Earth

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have devised a four-part small-molecule cocktail that can protect stem cells called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from stress and maintain normal stem cell structure and function. The researchers suggest that the cocktail could enhance the potential therapeutic uses of stem cells, ranging from treating diseases and conditions -- such as diabetes, Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injury -- to genome editing.

Human pluripotent stem cells are cells that, in theory, can grow forever and serve as an inexhaustible source for specialized cells, such as brain, kidney and heart cells. But stem cells are sensitive, and their potential uses in medicine are hampered by the stress of growing in a cell culture dish, which can damage their DNA and lead to cell death.

In a series of experiments, scientists led by Ilyas Singeç, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Stem Cell Translation Laboratory at NIH's National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), used high-throughput screening to systematically test thousands of compounds and drugs to identify a unique combination that greatly improved stem cell survival and reduced cell culture stress. Singeç and his co-investigators described how they developed the cocktail, called CEPT, and its potential applications May 3 in Nature Methods.

"The small-molecule cocktail is safeguarding cells and making stem cell use more predictable and efficient. In preventing cellular stress and DNA damage that typically occur, we're avoiding cell death and improving the quality of surviving cells," said Singeç. "The cocktail will become a broadly used staple of the stem cell field and boost stem cell applications in both research and the clinic."

iPSCs are derived from reprogrammed skin or blood cells. To improve their survival in culture, Singeç and his team initially tested more than 15,000 U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs and investigational small-molecule compounds from NCATS' collections. Among the 20 drugs and compounds that could inhibit the activity of ROCK, a type of kinase enzyme that is involved in stem cell stress, they found that the compound Chroman 1 was more potent than the widely used compound Y 27632 in improving cell survival.

To further improve cell survival, Singeç and his colleagues used NCATS' matrix drug screening capabilities to look for potential synergies between Chroman 1 and other drugs and compounds. Matrix drug screening enables investigators to study the effects of drug combinations and determine possible mechanisms by which these drugs act. The researchers identified an investigational drug, Emricasan, that, when combined with Chroman 1, could provide additional support to improve stem cell viability.

According to Singeç, an important effort in stem cell biology is an experimental process called single-cell cloning. Although culturing stem cells in large groups is easier, single-cell cloning -- culturing one cell at a time in a tiny well of a cell culture plate -- is very stressful to cells and inefficient. The process has critical applications in gene editing and establishing cell lines, which are cell cultures developed from a single cell.

In its initial screening work, the team tested the protective effects of drugs and compounds on 500 stem cells at a time in plate wells. To mimic the cell stress seen during single-cell cloning, the researchers then developed a new assay (test) to allow them to examine the effects of more than 7,500 compounds on only 10 cells at a time.

This testing led to the identification of a third compound, trans-ISRIB, that enhanced cell survival, even when there were few cells in each plate. Additional experiments showed that a mixture of compounds called polyamines -- in combination with Chroman 1, Emricasan and trans-ISRIB -- proved best for single-cell cloning.

"Cells need to be cultured properly, and they have to be of good quality to go into patients," said NCATS Acting Director Joni Rutter, Ph.D. "By finding new ways to protect stem cells from damage, these results could eventually have wide-ranging implications for many different diseases, including cancer, Alzheimer's disease and more."

The team carried out an array of experiments to test the usefulness of the cocktail. The researchers showed, for example, that CEPT improved the biobanking of stem cells, called cryopreservation, which involves freezing the cells and typically is very stressful for them. Cryopreservation is critical to bringing stem cells to the clinic, but significant numbers of cells are lost or damaged during the thawing process. The cocktail dramatically improved the process.

In another test, the researchers studied the use of the cocktail on iPSCs that already were differentiated into heart cells, motor neurons and other cell types. They found that these more differentiated cells treated with CEPT also were more viable and showed improved function. Singeç also noted potential uses for the cocktail in tissue engineering and the biomanufacturing of various cell types for regenerative medicine and drug development.

"For the last 20 years, we have not been able to culture human stem cells in the most optimal conditions," Singeç said. "Our approach could improve safety and ensure that the next-generation stem cell lines are cultured at high quality before moving into the clinic."

Migratory waterbirds are particularly exposed to the effects of climate change at their breeding areas in the High Arctic and in Africa, according to a new study published in Bird Conservation International. The research team came to this conclusion after modelling climatic and hydrological conditions under current and future climate scenarios (in 2050) and comparing the impact on the distribution of 197 of the 255 waterbird species listed under the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA). The international team was led by Wetlands International, BirdLife International, and the British Trust for Ornithology, involved researchers from various universities, including McGill. The results suggest that investing more in habitat conservation in the wider landscape, in addition to the conservation of managed protected areas, is urgently needed to help migratory waterbirds adapt to the impacts of climate change.

"Most of the earlier studies in the African-Eurasian flyways focused on the impact of climate change on Palearctic birds," says Frank Breiner, from Wetlands International, who developed the species distribution models. "Our results suggest that Afrotropical species will be even more exposed to the impact of climate change than most species from the temperate zone of the Palearctic. Species breeding in Southern and Eastern Africa, such as the already globally threatened Maccoa Duck and White-winged Flufftail are particularly exposed, but some still common species, such as the Cape Teal and Red-knobbed Coot are projected to suffer a net range loss exceeding 30%. Afrotropical species seem to be more sensitive to the changes in precipitation than Palearctic ones."

Major reductions in freshwater flows and wetlands

"Our models project a variety of changes in the water cycle that will affect the dynamics and extent of wetlands," explains Bernhard Lehner, an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at McGill University who led the hydrological modelling work. "This will make the species that depend on them vulnerable, as they will need to cope with alterations to their breeding grounds and natural habitats."

