Culture

First described in the 13th century in Russia, clubroot has been affecting worldwide brassica production, including canola, broccoli, and black mustard, since. Clubroot is so tenacious because the casual pathogen produces resting spores that can survive in infected soil for decades, surviving harsh environments like cold winters and hot summers. It is also easily transferable from field to field when farmers share equipment.

In Canada, clubroot is a very serious threat to the $27 billion dollar canola industry. In the last ten years, clubroot has led to $500 million in losses. And while some Canadian provinces do a great job trying to trace the pathogen in canola fields, other fields, growing mainly Brassicas vegetables, have been overlooked, resulting in a growing clubroot infection.

"As a plant pathologist, my philosophy has always been to listen to the farmers. They know the problems that the scientists should try to tackle," Edel Pérez-López, author of a paper recently published in Plant Health Progress, said. This attitude inspired him and his colleagues at the University of Calgary and the University of Saskatchewan to develop a new tool that will curtail the devastating effects of clubroot.

"ClubrootTracker is an interactive tool that will help farmers locate clubroot-infected areas and can be used by farmers, researchers, and industry and government representatives to share the clubroot status of their land," explained Edel Pérez-López, one of the plant pathologists involved in the development of this tool. "We believe that the ClubrootTracker will be a gamechanger on the management of clubroot disease both in Canada and worldwide."

The ClubrootTracker is the first tool that groups in one place the distribution of clubroot disease and while the team had the support of Saskatchewan Agriculture Development Fund and the Saskatchewan Canola Development Commission, Pérez-López pointed out that his team really didn't need more than a computer and ideas to develop this new technology.

"There has been a widely positive response to the ClubrootTracker and many farmers and industry partners have showed interest in using it."

New research is revealing how genetic differences in the fat in men's and women's bodies affect the diseases each sex is likely to get.

University of Virginia researchers Mete Civelek, PhD, Warren Anderson, PhD, and their collaborators have determined that differences in fat storage and formation in men and women strongly affect the activity of 162 different genes found in fat tissue. Further, 13 of the genes come in variants that have different effects in men and women.

Some of those genes identified have already been connected with conditions such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The findings help explain the differing health risks men and women face, and they set the stage for better, more targeted treatments.

"Obesity is associated with a number of health risks, and how men and women store excess calories as fat makes a difference in how they have different susceptibilities to common diseases," said Civelek, of UVA's Department of Biomedical Engineering, a joint program of UVA's School of Medicine and School of Engineering. "We studied people of different ethnicities and health conditions, and we found a group of genes that are different in their abundance between men and women independent of ethnicity or health status."

Fat Genes

One of the great challenges of genetic research is the tremendous volume of information it produces. Previous studies had identified thousands of genes found in fat that appeared to behave differently based on sex, but Civelek and his collaborators found "robust" differences in only 162. This was based on the researchers' analysis of approximately 3,000 human samples collected from geographically and ethnically diverse populations.

"By combining a variety of data resources, we were able to identify specific genes that could be targeted to elicit distinct therapeutic outcomes in men and women." said Anderson, a member of Civelek's lab.

Digging deeper, the researchers identified six specific genes that were particularly influential in terms of regulating the activity of fat tissue. "We can now focus on these six genes as potential therapeutic targets," Civelek said.

The findings are particularly notable because there has been much research into sex differences in fat tissue in terms of its distribution (pear shaped vs. apple shaped bodies, for example) and other aspects, but the important genetic contributions have remained relatively unexplored.

"We believe our findings will be beneficial in precision medicine efforts to find drug targets that can help with specific problems that men and women face," Civelek said. "For example, men are more prone to cardiovascular disorders and women to obesity. The fat genes we identified could contribute to the severity of those illnesses and how men and women respond to treatment differently."

CORVALLIS, Ore. - An Oregon State University study has identified four new species of parasitic, cockroach-killing ensign wasps that became encased in tree resin 25 million years ago and were preserved as the resin fossilized into amber.

