Culture

A study led by research groups of Prof. FU Qiaomei from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Prof. ZHANG Hucai from Yunnan University covers the largest temporal transect of population dynamics in East Asia so far and offers a clearer picture of the deep population history of northern East Asia.

The study was published in Cell on May 27.

Northern East Asia falls within a similar latitude range as central and southern Europe, where human population movements and size were influenced by Ice Age climatic fluctuations. Did these climatic fluctuations have an impact on the population history of northern East Asia?

Stories uncovered by ancient DNA in East Asia remain relatively underexplored. The population dynamics between 40,000 years ago (40 ka) and 9.5 ka still remain mysterious.

To answer questions related to the deep population history of East Asia, the researchers obtained genome-wide genotype data from 25 ancient humans ranging from 33 to 3.4 ka from the Songnen Plain (Heilongjiang Province, northeastern China) in the Amur Region. This period covers the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), which is crucial to understanding what happened to northern East Asians before, during and after the LGM.

They found that the oldest sample (AR33K, ~33 ka) shares the highest genetic affinity with the Tianyuan man (~40 ka near Beijing, which represents the earliest ancient genome found in East Asia so far), compared to all other published ancient and modern individuals. This probably indicates that Tianyuan/AR33K ancestry was widespread before the LGM in northern East Asia, both geographically and temporally (from 40 ka to 33 ka). In addition, both AR33K and Tianyuan are basal to all East Asians."

The second oldest sample (AR19K, ~19 ka), an individual who lived toward the end of the LGM, is revealed to be the earliest northern East Asian yet identified. This shows that North-South genetic separation in East Asia occurred as early as 19 ka, 10,000 years earlier than previously discovered. AR19K also possesses a genetic ancestry distinct from that of the modern humans who occupied this region before the LGM (e.g., Tianyuan and AR33K), indicating a potential population shift.

The analyses of younger samples after the LGM demonstrate that the genetic continuity reported between modern inhabitants of the Amur Region and the Devil's Cave population (about 8 ka) probably started as early as 14 ka, i.e., 6,000 years earlier than previously proposed.

"The Amur Region populations could have been at the forefront of interactions with ancient North Eurasian (ANE)-related populations that likely contributed to the Ancient Paleo-Siberians," said Prof. FU. The Ancient Paleo-Siberians are reported to be the closest relatives of Native American populations outside of the Americas.

Besides elucidating population dynamics, these analyses provide the first ancient DNA evidence to narrow the time of appearance of an Asian-specific variant (EDAR V370A), which is associated with anthropogenic traits like thicker hair shafts, more sweat glands, and shovel-shaped incisors.

"This genetic variant was likely to be elevated to high frequency after the LGM. Our direct observations using ancient DNA likely support the hypothesis that selection on EDAR V370A increased vitamin D in breast milk in a low UV environment," said Associate Professor MAO Xiaowei, the first author of the study.

NUI Galway study confirms that the Noble False Widow spider does have public health implications

Research team have established a DNA database to allow clinicians dealing with cases to confirm the species identity using genetic analysis

Epidemiology of bites reveals that almost all bites occurred in and around the home, and 88% of bites occurred when the victim was either asleep in bed or when the spider was trapped in clothing

In parts of Ireland and Britain, the False Widow spider has become one of the most common species of spiders found in and around urban habitats

A team of scientists from NUI Galway have published a new study showing that Noble False Widow spiders can deliver a bite that requires hospitalisation.

The threat posed by the Noble False Widow spider has been debated among spider and healthcare specialists for many years. This new study, published in the international medical journal Clinical Toxicology, confirms that some bite victims experience symptoms very similar to the true black widow spiders and some severe cases require hospitalisation.

Originating from Madeira and the Canary Islands, the Noble False Widow spider Steatoda nobilis, now has the potential to become one of the world's most invasive species of spider. It was first documented in Britain over 140 years ago, but in recent decades the species has suddenly increased in numbers, significantly expanding its range and density.

The reasons behind this sudden expansion are not clear. Scientists have ruled out climate change as the likely cause but have suggested that a new genetic mutation within the species may have made Noble False Widows more adaptable to new environments. In addition, the species has benefited from an ever-increasing globalised economy, hitchhiking in containers and crates throughout the globe. Human movement has largely contributed to spread this species throughout Europe, North Africa, West Asia and parts of North and South America.

In parts of Ireland and Britain, it has become one of the most common species of spiders found in and around urban habitats. With the increase in False Widow spiders around homes, bites are becoming more prevalent, and scientists are now beginning to realise the full medical importance of these spiders.

Envenomation symptoms can be both localised and systemic, ranging from mild to debilitating pain and mild to intense swelling. Some victims have experienced tremors, reduced or elevated blood pressure, nausea and impaired mobility. In rare instances, victims have developed minor wounds at the bite site or had to be treated for severe bacterial infections.

The research team at NUI Galway have established a DNA database to allow clinicians dealing with cases to confirm the species identity using genetic analysis. This is especially important when the spider has been squashed so an accurate identification of the spider can be made. The study also provides epidemiology of bites which reveals that almost all bites occurred in and around the home, and 88% of bites occurred when the victim was either asleep in bed or when the spider was trapped in clothing. The team are encouraging members of the public to email them at falsewidow@nuigalway.ie if they think they may have been bitten.

Dr Michel Dugon, Head of the Venom Systems Lab at NUI Galway and senior author of the study, said: "In addition to their medically significant venom, Noble False Widows are extremely adaptable and competitive in the wild. Two decades ago, this species was almost unknown in Ireland, the UK or in continental Europe. We still have much to learn about its genetics, origin, behaviour and development. One thing is certain though: this species is here to stay, and we must learn how to live with it."

