Tech

A research team, led by Dr. Hyung-Suk Oh and Dr. Woong Hee Lee of the Clean Energy Research Center of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), working in cooperation with the Technische Universität Berlin (TUB), announced that they had developed a nano-sized, coral-shaped silver catalyst electrode and large-area, high-efficiency carbon dioxide conversion system, which can be used to obtain *carbon monoxide. In recent years, this type of electrochemical carbon dioxide conversion system has been a major area of research in the field of artificial photosynthesis.

* Carbon monoxide: Chemically stable and can be used as a reducing agent at high temperatures, and thus can be used in chemical, metallics, and electronic industries.

Artificial photosynthesis is a technology that converts carbon dioxide, a cause of global warming, into usable chemical substances with high values. In order words, this type of technology removes carbon dioxide from the environment, decreasing pollution, and converts it to obtain useful chemical substances. The electrochemical carbon dioxide conversion field, in particular, has recently been receiving much interest from the scientific community.

In the past, carbon dioxide conversion research was mainly conducted on the compound in its liquid state. When using liquid, however, the performances of different conversion systems have to be measured by immersing electrodes in water. Since carbon dioxide does not dissolve well in water, it is difficult to obtain sufficient efficiency using this process, compared to the amount of energy used. Recently, a system was developed that could convert carbon dioxide using the compound in its gaseous state. This raised the expectation that a high-efficiency conversion system would soon be achieved; however, this proved difficult due to a lack of catalysts and electrodes that could be applied to the new system.

To solve this problem, the joint KIST-TUB research team developed coral-shaped, nano-sized silver catalyst electrodes that could be applied to high-efficiency carbon dioxide conversion systems utilizing carbon dioxide in its gaseous state. Compared to other silver catalysts, the newly developed catalyst requires a low amount of energy to achieve a reaction and can produce over 100 times more carbon monoxide than liquid-based systems. The electrodes of the carbon dioxide reducing system were also successfully applied to large areas (50 cm2), showing great promise for commercialization.

The KIST-TUB researchers were also able to develop a catalyst through various **operando analysis. The team confirmed that the coral-shaped, silver nano electrode catalyst, produced using chlorine ions through a real-time, x-ray absorption analysis method, has high substance delivery capacities, thanks to its large surface area and porous structure. This means that the catalysts demonstrates high efficiency in the carbon dioxide conversion process. They further found that the carbon dioxide conversion process was less efficient when there was no hydrophobicity during the reaction; this means that a certain level of hydrophobicity must be maintained when developing carbon dioxide conversion electrodes in the future.

**Operando analysis: A technology that monitors, in real-time, the actual behavior of a catalyst or electrode structure during a reaction. X-rays, electron microscopes, and laser analysis technologies (etc.) are used in operando analysis.

*** Hydrophobicity: The physical property of not being able to easily combine with water molecules. Normally, materials without polarity demonstrate hydrophobicity.

Dr. Hyung-Suk Oh of the KIST, who jointly led the research, said, "By developing nanometer-sized, coral-shaped silver catalyst electrodes, we were able to greatly improve current density and the performance of the electrochemical carbon dioxide conversion system, thereby suggesting directions for future research." He added, "It is expected that this study will greatly contribute to the R&D of electrochemical carbon dioxide conversion systems."

Many exoplanets known today are "super-Earths", with a radius 1.3 times that of Earth, and "mini-Neptunes", with 2.4 Earth radii. Mini-Neptunes, which are less dense, were long thought to be gas planets, made up of hydrogen and helium. Now, scientists at the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille (CNRS/Aix-Marseille Université/Cnes)* have examined a new possibility, namely that the low density of mini-Neptunes could be explained simply by the presence of a thick layer of water that experiences an intense greenhouse effect caused by the irradiation from their host star. These findings, recently published in Astrophysical Journal Letters, show that mini-Neptunes could be super-Earths with a rocky core surrounded by water in a supercritical state**, suggesting that these two types of exoplanet may form in the same way. Another paper recently published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, involving in France scientists mainly from the CNRS and the University of Bordeaux***, focused on the effect of stellar irradiation on the radius of Earth-sized planets containing water. Their work shows that the size of the atmospheres of such planets increases considerably when subject to a strong greenhouse effect, in line with the study on mini-Neptunes. Future observations should make it possible to test these novel hypotheses put forward by French scientists, who are making major contributions to our knowledge of exoplanets.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- While the majority of parents recognize the importance of sunscreen, they may not always use best practices to protect children from getting burned, a new national poll suggests.

One in 10 parents (11%) say they do not have a specific minimum SPF they use and 3% report they do not use sunscreen for their child, according to the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health at Michigan Medicine.

Half of parents also indicated they may not reapply sunscreen unless their child was playing in the water while one in three don't re-apply on a cloudy day, even though clouds don't block all of the sun's UV rays that may cause burns and skin cancer.

"Children are spending more time in the sun and possibly at beaches and pools as families enjoy outdoor summer activities. But too much sun exposure can be dangerous and damage the skin," says Mott Poll co-director and Mott pediatrician Gary Freed, M.D., M.P.H.

"The majority of parents understand the importance of using sunscreen, but they may not always use a high enough SPF or reapply as often as they should to protect their children's skin."

The nationally-representative report is based on responses from 1,120 parents of children ages 5-12.

The majority of parents have at least sometimes used sunscreen on their kids and say it's very important in preventing sunburns and skin cancer. Half of parents also believe sunscreen is vital in preventing premature aging and wrinkling, according to the survey.

But parents consider several factors in deciding whether to use sun protection, including how long their child will be outside, what their child is wearing, their child's complexion and skin tone, whether their child will be around water and how hot it is. Nearly half of parents take into account whether it is a sunny or cloudy day.

