Culture

Plants constantly make trade-offs in their decisions: more light means more opportunity for photosynthesis, but then hot temperatures and dry air makes wilting more likely. Stomata - microscopic valves on the surface of a leaf's epidermis - are at the forefront of these trade-offs: stomata open to acquire fresh air (and the carbon dioxide in it) for photosynthesis, but water loss through stomatal pores causes plants to become dehydrated, and eventually to wilt.

The proper number and distribution of stomata on leaves is critical for plant productivity. Using the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, a group of scientists including Keiko Torii (Howard Hughes Medical Institute/University of Washington and Institute of Transformative Biomolecules (ITbM) at Nagoya University), have identified key genes that make stomata and enforce proper stomatal patterning.

When a leaf starts to make epidermal cells, whether the initial cell becomes a stoma or non-stomatal epidermal cell is not yet decided. Differentiation of stomata starts when the master-regulatory proteins, SPEECHLESS and SCREAM, regulate gene expression. On the other hand, SPEECHLESS is inhibited by cellular signals involving MAP kinases MPK3 and MPK6, which transmit environmental signals to a cell. Depending on whether the master-regulatory proteins or the MAP kinases win, the initial cell becomes a stoma or non-stomatal epidermal cell. Nonetheless, the exact mechanism of how MPK3 and 6 inhibit SPEECHLESS was unclear until recently.

In the paper published in Nature Plants, Dr. Aarthi Putarjunan, Prof. Keiko Torii and colleagues discovered that the SCREAM protein possesses a pair of anchoring motifs that directly bridges MAP kinases (MPK3 and MPK6) to SPEECHLESS. A single amino-acid mutation in this SCREAM-anchoring motif causes an inability to recruit inhibitory MAP kinases, which results in a striking leaf epidermis covered solely by an enormous number of stomata (see Figure 1).

To understand how SCREAM anchors the MAP kinases, Putarjunan and Torii initiated a collaboration with Prof. Ning Zheng, a structural biologist who crystalizes proteins, and Prof. Florence Tama, a theoretical chemist who simulates and models protein-protein interactions. Together with these two protein-structure experts, the group solved the structure of the plant MAP kinase MPK6 and revealed the mechanism, at the atomic level, of how SCREAM brings about inhibitory MAP kinases.

Interestingly, MAP kinases play critical roles in cell proliferation and differentiation between human beings; moreover, dysfunction of MAP kinases is directly associated with cancers. While the structure of the plant MAP kinase MPK6, which was solved in this study, is nearly identical to that of human MAP kinases, the way the plant MAP kinase binds with SCREAM is different from how human MAP kinases bind with their 'client' proteins. This implies that plants may have evolved a unique motif to control a cell fate decision via the recruitment of the highly conserved signaling protein, the MAP kinases.

The atomic insight revealed in this study may be harnessed to design optimal stomatal development that allows plants to cope with the changing climate, and may also provide a tool for tweaking cellular processes mediated by MAP kinases in animals (e.g. humans) for basic biomedical research.

Reference reagents are important in diagnostics and care of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). In a new study, an international team of researchers presents a new WHO autoantibody reference reagent that will help to align autoantibody analyses and thus to optimise diagnosis and treatment to patients irrespective of where they live. The findings are published in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is a systemic rheumatic disease mainly affecting women in childbearing age, that is associated with inflammatory symptoms from multiple organs. Sometimes there are mild symptoms from the skin and joints and sometimes more severe symptoms from the kidneys and the central nervous system. SLE is a truly autoimmune disease where the tolerance against the body's own structures has been lost, with the appearance of antibodies against the body's own structure, so called autoantibodies. An important laboratory characteristic of SLE is the appearance of autoantibodies against a multitude of components in nuclei of living cells, so called anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA).