Dr John Dunbar, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Venom Systems Lab at NUI Galway and lead author of the study, said: "Speculations around the potential severity of the bites by the Noble False Widow have been debated for many years. We only compiled envenomation cases where we had a clear identification of the spider responsible for the bite. We had to rely on DNA extraction and genetic profiling to confirm some cases. We are encouraging people to capture a photograph of the spider immediately after being bitten. Our latest study confirms without a doubt that Noble False Widows can cause severe envenomations (the process by which venom is injected).

"This species is increasing its range and population density which will undoubtedly lead to an increase in bites (since submitting our study in March we have already received further confirmed bite cases). While most cases will have a mild outcome, we need to continue to closely monitor bites by the Noble False Widow to understand the potential range of symptoms and to treat severe cases when they occur."

Aiste Vitkauskaite, MSc student in Toxicology at NUI Galway and joint lead in the study, said: "Approximately ten species of Irish spiders have fangs large enough to bite through human skin, yet over the past five years, we have never heard of anybody being bitten by any of the native species. Within the same period, we have recorded dozens of confirmed or probable False Widow bites. These spiders will become increasingly common and so will their bites."

Professor Derek O'Keeffe, Professor of Medical Device Technology at NUI Galway and Consultant Physician, University Hospital Galway said: "This innovative research led by Dr Dugon and his team clearly demonstrates that Noble False Widow spider bites may result in significant patient morbidity that requires hospital care. This is important as previously we only had anecdotal evidence of its potential harms in victims and therefore this new evidence will allow the updating of clinical guidelines and protocols. These findings demonstrates the key importance of interdisciplinary collaboration between scientists and clinicians to improve patient care."

For years, food producers who make lightly preserved, ready-to-eat food have had to follow a set of guidelines to stop growth of Clostridium botulinum bacteria and production of a strong neurotoxin. The toxin can cause a serious illness called botulism.

For refrigerated products, the guidelines for controlling Clostridium botulinum indicate that the water contained in the products should have a salt content of at least 3.5%. Unfortunately, this hampers efforts to develop salt-reduced products, even though such products would benefit public health, as most consumers eat more salt than recommended.

If food producers want to launch products that contain e.g. less salt, they have had to conduct laboratory experiments to document that such a change in recipe will not compromise food safety. This is a time-consuming and costly process.

Reduced need for costly product testing

Researchers at the National Food Institute have now developed a mathematical model, which replaces costly laboratory experiments. The industry has been asking for this model for years. The new model can predict whether a particular recipe for chilled products can prevent the growth of Clostridium botulinum and production of the toxin.

The model is the most comprehensive of its kind in the world and can show how storage temperature, pH, salt and the use of five different preservatives (such as acetic and lactic acids) affect potential bacterial growth and production of the toxin. Previous models have only incorporated the effect of half of these factors.

The model was originally developed for use in fish products. However, by conducting validation studies using more than 500 different products, the researchers have established that it can be used to assess the safety of recipes for both fish and poultry.

Future work on the model will include other foods such as meat and vegetable products.

Major interest from the industry

The researchers have described their work with development of the new model in a newly published article in the International Journal of Food Microbiology. Because of this, several large food producers have already contacted the National Food Institute with a view to having the safety of their recipes tested using the model.

The next step is to include the new Clostridium botulinum model in the institute's Food Spoilage and Safety Predictor (FSSP) software in order to make it more user-friendly.

The FSSP programme already contains a number of models that can predict the growth of disease-causing microorganisms such as Listeria monocytogenes as well as some spoilage bacteria. FSSP is used by food producers all over the world to promote product development and to document food safety and shelf life.

Laboratory experiments using less dangerous bacteria

When conducting experiments using Clostridium botulinum bacteria, strict safety measures must be adhered to in the laboratory, as their toxins can cause serious illness that can lead to death.

During their work to create the new model, the researchers have used Clostridium botulinum isolates, which cannot form the dangerous toxins but are still useful for predicting the absence of growth and thereby absence of toxin formation in different recipes. The use of these bacteria has made laboratory work considerably less cumbersome.

Current neural network algorithms produce impressive results that help solve an incredible number of problems. However, the electronic devices used to run these algorithms still require too much processing power. These artificial intelligence (AI) systems simply cannot compete with an actual brain when it comes to processing sensory information or interactions with the environment in real time.

Neuromorphic chip detects high-frequency oscillations

Neuromorphic engineering is a promising new approach that bridges the gap between artificial and natural intelligence. An interdisciplinary research team at the University of Zurich, the ETH Zurich, and the UniversityHospital Zurich has used this approach to develop a chip based on neuromorphic technology that reliably and accurately recognizes complex biosignals. The scientists were able to use this technology to successfully detect previously recorded high-frequency oscillations (HFOs). These specific waves, measured using an intracranial electroencephalogram (iEEG), have proven to be promising biomarkers for identifying the brain tissue that causes epileptic seizures.

Complex, compact and energy efficient

The researchers first designed an algorithm that detects HFOs by simulating the brain's natural neural network: a tiny so-called spiking neural network (SNN). The second step involved imple-menting the SNN in a fingernail-sized piece of hardware that receives neural signals by means of electrodes and which, unlike conventional computers, is massively energy efficient. This makes calculations with a very high temporal resolution possible, without relying on the internet or cloud computing. "Our design allows us to recognize spatiotemporal patterns in biological signals in real time," says Giacomo Indiveri, professor at the Institute for Neuroinformatics of UZH and ETH Zur-ich.

