Earth

In an unexpected discovery from the South Island (New Zealand), two species of narrowly distributed macro-moths were described as new species. Interestingly, both Arctesthes titanica and Arctesthes avatar were named after mythological deities and top-grossing blockbusters by famous filmmaker James Cameron: Titanic and Avatar, respectively.

Each of the newly described species are believed to be restricted to only a couple of subalpine/alpine localities. Therefore, they are particularly vulnerable to extinction and need to be "considered of very high priority for conservation", point out New Zealand scientists Brian Patrick (Wildland Consultants Ltd), Hamish Patrick (Lincoln University) and Dr Robert Hoare (Manaaki Whenua-Landcare Research) in their paper in the open-access journal Alpine Entomology.

Because of its relatively large size, one of the new discoveries: A. titanica, was named in reference to the Titans: the elderly gods in Greek mythology and the legendary, if ill-fated, record-breaking passenger ship 'Titanic', which became the subject of the famous 1997 American epic romance and disaster film of the same name. Unfortunately, the moth's small wetland habitat is located in an area that is currently facing a range of damaging farming practices, such as over-sowing, grazing, stock trampling and vehicle damage.

On the other hand, A. avatar received its name after Forest & Bird, the New Zealand conservation organisation that was behind the 2012 BioBlitz at which the new species was collected, ran a public competition where "the avatar moth" turned up as the winning entry. The reference is to the indigenous people and fauna in Avatar. Just like them, the newly described moth is especially vulnerable to habitat change and destruction. In addition, the study's authors note that the original avatars came from Hindu mythology, where they are the incarnations of deities, including Vishnu, for example, who would transform into Varaha the boar.

In conclusion, the scientists point out that future studies to monitor and further understand the fauna of New Zealand are of crucial importance for its preservation:

"Quantitative studies as well as work on life histories and ecology are particularly needed. Already one formerly common endemic geometrid species, Xanthorhoe bulbulata, has declined drastically and is feared possibly extinct: its life history and host-plant have never been discovered. Without further intensive study of the fauna of modified and threatened New Zealand environments, we will be unable to prevent other species slipping away."

Circadian rhythms are 24 hour cycles that are guided by exposure to alternating periods of day and night. These cycles affect biological activities in a variety of living organisms which are attuned to the circadian clock. A disturbance in circadian patterns is known to affect many biomolecular processes linked with metabolism and other physiological functions. Dr. Tobias Eckle and his team at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have studied circadian rhythms in detail. Eckle's recent research has specifically been directed towards identifying cellular adaptive mechanisms during hypoxic conditions such as myocardial ischemia - one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The team has published their review in Current Pharmaceutical Design.

Adenosine signaling has been implicated in cardiac adaptation to limited oxygen availability. In a wide search for adenosine receptor elicited cardio-adaptive responses, Eckle's group identified the circadian rhythm protein period 2 (PER2) as an adenosine signaling target. The researchers found that PER2 KO mice had larger infarct sizes and a limited ability to use carbohydrates for oxygen-efficient glycolysis compared to wild-type mice. This impairment was caused by a failure to stabilize the oxygen sensor hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF1A). Moreover, stabilization of PER2 in the heart by exposing mice to intense light resulted in the transcriptional induction of HIF1A regulated glycolytic enzymes and PER2-dependent cardio-protection from ischemia. Ongoing studies are attempting to elucidate the role of the light regulated circadian rhythm protein PER2 as an oxygen and metabolic sensor during conditions of limited oxygen availability.

In their comprehensive review article, Eckle et al. discuss an evolutionary link between light and oxygen sensing pathways in depth and provide an insight into molecular and cellular adaptation for resilience to adverse changes in the environment:

The appearance of sunlight and oxygen on earth were undoubtedly the most dramatic environmental changes during evolution. As a result, almost all organisms on this planet are equipped with light and oxygen sensing pathways. Notably, light sensing and oxygen sensing pathways in mammals are linked on a cellular level: Hypoxia inducible factor 1? (HIF1A), an evolutionarily conserved transcription factor enabling cellular adaptation to low oxygen availability, belongs to the same protein family as the light-regulated circadian core protein Period 2 (PER2). Both belong to the PAS domain superfamily of signal sensors for oxygen, light, or metabolism. As such, Hif1? messenger RNA levels cycle in a circadian manner in mouse cardiac tissue and rhythmic oxygen levels reset the circadian clock through HIF1A. "This evolutionary conserved relationship between light (circadian) and oxygen sensing pathways suggests a role for light elicited circadian rhythm proteins in disease states of low oxygen availability, such as myocardial ischemia," states Eckle. He concludes that "Insights gained from an advanced understanding of this evolutionarily conserved relationship between light and oxygen sensing pathways, will ultimately provide new therapeutic opportunities to treat such diseases."

Pictures of the earth's water cycle used in education and research throughout the world are in urgent need of updating to show the effects of human interference, according to new analysis by an international team of hydrology experts.

Leaving humans out of the picture, the researchers argue, contributes to a basic lack of awareness of how humans relate to water on Earth - and a false sense of security about future availability of this essential and scarce resource.

The team has drawn up a new set of diagrams to promote better understanding of how our water cycle works in the 21st century. These new diagrams show human interference in nearly all parts of the cycle.

The study, published in Nature Geoscience, with an additional comment in Nature, was carried out by a large team of experts from Brigham Young University and Michigan State University in the US and the University of Birmingham in the UK, along with partners in the US, France, Canada, Switzerland and Sweden.