The genetic information in the nuclei of living cells is encoded by deoxyribonucleic acids (DNA), that forms a spiral consisting of two DNA strands which are intertwined. Autoantibodies against such double-stranded DNA (anti-dsDNA) is an important group of ANA strongly associated with the diagnosis of SLE: it is uncommon to find anti-dsDNA in patients with diseases other than SLE or in healthy individuals. The occurrence of anti-dsDNA is not only associated with SLE diagnosis, as anti-dsDNA levels increase when SLE disease activity increases, and especially with the occurrence of the serious kidney symptoms (SLE nephritis). Occurrence of anti-dsDNA autoantibodies are thus important both for SLE diagnosis and for the prognosis of SLE. Compared to other laboratory autoantibody analyses, anti-dsDNA is difficult to measure, as different methods detect different subgroups of anti-dsDNA.

Harmonisation of laboratory analyses is important to allow the physicians to compare laboratory analysis results performed in different laboratories/hospitals and thus to optimise diagnosis and treatment to patients irrespective of where they live. Laboratory reference reagents are important in this context. In 1985, the World Health Organization (WHO) endorsed an anti-dsDNA reference reagent that has been used to align anti-dsDNA analyses in different laboratories as well as commercial anti-dsDNA antibody tests provided by different companies. That first WHO reference reagent was exhausted more than ten years ago.

"In our article we describe the development and characterisation of a new anti-dsDNA reference reagent," says Professor Johan Rönnelid at Uppsala University, last author of the study.

A suitable patient sample available in large amount was identified by the work of 42 European laboratories in the European League against Rheumatism (EULAR) autoantibody study group. This patient sample (2.4 litres) was thereafter transferred to 4300 ampoules, and freeze-dried (lyophilized) to allow for long-term storage, at the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC) in the United Kingdom. This preparation denoted 15/174 was thereafter evaluated in an international study including 36 laboratories from 17 countries worldwide.

"This international evaluation showed that although the performance of 15/174 was not perfect, the current situation with large differences between different anti-dsDNA assays would be improved by use of 15/174 as a reference reagent," says Johan Rönnelid.

15/174 was endorsed as a WHO reference reagent for anti-dsDNA autoantibodies in November 2017.

"Standardisation of autoantibody analyses is much more complex and difficult than standardisation of chemistry analytes like e.g. blood levels of glucose (sugar), and we cannot expect to obtain the same level of agreement for clinical autoantibody analyses as for simple clinical chemistry analyses. Anyhow, our international validation showed that by using 15/174 as a common reference reagent, differences between different anti-dsDNA assays improved," says Bernard J Fox, senior scientist and study director at the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC).

"Our intention is that the WHO reference reagent 15/174 will be used to align different test methods for anti-dsDNA antibodies and thus improve the diagnostics and care of patients with SLE," says Bernard J Fox.

The new WHO reference reagent 15/174 is available from NIBSC for all companies developing anti-dsDNA assays and for clinical immunology laboratories worldwide.

Morality plays a role in everyday lives, from interactions with friends and strangers, to political views and social influences. Social psychologists from the University of Pennsylvania wanted to know whether there was a universal concept of moral character, by looking beyond Western populations. According to their work with the Hadza hunter-gatherers in Tanzania, the Hadza agree on which traits are relevant to moral character, but not on who has character.

The research appears in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.

Interviewing Hadza hunter-gatherers to rank the people they live with on a number of traits, such as who has a good heart, who shares the most, and who works the hardest, the team found that Hadza agreed on how important generosity and hard work was to moral character, but disagreed on who most exemplified these traits.

"They disagreed on who among them had the most moral character," says Kristopher Smith, a Penn postdoctoral fellow and lead paper author.

Smith and Coren Apicella, an associate professor of Psychology, had 94 judges rank their campmates on global character and relevant character traits for a total of 824 observations.

The Hadza live in small nomadic groups and move from group to group so that the social structure of each group frequently changes.

Scientists suspect this nomadic way of living gives insight into the origins of human cooperation. Although the researchers note that the Hadza are a modern people, living in modern times, their way of living is more similar to how human ancestors lived than in western societies.