Measuring HFOs in operating theaters and outside of hospitals

The researchers are now planning to use their findings to create an electronic system that reliably recognizes and monitors HFOs in real time. When used as an additional diagnostic tool in operating theaters, the system could improve the outcome of neurosurgical interventions.

However, this is not the only field where HFO recognition can play an important role. The team's long-term target is to develop a device for monitoring epilepsy that could be used outside of the hospital and that would make it possible to analyze signals from a large number of electrodes over several weeks or months. "We want to integrate low-energy, wireless data communications in the design - to connect it to a cellphone, for example," says Indiveri. Johannes Sarnthein, a neurophysiologist at UniversityHospital Zurich, elaborates: "A portable or implantable chip such as this could identify periods with a higher or lower rate of incidence of seizures, which would enable us to deliver personalized medicine." This research on epilepsy is being conducted at the Zurich Center of Epileptology and Epilepsy Surgery, which is run as part of a partnership between UniversityHospital Zurich, the Swiss Epilepsy Clinic and the University Children's Hospital Zurich.

The hunt for the never before heard "hum" of gravitational waves caused by mysterious neutron stars has just got a lot easier, thanks to an international team of researchers.

Gravitational waves have only been detected from black holes and neutron stars colliding, major cosmic events that cause huge bursts that ripple through space and time.

The research team, involving scientists from the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC), Virgo Collaboration and the Centre for Gravitational Astrophysics (CGA) at The Australian National University (ANU), are now turning their eagle eye to spinning neutron stars to detect the waves.

Unlike the massive bursts caused by black holes or neutron stars colliding, the researchers say single spinning neutron stars have a bulge or "mountain" only a few millimetres high, which may produce a steady constant stream or "hum" of gravitational waves.

The researchers are using their methods that detected gravitational waves for the first time in 2015 to capture this steady soundtrack of the stars over the thunderous noise of massive black holes and dense neutron stars colliding.

They say it's like trying to capture the squeak of a mouse in the middle of a stampeding herd of elephants.

If successful, it would be the first detection of a gravitational wave event that didn't involve the collision of massive objects like black holes or neutron stars.

ANU Distinguished Professor, Susan Scott from the ANU Research School of Physics, said the collision of dense neutron stars sent a "burst" of gravitational waves rippling through the Universe.

"Neutron stars are mystery objects," Professor Scott, also a Chief Investigator with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav), said.

"We don't really understand what they are made up of, or how many types of them exist. But what we do know is that when they collide, they send incredible bursts of gravitational waves across the Universe.

"In contrast, the gentle hum of a spinning neutron star is very faint and almost impossible to detect."

Three new papers have just been published by the LSC and Virgo collaborations detailing the most sensitive searches to date for the faint hum of gravitational waves from spinning neutron stars.

Their work offers a "map to the potential El Dorado of gravitational waves."

"One of our searches targets young supernova remnants. These neutron stars, recently born, are more deformed, and should emit a stronger stream of gravitational waves," Dr Lilli Sun, from CGA and an Associate Investigator with OzGrav, said.

As these searches become more and more sensitive they are providing more detail than ever of the possible shape and make-up of neutron stars.

"If we can manage to detect this hum, we'll be able to look deep into the heart of a neutron star and unlock its secrets," Dr Karl Wette, a postdoctoral researcher with OzGrav and the CGA, said.

Professor Scott, who is also the leader of the General Relativity Theory and Data Analysis Group at ANU, added: "Neutron stars represent the densest form of matter in the Universe before a black hole will form."

"Searching for their gravitational waves allows us to probe nuclear matter states that simply can't be produced in laboratories on Earth."

AMHERST, Mass. - New research by University of Massachusetts Amherst astronomer Daniel Wang reveals, with unprecedented clarity, details of violent phenomena in the center of our galaxy. The images, published recently in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, document an X-ray thread, G0.17-0.41, which hints at a previously unknown interstellar mechanism that may govern the energy flow and potentially the evolution of the Milky Way.

"The galaxy is like an ecosystem," says Wang, a professor in UMass Amherst's astronomy department, whose findings are a result of more than two decades of research. "We know the centers of galaxies are where the action is and play an enormous role in their evolution." And yet, whatever has happened in the center of our own galaxy is hard to study, despite its relative proximity to Earth, because, as Wang explains, it is obscured by a dense fog of gas and dust. Researchers simply can't see the center, even with an instrument as powerful as the famous Hubble Space Telescope. Wang, however, has used a different telescope, NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory, which "sees" X-rays, rather than the rays of visible light that we perceive with our own eyes. These X-rays are capable of penetrating the obscuring fog--and the results are stunning.

Wang's findings, which were supported by NASA, give the clearest picture yet of a pair of X-ray-emitting plumes that are emerging from the region near the massive black hole lying at the center of our galaxy. Even more intriguing is the discovery of an X-ray thread called G0.17-0.41, located near the southern plume. "This thread reveals a new phenomenon," says Wang. "This is evidence of an ongoing magnetic field reconnection event." The thread, writes Wang, probably represents "only the tip of the reconnection iceberg."

A magnetic field reconnection event is what happens when two opposing magnetic fields are forced together and combine with one another, releasing an enormous amount of energy. "It's a violent process," says Wang, and is known to be responsible for such well-known phenomena as solar flares, which produce space weather powerful enough to disrupt power grids and communications systems here on Earth. They also produce the spectacular Northern Lights. Scientists now think that magnetic reconnection also occurs in interstellar space and tends to take place at the outer boundaries of the expanding plumes driven out of our galaxy's center.