"Some species of ensign wasps have even been used to control cockroaches in buildings," OSU researcher George Poinar Jr. said. "The wasps sometimes are called the harbingers of cockroaches - if you see ensign wasps you know there are at least a few cockroaches around. Our study shows these wasps were around some 20 or 30 million years ago, with probably the same behavioral patterns regarding cockroaches."

Ensign wasps, of the Hymenoptera order and scientifically known as Evaniidae, earned their common name because their abdomen resembles a flag; an ensign is a large flag on a ship, usually flown at the stern or rear of the vessel, that indicates the ship's nationality.

"As the wasps move about, their 'ensign' is constantly moving up and down as if they are flag waving," said Poinar, professor emeritus in the OSU College of Science and an international expert in using plant and animal life forms trapped in amber to learn more about the biology and ecology of the distant past.

About 400 species of ensign wasps exist today, distributed across 20 genera. The wasps live everywhere except polar regions. They typically measure 5 to 7 millimeters in length and don't sting or bite but are lethal for unhatched cockroaches.

A female ensign wasp will look for cockroach egg cases, known as ootheca, and lay an egg on or in one of the cockroach eggs inside the case. When the wasp egg hatches, the larva eats the cockroach egg where it was laid.

Successive instars of the larva then consume the other dozen or so eggs inside the cockroach egg case. Mature wasp larvae pupate within the cockroach egg case en route to coming out as adults, and no cockroach offspring emerge from an egg case infiltrated by an ensign wasp.

Analyzing Tertiary period specimens from Dominican amber, Poinar was able to describe three new species of ensign wasps: Evaniella setifera, Evaniella dominicana and Semaeomyia hispaniola. He described a fourth, Hyptia mexicana, from Mexican amber. The Tertiary period began 65 million years ago and lasted for more than 63 million years.

No cockroaches accompanied the wasps in the amber, but three flying termites were found along with an ensign wasp in one of the Dominican amber pieces. It's likely the termites were sharing a nest with the cockroaches and this attracted the wasp, Poinar said.

What causes quasiparticle death?

In large systems of interacting particles in quantum mechanics, an intriguing phenomenon often emerges: groups of particles begin to behave like single particles. Physicists refer to such groups of particles as quasiparticles.

Understanding the properties of quasiparticles may be key to comprehending, and eventually controlling, technologically important quantum effects like superconductivity and superfluidity.

Unfortunately, quasiparticles are only useful while they live. It is thus particularly unfortunate that many quasiparticles die young, lasting far, far less than a second.

The authors of a new Monash University-led study published today in Physical Review Letters investigate the crucial question: how do quasiparticles die?

Beyond the usual suspect—quasiparticle decay into lower energy states—the authors identify a new culprit: many-body dephasing.

MANY BODY DEPHASING

Many-body dephasing is the disordering of the constituent particles in the quasiparticle that occurs naturally over time.

As the disorder increases, the quasiparticle’s resemblance to a single particle fades. Eventually, the inescapable effect of many-body dephasing kills the quasiparticle.

Far from a negligible effect, the authors demonstrate that many-body dephasing can even dominate over other forms of quasiparticle death.

This is shown through investigations of a particularly ‘clean’ quasiparticle—an impurity in an ultracold atomic gas—where the authors find strong evidence of many-body dephasing in past experimental results.

The authors focus on the case where the ultracold atomic gas is a Fermi sea. An impurity in a Fermi sea gives rise to a quasiparticle known as the repulsive Fermi polaron.

The repulsive Fermi polaron is a highly complicated quasiparticle and has a history of eluding both experimental and theoretical studies.

Through extensive simulations and new theory, the authors show that an established experimental protocol—Rabi oscillations between impurity spin states—exhibits the effects of many-body dephasing in the repulsive Fermi polaron.

These previously unrecognised results provide strong evidence that many-body dephasing is fundamental to the nature of quasiparticles.

CLEVELAND, Ohio (September 28, 2020)--Although many women manage menopause symptoms with hormone therapy, increasing numbers of women are considering nonhormone options. Dr. Susan Reed from the University of Washington School of Medicine is a featured speaker during the 2020 Pre-Meeting Symposium of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS) and will discuss the latest advances in nonhormone hot flash management. One of the more promising drug developments targets the KNDy neuron complex.