"It's not that the Hadza do not have a concept of morality or don't care about it. They agreed on what traits contributed to moral character. But they cannot agree on who exemplifies it," says Smith.

Previous work by Apicella and Smith looking at generosity found that this trait changed depending on the group dynamic. A generous group led members to be more generous, and a group that didn't share much led to others not sharing as well.

It may be this mobility and changing group dynamics that drive their current findings as well, as Apicella notes that "the changing of groups and behavior may make it difficult for individuals to track and agree on moral reputations."

From the 1,000-foot morality perspective, "this suggests that, for the Hadza, there is little consistent moral behavior across situations, and that reputation may have played a smaller role in the evolution of morality," says Smith.

"Understanding how moral psychology differs across cultures and in different social systems may provide insight into ways to improve our interactions with one another, and maybe overcome moral disagreements in our society," summarizes Smith.

Same-sex male couples are losing out on paid parental leave when compared to both same-sex female and different-sex couples, according to new research.

A study published in the Journal of Social Policy compared paid parental leave policies in 34 OECD countries.

In the 33 countries with national paid parental leave, researchers found same-sex female couples received equal amounts of paid leave to different-sex couples in 19, while same-sex male couples got equal amounts of leave in only four. The United States was alone in offering no national paid parental leave to new birth parents.

The team at the WORLD Policy Analysis Center looked at the countries' labour, social security and parental leave legislation, studying government websites and other trusted sources to confirm the way those laws were applied and regulated.

To determine the duration of paid leave available to people in different relationships, the study looked at 'key indicators' covering the length of maternity, paternity and shared parental leave set out in government policies and at whether those policies were worded in ways that included or excluded same-sex couples.

The duration of paid leave available varied greatly, with different-sex couples receiving between 13 and 184 weeks of paid leave. In comparison, same-sex female couples were entitled to between 12 and 164 weeks, while the duration available to same-sex male couples ranged from nothing at all to 156 weeks.

When it came to paid leave for adoptive parents, three of the 34 countries provided no paid adoption leave, while nine countries banned adoption by same-sex couples. Of the remaining 22 countries, 19 provided the same amount of paid adoption leave for parents, regardless of whether they were in a same- or different-sex partnership.

Of the 33 OECD countries offering paid parental leave for either birth or adoption, only four guaranteed equal leave for all parents regardless of their gender or partnership status.

Elizabeth Wong from the University of California, Los Angeles, who led the study, said: "Many of the differences we found may be the indirect consequences of gender-restrictive language that assumes women are the primary caregivers and that every family has one mother and one father.

"These assumptions often undervalue the importance of fathers' involvement. When they do, same-sex male couples and male partners of mothers are the most disadvantaged.

"While we didn't find any legislation that explicitly prohibits same-sex couples from receiving paid parental leave, the way policies are structured or worded can nevertheless stop them from claiming benefits. Policymakers can explicitly guarantee inclusion and equality for same-sex couples by removing gender-restrictive language and providing equal paid leave opportunities for fathers and partners as provided to mothers."

Dr. Jody Heymann, former Dean of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and Founding Director of the WORLD Policy Analysis Center, further emphasized: "Families benefit when all parents, regardless of sex, gender identity or sexual orientation, can access paid leave to care for and bond with their children."

Zika virus attracted worldwide attention in recent years due to the devastating consequences of infection for pregnant women and their fetuses, many of which were born with microcephaly and other severe neurological malformations. Although ZIKV infection has historically been associated to relatively mild symptoms, a number of serious neurological complications were described in adult patients during the 2015 outbreak in America. Despite these clinical observations, how ZIKV is toxic to the adult brain and how neurological problems are caused in infected adults have remained unknown.

Researchers led by neuroscientists Sergio T. Ferreira e Claudia Figueiredo and virologist Andrea Da Poian at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) have now come up with answers to these questions. First, they exposed small fragments of adult human brain tissue to ZIKV isolated from the blood of an infected Brazilian patient. Contrary to the previous belief that ZIKV only infects neuronal progenitor cells or neurons that are still immature in the developing brain, they found that the virus infected and replicated in adult human tissue, producing new viral particles capable of infecting more cells.