It showed that, in a sample of more than 450 water cycle diagrams in textbooks, scientific literature and online, 85 per cent showed no human interaction at all with the water cycle, and only 2 per cent of the images made any attempt to connect the cycle with climate change or water pollution.

In addition, nearly all the examples studied depicted verdant landscapes, with mild climates and abundant freshwater - usually with only a single river basin.

The researchers argue there is an urgent need to challenge this misrepresentation and promote a more accurate and sophisticated understanding of the cycle and how it works in the 21st century. This is crucial if society is to be able to achieve global solutions to the world's water crisis.

"The water cycle diagram is a central icon of hydro science, but misrepresenting the ways in which humans have influenced this cycle diminishes our awareness of the looming global water crisis," says Professor David Hannah, UNESCO Chair in Water Sciences at the University of Birmingham.

"By leaving out climate change, human consumption, and changes in land use we are, in effect, creating large gaps in understanding and perception among the public and also among some scientists."

The new diagrams drawn up by the team show a more complex picture that includes elements such as meltwater from glaciers, flood damage caused by land use changes, pollution and sea level rises.

Professor Stefan Krause, Head of the Birmingham Water Council states: "For the first time, the new water cycle diagram adequately reflects the importance of not just quantities of water but also water quality and pollution as key criteria for assessing water resources".

Professor Ben Abbott, from Brigham Young University, is lead author on the paper:
"Every scientific diagram involves compromises and distortions, but what we found with the water cycle was widespread exclusion of a central concept. You can't understand water in the 21st century without including humans."

"Other scientific disciplines have done a good job depicting how humans now dominate many aspects of the Earth system. It's hard to find a diagram of the carbon or nitrogen cycle that doesn't show factories and fertilizers. However, our drawings of the water cycle are stuck in the 17th century."

"Better drawings of the water cycle won't solve the global water crisis on their own, but they could improve awareness of how local water use and climate change have global consequences."

The winter ice on the surface of Antarctica's Weddell Sea occasionally forms an enormous hole. A hole that appeared in 2016 and 2017 drew intense curiosity from scientists and reporters. Though even bigger gaps had formed decades before, this was the first time oceanographers had a chance to truly monitor the unexpected gap in Antarctic winter sea ice.

A new study led by the University of Washington combines satellite images of the sea ice cover, robotic drifters and even seals outfitted with sensors to better understand the phenomenon. The research explores why this hole appears in only some years, and what role it could play in the larger ocean circulation.

The study was published June 10 in the journal Nature.

"We thought this large hole in the sea ice -- known as a polynya -- was something that was rare, maybe a process that had gone extinct. But the events in 2016 and 2017 forced us to reevaluate that," said lead author Ethan Campbell, a UW doctoral student in oceanography. "Observations show that the recent polynyas opened from a combination of factors -- one being the unusual ocean conditions, and the other being a series of very intense storms that swirled over the Weddell Sea with almost hurricane-force winds."

A "polynya," a Russian word that roughly means "hole in the ice," can form near shore as wind pushes the ice around. But it can also appear far from the coast and stick around for weeks to months, where it acts as an oasis for penguins, whales and seals to pop up and breathe.

This particular spot far from the Antarctic coast often has small openings and has seen large polynyas before. The biggest known polynyas at that location were in 1974, 1975 and 1976, just after the first satellites were launched, when an area the size of New Zealand remained ice-free through three consecutive Antarctic winters despite air temperatures far below freezing.

Campbell joined the UW as a graduate student in 2016 to better understand this mysterious phenomenon. In a stroke of scientific luck, a big one appeared for the first time in decades. A NASA satellite image in August 2016 drew public attention to a 33,000-square-kilometer (13,000-square-mile) gap that appeared for three weeks. An even bigger gap, of 50,000 square kilometers (19,000 square miles) appeared in September and October of 2017.

The Southern Ocean is thought to play a key role in global ocean currents and carbon cycles, but its behavior is poorly understood. It hosts some of the fiercest storms on the planet, with winds whipping uninterrupted around the continent in the 24-hour darkness of polar winter. The new study used observations from the Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modeling project, or SOCCOM, which puts out instruments that drift with the currents to monitor Antarctic conditions.

The study also used data from the long-running Argo ocean observing program, elephant seals that beam data back to shore, weather stations and decades of satellite images.

"This study shows that this polynya is actually caused by a number of factors that all have to line up for it to happen," said co-author Stephen Riser, a UW professor of oceanography. "In any given year you could have several of these things happen, but unless you get them all, then you don't get a polynya."

The study shows that when winds surrounding Antarctica draw closer to shore, they promote stronger upward mixing in the eastern Weddell Sea. In that region, an underwater mountain known as Maud Rise forces dense seawater around it and leaves a spinning vortex above. Two SOCCOM instruments were trapped in the vortex above Maud Rise and recorded years of observations there.

Analysis shows that when the surface ocean is especially salty, as seen throughout 2016, strong winter storms can set off an overturning circulation. Warmer, saltier water from the depths gets churned up to the surface, where air chills it and makes it denser than the water below. As that water sinks, relatively warmer deep water of about 1 degree Celsius (34 F) replaces it, creating a feedback loop where ice can't reform.

Under climate change, fresh water from melting glaciers and other sources will make the Southern Ocean's surface layer less dense, which might mean fewer polynyas in the future. But the new study questions that assumption. Many models show that the winds circling Antarctica will become stronger and draw closer to the coast -- the new paper suggests this would encourage more polynyas to form, not fewer.