According to Dr. Reed, who serves as the vice chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, successful nonhormone therapies that preceded work in the area of kisspeptin, neurokinin B, and dynorphin (KNDy) neuron targeting include selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), gabapentin, oxybutynin, and clonidine. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors given in higher doses are primarily used for depression management. GABAergic drugs, such as gabapentin and pregabalin, are currently used for pain syndromes and seizures. Oxybutynin is FDA approved for overactive bladder. New research focused on a better understanding of the physiology of menopause hot flashes is leading to the development of new nonhormone pharmacotherapies.

In her presentation during the 2020 Pre-Meeting Symposium, Dr. Reed will summarize progress on drug development targeting the KNDy neuron complex, adverse effects of these novel drugs, and their long-term potential as nonhormone therapies for menopause symptoms.

"At menopause, diminished estrogen causes the KNDy neurons to go into hyperdrive, activating the adjacent thermoregulatory center, resulting in hot flashes," explains Dr. Reed. "To date, there are no FDA-approved products for menopause directed toward the KNDy neuron complex, but drugs first developed for pain control and for mood disorders acting via KNDy are under investigation for the treatment of vasomotor symptoms in the United States and Europe and hold great promise."

Beyond her discussion on the future of these new treatments, Dr. Reed will also present new data on the effectiveness of oxybutynin, as well as existing data on SSRIs/SNRIs, GABAergics, and clonidine.

"Hot flashes are one of the most common complaints of postmenopausal women, adversely affecting their overall quality of life," says Dr. Stephanie Faubion, NAMS medical director. "Although hormone therapy remains one of the most-proven methods of treatment, some women are unwilling or unable to take hormones. That's why this presentation on the latest innovations in the nonhormone treatment options for hot flashes is so valuable."

Drs. Reed and Faubion are available for interviews before the presentation during the virtual annual meeting which starts on September 28.

CLEVELAND, Ohio (September 28, 2020)--Hormone therapy remains the best proven method for managing menopause symptoms such as hot flashes. Research continues, however, in the area to identify novel approaches to estrogen therapy that minimize any associated risks. Dr. Hugh Taylor from Yale School of Medicine will discuss some of the latest developments, including fetal estrogens, during the 2020 Pre-Meeting Symposium of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS).

According to Dr. Taylor, a number of improvements have been introduced in the past decade. These include new selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) and the use of estrogens together with SERMs to replace progestins. Fetal estrogens represent one of the newest promising developments. Their unique properties distinguish them from estradiol, although they have some SERM-like properties.

Dr. Taylor noted that estriol and estetrol have entered clinical use with new data revealing promising characteristics. Specifically, estetrol decreases hot flashes and results in favorable cardiovascular changes while counteracting estradiol stimulation of the breast. Estriol similarly acts as a weak estrogen but can counteract some negative effects of estradiol.

"In addition to the already-established benefits, there is also reason to believe that these fetal estrogens may provide added benefits that have yet to be fully explored, making them even more promising," says Dr. Taylor.

"This presentation promises to offer some great insights into the future of hormone therapy," says Dr. Stephanie Faubion, NAMS medical director. "It's important for healthcare providers to understand that these SERMS and estrogens have different biological characteristics, and some may have benefits over others, increasing opportunities for personalizing care for women."

CLEVELAND, Ohio (September 28, 2020)--As legislation relaxes regarding cannabis, it is being used to manage numerous chronic health conditions and mood symptoms. A new study indicates that a growing number of women are either using cannabis or want to use it for the management of bothersome menopause symptoms. Study results will be presented during the 2020 Virtual Annual Meeting of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS), which opens on September 28.

In a sample of 232 women (mean age, 55.95 y) in Northern California who participated in the Midlife Women Veterans Health Survey, more than half reported such bothersome symptoms as hot flashes and night sweats (54%), insomnia (27%), and genitourinary symptoms (69%). Roughly 27% of those sampled reported having used or were currently using cannabis to manage their symptoms. An additional 10% of participants expressed an interest in trying cannabis to manage menopause symptoms in the future. In contrast, only 19% reported using a more traditional type of menopause symptom management, such as hormone therapy.