But what are the consequences of this infection? To address this question, they injected Zika virus directly into the brains of mice. As lead author Claudia P. Figueiredo and Ferreira explains: "Infected mice exhibited marked memory impairment that persisted even after infection had been fought off by the organism. Moreover, this was consistent with the fact that brain regions responsible for learning and memory processing were the main sites of viral replication in their brains."

The work further showed that infection by ZIKV causes a strong inflammatory response in the mouse brain, and this includes activation of brain resident immune cells called microglia. Fernanda Barros-Aragão, a PhD student and author of the study, explains that this exaggerated inflammatory response is ultimately responsible for memory loss: "Neurons communicate through highly specialized regions called synapses. Surprisingly, we found that microglia that become aberrantly activated upon infection by ZIKV attack and engulf synapses. This impairs communication between neurons and, therefore, the formation of new memories." Interestingly, when animals were treated for about one week with anti-inflammatory drugs capable of blocking microglial activation, they recovered memory.

Results from this study indicate that the adult brain is damaged by infection by ZIKV, and point to the need to carefully evaluate learning and memory performance in follow-up assessments of infected adults. Although no specific treatments for ZIKV infection are yet available, these findings further reveal the possibility that neurological symptoms caused to infection by controlling brain inflammation.

People whose homes are damaged by storms or flooding are significantly more likely to experience mental health issues such as depression and anxiety, according to new research.

The study, led by the University of York and the National Centre for Social Research, found that the risk to mental health associated with experiencing weather-damage to your home is similar to the risk to mental health associated with living in a disadvantaged area.

People with weather-damaged homes are more likely to experience poor mental health even when the damage is relatively minor and does not force them to leave their homes, the study suggests.

With scientists saying climate change is likely to increase the frequency and intensity of storms and floods in the UK, emergency planning for extreme weather needs to include mental health support for people affected, the researchers conclude.

The researchers analysed data from a large national mental health survey called the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS). The APMS is the primary source of information on the mental health of people living in England and assesses mental disorders using diagnostic criteria.

Survey fieldwork took place throughout 2014 and included a question which asked participants if their home had been damaged by wind, rain, snow or flood in the six months prior to interview - this period included December 2013 to March 2014, which saw severe winter storms and extensive flooding in the UK.

Over 4.2 million flood warnings were issued and over 10,000 residential properties were flooded over these months.

Taking other factors known to increase the risk of poor mental health into account - such as social disadvantage, debt and poor physical health - the researchers found that people who had experienced storm and flood damage to their homes were about 50% more likely to experience poorer mental health.

Lead author of the study, Professor Hilary Graham, from the Department of Health Sciences at the University of York, said: "This study shows that exposure to extreme or even moderate weather events may result in 'psychological casualties' with significant impacts on mental health.

"This is reflective of the huge impact storms and flooding have on people's lives as alongside the physical damage to homes and businesses, there is the emotional damage to the sense of security that many people derive from their home."

The number of properties in the UK exposed to at least a 1 in 75-year flood risk is predicted to increase by 41% under a 2°C temperature rise and by 98% under 4°C temperature rise.

Professor Graham added: "With extreme weather events on the rise due to climate change, environmental and health policies need to be brought much more closely together. This means recognising that flood protection policies are also health protection policies and that better protecting communities from floods is also an investment in protecting their mental health."

Julie Foley, Director of Flood Risk Strategy & National Adaptation at the Environment Agency, said: "The impact of flooding on people is devastating, and can last long after the flood waters have gone away. People can be out of their homes for months or even years, and the impacts are even wider if businesses, schools and transport routes are affected. This research highlights the how the consequences of flooding can have a significant impact on mental health wellbeing.

"Our flood defences increase protection to thousands of homes around the country but we can never entirely eliminate the risk of flooding, which is why it's crucial to know how to protect yourself when it hits."