Parents also decide whether to reapply sunscreen based on the situation. Eighty-one percent of parents would try to re-apply within two hours if their children were playing in the water, 50% if not playing in the water, 25% if it were a cloudy day, and 20% if their children were playing in a shady area.

"Parents should be aware that UV rays from the sun can reach their children on cloudy and hazy days, not just on bright and sunny days," Freed says. "Children need protection regardless of the amount of sunshine."

In order to be effective, sunscreen also needs to be reapplied every couple of hours and even more often if children are in the water, Freed says, since "no sunscreen is waterproof."

Sunscreens labeled "water resistant" are required to state whether the protection remains effective for 40 minutes or 80 minutes when swimming or sweating.

Freed recommends parents choose sunscreens with a minimum SPF of 15 to 30 that is "broad-spectrum," which means it protects against the two harmful types of UV radiation; ultraviolet B (UVB) and ultraviolet A (UVA). Parents should also try to limit sun exposure during the peak intensity hours of between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Seven in ten parents polled say their child wears a hat that shade their face while two-thirds dress children in long-sleeved clothing - which are also good options, Freed says.

"Parents may believe their children are adequately protected from the sun but if the SPF is too low or they're not reapplying often enough, kids are still at risk of sunburns," Freed says. "Sunscreen is a key preventive tool against burns and skin cancer, but it must be used properly to be effective."

Head injuries may be worryingly common among police officers, according to a new pilot study led by the University of Exeter.

In a sample of 54 UK officers, 21 (38.9%) reported having suffered a "traumatic brain injury" (TBI) resulting in a loss of consciousness in their lives.

This proportion is far higher than the estimated rate of 8-12% in the general public.

Officers with a history of TBI reported higher levels of ongoing "post-concussion symptoms" such as headaches, memory problems and anxiety.

These officers were also moderately more likely to report symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and drinking alcohol to cope, and much more likely to report symptoms of depression.

The pilot study is one of the first to examine this issue among police officers, and the researchers say more investigation is urgently needed.

"The main thing to take away from this is that we need to look after people who are in the front line of public protection," said Professor Huw Williams, of the University of Exeter.

"TBI has been extensively linked to mental health difficulties including PTSD, depression and alcohol abuse.

"Being a police officer is a dangerous job - with a risk of both physical and mental trauma - yet there has been a surprising lack of research investigating the presence and influence of TBI in the police.

"Our pilot study is based on a relatively small sample size, but it illustrates the importance of screening for TBI and offering treatment and support where necessary."

Professor Williams added: "Many police forces are moving towards a more sensitive, 'trauma-informed' approach to dealing with the public.

"We expect police officers to turn up in a variety of hideous situations, so it's vital that they are given then help they need to recover from and trauma - including brain injuries - that they suffer."

Interestingly, two thirds of the TBIs reported happened outside of police work.

The study does not explore the circumstances of these injuries, but the researchers say officers may be more likely than the public to engage in high-risk leisure activities, and some may have been injured in previous work such as military service.

All TBI cases in the study were classified as "mild" - with loss of consciousness of less than 30 minutes.

However, the authors noted that repeated TBI was common - a matter of "particular concern" as this is known to raise the risk of mental health issues.

"TBI, including mild forms, can cause significant and potentially long-lasting cognitive, emotional and behavioural impairments," said lead author Nick Smith, of the University of Exeter.

"This includes a three-fold increased risk of suicide in those suffering from any TBI.

"However, with the right support and treatment, it is possible to recover from TBI and avoid getting into negative coping mechanisms such as alcohol abuse.

"In other fields, such as sport, head injuries have received a great deal of attention, and protocols have improved dramatically.

"We need to take similar care of police officers."

Detective Chief Inspector Lewis Prescott-Mayling, a co-author of the paper, said: "We have some fantastic support for our staff but we need to treat people according to their needs and as early as possible.

"The trauma people are exposed to can have lasting effects.

"This applies to our staff as much as to people from our communities.

"We welcome this research and its findings."

Of the 54 officers in the study, nine met criteria for PTSD and 21 met criteria for mild or more severe depression.

The study - conducted in a UK police constabulary - suggests a surprising parallel with the UK prison population, as previous research has suggested about 60% of inmates have suffered a TBI.

Researchers at the University of Arkansas have developed a new nano drug candidate that kills triple negative breast cancer cells.

Triple negative breast cancer is one of the most aggressive and fatal types of breast cancer. The research will help clinicians target breast cancer cells directly, while avoiding the adverse, toxic side effects of chemotherapy.

Their study was published in June issue of Advanced Therapeutics.

Researchers led by Hassan Beyzavi, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, linked a new class of nanomaterials, called metal-organic frameworks, with the ligands of an already-developed photodynamic therapy drug to create a nano-porous material that targets and kills tumor cells without creating toxicity for normal cells.

Metal-organic frameworks are an emerging class of nanomaterials designed for targeted drug delivery. Ligands are molecules that bind to other molecules.

"With the exception of skin cancers, breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in American women," said Beyzavi. "As we know, thousands of women die from breast cancer each year. Patients with triple negative cells are especially vulnerable, because of the toxic side effects of the only approved treatment for this type of cancer. We've addressed this problem by developing a co-formulation that targets cancer cells and has no effect on healthy cells."

Researchers in Beyzavi's laboratory focus on developing new, targeted photodynamic therapy drugs. As an alternative to chemotherapy - and with significantly fewer side effects - targeted photodynamic therapy, or PDT, is a noninvasive approach that relies on a photosensitizer that, upon irradiation by light, generates so-called toxic reactive oxygen species, which kill cancer cells. In recent years, PDT has garnered attention because of its ability to treat tumors without surgery, chemotherapy or radiation.