These are the first observations to prove that even a smaller polynya like the one in 2016 moves water from the surface all the way to the deep ocean.

"Essentially it's a flipping over of the entire ocean, rather than an injection of surface water on a one-way trip from the surface to the deep," said co-author Earle Wilson, who recently completed his doctorate in oceanography at the UW.

One way that a surface polynya matters for the climate is for the deepest water in the oceans, known as Antarctic Bottom Water. This cold, dense water lurks below all the other water. Where and how it's created affects its characteristics, and would have ripple effects on other major ocean currents.

"Right now people think most of the bottom water is forming on the Antarctic shelf, but these big offshore polynyas might have been more common in the past," Riser said. "We need to improve our models so we can study this process, which could have larger-scale climate implications."

Large and long-lasting polynyas can also affect the atmosphere, because deep water contains carbon from lifeforms that have sunk over centuries and dissolved on their way down. Once this water reaches the surface that carbon could be released.

"This deep reservoir of carbon has been locked away for hundreds of years, and in a polynya it might get ventilated at the surface through this really violent mixing," Campbell said. "A large carbon outgassing event could really whack the climate system if it happened multiple years in a row."

SAN FRANCISCO (June 10, 2019) - A study co-led by Dr. Nelly Mauras at Nemours Children's Health System in Jacksonville, Florida found that children with type 1 diabetes (T1D) have slower growth in brain areas associated with mild cognitive deficits compared to children without T1D. The study, presented today at the American Diabetes Association's® (ADA's) 79th Scientific Sessions®, found significant differences in total brain and regional gray and white matter growth based on a series of three structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies.

"Even with new insulin and technologies that can significantly improve care, children with Type 1 Diabetes are still exposed to significant swings in sugar control, creating potential risks to the developing brain," said Nelly Mauras, MD, co-principal investigator of the study, chief of the division of endocrinology, diabetes & metabolism at the Nemours Children's Health System in Jacksonville, Florida, and professor of pediatrics at the Mayo College of Medicine. "Understanding the early effects of blood sugar control on brain development is a necessary step towards developing strategies for reducing these risks and the public health implications of diabetes-related cognitive dysfunction later on in life."

As part of a multi-site study of the Diabetes Research in Children Network (DirecNet), researchers aimed to determine the extent to which glycemic exposure adversely impacts the developing brain in children with early-onset T1D. The study enrolled 138 children with T1D with a median age of seven years. The participants had a disease duration on average of 2.4 years at the beginning of the study. MRIs were performed at three time points (baseline visit, 18 months and approximately 2.9 years after the second visit) to measure gray and white matter volumes in key brain regions. Total cumulative hyperglycemic exposure was determined using lifetime blood sugar, using hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) values from the time of diagnosis. Researchers compared the MRI results of T1D participants to those of a control group of 66 age-matched children who did not have diabetes.

Researchers found that the group with T1D had slower growth of total cortical and subcortical gray and white matter than the control group at all time points. In particular, a set of metabolically active brain regions associated with other brain disorders, known as the "default mode network," showed less growth in the T1D group compared to the control group. These regions of slower growth were associated with higher lifetime blood sugar, as measured by HbA1c values.

"Ongoing research is investigating whether diligent maintenance of blood sugar levels in the normal range through advanced diabetes technologies can impact these findings to reduce the risk for cognitive dysfunction," said Mauras.

HOUSTON -- A common genetic deficiency empowers glioblastoma to broadcast a molecular message to the wrong type of immune cell, summoning macrophages that protect and nurture the brain tumor instead of attacking it, researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report in Cancer Cell.

The team's work in mouse models of glioblastoma that lack functional cancer-suppressor gene PTEN points to new potential targets for treating the most common and lethal brain tumor, said senior author Ronald DePinho, M.D., professor of Cancer Biology and past president of MD Anderson.

About a third of all glioblastomas are PTEN-deficient. Median survival for glioblastoma is about 12 to 15 months, and only 5 percent of patients survive for five years.

"We've identified a symbiotic circuit that is activated in PTEN-deficient glioblastoma which creates a mutually supportive relationship between the cancer cell and macrophages that come into the tumor microenvironment and provide growth factor support for the tumor," DePinho said.

Macrophages engulf and digest microbes, cellular debris and tumor cells as part of an immune response, and they secrete cytokines that affect other cells. They are bipolar. In their M1 form, they actively assist immune response and inhibit tumor growth. In M2, they are in repair mode, helping post-immune recovery, which can also promote cancer growth and progression.

Up to half the live cells found in glioblastoma are macrophages. They are major components forming the tumor microenvironment, the researchers note.

First author Peiwen Chen, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow in Cancer Biology, DePinho and colleagues set out to find common mutations in glioblastoma associated with immune changes in the tumor microenvironment.

They not only defined the pathway that brings macrophages into glioblastoma, but also pinpointed a growth factor secreted by the macrophages that in turn protects cancer cells from programmed cell death and fuels the growth of new blood vessels.

"We first found that only PTEN-deficiency, but not other common genetic alterations, is associated with macrophage infiltration in glioblastoma," Chen said.