The modelling highlighted areas of particular concern in terms of major reductions in freshwater flows and wetland area. These include the Mediterranean region, in the Tigris and Euphrates drainage basin of the Middle East, in West Africa such as the Gambia river, as well as in the Upper Zambezi and Okavango catchments in Southern Africa. Projected changes in river flow, species distribution and suitability of key sites for African-Eurasian waterbirds are available at the Critical Site Network Tool 2.0.

"Our findings will assist national authorities to anticipate the hydrological changes that may unfold through climate change and to have a better picture of how predicted climate change might impact migratory waterbirds and the sites for which they have responsibility," notes Vicky Jones, Flyways Science Coordinator at BirdLife International. "Feeding this information into planning and management of national site networks and policies affecting the wider landscape will be vital in ensuring populations of migratory waterbird species can be secured and supported by national site networks in the future."

"Whilst protected areas will remain vital for waterbird conservation in the future, projected negative impacts on dispersive and northern breeding populations suggest that wider climate change adaptation measures, such as controlling agricultural drainage, protecting open habitats from forestry and wetland restoration may also be necessary outside of protected areas," notes James Pearce-Higgins, Science Director at BTO.

Need for an integrated approach

"What really concerns us is that waterbird species breeding in countries with less financial and technical capacity will be more exposed to climate change than in rich countries with better governance. In addition, countries where waterbirds are most exposed to climate change will also face climate change adaptation challenges for their human population," adds Szabolcs Nagy, from Wetlands International, the lead author of the study. "Therefore, it is essential that funding instruments for climate change adaptation apply a more integrated approach focusing on nature-based solutions that deliver benefits both for people and biodiversity."

"The results presented in this paper have significant policy implications for flyway scale conservation of migratory waterbirds in the face of climate change," says Jacques Trouvilliez, Executive Secretary of AEWA. "The research is not only?providing increased knowledge about the vulnerability of species and their habitats to climate change on a flyway scale, it is also giving us a better understanding as to where we need to focus climate related adaptation activities for AEWA species."

Symptoms of health anxiety are common already during childhood and adolescence - and if the children do not receive the correct help, the anxiety can become a permanent problem with serious personal and socio-economic consequences. This is shown by a new research result from Aarhus University and the University of Copenhagen.

Ida is 11 years old. Six months ago, her grandmother died of cancer after a long illness and since then Ida has become more and more anxious that she too will get cancer and die. The anxiety can be triggered when she passes by a hospital or sees people who look ill. She needs reassurance from her parents many times a day and she has also begun to involve the adults at school. Her parents have taken Ida to the doctor several times, hoping that this will help, but Ida's worries and anxiety begin again shortly after the doctor's appointment.

Ida's story is not unusual. A new study shows that symptoms such as excessive concern about having a serious disease, often called health anxiety, are already common in childhood and adolescence. The study was carried out by researchers from Aarhus University and the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Department, Aarhus University Hospital, in collaboration with the University of Copenhagen and the Research Unit - Child and Adolescent Mental Health Centre, the Capital Region of Denmark.

"Most people experience periods when they are worried about having a serious physical illness. If the anxiety becomes excessive and persistent, they can develop into actual health anxiety or hypochondriasis. There is a great need for more focus on health anxiety in children and adolescents, including developing more specialised psychological treatment, which already exists for adults with health anxiety," explains Clinical Professor and Medical Doctor Charlotte Rask, who is the senior researcher behind the study.

Anxiety can excerpt a hold on the young people

Almost 1,300 children from the Danish Copenhagen Child Cohort 2000 population study were examined for health anxiety at ages 11 and 16. The majority of children with many symptoms of health anxiety at age 11 had decreasing symptoms, but the researchers found a worrying pattern among a small group of approx. 1.3 per cent of the adolescents who had persistent and significant problems with health anxiety up to the age of 16.

"In addition to having many symptoms of health anxiety, this group also used two to three times as many resources at general practitioners and medical specialists, compared to the young people who only had a few symptoms of health anxiety. This finding may be worrying, as this type of disease- and contact behaviour may actually perpetuate the young persons' health anxiety, in so far as the behaviour can only briefly alleviate the health worries they have, but doesn't solve their underlying problems with anxiety," says Martin Rimvall, medical doctor and the principal author behind the study.

Charlotte Rask elaborates:

"There is a very close correlation between anxiety, increased attention on the body and how symptoms are experienced. However, it's rarely the symptoms in themselves, but the health concerns that follow, which are the primary burden for people with health anxiety. This is often not discovered, as fluctuation in various symptoms and the fear of overlooking a serious illness can keep the person in a maladaptive pattern of repeated contacts with own GP and examinations in the hospital system," says Charlotte Rask.

Parents play a special role

GPs and medical doctors can therefore unconsciously maintain the health anxiety, as the patient may easily think that he/she would not be referred to further medical examinations if there was nothing to worry about.

"Parents play a special role in the case of children and adolescents, by either helping to stop excessive GP visits or by helping to support them," she says.

The study, which has just been published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, also shows that children with recognised physical illness at the age of 11 have a particular increased risk of developing symptoms of health anxiety later in adolescence.

"Greater awareness among health professionals of the psychological consequences of physical illness in children and young people can therefore provide us with an important potential for prevention," says Charlotte Rask.

Anxiety during the pandemic

Other population studies have shown that over the past decade health anxiety has become an increasing problem in the general population - and according to the researchers, this can be attributed to an increased media focus on serious illness and easily accessible online information. In line with these findings, there are now also studies which suggest that health anxiety is an increasing problem during the Covid-19 pandemic.

