescribing naloxone, a drug that can "rescue" someone from an opioid overdose, might be wise.

Englesbe, Telem and Waljee are faculty in the U-M Department of Surgery and members of the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation. Waljee directs the Center for Healthcare Outcomes and Policy, where Brown and Howard are current fellows and Lee is a former fellow.

Learn more about the full spectrum of opioid-related research and scholarship at U-M through the Opioid Solutions Initiative.