In a series of experiments, in PTEN knockout cell lines and later in mouse models of glioblastoma, they showed:

With PTEN down, a gene called YAP1 is activated, a transcription factor that increases expression of LOX, a novel potent attractor of macrophages;

LOX connects to the β1 integrin-PYK2 pathway on macrophages, spurring their migration into the tumor microenvironment;

Macrophages directly aid glioma cells by secreting the growth factor SPP1, which the team showed increases cancer cell survival and blood vessel formation to protect the tumors.

Thwarting LOX shrinks tumors, blocks macrophage infiltration

The team developed human xenograft mouse models of glioblastoma that had high expression of LOX, YAP1, and macrophage markers. Depleting LOX in these models using either shRNA, the small-molecule LOX inhibitor BAPN or an anti-LOX antibody impaired tumor growth and significantly reduced macrophage infiltration.

LOX inhibition in four PTEN-deficient glioblastoma mouse models extended survival in all models.

Blocking LOX had no impact on glioma cell proliferation but did increase cancer cell programmed cell death and decrease the formation of tumor-supporting blood vessels.

As a first check on the possible impact of their findings on humans, the team performed unsupervised clustering of an established macrophage signature in 489 human glioblastoma samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas.

By clustering cases by macrophage-high (201), macrophage-medium (153) and macrophage-low (135) groups, as well as analyzing tumor-associated macrophages compared to blood-derived monocytes from glioblastoma mouse models and patients, they identified eight genes correlated with macrophage infiltration in patients. Among the eight, SPP1 was the gene with the greatest increase in expression.

The macrophage-high group had more frequent PTEN mutations or deletions, higher YAP1 and LOX expression and poorer survival than patients in the macrophage-low cluster.

LOX, SPP1 are new targets for PTEN-deficient glioblastoma

The most targetable components in the pathway are LOX and SPP1, DePinho said, with drugs under development to hit both genes.

"The results in mice are compelling enough and the correlative studies in human glioblastoma provide additional confidence to motivate the testing of this approach in a clinical setting of recurrent glioblastoma patients," DePinho said.

It would be important to enlist only those with PTEN-deficient tumors, he said, because their research shows LOX inhibition does not work in tumors with wild-type PTEN.

The sea water, beaches and sediments on the Tarragona coast contain quantities of plastic similar to those in a big city like Barcelona. And more than half are clothing fibres from washing machines. This is one of the main findings of a study carried out by researchers from the URV's research group Tecnatox and presented last week at a congress in Helsinki. They are not referring exclusively to the plastic waste that can be seen floating on the water or being washed up by the waves. What most concerns them is the presence of microscopic plastic waste that cannot be seen by the naked eye but which can have an impact on human health. It is the study of these particles and their effects that is the main objective of the researchers from the URV's Department of Chemical Engineering and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. In a series of pioneering studies that were initiated in 2018, they analysed samples of sea water, marine sediment and sand from Tarragona beaches to determine the presence of plastics and their possible source.

These plastics are washed into the sea by streams and large rivers like the Ebro, as well as by the drainage system and underwater outfalls. They also come from industrial discharges of plastic polymers and direct discharges into the sea by boats. Recent studies, however, have revealed other possible sources of pollution: for example, synthetic fibres that come from clothes during washing. From the samples taken from the Tarragona coast, the researchers have observed that up to 57% of all the plastics analysed from sea water are microscopic fibres from clothes, which flow into the treatment parts and which are only partially removed before the water is finally discharged into the sea.

The results of analysing the sediments and the sand from the beaches revealed the existence of microscopic plastics belonging to three main groups: polypropylene (42%), polystyrene (37%) and polyethylene (16%). All these plastics are the waste products of everyday things such as bags, wrappings, containers and recipients of all sorts. The plastic that is washed up on the beaches does not degrade; it is only broken up into increasingly smaller pieces by the force of the waves. These small pieces of plastic are referred to as microplastics when they are just a few millimetres in size (up to 5) and as nanoplastics when they are smaller than one millimetre. The presence of this waste in the sea is not just a problem of pollution; it is also a health risk. Microplastics can be ingested by humans in food, which does not necessarily have to be seafood. Both marine invertebrates, such as molluscs and crustaceans, and the fish that live on the sea bed ingest the microscopic pieces of plastic in the water and the sediment. Depending on the size of these pieces they can block the digestive tract and cause death or are still in their digestive system when caught.

Marine plastics also absorb potentially toxic heavy metals and organic molecules. These plastics remain in the digestive system of marine organisms and, therefore, can be passed on to the people who eat them. The next step is to study whether the smallest plastics - that's to say, nanoplastics - can cross the membranes of cells in the liver, kidney and nervous system. In this regard, the TecnATox researchers are developing new methods for detecting these nanoplastics in biological cells that will make it possible to evaluate the harmful effects of this waste on human health.

The cooling of the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica, which began approximately 35 million years ago and gave rise to its present icy state, has for decades been considered a classic example of climate change triggering rapid adaptation.

Using tens of thousands of genes mapped from across the genomes of a group of Antarctic fishes called notothenioids, a team of researchers is now challenging this paradigm, revealing that the massive amount of genetic change required for life in the Antarctic occurred long before the Antarctic cooled.

These genetic changes not only have major implications for understanding the evolution of Antarctica's unusual animals, but also highlight that some key adaptations used by fishes mirror the genetics of human bone diseases such as osteoporosis.

"Many species have evolved traits that are adaptive in their environment but are similar to disease states in humans," says Jake Daane, lead author of the study (Northeastern University). "We use this natural variation to better understand genetic mechanisms of disease."