"As our study shows that health anxiety may already be an important problem among children and adolescents even before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, there are now even more reasons to focus on the young people's mental health and, in particular, health anxiety," says Martin Rimvall.

Copenhagen Child Cohort 2000:

Copenhagen Child Cohort 2000 is a research project that examines children's development from birth to adolescence. The objective is to gain knowledge that can be used to prevent some of the most common health problems in children and adolescents.

Health anxiety or illness anxiety:

Health anxiety or disease anxiety is a disorder in which a person is predominantly plagued by the fear of having or contracting a serious illness. Often it is the thought of cancer, heart disease or a neurological disease which causes this fear. But it can also be other diseases. In the same way as some people suffer from claustrophobia, others can suffer from anxiety. The anxiety about diseases often revolves around the experience of new symptoms and bodily sensations.

For a person with health anxiety, it is the thoughts about a disease and the anxiety in itself that is the problem. It is usually not the physical symptoms themselves that are so concerning.

Background for the results

The study is a population study of 1,278 children born in the year 2000 in the former Copenhagen County.

In the early 19th century in North America, parasitic infections were quite common in urban areas due in part to population growth and urbanization. Prior research has found that poor sanitation, unsanitary privy (outhouse) conditions, and increased contact with domestic animals, contributed to the prevalence of parasitic disease in urban areas. A new study examining fecal samples from a privy on Dartmouth's campus illustrates how rural wealthy elites in New England also had intestinal parasitic infections. The findings are published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.

"Our study is one of the first to demonstrate evidence of parasitic infection in an affluent rural household in the Northeast," says co-author Theresa Gildner, who was formerly the Robert A. 1925 and Catherine L. McKennan postdoctoral fellow in anthropology at Dartmouth and is currently an assistant professor of biological anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis. "Until now, there has not been a lot of evidence that parasitic disease was anywhere else other than urban areas in the early 19th century."

In June 2019, a team of Dartmouth researchers led by Jesse Casana, a professor and chair of the department of anthropology at Dartmouth, excavated a privy in front of Dartmouth's Baker-Berry Library. Earlier, an archaeological survey using ground penetrating radar instruments had identified the location as an area of particular interest. The site was home to where the Choate House once stood. Based on historical records from Rauner Special Collections Library on campus and other sources, the researchers report that the Choate House was constructed in 1786 by Sylvanus Ripley, one of the first four graduates of Dartmouth who would become a professor of divinity and a trustee at Dartmouth. In 1801, Mill Olcott, a Dartmouth graduate who became a wealthy businessman, politician and trustee, purchased the house. For several decades, Olcott and his wife and nine children lived in the house. As the study explains, the Olcotts "would have been among the wealthiest and most educated people in New England" during that time. Nearly one century later, to make space for the library in the 1920s, the Choate House was relocated to another area of Dartmouth's campus.

The Dartmouth dig revealed that the privy and its interior stone walls and contents had been well-preserved. A privy functioned not only as a toilet but also as a garbage, a place to discard food and other unwanted items. In the soil levels of the privy, the researchers found stratified deposits containing numerous artifacts from over the years, including: imported fine ceramics; peanut and coffee remains, which were considered exotic items at the time; and three fecal samples. In addition, 12 Hazard and Caswell bottles marketed to cure digestive ailments were found at the same soil level as the fecal samples, along with eight bottles of Congress & Empire Spring Co. mineral water from Saratoga Springs, N.Y., in a later soil level.

"The state of medical care during this time period was pretty terrible," explains Casana. "A lot of people probably experienced symptoms of parasitic infections but wouldn't know what was causing them. Privies would have been getting a lot of use at this time," he adds. "If people had the means, they would order special medicines to treat an upset stomach, which were really just tinctured alcohol that offered no medicinal benefits."

Gildner, whose research focuses on parasites, was out of town doing other fieldwork during the Dartmouth dig but had asked Casana to let her know if the team finds anything that resembles fecal material. To her surprise, Gildner learned that three fecal samples has been unearthed. "In studying intestinal parasites, I am used to working with fresh material-- not fecal samples that are almost 200 years old and practically dirt," says Gildner, who researched how to work with the centuries-old samples.

After rehydrating the fecal samples, Gildner ran them through a series of mesh sieves, from large to small, to filter out the bigger particulates and trap the small parasite eggs. The material was washed and centrifuged and slides were then prepared from each of the samples. Using a light microscope, the slides revealed that tapeworm eggs (Taenia spp.) and whipworm eggs (Trichuris trichiura) were present in each of the specimens. While the number of eggs was considered low by research standards, the parasite eggs were consistent across the three samples.

The co-authors explain that their findings are especially striking given that parasites typically prefer "warm, tropical regions" rather than the cold, snowy weather that is characteristic of New Hampshire winters, conditions which are typically thought of as inhospitable to parasite eggs.

Tapeworms are parasites that are transmitted between humans and livestock (e.g., pigs and cows). The animals consume vegetation contaminated with parasite eggs, the eggs hatch and the parasites travel to these animals' muscles. The consumption of raw or undercooked meat then leads to infection in humans. Adult tapeworms living in the intestine of the human host then lay eggs, which are passed into the environment with fecal material, starting the cycle again. Like tapeworm, whipworm eggs are passed in feces. These microscopic eggs then infect new human hosts through fecal-oral transmission (e.g., the ingestion of fecal contaminated food or water), generally due to unwashed hands and an inability to properly clean food items.

While the researchers are unable to determine if the fecal samples came from an Olcott family member, it's quite likely that all members of their household were exposed to tapeworm and whipworm. The findings demonstrate that parasite infection did not just affect urban and lower income areas, demographics which have been highlighted in previous research.