Beyzavi's laboratory has specialized in integrating nanomaterials, such as metal-organic frameworks, with PDT and other and therapies. Metal-organic frameworks significantly enhance the effectiveness of PDT.

Doctoral student Yoshie Sakamaki from Beyzavi's laboratrory prepared the nanomaterials and then bio-conjugated them with ligands of the PDT drug to create nanoporous materials that specifically targeted and killed tumor cells with no toxicity in normal cells.

In addition to cancer treatment, this novel drug delivery system could also be used with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or fluorescence imaging, which can track the drug in the body and monitor the progress of cancer treatment.

This collaborative project also included contributions from U of A research groups through Julie Stenken, professor of analytical chemistry; Yuchun Du, associate professor of biological sciences; and Jin-Woo Kim, professor of biological and agricultural engineering.

The American Cancer Society estimated 268,600 new cases of invasive breast cancer in 2019 and 41,760 deaths. Currently there are more than 3.1 million breast cancer survivors in the United States. Since 2007, breast cancer death rates have been steady in women younger than 50 but have continued to decrease in older women. This decrease is believed to be the result of earlier detection and better treatments.

Triple negative breast cancer is aggressive and lacks estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, which means it cannot be treated with receptor-targeted therapy. It is difficult to treat with existing chemotherapy and often requires surgery because it quickly metastasizes throughout the body.

Cytotoxic chemotherapy is the only approved treatment for this type of breast cancer. More than 80% of women with triple negative breast cancer are treated with chemotherapy regimens that include anthracyclines, such as doxorubicin, which can cause cardiotoxicity as a serious side effect. Furthermore, chemotherapy treatment of breast cancer cell lines using either 5-FU, cisplatin, paclitaxel, doxorubicin or etoposide have shown multi-drug resistance.

The activity of the solid Earth - for example, volcanoes in Java, earthquakes in Japan, etc - is well understood within the context of the ~50-year-old theory of plate tectonics. This theory posits that Earth's outer shell (Earth's "lithosphere") is subdivided into plates that move relative to each other, concentrating most activity along the boundaries between plates. It may be surprising, then, that the scientific community has no firm concept on how plate tectonics got started. This month, a new answer has been put forward by Dr. Alexander Webb of the Division of Earth and Planetary Science & Laboratory for Space Research at the University of Hong Kong, in collaboration with an international team in a paper published in Nature Communications. Webb serves as corresponding author on the new work.

Dr. Webb and his team proposed that early Earth's shell heated up, which caused expansion that generated cracks. These cracks grew and coalesced into a global network, subdividing early Earth's shell into plates. They illustrated this idea via a series of numerical simulations, using a fracture mechanics code developed by the paper's first author, Professor Chunan Tang of the Dalian University of Technology. Each simulation tracks the stress and deformation experienced by a thermally-expanding shell. The shells can generally withstand about 1 km of thermal expansion (Earth's radius is ~6371 km), but additional expansion leads to fracture initiation and the rapid establishment of the global fracture network (Figure 1).

Although this new model is simple enough - Earth's early shell warmed up, expanded, and cracked - superficially this model resembles long-discredited ideas and contrasts with basic physical precepts of Earth science. Before the plate tectonic revolution of the 1960's, Earth's activities and the distribution of oceans and continents were explained by a variety of hypotheses, including the so-called expanding Earth hypothesis. Luminaries such as Charles Darwin posited that major earthquakes, mountain-building, and the distribution of land-masses were thought to result from the expansion of the Earth. However, because Earth's major internal heat source is radioactivity, and the continuous decay of radioactive elements means that there is less available heat as time moves forward, thermal expansion might be considered far less likely than its opposite: thermal contraction. Why, then, do Dr. Webb and his colleagues think that early Earth's lithosphere experienced thermal expansion?

"The answer lies in consideration of major heat-loss mechanisms that could have occurred during Earth's early periods," said Dr. Webb. "If volcanic advection, carrying hot material from depth to the surface, was the major mode of early heat-loss, that changes everything." Dominance of volcanism would have an unexpectedly chilling effect on the Earth's outer shell, as documented in Dr. Webb and co-author Dr. William Moore's earlier work (published in Nature in 2013). This is because new hot volcanic material taken from Earth's depths would have been deposited as cold material at the surface - the heat would be lost to space. The evacuation at depth and piling up at the surface would have eventually required that the surface material sank, bringing cold material downwards. This continual downward motion of cold surface material would have had a chilling effect on the early lithosphere. Because Earth was cooling overall, the heat production and corresponding volcanism would have slowed down. Correspondingly, the downwards motion of lithosphere would have slowed with time, and thus even as the overall planet cooled, the chilled lithosphere would have been increasingly warmed via conduction from hot deep material below. This warming would have been the source of the thermal expansion invoked in the new model. The new modeling illustrates that if Earth's solid lithosphere is sufficiently thermally expanded, it would fracture, and the rapid growth of a fracture network would divide the Earth's lithosphere into plates.

Dr. Webb and his colleagues continue to explore the early development of our planet, and of the other planets and moons in the solar system, via integrated field-based, analytical, and theoretical studies. Their field-based explorations bring them to far-flung sites in Australia, Greenland, and South Africa; their analytical research probes the chemistry of ancient rocks and their mineral components; and their theoretical studies simulate various proposed geodynamic processes. Together, these studies chip away at one of Earth and planetary science's greatest remaining mysteries: how and why did Earth go from a molten ball to our plate tectonic planet?

In the first analysis of its kind, US-based doctors have shown that women who take menopausal hormone therapy (MHT, also known as HRT) have a greater variety of beneficial bacteria in their urine, possibly creating conditions that discourage urinary infections. The study also shows that women who suffer from recurrent urine infections have fewer different types of bacteria in urine than women who don't have infections, making them more prone to infections. This work is presented at the European Association of Urology Virtual Congress.