The team found evidence of an increase in mutation rate during the evolution of Antarctic fishes prior to the onset of icy waters in the Southern Ocean that corresponded with a severe reduction of bone mineral density.

"Antarctic notothenioids don't have swim bladders to adjust their buoyancy in the water column. Rather, they use reductions in bone density to help them 'float' in the water column at low energetic cost," says co-author Bill Detrich (coauthor, Northeastern University). "What is a genetic disease state in us is a means of survival in these fishes."

"The genetic changes we found are severely pathological in humans, including some that have been considered not compatible with life," added Alex Dornburg (coauthor, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences). "Finding that notothenioids use the same genetic pathways to achieve buoyancy in water represents a tremendous opportunity for human health research."

To test the function of the genetic changes identified, the team further used advances in gene editing to engineer genetically modified zebrafish embryos with the same mutations as Antarctic notothenioids. As these zebrafish grew, they displayed the same loss of bone as observed in the Antarctic species.

"Our research is revealing Antarctic notothenioids to be important models for human disease. In addition to low bone density, Antarctic fishes also have evolved other apparently pathological conditions, including the loss of kidney glomeruli and red blood cells," says Matthew Harris (coauthor, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School).

Harris added, "These biomedically-relevant processes can be studied to reveal the genetic mechanisms behind these 'disease' states and their accommodation in these fishes. The results should lead to deeper understanding of how we might treat comparable disorders in humans."

Rather than evolving these unusual adaptations in the face of major environmental upheaval, the team found that much of this genetic variation was already in place before the Antarctic cooled. This finding challenges how we consider adaptation versus standing genetic diversity to predict the response of modern populations to contemporary climate change.

Antarctic notothenioids were in the right place at the right time to capitalize on the transition to an icy Antarctic millions of years ago. However, their future is uncertain.

"Notothenioids are of high ecological, economic and medical importance, however, many species can't tolerate warming of more than a few degrees," says Thomas Near (coauthor, Yale University). "In an ironic twist of fate, forecasts of climate change now warn that this unique radiation of fishes could become decimated over the next century. It is up to us to prevent such a tragic loss."

Global environmental change and discussions about the drivers of international migration has led to renewed interest in population growth and global demographic change. The notion of a demographic dividend - defined by the UN Population Fund as, "the economic growth potential that can result from shifts in a population's age structure when the share of the working-age population is larger than the non-working-age share of the population" - was introduced to highlight the benefits of fertility decline. Among specifically African leaders, it is however also often interpreted as describing the benefits of their youthful populations.

"After a focus on population growth, recent studies have paid more attention to changes in age structures and defined the notion of a demographic dividend as a window of opportunity that opens when falling birth rates lead to a relatively higher proportion of working age population," explains IIASA World Population Program Director, Wolfgang Lutz, lead author of the paper. "This has become the dominant paradigm in the field of population and development and an advocacy tool for highlighting the benefits of family planning and fertility decline."

Due to its controversial nature, the topic of population was not explicitly included in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To address this, researchers from IIASA, the Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital, Vienna University of Economics and Business, and the Vienna University of Technology tried to provide a systematic reassessment about what aspects of demographic change have beneficial consequences for economic growth and sustainable development.

The new model proposed in the study, explicitly addresses interactions between the effect of changing age structure and education levels and shows that in the case of low shares of a population having at least completed junior secondary education, the effect of lower fertility can be negative. In other words, a population in which the number of children declines and therefore the proportion in working age increases is worse off than in the case of no such change if the education level of the population is low. If the average level of education is relatively high on the other hand, the results indicate that a strong demographic dividend can be gained from the interaction of more working age people who are better educated.

"Our findings suggest that the widely used hierarchical conceptualization of the demographic dividend as an opportunity that is opened and triggered by a decline in the youth dependency ratio and which requires investments in education and health as a second order additional investment is misleading. The analysis reveals that the change in age structure by itself does not open any specific opportunity and the improvement of human capital is the primary and dominant driver of the true demographic dividend. This implies a major paradigm shift," says Jesus Crespo Cuaresma, an IIASA researcher and study co-author.

This study once again confirms the findings of several previous studies by the IIASA World Population Program, with the empirical evidence showing that education matters more than changing age structures. According to the researchers, this matters not only for poor developing countries but also for aging related concerns in rich countries and highlights that population policies for the 21st century should foster the human resource base of countries.

Baltimore (June 9, 2019) - Drinks with added sugar, also known as sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), are one of the largest sources of added sugar in the American diet and a major contributor to obesity. SSBs include non-diet sodas, flavored juice drinks, sports drinks, sweetened tea, coffee drinks, energy drinks and electrolyte replacement drinks. Research presented at Nutrition 2019 will examine how various policies could help reduce the consumption of these sugary beverages and improve health.

Nutrition 2019 is being held June 8-11, 2019 at the Baltimore Convention Center. Contact the media team for more information or to obtain a free press pass to attend the meeting.

Should we tax drinks with added sugar?

SSB taxes would decrease obesity-related cancer
A new study estimates that a national 1 cent per ounce of SSB tax could prevent around 17,000 new obesity-associated cancers cases and 10,000 cancer deaths. This modeling study estimates that this tax would save $2.4 billion in lifetime medical costs for 13 types of cancer. The largest health benefits were for endometrial, kidney and liver cancer. Christina Griecci, Tufts University, will present this research on Sunday, June 9, from 12:45 - 1:45 p.m. in the Baltimore Convention Center, Halls A-B (Poster 75) (abstract).