Casana says that, "I think that we take a lot of our health and infrastructure that we have today for granted. Our results show that even wealth could not protect you from these parasitic infections 200 years ago."

"Tapeworm and whipworm are still really common today in various parts of the world and can lead to nutritional deficiencies, digestive problems, and poor growth," says Gildner. "Although these infections are preventable and treatable, there's still more to be done to help prevent these infections. Access to clean water, which is essential to good hand hygiene, and sanitation are two things that many people still do not have today."

Water is a scarce resource in many of the Earth's ecosystems. This scarcity is likely to increase in the course of climate change. This, in turn, might lead to a considerable decline in plant diversity. Using experimental data from all over the world, scientists from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), and the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) have demonstrated for the first time that plant biodiversity in drylands is particularly sensitive to changes in precipitation. In an article published in Nature Communications, the team warns that this can also have consequences for the people living in the affected regions.

How will climate change affect the Earth's ecosystems? How will biodiversity in different regions change? Such important questions about the future are difficult to answer. In order to do so, it is important to know how the individual species and their communities will react to changing precipitation conditions, for example. But despite numerous scientific experiments worldwide, we do not have synthetic, global answers to these questions. For example, experiments differ greatly in their methodology, such as whether they add small or large amounts of water. "These studies use different methods and are located in different regions of the world", says first author Dr. Lotte Korell, a biologist at the UFZ. "And these studies yield contradictory results in many cases". Together with her colleagues, she has therefore set out to derive a general understanding from the data collected worldwide. The focus was on how an increase or decrease in precipitation affects the plant diversity of terrestrial ecosystems.

In their search, she and her team found 23 usable publications, which presented results from 72 field experiments. With this data, they calculated various statistical variables that provided information about the biodiversity at the individual sites and related them to the increasing or decreasing amounts of rainfall.

"However, in such experiments, biodiversity depends on many factors", says Prof. Dr. Tiffany Knight, last author of the study and ecologist at the UFZ, iDiv, and MLU. For example, the size of the experiment plays an important role. If you focus on only a single experimental plot, then you might see dramatic effects of treatments on biodiversity, as plots with less water have fewer plant individuals growing there, and thus fewer species. However, at least one individual of every species might be found in at the larger scale, and thus a lower effect of the treatment on biodiversity. Indeed, the researchers found that increasing dryness has a greater effect when it is considered at small compared to larger spatial scales. "Thus, in order to draw the right conclusions from the data, you have to take into account both the local climate conditions and the spatial scale of the experiments", says Knight.

In this way, the researchers have identified a clear trend. In the drylands of the world, changes in precipitation levels have a much greater effect than in wetter regions.

Dry ecosystems currently occupy about 40% of the Earth's land surface. It is not easy to predict what awaits these areas against the backdrop of climate change. Although climate models do predict increasing rainfall in some dry regions, the water shortage is likely to worsen in most of them.

According to the study, plant diversity is expected to increase where it becomes wetter. This is probably because the seeds of the species found there may have a better chance of germinating and becoming established.

However, in light of the projected expansion of drylands, this effect is likely to benefit only relatively few regions. According to the authors, this would lead to a noticeable decline in plant diversity. "Although the plants there have adapted to the challenges of their habitats over long periods of time", says Korell, "at some point, even the most resilient survivor reaches its limits". And with every species that dries up and can no longer germinate, biodiversity is reduced.

This could be bad news not only for the ecosystems but also for the inhabitants of the dry regions. After all, they account for about one third of the world's population. Many of these people struggle to make a living from the land under the most difficult conditions. If biodiversity declines along with the rainfall, this is likely to become an even greater challenge. For Korell and her colleagues, this is another pressing argument for slowing climate change. "It is also important to protect the drylands particularly well", says the researcher. The more these sensitive ecosystems are put under pressure from overgrazing and other stress factors, the more climate change is likely to affect plant diversity.

LAWRENCE -- Like much of society, college athletics were thrown into disarray by the COVID-19 pandemic. While student athletes were suddenly prevented from competing, training or seeing as much of their teammates and coaches, those who perceived they were part of a positive sporting environment also coped better during the early days of the crisis, a new study from the University of Kansas has found.

KU researchers have long studied a caring, task-involved sporting climate, in which young athletes receive support and recognition for their efforts, while mistakes are treated as learning opportunities. But the pandemic provided a unique opportunity to see whether the approach helped collegiate athletes cope with the unique stresses and challenges that came with the disruption of their seasons. A survey of more than 700 NCAA Division I, II and III and NAIA student athletes showed those who had positive support of coaches, teammates and programs were coping with the challenges of the pandemic better than those who were involved in more ego-driven climates, where the primary focus is on performance outcomes.

Athletes took the online survey in early 2020 during the first wave of the pandemic.

Mary Fry"We were thinking about athletes across sports and competitive levels and wondering if they were experiencing the caring climate we study. Were they part of such a climate, and if they were, would that help equip them to come through the pandemic with a more positive perspective?" said Mary Fry, professor of health, sport & exercise science. "For a lot of athletes, this pandemic might be the biggest challenge they've faced in life. We found that those athletes who perceived they were part of a strong, caring team environment reported experiencing greater psychological well-being and support and care from coaches and teammates."

The study, co-written by Chelsi Scott and Troy Wineinger, doctoral candidates at KU, and Susumu Iwasaki of Fort Lewis College, was published in the Journal of Sport Psychology in Action. In addition to sharing survey results, the authors outlined positive responses athletes have experienced and strategies coaches and administrators could use to help athletes and staff cope.