Older adults who get a hearing aid for a newly diagnosed hearing loss have a lower risk of being diagnosed with dementia, depression or anxiety for the first time over the next three years, and a lower risk of suffering fall-related injuries, than those who leave their hearing loss uncorrected, a new study finds.

Yet only 12% of those who have a formal diagnosis of hearing loss actually get the devices - even when they have insurance coverage for at least part of the cost, the study shows. It also reveals gaps in hearing aid use among people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds, geographic locations and genders.

The findings, made by a University of Michigan team using data from nearly 115,000 people over age 66 with hearing loss and insurance coverage through a Medicare HMO between 2008 and 2016, are published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Unlike traditional Medicare, Medicare HMOs typically cover some hearing aid costs for members diagnosed with hearing loss by an audiologist.

Elham Mahmoudi, MBA, Ph.D., the U-M Department of Family Medicine health economist who led the study, says the study confirms what other studies have shown among patients studied at a single point in time - but the new findings show differences emerging as time goes on.

"We already know that people with hearing loss have more adverse health events, and more co-existing conditions, but this study allows us to see the effects of an intervention and look for associations between hearing aids and health outcomes," she says. "Though hearing aids can't be said to prevent these conditions, a delay in the onset of dementia, depression and anxiety, and the risk of serious falls, could be significant both for the patient and for the costs to the Medicare system."

Long-term tracking

Mahmoudi and her colleagues at the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation looked at anonymous insurance data to perform the study, and looked at the data for each person with hearing loss one year before their diagnosis, and three years after, so they could see only newly diagnosed dementia, depression, anxiety and fall injuries.

They intend to keep studying further data from this population, to see if the differences in health outcomes continue beyond three years.

The study shows that men with hearing loss were more likely to receive a hearing aid - 13.3% compared with 11.3% of women. Only 6.5% of people of Latino heritage received a hearing aid for their hearing loss, compared with 9.8% of African-Americans and 13.6% of whites.

Nearly 37% of people with hearing loss who lived in the north-central part of the country, as designated by the Census Bureau, used a hearing aid, compared with just 5.9% of people in the mountain states.

Differences in diagnosis

When the researchers looked at the path that patients who received hearing aids took over three years, compared with those who didn't get the devices, significant differences emerged.

In all, the relative risk of being diagnosed with dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, within three years of a hearing loss diagnosis was 18% lower for hearing aid users. The risk of being diagnosed with depression or anxiety by the end of three years was 11% lower for hearing aid users, and the risk of being treated for fall-related injuries was 13% lower.

The study also confirms previous studies' findings that people with hearing loss had much higher rates of dementia, depression and fall injuries than the general population.

The reasons for this are complicated, and can include loss of social interaction, loss of independence, loss of balance and less stimulation to the brain. Some researchers also believe that the loss of nerve impulses from the ear to the brain, and loss of cognitive ability leading to dementia, could be part of the same aging process.

What's to come

The study only included individuals who billed their insurance company for part of the cost of their hearing aid, Mahmoudi notes. The coming of FDA-approved over-the-counter hearing aids in 2020 for people with mild to moderate hearing loss could make the devices much more accessible for many people.

But those new devices could also complicate researchers' ability to study the effects of hearing aids on other health outcomes, if people do not use insurance coverage and researchers can't tell if they have one.

"Correcting hearing loss is an intervention that has evidence behind it, and we hope our research will help clinicians and people with hearing loss understand the potential association between getting a hearing aid and other aspects of their health," says Mahmoudi.

She notes that Medicaid in the state of Michigan is now covering hearing aid testing, fitting and purchase, since a policy change in 2018, and that it will be important to study impacts in this population as well.

The scent of a lemon could help people feel better about their body image, new findings from University of Sussex research has revealed.

In a new study from the university's Sussex Computer-Human Interaction (SCHI) Lab, people feel thinner and lighter when they experienced the scent of a lemon.