Which type of tax produces the most benefits?
Using a simulation model, researchers found either a tiered or sugar-content taxed structure that placed a higher tax on beverages containing more sugar produced more health gains and cost savings than a tax based on SSB volume. Over 10 years, a tiered tax on SSBs could prevent 460,000 cardiovascular events and 60,000 cases of diabetes and save 28 billion dollars in health care costs. A sugar content tax on SSBs could prevent 370,000 cardiovascular events and 50,000 cases of diabetes and save 21 billion dollars in health care costs while a volume tax on SSBs would prevent 240,000 cardiovascular events and 30,000 cases of diabetes and save 14 billion dollars in health care costs. Yujin Lee, Tufts University, will present this research on Tuesday, June 11, from 8:15 – 8:45 a.m. in the Baltimore Convention Center, Room 314/315 (abstract).

Do health warnings work?

Health warnings can discourage purchases
According to a study involving 400 adults, health warnings on SSBs can discourage the purchase of these drinks. Adults who typically drink sugary beverages were given $10 to spend at a life-size convenience store replica selling SSBs and other products. Study participants randomly assigned to a group in which SSBs in the store displayed health warnings purchased fewer calories from SSBs and were less likely to purchase an SSB than those consumers shown products without the labels. Anna Grummon, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, will present this research on Tuesday, June 11, from 8:30 – 8:45 a.m. in the Baltimore Convention Center, Room 314/315 (abstract).

Health warnings might also reduce obesity
A new simulation study reveals that using health warnings on SSBs across the U.S. could reduce average SSB intake by about 25 calories per day and total calorie intake by about 30 calories per day. These dietary changes could reduce average body mass index by about 0.6 kg/m2 over 5 years--equivalent to losing about 4 pounds for the average adult. The policy was also projected to reduce obesity prevalence by more than 5 million adults over this period. Weight loss would be most pronounced among Black or Hispanic adults as well as those with lower income and educational attainment. Anna Grummon, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, will present this research on Tuesday, June 11, from 8:45 – 9:00 a.m. in the Baltimore Convention Center, Room 314/315 (abstract).

SSBs are often for home consumption
A preliminary analysis found that nearly 80 percent of U.S. households purchase or acquire SSBs in a given week. On average, U.S. households acquire nearly 2000 calories from SSBs per week, with more than 60 percent of SSB calories acquired to bring home for later consumption. The researchers used data from the USDA Food Acquisition and Purchasing Survey, which collected 7 days of data on all foods purchased or obtained for free in a nationally representative sample of 4,826 households during 2012. These findings point to the need for interventions that target SSB consumption at home to reduce overall SSB acquisition. Stephen Onufrak, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will present this research on Monday, June 10, from 8:30 - 8:45 a.m. in the Baltimore Convention Center, Room 314/315 (abstract).

Additional sugar-sweetened beverages research from Nutrition 2019:

News Brief: What is the World Drinking? Study Reveals Global Intake of Major Beverages

Sugar-sweetened beverage and high fat diet consumption harmfully alters gut microbiota and promotes gut inflammation

The Relationship between Beverage Consumption and Prediabetes in Predominantly Low-Income Hispanic Children

Baltimore (June 8, 2019) - Eating well, drinking enough water and taking certain supplements have all been shown to positively affect brain function in adults. Less is known about how these factors affect children. At Nutrition 2019, the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition, researchers announce new findings on the ways nutrition influences how children think, learn and behave.

Nutrition 2019 is being held June 8-11, 2019 at the Baltimore Convention Center. Contact the media team for more information or to obtain a free press pass to attend the meeting.

Eating habits linked to academic performance

Junk food associated with poorer academic achievement

An analysis of more than 850 elementary school children found those who reported higher consumption of snack foods and sugar-sweetened beverages scored lower on standardized academic tests, on average, than children who consumed less of these foods. While unhealthful diets were not linked to lower cognitive test scores, the findings suggest policies to improve children's diets could help kids do better in school, researchers say. Rachel Bleiweiss-Sande, Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, will present this research on Sunday, June 9, from 1:45 - 2:45 p.m. in the Baltimore Convention Center, Halls A-B (poster #226) (abstract).

Hydration associated with better brain functioning
Epidemiological data suggests many children in the United States do not drink enough water. In a new study, researchers found children with greater habitual hydration performed better during tasks requiring cognitive flexibility. In addition, children showed improvements in their hydration levels and working memory after consuming a higher amount of water--2.5 liters daily--than when instructed to drink just half a liter per day, suggesting increasing water intake can help improve both hydration and cognitive function. Naiman A. Khan, University of Illinois, will present this research on Tuesday, June 11, from noon - 12:15 p.m. in the Baltimore Convention Center, Ballroom III (abstract).

Supplements boost brain function

Micronutrient powder aids babies' development in rural India

Undernutrition, prevalent among young children worldwide, can harm children's development. In a randomized controlled trial conducted in 26 Indian villages, infants who received a multiple micronutrient powder, an early learning intervention, or both showed significant improvements in expressive language, visual reception and social-emotional behavior compared with those receiving a placebo. The findings suggest these interventions can help babies' brain development in communities facing nutritional deficiency and a lack of early learning opportunities. Kristen M. Hurley, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, will present this research on Sunday, June 9, at 12:15 p.m. in the Baltimore Convention Center, Poster Theater 2 (abstract).