While many respondents reported they had been able to stay in virtual contact with coaches and teammates, others responded that they were on their own. While they faced challenges including family health, financial pressures and disruptions to their academic lives, athletes involved in ego-driven sporting climates said they suffered blows to their personal identities. Losing access to competitions and facilities was exacerbated by losing contact with their coaches and teammates.

"The pandemic is so new to the research literature, but one thing we can compare it to is injury, if someone lost a season that way," Wineinger said. "It was fun to see how coaches were able to create positive outcomes for their athletes even during a pandemic. Unfortunately, a lot of athletes didn't get that support in their sport or in life."

Respondents who had support reported higher levels of mental health, overall well-being, hope, happiness and ability to cope with the stress of the pandemic. Athletes who perceived they were part of a caring environment routinely reported their coaches asked about their health and challenges they faced off the field. Those coaches also encouraged players to stay in contact with teammates. The students also reported that the blow of losing the highly structured life of a collegiate athlete was softened by coaches who offered hope and reassured them their contributions were still valued.

"A lot of the athletes who had this kind of support were able to become their own beacons of hope," Scott said. "Almost all said, 'The most important thing is we're staying healthy.' We've seen a lot of positive things come from the caring, task-involved climate on the field. This highlights the benefits off the field, especially in challenging times, the impact it can have on personal identity and well-being."

Based on the experiences of survey respondents and previous research, the authors shared several strategies coaches and administrators could use to support athletes throughout the pandemic, including checking in regularly; considering student views while making team decisions; helping them plan for their future and making their health a priority. That included promoting healthy behaviors; providing information on accessing food, medical and financial resources; identifying mental health concerns and promoting psychological well-being; and sustaining motivation and encouraging optimism.

While it is unclear when the pandemic will end or how collegiate athletics will return to normal, the authors said the study shows fostering a positive, caring climate can provide benefits to performance as well as help deal with the stress of a global health crisis.

"This adds to the benefits of coaches being intentional in supporting their athletes," Fry said. "Research has shown that athletes have more fun, manage stress better and compete harder when they perceive a strong and supportive climate within their teams. The evidence for the benefits within sport have been strong, but the benefits to athletes outside the sport are growing, and we think this information can really help the next generation of coaches and parents."

Many people in Switzerland experienced considerable psychological distress during the first COVID-19 lockdown from mid-March to the end of April 2020. Researchers from the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University Hospital of Psychiatry Zurich (PUK) and the University of Zurich in collaboration with the La Source School of Nursing have now examined the most common sources of stress among children, adolescents, their parents and young adults. For their study, the researchers used representative samples in Switzerland of 1,627 young adults aged 19 to 24 as well as 1,146 children and adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 and their parents.

Uncertainty, disruption, postponement

"Uncertainty during last year's lockdown was considerable and had a negative impact on mental health," explains Meichun Mohler-Kuo, professor at PUK and La Source. Children and adolescents felt most stressed by having to change, postpone or cancel important plans or events and being unable to participate in social activities and normal routines during leisure time and at school. The main sources of stress for adults were not knowing when the pandemic will end, coping with the massive disruptions to social life and having to reorganize work and family life.

Mental health problems of young adults

The study found that many young adults, and young women in particular, experienced symptoms of mental illness during the first lockdown. More than half (54%) of young women and 38% of young men reported mild to severe symptoms of depression. Almost half of young women (47%) and one-third (33%) of young men experienced mild to severe anxiety. "In general, these results are quite similar to the results from a representative study carried out in 2018," Mohler-Kuo says. "It's notable, however, that monthly risky alcohol use decreased dramatically during lockdown, from 34% to 21%. This decrease was more pronounced in women than in men."

Mental health problems in over one-third of kids

Overall, more than one-third of the children and adolescents screened positive for one of the mental health problems assessed in the study. More than 20% of boys and girls showed symptoms related to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). 18% of girls and 11% of boys displayed unruly and angry behavior and thus symptoms of what is known as oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). "This came as a surprise, since these symptoms had previously been observed less frequently overall, but significantly more often in boys than in girls," says Susanne Walitza, last author of the study. In addition, 14% of girls and 13% of boys experienced anxiety symptoms, while symptoms of depression were reported by 10% (girls) and 5% (boys). "Our findings show that children and adolescents are particularly at risk of developing mental disorders," says Walitza.

One-fifth with problematic internet use

For both children/adolescents and young adults, the median time spent on the internet per day was 240 minutes during lockdown. More than 40% of men and 35% of women used the internet for more than 4 hours per day, while about 8% of children, adolescents and young adults were online for more than 6 hours a day. Overall, 30% of children and 21% of young adults met the criteria for problematic internet use.

More help for kindergartens, schools and sports clubs

The findings demonstrate how important it is to maintain routines, schedules, social contacts and support structures during lockdown. The authors of the study thus recommend that health and education authorities should provide more support to institutions, such as kindergartens, schools, and sports organizations, to avoid the detriments of lockdowns.

ITHACA, N.Y. - A new Cornell University-led study examines how temperature affects fishing behavior and catches among inland fisher households in Cambodia, with important implications for understanding climate change.

The research, which used household surveys, temperature data and statistical models, revealed that when temperatures rise, people fish less often. At the same time, the study's authors indirectly found that stocks of fish and other aquatic foods also rise with temperatures, leading to slightly larger catches each time peopled fished. Without careful analysis, it would appear that overall fish catches appear unchanged annually, when in fact, more nuanced dynamics are at play.

The study highlights why it's necessary when studying changing environmental conditions to include human behavior along with ecosystem responses; both are key variables when considering how climate change affects rural livelihoods, food production and food access.