Cannabis for menopause symptom management was most often used in women reporting hot flashes and night sweats. Such use did not differ by age, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or mental health conditions.

"These findings suggest that cannabis use to manage menopause symptoms may be relatively common. However, we do not know whether cannabis use is safe or effective for menopause symptom management or whether women are discussing these decisions with their healthcare providers--particularly in the VA, where cannabis is considered an illegal substance under federal guidelines. This information is important for healthcare providers, and more research in this area is needed," says Carolyn Gibson, PhD, MPH, a psychologist and health services researcher at San Francisco VA Health Care System and the lead author of the study.

The study, "Cannabis use for menopause symptom management among midlife women veterans," will be one of many presentations during the 2020 NAMS Virtual Annual Meeting focused on novel approaches for treating menopause symptoms.

"This study highlights a somewhat alarming trend and the need for more research relative to the potential risks and benefits of cannabis use for the management of bothersome menopause symptoms," says Dr. Stephanie Faubion, NAMS medical director.

Drs. Gibson and Faubion are available for interviews before and after the virtual annual meeting.

CLEVELAND, Ohio (September 28, 2020)--Women often complain of being more forgetful during the transition from premenopause to perimenopause to postmenopause. Such declines in memory after menopause appear independent of chronologic age. A new study sought to identify whether mitochondrial function might be a determinant of cognition during early postmenopause. Study results will be presented during the 2020 Virtual Annual Meeting of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS), opening on September 28.

This is not the first time researchers believed that mitochondrial function played a role in memory during the menopause transition. Mitochondria are responsible for creating more than 90% of the energy needed by the human body to sustain life and support organ function. Previous, smaller-scale studies have looked at singular mitochondrial biomarkers to establish a possible link with cognitive function. These studies were based on the idea that a decline in estrogen alters the efficiency of energy production across the menopause transition, and inefficient energy production may be related to declines in cognition. In this latest study, researchers examined the association between a more extensive array of mitochondrial biomarkers and cognitive test performance in a larger sample of postmenopausal women.

They evaluated the relationship of mitochondrial functional markers to cognition while taking into account other factors that can influence cognition, including age, education, race, and body mass index. Based on the sample of 110 participants, researchers concluded that, in postmenopausal women, markers of mitochondrial function were associated with cognitive performance on measures of verbal learning, verbal memory, organizational strategies that support verbal learning and memory, verbal fluency, and spatial ability. Efficient mitochondrial function was most consistently associated with the use of executive, prefrontal-dependent strategies.

"Through this research, we confirmed that women with more efficient energy production had better cognitive performance on a range of cognitive indices, including verbal learning," says Rachel Schroeder from the University of Illinois at Chicago, lead author of the study "Bioenergetic Markers and Cognition in Peri- and Postmenopausal Women." "Interestingly, we also found indications of compensatory bioenergetic shifts that might yield less-efficient energy production but might be important to sustaining cognition as women age. These findings as a whole underscore the importance of bioenergetic processes to women's cognitive health during the postmenopause."

"Although additional research is warranted, this study provides valuable insights into a possible role of changes in mitochondrial function in reduced cognitive performance across the menopause transition," says Dr. Stephanie Faubion, NAMS medical director. "More study is needed to determine whether these changes in midlife predict future cognitive decline and whether there are actions that can be taken to prevent them."

Socioeconomic inequalities in premature deaths in Canada have increased over the last 25 years, according to new research published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal.

"Although premature mortality rates have declined over time in Canada, those with lower levels of income and education have not benefitted equally from these overall improvements," says Dr. Faraz Vahid Shahidi, Institute for Work and Health, Toronto, Ontario, with coauthors. "As a result of these uneven gains, socioeconomic inequalities in premature mortality have increased in Canada."

To understand how socioeconomic inequalities in premature mortality have changed, researchers analyzed data on adults aged 25-74 years using the Canadian Census Health and Environment Cohorts, which links information from Canada's long-form Census to the Canadian Mortality Database. The study covered the period between 1991 and 2016. Key metrics were socioeconomic status, measured using household income and education, and cause of death.