"What is the total amount of energy outflow at the center of the galaxy? How is it produced and transported? And how does it regulate the galactic ecosystem?" These, says Wang, are the fundamental questions whose answers will help to unlock the history of our galaxy. Though much work remains to be done, Wang's new map points the way. For more information, including additional images and video, visit the Chandra X-Ray Observatory's Galactic Center website.

New Orleans, LA - A review study led by Maria D. Sanchez-Pino, PhD, an assistant research professor in the departments of Interdisciplinary Oncology and Genetics at LSU Health New Orleans' School of Medicine and Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center, advances knowledge about the connection between obesity-associated inflammation and cancer. The researchers suggest that inflammatory cells with immunosuppressive properties may act as a critical biological link between obesity and cancer risk, progression, and metastasis. The paper is published in the June 2021 issue of Obesity, available here.

Despite evidence showing that obesity increases the risk of cancer progression, efforts are needed to identify the causal relationship between immunosuppressive cells and the response of immunotherapy in patients with obesity.

The function of myeloid cells is shaped by the metabolic microenvironment. Along with macrophages, myeloid cells with immunosuppressive properties called Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) are generated in obesity. One of the major factors associated with the metabolic inflammation of obesity is the expansion of MDSCs. In cancer patients, MDSCs are associated with poor survival and resistance to immunotherapy.

Although there is tremendous cross-talk between inflammation and metabolic/endocrine disturbances that promote tumor growth in obesity, the biological and molecular mechanisms are not completely understood. The researchers reviewed the literature and explain that altered metabolic factors such as lipids, insulin, and leptin in obesity contribute to the activation of immunosuppressive and cancer developing capabilities of myeloid cells.

"Deciphering the molecular mechanisms by which obesity-associated metabolic factors activate or enhance the function of Myeloid-derived Suppressor Cells and immunosuppressive macrophages will allow us to identify biomarkers for prognosis and therapeutic responses," notes Dr. Sanchez-Pino. "It will also lead to the discovery of potential targets for pharmacological therapies that may disrupt the pathophysiologic inflammatory link between obesity and cancer."

A study led by researchers from the Institute Cajal of Spanish Research Council (CSIC) in Madrid, Spain in collaboration with the Bioengineering Department of George Mason University in Virginia, USA has updated one of the world's largest databases on neuronal types, Hippocampome.org.

The study, which is published in the journal PLOS Biology, represents the most comprehensive mapping performed to date between neural activity recoded in vivo and identified neuron types. This major breakthrough may enable biologically meaningful computer modeling of the full neuronal circuit of the hippocampus, a region of the brain involved in memory function.

Circuits of the mammalian cerebral cortex are made up of two types of neurons: excitatory neurons, which release a neurotransmitter called glutamate, and inhibitory neurons, which release GABA (gamma-aminobutanoic acid), the main inhibitor of the central nervous system. "A balanced dialogue between the 'excitatory' and 'inhibitory' activities is critical for brain function. Identifying the contribution from the several types of excitatory and inhibitory cells is essential to better understand brain operation", explains Liset Menendez de la Prida, the Director of the Laboratorio de Circuitos Neuronales at the Institute Cajal who leads the study at the CSIC.

In the case of the hippocampus, a brain region involved in memory function, there are 39 known types of excitatory principal cells and 85 types of inhibitory neurons. Activity patterns of these several cell types are very specific. All this information is now compiled in Hippocampome.org, a database created five years ago by the Center for Neural Informatics at George Mason University. This database integrates all current knowledge about the morphology, biophysics, genetic identity, connectivity and firing patterns of more than 120 types of neurons identified in the rodent hippocampus.

This upgrade, which has been possible thanks to a carefully recollection, identification and classification of neurons at the Institute Cajal, will allow the annotation and classification of high-density brain recordings, critical for brain machine interfaces. "Much of our knowledge about nerve cells to date comes from laboratory preparations that separate tissue sections of interest from the rest of the brain" says Giorgio Ascoli, a George Mason University Professor who directs the Center for Neural Informatics. "This new linkage to activity recorded in live animals is a game-changer towards real-scale computer models of brain and memory functions", adds Ascoli.

Novel computational models and machine learning applications

New information provided by Hippocampome.org may have impact in the development of more realistic predictive models that consider neural diversity as a source of information. The results of the work will help to decode brain signals associated with complex cognitive processes for which the information of single cell activity is essential.

This is the case of the hippocampus, which build a neural representation of sequential experiences that is later reactivated in a very specific way for encoding, storing, and retrieving memories. In order to better understand this code, we need to decompose mixed neuronal representations. The additional data included into Hippocampome.org may now provide the needed labels to begin deconstructing the code using modern tools from artificial intelligence.

Geneva, 27 May 2021 - A total investment in nature of USD 8.1 trillion is required between now and 2050 - while annual investment should reach USD 536 billion annually by 2050 - in order to successfully tackle the interlinked climate, biodiversity, and land degradation crises, according to the State of Finance for Nature report released today.

The report finds that annual investments in nature-based solutions will have to triple by 2030 and increase four-fold by 2050 from the current investments into nature-based solutions of USD 133 billion (using 2020 as base year).

The authors of the report - produced by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Economics of Land Degradation (ELD) Initiative hosted by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in collaboration with Vivid Economics - urge Governments, financial institutions and businesses to overcome this investment gap by placing nature at the heart of economic decision-making in the future. They stress the need to rapidly accelerate capital flows to nature-based solutions by making nature central to public and private sector decision-making related to societal challenges, including tackling the climate and biodiversity crises.