Around 50% to 60% of women will suffers from a painful Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) during their lifetime, with women being around x8 more likely than men to suffer a UTI. Urine is not sterile, and normal urine contains a variety of bacteria, fungi and viruses. Increasingly doctors are finding that the people's bodies act as host to a variety of harmless resident bacteria, which may help in processes such as digestion.

Now the first controlled, systematic analysis of the diversity of bacteria in the urine of postmenopausal women has begun to unpick how the presence of different bacteria is related to recurrent urinary infections and susceptibility.

A group led by Dr Nicole J. De Nisco, Assistant Professor, University of Texas at Dallas, collected and analysed bacterial DNA from the urine of 75 postmenopausal women who were attending the Urology Clinic at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. They were able to divide the women into 3 groups: 25 women who had never had a UTI, 25 women who had recurrent infections in the past (i.e. 3 or more infections per year) but no current infection, and 25 women who had recurrent infections in the past and were currently infected. Recurrent UTI is a growing clinical concern which disproportionately affects postmenopausal women.

According to Dr De Nisco

"The DNA analysis showed two things. Firstly, woman who have recurrent infections have fewer types of bacteria in their urine than women who do not have infections; women who don't have recurrent UTIs have around x10 greater variety of bacteria. Secondly, 34 of the women were taking Menopausal Hormone Therapy, and they tended to have more Lactobacillus-type bacteria in their urine, which may imply that the oestrogen in MHT supports the growth of Lactobacillus in the urogenital tract. We also found that women who were taking MHT via patches or orally had more Lactobacillus than women taking MHT via vaginal cream.

This is important because Lactobacilli are known to play a protective role against infections in the vagina and this function may be conserved in the urogenital tract. If Lactobacillus really can help with UTIs, development of a probiotic to use in conjunction with MHT may avoid antibiotic use in these women, but this needs to be tested. This finding also fits with the observation that postmenopausal women, who have less natural oestrogen, tend to have more infections.

As far as we know, this is the first focused analysis of the bacteria in the urogenital tract of postmenopausal women, and the results indicate that oestrogen use is associated with high levels of Lactobacilli in the urine, which could possibly offer some protection against infection. However, this is a small study and needs to be repeated with a larger group of women.

We now need to look more closely at whether managing the bacterial content of the urogenital system might affect susceptibility to infection. Additional studies need to be performed to determine a causal link between oestrogen therapy, Lactobacillus colonization and prevention of UTI. Possible future applications may include administering probiotic vaginal pessaries to women at risk of infection and perhaps prescribing oestrogen therapy. However it's too early to bring these into clinical practice. We know that oestrogen therapy is not recommended for all women going through menopause, and the optimal formulations of probiotic pessaries need to be developed and their use in women with UTI would need to be tested. This is the next step in our research".

Commenting, Professor Florian Wagenlehner (Giessen, Germany), Chair of the EAU specialist group on Infections in Urology, said:

"This study, which evaluates urine microbiome in postmenopausal women, shows that patients with fewer urinary infections tend to have a greater species diversity in their urine. We see more and more evidence that diversity in the microbiome prevents infections. The growth of lactobacillus species is dependent on oestrogen, so oestrogen supplementation may be a helpful therapy in postmenopausal patients".

Professor Wagenlehner was not involved in this work, this is an independent comment.

The 35th European Association of Urology conference takes place online from 17-19 July, 2020. This replaces the physical conference which was scheduled to take place in Amsterdam. The EAU conference is the largest and most important urology congress in Europe, with up to 14,000 attendees. Conference website https://eaucongress.uroweb.org/

Type of study: not peer-reviewed/observational study/people

Prof. YANG Jinlong and Prof. AN Hong from University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), along with domestic collaborators, have realized first-principles computing simulation of the large-scale solid system with tens of thousands of atoms and molecules based on Discontinuous Galerkin Density Functional Theory (DGDFT), a high-precision computation software, with the help of super large-scale millions of cores parallel computation on the supercomputer Sunway TaihuLight. The study was published online on Science Bulletin.

Sunway TaihuLight supercomputer system has got the championship of the world's TOP500 supercomputer list for four times. Different from other supercomputers on the list, which adopt the super-computing system of "CPU + Accelerator", the theoretical floating-point computing performance of Sunway TaihuLight comes from its 40,960 second-generation domestically designed SW26010 multi-core processors.

Compared with other contemporary commercial multi-core processors, Shenwei, embracing larger-scale and multi-level parallel computing units and special chip storage constructions, shines on intensive computing tasks. However, it is still confronted with challenges in parallel algorithm design and performance optimization at the same time.

Besides, it is worth noticing that the development of our domestic computing software in first-principles high performance falls behind the supercomputing hardware. Therefore, it is essential to develop relevant theoretical algorithm and super-scale parallel computing software to better bring the strong computation ability into full play and to simulate and research in larger-scale physical-chemistry problems.

The close cooperation among the groups of super computation and application, software transportation, basic algorithm for research and development as well as the hardware tech-supported national super computation center, has brought the strong computing capability of Sunway TaihuLight supercomputer into full play with the combination of low-scale theoretical algorithm of computing chemistry and advantages of domestic high-performance parallel computing software and hardware, and has helped to develop the parallel computation methods in low scale, low communication, low storage as well as low access memory.

Besides, the size of the simulation system (tens of thousands of atoms) is hundreds of times larger than that of international computer simulation software with the same plane wave precision, which illustrates that the large-scale first-principles materials simulation in long time periods has become reality by standing on the stage with international top high-performance computation and state-of-the-art algorithms.