The relative risk of premature death associated with having a lower income or lower level of education increased steadily over the study period. For example, whereas men in the lowest income group were 110% more likely to die prematurely than their richer counterparts in 1991, they were 180% more likely to die prematurely in 2016. That inequality also increased for lower-income women, who were 70% more likely to die prematurely than their richer counterparts in 1991, but 150% more likely to die prematurely in 2016.

The findings are consistent with those of other international studies that showed increasing mortality gaps between the rich and poor in the United States and Europe.

"We believe that health inequalities are getting worse because underlying social and economic inequalities are getting worse," says Dr. Shahidi. "To resolve health inequalities, governments should pursue policies that will reduce the extent of social and economic inequality in our society, such as raising the minimum wage, improving job security, increasing social assistance rates, and improving access to benefits such as Employment Insurance."

"Trends in socioeconomic inequalities in premature and avoidable mortality in Canada, 1991-2016" is published September 28, 2020.

With the summer heat becoming increasingly unbearable and prolonged over the years due to climate change, the cooling load in the summertime has also been on the rise. Insulation is currently the primary solution for blocking heat from entering a building, but by applying an additional material that can delay heat penetration, it can suppress the indoor temperature from rising and in turn lower the cooling load of the building.

A research team in Korea has developed a new material for buildings walls that can help reduce the penetration of heat from the outside. The team directed by Dr. Sarng Woo Karng from the National Research Agenda Division of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) revealed that they have successfully lowered heat penetration through building walls by applying a phase change material (PCM).

PCMs refer to materials that absorbs or releases heat from/to the surrounding area but does not change temperature during phase change. One of the most common types is paraffin oil, which is used to make candles. A solid PCM absorbs heat as it transitions into liquid phase, so by using a case to hold it when it is in liquid phase without causing any leakage, it is possible to apply them to a building wall to block heat from entering inside.

The problem is, however, PCMs do not melt evenly from the outside toward the inside during phase transition from solid to liquid. To be more specific, PCMs turn into liquid starting from the outermost layer, and the parts that are hot move upward, while the parts that are still relatively cool move downward. Thus, while the upper part may have completely melted, the lower part will have not, and as a result, heat will penetrate into the building through the area where the PCM is in liquid phase. Ultimately, the PCM becomes ineffective in controlling the indoor temperature and is rendered useless.

Dr. Karng's team addressed the non-uniform phase change with bubble injections. By injecting bubbles into bottom part of the PCM during phase transition enabled uniform circulation of the PCM in liquid phase. As a result, the PCM melted from the area closest to the envelope in a uniform manner, and heat penetration was inhibited across the building wall until the entire PCM melted.

Dr. Karng said, "We expect that the insulating wall using the PCM bubble generator used in this study will contribute to reducing the amount of energy used to heat or cool a building. Insulation techniques using PCMs helps reduce heat penetration, in combination with the building insulating material, and it can also be used as the outer walls of zero-energy buildings."

Researchers have shown that over the past two thousand years, volcanoes have played a larger role in natural temperature variability than previously thought, and their climatic effects may have contributed to past societal and economic change.

The researchers, led by the University of Cambridge, used samples from more than 9000 living and dead trees to obtain a precise yearly record of summer temperatures in North America and Eurasia, dating back to the year 1 CE. This revealed colder and warmer periods that they then compared with records for very large volcanic eruptions as well as major historical events.

Crucial to the accuracy of the dataset was the use of the same number of data points across the entire 2000 years. Previous reconstructions of climate over this extended period have been biased by over-representation of trees from more recent times.

The results, reported in the journal Dendrochronologia, show that the effect of volcanoes on global temperature changes is even greater than had been recognised, although the researchers stress that their work in no way diminishes the significance of human-caused climate change.

Instead, the researchers say, the study contributes to our understanding of the natural causes and societal consequences of summer temperature changes over the past two thousand years.