The research, carried out in collaboration with researchers at the University College of London Interaction Centre (UCLIC) and the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), also revealed people contrastingly felt thicker and heavier when they smelt vanilla.

The researchers believe the new findings, unveiled today at the 17th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (INTERACT 2019), could be used to develop new recommendations for therapies for people with body perception disorders or wearable technologies that could improve self-esteem.

Giada Brianza, a first year PhD student at the SCHI Lab and lead researcher on this work, said: said: "Our brain holds several mental models of one's own body appearance which are necessary for successful interactions with the environment. "

"These body perceptions are continuously updated in response to sensory inputs received from outside and inside the body.

"Our study shows how the sense of smell can influence the image we have in our mind of our body and on the feelings and emotions towards it.

"Being able to positively influence this perception through technology could lead to novel and more effective therapies for people with body perception disorders or the development of interactive clothes and wearable technology that could use scent to enhance people's self-confidence and recalibrate distorted feelings of body weight."

The research project builds upon recent research in cognitive neuroscience and human-computer interaction (HCI), which revealed technology can change people's body image perception (BIP) by stimulating a range of senses.

Often such research is focused on visual or tactile stimuli and increasingly sound, but this is the first study that looked at how smell can affect BIP.

Dr Ana Tajadura-Jiménez, from UC3M, said: "Our previous research has shown how sound can be used to alter body perception. For instance, in a series of studies, we showed how changing the pitch of the footstep sounds people produce when walking can make them feel lighter and happier and also change they way their walk. However, nobody before has looked at whether smells could have a similar effect on body perception."

The experiment consists of two consecutive studies. In the first study, participants sat at a computer screen while olfactory stimuli were delivered and were then asked to rate the perceived scent using a Visual Analogue Scale comparing it to spiky or rounded shapes, hot or cold, high or low pitch and thin and thick body silhouettes.

In the follow-up study, participants stood on a wooden board, wearing headphones, a pair of motion-capture sensors and the shoe-based device which enhanced the pitch of their own footsteps.

Participants were instructed to walk on the spot while olfactory stimuli were released and then asked to adjust the size of a 3-D avatar using a body visualisation tool according to their perception of themselves. They also answered a questionnaire about perceived speed, body feelings and emotions.

Researchers found the scent of lemon resulted in participants' feeling lighter, while the vanilla scent made them feel heavier. These sensations were enhanced when combined with high-pitched sounds and low-pitched sounds of the participants' footsteps.

Marianna Obrist, Professor of Multisensory Experiences and head of the SCHI Lab at the University of Sussex, said: "Previous research has shown that lemon is associated with thin silhouettes, spiky shapes and high-pitched sounds while vanilla is associated with thick silhouettes, rounded shapes and low-pitched sounds. This could help account for the different body image perceptions when exposed to a range of nasal stimuli.

"One of the interesting findings from the research is that sound appears to have a stronger effect on unconscious behaviour whilst scent has a stronger effect on conscious behaviour. Further studies need to be carried out in order to better understand the potential around sensory and multisensory stimuli on BIP."

Prof Nadia Berthouze, Deputy Director of University College London's Interaction Centre (UCLIC), added: "Initial applications of such approaches have shown interesting initial effects in the context of chronic pain opening the way to new and possible more effective ways to address dysmorphia."

A new study published in the International Journal of Cancer found an inverse relationship between mushroom consumption and the development of prostate cancer among middle-aged and elderly Japanese men, suggesting that regular mushroom intake might help to prevent prostate cancer.

A total of 36,499 men, aged 40 to 79 years who participated in the Miyagi Cohort Study in 1990 and in the Ohsaki Cohort Study in 1994 were followed for a median of 13.2 years. During follow-up, 3.3% of participants developed prostate cancer. Compared with mushroom consumption of less than once per week, consumption once or twice a week was associated with an 8% lower risk of prostate cancer and consumption three or more times per week was associated with a 17% lower risk.