Shell-bearing microgastropods are snails whose size is less than five millimetres. They represent one of the least studied groups of metazoan living organisms in the oceans. Ivan Nekhaev is a senior research associate at the Department of Applied Ecology at St Petersburg University, and Ekaterina Krol is a doctoral student. They have summarised and analysed the currently known information on the species composition and lifestyle of these animals in the eastern sector of the Arctic.

In total, at least 66 species of microgastropods, belonging to four subclasses, live in the region. Two of the species have already been described during recent studies by the authors of the present review. Also, descriptions of two more species are being prepared for publication. More than half of the species have had only the external appearance of the shell studied. Important details of the internal structure and sequence of genes, traditionally used in the classification of animals, remain unknown in microgastropods, as a rule.

'Starting from the 18th century, snails were classified according to their shell - each species was believed to have its own shape. Later molluscs began to be dissected and only at the current stage scientists have started studying their DNA. These studies have shown inconsistency in the classification by shell,' explained Ivan Nekhaev, the first author of the article. 'Studying these animals is not easy. Imagine a two-millimetre mollusc in front of you. From it, you need to extract its reproductive system, which is already tenths of a millimetre. This is a very delicate, laborious and meticulous work.'

According to Ivan Nekhaev, the biological diversity of the Arctic has been studied extremely unevenly. There is a relatively large amount of data on large animals that are easy to see. However, there is very little information on other groups such as micromolluscs, which include shell microgastropods. Scientists need this information in order to understand: what the Arctic is like; how its fauna was formed; and how ecosystems respond to climate changes associated with human activities.

Arctic molluscs regularly become central figures in publications on climate change. This is usually due to the fact that snails living in more southern areas are found in the northern territories. However, such conclusions do not often have enough scientific background, since researchers do not have comprehensive data on the types of micromolluscs. Theoretically, a migrant snail from the south may turn out to be a little-known 'northerner'.

'Despite the formal resemblance, the physiology and requirements for living conditions of these animals can vary significantly. The shape of the shell of some species is typical of the more southern areas. When they are found, it is often written that this is due to climate change. Such publications raise information noise, which makes it difficult to capture real changes in ecosystems,' said Ivan Nekhaev.

Arctic snails can tell scientists not only about the effects of climate warming, but also about the level of environmental pollution. The large numbers and relatively simple identification of some common species make them very useful objects for such studies. For example, it has been found that snails Boreocingula martyni and Onoba aculeus, have iposex - an anomaly in the development caused by organotin compounds. It is characterised by the fact that male reproductive organs appear in female snails. Until 2008, organotin compounds were used as a part of paints to protect ships and port facilities from being encrusted with the marine growth. However, the negative effects of the use of these toxic substances are still recorded.

Additionally, microgastropods perform many functions in marine ecosystems. They vary greatly in type of diet and lifestyle. Some of them feed on algae or plant detritus. Many species eat unicellular animals - foraminifera, or even smaller metazoans. Some species are parasites and symbionts of echinoderms and polychaete worms. Despite their small size, in some cases, especially in coastal regions, micromolluscs can make up a significant part of the biomass of marine communities.

The Barents Sea, and especially its southwestern part, is the habitat for most species -- 51 out of 66. In other seas of the eastern Arctic, only 10-20 species are known, and only nine species are found in the deep-water Arctic basin. This distribution is largely due to insufficient knowledge of most of the Arctic regions. However, an analysis of the similarity of species composition in different regions has also revealed a connection between the distribution of species complexes and hydrological conditions.

Unlike other animal groups, interest in the study of microgastropods has not increased with the advent of new methods for studying the morphology of small organisms. According to Ivan Nekhaev, this can be explained by two factors: 'Firstly, despite the development of electron microscopy, the methods of collecting samples have not changed since the middle of the last century. We cannot properly collect this fauna during major marine expeditions in the Arctic, because the use of electron microscopy requires the prompt fixation of samples. Doing this on board the ship is problematic. Secondly, negative feedback works - the less is known about the animals, the less specialists are interested in them. This is bad if we are talking about assessing biological diversity and the data that such studies can bring. However, for modern zoology, this is a normal situation. The fact is that there are a lot of animals, and there are few people who study them.'

Researchers have been using passive acoustic recordings of whale calls to track their movements. They have found that four of the six baleen whale species found in the western North Atlantic Ocean -- humpback, sei, fin and blue whales -- have changed their distribution patterns in the past decade. The recordings were made over 10 years by devices moored to the seafloor at nearly 300 locations from the Caribbean Sea to western Greenland.

"All four whale species were present in waters from the southeast U.S. to Greenland, with humpbacks also present in the Caribbean Sea," said Genevieve Davis, a senior acoustician at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, Massachusetts and lead author of the study. "These four species were detected throughout all the regions in the winter, suggesting that baleen whales are widely distributed during these months. Humpback, sei, fin, and blue whales also showed significant changes in where they were detected between the two time periods considered in this study: before and after 2010."

A large group of federal, state and academic researchers from the United States and Canada conducted the study, published in Global Change Biology. It is the first to show the occurrence of these four species across the western North Atlantic Ocean over long time spans and at a large spatial scale. The study also demonstrates how whale distributions have changed over time, and in particular since 2010.

Data collected from 2004 to 2014 on 281 bottom-mounted passive acoustic recorders totaled 35,033 days of recording. These passive acoustic recorders were deployed between the tiny island of Saba in the Caribbean Sea to the Davis Strait off western Greenland. Recorders were located on the continental shelf or along the shelf edge, with six recording units in off-shelf waters.