Unlocking the potential of nature-based solutions to close the finance gap by 2050

Structural transformations are needed to close the USD 4.1 trillion finance gap between now and 2050, by building back more sustainably in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, but also by repurposing harmful agricultural and fossil fuel subsidies and creating other economic and regulatory incentives. Investing in nature supports human, animal and planetary health, improves quality of life, and creates jobs. However, nature currently only accounts for 2.5% of projected economic stimulus spending in the wake of Covid-19. Private capital will also have to be scaled up dramatically to close the investment gap. Developing and scaling up revenue flows from ecosystem services and using blended finance models as a means to crowd in private capital are among the suite of solutions needed to make this happen, which also requires risk-sharing from private sector entities.

"Biodiversity loss is already costing the global economy 10 percent of its output each year. If we do not sufficiently finance nature-based solutions, we will impact the capacities of countries to make progress on other vital areas such as education, health and employment. If we do not save nature now, we will not be able to achieve sustainable development," said UNEP Executive Director, Inger Andersen.

"The report is a wake-up call for Governments, financial institutions and businesses to invest in nature -- including reforestation, regenerative agriculture, and restoration of our Ocean," she said, adding that countries and leaders of industry will have an opportunity to do so at the upcoming summits related to climate, biodiversity, land degradation and food systems, and in the context of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030).

Investing smarter: Reimagine, recreate, restore

Forest-based solutions alone, including the management, conservation and restoration of forests, will require USD 203 billion in total annual expenditure globally, according to the report. That is equivalent to just over USD 25 per year for every citizen in 2021. The report calls for coupling investments in restoration action with financing conservation measures. This could result in forest and agro-forestry (the combination of food production and tree growing) area increases of approximately 300 million hectares by 2050, relative to 2020.

The upcoming summits on climate, biodiversity, land degradation and food systems, as well as the launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration on 5 June 2021 provides an opportunity to harness political and business momentum to align the economic recovery with the Paris Agreement and the anticipated post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, and thus be consistent with limiting warming to 1.5° C above pre-industrial levels, as well as halting and reversing the loss of biodiversity.

Making nature a business and investment case

The report's authors say the annual investment of the private sector in nature-based solutions was equal to USD 18 billion in 2018. Private finance only accounts for 14%, including capital mobilized through sustainable agricultural and forestry supply chains, private equity investments, biodiversity offsets financed by private sectors, philanthropic capital, private finance leveraged by multilateral organizations and forest and other land use-related carbon markets.

In climate finance, private sector investment accounts for most capital flows (56% according to the Climate Policy Initiative). The scaling up of private capital for nature-based solutions is one of the central challenges of the next few years with a specific focus on investing in nature to support sustainable economic growth in the 21st century.

Investors, developers, market infrastructure makers, customers and beneficiaries can play roles in creating a market where nature-based solutions access new sources of revenue, increases resilience of commercial activities, reduces costs or contributes to reputation and purpose.

While a number of private sector-led initiatives have already emerged, the report stresses the need for companies and financial institutions to increasingly be part of the solution by sharing the risk and committing to boost finance and investment in nature-based solutions in an ambitious way and with clear, time-bound targets. While investments in nature-based solutions cannot be a substitute for deep decarbonization of all sectors of the economy, they can contribute to the required pace and scale of climate change mitigation and adaptation.

NEW YORK (May 26, 2021) -- About 12,000 bacteria and viruses collected in a sampling from public transit systems and hospitals around the world from 2015 to 2017 had never before been identified, according to a study by the International MetaSUB Consortium, a global effort at tracking microbes that is led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.

For the study, published May 26 in Cell, international investigators collected nearly 5,000 samples over a three-year period across 60 cities in 32 countries and six continents. The investigators analyzed the samples using a genomic sequencing technique called shotgun sequencing to detect the presence of various microbes, including bacteria, archaea (single-celled organisms that are distinct from bacteria), and viruses that use DNA as their genetic material. (Other types of viruses that use RNA as their genetic material, such as SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, would not have been detected with the DNA analysis methods used in this pre-pandemic study.)

This field of research has important implications for detecting outbreaks of both known and unknown infections and for studying the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant microbes in different urban environments.

"Every time you sit down in the subway, you are likely commuting with an entirely new species," said senior author Dr. Christopher Mason, co-director of the WorldQuant Initiative for Quantitative Prediction and a professor of physiology and biophysics at Weill Cornell Medicine. Dr. Mason is also co-founder and a paid consultant of Biotia and Onegevity Health, and a paid speaker for WorldQuant LLC.

The current study led to the discovery of 10,928 viruses and 748 bacteria that are not present in any reference databases.

Dr. Mason founded MetaSUB (short for Metagenomics and Metadesign of Subways and Urban Biomes) in 2015, along with Dr. Evan Afshin, who was then an undergraduate student at Macaulay Honors College at Queens College and is now a clinical fellow in physiology and biophysics at Weill Cornell Medicine and a paid consultant for Onegevity Health. The newly released study was led by Drs. Mason, David Danko, a Weill Cornell Graduate School doctoral student in Dr. Mason's lab during the study, and Daniela Bezdan, who was a research associate in computational biomedicine at Weill Cornell Medicine at that time.

By collecting samples of microbes and analyzing their genes--collectively known as the microbiome--the researchers hope to learn more about the bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms that live among humans. For example, the research may help to identify the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains. Predicting antibiotic resistance from genetic sequences alone is challenging, but the researchers were able to map some genes known to be linked to resistance, quantify their abundance and confirm the genetic markers' ability to confer resistance. They found that some cities had more resistance genes than others, and that there might be city-specific signatures for some of these genes.