Caffeine and L-theanine may help children with ADHD
Caffeine and L-theanine, substances found in tea leaves, are known to improve sustained attention in healthy adults. In a new study examining the effects of these substances in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), researchers found five boys with ADHD showed better sustained attention, improved cognitive performance and decreased impulsivity when taking caffeine and L-theanine supplements together compared to a placebo. However, impulsivity increased when either substance was administered alone. Chanaka N. Kahathuduwa, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, will present this research on Tuesday, June 11, from 8:45 - 9:00 a.m. in the Baltimore Convention Center, Room 317 (abstract).

SAN ANTONIO - According to preliminary results of a new study, there is a high prevalence of insufficient sleep and symptoms of common sleep disorders among medical center nurses.

Results show that 49% of participating nurses at an academic medical center averaged less than 7 hours of sleep per night, and the overall average nightly sleep time was 6.6 hours. Symptoms consistent with chronic insomnia were identified in 31% of nurses, and excessive daytime sleepiness was found in 4.5% of them. Twenty-seven percent of nurses used medications to help them sleep, and 13% reported using medications to stay awake. Symptoms indicative of shift work disorder were present in 31% of nurses. About 18.5% of nurses also had a moderate-to-severe risk for obstructive sleep apnea.

"We were surprised by the number of nurses potentially suffering from common sleep disorders, most notably, chronic insomnia and shift work disorder," said lead author Francis Christian, M.D., a second-year fellow at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that adults should sleep 7 or more hours per night on a regular basis to promote optimal health. According to the authors, nearly 100,000 deaths are estimated to occur each year in U.S. hospitals due to medical errors, and sleep deprivation and sleep disorders are significant contributors to this risk.

The study involved an online survey of 1,165 nurses at a tertiary care medical center. Questions asked about topics such as their sleep schedule and medications. Questionnaires such as the STOP-BANG and Epworth Sleepiness Scale were used to assess the nurses for sleep disorder symptoms.

"Nurses are at increased risk for circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders such as shift work disorder," said Christian. "Recognition needs to take place so that we can screen appropriately and make scheduling modifications to help alleviate the burden of shift work disorder among nurses."

The research abstract was published recently in an online supplement of the journal Sleep and will be presented Monday, June 10, in San Antonio at SLEEP 2019, the 33rd annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC (APSS), which is a joint venture of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society.

Babies born prematurely often face intense medical challenges, including intestines that are underdeveloped or diseased. While an intestine transplant can benefit some patients, many babies are simply too small to endure this procedure. Children's Hospital Los Angeles surgeon Tracy Grikscheit, MD, is a leader in the field of tissue engineering - growing intestines from stem cells. In an article published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, Dr. Grikscheit and co-authors highlight how stem cell therapy is poised to become a game-changer for these babies.

Some premature babies are born with severely underdeveloped gastrointestinal tracts or can develop diseases like necrotizing enterocolitis, which attacks the intestines. In severe cases, surgical removal of the affected bowels (intestines) must be performed. This can have dire consequences.

Most nutrient and water absorption occurs in the small intestine, so if patients are not left with enough healthy tissue, they can suffer from serious complications like malnutrition or dehydration - also known as short bowel syndrome. In order to get the proper nutrients, patients may have to be fed through a feeding tube or intravenously- through a needle into the bloodstream. In the most severe cases of short bowel syndrome, small intestine transplant from donor tissue is the only answer; but this, too, comes with its own list of problems. Babies must be big enough for this procedure, which often means they need to wait several months. Even then, the road is not an easy one. Patients must take anti-rejection medications, which have their own side effects and the success rate of transplantation is only about fifty percent.

With such challenges, the future seems bleak for these babies. To Dr. Grikscheit, this is not acceptable. She wants more for her patients and she envisions a world in which missing portions of intestines can be grown.

Scientists like Dr. Grikscheit investigate growth of new tissue from stem cells to treat babies with severe intestinal impairments. "Stem cell therapies would really improve upon current options," she says. "Right now, these babies can either get a transplant, or live on IV nutrition, which really impacts the way they can interact with the world and develop. There has to be a better way."

The Cell Stem Cell article was written by Dr. Grikscheit and colleagues as part of INTENS, a European consortium that fosters research to treat children with intestinal failure through tissue engineering. Tissue engineering is the process of producing new tissue in the laboratory from stem cells. The publication describes the progress researchers have made as well as the challenges scientists face in bringing stem cell therapy to patients.

Stem cells have the capability of developing into any cell type, making them ideal starting material for organ repair. The paper discusses two main ways in which stem cells could potentially treat babies with these intestinal issues. Stem cells can either be taken from the patient's own intestine or "off the shelf" - from a stock source of stem cells that can be engineered into intestinal tissue. The two pathways each offer distinct advantages to patients and the treatment type could depend on the condition each child faces.

Research in this field is showing promise for future therapy. Recent progress has allowed researchers to generate larger amounts of intestinal tissue than ever before.

"We're not yet at the stage of delivering this therapy to babies but we're developing the road map," says Dr. Grikscheit. "We're getting closer."

Bochum-based researchers from the Cluster of Excellence Ruhr Explores Solvation (Resolv), together with cooperation partners from Nijmegen, have investigated how acids interact with water molecules at extremely low temperatures. Using spectroscopic analyses and computer simulations, they investigated the question of whether hydrochloric acid (HCl) does or does not release its proton in conditions like those found in interstellar space. The answer was neither yes nor no, but instead depended on the order in which the team brought the water and hydrochloric acid molecules together.