All available passive acoustic recordings from more than 100 research projects throughout the western North Atlantic Ocean were combined to create the decade-long dataset. The time series was split between 2004 to 2010 and 2011 to 2014. That split was based on the timing of shifts in climate in the Gulf of Maine and distribution changes by numerous species in the western North Atlantic Ocean.

This is also the same time period used in a similar analysis of North Atlantic right whales that was published in 2017, and used for comparison with this study.

Results show that fin, blue, and sei whales were more frequently detected in the northern latitudes after 2010 but less on the Scotian Shelf area. This matches documented shifts in prey availability in that region.

"The Gulf of Maine, an important feeding ground for many baleen whale species, is warming faster than most places in the world, resulting in changes in distribution not only of marine mammals and fish but also for their prey," said Davis, who was also the lead author of the 2017 North Atlantic right whale study. "These changes in distribution for five of the six baleen whale species mirrors known shifts in distribution for other species attributed to climate and the impacts of ocean warming."

Researchers have not yet studied if or how minke whale distribution
has shifted. Minkes are the sixth baleen whale species found in the western North Atlantic Ocean.

Researchers caution that while recorders provided widespread coverage, there were gaps. Also, these data can confirm where and when a species is present, but not how many individuals are present. There are differences in vocal behavior, seasonal changes, and vocalizations thought to be made by males only. The data provide a comprehensive overview of the minimum distribution in space and time of each species and add information to the current understanding of these species.

Spending More Time in Northern Latitudes

While humpback whales are found in all regions, researchers were a bit surprised at the length of time they are present in all areas. Fin, blue, and sei whales increased the time that they spent in northern latitudes after 2010, perhaps following prey. All but sei whales had a decreased acoustic presence on the Scotian Shelf after 2010.

Sei whales, one of the least-studied baleen whales, were detected with the other whale species from Florida to eastern Greenland. Sei whales are found year-round in Southern New England and the New York Bight. These are also important regions for other baleen whale species, including North Atlantic right whales that target the same prey as sei whales.

"This study is the first comprehensive analysis of sei whale distribution throughout the western North Atlantic Ocean, including their movements and important habitat," Davis said. "The southern limit of their range remains unknown, and their migratory movements in the western North Atlantic are still not well understood but we have filled in a number of information gaps."

Fin whales were detected nearly year-round from Virginia to eastern Greenland. They are commonly found year-round in the Gulf of Maine and in Canadian waters off Nova Scotia. Acoustic records revealed their year-round presence in Massachusetts Bay and the New York Bight. New England waters provide feeding grounds, but mating and calving grounds are unknown. Their distribution year-round suggests that, like other baleen whales, not all fin whales migrate.

Blue Whales Heard Further South Than Expected

Blue whales are seen and heard year-round in and around the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where their population is well-studied. Considered a more northern whale, they have occasionally been sighted in the Gulf of Maine. Acoustic detections revealed blue whales are present as far south as North Carolina.

Blue whales tend to use deeper waters, making their seasonal movements difficult to study. Satellite tag studies, however, indicate they move from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to North Carolina, including on and off the continental shelf. They also move into deeper waters around the New England Seamounts -- a chain of underwater extinct volcanoes that extends from Georges Bank southeast for about 700 miles. Researchers found the shelf break and canyons to be important habitat areas for blue whales.

"A decade of acoustic observations have shown important changes over the range of baleen whales and identified new habitats that will require further protection from human-induced threats like fixed fishing gear, shipping, and noise pollution," said Davis.

Lithium-ion batteries are recognized for their high energy density in everything from mobile phones to laptop computers and electric vehicles, but as the need for grid-scale energy storage and other applications becomes more pressing, researchers have sought less expensive and more readily available alternatives to lithium.

Batteries using more abundant multivalent metals could revolutionize energy storage. Researchers review the current state of multivalent metal-ion battery research and provide a roadmap for future work in Nature Energy, reporting that the top candidates - using magnesium, calcium, zinc and aluminum - all have great promise, but also steep challenges to meet practical demands.

"In this review, we clarify the key strengths as well as common misconceptions of multivalent metal-based batteries," said Yan Yao, Cullen College of Engineering associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Houston and co-corresponding author of the paper. "Multivalent metal-ion batteries are better viewed as alternative solutions for large-scale energy storage than as a direct competitor to lithium-based batteries in the race toward ever-rising energy density targets."

Researchers also examined the growth behavior of metal anodes. While magnesium is a promising material, Yao said it is important to note that it is not guaranteed to plate universally in dendrite-free morphology. "It only does so in selected electrolyte solutions where there are no side reactions, the active metal surface is free of passivation, and the coulombic efficiency of magnesium plating?stripping is close to unity," he said.

Yao is also a principal investigator with the Texas Center for Superconductivity at UH (TcSUH).

Yanliang "Leonard" Liang, a research assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UH and co-first author, said the paper's review of existing cathode materials also offers new insights. "We also discuss design strategies to enable genuine multivalent metal-ion-based energy storage materials with competitive performance," he said.

Researchers' key points include:

Concerns about the availability and cost of lithium have prompted interest in alternative battery technologies that use more abundant elements with the potential for higher energy density and enhanced safety. Prime candidates include magnesium, calcium, zinc and aluminum, all of which are known as multivalent metals, or metals with multiple valence electrons to give

These multivalent metal-ion batteries share many similarities in working principles with lithium-ion batteries, suggesting they could be swiftly adopted by industry

Previous assessments of the anticipated energy density of these batteries often considered only the multivalent metal anode - merely one of the two electrodes in a battery - which tends to reach misleading conclusions. The researchers have provided a reassessment of the energy density based on both anode and cathode, aiming to better position these batteries in the energy storage landscape

Direct use of metals as anodes is an important aspect for the safety and energy density promises of these batteries, but there are uncertainties surrounding the viability of these anodes

Electrolyte solutions and understanding of the associated interfacial phenomena are improving but still far from established

And finding good cathode materials requires considerations that are uncommon in traditional battery studies. The ion storage mechanism of multivalent battery cathodes is much more complicated than its lithium-ion counterpart.