Antimicrobial resistance remains a major global health challenge. "While further research is needed, this dataset demonstrates the value and potential for microbiome mapping and monitoring, and the insights it can provide physicians, scientists and public health officials," Dr. Afshin said.

Moreover, learning about the small molecules and proteins made by microbes could also lead to the discovery of new antibiotics as well as other molecules that have the potential to be developed as drugs. Many antibiotics and drugs that are currently in use have been derived from microbial sources. Discoveries made about new microbial species could also lead to new laboratory tools and approaches, such as novel ways to use the molecular editing tool known as CRISPR. In this study, the researchers found 838,532 novel CRISPR arrays--snippets of viral DNA found inside bacteria--and 4.3 million new peptides (small proteins).

Due to these sampling efforts, Dr. Mason said that he can predict with about 90 percent accuracy where a person lives, just by sequencing the DNA on their shoes. Many factors were found to influence a city's microbiome, including overall population and population density, elevation, proximity to the ocean and climate. The findings about these distinct signatures could enable future forensic studies.

"A microbiome contains molecular echoes of the place where it was collected. A coastal sample may contain salt-loving microbes while a sample from a densely populated city may show striking biodiversity," Dr. Danko said.

Drs. Mason and Afshin began collecting and analyzing microbial samples in the New York City subway system in 2013. After they published their first findings, dubbed PathoMap, they were contacted by researchers from around the world who wanted to do similar studies for their own cities. The international interest inspired Dr. Mason's lab to create MetaSUB and recruited Daniela Bezdan as the research director. "We needed internationally accepted protocols, logistics and collaboration agreements with scientists, vendors, government offices and philanthropic foundations for potentially 100 cities in 20 countries," Bezdan said.

Today MetaSUB continues to grow and has expanded to collecting RNA and DNA samples from air, water and sewage, in addition to hard surfaces. This has led to a $5 million grant on wastewater sequencing and viral tracking across three states (Florida, New York and Wisconsin), and which is part of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's new National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS).

The group also oversees projects such as Global City Sampling Day (gCSD), held every year on June 21, and has done wide-ranging studies including a comprehensive microbial analysis of Rio de Janeiro before, during and after the 2016 Summer Olympics. Many of the samples analyzed in the current study were collected on Global City Sampling Day in 2016 and 2017. The New York City sampling effort was conducted with support from the Weill Cornell Medicine Clinical and Translational Science Center (CTSC), in collaboration with senior CTSC program manager Jeff Zhu. Dr. Mason and his colleagues are currently preparing for this year's event.

"When we started in 2015, the consortium consisted of 16 cities; six years later we have more than 100 cities. It's great to have this group of curious, self-starting and enthusiastic co-investigators," said Dr. Mason, who is also professor of computational genomics in computational biomedicine in the HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud Institute for Computational Biomedicine at Weill Cornell Medicine.

"Although samples are collected all over the world, much of the analysis is done right here in New York City at Weill Cornell Medicine," said Dr. Mason. The analysis and assemblage of sequences also leveraged Bridges and Bridges-2, Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) supercomputers at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center. MetaSUB researchers in Switzerland (Drs. Andre Kahles and Gunnar Rätsch) used these assemblies and raw data to build a searchable, global DNA sequence portal (MetaGraph) that indexed all known genetic sequences (including MetaSUB data). The portal maps any known or newly discovered genetic elements to their location on Earth and can aid in the discovery of new microbial interactions and putative functions.

DNA isolation from samples were largely performed with support from Zymo Research and Promega, and sequenced in collaboration with Dr. Shawn Levy at the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Dr. Klas Udekwu from Stockholm University and the New York Genome Center. Future and ongoing studies will look at RNA and DNA with long reads and spatial-imaging methods, as well as trace the metabolites from the global sites, and continue to update the planetary-scale genetic map.

May 26, 2021 - Social media sites - especially Instagram - have revolutionized the way plastic surgeons market their practice. These platforms allow surgeons to post testimonials, educational videos, and before-and-after photos. This information can help to guide patients in making decisions about whether to undergo cosmetic surgery and which plastic surgeon to choose, based on factors like the surgeon's experience and results achieved.

However, patient perceptions of plastic surgeons' skills may also be affected by implicit bias - based solely on the ethnicity of the surgeon's name. "In our survey of responses to otherwise-identical Instagram posts, the plastic surgeon's name significantly affected perceptions of surgeon competence," comments lead author Ash Patel, MB, ChB, of Albany (N.Y.) Medical Center.

"The findings remind us that implicit bias plays a critical role in our day-to-day actions, whether or not we realize it," Dr. Patel adds. The study appears in the June issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

The researchers created a set of mock Instagram posts showing before-and-after photos of a breast augmentation patient. The posts were identical in every way - except for the plastic surgeon's name. Versions of the post used female or male names typical of eight different racial/ethnic groups: African, Caucasian or Jewish American, East or South Asian, Black, Latinx, and Middle Eastern.

Online survey participants were presented with one of the mock Instagram posts and asked to rate their perceptions of the plastic surgeon's competence and how likely they would be to let the surgeon operate on them (recruitment likelihood). The analysis included ratings from nearly 3,000 respondents.

Overall ratings of the surgeons' competence were similar for names representing different racial ethnic groups. However, there were some significant differences related to the respondents' racial/ethnic group.

"Caucasian Americans and Latinxs were the only two ethnic groups to show in-group favoritism," Dr. Patel comments. "That may be especially important, as these two ethnicities comprise about 80 percent of cosmetic surgery patients in the United States."

Surgeons with female names received higher ratings of perceived competence and higher recruitment likelihood scores. Yet female respondents assigned lower recruitment likelihood scores, for both male and female surgeons.