"Since information on mushroom species was not collected, it is difficult to know
which specific mushroom(s) contributed to our findings. Also, the mechanism of the beneficial effects of mushrooms on prostate cancer remains uncertain," said lead author Shu Zhang, PhD, of the Tohoku University School of Public Health, in Japan.

One explanation for declines in marriage is a shortage of economically-attractive men for unmarried women to marry. Indeed, a new study published in the Journal of Marriage and Family reveals a significant scarcity of such potential male spouses.

The study's authors developed estimates of the sociodemographic characteristics of unmarried women's potential spouses who resemble the husbands of otherwise comparable married women. These estimates were compared with the actual distribution of unmarried men at the national, state, and local levels.

Women's potential husbands had an average income that was about 58% higher than the actual unmarried men currently available to unmarried women. They also were 30% more likely to be employed and 19% more likely to have a college degree.

The researchers found that racial and ethnic minorities, especially black women, face serious shortages of potential marital partners, as do unmarried women with either low or high socioeconomic status.

"Most American women hope to marry but current shortages of marriageable men--men with a stable job and a good income--make this increasingly difficult, especially in the current gig economy of unstable low-paying service jobs," said lead author Daniel T. Lichter, PhD, of Cornell University. "Marriage is still based on love, but it also is fundamentally an economic transaction. Many young men today have little to bring to the marriage bargain, especially as young women's educational levels on average now exceed their male suitors."

Use of traditional cigarettes or e-cigarettes was linked with more sleep difficulties in a recent Journal of Sleep Research study.

The study included 1,664 college students, 41% of whom reported ever trying or currently using e-cigarettes and 29% of whom reported ever trying or currently using traditional cigarettes. Across all groups, average sleep scores indicated poor sleep for most students.

Similar to traditional cigarette smokers, e-cigarette users reported worse sleep than individuals who did not use cigarettes. Users of e-cigarettes reported greater use of sleep medications than traditional cigarette users.

"Given that poor sleep and substance use, including e-cigarette use, are both common among college students, understanding how e-cigarette use may impact sleep is crucial given its association with numerous health concerns," said lead author Emma I. Brett, PhD, of Oklahoma State University. "Since we found that even nondaily use of e-cigarettes was associated with worse sleep health, this may be a useful target for prevention and intervention efforts."

In 2009, the Hypertension and Preeclampsia Intervention Trial At near Term-I (HYPITAT- I) trial showed that inducing labor in women with gestational hypertension or preeclampsia at the end of pregnancy reduces the number of high risk situations for the mother, without compromising the health of newborns. An analysis published in Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology evaluated the impact of the HYPITAT-I findings on timing of labor and subsequent outcomes for mother and child in the Netherlands.

The analysis corroborated the results of the HYPITAT-I trial, concluding that inducing labor is the optimal management strategy. It showed that in the period after the HYPITAT-I trial, the rate of induction of labor at the end of pregnancy was increased in women with hypertensive disease in the Netherlands. This might have contributed to benefits for both women and their newborns.

"With our impact analysis, we were able to evaluate whether expected results based on a randomized controlled trial were or could be reflected in daily care," said lead author Catherine de Sonnaville, of OLVG, in the Netherlands. "Also, this is the only way to reveal unintended effects resulting from widespread adoption of interventions and therefore provides important information."

A new study examining the relationships among personality, motivation, and internet gaming disorder (IGD) found that predictors of IGD include male gender, neurotic and introverted personality traits, and motivation related to achievement. The Journal of Addictions & Offender Counseling study included 1,881 adults from various countries.

IGD is defined as "persistent and recurrent use of the Internet to engage in games, often with other players, leading to clinically significant impairment or distress" by the American Psychiatric Association.

The study's authors noted that gamers' social tendencies, as determined by personality traits, may play a role in developing problematic gaming habits and addiction. When counselors understand the potential social context of clients' situations, they have more information to develop prevention and treatment strategies that treat the whole person and not just a diagnosis. More research is needed to understand the full interplay among personality, motivation, and IGD, along with demographic risk factors.