Misinterpretation of the cathode chemistry is surprisingly widespread in the literature as a result

The researchers also issued a list of recommendations to ensure future research is squarely directed at improving the batteries, including:

Gaining a better understanding of the growth behavior of the metal anodes, a critical step in realizing the purported safety promises over lithium-ion batteries

Practices to properly assess the compatibility of metal anodes with electrolyte solutions and the effectiveness of protection coatings

Procedures and techniques to correctly interpret the ion storage mechanism at the cathode

Approaches to design better cathode materials

A table comparing the state-of-the-art components - metal anode, electrolyte and cathode materials - for batteries based on each of the multivalent metal elements that could potentially replace lithium found that although some are further along than others, none of the options are ready for commercialization.

Yao's research group has focused on materials chemistry and design of magnesium and other multivalent metal batteries; he has published widely in top journals.

Berkeley -- Widespread use of pesticides and other agrochemicals can speed the transmission of the debilitating disease schistosomiasis, while also upsetting the ecological balances in aquatic environments that prevent infections, finds a new study led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.

Schistosomiasis, also known as snail fever, is caused by parasitic worms that develop and multiply inside freshwater snails and is transmitted through contact with contaminated water. The infection, which can trigger lifelong liver and kidney damage, affects hundreds of millions of people every year and is second only to malaria among parasitic diseases, in terms of its global impact on human health.

The study, published in the journal Lancet Planetary Health, found that agrochemicals can increase the transmission of the schistosome worm in myriad ways: by directly affecting the survival of the waterborne parasite itself, by decimating aquatic predators that feed on the snails that carry the parasite and by altering the composition of algae in the water, which provides a major food source for snails.

"We know that dam construction and irrigation expansion increase schistosomiasis transmission in low-income settings by disrupting freshwater ecosystems," said UC Berkeley's Christopher Hoover, a doctoral student in environmental health sciences and lead author of the study. "We were shocked by the strength of evidence we found also linking agrochemical pollution to the amplification of schistosomiasis transmission."

The findings come as the connections between environment and infectious disease have been laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic, which is caused by an emerging pathogen thought to be linked to wildlife.

"Environmental pollutants can increase our exposure and susceptibility to infectious diseases," said Justin Remais, chair of the Division of Environmental Health Sciences at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health and senior author of the study. "From dioxins decreasing resistance to influenza virus, to air pollutants increasing COVID-19 mortality, to arsenic impacting lower respiratory tract and enteric infections -- research has shown that reducing pollution is an important way to protect populations from infectious diseases."

After combing through nearly 1,000 studies gathered in a systematic literature review, the research team identified 144 experiments that provided data connecting agrochemical concentrations to components of the schistosome life cycle. They then incorporated these data into a mathematical model that captures the transmission dynamics of the parasite. The model simulates concentrations of common agrochemicals following their application to agricultural fields and estimates the resulting impacts on infections in the nearby human population.

The researchers found that even low concentrations of common pesticides -- including atrazine, glyphosate and chlorpyrifos -- can increase rates of transmission and interfere with efforts to control schistosomiasis. Agrochemical amplification of parasite transmission was not inconsequential. In the study communities in the Senegal River Basin in West Africa, the excess burden of disease attributable to agrochemical pollution was on par with disease caused by lead exposure, high sodium diets and low physical activity.

"We need to develop policies that protect public health by limiting the amplification of schistosomiasis transmission by agrochemical pollution," Hoover said. "More than 90% of schistosomiasis cases occur in areas of sub-Saharan Africa, where agrochemical use is expanding. If we can devise ways to maintain the agricultural benefits of these chemicals, while limiting their overuse in schistosomiasis-endemic areas, we could prevent additional harm to public health within communities that already experience a high and unacceptable burden of disease."

LOS ALAMOS, N.M., July 16, 2020--A new device that relies on flowing clouds of ultracold atoms promises potential tests of the intersection between the weirdness of the quantum world and the familiarity of the macroscopic world we experience every day. The atomtronic Superconducting QUantum Interference Device (SQUID) is also potentially useful for ultrasensitive rotation measurements and as a component in quantum computers.

"In a conventional SQUID, the quantum interference in electron currents can be used to make one of the most sensitive magnetic field detectors," said Changhyun Ryu, a physicist with the Material Physics and Applications Quantum group at Los Alamos National Laboratory. "We use neutral atoms rather than charged electrons. Instead of responding to magnetic fields, the atomtronic version of a SQUID is sensitive to mechanical rotation."

Although small, at only about ten millionths of a meter across, the atomtronic SQUID is thousands of times larger than the molecules and atoms that are typically governed by the laws of quantum mechanics. The relatively large scale of the device lets it test theories of macroscopic realism, which could help explain how the world we are familiar with is compatible with the quantum weirdness that rules the universe on very small scales. On a more pragmatic level, atomtronic SQUIDs could offer highly sensitive rotation sensors or perform calculations as part of quantum computers.

The researchers created the device by trapping cold atoms in a sheet of laser light. A second laser intersecting the sheet "painted" patterns that guided the atoms into two semicircles separated by small gaps known as Josephson Junctions.

When the SQUID is rotated and the Josephson Junctions are moved toward each other, the populations of atoms in the semicircles change as a result of quantum mechanical interference of currents through Josephson Junctions. By counting the atoms in each section of the semicircle, the researchers can very precisely determine the rate the system is rotating.