Social media has generated intense interest in cosmetic plastic surgery - with high stakes for plastic surgeons seeking to market their practice online. The new study is the first to examine the effects of implicit bias in social media related to plastic surgery.

Overall, the survey finds that the plastic surgeon's apparent gender and ethnicity do not affect how likely the general population is to choose that surgeon. However, the findings suggest more favorable perceptions of surgeons of the same racial/ethnic group, specifically among Caucasian American and Latinx raters.

"Combatting implicit bias is challenging, as these associations are subconscious and not necessarily ones that we can acknowledge as present." Dr. Patel comments. "We need to look at new approaches to encourage patients to make decisions about plastic surgeons based on board certifications, qualifications, and experience - not on race or ethnicity."

Over half of the UK's arts and cultural venues and organisations believe they are at risk due to the decline in income during the pandemic, a new study from the University of Sheffield, University of Kent, and the Chartered Institute of Fundraising has shown.

The only study of its kind, 'Dealing with the crisis: Creativity and resilience of arts and cultural fundraisers during Covid-19' (28 May 2021), gathered information about how arts and cultural fundraisers were impacted by, and managed the Covid-19 pandemic during 2020.

Many artists, organisations and venues rely on fundraising as a significant part of their income, using a range of events and activities to fund creative projects, alongside raising funds through patrons, donations, memberships and subscriptions.

The study has highlighted a number of risks which threaten to harm the diversity and richness of the sector due to the impact of the pandemic.

Almost two thirds of fundraisers (62 per cent) surveyed in the study, expected their organisation's income to fall during the pandemic, with nearly half (47 per cent) reporting the social restrictions during the pandemic meant many of their revenue generating programmes had been postponed.

Some key findings of the report included:

79 per cent of respondents said that their fundraising activity overall has decreased

66 per cent of organisations said they had postponed planned arts and cultural projects and programmes

64 per cent said financial support in 2021 and beyond was very important to the survival of the sector

89 per cent said supporting organisations unable to access emergency funding was important

Reports of increased workload and stress also highlighted the concern that if staff welfare issues are not addressed, there will be a real risk of a significant loss of talent from the sector in the future.

Dr Marta Herrero, from the University of Sheffield's Management School, led the study. She said: "The social restrictions in place during most of the pandemic made a lot of normal fundraising activities impossible for a wide variety of arts and cultural organisations.

"Closures of venues and cancelled events left a gaping hole in the finances of many in the sector, with fundraisers having to quickly find new and flexible ways to raise money in an accessible way to ensure the survival of their organisation."

The research did however, find examples of arts and cultural fundraisers adapting and responding to new ways of working, taking new approaches and changing their fundraising activities during the pandemic. A total of 55 per cent of fundraisers said new approaches to digital offers for members and supporters had met, or exceeded their expectations; with many commenting on having the digital infrastructure to hold events and programmes online meant they were able to broaden their audiences.

The authors of the study are now calling on the government to provide substantial support, in the hope that the findings will be able to inform policy on how best to allocate financial resources; as some smaller or independent organisations are falling between the gaps of emergency support available.

Dr Herrero, said: "So many of us interact with and benefit from arts, cultural and heritage organisations regularly, such as museums, live music venues, visiting sites of historical interest, or even attending events and activities run by community groups.

"But a significant number of fundraisers report that the sector needs continued financial support, and for furlough and recovery fund schemes to be accessible for all to ensure its survival in the medium and long term.

"Whilst resilience and innovation continue to be key skills characteristic of the fundraising profession in the face of prolonged funding cuts, only with this kind of support will they be able to safeguard the richness of our cultural life here in the UK and create a sustainable sector akin to pre-Covid levels."

Martin Kaufman, Chair of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising RAISE Steering Committee said: "This survey is the first time that the collective voice of UK cultural fundraisers has been heard during the pandemic.

"There are important lessons to be learnt from what the respondents have told us. These need to be taken up by the government and everyone who wants fundraising for arts and heritage to play a critical role in ensuring that cultural activity itself will not just recover but thrive into the future. This survey was conducted in 2020, but what it has to tell us is still of continuing and significant relevance."

Children with ADHD are generally treated with medication and/or behavioral treatments. However, medication-alone is insufficient in a quarter to a third of the children. For that reason, the scientists investigated whether a mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) would have a positive effect on children who did not respond sufficiently to other ADHD treatments. MBIs can elicit positive effects on psychological symptoms and behavior of children and parents.

In the study, two groups of children between the ages of eight and sixteen were compared. One group received only regular care (CAU, care-as-usual), and the other group also received MYmind, the mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) with at least one parent. They did this training for a period of eight weeks.

A striking result was that parents especially benefited from this training. There was an increase in mindful parenting, self-compassion and an improvement in mental health among the parents. These effects were still visible six months after the end of the training. In the children, there were some effects on ADHD symptoms, anxiety, and autistic traits, but effects were small. Yet, a subgroup appeared to benefit: One in three children reliably improved on self-control following MYmind, whereas only one in ten improved when following only regular care.

Professor of Environmental Sensitivity in Health and psychologist Corina Greven of Radboudumc, the Donders Institute and Karakter says that usual interventions for children with ADHD typically do not target mental health of parents, although they often struggle with parenting stress, anxiety or own ADHD symptoms. "While effects in children were small, we still found effects in the parents. Interviewing families , our team also discovered that many families reported important improvements in family relationships and insight in and acceptance of ADHD. We need to go broader than just looking at whether an intervention reduces symptoms, and include additional outcomes that families find important." The study was conducted in collaboration with the Radboud Center for Mindfulness.