"There is so much we can determine about past climate conditions from the information in tree rings, but we have far more information from newer trees than we do for trees which lived a thousand years or more ago," said Professor Ulf Büntgen from Cambridge's Department of Geography, the study's lead author. "Removing some of the data from the more recent past levels the playing field for the whole 2000-year period we're looking at, so in the end, we gain a more accurate understanding of natural versus anthropogenic climate change."

Comparing the data from tree rings against evidence from ice cores, the researchers were able to identify the effect of past volcanic eruptions on summer temperatures.

Large volcanic eruptions can lower global average temperatures by fractions of a degree Celsius, with strongest effects in parts of North America and Eurasia. The main factor is the amount of sulphur emitted during the eruption that reaches the stratosphere, where it forms minute particles that block some sunlight from reaching the surface. This can result in shorter growing seasons and cooler temperatures, that lead in turn to reduced harvests. Conversely, in periods when fewer large eruptions occurred, the Earth is able to absorb more heat from the Sun and temperatures rise.

"Some climate models assume that the effect of volcanoes is punctuated and short," said Büntgen. "However, if you look at the cumulative effect over a whole century, this effect can be much longer. In part, we can explain warm conditions during the 3rd, 10th and 11th centuries through a comparative lack of eruptions."

Reconstructed summer temperatures in the 280s, 990s and 1020s, when volcanic forcing was low, were comparable to modern conditions until 2010.

Compared with existing large-scale temperature reconstructions of the past 1200-2000 years, the study reveals a greater pre-industrial summer temperature variability, including strong evidence for the Late Antique Little Ice Age (LALIA) in the 6th and 7th centuries.

Then, working with historians, the scientists found that relatively constant warmth during Roman and medieval periods, when large volcanic eruptions were less frequent, often coincided with societal prosperity and political stability in Europe and China. However, the periods characterised by more prolific volcanism often coincided with times of conflict and economic decline.

"Interpreting history is always challenging," said Dr Clive Oppenheimer, the lead volcanologist of the study. "So many factors come into play - politics, economics, culture. But a big eruption that leads to widespread declines in grain production can hurt millions of people. Hunger can lead to famine, disease, conflict and migration. We see much evidence of this in the historical record.

"We knew that large eruptions could have these effects, especially when societies were already stressed, but I was surprised to see the opposite effect so clearly in our data - that centuries with rather few eruptions had warmer summers than the long-term average."

The new temperature reconstructions provide deeper insights into historical periods in which climactic changes, and their associated environmental responses, have had an outsized impact on human history. This has clear implications for our present and future. As climate change accelerates, extreme events, such as floods, drought, storms and wildfires, will become more frequent.

"Humans have no effect on whether or not a volcano erupts, but the warming trend we are seeing right now is certainly related to human activity," said Büntgen. "While nothing about the future is certain, we would do well to learn how climate change has affected human civilisation in the past."

During the process of natural selection and evolution, many animals and plants, such as snakes, scorpions and sea anemones, have acquired the ability to produce venom, which is regarded as their strong weapon for self-defense and predation. Toxic peptides extracted from venom can specifically plays a key role in Acid-Sensing Ion Channel (ASIC), cell membrane surface receptors and proteins intensively involved in life activities. The interactions between venom and target proteins present the advantages of high specification and high affinity, in which venom has been treated as molecular tools to research in protein structures and their physiological functions for drug development.

On September 11th, 2020, a research group from University of Science and Technology of China, led by TIAN Changlin, in cooperation with LIU Lei's research group from Tsinghua University, initially resolved the hASIC1a and freeze electron structure of the compound of hASCI1a and Mambalgin1 through freeze electron microscopic technology. Also, the two research groups applied 19F-NMR and electrophysiological function analysis of patch clamp into use, uncovering the structural mechanism of polypeptide combination and hASIC1a inhibition. This result has been published on eLife with the title of "Structural Insights into Human Acid-sensing Ion Channel 1a Inhibition by Snake Toxin Mambalgin1".

In 2014, Tian Changlin Lab successfully produced Mambagin 1 venom and resolved its solution structure by NMR methods. However, it was still in question that how Mambalgin could specifically recognize and inhibit the mechanism of activity in human ASIC.