"I am excited to be publishing on the topic of IGD along with an elite group of researchers from a variety of fields, including psychology and information technology, to meet the need for research established by the American Psychiatric Association," said lead author Kristy L. Carlisle, PhD, of Old Dominion University. "One of my goals is to produce culturally responsive research that highlights the need for context in the diagnostic criteria proposed for IGD, including the social nature of the games and the level of simulation possible in them because of technology."

Bad wells tend to get excluded from studies on groundwater levels, a problem that could skew results everywhere monitoring is used to decide government policies and spending.

Researchers at the University of Waterloo uncovered the problem while examining a discrepancy between scientific data and anecdotal evidence in southern India.

Reports on thousands of wells and satellite images taken between 1996 and 2016 suggested groundwater levels were rising, good news in an area where it is vitally important for agriculture.

At the same time, however, fieldworkers were hearing more stories from farmers about wells running dry, suggesting levels were actually declining.

Researchers solved the apparent paradox by first obtaining census data that backed up the anecdotal evidence. It showed, for example, that more farmers were digging expensive deep wells in the hard-rock aquifer.

"If indeed groundwater levels are going up, why would farmers choose to pay more and dig deeper wells?" asked Nandita Basu, a civil and environmental engineering professor. "It didn't make sense."

Researchers then examined the well data and found that those with missing water level data were often excluded from analysis because they were considered unreliable.

When the excluded wells were added back into the mix, the results confirmed the evidence from farmers that groundwater levels were decreasing, not increasing.

"They were systematically picking the wells with a lot of data and potentially ignoring the wells that were going dry because they had incomplete data," said Tejasvi Hora, an engineering PhD student who led the research.

The culprit was identified as something called 'survivor bias,' a statistical phenomenon that results in the exclusion of negative data.

When wells ran dry, there were no water levels to report. That created gaps in reports for those wells, and their incomplete data was then discarded as inferior to the complete data from good wells that hadn't run dry.

Basu, also a professor of earth and environmental sciences and a member of the Water Institute at Waterloo, said the lesson from southern India is applicable anywhere in the world that groundwater levels are monitored and analyzed.

"Our main point is that bad data is good data," she said. "When you have wells with a lot of missing data points, that is telling you something important. Take notice of it."

"Whenever you're focusing only on complete data, you should take a step back and ask if there is a reason for the incomplete data, a systematic bias in your data source," Hora said.

Chinese and Rutgers scientists have discovered how aquatic plants cope with water pollution, a major ecological question that could help boost their use in wastewater treatment, biofuels, antibiotics and other applications.

The study is in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers used a new DNA sequencing approach to study the genome of Spirodela polyrhiza, one of 37 species of duckweed, which are small, fast-growing aquatic plants found worldwide.

The scientists discovered how the immune system of Spirodela polyrhiza adapts to a polluted environment in a way that differs from land plants. They identified the species' powerful genes that protect against a wide range of harmful microbes and pests, including waterborne fungi and bacteria.

The study could help lead to the use of duckweed strains for bioreactors that recycle wastes, and to make drugs and other products, treat agricultural and industrial wastewater and make biofuels such as ethanol for automobiles. Duckweed could also be used to generate electricity.

"The new gene sequencing approach is a major step forward for the analysis of entire genomes in plants and could lead to many societal benefits," said co-author Joachim Messing, Distinguished University Professor and director of the Waksman Institute of Microbiology at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.

Duckweed can also serve as protein- and mineral-rich food for people, farmed fish, chickens and livestock, especially in developing countries, according to Eric Lam, a Distinguished Professor in Rutgers' School of Environmental and Biological Sciences who was not part of this study. Lam's lab is at the vanguard of duckweed farming research and development. His team houses the world's largest collection of duckweed species and their 900-plus strains.

The lead author was in Messing's laboratory and now has her own laboratory at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China. Scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences contributed to the study.