The group led by Professor Martina Havenith, Chair of Physical Chemistry II, and Professor Dominik Marx, Chair of Theoretical Chemistry, from Ruhr-Universität Bochum, together with the team led by Dr. Britta Redlich from Radboud University, Nijmegen, describes the results in the journal Science Advances, published online in advance on 7 June 2019.

Understanding how complex molecules were formed

If hydrochloric acid comes into contact with water molecules under normal conditions, such as at room temperature, the acid immediately dissociates: it releases its proton (H+), one chloride ion (Cl-) remains. The research team wanted to find out whether the same process also takes place at extremely low temperatures below ten Kelvin, i.e. below minus 263.15 degrees Celsius. "We would like to know whether the same acid-alkali chemistry as we know on Earth also exists in the extreme conditions in interstellar space," explains Martina Havenith, Speaker for the Cluster of Excellence Resolv. "The results are crucial for understanding how more complex chemical molecules formed in space - long before the first precursors of life came into existence."

In order to replicate the extremely low temperatures in the laboratory, the researchers had the chemical reactions take place in a droplet of superfluid helium. They monitored the processes using a special type of infrared spectroscopy, which can detect molecular vibrations with low frequencies. A laser with especially high brightness, as is available in Nijmegen, was needed for this. Computer simulations enabled the scientists to interpret the experimental results.

It comes down to the order

First of all, the researchers added four water molecules, one after the other, to the hydrochloric acid molecule. The hydrochloric acid dissociated during this process: it donated its proton to a water molecule, and a hydronium ion was created. The remaining chloride ion, the hydronium ion and the three other water molecules formed a cluster.

However, if the researchers first created an ice-like cluster from the four water molecules and then added the hydrochloric acid, they yielded a different result: the hydrochloric acid molecule did not dissociate; the proton remained bonded to the chloride ion.

"Under the conditions that can be found in interstellar space, the acids are thus able to dissociate, but this does not necessarily have to happen - both processes are two sides of the same coin, so to speak," summarises Martina Havenith.

Chemistry in space is not simple

The researchers assume that the result can also be applied to other acids, i.e. it represents the basic principle of chemistry under ultracold conditions. "Chemistry in space is by no means simple; it might even be more complex than chemistry under planetary conditions," says Dominik Marx. After all, it depends not only on the mixing ratios of the reacting substances but also on the order in which they are added to each other. "This phenomenon needs to be taken into consideration in future experiments and simulations under ultracold conditions," says the researcher.

Call it the "Little Bog of Horrors." In what is believed to be a first for North America, biologists at the University of Guelph have discovered that meat-eating pitcher plants in Ontario's Algonquin Park wetlands consume not just bugs but also young salamanders.

In a paper published this week in the journal Ecology, the research team reports what integrative biologist Alex Smith calls the "unexpected and fascinating case of plants eating vertebrates in our backyard, in Algonquin Park."

Pitcher plants growing in wetlands across Canada have long been known to eat creatures - mostly insects and spiders -- that fall into their bell-shaped leaves and decompose in rainwater collected there.

But until now, no one had reported this salamander species caught by a pitcher plant in North America, including Canada's oldest provincial park, a popular destination where the plants have been observed for hundreds of years.

Noting how long the park has held its secret - despite generations of visiting naturalists, its proximity to major cities and a highway running through its southern end - Smith said, "Algonquin Park is so important to so many people in Canada. Yet within the Highway 60 corridor, we've just had a first."

In summer 2017, then undergraduate student Teskey Baldwin found a salamander trapped inside a pitcher plant during a U of G field ecology course in the provincial park.

He's a co-author on the new paper along with other researchers at U of G and the University of Toronto.

Monitoring pitcher plants around a single pond in the park in fall 2018, the team found almost one in five contained the juvenile amphibians, each about as long as a human finger. Several plants contained more than one captured salamander.

Those observations coincided with "pulses" of young salamanders crawling onto land after changing from their larval state in the pond. Smith said these bog ponds lack fish, making salamanders a key predator and prey species in food webs.

He said some of the animals may have fallen into the plants, perhaps attracted by insect prey. Others may have entered the plants to escape predators.

Some trapped salamanders died within three days, while others lived for up to 19 days.

Prey caught inside the plant's specialized leaves is broken down by plant digestive enzymes and other organisms in the water held inside the leaf. Smith said other factors may kill salamanders in pitcher plants, including heat, starvation or infection by pathogens.

He said pitcher plants may have become carnivorous to gain nutrients, especially nitrogen, that are lacking in nutrient-poor bog soil.

Other flesh-eating plants grow in nutrient-poor environments around the world. They include sundews, which use their sticky leaves to catch insects, and the Venus flytrap, whose carnivory partly inspired the Seymour plant in the sci-fi musical Little Shop of Horrors.

Meat-eating pitcher plants have been known since the eighteenth century. One species discovered a decade ago in Asia consumes mostly insects and spiders but also captures small birds and mice.

Smith said the Algonquin Park discovery opens new questions for biologists. Are salamanders an important prey source for pitcher plants? Are the plants important "predators" of the amphibians? Might the salamanders compete with plants for insect prey -- and even "choke" the plant?

Tongue-in-cheek, he added that the find may also prompt park officials to rewrite interpretive materials. "I hope and imagine that one day the bog's interpretive pamphlet for the general public will say, 'Stay on the boardwalk and watch your children. Here be plants that eat vertebrates.'"