The compound structure of hASC1a/mambalgin1 shows that this kind of venom polypeptides are bonded to the outward of hASIC1a through electrostatic and hydrophobic interaction, having revised the former hypothesis of interaction between venom and ASIC. Further studies showed that Mambalgin1 selectively bonded closed ASCI and locked it in closed conformation. Even the concentration of protons elevates, ASIC can hardly switch to the open state. Therefore, the author put forwarded the concept of "closed-state trapping" mechanism, where Mambalgin1 could achieve ASIC activity inhibition. This would prepare the foundation for polypeptide medicine development.

Sept. 22, 2020-- A new Viewpoint piece published online in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society examines the ways in which COVID-19 disproportionately impacts historically disadvantaged communities of color in the United States, and how baseline inequalities in our health system are amplified by the pandemic. The authors also discuss potential solutions.

In "COVID-19 Racial/Ethnic Inequities in Acute Care and Critical Illness Survivorship," Ann-Marcia Tukpah, MD, MPH, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and co-authors discuss how the legacies of structural racism, unequal resource investment and systems that perpetuate health disparities disproportionately impact individuals from the African American, Latinx, and Navajo Nation communities.

"We hope to draw attention to the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on pre-existing health care disparities and inequities, with a focus on long-term care access," said Dr. Tukpah. "We also hope to spark discussion of how individual clinicians and health care systems can mitigate disparities, while recognizing the ultimate need for changes in health policy."

People in communities of color often have sub-par clinical care experiences, such as little to no access to specialty care physicians, and differences in rates of diagnostic testing. In many states, resources for COVID-19 treatment are allocated based on probability of survival.

These states rely on Crisis Standards of Care (CSCs) to prioritize treatment. "Some states with developed CSCs that consider comorbidities may not rely on validated comorbidity indices, such as the Charlson Comorbidity Index," the authors state. "Instead, vague language like 'major conditions with death likely within five years' are used. This sort of vague language opens the door to implicit biases playing a prominent role in decision making regarding resource allocation."

The broader question is whether basing care decisions on whether someone has comorbidities may lead to denial of lifesaving care to racial and ethnic minorities, as members of these groups may have these comorbid health conditions. The authors point out, "These groups tend to have poorer access to care and more comorbidities--such as Type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease-- at baseline. In addition, it is unclear whether a low chance of five-year survival should dictate whether certain resources are provided, as a person's number of accomplishments, amount of quality family time, and contributions to society can be significant during these five years. Ultimately, even our best prediction models do not have 100 percent accuracy. There will likely be no complete way to mitigate/eradicate disparities in triage and care allocation, but input by represented stakeholders and a process integrating equity and justice principles will be important."

Solutions to address these inequalities include implementing a racial or socioeconomic correction factor. Since priority scoring processes are subject to implicit bias, and may lack adequate representation of affected individuals, training is essential in order to ascertain ethical and equity values. Hospital triage and ethics committees need to communicate and monitor one another.

The authors state: "As pulmonologists and intensivists, applying an equity lens to our health care delivery, we are concerned by a COVID-19 cycle: In general, racial/ethnic minority patients have higher rates of public-facing occupations, suffer more from vulnerable conditions/chronic medical problems and have less insurance coverage. They also face higher rates of infection. If ethnic and racial minority patients present for acute care delivery and comorbidities are considered in their access to scarce resources, they may not be able to access potentially life-saving interventions. If they are then COVID-19 survivors, they face greater challenges to recovery, from logistical destination issues (access to long-term care) to symptom resolution or progression (because of the underlying chronic conditions or other patient-specific or care-related factors). Therefore, we want to continue to ask: How do we break this risk cycle?"