The paper, "Fishers' Response to Temperature Change Reveals the Importance of Integrating Human Behavior in Climate Change Analysis," published April 30 in the journal Science Advances.

"This study underscores the importance of pulling human behavior into climate change modeling," said Kathryn Fiorella, an assistant professor in the Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences and Master of Public Health Program in the College of Veterinary Medicine. "To accurately predict the impacts of climate change, we need to know about the effects on ecological systems, and also the effects on people who use them."

In the study, Fiorella and colleagues used data provided by partner organization WorldFish, which collected survey data every two months over three years for households in Cambodia, which has the world's highest per-capita consumption of inland fish. WorldFish collected information on how often people fished, how much time they spent when they fished, and what method they used.

The researchers used remotely sensed temperature data over the same three-year period, which revealed a range of 24 to 31 degrees Celsius (75 to 88 degrees Fahrenheit). The researchers also controlled for rainfall and flooding.

"The temperatures in the range of the study compare to regional climate projections in the area, which suggest around a 1.5 to 2.5 degrees Celsius [2.7 to 4.5 F] temperature rise above the average of 28 degrees Celsius [82.4 F]," Fiorella said. "What we observed is in range for what we might expect under climate change scenarios."

The researchers found time spent fishing per outing and the gear choices were not affected by temperature, but fewer people fished as temperatures rose.

They also analyzed fish catch. It turns out that, with effort holding constant, fish catch per outing went up as temperatures rose, which meant the ecosystem became a little more productive when it was warmer. The same pattern was true for other aquatic animals, like frogs or snakes, and aquatic plants. However, without factoring in effects of temperature on human behavior, it might have looked like temperature had no effect.

The researchers suspect that fishing frequency declined as temperatures rose due to competing interests. "These households have a suite of different activities they are engaged in at the same time," Fiorella said, noting many of them are rice farmers or run small businesses. At the same time, heat may also be a factor, she added.

Fiorella added that large swaths of the population migrate to cities or nearby countries for work, and these dynamics could be pulling them away from fishing.

"Ultimately," she said, "understanding both ecosystem responses and people's responses to temperature is going to be fundamental to understanding how climate change affects people who are directly reliant on the natural resources for their food and income."

Buildings - The mirage effect

A team of researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has developed a method to detect and measure air leaking from a building's walls and roof that is quicker, cheaper and less disruptive to occupants.

Current air leak detection options, such as using a blower door and smoke or infrared thermography, are costly and invasive. ORNL's method is conducted from outside, using an imaging technique to visualize the flow of air leaks and calculate the volumetric flow of air based on the refraction effects imaged by cameras.

"Similar to a mirage over a black top road in the middle of summer, which looks fuzzy because air above the road is hotter than surrounding air, a building's wall becomes blurry when indoor air meets outdoor air," ORNL's Philip Boudreaux said. "Refraction imaging allows us to see this."

Correcting excess air leakage can decrease energy consumption in buildings and reduce potential for mold growth.

Media contact: Jennifer Burke, 865.414.6835, burkejj@ornl.gov

Image: https://www.ornl.gov/sites/default/files/2021-05/buildings_giphy-4.gif

Caption: ORNL's non-disruptive air leak detector captures air escaping from exterior walls and uses refractive imaging to calculate the leakage flow rate. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Microbes - Carbon to chemicals

A research team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory bioengineered a microbe to efficiently turn waste into itaconic acid, an industrial chemical used in plastics and paints.

Producing itaconic acid currently involves fungi feeding on relatively pure sugars, which can be expensive. In ORNL's demonstration, the team used lignin, a waste product from biorefineries and paper mills, to grow the bacterium Pseudomonas putida for potentially cheaper itaconic production.

The trick was to separate the microbes' growth phase from itaconic production using dynamic controls. ORNL designed and deployed a biosensor that triggers the metabolic pathway for itaconic acid production only after the microbes consume all the nitrogen that fuels their growth.

"This technology could provide additional revenue for biorefineries by turning lignin into a high-value chemical," ORNL's Adam Guss said. "One strain achieved nearly 90% of theoretical yield during the production phase and could be further optimized. We can also apply these methods to a range of carbon waste streams."

Media contact: Kim Askey, 865.576.2841, askeyka@ornl.gov

Image: https://www.ornl.gov/sites/default/files/2021-05/Putida_forAdam_2clr.jpg

Caption: Scientists genetically engineered bacteria for itaconic acid production, creating dynamic controls that separate microbial growth and production phases for increased efficiency and acid yield. Credit: NREL

Manufacturing - Recycling goes large

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers, in collaboration with Cincinnati Inc., demonstrated the potential for using multimaterials and recycled composites in large-scale applications by 3D printing a mold that replicated a single facet of a precast concrete tool.

The team added a dual feed system to the Big Area Additive Manufacturing machine that enabled printing with multiple materials in a single build using one extruder. Within seven hours, the large 3D printer produced a 400-pound mold measuring 10 feet in length made of recycled carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic and syntactic foam.

Large-scale printing with multimaterials and recycled composites is anticipated to lower the cost of tooling and open opportunities for printing structures with lightweight cores and tailored properties.

"New mechanical responses can be achieved with multimaterial printing such as soft and rigid segments within a part and impact resistant structures," said ORNL's Vidya Kishore.

Media contact: Jennifer Burke, 865.414.6835, burkejj@ornl.gov

Image: https://www.ornl.gov/sites/default/files/2021-05/baam_recycling_gif.gif

Caption: ORNL, in collaboration with Cincinnati Inc., used the Big Area Additive Manufacturing machine to 3D print a mold made of recycled thermoplastic composite and syntactic foam, demonstrating the potential for multimaterials in large-scale applications. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Tweaking the look of a social media profile may subtly alter a person's reaction to the health messages that appear on that site, according to researchers. They add that these reactions could influence whether the users heed the advice of those messages.