New insights into the ability of DNA to overcome harmful genetic changes have been discovered by scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the University of Lausanne and their collaborators. The team found that 26 per cent of harmful mutations were suppressed by naturally occurring variants in at least one wild yeast strain. In each instance examined in detail, a single 'rescue mutation' was responsible for cancelling out another mutation that would have threatened the organism's survival.

The study, published today (27 May 2021) in Molecular Systems Biology, provides important information about how DNA variants can suppress undesirable genetic changes. If confirmed in humans, this biological phenomenon could have an important role in genetic diseases such as cancer or rare developmental disorders, and explain why certain patients suffer from more severe disease than others.

Mutations are changes to the letters of DNA that form the genetic code of multi-cellular organisms. They can be a result of errors when DNA replicates during cell division, or the influence of environmental exposures such as ultraviolet light. While most mutations will have no significant effect on how the cell functions, some can be harmful and lead to genetic diseases such as cancer. Other mutations can be beneficial and contribute to genetic diversity in a species through the natural process of evolution1.

With six billion letters of DNA in the human genome, the implications of natural genetic variation are vast. As a result, the precise effect of mutations on the function of genes and cells is not fully understood. Mutations that are harmful in one individual may have no negative effect on another. In some cases, this is because the healthy or resilient individuals carry additional mutations, called suppressors, which counteract harmful DNA changes.

In this study, researchers at the University of Toronto screened 1,106 temperature-sensitive alleles2 from 580 essential genes3 in 10 wild yeast strains to see if natural genetic variation would allow the yeast to grow when exposed to an unfavourably high temperature.

They found that 26 per cent of the 580 essential genes could be circumvented by natural variants in at least one wild yeast strain. Yeast colonies that continued to grow were then sequenced at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, in order to search for specific mutations that could be suppressing the temperature-sensitive allele.

Professor Jolanda van Leeuwen, a senior author of the paper from the University of Lausanne, said: "The proportion of harmful mutations in essential genes that could be supressed was unexpected, and because we only sampled a small fraction of wild yeast strains the percentage of mutations that can be suppressed by natural variants is likely to be much higher. The frequency of suppression suggests it could make an important contribution in other contexts as well - including, potentially, for human disease."

Researchers at the University of Lausanne examined 10 instances of suppression in detail to better understand the suppression effect and how it protected cells. To their surprise, in each case a single mutation was responsible for suppressing the temperature-sensitive allele and enabling cells to live and reproduce.

Dr Leopold Parts, a senior author of the paper from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said: "In biology, explanations tend to be complex, so it's unusual to find a single 'smoking gun'. We might have expected a number of genes to combine to overcome a serious genetic defect like the temperature-sensitive allele, so for this to be the result of a single mutation is very surprising."

Work is already underway at the Sanger Institute to conduct a similar study in human cells to see how relevant these findings are to the human genome, using commercially available human cell lines from healthy donors. If the same biological phenomenon is at play, it could provide valuable information about how genetic diseases arise and whether 'rescue mutations' might one day help clinicians to treat these diseases.

Millions of surgical procedures performed each year would not be possible without the aid of general anesthesia, the miraculous medical ability to turn off consciousness in a reversible and controllable way.

Researchers are using this powerful tool to better understand how the brain reconstitutes consciousness and cognition after disruptions caused by sleep, medical procedures requiring anesthesia, and neurological dysfunctions such as coma.

In a new study published in the journal eLife, a team led by anesthesiologists George Mashour, M.D., Ph.D. of University of Michigan Medical School, Michigan Medicine, Max Kelz, M.D., Ph.D. of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, and Michael Avidan, MBBCh of the Washington University School of Medicine used the anesthetics propofol and isoflurane in humans to study the patterns of reemerging consciousness and cognitive function after anesthesia.

In the study, 30 healthy adults were anesthetized for three hours. Their brain activity was measured with EEG and their sleep-wake activity was measured before and after the experiment. Each participant was given cognitive tests--designed to measure reaction speed, memory, and other functions--before receiving anesthesia, right after the return of consciousness, and then every 30 minutes thereafter.

The study team sought to answer several fundamental questions: Just how does the brain wake up after profound unconsciousness--all at once or do some areas and functions come back online first? If so, which?

"How the brain recovers from states of unconsciousness is important clinically but also gives us insight into the neural basis of consciousness itself," says Mashour.

After the anesthetic was discontinued and participants regained consciousness, cognitive testing began. A second control group of study participants, who did not receive general anesthesia and stayed awake, also completed tests over the same time period.

Analyzing EEG and test performance, the researchers found that recovery of consciousness and cognition is a process that unfolds over time, not all at once. To the investigators' surprise, one of the brain functions that came online first was abstract problem solving, controlled by the prefrontal cortex, whereas other functions such as reaction time and attention took longer to recover.

"Although initially surprising, it makes sense in evolutionary terms that higher cognition needs to recover early. If, for example, someone was waking up to a threat, structures like the prefrontal cortex would be important for categorizing the situation and generating an action plan," says Kelz.

The EEG readings revealed that the frontal regions of the brain were especially active around the time of recovery. Importantly, within three hours of being deeply anesthetized for a prolonged period of time, participants were able to recover cognitive function to approximately the same level as the group that stayed awake during that time. Furthermore, their sleep schedule in the days after the experiment did not appear to be affected.

"This suggests that the healthy human brain is resilient, even with a prolonged exposure to deep anesthesia. Clinically, this implies that some of the disorders of cognition that we often see for days or even weeks during recovery from anesthesia and surgery--such as delirium--might be attributable to factors other than lingering effects of anesthetic drugs on the brain," says Avidan.