As the first prototype atomtronic SQUID, the device has a long way to go before it can lead to new guidance systems or insights into the connection between the quantum and classical worlds. The researchers expect that scaling the device up to produce larger diameter atomtronic SQUIDs could open the door to practical applications and new quantum mechanical insights.

Forms of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, gradually affect your cognitive function by harming your memory and your ability to think and make decisions. By 2050, experts project that 13.8 million older adults in the United States will develop Alzheimer's disease and related Dementias (ADRD). Although Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, other forms include Lewy Body dementia, frontotemporal dementia, and vascular dementia--all of which have upsetting consequences for people with dementia and their families.

Since no cure or treatment yet exists for ADRD, healthcare providers currently focus on preventing the treatable risk factors that can lead to dementia. This strategy could potentially slow the onset and progression of ADRD.

Hospitalization poses risks to people with ADRD and can have life-threatening consequences, including predisposing us to delirium (the medical term for a rapid change in mental state, often marked by confusion), a decline in mental or physical function, being admitted to long-term care facilities, and even death.

In particular, delirium can worsen the course of an illness, quicken physical and mental decline, lengthen hospital stays, and cause higher rates of hospital re-admission and death. One in 8 hospitalized people with ADRD who develops delirium will have at least one serious problem, including cognitive decline, possibly leading to admission to long-term care or death.

Here's the good news: Experts say 30 to 40 percent of delirium cases are preventable. But until now, we have not studied how delirium and its severity affect hospitalized older adults with and without ADRD.

Recently, researchers published findings from a related study, the Better Assessment of Illness (BASIL) study, in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. They created the study to examine delirium, severe delirium, and its aftermath.

The researchers enrolled 352 patients between 2015 and 2017. Patients were 70 years old or older and admitted or transferred to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston as either emergency or elective (arranged in advance) admissions. The average age of participants was 80 and the majority of participants had at least one chronic health condition.

Eighty-five participants (24 percent) were diagnosed with likely ADRD when they entered the study. Participants with ADRD were slightly older than those without ADRD. The study continued for 12 months.

The researchers reported that 25 percent (88 out of 352) participants experienced delirium. Among the 85 participants with ADRD, 45 percent experienced delirium, compared to 19 percent of participants without ADRD who did not experience delirium. For all patients, severe delirium increased the risk of being placed in a nursing home. Patients with ADRD had more severe delirium.

The researchers concluded that their study strongly suggests the need to prevent delirium, particularly severe delirium, in patients both with and without ADRD. Targeted strategies such as the AGS CoCare: HELP™ (formerly the Hospital Elder Life Program), have shown that certain approaches can help prevent delirium or make it less severe.

Called "low-tech, high-touch" interventions, these techniques include helping to orient people to where they are and what time it is, preserving the sleep-wake cycle, helping people be mobile as soon as possible, making sure they're well hydrated, and correcting any vision or hearing problems. All these strategies have been shown to prevent delirium and mental and physical decline in older patients both with and without ADRD.

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Osteosarcoma, a common bone cancer in dogs, affects more than 10,000 dogs in the U.S. each year. While chemotherapy is generally effective at killing some of the cancer cells, the numerous side effects can be painful and often a subset of cancer cells exist that are resistant to chemotherapy.

To offer an alternative, Jeffrey Bryan, a professor at the University of Missouri's College of Veterinary Medicine, and the veterinary oncology team collaborated with ELIAS Animal Health to create a vaccine from a dog's own tumor to target and kill cancer cells in dogs suffering from osteosarcoma. Now, the success of this treatment in dogs has led the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to grant a rare fast-track designation for ELIAS Animal Health's parent organization, TVAX Biomedical, to use the ELIAS immunotherapy approach to treat glioblastoma multiforme, a tumorous brain cancer in humans.

"This precision medicine approach uses the patient's own tumor to make a vaccine, which stimulates the immune system against the abnormal proteins specific to the patient's tumor, causing the body to generate white blood cells, called lymphocytes," said Bryan, who also serves as the associate director of comparative oncology for the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center and a faculty research lead for the NextGen Precision Health Institute. "We then harvest and expand these lymphocytes outside the body, which activates them so they are highly aggressive toward their target. By infusing them back into the patient's body they can seek out and destroy the harmful cancer cells."

A just-completed clinical trial at MU's College of Veterinary Medicine found that dogs receiving this therapy had more than 400 days of cancer survival compared to about 270 days for dogs receiving chemotherapy in a separate study by the National Cancer Institute. By positively impacting health outcomes in dogs with bone cancer, the FDA granted fast-track designation for this approach to be used in human trials to treat brain cancer in people.

"Both osteosarcoma in dogs and glioblastoma multiforme in people are very aggressive diseases that tend to take the patient's life quickly, and they both express mutant proteins that can be targets for the immune system," said Bryan, who serves on the scientific advisory board for ELIAS Animal Health. "The beauty of this immunotherapy approach is it can be theoretically generalized for any kind of cancer. The advancement to these human trials shows that we can apply this technology to help treat different diseases that are very deadly and have few effective therapies currently."

ELIAS Animal Health is continuing the development of this immunotherapy for osteosarcoma in pursuit of approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture so that the treatment can be utilized on dogs across North America. Also, if TVAX Biomedical's human trials are successfully able to treat glioblastoma multiforme, the immunotherapy approach could be expanded to treat other cancers in humans.

"My hope is that one day this approach can be used to treat bone cancer in children," Bryan said. "My overall goal is to be part of discoveries that not only benefit dogs but humans as well."

Bryan's research is an example of precision medicine, a key component of the NextGen Precision Health Initiative. By partnering with government and industry leaders, the initiative will help accelerate medical breakthroughs for both patients in Missouri and beyond.