In a study, the researchers found that people who gained a feeling of control when they customized an online website were more likely to perceive the health message as a threat to their freedom, lowering the chance that they will adopt the message's advice. On the other hand, when customization bolstered the users' sense of identity, they did not resent the message as much and were more willing to consider the ads' recommended behavioral changes, according to the researchers.

"In a customized environment with strong identity ties -- such as a social media site like Facebook -- we might not mind the persuasive attempts of a health advertisement, but in an environment that offers control without much personal identity -- for example a news website -- we seem to take these types of messages as a threat to our freedom of action and react negatively against them," said S. Shyam Sundar, James P. Jimirro Professor of Media Effects in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications and co-director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory.

According to the researchers, who report their findings in the journal Health Communication, people often customize their online media spaces by adding photos and artwork, along with uploading avatars and icons. These seemingly small acts of decoration and creativity may enhance the users' feelings of ownership of these spaces, said Jinping Wang, assistant professor of media studies, Duquesne University, who served as the paper's first author.

"Users have a lot of opportunities to customize their sites and portals -- such as adding pictures, or choosing the news sources for their feeds -- and it seems that when people customize these interfaces, they are turning it into almost their own sacred place, or their own personal territory," said Wang.

Advertisers and health professionals currently use these spaces to pass on health-related advertisements and public service announcements, or PSAs, said Sundar, who is also an affiliate of Penn State's Institute for Computational and Data Sciences (ICDS). He said that when these ads appear in online spaces over which they feel a sense of control, they are more likely to trigger a threat to their freedom, which could then lead to anger at and even defiance against those messages.

The researchers suggest that health communicators may want to carefully consider the placement of their online messages to avoid triggering those reactions of a loss of control or freedom.

"Our data suggest that placing a health PSA in customized spaces where users are secure in their identity can help reduce their negative reactions," said Sundar.

Developers may also want to consider features that boost users' sense of control, according to Wang.

"Giving users options, such as 'skip this message' or 'close this app,' would be helpful to potentially preserve their sense of control. That might also make them less reactive to the content," said Wang.

The researchers recruited 145 participants on a web-based crowdsourcing platform for the experiment. The participants were invited to test a news website and randomly assigned to one of two conditions. In one condition, the participants could add a background picture and an avatar, as well as select news topics. The other group was unable to make those customizations.

Each group saw a health message -- a public service announcement about using sunscreen -- in their feeds. Researchers randomly assigned either a high threat health message, which featured stern language and imagery, or a low-threat language, which featured milder language.

The participants were then asked questions about their reactions to the message, their attitude toward using sunscreen every day and their behavioral intentions to follow the suggestion.

In the future, the researchers said they may investigate the relationship between customization and persuasion regarding health attitudes that are more tightly connected with one's personal identity.

Volunteer firefighters -- who comprise more than 65 percent of the U.S. fire service -- have higher levels of "forever chemicals," per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), in their bodies than the general public, according to a Rutgers study.

The study, which was published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, compared the levels of nine PFAS chemicals in the blood of volunteer firefighters against levels in the general population.

It is the first study to evaluate volunteer firefighters' exposure to PFAS, which are chemicals that accumulate in human bodies and in the environment and are found in everyday items like electronics and carpeting. PFAS have been associated with numerous health conditions that impact firefighters, including cardiovascular disease. Increasing evidence has linked them to cancer.

"The primary cause of line-of duty death among firefighters are heart attacks. They also get and die from many types of cancer more often than other people," said lead author Judith Graber, an associate professor at Rutgers School of Public Health and a faculty member at the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute. "More than 95 percent of the U.S. population have these chemicals to some degree in their bodies, but firefighters have heightened exposure to PFAS through their protective gear and fire suppression foam and the burning materials they encounter that release particles, which can be inhaled or settle on gear and skin."

The study surveyed 135 members of a volunteer fire department in New Jersey on their lifestyle and cancer risk factors and compared traces of nine PFAS chemicals in their blood against the levels recorded in the general population in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which tracks the health status of a nationally representative sample of 5,000 people annually. Although there are more than 4,000 PFAS chemicals, the study looked at the nine chemicals that the CDC has tracked the longest and are most often seen in the general population.

The researchers found that the levels of two of the chemicals studied -- perfluorododecanoic acid (PFDoA) and perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA) -- were higher in volunteer firefighters. "Notably, we found PFDoA levels in 80 percent of the firefighters, but little in the general public," Graber said.

Higher chemical levels also were associated with the number of years of firefighting; the average participant had 20 years of experience. Since they are always on call, volunteer firefighters could potentially accumulate more years of firefighting-related exposures than their career counterparts, Graber said.

"The number one risk of a firefighter is being protected from the fire. The chemicals used in fire suppression foam and the protective clothing firefighters use came out 40 years ago when people thought they were safe, and they work well for what they are intended to do," Graber said. "Further research is needed to better understand the sources of these chemicals and to design effective foam and protective clothing that do not use these chemicals."

The provenance of oxygen on Earth and other solar planetary bodies is a fundamental issue. It is widely accepted that the prebiotic pathway of oxygen production in the Earth primitive atmosphere was via vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photodissociation of CO2 and subsequent recombination of two O atoms.

In contrast, the photodissociation of H2O, one of the dominant oxygen carriers, has long been assumed to proceed mainly to produce hydroxyl (OH)- and hydrogen (H)-atom primary products, and its contribution to oxygen production is limited.