With concerns of a second surge of COVID-19 during the upcoming influenza season, preparing for both acute and post-acute/survivorship care in the most equitable and ethical manner is critical. "Given that about half of insurance coverage is through employer-based plans coupled with now high rates of unemployment, there are significant concerns about exacerbating already existing access disparities," said Dr. Tukpah. "Various public policies might be considered. Robust data should be collected about transfer rates for post-acute destinations and outcomes. Support for funding to expand available facilities (including specialized post-acute treatment facilities), provision of coverage mechanisms for unemployed patients (similar to the CARES Act condition for uninsured patients) and development of frameworks that recognize the challenges a surge can create for discharge destinations will be important initial considerations. There is already active discussion about possible state and federal acute care protections in the literature and we hope this will be extended to the post-acute setting."

She concluded, "Empowering people and communities (with information and tools) to engage in their own health care outcomes is also critical to how we deliver health care. Additionally, individual physicians can be advocates for improved care, quality and delivery -- from recognizing implicit bias to contributing to coordinated accessible care, to leading change within their health care systems."

New light is being shed on a little-known role of Y chromosome genes, specific to males, that could explain why men suffer differently than women from various diseases, including Covid-19.

The findings were published this month in Scientific Reports by Université de Montréal professor Christian Deschepper, director of the Experimental Cardiovascular Biology research unit of the Montreal Clinical Research Institute.

"Our discovery provides a better understanding of how male genes on the Y chromosome allow male cells to function differently from female cells," said Deschepper, the study's lead author, who is also an associate professor at McGill University.

"In the future, these results could help to shed some light on why some diseases occur differently in men and women."

Genes that females lack

Humans each have 23 pairs of chromosomes, including one pair of sex chromosomes. While females carry two X sex chromosomes, males carry one X and one Y chromosome. This male chromosome carries genes that females lack. Although these male genes are expressed in all cells of the body, their only confirmed role to date has been essentially limited to the functions of the sex organs.

In his study, Deschepper performed a genetic manipulation that inactivated two male genes on the Y chromosome, altering several signalling pathways that play important roles in certain functions of non-sex organ cells. For example, under stress, some of the affected mechanisms could influence the way in which cells in human hearts defend themselves against aggressions such as ischemia (reduced blood supply) or mechanical stress.

In addition, the study showed that these male genes performed their regulatory functions in a way that was unusual compared to the mechanisms generally used by most other genes on the non-sex chromosomes. Thus, instead of specifically activating certain genes by direct action at the genome level, the Y chromosome seems to affect cellular functions by acting on protein production.

The discovery of these differences in function may explain in part why the functions of male Y chromosome genes have so far been poorly understood, said Deschepper.

Males differ from females in the manifestation, severity and consequences of most diseases. A recent example of this duality is Covid-19, which has a mortality rate twice as high in men than in women.

Scientists from the University of Sheffield have found that although male and female birds have an almost identical set of genes, they function differently in each sex through a mechanism called alternative splicing.

Males and females of the same bird species can be strikingly different. For example, in addition to fundamental differences in reproduction, the sexes can show profound variation in behavior, colouration, metabolism, disease incidence and life history. The team wanted to understand how these remarkable differences develop despite males and females sharing mostly the same DNA.

Thea Rogers, PhD student at the University of Sheffield and lead author of the study, said: "One notable example of differences between male and female birds is in the peafowl, peacocks have magnificent plumage, whereas the female peahen is relatively dull. The peacock's long tail and bright colours evolved to help them attract mates, but having such eye-catching looks can come with negatives such as making them more noticeable to predators.

"Features like this are beneficial to the males but may not be beneficial for females, so birds must find a way to evolve different characteristics. We predicted that the secret to these differences must lie in understanding how the same genes are expressed and function differently in males and females."

The team studied the genomes of multiple bird species to understand how they expressed these different qualities in males and females.

Genes encode proteins, large complex molecules which drive processes in the body and are responsible for the function and structure of the body's tissues. Before genes can be used to make proteins, their DNA sequence is transcribed into RNA, an intermediary molecule that contains the instructions for making proteins.

The scientists found that males and females differ in how bits of RNA are stitched together, meaning that the same gene can produce a large number of distinct proteins and functions depending on which sex the gene is expressed in. This process is called alternative splicing.

Dr Alison Wright, a researcher at the University of Sheffield and senior author of the study, said: "It is likely that this genetic process is really important for generating biodiversity, not only in birds but across the whole animal kingdom."