Recently, a research group led by Prof. YUAN Kaijun and YANG Xueming from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences revealed oxygen production from the three-body photodissociation of water molecule using the Dalian Coherent Light Source.

Their findings were published in Nature Communications on April 30.

The VUV free-electron laser facility at the Dalian Coherent Light Source allows the researchers to quantitatively assess the importance of H2O photochemistry for oxygen production.

"Our experimental results indicated that H2O under VUV excitation can break into three fragments: one O atom and two H atoms, where the O atoms are in the 1D and 3P states. The three-body dissociation process is the dominant channel for H2O photochemistry in the 90-110 nm region," said Prof. YUAN.

The quantitative determination demonstrated that approximately 20% of the H2O photoexcitation events resulted in O atoms. Considering the water abundance in widely interstellar circumstances such as in interstellar clouds, atmospheres of the solar-family comets, and even in the Earth primitive atmosphere, O production from water photolysis must be an important process. The subsequent recombination of O atoms produced O2, which represented an important prebiotic O2-production pathway.

The Brazilian Amazon rainforest released more carbon than it stored over the last decade - with degradation a bigger cause than deforestation - according to new research.

More than 60% of the Amazon rainforest is in Brazil, and the new study used satellite monitoring to measure carbon storage from 2010-2019.

The study found that degradation (parts of the forest being damaged but not destroyed) accounted for three times more carbon loss than deforestation.

The research team - including INRAE, the University of Oklahoma and the University of Exeter - said large areas of rainforest were degraded or destroyed due to human activity and climate change, leading to carbon loss.

The findings, published in Nature Climate Change, also show a significant rise in deforestation in 2019 - 3.9 million hectares compared to about 1 million per year in 2017 and 2018 - possibly due to weakened environmental protection in Brazil.

Professor Stephen Sitch, of Exeter's Global Systems Institute, said: "The Brazilian Amazon as a whole has lost some of its biomass, and therefore released carbon.

"We all know the importance of Amazon deforestation for global climate change.

"Yet our study shows how emissions from associated forest degradation processes can be even larger.

"Degradation is a pervasive threat to future forest integrity and requires urgent research attention."

Degradation is linked to deforestation, especially in weakened portions of a forest near deforested zones, but it is also caused by tree-felling and forest fires.

Climate events, such as droughts, further increase tree mortality.

Such degradation can be hard to track, but the research team used the satellite vegetation index L-VOD developed by scientists at INRAE, CEA and the CNRS.

Using this index and a new technique for monitoring deforestation developed by the University of Oklahoma, the study evaluated changes in forest carbon stocks.

A change of government in Brazil in 2019 brought a sharp decline in the country's environmental protection.

The 3.9 million hectares of deforestation in that year is 30% more than in 2015, when extreme El Niño droughts led to increased tree mortality and wildfires. However, the study shows that carbon losses in 2015 were larger than in 2019.

This demonstrates the dramatic impact that degradation can have on overall biomass and carbon storage in the rainforest.

What The Study Did: The association of the COVID-19 pandemic with general surgical residents' operative experience by postgraduate year and case type is examined in this study.

Authors: Farin Amersi, M.D., of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, is the corresponding author.

To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/

(doi:10.1001/jamasurg.2021.1978)

Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

WASHINGTON, D.C, (April 30, 2021) - An analysis of a new international registry reveals benefits of using a longer covered stent for interventional procedures in congenital heart disease patients with Sinus Venosus Atrial Septal Defect (SVASD). The study was presented today as late-breaking clinical research at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions (SCAI) 2021 Scientific Sessions.

SVASD is a rare adult congenital heart disease which permits shunting of blood from the systemic to the pulmonary circulation , causing excessive blood flow to the lungs. Until now, open heart surgical repair was the gold standard approach to dealing with this condition but is necessarily invasive. Covered stent implantation is a recently developed interventional procedure that can replace open heart surgery in some of these patients. However, according to the study authors, there is no "ideal stent" often leaving physicians to modify existing stents and frequently needing to "piggy back" several stents which adds to the difficulty and potential complications of the procedure.

Investigators analysed outcomes of the NuMED 10-zig Covered CP (CCP) Stent, which is balloon expandable and intended for permanent implant in patients. It is composed of 0.013" platinum-iridium wire arranged in a 10 zig pattern that is laser welded at each joint and then over brazed with 24K gold. The 10-zig CCP stent was implanted in 75 patients between the ages of 11 - 75 years (median 45) from 12 centers. Pre-procedural assessment included diagnostic catheterization in 30, 3D printed models in 34 and virtual models in 13.

Results showed 10-zig CCPs of 7-8 centimetre provided reliable SVASD closure with a low requirement for additional stents. An additional stent was placed in 4/5 (80%) with 5/5.5 cm CCPs, 18/29 (62%) with 6 cm CCPs, 5/18 (28%) with 7 cm CCPs, 5/22 (23%) with 7.5/8 cm CCPs and 0/1 with an 11 cm CCP. Patients were followed from three weeks to five years.

"Our findings reveal that the novel, longer stents are a reliable advance in technology that significantly reduces the need for implantation of additional stents. This helps to minimize many of the procedural risk factors and enhances the outcome. More SVASD patients will become eligible to undergo this novel interventional procedure and they will therefore avoid the need for open-heart surgery," said Prof Eric Rosenthal, MD, lead study investigator and paediatric and adult congenital cardiologist at Guy's and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust in London, England. "These encouraging results support the need for further research into the long-term benefits of the 10-zig stents while widening its use in patients with SVASD."

Authors note that the longer covered stents are still investigational and require regulatory permission at most centers.